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“Not in the way I care about you. I did this for you.” He gestures back toward the empty restaurant. “Can’t you see that? All I care about is keeping you safe, which means keeping you with me.”

There’s an edge to his voice, like he’s barely in control of himself. His pupils are dilated, his emerald irises reduced to thin rings around deep black holes. Like real black holes, they draw me in. Like real black holes, they’re dangerous.

We stare at each other for several long seconds, my every nerve trembling to be pulled toward him. His Adam’s apple bobs, like he’s about to say something more. Instead, he clears his throat and takes out his phone to confirm the car’s out front.

Unsure what to do with my hands, I pull out my own phone and tap it awake. But the screen remains black, with a single word in white text.

Congratulations.

Then, that slow curve from left to right traces out a smile.

My blood freezes in my veins. Our public engagement did nothing to stop Harrison from hacking my phone. The crux of our plan didn’t work.

My fingers shake so badly that all I can do is shove my hacked phone back in my pocket. For good measure, I keep my hands in my pockets too, concealing my telltale trembling from Liam. I can’t tell him about the creepy messages now.

I can’t tell him ever.

If Liam finds out that my ex is still bothering me, he’ll kill him. And I won’t be the cause of any blood on my best friend’s hands.

“Ready?” he asks, and I nod. His eyebrows pinch slightly, as if he can tell I’m distressed about something, but when I step toward the door, he opens it for me.

The cameras greet us with blinding flashes. A public engagement, and it isn’t enough.

Chapter 11

Liam

My fiancée adores her ring. I knew she would. Still, the fact she kept staring at it all through dinner reinforced my good decision. I should’ve had it commissioned ages ago. Not as an engagement ring, just as a birthday present or something. But for a rush job, it turned out flawless.

A lot of things do, when money is no object.

Unfortunately, money can’t buy the ability for me to be in two places at once. I’m torn between protecting Brioni while she’s at work and attending to my other duties in person. Ultimately, the choice is easy. I convince myself it’s a compromise. I’ll be able to conduct some business remotely while I’m standing guard, at least for a day or so.

When I pull up outside of her tailor shop, Brioni hesitates before getting out of the Nav.

“Are you going into work?” she asks, her fingers on the door handle.

No. I’ll be staying right here to keep Harrison away. I’ve asked Brady to do some digging on the scum’s whereabouts. Mam’s the better source of information, but she’d ask too many questions. And too many answers might lead her to suspect the true reason behind our engagement.

“I’ll be here when you get out,” I tell Brioni.

She looks at me like she’s ready to press the issue of where I’ll be all day. But she decides against it. Good. She bids me goodbye as the sun peeks over the row of shops on this street.

But I don’t leave. I stay right where I am on the curb in front of her shop. I make sure I’m plain as day. I want Harrison to see me. I want everyone on this street to see me too. Most South Siders can recognize that a Nav with tinted windows is an O’Sullivan car.

Protection, not threat. Harrison is the fucking threat.

“Nothing so far,” Brady reports to me over the phone. “But Cora has some contacts on the North Side. Think he might be in Seven’s territory?”

I flex my fingers at the mention of our family’s greatest enemy. If only I could wrap them around his posh boy neck. Rich and pretty, Mortimer Vanleusen the Seventh comes from the kind of generational wealth that makes him untouchable. He was born with everything. And he still wanted more. When he decided he wanted a slice of the city’s illegal pie, he took it. Started calling himself Seven and seized control of the North Side.

Of course he could be hiding a piece of shit like Harrison.

“It’s possible,” I say. “Don’t bring in Cora just yet, though.” Her contacts may be useful, but she’s too close to Brioni. And my tenderhearted fiancée wouldn’t want me to harm her shithead ex.

Brady coughs. I pinch my nose and sigh.

“You already involved her, didn’t you?” My brother’s got it bad for his wife.