Page 151 of Dark Daddies

"They're getting desperate,” Soren spat. He wasn’t surprised, though. Collins had spent nearly seven years laundering money through his logistics company while quietly trafficking women across state lines. Soren had tolerated the man's existence long enough to identify every buyer, accountant, politician, and cop who'd profited from the operation. Tonight had been the end of Collins’ network, or at least it should have been. Instead, Soren had gained a witness.

His eyes flicked toward the mirror again. Luca’s quick intel told him that the terrified woman in the backseat was Lily Brooks. She was twenty-four and worked for Collins as an administrative assistant. She had no criminal history and excellent credit. Although she did have one speeding ticket on her record, she was clean as a whistle. She had no siblings, and her parents were both deceased. She did have an abusive ex-boyfriend she'd escaped almost a year ago, and she'd rebuilt her life from nothing. He admired that about her, even though he didn’t really know the woman. She was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a part of him felt sorry for her.

"You've been staring at her in the rearview for an hour now," Luca whispered.

"I'm thinking,” Soren insisted.

"About killing her?" Luca asked. God, the ass sounded almost giddy about that possibility.

Soren's gaze hardened. "No."

Luca finally looked up. "That's not the answer I expected." His second-in-command leaned back in the passenger seat with a sigh. "Then what's the plan?"

Soren didn't answer immediately. He'd built an empire by making difficult decisions before anyone else could see they needed to be made. This one should've been simple. Witnesses disappeared every day—problem solved. But he could still hear the panic in her voice.

Please...

He was sure that she wasn’t bargaining for her life but begging because she genuinely believed she'd done something wrong simply by existing. That bothered him more than it should have. She hadn't screamed when he'd shielded her from the bullets—she’d frozen as if fear wasn't new for her. It was as if she'd learned long ago that making noise only made things worse. Soren recognized that kind of silence because he'd worn it himself once. It was long before he became the man people whispered about and even feared.

"We're here,” Soren breathed as the gates slid open and the SUV approached. He nodded at the armed guards as they drove through. His estate looked less like a mansion and more like a fortress, but that was exactly what he wanted.

The vehicle rolled into the underground garage before the gates sealed behind them. Soren parked and shut off the engine. Silence filled the SUV. He stepped out first, and Luca moved to open the rear passenger door, but Lily didn't get out. She stared at the concrete floor as though refusing to move might somehow wake her from the nightmare.

Soren crouched beside the open door. "Miss Brooks." She looked at him, and fear flashed across her face. "You're safe here."

A hollow laugh escaped her. "I watched you murder someone."

"I know,” he breathed.

"And now I'm in your house,” she said.

"My estate,” he corrected. She blinked at him, and he wasn't sure if she was shocked by the correction or the fact he'd made it at all. "You can stay in the SUV if you'd prefer," he said evenly. "But eventually someone will have to carry you inside."

Her chin lifted ever so slightly. "I can walk."

"I assumed you could." The flash of annoyance in her eyes was so brief that most people would've missed it, but Soren didn't. He liked that fear hadn’t swallowed her completely.

She climbed out without accepting the hand Luca offered. She was tiny—maybe five feet four. She wrapped her arms around herself despite the warm summer night, and only then did Soren notice the faint yellowing bruise peeking beneath the sleeve of her blouse. They looked to be at least a week old, but still made his expression darken. She followed his gaze and immediately tugged the sleeve lower. He found it interesting that she hid bruises automatically. Soren knew that was another habit learned through pain.