“If he can cut a deal, maybe he can avoid a stretch,” I said finally.

“Already thought of that,” Lee replied, his voice tight.

“And?”

“And it probably won’t come to it. I’ve got a good solicitor.”

My curiosity piqued. “And who would that be?”

His eyes sharpened. “William Dunning.”

I blinked at him, my mouth agape. “You do realise how much that tells me about you, right?”

Lee shrugged, but his expression was fierce. He wouldn’t make any apologies for who he was.

Dunning was a snake, and he represented some of the most powerful individuals in London. If he had Lee on his books, it meant that the man sitting before me was far more dangerous than I’d thought. I was suddenly anxious about having him in my home. Was he being monitored by the NCA? They tended to keep an eye on all the big players, but being so low in rank, I wouldn’t know anything about it.

Somebody could be watching him right at that very moment. Since I lived in a huge tower block, they wouldn’t know which flat he was in unless they followed him inside. But still, this was way too close for comfort.

Lee seemed to read my thoughts clear as day on my face. “Relax. Nobody knows I’m here.”

“Why are you here?”

He frowned. “I needed to talk to you about something.”

I motioned with my hand. “Then talk.”

Letting out a long breath, he rubbed at his short-cropped hair and levelled me with his eyes. “You remember the bloke from outside the nightclub?”

“The creep standing beside your car? Yes.”

“Well, let’s just say, his boss and my boss have been having something of a disagreement of late. Long story short, things aren’t safe, and this guy thinks you’re my girlfriend. He’s threatened to…do things.”

My body tensed. “Things? What kind of things?”

Lee shook his head. “Nah, not going there with you, Snap.”

A sick feeling crept into my stomach. “Does he know who I am?”

“He knows what you look like, that’s all. But I have a plan to set him straight. In the meantime, I’m having Trevor watch you when you’re off duty, just to be on the safe side.”

“Nobody’s watching me. I can take care of myself. And anyway, I’m not even your girlfriend, but if this guy so much as tries to lay a hand on me, I’ll arrest him.”

Lee shook his head. “That’s not how this works, Karla.”

“There is no ‘this,’” I snapped. “If you’d just left me alone in the first place, then none of this would be happening.”

Lee leaned forward so that his elbows rested on his knees. All of a sudden, I saw how exhausted he was. “Can you not fight me on this just once? Fuck, I know I should have left you alone. I tried, believe me, but I couldn’t do it. Now our situation is what it is, so can you just stop being a cop for a second and let me protect you?”

I stared at him, unsure of what to say, or if I should even say anything at all. This entire situation was spiralling out of control, and we’d only been together once.

“Look, I know today must have been awful for you, and to tell you the truth, I hate that I helped catch Liam. But even more, I hate the fact that he was stealing in the first place. And yes, I understand your life’s been tough and you’ve had to make hard decisions, but we have to make new decisions every day. Maybe tomorrow you can make the right one.”

Lee’s tired eyes rose to meet mine. “The right one?”

“Yes, like deciding to get out of this business you’re in and go legit.”

He let out a joyless laugh. “Because it’s that simple.”

“I can help you.”

His gaze dropped to his hands, and his voice was quiet when he said, “There’s no help for me.”

A long silence fell between us, and he lifted his head to stare at me again. Shivers trickled along my collarbone, a heavy tension filling the air.

“I don’t understand why you don’t hate me right now,” I whispered.

Lee looked at me, his crystal-clear blue eyes full of sincerity. “Neither do I.”

What he said jolted me, because it meant he understood that he should hate my guts, and the idea of him hating me made my stomach twist with nausea. Though I didn’t want to admit it, I felt sick at the thought of losing the affection he so obviously felt for me.

It was messed up.

After a minute he stood, turned, and walked to the front door. “See you around, Karla,” he said before he opened the door and left the flat. Barely a second went by before Alexis’ bedroom door burst open, and my best friend stood before me, an open-mouthed look on her face.

“I bloody well knew it!” she exclaimed, marching around the sofa and coming to plonk down beside me. “I want to know everything, you secretive little tramp, and start from the beginning.”

Eleven

For the next three days, I worked. Every once in a while I found myself looking around, trying to spot Trevor, but I never saw him. Perhaps Lee had decided to respect my wishes and not have his brother follow me. Or perhaps he was just good at hiding.

The night Lee visited our flat, I’d given in and told Alexis everything. She’d warned me off from the very start, and I had every intention of heeding her advice, but my heart, or maybe it was my vagina, had other ideas. In the end, she didn’t berate me for my choices. After all, if anyone could understand what I was going through, it was Alexis. She’d had an affair with her boss, which in a way was just as illicit as what had been going on with me and Lee.

When I clocked out of my shift on Saturday evening, I’d almost forgotten about all the nasty business and threats to my safety. I had the entire weekend off, and I planned on making the most of it, starting with going to see Reya perform at a small music venue in Soho. Since I worked such unpredictable hours, I rarely got the chance to see her play, so it was a real treat for me.

I decided to catch the Tube into the city so that I could have a few drinks, and wore a dark blue pencil dress with a long royal blue coat and heels. It wasn’t often that I dressed up in a proper girly fashion, so when I did, I put in the effort. I blow-dried and straightened my hair, so it looked shiny and sleek, and wore a small bit of makeup.

I was just walking out of my building when a head suddenly dropped down from above, giving me the fright of my life. Holding my hand to my heart, I stared up at Trevor, who was hanging by his legs from an overhead bar like a goddamn monkey.

“What the hell?” I said, willing my pulse to slow down.

Trevor swung his body around and dropped to the ground, shooting me a wide, toothy grin.

“Sorry about that, Constable. I forget sometimes that people aren’t used to my ways.”

“Your ways?”

“I like to get around in an unconventional fashion.”

“Uh-huh, and what are you doing here?”

“Watching out for your safety,” he replied. “Though if you ask me, I’m not sure you deserve it, what with how you had a hand in fucking up my little brother’s life.”

Oh, for crying out loud. I was in no mood for this conversation. “Your brother fucked up his own life. I just happened to be the one to catch him doing it.”

“Potato, potaaato.”

“I’m serious, Trevor. I was doing my job.”

Stepping past him, I tugged my coat tighter to defend against the cold and walked in the direction of the tube station. Trevor followed heavy on my heels.

“You know, that sounds a lot like something Hitler would say,” he commented.

I rolled my eyes. “I appreciate a well-placed Hitler card as much as the next person, but in this case, you’re completely off the mark.”

Trevor gestured a Nazi salute and I narrowed my gaze, beginning to think that of all the Cross brothers, this was the eccentric one. He wore a pair of pale ripped jeans, chains hanging from the pockets, steel-toe cap boots, and a baggy grey T-shirt that read “Oh. Okay.” under a red tartan bomber jacket. His build was slightly wiry, and his short dark brown hair was messy.