Lee bit his lip as though to keep from smiling at my attempt to scold him. “It is inexcusable — you’re right. But it wasn’t all for you. You know how I feel about drugs. Something had to be done.” He paused and took a step closer until there was hardly any space between us. “And if it meant I got to teach him a lesson for so much as even thinking about laying his hands on you, then all the better.” His voice was a low, husky murmur, and I felt my throat tighten with opposing emotions. I wanted to kiss him and slap him all at the same time.

“I don’t know why you’re acting so casual right now. If Carl decides to press charges, you could get six months for aggravated assault, more if it turns out that anybody was seriously injured,” I told him.

Lee levelled his eyes on me. “Finley won’t be pressing charges. That’s not how we do things.”

“Oh, it’s a ‘we,’ is it? So you consider yourself the same sort of person as him? How reassuring.”

“Not what I meant.”

I shook my head and opened the door, gripping his upper arm to move him forward. “This conversation is over. Now start walking,” I ordered him.

He stepped out into the corridor, and I heard loud voices up ahead.

“Fucking hell,” Lee swore, looking to his right.

I stepped past him just in time to see Carl Finley head-butt one of the two constables who’d been trying to escort him to an interview room. Lee positioned his body in front of mine, as though to shield me from getting caught in the crossfire. My heart clenched momentarily at the protective move, but then the officers got the upper hand, restraining Carl to the floor. The one he’d head-butted kicked him hard in the lower abdomen, and Carl grunted in pain. Seeing that they had things under control, I began to guide Lee farther down the corridor.

He chuckled quietly as we passed by Carl, who twisted his head to look up at Lee, venom in his eyes. Lee glanced at the constable who’d kicked him, still laughing.

“That’s bang out of order, mate.”

“Shut it or you’ll be next,” the constable spat.

“Just try it,” said Lee, baring his teeth.

The constable took a step forward, but I narrowed my gaze at him and intervened just in time.

“A little bit of professionalism wouldn’t go amiss, Connors,” I said sternly before continuing to guide Lee away.

“You’re too good for this shit,” Lee said once we were alone again, his statement surprising me. He walked ahead of me, so all I could see was his back. I still held his upper arm, whether to keep him from running off or to appease my need to touch him, I wasn’t sure.

When I didn’t respond, he kept talking. “I hate thinking of you being hurt, Karla, hate imagining you in all the dangerous situations you have to walk into every day.”

His words stirred a pang of emotion in my gut, but I tried to bat it down and keep my voice steady as I whispered, “And you think that doesn’t go both ways? I hate thinking of your life just as much as you hate thinking of mine.”

Lee didn’t breathe a word after that, and when I locked him into the cell, he stared at his hands, clearly deep in thought.

***

It was four days after seeing him at the station that I decided to visit Lee’s garage. I drove over in my own car, hoping he’d be around. It was only when I arrived that I remembered they didn’t open on weekends. Engaging the handbrake, I sat there for a moment, wondering what the hell I was doing.

The radio silence on his end worried me, and I desperately wanted to know if he was doing anything to remove himself from McGregor’s inner circle. I knew the only way he was going to be able to do it peacefully was to buy himself out, but how much would that even cost?

I had no idea.

Finally deciding I was being an idiot for trying to see him, I determined to go home and quit wasting my time worrying over a man who wasn’t even my partner. In the grand scale of things, very little had happened between us. We’d had sex a few times; that was it. I needed to give myself a good firm reality check.

It was evening, and the sky was just beginning to darken when I took one last look at the doors to Lee’s garage. I furrowed my brow when I noticed something on the ground, and on closer inspection I realised it was actually someone.

Without thinking I got out of the car, hurrying over to help the crumpled body lying in a heap. He wore a peaked cap, but when I gently pushed it up with my fingers, I saw it was Liam. Half his face was bashed in, and blood stained his clothing. Feeling for a pulse, I let out a relieved breath to find he was alive and still breathing, albeit raggedly. It took me only a few minutes to look him over and determine his injuries. His body was badly bruised and he had several painful-looking cuts, but there were no bullets or fatal wounds as far as I could tell.

Pulling my phone from my pocket, I began dialling the number for emergency services when a hand suddenly shot out, plucking the phone from my grasp. Liam was awake.

“Don’t,” he croaked. “Just bring me home. Find Lee.”

“You’re hurt,” I said. “You need an ambulance.”

“No,” he went on fervently. “No ambulance, please.”

The fierce look in his eyes gave me pause, and entirely on instinct I ran to my car, opening the back door before returning to Liam and helping him to stand. It was a good thing I was strong, because anyone else might have had a hard time getting the muscular twenty-year-old into the back of their car. Once I had him situated, I slid into the front and started the engine, heading in the direction of Lee’s house. Glancing through the overhead mirror I saw that Liam had passed out again.

I was already there, rushing to the front door and knocking frantically, when I wondered why I hadn’t gone to the hospital, or called the station to make a report. It was a sobering thought, and not for the first time I questioned just how much of an influence my feelings for Lee were having on my actions.

Trevor answered the door, the smile instantly dropping from his face when he saw my panicked expression. Without saying a word, I grabbed his hand and yanked him outside, pulling him to my car and opening the back door. He swore profusely when he saw the state Liam was in, then ran back inside the house. Before I knew it, Stu and Lee were there, their entire forms twisting with rage when they saw their youngest brother. Sophie came out of the house, too, her hand going to her mouth in shock.

I watched silently as they worked together to get him inside. They all laid him carefully down on the couch, while Sophie ran upstairs to grab a first aid kit. Once Liam was settled, Lee came to me, his hands going to my face as he looked me directly in the eyes. There was a strain in his voice, his rage barely concealed. My breathing was still frantic, my heartbeat racing.

“Tell me what happened, Karla, and start from the beginning.”

I quickly relayed how I’d gone to his garage to speak with him and found Liam on the ground. Trevor and Stu were mere feet away, listening to me as I spoke.

“This has Finley written all over it,” Stu growled, his hands clenched tightly into fists.

Lee’s fingers dropped from my face as he shot Stu a loaded glance. A hundred words were exchanged in the silence, and then all three brothers were on the move. I had no idea what was happening, but I followed Lee into the hallway, where he opened a storage closet, pulling out a baseball bat, a steel pole, and a hammer. He handed all three to Stu before running up the stairs.

I was in too much shock to react, staring at them as they gathered munitions with my mouth open. When Lee came back downstairs, he wore a black hoodie with the zipper pulled all the way to the top. Next he tied a bandana around his face, covering everything but his eyes before pulling up his hood.

“No,” I said, my voice harsh. “No fucking way. You’re not doing this.”