“Tellhimto drop the knife, Lily,” Benedict barked.
“Listen up!You two aren’t the bad guys, so how about you stop fighting each other so we can figure out what is happening—ah!” Her words ended in a scream because glass was suddenly breaking.
The windows were exploding inward.Glass was breaking and flying and a door to the far right had just come crashing open.It banged against the wall even as men in black pants and shirts and masks rushed inside.Armed men.
In a flash, Atlas was off the cop.Atlas was on his feet, and he’d shoved her so that she was behind him.It took her a desperate beat of time to realize that Atlas was protecting her.But they were far outnumbered by the men now fanning out, and there was no way his knife could stop this many attackers.
But one guy rushed forward, standing almost toe to toe with Atlas.She peeked around Atlas and saw the mystery man yank the mask off his head.Not a mask, not exactly.One of those balaclavas that covered his head and fell all the way down to his neck.When he pulled it off, she had a fast impression of a clenched jaw.A glaring expression.
“Boss,” he snapped at Atlas, “you good?”His dark eyes glittered.
Boss?
“No, I’m not fuckinggood,” Atlas snapped back.“What took you so long?Did you stop for drinks?Dinner?A freaking show?I could have been butchered!”
Several of the other armed men surged toward Benedict.
“I’m a cop!”Benedict blasted as he flashed his badge.“Detective Benedict Swain!Now stand the hell down!”
Everyone tensed.There was no standing down, but there was also no attacking, either.
Lily’s heart raced in her chest.Her gaze darted around the room—looked like the den of some old cabin.Lots of wood everywhere.A deer head and antlers on the wall.A bear skin rug on the floor.
Old chairs.
Dust.
Cobwebs.
And a mini army that seemed to be following Atlas’s every command.
“I need someone to tell me…” Benedict bit out.“What in the hell is going on here?”
But she’d just realized exactly what was happening.“Wow,” Lily said, well and truly impressed, and, in this world, it often took quite a bit to impress her.Her focus locked on Atlas.Atlas—in his wrinkled and bloody black suit and white shirt.“You didn’t need saving, did you?”
Atlas turned toward her.His electric blue eyes pinned her, and even the blood dripping toward one of those amazing eyes of his did zero to impact the absolute gorgeousness that was Atlas Bennett.
Pitch black hair.Bright blue eyes.Chiseled jaw.Faint cleft in his chin.Cheekbones made of glass.And an expression that was as cold and unrelenting as death itself.
But as she gaped at him and as she realized exactly what was happening, his slightly cruel lips curled into a smile.One that flashed—of all things—deep dimples.
“No, sweets, I didn’t need saving.I’m far, far past that point.But I do appreciate you trying.”
Her breath shuddered in and out.In and out.Of course, the man did not need saving.He’d just had a small army rush inside, an army under his command.
“Someone needs to tell me what in the hell is happening!”Benedict thundered as he kept his gun up and swinging toward the armed men.“Now!”
“Atlas must be lowjacked.”Lily’s gaze swept around the cabin.There had to be some sort of GPS tracker on him, and that tracker had led the team right to his location.Smart.“His phone was shattered and tossed near his Benz.”She remembered seeing it as she rushed to help.“So he wasn’t tracked via that route.”
“Yourphone is how I found you, Lily,” Benedict groused at her.“One minute, you’re on the phone with me, telling me someone was attacking Atlas, and then I lost you.It’s a damn good thing you kept your phone on for a while—I was able to triangulate the signal with some help and find you.”
It had been a good thing—a deliberate thing.As soon as she’d realized what was happening to Atlas, she’d called Benedict.Then she’d hidden the phone in her waistband, pulling the sweater low to cover it, and rushed to help Atlas.
Her phone had been smashed into a million pieces when she tumbled down the stairs, though.She knew because her feet had crunched on a few of those pieces in the basement.
“Your phone went dead,” Benedict added, “Luckily, I used your last known location to find you.Thislocation.”
Uh, it hadn’t gone dead.It had gonesmash.But…
