“What the heck just happened?” I turned towards Patrick. With a sigh, he pressed a hand to his temple. He slowly stood up and pushed his chair back under the table. He closed his eyes and shook his head.
“What did I do?” I stood up and held out my hands. “What? Is no one supposed to challenge the great and powerful Kyler Grant, even a little?”
“Why do you feel the need to challenge us?” He walked toward the door. “We’re not at war with you.”
CHAPTER 6
PATRICK
Recognition finally flickered in her eyes, followed by the sharp realization she’d messed up. Disappointment soured in my gut. Even after what Randall discovered, I figured she would play it smarter than that.
“I have to fix this,” she whispered. It took a second to realize what she meant. She took off toward the back hallway. It led to Kyler’s office. His private office, which we were currently using new technology to ramp up his security. It went into lockdown if anyone entered without proper clearance.
Kylie did not have proper clearance.
“Kylie.” I ran after her and spotted her as she stepped across the threshold; the steel door slammed behind her. “Fuck.” It was almost comical.
I veered towards the security office just before Kyler’s door and punched in my code. The bank of monitors sprang to life, the center one with a view into the room. I turned on the audio. Rayna came running in.
“What’s going on?” Her wide eyes scanned the monitors. “Where’s Daddy?”
She gasped and headed back out the door. I grabbed the back of her shirt and pulled her toward me.
“Let me go,” Rayna struggled. “She’s trying to hurt my Daddy.” Kyler locked in his office with a woman brought up unpleasant flashbacks for Rayna. She was territorial about her daddy. Natalie, Rayna’s oldfriend,had the scar on her lip to prove it.
“Rayna.” I sat down and pulled her onto my lap. “Look. He’s fine.”
We added biometrics to the entire security system after the Natalie fiasco, another one of my failures. The room could protect Kyler from a bomb, a plane crash, or a small army, but apparently, it wasn’t little proof.
We watched on the monitor as Kylie ran back to the door and tried to yank it open. I turned up the volume. “Let me out,” she said.
“Unfortunately, I can’t,” Kyler remained calm, if not a little amused, sitting behind his desk. “Kylie, please sit down.”
“You can’t keep me here against my will.”
“I have no intention of keeping you against your will.” He shut his computer screen. “Security measures make this room off-limits.”
“What are you going to do to me?”
“You came in here.” He leaned forward. “What were you going to do tome?” The snark in his voice was unmistakable. He was enjoying this.
“We were having a conversation, and you walked away.” She approached the chair opposite Kyler’s desk but gripped the back of it instead of taking a seat.
“Well, yes, I thought we were having a conversation, but you felt the need to assert some sort of dominance to prove some point. I’m sure you’ve seen in my FBI file, dominant is my default, but not yours, am I right?”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s be honest.” Kyler stood up. She didn’t move, but her knuckles were white where she gripped the chair. “You have an agenda. If you want to tell me what it is, I’ll listen. But even with that in mind, you are right; we did come to you. We have a need, and you have a specific skill set to benefit me and the people I choose to protect.”
Kyler was being fair, but she was about to walk into a word trap where she would have to reveal something about herself.
“What skills are those, exactly?”
“You’re a former analyst with the FBI. You are fully informed on the latest regarding the sex-trafficking trade. And eliminating it in the world is my personal goal. We align in that regard.” He leaned back against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “Plus, you’re a little.”
Rayna gasped in my arms, but the sound harmonized with the gasp from Kylie through the monitor. She stepped back toward the door. “No, I’m not.”
“Kylie, surely you know being a little is not something you should be ashamed of,” the smug bastard said. “And, as I’m sure my file states, you are already aware my dominance leans toward the Daddy Dom side.”
