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The words were spat at Shane, but he tried hard not to snatch her up and shake her, so he chose his words carefully.
“You need a bodyguard.”
“I can guard my own body just fine. I thought your promise was foryouto protect me. That’s all I’ve heard about for the last two days. So much so, we were forced to get married. Instead of protecting me, you’re planning to leave me for someone else to protect? Really, Shane? That’s your big plan?”
“No, Francesca. That isn’t my big plan. My plan is to get you to safety with people I trust while I eliminate the threat. I need to do this without distractions and—”
“I’m sorry yourwife—something I didn’t want to be, to begin with—is such a fucking distraction.”
“Taking you to Valhalla is for your protection and not up for discussion. I trust Phantom with my life, and I know he and his will take care of you. End of discussion.”
“Phantom?You think you are going to leave me with someone namedPhantom?” Her mouth gaped open.
“Phantom is a good man, love,” Brad volunteered.
“He truly is,” Mak said. “We’ve worked with him before he…”
“Before he, what? Did he lose his mind and do something? Is that why he’s no longer a SEAL?”
“No, nothing like that. He is still a SEAL, will always be a SEAL,” Brad started, but Shane interrupted. His tone, barely audible, cold as steel, cut through the room and to the heart of the matter.
“Hudson, whose nickname is Phantom, lost his leg on a mission a few years back. To make this incredibly clear, so there are no questions later, Phantom lost his leg during a mission I was on, in a helicopter that I was also inside of. He was shot by a terrorist while protecting my Senior Chief’s woman from imminent danger. He literally used his body as a shield and took bullets meant for her. When I say I trust him with your life, I mean I literally trust him with your life.”
“Let me get this right, you’re going to leave me with a one-legged man, who you think will protect me better than I can protect myself, while you go on a suicide mission to—”
“That’s enough!” Everyone jumped when Shane slammed his fist on the table. “Apparently, you can’t listen. Go to the bedroom and wait for me.”
She opened her mouth to say something, likely to argue, but Mak covered her hand with one of hers and whispered something to her.
Glaring at Shane, Frankie stood, knocking her chair to the ground, no doubt on purpose, and stomped out of the room to the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. He’d make sure she paid for that little tantrum.
Shane was shaking with fury.
How dare she continue to question his judgment? He constantly had to remind himself she wasn’t one of his men and wasn’t conditioned to follow his orders, but damnit, enough. If he had to condition her himself, he would do it.
He was pushing down all the anger, all the hatred, all the pain from losing his entire family, and it kept threatening to come to the surface. He couldn’t afford for it to get loose, not yet. When he found the assholes who did this, he would allow it to flow out of him and into their fucking faces. Until then, he had to keep a lid on it, although it was damned near killing him to do so. He was a simmering fucking time bomb, waiting to go off. He was determined to keep Frankie away from the sight of him unleashed. She would never look at him the same way if she saw the damage he could inflict on another human being.
The longer these feelings simmered, the worse they got. He was a hard man, a well-trained man, but he wasn’t perfect. There was a limit on how much the pot could hold before it boiled over, and he was just about at that limit. Maybe he needed to let off some steam and teach his new bride a thing or two about listening and following directions.
Frankie
She felt like an idiot. She had fallen for his Prince Charming to the rescue act. She had begun to think he was a good guy who cared about her wellbeing, agreeing to cooperate with him, to have a truce of sorts, and the first chance he got, he went behind her back and made plans to get rid of her?
Was this his plan all along? Force her to marry him under the guise of protection, then toss her into the arms of another man? She would give him a piece of her mind. She paced the bedroom that they had slept in the night before, waiting for him to come in.
Shane stalked into the room a moment later, his face blank of emotion. It didn’t matter. She knew howshefelt. He crossedthe room so quickly, her mind spun, but she didn’t pause before starting her tirade.
“Howdareyou? How. Dare. You!” she shrieked, her finger poking his chest with each word. “I am not a child you can pick up and move around. I am not a pawn in a fucking game. I am—”
“My wife.” His hand went around her throat and pinned her against the wall. He wasn’t squeezing, wasn’t hurting her. It was just resting there as a sign of authority.
“You. Are. My. Wife.”
His face was close enough for her to feel his warm breath.
“You are not innocent to what this world, our fathers’ world, is like, Francesca. You grew up in it, have been exposed to it since birth. You know the wives are expected to obey the husbands.”
“But you aren’t ofourworld any longer. You made that clear. You left and never looked back, remember?” Even with his hand around her throat, she wasn’t backing down. She wasn’t afraid of him, not in that way. He wouldn’t harm her. How often had he repeated the promise he had made to protect her?
