Seth Cage (35)—Shane’s right-hand man. Ex-CIA. Shane hired Seth, away from their firm in New York to help clean up a mess for his family, and from there Seth remained on Shane’s personal payroll, as well as taking up the role of head of security at Brandon Enterprises.
Jessica (29)—Shane’s assistant. Ever the loyal employee, she followed him from New York and becomes friends with Emily as Emily starts to work as Brandon Senior’s assistant. Jessica’s job knows no bounds, she helps Shane with everything from securing a new apartment to keeping an eye on Brandon Senior and Derek when Shane is not in the office to relaying any curious goings-on.
Eric Knight—A friend of Shane’s from college who is a brilliant surgeon and has squeaky-clean morals. Eric is the doctor of the patient who was running her mouth about Brandon Pharmaceuticals (BP, part of Brandon Enterprises) being the distributor for an undetectable performance-enhancing drug that her Major League Baseball–player husband is taking. Eric brings this news to Shane, causing Shane to take action.
Adrian Martina—The son of the Mexican cartel leader Roberto Martina. Runs the US side of the operations. He has some sort of relationship with Derek Brandon, the extent of which is not fully known yet. Brother to Teresa Martina, who is sleeping with Derek.
Teresa Martina—Sister to Adrian. Sleeping with Derek. Bartender at Martina’s Casa.
Randy—Security guard of the building where the Brandon Enterprises offices are located. Emily and Shane have a conversation with him over her missing cell phone. Keeps Shane updated on his father’s activities.
Mike Rogers—Sits on the board of Brandon Enterprises. Holds 20 percent of its stock and owns a professional basketball team. Key player in the hedge fund as well. Has a lot to lose if Brandon Enterprises were to shut down their investment division. His company, Rogers Athletics, is one of the proposed investments for the hedge fund. When Seth and Shane try to pull dirt on the board members so they will swing their way in a vote for power of the company, Seth cannot find anything substantial on Mike. Mike is having an affair with Maggie Brandon.
Rick Morgan—Emily’s brother. Is aware of her secrets and why she is hiding. He’s very hard to get in touch with, and his silence and evasiveness make Emily nervous.
Lana Smith—A brilliant scientist and businessperson at Brandon Pharmaceuticals. She wants Shane and has caused him trouble in the past. She hid weed in his car and almost cost him his attendance at Harvard. She is still trying to get close to him now, and caused a slight rift between him and Emily in Hard Rules.
Nick Snyder—Knows Seth from their CIA/FBI days. Saved Seth’s life, and now Seth has brought him to Shane so Nick can help get to the bottom of the true involvement of the Martina cartel in Brandon Enterprises. Confirms that Brandon Enterprises’ trucking division is already distributing cocaine. Is going to help Shane and Seth figure out how to maneuver a takedown and extricate the company out of the hold of the Martina cartel.
CHAPTER ONE
EMILY
You could always sacrifice your queen and let her die a royal death. Would it—would she—be worth it to win?
Those words, a threat against my life spoken by Derek only minutes before, seem to whisper in the Colorado wind around us, taunting Shane and me where we stand under a tree in his parents’ yard, our foreheads joined, mocking our desire to dismiss them as nothing but words and my desire to believe Shane’s promises that everything will be okay. He means it, I know he does, and I’d wanted him to say those words, but now I am coming to my senses, remembering what my family taught me all too well—my brother, most especially. Promises, even well-intended ones, are like water in a cracked glass. One wrong lift or squeeze and it shatters, and in this case, with potentially bloody consequences.
I shut my eyes, and for a moment or two, or maybe even three, I let myself revel in Shane’s words again:
We’re okay.…
Everything is okay.…
But as surely as I soak in my desire for those things to be true, I flash back to the moment inside the house, when Derek had looked up from the chess game he’d been playing with Shane, and right at me. To those moments when he’d captured my stare, held it, and then issued that threat, and I’d seen the deep malicious intent and evil in his eyes.
We are not okay.
I shiver in a chilly gust of April evening wind blowing across the Rocky Mountains, and Shane’s strong hands come down on my upper arms, the heat of his touch seeping through my navy silk blouse. “You need your wrap,” he says, rubbing up and down my arms. “And I don’t even have a jacket on to be gallant and warm you up.”
“I don’t have my wrap because I rushed out here in a reactive mode I should never have let anyone see,” I say as more of the typical Denver evening winds lift my hair into my face. I shove it away, reminded that it is now brown but should be blond, the brunette color as fake as my name and identity. Another reality I think of in this moment, because this is my new life, by Shane’s side, and I don’t want it to be as a liability, but rather as an asset. “And you don’t need to be gallant or make promises I shouldn’t have asked you to make,” I add. “We need to go back inside. The longer we’re out here, the more it seems like I’m some scared fool.”
He arches a brow. “Scared fool?” He laughs, one of those deep, sexy rumbles that proves he’s not as starched as his white shirt, while also telling me that he’s not taking my concerns seriously.
“This isn’t funny,” I say, my hand closing around the navy tie I’d chosen for him out of some romantic notion that we’d match for his family dinner, which doesn’t feel romantic anymore.
His hands return to my arms. “No one thinks you’re scared. If anything, they think you’re angry.”
“I am angry. And not at your father for inviting me to stir up trouble, or your brother for making sure he got it. That’s just who they are. I know this, and I still gave them both a reaction. And then you reacted. I made myself your weakness.” I grab his wrists, urgency growing inside me. “We need to go back inside,” I say again. I try to move away from him.
He holds on to me. “Don’t go in there thinking you have something to prove. You don’t.”
“I let them think I was scared.”
“The human—and normal—reaction to someone threatening your life is fear, sweetheart, and I’m going to get you the hell out of here.”
“No,” I say. “No. I have to go in there and correct this. And later I’m going to apologize properly for asking you to make unfair promises.”
“I repeat. The normal—”
“Don’t say that again, Shane. ‘Normal’ doesn’t apply to my life or yours, and we both know that. I’m human, yes, but I should have waited to freak out until we were alone. I’m pissed at myself, and you should be pissed at me. Why aren’t you pissed at me?”
He cups my face. “I don’t want you to become cold and callous like my mother. Ever. I want you to have feelings. I want you to be human.”