Murder Notes (Lilah Love #1)

“Now you’re protecting my honor? I just made that man think that I came over here to play a sex game with you.”

“Because it was the right decision. No matter who or what we are in private, to that man you’re my woman, and if he touches you, he dies. That’s the message you needed to send.”

“No. What I needed to do was arrest you both.”

“On what charges, Lilah?”

“Kidnapping for you,” I say.

“He wouldn’t press charges. There’s no crime here. Walk away.”

Now I step back, my badge the invisible line between us. “If he ends up dead, I will arrest you. Do you understand? I’ll have to.”

“I told you. I won’t kill him unless I have to.”

“Spoken like the true patriarch of the Mendez Cartel.”

“I am what I have to be for reasons I hope you never have to understand. And as for arresting me, everything we’re saying is being recorded, Agent Love.”

“Now you’re threatening me?”

“I’m still protecting you,” he says. “I’m setting you free. Now you don’t have to question your decision to walk away. I made it for you.”

“Fuck you, Kane.”

“Later, Lilah. What did the old man tell you?”

“I’ll talk to him myself. You’re recording me. I have nothing else to lose by staying.”

“You’re leaving and when you wake up tomorrow morning, remember two things: you were never here, and I did what I had to do to protect you.”

The way he says those words, cold and calculated, sends a chill down my spine. “What does that mean, Kane?”

“You’re going to leave now, Lilah.”

Those words are a proverbial slammed door. He’s shut me out. I see it. I feel it, and since I’m the only person on this planet who has ever influenced him, that’s dangerous for everyone he intends to punish. “On one condition,” I barter.

“Sorry, beautiful. As much as I enjoy the challenge of your conditions, not this time.” His hand comes down on mine on the counter. I pull back, but not before I feel the pinprick, which might be nothing, except that this is Kane, and just as he says nothing without purpose, his actions follow the same rules.

“Holy fuck,” I hiss, the room starting to spin. “What did you just do to me?”

“Gave you the gift of deniability.”

I sway and he catches me and my fingers close around his shirt, anger surviving the haze overwhelming me. “I’m going to . . . fuck you, Kane.” The stupidity of how those words have come together is the last thing I remember before everything goes dark.