~CHAPTER NINETY THREE~
“Noted,” he says, but there’s hesitation beneath it, like my words didn’t sit right with him.
Before anything else can follow, the door bursts open.
Elijah steps in quickly, his presence filling the room with urgency. His eyes flick toward where I’m seated on Hardin’s lap. It lingers long enough to register the position, the closeness, the ownership. Then he immediately lowers his head.
“I’m sorry, Boss. Our men at the south location were ambushed. Three are confirmed dead, shot on sight.”
The shift in Hardin is instant.
I feel it before I even look at him, the way his body goes rigid beneath me, the way his arm tightens slightly around my waist. The air changes. The warmth that had been building between us is replaced by something cold, and stiff.
“Did they c
