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James came to the rescue, breaking the edgy silence following the reverberation of his roars. “I’ve been told we don’t use the M word around here, Aarav. But I’m proud of you for expressing your emotions. Seems like it wasn’t a wasted trip after all.”

Their friends grinned. Ruby winked at Sola, and Kennedy beamed as she leaned her head on Marcus’s shoulder.

Jordan cleared his throat. “I’m incredibly sorry, Aarav. And Cash. And Sola. It’s my job to make absolutely sure our targets are valid. This will never happen again. I promise you.”

Liam, who’d had the misfortune to be sitting on Aarav’s other side, rose and picked the chair off the floor, righting it and sliding it back to him. He put his hand on Aarav’s shoulder and pressed lightly. “You were doing your job. And you stopped in time. Sola’s okay. Cash is okay. You’re okay.”

Aarav looked down then at Sola and Cash, both of whom were shooting him anxious looks. He allowed his shaky legs to fold then, sinking back into place beside them. He felt an obligation to Cash to protect the man while this got sorted out. He was as blameless as the people who’d been blown up in that market square. The evil they were hunting had nearly cost him his life.

“We will make sure you’re safe,” Aarav promised him.

“From what?” Cash looked between Sola and Aarav.

Jordan took over, breaking the bad news. “Here’s what we had. What I saw…”

Ruby changed the display. Graphic images of Jay Barber, weapons caches, the aftermath in the square, and a pile of documents with Cash’s name and supposed signature on them wallpapered the room.

It took a few minutes for Cash to process it all and come to the same conclusion that Jordan had. “My father was going under and he made a deal with those bastards? To what? Launder their money? And he pinned it on me? Jesus fucking Christ!”

“It was a good plan. A great plan even. And very convincing.” Jordan winced. “I am truly sorry. For the record, Sola is getting a raise and a hefty bonus for seeing what none of the rest of us did.”

“That’s not necessary.” She shook her head.

Cash put his hand on hers and clasped it, making Aarav jealous…of them both. “I think it’s well deserved. If you take it, that will make me feel a lot better about things. It’s hard right now for me to have faith in anyone. Except you. And if you vouch for the rest of these people then I’ll trust your opinion. In fact, I want to help you put a stop to this. Not only to clear my name, but because this is a new level of disgusting, even for my father.”

“You would do that?” Sola asked quietly.

Cash nodded. “I’m well aware he’s not a saint. Scruples have never been his thing. I mean, heismarried to my freaking ex after all, isn’t he?”

“That’s fucked up.” James leaned forward. “I need to know all about it.”

Ruby snorted but didn’t interrupt Cash as he explained.

“I brought Paris to one of my father’s casinos for some stupid high-roller event. To be fair, I was only really with her to get that asshole off my back. He’d been trying to hook me up with women he approved of every chance he got ever since he walked in on me making out with the son of his head landscaper when I was fifteen.” He shrugged, but Sola shifted closer to him, still holding his hand.

Aarav and the rest of the Shields, gauging by their raised brows and glances at where Sola and Cash were linked, would have to be dead not to notice the spark of attraction between them even though they hadn’t witnessed Cash’s damn impressive erection while watching them from the shower the day before.

It didn’t take top-notch investigative skills to figure out Cash was bisexual. If he was waiting for them to be judgmental about it like his father had been, James would be more likely to wear all black first.

“Anyway, I picked someone I knew my father would approve of. I guess I did a little too good of a job.” There was no inflection in Cash’s explanation, but Aarav knew that strategy well enough. Try to strip out the painful things in life, bury them deep, and act like they didn’t matter. It wasn’t a viable long-term strategy, as his earlier outburst—and his wild liaison with Sola on the jet—proved.

“So where was his wife yesterday? There were at least a half dozen women drooling over him at the grand opening.” Sola cringed.

“Who knows? I said he was married, not faithful.” Cash shrugged.

“To be fair, there are an awful lot of people in this room who have multi-partner relationships.” James filled Cash in. “I have a wife and a husband. So does Jordan. Kennedy, Knox, and Marcus are a trio. I could go on but suffice it to say, we understand there are non-traditional arrangements—”

“So you’re telling me you’re a band of righteous assassins with shoddy informants and kinky sex lives? Good for you. Anyway, that’s not what I’m talking about.” Cash’s easy acceptance made him grow on Aarav a little more. “My father isn’t open and honest with Paris about it. His affairs aren’t about their mutual desires or consensual exploration. He’s just an asshole.”

“In that case, fuck him.” James glowered.

“Anyway, it’s been three years since that whole debacle. During that time, I’ve kept to myself and he’s generally left me alone. It was odd that he insisted I come yesterday and now…I’m wondering…”

“Did his father set this whole thing up?” Sola finished his thought. “Beyond making it look like Cash had done the deal with Jay Barber to cover his own ass, wasMr. Kalykalaostrying to get us to off Cash for him and use that as an excuse to cool down on the laundering so he could get back to his life of simple indiscretions without the demands of the gunrunners screwing up his fun?”

“Seems plausible.” Jordan steepled his fingers as he considered the possibility. “He certainly has the resources to pay someone off and feed us false data.”

“Honestly, this is a new level of scummy, even for him.” Cash rubbed his temple.


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