“Hands up,” Seth barked.
Noah complied and Liam tossed his weapon onto the floor, then carefully raised his hands up and laced his fingers behind his head.
Seth slowly advanced, his gun never lowering and his gaze never moving from Liam and Noah. When he was close enough to get to the weapons Liam and Noah had discarded, he bent carefully and retrieved them. Then he motioned for Liam to move to the couch where Noah stood.
“Sit down. Both of you.”
Liam blew out an exasperated breath. Damn it, they didn’t have time for this shit.
Seth backed toward the door where Lauren still stood, wide-eyed, taking it all in.
“Are you all right?” Seth asked in a low voice.
She nodded vigorously. “Seth, they aren’t here to hurt me. Max hired them. I mean before, when I was in New York. He hired them to protect me after what happened. They’ve been investigating and they came because they needed to ask me some questions.”
Seth glanced back and forth between the two men on the couch and Lauren, almost as if trying to gauge whether Lauren was acting and speaking of her own free will.
Evidently satisfied that she was, he slowly lowered his weapon and holstered it. He turned back to Lauren. “One of my deputies reported seeing two badass-looking guys forcing their way into your apartment. He hightailed it into the office to report to me. I told him to call Max, and then I got over here as fast as I could.”
Lauren groaned. “Did you have to call Max, Seth? You could have waited to see what was going on before you got him all worked up.”
Seth’s eyebrow went up. “We all look out for you, Lauren. Max would kick my ass if I didn’t let him know about this. Besides, if he hired them, then he ought to be happy they’re doing their job.”
Then he turned to Noah and Liam and held out his hand. “Seth Colter. I’m sheriff here. Lauren is family, and we take family very seriously. We watch out for her.”
Liam stood and shook Seth’s hand, and then Noah did the same.
“No hard feelings,” Noah said mildly. “I’m glad she has plenty of people watching out for her safety. She needs it since she wasn’t exactly truthful about what danger she’s in.”
Seth frowned and looked back at Lauren. “What does that mean?”
Lauren’s face went red and her eyes gleamed with a murderous light.
“Don’t think you’re getting off scot-free,” Noah warned. “Max has to know. Seth sure as hell needs to know. He’s the sheriff here and he has responsibility for far too many lives to be kept in the dark.”
Seth scowled. “Somebody mind telling me what the hell is going on here?”
Lauren glanced behind her through the still-open door, and when she turned back, her lips were pulled down into an expression of unhappiness
“You may as well hold off on any explanation,” she said, displeasure evident in her tone. “Max is here, and he’s going to want to hear everything.”
CHAPTER 5
HOW had everything so quickly spiraled out of control? Lauren wanted to do nothing more than order everyone out of her apartment and bar the door. But she knew that wasn’t going to solve anything.
It was bad enough she was going to have to explain to her brother that she’d lied to him. But now Noah and Liam were here. In the flesh. In her tiny living room. And she was going to have to confess everything in front of Seth, and while he was family, she was uncomfortable with so many people knowing just how badly she’d screwed up.
“Lauren? Seth?” Max called.
She could hear the anxiety in his voice, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
“It’s okay, Max. Come on up,” Seth called down. “Lauren is fine.”
A few moments later, Max burst into the room, his gaze immediately seeking Lauren out. He went to her and pulled her into his arms. She sighed and absorbed the hug, resting her head against his chest. She was just waiting for the bubble to burst and for reality—and her past—to rudely intrude.
Max pulled her away, palming her shoulders. Then he glanced beyond her to where Noah and Liam now stood just a few feet away.
“What’s going on? Why are you two here? Is Lauren in danger?”
Liam shot her a look of sympathy. Noah had less mercy, however.
“Lauren lied to us about who hurt her,” Noah said bluntly. “When we found out, we came here immediately to question her.”
Max frowned, and Lauren could see the wheels turning in his head as he grappled with what Noah had just thrown at him. His jaw went tight, a sure sign of anger, and he started forward, but she put her hand on his arm.
“Don’t, Max,” she said in a low voice. “I did lie.”
He jerked his gaze from Noah and Liam, his eyes wide with astonishment. “Why on earth would you lie? I don’t understand. I saw what you looked like, Lauren. You can’t tell me that son of a bitch didn’t put those bruises on you.”
Her lips turned down again, and she glanced away, tears stinging the lids of her eyes. But she gulped them back. She wasn’t going to use a dirty trick to get out of this. It was time to own up to what she’d done.
“She made up a name and description of someone else,” Liam said.
He took a step toward Lauren until he was close enough that she could feel the warmth emanating from him. His hand slid up her back and remained between her shoulder blades. No one could see where his hand rested, but she appreciated the show of support more than she could possibly verbalize.
“Why?” Max demanded.
Seth frowned and leaned against the doorway that separated the living room from the small kitchen area. “I’m lost.”
“She was afraid,” Liam said quietly. “Joel Knight is the asshole’s name and he’s involved in prostitution. According to Lauren, he has quite a few people on his payroll, including several members of law enforcement.” He sighed hard and glanced sideways at Lauren. “She was trying to protect you . . . and us.”
Max stared at Liam for a long moment as if he thought Liam had lost his mind. Then he turned his gaze to Lauren. “Is this true?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“What else did you lie about?” Max asked bluntly. “What did he do to you, Lauren? You said he hit you. That he slapped and punched you. What else did that son of a bitch do to you? What else haven’t you told me?”
The blood drained out of her face, and she could no longer meet her brother’s gaze. Liam slid his arm around her, uncaring that Max was mere feet away, and Liam squeezed her shoulders, pulling her underneath his arm until she was flat against him, one shoulder lodged solidly underneath his.
“There’s no need to have this discussion in front of so many people,” Liam said in a low voice. “Lauren’s embarrassed and scared enough as it is.”
She wanted to hug him and never let go. But at the same time, she was ashamed of the fact she was still hiding, only this time she was hiding behind Liam.
Max blew out a deep breath and then scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I just want to know what the hell is going on. First question. Is Lauren in any immediate danger? Is this asshole coming after her?”
Noah held up his hand. “We have no reason to believe he has any idea where she is. We sure as hell haven’t told anyone. We came because we needed to confirm what our source told us so that we can do some more digging on this guy.”
Max’s lips tightened. “You should have contacted me first. You work for me.”
Liam nodded. “Yeah, we do. But we weren’t going to you with the possibility that Lauren had held back information unless we knew that to be true. And the only way to find that out was to ask her.”
