“If you’d kept your dick in your pants, you’d have been married to Linda by now,” her father griped.

“No, he wouldn’t.” All heads swiveled toward the door where Linda stood. She appeared pale, but her shoulders were thrown back.

She looked like a queen as she closed the door and strode toward them. Levi recognized the burgundy suit as the same one she’d worn yesterday. Her heels made no sound on the gray carpet. She tossed her purse on the table. Ignoring her family and Dyson, she turned to him. “Hello, Levi. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

He was so proud of her. She carried herself with poise and class, barely blinking at finding him here even though he knew he had to have thrown her off with his presence. “I wasn’t expecting to see you either. I’d planned to talk to you about this over dinner this evening.”

“I see,” she said, even though he knew she didn’t understand at all what he was doing here.

“Linda,” her father began. “Do you have any idea who this man is?”

Levi stood beside her, ready to support her in any way, as he listened to her father spill the sordid details of his childhood.

Linda was shocked to find Levi in the conference room with her father, brother and Simon. When she’d entered the office, the reception desk had been empty. She’d headed toward her father’s office, but had heard the loud voices and detoured to the conference room instead. The last thing she’d expected to find was Levi.

She could feel the heat from his body as he stood beside her. The gesture was more than symbolic. She had no idea why he was here, but she trusted him and knew he would support her. There was no verbal commitment between them, no talk of love or a future, yet she didn’t doubt for one second that Levi was on her side.

She listened as her father related the shocking facts of Levi’s childhood. It was appalling. And what was worse was her father was obviously gloating over the fact that Levi had grown up in the slums with an addict for a mother who hadn’t cared for him at all.

“It’s clear to me that he came here today with fabricated stories to blackmail us. It’s money he wants, either from you or us. Probably both. You can’t trust his kind. He has no job, no ambition.” Her father thumped his fist on the table.

Linda almost jumped, but managed to stop herself. He’d used that ploy over and over when she’d been a child. And every now and again, he’d finish off by slapping her. No one else knew that. Well, she suspected her mother knew, but she didn’t care enough to do anything about it.

She looked up at Levi. He was wearing his usual impassive expression, which told her nothing. “Do you want money, Levi?”

“No.” He didn’t deny their allegations of blackmail or add anything else in his defense. But that was Levi.

She nodded and turned back to her father. “He doesn’t want money.”

Her brother shoved his seat back and stood. “You’re too stupid to know when someone is taking advantage of you. Of course he wants money. He’s even willing to sleep with you to get it.”

She felt the shift in Levi and the air in the room thickened with menace. Reaching out, she grabbed his hand and gave it a brief warning squeeze to keep him from going after her brother. Whatever Levi’s intentions were, she’d figure them out later. Right now, she needed to put a stop to this.

“What I do with Levi is none of your business.” She took two steps forward and laid her hands flat on the table, glaring at her father and Simon. Austin still stood watching her. “You’ve tied up grandmother’s money for now, but I will get it eventually.”

“You’ll lose your building and your business if you don’t come to your senses,” her father countered.

Linda gave a bitter laugh. “If I did what you wanted and came home, I’d lose it anyway. I’d also lose myself and any scrap of self-respect I ever had.” She straightened and shrugged. “So I’ll lose the building. But not my business. Past Promises is a separate legal entity from my personal loan. I’m not stupid, despite what you may think. I’ll rent a new space and move forward from there. Whenever my inheritance comes through, I’ll buy another building.”

“You don’t have any money.” She could sense the glee in her father’s tone.

“But I do have friends willing to help me. And I don’t need much money to live.”

“That’s preposterous.” Her brother grabbed her by the upper arms and pulled her close. “Why do you always have to be so difficult?”

“You’ll want to let her go. Now.” She heard the thread of steel in Levi’s voice, and apparently so did Austin. He let her go slowly and took a step back.

“Why do you care?” she asked her brother.

“He needs the money.” Levi’s voice was low, but it carried to all of them. “They all need the money.”

It hurt her. Even though she knew her family and Simon had never loved her, it made her stomach hurt to realize all they did care about was money.

“That’s a lie,” her father began, indignation in his voice. “Who are you going to believe? This killer or us. That’s what he is, you know.”

“He was in the army and we’re at war.” How dare her father toss Levi’s service to his country back into his face.

“He’s nothing more than a hired killer, sanctioned by the government. He wasn’t a regular soldier.” Her father aimed his derision at Levi. “He was in a special unit. The one they call when they want certain people dead but don’t want to be held publicly accountable for it. I have friends at the Pentagon.”

“Oh, give it up, father.” Linda felt suddenly tired and beaten down. It was time to finish this. “I’m never coming home. After today, I’m severing all contact with all of you. I’m seeing my lawyer after this and if you don’t stop harassing me, I’ll file charges or get a restraining order. That becomes public record and wouldn’t the gossip mongers have a field day with that.”

“You wouldn’t dare!” her father yelled. “What would that do to your mother?”

Linda snorted. “As long as mother can throw her parties, I doubt she’d even notice.”

“You ungrateful bitch.” Her brother was staring at her with such venom she was suddenly glad that Levi was beside her.

“This is done.” She picked up her purse and tucked it under her arm. “I’ll fight as long as it takes, but I will get grandmother’s money, just as she wanted me to. And I will have my own life.” She glanced at Levi and then back at her father. “I’ll also sleep with whoever I damn well choose. As of this moment, you’re no longer my family. I’m officially disowning all of you.”

“You’ll regret this.”

Ignoring her father, she looked at Levi. “Are you coming?” Her stomach was one giant knot. If she didn’t get out of here soon, she was afraid she was going to keel over in pain.

“I need another minute.”

“Fine.” She needed to get away from her family and Simon. They left her feeling slightly nauseous and vaguely unclean.

Levi waited until the door closed behind Linda. “As of this moment, you’re out of Linda’s life.”

“You can’t tell me what to do, you guttersnipe.” The elder Fletcher’s face was an interesting shade of red. “I’ll ruin you.”

“You can try.” Levi nodded at the papers spread on the table. “Those are copies. Feel free to keep them. They outline all your activities, both illegal and questionable. If you persist in harassing Linda, those details will be made public.”

Levi shut his briefcase and continued, “If you think to take more drastic measures, please be assured that if anything happens to me, these papers will be made public immediately. Plus,” he paused for effect, “I have several associates who would make it their life’s work to take revenge on my behalf. There would be nowhere in the world where you would be safe.”

“Who are you?” Linda’s brother asked in a strained voice.

“Not someone you want to make an enemy of.” Picking up his briefcase, he headed for the door. “Oh, and you can forget getting your friend at the bank to call in Linda’s promissory note. I paid it off this morning. The building belongs to her now.”

“You paid off the building?” Dyson seemed shocked by Levi’s pronouncement.

Levi shrugged. “It was no problem.”

Dead silence surrounded him as he left the room. These men understood money and power, and they now understood they were minnows and he was a shark in the larger scheme of things. They’d back off because there was nothing to be gained and way too much to be lost.

To be certain, he’d leaked certain documents to the IRS. All three of them would soon be too busy scrambling to save their own asses to worry about him and Linda. Her inheritance was lost to them. They’d have to find other ways to get out of their financial troubles.

Cynically, Levi expected both Dyson and Linda’s brother to announce engagements. They were both seeing very young, very rich young ladies at the moment.

The flirtatious Ms. Blakely was at her desk when Levi emerged from the inner sanctum of Fletcher, Fletcher and Dyson. He glanced around. “Where is Ms. Fletcher?”

She shrugged. “Someone was leaving when I came back from delivering today’s mail. It was a woman in a burgundy suit.”

“Thank you.” He left the office, swearing under his breath. Linda hadn’t waited for him. He was certain she hadn’t believed her father when he’d said that he was after her money. But had she truly believed him?

Or maybe it was his past that had made her run.

Levi ignored the pain in the vicinity of his heart. No matter what happened, Linda was safe from her family. Even though she didn’t know it yet, the building was now hers. There was no way anyone could ever take it from her.