Chapter 96: The Loyalty

"Dad, what did he say to you?"

"Stay out of it," Silas snapped.

Lucas scowled. "We’re just letting him drive off? Nobody handles our family like this. We could hire private contractors overseas to—"

"Quiet," Silas cut him off. "I don’t need input from someone who brought a con artist to a field operation. Get in the vehicle."

Yet as he walked back to the SUV, the comment stayed with him.

She’s with me...

The detail from the gala came back to him: the night before, after Anna had consumed the tampered drink meant for Lawson, Jude had taken her back to the Sovereign Estate for the night.

Had something developed between them?

If Jude had made an advance, Anna would have known... yet when she checked in that afternoon, she hadn’t mentioned it.

She had reported consistently since her initial placement.

Omitting a detail like that pointed to shifting loyalties...

Suddenly, her choices during the roadblock took on a different cast.

Her refusal to stand down against Liu Guoping had forced the match to continue.

If Silas hadn’t kept Li San in reserve, she would have cleared the bet herself...

The suspicion took hold, settling into Silas’s calculations.

Inside the car, Anna leaned back against the headrest, looking toward the driver’s seat.

"Sir... what did you say to Silas before we left?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing complicated," Jude said, keeping his eyes on the road. "I simply reminded him that any further interference would come at a very high price."

Anna looked down at her lap, staying silent.

Before tonight, she had assumed Lawson was strictly an investor who relied on private security.

Seeing him handle Li San with a single strike completely revised her understanding of his capabilities.

If he ever verified her original background, the fallout would be immediate...

"Don’t worry about Silas tonight," Jude said, checking the cut on her shoulder. "We’re heading to Mount Sinai to get your ribs checked."

"No hospitals, sir," Anna said immediately. "Just take me back to the estate."

Jude glanced over. "You took a heavy kick to the midsection. You need an X-ray."

"I have military trauma supplies in my quarters," Anna said. "They handle deep bruising and muscle tears faster than a clinic, and there won’t be an official record."

Seeing her insist, Jude turned north toward the bridge.

20 minutes later, the car cleared the gates of the Sovereign Estate.

Helping Anna up the main staircase, Jude brought her to her second-floor suite and helped her sit on the edge of the bed.

Pale and moving carefully, Anna pointed toward the floor. "Sir, can you grab the black case under the frame?"

Jude retrieved a lockbox from beneath the bed and placed it on the side table.

Anna opened it, revealing several glass containers.

She took 2 dark tablets with water, then pulled out a bottle of amber liniment.

She reached down to lift the hem of her top, but a sharp spasm in her ribs made her pause, catching her breath.

Jude took the bottle from her hands. "Lie back. I’ll take care of it."

He helped her back against the pillows, then lifted the fabric of her shirt to expose the injured area, stopping right below her ribs.

Her waist was lean and conditioned from years of field training.

Across her lower ribs bloomed a dark bruise where Li San’s shin had landed flush.

When Jude kept the fabric strictly at the base of her ribs with clinical focus, she relaxed.

Even when she had been incapacitated the night before, he hadn’t crossed any boundaries...

"What’s the procedure?" Jude asked.

"The tablets handle internal swelling," Anna said quietly. "Just pour the liniment into your hands and apply firm pressure until it warms up."

Jude poured a measure of the spiced liniment into his palm, rubbed his hands together to generate friction, and set his hand over the bruised tissue.

Anna took a long breath, biting her lip against the initial sting as the muscle spasms finally began to ease...

In all her years operating in private security, Anna had never allowed anyone to touch an injury like this.

Had any other man attempted it, she would have broken his wrist before his palm made contact...

Under Jude’s steady hands, however, she remained still.

She kept her gaze turned toward the wall, listening to the quiet room.

Jude kept his focus strictly on the injury.

The comment he had made to Silas Vanguard earlier had been deliberate, meant to drive a wedge between handler and operative by making Silas second-guess her loyalty.

Looking down at the bruising beneath his hands, the shift in dynamics was already well underway.

After 5 minutes of steady pressure, the dark swelling began to soften.

Jude lifted his hand and recorked the small bottle. "How does that feel?"

"Much better," Anna said, drawing the hem of her top down as she sat up carefully. "With the tablets and some rest, I’ll be back on my feet by tomorrow. Thank you, sir. You should get some sleep."

Jude gave a faint smile. "Sure you don’t need a hand if the swelling locks up later?"

Anna looked down, color touching her cheeks. "I’ll be fine, sir. If anything flares up, I’ll call your suite."

"Fair enough. Rest up," Jude said, turning toward the door.

At the threshold, Anna spoke from the bed, "Sir."

Jude stopped, looking back over his shoulder. "Yes?"

"I apologize for how things played out tonight," Anna said, looking at the duvet. "I’m on your payroll to manage security, and instead you had to step onto that road yourself."

Silas had coordinated the roadblock, and if Lawson had lacked the capability to handle Li San, the outcome would have left him hospitalized.

The consideration he had shown made the double-cross difficult to carry...

Jude gave an easy nod. "Nothing to apologize for. Neither of us expected Silas to keep a pit fighter like that in reserve. Though watching him smile while his own contractor took a shot at your ribs shows you exactly how he operates. Half the reason I pressed him for that settlement was to close your account."

He pulled the door shut behind him, his footsteps fading down the hallway.

Anna sat alone against the headboard, his parting words turning over in her mind.

Why had Silas concealed Li San from her?

Keeping a full-contact fighter in reserve without briefing his own inside asset meant Silas was already operating around her.

He had watched her take a strike to the midsection without showing the slightest concern; his focus had been entirely fixed on gaining an advantage over Lawson.

The loyalty she had held toward her handler for years showed its first clear fracture...