Shaking his head, Lee settled his attention on the television. I noticed he hadn’t made anything for himself, which left me feeling sort of guilty, but perhaps he’d already eaten. Once Alexis was finished, she declared she was going to bed. She seemed a little too quick to announce it, and I wondered if she’d sensed something between me and Lee and wanted to give us privacy to talk.

A few beats of silence passed before I asked, “How’s Liam doing?”

“He’s angry. We all are.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that. I mean, Tony, one of my closest friends, had arrested him, so if Lee was angry, then I didn’t really understand why he was here in my flat, acting like everything was normal.

“If he can cut a deal, maybe he can avoid a stretch,” I said finally.

“Already thought of that,” Lee replied, his voice tight.

“And?”

“And it probably won’t come to it. I’ve got a good solicitor.”

My curiosity piqued. “And who would that be?”

His eyes sharpened. “William Dunning.”

I blinked at him, my mouth agape. “You do realise how much that tells me about you, right?”

Lee shrugged, but his expression was fierce. He wouldn’t make any apologies for who he was.

Dunning was a snake, and he represented some of the most powerful individuals in London. If he had Lee on his books, it meant that the man sitting before me was far more dangerous than I’d thought. I was suddenly anxious about having him in my home. Was he being monitored by the NCA? They tended to keep an eye on all the big players, but being so low in rank, I wouldn’t know anything about it.

Somebody could be watching him right at that very moment. Since I lived in a huge tower block, they wouldn’t know which flat he was in unless they followed him inside. But still, this was way too close for comfort.

Lee seemed to read my thoughts clear as day on my face. “Relax. Nobody knows I’m here.”

“Why are you here?”

He frowned. “I needed to talk to you about something.”

I motioned with my hand. “Then talk.”

Letting out a long breath, he rubbed at his short-cropped hair and levelled me with his eyes. “You remember the bloke from outside the nightclub?”

“The creep standing beside your car? Yes.”

“Well, let’s just say, his boss and my boss have been having something of a disagreement of late. Long story short, things aren’t safe, and this guy thinks you’re my girlfriend. He’s threatened to…do things.”

My body tensed. “Things? What kind of things?”

Lee shook his head. “Nah, not going there with you, Snap.”

A sick feeling crept into my stomach. “Does he know who I am?”

“He knows what you look like, that’s all. But I have a plan to set him straight. In the meantime, I’m having Trevor watch you when you’re off duty, just to be on the safe side.”

“Nobody’s watching me. I can take care of myself. And anyway, I’m not even your girlfriend, but if this guy so much as tries to lay a hand on me, I’ll arrest him.”

Lee shook his head. “That’s not how this works, Karla.”

“There is no ‘this,’” I snapped. “If you’d just left me alone in the first place, then none of this would be happening.”

Lee leaned forward so that his elbows rested on his knees. All of a sudden, I saw how exhausted he was. “Can you not fight me on this just once? Fuck, I know I should have left you alone. I tried, believe me, but I couldn’t do it. Now our situation is what it is, so can you just stop being a cop for a second and let me protect you?”

I stared at him, unsure of what to say, or if I should even say anything at all. This entire situation was spiralling out of control, and we’d only been together once.

“Look, I know today must have been awful for you, and to tell you the truth, I hate that I helped catch Liam. But even more, I hate the fact that he was stealing in the first place. And yes, I understand your life’s been tough and you’ve had to make hard decisions, but we have to make new decisions every day. Maybe tomorrow you can make the right one.”

Lee’s tired eyes rose to meet mine. “The right one?”

“Yes, like deciding to get out of this business you’re in and go legit.”

He let out a joyless laugh. “Because it’s that simple.”

“I can help you.”

His gaze dropped to his hands, and his voice was quiet when he said, “There’s no help for me.”

A long silence fell between us, and he lifted his head to stare at me again. Shivers trickled along my collarbone, a heavy tension filling the air.

“I don’t understand why you don’t hate me right now,” I whispered.

Lee looked at me, his crystal-clear blue eyes full of sincerity. “Neither do I.”

What he said jolted me, because it meant he understood that he should hate my guts, and the idea of him hating me made my stomach twist with nausea. Though I didn’t want to admit it, I felt sick at the thought of losing the affection he so obviously felt for me.

It was messed up.

After a minute he stood, turned, and walked to the front door. “See you around, Karla,” he said before he opened the door and left the flat. Barely a second went by before Alexis’ bedroom door burst open, and my best friend stood before me, an open-mouthed look on her face.