She turned back to Paul. “I don’t owe you anything. I paid you for services rendered. That’s the only compensation I owed you. From this point forward our relationship is severed. You won’t be allowed access to me in the future. If you have anything at all to say, you can contact Phillip or my lawyer.”

Paul’s shock turned to ugly, black fury. He took a step forward and pointed a finger close to her face. “You won’t get away with this, Lyric. I know too much about you. I’ll bury you.”

Connor and Kane both stepped in front of Lyric. The two security men took hold of Paul’s arms. Connor waved them off.

“Let me give you a piece of advice,” Connor bit out. “Don’t threaten Lyric ever. There isn’t a place on this earth you can hide from me.”

“Or me,” Kane interjected.

“If you do anything, if you say anything, with the intent of damaging Lyric’s career, her reputation or her personally, I’ll hunt you down and I’ll take you apart piece by piece.”

“You’re threatening me!”

“You’re damn right, I am. And if you think I’m just blowing smoke up your ass, I invite you to try me. I’m not much on words but I sure as hell will kick your sorry ass if you utter so much as a peep. You got me?”

Paul’s face lost color. His eyes darted back and forth between Kane and Connor and he sagged like a deflated balloon.

“Get him out of here,” Connor ordered.

Lyric watched as Paul was hauled out of the living room. She felt an odd sense of elation. As if she’d lost the ten pounds that Paul had complained about. She felt ridiculously light and freaking giddy.

She smiled broadly as Connor and Kane both turned their attention back to her.

“I don’t suppose either of you know of a good manager, do you?”

Kane actually cracked a smile. She was surprised his face didn’t crumble with the effort. Connor slipped an arm around her and hugged her to him.

“I’m proud of you for taking a stand, Lyric. The bastard needed his ass kicked.”

“Would you really hunt him down?” she asked curiously.

Connor frowned. “Hell yeah.”

“Thank you,” she said as her grin got bigger. She turned to include Kane. “Thank you both.”

“I can make his life miserable for him if you want,” Kane offered.

“You’re not even joking, are you,” Lyric muttered.

“Nope. I don’t have a sense of humor.”

At that, Lyric chuckled.

Her cell phone went off and she sighed. “The man works fast. He must have speed-dialed Phillip on his way out the door.”

“So don’t answer,” Connor said.

Lyric stared down at the phone in her hand. Then she looked back up and grinned. “Anyone up for another cupcake?”

“Did he make chocolate?” Kane asked in a hopeful voice.

CHAPTER 22

Three cupcakes and four missed calls later, Lyric licked the last of the frosting from her fingers and sighed in satisfaction.

Her phone went off again and she lifted an eyebrow at it. “He’s persistent, isn’t he?”

Connor grunted.

“I’m surprised he hasn’t called you.”

Connor held up his phone and flashed her the screen that said he had as many missed calls.

“Ha-ha! You turned your ringer off. Smart guy.”

“He’s probably calling to fire me,” Connor said wryly. “He probably thinks I’m a bad influence on you. But if I don’t answer the phone, he can’t very well fire me, right?”

She snorted. “You, a bad influence on me?”

“Yeah, I know, right? How ridiculous is that? Everyone knows you’re the miscreant here. Not me.”

He looked so damn innocent saying it that she had to laugh.

“I bet you got away with murder as a child.”

He shook his head. “Nope. Pop would have kicked my ass.”

“And your mom?”

He grimaced. “She and Pop split up when I was young.”

“Oh. Sorry to hear that.”

“Shit happens.”

“Yeah,” she said softly.

“Connor, I need a minute when you get a chance,” Kane said. “Just got a report we need to run over.”

Lyric’s brow creased as she looked between the men. “Report?”

“Yeah. We’ve been running background checks, criminal histories, stuff like that on all the people who work with you or have access to you.”

“And?” she prompted.

Kane shrugged. “Don’t know yet. Just got the e-mail on my BlackBerry. I’ll need to log on to a computer and print it out. Connor and I can split it up and look over it. This will probably take a while so if you need anything, let one of my men know.”

That was it. He wasn’t sharing anything further. It frustrated her on one hand, but there was a part of her that didn’t want to know if someone close to her was fucking with her. She didn’t trust anyone, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be pissed that someone she’d allowed into her circle had betrayed her.

But shouldn’t she know these things? Shouldn’t she be aware of any potential threat that existed?

Connor stood and then laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “We’ll let you know as soon as we’ve gone through all the information. I won’t keep anything from you. You have my word.”

She nodded. “I think I’ll go for a swim. Is that allowed?” She looked innocently at Kane as she asked.

“You’re safe here. My men will be watching. Go take your swim.”

Making sure she hid the mischief she knew was brewing in her eyes, she sidestepped Connor and headed for the stairs. “Y’all have fun going through your reports.”

As she bopped up the stairs it occurred to her that she actually felt . . . happy. Not in a disgusting “Zip a Dee Doo Dah” way. She wouldn’t be busting out the sunshine songs or anything. But she felt relieved, happy and a little excited all at the same time.

She felt strong. Empowered. A little more in control of her own destiny. It shamed her to realize just how much she’d allowed to go on around her. She literally bounced from person to person, always allowing others to control the puppet strings. She performed. She did what she was told. She ate was she was told to eat. She exercised when she was told to exercise. She smiled when someone said smile. She performed like a windup doll.

And she’d been perfectly miserable the whole time. Angry and miserable.

She’d embraced such an existence because she truly felt it was what she deserved. But was it really?

She shook her head, unwilling to mar what was shaping up to be a perfect day with dark memories. She didn’t want to go there. She didn’t want to think about things she couldn’t change.

What she wanted to do was enjoy a swim and maybe tweak Connor in the process. He’d probably be pissed, but the impish demon inside her simply couldn’t resist the desire to needle him.

Yep. A simple little swim would be fun. And she hadn’t had fun in a damn long time. Not until she’d met Connor and his friends and allowed herself to relax and truly enjoy the company of others. She liked it. Liked it a hell of a lot.

She didn’t bother searching her stuff for a suit. She didn’t have one. She stripped down until she was bare-assed naked and then threw on a robe and tied the ends for her trip down the stairs.

Connor had told her to enjoy herself. She planned to take him up on it.

“You realize we’re going to get totally busted for this,” Julie said as Sam rolled to a stop at the gates of the house Lyric was staying in.

Serena waved a dismissive hand as Sam rolled down the window to address the guard. “What are they going to do, shoot us?”

“Maybe,” Faith murmured as she surveyed the automatic slung over the guard’s shoulder.

“We are here to see Ms. Jones,” Sam said in his somber voice.

“Sorry, sir. No one gets onto the premises without direct authorization.”

Angelina’s eyes widened. Direct authorization? she mouthed.

“Let me take care of this. Lyric gave me her cell number,” Julie said as she yanked out her cell. She held up a finger through the window to the guard.