No One to Trust by Katie Reus Page A

chest, but didn’t step
out of his embrace. Her dark eyes widened and she opened her mouth
to speak, but the sound of his brother clearing his throat brought
them back to reality. Instantly they broke apart and not a second
too soon. Porter needed to get his shit together around her.
    “We need to talk,” Harrison said as he
stepped fully into the room, giving Porter a curious look.
    Porter nodded and took Elizabeth’s hand as he
sat on the longer leather couch, pulling her with him. She looked
surprised by the gesture, but he had to touch her. He noticed Mara
wasn’t in the room, but he didn’t ask questions. If Harrison didn’t
think she needed to be there, then she didn’t.
    “What do you guys want to know?” she asked as
she looked back and forth between them.
    “Do you have any idea what kind of trouble
your brother could have gotten into?” Harrison spoke first.
    For a moment, something flashed in her dark
gaze, but it was gone so quick he didn’t have time to analyze it.
She shook her head. “I know he owes Orlando money, but I don’t know
why Orlando would want to kill me because of that. The
attack today doesn’t make any sense.”
    “Is there anything else you can think of that
happened while you were at his house? Something your brother said
to you, maybe. Or something Orlando said to you? Maybe you saw
something Orlando doesn’t want you to repeat to anyone?” Porter
asked.
    Nervously, she cleared her throat and averted
her gaze. She stared at his chest instead of his face. He didn’t
think she was trying to hide anything but she looked uncomfortable.
As if she didn’t want to say what was on her mind. Finally she
broke the silence. “Orlando said…he’d take what my brother owed him
from me in a, uh…I’m pretty sure he meant a sexual manner.”
    For a moment blood roared in Porter’s ears
like a raging angry river.
    “He said if I was ‘his’ for six months he’d
let my brother’s debt go.” As she stumbled over her words, Porter
saw red.
    “He said that?” The words came out as a growl
and he wished he’d toned it down when she flinched. He knew what
scum Orlando was but the fact that he’d propositioned someone like
Elizabeth stunned him. Her family was wealthy, respected and
Elizabeth was complete grace and class. The thought of the other
man anywhere near her had Porter clenching his hands into tight
fists. His short fingernails dug into his palms, the slight
discomfort a welcome distraction.
    She nodded, her expression miserable.
    “Why didn’t you tell me ?” he pressed
insistently. They might not have dated long but he still expected
something more from her than this pseudo-stranger routine.
    Her face flushed as she shrugged. “I didn’t
think it would really matter. His offer didn’t sound like he
wanted to kill me or anything. He was just being disgusting.”
    He frowned. She was right. But Orlando
obviously wanted to scare her. Maybe to make her more acquiescent
to his ‘offer’. Still, opening fire on her in the middle of the day
was stupid and amateurish. The man definitely didn’t have the
business sense his father had.
    Porter stared at her and tried to read her
expression. Her face was ghostly pale and she simply looked scared.
“You’re sure there’s nothing else you’re holding back? It doesn’t
matter how insignificant.”
    “I wasn’t there very long before you showed
up. Everything happened so quickly. And you were at my house last
night so you know my brother left before I could talk to him.” It
happened again. Something like guilt flashed in her eyes. It was
lightning fast, but he knew what he’d seen.
    He didn’t comment on it, but he planned to
question her later, when they were away from his brother. She might
know something she was too embarrassed to say in front of Harrison.
Porter sometimes forgot that Harrison was her boss and it was
obvious she was private about her family.
    Harrison would probably be annoyed he was
cutting