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"Lucas, you can't keep Tara under house arrest forever."

"Don't tell me that I can't protect my wife Simeon."

"Lucas, I get it I really do. You regret letting Ellie off with a warning..."

"Two damn warnings Simeon. She should be dead. I want her dead."

"That's not the point boss. It's been three weeks since the second lot of pictures. Tara's not the sort of girl to..."

Lucas slammed his hand down on the desk.

"Tara already hates me so why rock the boat when I know she's safe?"

Simeon scoffed.

"Tara doesn't hate you boss. She's píssed off and who could blame her? Hell boss she just wants to go to lunch with friends."

"No."

"Boss..."

"Don't argue with me Simeon" he looked pointedly at the other man.

"Boss. She'll rebel and most likely sneak out. Hell I know I would! At least if we organise it then she'll be protected."

Lucas rubbed his temples with his elbows resting on the desk and his eyes closed. He knew that Simeon was right but he was still worried.

Tara had become quiet in the past couple of weeks and he had no idea why. On the plus side she let him sleep in her bed sometimes at night; something he hadn't really expected her to agree to for quite a while. He just wished he could understand the way her mind worked.

Was it possible to understand a woman?

"OK. Fine. Do what you have to do and make sure I get all the details."

"Boss it's just Tara and the boys going to Maccas for lunch and some of us joining them..." Simeon tried to reason with him.

Lucas inhaled deeply before opening his eyes.

"When?"

"Today."

"Time?"

"Midday."

Lucas growled.

"The busiest and hardest time of day to watch over her?"

"The best time to make it difficult to get to her or get away."

Lucas swung his chair to look out the window behind him. A view that came at a hefty pricetag because of it's locality to the city centre.

"Fine. Get Jones to go ten minutes earlier and have their meals already at the table when they get there."

"Boss.."

"It's that or nothing Simeon."

"We'll take it." Simeon said quickly.

"We?"

"Well yeh boss. I'm going too."

Lucas sighed in relief and nodded.

"Good to know. Keep them safe."

"Will do boss" he stood up "You know she might have left the city."

"Ellie doesn't give up easily. This isn't a case of me turning her down anymore Simeon. This is Ellie looking for revenge for being thrown aside by my father."

The solemn look on Simeon was enough to show that he agreed with what Lucas was saying.

A little over an hour later Simeon was walking to the left of Tara as she, Keiran and Jace walked into the Maccas store. He had men throughout the fast food restaurant and more who bought food and were casually eating while sitting on the bonnets (aka hoods) of their cars. In general it all looked like a normal lunch time rush.

Adam was walking two steps behind Tara with the feeling in his gut becoming more intense. He coughed, a small signal that had Simeon turning with his eyebrow raised.

Adam was frowning severely and looking around. He saw it. The one clue to his feeling like he did. He quickly shrugged his shoulders to Simeon, another signal. If things were ok he would have spoken.

Jones was waiting for them inside. He'd watched them arrive and saw that they were followed. A quick call to Lucas and he knew that this place would be very quickly surrounded if the need arose.

As it was Jones knew that Lucas and his brothers were just minutes away. How Tara would deal with that made him grin. Their poor little adopted sister had been dealing with cabin fever due to Lucas' overprotectiveness. Although, as it was proven, his worries weren't unfounded.

He grinned and waved a hand to get the attention of those he was waiting for and lowered it as they moved towards him.

His phone beeped at him and he heard four others and knew they'd received the exact same message as would every other man in Lucas' employ.

TDE

Take Down Ellie.