Protecting What's Mine: A Security Romance Collection

by Apryl Baker

  Jasper came back a few minutes later and hustled her out to a black SUV, one of the ones KS&I owned. They’d enhanced it with custom security features, none of which Angel knew, but she got the impression they were many and impressive.

  It took them a couple of hours at the bank, and they arrived at the very derelict building that would house her future bar. There were several restaurants and businesses up and down both sides of the street in every direction for blocks. Customers would see the construction, giving her a ton of free advertising. Curiosity would bring them to the bar they’d watched be built almost from the ground up, and the service would keep them coming back. Angel knew how to run a bar. She rubbed her hands together like a little kid contemplating tearing into a present on Christmas morning. It was going to be epic.

  Jasper had been extremely quiet since they’d come out of the bank, so when he told her to wait in the car until he secured the location, it startled her. Not enough to keep her in the vehicle, however. She rolled her eyes when he shot her a warning look and told her to sit still. Yes, the cartel scared her, but if she focused on whether they knew where she was, she’d drive herself nuts. That was not the goal today. That was yesterday’s game plan.

  Today was a whole new plan.

  But she’d give Jasper peace of mind and sit still. For a few minutes, anyway.

  Angel checked her phone. Three missed texts from Kade. He knew she was closing today. One said he was sorry for skipping out this morning, the next good luck with the bank, and the third simply said “I love you, moye serdste.” It meant “my heart.” He’d called her that since she was nineteen, and it still melted her heart.

  Jasper knocked on the window, and she shrieked. Okay, so maybe she was more worried about the cartel than she let on, even to herself.

  Jasper shook his head and opened the door for her. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Kincaid. I didn’t mean to startle you. We’re good to go inside.”

  “The contractor should already be here. Have you seen him?” She got out of the SUV and grabbed her briefcase and purse. It was going to be a long afternoon, what with all the meetings she had lined up.

  “No, ma’am.”

  “I swear to God, if you call me ma’am one more time, Jasper Watkins, I will beat you.”

  He ignored her and ushered her into the building. It didn’t look like much…yet. Graffiti covered the outside of the place, which was fine by her. Curb appeal would come after the major renovations inside.

  The inside was a total mess. At 4000 square feet, it was a massive building, but she planned on putting in a kitchen. She’d done her research and knew the market here better than she had the audience for Pops’ bar where she worked back in Boston. Her vision for this place was to become the premier spot for the college kids who were only a few blocks away.

  Right now, though, she was irritated. Her contractor was late.

  “So…about that pizza?”

  Leave it to Jasper to remind her own belly she was starved. “You call Saul’s, and I’ll try to reach the damn contractor.”

  “You got it.” Jasper had his phone out Googling Saul’s while she searched through her contacts for Jim Bachri, the construction manager. He picked up on the third ring.

  “This is Jim.”

  “Jim, it’s Angel Kincaid. Someone was supposed to meet me this morning to go through my new building to do an estimate.”

  “Chad isn’t there? He’s our estimate guy.”

  “No. I’ve been here for a few minutes, and no sign of him.”

  “Not to worry. If you can text me the address, I’ll come over myself and do the estimate. I do apologize. He might have gotten stuck in traffic.”

  “I understand that, but a phone call or text saying so would have been nice. It’s just good customer service to let the client know you’re going to be late.”

  “I assure you, nothing like this will happen again.”

  “I’m going to be frank with you, Jim. This first impression has not gone well. If I start having costly delays or things that go way over budget and crews not showing up on time, I will have no problem firing you.” Angel kept her voice even, but she put a bit of a bite into it. She’d dealt with guys like this back in Boston when Pops renovated his bar. They liked to try to sneak things by you.

  “I completely understand, Mrs. Kincaid. If you’ll text me the address, I should be able to get there in about thirty minutes, give or take a few minutes.”

  Angel agreed and hung up. Hopefully, Jim got the picture that she was not a lady to be fucked with.

  Looking around at the garbage, the crumbling walls, and the general filth that covered every surface, she still saw the potential of what it could be. When Nikoli toured it, it had been hard for him to see past the mess, but he believed in her. He was going to front her the money to build the physical bar itself, as well as working capital for her first year for a twenty-five percent stake in the business. Nik had even helped with her business plan and co-signed with the bank so she could get the loan to buy the building and renovate it.

  Saul’s delivery guy arrived before Jim did, which didn’t sit well with Angel. Granted, Saul’s was only a short walk, but still, they’d had to cook the food before bringing it.

  “Well, shit.” Jasper looked around, perplexed. “Where are we gonna sit and eat? This place is filthy.”

  He had a point. The thick coating of dust and God only knew what else covered the floor. Angel wasn’t exactly sure what the building had been before, since all fixtures and signage had been stripped. They hadn’t even left a random chair sitting around. It was just one big open space with a few rooms in the back. They were as empty as the front.

  “I guess we’ll eat standing up.” She shrugged and walked over to help him with the bags. She’d asked for a salad and pizza. Saul had her regular order on hand, since she’d stopped so often to pick up pizza for dinner. The heavenly smell floating in the air didn’t make her stomach rejoice at all. It protested instead, and nausea decided to rear its ugly head.

  “Hello?” They both looked up to see a large man lumbering through the front door, a clipboard in his hand. “Mrs. Kincaid?”

  “Jim?” Angel turned away from the pizza, but it didn’t really help her stomach all that much.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He nodded and shut the door behind him. “Sorry for the delay this morning. I still haven’t been able to reach Chad. I’ll be happy to walk the building with you and do an in-depth estimate in his place.”

  As irritated as she was at the situation, he had gotten here in the timeframe he’d promised, so she bit back her smartass remark. She needed to get the ball rolling. Nik did a thorough check of the contractors in the area and assured her this man was one of the best.

  “I appreciate that. I’d like to get work started within the next few days.”

  “Of course. I can have crews ready to go as early as tomorrow.” He looked down at his clipboard, his expression changing. “I almost forgot. I found this on the door outside.”

  Angel took the manila envelope he handed her, frowning. It was addressed to her. Opening it, she pulled out photos and felt her world tilt.

  Photos of her.

  She blinked, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.

  Photos of her in a hospital bed.

  In Miami.

  Right after Matthew’s birth.

  Raw pain bled out of the image of her talking to the doctor, listening to him tell her the baby didn’t make it. That they’d already disposed of his body.

  How?

  Why would anyone send this to her?

  “Mrs. Kincaid?”

  She heard Jasper’s concerned voice, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the image. Bile rose, and she coughed, trying to choke it down. Black spots danced in front of her eyes, and she reached out, trying to find something to steady herself with, but there was nothing.

  Darkness started to eat away at her vision, but still she couldn’t look away from the ph
oto. Angel shook her head, but the blurriness wouldn’t go away.

  And when her legs gave out, and she fell, her eyes remained on the image until there was nothing left but the dark of unconsciousness.

  Chapter Eight

  “Motherfucker!”

  Kade paced while Nikoli sat in Kade’s office chair, eyes glued to the screen in front of him. He’d tried to find Mason this morning, who knew more about hacking than Nikoli did, but his youngest brother was nowhere to be found.

  Dylan flew out to Miami last night to be their eyes and ears on the ground there. No one in the cartel knew Dylan, so they all agreed it would be safest for him to go snooping. He also knew more about gang intel than any of them did. He’d been working the gang unit of LAPD before he took the job here at KS&I.

  “Cool your shit.” Nikoli didn’t even glance his way. “It’s going to take as long as it takes. You don’t want this tracing back to us.”

  “Mason installed firewalls that make it impossible to trace shit back here.”

  “Nothing is impossible. Difficult, but not impossible.”

  Nik was currently hacked into several governmental websites in Miami looking for information on Juan Ramirez and his son.

  Or maybe Kade’s son.

  This waiting around was killing him. He had no patience for it. Nik had been working since around seven this morning. It was now well past noon. Kade’s every instinct prodded him to get on a plane, hunt the motherfucker down, and take his son back, but Dylan was right. He had no proof, only gut instinct, and that would get him arrested.

  Nik’s phone buzzed, and he glanced at it. The ringtone was Lily’s.

  “Hey, Lily Bells. You on your lunch break?” Nik got up and walked out of the office. As much as the interruption irritated Kade, he kept his anger in check. He couldn’t fault his brother for taking a break to speak with his woman. Kade would have done the same.

  Well, maybe today he wouldn’t. He was hiding things from Angel. That was the reason he’d snuck out so early this morning. He wanted to tell her everything, that she’d had such a physical reaction to the boy because it might be Matthew, but he couldn’t do that to her. To get her hopes up and then find out he wasn’t theirs? It would crush her, and Kade would rather slice off an appendage than cause her any more pain.

  His mother had often known things she shouldn’t have, things her sons didn’t want her to know. Things they’d done that would have made her so disappointed, but guilt usually got the best of them. Strangely, she’d never been shocked when they confessed or admitted she was right about something being wrong.

  A mother knows her child.

  That was what she’d always say. Kade got lost once, and it had taken them about an hour to find him. He’d been six or seven. He remembered being afraid and thinking if he was lost for too long, his parents wouldn’t recognize him. It was a child’s fear, but his mother had sat him down in her lap, hugged him close, and assured him that even if he had been lost for years and years, she would always know him, because a mother knew her child.

  Angel knew Matthew the moment she saw him. She knew he was hers. Every instinct in her drove it home, her body physically reacting to leaving him. A mother knows her child.

  He should have listened to her. He should have gone straight to the hotel and…and what?

  He had no proof. No evidence. He’d have wound up in jail for attempted kidnapping. There was no way in hell he’d have left there without his son or in handcuffs.

  “Sorry,” Nik muttered a few minutes later. “She’s worried. Having security trailing her is making her nervous. You know how anxious she gets if strangers are around. They won’t know how to help her if one accidently touches her and she’s not expecting it.”

  “I thought she was a lot better?”

  Nik shrugged and sat back down. “With people she knows, yes. Strangers, though? Whole other ball game. And her fucking boss is a flirt. Fucker better keep his distance.”

  “You know this because…?”

  “Because I met him a few days after she started working there. Fucker thought he was going to keep her there all hours. I explained to him if he didn’t fuck off, I’d buy the damn company and then let’s see what might happen.”

  “Did you tell Lily you spoke to him?”

  “Shit, no. Do you think I have a death wish?” His onyx eyes widened, horrified at the thought.

  “He might tell her, though.”

  Nikoli cracked his knuckles, a Cheshire Cat grin overtaking his face. “I thought of that. Fucker knows if he says one word to my girl, I will buy the company and toss him out on his ass and get him blacklisted in the industry.”

  “You’re a video game mogul. How do you plan on blacklisting him in an industry you know nothing about?”

  “The literary agency she’s at is one of the oldest and most prestigious in New York. They know the right people. I’d have them do it.”

  “You’re an evil motherfucker, you know that?”

  “Yup.”

  Kade resumed his pacing, and Nikoli went back to hacking. Why was this taking so damn long? He needed information.

  “Wearing the stain off the floors isn’t going to make this go faster.”

  “I can’t help it.” He stopped and slouched against the wall, the pent-up frustration urging him to hit the wall instead. “If he has my kid…”

  “If he has my fucking nephew, God won’t be able to hide him. I’ll spend every dime I have hunting the fucker down.” The fury rolling out of his brother matched his own. “When do we get the DNA results back?”

  “Dylan promised they’d be couriered over this evening, no later than eight.” The hours were ticking by slower than molasses, as Angel would say.

  Max Sheridon, the firm’s tracking expert, knocked then poked his head through the door. “Why aren’t you answering your phone?”

  “My phone?” He pulled it out and found the battery dead. He forgot to charge it last night. “What’s going on?”

  “Jasper called. There’s a problem. He said to get your ass to Angel’s new bar like your life depended on it.”

  “Why?” Fear knotted in his belly, every scenario running like a herd of wild horses through his mind. He’d worked with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit for too long.

  “He didn’t say. He just said to git there.” Max’s Texan drawl came out thicker whenever he was upset. Now was one of those times. Max liked and respected Angel. Jasper had to have used a tone to get Max riled up.

  He didn’t waste another second, just flew out of the room, aware both men were right behind him.

  “It has to be the cartel.” Kade knew it in his gut. “Can’t you drive faster?” Nik had slid into the driver’s seat before he could. Kade hadn’t argued, figuring he wasn’t in any condition to drive in midday traffic in his enraged condition.

  “I’m already over the speed limit. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

  “Jasper, this is Max. We’re on our way. Boss wants to talk to you.” Max handed his cell over to Kade without him having to ask for it.

  “What the fuck happened?”

  “Someone left pictures for her.” Jasper took a deep, steadying breath. “They’re pictures of her in the hospital. She looks younger.”

  “Motherfucking bastards.” He slammed his fist into the dashboard so hard it cracked. “Where is she?”

  “In my lap.”

  “What the fuck…”

  “Calm down. She passed out, and the floor is filthy. If I can’t get her to wake up in a few minutes, I’m calling an ambulance. She hit the floor hard.”

  “Don’t fucking wait. Call 9-1-1 now. We’ll be there in five minutes.”

  “9-1-1?” Nik honked the horn and hit the gas. “What’s wrong with Angel?”

  “Passed out. Some bastard sent her photos from when she was in the hospital in Miami.” At least that was what he assumed. She might have been hospitalized in the six years they were apart, but he had a sinking f
eeling in his stomach this was the cartel announcing they knew who she was.

  They arrived the same time as the ambulance. Kade almost knocked the EMTs down in his rush to get to Angel. Watkins was sitting on the floor, Angel unconscious in his lap. Another man he didn’t recognize stood behind them. He dropped to his knees beside them and took her face in his hands. “Moye serdste.”

  She looked so pale. Whoever caused this was going to suffer.

  The EMTs forced him to move and let them work. They lifted her to the stretcher and started taking vitals. Watkins followed and handed him the photos. Just as he suspected, these were from the day they lost everything. Bastards took photographs. Sick, fucking bastards.

  Rage burst over his skin like a flash fire through a forest. A sound somewhere between a growl and roar left him. Nik took the photos from him and started cursing in a mixture of Russian and English, a bad habit they shared.

  “Sir, we’re going to take her to the ER. I would feel better if she had a CT since she hit her head when she fell, and we can’t wake her up.”

  He barely heard the EMT, but he nodded. Nik promised to meet him at the hospital, and he climbed into the ambulance, working hard to keep his anger under control.

  Los Muertos.

  Rage turned into a cold, hard determination.

  They would pay for this and for his son if it was the last fucking thing he ever did.

  Chapter Nine

  The sterile scent pulled old memories to the surface for Kade as he paced in the waiting room of Presbyterian Hospital. The vinyl covered chairs, the magazine rack, the tile floor…he shook his head and buried those memories. Now was not the time to let that awful night get in the way.