by K. C. Crowne
Jesse grunted. “The guy I hired before you really was abysmal.”
“Good thing you have me.”
“Yes, yes. Pat yourself on the back a little harder.”
“You could just thank me by giving me a raise.”
“No.”
“You didn’t even think about it.”
“Don’t have to.”
Their back and forth was amusing. I observed quietly from my spot, listening to them talk about… whatever. Something super techy and out of my area of expertise. Jesse had no problem keeping up with all of Devin’s jargon. At least, it looked like he was. Maybe he was just really good at pretending.
Either way, he was fascinating to watch. The concentration. The poise. The confidence imbued in the way he stood. He owned the room. In fact, he owned the whole damn building. This was a man in his kingdom, in his element. Seeing him at his place of work, I was finally offered a glimpse of a shark in open waters.
There was a knock at the door. Jesse was obviously one hell of a busy man. It suddenly made sense why Wally said he was always at work. Something or someone constantly demanded Jesse’s attention.
Another large man entered the office at Jesse’s beckon. Behind him was a young woman, probably only a few years older than me, with a baby strapped against her chest in a carrier. A boy followed close behind.
“Glad to see you’re still alive,” the man said with a chuckle, voice deep and booming. “When Devin told me you were away from the office, I thought you were sick or dying.”
Jesse rolled his eyes but clapped his friend on the shoulder. “I never get sick.”
“Hi,” the woman said to me. She had a very sweet smile. “I’m Ava.”
I rose and shook her hand. “I’m Vivian. It’s lovely to meet you.”
“Where are my manners?” Jesse said quickly. “Vivian, this is my second in command, Theo Phillips. And this is his wife, Ava, and my favorite niece and nephew, Cassie and Cory.”
The boy smiled. “We’re your only niece and nephew.”
Jesse ruffled the kid’s hair. “Such a smarty pants.”
“Do you work here, too?” Ava asked me.
I shook my head. “Oh, no. I’m, uh…” I wasn’t too sure how to bring up the fact that I accidentally uncovered the money laundering efforts of a dangerous cartel to her. She seemed like a nice lady, and I didn’t want to freak her and her children out by saying the wrong thing.
Ava tilted her head to the side and smiled gently. “It’s okay. I understand. I’m no stranger to being under a protection detail.”
I arched a brow, whispering, “You mean…”
She joined me in the sitting area while the men talked shop. “Theo was my bodyguard a little over a year ago, so I get it.”
“And now you’re married?”
Ava smiled. “Yes, we are. It’s a long story, but it had a very happy ending.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” I glanced between the two of them, nibbling my bottom lip.
“You have questions,” she observed.
“I don’t want to come across as rude.”
“Believe me when I say very little fazes me these days.”
“It’s just… You’re so young, and he’s—”
“Almost twice my age.” Ava nodded.
“Same as—” Same as Jesse and me. “Nothing.”
She gave me a knowing look. I didn’t detect a hint of judgement. She really did seem like a wonderful person. Understanding. Patient. “There’s nothing wrong with it, you know. Being into silver foxes.”
I coughed. Or maybe I choked. All I knew was that I made an unattractive and embarrassing sound that caught Jesse’s attention from over by his desk. He arched a brow at me. I waved him off, breaking into soft laughter.
“Sorry,” Ava said with an amused glint in her eye. “I’m just teasing you.”
“It’s fine. You just surprised me is all. You remind me of…” Molly.
“I remind you of who?”
“Just a friend. She used to tease me all the time about…” I lowered my voice, “liking older men.”
Ava shrugged. “What’s not to like? Mature. Confident. And they know what they’re doing.” She winked. “If you catch my meaning.”
I giggled. “I’m picking up what you’re putting down.”
“So, how long have you and Jesse…you know.”
“It’s all still very new. Complicated.”
Ava hummed. “When is it not?” The little girl in her arms cooed, waking up from her nap with a whine. “Oh, sorry,” Ava apologized. “I think someone’s a little hungry. We’ll gossip when I get back.”
She excused herself, leaving the office to find a private spot to feed her baby. Meanwhile, I sat there in stunned amazement.
Ava and Theo were married? If I closed my eyes, I could imagine Jesse and me in their shoes. A house in the suburbs. A couple of kids running around. None of this life and death business with an angry cartel hunting me down.
But the more I allowed my mind to wander, the more doubt crept in. Was that something I even wanted? I was far too young to think about settling down. I had goals. Dreams. Things I wanted to accomplish by thirty. There was no doubt that I was attracted to Jesse, but that didn’t equate to a future together.
I meant what I said to Ava. What Jesse and I had was new. Complicated. We were walking down the same path, but there was no telling if or when we’d hit a fork in the road. Why couldn’t we just enjoy the present? If Molly were here, she’d never let up about the fact that—
Molly.
She was still missing. What the hell was I doing here? Why was I sitting around in this lavish office when the cartel had her holed up somewhere dark and dingy? If she was even still alive.
I needed to do something. Anything. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to her and I did nothing to stop it. If that detective at the police station needed proof, I’d get him proof. This was the first time I’d been allowed out of the penthouse, and I wasn’t going to throw the opportunity away.
I cautiously watched Jesse. He was engrossed in whatever Devin and Theo were talking about. Something about security perimeters and bodyguard rotations and payroll, yada yada yada. The subject of their conversation was irrelevant. All that mattered was that Jesse was distracted and I was alone. This was likely my one and only chance to slip away.
The second Jesse’s back was turned, I made my escape.
I’d ask for his forgiveness later.
My heart was pounding. My palms were sweaty and cold. It was a weird feeling, being out and about without Jesse directly behind me to keep me out of harm’s way. The one good thing about all of this, though, was that no one seemed to be following me. I was in the clear for now, so I needed to move quickly.
I hopped onto the bus and rode it all the way to Blue Cloud Financial. It was the middle of the day, so the front lobby was busy with workers eager to get to the cafeteria for lunch. I slipped by easily, blending in with the crowd. I was technically a familiar face here. Nobody would suspect anything as long as I kept moving and didn’t draw any attention to myself.
I held my breath as I took the elevator up to my floor, like it would somehow help me disappear. When the doors opened, I stepped out and made my way swiftly to my cubicle.
It had been cleared out.
None of my things were there. The pictures of Molly and me that I’d pinned to my cubicle wall were gone. The drawers were empty of all my pens and pencils. Any paper documents that I’d been holding onto for filing were also gone, likely shredded for security purposes. When I attempted to log into my computer, it gave me an error message. My credentials had been wiped from the system.
Not good.
Did this mean the encrypted files for the Azuras Association —or whatever they called themselves— were gone, too?
“Shit,” I hissed to myself.
I peered over the cubicle wall toward Arty’s office. His lights were o
ff. Out to lunch maybe? I turned in —what used to be— my office chair. Marta was away, too. Much to my relief, she’d accidentally forgotten to lock her desktop.
I wheeled over and searched through her top drawer, pulling an old USB stick from her desk organizer and plugging it into the computer tower. I searched for the files with shaky fingers, dreading how slow the loading bar filled. The computer eventually dinged, alerting me that it had found what I was looking for.
The encrypted files were now hidden in a folder within a folder within a folder. Someone was desperately trying to make sure that, while they couldn’t destroy these records for the sake of their own bookkeeping, nobody could accidentally stumble upon them again like I did.
I downloaded everything I could. Once it was done, I snatched the USB and tucked it safely into my back pocket. I needed to get the hell out of there.
I half-jogged, half-walked back to the elevator, keeping my head down and eyes to the floor. No time for small talk. No time to stop. I had to get as far away from this building as I could before—
The elevator doors slid open.
On the other side stood five tall, boorish men with matching snake tattoos with red eyes wrapped around their throats.
Chapter 20
Jesse
“What do you mean you don’t know where she is?” I asked Devin as he pulled up the building’s surveillance footage.
“Look, we were all busy with the same thing. I didn’t realize I had to babysit.”
“Just find her.”
“There,” he said, pointing at one of the many video boxes on his screen. It replayed Vivian waltzing right out of the front doors of Pegasus Star Security. None of the men I had posted at the front desk even batted an eye. I made a mental note to berate them for it later.
“Right under our noses,” Theo commented, sounding almost amused.
“Dammit,” I hissed. “I looked away for two minutes. Two minutes.”
“Relax.”
“Don’t tell me to relax.”
“What’s the problem, man?” Devin asked. “Maybe she wanted to take a little stroll around the block. She’ll be back.”
“She’s not supposed to be out by herself.”
“Why the hell not? It’s the twenty-first century. Women can do whatever they want.”
“Because it isn’t safe!”
Devin and Theo stared at me. I could hear the gears grinding inside their skulls.
“She’s a client,” Theo realized aloud. “Under your protection.”
Devin frowned. “Why weren’t we informed? She’s not on any roster. This should have been done by the book.”
I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “I’m watching her as a favor. Pro bono. I’ve been using my penthouse as a safehouse location.”
“Jesus,” Theo mumbled. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“There’s no time to explain. We need to get her before they do.”
“Who’s they?”
“The Azure Cartel.”
Devin gawked. He never gawked. “What the fuck kind of shit is she in?”
“The deep kind,” I muttered, teeth grinding so hard my jaw was sore.
“Where do you think she’d go?” Theo asked, ready to jump in. I could always count on him to act first and ask questions later. That’s what made him my second in command. He was reliable, honorable.
Ava had been quiet for a while, watching everything unfurl. She held Cassie, patting her back gently in a soothing pattern. “She mentioned something about her friend,” she said. “I don’t know if that’s relevant or not.”
I knew exactly who Vivian was referring to. “She’s going to try and look for her friend,” I said. “She needs proof. Proof that can only be obtained by going back to her place of work.” I snatched up my jacket and pulled it on. I pointed at Theo. “Hold down the fort until I get back.”
“Will do.”
“Where are you going?” Devin demanded, but I was already out the door and running to unlock my Porsche.
As far as traffic violations went, I made about a hundred of them. Speeding through red lights. Failing to brake at stop signs. Almost running over a hipster who wandered too far from the bike lane.
I could see Blue Cloud Financial’s massive logo on the side of its operations building, a beacon of sorts. When I screeched around the corner, I arrived just in time to see a group of men attempting to shove someone into the back of an unmarked white van. There were people around, but they did nothing. Just took out their phones to record what was going on.
Fucking bystanders.
I didn’t slow down. Instead, I slammed on the acceleration and braced for impact.
Glass shattered.
Metal crunched.
Tires squealed.
I took out the front of the van with my car, rendering it useless. They weren’t going anywhere. I made sure of it.
I somehow managed to drag myself out of my Porsche. Disoriented. Ears ringing. Joints aching. It was a miracle nothing was broken. The adrenaline coursing through my veins numbed any injuries I might have sustained.
The only reason I was able to stand up straight was because my vision was locked on to Vivian like a hawk. They had their filthy fucking hands on her, and that wasn’t going to fly. Not now. Not ever.
One of the men had been hit in the crash, knocked over and unconscious on the pavement. That left only four. Two of them peeled off while the other two grabbed Vivian by either arm and attempted to drag her off. She kicked and screamed and scratched, managing to hit one of them in the gut with her elbow.
I took care of the first pair. They were fast, but I was furious. I landed a swift throat punch to the guy on my left, followed by an unforgiving kick to the chest of the man on the right. They keeled over, winded and incapacitated.
The fourth assailant let go of Vivian’s arm and charged me, brandishing a knife from his pocket. He had the advantage and we both knew it. There was no time for me to draw my gun, and even if there had been, I wasn’t going to risk opening fire when so many civilians lingered around. That was a recipe for disaster.
He swiped at me ferociously, the blade whizzing past my ear on numerous occasions. I managed to duck out of the way. This wasn’t a fair fight at all. I was too distracted with the fact that Vivian was still struggling in the arms of her captor, failing to free herself from his knuckle-white grasp.
“Vivian!” I shouted out to her.
I knew it was a mistake to get distracted the second my attacker swiped at me. His blade sliced past my upper right arm, the sting excruciatingly deep. The smell of rust and salt filled my nose. Red soaked into the fabric of my jacket, streams of it trickling down the length of my arm and dripping from my fingers.
I avoided taking another slice but received a kick to the inside of my knee instead. My legs buckled out from under me. My assailant swung his closed fist, knuckles connecting with my jaw. My skull vibrated. Everything hurt. I was seeing double.
“Jesse!” Vivian screeched.
The man trying to drag her away made the mistake of clasping his hand over her mouth. She opened wide and chomped down with all her might. He yelped in agony and recoiled, giving her just enough space to punch him square in the nose. He fell back and hit his head on the curb. Out cold.
She ran to me but couldn’t get past the knife-wielder. He glared at her, murderous intent in his eyes.
“You stupid bitch,” he hissed. “You and that redhead pain in the ass are going to pay.”
“Redhead?” Vivian panted. “You mean Molly? She’s alive?”
“Not for much longer. Not if I have anything to say about—”
I lunged at him, batting the knife out of his hand and trapping him in a chokehold. I squeezed with all my might, counting the seconds until he was perfectly still. He wasn’t dead. Unfortunately. But at least he was no longer a threat.
Vivian ran to me, inspecting my arm. “Oh my God, Jesse. You’re bleeding.”
&nbs
p; “It’s fine.”
“Fine? How is this fine? We need to get you to a hospital.”
“No. You’re coming with me back to the safehouse.”
“Look, I know you’re mad at me, but you really need to see a doctor.”
“I’m not mad, Vivian.” I stared her down, barely able to keep my voice level. “What I am is really. Fucking. Disappointed.”
“Jesse, I—”
“Stop. Talking.”
I looked her over. Apart from the emotional and mental trauma of almost being kidnapped —again— she seemed alright physically. Still, Vivian was on the brink of tears, the rims of her eyes red and whites glossy. Any other day, I would have scooped her up and kissed her until she felt better. But this was different.
“What you did was stupid,” I said, reaching into my pocket for my phone. I called Devin, who answered in a hurry.
“Did you find her?”
“Yeah. I need you to send a car and a cleanup crew to my location. Have them deal with the cops when they get here. I’m taking Vivian back to the safehouse.”
“Send a car? What happened to yours?”
“Totaled it. Which reminds me, call the dealership. She’s going to need a new… everything. Copy?”
“Jesus. Yeah, copy that.”
I ended the call and shoved my phone back into my pocket, turning to check on Vivian. She was trembling, clutching something tightly in her hands. I was too angry to ask her about it. Instead, I covered my wound with my palm and applied pressure to staunch the flow of blood. I wasn’t going to lose the arm, but it still hurt like hell.
“We really should take you to the emergency room,” she said, voice so quiet and small I barely heard her over the gathering crowd. Some of them were taking pictures. Not good.
I shrugged off my jacket and draped it over her head, pulling her close to my chest. I still had a job to do, and that was making sure my client was secure. I couldn’t risk anyone getting a good look at Vivian. There was no telling who was watching. It was highly likely the cartel had members nearby, keeping a finger on the pulse. She was exposed out here, a lamb with a target on her back.