“Assuming he isn’t being paid cash-in-hand like Eden, then yeah. Give me a second to grab my laptop.” I hop out and grab it from the back, reminding myself that I’ll need to find somewhere to charge it soon. I pull up Midas employment files which, conveniently for me, have poorly taken photos attached to them. I scroll through until I find the face of the guy from last night.
“Bingo. His name is Mason Parker. He’s thirty years old and has been working at Midas for the past four years. Ah, here we go.” I reel off his home address and buckle up as Noah heads in that direction.
We find his place at the end of a cul-de-sac which isn’t that far from Eden’s flat. We pull up and park behind a metallic blue Audi A5 effectively blocking it in. Nice car. Makes me wonder why a bouncer is driving around in this when Eden was driving around in a piece of shit. The door of the house is pulled open before we even knock and I have to have a quick look to make sure it wasn’t ripped off its hinges from the force used.
“You two have a lot of nerve showing up here. You can just turn around and fuck off.” He tries to close the door, but Noah wedges his foot in its way.
“We just want to talk to Eden, I mean Eve. It’s important.”
“Well good luck with that. I went to see her at the hospital but when I went to pick her up later, she was gone.” He pushes the door again, but this time Noah slams the flat of his hand into it.
“We fucked up, man, I know.” Even I can hear the sincerity in his voice. “We were just doing our job and had no idea this was going to be the outcome. We aren’t the bad guys here, we just want to help.”
“Yeah? Can you keep her safe? Because, boys, it looks like you have done a stellar job so far.”
I step up next to Noah, knowing we are only going to get one shot with this guy so we need to make it count. “We have a team at our disposal back in London that specialises in protection. We want you and Eden to come back with us.”
Noah looks at me sharply but there is no way we are going to get Eden back to London without Mason in tow, so what’s the point in trying?
“She can’t stay here. I don’t know how much you know about the guy who is after her, but he has resources that you can only dream about. He is smart, really fucking smart, and has already proven that he won’t give up until Eden is back in his grasp. We don’t want that to happen any more than you do, so let us help. We’ll be stronger together.”
A scream from within the house stops whatever he was about to say as he turns and runs down the hallway with Noah and me hot on his heels. A pale and shaking Eden is lying on the floor crab crawling backward. Mason scoops her up in his arms, mindful of her bruises, and gently plops her down on the sofa.
“What happened?” Noah barks, making her visibly shrink into herself.
I punch him on the arm as a look of remorse crosses his face.
She points to another door at the back of the room. Noah goes off to investigate as Mason softly questions her.
“What happened, pretty girl? You weren’t supposed to move your butt off this sofa until I returned,” he scolds.
“I could hear a door banging and with my head still pounding it was driving me crazy, so I went to shut it. I never even thought to question where the draft was coming from to make it bang in the first place.” She gulps and stares off at nothing. “I followed the noise to the back of the house and that’s when I saw the back door was open.”
“So, then you freaked out,” I summarise.
She looks up at me with anger and distrust in her eyes. “No, first I saw the dead cat with its intestines falling out strung up by the neck on the porch.”
Noah comes storming back in, anger radiating out of every pore in his body. His eyes soften as he glances at Eden before he turns his stare to Mason. “You got a cat?”
“No, but the neighbour’s is always hanging around. Shit, Eden, how the fuck did he figure out where you are so fast?”
“Well, you can’t stay here. Pack whatever shit you need, you are coming with us.” Smooth, Noah, really smooth.
She stands up slowly, planting her hands on her hips. “Not a chance in hell. You work for my stepfather. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Excellent work, Noah.
“You are coming with us even if I have to carry your ass out of here myself.”
“Yo, back off, man.” Mason stands up, placing himself between them. Mason is a couple of inches taller than Noah and about twenty pounds heavier but with the rage coursing through, Noah I know that he won’t be backing down anytime soon.
I step in and try to play peacemaker. “We don’t work for Karl.”
She flinches when I say his name like the sound of it physically hurts her.
“He hired the law firm we work for. With it coming up to seven years since you left, he wanted to have you declared dead.”
“And that didn’t raise any red flags for you?” she asks incredulously.
“Why would it? You have been gone a long time with zero sightings. He wanted to sell up and move on, but the house was in your name as your mother left it to you. He said he didn’t want to sell it if there was the chance you would one day come home,” Noah explains.
Thinking about it now, it would have been no hardship for Karl to move out and rent somewhere far away if he wanted to. Damn, she is spot on about those red flags.
“The house is in my name? That’s it? You think he had you find me because the house is in my name?” Her scathing tone makes me squirm.
Fuck, I don’t think I have actually squirmed since I was in school and I got yelled at by the headteacher. She throws her hands up in the air and wobbles slightly, but Mason grabs her and steadies her before she can topple over.
“Please tell me you are not the best they have to offer, or I might as well wrap myself up in a bow and sit right here and wait.” She lets Mason help lower her back down to the sofa before continuing. “Do you know how old I am?” she asks, glancing between me and Noah.
“Yes. You turned twenty-one on the seventh of August,” I answer her, wondering what the hell that’s got to do with anything.
“Do you know what else happened when I became twenty-one?”
I look at Noah, but he looks as in the dark as I am.
“I gained access to my trust fund,” she tells us in a soft voice that has the same impact as a sledgehammer.
I close my eyes and drop my head in defeat. I can see where this is going, it’s like a car crash waiting to happen and I am completely helpless to stop it.
“How much?” Noah barks out through gritted teeth.
“Something like 38.4 million pounds.”
“What the fuck?” shouts Mason. “Does somebody want to fill me in, because I’m lost here.”
She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes briefly before rubbing the seat next to her for him to sit.
“My mother and father were not a match made in heaven. He was some kind of tech genius and she was a socialite ‘It girl.’ You know the kind that’s always caught by the paparazzi stumbling out of clubs blind drunk at three o’clock in the morning? Well, that was her. They, not surprisingly, met in a club when my dad was celebrating selling a patent design he made a fortune on. They hooked up and that was meant to be that until she found out she was pregnant with me. He refused to marry her, much to the disgust of her father who disowned her for tarnishing his good name. My father might not have wanted my mother, but he did provide for me both financially and by visiting whenever she would allow it. He was overseas at a meeting finalising his next big deal when a plane crashed into the building he was in.” She wraps her arms tightly around herself and swallows before continuing.
“He died that day and left every penny he had in a trust fund for me until the eve of my twenty-first birthday. He had already purchased the house outright for my mother under the stipulation that if she died the house would become mine regardless of any spouse or additional children she may have. If I died before my twenty-first bir
thday, the trust was to be dissolved and left to various pre-chosen charities, but after my birthday it goes to my next of kin. I assume this was to stop my mother getting her hands on it when I was younger but also so I could potentially leave it to a partner or children when I was older, at least I assume that was the way it was intended to work.”
“So, having you legally declared dead means Karl could claim everything?” I’m pissed at how naïve we all were.
“Yep. It also stopped him from killing me years ago because then he wouldn’t get a penny, but it didn’t make him any less angry about it.”
“He hit you?” Mason grinds out.
“He hit me,” she confirms. “For as long as I can remember but it was much worse after my mother died.”
“What made you leave like that?” Noah asks, his eyes boring into hers.
“What, that wasn’t enough?” she fires back.
“Of course it was, but you had been putting up with it for years knowing he couldn’t take it too far or risk losing the money. So, something else happened to force your hand.”
“That is none of your business,” she tells him with anger flashing in her eyes.
“Fair warning, Eden, I’m making it my business. Now tell me what made you leave?”
“Fuck you!”
“Noah, come on man leave it alone,” I urge him before any trust we’ve gained deteriorates between us.
“Fucking tell me!” he roars, ignoring me completely. The room is silent with the exception of Noah’s ragged breathing.
She looks at him, really looks at him, and I realise she is seeing beneath the layer that runs hot and angry. She can see the guilt he feels and the worry he has for her. She sighs and shakes her head, her anger draining away only to be replaced with a sad kind of resignation.
“Let’s just say there are worse things men can do to little girls than hit them.”
Chapter Five
EDEN
As soon as the words leave my mouth, I want to snatch them back again. Things are so silent for a moment you could hear a pin drop until Mason stands up and throws the coffee table across the room as if it weighed nothing at all. He starts destroying the room around us as I witness him break apart in front of me. I should be scared. I should be terrified out of my goddamn mind, but there is a strange comfort in knowing that he would burn the world to the ground just to avenge my pain.
The one called Noah grabs him and pins him from behind but Mason continues to struggle. “Get a handle on it, man,” he tells Mason, fighting to keep him from destroying anything else.
“Mason,” I call his name softly.
He freezes before turning towards me. The look on his face breaks my heart. It’s filled with anguish and heartbreak. He shrugs out of Noah’s hold and falls onto the floor between my feet and places his large hands on my thighs. “I’m sorry, Eden, I didn’t mean to scare you. I can’t… my sister… I just—”
I cut him off, cupping his jaw with my hands. “I’m not afraid of you, Mason. I just don’t want you hurting yourself.”
I don’t know what he was going to say about his sister but that can wait until later. We have more pressing things to deal with now. I look at the more stable of the two interlopers who put this whole calamity into motion.
“Tell me why I should trust you.” I don’t want sweet talk or a pat on the head. I want to know if I will live to see next week.
“Because we owe you, and if you believe nothing else, then know that we always repay our debts.” His face takes on a solemn look. “We had no idea we were making you a target. That’s not who we are or what we do. Believe it or not, we are good guys. Some of us are just a little intense sometimes.” He winks at me before nodding in Noah’s direction.
Noah rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t dispute him.
“Let’s try this again, shall we?” He shakes Mason’s hand before extending it to me. “I am Eli Cooper and the guy behind me is Noah Scott. We work for a law firm in London called Turner and Smiths. We track down missing or hard to find people. Usually, it’s to inform them a family member has passed and left them something but sometimes we end up with cases like yours. We know we were in the wrong now but at the time we just thought we were helping a widowed police veteran determine if his stepdaughter was dead or alive so he could move on instead of living in limbo.”
I nod in response. I know just how convincing Karl can be.
“Come with us,” Noah says in a voice softer than I had heard from him before. “I promise you, we’ll keep you safe.” He looks sincere. Beneath the bluster which I suspect is a front to keep people at a distance, I do think he genuinely wants to help.
Maybe he’s right. I’m a sitting duck here now that Karl knows where I am. I turn and focus on Mason who is looking at me intently. “What do you think?”
“I think he knows where you are and he won’t stop now that he’s found you. What harm can having extra protection bring? It’s up to you but where you go, I go. I truly think what these guys have in mind might just be the best option right now.”
I agree, unfortunately. I take in the three insanely hot men surrounding me and worry about what I’m getting myself into. “Okay, you win,” I tell them, watching Noah’s whole body relax with my words. “Where will we be staying?”
“You’ll stay with us,” Noah answers.
I watch a strange look pass over Eli’s face, surprise and something else but it’s gone before I can figure it out.
“All right, well, I’m still packed so it’s just Mason’s stuff. What about the cat?”
Eli pulls his phone from his pocket. “I’ll call the police, but I want everything packed and in the two cars before they get here. They are likely to stop you from taking anything as this is now a crime scene.”
Mason stands but I grab his hand quickly before he goes. “You sure you want to come? This is your home.”
He leans down so that his face is inches from mine. “I would like to see you try to stop me, pretty girl. Besides, this is just a house made of bricks and mortar. What is inside is what makes it a home and I’m taking everything I need with me.” He winks and walks off, leaving me with a distinct impression that he isn’t talking about a bunch of clothing and a handful of possessions.
“Okay, police are on their way. We have about twenty minutes until they get here. Eden, where is your stuff?
“On the way here, we went to the police station and picked up the stuff that was salvageable from the wreck. It’s still in Mason’s car. He was on his way out to collect it when you guys showed up.”
“All right, I’ll see if Mason needs any help. Eden, try not to kill Noah while I’m gone.”
“Yeah, I make no promises with that.”
He laughs as he walks away, leaving me alone with Noah. Hello, uncomfortable silence.
“Do you think you could grab my painkillers off the kitchen counter and a glass of water please?” I ask, breaking the quiet moment.
He jumps into gear immediately. “You’re in pain, dammit, Eden, why didn’t you say anything earlier?” He storms off to the kitchen before returning a couple of minutes later with my drink and tablets.
“I just tripped in my haste to get away from that freaking cat. I’m fine. It’s time to take these now anyway.” I place two tablets on my tongue and swallow them down, giving the glass back to him when he holds his hand out for it.
“I think we should clean out the fridge and chuck all the perishables away. Who knows how long it will be before he gets back here,” I tell him, needing to do something.
“Stay. I’ll do it.”
“Noah, I am not a dog or an invalid for that matter. I am quite capable of cleaning out a freaking fridge unless you’re worried about me being attacked by a rogue condiment.” I struggle to my feet realising my speech would have sounded much better if I could have stormed out of the room. However, moving fast is still too painful. Noah must have realised this as well, as a small smile plays on his lips tran
sforming his face completely. If I thought he was handsome before, he is downright lickable now.
He sighs when he realises I’m a stubborn little shit that won’t give in. Instead of trying to talk me out of it, he steps up to me and swings me up into his arms bridal style. I let out a gasp but throw my arms around his neck so he doesn’t drop me. He carries me into the kitchen and gently plops me onto the counter before opening the fridge and getting to work, leaving me gaping like a fish.
Mason walks into the kitchen a few moments later with a bag slung over his shoulder. Eli strolls in behind him with another bag and a large box under his arm.
“We can just put these in the back of our car, as yours is filled with Eden’s stuff.” Eli motions to Mason.
“Thanks, man.” Mason follows him out to the car and then back in again empty-handed.
“You’re quiet, Eden, you doing okay?” Mason asks, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
I cough to clear my throat, refusing to over analyse Noah’s actions any longer. He was obviously just trying to be helpful.
“I’m fine, just tired, I guess. I didn’t sleep much last night and there was the whole car crash thing today. I’m kind of drained.”
Noah slams the fridge door far harder than necessary and glares at me.
Mason laughs. “I think it might be too soon for the jokes just yet, at least until we have you somewhere safe.”
“You get everything you need?” Noah asks him.
“Yeah, I’m good and thanks, man, for getting rid of the fridge stuff. I didn’t even think about that.”
“Sure, no problem.”
A knock interrupts us. Eli, who is the closest, pulls back the curtain by the door to reveal two police officers. He lets them in and we spend the next couple of hours going over everything from the crash up to finding the cat. I fill them in about Karl. At this point, I have nothing to lose. They are surprisingly sweet about it and agree to look into him. What they weren’t happy about was me leaving but when Noah pointed out I wasn’t safe, and they didn’t have the manpower for round the clock protection, they reluctantly gave in. Not wanting to wait until morning to travel, we decide to set off once the police have cleared out and the poor cat has been taken away.
The Promise of Tomorrow: An Inheritance Novel Page 5