by Linzi Baxter
On Jax’s tenth birthday, Mom overdosed and died, which led to the three of us being put into foster care until Jared turned eighteen and the three of us could live together again. While in foster care, the three of us were split up and I’m not sure what happened to Jared, but when we were able to be together again, he was even more guarded than before our mother died.
The family I lived with took care of me well, leaving me alone for the most part, but I missed my brothers. The day Jared showed up to take me to live with him, I knew I would do anything for him. We worked together so he could go to school at night. His mind was incredible when it came to building electronics. One night, the three of us were sitting around the table and talking about opening NSS. I was in my last year of college, and all we needed was the funding. Rachele and I went to college together, and she talked about how she wouldn’t get her trust unless she was married.
Three days later, I proposed a deal that if she lent me five million dollars, I would marry her. The prenup we made favored us both. She never thought my brothers and I would make the amount of money we did or earn a reputation that meant everyone wanted to know us. She worried that her clout from being married to me would go away when we divorced—and it would.
My computer dinged, and I looked down. It was an email from Rachele. I clicked it open and downloaded the file, opening to find a copy of our divorce decree. I scrolled to the last page and saw that she had finally signed it. The email also included the tracking information for the documents and an approximate time the courier would be delivering them. I felt a little bit of the tension I had been holding recede.
Lily tapped on my door, and I waved for her to come in. I planed to ask her to go to New York with me. She came in and handed me a cup of tea. “I think I made it how you did. If not, let me know.” She turned to leave.
“Have a seat, Lily.”
She sat in the same white chair Jared had abandoned only minutes ago. “Did I do something wrong?” Her eyes went from me to the cup of tea.
“No, I bet you made the tea just fine.” Even if she didn’t, I would drink it. “I need to fly to New York on Friday to meet with an investor, and that night, I have a charity event. I know today is your first day, but I will need you to come to New York with me.”
Lily bit her lip. “Will we be back Friday night?”
“No, but Tommy and Abe can come along. I will never take you away from your son overnight. Abe can watch him while we work. If you want, we can hire a nanny as well. I don’t know how good Abe is with Tommy. This will all be paid for by the company.”
“Okay, but let me make sure that Abe can come. If not, I can talk with Kat and see if she has someone else in New York to help. I know she lived there for a while.”
I would make sure Abe came. The last person’s bad side I wanted to be on was Kat’s. No matter how long I’d known the Ross brothers, I knew she would kill me and feed me to her gators. “Let me know tomorrow.”
Lily nodded and left the office.
I forwarded the email from Rachele off to my lawyer then sent Jax and Jared a quick text letting them know it was officially over. Once everything was processed, which should only take a couple more days, I would no longer be married. The papers would arrive at the office the next day, and when I headed to New York on Friday, I would no longer be Rachele’s husband.
The cup of tea on my desk tasted delicious. Somehow, she made it better than I did. I took another sip before turning back to the financials for the month. I hadn’t even realized it was after five when Lily walked back in my office.
“Do you need anything else before I leave?” Her hair was no longer down—she had twisted it into a bun that showed off her slender neck.
“No. Have a good night. Did Seth from security get you a badge?” I had contacted the directors to let them know Lily would be working for us off the books, and I wasn’t going to tell them why. If they had a problem, they could talk to Jared or myself. Nobody would confront Jared, so I knew we wouldn’t have any issue.
“Yes. See you in the morning.”
Lily turned and walked out. My eyes were glued to her perky ass and my only thought was, Friday seemed too far away.
5
Lily
My nerves had been on end since Jacob had asked me to go to the gala in New York with him. Each day I went to work after that, I expected him to say that he’d changed his mind, but instead, he kept asking if I had everything I needed for the overnight trip. The first night when I got home, I called Kat to tell her. I asked for advice about how to tell him I couldn’t go because I didn’t want to take Tommy to New York. I could’ve left Tommy with Abe in Houston, but I didn’t feel comfortable doing that, either. That’s when Kat came up with the grand plan that she and her son would fly out and spend some time with Tommy while I was busy working in New York.
The pair arrived a couple of days later. As she was helping me pack, I mentioned, “This is crazy Kat. I can’t expect you to stay here with Tommy while I jet off to New York.”
Kat rubbed her barely showing pregnant belly. “Antonio is out of the country, running a mission. Ever since I got pregnant, I’ve been trying not to kill anyone, and this gives me some time to see Tommy. Abe’s going to fly out and help Antonio with the job. Even if you hadn’t planned on going to New York, I was gonna come anyway and take Abe’s position for the weekend.”
What happens when Greg uses this opportunity to come after me, and I’m not there? How can I leave a pregnant woman alone with my crazy ex in the wind? “Why don’t you come with?” It was my only option. Over the past year, I’d learned one thing about Kat: she would do what she put her mind to, and at the moment, that was safeguarding my son.
“You don’t think I can protect your son?” Kat leveled her eyes at me.
“I know you can protect my son. But what if something did happen to you? I could never live with myself—you’re pregnant, for Christ’s sake.”
“There’s no way Greg will know we’re in New York, but if he comes looking, no one will be here.”
I grabbed another dress for the weekend. Jacob said we would fly back on Saturday. When I told him Kat was watching Tommy, he’d originally wanted to stay the whole week, but we finally came to an agreement. I put a set of my cute bras and matching panties in the suitcase. The feeling of getting to see New York excited me, but leaving Tommy with an unknown danger put a damper on things.
“The other day, we found Greg in Ft. Lauderdale. Antonio put a tail on him, and he’s being watched. I’m glad to be here, spending some time with Tommy. I promise, the second Greg shows any sign of knowing where you are, I’ll let you know. It’s time for you to move on with your life.”
I didn’t even know what that meant. I’d spent so many years under Greg’s fist that I didn’t give myself a chance to think of the future. Even when he was behind bars, the only thing I could think about was what would happen when he got out. I knew Kate was right—it was time for me to start thinking about my future, but I knew for sure that there would be no future with Jacob. Kaylene and Sasha said he was still married even though they never saw his wife.
A couple of days before, I couldn’t hold back. I Googled him. The girls at work were right—he was married, but there weren’t many photos of the two of them online. His wife was beautiful on the cover of several magazines, and all of her candid shots showed her dressed in the elegant clothes and eating at the most expensive restaurants. Kaylene had talked about how she would call and be a bitch, saying that she couldn’t wait for the divorce to be final, but I still wondered why a man like Jacob would ever look at me when he had her for a wife.
“You’re right. I need to start moving on, but don’t get any thoughts that it’s going to Jacob. He’s still married.”
“I’m not so sure he’s going to be married much longer.”
I pushed the top of my suitcase down, squeezing my clothes in. The zipper barely moved as I tugged it closed. “Kat, when I start d
ating again, it’s going to be someone in my class.”
She leaned against the headboard. “You need to stop looking at class and just follow your heart. You make sure you have fun in New York and don’t worry about Tommy. I’ll take care of everything.” The twinkle in Kat’s eyes had me scared.
“You’d better not teach my son how to shoot a gun.”
“Tommy’s too young to learn yet, but I found a cool laser-tag place.”
The clock on the stand said it was quarter to nine. I needed to get downstairs. Jacob had to run into the office, and he’d said to be downstairs at nine. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t drive myself to the airport or have Kat take me, but Jacob said he wanted to ride together.
“I think you should wear the red dress we packed,” Kat said. “You’ll have all the men drooling.”
“This is a business trip. I’m not trying to pick up a new guy. The only reason I’m going is because Jacob needs me to help with a meeting on Friday. And before you tell me I’m wrong, I asked Kaylene. She accompanies Jared to a lot of his gala functions.”
Kat scrolled through her phone for a second. “He needs his secretary to accompany him because he’s an ass.”
“On the first day I met him, I would have agreed with you that he’s an ass. But over the past few days, I’ve seen a different person. One day, Jared will find love, and it will knock him on his ass.” I tapped Kat’s shoulder. “Are you sure you don’t want to come with?”
Kat shook her head.
“I’m going to go hug Tommy goodbye.”
I had learned to be very observant during my time with Greg, mostly because if I wasn’t, Greg would deck me. Over the past few days, I had spoken to Jared a few more times. He was an arrogant ass most of the time. When Jared knew Jacob wasn’t in the office, he would stop at my desk and ask how Jacob was doing. Something was going on, and I wasn’t sure what it was, but it was in Jacob’s personal life, and it wasn’t my place to ask. Jared seemed worried about him, though, and when Jared found out that Sasha’s boss yelled at her for something one of her other coworkers messed up, Jared went off on him. Kaylene talked a lot about how Jared always looked out for his brothers and made sure they were taken care of first. I thought Jared’s brash, arrogant exterior needed to be broken down and figured that a woman would do just that one day.
I pulled my heavy suitcase off the bed. My heels clicked against the hardwood floor as I walked toward Tommy’s bedroom. I could hear his laughter. I pushed the door open to find my son in the middle of the room with all his toys spread out. Antonio had what looked to be the bad guy in his hand, and Tommy had a cop in his hand, shooting. My little boy looked up from his toys. “Are you leaving, Mommy?”
“Remember we talked about this the other day? Need to head out of town for work. Kat and Ant are going to stay with you. I should be back tomorrow night.”
Tommy grabbed one of his police officers. “Here. Take this with you to help protect you from the bad guys.”
I grabbed the toy from his hand and slipped it into my purse then leaned down and swept him into my arms. “Love you,” I whispered into his ear.
“Love you too, Mommy,” he replied before pulling back, looking at Ant, and returning to playing with his toys.
Kat stood at the door, watching the interaction. “We’re going to be fine. Go have fun in New York.”
I took one last look at my boy before I left the room. “Kat, if anything changes, let me know immediately. I’ll be back here in a second.” I started to feel teary. “He’s my world, and if something happened to him, I don’t know what I would do.”
Before I knew it, Kat had wrapped her arms around me. “Nothing is going to happen. I promise. Now go get laid.”
There was no point in responding. I opened the front door and headed toward the elevator with my pink roller bag, another item Kat had bought, next to me. When I had gotten home from work the day before, she and Ant were already at the condo, and my closet had expanded more and included luggage.
The ride down to the bottom floor was quick. I waved at Henry as I pulled open one of the double glass doors to the outside. I held up my hand to shield the hot Texas sun as I looked for Jacob’s black Range Rover. The SUV was parked in the loading zone, and Jacob’s driver stood next to the back door, waiting for me. The early-morning traffic buzzed down the street.
Henry took my bag and opened the back door. My butt slid across the cold leather seat. Jacob sat on the other side with his cell phone pressed to his ear. He smiled as I got into the car, and Henry closed the door behind me. I heard him put my bag in the back before he jumped into the driver’s seat. Since he didn’t ask where we were going, I assumed that Jacob had already told him.
Jacob ended his call and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Did you have fun catching up with Kat last night?”
I couldn’t help but smile as I thought back to my conversation with her the night before. “Yes. She kept grumbling about Antonio not letting her work so she’s more than happy to escape and watch Tommy for the night.” I let out a sigh. “I just wish Abe could have stayed back. She promised Greg is still in Ft. Lauderdale, but I still can’t stop myself from worrying.”
Jacob reached over and squeezed my hand, and I felt a spark when our skin touched. I looked into his eyes, seeing if he felt the same connection, but I couldn’t tell. “Lily, you’re a good friend. I promise nothing is going to happen to Tommy. What Kat doesn’t know is that Antonio hired a local mercenary to watch over them.”
“She’s going to be pissed.”
His hand still rested against mine, and it felt good, but I didn’t need to develop feelings I shouldn’t have for my boss. Still, it made my stomach flutter with hope.
Jacob shrugged. “That’s if she figures it out.”
I couldn’t hold back the laugh. “Really? Have you met Kat? She’ll know if she has a tail within minutes of leaving the house. I don’t know who I’m more worried about, Antonio or the man who thinks he’s going to follow her around.”
“You’re right. From the stories I’ve heard, I don’t think I would want to be either of them. Just so you're not surprised, Jared and Kaylene are coming along as well. Jared was able to move his meeting so he could fly up with us, and they’re both coming to the gala tonight.”
Jared put me on edge a little, but having Kaylene along would make the trip ten times better, and she knew how to handle her boss. “Okay.”
“I meant to ask you earlier this week—have you been to New York before?” Luckily, Jacob’s phone started to ring, and I didn’t have to answer the question.
The last time I was in New York was with my parents. Two days before my eighteenth birthday, my father said we had to head to New York, so we packed into the car and drove there from Florida. I’d thought that Miami was a big city, but the lights and noise of New York were different. When we arrived outside of the city, dad pulled into the parking lot of a small church where a group of people were standing outside. We were all ushered into a large bus and taken downtown.
We got off the bus in front of a large building. As I stepped onto the streets of New York City, a lady in a white t-shirt and jeans handed me a sign and pointed to a park across the street. As I looked around, a fine mist started to fall. I finally realized that we were standing in front of the New York County Supreme Courthouse, where reporters had gathered on the steps. One by one the people getting off the bus gathered in the park across the street.
When my mom came and stood next to me, I finally looked at the sign in my hands. The sign read, “Execution is against God’s will.”
“Hold up your sign,” my mother demanded as a group of protesters started walking up and down the sidewalk holding their signs aloft. I didn’t know what we were protesting or who was being tried in the courthouse until Derek Woodsworth, a religious cult leader who’d killed all of his followers, walked onto the steps in an orange jumpsuit, his hands cuffed in front of his body. He was facing the death pe
nalty.
I had heard my parents talking about him a few times. They believed he was doing God’s work. Derek wasn’t the only one my father followed—he also idolized Jeremy Myers, another well-known cult leader. A few weeks later, when I turned eighteen and got pregnant, my parents kicked me out of their house because they were planning on joining a cult, and they said they couldn’t because I was no longer pure. I’d called Greg crying when they kicked me out, and he came and picked me up. I’d traded living with radical religious parents to a life of getting beaten. I’d seen a recent news report saying that Jeremy Myers had died, and my father was the new leader of the Richous Church, a religious cult in upstate New York.
When we arrived at the executive airport outside of Houston, Jared and Kaylene were standing outside the airplane, talking. Jacob finished his conversation as Henry walked around the side of the car and let me out. Kaylene waved as she saw me walking toward her. Sasha peeked her head out of the airplane door then screamed something that I couldn’t understand. Kaylene laughed, and Jared just shook his head.
I couldn’t wait to see what the weekend would hold.
6
Jacob
I hated wearing a monkey suit. I reached up and adjusted the black bow tie around my neck as laughter filled the limousine slowly inching its way down the street. I glanced across the car and at my brother Jared, and he looked as uncomfortable as I did. Hope for Kids was the only gala he went to each year—the charity meant a lot to my brother. He wanted to make sure all kids in foster care were taken care of.
Hope for Kids was the Black brothers’ charity. We didn’t want our names listed on the public-facing materials, but we gave millions each year to make sure it stayed up and running for foster kids. At least once a month, the three of us would play basketball with kids placed in foster care through our foundation.