ED
“Who was that?” he asked Vaughan who’d interrupted his fatherly interrogation to take a call.
“Bella Constance – Staci’s friend from the ball. I think Staci could be with her – what the fuck have your guys done?”
“Give me a sec.” Ed could barely control his fear and rage, dialing Kram, “Is she there?”
“She’s been in her room, playing music.”
“Check.”
“Really? I thought you told me not to disturb her. Jax and me have been working on that idea you had.”
“I don’t care about the bloody idea—check.”
Less than a minute later, Jax came to the phone, “Mate, I’m sorry. She’s gone … I’ll implement …”
“Hold fire … I think I have a lead. What I want you to do is go back over the tapes and work out how the fuck a girl can leave without either of you noticing.”
Turning to Vaughan, “I just spoke to Jax.”
“I heard, they were looking for people trying to break in, and my daughter can be very resourceful.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Are you going to tell me what else is going on between you and my daughter? Or is Bella going to walk in and tell me what I need to know?”
Vaughan’s suspicions had been growing—and it had become almost impossible for Ed to assure him of the length’s Ed was willing to go to protect Anastacia—without telling him the truth. Today, Vaughan hadn’t let go of his questioning and Ed was running out of excuses.
To hell with it—he’d intended on waiting until he and Anastacia could tell her father together—but if she could run away without warning, then he could tell her father the truth.
“What are you to my daughter? No bullshit and no more hedging. I want the truth and I think you owe it to me.”
“Sir, it’s complicated.”
“Why—because you’re using her?”
“Mate, it’s not like that,” he tried to appeal as a friend, not as a soldier reporting to his commanding officer.
“What do you mean, ‘it’s not like that;’ either you are involved with my daughter or not.”
“What I mean is that I met her the night of the ball.”
“You mean you were there the night she was attacked?”
“No, it wasn’t like that.”
“Then explain it to me, Edison. Tell me exactly what it’s like—because from where I’m standing, you are guilty of something.”
“Sir, the only thing I’m guilty of, is kissing a woman at a ball when I didn’t know her name. I know its cliché, but from the moment I saw her from across the room, she was the only woman I wanted to dance with, so we did. She was the only woman I’ve wanted to kiss in—well I’m not going to tell you how long. I didn’t know her name, or that she was your daughter—all I knew was that she was quite possibly the most perfect woman I’d ever met.”
That seemed to calm Vaughan down, at least long enough to ask, “So, what does this mean?”
“It means, Sir, that I am asking your permission to …”
“To what?” Vaughan sneered. “Defend my daughter or screw her because I doubt you can do both at the same time?”
Ed fumed, if it had been any other man who talked like that about Anastacia, the guy would be flat on his back and lacking the teeth to make an apology. But Vaughan wasn’t any other man, and he’d had enough shocks to deal with without having to process Ed’s latest confession. Through gritted teeth, Ed calmly stated, “Sir, I respect the hell out of you, but if you ever talk about your daughter like that again, I promise I’ll take you out.
Vaughan paced around the room while Ed tried to control his anger. He wasn’t going to allow anyone to speak that way about Anastacia; not even her father.
“I just want better for her.
“What you mean is that you don’t think I’m good enough for her?” This conversation never started out promising, but if he didn’t watch his tone and attitude, Ed knew he was at risk of alienating Anastacia’s father. Still, he couldn’t stop, “I’m good enough to defend her, good enough to lay down my life to protect her, but I’m not good enough to date her?”
“You’re army. You only know how to fight and kill.”
Ed couldn’t help himself, “And she did so much better dating a suit?” He shook his head in disgust, “I retract my request, Sir. I’m not asking your permission—as long as Anastacia is willing to give this old soldier the benefit of the doubt, I will give her everything I’ve got.”
Vaughan must have regretted the turn of conversation as much as Ed, changing the subject. “We can deal with this later, right now it appears that Staci has taken extreme measures to make sure we meet her friend.”
“Isn’t this the friend that took her to the ball?” Ed asked.
“Yes, Bella Constance. She and Staci have been friends for years. I don’t know who set Staci up to be attacked but it can’t have been Bella. She grew up in diplomatic circles and is now tipped to be the next Australian Ambassador to one of our European postings. I guarantee that Bella would never put Staci’s life at risk let alone her own career.”
“Why does Anastacia want us to meet her then?” Ed didn’t need to get the third degree from one of Anastacia’s friends as well as her father. Not today. Not when he still couldn’t break past the barrier between them.
Vaughan’s answer was stopped by the doorbell. “I guess all is about to be revealed.”
Ed heard the introductions as the voices came closer into the lounge room. “How did she look to you?”
A cultured female voice answered, “She’s very pale, obviously scared out of her mind, but I’m here because she wants you to hear what I’ve got to say.”
The beautiful brunette walked in, looking him up and down with cool eyes. Stunning, but couldn’t hold a candle to an Anastacia even when dressed in his old gym clothes.
“Arabella Constance, I’d like you to meet Lieutenant Colonel Edison Alexander. Ed, this is one of Anastacia’s oldest friends, Bella.”
Bella may have shaken his hand but even after the introductions there was still a wariness in her eyes. Good, Ed thought. It was bloody stupid for Anastacia to sneak out, but at least her friend wasn’t even going to take him at face value.
“Anastacia loves you both,” Bella started cautiously as Ed looked towards Vaughan who, thankfully, ignored him. Ed recognized the laptop as it emerged from her over-sized handbag. “She loves you both so much, Bella look to Ed before continuing, “That she couldn’t be the one to play you this recording.”
“What recording and how did they get it to her?” Ed asked, regretting ever giving her access to the internet.
“Please don’t be mad at her, especially after what I show you. Staci set up a private account years ago just for close friends. It was a way that we were able to stay in touch even when whatever countries we were living in forced us to break off official contact.” She looked across to Vaughan, “Tell me you understand?”
“What do you need to show us?” Vaughan said and Ed was concerned that the Colonel still hadn’t lost the quiet rage from Ed’s earlier admission.
This woman didn’t need to feel Vaughan’s misdirected wrath, Ed took a deep breath before cutting in. “Whatever you have to show us, we only want to protect Anastacia. You don’t know me, but her father trusts me with her life.”
“Staci trusts you with more than her life,” Bella’s comment was pointed and Ed couldn’t remember the last time he’d blushed. Then again, he couldn’t remember the last time he felt this crazy about any woman.
“I don’t need to hear about that, dammit,” Vaughan raged. “Say what you came here to say.”
Instead of answering Bella queued up the recording. Ed could see a strange bed but nothing that seemed familiar. “Hudson sent this to Staci, but she wanted both of you to know that it’s not her. She’s never done anything like this—and she was too embarrassed to be the one to tell you that she hadn’t closed down all o
f her social media and that the man that she once loved was capable of this.” Bella looked to Vaughan, “Colonel, she didn’t want you to think badly of her for marrying Hudson.”
“Whatever he’s done, it’s on him,” Ed tried yet again to reassure this woman who Staci trusted. “I only want what’s best for her, I’m pissed she ran away to talk to you but that’s only because her lack of trust in me put her in danger.”
“I’ll deal with you and your team later, Edison. Show us the tape,” Vaughan commanded.
“Colonel Vaughan, sir, the moment she saw this video, Staci closed down. She couldn’t think straight and as much as she knew you needed to see it, she couldn’t bring herself to show you,” Bella stalled.
“Show me the bloody thing,” Vaughan almost snatched the laptop from Bella’s hands.
Bella faced him with tears, still holding onto the laptop. “Colonel, I need you to understand how hard this was for Staci to watch and then keep a secret. I know now that she should never have reached out to me but she didn’t know what else to do. Please don’t be angry with her.”
Jax: Ms Vaughan returned safe.
The Colonel looked to him at the beeping burner phone. “Anastacia is back at the apartment, she’s safe.”
“Thank goodness,” Bella cried while Vaughan stood in stony silence.
Ed pushed past Vaughan, needing to comfort Bella. Whatever the bloody laptop held, if it was causing this much distress to the women, he needed to see it—now. “The only anger I have, or even the Colonel here, is to the bastards that have done this to your friend. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to stop them. For good. Do you understand?”
Bella nodded, still holding onto the black device that held all the secrets. “But for me to do my job, I need all the facts. Otherwise, I’ll make a decision and because I don’t know what else is going on, it could go badly for your friend.”
“What is she to you?” Bella insisted with quiet determination. She wasn’t going to be fobbed off with excuses but now wasn’t the time.
“That’s a question for after we neutralize her ex-husband, don’t you think?” Ed tried to allow the man to shine through, not the soldier. Bella had to trust him and the longer she stalled in showing him the video, the more important it became.
Bella handed him the device and he cued it to play. After only the first few seconds, he turned the screen away from Vaughan, “You don’t need to see this, sir.”
Fuck. Anyone who knew her, would know that wasn’t Anastacia—but how could any bastard stoop so low?
“That’s not my daughter.”
“I know that sir, but that’s not the point. You welcomed this man into your family, and he’s done more than betray your daughter.”
“I need to watch the rest.”
“Colonel, you said you trusted me to defend your daughter. Believe me, you don’t need to see the rest—you just need to trust me to deal with it and we can continue our other conversation later.”
Ed held his stance and face kind but firm. This wasn’t the time for the Colonel to keep watching only to start acting out of emotion. The last message had given them a deadline and he needed to get the footage to his team so they could track down Thielman once and for all.
“Who else knows about this account?”
“I didn’t even think Hudson knew—Staci kept it hidden from him so we could still talk when she was being punished.”
The asshole just kept getting worse—no wonder Anastacia didn’t want to talk about him or her life with him. Again, emotions that he could unleash on Thielman if and when he got the chance—Bella didn’t need to see that side of him, and Anastacia never could.
“Please give me back the laptop so I can give it to my technical guys.”
“What are you going to do?”
“They will get whatever information they can about the location, make sure that the girl in the video is okay, and to try and track where Anastacia’s ex-husband may be hiding.”
“I meant what are you going to do to Staci?”
“Love her,” Ed answered without thinking.
ANASTACIA
Jax didn’t react when she arrived back at the apartment, and she didn’t know how to explain why she’d left. He had repositioned the desk and chair from the war-room office—there was no sneaking out without someone seeing her now.
She wandered around, feeling trapped inside a prison cell with nothing to do other than wait. She’d read Ed’s box of books, taking some comfort in her own bittersweet childhood memories of her mother reading to her each night before bedtime.
But other than military books and technical papers that she didn’t even begin to understand, there wasn’t much left to do. Kram had left and Jax didn’t seem in the mood to talk.
An hour later and still no word from Ed or her father, all Anastacia could do was imagine and stress about Bella’s visit. She couldn’t bring herself to think about the video—but could try and imagine Bella’s reaction to Ed. Only Anastacia knew about Bella’s occasional affairs with hot security detail or laborers. Ed was almost exactly her type—and she’d never warmed to Hudson either as a person or as Anastacia’s husband. Yes, she had made the right noises smiled and invited them to all the right parties, but Bella did it to make sure she wasn’t cut from Anastasia’s life like so many of her other friends had been. The moment that Hudson thought a friend was a threat to his relationship, telephone calls didn’t get through and invitations were never returned.
Would Bella look at Ed through her own eyes or through Anastacia’s? Would she see the kind and gentle soul, or the rugged soldier? Would she dream about his hands over her body tonight and wonder what he hid underneath the fitted shirts?
Living with the man, Anastacia couldn’t deny her attraction towards the man any more now than she did at the ball. Only now, the body had a name and the man held her heart in his hands—to be crushed or caressed. Anastacia wished she knew which one he’d choose because so far, he’d been the perfect gentleman and battered away her flirting with ease.
“Still here?” Jax nodded, coming through the room towards the kitchen.
“Can I get you a coffee or something?”
“I’m fine, I just needed a short break from checking the screens—and to make sure you’re okay.”
“I don’t know how you keep looking at them hour after hour. This must be the most boring job,” she offered, ignoring the slight about her running away.
He laughed, and in stretching she could see all the muscles that would have once challenged her rules about never dating army. Now, all her rules had faded into wanting Ed, dreaming about him and what his body could do to hers. The way he made her feel, dancing in his arms and then those stolen moments before she caught him looking at her like a woman. Giving her hope that once all this madness was over, they could make something of their lives together.
Her greatest fear other than Hudson’s goons reappearing was that she and Ed already had their chance and let it slip away. If only she’d come back here with him after the ball. Then again, if they’d lain together that night, no names and no complications, she might never have been attacked, but she would never have known the true Ed.
Jax, with the shaved head, big eyes and body to die for might be laughing at her now, but he’d never be Ed.
“What’s so funny?”
“Civilians - what you call boring, I called well-planned. If we’re not under attack, it’s either because no one has found us; or we’ve been found and they’re planning something fierce.”
“Is that why you have to keep watching the monitors?”
“Yeah, my job is to stay alert and look for anything out of the ordinary.”
“Like what?”
“Like anyone taking their dog for a walk that seems to be interested in this building. Looking around as if they’re checking out birds or clouds but really, they’re looking for the cameras.”
“I thought Spider’s job was to hid
e the cameras.”
“No ordinary person is going to see them, but if you were looking for cameras then there are only certain places where they would have been placed. The people that were smart enough to kidnap you are smart enough to know where to look—and as soon as they find the cameras, they will be working out how to evade them. We can use that to plan a trap—if it comes to that.”
“You’re scaring me.”
“Good.” Suddenly, Jax was all soldier, no friend. “If you’re scared, you’re not going to do something stupid.”
She already had, in reaching out to Bella. “Like when I disappeared?”
He shrugged, “The Lieutenant Colonel will have more to say about that than me. At least you’re keeping us on our toes. We’ll up the surveillance, and by the end of the day will have extended the perimeter to give us an earlier warning. So far, we think you got away with it, but that doesn’t mean you would again.”
“I promise, if it wasn’t important, I would never have snuck out to meet my friend.”
“Ms Vaughan.” His tone was polite but the eyes cold. “Everyone involved in looking after you is doing it because we owe our lives to your father or out of respect and loyalty to the Lieutenant Colonel. We owe them and even if you do some stupid shit, we’ll still do our jobs.”
“I promise I won’t make it any harder for you.”
“Then you’d be the first client in history,” Jax had the grace to laugh. “How about I take you up on that offer of a coffee while I go back in and check the feeds again.”
By now, Anastacia was an expert at using the machine and frothing the milk. She was about to take Jax his cup when he called from the war room, “Looks like we’re having company—the Lieutenant Colonel’s car just turned into the street. At least now you’ll have someone else to talk to.”
Anastacia didn’t know whether Jax gave her the warnings for something to say or because he’d noticed how she used those minutes to go into the bathroom and freshen up. Not that she could do much to her face until the bruises healed—but at least now all the dried blood had gone from her hair and she could brush it until it shone.
Defend Her: A military suspense romance (Aussie Military Romance Book 4) Page 9