“You tryin’ to tell me that I need to go to the gym?” he teased.
“No, dork. I just want you to go with me and if the photographer can pose you in some of the pictures then that would be great.” I decide to egg him on and secure a victory. “If you don’t wanna, then that’s okay. I’ll do it myself.” I pouted.
“Fuck. Put the lip away, babe. I’ll go, I guess,” he huffed.
My cell started ringing and, as if he knew what we were talking about him—Brody.
"I swear to Christ, if I didn’t know better, I’d think he has our house bugged,” Jax muttered.
Rolling my eyes, I answered it before it rolled to voicemail. “Hey, Brody, what’s up?”
“Nothing, uhh, I just wanted to check in and see how you were feeling.” He sounded distracted.
“I’m good.” Sensing something else was going on, I pressed. “Brody, what’s really going on? You sound weird. Are you okay?”
“Huh, oh yeah, I’m fine. I’m just at work and you know what, never mind. I really got to run, I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” He still sounded off, not himself.
“B, are you at the office? Is someone there with you?” I started to panic. All I could see was Drill’s face.
“I’m at the office and yes, Sara is here with me. Sorry, Lei, I just have a crisis here with a settlement. I have to run. I’ll call you later.” Brody abruptly hung up.
Pulling the phone from my ear, I quickly called Drew. “Drew, damn it, pick up your phone,” I muttered under my breath.
“Hey, sis, what’s happenin’?”
“Drew, I think something is wrong with Brody. I need you to go to his office and check on him. I might be panicking over nothing, but he just called me and sounded really weird. He said it was just a settlement problem, but I don’t know. I just have this feeling something isn’t right.”
“Jesus, Lei, take a breath. What did he say that made you think something was wrong?” Drew asked calmly, which aggravated the shit out of me. Didn’t he understand? Brody was, I didn’t know what…in trouble?
“Can you please just go over? And call me when you get there?” I begged.
“Fine, I’ll drive over. I’ll call you in a few minutes and then you can chill the fuck out. You’re gonna stress yourself into labor. Relax.”
“Drew, I’ll relax when you call me back. Ten minutes, Drew, hurry.” With that I hung up and faced Jax, who heard the whole conversation.
“I swear, something isn’t right. I can feel it. He just…I don’t know how to explain it. I just know it. Something has happened.”
His face was impassive, and I didn’t have the energy to try to figure out what he was thinking.
Chapter Twenty-one
Brody
Sitting at the large walnut desk my father had custom made, I stared at the letter that was delivered via a bike messenger thirty minutes ago.
If you want the bitch and your baby to live meet me at 10 p.m. tonight airstrip on Johns Island. $200K cash. Alone. No cops or I will perform the C-section myself as you watch.
Clearly that fucking idiot didn’t think I’d call Leila to find out if she was safe. I had no doubt the note was from the same asshole who’d tried unsuccessfully to abduct her less than a week ago. Lowlife scum, Barry “Drill” Vincent.
In the last few days I’d had a security team assembled and my investigator dig up everything they could on this piece of shit. He had an arrest record as thick as a phone book but like Teflon, nothing seemed to stick. He had a few minor convictions but nothing that amounted to more than a year in jail.
Drew had a uniformed officer stationed in front of Jaxon and Leila’s house, but that wasn’t enough. She needed someone on her twenty-four seven, so I hired a few guys to follow her when she left the house. While Jaxon had been busy with the club, I had multiple cameras secreted around the perimeter tied to alarms to notify the team when someone entered the property.
Poor Sara thought I’d gone off the deep end and Jane said that if Leila knew of my activities she’d call me a stalker. I just wanted to protect my daughter and her mother. As the father, that was my right and my duty.
Hearing her voice on the other end of the phone was such a relief. I hoped Jaxon would call if anything were to happen. He was so wrapped up in himself and his fucking assignment that he was not putting Lei and the baby first. He should have never left her alone. I wouldn’t have ever let her out of my sight if I were in his position, not with the knowledge he had on this sociopath.
I was pulled from my deep thoughts when I heard Sara hollering, “Wait, you can’t just-”
My wooden double doors flew open, revealing my best friend, Drew. Quickly, I tried to bury the letter in one of the several piles of contracts, addendums, and other legal briefs. “Drew, what’s up? Is everything okay? Oh, sorry, Sara.” I nodded. “It’s fine.”
“Hey, man, why’s my sister callin’ me freakin’ out? She seemed to think something was wrong.” Drew strolled across my office and stopped in front of the desk as I stood and walked around to meet him.
“I told her I was fine. I just called to check and might have been a little distracted,” I admitted and omitted. “I think she’s a little jumpy since the attack.”
“Yeah, I stopped by the other day and scared the shit out of her, by accident of course.” He sat down in one of the leather armchairs while I leaned on the front of my desk.
“See, it’s all in her mind. I really hate to be a dick, but I have a ton of shit going down and I need to get back to this merger.”
“Hmm, that’s funny, Leila said you claimed to be preoccupied with a settlement that was falling apart.” He leaned farther back in the chair, settling in.
Well fuck.
“I’m also dealing with the settlement, but I have a merger that’s gone to shit now too.” I stood and retraced my steps to my chair and sat.
Leave this alone, Drew.
“Bro, you are the world’s shittiest liar. What’s goin’ on? When I came in you were shoving papers around, I assume hiding something. You’re antsy and sweating. Plus you have a tell. When you’re lyin’ you clench your jaw and bite the inside of your cheek. So spill, what’s goin’ on?”
Since she was safe and clearly had not been abducted, I decided to tell Drew about the letter. “Someone dropped off a letter saying they had Leila. I can only assume it was that Drill guy, but I called Lei and she was home with Jaxon.”
“Where is it?” Drew looked over my desk.
Reaching down, I pulled the letter from between a few piles of papers I had shuffled it into when he practically burst in. “Here.”
Carefully he took the note from me, pinching it by the corners, and read it. “Son of a bitch.” Drew pulled his cell out and placed a call, requesting a forensics tech be sent to my office to dust for prints.
A pissed-off Drew shook his head before saying, “Seriously, Brody, why wouldn’t you call me?”
“I was going to but after I talked to Leila and knew she was safe, I called my head of security and had him start looking into this.” I stood and started pacing the room.
“I need to question Sara and look over your security tapes.” Drew started to walk out of my office when he said over his shoulder, “I’m calling Jaxon and Commander Gorden.”
Why in the hell would this fool send me a ransom note if he doesn’t have Leila? It doesn’t make any sense.
“Gorden is sending an agent over to review the footage and question your assistant. I’ve been told to step back, that I’m too close, but you know me.” An evil grin spread across his face. “Can you pull up the video feed in here before they get here?”
“Of course.” I sat down at the computer and logged onto our security server. “What time did Sara say it was delivered?”
“Five-fifteen to five-thirtyish.”
Looking at the right-hand corner of the monitor, I took notice of the time. “Okay, I will rewind to five and you can review.”
Fifteen minutes later the agent who was sent out arrived at the office. He came in like a junkyard dog, barking orders and just being a prick. “Listen, you’re in my office, don’t talk down to me. If you need something, ask me, not my staff. They don’t work for you.”
“Right,” was his smarmy reply.
He’s so goddamned lucky I was focused on Leila right now, otherwise I’d throw his arrogant ass out of here.
By eight p.m. there was an updated BOLO alert out for Drill. The Feds had determined the messenger was just some kid pulled in off the street. They figured Drill had paid the kid to drop the letter off at a specific time. They had captured an image from the security camera and sent it to patrol cars in the area to identify and pick up.
Just as I was telling Sara to head home there was an alert on my phone from the security cameras at Leila’s. Pulling up the camera feed, I saw someone hopping the fence into the backyard.
“Fuck,” I roared as I practically ran and dived over my desk to dial Leila’s phone number. “Pick up the fucking phone, Leila.”
She answered. “Brody, what’s wrong? Why are you sho—,” she tried to ask.
“Give the phone to Jaxon and get upstairs now,” I demanded.
“Brody, you—”
“Now, Leila. Give him the fucking phone,” I shouted into the receiver.
“What the hell, Brody?” Jaxon growled.
“Someone just hopped the fence and is in the backyard. Get her the fuck out of there or into the panic room.”
“Son of a bitch. Leila, honey, I need you to stay calm and go upstairs. Go into the panic room. Babe, don’t cry, it’s okay, just go right now and take Ruger.” Hearing him call her babe made me want to gut him like a fish, but right now her safety was all I cared about.
*****
Jaxon
Leila tried to climb the stairs as quickly as she could, telling Ruger to heel the whole way. Smart dog; he knew something was going down and wanted to be in the middle of the action. It was what he was trained and bred for, but I needed him with her. He would die before he watched anyone hurt her.
“Stay on the phone, I’m going to put it down,” I told Brody as I set the phone down on the table in the foyer. Reaching into the closet, I grabbed the Beretta then reached over and turned out the lights.
I saw the silhouette of a tall man before I heard the knob rattle slightly. I had just enough light to see where I was going as I crept down the hall to take cover behind the dining room wall. Dropping to my knees, I peeked around the corner to see the back door open and the large shadowy figure creeping near our kitchen island with gun in hand.
Making the split-second decision, I barked out, “Drop the gun or you’re dead.”
I gave him the opportunity, even though I was well within my legal rights to shoot him where he stood, and God knew I wanted to kill the fucker.
He looked side to side, scanning the room, trying to get a bead on where I was. Slowly, he crouched down and appeared to be placing the gun on the hardwood floor. “Yo, man, don’t shoot. I’m puttin’ my piece down.”
“Kick it straight ahead and lie face down, arms straight out in front of you. And so help me God if you move, I’ll send you outta here in a body bag,” I ordered, still squatting out of sight. By this time the guy had kicked the gun and was face down on the floor.
Grabbing the gun, once I was closer, I saw it wasn’t Drill, but some punk-ass kid who hangs around with him. I’m pretty sure the kid’s name was Billy. Just as I got close to the kid, the front and back doors flew open. I spun and had both guns pointed at the men entering my home.
“Whoa, stand down, Jax, it’s just me.” Joe, the officer in the marked car out front, trained his gun on the burly guy who had just come through the back door.
“Who the fuck are you?” I asked the other man who’d busted in through the back door. I had one gun pointed at him, the other at Billy.
“Easy, dude, I’m on your side. I work for Mr. Davis. I’m his head of security.” The guy held his hands up. I noticed a Smith & Wesson pointed at the ceiling in his right hand.
“Officer, this kid just broke in the back. He was carryin’ that.” I handed him the black EAA snub-nosed revolver then bent down to the little shitbag. “What the fuck are you doin’ in my house, Billy?”
The head of security felt around and flipped on the kitchen lights, revealing himself as a massive six-foot-five-inch Samoan man who could easily be a linebacker for any NFL team. Instead, he’d crammed his large body into a finely pressed suit and fancy leather shoes.
“Fuck. Remi, I swear I didn’t know this was your place, man.” Billy panicked when he saw my face. “Drill just said I was to come to the house on Society and come through the back for the girl. I swear I didn’t know, man. If I woulda known she was your old lady, I wouldn’t’ve agreed to grab her. You gotta believe me, Rem.” He looked up from the floor, pleading.
“Where the fuck is Drill?” I grabbed Billy up from the floor by the front of his shirt. “Where are you supposed to meet him with her?”
Billy was shaking like a leaf and the other two guys were letting me run with this. “I swear I didn’t know.”
“Shut up and tell me where you were supposed to take her.” I’d run out of patience for his bullshit. I leveled the gun and dug the barrel into the side of his neck.
“The airstrip on Johns Island. He’s meetin’ that other guy out there for the money,” he coughed up quickly.
“What other guy?” I demanded.
“Mr. Davis,” the big guy piped up. “He got a ransom note from the dumb fucker at five o’clock tonight. I guess either this asshole is late or the bike messenger kid was early.”
“Motherfuckin’ son of a bitch. I’ll kill him with my bare hands.” I dropped Billy and stalked toward the foyer table where I left Leila’s phone. Snatching it up, I saw the call was still live. “You fuckin’ prick. You got a fuckin’ ransom note and you didn’t think to say anything?”
“Fuck you, Jaxon. I called her and Drew is here handling it. How the fuck was I to know more shit was going to go down? I talked to her, she was fine and safe with you,” he roared right back.
I ended the call, and it took all my self-control not to throw her phone through the wall. Instead I remembered she was terrified in the panic room.
Again.
Chapter Twenty-two
Leila
I had now been in this godforsaken panic room twice, and while I was grateful we had it, I was starting to detest it. This time Ruger was here to keep me company. No way was I leaving him out there to jump in the middle of whatever was happening.
Pacing the room, I saw some of what was going on—yeah, I figured out how to work the security cameras. Some beefy guy came in the back door and the cop who was sitting out front came in the front door. Then I saw Jax grab the phone off the table and appear to be yelling at the phone before slamming it back down.
Jaxon disappeared from the front door monitor then a few minutes later appeared outside of the panic room door. I walked over and pressed the intercom button to listen.
“Lei, it’s safe to come out, babe. Open the door.” His voice was anxious even though he tried to sound calm. He was clearly rattled. I started to open the door, and then I realized he never said the safe word. I pulled my hand off the knob and waited.
“Babe, open the door.” He beat on the door with his massive fist then, as if the elevator hit the top floor, the bell in his head went off. “Fuck, sorry, babe. Quantico.”
He kicked the suits out of the way so I could open the door fully.
“What the hell is going on, Jaxon?” Ruger pushed past me.
He reached for my hand and helped me balance my way through the piles of clothes I threw on the floor to access the Fortified Room of Terror, as I now called it.
“Everything’s fine now. I want you to stay up here. Lie down and try to rel
ax, okay?”
Relax? Fuck no, I’m not going to relax.
“Tell me what’s going on, then I can relax,” I demanded. I hated when he tried to hide shit from me.
“I’ll explain after I deal with everything. Can you please just lie down and watch some TV? And keep Ruger up here.”
“Damn it, Jax,” I warned.
“A kid broke into the house from the backyard,” he said hesitantly. I got the feeling that wasn’t the whole story and eyed him suspiciously.
“And?”
“And Joe arrested him and some huge fuckin’ guy that works for Brody is down there now too. Speakin’ of which, did you know that he put a guy on you?”
“No, how would I have known? He didn’t say anything to me. Did you think I knew and just didn’t tell you?”
“Not exactly. I mean you did just have a concussion. He could have mentioned it then or right after and you might have forgotten,” he reasoned.
“No, I would have remembered something like that, Jaxon.”
Leaning forward, he kissed my forehead and led me from the closet. “Climb in bed and I’ll be up in a little while. Don’t let Ruger out of the room.”
“Fine,” I grumbled on my way through the bathroom. I had finally stopped seeing blood on the floor and now this. Christ, why couldn’t I have a normal life? A normal pregnancy? It always had to be some sort of freaking chaos.
Lying in bed almost asleep, I roused when Jaxon finally came upstairs with a highly agitated Brody and the bodyguard guy I saw on the security camera earlier. Ruger saw the enormous stranger and went on full alert.
“Ruger, pfui,” I mumbled.
“See, she’s fine and we woke her up. Are you fuckin’ happy now?” Jax spat out at the other two men.
“Lei, you okay?” Brody approached the bedside as I turned and sat up.
“I guess so, I don’t really know what happened, but I’m guessing it’s more than some kid breakin’ into the house.”
Brody looked at Jax then to the beefcake bodybuilder. “Yeah, the kid broke in and you, as always, are right that’s not the whole story. By the way, this is Ikaika, my new head of security.”
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