“Welcome to Prada. My name is Sissy. May I offer you a beverage?” Sissy says in a very assertive yet professional matter.
“Thank you, Sissy…” I start but Tyler interrupts me.
“Mr. Vang’s called ahead,” Tyler interjects.
“Of course. Miss Moore, please take a seat. I’ll call your personal shopper and he’ll be right with you.” Sissy leads me over to the large lounge area toward the handbags and goes to call my ‘personal shopper’.
Tyler takes three steps back and stands at the door, resuming his intimidating stance. Sissy finishes her call and locks the front door.
“Why lock the door?” I ask, more out curiosity than fear of being locked in here with Tyler, who’s carrying his highly illegal P90s.
“Mr. Vang’s instructions. He told me your comfort and safety is imperative, Miss Moore. We’re to close the store while you’re here.”
What an absurd order on Katsu’s part. Almost as ridiculous as the notion of a personal shopper.
“Thank you, Sissy.” A young man exquisitely dressed in a Prada suit with a thick mane of black hair and big grey eyes approaches me.
“Miss Moore. My name’s Kyle and I’m your personal shopper here at Prada. Would you like a glass of champagne?” I shake my head and stand from where I was seated and take Kyle’s offered hand. I feel no reaction to his handshake. “Mr. Vang specifically said you need a modest, but stylish dress for a special occasion. Let’s start with the shoes.”
I have to buy a dress so we start with the shoes? Okay then.
“Thank you, Kyle. Lead the way.” I follow behind him as we go to the shoe section. Kyle sizes me up just by looking at me. “If I’m correct and I always am, I say you’re a size 8.5 in shoes and a size 6 in clothing. So let me get you some simple, elegant black pumps.”
Wow–he’s good, because that’s exactly what I am.
He walks away but is back within seconds, carrying two different styles of pumps. Both over five inches high. He kneels in front of me and slips my shoe off. Thankfully I’m already wearing stockings so he slips the first shoe on to my left foot. It fits perfectly. He repeats the process for the second shoe and encourages me to stand and walk around on the carpet to get a feel for them.
Of course, the shoes are ridiculously high, but I can walk in them. Truthfully they feel like clouds enveloping my feet. Kyle continues to show me different shoes until I’ve got nine pairs of shoes at the counter waiting for purchase. Kyle takes the first pair I tried on and leads me down the stairs five feet behind the counter.
The downstairs is one large, open area with dressing rooms to the side. Kyle tells me to wait in the dressing room (which, incidentally, is larger than Ben’s bedroom). He comes in with numerous dresses, but the one Katsu’s specifically requested is the first dress Kyle brings to me.
It’s a black, knee-length dress with a fitted bodice that flairs slightly from the hips. Nothing too over the top. It’s definitely modest. Kyle’s been stockpiling dresses he insists I purchase. After hours and hours of pure torture and boredom, I’m finally allowed to leave. But not without perfectly styled sunglasses and bags to accessorize with each outfit.
Sissy’s ringing the purchases up at the counter and making friendly safe talk when Tyler runs over and throws himself on me. I tumble forward, smashing my head into the glass counter. His entire body is sheltering mine when I hear a sound I’m all too familiar with–the magnificent, hypnotizing sound of a bullet gliding through the barrel of a gun. The sound is coming from outside the store, but Tyler’s not taking any chances.
“Stay down, Miss Moore, don’t get up.” Tyler leaves me to investigate. His P90 is drawn, and his stance is exactly the way Ben stands when he’s ready to fire a weapon. Shoulders back, head held high, and a rigid, forceful body. I get up and watch curiously, because Tyler doesn’t behave like security personnel.
With gun fire outside, and his client at risk, Tyler’s taken charge, confronting the threat instead of whisking me away from it. It’s obvious he’s had extensive training that goes far beyond straight security.
Maybe Katsu trains his men more vigorously.
The gunfire has ceased, but police cars are flying past with lights flashing and sirens screaming. Some are stopping close to the Prada store. Tyler turns around, looks at me, and chokes out a breath.
“Miss Moore, we need to get you to the hospital.” In three long strides, he’s next to me and with protective arms around my shoulders, he ushers me toward the front door. I notice my right eye’s out of focus, clouded by a warm liquid. I bring my fingertips to my forehead and wince in pain. I’ve had worse injuries, but that’s definite blood dripping down my face.
“Mr. Vang’s not going to be happy with me,” Tyler says to himself, but it’s obvious he’s concerned for me.
“Tyler, its fine. It’s just a little cut. I probably need a…” and everything goes black.
Anna
“Anna,” a soft, feminine voice calls me.
“Anna,” a male voice says.
Who’s that?
I can feel something lightly touching my cheek. I try to open my eyes, but they’re protesting and I try to flick whatever’s on my cheek away but I can’t seem to make my arms move.
“Get Mr. Vang. She’s waking up,” I hear the female voice say.
I can’t hear footsteps, so I assume they’re walking on carpet. I do hear the door squeak open and then close. I struggle to open my eyes, but all I can manage is to squint through small slits. The light in the room is very bright and I blink a few times to get my bearings. I’m back at Katsu’s penthouse, lying on his massive bed. I try to move, but the woman standing over me tells me not to.
“Anna, my name is Dr. Vivian Hall. Can you tell me what day it is today?” She’s an older lady in her late fifties. She’s dressed impeccably in a black pant suit. Her hair is a beautiful shade of red, tied back in a tight ponytail. Just as I’m about to answer, the door flings open with such force the handle makes contact with the wall behind it. Katsu enters with a sense of urgency. He comes directly to me and stands beside the bed.
“Out,” he yells at everyone in the room. Everyone except Dr. Hall leaves.
I didn’t realize there were so many people in the room. I don’t see Tyler as I scan the room. All the security personnel leave in an almost perfect single-line formation. “You too, Vivian.” Katsu points to the door to indicate for the Doctor to leave.
“I’m sorry Mr. Vang, I need to examine Anna to make sure she’s okay and doesn’t require a hospital visit.” Dr. Hall stands up to Katsu. She certainly has courage.
“It’s ‘Miss Moore’ to you, Vivian. I told you to get out.” Katsu stands, with his aggressive demeanor on display. He won’t back down, but it looks like the Doctor won’t either. She starts to say something, but I cut her off before she says anything that’ll put her life in danger.
“Katsu, it’s fine, Dr. Hall needs to examine me. Please give us ten minutes.” I reach for his hand to ease his tension. I squeeze it and smile up at him. If I didn’t want to kill him, I’d find his behavior endearing and might even consider it sweet and protective.
I’ve managed to sit up from a lying position as these two joust for the supremacy. My head feels fuzzy and my balance is off, but I manage not to topple over.
“You have ten minutes, Vivian.” He leans down and gently kisses my cheek. His hand comes up to lightly hold the back of my head. “I’ll be right outside the door, treasure,” he whispers to me before he exits the room, undoubtedly giving us exactly ten minutes.
“So, Miss Moore, can you tell me what day it is today?” Dr. Hall starts again, but this time she isn’t rudely interrupted when all she’s trying to do is her job.
“Thursday,” I answer.
“Do you recall what happened?” She comes to sit on the bed beside me with a small torch in her hand.
“Where’s Tyler?”
“I’m sorry, Miss Moore, but I don’t know
who Tyler is,” the doctor answers candidly. “My main concern is your safety and well-being.” She clears her throat and avoids my eyes when she says the words, ‘safety and well-being’. “Can you tell me what happened?”
I recall the incident to Dr. Hall. She’s next to me, examining the lump on my head, shining her flashlight in my eyes and feeling around the injury with her warm hands.
“You have a concussion, which is what caused you to black out. You’ve been out for just under two hours. Someone will need to monitor you the entire night to make sure you don’t sleep any longer than an hour at a time. Other than that nasty bump on your head, you appear just fine, Miss Moore. I’ll leave specific instructions with Mr. Vang about what to look out for, but today’s a rest day, you’ve suffered enough.” Dr. Hall winces as she says the last few words.
Does she know more about Katsu than she’s letting on? This is twice she’s mentioned my suffering.
“I’m sorry, what do you mean by I’ve ‘suffered enough’?” I question her because I want to know what she knows.
“I er, I mean, I um.” She averts her eyes from mine again and now Dr. Hall’s stumbling over her words.
“I mean that you suffered a concussion and all,” she says as she gets up from the bed and turns her head away so I can’t see her face or more importantly, her eyes.
“Dr. Hall, please explain what you mean. Something tells me that what you say and what you want to say are two totally different things.” I’m up out of bed and even though my head’s pounding, I stand next to her and gently put my hand on her upper arm before she can leave the room.
“You seem like a lovely woman. Please, don’t get caught up in all of this.” She gestures her hands around the room. “Just don’t be fooled by any of it.” I nod my head in an understanding and let her arm go.
“Thank you for your help today, Dr. Hall.” She gets to the door and the moment she starts opening it, Katsu pushes past her, making Dr. Hall stumble back. He comes to me and immediately sweeps me into an embrace.
“Treasure, I was so worried about you.” He’s kissing my neck and his hands are gently trailing up and down my back. “I know you’re not up to it, but I still have the meeting to get to. I’ll leave a few of my men here to protect you while I’m gone.”
That reminds me.
“Honey, where’s Tyler?” Katsu pushes me arm’s length away and his eyes narrow to slits. Suspicion is evident in his expression.
“Why are you asking about him? I’ll deal with him now that I know you’re fine.” Katsu’s voice is full of spite. He down turns the edge of his mouth to show his disgust toward Tyler.
Truth be told, I’m all for killing people who deserve it. But Tyler was just doing his job and protecting me. I can’t let Katsu beat him or worse, kill him for just doing what he was instructed to do.
“Katsu, where’s Tyler?” I straighten my shoulders, determined not to let this go. Katsu looks away and is now standing in his own angry pose.
“Katsu…” He’s ignoring me.
Anna
“Katsu!” I yell at him and his head whips around. The disgust his face held seconds earlier has morphed into sheer anger that I’ve raised my voice to him.
“You. Are. Not. To. Speak. To. Me. In. That. Manner.” Katsu’s voice is low and terrifying as he harshly enunciates each word, but he’s completely controlled. His left hand is balled into a fist and his right hand’s pointing at me within an inch of my nose.
“Well then, talk to me and don’t pull that macho bullshit on me,” my tone matches his. My posture shows no fear of him. I won’t let this go.
“Tyler will be dealt with.” He refuses to elaborate, so I’ll need to push him.
God, I’m sick of babying him.
“Tyler did nothing wrong except protect me. If I must have a security detail with me all the time, then I want Tyler.” Katsu’s face morphs again. In the last two minutes he’s shown me virtually every emotion except happiness. I’m experiencing the green-eyed monster right now.
“You’ll have whoever I assign to you.” This conversation is becoming heated very quickly.
“Honey,” I say with a softened tone and hope this will calm Katsu down so I get what I want. “Tyler was doing what you told him to do. You can’t hurt him because he did his job. That’s just ridiculous. If the threat was truly aimed at me, would you have preferred me killed or with a bump on my head and a concussion? Because of what Tyler did, I now trust he’ll throw himself in front of a bullet for me without hesitation. So I want Tyler with me as my security detail. No one else.”
No one else because I can slip by Tyler if need be to go see Ben.
Katsu takes a few steps away from me and leans up against the door; he crosses his arms in front of his chest. He looks like he’s thinking about my request.
“Are you attracted to Tyler?”
I almost laugh at his stupid overbearing possessiveness.
“No, far from it. Would you like me to take the lie detector test to put your mind at ease?” Not that I can’t beat that stupid archaic machine.
“That won’t be necessary. But if he fucks up again, I’ll end him no matter what you say.”
“My opinion means so little to you that you’d dismiss it so quickly?” I fake a hurt look.
“No, treasure, you mean so much to me, I’d kill to protect you.” Katsu engulfs me in a protective hug and kisses me. He pulls away with a frustrated look. “We can’t do anything until you’ve healed from the concussion. Go back to bed, I’ll go speak with Vivian and have Tyler returned here. Then I need to get ready for the meeting.”
“I would still like to come to the meeting Katsu. I can’t lay around all day waiting for you, and I do feel better.” I need to be there to get a handle on the entire situation, so I have a better understanding at what Katsu is doing in St. Cloud and exact what danger Ben’s in.
“Absolutely not. You’ll stay here and rest.”
“Katsu, I’ll be with you. Who better to look after me than you?”
I think I threw up in my mouth.
“Sweetheart, you’re making it very difficult to argue with you.” He kisses me again.
“Then please let me accompany you to the meeting tonight. Let me stand by your side, let us show a united front.” Yuck.
“Of course. You’ll need to cover that bruise on your forehead though. Tyler will be with you at all times. No one will bother you, but in case they do, you’ll let me know immediately, and I’ll deal with it.”
“Thank you, honey, I really do appreciate it.”
Katsu pulls his phone out and makes a call, but I can’t hear the one-sided conversation he’s having in a hushed, quiet tone. He isn’t angry, but he keeps glancing over to me.
I make my way into the bathroom to properly assess the damage to my face. I notice a huge egg above my left eye. It’s sore to touch and it’s turned soft blues and purples. It’ll get much worse before it starts to get better.
Dangers of the assignment.
I have a shower and I avoid touching the painful reminder of my shopping spree earlier this afternoon with Tyler. I let the water fall over my body to take away all thoughts of everything Katsu-related.
This is the one place I can be myself and not have to act a certain way. This is the one safe place I can allow myself to be with Ben. In my mind I can be with him and not get either of us killed.
This is the one place I can be me.
Anna
It feels like I’ve been in the shower for an eternity, but I haven’t. I know I need to get out and get ready. As I dry myself off in the bathroom I can hear a muffled voice. I think it is Katsu, but I can’t quite tell. The voice is hushed and coming from the other side of the door. I place my ear up against the wood but still can’t hear the entire conversation. It’s one-sided so I’m sure they’re on the phone. I calm my body and my breath and concentrate on listening.
“No, Sir.” There’s a pause.
“S
he...” I can’t hear clearly, “…kill me.” Another pause. “Requested me?”
Only having part of the conversation is irritating.
“Check in.” Check in? Who the hell’s he talking to?
Another mob family?
It’s time to make my presence known. I open the door and walk out in one towel around my body and another one I’m using to dry my hair. I discreetly scan to see who’s in the room and I see Tyler.
He’s still on the phone, but his body becomes rigid and he cuts off his call when he sees me. His gaze falls over my body and I see a visible gulp.
“Okay, Angel, I’ll see you when I get home.” ‘Angel’ my ass. Now I know that’s a lie. You don’t call someone ‘sir’ and then ‘angel’ in the same conversation.
Tyler and I may have a common target. I’d better keep him close.
“I’m sorry, Miss Moore, I thought you were in the shower. I’ll leave you to get dressed.” Tyler’s almost at the door, but I stop him before his hand makes contact with the door handle.
“Tyler,” I call him back. He doesn’t turn around, but freezes on the spot.
“Ma’am, if it’s okay with you I only came in here to do a check. I’d prefer to hear any questions from you once you’re dressed. I would hate for Mr. Vang to be any more upset with me than he already is.” He doesn’t allow me to speak before he leaves the room.
I need to make a call to Agent to get as much information on Tyler as he can.
Fascinating.
I go into the walk-in closet for a robe, and I see all my purchases from Prada are hanging up, neatly put away. I reach for the dress Katsu has sanctioned as ‘meeting appropriate’ and step into it. It fits my bodily snugly.
The new shoes are already sitting under the dress, out of the box. I wrestle with stockings and a garter belt before I put on a pair of slippers so I don’t put a run in them. I head into the bathroom to dry my hair and apply makeup on the bruise that’s become bigger in the last hour. As I’m finishing my make-up, Katsu glides in and leans up against the door frame assessing my outfit.
The HiT Series Page 32