An Angel All His Own (The Gifted Realm Book 5)

by Jillian Neal

  “I want this over with and Wretchkinsides ended. I have things I want to do, and I can’t do them until I know he’s in the ground somewhere.” As Coriolis prison was far beneath the earth’s surface, Dan didn’t particularly care if his team thought that was what he meant. “After New Year’s, when we all get back, we’re going to focus on taking them down. This has gone on long enough.”

  Before his hand-selected, highly skilled team could attempt to talk him out of his renewed obsession, Dan ended the meeting. “All right, Officer Haydenshire, let’s go talk to Papa Kent.”

  Garrett chuckled. “You got it boss.” He brushed off Logan and Rainer’s concerned glances and mouthed the word, “later.”

  Dan and Garrett exited the office after handing out assignments for the week.

  “These things you have planned, after we end Wretchkinsides, do they happen to involve a big, fat diamond ring?” His expression was perplexing, a mix of concern, curiosity, and bewilderment.

  “That a problem?”

  “No, just never thought I’d hear that from you. She want to get married, too?”

  “We haven’t discussed it, and I’m sure as hell not ready to do it any time soon, but having the option would be nice. I don’t have that until he’s gone.”

  Garrett nodded in what Dan hoped was agreement. “So, what’s your plan for Mr. Kent, here?” Garrett asked as they approached the room where Thomas Kent was being held. “You know we’re about to get bribed.”

  “I know, and my plan is to give him enough rope to hang himself, and then make him sorry that he raised such a low-life prick and that he was born with ears.”

  “That’s one way, I guess. It has been a long time since I heard an official Dan Vindico dressing-down, but I think you better let me handle this one, since everyone thinks I was there.”

  “Fine, but don’t take any of his crap.” Dan flung the door open and leveled a derisive glare at Kent as he stalked into the room.

  “I do not like to be kept waiting, Officer Vindico. I have important things that demand my attention today,” was Kent’s scornful greeting as he paced in the room.

  Garrett’s eyes goggled in shock as Dan bared his teeth in rage. “If I were you, Kent, I’d sit down and shut the fuck up before I do several other things you’re not going to like.” Dan leaned across the table on his fists and stared down Thomas Kent.

  Kent sank into one of the chairs in the conference room. Garrett moved his enraged scowl to within inches of Kent’s face.

  “Let me just tell you a few things I don’t like, Thomas. I do not like to be awoken in the middle of the night because some shit-faced moron is breaking into my girlfriend’s home, terrifying her. I do not like men who can’t seem to figure out that ‘no I will not go on another date with you,’ and ‘by the way here’s a restraining order to prove my point,’ means leave her the hell alone. I do not like having to leave my girlfriend terrified and crying, locked in a room, while I stalk around her home with a pistol because some idiot can’t take no for an answer. I do not like having to call my officers out of bed in the middle of the night for back-up. I do not like men who try to buy their way out of their problems, and I sure as hell don’t like your son. So, I’m not certain why you’re here today, Mr. Kent, but I suggest you make it quick, because you’ll find I have a very, very short temper when it comes to Fionna.”

  “Couldn’t have said that better myself.” Dan added. As Garrett had taken the very words Dan would’ve used, the statement was the truth.

  “Fine, I can see that neither of you are to be taken lightly,” Kent huffed. Dan drew himself up to full height and felt his muscles clench tightly of their own accord.

  “You could say that,” Garrett shook his head in disgust.

  Kent reached into his jacket pocket. Garrett and Dan both immediately slipped their hands to the pistols on their holsters. They moved on instinct.

  A simultaneous breath of relief exited their lungs when Kent pulled a checkbook from his pocket and flipped it open. “Eric told me that you both have some kind of odd relationship with Ms. Styler, so there must be something for Christmas that would delight her, a new car, a Rolex, tennis bracelet, hell, a new house. Just name your price for making this all go away.”

  “I’m not sure what Eric might’ve told you, but I have nothing going on with Fionna, beyond her being a friend of mine,” Dan corrected Kent quickly.

  “Yes, well, Eric never did like competition.”

  Dan had certainly experienced his fair share of attempted bribery for shortening a sentence, or hiding an arrest, but never anything so overt. “You are aware that you just attempted to bribe the Chief of Iodex and an Elite officer?”

  Kent rolled his eyes. “Don’t be juvenile, gentlemen. The world runs on cash and the one with the biggest bank account wins. Name your price.”

  Ire shot rapidly through Dan’s veins. He leaned back across the marble table and dared Thomas Kent to drop his gaze. “You’re under arrest, Mr. Kent, for attempting to bribe officers of the American Gifted Realm,” Dan kept his voice low but toxic.

  Garrett moved to Kent, hoisted him from his seat, and slapped cuffs on him.

  “You know you’re only keeping Eric in prison because he happens to have a crush on your plaything. He’ll get over it. He’ll move on. Just let him out.”

  “No, Mr. Kent, but I will tell you exactly why I am keeping your son in Felsink Prison, and why he’ll stay there for a very, very long time,” Dan threatened furiously. He threw Eric’s file down on the marble table. The thwack of the folder as it hit the marble startled Kent.

  “First of all, I don’t give a damn who you’re son has a crush on. He is a prick and, as far as I’m concerned, an abusive asshole with some extremely concerning sexually deviant behaviors. Your son showed up repeatedly at Fionna Styler’s home, uninvited, and continued to do so after being repeatedly asked to stop. He was presented with a restraining order.”

  “That he forced her to sign,” Kent motioned his thumb towards Garrett. Dan’s eyes flashed furiously as Garrett shook his head in disdain.

  “Shut the fuck up, and listen to me. You’re in so deep right now you need a backhoe just to dig your way to the surface. Garrett does not force his girlfriend, or any woman, for that matter, to do anything they do not want to do; although, I am definitely beginning to understand how it is that Eric became such a chauvinistic moron. I guess the apple doesn’t fall too far from the proverbial tree, now does it, Thomas? Not only did Eric choose to ignore the restraining order, he proceeded to take himself down to Angels’ Arena, where he threatened Ms. Styler and the team.”

  “We locked him up. The Crown Governor told you that if he screwed up again he was going to jail. Guess what? Governor Haydenshire always follows through on his threats and so do I.

  “He shattered a window in Miss Styler’s home with his bare hands and, yes, I have fingerprints to prove that. He gained himself access to the deadbolt, which is also covered in his prints. His blood alcohol content when Officer Haydenshire arrested him was over four times the legal limit. He was belligerent when Officer Haydenshire approached him. I also have his prints all over Ms. Styler’s kitchen. He then lunged at Officer Haydenshire with a knife!”

  “Eric has a problem, Thomas, and I think it’s high time you stop buying his way out. You need to deal with the problem but, as it stands right now, he’ll serve several years for driving drunk, breaking and entering with the intent to harm, and we’ll add another fifteen to twenty for resisting arrest and battering an officer. It will be another three to five because he’s a menace to society. So, the next time you see your son, when he’s brought into the courtroom in enhanced cuffs and shackles, you just think about what your checkbook has gained you, because our integrity and the safety of Officer Haydenshire’s girlfriend do not have a price tag.”

  Dan scooped the file up off of the table. “Take the cuffs off. If he tries anything else stupid, he can share a cell with his son.” He
stalked quickly from the room and slammed the door behind him.

  Garrett escorted Kent out and then located Dan, who’d returned to his office.

  “What’d he say?” Dan was still furious.

  “That his lawyers would be calling you, and that we’d left Eric no options because we deleted Fi’s number from his phone.”

  “Unbelievable.”

  “You can’t save ‘em all. At least Eric’s not going to be a problem for quite a while.”

  “Wanna go grab some lunch?” The need to make amends for all of Garrett’s help settled with a hearty dose of guilt in Dan’s gut.

  Garrett looked surprised, but gave Dan his signature smirk. “Love to, but can’t. I’m taking Logan and Rainer to Sam’s to pick up Logan’s new truck. You wanna come along? We’re gonna grab something on the way back. You know Rainer and Logan will be all over the truck, and one doesn’t travel without the other, ever.”

  Garrett laughed as Dan smiled his agreement. “You can hitch a ride back here with me.”

  “Sure, if Logan and Rainer won’t mind. I need to talk to Sam about something anyway.”

  “Are you shitting me? They should be honored. They’re definitely not cool enough to get to hang out with us.” Garrett and Dan laughed at all that had changed in the last decade or so.

  Fionna texted again, as Dan climbed into Garrett’s Highlander. He was still shocked at how much he liked hearing from her throughout the day. It gave him peace, and he liked the way his heart picked up pace when he saw her name.

  Adeline and Mrs. Haydenshire invited us to dinner at the farmhouse. Lucas is coming into town for Christmas. I think she needs some help. I’ll just go home with Emily. If you don’t want to eat there, I’ll get Garrett to bring me home.

  “So, your father-in-law’s arriving today, Haydenshire?” Dan quipped, as he replied that if Fionna wanted to eat at the farmhouse, he would be more than happy to come over and help out.

  “Please don’t remind me,” Logan huffed. “Adeline’s a mess. Mom’s a mess. They’re driving me crazy.”

  “Mom’s afraid he’s going to show up with a full-blown staff that’s going to ruin Christmas,” Garrett explained.

  “Could happen,” Dan thought back to their time at the castle in Sydney.

  “No joke. And you know Santa brings presents for Keaton and Henry, and then the rest of us just try to do something for the community or whatever.”

  “Yeah, I think that’s an outstanding idea. I wish my family would do that,” Dan had always admired the Haydenshires’ willingness to give of themselves, no matter what rank and pay they held in the Realm.

  “Well, the Caliph’s son is apparently arriving with gifts for us all.” Garrett, Rainer, and Logan all shuddered uncomfortably. None of them liked elaborate displays of presentation.

  “You know,” Logan shook his head. “Although, obviously, his DNA is part of the most phenomenal woman in the world, so I’m thrilled that he exists, but he’s really just an idiot who banged a prostitute when he was seventeen years old. I just don’t see how that warrants everyone freaking out about his arrival or any special treatment.”

  “Geez, tell us what you really think, Logan,” Rainer laughed.

  A few hours later, Dan followed Rainer, Logan, and Garrett out to the Iodex parking deck. “Well, good luck with Daddy Nguyen. Apparently, we’ll all be there to back you up tonight.” The anxious longing to leave work and to get to Fionna continued to both confuse and irritate Dan. He couldn’t end Wretchkinsides without actually working, but she was the most intoxicating aphrodisiac Dan had ever experienced. He wanted no reprieve from his enslavement.

  Logan was meeting Lucas’s plane at six and then driving him back to the farm in his new Dodge Ram. Rainer was picking Adeline up from the hospital, and Garrett and Dan were heading to the farm.

  “You think you’re gonna buy it?” Garrett gestured to the car parked beside Dan’s bike. Sam had a car on the lot when they arrived, that had Dan salivating as soon as his boots hit the gravel. Sam offered to let him drive it home to see what he thought, and then sweetened the deal by informing Dan that it had already been enhanced.

  He’d taken it in from a Ferrari dealership, and it had a few thousand miles. Sam had offered him a pretty sweet deal.

  “Have to see what Fi thinks.”

  “Oh, I’m sure she’ll hate it,” Garrett joked as he visibly admired the jet black Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano. Dan had never driven anything like it. The car seemed to read his thoughts and it topped out well over 300 mph, if he should find himself somewhere he needed to get away from quickly. Had Dan not just spent millions on Angels stock, he probably would have made the purchase that afternoon. Sam had pointed out that he should probably include Fionna in that decision.

  He pulled onto the Haydenshires’ vast farm, and let the peace that he always felt whenever he visited wash over him. It occurred to him as he watched the gates open, that he’d never felt that at his own home growing up.

  Fionna and Emily emerged from the kitchen, each carrying one of the twins.

  “Wow, Officer Vindico, did you do a little shopping at lunch?” Fionna’s curious glance flickered back and forth between Dan and the car.

  Dan chuckled as he popped a kiss onto Fionna’s cheek.

  “No kissing. Juck!” Keaton scolded him. He pointed his tiny finger at Dan in consternation. Fionna and Emily both cracked up. Dan joined in the laughter and scrubbed the little guy’s head gently.

  “He’s clearly been talking with your father.”

  “I think Keaton has a little crush,” Emily explained unnecessarily.

  “Well, he has good taste,” Dan winked at Fionna, who was shaking her head. He turned back to the car. “This is just on loan. I went with Garrett to get Logan’s new truck, and Sam had it on the lot. I thought I’d see if you liked it.”

  “Very nice.” There it was again, that devious grin with the twinkle in her eye. Visions of laying her back over the hood quickly formed in his mind.

  “Exactly how much does a Ferrari cost?” Fionna wanted to know.

  She was still imposing guilt on herself, because she continued to insist that Dan wouldn’t be buying a car if it weren’t for her. Determination to make him money on his Angels stock had set her on an edge that Dan was still trying to talk her back from.

  “Sam’s about as fair as they come, and the price is more than reasonable.”

  Emily laughed, “You might as well drop that now. Trust me; it won’t get you anywhere.”

  Welcome to Haydenshire Farm

  ~Logan Haydenshire~

  Logan held his cell phone as he watched the Caliph’s plane prepare to land on the Senate runway. He’d been given explicit instructions by his mother to text her with the number of servants Lucas was bringing with him, when he exited the plane.

  Extremely annoyed that he felt nervous, Logan chastised himself. If you’re nervous, you’ll just make Adeline more nervous. Get it together, Haydenshire

  The plane touched down, and Logan drew a steadying breath. He appreciated the fact that his father had gone home, just as he normally would have, and had left Logan to deal with Lucas.

  As he studied the plane, Logan grimaced. He watched Lucas descend, followed by his personal assistant and a man carrying several suitcases; he texted his mother immediately.

  Lucas did thank the pilots and coolant officers before scanning the field and locating Logan, who offered him a half-hearted wave.

  Logan forced himself to walk out and meet Lucas, and to try to remember his manners. His father-in-law appeared genuinely thrilled to have arrived.

  As Logan hadn’t really believed that Lucas would travel with his own staff to his daughter’s home, he hadn’t really planned on the fact that now he had to squeeze four men, plus almost ten suitcases, into his brand-new Dodge Ram.

  He extended his hand. “Welcome. How was your flight?” He debated as he made his greetings; normally, he would offer to carry the luggage of
whomever he was meeting at the airport. Stephen and Lillian Haydenshire had raised him, after all, but there were people being paid to do that very thing. Logan wondered if it was rude to offer or rude not to.

  “My truck’s this way,” Logan gestured back towards the parking deck.

  Lucas suddenly looked as nervous as Logan felt. “Is Adeline here?”

  “No, sorry; she had to work until five-thirty. Rainer picked her up. She’ll be at the farmhouse when we get there.”

  “She doesn’t have her own means of transportation?” Lucas didn’t seem very impressed with Logan’s truck.

  “She does now, actually. It’s a quad cab, so do you mind riding in the backseat?” he asked Lucas’s attendants.

  “No, sir, but where shall we put the luggage?” After racking his brain for several minutes, Logan recalled that Lucas’s personal assistant’s name was Fred.

  “Have to be in the back. At least it’s not raining.”

  “Yes, sir.” He looked none too enthused.

  Unhidden bewilderment pursed Lucas’s lips as he took the passenger seat beside Logan. “You said Adeline has her own car?”

  Logan tried very hard not to laugh at the horrified expression on his father-in-law’s face. “She does, sir. She wanted my old Accord. I mean, it runs great, and it’s really just a couple of years old. That’s what I taught her to drive when we started dating, and her mom agreed to let her get her license as long as my dad paid for it,” Logan commented as he backed out of the parking space.

  “But you plan for Adeline to ride with you in this?”

  Unable to halt the Haydenshire smirk that was forming on his face, Logan nodded. “Yeah, of course. She rides in my brothers’ trucks and in Em’s Hummer all the time. Why wouldn’t she ride with me?”

  “Your sister drives a Humvee?” Disbelief rang in Lucas’s inquisitive tone.