Best,
Grady Kent.
Office and Field Manager of Remission Worldwide.
“One woman at a time.”
It’s a small office, only containing the servers that host all of the organization’s detailed information, as well as files of all of the men and women who work for me. I scan through the list of files that were taken from the office, most of which have a comment beside it saying that it has been recovered. Once I get to the end of the list, I see almost every file is shown as having been recovered with the exception of one. My own.
All of the video recordings have been scrubbed from the hard drive, which leads me to believe that it might have been an inside job, but I can’t be sure, and I refuse to take any risks. I’ll have a few of my trusted men dig around and keep an eye open for any suspicious activity, but there’s nothing much else that I’m able to do right now. The authorities in Sydney have been notified, and detailed records have been taken on what happened, but beyond that, there’s nothing that I am able to do from the States.
I type out an email to the head of the offices in each location of a safe house and copy Gage and Wade on it as well. I may not know what it means, but I do know that I won’t be taking any chances. I instruct them to have the remainder of the physical copies of files destroyed once they have been transferred onto a server located in Brass Global’s building here in Chicago. In addition to that precaution, I advise them to reset all of the passcodes to all of our offices and servers at every single RW site.
Isla’s hands move to my shoulders and start massaging them just as I send out the email.
“Is everything okay? You seem tense.”
“Hey babe. I’m trusting that everything will be fine, but we’re dealing with a break-in in Sydney right now.”
“Oh hell. At your house?”
“No, at Remission Worldwide. Someone got into the central office.”
“Hopefully, nothing seriously important was taken. Surely you guys don’t keep cash on hand there, right?”
“We do, but that’s beside the point. The only thing that they have been able to identify as missing was a file containing my personal information in it.”
“Why would someone want to take that?”
“Good question, doll, but let’s not concern ourselves with that right now.” I turn the barstool around to face her and pull her body between my legs. “The Cubbies are going to need us today.”
“I thought that you might have forgotten.”
“Not in this lifetime. Go get dressed and let me take my girl out.”
“Deal.”
It’s Sunday and game day at Wrigley Field, and I swore to her that we wouldn’t miss a game weekend together. This is me keeping that promise. My phone chimes as we get into her SUV, and I’m about to head out of the parking deck. I dig into my pocket to retrieve it and open up a text from Gage Cooper.
Jensen, are you able to get together today? We need to talk in regard to your email, and I’d prefer to do this in person.
I’ll be at Wrigley. Swing your ass on by. I know that your seats are right next to mine, fuckhead. I type out and hit send before I pull out of the parking spot and head in the direction of one of my favorite places in Chicago.
During the drive, I start to run through the lists of men and trafficking rings that I’ve taken down over the years, but I don’t know of any that would have access to my full name to find out any information about me or where I came from.
“You seem far away, Liam.”
I squeeze her hand in mine before letting go to back up into a spot at the ballpark.
“Sorry, doll. I’m trying to piece together who knew anything about me to get to RW.”
“That’s more than understandable, and I’m sure that it’s nothing.”
“Let’s hope that it’s just some bored teenager. I can’t risk my girls.”
I lean over and kiss her while my hand moves underneath the thin material of her Cubs shirt.
“You have your heart set on it being a girl, don’t you?”
“For now,” I say against her red lips.
“We’re not even to the twelve-week safe zone, Liam.”
“You don’t have a thing to worry about, babe. She’s going to be perfect.”
I take her lips once more before we head into the crowds of Wrigley when my phone vibrates in my pocket. I dig it out and open the message from Gage: Be there in fifteen.
“I hope that you don’t mind, but Gage just let me know that he’ll be joining us. Those two seats that were empty beside us at the opening game belong to him.”
She laughs as we turn into the row to take our seats. “Do you really think that I’d give a fuck?”
“Nah, but I thought I’d try out being a gentleman for a few minutes before being true to the asshole that you know me to be.”
“I prefer the asshole in you, dickweed,” she says as she leans over the armrest that separates the two of us and runs her tongue down the left side of my jaw. My dick stirs behind the fabric of my shorts.
“You’ll get yourself in trouble if you continue this, baby doll.”
“Maybe I’ll like it,” she counters just as she leans in to do it again, but this time, I catch her lips with mine. She shamelessly moans against me as she digs her fingernails into my chest against my shirt. Fuck, I love what I’m able to do to her. She’s damn near putty in my hands.
“Liam.”
“Isla,” I say right before I pull on her full bottom lip with my teeth and let go.
“Thank you for coming back early for me. All of this has been a lot to absorb on my own.”
“Like I told you . . . it took me a while to realize exactly what you mean to me, but once I got the clarity that I needed, I didn’t have to think twice about it. In retrospect, I’ve been fighting it off for a while, but I’m glad that I caved into those seductive red lips of yours.”
I watch her as she almost shies away from me while moving her braided hair from the center of her back to her left shoulder.
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?”
“Don’t pull away from me when I know you, Isla. Yes, we’ve taken what we are to the next level, but I still know you.”
“I know . . . it’s just a different feeling. I don’t want to wake up tomorrow morning and have this all be a dream, or have you tell me that you don’t want it.”
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes. Probably more than I should and more than any other woman would trust an ass like you. You’re my best friend—how would I not?”
“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence, and I damn well better be more than your best friend at this time.”
While she’s stewing over what to say, Gage turns into our row of seats, and I stand to greet him. “How’s it going, fuckhead?”
“All good as of now.”
I lean over Isla as we slap each other on the back, and he takes a seat beside her.
“It’s good to see you again, Isla. How are you holding up with this shitface back in the States?” he asks her, and I stay quiet, interested to hear what she has to say.
“As good as I can be with him hogging up the majority of my bed each night.”
Gage’s dark chuckle bleeds into the air around us. “The bastard better be grateful that you haven’t put him out on the curb yet.”
“Oh trust me, it’s come close a time or two. I’m going to grab you guys some beer. Do you want anything in particular?”
She knows that she doesn’t need to get up to get anything during the game with the seats we have, and I’m grateful that she can pick up on Gage’s need to speak to me in private.
“Goose IPA, please, babe,” I say as she stands. My eyes move down from her tight ass to her tanned legs and then back up her body until her eyes are locked on mine, and she leans down, placing a kiss on my stubbled cheek.
“Gage? What about you?”
“I don’t suppose that you s
nuck any whiskey in if he’s getting a craft then, huh?”
“Sorry, Coop, not this time, and the only whiskey they have here is house.”
“Get me what Jensen is getting then, thanks.”
“Sure thing. You’ll just owe me later,” she winks as she steps past him and out of the row of seats.
Now that it’s just Coop and me, he drops his smile and wrings his hands together as he decides on how he wants to open this topic of discussion. “I think that we may have a mole in RW.”
“I’ve considered it, and it wouldn’t shock me, but I wouldn’t know where to start when it comes to figuring out who it is. I’ve had a lot of employees in and out of that office over the years, and it could be any number of them.”
“It would have to be someone who knows the ins and outs of the office and possibly beyond that because it wasn’t ransacked,” he says as he opens his email application on his phone.
“Possibly, but that still leaves a hell of a long list of names to go through. I’ll do it, though—I’ll be the one to sit down and go through them all. And we’re sure that the only thing that was taken was my file?”
“Positive. I asked Kent to double-check everything again once I got his email earlier today. The poor shit hasn’t slept since he helped get all of those girls where they needed to be.”
I chuckle because I’m well aware of what he must be feeling like right now. “He’ll survive. Now tell me, what are your thoughts on what needs to happen next, aside from an investigation into each employee who has had access to the office over the years? Do I need to step up security at all locations, or does this mean that it’s personal?”
He shakes his head as I speak. “If I were you, I’d keep a tight grip on Isla if you two are together. Shit, man, I’d keep a close eye on your mother and sister as well.”
The harsh reality of his words sucks me in, and I have to give myself a few seconds to recuperate.
“It can’t be that serious, Coop. I’ve kept my full name as well as the organization under the radar as much as the government will allow it. The rings only know me as Jensen and nothing more.”
“It’s not—right now—but I don’t have another explanation for it. The only other thing that I can come up with is some kid breaking in, but then that doesn’t account for your file being the only thing that’s missing. Hell, all of the fucking cash is still there, and I’ve had all of our investments as well as bank accounts checked. Every fucking thing is there, Liam. Not a single cent is missing. This might get ugly, and I’m going to insist that you keep your girls close.”
“She’s pregnant,” I say under my breath as visions of repulsive men coming and snatching Isla from her bed fill my head.
His body movements still as he swallows my proclamation. “Who else knows?”
“Four people, I believe, but I’m not completely sure if she told anyone aside from myself, Hadley, and now you. Five if you include her co-worker. Surely this has nothing to do with her. She’s only nine and a half weeks along, so no one would fucking know even if they went digging.”
“It may have everything to do with her. I’m going to assume that she’s gone to see the doctor about this little addition?”
“She has.”
“That there, Jensen, leaves an opening that wasn’t there before. There’s more documented information about her that can easily be hacked into.”
I lean forward in my seat and run a hand down my face, cupping it over my jaw, trying to force myself to remember what was in that file. “I don’t believe that my file contained any information in regard to her.”
“But it held the right amount of information someone might need to find you and then her or any other females in your life.”
“How would they even know where to look unless they’ve been watching me from afar for some time?”
“That’s the only way that they’d know how to get to you. Keep your eyes peeled, especially while you have her at your side. It might be a good idea to separate yourself from her until we’ve got this shit on lockdown.”
“Separate myself from her? Jesus, Coop, we just clarified all of what we are a day ago. I can’t leave her, especially when I already have, and now that I know that she’s pregnant . . . no. I refuse to compromise our relationship that much.”
“All right. You have a valid point when it comes to keeping what you have with her secure, but it won’t be secure if something happens. I just need you to be prepared. Outside of watching and mentoring my teams, this is what you brought me into RW for. You needed more than some asshole to help you see what needs to be done on the business side. This is business, Jensen. It might be a fucked-up side of business, but it is nonetheless.”
I glance over my shoulder because I can physically feel her when she’s near, and every cell in my body is currently wanting to break away from who I am and go to her. I think I’ve always been able to feel her presence, but now I know why: she’s mine. She’s just started taking the stairs down to get to our aisle from the main concourse, so I turn back to Cooper.
“Don’t repeat this conversation while she’s around. The last thing that I need is her concerning herself over something that might not even mean a goddamn thing. I’ll get with my head of security and arrange a watch over her as soon as I can get them here. Do you truly believe that I need to extend that protection to both my mother and sister?”
“If that were my file that was taken, Jensen, I would.”
I nod as I look up and lock eyes with Isla as she steps into our row of seats. A vision of her in the dark hits me with a rough pang in the chest, but the second I hear her voice, I’m brought back to Wrigley, the Cubs, my girl.
“Cold brews, anyone?”
She doesn’t look anywhere but at me, and I feel like I’m in a damn trance. I get to my feet to take the beers from her, handing one off to Gage before lacing my fingers through hers and taking a seat once she has.
My mind seems to be a thousand miles away as we stand for the national anthem and the first pitch. She moves her body against mine and looks up. I cast my gaze down at her and a wave of unease moves down my spine.
I won’t let a single man lay his grimy hands on her. Not now and not ever. Isla Madden belongs to no man but me.
“What’s eating at you, Jensen?” she asks as I shift her closer to me, tangling the hand that’s not holding onto my beer into her long locks of hair.
“Don’t concern yourself with it.” I can hear the harshness to my tone, and I know that she does as well, but she doesn’t mention it. She leans into my touch before turning to Gage.
“Coops? What are you up to nowadays?” Isla takes a seat between the two of us, which settles the anxiety rolling around like a fucking bouncy ball inside of me.
“Keeping busy, Madden. Between your boyfriend and best friend, I don’t know how I keep my fucking head on straight.”
Isla turns to me at that word, and I give her the best smile I can muster up while images of her being taken from me and strapped down to a mattress with its springs jutting out and scratching along her bare skin invade my mind.
“My boys know what they want out of life, and you’re the one who wanted to be a part of what they do so quit your bitching.”
He laughs along with her while I try to assemble a plan in my head to keep her and our baby safe. A couple of minutes pass without any banter or passing of words between the three of us before Isla shifts her full attention to me.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
I move my hand to her thigh, pushing my fingers between her crossed legs until I’m content with where they are.
“I think that I’d like to take you to meet my folks.”
Gage glances over at me and nods his approval before turning his attention back to the game on the field.
“Are you trying to induce the puking?”
With that, she forces me out of my inner war and gains my full attention. I bring the IPA to my lips and take a long dri
nk before setting it back in the cup holder. “Fuck that. I think it’d be good for you to be there when I tell them that we’re bringing another person into the family. Well, since I’m bringing another two in.”
“Two?”
I nod and lean in to press my lips to the column of her neck while I speak the words I never thought that I’d be brave enough to state again. “I’m going to marry the fuck out of you, Isla Madden.”
She gasps and grabs hold of my knee to steady herself in her seat as if it’s started to move without her permission.
“You can’t—”
“I can, and I will.”
“No, I was going to say that you can’t make those promises to me. I’m not even sure if I want that life. I’m not sure if I want to grow old with an asshole like you by my side.”
“We’re never getting older, baby doll.”
She huffs out a sigh and looks up at me through her thick lashes. My eyes dart to her lips and train on them as she purses them together. “Don’t get your hopes up. I’ve already noticed your balls wrinkling.”
I throw my head back in a laugh as she tries not to choke on her water beside me. “Who the fuck needs whiskey when I have you to get drunk off of, huh?”
“Everyone needs whiskey, Jensen,” Gage says at the same time that Isla murmurs something under her breath.
“What was that, doll?”
“Nothing.”
“I’ll show you nothing if you don’t tell me what you just said.”
She clears her throat but continues to watch the Cubs pitcher throw strikes. “I said that I probably wouldn’t flow quite as well as whiskey does.”
“Bullshit.” The word leaves my mouth before I can fully understand that she thinks that there might be something else I’d rather be holding onto than her and this unexpected pregnancy.
“You’re a storm I’d chase while I was blinded by whiskey.”
“Liam.” My name rolls off of her tongue, and something inside of me hurts from not having her close enough to me. The need I have to feel her against me at all times is consuming.
Fuck it.
Without asking, I grab hold of her waist and lift her over the armrest effortlessly and onto my lap.
Intertwined: A Redemption Novel Page 17