I may be ready at some stage but not just yet.
I braided my hair to the side and shoved my jeans, MAC security t-shirt and combat boots on. Then I grabbed my belt, vest and the bag I had packed last night.
After yesterday, I told myself that I would be prepared for any situation, I wouldn’t be caught out again. I’d packed my camera, a few snacks, and a notepad and pen. Always be prepared was my new motto, especially when it came to this job.
I woke Eli up, got him ready for preschool and was giving him breakfast by the time Ty came into the kitchen.
“Mornin’.” He walked past Eli, ruffling his hair, reminding me that he was due a haircut, and met me at the kitchen counter.
“Morning.” I smiled, taking a sip of my coffee.
“Where were you earlier this morning?” he asked, checking the coffee pot.
“Went for a run.” I shrugged.
“What? Why didn’t you wake me up?” He pulled a cup down from the cupboard, my eyes tracked the sliver of skin that showed as his t-shirt to lifted slightly.
I felt a blush rising up my cheeks. Looking away, I cleared my throat and said, “needed time to think, and it surprisingly helped.”
“Yeah?” He leaned against the counter opposite me, and smirked. “How long did you run for?”
“I don’t know.” I walked over to Eli and picked up his empty bowl, and checked his cup for juice.
“Really?” he asked, skeptical.
“I didn’t time myself.” I did but I wasn’t telling him how long I had run for.
He chuckled, probably already knowing that I only managed ten minutes before I felt like I was going to die. Full on, couldn’t breathe with my hands on knees, dying.
“Time to go, sweetie. Go and get your shoes,” I said, turning back to Eli.
“Okay, mama.” He jumped down but stopped at the door and looked back at us. “Is Uncle Luke taking me today?”
“Yeah, sweetie. Me and Luke today.”
He smiled wide, nodding, and pushed through the door just as Ty was picking up my bag.
“What’s this?” he asked with a raised brow.
“My camera.” I walked over to him and picked up my belt, clipping it around my waist.
“You don’t need all of this just to take Eli.”
“I need to be prepared, you don’t go off the compound without being suited up. Why should I be any different?” Picking up my vest, I put my arms through it. Sure, I may only have been taking Eli to preschool but if I was prepared for anything, then I wouldn’t be caught out.
“Kay-”
“Ty,” I mocked.
“You-” The ringing of his cell stopped what he was about to say. Huffing, he pulled it out and answered, “Yeah?”
I leaned back and waited for him to finish his call. He listened to whoever was on the line, nodding and not saying anything.
“Yeah, tomorrow.” Pocketing his phone, he moved closer to me, his eyes taking me all in.
“You look hot in all of that.”
“No, I’m fine.” I waved my hand in the air.
He threw his head back and laughed. A deep throaty sound, his face completely relaxed.
“No,” he said, trying to catch his breath. “I meant, you look h-o-t. You know, sexy.”
“Ahhh.” I looked away, heat rising in my cheeks as he watched me.
“I love it when you blush.” He reached up and swiped a piece of hair off my face, tucking it behind my ear.
I didn’t, I hated blushing. He always made my body go haywire when he was around. I felt like I had no control over it.
“Mama!”
“I…I’ve gotta go,” I stammered.
“Uh huh.” He leaned forward, pressing his lips against mine in a quick, gentle kiss. “I’ll be out when you get back.”
“Okay.” I cleared my throat. I loved how he always did that. He wouldn’t go off the compound without telling me.
Picking up my camera, I walked to the door and turned back to him asking, “I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah.” He winked. “Oh and sweetheart?”
“Hmm?”
“Good thinking on always being prepared, you never know what could happen.” His face turned serious, something concealed in the shadows of his eyes.
Swallowing, I nodded and pushed through the door.
I walked through the living room and watched out of the window as and Eli got into the car. They’d become my whole world in such a short amount of time, and I constantly feared that they would be taken from me. I couldn’t cope with any more losses.
That’s why I had a tracker put on both of them. Eli had one in his school bag, one in the sole of his shoes and one sown into his coat. Kay’s was in the sole of her boots and in her vest. It wasn’t that I wanted to control them or make sure I knew where they were, it was for their own safety.
If anything ever happened, I knew that I could always find them.
Grabbing my own belt, I clipped it on and picked up my vest. Today I was watching Daley and Serena. Evan had found out that they had a business meeting at the hotel she was staying at, but we didn’t know what room it was being held in so Evan had hacked into the whole system.
“Boss?” I lifted my head as Evan came through the front door, tablet in hand.
“Yeah?” I said, picking my keys up.
“I’ve set it all up. Whichever one they have it in, if you click on the little icon, it will make it full screen.” He pointed at the tablet, tapping the screen to show me.
“Got it,” I said, taking the tablet from him and walking out the door.
“You need to be within a mile radius to pick up the signal,” he continued, following me out and shutting the door behind him.
“Okay.” Walking over to my truck, I pressed the button on my key fob, all the lights flashing. “Meeting, when I get back,” I told him.
“Sure,” he said, waiting until I was in the car.
“Keep digging.”
“On Daley?”
“Both of them,” I ground out. “I told you yesterday, we’re working this case as if we don’t know them personally.”
“Boss, I still don’t think Serena would do this. Not after…”
“I know but opinions mean nothing, I want facts.” I stared at him, letting him know with my eyes that it wasn’t a subject that he had any say on.
Slamming my door, I started the car and drove out of the compound. I didn’t want to think that she had anything to do with kidnapping those girls but I had to look at it objectively.
My mind was whirling with the possible outcomes from this business meeting. I couldn’t discover if they were working together or alone; if they were working together, then I was certain they would discuss it.
Pulling up far enough away from the hotel to not look suspicious, but still close enough so I could get a signal, I pulled out my headphones and plugged them into the tablet.
The meeting was meant to be at nine and it was already a quarter to. Settling back, I waited and watched the camera at the front of the hotel on the tablet.
For fifteen minutes, all I saw were two people leaving, and one of those tiny dogs try to attack the doorman.
Dead on nine, Daley arrived in his Bentley. His driver opened his door and he stepped out, looking around him discreetly. That was one of the first signs, he wouldn’t be scanning the area if he wasn’t worried about something, or someone.
I watched him go into the hotel and walk down the corridor to one of the suites.
‘Gold Suite’. Figured. I shouldn’t have expected anything less.
When he sat down at the table, I pressed the icon so that it would fill the whole screen. He sat down and pulled his cell out, tapping away on the screen for several minutes until Serena came waltzing in, followed by a couple of men. Big, tall, beefy men, all dressed in black combat gear.
My brows raised at that. Why were they with her? They stood at the door and nodded to Daley. Were they there with h
im, or her? I couldn’t work it out.
“Good morning.” She smiled at Daley, taking a seat opposite him. Her movements slow and measured. She’d always been like that, always aware of her body and how to have the greatest effect on people. Mainly men, that was something that I realized after I had left her.
I sat and listened but all they talked about was the charity and the new building that they had drawn plans up for. By all accounts, it was a normal business meeting, and by the time Serena left the room, I didn’t know anything more than I already did when I had arrived.
The only thing that I was sure about, was that they weren’t working together. They would have mentioned something surely? Even if it was a small detail. That meant that it was either Daley or Serena.
The two men exited the room after Serena and I was about to swipe off the screen to see where they went when Daley’s phone rang.
“Yo.” I snorted at his greeting, he was an obnoxious piece of shit.
“Yeah, is the next shipment ready to be picked up?” He asked with a smirk on his face.
Whatever they said on the other end, he didn’t like it, because his face started to go red and his hands clenched into a fist at his side.
“Tomorrow night, I mean it. Don’t let this one get away,” he growled down the phone. “I want it taken straight to my safe place. No stops in between.”
He pulled the phone away from his face and tapped the screen before shoving it into his pants. He closed his eyes, composing himself, then did the button on his suit jacket up and opened his eyes.
You’d have never known he had just lost his cool if you saw him then. Pulling the door open, he walked out of the room as if nothing had happened.
Pressing the screen to take me back to the icons, I watched him walk back through the hotel, the henchmen followed him and he gave them a slight nod as he got into the waiting Bentley. Looked like they were there for him after all.
It seemed there was more to Daley that what we had originally thought.
While we waited for Ty to get back from his surveillance job, I decided to be productive.
I collected the files of information that Evan had gathered on Daley and Serena and spread them out on the floor in the office.
Evan had said that they had gone through them and couldn’t find anything, but it didn’t hurt to go over them again. Especially when I had a gut feeling about Serena.
All of the information on her was the basic stuff, she came from a good family, was one of the top kids in her class and married Ty right out of high school. It read like the perfect life but I knew there was no such thing.
Everyone had secrets that they tried to hide. It was finding out where they were that was the hard part. When I came across their marriage certificate, I had to cover it with another piece of paper, I couldn’t bear to look at it.
Was it childish? Probably. It was better than burning it though, which is what I really wanted to do.
I carried on reading her file, noting all of the charities that she had worked for since Ty had left her. She’d been all around the world helping these charities and I kind of hated her for that.
The more I read, the more I started to doubt myself. Maybe I had imagined the look in her eyes?
Maybe it was jealously.
My thoughts were whirling in my head, and it didn’t ease up any by the time Ty came back.
“Kay?” he asked, coming to stand next to me. “What are you doing?”
I tilted my head right back and looked at him upside down. “Just looking through these. Seeing if I can find something that we might have missed.”
He nodded and held his hand out to me. “Ready for the meeting?”
I turned around, pushing all the papers back a little and making sure that I didn’t step on any of them. Placing my hand in his so he could help me up.
He wrapped his arms around me, a soft smile on his face. His brown eyes swirled with so many emotions that I couldn’t pick one, he looked torn, like something was really bothering him.
“Ty?” I lifted my hand to his face, the scruff rough on the pads of my fingers. “You okay?”
Dipping down, he pressed his lips to mine. His tongue swiped along my bottom lip and I opened up, leaning closer as his tongue caressed mine. His arms tightened around me as he deepened the kiss, our chests bouncing off each other as our breathing deepened.
Pulling away, he leaned his forehead against mine. “Yeah, I’m good now.” Chuckling, I pulled back and tapped him on the chest.
Grabbing my hand, he led me into the main part of the warehouse and pulled my chair out for me.
Once we were sat down, he told us everything that he had heard, none of it meaning much apart from Daley’s phone call when Serena had left the room.
“Why has he got protection?” Kitty frowned. “He must think something is about to go down.”
Ty nodded and blew out a big breath.
“We need to look into Daley more. I want him watched every hour of the day.” Looking to Luke and Kitty, he said, “You two are on night duty. I want to know everything that goes on with him, phone calls, where he goes. Everything.”
“When do you want us to start?” Luke asked.
“Tonight.” They nodded at him in reply.
“Me and Kay will take the day shift.” Ty looked at me, asking me with his eyes if that was okay.
“How long will the shifts be?” I asked. However, as much as I wanted to do a full shift, I still needed to think of Eli.
I wanted to be a part of the team and I wanted to be doing the same thing as everyone else, but I still had to think about Eli. Sure, things were much better now that we lived at the compound but that didn’t mean I was going to be any less of a mom. I still wanted us to have time, just me and him. It was too easy to have one of the guys watch over him.
I had to make sure that I didn’t get too caught up in work or Ty.
“Ah, shit.” He hung his head, tapping his fingers on the table, realizing what I meant without having to say anything.
“Does it need to be two at a time?” Kitty asked. “If we’re just watching and waiting, then we could split it into four shifts.”
“No, Kay can’t be on her own-”
“Good idea,” I said, interrupting Ty before he said what I thought he was about to. There was no way that he was going to make special precautions just for me.
“Kay,” he said, reaching over and placing his hand on top of mine. “It was only a few weeks back that you wouldn’t go out on your own. What makes you think that this will be any different?”
My nostrils flared as I listened to him. I couldn’t believe that he’d said that in front of everyone.
I wasn’t stupid, I knew that they had suspicions about me not going off the compound but they didn’t know for sure, at least they didn’t until this moment.
“Tyson.” I gritted out. His eyes widened at the use of his full name. “Have you trained me in self-defense?”
“Ye-”
“Do I have a radio and weapons?”
“Yeah but-”
“No buts. I can do this. You need to trust me.” I kept my eyes connected to his, trying to get my point across. I needed to do this, he had to let me be me again. The me I was becoming before everything happened.
He blew out a big breath and watched me, his eyes scanning my face. I knew he could see it in my eyes, I was practically screaming it at him. Was I scared to go out on my own? Damn straight I was but if I didn’t start now, then when would I?
Before I knew it, it would be ten years down the line and I still wouldn’t be able to go anywhere without one of them with me.
I didn’t want to live like that.
“Fine,” he conceded. “You’ll do nine until three, then one of us will take over from you. Six hour rotations,” he said the last part to everyone, waiting for their nods of confirmation.
Putting a plan in place, I wrote down everything that he said and planned the routes in
my head. I didn’t allow myself to feel the fear that desperately wanted to overtake me. Instead, I got stuck in with what I needed to look out for and what photos I might need to take.
I’d hardly slept at all last night. I couldn’t stop thinking of Kay being out of the compound on her own. Rationally, I knew that she would be fine, I had trackers on her and on the cars, but I couldn’t quieten that little voice in my head that told me this wasn’t a good idea.
That she was going to get hurt.
When Kay left to take Eli to preschool on her own, I headed straight for the warehouse and to my desk. I switched the computer on and tracked her all the way there, then to Daley’s house. I’d toyed with the idea of following her there and watching her as she watched him. Then I remembered that Charlie was coming in this morning so I had no choice but to let her do it on her own.
I knew it sounded stupid but I just had this feeling in the pit of my stomach. I’d never worried about anyone the way that I worried about Kay. Maybe it was because I’d seen her get hurt and couldn’t bear to see her like that again.
Whatever it was, I couldn’t stop worrying about her. I knew Eli was safe. I had all the security measures in place at the preschool that I could possibly have. But Kay? She had no protection around her whatsoever.
I was going out of my mind.
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her because I did, I really did. I just hated the thoughts that ran through my head; all the possibilities of what could happen to her if I wasn’t there.
“Boss! Charlie’s here!” Evan shouted through the warehouse. Shaking the thoughts from my head and looking at the screen one last time, I shoved my chair back.
They were all sat around the meeting table waiting for me when I walked out of the office. My eyes flicked to Kay’s seat and my stomach dipped. It didn’t feel right, her not being here.
“Hey,” Charlie greeted when I sat down.
“Hey,” I huffed, slumping down in my seat.
“Whoa, little bro, what’s with all the enthusiasm?”
“He’s stressing out,” Kitty spoke up. “Kay’s gone out on her own.”
“Holy Fuck.” I lifted my eyes to Charlie. “Never thought you’d let her out on her own, on the account of…you know.”
Exposed: Book 2 MAC Security Series Page 5