by Linzi Baxter
“When we get to Shialia, we can pick out a ring. Dad owes me some gems for putting me through hell.” Shialia was known for its exotic gems. Brock and I grabbed our remaining items and left the hospital.
A few hours later, we were in Shialia.
“I thought you were due a week ago?” Brock and I had arrived at the castle two hours ago. Patty had not delivered her baby yet.
“He won’t come out! We have sex all the time, and I bounce on that dumb ball an hour a day.” She grumbled.
It was nice being back at the castle after so many years away. Our father hadn’t returned. We received a letter saying he was thinking about what he had done wrong, trying to come up with a way to fix what he did.
I had no hard feelings. He was my only parent left, and I couldn’t spend the rest of my years being mad at him. Brock, on the other hand, hadn’t forgiven him for putting me in danger.
“Did you know a first baby has a fifteen percent chance of being late. The second child only has a ten percent chance of being late.” Patty had been grasping at her belly for the past hour. “Are you sure you’re not in labor now?”
“I thought I was ready, and have complained about him not coming, but what happens if I screw him up, and he turns out to be crazy.” By the time she finished the sentence, she was panting in pain.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and swiped to unlock it. Sam picked up on the first ring. “Sam, it’s time.”
“I will meet you in the car.”
I took another look at Patty. We weren’t going to make it to the hospital.
I could hear him running in the background. “Sam, we won’t make it to the hospital. Patty’s been in labor all day and hasn’t told anyone.”
Sam grumbled about tanning her hide after she gave birth.
“Meet me in your chambers.” Sam clicked off the line.
Grabbing Patty’s hand, I helped her up off the ground. “Let me get you to your room.” I was hoping Sam had called the doctor.
****Sam****
Once Patty had this baby, I was going to tan her hide for not telling someone she was in labor. She wouldn’t be able to sit for a week.
I was running toward our wing. The castle was twenty thousand square feet, and I just happened to be on the opposite side. I heard footsteps fall into stride next to me. I knew it was Brock. After years of working together, we were in sync.
Brock and I had been having a glass of Scotch, trying to figure out a way to get Shialia back under control. I was planning on hiring a bunch of Navy Seals I had worked with before. I needed to change out all the guards.
Jessica’s name flashing across my phone screen only meant one thing. Something was wrong with my pixie. When she said the baby was coming, a web of emotions passed through me. I couldn’t believe Patty had waited this long to let anyone know she was in labor.
Needing to have a doctor here, I grabbed my phone and called our doctor. His nurse answered and said a doctor would be at the castle in ten minutes. I hope we had ten minutes. Nobody at the residence was trained to deliver a baby.
When I rounded the corner into our room, Jessica was laying Patty down on the bed. I rushed to her side, needing to be close. “Pixie, the doctor will be here in ten minutes. How are you doing?” I grasped her hand.
“Peachy,” Patty ground out. I could see her molars grinding together inside her cheeks. She was in pain and trying not to show it.
“Pixie, your fingernails are piercing my skin.”
Patty squeezed tighter. “I’m in a little pain.”
The guard at the front door sent me a text letting me know the doctor was on his way up to the room. I was able to breathe a little more comfortably knowing the medical staff was here.
I ran a cloth across Patty’s forehead, removing the sweat. “The doctor is on his way up.”
Right as I finished my statement, a man who looked like a movie star swooped into the room.
“Patty!”
I’d never seen this man before. How did he know my Pixie?
Patty’s face lit up at the sight of the man. “Dr. Harper, what are you doing here?”
“I’m here for your delivery.”
My jealousy was showing on my face. “No.”
Patty’s gray eyes trained on me. “No, what?”
“We will wait for Dr. Riggs.”
“You have to be kidding me. First of all, we don’t have time. If you had come to all my appointments, you would have met Dr. Har—” Her rant was cut off by a contraction. I knew I needed to get my jealousy under control.
I took a deep breath, getting my nerves together. As long as our baby was beautiful and Patty was okay at the end of the day, I could do this. I needed to think of them.
“Okay, sorry.”
Dr. Harper took a look to see how dilated she was. “Patty, you waited too long to call me. It’s time. You ready?”
The nurse went to the other side of the bed, held Patty’s arm and shoulder, and told her to push. Patty pushed. Her eyes squeezed shut, a vein popped out on her temple, and tears were leaking from her eyes.
“Deep breaths!”
“Breathe!”
Patty nodded.
A harder contraction hit. Patty cried out, pushing with all her might.
“Harder.”
“Keep going.”
After one last push, I heard it—the tiny cry of our baby.
The doctor held scissors out to me. “Time to cut the cord, Dad.”
With a snip, my world was complete. I collapsed on the bed next to Patty, wrapping my arm around her.
Brock and Jessica were over in the corner with tears in their eyes. My family was all together.
Epilogue - One Month Later
Sophie
The stress of living a double life was getting to me. The deal I had made with the devil was supposed to get me closer to my goal. But the devil kept requesting more of me without giving me the information I needed to take down the people who killed my family.
The devil would figure out soon that I hacked their system to pull the information about Jessica’s kidnappers. When the trail led back to me, they would come for me this time. They had been waiting for an excuse to bring me in and make me work for them full-time. But Jessica was worth what I would go through.
I heard Bridget making a ruckus out in the central area, yelling at someone. I figured I had better go calm her down before I had to bail her out of jail.
“Miss, we are here for Sophie Stewart. This has nothing to do with you.”
I walked around the corner to see a few men in black suits. I knew they were here for me.
“I don’t care who you think you are. I want to see a warrant. You can’t just come in here and demand to talk to my employees without some form of documentation. We do nothing illegal here.” Bridget was screaming. The whole office stood around her, trying to figure out what was going on.
The tall, dark man talking to Bridget looked as though he was close to losing his temper. He kept pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to stay calm. At least if I was going to be taken in, it would be by this man. He was hot. Like, panty-dripping hot.
The sexy man pinched his nose one more time before saying, “Ma’am, tell me where Sophie Stewart is before I take you into custody for obstructing justice.”
Bridget started walking toward the tall drink of water. I knew I needed to step in before she ended up in federal custody. She had no clue who she was dealing with. I, on the other hand, knew exactly what was going on.
I walked out from the hall. The sexy man in the black form-fitting suit looked up to see me. He headed to the reception desk toward me. Bridget went to go after him. Before she ended up in more trouble, I needed to get this under control.
“Bridget, it’s okay.”
“Don’t say anything. I have Alex coming down with Antonio.”
The man who I assumed was in charge walked toward me. He was the only one that had been talking to Bridget. The oth
er agents just stared. Bridget made many people speechless.
The man cleared his throat before saying, “Sophie Stewart, I’m Agent White. Will you please come with us, or do we need to handcuff you?”
I couldn’t resist playing with him. “Well, Agent White, I know that’s not your real name. You need to stop with the color-coding. If you’re putting the handcuffs on, I would prefer the pink fuzzy ones. I like the kinky side of things.”
Agent White didn’t have time to reply to my comment before Antonio and Alex walked in the front door. This was starting to get out of control. I needed to go with Agent White before someone ended up doing something they regretted.
Antonio walked over to where Agent White and I were standing. He looked pissed. “Agent White, do you want to explain why you are trying to take Sophie into custody?”
“Stay out of this, Antonio. This comes from the director. I need to take her in.”
“Why was I not informed about this case?” The vein in Antonio’s head was throbbing.
How did Antonio know Agent White, and why would he be in on cases with the devil?
“This is not your concern. You need to stop asking questions.”
This pissing contest needed to stop. “Agent White, let’s go so we can get this over with.”
“Sophie, you don’t know what you’re saying. You don’t know who these people are. If you go with them, we might not be able to get you out.” Antonio spun and looked at Agent White. “You don’t have jurisdiction on US soil.”
Agent White’s next words brought the dread to the forefront. “Sophie Stewart, you are under arrest for treason.” He reached around to cuff my hands and started to push me out the door.
I could hear Bridget in the back, demanding Antonio do something. But there was nothing he could do to get me out of this. I only hoped it led me closer to my sister.
Agent White lifted me into the back seat of a black SUV. He walked around to the other side and sat next to me. I held my wrists out to him. “These are not necessary.”
“I think you are more dangerous than the director knows. But he would be mad if I hurt his pet.” He reached over and unlocked the cuffs.
The trip to the airport was short. I had a feeling we were on our way to DC to see the devil himself. But I was in for another surprise. The devil was waiting for me on the plane.
“Sophie. It’s so nice of you to join us,” he barked.
Director Sanches’s voice could commanded a room. Everyone listened when he spoke. Well, almost everyone. I couldn’t give a flying fuck what the man had to say. Ten years ago, he made me a promise he still hadn’t fulfilled.
“Did I have an option? You know Antonio is going to come after me. Why didn’t you just call me in?”
“You took that option away when you hacked our network. Antonio works for me. I’ll get him to drop his bulldozing. And I tried calling you numerous times. You weren’t answering.”
“Is it hacking when I have access?” I asked. “Sucks when you want something and can’t have it.”
The devil took a sip of Scotch. “Those files were classified. And I always get my way. You’re here, aren’t you?”
I shrugged, not caring. “What do you want?”
He let out a long sigh. “It’s time I tell you why I haven’t let you find your sister.”
This is the carrot he always dangled in front of me to keep me in line. I would start helping him with his cases. He would give me a little information about my sister. I had looked for the files they had on her. They were not on any of the servers. I had a feeling the director kept them in a safe so I couldn’t reach them.
“Is this where you give me a little information so I fall back in line?”
“No. This is where I tell you that, if you want to see your sister, you are going to have to become a full-time agent and work with Agent White. The case you will be given will lead you to your sister. Do you agree to come work for me for the next ten years?”
If it led to my sister, I would do anything. Agent White was sitting in the chair across from us, watching the exchange. It wouldn’t exactly be a hardship to work with that man.
“If we don’t find her in the next six months, you have no deal.”
“You’ll find her by then, but you might not be happy with what you find.”
“Yes, I will take the job.”
An evil grin spread across his face. “Welcome to the CIA, Agent Red.”
The End
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Chapter 1
Alex
“The Citrix project is missing somewhere around a million dollars,” Mr. Davis said.
We were in my executive conference room, discussing each department’s concerns. Missing money was a departmental concern, but it should have been brought to my attention as soon as it was discovered. Nobody should wait for a staff meeting to discuss something like that.
I was surprised because Mr. Davis had been working for Ross Enterprises as our CFO for twenty years and should have known better. I’d never cared for the guy. He was one of the last remaining employees from when my father ran Ross Enterprises. Charles Davis was in his early fifties and only around five foot five. He had one of those beer bellies that hung over his pants. Ever since I was a kid, I wondered if his hair was real or fake. I assumed, since it had never changed colors or appeared washed, it was fake. Over the past few months, I noticed he had become increasingly more anxious and uneasy whenever I came to his office unannounced.
The other executives started to shift in their seats. They recognized I was about to lose it. But this was a blessing in disguise. Mr. Davis needed to be let go, and he had just given me a reason.
I tried to reply calmly. “I must have misunderstood you. Did you just say we are missing a million dollars like it doesn’t fucking matter?” On second thought, it didn’t come out all that calmly.
“I’m reading you the report the Citrix project account manager typed up,” he said angrily.
Shannon King, the human resources manager, was shaking her head. I understood why she was doing it, but I didn’t care. Mr. Davis was going to get fired. Charles should have been investigating how the money went missing, not relying on an account manager’s report. Mr. Davis was lucky I was firing him instead of throwing him off the top of the building. Shannon should have been happy with me too.
“You’re fired. Fred, please escort Mr. Davis out of the building.” Fred was the top security officer at Ross Enterprises. He had been in the same unit as my brothers. When he needed a job after leaving the military, I’d hired him. The man was built, with muscles in places only body builders could have. Smart people didn’t mess with him.
“You can’t fire me!” Mr. Davis yelled as Fred escorted him out of the building.
I can fire anyone I want, I thought with bravado, while making a mental note to call the lawyers. They were going to be making extra money this week.
The remaining executives were all quiet. Shannon was writing down what I assumed were notes to save me from a lawsuit. I gave her job security.
“Does anyone remember who the account manager for the Citrix project is?” I asked.
Scott White replied, “Jessica Patterson was the account manager for that project. They have been looking to promote her to a larger role. I’m not sure if she is still working on the project.”
Scott was the vice president of Ross Enterprises, and I relied on him for many of the everyday operations. He was in his early thirties. We attended the same school growing up, and later, we both went on to Harvard.
When I took over the family business, neither my brothers nor my sister wanted to work at Ross Enterprises, so Scott became my number two.
“Sarah, please get Jessica up here now.” I tried not to snap at her because she was my sixth assistant this year. I had stopped sleeping with them, which cut down the turnover somewhat.
“Yes, Mr. Ross.”
This was going to be a mess. I hoped we could figure it out before the media got wind of it. A financial issue like this could affect our revenues. I needed it resolved before it got any larger.
“We will continue this meeting next week, unless any of you have more bombs to drop on my plate. If you learn anything else about this problem, let me know.”
All the executives except Scott filed out of the conference room. Scott followed me back to my office. “About time you fired that asshole,” he said with disgust in his voice.
“If you didn’t like him, why didn’t you do it sooner? You knew I didn’t like the guy.”
“It’s hard to get rid of your father’s employees,” he said.
I had to agree. Despite my earlier bravado, I had a hard time getting rid of people that had worked for my father. Scott and I both respected my dad and his choices. But it was well past time to get rid of Charles Davis.
“What do you think about Jessica taking his position?” I asked Scott. Jessica had been offered a job at Ross Enterprises a few years back. She started as an intern and worked her way up, and she had done an outstanding job on a few projects.
“She’s a little shy, but she knows her stuff. I expect this would be a good fit for her. But if you promote her, you can’t fire her when she rattles off statistics,” Scott said in mock warning. “I’m going to take a look at the project financials. If I find anything, I will notify you.”
“I’m going to call Dad and get Ricky’s number. In the meantime, let’s keep this quiet and see if we can figure it out.”
Scott nodded and left, heading back to his office across the hall from me.