by Kasey Martin
It was clear the man had a very unhealthy desire to be with my wife. The only time he hadn’t taken pictures of her was when she was in our home. There was no way he would’ve been able to gain access to our property, and obviously, he knew that.
“Why the hell are you yelling?” Darby comes out of nowhere with a frown covering his face. I’ve been working the hell out of him, and I know he’s tired of my ass, but I don’t give a damn. We’re in a crisis, and now that I know that I’ve been betrayed, it affects us all. Especially him.
“Meet me in my office now!” I storm back into the office with Darby on my heels. He closes the door behind him, crosses the room, and sits in the chair without saying anything. He doesn’t even bat a lash at Thomas’ prone body lying on the floor. The lack of surprise on his face speaks volumes.
“You knew about this bullshit,” I accuse him. He’s entirely too fucking calm. Darby is a master at not showing emotion, but he’s not that good. I know him too well.
“Markos is good at what he does, but carrying a groaning beat up man into our place won’t go unnoticed,” Darby replies with a shrug.
He’s fucking shrugging all nonchalant like I won’t fuck him up. He knows damn well that after Cara died, security is a top priority for me. I have cameras everywhere. Darby should’ve known that Thomas was following Sasha. I placed a high functioning security system as well as cameras all over the gallery. If there was anyone lurking, Darby would be the first to know.
“I wanted to know who he was working for. He was pretty good about covering his tracks, but I caught onto him when I was following Sasha the first time months ago.”
I continued to pace the length of my office as I processed the information Darby told me. I trusted the twins. They were family. However, with what I just found out from Markos, I would have to kill people I considered part of my family. And make no mistake, I wouldn’t hesitate to take any motherfucker out who went against me; family or not.
But in Darby’s case, I knew he wouldn’t betray me. There’s always a reason for his actions.
“Who is he working for?”
“Douglas Abbott.”
The name sends a chill up my spine because Douglas Abbott is way more dangerous than his son Patrick could ever be. And now that I know, he’s involved. There is definitely a cause for concern.
“Wait. He was following Sasha before I moved to the island.” Pieces of the puzzle were missing.
Founder’s Island is an untapped resource, especially for businesses like mine, but it wasn’t a well-known fact. The Bishops’ family had this shit on lock, and I know for a fact they wouldn’t let a piece of shit like Douglas Abbott in to do business. Hell, we had to become family before we were allowed to set foot on the island.
“Yes. There’s more to the deal with the gallery, but I hadn’t figured it out yet,” Darby replies with furrowed brows.
“Why haven’t you told me about any of this shit?” I question, my anger simmering under my skin like hot lava.
“Because I haven’t figured it out yet!” Darby’s voice gets louder, but he doesn’t yell. I can tell that he’s frustrated, and under normal circumstances, I would be the voice of reason. However, my logic took a back seat when I found out my wife had a gotdamned stalker.
“Alright,” I say, running my hand through my hair and taking a deep breath. I need to calm the fuck down so that I can think. There’s a reason why I’m the next to take over the family as Don. It’s not because my father is the current head of the family; that’s not how it works with us. It’s the most qualified to lead us into success.
I’m intelligent, business savvy, and a fucking savage. I take what I want and kill who I need without issue. I didn’t have a conscience before, and now it lives within my wife. Sasha is my walking talking soul, and now I find out that Douglas Abbott has been watching her for months.
I won’t have that. I can’t have that. I will wipe out their entire family line before I let them get close to my Céile. She won’t end up like Cara. I refuse to let it happen again. I won’t be able to survive it. But neither would anyone else.
“Sasha is safe, Sawyer. I promise you that. Neither Flynn nor I would ever let anything happen to her.”
Darby’s hazel-green eyes twinkle with a sadness that I hadn’t seen in a long time, or maybe it’s been there, and I refused to look. I hate to look at the twins sometimes because the guilt is still there. They didn’t blame me for what happened to Cara, but obviously, someone in their family did.
“I trust you to take care of Sasha. It should be you with questions about safety. After all, it was my fault that…” I trail off because I can’t bring myself to say the words.
“You didn’t kill my sister, Sawyer. Cara’s death isn’t on your hands.” Darby’s words were meant to be reassuring, but they weren’t. They burned through me like fire. My arrogance got my first wife killed, but I would never underestimate an enemy again.
Now to take care of my current enemy… Austin Thomas is a dead man.
Chapter 19
SASHA
“Oh my goodness, Rae, she’s just the sweetest little person in the world,” I smiled down at a sleeping Pilar as I run my hand over her soft midnight curls. She is only a week old, and she is already full of personality.
My best friend attributed her daughter’s attitude to her aunt Dove because Raven stayed mad at her throughout her pregnancy. I said Pilar’s attitude was because of her mother, who kept trying to fight her entire pregnancy.
We are sitting in Raven and Lennox’s plush penthouse apartment while I gush over my Goddaughter. I made a promise to myself that I will not neglect my friendship anymore. I avoided Raven for the last few weeks of her pregnancy because of my horrible mistakes, so I decided I needed to be woman enough from now on to face my issues head on. Hiding from my family and friends will never be the solution. I definitely need to be here for Raven now because I know she’s missing her older sister and her mama.
I finally finish stalling and get down to telling Raven all the sordid details of what lead to me and Sawyer’s shotgun wedding. After saying it all out loud, I realized how dramatic it all sounded.
“So, you needed money, and instead of coming to me, you went to a loan shark? Then Sawyer had to marry you because the loan shark turned out to be a human trafficker who belongs to a mob family. And now you’re under the Nash family protection as Sawyer the Don’s wife.” Raven summarized everything I had told her. I nodded my head slowly at the accuracy.
“Damn, sis! When you get into trouble, you go all out.” Raven shook her head with a look of total dismay on her pretty face.
I sighed dejectedly, “I just wanted to do things on my own.”
“You know, I understand. I’m not judging you, Sasha. But I will help you with anything. That’s all I’m saying,” Raven replied.
“I know you would. I’m just glad Sawyer was there to help me before it was too late. If it wasn’t for him offering this marriage arrangement, there’s no telling what would’ve happened to me.”
“You could’ve come to me, Sasha. I have offered my help a million times. You never had to go to a loan shark for goodness sakes.”
“I didn’t want you to think I was another user. I don’t want your money, Rae.” I tried to explain it for the gazillionth time. I didn’t want to borrow Raven’s money. At the time, she hadn’t received her trust fund yet, and she was working just as hard as me. I would’ve never asked her for anything. We were both just trying to make it through tough times.
“I would never think you were a user, Sasha. I love you, sis. You know that we would do anything for each other.” Raven’s words were sincere, and I smiled. I knew all of those things to be true, but I still didn’t want to rely on my friend. I wanted to do it myself.
“I love you too, sis. Do you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive. I’m just glad Sawyer was able to be there for you. I saw how you two look at each other, so I�
�m guessing this arrangement is permanent.” Raven cocked a brow with a sassy smirk.
I giggled, “Yeah, it’s definitely forever with that one. He wouldn’t let me go anyway.” I shrug at the memory of me giving Sawyer an out. He was pissed, but he dicked me down like never before.
“That possessiveness runs in the family.” Raven giggled in response. “Speaking of family, we’re real sisters now.” She smiled, and we hugged one another tightly.
“Yeah, who would’ve thought we would marry brothers?”
“Shit, I didn’t think I would marry anyone. Much less someone like Lennox Nash.” Raven smiled thoughtfully.
“I know, right.” I nodded.
“So, what are you going to tell Mama and Papa Phillips? Cause I know they don’t play.” Raven’s words sobered me up instantly.
“They got back last night, so we have dinner with them tonight,” I said with a sigh.
My parents just might disown me. There would be a whole lot of begging and explaining on my end. Hopefully, they would be so blissed out from their vacation they would let me slide. I sighed because I knew that Rosie Phillips was going to beat me.
Soon after our heart to heart, I left Raven’s house to go back to the gallery. Yohan had signed the contract, and we were preparing for his show in a couple of weeks, so there were more people in and out of the gallery than normal.
I noticed the exterminators were here again, and I frowned. Bambi had called someone over a week ago, and they had come out. However, they had found more than rats in our basement. Apparently, we had more than one type of rodent, and it grossed me out. I told them to do what they had to do to get rid of the pests. We couldn’t have them venturing out of the basement and onto the gallery floor. It would cost hundreds of dollars, but I didn’t care as long as the problem was taken care of.
I give a small wave as I approached Jack, our security guard. Jack Lewis was retired military. He was a large man standing over six feet, and he always has a welcoming smile on his dark chocolate face. His brown eyes twinkled with laughter at all times, and he always had a kind word for everyone.
“Hey, Jack. How’s it going?” I asked as I made my way to the front desk. Jack had been coming in early because of all the preparations that were going on. I was glad for his help.
“Oh, you know. Same ole’ same.” Jack gave me his usual greeting with a bright smile.
“Well, same ole same is better than different and chaotic.”
Jack chuckled with a shrug, “True. My granddaughter says hi, and she wanted to thank you for the advance tickets to that Yahoo’s showing in a few weeks.”
I laughed at Jack because he knew Yohan’s name. However, I had a feeling that my husband had gotten in his ear. Sawyer didn’t like any of my security guards when we first got together, except for Jack. All the rest of the men were slowly replaced with guys from Sawyer’s team. He said they were underqualified, and I knew how serious he was about my safety, so I didn’t argue.
“I’ll be in my office if you need anything. Flynn should be in shortly; he’s doing his sweep.” Jack nodded, and I headed upstairs.
Flynn had been even quieter than his usual. This morning, Sawyer and Darby had left before the sun came up, and I’m pretty sure Flynn was pissed that he couldn’t go with them. I don’t know what is going on, but last night Sawyer came in extremely late and left early.
***
I finished all of the paperwork that I was willing to do for the day, so I pulled out my sketchbook and decided to draw. I hadn’t had the time to work on my own art in quite some time, but at least sketching helped to release some of the stress that I’d been carrying around.
I was deep into my drawing when there was a tap on the door. It was Jack wearing a worried expression on his face.
“Hey, Jack. What’s wrong?” I asked, putting my pencil down on my desk.
“My wife called. Someone tried to break into the house while she was at the grocery store. Is it okay if I go and check on her?”
“Oh, my goodness! I hope everything is okay. Of course, you can go. I’ll be fine here. Flynn is around somewhere.” I waved off his concern standing from my chair.
“Great. The exterminators are still working, but I called Fred, and he can come in about an hour to cover the rest of my shift.”
“Thanks, Jack. Go take care of your wife. I’ll be fine here.” I smiled, and I walked him downstairs. I could tell the man was shaken up. He was a protector, and I know first-hand how men like him get if they aren’t there if something happens to their loved ones.
I headed to the bathroom while I was downstairs, and when I came out, I noticed there were more exterminators than I expected. It must’ve been more rats than I thought. I shook my head because it didn’t matter how much it was going to cost; I didn’t need any rats in my building.
As I walked upstairs, dread began to fill the pit of my stomach. Something was amiss, and I have no idea what. As I opened my office door, I instantly knew I was in trouble.
I began to back up, but before I could step out of the office, I felt a gun in my back.
“Aht, aht. Why don’t you come on in and have a seat? My men are surrounding the property, so there’s no need for you to scream or run.” Patrick Abbott says from in front of me. He purses his thin lips at me in annoyance.
I slowly walk further into the office. When I turn to see who has the gun in my back, I’m surprised.
“Brennan? What are you doing?” I whisper the words in shock.
“Shut up and sit the fuck down before I shoot you.” His tone is dark and menacing, and I instantly do what I’m told. After hearing his voice, I’m mad that he’s never spoken to me before. Maybe if he had, I could’ve seen that he was a traitor.
Brennan pushes me hard, and I stumble forward before I catch myself. I sit down on the couch in my office, and I stare up at the two men who have me held hostage. What the hell is going on?
“Brennan, why are you doing this?” I questioned, confused. He is one of Sawyer’s most trusted guys. Darby trained him for a year before he was trusted enough to be by Sawyer’s side.
It didn’t make sense that Brennan would go through so much to become one of Sawyer’s men to turn on him.
“Don’t ask me shit! Just sit there and shut the fuck up!” Brennan growled in a thick accent, and the hatred that is reflected in his tone has me clamping my mouth shut. Now I wish he would’ve stayed not talking to me.
“Boss. The basement is clear.” A man dressed in an exterminator’s uniform comes into the office. Well, that explains how they got in here undetected. We fucking let them in.
“Good. Load up the gear and get started.” Patrick demands, and the man nods and leaves without another word.
“What do you want from me?” I ask Patrick. Obviously, Brennan wasn’t the man who was going to answer my questions, and Patrick seemed to be running this little operation, so maybe he would have some answers for me.
“We wanted your business. That’s all, but you made this shit so difficult that I’ll be happy when I can kill your ass.” His cruel words flow out so dispassionately that it’s a smack in the face.
This man knows nothing about me, but ending my life is just another thing to mark off on his list. Sawyer said this guy was grimy, but he’s less than that. He’s scum—a piece of shit who doesn’t deserve to take his next breath.
“You will never get away with this! Sawyer will stop you!” I argue passionately through clenched teeth.
“Nash won’t do shit. Just like the last time. We’ve always planned to take out the Nash family. This time we will get the right person. You’re just dumb enough to be the second wife he’ll lose.” Patrick shakes his head with dark laughter filling the room. But he’s so busy laughing that he doesn’t notice Brennan’s demeanor completely changing.
The man always seemed angry, but now his anger is directed toward Patrick and not me. Brennan’s eyes darken even more, and he begins moving in Patrick’s dire
ction. However, before Brennan could do anything, another man entered the office.
“Callahan is on the premises.” My worry for Flynn instantly shoots through the roof.
“Why are you telling me, fucking bring him in!” Patrick shouts.
“We can’t, sir. He killed two men and disappeared.” The man looks around with a grimace, and I have to keep myself from celebrating. If Flynn already killed two men, then Sawyer and Darby would definitely be on the way.
“We need to get out of here. Bring the girl!” Patrick moves toward the door, but Brennan stops.
“No! I’m sick of waiting to kill. Let’s do this right here and now.” Brennan raises his gun, and I close my eyes.
I’m sorry, Sawyer. I love you!
Chapter 20
SAWYER
We’ve been looking for fucking Brennan since Markos told me he was the fucker that betrayed me. I thought I could trust him. After all, I had trusted his brother with my wife. My first wife, that is. Doyle was Brennan’s older brother. He worked for the Callahan family and came on as Cara’s bodyguard after moving to the states.
I knew Brennan was Doyle’s brother, and I thought he was loyal and wanted to follow in his brother’s footsteps by working for the Nash family. Brennan worked so hard with training with Darby that I never questioned that he wanted to be a part of the organization. But I wasn’t asking the right questions.
I should’ve been questioning why he wanted to be in the Nash Organization, not if he wanted to be in it. Again, I was left dumbfounded. Betrayal wasn’t anything new to me. In my line of work, people were prone to want to knock people out of power and take their place. That’s why everything was intertwined, and we dealt with families. We married for protection, and we stayed loyal to family no matter what.