“Well, for one you’re abusing that batter. And for another, it’s dead silent around here. Something’s happened.”
At first, it had occurred to him that maybe Anita was upset about him being out with Andrea, but he remembered the night before and how she’d smiled at them before they’d left. And that wouldn’t have explained why everything else was so strange.
Anita’s jaw was tight, and worry was starting to eat at him. She didn’t seem sad, more angry than anything, and it took a lot to make Anita truly angry.
Abandoning his coffee he walked over and took the bowl from her. “Tell me what’s going on,” he said firmly.
It was rare that he had to do the whole ‘pulling rank’ thing, but he wasn’t going to have people keeping him out of the loop in his own home. Not when whatever was going on probably directly affected him.
Anita sighed and nodded her head, looking up at him. “There’s been a breach,” she said. “Somehow, someone made it onto the grounds in the early hours of the morning.”
Dorian blinked, shock and fear warring inside of him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, that your guards were patrolling and the camera picked up someone climbing over the gate of all things, like some low rate henchman in a movie. He was taken into custody, of course, but the fact that he was able to get onto the grounds at all is horrible.”
Anger was starting to win out over the fear because he was so tired of living like this. It was bad enough that he had to be flanked by guards wherever he went when he wasn’t at home, but now they were trying to ruin his life and make him feel unsafe in his home as well? He wasn’t going to stand for it.
For a second, all he could think of was going to find wherever they were holding this man and showing him just how sick he was of this whole thing, but then he remembered that Andrea had been up and on her way out early that morning and the fear came rushing back.
“Anita,” he said, grabbing her arm. “Andrea. Is she alright?”
For the first time that morning a smile cracked the older woman’s face. “Yes, she’s fine. Ben was in charge of everything this morning, and he let her out so she could get to work and promised to have everything done by the time she got back. He also was made to swear that he would keep you from doing anything rash.”
Dorian’s lips flickered in a smile. It hadn’t been very long yet, but already he was starting to care about Andrea, and it was really nice to hear that it went both ways, apparently.
He let out a sigh and leaned against the counter. If whoever they had down there was someone who was a part of this whole thing, then now was probably his only chance to get answers, which he wanted more than almost anything else at this point. His father had never told him what he’d done to make people want to kill him, and it had impacted Dorian’s life so much that he felt like he deserved to know. Especially since not even his father’s death had stopped them.
Anita could clearly see the way his thoughts were going on his face because she reached out and touched his shoulder. “You should be careful,” she said. “These men are obviously not going to stop until they get what they want. Many of them have been killed, and they keep on coming.”
Dorian nodded. He understood that. He understood that the want of his money was so great for them that they would keep throwing themselves after it until they either got it or were all killed. He understood that his death would make things infinitely easier for them.
And yet.
And yet, he needed to know.
“It will be fine,” he said, smiling, even though there wasn’t much feeling behind it. “Ben and the others will be there, more than likely, and I just want to talk. That’s all.”
It wasn’t even a lie. True, if he got the chance to punch whoever this guy was in the face, he was going to take it, but that wasn’t the reason why he was doing this. It would just be something of a perk.
Carlos walked into the kitchen just then, and Anita sighed, withdrawing from Dorian’s personal space and moving back to her batter. “Men,” she muttered under her breath as she went back to cooking.
Dorian met Carlos’ eyes and knew that his oldest staff member knew what he wanted.
“There are a few rules,” Carlos said. “I told Ben that you would want to see this man, and while he is strongly against it, he understands why. The man is handcuffed and we will be delivering him to the police. Ben says these are nonnegotiable. If you want the police to remain on your side, we will not be taking the law into our own hands.”
Dorian nodded at that. He could understand the reasoning behind it. “Very well,” he said. “Anything else?”
“Ben would like you to be far away from the man, but I told him that you’d probably not agree to that. But you will not be having any contact with him.”
“Alright.”
Clearly Carlos had known him long enough to be moderately suspicious of his agreeability when it came to this because he narrowed his eyes and looked at him for a moment before motioning for him to follow.
Dorian grabbed his coffee and complied.
Under the house was a cellar that was meant to store wine or vegetables or some such thing. For the moment, it was home to old furniture, a small selection of wines, and the man his guards had captured.
He was sitting in a chair, arms cuffed behind him, one eye rapidly swelling. There was nothing exceptional about him at all. In fact, he was quite plain. Nondescript brown hair and a mousey expression, pale skin, and toned limbs. The man leered when Carlos moved out of the way and revealed Dorian behind him, and Dorian met his gaze, keeping his face impassive.
Ben and David were the guards in charge of watching him, Marta and the others probably elsewhere, trying to make sure this didn’t happen again.
As soon as he saw him, Ben took a step forward. “Dorian,” he said. “I’m sorry. This shouldn’t have happened. I take full responsibility-”
Dorian waved a hand, cutting him off. “Nonsense,” he said, shaking his head at him. “Your improvements have been flawless. If not for the new camera system, we might not have known this man was here at all. Needless to say, that would have been a disaster.
None of them seemed to want to think about that, and Dorian didn’t blame them. It was bad enough that one of his former guards had turned out to be a traitor. Having someone who wanted him dead breaking into his house, or even getting close, would have been a major blow. He made a mental note to commend the whole team for their prompt dealing with the situation. His father had always said that if a security team was doing what they were supposed to be doing, then the person being guarded never needed to know that they had been in danger.
And Dorian had slept right through the commotion.
He turned his attention to the man they were holding, then, giving him the full force of his gaze, but not letting anything show on his face. Dorian wasn’t sure what he’d expected to feel when coming face to face with one of the people who had been responsible for making his life miserable. It had been over a decade since the first time he’d started dealing with this whole thing, and this was surprisingly anti-climactic.
When Breckidge had turned out to be a traitor, it had hurt, but he’d put that behind him. He kept it in the past where it belonged and took a step forward, keeping his posture straight and impeccable as it usually was.
“Well,” he said. “I can’t say I ever hoped I would get to speak with one of you vermin in person, but now that I have the chance, I’m certainly not going to let it pass me by.”
The man snorted. “A pleasure, Your Highness,” he taunted, rolling his eyes. “Posh moron.”
Dorian didn’t even react to that. Instead he kept the same look on his face, appearing almost bored. “Quite. Now, I only have a couple of questions for you before I let them drag you off to prison where you belong. It really is in your favor to answer them and answer them honestly.”
“Go on, then. What’ve you got?”
He hadn’t expected it to be
that easy, but Dorian gave a mental shrug and pressed on. “First of all, I want to know why are you still chasing me in America.”
The man snorted a laugh. “We are American. Some of the gang from England came over here when you did, yeah, but you didn’t think the people your father pissed off were only in England, did you? We’ve got people all over.”
Well. That was just bloody brilliant, wasn’t it? Leave it to his father to manage to anger an entire syndicate that was spread out across multiple countries. But he’d have time to process that later. For now, he had to keep going and hold it together.
“Fine,” Dorian said. “Just one more question, then. Why? What did my father do that set all of this off? I want to know what it is I’m supposed to be paying for.”
He’d expected the man to refuse to tell him or even to lie and say he couldn’t remember or didn’t know. What he hadn’t expected was for the man to start laughing. It started as low chuckles and then escalated into a full body laugh that left him breathless and heaving in the chair.
No one moved, but Carlos had narrowed his eyes at the man, and Dorian wondered for the hundredth time if Carlos knew more than he had ever let on about what had happened.
“That’s rich, Kingston,” the man said when he could breathe again. “I can’t believe no one told you. Dear old daddy wasn’t as forthcoming as you woulda liked?”
“I believe I asked you the question,” Dorian replied, and there was definitely anger in his voice then. “What my father may or may not have told me is irrelevant.”
“He didn’t tell you,” the man said. “I can tell. Well, it’s not much of a story, anyway from what I hear. Probably was ashamed of himself. See, it happened like this. Our boss is something of a hot head. Always has been. He’s mellowed a bit since he’s getting up in age, but back then he was a firecracker. Look at him the wrong way and risk getting shot in the nuts, see? Your dear old daddy wasn’t always as virtuous as you’d like to think he was. Liked to blow off steam sometimes. And sometimes he ended up in pubs and dives where people in his tax bracket didn’t have no business being if you catch my meaning.”
Dorian caught his meaning.
“Anyway, one night he was there at the same time as the boss. Ended up in a card game. Now, the thing about the boss is yeah, he’s a hothead. Other thing is he hates to lose. He hates being cheated even more than he hates losing.”
The implication was clear. “You don’t mean to say…”
The man nodded, looking gleeful. “I do mean to say. Your daddy cheated the boss in a game of cards, thinking he wouldn’t get caught or whatever. The boss would’ve slit his throat right then and there, but your daddy’s guards burst in and killed a couple of ours and got him out. All of this? Just revenge. Although the money certainly don’t hurt.”
It was sort of like the room was getting smaller around him, narrowing to a point and leaving him floundering for air. Something like that, something so seemingly insignificant, was the reason that his whole life had been full of fear.
Part of him wanted to laugh. He’d always assumed it was something grand that had caused his father to earn the enmity of an entire syndicate, but no.
It was a quibble over a card game.
Suddenly, Dorian didn’t want to be in the room anymore, and he turned on his heel, heading for the stairs and slamming the door behind him.
***
Chapter 10: A Very Bad Idea
Andrea tried not to spend the entire day worrying, she really did. But there was something about knowing that one of the men who’d been trying to kill or kidnap Dorian was there at the manor that made focusing on making coffee hard.
Of course, as soon as she’d come through the door, Camille had been on her, asking her all sorts of questions about her date with Dorian. Andrea had half answered or deflected everything from “Where did he take you?” to “How good of a kisser is he?” None of it was any of Camille’s business, but Andrea had known her long enough to know that she wasn’t going to be able to get anything done if she didn’t give her something.
By the end of her shift, she was chomping at the bit to get out of there, and she had to work on not breaking any speed limits on the way back to the manor.
Ben had said that it would all be taken care of by the time she got back, but she wasn’t so sure she believed that. It seemed like a big deal to catch a member of a crime syndicate climbing over a gate.
The grounds were definitely quiet when she arrived, though, and she drove up to the garage with no trouble, letting herself into the house and stopping in the kitchen to see if Anita was around.
She was prepping for dinner and filled her in on the events of the morning, including the fact that no one had seen Dorian since he’d gone storming out of the cellar. Ben had apparently checked to make sure that he hadn’t actually left the grounds and then ordered everyone to leave Dorian alone.
Andrea chewed on her lip for a bit and then spurred into action. She put the kettle on and brewed a cup of tea, checking with Anita to make sure that she was making it the way Dorian liked it, and then with the cup and a package of cookies in her hands, she went to find Dorian.
It seemed logical to start with his rooms, so she went there first, knocking on the door to the suite with her free hand. When there was no response, she hesitated and then knocked again. “Dorian? Are you in there? It’s Andrea.”
She pressed her ear to the door and heard shuffling inside. There was just enough time to move back before Dorian was opening the door and looking at her.
He looked like he was not having a good day, and she gave him a sad little smile. “Hey.”
“Hello,” he replied, looking at the cup in her hand. “Is that for me?”
“Could be. Are you going to let me in?”
Dorian regarded her for a moment and then nodded, stepping back so she could enter.
Where his rooms had been immaculate and elegant when she’d entered them the day before, now they were a mess. There was broken glass in the sitting room, and his bed was unmade, photo albums scattered all over the floor. She took it all in and then glanced back at him, handing over the tea and putting the cookies down on the coffee table in the sitting room.
When Dorian looked away from her, seemingly ashamed of what he’d done, she shook her head and started to straighten up the mess.
“You don’t have to do that,” he said. “I made the mess like a petulant child, and I can clean up after myself.”
Andrea shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. I’ve done this a lot. And it seems like you’ve had a really rough day.”
Dorian sighed and slumped down into the nearest chair, blowing on the still hot tea before taking a sip. “You could say that. Ben told you what happened?”
“Anita did, actually. I don’t think Ben’s back yet.”
“Ah.” It was a soft sound, and when Andrea looked up, she didn’t think she’d ever seen him look so small before.
“Do you wanna talk about it?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I’m not sure there’s anything to talk about. My father cheated in a card game against a crime boss and probably would have died right then and there if it hadn’t been for his guards. And now, as a result, I have to deal with the people he pissed off until either I die or all of them do.”
“Or until the police can catch them,” Andrea pointed out. “I’m sure having one of them in custody can only help.”
Dorian snorted. “Sure. Help. I just. I always knew that it was going to turn out to be something not worth it. Not worth all the times I had to hide because people were after us or all the times I thought my father wasn’t going to come home. But to find out the truth and that it was something so stupid.” He broke off and shook his head. “I’m not sure what to do with that.”
“Who says you have to do anything with it?” Andrea asked him, carefully moving the broken glass into the nearest trash bin.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m not,”
she insisted. “No one’s expecting you to just get over it. You can take as much time as you need to process the information, Dorian. And you don’t have to do it alone.”
He seemed to consider that and then put down his cup before getting to his feet and holding a hand out to her. “Are you going to help me?”
Andrea gave him a smile. “Why do I get the feeling that you’re not talking about us having a heart to heart about your feelings?”
“Because you’re a very bright young woman.”
And she was because as soon as she took his hand and let him lead her to his bedroom, she knew what was going to happen. She also knew what she wanted to do for him, and wasted no time in sinking to her knees in front of him on the plush carpet of his room.
Dorian groaned at the sight and she smirked, pleased at the reaction. “I believe I said something about seeing what you taste like,” Andrea said, fingers working at his fly.
“You did,” Dorian replied, and he sounded a bit breathless. “Is this your way of cheering me up?”
“Sure,” she said with a smirk. “Let’s call it that.”
And then she wasn’t talking anymore. Not when there was the much more interesting task of getting Dorian’s pants and underwear down enough that she could free his cock. The look she gave him when she found it half hard already was very clearly smug, and Andrea stroked him with her hand for a bit, delighting in the sounds he made for her and the way his hips bucked in small jerks as she worked him slowly.
Before he’d reached full hardness, she closed her mouth over the head of him, savoring the clean, slightly salty taste of his skin and sucking him down.
“Andrea,” Dorian groaned, swearing under his breath as she kept going down his shaft.
It had been too long since the last time she’d done this for her to take him all the way into her throat, but she planned to work up to that, taking her time to swirl her tongue around the head and hum softly, letting the vibrations pass from her mouth to his flesh.
Dancing With Danger (BWWM 2015) (BWWM Billionaire Romance) Page 10