Fredrik was a good man and deserved to live a life free of our family’s taint. Because of this, I’d pushed him to leave Germany the minute the wedding reception was over. The fact my uncle had readily agreed told me Fredrik suspected his older brother was going to do something.
And the second I gave Jonas his orders, he’d become my most dangerous adversary. Someone I couldn’t turn my back on.
“He’s not alone.” Lucas shrugged. “It’s his weekly Sunday booty call day. Some people go to church on Sunday mornings, he gets a blow job. At least this girl is legal. Well, I hope she is.”
It made my stomach roll thinking Jonas took children to bed. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt that he only liked them to look young, but then again, he was a sick bastard.
If I ever got proof he was taking children to bed, I would kill him myself. After my last assignment, any man who thought to pursue that line of entertainment was a dead man in my book.
“The sooner that piece of shit is out of here, the sooner I’m free of him.”
“That’s harsh. Not even going to let him blow his load before he’s out on the street.”
“Asshole,” I muttered, moving in the direction of Jonas’s office.
I gestured to the soldiers positioned around the first floor of the house to follow me. Each of them had been part of our family’s organizational structure since we were children, many of whom came from generations of service to the Webers. They were well aware the power structure had shifted and their loyalty was to the head of the family.
I stopped outside Jonas’s office doors. “Let’s get this over with. I have a wife to get back to.”
As I gripped the handle, Lucas said, “No luck in taming her temper?”
I thought back to the angry sex we’d had all night long and how I’d woken to an empty bed and apartment.
“Not even close.”
At least she’d left a note saying she’d taken her security to work and that she was under no circumstances giving up her clubs.
I’d have smiled at her words if I wasn’t so irritated to have slept through her leaving. It wasn’t like me to not notice the slightest movement or sound in a room.
“You look like a man well-fucked, so at least she didn’t cut off your dick.”
I glared at Lucas and opened the door.
“What the fuck?” Jonas roared while he pushed the helpless woman who was on her knees to the side.
How the hell I was related to this ass was a wonder to me. He was more cliché than a mobster movie.
“It’s time to evict you from the property.” The last thing I wanted to see was his dick hanging out of his pants. “Might want to put that away, wouldn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.”
“I fucking live here.”
“No. You lived here. As of midnight, this house, all of its contents and everything under Weber International belongs to me, Sebastian Alexander Weber.”
“Bullshit. I know what the contracts say. I keep the house.”
“Wrong. You should try reading the fine print instead of believing everything your lawyers say. The Benz family keeps all its holdings and properties until Russo passes. You, on the other hand, get nothing but the trust set aside once the contract is executed.” I glanced at the woman who was in tears trying to hide herself behind Jonas’s chair. “You can leave. One of my men will make sure you get home. Next time think better of getting involved with old men who are only going to use you.”
The woman ran from the room, ready to escape the chaos.
Jonas’s face was beet red now. At least he’d had the decency to pull up his pants. “Do you understand who I am? With one word, I can have you eliminated.”
“Go right ahead. I dare you. You’ll learn very quickly the only reason the soldiers stayed with the organization was because their loyalty was to the family, not you.”
“I think you’ll see that things don’t work the way you think. You’re just like your Opa. You have no idea how to move with the times. You’ll learn sooner rather than later that my methods of business are the way to go.” He walked around me, as if he were a king about to leave. “Don’t expect me to help you when things go to shit.”
“I won’t.” As Jonas went to the door, I said, “Also, the contract says if you do anything to undermine the family, all monies in the trust revert to the heir. Don’t think to mess with me, my business, or my wife.” I added the last part to emphasize that I knew how he’d treated her.
“Boy, don’t make an enemy of me. You won’t like the outcome.”
I kept my face emotionless, the best way to piss him off. I’d heard this over and over since I was old enough to understand the business my family was in.
Opa had always said power either made the man or destroyed the man. In Jonas’s case, it was the latter, but he wasn’t aware of it. Soon he would see without the Weber organization behind him, his millions would make him no different than any other man in Europe with too much money and no clout.
“Is that a threat?”
Immediately the room grew silent; the soldiers watched Jonas as if he were ready to pull a gun on me. All of them had heard about what he’d done when he’d informed me about the wedding.
As if sensing the change in loyalty with the Weber guard, he said, “It’s a warning.” And then strode through the door.
The moment he was out of view, I nodded to Lucas, who followed Jonas to make sure the asshole didn’t take anything that could cause me problems in the future.
The bastard was officially evicted.
Destroying Jonas had been my ultimate goal ever since Mama and Hannah were murdered. Jonas forcing me to marry Isa moved up the timetable, but things weren’t as simple as taking over. Now I had to set up all the pieces for the dominoes to fall.
“Search every inch of this house, especially this room and his private quarters. I want to know anything and everything he’s up to. Also scan for cameras and bugs. I wouldn’t put it past him to record everything that went on in this house.”
“Done.” Emil, one of the lieutenants in charge of the house, went to a cabinet and pulled it free of the wall, exposing a safe. “I saw it a few years ago.”
“Open it.” I moved toward the steel door.
Emil pulled out his phone and called someone and then said, “Kurt will be here in a moment.”
Kurt was a technology and security expert in the organization. I would have recruited him for other aspects of my world if I wasn’t positive he would never leave the family.
Kurt arrived a minute later with a box. He pulled out wires and a square device of some type, attached it to the safe, and then typed in a code. The electronic safe lit up, and within a few seconds, beeped and opened.
I moved in. The safe was filled with stacks of folders. I pulled out the papers, setting them in a bag Emil had brought for me. Behind the folders I found a thumb drive and photographs of Isa, of her coming out of the gym, of her visiting her friends.
The last few had my blood going cold. The images showed Isa and me meeting for coffee, us at my club, her leaving my building the week before, her eyes haunted and full of sadness.
The bastard had known about us.
It wasn’t like him to keep anything close to his chest. He loved to brag, to share his grand plans with the world.
There had to be something I was missing. Why hadn’t he used the photos to call me out to Isa? What was he trying to gain?
“Bring me a secure computer,” I ordered, to no one in particular.
Kurt pulled one out, setting it in front of me. I attached the thumb drive.
As the contents appeared, I resisted the urge to throw the laptop across the room. There was nothing but spreadsheet after spreadsheet filled with details of officials across Europe who owed the family loyalty for favors rendered.
This list, however useful for the organization, did nothing to explain why Jonas was having Isa followed.
At that moment, Lucas
appeared in the office.
“Where is he?” I asked, not looking up from the computer.
“Gone. He didn’t even bother going back to his room. He had this smug look on his face as he walked out the door.” Lucas came up beside me and picked up the pictures of Isa. “That bastard is up to something, and I believe you just handed him your Achilles heel.”
I stared at the picture of me watching Isa as she watched the scene at the club. A blind man would have seen I was gone for her.
This was bad, very bad. And now I had to find a way to protect my pissed-off-to-holy-hell woman without clipping her wings.
12
Isa
“Are you seriously at work the day after your wedding?” Lilly stated after slamming open my office door and plopping down on a chaise I had in the back of my office. “I distinctly remember you setting up a schedule so you could take a honeymoon or something.”
“Good morning to you. And thanks for just walking in. I’m working on projections and budgets. And you know I get crabby when I have to deal with budgets.”
Lilly ignored me and handed me a cup of coffee and a bag that I knew held my favorite pastries.
“First of all, I’m your best friend and business partner, I can walk in whenever I want. Second, your staff was freaked out at your seven a.m. appearance and called me to make sure you were okay. Thirdly, most people spend the nights and days after their wedding banging the headboard.” All of a sudden, Lilly sat up. “Please tell me you didn’t kill your new husband. Even your crazy connections won’t get you out of that.”
I almost laughed at her worry.
Lilly had been the one I’d run to after I’d discovered who Baz really was. She’d followed proper best-friend protocol and helped me plot Baz’s painful demise. Then she’d calmed me down and got me to realize that I’d have the rest of our lives to make Baz pay for lying to me.
“No, he isn’t dead.”
“And?”
“And what?”
She growled. “You’re so annoying. It’s like pulling teeth to get a straight answer out of you.”
“I’m not the one who didn’t tell me her boyfriend worked for my future husband.”
“You’re never going to let it go, are you? I didn’t know because I didn’t ask. And Kane likes his head on his shoulders, so he never talks about the people he works for. Now answer my question.”
“Was there a question in all that just came out of your mouth?”
“I swear, you make me want to pull out that gun you have hidden in your purse and shoot you.”
I smiled at her. “It’s not like you don’t have one of your own.”
“I feel it would be justice if I used yours.”
We glared at each other and then burst into laughter.
I loved this woman. Somehow, she always knew the right way to get me to relax.
Once we were in a semblance of control, she asked, “How did last night go? I couldn’t get anywhere near you after the wedding. It was as if Jonas Weber was making it clear to the world that you were a Weber now and not a Benz.”
I wanted to agree but I’d been so lost in my anger for most of the reception, I hadn’t even paid attention to Jonas. Well, except for when I overheard Sebastian tell Jonas to rein it in.
“What part of last night, in particular?” I knew where she was going with the question but I wasn’t going to make it easy for her.
Plus, how was I supposed to tell her that I angry-fucked my husband’s brains out but never really spoke to him?
“I should have known subtlety was never going to work with you. Did you sleep together?”
My cheeks heated. “You could say we slept periodically during the course of the night.”
“Oh my God. You fucked like rabbits.” Lilly tilted her head. “And why are you here right now and not continuing the marathon sex with your hot-as-sin husband? By the way, the man fills out a tux like no one else.”
Yeah, he had looked good yesterday. Heart-stopping was a more accurate word. If there was ever a man who was born to wear a suit, it was Sebastian. Then there was the slight hint of the tattoos hidden under the designer tux. They made my hormones fire every time I saw them.
“Because I’m still not sure where we stand. I don’t understand why he lied to me.”
“I’m going to tell you this as your best friend.” Lilly came around my desk, pushed my chair back, and then leaned down. “You need to get over it. No matter what, the two of you are till death do you part. There is no divorce in our world. Listen to his reasons, make him grovel, and make lots of babies to take over the Benz-Weber empire.”
“I wish it were that easy. I’m still so hurt.”
“Well, nothing is going to get resolved if you sneak out of your twenty-million-Euro penthouse and don’t talk to him. I don’t want you to end up a bitter, constantly pissed-off, cliché mob wife.”
I rolled my eyes and failed at holding in the smile from the image she’d conjured. Lilly loved her American reality shows, especially the ones revolving around the mob and their families.
“I hear you. I promise, next time I see him, I’ll give him a chance to clear the air.”
“That’s all I ask.”
“It doesn’t mean I’ll get over it. But I’ll listen.”
“Maybe you can get some diamonds out of it. That’s what my mom does, and Papa is your dad’s second without the Weber bank account.”
Lilly’s father was a lieutenant in Papa’s organization and made a healthy living, so I had no doubt he had enough to shower his wife with jewels. He also adored his wife and never wanted to be out of her good graces.
“I’m not a diamonds kind of girl.”
“Then get him to buy you a long-range rifle.” She frowned. “You’re the only woman I know who’d get wet from a gift of a deadly weapon.”
Very few people knew I had a thing for guns, especially sniper rifles. I’d taken lessons after my first job working for Solon. Then, when I’d moved on to helping with cases for other security agencies, I thought it was better to become proficient in all manner of guns and self-protection.
I shrugged. “Some of us have higher standards than others.”
“Good to know.” Sebastian’s deep voice came from the door.
“Ba…Sebastian.”
He narrowed his gaze. “I woke up alone.”
His intense attention had desire prickling up my skin.
“I left you a note. Besides, didn’t you have work to do yourself? I heard your man, Lucas, mention something at our reception.”
Lucas was one of the few people from the Weber camp I’d met yesterday who I liked. I’d deduced he was Sebastian’s second and was very protective of him.
“My work could have held until after breakfast.” The heat in his eyes told me it wasn’t food he was talking about.
“On that note, I’m out of here.” Lilly scooted around me and moved toward the door, pausing when she reached Sebastian. “I’m serious, buy her a gun and all your worries are over.”
“I appreciate the insight into my bride.” His lips curved in that wicked way that made butterflies enter my stomach.
Lilly wasn’t immune to the smile either and flushed before rushing out the door.
“I like her. She has this energy that most people in our world don’t.”
His assessment of Lilly melted some of the ice I was holding between us.
“Lilly sees the world in color. She is the ultimate free-thinking, artsy girl. She is smart as they come and can be a shark when it comes to art and sculpture authentication but everything she does is with joy.”
“It’s good to have people who bring light into the world we live in.” He shut the door, locking it, and then moved in my direction.
“What are you doing?” I tried to roll my chair back toward my desk, but he stopped my movement with a foot by one of the rollers.
“I’m following Lilly’s advice and am about to grovel.” He kneeled
in front of me. “And then…”
I swallowed. “And then what?”
“And then we get to the making-babies part.”
“What makes you think I’m not on birth control?”
He gripped the handles of my chair and shifted me to face him. “Because I had you investigated. I know everything there is to know about you.”
“Sounds a bit stalkerish.”
He shrugged. “It’s what I do. Plus, it made sense since I was ordered to marry you.”
“Wouldn’t it be prudent for me to have the same level of information?”
“Go ahead, investigate me.”
“I have. You’re a ghost. I bet the little that’s available about the all-powerful Sebastian Weber was strategically placed by you.”
“As of this morning, the same applies to you.”
I couldn’t hide the surprise on my face. “Why would you do that?”
“Because the moment we spoke our vows, you were Eloisa Weber.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means I will go to any lengths to protect what’s mine.” He leaned in until our foreheads touched. “In case there’s any doubt, you are mine. You’ve been mine since that moment our eyes connected across the dance floor.”
I pulled back. “I won’t let you cage me. I’ve spent my whole life finding ways around the box my parents put me in. I won’t do it anymore.”
“The last thing I want to do is cage you. I won’t force you to fit into a mold that isn’t yours. However…” He paused, as if working through his words, and then spoke. “I will protect you in any way I see fit. I have many faces, and some of them are dark and make enemies. If anything happened to you, I’d turn the world upside down.”
Leave Me Breathless: The Black Rose Collection Page 96