Axel: A Bad Boy Romance (17 page)

Chapter Twenty-eight

It was raining outside and Hayden Walker’s breath was fogging up his windows. He opened the Find My Phone app and selected Axel’s name and saw he was still at the Hawk’s mansion. It was eleven-thirty at night and he was still there. Hayden shook his head and closed the app. Axel didn’t know Hayden was tracking him, but he didn’t need to. It was in Axel’s own best interest. It was Hayden’s job to keep to Axel on track and he was currently failing miserably.

He was in Philadelphia. The rainy streets were empty and cars plowed through puddles sending water splashing across the street. He parked on the street and pulled the collar up on his jacket and stepped out into the rain. It was pouring and he was soaked in mere minutes.

He wasn’t in the good part of Philadelphia. There were no fine restaurants or nice stores. It was all pawn shops and empty storefronts. The people he passed kept their heads down and avoided eye contact. The lettering on the door said Hastings Investigators and the windows were bright with light. Hayden pushed the door open and stepped inside, removing his wet jacket and hanging it on a coat rack. Water dripped and pooled on the floor and Hayden looked around the empty office.

He was doing the right thing. Axel had lost himself. It was the pressure. This was a huge match they had coming up and Axel was cracking. He was finding ways to avoid the stress; he was running from his own fear. Axel only feared failure and there was a chance he wouldn’t win at this match, so he was distracting himself with this woman. But it had gone too far and Hayden needed to put a stop to it.

“Mr. Walker?” A woman stuck her head into the room. She was tall and thin with long curly dark hair. “I’m Spencer Hastings. We talked on the phone.” She walked out into the office and held her hand out and Hayden shook it. “Come on back.”

He sat down across from her, a desk between them.

“You asked me to look into Marie DeSantos,” the woman said pulling out a folder and opening some files on her computer.

“Yes, did you find anything?”

“I certainly did. Marie DeSantos hails from Arizona just like you said. She had a child with a man named Austin St. Clare. He runs a private security firm. His biggest client is a man named Gregory Peters, a billionaire investor. But Austin is no saint. He’s been arrested for multiple DUIs and, what’s more, the police had been called to the house several times for domestic disturbances. In the last two years the police have been called to the house over seven times. There was suspicion of domestic abuse, but his girlfriend, Marie DeSantos, refused to press charges.”

She handed a file over to Hayden and he began to rifle through it. He saw Marie’s driver’s license photo and copies of the police reports and a picture of Austin. He saw the McMansion where they used to live, the wide, empty, dusty Arizona town they used to call home.

“That was until recently,” Spencer continued. “But Marie has not been seen in a long time and no one has any idea where she is.” The private investigator looked at Hayden waiting for him to say something, but he remained perfectly silent waiting for her to continue. “This is all hearsay, but a few weeks ago Marie took her daughter Cate and skipped town. The last place anyone saw her was at a used car shop in Alabama. She sold her car for cash and then ghosted. No one has seen her since.”

“Where does her husband think she is?” Hayden asked.

“Marie and Austin weren’t married.”

“They had a child together.”

“Yes, that does happen sometimes,” Spencer said. “There’s no law that they have to get married after having a kid. The strange thing is, Austin hasn’t notified the police that his daughter is missing. He has a case against Marie; she took his child without notifying him. That’s kidnapping.”

“But he hasn’t called the cops?”

“No, he’s private security. They have a tendency to not get along with the cops. That’s the other thing I found out: Austin St. Clare is looking for his girlfriend. Every place I went looking for info on her, he had already been there.”

“Does he know you are also looking for her?”

“No, I kept it quiet. You don’t have to worry about that. I’m good at my job. I can keep looking for Marie-”

“No,” Hayden interrupted. “No, thank you. What you’ve given me is perfect.” He stood up, the file in his hand. Spencer stood up and Hayden shook her hand. “I can trust you won’t tell anyone about this, right?”

“Of course, discretion is my middle name.”

“Glad to hear it.” She walked him to the door and he put his wet jacket and stepped out into the rain again. He hurried to his car and once inside he removed the wet jacket and threw it in the back. He started his car and turned it on, his headlights illuminating the rain in front of him. He checked his phone and saw Axel was still at Marie’s house. He was spending the night and breaking every rule they had made for themselves.

Hayden had given up everything for Axel. He used to be a fighter too, but he gave it up to help train Axel. Hayden’s entire life had been spent propping up another man. He trained Axel, pushed him, made sure he ate right and got enough sleep, he made sure Axel had ways to amuse himself.  Hayden still lived in their crappy hometown so he could run Axel’s gym. It was Hayden who had made Axel a champion and this was his reward. Axel was going to throw it all away to fuck some housewife from Arizona.

He had worked his ass of for years to get Axel here and now it was going out the window. He didn’t have control anymore. Axel wasn’t listening to him, but was instead doing whatever he wanted. Didn’t Axel understand what was riding on all of this? Both of their careers were on the line, but Axel didn’t seem to care.

Axel could have any woman he wanted. Tiffany, the beautiful Tiffany who treated the gym like her own personal runway wasn’t good enough for Axel, but this runaway chick was? No. Hayden was not going to lose everything over a woman. He refused.

He headed back to Harksburg, jumping on the highway and leaving Philadelphia behind. He would need to get rid of Marie DeSantos. She was too dangerous; she was threatening everything they had worked for. It would be for Axel’s own good. He might be mad for a few days, but, after enough time, he would forgive Hayden. He would have to. Once Axel was a champion he would forget all about the girl who lived in the museum. He would move on to movie stars and models.

Hayden was the real man in charge. He was the one who had to make the tough decisions so they could both survive. No one likes being the bad guy, but sometimes it’s necessary. Sometimes the ends justify the means. Hayden understood that and Axel would, too, in time. He looked at the file on the passenger side seat. The phone number for St. Clare Security was right on top. One phone call and she would be gone for good. One phone call and Hayden would have his champion back.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“What’s his name?” Austin St. Clare demanded. He looked at his cellphone and scanned the email for a third time.

“Didn’t give one,” his second in command, Charlie Wills, said. “We can’t trace the IP address either. He must have accessed the dark net via tor and signed up for a new email that way. I’ve had our best tech guys on it since this morning, but they’re still coming up with nothing concrete on where or who this guy is.”

“Fucking computers,” Austin said shaking his head. “Business was easier without them.” Austin ran his hands through his short dark hair. He handed the phone back to Charlie and began to pace up and down the room. He always paced when he was thinking. There was something about the step and repeat that was almost hypnotizing to him; it cleared his mind and helped him focus. His hands behind his back, he walked up and down his office while Charlie followed him with his eyes.

“It’s come to my attention that you are looking for Marie DeSantos and her daughter. I know where they are and I would be more than willing to share that information with you. I think twenty-thousand is a fair price for what I know. I’ve attached a photo to prove I’ve seen her.”

The email ended suddenly. There was no sign off, no contact information. Nothing.

“It could be a trap,” Charlie said. “She might have gone to the police and now they’re trying to prove you’re dangerous. Paying information to know where she is, that doesn't look good.”

“Comes too close to entrapment, the cops would never do it,” Austin said shaking his head. No, Marie wasn’t that smart. She would be too scared to reach out to the police, scared they would take Cate away. Marie was hiding somewhere. She was probably holed up in some motel watching trashy TV and being lazy while Austin searched the world for her. She was enjoying it, no doubt. She always loved to push his buttons.

He thought she would have come home by now. She liked to argue with him and she had threatened to leave before, but Austin knew she could never survive in the world on her own. She was too weak and delicate. She let people walk all over her. She was too easy to please. The real world was going to chew her up and spit her out. Austin had been ready for her to come crawling home, begging him to take her back but she still hadn’t.

He had started looking for her right away, of course. That bitch was not leaving and taking his kid with just a note for an explanation. Didn’t she have any idea all of the work that Austin did for her? Did she really think she could treat him like this? And what was she doing for money? Did she think money just fell out of the sky? She certainly spent it like she did. Austin worked hard all day and what did Marie do other than play with Cate? She had claimed once that taking care of one kid was just as hard as running a company. Austin had laughed right in her face when she said that

Then she ran off crying, of course. She was always crying. In a small way it had been nice having her gone at first. But the house quickly grew messy, he missed having a home cooked meal every night, and after a week he had no clean clothes. Now he had to take his laundry to a service and hire a cleaning lady. Clearly things had gone too far. It was time for Marie to come home and get back to work. This was enough playing around.

“You return the email?” Austin asked. He had no idea how this person had got in touch with him, but the picture was legit. It was Marie and Cate; she was wearing workout gear and they were walking down the street hand in hand. It could be an elaborate fake, or an old picture, but there was only one way to find out.

“Not yet. I was waiting to hear what you had to say.”

“Tell him I’m interested, but he’s kidding himself if he thinks I’m paying twenty-thousand dollars for Marie. She’s not worth all that. Get a phone number.”

Austin handed the phone back to Charlie. They were in his office, mid-level in a tall Phoenix skyscraper. A bright window to his left gave an impressive view of the skyline. There was a set of dumbbells by his desk and he grabbed twenty-five pounds and began to press.

Within ten minutes his phone was ringing. Austin took his time putting his dumbbell down, walking over to his desk and sitting before answering the phone with a slow, drawn-out, bored sounding, “yes?”

“Hello, I’m the gentleman who sent you the email earlier today. It’s good to hear from you.”

“Where are you?” Austin demanded. Something about the man’s oily voice turned him off. Austin imagined him to be a small man with a weasel-shaped face. From the voice alone Austin did not like the man on the other end of the line.

“I’m about two blocks away from the mother of your child. I could go and see her right now if I wanted to,” the other voice said.

“What’s your name? Your real name.”

“Not a chance, I’m not telling you anything until I see some money. You can call me H.”

Austin snorted and debated hanging up the phone. He hated code names and jerks who liked to play spy. They had no idea how the real world of security and espionage worked. Austin smoothed his tie and ran his hand along the clean-cut line of his jaw before continuing. “Tell me where you are and I’ll bring you the money,” Austin said, restraining the anger in his voice.

“Meet me in Philadelphia with the money and I will give you proof of where your girl is.”

“How did you hear about me?” Austin asked. “Has Marie been running around and telling lies?”

“No,” H said. “She hasn’t mentioned you once. But she’s interfering in some business of mine. Her act seemed shady, so I did some digging and I learned that you’ve been digging, as well. You haven't gone to the police yet. That’s rather strange. This woman has kidnapped your daughter. Why don’t you just have the kid listed as kidnapped?”

“I know how to discipline my woman,” Austin said. “I don’t need the cops’ help on that and now I don’t need their help finding her either.”

“For twenty-thousand dollars she’s all yours.”

“I’ll give you five.”

“This isn’t a negotiation.”

“You just said she’s interfering with your business, so it’s in your best interest to get rid of her as quickly as possible. So why don’t we do five and we’ll both be happy.”

“Fine, ten, but not a penny less. Bearer bonds.”

“I’ll give you five in Philly and the other five once I have Marie.”

“No chance,” H replied. “You’re going to get your girl and get right back on the plane and I’m going to get screwed. No way. I don’t know you or if I can trust you. I’ll give you more proof and her address and then you give me the ten thousand.”

Austin let out a long sigh. He leaned back in his chair and did some mental calculation. Ten thousand dollars was a lot of money. But he knew he would have to pay. Marie was out there somewhere having a hell of time. She was making Austin look like a fool. He was sitting at home waiting for her like a chump. He couldn’t do it anymore. He needed to get her back. She was coming home whether she liked it or not. “Fine, where do we meet?”

“There’s a bar on Samson Street called Nodding Head. You say the time and place and I’ll be waiting at the bar.

“Tomorrow at noon,” Austin said.

“See you then.”

The call ended and Austin looked up at Charlie, “Prep the alpha team. We’re getting on a plane to Philly. I’ll have the girls get hotel rooms and plane tickets.”

“Last minute plane trips and ten thousand dollars. This is getting a little expensive, don’t you think, Austin? If she wants to go, let her go. You can find a dozen girls better than Marie.”

“Is this called Wills Security, or St. Clare Security?” Austin demanded turning on Charlie with a snarl. “Don’t question me again.”

With a nod Charlie walked out of the room and with a yell Austin grabbed his coffee mug and crashed it against the opposite wall of the office. He was going to make Marie pay. He was spending a lot of money on her and she would regret every last penny. But once he was done with her she would never run again. He would beat the urge out of her. This was an expensive lesson, but it was one she would be forced to learn well.