Built for Power (9 page)

Logan paused. What the hell should he say? I like you? I’ve only known you a couple days and I can’t picture my life without you anymore? Yeah, he was pretty sure that would send her running to the hills. Instead, he did what felt right. He leaned forward and placed his lips on hers. When she sighed and leaned forward, he wrapped her in his arms and pulled her onto his lap. Her soft mouth opened to him and he slid his tongue slowly inside. Sometimes words just got in the way.

Bree’s fingers ran through his dark hair and tugged him closer. As he deepened the kiss, the world around them exploded. Glass shattered and rained to the ground around them.

At the sound of the glass breaking, Logan had twisted on the couch and buried Bree in the cushions to cover her body with his. Fear and anger washed over him as the last shards of glass fell to the hardwood floor and splintered into a hundred sparkling pieces. Logan lifted his head and saw a brick lying at his feet. He pushed Bree back as he tried to grab it before she saw it.

“Logan, get off of me. What in the . . . oh my God!” Bree gasped as she looked down at the black-and-white picture of Elle, Bree, and Allegra wrapped around the brick. In red marker it read:
Who will be next?

CHAPTER TWELVE

“What do you mean, calm down?” Bree shouted at Logan as she paced the kitchen.

“Bree, you’re understandably upset. All I am saying is you’ve had a shock and now isn’t the time to make rash decisions.”

“This is the perfect time to make them. Jeff will never suspect a thing if we strike tonight.” Bree chewed on her bottom lip as she plotted her revenge.

“Okay. Let’s do whatever it is you’re thinking
if
you can prove it was Jeff who threw that brick through your window.” Logan crossed his arms over his chest and waited. He saw the gamut of emotions run across Bree’s face. She had opened her mouth as if to lay out the evidence only to snap it shut.

“I have a feeling he’s the one behind all this.” Bree let out a long breath and stopped pacing. “But a feeling isn’t enough, is it?”

“No, sweetheart, it’s not. I got to see you with your family tonight. They’re wonderful, supportive, and understanding. I think it’s time you called them and let them know they might be in danger.”

Bree groaned. “But it’s two weeks from Elle and Drake’s wedding. I can’t do this to them. She has enough to worry about. I mean, for crying out loud, next Friday Shirley’s hosting the bachelorette party—“

“
Shirley
?” Logan’s eyes went wide before a smile broke out across his face. Who in their right mind would let Shirley host a bachelorette party? “I think we need to discuss this. I mean, I know we’re not dating, but I don’t know how I feel about you going out with Shirley.”

“Really?” Bree asked with a shake of her head. “That’s what you’re worried about?”

“Well, our relationship is so new and I’m sure there will be naked men involved somehow. You haven’t even seen me naked yet.”

Bree’s lips twitched. “Relationship, huh?”

Logan looked very uncomfortable as he looked down at his feet. “I wanted to discuss that with you tonight. But, well, I’m a man of few words.”

“Less words, more tongue?” Bree laughed when she thought Logan was sufficiently embarrassed. “I was going to talk to you about it as well. But, considering the circumstances we find ourselves in right now, maybe we should reschedule that talk. First I’m going to take your advice to call Elle and Allegra.”

Twenty minutes later, her sisters filled the small kitchen as police and one off-duty Secret Service agent looked over the crime scene. Drake and Logan stood on the other side of the island as Bree filled them in on what happened.

“You should have told me you were poaching workers,” Elle said in her best CEO voice. “It’s no wonder Jeff is trying to get payback.”

“I hate to be the voice of doubt, but we don’t know it was Jeff. After all, Bree threatened two men,” Mallory pointed out.

“Threaten
is such a strong word. It was more like I politely informed them of the relevant information I had about them,” Bree smirked.

“Knock it off, Bree,” Elle said with irritation plain in her voice. “That was not some blasé chat among friends. You knew what you were doing. By not keeping us informed, you’ve put us in danger as well. You need to grow up and realize there are consequences to your actions.”

Bree felt the words like a punch to the stomach. “Grow up? Blackmail is pretty damn grown up. Dealing with threats to my life for the past several months is pretty grown up, thank you very much.”

Elle shook her head. “No, it’s not. Blackmail is the cowardly way out. The grown-up thing to do was to realize you were out of your depth and ask for help.”

“And what would you have done differently? Take over Jeff’s company like you did when Chord came after you?”

Allegra stepped forward and held up her hands. “Enough. What’s done is done. We need to focus on what we’re going to do now.”

“I’m getting around-the-clock security for all of you until this has been handled,” Drake broke in. “You can handle that, right, Mallory?”

“You can’t do that! How am I to go to dress fittings and my bachelorette party with a bunch of men in suits following me around?” Elle asked in horror.

“I don’t know, but I’m making it happen. I’m not going to let this ruin our day, and I’m not going to have you in any danger.” Drake held up his hand when Elle opened her mouth to argue. “Period.” Elle’s mouth snapped shut and she glared at her husband-to-be.

“Can you teach me that?” Logan whispered before a wet dishrag landed on his face. He looked up at Bree’s glaring face and gave her a wink. A small smile appeared, and he was relieved to see the tension from the argument with her sister had already faded.

“I’ll be happy to provide protection personally,” Mallory said. “I’ll be at those events anyway and it won’t look unusual. I’ll also call Finn and see if he can look out for Allegra. I don’t want to draw any attention that shows we know something is up. This could just be a power play and seeing y’all scrambling in fear would only give him confidence.”

Allegra shook her head. “Finn’s too busy with the agency and he’s not even security. We can’t ask him to do that.”

Bree shot Elle a look and they shared a quick smile at their younger sister’s sudden nervousness. Like that, the fight was over. Even growing up, Elle was the bossy one, Bree the wild one, and Allegra the peacemaker. They kept those roles as they grew up, but they never questioned the love that sisters share—even if they wanted to kill each other every now and then.

Mallory shook her head. “Finn helped out when Elle was in trouble, and I know he’ll do it again. One of my guys, even dressed as part of the company, would be noticeable. But you’ve been hanging out with Finn for months. No one would think twice about him.”

“That’s right. And you have all those fittings with the models this week for your new campaign. Since Finn is trying to expand the agency’s clientele, it would be perfectly normal for him to be holding interviews there,” Elle told her sister as she and Bree tried not to laugh. It was clear something was going on there, but Allegra and Finn seemed to be the only two oblivious to it.

“Hey, guys,” Damien Wallace, the Secret Service agent who had dated Mallory, said to get their attention. “I’m just an observer here, but from what I saw there were no fingerprints. It’s clearly a professional job meant to intimidate. They’re sending a message that they’re not afraid to go after your family if you don’t cooperate. And since I know Elle, I’m assuming Bree’s also not going to cooperate with the demands laid out in the green letters.”

“That’s right,” Bree said as she crossed her arms preparing for a fight.

“She certainly isn’t,” Elle and Allegra said at the same time. They stepped up to flank their sister in a show of support.

“Figured that. Mallory, you can help, right?” Damien asked.

Mallory nodded her head. Bree looked back and forth between the ex-couple. Mallory didn’t like to talk about her relationships, but whatever caused this one to end didn’t seem to create hostility. “We’ve got that all covered.”

“Good. I’ve heard from my FBI friends about these tactics before, and these kinds of people usually pursue it to the end.”

Damien stopped when the detective from the hospital came over to give his report. Mallory had introduced Damien to him as a friend and had left out his occupation. With a shrug, Detective Gruber let Damien hang around. Gruber seemed just as put out now as he had been when he tried to blame the explosion on Bree. “Yeah, we’re finished here. Looks like some teenagers just messing around.”

“What?!” everyone said incredulously at the same time.

Gruber looked annoyed as he closed his little notebook. “It’s a prank. Kids do it all the time. Just like smashing a mailbox. I’d advise putting up some plastic or something until you can get the window replaced. It’s going to rain tonight. I’ll have the report ready next week for your insurance company.”

Bree watched in complete shock as Gruber turned around and walked out of her house. She looked on with a stunned face as the rest of the group joined, all except Damien who was already pulling out his cell phone.

“I’m calling my friend at the FBI. Even a rookie could see this was more than a prank. This, along with the explosion at your building and the ATF’s findings being so drastically different from the detective’s, should be enough for the FBI to open an investigation on Detective Gruber. Keep me up to date, and I’ll let you know what I can find out.” Damien walked out the door as he started explaining the case to his friend.

Bree nibbled on her lower lip in thought. There was a plan starting to form in her head, but she knew her sisters wouldn’t like it.

“Bree? I know that look. Whatever it is, don’t do it,” Elle said with her best older-sister voice.

“Do what?”

“Don’t act all innocent. You get that look whenever you think about doing something stupid. You got that look before you toilet-papered Ryan’s house in high school after he called you some rather unflattering names in shop class. Then you got that same look when you submitted your office building for consideration for building of the year under the name F. Yeux when the organization hosting the award denied you membership because you’re a woman.”

Logan hid his laugh behind a cough and Elle just shook her head. “She joined and still holds membership. She told them her name was Francois Yeux from Paris and that ‘he’ had just moved to Atlanta. The idiots bought it.”

Bree’s proud grin was contagious and soon everyone was laughing. “Sorry, but that one was pretty funny. As I remember it, Ryan totally deserved it, too,” Allegra said, sticking up for Bree.

“He did. And I’m not going to do anything yet. I promise.” Bree made an
X
over her heart and her sisters just rolled their eyes. With Bree they knew
yet
was the key word.

“On that ominous note, I’m taking you home.” Drake wrapped his arm around Elle’s waist and started pulling her to the door as she lectured on the importance of thinking through your actions.

“I’ll go with Allegra tonight to make sure her apartment is secure, and I’ll give Finn a call as well. Be safe. I don’t think anything will happen tonight. It was most likely just a warning,” Mallory told Bree as she gave her a hug. “Please don’t do anything stupid.”

“Have I ever done anything truly stupid?”

“Yes,” Mallory answered instantly. “Logan, you have to watch her.”

“My pleasure,” Logan grinned as he stepped closer to Bree.

At last the door was closed. Bree stood at her broken window and watched Mallory and Allegra head outside. She may not do what she was thinking of tonight, but a very juvenile plan was taking shape in her head. Sometimes humor was the better path to take than revenge. But when you get both at the same time, well, that was perfection.

“Do you have anything we can put over that?” Logan asked.

“I have a tarp in the garage. If you can put that up outside, I’ll rig the inside so I’ll know if anyone comes in.” Bree opened a cabinet and pulled out a variety of chips.

“Chips?”

“They make a great crunch noise when stepped on. I once covered Reid’s bedroom floor with them. He was sneaking out of the house, and I was getting the blame for it. When he came in through his window, the whole house woke up. What kind of childhood did you have if you didn’t do this to your brother?” Bree jokingly asked.

Logan just shrugged. “We didn’t really get along. My parents were too interested in social events. They liked to be in the society pages, and I found that constraining. My brother, on the other hand, loved it. I went away to college as soon as I could while my brother stayed in Charleston trying to deflower every debutante he could.”

“Well, if there is ever the perfect time to pull off what I’m thinking about, then you’ll get a taste of it. In the meantime, let’s get this fixed.”

Bree ripped open the bag of chips as Logan got started covering the space that used to be her window. As they worked, they talked and she learned more of Charleston and the pressure his parents put on him to run the family company. She was so thankful her family had never believed in that. Instead, her parents gave them the opportunities to explore their passions and encouraged them to do things they loved. Her parents believed if you did what you loved, you’d never work a day in your life. And after her father worked so hard to earn enough money to start his own company, he told them that the old saying was true. He loved his job and his company. He loved it so much he believed he never really worked a day after quitting the railroad.

When Bree sensed Logan didn’t want to talk about his parents any longer, she told him stories from her time at college and the pranks she talked her sisters into. She turned serious when he asked about what it was like for her in the construction community.

“It’s what I love, so I take the bad with the good. It’s taken years to form the group of workers I have on my crews. And it took me showing them I could joke and be one of the guys for them to accept me. I had to pick up a hammer and help out. I had to be tough, but fair. Most importantly, I had to be consistent. Slowly, they loosened up and started trusting me. But it’s not like that everywhere. At conventions, most sellers think I’m the secretary or just some dumb blonde arm-candy. It still bothers me, but I try to laugh it off when I can. I have a tendency to go overboard just a little when I can't laugh it off.”