Salvation (The Protectors, Book 2) (23 page)

Ronan

“What?” I snapped as Mace grinned at me for the third time in as many minutes.

“Nothing,” he said.

We’d been sitting in the reception area of the office building that headquartered Seth’s competitors for nearly two hours. I hadn’t liked that I hadn’t been allowed to accompany Seth to the actual meeting room, but I had been able to check the entire floor for any potential breaches in security. While the building housed hundreds of the shipping company’s employees, the office we were in was designed for the executive staff and there were less than a dozen people on the floor. There was only one exit besides the main one near the reception desk where we were sitting and since it was a fire exit, it was armed to sound an alarm if opened. I’d had Daisy run security checks on all the men and women who would be in the meeting with Seth and since there’d been no red flags, I’d finally conceded and agreed to stay in the reception area while Seth conducted his meeting. Seth had gone a step further and had been texting me every fifteen minutes or so. And since many of the texts were explicitly suggestive about what he wanted to do to me as soon as he saw me again, I’d started shifting uncomfortably as my arousal had become harder to deny.

Apparently Mace had noticed.

Despite my obvious predicament, I began scrolling through Seth’s texts again. I wouldn’t have ever guessed the man would have such a dirty mind, but after his comments about wanting to watch me fuck him in the mirror, I should have suspected.

We’d spent all of Sunday in bed and had only stopped loving each other long enough for food, water and the countless showers we needed to wash the evidence of our pleasure from each other’s body. I’d tried to slow the pace of our lovemaking down because I knew Seth’s body had to be aching after the many times I’d slaked my need on him, but no matter how rough I was or how long I made him hold out for, he just wanted more of me. It was like he’d been making up for all the years we’d spent apart. But I couldn’t fault him because I’d felt exactly the same way. I couldn’t get close enough to him. I couldn’t get enough of his taste or sound or smell. I couldn’t get enough of the way he made me feel whole again.

Mace and Cole had continued to swap shifts keeping an eye on things for us and they’d kept Bullet overnight for us too. We’d finally forced ourselves out of bed on Monday. Mace had brought Bullet with him that morning and we’d taken the dog for a long walk in Central Park. The Seth I’d started losing my heart to three years earlier had started to return to me as the mantle of his insecurity and loneliness receded. We’d spent the whole day surrounded by people, but it had still just been the two of us. I’d been supremely grateful for Mace’s presence as he followed us from a distance, because I hadn’t been able to focus on anything but Seth.

We’d spent Monday night with Mace, Cole and Jonas and their small menagerie of animals. And for the first time, I’d truly felt what Mace had said…we were almost like a family. I’d been a little bit worried that there would be some awkwardness on Seth’s part between him and Jonas, but there hadn’t been. But the highlight of my night had been when I’d covered Seth’s hand with mine at the dinner table in plain view of everyone. Seth’s look of shock had been priceless. He’d clearly expected me to downplay what we were to each other in front of the other men. So I’d gone a step further and kissed him, hoping he finally got the message.

I wasn’t running anymore…not from anything.

I glanced up from my phone to see Mace looking at me yet again. Never in all the years he’d worked for me had I seen the man smile. Now that was all I saw. And as much as it irritated me, I also liked it.

“Fuck off,” I muttered.

Mace chuckled. “So if this deal goes through, would you guys need to move out here?” Mace asked slyly.

“Why? Two guys not enough for you?” I said with a smile.

“Hell, they’re more than enough,” Mace laughed. “You have no fucking idea.”

I bit back another smile and focused on the text that appeared on my phone.

Be out in a few. Wrapping things up with Stan.

I was disappointed there wasn’t a dirty note this time around, but glad to know I’d have eyes on Seth again soon. I saw a few people that I’d seen show up for the meeting start to come down the hallway and exit the office, so I knew it wouldn’t be long before Seth came out.

My phone was on silent so I felt rather than heard the call coming in and I glanced to see that it was Mav. Since the receptionist had stepped away from her desk and there was no one else in the waiting area but us, I stayed where I was and answered the call.

“Hey,” I said. I hadn’t talked to Mav much in the days since we’d left Seattle, but he’d been sending me regular reports about the patrols that he and two of my other men were doing on Seth’s property.

“We got them,” Mav said in response.

I leaned forward and Mace instantly went on alert. I checked for the receptionist, but we were still alone so I put the phone on speaker and turned the volume down so only Mace and I would hear Mav talking.

“Tell me,” I said quickly.

“We spotted her this morning-”

“Her?” I said in surprise.

“Yeah, it’s a woman. Jennings saw her on the path from that access road next to Seth’s house. She was trying to poison the dog again, Ronan. We found the meat on her.”

Fuck. Thank God we’d brought Bullet with us.

“Who is she?” Mace asked after I remained silent for too long. I’d been caught up thinking about the devastation Seth would have felt if he’d lost his dog.

“Some lawyer,” Mav said.

I stiffened at that. I only knew one female attorney in Seth’s life.

“Says her name is Tabitha Brighton.”

“What the fuck?” I snarled as I stood up.

“Ronan, she started saying a lot of shit when we questioned her. Like how she hadn’t been the one who hired the guy who mugged Seth and shooting Bullet was an accident. She keeps insisting that some guy made her do it…that they were just trying to scare Seth so he’d be too afraid to leave his house again like before. She was also armed with a small caliber handgun.”

Rage shot through me but Mace took the phone from me. “Did she say who the guy was?”

“She kept saying his name was Stan.”

“What?” I croaked as I lifted my eyes to meet Mace’s. I was moving a second later and shoved past the receptionist who came around the corner.

“Sir, you can’t go back there.”

I ran to the conference room and threw the door open, but my stomach fell when I saw it was empty.

“Sir-”

I grabbed the receptionist and barely managed not to shake her the way I wanted to. “Where the fuck are they?” I snarled.

The startled woman’s eyes glazed over with fear and Mace stepped between us, forcing me to release her. His voice was firm, but he didn’t put his hands on the woman.

“The two men that were in there” – he pointed to the conference room – “where are they?”

“Um…they went to lunch, I think.”

“Lunch?” Mace repeated.

“Yeah. I went in there to ask Mr. Sadorsky if he wanted me to order him and Mr. Nichols something and he told me no.”

“Mr. Nichols, did he look hurt or upset?”

“No,” she stammered. “But I only saw him for a second because I spoke to Mr. Sadorsky at the door, not in the room.”

My skin felt like it was crawling as I grabbed my phone from Mace’s hand. I dialed Seth’s number but there was no answer. I hit another speed dial and tried not to scream out my frustration as it rang three times before a woman’s voice finally answered.

“Daisy, get me a GPS location on Seth Nichols’s phone right now.”

To her credit, Daisy didn’t ask me why or balk at the fury in my voice.

“His number?” she simply asked and when I gave it to her, I heard her typing. It took several long seconds before she gave me the information. I hung up on her and looked at Mace.

“He’s still in the building.”

Since we’d both been covering the main entry and exit, I strode to the fire door and shoved against it. Raw panic settled in my gut when the alarm failed to sound. And for the second time in my life, I completely froze.

Mace snatched the phone out of my hand and dialed. I instantly heard Seth’s ringtone but I knew in my gut that it wouldn’t be that easy. We followed the sound down several flights of stairs, but when I saw the phone in front of the door that led to the parking garage, I couldn’t stop the anguished cry that tore free of my lips.

Seth

The first thing I noticed when I came to was the pounding in my head. It hurt like hell, but it was bearable. What wasn’t bearable were my hands.

Because they were tied behind my back.

I tried not to panic as I struggled to get my bearings, but the coppery taste of blood in my mouth had me desperately trying to yank my hands free. I could feel that whatever I was tied up with was plastic and there was absolutely no give to it. I forced my eyes open and cried out when everything remained cloaked in darkness.

“Shut the fuck up!” a sharp voice yelled a second before someone kicked me in the stomach. I was already laying on my side, so the blow didn’t knock me down, but the pain did have me folding in on myself. My sobs were muffled because of something that was stuffed in my mouth and tied around my head. My brain flashed back to the night I’d been in nearly this same position as masked men beat my father and mother before turning on me. The only difference was that I didn’t have something over my head like I did now. The smooth material had me thinking it might be a pillowcase.

I tried to bring up my most recent memory, but the only thing that came to me was sitting in the meeting sending Ronan suggestive texts. Stan had caught me staring at my phone on more than one occasion as the men we’d been meeting with spoke and he’d finally nudged me and sent me a dirty look when I couldn’t hide the grin on my face as I imagined the expression on Ronan’s face when he saw my suggestion that he bend me over the couch as soon as we got back to the hotel.

Stan.

An image of Stan pressing a gun to my side hit me hard and then everything came flooding back in a rush.

After the meeting had ended, Stan and I had remained in the conference room to wrap up and I’d told him that I’d already made the decision not to pursue the sale of the company or even discuss the possibility of a merger. The bottom line was that I wanted to run my father’s company myself. And the merger hadn’t been an option when I’d learned about all the safety and equal rights complaints our competitor was being investigated for.

I’d known Stan would be upset with me and I’d allowed him a few minutes to try and talk me out of it. We’d been interrupted by the receptionist knocking on the conference room door, but I hadn’t heard what she’d said to Stan. Once Stan had returned to the table, he’d ripped into me about how I was making a mistake and that our company would go under if I didn’t reconsider. But I’d been adamant and he’d finally relented. When we’d gotten up to leave, he’d told me that Ronan had asked the receptionist to have me and Stan meet him and Mace downstairs in the parking garage where they had the car waiting. I hadn’t even considered questioning the change, nor had I thought it strange when Stan told me we could take the stairs because the fire alarm wasn’t working.

But when I’d gotten my phone out at the bottom of the stairwell to let Ronan know we were there, I’d felt the cold metal of a gun pressed against my side. Stan had taken the phone from me and tossed it on the ground and then he’d ordered me to open the door. As soon as I had, a man waiting on the other side had hit me with something.

The pain in my body began to ease somewhat as I lay perfectly still and tried to quell my rising panic. I knew Ronan would come for me. I just needed to stay alive long enough for him to find me.

I could hear muffled voices, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. But as heavy footsteps drew closer to me, the voices became clear and I knew without a shadow of a doubt that one was Stan’s.

“I told you, I am not doing your fucking dirty work again,” the stranger snapped.

“I’ll double what I paid you last time,” Stan said.

“No! The only thing that keeps me from going down for your shit is if your hands are as dirty as mine.”

I felt a brutal grip wrap around my arm and then I was yanked to my knees. The covering over my head was ripped away and it took my eyes a second to adjust. But when I did, I froze. Because standing in front of me was Stan, the gun in his shaky hand pointed directly at me.

“I’m sorry,” Stan suddenly whispered as his eyes connected with mine.

“What the fuck are you apologizing to him for?” the other man snapped. “Just fucking do it already.” The stranger was in his early thirties and was wearing a pair of black jeans, a black shirt and heavy work boots. His hair hung well past his shoulders in greasy hanks and I could see several teeth missing as he railed at Stan. I didn’t recognize him, but I let out a strangled cry when I saw the suddenly very familiar snake tattoo that went from his elbow to his wrist.

“You happy?” the guy snapped. “He’s recognized me.”

Tears began to streak down my face as it all came together for me. The man in front of me had been the same man who’d tortured me and slit my father’s throat. And since Stan was in the middle of it all, it meant he’d had a hand in it.

“I’m sorry, Seth. I didn’t mean for it to happen like that. You and your mom weren’t even supposed to be there!” Stan was waving the gun around as he spoke. “I needed the money and your father…I knew he’d figure out that I’d taken it from the company. I loved him like a brother, Seth. But I was going to lose everything I had!”

“What the fuck are you explaining it all to him for?” the man yelled impatiently.

But Stan rattled on as if he hadn’t heard the other man speaking. “I took care of you, Seth. I kept the company going for you. But…but you were supposed to sell it, not run it. My share of the profits wasn’t enough…I needed the buyout to square away all my debts, to start over.”

I wanted to scream at Stan, to yank free of my bindings and wrap my hands around his throat. He was talking to me like the more he said, I’d somehow understand and accept what he’d done to me…to my family.

“Then that bitch showed up at the office railing about me trying to steal her clients and I knew we could help each other. I told her I would convince you to keep her on as your lawyer if she helped scare you enough so that you wouldn’t want to come back to the city…I knew if I could just get you out of the picture long enough, I could convince you to sell.”

I knew Stan was talking about Tabitha Brighton and my heart broke for her father. Harry would be devastated to learn of his daughter’s involvement.

“Jesus, fuck!” my father’s murderer shouted. “Just pull the fucking trigger!”

Stan glanced at the man and his eyes went wide and his mouth began opening and closing as if he were trying to draw in more air. His gaze shifted back to me and he shook his head.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered again. “I don’t have any other choice.”

I shouted a ragged “No” against my gag as I realized I wouldn’t have the chance to see Ronan one last time, to tell him again how much I loved him.

I closed my eyes and prayed to anyone who was listening to watch over Ronan so he wouldn’t lose himself again and then I brought forth my last image of him. He’d pressed a sweet kiss against my lips right before I’d gone into my meeting this morning and then he’d whispered, “I’ll see you soon” before he’d finally released me.

I waited for the gunshot but when it came, it didn’t sound right. I opened my eyes, but couldn’t take anything in because a heavy weight fell on top of me and I hit my head on the floor as I went down. I heard a crash and then shouting before several gunshots ricocheted through the air.

“Seth!”

I cried in relief at the sound of Ronan’s voice and when my vision finally cleared, Ronan was moving towards me. The weight was lifted off of me and it took me a moment to realize it was Stan’s dead body. A small, almost perfect circle stood out on the side of his head and there was just the tiniest trickle of blood streaming out of it.

“Seth, talk to me,” Ronan whispered as he worked the gag free of my mouth. The plastic holding my hands together was cut free a second later and I realized it was Cole who’d done it.

“I’m okay,” I managed to say as Ronan’s fingers skimmed my face. The terror was etched in his features and I automatically put my hands up to encircle his neck. His pulse was pounding beneath my fingers. “I’m safe,” I said. “You saved me, Ronan.”

I could see Ronan was on the verge of falling apart, so I drew him down for a kiss and then wrapped my arms around him. He let out a sharp breath and then buried his face against my neck as his arms encircled me. His hold bordered on painful, but I didn’t care. I kept whispering against his ear that I was okay. I noticed Mace enter the small building which I’d finally realized was a rundown cabin. In Mace’s hand was a long, black rifle and I glanced over my shoulder and saw the bullet hole I suspected would be in the window. Mace had shot Stan, but I had no idea if Ronan or Cole had killed the other man who lay motionless on the floor not far from Stan, his chest riddled with bullet wounds.

“How did you find me?” I managed to ask once Ronan finally loosened his hold on me.

“Stan’s second wife’s family owns this cabin,” Ronan said as he leaned back and began checking the injury on the side of my head where the man had struck me with something. “That’s his stepson,” Ronan said as he motioned to the dead man.

“He killed my father,” I whispered.

Ronan stilled and pulled back from me just a little bit. “He’s gone, Seth. And we’re going to find the others. They’ll pay for what they did.”

I managed a nod. “I knew you’d find me,” I finally said when I tore my gaze from the dead man and focused on Ronan.

Ronan smiled and said, “Always” and then pulled me into his arms.