Risky Temptation (9 page)

              Zeke bent down in a motion to help Jamie free up his wheels. I watched through the camera as Zeke took hold of the back of Jamie’s chair and began pushing, showing that they had fixed whatever had been wrong.

              The guard eyed them both suspiciously. He held out his hand and asked for something.

             
Fuck.

              Jamie, with his angelic face, could hardly raise suspicion. Or at least we thought. Perhaps Turn Tech was more paranoid than we thought.

              I was about ready to bolt out of the house towards Turn Tech when I saw Zeke hand him something. His visitor’s pass.

              The guard plucked it from his hands and waved it at Zeke’s face. My heart was racing as I watched what I hope was not a train wreck unfold before me.

              But all the guard did was grab the visitor’s pass and peel the backing off of it, thrusting the pass back to Zeke with a firm remark.

              It had been a sticker. The visitor’s pass had been a sticker and fucking Zeke hadn’t stuck it on himself. He had probably just stuffed it into his pocket, not thinking anything of it.

              The guard gave a satisfied nod at seeing Zeke stick the sticker on. He said a final word before waving them off.

              I breathed out the air I hadn’t realized I had been holding.

              The man who had analyzed the blueprints of a whole building, hacked into emails of top security personnel, and had brought over what looked like the computers from NASA hadn’t fucking realized that his pass had been a sticker.

              “Fuckshitgoddamnmotherfuckerfuck,” I said in one long breath, glad to know that Zeke and Jamie were safely out of the building and on their way back home. Human error. That’s where things always went wrong. We had to be better than that. We had to be above that.

             
I
had to be above that. Because everything I loved and cared for in this world was riding on my success.

              I stared at the computer screen where it now showed Jamie’s glowing face as he whooped silently in the car at the close call and success. He had clearly had the time of his life.

              My heart was just barely resuming its normal pace.

              “Cock,” I added in annoyed relief.

Chapter
Ten
Halle

              My room was definitely not small. I had a large bed, a plush chair with a vanity table, and an en suite bathroom. Everything was decked out in the finest sheets and décor. If you were to look around quickly, you probably wouldn’t even realize that there were no windows.

              There was a curtain rod with curtains next to the left of my bed but they were covering a false window, just a painted shadowbox.

              Sit around in a place like this long enough by yourself, with no information on what was happening outside to the ones you loved, and you can definitely go a little crazy.

              I had been scoping out the area for the last couple days. To use the elevator, you needed to verify your thumbprint. That was the only way down. Clearly the Black Saints did not worry about fire exits.

              My room opened up onto the hallway and also had another set of doors that opened onto the shared sitting room. The only men who I had seen go up and down the elevators were Tobias and the various men who brought me my meals.

              I sighed, siting on the bed.

              I missed Marco fiercely. And I was worried about him.

              I had dreamed about him every night. There was nothing I wanted to do more than run into his warm and strong arms and bury my head against his broad chest. There was no feeling safer and warmer than the feeling of having your lover’s arms about you, holding you tight and close.

              I needed to take a breather. Being closeted in here was making me stir crazy with worries and questions and fears. With no other place I could go, I opened the door to the sitting room.

              Peeking out, I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized no one was in there. I never knew where Tobias was going when he left but I was just glad he wasn’t here tonight.

              I quickly took a seat in one of the large wingback chairs, already feeling a little less claustrophobic from changing scenery.

              The fire was always lit in the room but it never got unbearably hot. It was just always pleasantly warm. I curled up in my seat, drawing my legs to my chest, as I stared into the dancing flames.

              I don’t know how long I had been sitting like that, letting my mind go blank. I only woke out of my reverie when I heard glass clinking.

              I turned and found Tobias standing in the doorway that connected to his room, leaning against the doorjamb. His shirt was casually unbuttoned by his throat and he was holding a whiskey tumbler in one hand.

              It was the most casual I’d seen him. He had no jacket on and his sleeves were rolled up halfway, revealing his large forearms.

              There was a half lidded look to his face that told me that he was not on his first whiskey. Probably even past his second.

              “How long have you been standing there?” I asked.

              “How long have you been sitting there?” he countered.

              I had no answer and I supposed he didn’t either.

              I let the silence fall between us, unsure what I should be saying anyway. It was an odd relationship we had…if you could even call it a relationship. I never thought kidnappers could be so…
civil.

              But that was Tobias, I supposed. He always seemed very in control, very precise.

              Well, except for tonight, it seemed. Tonight he seemed a little less wound up.

              “Thinking about your gangster hitman boyfriend, are you?” Tobias inquired casually from the doorway.

              I gave an irritable sigh, annoyed with his phrasing but not feeling like arguing. “Yes, I am,” I replied shortly.

              Tobias nodded and took a solemn sip of his drink. “He’s a clever one, I’ll give you that,” he said.

              My shoulders tensed. Was he about to give me some information at last? Would I finally be able to find out what Marco was doing?

              “Is he?” I answered faintly, not wanting to lose my chance.

              Tobias took another sip. “I thought for sure he would do the hit first. Get his feet wet by starting off with his strong point. And Copper is a man worth getting rid of—to anyone. But no, he knew that would cause too much chaos and that could potentially throw off the security at Turn Tech, making it impossible to break in. So he’s being careful. He’s being methodical.” Tobias nodded to himself. “He’s clever.”

              I tried to process what he had said. I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about. Turn Tech sounded familiar. And a hit? So Marco had been assigned a hit? There definitely wasn’t anyone more skilled for a hit than Marco but that also depended on
who
the mark was.

              Copper…Copper. God the named sounded so familiar. Everything sounded familiar, like it was all on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn’t pull up the right images or information to get the full picture.

              Black Saints wasn’t a mob family. Like Tobias said, they dealt with higher powers. So if nothing else, I knew Copper was part of the highest echelon of society.

              And breaking in? Breaking in to where? For what?

              “How do we know that you’ll leave us alone after all of this?” I asked, turning around.

              Tobias raised a brow. “After all of this? You have some solid faith in your man, don’t you?” he said. “Are you so sure he’ll come out of this successful?”

              “How?” I persisted. “How will we know?”

              “You won’t,” he replied shortly, taking another sip. “You’ll just have to take me at my word.”

              I sighed and turned back towards the fire. What good was his word to me—the word of a kidnapper?

              Another beat fell between us. I heard Tobias walk over to the drinks cart near the back of the room and pour himself another whiskey. The man was clearly in a mood to relax tonight.

              “You want me to tell you what’s going to happen to you in the next five years?” he said as he walked over towards the fireplace. He leaned one arm over the mantle, fixing me with those gleaming green eyes.

              “So now you’re a psychic,” I said uninterestedly, keeping my head on my knees, worried even more now for Marco.

              Tobias shrugged, unfazed by my disinterest. “Let’s say Marco pulls off this job,” he started. “Even with the Black Saints out of the picture, there are several other crime Families out there who will soon learn about Marco Desmond living in London. The Desmond Mafia reach was wide and there are several people out here that I know for a fact would love to get their hands on that man.”

              He took a sip of his drink. “But of course, Marco Desmond is not the kind of man that you can put your hands on. At least not if you don’t want them broken.”

              I gave a small huff of a laugh, proud that Tobias recognized Marco and his lethality.

              “But,” he quickly countered, dampening my small rise in spirit, “he has
you
now, doesn’t he? And as smart as you are, you’re no trained killer. I guarantee it’ll take less than a year for his presence to be noticed around town and even faster yet for you to get caught in the crossfire.” He made a broad gesture with his drink hand. “Look at where you are now. And trust me when I say, most of Marco’s enemies are
not
this hospitable.”

              I eyed him warily as he spoke, unraveling what my potential future looked like.

              “Within three years, you’ll be regularly targeted. And protecting two backs is much harder than one. With how notorious the Desmond name is, Marco will have to constantly be fighting to protect himself but more importantly, to protect you.” Tobias raised a brow at me.

              “He is taking on an impossible job right now to save you,” Tobias said bluntly. “He wants to rescue you from this plush imprisonment. What would he be willing to do if someone had a knife to your throat?” He let the words hang. “What would he do if someone had a gun to your head?”

              I swallowed, wanting to deny the truth of his words but unable to. What
would
Marco do? Or more correctly, what
wouldn’t
he do? We were completely rogue now. We had no large Families or resources to protect ourselves with. It was just the two of us. Just him and me.

              “And let’s say one day Marco fails,” Tobias continued. “Let’s say one day down the road, maybe a few years on, he makes a mistake or something goes wrong and he fails to save you. What’s to stop someone from slitting that pretty little throat or putting a bullet through your pretty little head?”

              I swallowed dryly.
What then?
a little voice asked me.

              Tobias took another sip of his drink. “
That’s
where you’ll be in five years, love,” he said with finality. “You’ll be bleeding out in some abandoned warehouse or drowning in a dirty river while Marco searches futilely for you. Stay with Desmond and that’s your future.”

              Tobias drained his glass and set it on the mantle.

              I bit my lip, hesitating before I spoke. But finally, I said softly, “What was her name?”

              Tobias’s face twisted harshly momentarily before he managed to resume his normal detached expression. “Elizabeth,” he said roughly.

              I remembered being taken aback by his sudden interest in my love life when we had first met. I had thought it odd and quite invasive. But it began to become clear when I realized perhaps he was speaking not from a place of nosiness, but a place of heartbreak.

              He spoke about my hypothetical future with such conviction and ease, as if he had already seen such a reality happen.

              Maybe to him.

              “What happened?” I asked.

              Tobias gripped the mantle, his hand knuckling white. I didn’t think he’d answer me. But I was wrong.

“It was several years ago. Before I was a member of the Black Saints. Another Family wanted me. They had heard how effective I was at bringing men in line and they wanted me to shake up their own Family. Get rid of dead weight, basically.” He glared at the fire as if he could see the faces of his past in there. “But I said no. Elizabeth and I were finally falling into a routine. And I knew I could keep her safe where we were. With the Family I was already working with, I knew I could keep her protected. So I said no.”

              He jerked up and whirled his gaze at me, a twisted humorless smile on his face. “I actually thought it was that simple. Just say no.” He shook his head. “A week after my refusal, the police found her floating out near a dock, her ankles tied to a cinderblock.” He stared into the fire. “It had been a message. A message of their displeasure at my refusal.”

              My heart clenched at his words, the horrifying scene playing with painful clarity in my mind. I imagined Tobias staring down at the cold and lifeless body of his love, guilt ridden and heartbroken.

              “Do you see what I’m saying now?” he said. “I had a Family, I had men, I had protection behind me and
still
they got her.” The end of his voice broke a little at the word ‘her.’ “No, they couldn’t give her the mercy of a bullet or even a knife. They let her drown in a freezing ocean, wondering where the fuck I was and why I wasn’t there saving her!”

              A pained silence fell between us. Moved by instinct, I rose to my feet and walked over to him. The heartbreak of losing someone you love is unforgettable. But the heartbreak of having someone you love
taken
from you, that was pure torture.