The Alpha Bodyguards Books #4-6

Chapter Seven

O ne foot in the T own Car, I paused. “Where’s Marius?”

I’d texted Marius to pick me up in front of the club and to not bother with my door. I’d planned on making a beeline for the car in hopes of avoiding the tall bodyguard, but Marius wasn’t behind the wheel.

A driver I’d only ever seen a few times on the rare occasion when Marius was either out of town or under the weather sat behind the wheel.

Not making eye contact, the new driver nodded at me. “It was getting late, miss, and he has an early morning driving your father. He asked me to fill in.”

His excuse sounded plausible, but still. “Why didn’t he text me that?”

The driver shrugged. “Not sure, miss. Maybe he forgot.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a black vehicle pull out of the alley, and I looked up. It was the same type of SUV that Dreena and Falcon had left in a few minutes ago, followed by Tyler and Calandra in an identical vehicle. It also looked exactly like the vehicle I saw Marius parked next to in the alley when I’d stepped out there earlier and accidentally run into the bodyguard and his colleague.

The SUV paused and I stared, wondering if it was him.

I hadn’t seen him leave the club, but then again, I wasn’t expecting to either. He’d made himself perfectly clear when he’d told me to get back inside. I’d heard his words. I’d seen the stern expression sharpen his already hard features. But I’d stood there like a fool anyway, because I’d never been that close to man who was so feral.

And now I was staring at an Escalade with windows tinted too dark to see inside, hoping beyond hope it was him, because I foolishly wanted to see him, and something about Marius not texting me to tell me he was turning in for the night felt off, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do about that at five in the morning. I didn’t want to risk waking Marius up with a phone call if he was getting a few precious hours of sleep, and I didn’t want to seem childish by stepping away and calling for a cab when I didn’t even know how long it would take for a cab to arrive because I’d never actually ridden in one.

Twenty-four years old and I didn’t know what to do.

So I stared at the Escalade, and the driver’s window started to go down.

Watching with rapt attention, I almost didn’t hear my driver.

“Are you coming, miss?”

The hard, angular planes of the bodyguard’s face appeared as the streetlights cut deep shadows across him.

I sucked in a sharp breath.

“Miss?”

His gaze as intense as it was before, he stared back at me.

Then the corner of his mouth tipped up and he winked.

He winked .

My heart stopped, then started again in double time, and he turned away, raised his window and drove off.

My knees weak, my breath fast, I chastised myself for my reaction to a man I’d never see again and got into the Town Car. “Take me to my parents’ house, please.”

“Yes, miss.”

The driver pulled away from the curb, and I sank into the leather seat. I wanted nothing more than to go to my own condo and sleep for a week, if only to forget about a certain bodyguard, but if my father had an early morning, I should be there to help with mother.

She’d suffered a stroke last year, and while she was doing really well, she still wasn’t sure on her feet and she needed help with the simple tasks of everyday life. My father never complained, let alone asked for help. He loved my mother with all his heart, but I knew he struggled to maintain his busy schedule with the bank and the board while still having time to help my mother bathe and dress herself.

When I’d moved out of my parents’ estate on the intracoastal and into my own oceanfront condo, I’d loved the views as much as I loved the independence. But now that my mother wasn’t one-hundred percent, I kept some clothes and toiletries in my old room so that I could stay there whenever she needed me.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn’t notice at first that the new driver wasn’t heading east toward the barrier island, but going south.

Irritated, I frowned as we passed the second causeway for the island. “Excuse me, what was your name again?”

“Chuck.”

“You’re going the wrong way, Chuck. You missed both turns onto the barrier island. You need to turn around at the next intersection.”

Not replying to me, he picked up his phone.

“Excuse me,” I snapped as he put his phone to his ear. “I’m speaking to you.”

He quietly said something into his cell as he took a turn into a darkened strip mall.

The hair on the back of my neck rose, and my stomach clenched. “I demand to know what’s going on, right now. You missed your turn.”

Chuck hung up his cell as a text came through on mine.

Dad: Good morning, sweetheart. I hope I’m not disturbing you. Have you seen Marius? Is he still with you? I’m unable to reach him, and I need to be at the office early for an overseas video conference.

Dread soaked into my bones as panic rose like bile in my throat. Too late, I knew what was happening.

The very thing my father had warned me of since I was old enough to walk.

The emergency protocol he’d drilled into me and made me practice over and over set in like memory function.

I hit reply to his text and typed three numbers.

911

Then I dialed the same numbers, but I was too late.

Chuck had pulled around to the back of the strip mall and slammed on his brakes next to a late-model SUV.

Kicking off my heels, preparing to run, I grasped the door handle and yanked before the Town Car had come to complete stop, but it was no use.

Locked from the outside, the door wouldn’t open.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

I held my cell to my ear.

“My name is Ludeviene Loic, and I’ve been kidnapped by my chauffeur Chuck.” The driver door to the SUV flew open.

“Ma’am,” the emergency operator replied. “I see that you’re on a mobile phone. Can you please give me your location?”

The back door of the Town Car was yanked open and a dark-haired man reached for me. “Hang up!”

I pressed myself all the way against the opposite door and rushed my words out. “I’m on US 1 just past the intersection of the MacArthur Causeway, behind a strip mall on the—”

“Give me that!” The man yanked my cell phone from me.

Screaming, bringing my leg up, I kicked him in the chest.

Letting out a roar, the man lunged.

His closed fist connected with my jaw, my head snapped sideways and pain exploded.

Everything went black.