The Alpha Bodyguards Books #4-6

Chapter Forty-Five

S tarting to shiver, my head spinning, I rushed to the bathroom and shut the door.

I could hear Ty and André’s muffled voices, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

I glanced at the shower.

Longing to stand under the hot spray, but not wanting to take the time or get undressed with a bunch of bodyguards standing just outside, I opted for helping myself to one of the fluffy washcloths and clean-smelling soap.

As quick as I could, I first washed my face, then I ran the washcloth between my legs. As I was rinsing it out, I heard his voice.

My father’s.

“What is the meaning of this?” my father bellowed.

Oh God.

“Mr. Loic,” André Luna said. “As I told you on the phone, she’s requested her privacy for now.”

“I know she’s here!” my father yelled, ignoring André. “Ludeviene, Ludeviene !”

I dropped the washcloth and quickly put on Ty’s boxers.

“Take it down,” André warned. “We have other clients in residence.”

“Who the hell let him up here?” Ty asked.

“Sorry about that,” a fourth man who sounded like Tyler from the club replied. “He said Luna authorized it.”

“Dios mio,” André muttered. “I didn’t.”

“I need to see my daughter, right now !” my father yelled.

Straightening my dress, I smoothed my hair as best I could.

“Hey,” Ty snapped. “Until you calm the fuck down, you’re not going to see anyone, especially not your daughter.”

“Who the hell are you?” my father demanded.

“I’m the one who rescued your daughter from twenty armed cartel hitmen because you were too fucking stupid to put a qualified security detail on her.”

Oh. My God .

“Asher!” André yelled at the same time my father roared, “Don’t you dare speak to me that way!”

“Am I wrong?” Ty asked.

I opened the bathroom door.

All four men turned to look at me.

André tipped his chin, Ty looked furious, Tyler smiled apologetically at me, but my father’s face fell.

“ Ludeviene .” He took a step toward me.

I couldn’t do it.

I couldn’t stand there and pretend that he hadn’t invited that monster into our lives and into my childhood home.

I held my hand up. “Stop.”

Ty and André immediately moved. As if choreographed, Ty came to my right and André to my left. Both men stared my father down.

The anger I’d heard in my father’s voice only a moment ago returned, and his expression flashed from shock to outrage. “What is the meaning of this, Ludeviene?”

I’d only seen my father angry a handful of times growing up, and it’d never been directed at me. I’d even wondered how the mild-mannered father I knew was capable of running a successful bank. But right now, seeing him so angry, seeing him stand his ground against three bodyguards who were practically half his age and almost twice his weight, I understood how my father had become successful.

When I didn’t answer him, he began yelling at André.

“I paid double your fee to bring my daughter home safely, not beaten and bruised! What the hell kind of organization are you running here?”

“Mr. Loic,” André began. “I’m going to respect the fact that you’re upset, but I will not stand here and allow you to insult, nor bring into question, my business practices.”

My father pointed at me. “Your practices should be in question when my daughter comes home looking like that!”

Ty lost it. “What the fuck did you think would happen when you got in bed with the cartel? That your family would be safe? You’re lucky she’s alive.”

I placed my hand on Ty’s arm. “It’s okay.”

“ It’s okay? ” my father roared, glancing at my hand before looking back at me with pure rage. “You spend five minutes with this Neanderthal and you’re defending him?”

Ty’s hands fisted. “You watch how you speak to her.”

“Mr. Loic,” André warned, stepping toward him. “We’re taking this downstairs. Now .”

André took my father’s arm and everything went to hell.

My father swung at André, Tyler grabbed my father from behind and a woman flew into the apartment followed by a young boy and the tattooed bodyguard from the club.

“Tyce Armistead Asher!” the woman yelled, throwing herself and both of her fists at Ty. “How dare you!” Tears streaming down her face, she hit him. “ How dare you .”

The impact of her fury and grief made Ty step back. “Mercy,” he snapped, wrapping his arms around her. “Calm down.”

The little boy, barely holding in tears, was furiously signing, what happened , over and over.

“I thought you were dead,” Mercy wailed, hitting him again before locking her arms around his neck.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Ty swore. “Calm the fuck down, Mercy. You’re upsetting Nash.”

Mercy.

Nash.

My father yelled at André, Tyler told him to calm down, Ty barked at the woman—it all faded to background noise.

Mercy and Nash.

The first two names Ty had said after he’d come to in the ambulance and made that phone call.

Still holding Mercy, Ty went to one knee and held an arm out for the boy. The boy with brown hair and big brown eyes.

My heart constricted and my stomach bottomed out.

Mercy and Nash. They were his.

I wasn’t his.

I didn’t belong to that man.

They did.

They were his family.

He’d lied. He’d lied to me . He had a family. A family that was grief-stricken and terrified by his absence. And he had a little boy who he signed to. That’s how he knew sign language. That’s why the one time he’d signed to me it’d been so quick and proficient.

He had a son.

My head spinning, my arm throbbing, feeling hot and cold all at once, I slipped away.

My feet moving, my heart crushed, no air in my lungs, I made my way out to the hallway unnoticed.

Then I made it down the corridor.

My hand pushed and pushed at the elevator call button.

Everything falling in, I tried to breathe, but I couldn’t. Tears mixed with every single thing that had happened since I’d stepped out of my father’s Town Car, and it was too much.

I needed to get out of here.

I needed to get away from him.

I needed to breathe.

I needed to—

“Ma’am, wait.”

The elevator door slid open and I choked on a sob as I stumbled inside barefoot.

Barefoot .

Still without shoes, in borrowed boxers…

Oh God .

The man attached to the voice who’d been behind me stepped into the elevator, and the doors closed. “Miss Loic,” Tyler began, holding my purse out to me. “We recovered your bag, and there’s a replacement phone in there for you as well.”

Another sob escaped as I blindingly hit the lowest call button inside the elevator. I didn’t care about my purse or my phone. I didn’t care about any of it. Ty had lied to me.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s okay.” Tyler took my injured arm.

Pain exploded and I cried out.

“Whoa, babe.” Letting go of my arm to take my elbow, Tyler frowned. “Have you had this looked at?” He gently touched the inflamed skin around the wound. “This looks infected.”

Ty had a son. He had a son. “Take me home,” I rasped, feeling dizzy.

“Okay, no problem. But let’s get Talon to look at this first.”

“No.” Oh God, I’d slept with Ty. “Take me home or I’ll call a cab.”

“Ma’am,” Tyler admonished. “Your skin’s feverish and the wound’s inflamed. With all due respect—”

“NO.” I spun on him and opened my mouth to let him have it but the dizziness reared up and grabbed me. Stumbling back, my vision tunneled. “No,” I barely managed as spots danced in front of me.

“Oh, shit.” Tyler dropped my bag and reached for me just as my knees gave out.

It was the last thing I remembered.