Chapter 49 #2
“Your reasons for us not claiming each other yet are valid. We do still have a lot to learn about one another. Plus, like you said, we have to learn to work together as a team.”
She pressed her cheek against mine. “But will we have time for all of that?”
I pulled her close and gently kissed her along her shoulder and her neck. “We’ll make the time. I don’t want you to feel forced into the claiming. I want you to do this because you want to.” I slid my finger under her chin and pulled her into a kiss. “We have time, Liza. Don’t worry.”
I wanted to tell her that I loved her, but I wasn’t sure if it was the right time. I didn’t want to keep putting it off because Liza needed to know how I truly felt about her. Maybe there was no time like the present.
I opened my mouth to confess my love for her, but my damn phone started ringing. I glanced at the screen. Bryce.
I held up a finger. “Just a second, it’s Bryce. I have to take this.” I swiped the screen and put the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Hey, man. Just wanted to make sure you were on the road.”
Shit. The meeting.
“Uh, yeah. I’m heading out the door right now.”
“Fuck, Ty.” Bryce sighed into the phone, the speaker crackling in my ear. “I know you have a lot going on, but you can’t be late for this meeting.”
“I know. Don’t worry. I’ll be there on time.”
I hung up and gently pushed Liza forward so I could stand. “I’m sorry. Time got away from me. If I don’t leave soon, I’ll be late, and then there will most certainly be hell to pay. It’s an important meeting, and I’m expected to be there and lead the whole damn thing.”
Liza smiled and gave me a quick hug. “No worries. We’ll talk more later.”
She seemed cool, calm, and collected, which gave me the confidence I needed to leave her. With the ever-present threat of Castro in the back of my mind, I texted my security team to be extra vigilant while I was away, letting them know that I would be a good two hours away should anything happen.
On the drive, I turned on a jazz station.
It usually did the trick to calm me, but today it was of no use.
All I could think about was Liza and yet another burden my family and I had put on her shoulders.
I’d been carrying that same weight around for over a month now, so I had a good idea of how she was feeling.
All I wanted to do was be around her and assure her that everything was going to work itself out.
I wasn’t one hundred percent sure about that myself, but I had to believe it.
If I didn’t focus on the positives, I’d succumb to the pressure, and so would Liza.
She needed me by her side, not two fucking hours away.
When I finally rolled into the convention center’s parking lot, I noted that I was the last one to arrive. Everyone else had parked, gone in, and presumably made dumb ass small talk all morning.
I resolved to get out as quickly as possible after presenting the update on Keller Enterprises to the board who had traveled from all over the state of Texas to hear me speak.
If I could skip the chit-chat and get right down to business, maybe they’d follow my lead, and we wouldn’t be stuck in networking purgatory for hours.
Once inside the center, I was relieved to see that everyone had already been seated and were attentively listening to Tim, our head financial analyst—the same Tim who had called me out for not being as present as he’d have liked.
How’d that fucker get asked to speak? I glared at him, hoping he wouldn’t make the same mistake and attempt to pull me aside. Surely he’d learned his lesson last time. His job was to provide an update on the numbers, not to give me advice on appearances to our employees.
As luck would have it, I was up next. My fifteen minutes of fame, and I hoped it only lasted fifteen minutes.
I stepped up to the podium and cleared my throat.
“Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to hear about the exciting advancements we’ve experienced this past year at Keller Enterprises.
If you’ll open your binders to page three, you’ll see the order in which I’ll be speaking today.
Please hold any questions until the end of the presentation, as I intend to zoom through this pretty quickly.
” I decided it might be best to insert a joke to keep things lighthearted.
“I don’t want any of you falling asleep on me this time.
I’m talking to you, Bill,” I said, pointing at the elderly man who’d served on the board for as long as I could remember.
He was an old family friend who had known my parents longer than I’d been alive. I knew he could take a joke.
I spent the next several minutes running through our new facilities, acquisitions, and new positions.
I built off the numbers Tim and our accounting team had provided me, showing the audience that Keller Enterprises was projected to grow in profit by at least ten, possibly fifteen percent over the next twelve months.
When I finished my presentation, the room erupted with applause, and hands shot up. Luckily for me, there weren’t any surprising questions, and most people just wanted to voice their approval and excitement over the company’s growth.
When the meeting finally ended, I rushed to my car before anyone could stop me to chat. Any other time, I’d normally welcome the opportunity to grab a drink with one of our board members and catch up, unwind, but not today. I needed to be with Liza.
Just as I put the car in reverse to back out of the parking lot, my phone buzzed with a text notification. Thinking it was from Liza, I put the car back into park and took my phone out.
The text was from an unknown number.
It was a photo of Liza coming out of the Presley Acres farmer’s market entrance. The picture had definitely been taken today because she was wearing the same clothes she’d had on when I’d left this morning.
The message under the picture made my blood run cold.
How easy it would be to just take her. To bring her to me and make her mine. Hurry home, Alpha. Your next clue is waiting for you.
My breath caught in my throat as I dialed Liza’s number.
After a few rings, she answered. “Hey, Ty. Is your meeting already over?” She sounded calm; completely at ease.
“Where are you?” My words came out in a panicked rush as my heart nearly tore through my chest.
“I’m just leaving the farmer’s market. Why?”
“Where’s your bodyguard, Liza?” I knew my tone was not my normal charming self, but fear had my balls firmly in its grip. Fuck being charming right now.
Liza sighed. “He’s right behind me. What’s wrong? Don’t you trust me? You sound upset. What’s going on?”
“Will you please turn around and make sure he’s right there?” I needed to know someone was with her, that she wasn’t alone, and that Castro couldn’t just grab her and go.
Liza huffed. “Yes, Ty. He’s right here behind me. What the hell is going on?”
I put her on speaker and sent a quick alert to her bodyguard, letting him know that Castro was in the area and had just photographed Liza. How the fuck had he gotten into town without being seen?
“Listen to me very carefully. I want you to keep calm, stay with your bodyguard, and get to your car. When you get there, lock yourself inside. Do you understand me?”
I could hear her bodyguard’s voice telling Liza to hurry.
Without another word, Liza hung up the phone, and I slammed my fist against the steering wheel.
Before I could call her back, I received an alert confirming that Liza had been safely escorted to her car.
I sent an alert to the entire security team, telling them to search the area for Castro. The fucker couldn’t have gotten very far. I put my car back into gear and punched the gas.
Liza phoned me back. Her shaking voice filled the car. “Ty? What the fuck is going on? Everyone’s scrambling with their hands on their guns.”
I hated this. I hated that fucker Castro for doing this to her. To us.
The last thing I wanted to do was stress Liza out even more, but she had to stay vigilant. “I just received a photo of you leaving the farmer’s market, and a text from Castro.”
Her breath came quickly over the phone, like she was hyperventilating.
Hating that I couldn’t be there with her to protect her, to calm her, I schooled my voice to project calm.
“Liza, listen to me. Breathe for me, babe. Breathe in and out. Slow down. I’m on my way. ” I could hear her breathing slowing.
Once her breathing had evened out, Liza said, “That’s so weird. How is Castro doing all of this? He can’t get into town, right?”
I didn’t have the slightest idea how Castro was pulling it off. “Maybe he’s changed his identity so no one recognizes him. He’s definitely too smart to waltz into town looking like himself.”
“Think about it, Ty.” Liza’s voice lowered, as if she was afraid Castro could hear us. “Who planted the bomb? Who is taking pictures of me? He can’t be doing all of this himself. There are enough people in town looking for him.”
Cold shuddered through me, and I dreaded her next words.
Liza’s voice was so soft now I almost missed what she said. “Someone has to be helping Castro, Ty. Who could it be?”
How had I not seen it? “You’re right.” Castro wasn’t in town. He was pulling the strings from afar, and he’d hired a Presley Acres’ local to be his latest puppet. “I promise we’ll get to the bottom of it.”