Chapter 46 Ramsay
Silver was looking at me in a way that gave me hope. But I couldn’t let my mind wander to that.
We had a job to do.
The receptionist, Andrew, stared open-mouthed as the elevator doors to the penthouse opened.
London, cool as a cucumber considering the circumstances, waved her fingers at him. “I got the key from Nick. Like we thought, just a misunderstanding.”
The receptionist nodded, and we stepped into the elevator.
“You’re good at this.”
London glanced up at me. Her tone was brittle, bitter. “You get used to masking your true feelings when it might get you punched.”
Silver muttered angry curses under her breath.
I ground my teeth together, promising Nick Huston a wee bit of retribution once London was free and clear.
The elevator doors opened to a swanky apartment with an impressive square footage that would make most New Yorkers weep with joy. There was no time for looking around. “Safe?”
London shoved her sunglasses up her face and I saw that beneath her outward calm, she had a deer-in-the-headlights look that spoke of oncoming panic. “This way.”
We followed London left down a hallway off the main open-plan living area and into a large bedroom suite. Behind the wall the bed was set against was a walk-in closet. She shoved aside a row of suits and there was the built-in safe.
“I’ll start packing for you.” Silver caught sight of a duffel bag and pulled it down from a shelf.
London murmured her okay and selected a six-digit code. The safe bleeped red. “Fuck.”
“It’s all right.” I attempted to keep her calm. “Maybe the last digit was wrong.”
“Yeah.” She nodded, her breathing increasing. “He moved slightly so maybe it was three instead of six.” She pressed in six digits, but it wasn’t the same as before. The safe bleeped red. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” London slammed a palm against the side of the black metal box.
“It’s all right,” I repeated. “Last time you entered 498126. This time you entered 489123. Try 498123.”
“I did?” She gaped up at me. “Oh. Okay.” With trembling hands, she selected the code I’d suggested.
The light on the safe turned green, and the door swung open.
London let out a slight sob before she reached in to pull out her passport and wallet. “This is it.” Turning to me, she blinked back tears. “Thank you.”
I nodded, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “No problem.”
Two minutes later, Silver looked up from shoving a top into the duffel bag. She was slightly sweaty and out of breath. “Done.”
“Already?”
“I packed what you needed to get started. Underwear, a few pairs of jeans, a couple of tops. It’s stuff I recognized as yours before you met Nick.”
“Is there anything here you need before we go?” I asked.
“No. Everything else is his. Let’s go.”
Unfortunately, we all heard the elevator ping as we departed the bedroom suite. London’s steps faltered as a man in an expensive suit stepped out of the lift.
I waved a hand at London and Silver to stay behind me but to keep walking.
Nick Huston was recognizable from the images that had popped up on my quick Google search.
Good-looking and not in a smooth way like Silver’s ex.
He had a sharp-edged quality to him. No warmth in his cool blue gaze as he faced us.
Nick was smart enough not to dismiss me, giving me an assessing, wary look before he turned his focus on London. The bastard didn’t even hide the avarice in his eyes. His expression told me he thought he fucking owned London.
“How did you get in?”
London pressed into Silver’s side behind me. “Key card.”
“I had the key card changed.”
“I don’t know what to say. It still worked.” She shrugged. But her voice shook. The cool, collected calm from earlier was gone. “I came to get my stuff.”
Nick laughed softly. “You really think you’re leaving me?”
Some of her fire crackled to life again. “This is the third black eye you’ve given me, Nick. Of course I’m leaving you.”
“So, you brought muscle with you.” Nick sneered at me.
I wanted to wipe that fucking sneer off his face. Permanently.
“You can tell people you dumped me. I don’t care.”
“I won’t be doing that.” Nick took a step toward her, anger tightening his jaw. “Because you’re not leaving me. What did I tell you would happen if you tried?”
“You piece of shit,” Silver hissed. “Don’t you threaten her.”
“Like I’d listen to you, you cunt.”
My hand was around his throat before he could blink. His eyes popped out of his head as I squeezed and thrust him back against the hallway wall. Nick clawed at my hand, pushing at my wrist. He thought because he could beat up a woman half his size, he was strong.
I enjoyed making him look and feel weak.
“You come near London again, you contact her, threaten her, or try to directly and/or indirectly harm her in any way, I will deal with you. And that is the last thing you want.” I released him, stepping back.
Nick bowed over, coughing as he clutched at his now bruised throat. Wrath morphed his handsome features into something monstrous. But he was nothing compared to what I’d faced in this life. I’d sooner be afraid of Akiva.
“I don’t even know who you are,” he wheezed.
Silver pressed into my side, trembling with her anger. “This is the man who nailed Halston Cole to the wall.”
Nick straightened, his surprise evident.
“Yeah.” Silver nodded, eyeing him like he was a piece of shite on her shoe. “I know you’re the one who told Cole I wasn’t going to back down and you’re pretty much the reason I got stabbed.”
What the fuck?
I moved toward Nick on instinct, but Silver grabbed my arm, halting me. “This is me holding him back from fucking you up permanently.”
I bared my teeth at the prick.
Silver continued. “You don’t want to mess with him. And you really don’t want to mess with me, Nick. Not again. Trust me when I say that you’re just a big fish in a small pond. We will annihilate you if you ever try to contact London again.”
Like a switch, Nick’s eyes welled up as he turned his attention to London. “Baby, are you really going to stand there and let them treat me like this? I love you! I am the only one who really loves you.”
“Bullshit,” London and Silver said in unison.
Silver quieted, though, glancing at her friend.
London stared blankly at Nick. “You have taken the last you’re ever going to take from me. I left the engagement ring I didn’t even want in the safe.”
His nostrils flared. “The safe?”
“Yeah. I have my passport and wallet again. So, I’m leaving. Everything in that bag”—she pointed to the duffel Silver still held—“is everything I brought with me. Nothing you bought me. I don’t want anything from you. We’re done.”
His hands flexed at his sides as if he wanted to react physically, so I moved in front of her, raising a finger in his face. “Fucking try it.”
“This isn’t over.”
Aggravation writhed through me, but I kept a leash on it. Nick wouldn’t be a worry for very long. James had sent over information before we’d entered the building that promised as such. “Unless you want me to crush your throat, you’ll step back and let us pass.”
Reluctantly, the piece of shit did so.
I ushered London and Silver onto the elevator.
Then I looked back at Nick and grinned.
Like I knew something.
Because I did.
He had the good sense to look uneasy.
Silver and London were silent as the elevator descended.
London lowered her sunglasses back down to cover her black eye.
They didn’t speak as we walked out. London handed over the key card to Andrew who gaped at her in shock.
The doorman pulled open the door, and she gave him a nod as we followed her out.
It was only once we’d made our way down the street that Silver’s best friend finally spoke. “This isn’t over. He won’t give up.”
“You don’t have to worry about Nick. He’s going to be preoccupied with other things very, very soon.”
Her head whipped toward me and though I couldn’t see her expression behind the glasses, I could feel the sharpness in her words. “What does that mean?”
“A friend of mine with resources.” I turned to Silver. “James.”
She nodded.
“Who is James?” London demanded.
“Like I said, a friend in a high place. The FBI are gathering evidence against Nick for insider trading. Apparently, he’s bribing tippers to provide him with information he uses for personal gain and for specific clients.
By the end of next week, he’ll be so tied up in a legal shit show, he’ll not only not have time to follow you to Scotland, legally he won’t be allowed to leave the country. ”
Silver let out a huff of disbelief and relief.
London staggered back against a storefront and Silver dropped the duffel to make sure her friend was okay.
She waved her off, sucking in deep, shaky breaths. “It’s … it’s over. It’s really over.”
“It’s really over,” Silver promised.
London looked up at her. “I won’t believe it until we’re in Scotland.”
“Then there’s no time to lose. Let’s go home.”
“I don’t know what home is.”
“It’s with me.” Silver pulled her into her arms. “We’re family, Spoon. I’ve got you.” She looked up at me over London’s head and mouthed “Thank you.”
I gave her a nod. “Told you. I’d do anything for you, woman.”
She smiled through wet eyes before squeezing them closed as she tightened her embrace around her friend.