Chapter 25 Angel
Angel
Hadrian was a handsome man, with a wicked grin that matched Scarlett’s.
I could see why she’d fallen for him. He was a tall, wiry, muscled man with dark hair cut short around the back and longer at the top of his head.
As my name crossed my lips and his eyes lit on me, a spark of recognition entered his eyes.
The hand that gripped mine tightened—unrelenting—and it only made me want to tighten my own grasp in return.
He blinked as if realizing what he’d instinctively done before releasing me. “Sorry about that,” he said with a careful laugh as he scrubbed the back of his head and took a step back. “It’s good to meet a friend of Scar’s, I just never anticipated that you’d be—”
“Related to the mob?” I arched a brow. “Why not? She is a world-renowned thief, isn’t she?”
Scarlett laughed. “Not so much anymore,” she admitted, stepping between us. I saw the look she cast Hadrian’s way—it was a mixture of a question and a warning. As if she was both asking what the fuck his problem was and to not cause any issues.
If I was going to actually move forward with my current forming plan—stay in America, go after my sister, and take my life back—I’d need to get used to it.
People were going to react whether I wanted them to or not, just to my name.
My real name and not the one of many I’d used over the last five years.
There was a power that came with truth—with my name and what it was attached to.
“Now, what did you need help with?” Scarlett asked, redirecting herself to me as she backed against one of the tables and leaned on it, crossing her arms over her chest. Hadrian’s gaze snapped to the expanse of the chest that the shirt she wore allowed him—dipping down low in a V-neck above low-rise jeans.
I wondered if that was something Gaven did when we were together—and I was clothed, of course.
“I have a client outside,” I said.
“Criminal Witness Protection?” Scarlett snickered. It was a name she’d dubbed my business two years ago when I’d explained what I did.
I shook my head. “You know I deal with more than criminals; I deal with people who can’t rely on their governments for protection. I help them disappear when needed.”
Hadrian spoke up, focusing back on me. “Is that what this client needs?”
I grimaced. “Not exactly. This one is a bit more complicated. Ronald is a scientist working for a company here in New York. He’s developed a new product that medical corporations are going to want to use, but he wants to give the product out for practically free.”
Hadrian frowned and scratched at the shadow of a beard forming on the underside of his jawline. “What’s the product?”
“Organs,” I said. “Scientifically grown to suit the needs of a specific individual.”
A low whistle shot through the room. “Shit, yeah, there’s no fucking way a corporation is gonna let something like that go to market without having their hand in it, and definitely not for free. Something like that will make millions.”
“Think billions,” I replied with another shake of my head. “They want his formula for how to do it and they want him gone.”
“They’re trying to kill him,” Scarlett surmised.
I nodded. “Yeah, we actually just got away from a kidnapping attempt at the motel I was having him hide out at while I was…” I didn’t want to mention Gaven. “…indisposed.”
Scarlett’s lips twitched at the last word, but she didn’t press for more information. She knew a little bit about the husband I’d left behind and how we’d come together, but she couldn’t know that I was indisposed because he’d found me and held me captive for several days.
“Okay, so you want to protect this guy and make him disappear with his work?” Hadrian asked.
“Yeah, that’s what I’d like to do,” I said.
Though, if I were to ask Ron, I knew he would want to go public with what he knew.
He mistakenly thought that if the public knew of his invention and what it would do for the good of mankind, he would be protected.
I wish he were right, but I knew better.
The media was nothing if not a tool for corporations to use at their will.
They’d label him as a crazy idealist and he might be protected for as long as he was in the public eye—but eventually, the public would forget, the world would move on, and he’d be snuffed out in the shadows.
I’d seen it happen a time or two in the last few years and I hated the thought of him being yet another casualty of that corporate greed.
If I were honest with myself, I knew that a part of the reason I wanted my life back was because I wanted the allies and power that came with it.
If I had more than just myself, I could have protected Ron much better.
“So, a new identity then,” Hadrian said as he turned away and went back to his seat in front of the wall of computer screens. “That’s easy enough to do.”
“More than that,” I said, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. If all he needed was a new identity, I could’ve done that myself. “He’s going to want to leave his work somewhere. He wants it out there in the world, and before I make him disappear, I want to help him get it there.”
Hadrian’s hands froze over the keyboard and he looked back at me incredulously. “You want to actually help him go up against the medical corporations? That’s fucking insane.”
Scarlett tapped one long, manicured finger against her chin. “Is it really that crazy?” she asked.
Hadrian’s gaze snapped to her and he lifted a finger, pointing it her way.
“No,” he practically growled. “You are not considering this. She’ll be a target; if you help her, so will you.
I will not have you painting a big fat target on your gorgeous ass, baby.
If you want red on you, I’ll spank you. Otherwise, stay out of it. ”
I blinked at the carnal words but didn’t have a chance to step in or say anything as Scarlett rounded on him. “She’s my friend, Hadrian,” she snapped. “She asked me for help—not you.”
“The answer is still the same,” he replied. “It’s a flat fucking no. If you think you can fight me on this, you know you’ll be outnumbered. Shall I call Wolf right now?”
Scarlett snarled at her husband. “Just because your ring is on my finger and your collar is on my neck,” she said, reaching up to touch the light gold necklace encircling her throat. “Doesn’t mean you can control every aspect of my life, Hadrian.”
Hadrian arched one dark brow. “Want to make that a bet, baby?”
The two of them were at a stand-off, but my ears were ringing with the words that had come out of their mouths.
Collars and spankings. Were they … no, they couldn’t be.
I shook my head and dismissed it. Even if they were in a similar relationship to the one I shared with Gaven, it didn’t mean anything to me or pertain to the matter at hand.
I moved closer to the two of them, capturing their attention as I began to speak.
“I don’t want anyone else to get a target painted on their backs,” I said.
They both swung their heads my way. Hadrian narrowed his gaze.
“What I need help with is coming up with a plan—to not only protect my client but to deliver his formula to the right hands so that it can’t be covered up no matter what the corporation and the media try to do. ”
Hadrian cursed. “That’s a tall fucking order,” he said, biting the words out through clenched teeth. He shut his eyes and leaned back into the chair, his hands white-knuckling the armrests. I could practically see the steam pouring from his forehead and his ears.
“But you’ll help?” Scarlett asked.
Tense silence met that question. After a beat, she circled the tables and returned to his side. Her hand touched the top of his head and then she ran her fingers down into his hair, stroking the short strands back as he opened his eyes and met her gaze above his.
“Please?” she asked again. “She’s my friend. You know I don’t have many of those.”
I waited with bated breath to see what Hadrian would decide. If he turned me down, I’d have to think of something else, and honestly, I wasn’t even quite sure if I could protect and hide Ron—not with Gaven on my heels.
Hadrian's arms lifted from the armrests and wrapped around Scarlett’s slender frame, pulling her between his legs as he pushed away from the desk to give her room.
“You have me,” I heard him say, his voice muffled against her stomach as he pressed his face into her. “And Wolf and our daughter.”
She continued to soothe him, running her hands through his hair and somehow, I felt like this was a scene I shouldn’t be privy to.
This was a private moment between them, and watching it made me feel more of a pervert than anything Gaven had ever done to me.
Turning away helped, but not by much because I could still hear them.
“I know,” Scarlett said, “but you aren’t friends—the three of you are family. Please, Hadrian. Please help me help her.”
My chest clenched. It was clear just by listening to their conversation that they truly loved and cared for each other.
They were what Scarlett said they were—family.
I didn’t have a family. Not anymore. Jackie was a problem, not a sister.
She was a blackmailer and a traitor. And Gaven …
well, I’d run from him too many times for him to see me as little more than a liability.
He still wanted me, but likely only because he wanted answers and his shot at the Price Empire.
It made me a sucker of a woman, but once my sister was dealt with I would give it to him. I wanted what Scarlett and Hadrian obviously had. Trust. Caring. Love. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get it—or if Gaven could be the one to give it to me—but we were already married. So, I had to at least try.
“Fine.” Hadrian’s begrudging response had me spinning back to face them.
“You’ll help?” I clarified.
Hadrian leaned around Scarlett and glared my way. “Yes,” he replied. “But I want your fucking guy up here. He shouldn’t be out in the street, waiting in the car.”
“I lost the men that tried to kidnap him hours ago,” I defended. “And he was tired. I just wanted to let him sleep.”
Hadrian released Scarlett with a grunt of frustration. “Do you not know how many cameras are stationed around the world?” he demanded. “It’s not just CCTVs that you need to look out for. Get him up here. Now.”
I blew out a breath, and though I wanted to say something snippy in return, I pushed the urge down. He was going to help, and that was enough for now. “Fine,” I said, nodding.
“I’ll come with—” Just as Scarlett tried to make that offer, Hadrian’s hand captured hers and he tugged her back towards his lap until she fell into it with an oomph.
“Not you,” he said. “I need to make something clear to you, Scar, while she goes to get her miracle man.”
This time, I did roll my eyes. Ronald was not a miracle man—well, perhaps he would be if his discovery and formula made it out to the rest of the world—but to me, he was purely a job. One I needed to hurry up and finish so I could go after Jackie.
“I’ll be right back,” I said—not that the two of them could hear me. Once Hadrian dismissed me, they fell into their own little world.
With a sigh, I went back the way I’d come, striding down the rickety staircase leading into the stale air of the closed bookshop on the ground floor. Outside, it looked like the rain had let up and was only a sprinkle.
I headed for the front and quickly undid the deadbolt on the front door before stepping outside. With the rain slowing to a light drizzle, the world felt warmer than before. The nondescript sedan I’d driven here in remained parked on the curb.
Fishing my keys out of my shorts pocket, I hit the unlock button and popped the driver’s side door open. I was already talking before I bent down. “Hey, Ron, it’s time to wake—Ron?”
The passenger side was empty. I looked to the back, wondering if he had woken, found me missing, and decided to nap in the back, but no. The backseat was just as empty.
“What the fuck?” The inside remained untouched, and nothing had been disturbed other than the missing man.
The windows were rolled up and unshattered.
I stood again, and just as I turned my head, wondering if Ron had stepped out now that it wasn’t raining as hard for a breath, something slammed into the side of my skull.
I stumbled away from the sedan, slamming into the open driver’s side door before falling hard on the ground. My ears rang and stars danced in front of my vision. A somewhat familiar head of ginger hair appeared before me. It was one of the men from the motel and his face was crunched in anger.
“Sorry about this, Miss Price.” The man spit the name in my face as he grabbed my hair, yanking it back and causing a sharp jolt of pain to skit down the back of my neck.
I cried out and reached up to alleviate some of the pain.
“For not recognizing you before, but don’t worry.
This time—we won’t make the same mistake. ”
I struggled against his hold as he jerked me up from the ground, my sneakers slipping on the wet pavement.
“Let go!” I yelled, flailing. I punched out at him, but he was faster than me and instead, he backhanded me—sending my skull ringing once more as my head snapped to the side.
Last time had obviously been luck on my part. He was far stronger than I remembered.
“We only expected Ronald,” he said, “but when Miss Jackie heard there was a woman with him, she knew exactly who you were, and we’re to bring you to her.”
“Jackie?” I blinked as spots of white and black danced in front of my gaze. Fuck. No. Shit. Not yet, I wasn’t ready. My mind reeled.
“That’s right,” the ginger man snapped. “Don’t worry—you’ll be asleep for the drive.”
“Asleep? What—”
I didn’t finish my question. I couldn’t have even if I wanted to because the next thing I saw—the last thing I saw—was his fist coming straight for my face. Then it was lights fucking out.