16. Alex
ALEX
“We’ll be landing in fifteen minutes, Mr. Hunt,” my pilot says. Vera Lundstrom’s voice is cool and efficient, with a tiny trace of her Swedish accent.
That ETA is good news because I’m eager to get off this plane and get some answers. It’s hard, sometimes, to let people do their job and not demand an update every other minute. That doesn’t stop me from reaching for my phone and checking for incoming messages.
But there’s nothing new.
I sit back in the plush chair, wishing Katherine were with me this time. I need her soothing presence. That sharp wit and calm demeanor. The sweetness that hides her claws.
My thumb hovers over the screen, scrolling through the photos Katherine and I took in Paris. What’s not documented is that kiss in the rain, but it’s seared in my brain, on my lips. The way my heart nearly beat out of my chest for her.
Is it too soon to go back?
We could all go. The four of us. Get lost in the city. Eat our weight in croissants. Make love beneath the light of the Eiffel.
My eyelids close, and the scene plays out in front of me.
Katherine between King and Gabe. Me on the bed watching them strip her bare.
They take turns kissing her, petting her pretty skin, teasing her breasts, delving between her thighs until she whimpers.
Then they turn her to me, and she smiles.
The room gets brighter because she crosses to the bed, crawls up the mattress and settles in my lap.
Life is always brighter when her attention is on me.
Sighing, I come back to the present and adjust myself. Closing the photos app, I try to get my head in the game.
Dread rests heavy in my stomach. I want the best for all my employees, from my second in command to the night janitor at our headquarters, but this is going to be particularly rough because I was just here last week.
It’s not like my client has become less of a needy asshole in the last six days.
And right now, he’s being a complete drama llama.
The jet shudders slightly as the landing gear lowers into place. Behind me, the company lawyer snaps his laptop and shuffles some papers.
The landing is as smooth as one could hope for, and it doesn’t take long until we’re rolling to a stop in front of a massive hangar. I peek out the window and see a large black SUV waiting, one of our local agents standing beside the driver’s door.
Across from me, my personal protection pops his seatbelt and stands.
It feels weird having someone watch my back again.
Maybe weird isn’t the right word. Different.
With things heating up between Kingston, Gabe, Katherine, and me, I’d be stupid to leave myself unguarded with so much at stake.
Which reminds me to double security on the three of them, at least until this latest swell settles.
I’m halfway down the short staircase when my phone rings. Hand on the rail, I glance at the screen. Tadhg O’Sullivan, Gabe’s head of security.
That’s odd.
I connect the call, my nerves on high alert.
“Yeah?”
“We’ve got a situation.”
My fist tightens around the metal bar. “Tell me.”
“Roman took a bullet to the abdomen. They took Katherine.”
There’s no way I heard him correctly.
“Say that again.”
“Miss Montgomery. By our count, four guys came and took her. The ambulance just left with Roman. He’s pissed, saying it’s a flesh wound.”
My stomach drops around my ankles and circles, leaving me nauseated and clumsy. I cling to the phone as he continues, but I don’t hear his words. A scream echoes inside me, raw. Wounded.
My body wants to implode, just settle here on the steep steps of my private jet and wallow. This is why I never got involved with anyone. Why I never let anyone into my heart. Because love is fleeting. People can be snatched away in the blink of an eye.
I experienced it with Courtney.
I’ve experienced the loss through my job.
Lungs heaving, I zone back in.
“Mr. Rothburn and Mr. Saint are inside, but they’re not happy that we restrained them from going after her.”
Of course not.
“You guys did the right thing, protecting King and Gabe. Making sure there wasn’t another threat.”
“The police are here. A Detective Garcia is asking questions.” There’s a brief pause and then a curse under his breath. “And the fucking paps just showed up.”
Son-of-a-bitch.
Turning, I march back up the stairs, almost plowing into my own bodyman. “Is everything okay, boss?”
“No,” I answer honestly. This is the nightmare scenario.
Thank goodness my mind takes over. Years of training and habit settle over me like armor. Inside, I’m shredded. Weak and useless, barely able to suck in a breath.
I force my shoulders back and down, lifting my chin, and push aside any softness.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay again. It all depends on my next few moves and what happens in the coming hours.
My pilot stands in the doorway of the cockpit, obviously detecting that something’s wrong. “I need to get back to New York. As fast as you can.”
She nods and goes to work making it happen. My lawyer hovers inside the doorway, briefcase in his hands. “What’s going on?”
I wave him back to the plush leather chairs. “I’ll tell you on the way.”
I take the seat I just exited, strap in, and tap the speakerphone button so everyone can hear.
“Tell me everything.”
Tadhg gives me the rough details. My heart sinks with every word. I knew something was wrong. Deep down, my gut whispered things were amiss. I don’t know what, exactly, but I should have pressed harder to find out. Doubled Katherine’s security. Done everything in my power to keep her safe.
How did it all go so wrong?
My knee bounces and I will the plane to move. If I could pick it up and run down the runway, I would. What is taking so long?
I force in a deep breath and hold it.
As I exhale, Vera tells us to buckle up, and a split second later, we’re on the move. Thank fuck.
“Mr. Saint tried to fire Tomasz.”
“No one’s getting fired. You did the right thing. Keep them there. And keep an eye on King. He might try to go out a window.” Or the chimney.
My phone beeps, alerting me to another incoming call. Speak of the devil.
“Keep me in the loop,” I say and switch calls. “King?—”
“They won’t let us leave!” His voice echoes through the cabin.
“They can’t do that, King.” I immediately take the call off speakerphone and get up, heading to the room in the back and buckling myself in.
“Why not? We could have gone after her! We have vehicles.”
Folding forward, I drop my forehead into my hand. My heart aches for him. That handful of words, in that frustrated tone, tells me everything I need to know. He’s climbing the walls. Trying to hold it together.
“And what? Endanger all three of you, not to mention my men, with a chase through the city?”
That was never going to happen, but I certainly feel his frustration and urgency. In his position, I’d be feeling the exact same.
He grumbles.
Gathering myself, I blow out a breath and quickly put together a mental to-do list. “Give me a second to send a text, then I want you to tell me everything.”
“Okay.”
I can almost see him deflating, his normal vibration slowing to a dull hum.
My first text is to Magnus to find out the whereabouts of Tyler and Lucinda. Next, I contact my tech division.
With my teams dispatched, I focus on King again.
“King?”
“Yeah?” He sounds small and unsure, and I fucking hate that.
He blasted into our lives, a ball of energy and happiness.
So full of love that he’s terrified to let those words out, but he shows it.
Now he’s sitting in a temporary townhome in New York, going out of his mind. And I’m stuck on this damn plane.
Vera’s reassuring voice comes through the speaker. “Prepare for departure.”
I tighten the belt across my lap. “We’re going to get her back. Now tell me everything you saw.”
There’s a pause, and I strain to hear every sigh, every murmur, every blubber as he pulls himself together.
“Don’t say that, Alex. Don’t get my hopes up.”
“Ordinarily, I wouldn’t.” That’s standard practice in my business. Be optimistic, but don’t make promises you can’t keep.
There’s a pause from the other side of the call. The plane picks up speed, pressing me back into my seat as it hurtles skyward.
“What aren’t you saying?” he asks.