Chapter 17
Montgomery
Claiming ownership was an unusual practice for me, at least regarding a woman. And especially since I was a long way from home and my jurisdiction where I could make good on my promise.
Fleur studied me as she shimmied into her dress. The silence since I’d collapsed over her, taking a few minutes to calm my breathing was unnerving. Whereas she hadn’t seemed embarrassed before, I sensed she was experiencing awkwardness. Her inability to say anything to me was quite unusual.
“Perhaps you should go,” she finally said. Her timidness was also unexpected.
If she thought she could shut me down, she was wrong.
However, I’d heed her need to be alone for now.
I needed additional time to determine who she was.
What little I’d found in the time allotted had been centered on her shop opening, a local newspaper writing an article on the uniqueness of the items in her store.
Granted, I hadn’t connected to the secure server the family used in discovering aspects about our enemies, but normally, there was at least a limited internet trail.
She had none.
That concerned me more than I’d wanted to admit.
My training and experience in the mafia lifestyle would indicate my next course of action was to first stop thinking with my dick.
Doing so would only create moments of having me blindsided.
She should be interrogated. Certainly not in the way I did with my enemies, yet thoroughly until I was satisfied there was nothing hiding in her background or her life now intentionally determined to harm me.
Why was I even thinking in such a way after our intense round of passion? It was not only because she remained a mystery, but also that I’d learned more about how much the townspeople admired my father, and now, my entire family.
That shouldn’t mean anything, but with the Russians being eager to strike me dead, they’d assume I’d prefer hiding in plain sight in a community who’d rally around me.
I knew of no other such place with the number of properties we owned.
I also didn’t put my full fate in the security of our information. With the pilot being required to file a flight plan, even with our options of shielding the information from the public, as soon as Alexander had initiated the flight, a small percentage of people could have discovered the location.
That still didn’t sit right with me.
After ruling out family as well as Gio, that left a handful of people, including those on the ground in Vermont.
While every employee and affiliate was vetted to the point we knew their damn shoe size, that didn’t mean there couldn’t be a deep infiltrator, a mole positioned for a lengthy period. It was classic spy game material.
The biggest onset of questions remained with why she’d almost been run down. Was she seen as my weakness, her death making me more vulnerable? The oldest sadistic trick in the book. Mind games.
Add it all up and whoever was responsible could be using the assassination ploy as a filler, pulling our time and energy off the actual chess game. What that might be was the final and most important question.
“Why are you looking at me that way?” she asked just before snatching her ruined panties from the rug.
I took the time to button my shirt before moving closer. Her lips were twisted together in an expression of frustration. I continued buttoning, including rolling down my sleeves. As soon as I was finished, I gripped her cheek and chin with more force than I’d used before.
She tugged slightly against my hold but refused to allow me the satisfaction of knowing my actions bothered her. “You now know who I am, Fleur. And I gathered from our conversation you know what I’m capable of.”
“I can’t tell if you’re trying to scare or threaten me.”
“Why would I dare threaten anyone so beautiful?”
“Cut the crap, Montgomery. I’m not one of your conquests or traitors who roam your castle of gold.”
She had me laughing. “Fair enough. However, I need to ask you a question and I want a truthful answer. Do you have any idea who’d want to kill you?”
“I don’t think that’s what happened. I already told you that.” The way her eyes deflected was telling.
“Let’s be clear. The driver was going at least fifty miles per hour when he crossed where you were standing.
The truck was a Dodge Ram 2500 with a HEMI engine.
At approximately six thousand pounds, the direct hit would have resulted in your body being tossed two dozen yards across the street.
When your body came crashing to the pavement, the bones that hadn’t been broken upon impact would have been shattered.
Including your skull. Yes, the person behind the wheel was trying to end your life on purpose. Who would want to do that?”
Did I intend on scaring her? At least enough for Fleur to take this seriously.
Her cheeks flushed as I’d seen so many times before, but for an entirely different reason. “I… I don’t know.”
The slight stutter gave her away. My grip tightened. “You’re lying to me.”
“Why would I? Do you think I want some deranged cowboy coming after me? I don’t have any enemies that I know of.”
“Alright. I’ll accept that.”
She finally held my gaze. No nervous tics. No trembling. I kept my hold firm for a few seconds before letting her go. As soon as I did, she grabbed her jacket, immediately flicking off the light. When I didn’t budge, she huffed. “Are you coming?”
Chuckling, I trailed behind her in the darkness.
Before she’d taken three steps toward the house, she stopped. As soon as every muscle in her body tensed, I jerked out my weapon, pulling her behind me. “What’s wrong?”
“Maybe nothing, but I left the light on in the kitchen over the stove when we walked out, as I always do. I just replaced the bulb last week.”
Without hesitation, I pulled her against the building, keeping her from an easy view from the house. The cane was dropped, useless to me. “Listen to me. You’re going to stay right here. Do you have your phone?”
“No, I left it in the house.”
“If something happens, I want you to run through the woods and find your closest neighbor. Do you understand me?”
“What are you going to do?”
“My job. Don’t defy me. Just follow my instructions.”
“Okay. Fine. I will.” With her voice wavering, she huddled in the darkness, and I waited for two seconds before crouching low and heading toward the back door.
She’d left it unlocked, which didn’t matter at this point.
I slowly turned the handle, listening for any telltale sounds of an invader.
Whoever was inside had had ample opportunity to kill us both, which prompted the question of why lie in wait?
Plus, why would anyone tip off the owner of the house?
With a slight creak in the hinges, I pushed open the door with my fingers, waiting before taking a step inside. The music from the satellite radio continued in the living room, but there was a sense of quiet that I’d experienced far too many times in my life.
My instincts were never wrong. Someone was inside. Besides, a new odor surpassed the lasagna and scent of candles. A masculine scent.
I moved through the darkened kitchen, taking cautious steps, entering the hallway leading to the living room. With the doorway in my sights, I slunk against the wall, both hands on my weapon. A single additional step and I noticed someone sitting in her leather chair with his back to me.
My bum leg wasn’t a hindrance tonight. Neither was the fact it had been a few years since I’d dealt with an intruder situation. At least my training hadn’t been lost in prosperity. Yet when I was a few inches away, his body stiffened, alerted by my presence.
Just as the intruder jerked up, I dragged him over the back of the chair, immediately pitching him against the wall. Without hesitation, I issued two brutal punches, one knocking the weapon in his hand halfway across the room.
He was startled, unreactive at least at first. But he came out swinging, throwing a brutal punch to my stomach, pushing himself off my chest and spinning in a martial arts move. The first kick caught me in the gut, tumbling me backward.
But when he repeated his successful move, I snapped my hand around his leg, twisting him brutally until I heard a slight pop. I shoved him back, eager to end this.
The intruder tumbled to the floor, but his reactions remained quick.
He was on his feet in a split second, lunging toward me.
Now my weapon was tossed aside. Goddamn it.
Who the fuck was this asshole? We both went crashing to the floor, rolling back and forth.
I got in several punches before he kicked me in the stomach again.
Only the assailant had miscalculated his aim, sending me to within a single foot of both weapons.
His eyes opened wide and in all my years, I doubted I’d seen anyone able to recover so quickly, scrambling to snatch his weapon before I did.
I was a split second quicker, taking aim at his forehead.
Just as he threw up his arms and right before I was able to get off a shot, a light popped on and Fleur screamed, “No! Please, no.”
Instantly I froze, keeping the barrel pointed toward him, shocked when she rushed between two men determined to kill each other, throwing out her arms toward both with a vicious expression on her face.
Hissing, I rose to my feet, grabbing his weapon and pocketing it. Without saying a word, she turned her head toward me, pleading with me with her eyes not to kill the unwanted visitor.
When I lowered my weapon, she nodded, returning her attention to the young man with the bloodied lip.
I returned and kept my gaze locked on him.
The resemblance between the two was in their facial features, but the muscular, inked man was scarred in body and mind from how life had treated him. His eyes held no prisoners.
“Danny, what the fuck are you doing here?” she demanded.