12. Miceli
TWELVE
MICELI
I should have known she’d do this. Collins put too much space between us.
I’d been able to be proactive with her since she’d arrived and now I’d been put in the dark.
When Benny announced she was leaving in her car instead of the Land Rover, I had a bad feeling.
I sent him and Robbie to keep tabs on Collins and Lucas.
Their instructions were simple: don’t get close enough for them to know they’d been followed, but close enough should something happen, they could protect the pair.
Every check in had been good. They were shopping.
Computers, phones, clothes, coffee. The usual, though not.
By the way they were buying things, I had a feeling they were going to leave.
The niggle at the back of my mind telling me I should have confronted Collins intensified.
Every move she made only solidified my belief and Ellory’s.
She wasn’t who she said she was. Because, it appeared, on the surface, those men weren’t there because of me.
“I have photos,” Robbie said, joining me in my office. “I got them off the guy who was fighting Lucas.”
“Show me.” I needed to know who we were facing.
“Here.” Robbie handed over his phone. “I think they’re Alphonso Tripoli’s men. His license said Hector Alonzo. The other said Carlos Zamora.”
The minute I saw the men, I curled my lip in disgust. “Yes, that’s them.” Fuck. Why were those men going after Collins? What did they know I didn’t?
“This piece of shit is the one who had the knife to Collins’ neck,” Robbie added when I handed him the phone back. “I don’t recognize him, but his license said his name was Javier Benítez.”
Nor did I when I saw the photo. Didn’t matter.
It was probably some piss ant trying to make a name for themselves and get into Alphonso’s good graces.
“Fuck.” I had to keep my shit together. If I went to Collins pissed off like I was, she’d clam up, and this time, after everything that happened, she would run. “Where’s her car?”
“I brought it back. Bodies were wiped of everything. Burned off their fingerprints while Benny disposed of everything else that could be traced back to the two men. Dental records will get a coroner their identity, but it’ll take a while.”
Good. I needed to get ahead of this. “Not taking the bodies was risky.”
“Didn’t have a choice. Between the gun shots and Collins screaming, we had little time.” Robbie frowned. “Should have taken them to the farm.”
I scrubbed my chin. “You have a point. Alphonso will find out. Thankfully, no one will miss them.” For obvious reasons.
“Lucas is a bit banged up, but not badly. Benny is cleaning up his cuts and setting a couple of stitches,” Robbie stated. “As for Collins, I think she’s freaked out. She has a minor cut to her throat and some scrapes. She’s at the cottage, hold up in her room.”
That was what I feared the most. The longer she stayed inside that pretty head of hers, the more I had a feeling she was plotting how to flee.
I was stuck in my thoughts somewhere between sheer luck or coordinated effort for why Collins was attacked.
Unless Brooke had photos of Collins, which I doubted, no one knew about her being in my home.
Of course, paranoia dictated everyone at the Table knew everything that happened around us.
There was also the fact Ellory, and I were still trying to figure out if Collins was who she said she was, or Stephanie Hollis.
The twisted knots of lies and deceptions were all part of this lifestyle and were definitely part of the game.
However, being on the outside of the plotting made it impossible to make a move.
I needed to be let in. “I’ll go see her. ”
“Think that’s wise?” Robbie questioned.
I cocked a brow.
“No offense, boss, but you’re intense right now.”
I blew out a breath. If I didn’t get the truth, there was no way I could help protect Collins and Lucas, especially since it seemed, with no other information at the moment, my enemy was coming after my employee and her brother.
“I’ll be gentle.” I hoped anyway. Couldn’t make promises.
Standing, I patted his shoulder. “Thank you for being there for them today. You and Benny saved their lives.”
“I’d do anything for them,” Robbie said with a shrug. “Collins is good people. So is her brother.”
Yes, they were. Even if Collins hid everything from me, the one thing that shined through with her was her willingness to help.
Not just that. She was kind and caring. She took Rocca under her wing and treated her almost as family.
That was irreplaceable. I only hoped she would open up to me and allow me to help her.
If my suspicions were right.
Once outside, I spotted Antonio going over Collins’ car. After pulling two trackers from her vehicle, when he worked on it, there shouldn’t have been anything there. I wondered if perhaps they came up on Alphonso’s men placing new ones, and startled the men. “Did you find anything?”
Antonio shook his head, brows furrowed in concentration. “Nothing so far. Means nothing, though.”
No, it didn’t. “I’m going to talk to Collins. Let me know if there is anything amiss.”
Antonio bobbed his head before getting back to work.
As I stepped into the house, the small trinkets she’d added to make this place Collins’ home greeted me, though sparce as they were.
The one thing I noticed right away was the fact she didn’t have any photos of herself or of her brother, even if they were alone.
Not even a photo of her parents at a happier time.
Family was everything to me. I couldn’t imagine not wanting a memory or two around of a happier time.
As I continued through the house, I paused momentarily, not sure which room she’d claimed for herself, so I went to the first closed door and knocked.
When no one answered, I pushed the door open and found her laying there, curled up in as small of a ball as she could get.
Her eyes were closed. Her cheeks were pink and blotchy from crying.
The scent of flowers kissed with honey assailed me.
Every time I was near her, the smell of her soap wrapped around me, enticing me.
When Benny called, alerting me to the situation, I hadn’t considered what I’d feel if she was ever hurt.
My heart fell to my stomach. My gut knotted with fear.
I wanted her with a single-minded focus and the thought of her slipping through my grasp left me feral.
Even now, standing in her room, surrounded by the luxurious floral scent and honey, I couldn’t calm down.
God help me, I was an old man compared to her.
She should have someone in her life who was closer to her age, yet the notion of not being that person left a hole in my chest and irritated me to the point of rage.
I paced her room, trying to gather myself enough to sit down beside her.
When her eyes opened, fear broke through the confusion in those delicate grey eyes of hers as she stared up at me.
I knew I hadn’t done a good enough job of keeping my feelings to myself.
“Interesting day you had,” I said, my tone harsher than I’d wanted.
She flinched away from me, and I tsked. Damn it.
This woman . I sat beside her, making it so she couldn’t retreat any more than she already had.
She watched me, wide eyed, ready to bolt if given the chance.
The area on her neck where she’d been injured was red and angry.
A thin line of blood remained with scratch marks I wasn’t sure who made.
When she said nothing to me, I tried again, because I needed to hear her voice to make sure she was okay.
“Collins,” I murmured. “Please talk to me. You’ve got me on edge right now.”
Her audible gulp hurt my soul more. She was terrified, even of me. What could be so wrong she’d have this type of reaction? Besides the obvious. “I’m sorry.” Her tone was soft with a bit of a croak.
“What happened?” I kept my voice neutral, coaxing, hoping she’d tell me something—anything—that I could use.
“I don’t know,” she squeaked. “One minute we were having fun and the next...”
“Did they say anything?” I pressed.
“The one was going to use me to get in with Alphonso Tripoli.” She inhaled, then yelped in pain.
“What wrong?” I pushed the covers aside, reaching for her so I could find the source of discomfort. “What hurts?”
“I got the air knocked out of me,” she whispered. “Still hurts to inhale.”
“Can I look?”
She averted her gaze, and I took it as permission to spy a glance.
My fingertips glided with ease along her lightly tanned skin, pushing her shirt out of the way to expose the area that hurt.
Everything went taut inside of me. Being this close, touching her, I licked my bottom lip, stuck between lust and discipline.
She was injured. I wouldn’t take advantage of her.
With a hiss, I shook my head. The area around her ribs was a vibrant shade of purple and red.
There was nothing out of place or distended, so I didn’t think she’d broken any ribs, didn’t mean anything.
They could be cracked. “Some bruising. If you want to see the doctor, I can make arrangements for you or have the doctor come here to see you.”
She whimpered. “Please.”