Chapter 46 Ambitions
Ambitions
I stared down at the old security feed, watching Jaden interact with Ella in the nursery for like the seventh time today. I loved seeing the shift in her eyes the second she picked her up. Those pretty hazels warmed almost immediately, her features hardening with the determination I had hoped for.
She knew what was expected of her, she knew what was coming, and what would not be stopped.
She’d had plenty of time to come to terms with her future, but I hoped the more comfortable I got her with Ella, the better off she would be.
Hopefully, her anger over the expectation would dissipate faster if she secretly wanted a child. It would be better for her if she did. But I doubted her spiteful stubbornness would allow that to manifest so quickly.
Once she was pregnant and could feel our child growing and moving inside her, whatever anger she was feeling would be replaced with the longing for motherhood. She might hate me for a long time over it, but that hate would disappear into the eyes of our firstborn.
Jaden would cope and adapt just like she always did.
The doors to my office opened without a knock, telling me Scott had something to report on. Dropping a manila folder onto my desk, he plopped down into the black leather chair behind him.
“Those are the potentials,” he said with a nod toward the folder. “They’re all overly qualified, so personality is probably going to be the next best factor to consider. My advice would be to pick someone she’ll actually want to listen to, someone she’ll respect.”
I scoffed at his joke.
Now, wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace?
Opening the folder, I took the profiles of Jaden’s new potential bodyguards Scott had gathered and spread them out across my desk.
Each one had a photo attached to it so I knew what kind of build they would be using to protect my most precious possession.
Studying the profiles, an interesting one caught my attention.
“A woman, huh?” I commented as I glanced up at Scott. He nodded as I opened the profile.
“She’s six foot three and built like a tank. A stone-cold Russian like her might be a good change of pace for Jaden. She certainly wouldn’t be barred from the lady’s restroom like Clive and Owen had been.”
“True,” I replied as I flipped through the pages, reading all her credentials.
“I’ve also worked with her in the past. I’d trust her with even my life.”
I glanced back up at Scott to see that he was serious.
But as it turned out, she did have an impressive background.
Former SVR, expert marksman, ballistic specialist, speaks five languages, and has guarded over a dozen foreign nationals.
She even spent some time with the yakuza a few years back.
But given her appearance, she would definitely draw some attention.
“Why did she leave the SVR?”
“Sexism,” Scott answered. “Apparently, her looks just didn’t suit for the roles they wanted women like her to play.”
I chucked a laugh, entirely unsurprised. “It’s Russian intelligence, color me shocked. She looks like the damn female boogeyman,” I commented.
Her pale yet blotchy complexion was marred by multiple scars, none of which could be hidden behind a curtain of hair since hers stopped just above her brow.
Intriguingly, the faded buzzed-cut sides gave visibility to the outline of a red-and-black Japanese dragon tattoo etched along the side of her skull.
Likely in her late thirties, her ice-blue eyes were sharp as steel, a familiar dark gaze hardened by years of field experience. And Scott was right, she was built like a tank, with an impressive physique I knew Jaden would immediately envy. Maybe she would be a good match for her after all.
“She seems a little eccentric, but I’ll consider it,” I said as I set the profile aside. Catching Scott’s eyes, he looked like he had more to say. I raised a brow in expectation.
“Daniel is still asking for you,” he said, reminding me for the second time.
“He shouldn’t be. He needs to be resting,” I replied as I glanced through another profile.
“He says he can’t rest until he talks to you.”
I rolled my eyes before bringing them up to meet Scott’s gaze. “He just wants to pester me for shit he shouldn’t be thinking about. He needs to relax.”
“You know he won’t until you put his mind at ease. And it’s already been a week.”
“For fuck’s sake,” I cursed under my breath, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Fine. I’ll go see him this afternoon. Where are we with the investigation?”
Scott stared at me before sighing in apparent frustration and shook his head. “I have no idea how Matt knew we would be there. The only thing I can think of is he found some way to track us.”
I frowned at the logic. “But he already knew we were in Chicago. Why wait to have us attacked later when he could have done it then?”
Scott shrugged. “Maybe he didn’t have the time or the manpower then to mobilize an attack. Maybe the location was wrong? Who knows? Could be a million things.”
I cocked a brow. “He was the one who lured me to Chicago in the first place. It’s unlike him to fumble an opportunity.”
“Maybe something fell through, and he couldn’t act when he wanted to. Or maybe he had no plans to attack you in Chicago at all. Maybe he just wanted you out of California so he could take advantage of your absence and use it to attack Daniel.”
I thought about that
“Probably. But that doesn’t explain how he knew where we were going,” I added, sitting back against my chair. “He should have assumed I would just return home.”
Scott shook his head. “Someone had to have been tracking us.”
I paused to consider that. It was likely, and it wouldn’t be the first time someone followed me. But it was quite the stretch to follow me that closely undetected.
“There’s a missing link somewhere, and we need to find it.”
Scott nodded in silence, his eyes drifting off in thought while mine shifted back to the computer screen.
Jaden was now spoon-feeding something orange to Ella. I exhaled a deep, satisfying breath, relaxing my body as I watched her.
The longer I stared, the more I noticed a warm sense of optimism and hope blooming in my chest, overpowering my incessant drive for war and carnage. And soon, a decision quickly solidified itself in my mind over a desire that just couldn’t be beat anymore.
I wanted to finally start my family with Jaden. But in order to do that, I needed to destroy someone else’s.
“We need to arrange a hit on Matt and all of his immediate family members. I don’t care who kills them or how, I just want them all dead.”
Scott was quiet for a moment before he took out his phone. “How much?”
“Five hundred thousand each, and one million for Matt with a two-year exclusive contract.”
He nodded as he stood to make the call. Keeping my focus on Jaden, I realized I was already bored with this war with Matt.
I just wanted him fucking dead so I could be done with his petty bullshit and move on.
He’d destroyed one of my homes, one of my brother’s homes, marred his family, and nearly took his life.
Matt had caused enough hell to officially become a goddamn plague, so I would utilize every resource I had to finally bring it all to an end. And if that meant recruiting some blood-thirsty mercs, then so be it.
Their assistance would even give me the time I needed to flush out this new shadow enemy of mine before they became any more of a problem than they already were. I was not about to supplement one war for another when I finally found them out. I wanted that issue done quick, clean, and contained.
When I was finished looking through the remaining profiles for Jaden’s new bodyguard, I decided I was putting Daniel off long enough.
Glancing back up at the computer screen, my chest warmed as I watched Jaden play with Ella on the floor, her gorgeous face lighting up with the same brilliant smile she would eventually show our own child.
Starting tomorrow, my main focus would center on nothing else other than making that a reality within the next nine months. But first, I needed to get her obedience back on track.
Rising from my seat, I sighed as I made my way down to the infirmary, already irritated by the conversation I would have to endure with my brother.
With his brain injury, we had no idea what to expect, and I really didn’t feel like testing the waters right now, given his “fragile” state.
Bypassing Katherine’s room, I rounded the hallway into our little intensive care unit, finding Daniel sitting up in his bed. He was typing something out on his phone when he looked up and noticed my entrance.
“About fucking time, Darren,” he muttered.
“Shut up. You should be resting,” I clipped as I sat down in the chair beside his bed. He had a white bandage wrapped around his head where the bullet had entered his skull, grazing about a centimeter across his frontal lobe, and then exiting his temple.
“Fuck that. I’ll rest after I finally kill that motherfucker,” Daniel retorted, an irritated edge to his voice. The asshole was lucky to be alive. Again. It was now the second time Matt had almost succeeded in killing him.
“Yeah well, someone else might beat you to it before you get the chance,” I told him.
His brows snapped together. “What the hell are you talking about?”
I cracked my neck, ready for the explosion. “I just put out a four-million-dollar hit on him twenty minutes ago. One million for his immediates.”
His scratched and bruised-up face suddenly turned even redder. “You what?!” he nearly roared.
I tried not to roll my eyes. “Calm down before you give yourself a brain aneurysm,” I warned.
He immediately scoffed. “Since when the fuck do you commission open contracts on people? We always handle our problems ourselves.”
“Since this morning when I decided I had better things to do than waste another second on that spineless little fuck. I want this shit done, Dan.”