Chapter 1 #2
“Oh, you aren’t leaving, Ms. Hawke.” Chad held the now unconscious Addie up against him. “Mr. Mikhailov insisted. And he’s a man who always gets what he wants.”
Saskia grabbed a table to stay upright. She was so dizzy. “What…does he want?”
Chad’s smile turned nasty. “He wants you.” The man tossed Addie over his shoulder. “And it looks like he’ll be getting a bonus blonde as well. I’ll be right back to get you.” He strode out.
Saskia fumbled in her bag and pulled out her phone. She tripped, and fell on her hands and knees. She scrambled for the phone, trying to unlock it. Her fingers felt like they were double their size. A sob welled in her throat. This couldn’t be happening.
She got the phone open and pressed the screen.
Please, pick up.
“Saskia?”
Cam’s deep voice.
“Cam…” Her throat was so tight. She couldn’t form any words.
“Saskia?” His tone hardened. “Are you there?”
“I—”
The phone was snatched out of her hand. An enraged Chad smashed it against the counter and it shattered.
No .
He hauled her up. “Time to take a little trip.”
The world swam, and blackness swamped her.
* * *
Camden Morgan paced his living room, turning his cell phone over and over in his hand.
He’d tried all day to contact Saskia.
Nothing.
The calls wouldn’t connect. She hadn’t called him back.
Cam . She’d said his name, little more than a whisper.
He stopped at the window. The weather had turned bad, and the fog and clouds matched his mood.
Usually, the view of the city was stellar.
He was renting a place owned by his friend, Easton Norcross.
Cam had saved his money from his time in the military, and Easton used his billion-dollar investment skills to invest for Cam.
He could buy even in San Francisco’s market, if he wanted. He just didn’t know what or where, yet.
He still felt…temporary. Nothing felt quite right. Like he was wearing borrowed clothes that were too tight.
Except his job working at Norcross Security for Easton’s brother, Vander. That was the only thing that felt right.
And when he was staring into Saskia’s warm, brown eyes.
Fuck . She was off limits. Totally off-limits.
His hands curled. Saskia was beautiful. Long, slender, willowy, but with an underlying strength that drew him. He was aware that to be a dancer of her caliber, she had to be fit and strong, and put in hours of training and practice.
But most of all, it was her smile when she looked at him. The glint in her eyes, like she knew all his secrets and they didn’t worry her.
That look that dared him to touch her, kiss her.
Cam blew out a sharp breath. Saskia Hawke looked at and spoke to him like she didn’t see the scars, the darkness.
I know all about brave warriors, Cam.
She’d said that on one of their calls. He loved listening to her rich voice on the line. He knew she’d been talking about her brother.
I know what you have to give up, to do such an important job. A job that calls to you, but takes pieces of your soul as well. Every day, I’m grateful for men like you, Camden.
Where the hell was she?
He looked at his phone. It still didn’t ring.
Something was wrong. He knew in his gut. It was the same damn feeling he’d gotten before a bomb had blown up his team in Afghanistan.
Before a good man had died. A man he’d fought with, laughed with, bled with. Before his best friend had died in his arms.
His jaw tightened. Fuck this.
He strode out of his apartment, slamming the door behind him.
It was a short elevator ride down to the garage. A gleaming BMW X6 SUV in black sat in his parking space. He hadn’t even bought a car yet. The X6 was a Norcross Security vehicle. He didn’t even know what kind of car he wanted.
He slid in, gunned the engine, and pulled out of the parking garage. The Norcross Security office, situated in a converted warehouse near the South Beach Marina, was a short drive away.
As he pulled up, he saw lights on upstairs in Vander’s loft. Despite it being Monday, most Norcross staff had the day off, since most of them had spent the last day in and out of the hospital, waiting for their tech guru Ace and his woman Maggie’s baby to arrive.
Cam drove into the lower level of the warehouse and parked beside a row of other X6s. He jogged past the gym and doors to the holding rooms, then took the stairs two at a time to the upper level.
The central part of the warehouse was home to the main offices. Vander had kept the industrial feel, with lots of wood, black metal, and glass. As Cam had guessed, even though it was Monday afternoon, it was empty.
Everyone was celebrating baby Isabel’s arrival.
“Cam?”
He turned and saw Vander. Of course, the former Ghost Ops commander hadn’t made a sound. Cam could move the same way, and even though Vander had been out for a few years, it hadn’t dulled the man’s dangerous edge.
Vander eyed him steadily with dark-blue eyes.
He was a tall, muscled man who carried a sense of contained violence.
All the Norcross siblings shared dark, Italian-American good looks they’d inherited from their mother.
Most of San Francisco was wary of Vander Norcross.
They all sensed a predator. Cam was one of the few who knew exactly how dangerous this man could be.
And now Cam needed his help.
“What’s wrong?” Vander asked.
Cam swiped a hand through his hair. “It’s Saskia Hawke.”
Vander’s dark brows winged up. “Killian’s sister? You have a thing with his sister? Must have balls of steel, Cam.”
Cam huffed out a breath. “She lives in New York. We’re…” Well, he didn’t have the right word to describe it. “Friends. We talk on the phone.” Cam shook his head. “I’m not getting involved with any woman.”
Vander shoved his hands in his pockets, his gaze steady. “Why?”
Cam felt a spurt of anger. “You know why. I’m…not a good bet. You avoided serious relationships for years, so I know you get it. I have nothing to give a woman but shit.”
“That’s not true. And I guess I proved that, since I’m engaged to your cousin. She’s my world, Cam, and I’d fight anyone who tried to take her from me.”
Cam sliced a hand through the air. Yes, Vander was in love with Brynn, but that didn’t mean Cam could offer that to anyone. “This is not why I came. Saskia’s in trouble. I know it.”
Vander straightened. “I’m listening.”
“At the hospital this morning, she called me. She said my name, but she sounded wrong. Then the call was cut off. I’ve been calling her all day since then, but the calls won’t connect, and she hasn’t called me back.”
“Shit.” Vander pulled out his phone, stabbed at the screen, and put it to his ear. He cursed. “Killian’s voicemail. It’s automated. It means he’s out of the country.”
Cam flexed his hand.
“I’ll call Killian’s second in command at Sentinel Security.” Vander strode to his office at the end of the hall. Cam followed.
The office suited its owner, with sleek, stark lines. Vander strode around the glossy desk and dropped into the chair. He opened his laptop and tapped.
Pulling in a breath, Cam stalked over beside his boss. Tension was gnawing at him. He wanted to know that Saskia was all right. Even if she was out with some guy…
He swallowed a growl. He just wanted her safe.
The video call connected.
“Norcross,” a deep voice said.
“Wolf.”
The man was big and broad-shouldered, and had a rugged face covered by a neat beard. His hair was a deep brown, and he wore a suit that looked way more designer than Cam’s. But when the blue-eyed man’s gaze met his, Cam didn’t mistake this guy for anything but a skilled, dangerous operator.
“Camden Morgan, this is Nick ‘Wolf’ Garrick,” Vander said. “Former SEAL Team Six and SAC, and second in charge at Sentinel Security.”
So the guy had been a SEAL, then gone into the CIA’s Special Activities Center. Not someone to mess with.
“Wolf, Cam is one of mine and former Ghost Ops. We need to contact Killian.”
Wolf folded his hands. “He’s out of the country.”
Vander bit out a curse. “We suspected as much. Can you reach him?”
“What’s wrong, Vander?” Wolf asked.
“Saskia Hawke called Cam today.”
Something changed in Wolf’s face. “Go on.”
Cam leaned in. “The call disconnected, and I can’t get in touch with her. The calls won’t go through. She’s in trouble.”
Wolf’s rugged face changed, taking on a lethal edge that made Cam think of the animal he was named after.
“I’ll look into it.”
The screen went black, and Cam fought the need to punch something.