Chapter 11
SETH
My office door opens, and Damiano steps inside, Madison in tow.
As soon as I see Madison, my chest tightens. She’s ignored me for almost two days, and I’ve had enough. It’s time we talked.
Yet, something is off. Damiano looks furious, and Madison looks confused.
“What’s going on?” I stand up, ready to do whatever is necessary to fix this problem.
“Over here.” Damiano leads Madison to the armchairs in the casual sitting area.
“Drinks?” I ask.
“Please,” Damiano and Madison say at the same time.
I pour three glasses of whisky and hand them out. When I sit down, it feels like Madison is too far away. I want her on my lap. Perhaps lying over my thighs so I can spank her naughty ass for ignoring me.
“We have to send Madison away,” Damiano says.
“What?” Madison goes very still, yet her tumbler of whisky tilts dangerously in her hand before I reach over to help her right it.
“You’re in danger.” Damiano shifts so he can get his phone out of his pocket. “I received this photo, two hours ago.”
He holds up his phone so Madison and I can see the picture. It’s her, walking somewhere with a shopping bag. She’s wearing the same black sweater and jeans in the photo that she has on right now.
“Who took this photo?” She tries to grab Damiano’s phone.
“I don’t know, but I have a good fucking guess,” I say. “Erich Pointer.”
“That’s my guess as well,” Damiano says. “Detective Franks can’t arrest him—his soldiers are taking the fall. No one will admit he was involved. There’s nothing Franks can do.”
“Fuck,” I say. “Fuck. And now he’s surveilling Madison. He means to scare us into shutting down Nove.”
“Hold on just a minute,” Madison says. “We need to revisit the whole ‘let’s send Madison away’ thing. We haven’t all agreed to that.”
“I agree with Damiano.” I can’t close my eyes, because if I do, I’ll see the surveillance photo again. “It isn’t safe for you here.”
“You’re ignoring the fact that I am a human being with agency who can make my own decisions.” She arches a brown eyebrow at me.
“Certainly you can make your own choices,” I say with a lightness I don’t feel. “As long as those choices aren’t fucking stupid and they don’t put your life in danger.”
“Oh, fuck off with that.” She sets her glass down and stands up, hands on her hips.
“The world isn’t safe. I’m not saying I’ll go walking downtown alone at night, or even during the day, until Erich Pointer is no longer a threat.
But you two threatening to ship me off to—where? Los Angeles? Arizona?”
“I was thinking somewhere out of the country,” Damiano says, with zero shame in his voice. “Mexico, perhaps.”
Madison’s green eyes get wider with outrage. “No. Absolutely not. I’ll live in this building if I must, and that’s it. Hell, I won’t even leave unless you say it’s okay. You can lock me in the tower, but there’s no way you’re sending me to Mexico.”
“Think about this for a moment.” Damiano sounds much calmer than I feel. “Two men who care about you—who love you—want nothing but your safety and wellbeing protected.”
“Two men who are overreacting,” Madison mumbles as she takes her seat again.
Knowing that I’m aiming low, I find the photo of my parents that Point Ops had sent me. I hold my phone up so Madison can see it. “Is it overreacting after we just went through this?”
She presses her lips together, like she can see my point. “But Mexico? Really?”
“It is far enough away, but without being too far.” Damiano leans forward. “Madison, this is our work, our livelihood. Please trust us.”
“Fine. Mexico.” She nods to herself, finally coming around. She gives us a little grin. “I’ve always wanted to travel. Somewhere with a nice beach, if possible? When do we leave?”
Damiano and I exchange a look.
“What?” Madison asks. “What does that look mean?”
“We can’t go with you, bella. We need to stay here and focus all of Nove’s attention on finding evidence against Erich Pointer.”
“So you’re sending me away not because I’m not safe, but because I’m a distraction?” She looks down at her lap.
“He’s watching you.” I point to Damiano’s phone. “You saw that image. Do you feel safe right now?”
She shudders. “Not out there, alone. But in here, with you?” Her chin raises defiantly. “Yes.”
“Madison.” I move to her and kneel on the floor at her feet.
“Sweetheart. Please do this for us. This isn’t because you’re a distraction—it’s because you aren’t safe.
Point Ops isn’t as good as Nove, but they’re still very, very good.
Damiano and I would never forgive ourselves if something happened to you. ”
“But you’re staying here, and I have to leave.” Her eyes fill with tears, which she angrily wipes away before they can spill. “So you think I’ll be safer in a foreign country by myself? This is bullshit.”
“No. We’ll send you with full-time bodyguards.” Damiano picks up his phone, likely to start scrolling through a list of our best soldiers.
“Just one guard,” I say. “It has to look like a casual vacation. I don’t want her attracting attention.”
“Good point.” Damiano frowns at his phone screen, likely trying to figure out who would be the best to send.
An idea occurs to me, brilliant in its simplicity. “I know exactly who to ask. And he doesn’t work for us.”
Damiano stops scrolling through our employee list.
Madison frowns. She’s still mad, but too fucking bad. We aren’t doing this for fun. We’re doing it for her safety.
“Who is it?” Damiano asks.
“Landon Sprechter.”
“A total stranger,” Madison says. “Great.”
“We can trust him.” I reach for her hand, but she pulls away. “Madison. Come on.”
“It’s not just this—which I’m not happy about. I’m just, I’m so out of control. You’re deciding where I’m going, and who I’m going with. You’re even deciding who to tell about our relationship, without consulting me first.”
“Fuck. I’m sorry.” I reach for her again, but close my hand and pull it back before I can touch her.
She obviously doesn’t want me to. “I’m truly sorry for that.
I shouldn’t have said anything to my mother.
I neglected to think of how it would affect you, how she might contact you.
I was only thinking of myself, and them. ”
This time, it’s Madison who reaches for me. “Thank you. I understand.”
I take her hand and tug her forward. She soon realizes that I want her closer, as close as she can be. With a little smile, she perches on my lap. I set my drink down and lean back, pulling her with me.
“That’s better,” I murmur in her ear. “I’ve missed you, little girl.”
Her plump ass is warm against my crotch. My dick starts to harden, interested in how close she is.
“Madison,” Damiano says, “why don’t you take off your sweater and show Seth what you bought today?”
Before she can move, I place my hands on her stomach and slide them under her sweater. “I’d like to guess what it is, first.”
“Mmm,” she says. “Go ahead. Guess.”
I slide my hands all over her soft skin. She’s so warm, and she smells so good. I inhale more deeply, picking up Damiano’s cologne mixed with her sweet, natural scent.
“You two fucked earlier, didn’t you?” I slide my hands higher on her stomach until I’m touching the lower part of her bra.
“Maybe,” she says slowly, wiggling against my now rock-hard cock.
“Where did this take place?” I nuzzle her neck. “Damiano’s office?”
“No, not there.” She sighs and rests her head back against my chest.
“Hmm.” I cup her tits in my hands. “Was it in the elevator?”
She gasps when I pinch her nipples. “Nope.”
“The bathroom.”
“Nuh-uh.”
I let go of her nipples to lift up her shirt, finding a satin, purple and blue bra with a little tag still attached. Taking the tag between my thumb and forefinger, I give it a tug. “Was it, by any chance, in the dressing room at Angeli’s lingerie store?”
Her grin is full of mischief. “You guessed it.”
“I guessed it. Do I get a prize?”
Madison gets on her knees in front of me, and Damiano gets up to lock the office door.
MADISON
The private plane belongs to a friend of Damiano and Seth’s. I stare up at it while standing on the tarmac. Damiano holds one of my hands; Seth holds the other.
“You’re really making me go,” I whisper. A yawning emptiness opens in my chest.
“I’m sorry we have to do this.” Seth brushes a kiss against my forehead. Suddenly he straightens and looks over my shoulder. “Landon. Thanks again for agreeing to this.”
“Happy to help.”
I turn around to see a giant of a man striding forward. He has a short beard, a little fuller than Seth’s, and gray eyes that match the pavement. He shakes hands with Damiano and then Seth, who tugs me forward.
“Madison, this is Landon Sprechter,” Seth says. “Landon, this is Madison Greene.”
“Nice to meet you.” Landon’s large hand engulfs mine. “I wish it were under better circumstances.”
You and me both, dude. I give him what I hope is a smile, but is probably more like a grimace.
It’s time to get on the plane. Damiano and Seth each kiss me.
I kiss them back, still in shock that this is even happening.
They each hold me tightly, and I think Damiano’s eyes are tearing up when we pull away from each other.
I can’t be sure, though, because it’s hard to see through the blur of my own tears.
On the plane, Landon sits across the aisle from me, content to let me stew in my negative emotions. He pulls out a tablet and starts reading.
The emptiness in my chest gets bigger. I can’t stand it.
So I replace it with anger.
Fuck Erich Pointer, fuck Damiano, fuck Seth, fuck this plane, fuck everything that’s sending me away.
DAMIANO
Madison left yesterday and arrived safely in Mexico. She has responded to our texts, but her messages are terse.
She’s still upset with us. I understand her reasoning, her emotions.
This is a very difficult situation. And Seth and I are pouring all of our available resources into finding Erich Pointer and searching for evidence.
Cody Wells, Landon’s partner, has been pulled in to work with us full-time, and he has been a great resource.
Meanwhile, when I text Madison asking how she is, she responds, I’m fine. And you?
Gone is her warmth, her playfulness. Gone is the sensual, lust-driven woman who let me fuck her in that dressing room, who gave Seth head in his office until he couldn’t stand it anymore and bent her over his desk.
I slam my laptop closed, hiding the reports Cody sent me earlier. Pulling out my phone, I text Madison again. Truly, bella, talk to me. How are you?
I’m fine. I’m sunbathing. The beach is beautiful.
Fuck. She tells me nothing. When I initiate a video call, she doesn’t respond.
“Damn it, bella,” I mutter, and call Landon instead. If Madison won’t show me her beautiful face, perhaps he will.
He picks up on the first ring, his face coming into view with palm trees and bright blue sky in the background. “She’s still upset,” he says.
“I can tell from her texts.” I sigh. “But she is well?”
“She’s lying in the sun with a book and a drink.” He turns the view around so I can see what he sees.
Lucky bastard. He has a view of my woman in a bikini, lying on her stomach in the sun. She’s on a lounge chair. Her book and drink rest on a table next to her.
“Bella, can you hear me?” I say.
She doesn’t look up. Instead, she flips me off.
Then, like a total brat, she unties the strings of her bikini top.
“What are you doing?” My voice is low, almost a growl, but I’m certain she can hear me.
Landon turns the camera back to himself. He shakes his head, his expression humorous. “Looks to me like she’s being a brat, Romano.”
I swear in Italian.
“Trust me, man, I’m not going to touch her.” Landon holds up his hand, like he’s swearing in court.
“I’m not worried,” I say. “I know you are trustworthy, and so is she. But that little girl is trying to get to me. It’s working.”
I narrow my eyes as he turns the camera back to Madison. As if she knows I’m watching, she wiggles her ass like she’s trying to get comfortable.
How dare she show off like this, letting Landon see her, flaunting herself when there’s nothing I can do about it.
“Damn, she’s really trying to punish you.” Landon turns the camera back to himself again, smirking. “What are you going to do?”
“Seth and I will remind her who’s in charge.”