21. Rick
Rick
I watched in horror as a small dark shadow rushed from behind a stack of barrels and crates, heading directly toward a much larger shadow.
I held my breath. I wanted to shout out, to warn her, but the two shadows passed by and kept going.
I heard something slam into something else and then a loud scream, followed by a thud of something being thrown.
Without waiting, I rushed back toward where Marcus was. I turned down aisle after aisle, almost getting lost in the dark. I had just turned a corner when I came face to face with Leonard.
“There you are.” The man’s smile was going to be imprinted on my mind forever. There was something off about the man, something that hadn’t been there the last time I’d seen him.
“Leonard,” I said, trying to keep my tone calm.
“You think just because you’re some rich brat who took over for his daddy that you know anything about what people want?” he spat out.
I didn’t contradict him, knowing it wouldn’t be helpful. Instead, I tried to change tactics.
“We could talk this through, find a place for you.” I wasn’t lying. The man obviously needed help.
Leonard’s eyes narrowed. “There is no place for me. That bitch ruined everything I had. She lied and, because you wanted between her legs, you fell for it.”
A white-hot flash of pure fury surged through my veins at his words, but I forced my jaw to stay shut, locking the rage down.
I couldn’t react. I couldn’t let him see how much he was getting to me.
The heavy click of the speakeasy door sealing from the other side echoed distantly through the rafters, a beautiful, solid confirmation that Sofia was safely on the other side of that brick wall.
She was out. She was secure. Now I just had to survive this room.
“You’ve got it all wrong, Leonard,” I said, my voice dropping into a steady, deliberate tone as I kept my phone’s flashlight pointed slightly downward, lighting the space between us without blinding him into a sudden panic.
“Nobody took anything from you. You made your own choices. But you can still choose how this night ends.”
“Don’t patronize me!” he shrieked, his knuckles turning white around the handle of the gun. He took a ragged step forward. “You think you’re untouchable? Look around you! Your precious brewery account doesn’t mean a damn thing in the dark.”
“You’re right,” I said, keeping my hands up, open and non-threatening, slowly stepping backward to draw him further down the central aisle, away from the exit Sofia had used.
I needed to stretch the seconds. I needed to buy time.
“The account doesn’t matter. The agency doesn’t matter.
It’s just you and me right now. Tell me what you want, Leonard.
If it’s money, if it’s a settlement—we can talk about it. ”
“I want her to suffer like I suffered the past few months! I lost everything,” he barked, his eyes darting erratically to the shadows, his paranoia clearly mounting. “I want you to feel what it’s like to watch everything you built get ripped out of your hands!”
“I already know what that feels like,” I countered quietly, my voice slicing through his manic breathing. “My father died less than a month ago. I know exactly what it’s like to have the rug pulled out from under your life. It breaks you. But this? This isn’t the way back.”
He froze, his chest heaving under his dark jacket, my words striking a temporary chord in his fractured psyche.
As he hesitated, a faint movement in the deep shadows behind his left shoulder caught my eye. My heart leaped, but I kept my gaze locked dead on Leonard’s face, refusing to let my eyes betray the shift.
Marcus was moving slowly toward us. He was incredibly pale, a dark smear of blood matting the hair on the side of his head, but his eyes were open and tracking Leonard’s back.
He was gripping a thick wooden shipping pallet slat, stepping with agonizing, silent precision through the darkness behind the unhinged man.
“Your father…” Leonard muttered, his brow furrowing as his grip relaxed a fraction of an inch. “Your father was a real businessman. He wouldn’t have let a woman ruin a corporate alliance.”
“My father would tell you that a man who blames his failures on others is no man at all,” I said, my tone hardening just enough to keep his attention hyper-focused on me.
“Bullshit,” Leonard hissed, his eyes flaring with renewed rage as he lifted the gun.
Before he could take another step toward me, Marcus lunged out of the darkness behind him.
With a brutal, defensive swing born of pure survival, Marcus brought the heavy wooden slat down hard across Leonard’s shoulder and upper back.
If he had been on the golf course with my dad, the move would have impressed my old man.
Leonard let out a sharp, choked yelp, staggering forward as the gun flew from his grip, clattering loudly across the concrete floor. He crashed to his knees, groaning in pain, completely disoriented.
In the exact same second, the distant, muffled echo of sirens began to wail through the blizzard outside, growing louder as flashing red and blue lights cut through the frosted glass windows of the old bottling warehouse.
I ran straight past him, grabbing Marcus by the arm to stabilize him as he swayed on his feet, before turning my eyes toward the corridor that led to the speakeasy door.
We stood watch over Leonard until several uniformed police officers arrived. They had flash lights and were pointing weapons at us until Marcus explained who he was and what had happened.
Then, as we were being led out of the maze of darkness, Sofia rushed in and wrapped her arms around me tightly.
The impact of her slamming into my chest nearly knocked the remaining breath right out of my lungs, but I didn’t care.
I completely forgot about the police, about Marcus, about the freezing warehouse air, and wrapped my arms around her.
I buried my face in her hair, holding her so fiercely against me that there wasn’t a single inch of space left between us.
She was shaking violently, her fingers digging desperately into the fabric of my coat as she wept into my neck.
“I’ve got you,” I choked out, my voice raw and breaking as the terrifying weight of the last hour finally crashed down on me. “I’ve got you. You’re safe. I’m so sorry. I’m so damn sorry.”
“I thought I was going to lose you,” she sobbed, her words muffled against my skin. “When he hit Marcus… I thought he was going to get to you too. I was so scared.”
“Shh, I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere,” I whispered, tightening my grip, rocking her slightly right there in the middle of the corridor while flashing blue and red emergency lights strobed against the concrete walls.
One of the officers guided us out of the old building and back into the warm, brightly lit main taproom of the brewery.
Paramedics immediately swarmed Marcus, guiding him to a chair to tend to the gash on his head.
I led Sofia over to a chair in the corner, completely ignoring the questions from the officer who was trying to get my statement.
Right now, the only thing that mattered was the woman I loved.
I took off my heavy winter coat and wrapped it securely around her coat on her shoulders, then took both of her hands in mine, rubbing them to bring the heat back into her skin.
Her hazel eyes were red-rimmed and swimming with tears, but as she looked up at me, the lingering terror in them began to give way to something fierce and resolute.
“Rick,” she said, her voice trembling but clear. “The board, the lawyers, the company… I don’t care about any of it. When I was hiding in that room, thinking that crazy man could take everything away, all I could think about was that I hadn’t told you.”
I froze, my heart stopping in my chest as I stared at her.
“I love you,” she whispered, a tear spilling over her cheek. “I don’t care if you’re my boss. I’m not letting you pull away from me again. I’ll quit before I let you do that again.”
A profound, overwhelming wave of relief and clarity washed over me, melting away a solid month of suffocating corporate doubt. I reached up, cupping her face in both of my hands, my thumbs wiping away her tears.
“You knocked me over again and beat me to it. I love you, Sofia,” I said, my voice thick with emotion, staring straight into her eyes so she could see every ounce of the truth. “And to hell with the lawyers. I’m done letting a boardroom dictate my life. We’re going to figure this out. Together.”
I leaned in and kissed her, a deep, desperate kiss that tasted like salt and survival, sealing a promise that, no matter what corporate storms hit us next, I was never letting her go again.
Later, when we got back to my place, the blizzard still howled outside, throwing sheets of heavy white snow against the windows, but the world had shrunk down to the two of us.
We showered, letting the hot water wash all the dirt and worries away as we held onto one another.
Then I built a roaring fire in the stone hearth.
We watched the orange flames dancing shadows across the vaulted ceiling.
I had dragged the thick plush rug even closer to the grate, piling it high with every oversized pillow and heavy wool blanket I could find in the house.
We lay there tangled together on the floor, wrapped in a massive down comforter like it was a cocoon. Her back was pressed against my chest, and my arms were locked tightly around her waist, pulling her close, assuring her I never wanted to let go.
I could feel the steady, reassuring flutter of her heartbeat against my shoulder blades.
I let out a long, shuddering breath as she buried her face into my shoulder. The smell of cedar, woodsmoke, and her soft familiar scent completely replaced the lingering, dusty scent of the warehouse.
Neither of us were able to get warm enough, so we decided to sleep in front of the fireplace. Even when we made love, slowly heating our bodies, I could still feel the chill on her skin.
“You still shivering?” I murmured, pressing a soft kiss to the side of her neck.
“No,” she whispered, a genuine smile breaking across her face. “Well, I’m shivering, but not from the cold.” She chuckled and kissed me. “I’m finally warm inside and out, and so very happy.”
I let out a breath that sounded like a prayer and rested my chin on her head. “You have no idea what it does to me to hear you say that. After tonight… after the last month of me being an idiot…”
“You weren’t an idiot,” she interrupted softly, turning my head slightly until she was looking up at me. “You were trying to protect your father’s legacy. And you were trying to protect my career. I get it now. But we’re done letting a room full of suits make our decisions.”
“I agree,” I said. I rolled onto my side so I could look down at her, my hand coming up to gently trace her face.
“I spent the last four weeks staring at corporate restructuring documents, trying to find a loophole that didn’t exist. But tonight, when I thought I was too late to get to you, everything cleared up. The noise just stopped.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked quietly.
“Talk to the board. If they don’t see things my way, I guess I’m going to promote Jax,” I said.
“He’s ready, I think. He just needs the backing.
If I have to, I’ll restructure the Mylonas corporate charter to hand the Denver operations over to him and transition myself into a remote advisory role.
I’ll still help guide the company, but I won’t be running the day-to-day.
Most importantly, I won’t be your boss.”
She blinked, processing the massive sacrifice he was making. “And your agency in San Diego?”
“I’m selling it to my partner there,” I said, my thumb softly brushing over her lower lip as I looked down at her.
“The deal is almost done. Then I plan on buying a house, maybe this one?” I shrugged.
“If you like it.” The firelight caught the gold flecks in her hazel eyes as she smiled, and for the first time in a month, the weight in my chest felt manageable.
I leaned down, kissed her gently—a slow, lingering promise that things were going to change.
“But whatever comes our way next, we’re going to manage it together,” I murmured against her lips, meaning every single word.
“If you want to stay in Colorado and keep building the digital pipeline here, I’ll buy a place right here in Golden.
If you want to see California, we’ll go.
My future isn’t tied to a specific building or a board of directors anymore, Sofia.
It’s tied to you. Wherever you want to go, that’s where I’m building my home. ”
Tears pricked the corners of her eyes again, but as I wiped them away with my thumb, I could tell they were born of an overwhelming, beautiful relief.
She wrapped her hands around the back of my neck and pulled me down into another deep, warm kiss. I sank into her, my arms tightening around her waist as the fire crackled beside us, burning away the cold remnants of the storm.