18. Secret Security
eighteen
Secret Security
Iris
The sound of running water drug Iris out of a deep sleep. She flung her hand out to her side, reaching out and feeling nothing but cold sheets. One eye squinted open, and she checked the time. Six in the morning. Why was he up so early?
As her hand shifted on the cold the bedding, another thought plagued her. How long had he been awake?
As much as she wanted answers, her body had other plans.
Sleep was pulling her back down. Her eyes felt gritty, her limbs like lead.
Try as she might, her body refused to get out of bed.
She laid there, dozing as she listened to the sounds of water falling in the shower.
The sound of a door opening jerked her awake.
She forced both eyes open and saw him stepping out of the bathroom with nothing but a white towel wrapped around his waist. Her drowsy eyes tracked the water droplets running down his chiseled chest and abs.
It was a testament to how well he worked her over the night before that the sight of a nearly naked Nash only gave her the faintest wave of arousal.
She was simply too tired. She watched him idly as he stepped into the closet and disappeared from sight.
Her eyes closed again, and the next thing she knew, he was leaning over her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
She turned to face him, her hand rising to grip his arm.
"I didn't mean to wake you, ma fleur." He whispered, his other hand coming up to brush her hair back. "Go back to sleep."
"Where are you going?" Her voice was hoarse from sleep, but she needed to know.
"I need to go into the office," he answered, while his eyes roamed over her face.
"I shouldn't be gone too long. But you are to stay inside at all times.
Dolph is downstairs. If you need him, I programmed his number into your phone.
But unless it's an emergency, call me first." Her face must have shown her fear, because he was quick to reassure her. "You're perfectly safe here."
"Do you have to go?" She hated how needy it makes her sound, but she couldn't hold back her plea.
Being alone was the last thing she wanted.
No guards, no Nash, no one. It sounded like a nightmare.
So close on the heels of the morbid gift yesterday, she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling crawling over her.
"Yes, I do." He leaned back, but she sat up and tried to follow him. "If I didn't need to go, I wouldn't."
"I'm afraid, Nash. I don't want to be here alone.
" Her voice was quiet as she admitted her weakness.
She rarely asked for anything in her life.
She doubted Nash knew how big of a sacrifice that was for her.
To admit that she needed him. His eyes stare down at her with a strange intensity to them.
She almost believed that he was going to stay for her. But his next words proved that wrong.
"If I could stay here and do what I needed, then you'd never be apart from me." He stepped off the bed. "But I can't catch this fucker from here. He's like smoke. I trust no one but me to catch him before he strikes again. I need to be out there, tracking him down. But I promise, you're safe here."
His words were crushing. She lowered her eyes to the stitching of the bedding.
"Hey, you're safe." He insisted again, and she nodded her head.
Refusing to look up at him for fear that she would cry if she looked at him.
"The elevators are keyed to me and me alone.
No one is getting in or out unless I am here.
Don't worry. You have Dolph's number. You get scared, call me.
Or your bodyguard. You're not alone. Be good, I've got to go.
" With those words, he turned and walked out the door.
Left with nothing else to do, she laid back down. Hoping that her previous exhaustion would return and she could fall asleep easily. But thirty minutes later, she knew it was a lost cause. She threw the covers off of her and headed into the kitchen to pour herself a cup of coffee.
It didn't matter that she would have preferred to go down to the coffee shop in the building, or maybe even order a coffee to be delivered.
Those were frivolous things. Risky things.
Who cared about letting her live a normal life?
No, she had no way of leaving her lovely little prison unless he was with her.
She pushed the thought out of her mind, and if she was as bitter as the coffee she brewed, she'd never admit it.
Nash
Nash strode through the executive floor with powerful strides.
No one dared to meet his eyes, and he preferred it that way.
He wasn't here to make friends with his employees.
His new temporary secretary glanced up nervously when he walked up.
She opened her mouth but never made a sound. He smirked. Good.
Better than her falling over herself trying to seduce him. That was a mistake he wouldn't be repeating.
"I'm expecting Brutus Jones and Reginald Winthrop. Send them right in as soon as they get here." He ordered as he walked by. "Hold everything else. If it is urgent, send it over to Michaels."
"Ye—Yes, sir," was the nervous stutter that trailed after him. He paid it no mind, closing the door behind him.
Once sat at his desk, he pulled up the recording that Brutus showed them earlier that morning. It was arson. Not that Nash ever suspected anything less. He knew there could be no other explanation.
No, the arson didn't bother him. What was concerning was that the perp knew how to avoid the cameras.
Somehow disarming just a small handful. Enough that it created a blind zone in the coverage, but not too many to trigger the system's fail safe.
If less than ten percent of the cameras went down, a small alert was sent to the security team.
Easy to overlook in the dead of night. More than that, and a blaring warning would have rung through Brutus's office and phone. Locking the entire building down.
But this guy was smart. Too smart. He somehow knew of Reginald's oversight.
It was an unknown glitch in the system. Playing on the weaknesses in the system that the inventor was unaware of took skill.
And so, instead of catching the bastard in the act, they were lucky to make it out without losing the building.
All they got was a shadow. A fucking shadow. The door opened and his new and uncomfortable secretary stood there awkwardly. "Your guests, sir." He stared at her until she flushed and turned around. Brutus and Reginald walked in after her.
"Tell me you have something," Nash growled at Reginald. He knew the tech genius had little time to examine the footage, but no one had ever accused Nash of being a patient man.
"Not much," Winthrop said before yawning. The bags under his eyes attested to how much work he put in between leaving Brutus's office earlier. Nash smirked, darkly amused.
He hadn't slept either, but where Winthrop looked exhausted and sluggish, Nash felt energized.
Some men were simply born better, he supposed.
He was superior to the dweeb across from him.
He didn't need to prove that, but it was extremely satisfying to have it confirmed so blatantly.
He'd never have his Iris. Never. He couldn't handle her.
It was ridiculous that the man had thought he could.
The knowledge that he wanted to marry Iris ate away at him.
When she hadn't seen him in years, it was easier to push the emotions down.
After seeing them interact so friendly, it threatened to send him over the edge.
"Tell me what you do have then," Nash prompted when Winthrop had sat silent for too long.
"It's a man, that's all." He pulled out his computer and turned the screen around and showed them the stills that he analyzed. "Height approximately five foot ten inches. Not much else I could garner from a shadow."
Nash leaned back, steepling his fingers in front of him. "A man," he murmured. He'd already suspected he was after a man, but it was good to have it confirmed. Height would also narrow down the field. It could at least eliminate suspects. Brutus stepped forward.
"We got lucky. This location had the experimental fire suppression system that Reginald here installed.
It was less than two weeks old. No one but you, me and the boy here, knew he put it in.
" His voice was deep. "I doubt that was a coincidence.
This perp didn't know that we just upped our tech.
If this was any other building, it would have gone up in flames. "
"My thoughts exactly, Brutus." Nash cut his eyes over to Reginald. "I need all my buildings brought up to date. Every single one of them. As soon as possible." Reginald's eyes bulged.
"All of them? You have hundreds of properties. It's no small job." Nash stared at him impassively.
"Spare me all the talk about the labor hours it would take and the logistics. Knowing I'll handle everything, pay whatever is needed, and that my buildings will take precedence over any other jobs your have now. How long does your team need to get this done?"
Winthrop stared back at him for a long moment before he let out an aggravated groan.
"If I upset my entire clientele and push back every project I have and put every one of my teams on your properties, working overtime, being paid triple what they normally would?
Nine days. I can have it done in nine days.
But you will have to pay extra on top of the labor to cover an inconvenience fee for all my current clients I'm ignoring for you. "
"Don't insult me. I want this done and don't give a fuck about the price. I want those systems up and running and more cameras placed." He glared at them both. "I want this fucker found, and I want him dead."
Iris