"You two, like a match made in heaven, well, I guess hell. Did you call my brother Diablo, as in the devil?"
"Don't make me shoot you" Jack just laughed at my response to his question, but a part of me was serious. If he did anything that would put us in harm, to put Noah in harm, I don't think I would be able to stop myself from pulling the trigger, and that frightened me.
Who was I becoming?
Who had I already become due to the situations I had found myself in?
All because I got into the elevator with a man who started out as the devil to only end up being so much more. Even if I couldn't have him forever, this man would always hold my heart, even if he didn't know it.
Chapter Twenty-One
Valentina
“I don’t like this, Noah. This is a bad, bad idea.” Concern filled every fiber of my being.
Was he losing his mind?
Maybe all of this had finally gotten to him.
“Sneaks, Val, trust me, please.” Running a warm finger down my cheek he caused goosebumps to cover my body.
“This is not going to… what if we can’t trust him?” Because at the end of the day, that was the biggest risk out of everything. Now that we were here, back in this city, we had to be careful.
“He’s my brother.” And that didn’t mean a damn thing to me right now. You could never really be sure of who you could trust, especially in these circumstances. Hadn’t we learnt that enough over the last few weeks, months?
“And your father is the one who paid someone to kill you, Noah.” Reminding him that only spurred him on with his idea, his eyes flamed as I had spoken.
“You can leave, I’ll take you home right now,” he wasn’t serious, was he? “You can be back with your family within the hour.”
Glaring at him, I didn’t even dignify that ridiculous suggestion with a response.
“Please trust me, this is for the best.” The plea in his voice was making my resolve crumble, but that nagging voice in the back of my mind still knew that he was up to something he had no intention of telling me about.
“And if he doesn’t bite?” Because there was every chance Jack would refuse to go along with this plan of his, then what was he going to do?
“Then, I, we go to him.” Absolutely no way in hell I was letting him walk into the fire of facing his father. Bringing him here was one thing, but walking into his world, there could be no good outcome from that. Hell, there may be no good outcome from the other option either.
“You make it sound so simple.” Dropping my head into my hands, I didn’t know what else to say.
“Because it, is simple Sneaks”
“I don’t know, Noah,” sighing, I ran my fingers through my hair. The brown was fading, and it was going a funny rust-like color. I missed my silver hair. Hell, I would go back to any color except this one right now.
Dropping a kiss on my forehead, he walked past me towards the bathroom. The very one that we had locked his brother into only a few short hours ago.
At least he had the amenities we hadn’t been so lucky to have when we had been kidnapped. Running water and a toilet. Luxuries.
As the door swung open Jack came out cautiously watching us with wide eyes as we stood in the bedroom doorway opposite.
“So?” His eyes jumped the two of us repeatedly, like he was watching a tennis match.
Noah held Jack’s iPhone out to his brother, cautiously. “You’re going to call him, convince him to come here.” He didn’t need to clarify the who he meant. We all knew.
“And then what?”
“Well, that’s on him” Noah’s shoulders sunk a little “Call him.”
Glancing at me, Jack could tell that I was not on board with this plan that Noah had concocted. He had probably heard our whole conversation before he was let out of the bathroom.
“Why does she call you the devil?”
Looking back at me, Noah smiled, “Because I’m an asshole, apparently.”
“Err, definitely.” Sometimes at least.
“Stop acting like you don’t like it.”
“Stop making me want to shoot you, Diablo.”
This only made Noah smile wider, “Calm ya tits, Sneaks.”
“Sneaks?” His brother seemed confused by our nicknames for each other. I’m sure to anyone else we appeared ridiculous, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.
“Because she wears these cute little Sneakers”
“They’re conserves, Chuck Taylor’s Noah, how many times do I have to tell you?”
“Sneakers” was all he said in response, he was trying to ruffle my feathers, and it was working.
“I am this close to coming over there and kicking you in the balls, Noah.” Holding my thumb and forefinger less than a millimeter apart.
“What, no, Diablo?”
“Really?” Was he really trying to wind me up right now?
“This might be the best thing I have seen this year,” Jack’s voice made me startle. For a second, I had almost forgotten he was even here. Noah’s turned from me back to his brother, and with one look Jack groaned.
Walking past the both of us, he stood in the middle of Noah’s bedroom, pacing back and forth.
“What do I say?”
“Convince him to come here, tell him you have had someone call you about me, tell him you need to see him face to face here, that you can’t risk it being done over the phone. Tell him it's urgent”
“And if he won’t come?”
“He will.” Noah sounded far more confident than I was. Hell, I had absolutely no confidence in this plan whatsoever and could only see it going every shade of wrong.
“And if he won’t?” Jack repeated himself.
“Then I’m going to him. Only it may not..”
“May not what Noah?” I asked, “what are you up to?”
“I’ve got it handled.”
“You’re keeping something from me. I don’t like it” my voice was rising, and he cringed “whatever it is, we need to all know what’s going on here, or something could go wrong.”
“Trust me, Sneaks.” He said before turning his back to me.
Biting my tongue, I just glared at the back of his head. I wanted to hit him so fucking hard right now it was not even funny.
Jack just snickered looking over at me before lifting the phone to his ear but froze slightly when Noah stopped him, “Speakerphone.”
Rolling his eyes, he hit the speaker button just as his call was answered.
“Jack?” A broad, authentic New York accent came through the phone. Sending unpleasant shivers down my spine. I had only ever heard this voice once before, and I would happily go the rest of my life never hearing it again.
“Can you come to Noah’s apartment, now?”
“Why, Is he back?” The sound of paper rustling in the background stopped instantly, as he waited for his favorite son to answer his question. Unable to breath properly I couldn’t take my eyes off of him, waiting for him to spill his guts and tell his evil father everything.
“No, I just, someone called me. One of his buddies from boarding school, I need to tell you something, and I can’t do it over the phone. Do you not think the first thing I would have said was he was here if he was back, Dad?”
Blowing the breath, I had been holding out I felt my legs being to wobble. Could we trust this Hartman?
“Jack, just tell me now. I’m about to go into a meeting about the Atlanta project”
“Just come to the apartment, now Dad,” and then he hung up “I hope you know what you’re doing here Noah,” Jack said, dropping down onto the edge of the bed in the middle of the room as the cell phone he was still holding began vibrating. Groaning, he threw it face down on to the bed before flipping backward.
“Now what?” I asked as the two were silent for a minute too long.
“Now, we wait.” Noah patted his chest, which made me raise my eyebrows at him. What was that about?
“I need a beer” J
ack stood suddenly, my gun felt heavy in my waistband, and my fingers itched to reach for it. He may be his brother, but I still could not trust him fully even after that phone call. What if he really was against us and setting us up in some way? “Can I get one, or do I need to be escorted?”
“Sneaks, front room.” Noah nodded his head as he went to walk with his brother into the kitchen. Something was defiantly going on, and I don’t doubt he was about to say something to Jack about it.
“What?” He could not be serious right now!
“Please,” he gave me a dimpled smile and not liking it one bit I stomped my feet walking into the front room, just like he demanded. Well, technically, he did say please, but still. Why was he able to tell his brother something, yet I had to be in the dark? Nothing good was going to come from this.
Nothing at all.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Valentina
I sat stewing in the front room as the two Hartman brothers talked about, well whatever the hell I was not allowed to know, apparently. Assholes.
One single knock on the apartment door made me stand on my feet in an instant. Was it him? Was Nicolas Hartman on the other side of that door?
It had been almost an hour since Jack had made the phone call, and every minute had felt like an eternity as I waited all alone in the front room. During that time, I had attempted to overhear what was being said in the kitchen, but I'd been caught the one time I had gotten up. So, having to give up, I just sat in the chair waiting for whatever shit show was about to go down. My heart rate was sky high, and if I wasn't careful, I was going to end up with some kind of condition after all of this.
Noah came rushing into the room like his ass was on fire. Looking at me standing in front of the recliner, "You want to go to the bedroom Sneaks?”
Shaking my head, I found my eyes flying back to the door as a fist pounded on it again. Just once as I wrapped a hand around my gun. This was it.
Was this whole fiasco about to finally end?
Standing protectively in front of me, Noah held a gun firmly in his hand, aimed at the door instantly. My free hand touched his back briefly and before I knew it, a clammy hand grabbed ahold of it. Keeping it safe and warm in his, hidden behind his back.
Taking a deep breath, Jack sent one last pleading look over at his older brother before opening the apartment door. Letting hellfire into the apartment.
Holding in a breath I watched as a graying man stepped in through the door, wearing a suit that looked more expensive than my whole apartment. He hadn't seen Noah and me yet, those eyes were firmly on his other son, Jack. Who looked more uncomfortable than ever. What was it Noah had called him, 'The Golden child'? Something like that. Nicolas looked just like Jack, just smaller in stature. He obviously was not into the gym as much as his youngest son was.
Jack went to close the door behind his father, but it was pushed open fully again as another man followed closely behind him, and my instincts instantly went on high alert. There was something about him that filled the room with a dark and nervous feeling.
Who the hell was that?
"Michael," Noah murmured, too quietly for anyone but me to hear.
Who the hell was Michael?
Scanning his hands for any kind of weapon, I was a little relieved to see he was not holding a gun or anything. That I could see, at least.
As the door closed behind them, it was not until Jack clicked the lock in place that his, their father, or this Michael noticed Noah and myself standing there. Almost in the corner of the room. He had the decency to look shocked for all of a split second before this wall went up around him. You could see it happen, brick by brick.
"Noah," standing to face us fully he nodded at me with a scowl on his cold face "Valentina," as he said my name, I wanted to throw up. This man was the real devil, pure evil. It poured off of him in waves.
"Surprised to see me, father?" Noah's voice didn't even sound like him. He was playing the villain.
"Why should I be surprised, son?" The venom in the older Hartman’s voice pierced my heart, and I wasn't even his child. "I mean, you have been making a mockery of me, what's new?"
Jack stood in front of the apartment door; arms crossed over his chest. In any other circumstance, I would laugh about how he looked like some kind of security but now was not the time. The only thing I was concerned about, was he stopping their father leaving or me and Noah?
"What's all this?" Michael spoke for the first time. This man looked like a lizard. Eyes as squinty as one and from the looks of him, he was cold-blooded as well.
"Do you not want to talk about the fact that you paid three goons to kidnap me and have me killed, us killed."
Not daring to say anything, I just watched, listening with bated breath.
"And yet here we stand, here I am standing right in front of you. Why not do the job yourself? Am I that bad of a son that you wanted me killed?" Nicolas Hartman had no emotion on his face as his son spoke, "What was it, the fact that I'm an embarrassment to you, that I'm not the favorite, or is it just like what happened to Samuel Edwards, Lucinda Grey, Gregory Little, Frank Dickinson, Mike Fellow, or what about Stevie Paul’s? Huh, Dad, you had them killed as well, didn't you? Because they dared to challenge you? Because they disagreed with your business decisions? How many others are there because I am almost one hundred percent sure that there is a hell of a lot more blood on your hands than just those peoples."
A pure evil look overtook his father's face, and then he charged two steps forwards, "I would watch what you say, son."
This was about to escalate in something dangerous, and that fear gripped me to my very core at the unknown.
"Or what?" Noah was goading him, and as he dropped my hand, he took a step forwards, putting more space than I was comfortable with between the two of us. "You'll send your goons to try and kill me again? That your big plan?"
"You don't know what you're talking about." Nicolas Hartman was twitching in uncomfortableness now, holding himself back. Michael however was about to make a move, so I rose the gun in my grasp and aimed it right at his chest. His eyes widened as his step froze in midair. That’s right asshole.
"So, you didn't have me kidnapped? You didn't have us tied to chairs in an abandoned asylum? None of that happened? We just spent the last few months running from place to place, scared for our lives because of nothing? Val has scars on her wrists, which she will have to look at for the rest of her life because of you."
"Watch it, son." Lowering his eyes, Nicolas just glared at Noah with nothing but contempt.
"You may be ashamed of me being your son, sure I'm no Jack, but you know what, I'm ashamed to call you my father."
At that, Nicolas pounced, knocking Noah down onto the ground. The gun he had been holding was skidding across the room, landing between Jack's feet.
"STOP!" I shouted, and when neither of them paid any attention to me, I found my arm moving the gun from Michael and aiming it at the older Hartman, "GET OFF OF HIM!!”
Michael went to take a step towards me now I was no longer aiming my weapon at him, but as another gun clicked, Jack's voice made everyone in the room freeze, instantly, "Move and I'll shoot."
Noah’s stormy eyes connected with mine. It appears we may just be able to trust his brother then? Becoming aware now that I had my gun aimed at his father, he smiled a little.
"You, you're a terrible person," I spoke directly to the man who caused so much pain, and not just for Noah and me.
At this his father laughed and as Noah pushed him off of him, my gun followed the movements of the one Hartman I would quite happily never lay my eyes on ever again.
Standing, Noah who did not take his eyes off of me, even for a second came to stop beside me. My eyes soon returned to the real devil, who was sat on the floor still. Laughing like a crazy man.
"Sneaks," Noah's voice was tender, which only made his father laugh all the more.
"So, is that was this is about, she got mi
xed up in this, and you've fallen for her?"
"Why did you do it?" Noah looked down at him, waiting for an answer from his father.
"You do not get to embarrass me in front of the board. It's already bad enough…"
"Really, you paid someone to kill me because I embarrassed you?"
Devil In The Elevator: A Hartman Romance Page 18
