by Hart, Gemma
But what I saw instead when the doors opened up again was quite possibly the most well decorated lobby I had ever seen. Despite the exterior of the building, I walked out of the elevator onto marble flooring that had a large arrowhead shape topped with a halo inlaid into the ground.
Directly in front of me was a gleaming circular desk with a security guard sitting there watching monitors on several screens. Above him was one of the most ornate chandeliers I had ever seen.
“Hello, Mr. Lestrade. Welcome back,” the guard said politely.
Tobias nodded as he dragged me along past the guard. The guard glanced over me in disinterest before returning to his screens. Clearly he was not put off or shocked by a random woman being dragged into this mysterious building against her will.
The floor was filled with men who were dressed in similar sophisticated suits like Tobias’s. They all walked with an air of confidence and power as they walked out of and entered various rooms. Some of the rooms looked like dens and others looked like smoking lounges. I saw one room that looked like a conference room. And every single room was elegantly and lavishly decorated.
But Tobias clearly wasn’t interested in lingering on this elegant lobby floor. Instead he took me to the end of the floor where a gleaming gold elevator stood. We entered it and he hit the button for the sixth floor.
We stood in silence as we rode the beautiful elevator. Tobias still had a grip on my arm. His hand was so large, it encircled my entire upper arm. And although I was clearly in the heart of some kind of organization, he still kept a firm hold on me, as if I might bolt at any minute.
Which probably wasn’t too farfetched an idea, I had to concede.
The sixth floor was much different from the grand lobby. It had a refined quietness to it. The floor was richly carpeted and the walls papered in a textured elaborate design.
There were only three doors on this floor.
We entered the middle door and inside was the most luxurious sitting room I had ever seen.
Waiting there, as if prepared for my arrival, was the tea set and the roaring fire.
And that was of course when I finally spoke.
“What the fuck do you thinking you are doing?”
Tobias took a sip of his tea. “Why don’t you take a seat?” he said calmly. “It’s not polite to loom over people like that.”
I don’t know how I could loom over someone like Tobias Lestrade. Even sitting down, he was a sizeable figure.
“No,” I said sharply. “Tell me what—”
“I’m sorry,” he interrupted, lowering his cup. “I have a tendency to speak in suggestions when in fact,” he pinned me with his eyes that resembled cold shards of green glass, “I am ordering. Sit. Down.”
His words hit me like sharp icicles. Immediately, I took my seat.
Calmly, Tobias poured me a cup of fragrant tea. With precise grace, he handed me the saucer.
I took it, eyeing him warily. It felt like I was trapped in a room with a viper. I knew he could strike at any moment, leaving me unable to take my eyes off of him.
“Now, let’s try that again,” he said calmly. “It’s very nice to finally meet you, Miss Margot.”
I held the saucer dumbly in my hands as the steam wafted up, tempting my nose. But I had no appetite for tea. “You know who I am?” I asked.
“Of course,” he answered. “That’s my job.”
“You’re job,” I echoed. I shook my head. “I don’t understand. Who are you?”
Tobias gave me a brilliant smile that completely transformed his face. The hard angles of his jaw and nose suddenly looked chiseled and fine. Instead of brooding, he looked alluring. His green eyes glowed.
“Like I said before, I am Tobias Lestrade and I am the current Enforcer of the Black Saints.”
It felt like a wave of incoherent words had just washed over me. “What?” I said, completely confused. Enforcer? Black Saints?
Tobias gave an expressive shrug as he pressed his fingers together in a steepling motion. “Had you not come across the Black Saints while working under the Desmond roof?”
“I—” I paused, my eyes growing big. “How did you know that?”
Tobias grinned, his face alight with dark mischief. “That’s my job,” he said again. “It’s my job to know those things.”
“What the hell are the Black Saints?” I demanded. As if I hadn’t had enough spying from the Desmond case, both from Roy Desmond and the FBI. Now there was some stranger who had been looking in on me as well?
“The Black Saints are an organization, of sorts,” Tobias said. “It’s a collection of several of the world’s top most leading corporations and politicians gathered together under one collective seal—the Black Saints.”
Seal. I remembered seeing that black arrowhead topped with a halo downstairs.
“What does the Black Saints do?” I asked faintly, feeling an unnamable sense of dread.
Tobias pursed his lips as he spread his hands wide. “Everything,” he said simply. “And nothing. We are an organization based in the shadows of society. We make the laws and govern the economy of nearly every industrialized nation.”
“So what,” I said, feeling like I was in some absurd James Bond movie. “You’re part of some shadow society with presidents and princes in your back pocket.”
Tobias tilted his head. “A few presidents. No princes. They aren’t worth much. We prefer prime ministers instead,” he said with a small smile.
It was so ludicrous, so unreal, that I couldn’t help but believe what he was saying. After all, I had never thought I’d be a runaway fugitive on top of being a rogue FBI agent and yet, here we were.
Why not this as well?
“And you’re their…Enforcer?” I said, unsure what the title meant but positive it couldn’t be anything good.
Tobias nodded. “Exactly,” he said. “An organization as vast and overreaching as ours with so many different interests, it’s hard to have one head, one leader. So it is a council of interested parties that speak very democratically about their needs and wants. And after those needs and wants have been decided upon, I am the one they call to execute those plans.”
No wonder he had a whole floor to himself. If the Black Saints had even a handful of the people Tobias was claiming to have, that was a powerful organization indeed. And for all of those people to entrust one man to protect their identities and to fulfill their demands, that meant that that man was an extremely capable and dangerous man.
“Why would the Black Saints know about me?” I asked, my voice a little hoarse. It was scary to sit in this room knowing now exactly what kind of power built these walls.
“You were a part of one of the most powerful Families in America,” he said. “Had the Juarez deal been more than a sham, you would’ve been a part of the most powerful Family in America.” He gave a slow, sly smile. “And it’s always worthy of noting when that same person runs away with the son and heir apparent of that Family.”
Wow, he had really done his homework. I suddenly felt very exposed. After all, Marco and I were in a very dangerous situation. We were under false identities while trying to live a quiet fugitive life. Any wrong tip on the scales and we could be in a disastrous mess of trouble.
What would Tobias do to us? What would the Black Saints do to us?
“What do you want Marco for?” The air in the room seemed stale and shallow or maybe that was just my heart racing against this sudden turn of events.
Tobias took another sip of his tea. “We have a job for him. Complete the job and he and you can return to your lives of peace and comfort with no trouble from us again,” he said.
I remembered what Marco had said in the house.
“But the job is dangerous,” I said. It was a statement but my question rang through with each word. “He could be killed.” My voice faltered and I felt tears
Tobias gave me a look of impatience. “You of all people should know that you were living in danger lo
ng before I came around,” he said. “And no matter what the illusion was that you two had built for yourself here in England, you are still in danger. You choose to love a man like Marco Desmond, you’re choosing to love a life of danger and risk.”
“But you’re putting him in direct fire,” I argued. I remembered the rage on Marco’s face as he slammed his fist into the Black Saints henchmen. “On our own, we never would have put ourselves in such direct fire.”
Tobias eyed me evenly before flicking his gaze down towards my cup. “You’ve let your tea go cold,” he said. With fluid grace, he rose to his feet. Standing over me like a statue, he held out his hand. Reflexively without thinking, I put my hand in his.
Long fingers closed over mine, gripping my hand tightly. With a swift tug, he pulled me to my feet.
“This room,” he said, meaning the sitting room, “is connected to two rooms. To the left is my room. To the right is yours.”
“Mine?” I croaked, realizing the severity of the situation. He had no intention of letting me go. He meant what he said. He would keep me until Marco did as he wanted.
Tobias nodded. “This floor is my personal quarters. No one is allowed up here without my express permission so know that you are safe,” he said.
What a ridiculous thing to say. How could I be safe when I was the only other person on a floor with Tobias Lestrade?
Tobias’s lips twitched as if he had realized the same thing. “Why don’t you go on in and rest. You must be tired.”
I saw that to the right, there were polished dark wood double doors, clearly leading to what would now be my room. As horrifying as it was to realize I was truly kidnapped, I wanted space away from Tobias at least.
I moved towards the doors when Tobias suddenly jerked me back by my hand. I stumbled and fell against him. Craning my neck, I looked up and saw his eyes narrowed towards me.
“Please remember,” he said calmly, “this floor may be my personal space but there is security everywhere. Five floors between you and the front door and possibly several dozen men who would have no qualms about breaking your neck. So please, no pathetic attempts to escape or sneak off.” His green eyes turned icy. “You wouldn’t want to displease your host.”
I swallowed. Not knowing what to say and only knowing I wanted to get away, I nodded quickly. As soon as he released my hand, I ran off towards the double doors, anxious to get a breath of fresh air that didn’t include Tobias Lestrade’s glowing green eyes.
Chapter Five
Marco
I spit another mouthful of blood into the sink. The red glob almost glowed against the white porcelain of the sink.
Looking into the mirror, I can barely recognize my own face. It is mottled and swollen and covered in blood. I grimaced then hissed as the grimace had made my busted lips open up again.
I had taken off my blood splattered shirt so I could see the damage. I had carefully probed my chest and was sure I hadn’t broken anything. But some of my ribs were certainly bruised. It felt like knives every time I breathed.
And although I knew the four men who had attacked me would be in similar conditions as me, if not worse, I found no comfort in that fact. Because in the end, Halle was still gone.
Fucking Lestrade. Fucking Black Saints!
I leaned over the sink, my head pounding in rhythm with my heart. Godfuckingdammit!
I slammed my hand on the marble counter, making the mirrors shake violently.
As soon as Lestrade had left with Halle, I had fought against the four fucking lackeys with a rage I had never felt before. I stretched my right hand, a jagged cut crisscrossing my knuckles. I had punched one of the fuckers so hard, his tooth had come out in my hand.
The downstairs was a mess, covered in blood and broken furniture. No matter how hard I had fought though, it had still been four against one. They had left, two of them carrying one of the men on their shoulders, but they had left, successfully having allowed Lestrade to get away with Halle.
And I had been left slumped against the wall, exhausted to the point where tremors ran up and down my body as I fought to keep myself upright.
I must’ve blacked out at one point and when I came to, my muscles were aching with stiffness and my body was sticky with dried blood. I had made my way upstairs and sure enough, on our bed, was a slim black phone.
Seeing it made my anger flare up again.
Of course I had worried about the Black Saints. They were a dangerous and all reaching organization. But I had assumed that when I finally made my way into Europe, I would be so under the radar that no one could possibly care to find or bother me.
But then I had met Halle and plans had changed. We had left the States in a much flashier way than I had intended—on the heels of a murder. And I hadn’t had a chance to enact a lot of my fail safes to obscure our presence in Europe. But I had done my best to keep us low and under the radar. I had worked hard to make sure that we kept a quiet life that would allow us to live in peace and safety.
So many times I had caught myself staring at Halle and Jamie and thinking, this is all I need. Watching her face light up in laughter at something Jamie had said or hearing her talk softly in that sweet voice of hers, I knew I would lay down everything to protect her. I had done it once already. I knew I could do it again.
There had been something off as soon as I had opened the door tonight. I would’ve immediately pushed Halle back onto the street and hustled us off but I could tell there were men waiting outside as well. I couldn’t see them but I could feel them. They had trapped us neatly.
Lestrade.
We had met a handful of times before. The Desmond Family had several holdings in Europe and any sizeable holding always crossed paths with a member of the Black Saints. And any crossing with the Black Saints means a crossing with Tobias Lestrade.
The man was dangerous.
He was one of the only outsiders to figure out my name despite all the aliases I had used. He had worked for several European Families and had been very successful. His elegant lean body didn’t seem suited to killing but the man was a trained murderer. He was a notoriously good shot and had often been recruited by other Families because of his abilities.
Then suddenly he disappeared.
There had been no warning, no notice. He just disappeared for six years. Families went crazy thinking he went rogue and was plotting to take them out. There were large, reaching searches to find the man. But of course, no one ever found him.
Until six years later when he reappeared as the Enforcer for the Black Saints. And since then, he had been unstoppable. No one could be sure exactly how many deals, hits, mergers, elections, campaigns, recalls, buyouts, or treaties he had been apart of but essentially, if it was on the news, I was sure Tobias Lestrade’s hand had played a role.
Not only were the Black Saints a shadowy and vague organization but they were also notoriously closeted. They worked with only Black Saints approved members. Even the lowliest delivery boy was carefully vetted and approved to work for their ring. That was how they maintained their shadowy obscurity—by keeping meticulous records of who knew about their existence.
So for them to reach out to an outsider was very telling. And what it told me was that something dangerous and risky was waiting for me at the other end of that sleek black phone.
It was something they didn’t want to dirty their own Black Saints hands with and that was very telling since their hands were already fucking filthy.
I sighed and winced as my ribs ached at the movement.
I grabbed my own phone and quickly sent a text. Boston Terrier.
I waited, holding my breath, hoping for small mercies.
Within a minute, my phone lit up. Giant Schnauzer.
I sighed. Thank god. At least Jamie was safe.
We had agreed upon codes in cases of emergency just like this. I had wanted to use simple military code but Jamie thought it would be more unique and therefore more reliable to use odd food combina
tions.
“Anyone can say Alpha Foxtrot,” Jamie argued. “But how many people can say Broccoli Toast? Or Lobster Croutons?”
I had rolled my eyes. “These are codes that we will have only spoken about in person. There’ll be no record of them anywhere. If we all keep our mouths shut, regardless of whether we say numbers or colors or the fucking alphabet, only we should know the codes. So let’s just keep it simple.”
“But what if someone finds out our codes? What if someone finds out about Alpha Foxtrot?” Jamie wheedled.
I raised a brow. “The only way someone would know my code word is if I told them. Are you suggesting that I would give up the words to the first person who tried to throw a punch at me?” I leaned forward. “You think your big brother is some kind of little pushover?”
