by C. Lymari
Once ready, I went straight to the control room. I knocked and waited for an answer.
“Marcus,” I said when I saw the man who opened the door.
“Ember.” He gave me a sad smile.
Marcus had been my security guard when I was nineteen. He was nice. Back then, he was twenty-four and wanted a job in law enforcement, but that didn’t happen. Instead, he came to work for us. Safe to say, I used him.
Right after I fucked him and he professed his love to me, I kicked him out of my life. I felt terrible thinking he would lose his job, so I’d made sure he kept it, but since then, he never wanted to be near me. Not that I could blame him.
“Is Ren here?” I asked.
“He got called into headquarters. That’s why I’m here.”
“Cool,” I said, trying not to grin.
“Ember.” There was a warning to Marcus’s voice.
“Hmmm?” I played innocent.
“You are not to go anywhere without him.”
“I know,” I said. “I’ll be on the terrace. You’re more than welcome to keep me company.”
Marcus made a horrified expression, and then he shut the door in my face. Walking back to the living room, I saw Karen, who shook her head at me.
“Two-minute window is all I ask for,” she said.
It was useless to try to go back to sleep when I was feeling wired. Instead, I went to the control room. From there, I made sure everything was in order, then focused the bigger monitor on the living room. Ember was high off her ass, sitting on the couch, just staring at the wall.
This girl had everything at her fingertips, yet she treated her life like it was nothing. I grew up a charity case, bouncing between foster homes because my mother was a junkie whore, and my father was a drunk con man. They only got their shit together enough to get custody back and cash a few checks. From a young age, I had to fend for myself. Learn how to survive on the streets because it was either I became street smart or ended up dead.
Drugs? I didn’t touch them. There was already enough shit that could kill me. I didn’t need to add a useless habit to the list.
Around five in the morning, Ember’s phone lit up. I wondered who would text her at this hour, especially since she stared at her screen for a few minutes. Her face was devoid of all emotion. Throwing her phone aside, she walked out of the living room back outside. I quickly grabbed my phone and turned off the alarm. I wasn’t sure if she was aware of it or not, but her personal bodyguard got a notification after the doors were locked for the night.
I was prepared to get up again and tell her to come back inside when she walked back in carrying her bong box. I seriously thought I’d seen the stupidity humanity had to offer, but then I’d sat across from the diamond princess taking a hit from a bong that probably cost more money than I would see in my life. I sat back down, preparing myself to watch her take another hit, but instead, she grabbed a vial of white powder.
The image was almost too familiar as I watched her cut the lines and inhale them. I remember watching my father do the same. Ember lay on the couch turned the television on, then fell asleep. I went to the living room to do one more thing while she was passed out, then went to my room and slept.
It felt like I had barely gone back to bed when my phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Falcon,” the authoritative voice spoke, and I immediately got up at the sound of Sam’s voice.
“Sir.”
“I need you to come to headquarters,” he stated.
“Sir, I can’t leave the girl alone.”
“Her name is Ember,” he spat at me, and I bit my tongue. “I’m sending someone to cover for you. This won’t take long.”
“Sounds good.”
As soon as the line disconnected, I opened the camera feed on my cell, and once I saw Ember was still passed out in the living room, I threw my phone on the bed and changed. When the guard posted at the entrance of the building texted me to let me know my replacement was here, I left my room. The first thing I did when I walked out was to check what Ember was doing. Not surprisingly, she was still sleeping.
Before I left the house, I went to the couch and stared at Ember. She looked peaceful, with an almost angelic face. When I noticed still some powder on her nose, I poured some water on her face.
She was nothing like I thought she would be.
The penthouse had two exits. The front door led to a hallway with an elevator and fire exits. This was only accessible to Ember. The penthouse on the other side was this one’s mirror. My replacement, a light-skinned African American, was already in the elevator lobby waiting for me.
“Ren.” I nodded.
“Marcus,” he replied. He took a step toward the door but stopped. “What is she doing?”
“She just woke up,” I said as I walked into the elevator door and closed it.
It took me about twenty minutes to make it to headquarters. Here I was, an orphan from the streets getting around in a company Maybach. Talk about wasting money on unnecessary shit for employees.
“Here I am,” I said as I walked into Sam’s office.
He wasn’t as tall as I was, but he carried himself with an authority that came with years of experience. He spoke to all his men in the same hard tone, unflinching except when he talked to Ember. That’s when you saw the hard man soften a bit.
“Take a seat.” He motioned for the chair across from him.
Doing as he asked, I waited to see what he would tell me next. He didn’t say anything; instead, he pulled out a folder and handed it to me. My blood chilled the minute I opened the contents of the envelope. It was all cut-out pictures of Ember. Some were of her walking down the street, getting into a cab, at clubs, in alleys with guys.
“Normally, I don’t make it a habit to show her security this information.” As he said those words, I felt pride that he saw something different in me. “But things have escalated, and I can’t keep you in the dark, so for my sake and hers, I hope you last.”
“I don’t see myself quitting anytime soon,” I told him.
He gave me a look, but didn’t comment.
“Listen, kid, this job won’t be easy. Ember’s the kind of girl that makes you work double. Until we find a way to end this, I need to know that you will make her a priority in all things.”
“What do you mean?” I was already making more than enough just protecting this girl.
“I mean, you are her shadow. You basically don’t have a life outside of hers.”
This complicated things with Pam. I would figure it out, though.
“I don’t have much outside this job.” That wasn’t entirely a lie either. “May I ask why you’re concerned now?”
Sam took a deep breath and looked at the wall. “She’s always had a target on her back. She’s an heiress to the second-largest diamond distributor in the world. That kind of money doesn’t come without a price. Around her nineteenth birthday was when we received the first photo. We tried to trace it, but there was no way to do it. We assumed she had a stalker, so we added more security without her knowing. Her father has had a hit on him. That’s why he doesn’t want to be in the same place as her for long. If her target and his come from the same person, it would make it easier to get both of them.”
“Why is this happening?”
Sam looked at me now, and if I were a lesser man, I would have flinched. “Money. Power. Take your pick.”
I gave an understanding nod.
“You may go. Stay vigilant; you see anything out of the ordinary, report it. I don’t give a fuck how insignificant you might think it is.”
I moved to stand up. “Why haven’t you notified the authorities?”
“Boy, in this world, everyone has someone in their pocket.”
That was the damn truth. With power came corruption. I started to walk out when I remembered he hadn’t answered my other question.
“What happened that made you take this seriously?”
&nb
sp; “Ember had long hair. Beautiful, shiny hair. A couple of weeks ago, she cut it.”
“Okay,” I replied slowly.
Sam opened the cabinet behind him and pulled out a clear bag full of hair.
Shit.
“We tested it. One hundred percent match.”
“I won’t let you down, sir.”
He didn’t reply right away, so I took that as my cue to leave. Just as I was walking out the door, he called after me.
“We’ll see about that.”
I had the car door open when I got a call on my phone. “Yeah?”
“Ember took off,” Marcus replied.
“What!” I yelled. “How could you let that happen?”
I got in the car, putting the phone on speaker and opening the app I had installed on Ember’s phone. Every iPhone came with a Maps app, but Ember did not need to use hers. Last night when she passed out, I went to the living room and swiped her finger on it. Seriously that was the stupidest shit ever invented. I deleted that app and downloaded a maskable tracker app so she wouldn’t notice what I’d done.
“You’re new, so you don’t know how Ember gets,” Marcus replied.
I didn’t bother with an answer and instead hung up on him.
Following the tracker, I saw her on the move a couple of blocks from where I was. As I drove to catch up to her, I cursed her name. This was my fucking job, and she had no regard for anyone but herself.
Thirty minutes.
That was how long it took me to catch up to her location. I parked on the side of the street. I figured that if the car got towed, the Remingtons wouldn’t bat an eyelash at paying the fee.
I was new to the city, so I didn’t fucking know where I was going. The alley seemed seedy as fuck, and a part of me was praying to God that I didn’t find Ember Remington dead. I came to a stop when I saw I was by the lake. On the horizon, there was a boat.
“Fuck. Me.” I gripped my hair.
How did you save someone who didn’t want to be saved?
I went back to the car and asked the first person I saw directions to the harbor.
I swore this was the last time this spoiled bitch made a fool out of me.
“Do you want to tell me why you’re so quiet?” Lilah, who lived in the same building as me, asked me as I looked across the water.
I got lucky that Lilah had an Uber already waiting downstairs, and with the extra cash we gave the driver, he took off like the hounds of hell were after him.
“Ho, I’m talking to you.” Lilah snapped her fingers in my face. “Is it the Marcus thing? ’Cause you got to let go. You fucked him once, and it’s not your fault he went and caught feelings.”
“It’s not that,” I told her.
Lilah was the closest thing I had to a friend. We’d grown up in the same circles and did drugs together, but whenever she wanted to go out of state, I had to decline. My father was paranoid and barely let me out of my protective bubble. She knew everything about me, knew all my truths except those I didn’t want to admit to myself.
“Your mom’s birthday is coming up,” she said in a softer tone.
The last thing I wanted was to talk about my mother. I remembered the day I asked my father why I didn’t have one. I didn’t know if he explained it wrong, or if he’d intended to say it the way he did it, but all I got from it was that I was responsible for my mother’s death. I’d been a screwup since the day I was born. Yay me.
Not wanting to talk about this, I changed the subject.
“I think I might like blonds. You know, other than you.”
Lilah snorted. “No, you don’t. You like Charlie Hunnam, and Tim Austin, that’s about it, and yet you argue that their hair color is brond and not blond.”
“I do not,” I told her.
“Do too.”
“I hate you,” I said with a smile.
The yacht had circled the lake for longer than I expected. A little part of me felt guilty for doing this; the other part didn’t care. I mean, it was my life, and I was allowed to do what I wanted, when I wanted. For years I begged my father to stop with the ridiculous amount of security. I got it. We were rich. But come on! It was like we were the first family of the United States. My dad exaggerated things.
“Here.” Lilah handed me a glass of champagne.
“No, thanks,” I said.
Lilah shrugged and sipped from that one as well. I smiled at my best friend. One thing she loved was her wine and champagne.
“You didn’t touch the booze, you said no to the joint that was being passed around, and didn’t even grab a party favor.”
“I’m not in the mood,” I told her.
My head was not in the right place. And I wasn’t completely irresponsible. I didn’t touch party favors unless I knew where they came from. I got my weed, coke, and molly from a top-notch dealer—no cut-down shit for me.
I sighed with relief when I saw the yacht making its way to the pier. I could finally go home and relax. Lilah was tipsy, and I was sober; it was a rare night, that’s for sure. Grabbing Lilah’s hand, I dragged her down to the pier with me.
“Excuse me.” I pushed people out of the way. “Coming through.”
“Damn you, Ember,” Whitney shouted when her champagne spilled on her dress.
“Sorry. Send me the bill.”
What was everyone’s hurry to be the first out? I was so annoyed, I just wanted to be alone. Once my heels made contact with the pavement, I sighed in relief. We were walking toward the street where we could hail a cab when I saw him.
I felt a chill run through my body.
Ren Falcon did not look happy.
He was leaning on a pillar; his jaw was set, and even from here I could tell how pissed off he was. Something like dread stirred inside of me. I was used to looks of disappointment from my father and Sammy, and anger from my uncle. Usually, my bodyguards acted more like I was a hindrance than anything else.
Ren pushed off from the pillar, making his way toward us, and I wanted to go back onto the boat.
“Ember, Lilah, you two are going to the after-party, right?”
I turned my head to look at Zeke, our host. He loved having Friday parties and games on his yacht.
“I don’t think so,” Lilah said as she patted his cheek.
“Yeah, I’ll pass,” I said as I tried to pull Lilah with me.
Zeke grabbed Lilah’s other arm, dragging her to his body.
“You two sluts never say no to a party.”
“Let me go.” Lilah started to push him off her. One thing we hated was being called sluts.
“Zeke, don’t be stupid now. Let her go,” I seethed.
He smirked at me and pushed Lilah off him. As I took a step to get her, he grabbed me.
“If you wanted me to grab you, all you had to do was ask,” he mocked in my ear.
Before I had a chance to tell him to let me go or he’d regret it, someone else did it.
“Let. Her. Go,” Ren said through gritted teeth.
He was standing a few feet away from us, one of his hands behind his back. I might have thought he looked at me with hate before, but it was nothing compared to the look he was giving Zeke right now.
“Who the fuck are you?” Zeke mocked.
So far, Ren didn’t dress like my other bodyguards with a black suit and the diamond pin all our workers wore. It was a symbol showing who they served. He wore his boots, with jeans and a leather jacket.
“Let me go, Zeke, before you get hurt,” I said in a bored tone since I wasn’t afraid.
Zeke, however, didn’t let me go. Instead, he smirked at Ren.
“Listen, I’ll give you five hundred bucks. Take it and buy yourself something nice.”
Ren laughed. He then took his arm from behind his back and pulled a Glock and aimed it at Zeke’s face. I bit my lip to stop myself from grinning. Finally, a guard that wasn’t a pussy.
“How about if I shoot you, then you can take your money and shove it in the hole t
o try and stop the bleeding?”
Zeke might not have shown it, but I felt the moment his body went still against me.
“You’ll end up in jail,” he said with fake confidence.
Ren gave a wicked grin. “You want to find out?”
I rolled my eyes at both men trying to prove each had a bigger dick than the other. Having guards all my life and an absentee father showed me that I needed to learn to take care of myself. Bringing my heel down to one of Zeke’s Hermès loafers, I dug in until he howled with pain. Then I pulled my elbow back with force until it hit him in the ribs.
I stepped out of Zeke’s embrace, and Ren was already grabbing on to my wrist, pulling me away. Lilah kept pace with us.
I turned around. “Maybe next time you should bring your guards! You’re a pussy who can’t take care of himself!”
Zeke glared at me.
“Shut up,” Ren growled. “I had to run around all over town because Daddy’s little diamond went missing.”
I tried to pull my hand from his hold, but I think the only way I would get out of his grasp was when he wanted to let go or break my wrist. Since I was fond of my bones not being broken, I decided to let him be—for now.
Ren had the Maybach with the hazard lights at the entrance to the harbor.
“Get in the car now.” Ren all but shoved me in. “Who the fuck are you?” He turned to Lilah, finally taking notice of her.
“She’s with me,” I said from inside the car, arching a brow when he turned to look at me.
“She can find her way back home.”
“Contrary to what people think, these boots are not made for walking.” Lilah pointed to her thigh-high Louboutins
“She lives in our building,” I said.
Ren stepped aside so Lilah could get in. Once she was seated, he slammed the door, making us both flinch.
“He’s angry,” Lilah whispered.
When I turned to face her, we both laughed. Getting comfortable in the car, I pulled out a water bottle for Lilah and some aspirin. After years of coasting through life drunk, I was more than prepared. Lilah took the aspirins, then turned to me with a mischievous grin.
