The Tycoon's Temporary Bride: Book Four

by Ana E Ross

  Adam crossed his left leg over his right knee. His mind was swimming with a surplus of questions for this man and there was no order to how he would post them. “Why wasn’t there any news about the incident, except for the man she shot?”

  Paul passed his hand over his short crop of hair. “I promise I’ll answer all your questions Adam, but right now I’d like to know how she is. How’s Tashi?” he asked, his eyes softening as he said her name.

  “She’s well,” Adam responded with an eager smile. “Safe and well.”

  Paul reached over and placed a hand on Adam’s knee. “Thank you, buddy. I knew you could protect her. I knew that as long as she had the Andreas name, she would be safe.”

  Adam dropped his left hand over the back of his chair, as if hiding his wedding band from Paul’s view could erase the events of the past two weeks, and most profoundly of last night. “She’s not just a job is she, Paul? She’s special to you.”

  Paul’s eyes pierced his, and his voice trembled as though touched by some raw emotion. “Yes, she’s very special to me,” he replied, catching his lower lip between his teeth, just like Tashi.

  Adam blinked. Dear God. How could he not have picked up on that telling trait? “As in niece or daughter?”

  Paul’s chest heaved on a deep sigh. “Tashi is my daughter, Adam, and since you ordered a copy of her birth certificate, you’re aware that she doesn’t know who her father is.”

  Adam unfolded his leg, and leaning forward, he planted his elbows on his knees, causing the diamonds on his wedding band to sparkle in the morning light. “You’re not the kind of man who’d turn his back on his child, Paul. So why are you recorded as Unknown?”

  Paul closed his eyes and pressed his lips together for a brief instant. “I didn’t know about Tashi until a month before that awful night.” A faraway look settled in his eyes as he stroked the scar on his cheek with his thumb. “And again, that’s something we’ll discuss later.”

  Fair enough. “Our marriage is not in name, only, Paul.” He might as well get it out in the open. “Tashi and I—”

  Paul shut him up with a swipe of his hand. “Is she happy?”

  Adam’s heart jumped. He sat back abruptly. “Yes. We both are. It’s only been a few weeks, and you may think it’s crazy, but we love each other very deeply. I would die for her.” Adam held his father-in-law’s inquisitive gaze.

  Paul’s lips ruffled on a smile of approval. “Those are the words every father wants to hear from the man who married his daughter. Your patience, gentleness, and deep sense of spirituality are exactly what Tashi needs. I’ve always admired those qualities in you. If it were up to me to choose a husband for her, you’d be it, Adam.” He took a sip of coffee.

  Adam smiled with relief and respect. “Well you did choose me when you asked me to marry her—temporarily.”

  “I was giving you a way out,” Paul said, with a glint of humor in his eyes.

  “There was no need. I fell for Tashi the moment I laid eyes on her. To be truthful, I was a bit scared you’d think I took advantage of her.”

  Paul chuckled. “If it was Massimo, I’d probably be bashing his face in right now. I love that rascal, but I wouldn’t have left a bird in his care. He would have swallowed Tashi alive.”

  Adam laughed. He’d harbored the same thoughts about his cousin. “He’s married you know, and has a baby girl.”

  “Yeah, I know. He made an honest woman of the virgin schoolteacher from Brooklyn he had me investigate last year.”

  Adam’s eyebrows raised in surprise. He hadn’t known Shaina was a virgin. Good for her. Now he could tease Massimo about really not deserving her. “You should be happy to know that your daughter was also—untouched, Paul.” He refrained from telling him that she wasn’t at the actual time they exchanged their vows. “She’s a good girl.”

  A proud smile lit Paul’s face. “When and how did you and Tashi meet?”

  Adam’s face broke into a huge grin. “A month ago at Mountainview Café.” He inclined his head toward the cup at Paul’s lips.

  The older man chuckled and lowered the cup. “Hmm, best coffee shop in town.”

  Adam went on to give him a short version of the events from that first collision to the day he and Tashi got married—well, not everything, especially not the garden scenes.

  “That poor kid,” Paul said, wiping tears from his cheeks when Adam was finished with his story. “She’s been through hell for the past year and a half. All I want to do is hold her in my arms, tell her I’m her daddy, that I love her, would have been there for her if I’d known.”

  “Well you were, Paul. You were there when she needed you most. I suppose that’s why you’re here. Jake gave you my message.”

  “Yeah, I got that message. Whose bowwow is that anyway?”

  “He belongs to Massimo.” Adam ginned. “He’s not bad. He found Jake.”

  Paul expelled a sarcastic chuckle. “I’m Jake Fletcher, Adam.”

  Adam jumped back, his eyes popping wide. “You’re Jake? You told us he was your partner.”

  Paul caught his bottom lip between his teeth again. “He’s one of my doubles. Paul dies when they are in play. Jake is my current. I even grew a beard for him. Thinking of Paul as dead is the best way to fully assume my undercover identities.”

  Adam rushed his hand through his hair as he tried to absorb the news, but then wariness crept along his spine as the words, Won’t be long, flashed across his mind. Could it be that it was over, that Paul had caught the people who were after Tashi? “So, you’re in Granite Falls because….”

  Paul pushed out of the chair and taking his coffee with him, he moved over to the wall overlooking the town.

  Adam followed him. “Paul, tell me you have this son of bitch. That Tashi is safe.”

  Paul rubbed at his right shoulder blade. “I wish, Adam. I wanted to take him down before he found out where she is.”

  Adam swallowed as a knot lodged in his throat. “Are you saying he’s here in Granite Falls?”

  “No, but his men are. Got here around midnight last night.”

  “Oh dear Lord.” Adam reached into his pocket for his phone. “Tashi is out having brunch with a friend. I have to alert her guards to secure her immediately.”

  “No need to call her. She’s still relatively safe since I’m one of the two men sent to kidnap her and hand her over to Boris Sokolov.”

  “Boris Sokolov.” Adam said the name once and vowed never to repeat it again as both men dropped down on the window seat.

  “He’s a man without a face,” Paul said. “Nobody, but his most trusted guards knows who he is. He wants Tashi badly enough to come get her himself. She cost him a lot of money, plus a lot of manpower. I took out eight of his relatives that night. He had to cease his operation for a year and a half. He’s smart. He stays small and deals only in high-end human trafficking. He has a ritual, though. After the girls are drugged, and just before they’re placed on the private jets supplied by his clients, he has them taken to this hotel near Kennedy airport, just so they could see his face and know he’s the one who sold them. The sick bastard!” Jake spat out the last words with a vehement shake of his head.

  “Was the FBI staking out his organization? Is that how you found out that Tashi was involved?”

  Paul glanced out the window for a long time before facing Adam again. “When I found out that Tashi was my daughter, I began watching her, trying to figure out the best way to approach her, when this kid—”

  “Scottie.” Adam said his name with the utmost contempt.

  “Yeah. He began showing an interest in her.” He shrugged. “I thought it was cute that she had a boyfriend. Of course I ran a background check on him. I wouldn’t be a good father if I hadn’t. He was a struggling photographer like Tashi, trying to make his way in the world.” He shook his head solemnly. “But there was something about him that just didn’t sit right with me.”

  “It’s your training.”

&n
bsp; “I guess. Anyway, one day after he dropped Tashi off at her apartment, I followed him.” He shivered visibly. “I couldn’t believe my eyes when the kid drove up to this mansion in upper Manhattan. Then two limos of shady looking characters carrying barely concealed weapons drove up after him and went into the house. I took some pictures and ran facial recognition on some of the men. Needless to say, most were criminals and ex-cons. A couple had done time for various crimes, including sexual assault.”

  “Oh my God.” Adam’s hands tightened into fists.

  “I waited until the others left, then I nabbed that little jerk and beat the truth out of him. Just in time since they were shipping out Tashi and three other girls that same night.” He swallowed. “There was no time to involve the agency. I had to go rogue to ensure her escape and survival. In my haste to save her, I forgot to secure Scottie and he alerted Boris’s men. Well, you know the rest.”

  Adam dropped his head in his hands as he fought back the nausea. Paul’s voice was a distant hum in his ears as a thousand different ways that scene could have played out flashed across his mind. Tashi could have been hurt, badly. Killed.

  “Boris was forced to halt his operation until he built back up his manpower, finances, and acquired more clients. His first shipment of girls since that night was scheduled to take place last night. The agency was set to raid all his secret locations and the hotel—the one place they were certain to get him. But because of your ex, here we are planning, instead of celebrating,” Paul stated in an acerbic tone.

  Adam’s head snapped upward. “My ex?” He pushed his hair from his face and tucked loose strands behind his ears.

  Paul took a sip of coffee. “The one who left you at the altar.”

  “Claire?” Rage coiled inside Adam.

  Paul fixed his eyes on Adam. “Some P.I. she hired was flashing Tashi’s picture around her old college campus and neighborhood. Scottie recognized her and told the boss. The boss got all the info he could out of the man and then had him killed. Wish I’d killed that little jerk the second I found out what he’d planned for my child.”

  “I know about the P.I.” Adam said. He told Paul about his conversation with Eddie. “I warned Claire to stay out of my affairs. She got an innocent man killed. When I’m done with her, she’ll wish she’d never met me,” Adam ground out between clenched teeth. He shot to his feet and began to pace. “What is it about exes? When it’s over, it’s over. Move on. Get a life. They keep hanging around like bad breath stinking up your space.”

  “You’re not going to have her killed, are you?”

  “She deserves something far worse than death. She has too much time and money on her hands. What are this devil’s plans for my wife?” Adam came to a halt in front of Paul.

  Paul cringed and shook outwardly. “Never ask me that again, Andreas. It’s not something any father wants to think about, much less discuss, in relation to his daughter. We have to talk strategy for securing Tashi’s safety, permanently. I don’t ever want to have to deal with this devil again. I’m sending him and his minions straight back to hell in a blast of smoke.”

  Being an Andreas, who left no spiders when sweeping the web, Adam understood fully. “Is the agency with you on this?”

  Paul shook his head. “They know nothing about Tashi. I kept her a secret because I didn’t want her identity or whereabouts compromised. Thank goodness, Boris was in the habit of creating false identities for the girls he shipped off. If possible, I would still like to keep Tashi out of it. I don’t want her name associated with this operation. So no, I had to go rogue again on this trip. They don’t know where I am.” He paused. “And to answer your question about why there was no coverage of the shootout, well, the house, thank God, was completely soundproofed. No one on the outside heard anything. I managed to crawl out of there before Boris sent in his cleaners. He didn’t want his clients knowing he’d been raided. Not good for future business. The man in the driveway became a drug deal gone wrong, and since his name happened to be on the deed to the house, it was easy to pull it off.”

  “You made Tashi wear gloves, so there were no fingerprints,” Adam murmured.

  “And the gun is untraceable. As far as the agency knows, I shot him with his own gun and drove his car away from the scene—a car that I’d already smeared with my blood. Got my ass chewed out, but I pacified them by promising to go back in to bring down the bastard. They’ll probably kick me out this time, which wouldn’t be bad since Tashi and I have a lot of catching up to do.”

  Adam stared in awe at the strength, tenacity, and wit of his father-in-law. “You said there were two of you. Where’s the other man?”

  Paul rubbed his chin. “I gave Leon some of the drugs I’m supposed to administer to Tashi to keep her malleable. He’s sleeping in his motel room. I obviously couldn’t have him tagging along when I came to see you this morning.” He sighed deeply. “I bugged his phone, and just as I suspected, I overheard Boris’s plan to off me once I handed Tashi over to him.” He glanced at his watch. “I have to get back to the hotel before he wakes up. It’s just you and me and the local police if you still have clout with them,” Paul said, standing.

  “Yes, what do you need?” Adam headed back to his desk.

  “We need a decoy. A Tashi look-alike. We’ll stage a kidnapping. I’ll have Leon call Boris for the meeting location. Unknown to him, I’ll be listening in. The feds would be taking down the rest of Boris’s gang. And this is probably the time to call your guards and have them take Tashi to the Andreas estate. She’s to remain there until this is all over.”

  “Definitely.” Adam pulled his cell from his pocket. His hands were shaking so hard, he dropped it on a pile of papers on his desk.

  Paul placed his hands over Adam’s. “It’s gonna be okay, Andreas. I’m not gonna let anything happen to my little girl. You already know I would die for her, just like you.” He paused on a deep breath. “We obviously cannot meet again until Boris is terminated. So you’re on your own getting the decoy as quickly as possible. I’m hoping to have this over by tomorrow. I need to see my daughter, start a relationship with her,” he said in a tremulous voice.

  Adam nodded. “I understand.”

  “Does Tashi still have that phone I gave her?”

  Adam smiled. “You kidding me? She guards that thing like a baby.”

  Paul tipped his head to the side. “Funny. I called it several times last night and there was no answer.”

  Adam dropped his gaze and his lips twisted in a secretive smile. “We spent the night in the garden. We’ve been spending a lot of time there. We don’t take our phones—”

  “Hey, say no more,” Paul said with a knowing grin. “You’re newlyweds.” He slapped him on the shoulder. “Once you get the decoy and the details of the kidnapping set up, use that phone to call me.” He pulled a piece of paper with a number written on it from his pocket and handed it to Adam. “ Both are clean. Don’t’ attempt to communicate with me by any other means.”

  They hugged, wished each other luck, and after walking Paul to his private elevator, Adam called Tashi’s bodyguard. “Hank, take Mrs. Andreas to the estate immediately. She’s to remain there indefinitely.”

  “On it, Mr. Andreas.”

  Adam buzzed his assistant. “Ms. Jenkins, have the accounting department begin the preliminary procedures on buying out Forsythe Jewelers. I don’t care what it costs.”

  “Yes, Mr. Andreas. Right away.”

  Adam pushed another button on his phone.

  “Granite Falls Police Department. Office Mike Jordan speaking.”

  “Mike, it’s Adam Andreas.”

  “Hey, Adam. How are you? What can I do for you?”

  “Well, that depends…

  “On?”

  “I need a huge favor. Can we meet?”

  “Absolutely. I’ll be over in fifteen.”

  “See you then.”

  ***

  When she walked out of Dr. Walsh’s office, fla
nked by two of her female bodyguards, and noticing two male ones waiting at the door, Tashi knew something was wrong.

  “Come with us, Mrs. Andreas,” the one named Hank said, as he escorted her toward his Hummer. “Mr. Andreas has asked us to take you home.”

  “Where’s my car?” she asked, staring at the empty space where she’d parked it before she went in to see the doctor.

  “Doris drove it back to the estate,” Hank said, as he helped her into the backseat of his vehicle and closed the door.

  Tashi’s heart fluttered inside her chest. This could only mean one thing: her enemies had caught up to her, and they were in town. She swallowed back the lump in her throat and as the Hummer took off, she pulled her phone from her purse and called Adam. “Adam, what’s going on?” she asked, trying to keep the panic from her voice.

  “Sweetheart, where are you, now?”

  “I’m in Hank’s car. He’s taking me home. Are they here, Adam?” Tears stung her eyes.

  He sighed. “It’s just a precaution. Something came up and I think it’d be best if you remained on the estate. Inside the mansion. No going to the garden. Okay?”

  “You’re scaring me, Adam.” Tears flowed down Tashi’s cheeks. “What about you, are you safe?”

  “I’m fine, darling. I’m fine. I’ll be home as soon as I can. Okay?”

  Tashi sniffled. What if those people were holding him to get to her? She knew he’d die for her, just like Agent Dawson. She couldn’t deal with the possibility. She wouldn’t survive without him. “Are you sure you’re not being held prisoner, Adam? Tell me the truth.”

  He chuckled. “I’m sure, baby. I’m not being held prisoner. I’m in my office. Hold on,” he said after a short pause.

  “Mrs. Andreas,” a male voice greeted her ears. “This is Officer Jordan form G.F.P.D. Your husband is with me. He’s fine, but if you need verification, call the station.”

  “See?” Adam said. “You’ll be holding me in your arms soon. And promise me you won’t spend the afternoon worrying. No unpleasant thoughts.”