“Hey you, just wanted to know if you want me to take the night shift. You look kind of done in already.”
Padme smiled at him. “And it’s only lunchtime. No, it’s okay, I’m kind of a night-owl, I’ll take the late shift.”
Dale flopped down on the bed next to her. “What do you think of him?”
“Enver? Nice guy, good for him taking on the Ingles.”
Dale nodded. “That’s what I think. That lawyer, though.” They both laughed. “By the look of him, he’s read American Psycho once too often.”
Padme snorted. “He’s not that interesting. He does know the Eighties are over, right?”
“You’re such a bitch.” But Dale was laughing. Padme punched his arm and got up off the bed.
“Come on, we have work to do.”
By the evening, they both realized that babysitting duty was as dull as it sounded. Brian Dedalus ignored them, jabbering away on his cell phone, Chaley, shy and nervous, would offer them coffee every time she saw them. Enver was working, but would stop when he saw them and chat, and Padme grew more impressed by him every time they talked. In sharp contrast to his lawyer, Enver was humble, apologetic for the situation, but fun and smart to be around.
Which made it harder for Padme as she got to know him over the next few days because he was everything she wanted, and everything she couldn’t have. She took the night shifts, listening to the silence around the compound as she walked the corridors. Enver had taken to joining her, and they would sit and talk until dawn, each desperate to touch the other, but know they couldn’t.
“When this is over,” Enver said, late one night a week after they’d come to the safe house, “I would love to take you away, to Italy, show you my home.”
“Have you any family left?”
“A few cousins scattered throughout the country. Claudio is the closest to me. He’s an artist. His sister, Soleil, she died a few years ago.”
Some memory pinged in Padme’s memory at the unusual name. “Are you talking about Soleil Fonseca? The murder down in Los Angeles?” Enver nodded, his eyes sad. “God, that was horrific, I’m so sorry, Enver.”
“Thank you. It was a bad time for us all, especially Claudio.”
Padme shook her head. “So much pain.”
Enver smiled a little and covered her hand with his. “You make it better.”
Padme’s eyes locked on his and then his lips were against hers. God, he was intoxicating… “We can’t do this…” she said, but then lost herself in the kiss. Enver pulled her into his arms and her body curved around his. “Enver… Enver…”
His hands were at the waistband of her pants, his eyes questioning and she could not tell him to stop. A frenzy of stripping and Enver was sliding his huge cock into her as they tumbled to the carpet. They fucked quickly, intensely, smothering their moans with their mouths, lips against lips, skin on skin.
Padme’s legs tightened around his waist as he plowed deeper and deeper into her, her fingernails digging into the finely-honed muscles of his back. She came, dampening her cry of release by pressing her lips to his shoulder as Enver buried his face in her neck to muffle his groan as he came.
They lay together, panting, listening for any sign that they had been heard. There was silence throughout the property. “God,” Padme said, her face flushed, her hair sticking to the sweat on her face. “We really shouldn’t have done that.”
Enver grinned down at her. “I think it was kind of inevitable, cara mia.”
She chuckled quietly. “You’re so cocky. Help me up, big guy, I’m supposed to be protecting you.”
He pulled her to her feet, and they got dressed, pausing to kiss often. Enver persuaded her to go to the large kitchen with him, and they made sandwiches, falling on them as if they were half-starved.
“Food and sex,” Enver grinned at her, “My two favorite things.”
“Keeping you alive, baby, is my favorite thing. Seriously, Enver, that has to be the last time until the case is over.”
Enver nodded, sobering up. “I know. I’m sorry, Padme, I could not stop myself.”
“Don’t apologize, I wanted you just as much – I still want you, badly, but this is your life we’re talking about.”
“And yours,” he said firmly. He set his sandwich down and ran a hand through his dark hair. “God, I’ll be glad when this thing starts.”
“The D.A. told me you’ll actually be testifying against one of the Ingles’ associates? Not Frederick Ingles himself?”
Enver rolled his eyes. “They won’t arrest Freddy Ingles himself, he’s too important. Their words. They’ll just take his knees out from beneath him. He has deals in place with so many high-ranking government officials in Europe, but the slightest whiff of corruption, they’ll pull out of his deals which will make his organization very hard to deal with.”
Padme blinked. “I just don’t get the business world. I guess I see things in black and white – you make a product, you sell the product, etc. As soon as you get more complicated than that, I’m out. I’ve never asked – what is your line of business?”
“Shipping,” Enver said and grinned when she grimaced. “Well, quite. Really, it was Max who brought me on board. We had known each other since we were kids. After college, I was adrift really – my major was in music – but I didn’t know if I wanted to pursue it as a career. Max inherited his father’s shipping business, and when I joined his company, I found I had a gift for negotiation. After I had brokered a huge deal with the Scandinavian governments, Max made me a partner. His father had run a low-key operation, but we expanded it to become the world’s biggest shipping company. I sound like a brochure.”
Padme burst out laughing as he pulled a face at the end. “A little, but please, go on. Tell me more about Max.”
Enver smiled a little sadly. “He was my best friend, and I loved him, but he got greedy. Unbeknownst to me, he approached Freddy Ingles to broker a deal. The specifics of the deal, I don’t know, but Max came to me one night, telling me he gotten in too deep, that he had underestimated Ingles’ grip once he had Max in his net. He told me a little about what he had discussed with Ingles, but then Ingles had gotten nasty, threatening to kill Max and everyone he loved if Max reneged on the deal. Three days later, Max and his wife, Julia, were murdered in their home. They made Max watch while they stabbed Julia to death, and then cut Max’s throat. They came after me, but I’d been pre-warned and wasn’t where they expected.” Enver let out a shaky breath. “Julia was pregnant when she died.”
“Jesus,” Padme felt a wave of horror flood over her. She didn’t think she had processed how much Enver’s life was on the line until this moment. “Enver…if they’re only going to hobble Frederick’s business, not arrest him, what’s going to stop him pursuing you for the rest of your life?”
Enver smiled sadly. “Nothing. And I’m aware that once I testify, all bets are off. The F.B.I. is under no obligation to keep protecting me.”
Padme wanted to argue, but he was right. “God.”
“I have been offered a pass into witness protection, but I don’t want that.”
Padme gazed at him, distressed. “If it keeps you alive, why not?”
There was a long pause. “Because I have someone who I cannot be parted from, now, Padme, and they wouldn’t let me see you again. I cannot live with that.”
“Oh, Enver…” Padme felt her body go cold at the thought of it. She took a deep breath in. “I can’t be the reason you get killed. I can’t.”
“You wouldn’t be. I’m saying…I don’t want my life curtailed by Freddy Ingles – and it is him who would come after you as well as me – he’s a sadist. Without him at the helm, the rest of them would crumble. They just want to be comfortable, gets as much money as they can without being bothered by scandal.”
Padme chewed this over. “I wouldn’t hesitate to put the asshole down. God, killing a pregnant woman?”
“And they knew it, too.”
“Cocksuckers,” she spat. “Just let me get a whiff of Ingles, and I’ll end him myself.”
Enver’s expression was hard. “I don’t want you within a million miles of that psycho.”
She gave him a lop-sided grin. “It’s kind of my job, Enver.”
He nodded, his expression concerned. “What made you go into the F.B.I. anyway?”
“I wanted to help people,” she said simply, “It was either this or the Military for me.”
“Did you go to college?”
She nodded. “A degree then a Master’s in Political Science. When Cosima…wait, do you know Cosima and Arlo Forrester?”
He nodded. “I do, a little.”
“Well, Cosima was shot and seriously injured a few years ago by her F.B.I. handler. We didn’t know if she was going to make it, but because of it, the restrictions on protecting foreign nationals were tightened up. I decided to join up to make sure they were – and now look where I am.”
“Isn’t that what you call irony?” Enver grinned at her, but she shook her head.
“More like…heartbreak. God, what am I doing?” Padme closed her eyes. “I’ve worked so hard to get where I am, Enver, you don’t know the half of it. Orphanage kid, mixed race, female…I had to overcome discrimination to get here. If something happened to you, not just on my watch, but at all…I don’t think I could survive it.”
Enver stroked her face. “I feel the same. And I don’t want to compromise your career, either, that’s not the kind of man I am.”
Padme gazed at him. “You would be easy to fall in love with, Enver Toscano, but I can’t risk it while your life is in danger.”
“Cara mia,” he said softly, “I’m already there.”
Padme felt tears well up, and she shook her head. “Don’t say it, please. Not yet. Not like this.”
Enver pressed his lips to hers. “Alright…but you know, right?”
She nodded, kissing him back. “I do. Me too, Enver, me too.”
The trial started on a Monday morning, three weeks after Enver had been transferred to the safe house. Padme flew with Enver in the helicopter, while Dale and some other F.B.I. Agents organized the decoy vehicles. Padme’s boss, Henry, had insisted on coming with them, which Padme was grateful for. She tried to put aside her terror that something would happen, someone would get close enough to Enver to hurt him, but she couldn’t help feeling sick the whole journey to the courthouse.
Only when they stepped inside its heavily guarded confines, did she allow her shoulders to un-bunch. She regarded every person she didn’t know as a suspect – even some of the newly recruited agents. Henry smiled at her. “That’s my girl,” he said to her, quietly, “always watching.”
She nodded back at him. “Do we have any intelligence of a specific threat, today?”
Henry shook his head. “We have eyes on Ingles and his associates.” He nodded at Enver who stood a little way away, talking to Brian Dedalus. “How’s it going with the protectee?”
Apart from wanting his cock inside me all day, every day, you mean? Padme swallowed a sudden giggle. “Good, he’s a smart guy, does what we want him to do.” God that didn’t even cover it.
“Big thing he’s doing, taking them on, all on his own. Brave guy.”
Padme smiled. “Yes.”
She walked over to Enver then, nodding at Brian. “Court says you’re first up, Enver.”
He smiled at her. “So maybe this will all be over soon?”
“Doubtful,” Brian butted in, “Your testimony could take days, even weeks.” He looked at Padme, his eyes cold. “Wouldn’t it be better to allow my client to live in a hotel adjacent to the court, rather than risk anything happening on the journey back and forth?”
Padme sighed inwardly. She really didn’t like this joker. “Which would be the first place any assassin would look for Enver. Yep, great idea.”
She was rewarded by Brian’s face turning red. He excused himself, and they watched as he went to talk to Henry. Enver chuckled. “He’s gonna tell Papa on you.”
Padme shrugged, dismissive of the lawyer. “Where on earth did you find that guy?”
“Tinder,” Enver said with a straight face, and Padme laughed.
“Yeah, well, you should have swiped left.”
“Got it.”
Padme looked at him. “You nervous?”
Enver nodded. “Just want to get this show on the road.”
“You’ll nail it, baby.” The epithet came out of her mouth before she could stop it and Enver smiled.
“I heard that.”
“Shut up,” she hissed and then laughed. A moment later, the clerk of the court called Enver in. Padme watched him walked inside the courtroom and mouthed ‘Good Luck’ to him. He winked at her and disappeared into the court.
Padme let out a sigh of relief. The public gallery in the court had been shut off, and even the journalists covering the case had a gag order until Enver was safely out of the country. There were armed guards in there with him - he was safe.
“Hey.” Dale came up behind her, and she turned. “We got him here alive. Feels pretty good, huh?”
Padme smiled. “Sure does.”
Dale grinned and lowered his voice. “He’s a good guy, Pads…I’m really happy for you.”
Her eyes widened, and she felt a cold fear spike inside her. “What?”
Dale put his hand on her arm. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to say a word, but it’s pretty obvious to me that you two are…”
“We are not anything,” Padme lied, “He’s just a friendly guy.” She hated to lie to Dale like this, but she didn’t want to risk being thrown of Enver’s case.
“Girl, after everything we’ve been through, don’t you think you can trust me? I’m not saying a word, I think it’s a great thing. But you want to deny it, go right ahead.”
Dale walked off, and Padme felt awful. Dale was right – she should have trusted him. She caught up to him and pulled him into a corridor. “I’m sorry, D. You’re right, Enver and I have…history. But we’re not together, at least, not while this case is going on. It’s too risky for him, for us.”
Dale’s expression softened. “I know. Listen, I meant what I said. I won’t say a word. And hey, just for the record, you’re a great agent. End of discussion.”
Padme relaxed. “You are the best.”
“Oh, I know.”
Enver looked drained after a day’s worth of questioning, and he was quiet on the trip back to the compound. Padme, sitting next to him, surreptitiously squeezed his hand and he gave her a weary smile.
“Bad day?” She said, but he shook his head.
“No, just draining. They talked a lot about Max and Julia’s murders. They showed the court photographs of the crime scene…and their bodies.”
“Oh god, Enver, I’m sorry.”
He nodded, and she could see the pain in his eyes. She wanted so much to hold him, kiss him, make him feel comforted but in this small confined helicopter, it was impossible without being seen by the pilot.
They landed back at the compound. The lights in the main house were out, and Padme narrowed her eyes, suspicious They had left Chaley and two security men in the property. Padme drew her weapon. “Enver, stay inside the copter with Mac and Wiley. Mac, if you hear shots, take off and go to the emergency safe house, got it?”
“Got it, boss.”
Enver leaned forward. “What it is?”
“Probably nothing, but Dale and I and the rest will do a sweep. I’ll come get you as soon as we give the all-clear.”
She stepped out of the helicopter, but Enver grabbed her hand. “Stay safe, Principessa,” he whispered, and she nodded.
Padme and Dale entered first, guns drawn, torches on. Padme flicked the lights on at the main switch, and the whole house lit up. There was silence. “Chaley? Chaley Sanders? Gary Holder? Kevin?”
There was no answer. Padme peeled off to search the living room while Dale took the bedrooms. Silence hung
heavy over the whole compound and Padme could only hear her heart beating heavily. Something was wrong, she could feel it in her bones.
“Agent Kaur! We have two men down, kitchen area, repeat, two men down.”
Fuck. Where the hell was Chaley? She turned into the study and flicked the lights on.
She recoiled immediately. The furniture in the room had been pushed to the sides of the room, except for one chair in the middle of the room. Tied to it, a bloodied and unconscious – Padme hoped – was Chaley. Padme darted to the young woman’s side and felt for a pulse. Still alive – just. She saw the vicious stab wounds in the young woman’s abdomen, and her heart ached for the sweet young assistant.
Padme drew her gun and fired two shots into the roof, causing plaster to drop down on them. Dale and the other agents burst into the room as Padme untied Chaley and picked her up. God, she was tiny, probably less than a hundred pounds. Dale took her from Padme as Padme saw a note had been placed under Chaley’s limp body.
“Let’s get her to a hospital now,” she ordered, as outside she saw the helicopter carrying her love take off. Relieved, she followed Dale out to the car and sat in the back, cradling Chaley, who was coming around, pressing her hands down on Chaley’s wounds to keep the blood loss to a minimum.
“Chaley? That’s right, sweetheart, stay with me. Keep breathing, we’re getting you to a hospital right now, darling.”
Chaley opened her eyes and looked up at Padme. “Pad?”
Padme smiled. “That’s right, sweetie, we’re taking you to get help.”
“They told me it wasn’t personal. Don’t let them win, Pad, don’t let them hurt him…”
Padme moaned as Chaley’s head fell back, and the girl went limp in her arms. “Dale! Fucking step on it!”
Dale got them to an emergency room in super-quick time, but it was too late. The emergency room doctor declared Chaley dead on arrival. He was sympathetic, but matter of fact with Padme and Dale. “She didn’t stand a chance, I’m afraid. Her abdominal artery was severed in multiple places. She simply bled out.”
Padme felt hollow. Over the few weeks she’d known Chaley, she liked te young assistant very much – she didn’t deserve to die like this.
His Sweet Torment: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Page 3
