“They completed the job? The items are being moved into the storage facility with no bodies, no witnesses?” Aurik asked.
“Fantastic, Ivan, now make your way here. We have more business to discuss with Liam and Nolan.”
She wondered what they meant about the job being complete and what was being stored.
She heard them heading her way, and she quickly pulled her phone from her purse. She started to dial her house phone and the answering machine.
“I know, Mom. I know that you worry. Is Dad feeling okay? Do you need me to stop by tonight? I can leave here if he’s that sick.” She heard the men stop, and she turned to look at them and widened her eyes, pretending to be surprised. Aurik squinted at her, and the two men with him, his guards, did as well.
“Okay, I’ll stop by first thing in the morning. I can pick that up at the store for you, no problem. Good night, and make sure he takes the medicine.” When she went to end the call, Aurik gripped her wrist. He saw that it was an active call and then released her wrist. Thank God she’d thought quickly enough.
“What’s wrong with you?” she asked him.
“How long have you been standing here?”
“What do you mean?”
One of his men gripped her wrist hard and yanked her closer to him.
“How fucking long have you been standing here, and were you listening to our conversation?” he asked, squeezing her wrist tight.
She gasped. “A minute, maybe more. I got the call from my mom and came out here where I could hear her. Let go of my wrist. Who the hell do you think you are?” She tried to pull it free, but Aurik’s guard smirked and gripped tighter. She would definitely have bruises.
“Release her,” Aurik ordered, but before the guard did, he squeezed a little harder, making her cry out. She rubbed her wrist and held it against her chest.
“You didn’t overhear our conversation?”
“I thought I was out here alone, and I was on the phone. Why the hell would I care to eavesdrop on your damn conversation or whatever? I don’t need this crap, Aurik. I get that you’re some badass business guy from Russia, Germany, or wherever. I couldn’t care less, and you know what? Between you, Liam, and Keno getting into my space and acting like you own me, or that I could possibly be interested in any of you, I’ve had it. My parents aren’t feeling well. I didn’t even want to come here, and Nolan is making demands and asking me to do things that I didn’t sign on for as a CFO, and I’m tired of it. I’m done.” She went to walk away when he grabbed her hand and pulled her back. He gripped where his guard had bruised. “Ouch.”
“You sound frustrated, like you could use a break. Let’s sit and talk.” He pulled her along to a nearby bench. She sat down, and he remained holding her hand as he sat right next to her.
“Juggling a lot in your life can be stressful.”
She exhaled.
“You need to take some time for yourself.”
“I will be.”
“Visit your parents tomorrow and take a few days. Nolan will be fine with it.”
She was trying not to show her fear or her guilt. Obviously what she’d heard was important and not meant for anyone else’s ears.
“Aurik, I didn’t overhear any conversation of anything while I was on the phone.”
He stared down into her eyes and then placed his hand on her knee. He squeezed it, and she went to move her crossed legs away, but instead, he pulled her closer so their legs touched.
“I want to talk to you about something important, Pina.” Aurik started to slide his palm back and forth against her knee and thigh. The slit on the side of her dress was open, and she was trying not to overreact.
“What’s that?” She pushed his hand off her leg and stood up.
He stood up, too, and rubbed his jaw as he narrowed his eyes at her. “I may have a position available that you would fit quite well.”
She didn’t answer. What in the world was he thinking?
“As you know, I make a lot of money. My accountants and lawyers tell me I need to donate more. After speaking with Nolan, and learning about this philanthropic endeavor of his, I was thinking of doing the same type of donations.”
“You want to open up a museum and art school?”
He smirked. “No, I want to make various donations at certain points of the year to specific things. Since the amount of money will be significant, I will need a money person to organize it all. Someone of your abilities, and experience.”
She swallowed hard. “I’m not looking for a new job, and to be honest, your lawyers can handle that.”
He shook his head. “No. I want you to handle it.”
“Aurik, I appreciate the thought and the offer, but that isn’t really my thing.”
“You will have access to so many wonderful things. Spas, boutiques, fine restaurants, and your own private villa in Germany.”
“It sounds incredible, but I must decline.”
“Don’t give me an answer now. We’ll spend some more time together this week at the museum and discuss further details. I’m more than willing to give you double what you make now with Nolan, even triple.”
She couldn’t believe what he was offering.
She was trying to think fast. She felt as though she was digging a deeper and deeper hole with all these men here tonight. Then she thought about Keno and knew he would flip out. She feared him something terrible.
“I could never leave my parents. Plus, all my friends are here. Again, thank you for thinking of me, Aurik. I should head back inside. Delores is probably wondering where I am.”
She started walking away and noticed Aurik snap his finger and point. One of his goons followed her. He remained her shadow for the rest of the evening.
* * * *
“What?” Knox yelled into the phone.
“I’m standing here, and there’s no delivery. Falco and Slade are trying to track down the truck. It should have been here over an hour ago, Jonah,” Trace said.
“Son of a bitch,” Jonah yelled into the cell phone. He started pacing the home office and looked at Trace. “We need to get on this immediately. There was five hundred thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise in that truck. How the fuck could it just disappear?”
“Who were the drivers and the security in the back?” Trace asked.
“Guys who have been with us for years.”
“Find out everything you can on them and get me answers,” Jonah stated.
“Falco is working his angles, and Brainyard is working through his contacts in the local police departments on the down-low.”
“Call me back as soon as you have something.”
“We were set up. People knew we would be doing the security detail at the venue tonight. This is one of our regular easy shipments, and no one should have known how much merchandise was in there. No one,” Trace said.
“Knox said that Ivan wasn’t at the party. That he just arrived a few moments ago. It had to be them. I can’t believe this. You know what was in there.”
“Who else had access to that list other than us?” Trace asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe a few people on Mercury’s team, his brothers, the staff at the warehouse. It could be anyone.”
“Jonah, we have to start looking at this as a possible inside job, too. It’s obvious that Liam, and probably Aurik, have a hand in this, but they aren’t connected to anyone from the inside that we’re aware of. We need to start really putting on the pressure and hunting these people down.”
“Someone knows something, or overheard something, that can help us identify who is responsible. I say we push back. We let Liam, Aurik, and Ivan know that we’re not taking this sitting down. They want to fuck with our livelihoods, our families, then we fuck with theirs, and we do it old-school.”
“What do you have in mind?” Trace asked
“Taking something of theirs.”
* * * *
Pina could tell that Liam and Aurik were pissed
off. Keno hadn’t even tried to make a move on her or talk to her about meeting up tomorrow or suggesting he follow her home. She’d already made the decision to not allow him to do that or push her any further. She would use whatever she had. She excused herself from the table as Liam got a call, slammed his fist down on the table, and Keno and his other lackeys came over.
“Where are you going?” Keno asked her, grabbing her upper arm.
“I don’t want to be here or overhear something criminal or something you can use against me to try and control me.”
“You stay right here by my side.”
She pulled her arm free. “No.” She started to walk away. Keno went to follow, but then Liam called his name.
“There was an explosion at the warehouse.”
Keno’s eyes widened. “Which one?”
“The one by the pier,” Liam stated with clenched teeth.
She quickly walked away. Nolan stopped her.
“What’s going on? Where are you going?”
“Home. And far away from these people. Do yourself a favor, Nolan, and get away from them while you can.”
“You can’t just walk out of here.”
“Watch me.” She headed toward the lobby that led to the private parking area, glancing over her shoulder before she caught sight of Aurik’s guard. She hurried between the cars and unlocked her car door. As she pulled it open, the goon grabbed her.
“You’re not to leave. Aurik expects you to accompany him home tonight.”
“Screw you.”
She did a move to make him release his hold. He grabbed her dress, ripping the top, and she countered with a karate chop to his arm. He shoved her against the Jeep door, and then someone hit him in the back of the head. She spotted Knox.
“Get in the car.” He grabbed her keys from her hand. She hurried around to the passenger side of the Jeep and got inside. Knox sped out of the parking garage, leaving the guard on the ground out cold.
“Oh my God, oh my God, what am I going to do?”
He reached over and placed his hand on her inner knee. “Calm down. We’re not going to let them hurt you.”
“Really? How? Because they’ve already basically planned on taking me. Aurik already described me working for him and living in a villa in Germany and being his woman, and Keno just wants to own and possess my body and make demands, and then Liam is all for it. Christ, I just have the worst luck.”
“Germany, huh? That explains a few things.”
“Like what?” she asked.
He made a sharp turn and headed in the opposite direction of her home.
“My house is the other way.”
“You’re not going home tonight.”
“What? Why? What’s going on? Does this have something to do with the phone call Liam just got and some kind of explosion at a warehouse?”
His facial expression showed nothing.
He glanced at her and squeezed her knee. “You’re safest with us now. Remember that.”
* * * *
“Where is Pina now?” Vaughn asked over the speakerphone. Jonah put in a call to the Hunt brothers, to Vaughn.
“Knox has her and is bringing her to our place,” Jonah told him.
“How the fuck did she wind up in the middle of this?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out, but it seems that Aurik and Keno want her as their woman and not to share between them.”
“Aurik just met her,” Vaughn stated.
“But Keno knew her before. I told you what Clark found out. She and her parents paid off a debt to Liam.”
“It was years ago,” Trace added to the conversation.
“Well, he’s using it as a threat to obey him, and he threatened her parents, too,” Trace stated.
“Do you have people covering the parents’ place?” Vaughn asked.
“Yes. They’re home from the boat trip and secured in the house,” Jonah stated.
“Okay, be sure to take care of her. My brothers and I are working on trying to find out what happened to the shipment and where the stolen artwork and other items could be.”
“If we’re so lucky as to find out where, I want it all back, and it’s going to be a messy situation.”
“Jonah, you’ve already made this messy by blowing up a million dollars or more in art and jewels.” Vaughn chuckled.
“See how the bastard likes getting what he dishes out. He wants to try and ruin us, then we need to ruin him first.”
“Agreed. We can’t let these men come in here and destroy our deals. We’ll meet up tomorrow. Call when it’s a good time to come over with the crew and we’ll make plans for further action. I’ve got info on some important locations even overseas, so do Falco and Brainyard.”
“Good. We’ll call you tomorrow.”
Jonah disconnected the call and looked at Trace. “One of my concerns is Ivan and Aurik finding out about Clark.”
“That may be inevitable, and if so, then we’re all prepared to take them out.”
Chapter 8
Pina hesitated to get out of the Jeep. It was pretty dark out, and she had no idea where Knox had made the turn. The road went on and on and finally a gated entrance stood in front of them, and she could see a mansion in the distance. She clasped her hands on her lap and took in the sight as Knox drove her Jeep up to the side of the house and to a four-door garage. One of the doors opened, and he pulled the Jeep inside.
“Where are we?”
“Our home.”
She felt her head begin to ache. He turned off the lights and the ignition, and before she could get the courage to open the door, it opened for her. Clark was there.
“Are you okay?” he asked, and she nodded, but his dark eyes landed on her ripped dress and narrowed. He reached out and stroked her skin.
“You’re all red here. What the fuck happened, Knox? Didn’t you get to her in time?”
“I was there before she even came out to the parking lot, but one of Aurik’s men followed her and grabbed her to stop her.”
Clark caressed her arms. “What did he want? What did he say to you?”
“That Aurik expected me to go home with him tonight.”
“Asshole.” Knox took her hand, and she cringed. “What’s wrong?”
She pulled her hand away and held it against her chest, rubbing it. “Nothing.”
They stared at her a moment, and then Knox spoke. “Let’s get you inside. There are things to discuss.”
She wondered what things they meant. She was feeling exhausted, and her anger at the series of events and how Aurik and Keno thought they had a right to demand she be in their beds really pissed her off. As they got closer to the house, the front door opened, and she had to swallow the effect the scene had on her. The place was stunning. It had been decorated by what had to be a professional designer, as everything flowed from the entryway to the open kitchen and to a huge set of sliders. There appeared to be a patio and perhaps a pool outside, but she wasn’t certain because of the dim lighting. Then her eyes went back to the men in front of her. The Mondave brothers. Jonah, Niall, Dane, and Trace. Their eyes bore into hers, and then Niall narrowed his eyes and stalked toward her.
“What is this?” he demanded to know as he touched the ripped material that hung from her chest.
She grabbed it and pushed it back into place trying to hide the bit of breast the rip showed off when he took her hand.
“Your wrist is bruised. What the fuck was going on there tonight?” Niall raised his voice.
“What happened to your wrist?” Jonah asked.
“It’s fine. Please tell me why I’m here. I just want to go home and make tonight a bad memory for me.” She swallowed hard.
“That is not going to happen,” Jonah stated firmly.
“What do you mean?” she asked him, and Niall wrapped his arm around her waist.
“Let’s go into the living room and talk.”
She looked into Niall’s dark brown eyes, and
he stared at her lips and then gave her a nod. They all followed into the living room until cell phones began to buzz and Knox and Dane replied to text messages as she sat down on the couch.
“It’s coming in now. No bodies, no witnesses, and the truck was left in a parking lot empty and locked up,” Dane said to Jonah.
“What the hell? Not one fucking person saw a thing? How is that possible?” Trace asked.
“Whoever did this knew that we personally weren’t going to be securing that shipment,” Knox said.
“This was a professional hit, and the fact that there aren’t any bodies or any show of a robbery, we got shit to go by,” Dane stated in frustration, running his fingers through his hair and then shaking his head.
“We know it was Liam and Aurik. Things are adding up,” Trace said.
“What are you talking about?” she asked them.
“We had a shipment of expensive art and jewels for a set of wealthy clients, and tonight we got ripped off,” Knox told her.
Niall looked at her wrist and the bruising on it as she thought about the conversation she’d overheard with Aurik and his men as he spoke on the phone to Ivan. “Oh God,” she whispered.
“It hurts when I caress it?” Niall asked and paused, holding her hand and wrist.
She shook her head and nibbled her bottom lip.
“They’re going to kill me. This is why Aurik was so pissed off at his goons. Then you, Knox, had to hit that one over the head. He’s the one who hurt my wrist.”
“Wait, slow down. Why are they going to kill you, and when did this goon hurt your wrist?” Knox asked.
“When I walked outside to get away from my boss and from Keno. I came around the side, and I overheard Aurik on the phone and his two goons were with him. Aurik asked if the job was a success and if the goods were delivered to the warehouse and asked if there were no bodies, no witnesses.”
“Son of a bitch, it is him,” Trace said.
“Did you hear anything else, Pina?” Jonah asked.
“Just him asking Ivan to get there because they needed to discuss another job or business deal with Liam. I put the cell phone to my ear and dialed my house number so it seemed like I was actually on a call, and I pretended to talk to my parents. As they rounded the corner, Aurik was pissed, and as I said good-bye, the one goon grabbed my arm to see if my phone was actually an active call.”
Tequila Sunrise [Love on the Rocks 4] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) Page 13
