The study was as open as everything else in his home. His big cedar desk blended so well into the cabin theme, it wasn’t immediately apparent this was a workspace. He was alone in the room, sitting in his expensive computer chair. Tyson was listening intently to a satellite phone placed on his desk and set on speakerphone. He didn’t hear Claudia approach.
“They’re looking for something the woman has,” said a man’s voice on the phone. “She was clever to leave with something of value. It’s the reason she might live longer if they got their hands on her.”
Tyson responded with a grunt and then replied, “I have what she took. My man found it at her apartment.”
Claudia covered her mouth and forced herself to stand stock still behind Tyson. A wave of dizziness hit her as she imagined Mercer finding the USB key taped to the inside of her stove. Though she’d wanted to go back to get it before leaving town, she realized it wouldn’t be a good idea. Her apartment would be the first place Tyson’s guys would stake out when she ran.
“Have you reviewed the information?” asked the other man.
“Yes,” Tyson responded immediately. “It’s incriminating, enough for authorities to launch an investigation, but its not damaging enough to bury Marquez or Delgado. You’re barely mentioned.”
“This is good.”
Claudia was surprised and dismayed that her ‘evidence’ hadn’t been as promising as she had hoped. She hadn’t been able to get past the encryptions, which was no surprise given her lack of technological expertise.
“I destroyed it,” Tyson said calmly. “There are no copies.”
Claudia gasped loudly smothering whatever response the other guy had given. Tyson turned to her quickly. Claudia started to back away, but he was too fast. He was out of his chair and on her in seconds. Claudia struggled against him and opened her mouth to shout at him, but his big hand settled over her lips before she could make a sound. He sat back down, with her in his lap. She heaved against him and tried to struggle out of his lap, but he held her tightly, forcing her to remain seated.
“And the woman?” asked the other man. The chill in his voice made Claudia freeze. She understood now why Tyson wanted to silence her. The other guy wasn’t to know she was listening.
“She belongs to me,” Tyson’s voice left no room for arguments. “She never got a look at what was on the USB and while she may know enough about Marquez’s operation to give evidence, she knows nothing about you, Nic.”
Niccolo DeLuca! Tyson was talking to the Italian boss he had told her about. The one that was taking over Dante’s operation. No wonder he wanted her to stay quiet. Claudia forced herself to relax against Tyson. She had chosen to trust him over the past week. She knew he wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. As though sensing her decision, Tyson slowly lifted his hand from her mouth.
“She’s all yours my friend. Congratulations amico, I have heard she is a beautiful woman. And also intelligent to have eluded the Miami crew for so long. She must be, to have captured your attention. I look forward to one day meeting her,” Niccolo said.
Tyson smiled, his hands running over Claudia’s limbs in soft strokes, soothing away her upset at overhearing such a brutal conversation. “Yes, she is that.”
“I trust you can handle Marquez if he shows up in your city?” Niccolo asked.
“Of course,” Tyson replied. “His escape from your Miami takeover must have been a blow.”
“Yes,” Niccolo said shortly.
“And you will take care of Delgado?” Tyson asked, an edge in his voice.
“With pleasure,” Niccolo answered, his voice dangerous. “That man is a thorn in my side. I have heard he has a honey trap set up for me in Vegas. A honey trap, I ask you? As if that sort of thing can possibly ensnare a DeLuca.”
Tyson’s teeth flashed white as he grinned. “Be careful my friend, men like us, our downfall will not be bullets, but the women behind them. Perhaps you will enjoy your fall as much as I have.”
The other man snorted, his voice disbelieving, “Not bloody likely.”
“Take care, my friend.”
“Arrivederci,” Nic replied and then hung up.
Tyson turned immediately to Claudia, bringing her chin up so she was forced to look into his eyes. “I’m sorry I grabbed you like that, beautiful. I didn’t want Nic to know you were here, he isn’t ready to understand what you’ve become to me. To men like him, women are decorations and objects.”
Claudia smiled. “I understand Tyson. I understood almost right away.”
“Please don’t be upset about the USB key. It had to be destroyed. I didn’t want you dragged further down into this business. I should’ve told you, but I didn’t want to argue. Not when our time here has been some of the best of my life.”
“And mine,” Claudia said softly, resting her head on his chest. “I trust you, Tyson. Though I would prefer you discuss things that involve me and my property.”
He didn’t answer. She grinned. He probably couldn’t answer because the big man knew better than to lie to her. He wouldn’t promise to never overstep that boundary again because he most likely would when he thought what he was doing was in her best interests. She understood him very well, maybe better than he understood himself. He was fiercely protective of her and their budding relationship. He never had a family. His mother had died young of a drug overdose and he never knew his father. He had grown up in foster care until he was able to take care of himself on the streets, when he was around thirteen. Then he had ruthlessly fought his way out of those streets and set about building the foundation for the unshakeable empire he had today.
Tyson would protect Claudia with his life, even from herself. Because she was the one thing he had that was all his. She was the one thing he had that could love him back, the way he loved her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Time to go,” Daniel Mercer growled down at the two women.
Claudia tossed her long blond waves back over her shoulder and glared up at Tyson’s goon. Despite spending weeks in the guy’s company, he wasn’t even remotely softening toward her. He acted as though she were a glass wall. A thing he could touch and guard, but also see right through. He wasn’t rude, but he wasn’t anything else either. It drove her nuts. It drove her to be uncharacteristically stubborn when he made suggestions she wasn’t particularly fond of. Like when he suggested in no uncertain terms that she could meet her friend in Tyson’s fortress of a penthouse rather than at a restaurant.
They had been back in the city for three days. Tyson had business to attend to and he had been unwilling to leave Claudia even for a day. She felt the same way, so she had accompanied him back. In the city, he wanted her to stay in the penthouse at all times where she was safe. In fact, he had insisted. Claudia had systematically broken him down using her ultimate methods of persuasion, which included logical argument about how careful she would be while surrounded by an army of bodyguards – and mind sizzling blowjobs. Tyson had been unable to withstand the lethal combination and had finally allowed her to go see her friend.
She opened her mouth to tell Daniel off for trying to cut short her gal pal time with Anya, who was filling her in on tons of juicy details about her champion fighter boyfriend. Much to Claudia’s amusement, Anya leapt in before she could. The tiny woman stood up and went toe to toe with one of the scariest guys Claudia’s imagination could conjure.
“Dude, what exactly is your problem?” Anya snapped, crossing her arms in front of her. She looked like a miniature combatant in her black studded jeans, camo tank top and signature heavy boots, blue-tipped hair brushing against her shoulder blades. “Why don’t you go give cold lessons to an iceberg for a few hours? I don’t even begin to understand why Ash might consider you a friend. Why don’t you back off, we’re talking here.”
Mercer said nothing. He didn’t even look down at the much shorter woman who was confronting him. He stood tall and solid next to Claudia’s chair where he had posted himself for the la
st half hour. His imposing stature had frightened off anyone that might have approached the table in one of the city’s downtown boutique restaurants. Consequently, the two women had only received water since arriving, despite the stellar online reviews. Claudia suspected her glowering ornament frightened the staff of Dockside Cafe. When she first noticed their reticence in approaching the women, Claudia had asked him politely to either sit down or go stand by the door so they could talk in peace. Without a word he had declined both suggestions.
“What exactly is your problem? You’re a bodyguard, as in you guard her body,” Anya demanded and pointed at Claudia. “You don’t get to dictate when we’re done here. We’ll let you know when we’re ready to go. Now why don’t you do us a favour and go be a good statue over there.”
Daniel tilted his head down, studying the annoying woman with quiet menace, like a cobra judging the best moment to strike. Claudia jumped to her feet, inserting herself between the two of them, disliking the extra chilling glint that had come into Daniel’s eyes. She had no doubt he was picturing all the ways he could dispose of Anya’s small body.
Anya poked her head around Claudia’s arm and glared up at him. “I know people,” she said, drawing a finger across her throat for emphasis.
Claudia stifled a laugh and quickly turned to hug Anya. “It’s been great seeing you again, Anya. Let’s do it again sometime, after I have a chat with Tyson about boundaries.”
Still glaring fireballs up at Daniel, Anya hugged the taller woman back and mumbled, “Dogs without manners.”
Daniel took a step forward, hooked Claudia by the arm and pulled her out of Anya’s grip, texting the driver that they were on their way out. Claudia waved at Anya, hoping she didn’t look too much like a woman being abducted from a popular restaurant. She stood stiffly in Daniel’s grip as he led her out onto the sidewalk and whisked her into the car with a hand on top of her head to protect her from the frame. Slamming the door shut he got into the front passenger side, next to the driver.
Claudia was reminded sharply of the first night she met Tyson King. Of how he had taken her forcefully out of the gambling club he was now buying and pushed her into his vehicle. She had been so terrified that he was planning on handing her over to Dante and Franco. The memory made her temper soar even more, so she wasn’t particularly careful when she spoke to Daniel.
“What exactly gives you the right to dictate to me,” she demanded, smacking the back of his seat with frustration. “Do you get off on humiliating women? Because if so, congratulations, mission accomplished. You made me feel like a child back there, incapable of making my own decisions. You treated me like I can’t even walk by myself!”
Claudia expected Daniel’s customary reaction of not reacting at all. So she was surprised when he shifted in his seat, turned his bearded jaw toward her and stared at her like he might a particularly annoying bug. “You have no idea what gets me off, little girl, so don’t talk about things you don’t understand. If it amused me to humiliate you, trust me, you wouldn’t be able to sit for a month. In my opinion, you can’t walk by yourself, talk by yourself or do anything without getting yourself into trouble. You belong to the boss and that makes you my responsibility.”
Claudia gasped and pushed back in her seat until her spine moulded against the leather. It wasn’t far enough away. She could still feel the ever-present menace radiating from his skin. Such a contrast from his big, sexy boss. Tyson could be scary, but his adoration for her cancelled out his terrifying demeanour. She wished in that moment that she were with Tyson, safe in his arms.
“Don’t talk to me that way,” Claudia said, trying to sound angry.
Daniel just looked through her, replying, “Stop acting like a child,” before turning back to face the front of the car.
They didn’t take the car elevator up, instead coming to a halt in front of the huge luxury apartment complex. Daniel was in the process of giving instructions to Mike, the driver, when Claudia decided she’d had about all of Daniel Mercer’s oppressive presence that she could handle. She reached for the door handle and opened it.
Daniel quickly turned in his seat and snapped, “Stay put and wait for me.”
“Bite me,” Claudia snapped back, standing up on the sidewalk in her three-inch Saint Laurent heels and slammed the door shut. She glared swiftly at Daniel as he hurriedly finished his conversation with Mike and reached to open the door.
Claudia reached for the swinging door of the lobby and entered the richly furnished, air-conditioned room. She automatically turned to smile at the concierge on her way to the elevators when she noticed he was missing from his post, which was highly unusual. Apprehension tingled up and down her spine as Claudia hesitantly approached the big marble reception desk. Peeking over the top, she saw him.
Her mouth opened in a soundless scream. Her hand automatically came up to cover her gaping mouth. The regular concierge, an older man named Oscar, was laying flat on his back, eyes open in a sightless stare. There was a hole in his forehead, with burn marks around it where someone had shot him point blank. Claudia backed away, gasping for Daniel. Her shocked gaze met his, pleading for help, as he stepped into the lobby. His usual stoic expression turned to concern at her white face and glassy eyes. His sharp eyes swept the lobby.
Just as Claudia was about to tell him about the dead man, the door separating the lobby from the main floor garage banged open and two men holding semi-automatic rifles stepped through. Daniel acted so swiftly Claudia didn’t even have time to process who they might be. He lunged toward her, hooked her around the waist with a thick arm and jumped over the concierge desk, turning as he went to keep his back to the guys who were just realizing their prey was in the building.
Claudia landed hard on the floor next to the dead concierge with a very heavy Daniel landing on top of her. She groaned at the impact, but bit her lip so Daniel could effectively do his job without worrying about her. He rolled off of her, coming up in a crouch and pulling a gun out of the shoulder holster hidden under his jacket. Claudia whimpered and covered her head when a spray of bullets hit the marble desk, raining chunks of stone and wood down on their heads.
Daniel returned fire from the side of the desk, telling them without words that it was in their best interests to keep their distance. Silence followed as she heard them take cover behind the marble pillars that ran the length of the lobby. One of them shouted, “Give us the woman and you walk, Mercer.”
Daniel snorted and laughed coldly, replying with a gruff shout, “If you know my name, then you know that’s not going to happen. Leave now, and I’ll give you a head start before I go hunting.”
A burst of gunfire answered his deadly statement. Daniel returned fire while Claudia huddled next to him, the hem of her skirt brushing against the dead guy on the floor next to her. She held herself stiffly and wondered if she was going to get out of this situation alive. They had asked for her, which indicated they might want her alive. She wasn’t sure ‘alive’ was a good way to be if they were planning on taking her to Dante or Franco. She had to force herself not to clutch Daniel. He needed space if he was going to defend them.
The gunfire stopped for a few seconds. The ding of the elevator sounded deafening in the silence of the lobby. The elevators were directly to the right of her and Daniel’s position. If another gunman stepped out, they’d have a clean line of sight, unimpeded by the reception desk. If it was a resident, they would probably die. Claudia held her breath and then moaned in distress as a young woman stepped off the elevator. She wore a floor length skirt under a jean jacket. Her long dark hair swept down her back in gorgeous disarray. She couldn’t be older than twenty-five.
The woman was holding a walking stick, too. Dear god, was she blind? Claudia was about to scream out to her when the woman, apparently instinctively, dropped to her knees and then rolled over on her side, covering her head. A spray of bullets hit the metal doors of the closing elevator right where the woman had been standing. Claudia
turned to Daniel to warn him about the innocent woman.
He was staring toward the other woman, a look of anger and horror frozen on his face. Claudia had never seen such emotion penetrate his deadly exterior. Did he know the other woman? From her current position, Claudia doubted it. The woman looked soft and feminine, the opposite of anything that might attract Daniel Mercer. Yet, he was watching her like a hawk watches over its young. Deadly, uncannily still, ready to strike if necessary.
Thinking quickly, Claudia said, “Give me one of those guns.”
Daniel looked down to where Claudia was crouched under him. Her green eyes held his earnestly. Like most people, she usually dropped her eyes from him and looked away. But this time she meant it and she wouldn’t back down from him. He ignored her request. Apparently his job was to protect her, not listen to her.
“Shut up,” Daniel replied, his eyes searching out the other woman. She was still cowering against the wall next to the elevator bank. Her walking stick had fallen and rolled a few feet away from her when she hit the floor. She was curled on her side, her arms over her head. As though that could save her from bullets.
“Please, Daniel!” Claudia said, touching his arm. “I can shoot, and if we don’t do something, she’ll die.”
Daniel growled at her and she dropped her hand as if burned. Claudia wished she could make him listen. Now was not the time for him to be the misogynistic jerk that was her usual deadly shadow. She needed him to listen so they could save the blind woman who was helpless against a hail of bullets!
A scream snapped their attention back to her. A spray of bullets just over her head rained chunks of wall down on her. Claudia’s heart sped into overtime. They had to do something, before the young woman was killed! It was most likely Claudia’s fault the woman was in danger. She had little doubt these gunmen belonged to Franco Delgado, whose pockets and reach were equally deep. Without putting much thought into her actions (or she would never have dared), Claudia hauled her fist back and punched Daniel in the arm.
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