by Lewis, Anna
“They know about you too…” she said slowly. “They know we’re seeing each other…I didn’t want you getting involved with Giovanni’s craziness,” she added.
“Did you know he’d come around or something?” I asked her.
“I’ve been getting those calls from an unknown number, but I never answered. I tried not to believe it was him, I should’ve listened to my gut…” she looked down, remorse all over her face.
“You should have told me about him sooner Maddy,” I said, accidentally snapping at her from all my frustration and anger. “I can keep you safe, hadn’t it ever crossed your mind that I have the resources to make sure that maniac won’t touch you or Gio again?” She glanced down, her shoulders slumping and I realized I needed to shut up. I didn’t want her feeling defeated, no doubt Giovanni had made her feel that way time and time again. Especially after sending whatever thugs after her.
“I’m sorry Maddy, I’m just angry that he sent people after you,” I said in a softer tone. She glanced up at me and took a deep breath, her hand went to her side and a small wince crossed her features. “What hurts?”
“I fell, it’s nothing…” she said and turned around. “I’ll get some bags to start packing,” she said quickly. I took several deep breaths and tried to calm down a bit before following her back to her bedroom. I wondered if she even realized she gave an excuse when she didn’t need to. I knew exactly what happened yet she was ready to cover it up, as if it were a routine or something. Shaking my head, my fists balled up at my sides, Giovanni had turned her into some sort of battered woman in Chicago. Now that he was haunting her she was terrified and no doubt lost in whatever hell he put her through leading to her move.
I went to help her get some stuff packed, all the essentials for her and Gio, then we loaded everything into the SUV and drove back to Aunt Aida’s. I pulled up to her townhouse and told Maddy to stay in the car, I didn’t want Aida, nor Gio seeing her face and freaking out.
“Josh…did you find Maddy?” Aida was in her pajamas when she answered the door. She was a short woman, who didn’t look a day over thirty strangely enough even though she was twice that age. Her dark brown hair was pulled up into a bun and she was sporting her huge reading glasses that always made her eyes look extra green, they were the same shade as Maddy and Gio’s.
“She’s in the car if you want to go talk to her, where’s Gio?” I asked and she picked up on my tone immediately. Instead of asking me what was going on, she went right to the car to talk to Maddy. I hurried inside to get Gio, he was asleep in Aida’s reading parlor. His world was about to spin right back into the fear he and his mom had tried to escape from. All because of Giovanni. I picked him up from the couch and grabbed his book bag before heading back to the car.
Aunt Aida was standing on the curb, her arms around herself as it was nippy out. She was looking at Maddy with concern, pity, and anger in her eyes.
“Take care of them Joshua. Take care of our family,” she said in a soft voice after I put Gio in the car.
“I will Aunt Aida…by any chance, would you mind if say, someone watched out for you, for your safety?”
“As long as they aren’t my shadow, now go. She needs to be reassured that everything will be alright,” she said with a slight waver to her voice.
“Everything will be alright,” I promised.
Chapter 3
“Josh, you’re doing way too much, this is…unnecessary,” Maddy said. She was tired. I could hear it in her voice and see it all over her face and in the way she set her shoulders.
“Maddy, you don’t have to stay awake to watch everything. You’re exhausted,” I told her, taking her into my arms. She rested her head on my chest and sighed.
“I…I just want you to come to bed with me,” she said softly.
“I will, I’ll be there in five minutes, promise,” I told her and kissed her softly on the lips.
“Mr. Aberdeen, we have everything set up, we just need to brief you on a few things,” Jackson, our new head of security, stepped just inside the dining room discreetly.
“Sure, I’ll be right there,” I said and Maddy sighed.
“Gio’s going to wake up tomorrow and wonder what the hell is going on,” she murmured. Maddy pulled away from me then and left to head upstairs. I wanted to be there for her, assure her that things were going to be fine. But I had to make sure we were safe first. I walked swiftly to the downstairs library, which had been set up as a veritable security headquarters for the apartment.
After we’d gotten back from Aunt Aida’s, my assistant had managed to get in contact with the best security firm in the city. They worked fast and picked up our case instantly. Of course they came with a reasonable price, but that was hardly an issue. All within a couple hours they came to the penthouse, we had a contract signed and they sent someone to watch over Aunt Aida from a distance. After that, they got to work making the place impenetrable, if any suspicious activity went on around the building, they’d know it from a mile away.
It was going to mean a lot of changes, having drivers for both Maddy and I and Gio if needed. Then the guards, one for each of us as escorts, on top of that the team had a private investigator who would try to track Giovanni down and watch his movements. The hope was that we’d eventually get evidence of his illegal activity and have him put away.
“So here we have these monitors to display footage from all critical entry points to the penthouse. This monitor shows the access the building manager gave us to the building’s security cameras. You can use these yourself. It’s pretty user friendly to switch between camera views and to zoom in and out. But we’ll always have either Perry or Thomas in here monitoring these…” Jackson continued filling me in on who we’d be seeing from their team most often and I was given everyone’s phone numbers as well as their schedules for rotation. Even security teams had to sleep.
“Thanks Jackson, you don’t know what this means for us,” I said after he briefed me on everything. I offered him my hand to shake and he gave me a respectful nod.
“We will keep you and your family safe Mr. Aberdeen, have no doubt about that,” he assured me. After bidding the four men present goodnight I went upstairs to Maddy. Curled up in the center of the bed she looked so small.
“Josh…?” she lifted her head to look at me, even her voice was small. I dimmed the lights in the room as I made my way to bed, undressing on the way until I was in nothing but boxers.
“Everything is set up, Jackson and his team are going to keep us all safe. Giovanni’s not getting to you or Gio, or even Aunt Aida,” I tried to assure her as I pulled her against my chest.
“I don’t know what to say Josh…I’m stuck between thank you and I’m sorry,” she said on a sigh.
“You have nothing to be sorry about. This isn’t your fault. It’s not in any way your fault. Giovanni is the bad guy, he’s the madman who is set on hurting you. But I won’t let that happen. He won’t touch you.” Maddy snuggled closer to me and let out a tremendous sigh.
“I…thank you Josh. I don’t know where we’d be without you,” she said against my chest. “I love you.”
“I love you too Maddy,” I kissed the top of her head, feeling content and steadfast in the fact that Giovanni would soon be handled. By any means necessary, he’d go down.
* * *
“So…we’re living with Josh forever?” Gio was still slightly confused about the situation. I wasn’t too sure if he was even paying that much attention, all he heard from Maddy was that they were living with me.
“I’m not sure Gio, after Giovanni Senior is…dealt with, we’ll see where we’re at,” Maddy glanced at me briefly before looking back at Gio.
“So you’re not getting married?” he asked, missing the elephant in the room, yet again. “Is it daddy’s fault?” Maddy sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. It wasn’t as if Gio wasn’t concerned or ignorant as to what his father was. When he saw Maddy early in the morning he cried
because she was hurt and knew immediately that his father was to blame. Now he was solely concerned about Maddy and my relationship.
“Gio, Josh and I aren’t splitting up. I just need you to know that the future isn’t always set in stone. Even though we love each other very much,” she said. Gio took a bite of his toaster strudel and studied his mom closely before changing gears.
“So Josh has secret agents working for him? To get daddy?”
I chuckled and nodded my head.
“Yeah, they’re something like secret agents. But they’re on the job so you can’t really tell everyone about them,” I cautioned and Gio nodded, a serious expression on his face.
“I’m going to have to go to his school, talk to his teacher…” Maddy mumbled. Sooner or later she’d have to switch him to a school in Manhattan. Regardless of what Maddy said, after Giovanni was handled they’d be staying with me…forever, as Gio put it.
“I don’t want to go to school today Mommy, I want to stay with you,” Gio said, suddenly a little panicky. “Daddy never hurt you when I was there, he won’t hurt you again if I stay with you,” he protested, I could hear the fear he had for his mom in his voice. And fuck if that didn’t punch me in the gut. Giovanni was flat out wrong, to hurt his own kid like that, the woman whom he supposedly loved. It was unfathomable to me why people did stuff like that to those they were supposed to care for the most.
“It’s okay Gio, he’s not going to hurt me again. Remember Josh is keeping us safe?” she walked around the breakfast bar and he climbed right into her arms, burying his face in her hair. “Alright, no school today, but we’ll talk about going tomorrow,” she conceded. Maddy took him into the living room and I felt like punching something again. Jackson emerged from the hallway at the back of the kitchen then and I walked over to him.
“We’ve got something to show you.”
Chapter 4
“So my guys have followed these two since late last night. They were seen circling around Maddy’s old block, they stopped by Aida’s and now they’re circling around the building here. We got decent pictures of them, but I’m pretty sure these are two of the three that assaulted Maddy,” I stared at the pictures he brought up. It was of two big looking guys that looked as if they were related. They had clear blue eyes and cold expressions.
“Can you print those out? I’ll show them to Maddy,” I said. A second later Jackson handed me the printouts.
“If the ID’s are positive then we can try to trap them and turn them in for harassment and assault,” he said.
“That sounds good to me, thanks Jackson,” I folded the papers in half and went to find Maddy. She was still in the living room with Gio.
“Hey can I talk to you for a sec?” Maddy nodded and told Gio she’d be right back. He was finishing his breakfast and simultaneously setting up a game of Connect Four.
“What’s up?” she asked me and I showed her the printouts. When she realized what she was looking at, I could see her hands trembling a bit. “They…they were the ones who cornered me,” she said in a low tone. “But there was a third one…”
“Don’t worry Jackson and his guys are working on finding that guy as well. But we can handle these two right now; start taking Giovanni down a notch,” Maddy nodded, handing me back the pictures.
“Do what you think is best,” she said. I tilted her chin up and kissed her softly on the lips.
“We’ll get this handled soon, you don’t have to worry,” I promised and she chuckled.
“I’m a mom…all I do is worry.”
“Well worry less about this at least,” I told her and she gave an unconvincing nod. “I’ve got to get some work done today, but I should only be in the office for a few hours…” I began to tell her.
“Wait, you’re leaving?” she asked me, sounding almost as worried as Gio had when she mentioned him going to school.
“No, I’ll be upstairs in my office,” I said with a chuckle and rubbed her arms reassuringly. “Don’t worry, I’m the boss I can work from just about anywhere.”
“Oh…okay then,” she said with a sigh and sheepish smile. I kissed her again before I went to give Jackson the affirmative on the pictures then headed to my office. I had to handle a few accounts we were acquiring and get back on a few partnership inquiries. My business was seriously taking off and managing it was getting more and more tedious. I’d seriously have to put a board together to share the work load.
I hadn’t realized how long I’d been in the office until Maddy poked her head inside.
“Hungry? You’ve been in here more than a few hours,” she said and walked over with a bag of Mile High Burgers.
“Oh, you’re amazing,” I said and opened my arms so she could sit in my lap.
“Gio and I went out for the first time with the driver and all. It wasn’t that bad. They drove us to the burger place and Jackson walked with us inside, but stayed towards the back, he melded in like a ghost,” she said, making me laugh.
“Good, I wouldn’t want you feeling uncomfortable with the security detail…” she fed me a French fry and I bit her finger purposefully as I took it. I grinned at her playfully and chewed right in her ear, making her giggle. “So where’s Gio?”
“Oh my goodness, he had a burger twice his size. He’s sleeping it off,” she said with a melancholy smile. “He’s really…I can’t tell how he’s handling everything. I can tell he’s scared and worried. But he also thinks that you’ll somehow take care of everything,” she said.
“And why can’t I? I see Gio as my son and if he looks up to me as a father then I’m supposed to be Superman. Taking care of who I love and beating the bad guys that threaten us…as well as get married to you.”
“You’re too good to be true Joshua…” she said with a small smile. I kissed her hard then rested my forehead against hers.
“There are good guys out there Maddy, you can trust that I am one,” I said. She took a deep breath before she nodded and kissed me again. I put the takeout bag on the desk and pushed my fingers into her hair, deepening the kiss. She pressed her chest against mine and my cock stiffened in my pants. Maddy’s hand slid to rub the bulge in my jeans. Soon I’d be pretty freaking uncomfortable.
I picked her up and walked around to the side of my desk where I sat her down on the edge and she wrapped her legs around me. Her core pressed right against my erection and I ground my hips against her. A soft moan left her lips and she broke the kiss to impatiently unbuckle my pants. I made quick work of lifting her to get her own jeans off and was surprised to find her without any panties.
“I could have sworn you put panties on this morning…” I smiled at her. She smirked and gave a small shrug.
“So maybe I came in here with another purpose than just bringing you lunch?”
I kissed her hard on the lips and she reached down to stroke my cock which was throbbing with the need to get inside of her. Hell my whole body was wired tight and she was the only one who could release my tension. I reached down to rub her clit, but she stopped me.
“No, don’t worry about it. Just go, I want you…” she breathed, impatience in her voice. One of the things I loved about Maddy was that she was always right there with me when it came to sex. I lifted her hips a fraction and she guided me inside. Taking every inch before I lost myself with her and drove us both towards a dizzying orgasm.
Chapter 5
“I needed that…” she panted, hardly holding herself up on the desk. I loved seeing her all drunk and sated because of me. Honestly it made me feel like the man.
“So did I…I think I’m going to love working in here from now on. Can you stay home from work every day?” I teased. I kissed her temple while she chuckled.
“I wish I could…do you know if Jackson had those guys taken in yet?” she asked me, the mood suddenly shifting. I helped her off of the desk and fixed my pants.
“He’ll let me know as soon as he does. All he’s told me is that he has his guys on it.” I wat
ched as she bent down to grab her jeans and took a step towards the bathroom.
“Who they really need to catch is the third one, he seemed to be the other two’s boss or something,” she said before continuing to the bathroom to freshen up. Just as I was about to pick up my phone to call Jackson, there was a knock on the door. I almost smirked, two minutes earlier and whoever that was at the door would have heard quite an earful.
I strode to the door and found Perry standing there with a polite expression on his face. Even though Perry was Jackson’s main tech guy, he was just as built as all the other guys he worked with. They were all either ex-military or ex-cops of varying degrees. They still sported short haircuts and had that intent focus of anyone with law enforcement or military training.
“What’s up Perry?”
“Sorry to bother you Mr. Aberdeen, but Jackson just called, he said that they managed to corner the two men who work for Giovanni. Jackson and our P.I. are questioning them before turning them over to the police. But Jackson wanted to see if you’d like to be present for any of the…off the record questioning?” I hid my surprise that Perry would come to ask me that. But the initial shock was trumped by responsibility to get to the bottom of this problem and handle it thoroughly.
“Yes I’d like to be there,” I said and glanced back at the bathroom door, Maddy was still in there.
“Sure, I’ll let Jackson know, the car should be ready in two minutes,” Perry left just as Maddy came out of the bathroom.
“What’s going on?” she asked. I walked over to the desk to grab my cell.
“They got the brothers, I want to be there for questioning before they turn them in to the police. You’ll have to file charges pretty soon…” she nodded and took a deep breath.
“Should I come with you then?”
