by Dale Mayer
“I know you would have,” she said mistily. “What should we do with him?” She turned to face Anders and his men. “Did Carlo really hire all those men to attack us?”
Harrison nodded. “From what we can tell. We’ll have to go through his computer, but he hired the gunmen to bring you here so he could get that material from you.”
She stared at Carlo. “Are you really that much of an idiot to not understand I have it stored in the cloud and in multiple other places?” But she remembered then how little he knew of computers, how absolutely beneath him it all was. She smiled. “You really didn’t know, did you? You don’t have anything to do with computers. I’m sure you don’t even know what cloud storage is. That’s for other people to understand. Working people. Those people below your station, right?”
He sneered at her.
“I do have that material, and it’s stored in multiple places. This physical key does have some of it. Particularly the girlfriends frolicking,” she said calmly. “But I also have the material of when you came into my room and wanted a blow job.” Her words were blunt, crude. “It’s all on tape. I had been taping my evenings for days and days and days on end after you made a crude remark one night, and then finally you showed up, and I caught it on tape. I figured I would always need that ammunition. Nothing quite like some father who wants to sexually abuse his daughter.”
Carlo sneered and straightened. “You’ve got nothing on me.”
Her grandfather nodded. “She does, indeed, actually. But, more important, she’s not alone here. I have friends too.” He held up his phone and wiggled it in the air. “I’ve already made several phone calls.”
Her father stared at him aghast. “What are you doing?”
“I would rather suffer the media attention, knowing what you’ve done to our good name, than to allow you loose on this world anymore. So there will be a full investigation. There will be police involvement. There will be a very public trial.”
“For what?” Carlo snapped. “For a daughter who’s in love with her own father?”
Her grandfather shook his head. “I’ll be able to argue all of that away.”
“The question really is,” Anders said, coming to stand behind Angelica, “whether you’ve done anything else.”
Her father stared at him. “You don’t know anything. I have friends in high places.”
“Indeed, you do,” her grandfather said quietly. “And so do I. And you’ve been under investigation for a long time now. This will just bring it all to a head. I don’t know how much they’ll want to make public, but I can guarantee you that you will never be a free man again. We have jails and cells where people like you get to rot for the rest of your life.”
“You’re bluffing.” Her father stared at her grandfather, waiting for his response.
Then vehicles could be heard, pulling up to the front entranceway. She glanced at her grandfather.
He inclined his head. “Yes, that’s the secret service. They will deal with your father now.”
Within minutes, Peter arrived at the office door, showing in a group of six men. All of them wearing black. They stepped into the office, and her grandfather nodded at them. “It’s definitely time.”
The men nodded in return. Two grabbed her father by the arms, stood him on his feet and walked him out.
She raced after them. “Wait. What are you doing with him?”
Her grandfather wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “He’ll be fine. At least he’ll be able to live. But he will no longer have access to everything he’s had up until now. They’ll put him away somewhere, and, yes, I’ll find out where. But you need to forget about him now. He can’t hurt you anymore. As a matter of fact, he can’t hurt anyone anymore.”
She turned, wrapped her arms around her grandfather and buried her face against his chest. “I wasn’t expecting this to happen,” she said, suddenly confused and bereft. “I know he’s slimy, but I hadn’t expected to find out he was a criminal and even a murderer.”
“Unfortunately he is. I can’t get into the details but know it has nothing to do with you. And now it’s out of our hands. You brought to a head something that we should have dealt with a long time ago.” He slowly led her back into the office, then turned to the four remaining men, all dressed in black. “Get whatever you need from her. Then this is over with.”
“Agreed,” the men said and lifted the laptop from the desk. One man held up the key. “Is there any reason we can’t have this too?”
She stared at it with loathing. “Take it. I hope to never see it again.”
The men in black turned to her grandfather. “We’ll be in touch.” And they walked out.
She stood in the middle of the room, Anders and his men watching in silence. She asked, “Is that how it’s done? People just up and disappear?”
“It depends on what they’ve done,” Anders said. “The other option was to shoot him, like he wanted you shot.” He gave her a moment, then said, “We’ll leave you alone with your grandfather. Don’t worry. We’ll be just outside when you’re ready to leave.”
She knew what Anders was doing—getting her to remember everything that had gone down and how easily her own father had tossed her to the wolves. She turned back to her grandfather. “And what about you? Will you be okay?”
He walked around the desk, sat down, surveyed the office and smiled. “I’ve always loved this room.”
“I’m not sure I’m happy about leaving you here alone,” she said.
“Good,” he said. “Then I suggest you visit more often. We have not seen very much of you in the last few years. Your room will always be here, … without cameras, bugs or any other listening devices.” He nodded toward the upstairs room. “And, of course, your friends are always welcome.” He lifted his arms and stretched slightly. “I might be old, but I am not done.”
“And who will inherit the house and take care of the servants if Carlo goes missing?”
“I don’t know,” her grandfather said. “I’ll have to look into it. But the bottom line is, you’re safe. Also I’m safe, and the rest of the world is safe from Carlo’s machinations. Now I highly suggest we have a nice cup of tea. Then, when Helen is up, we’ll get her to make us a wonderful big breakfast, and we’ll spend a few days getting to know each other.” He sighed. “What do you think?”
Angelica beamed a smile at him. “Actually I think that’s a great idea. I could use some tea, and I’m all for staying a few extra days.” She walked over and held out her hand for her grandfather.
He reached out and stood. “It’s lovely to see you again, my dear. You always bring such excitement when you come.”
She laughed. “Hopefully the next dozen times will be a lot less stressful.”
He smiled. “It’s always good to have something happen. I’m old, but I’m not gone.”
She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. “And I hope not for a very long time.”
At the doorway he released her hand. “Go to your young man. He needs to know you’re okay with what’s just happened.”
She looked at Anders, who was waiting for her in the hallway, and headed his way, her grandfather following her and she continued to speak to him. “You know something? The thing is, Anders might not know it yet, but he’s good with it. Our life won’t be the normal stay-at-home lifestyle or even a nine-to five workday with a family of two kids.” She reached out a hand to find Anders reaching back. “But it will be perfect for us.”
Her grandfather chuckled. “And you can’t ask for anything better than that.”
Epilogue
Reyes Drere stretched out his legs in front of him.
“So who is next?” Dezi asked Reyes.
They sat beside each other in the commercial airplane. Harrison was two rows up, working on his laptop, and Anders had stayed behind in London for a few more days with Angelica.
Reyes shrugged. “No clue, but I doubt it’ll be me.”
“Yeah? Why
is that?” Dezi asked.
“Not interested. I don’t think it’s fair to go off and to leave somebody worrying if I’m ever coming home again.”
“But we’re in a different life now,” Dezi said. “I might have agreed with you before, but we’re not in the same dangerous line of work anymore.”
“Yeah? Look at the last job. There were bullets and accidents all over the place.”
“Sure,” Dezi agreed. “But that doesn’t mean it’ll continue. A lot of the jobs that Levi’s company handles haven’t been dangerous at all. So, yes. On this London job, there were a couple accidents, a couple bullet wounds, but nothing terribly serious.”
Reyes chuckled. “You realize, if anybody else heard us, they couldn’t possibly understand.”
“I know, right? It’s a whole different world now.”
“Besides, nobody’s in my life. Although I’m doing a lot of jobs for Levi these days, I can’t say I’ve met anybody in particular who appeals.”
“That’s the weird thing about this,” Dezi said. “It’s almost like you go on a job, and it’s got your name written all over it.”
“I’m traveling with Ice next week. She wants to get some kind of special tropical plants for around the pool area at the compound.”
“With the Texas heat, they’ll probably thrive.” He looked at Reyes. “Why you?” Dezi lounged in his seat at that. “Interesting.”
“What’s interesting about it?”
“That she asked for you. It’s not like we’re any different. So I don’t know why the boss lady wants you to go with her,” Dezi said.
“Don’t get your nose out of joint. It’s probably because of my family’s background.”
“What kind of background is that?”
“Gardeners,” Reyes said succinctly. “We’ve got a large business growing plants for gardening stores.”
“So your family grows the annuals shipped to these gardening places in time for spring and summer planting?”
Reyes nodded.
“Wow. Never occurred to me somebody would actually do that by hand.”
“It’s hardly manual work anymore,” Reyes said. “My family’s business is pretty big. A lot of it is automated now.”
“So Ice thinks you might know which ones to pick out?”
Reyes shrugged. He didn’t know how much to tell Dezi. Then he figured the truth was the best. “It’s more a case of, she asked about my family’s business, so I told her some things, and then I talked to my family, and now I’m taking her there. She’s going to meet them. We’ll talk about what will work, what won’t work and arrange for transport of whatever she buys.”
“Okay, that’s a different story.” Dezi straightened in his chair. “Transport? Are you guys flying or driving?”
“We’ll probably both fly there together,” Reyes said. “She’ll fly back alone because I’m returning with the truckful of plants.”
“That’s a lot of traveling.”
“Sure, but we’ll keep them cool enough.”
“Is she really buying a truckload?”
Reyes looked at his buddy sideways and then chuckled. “I think she’s planning on bringing back a huge truckload.”
“Like a three-ton truck?”
“Like an eighteen-wheeler,” he said, laughing. “But I don’t know. We’ll see when we get there.”
“Okay. So, considering you’re going home, and obviously that job has your name written all over it, have you got an ex-girlfriend back there who you’re planning on seeing, falling in love with?”
“Nope,” Reyes said. “My ex had a bad car accident and ditched me in the hospital.”
“Well, she would have done that just to make sure you weren’t stuck with an invalid, I’m sure.”
“Not likely,” Reyes said. “She was running away with her new boyfriend, leaving me behind. That’s when the accident happened. So, when I saw her in the hospital, I didn’t know about her flight to get away from me.”
It was said in a light tone, but it didn’t stop the pain on the inside. It had been a long time, but still that kind of betrayal was something that ate at you for a long time too. His family kept him up to date on her health and welfare, but mostly because he never told them about her leaving town with his best friend. He hadn’t heard if they’d married or not. He wished them well, but he didn’t have any plans to rekindle a friendship on either side.
He’d been home many times since, but he’d avoided seeing her. That should have said something to his family, but again, Reyes didn’t give a damn. Last time he’d been home, he’d taken his current girlfriend at the time, but that relationship had broken up soon afterward unfortunately. He’d really liked Hillary. She said he still had relationship issues and had broken it off with him. He’d taken that to mean he hadn’t been as supportive, as communicative or as invested in the relationship as she was. And honestly she was probably right.
“What’s the former girlfriend’s name from back home?”
Reyes looked at Dezi in surprise. “Why?”
Dezi just shrugged with a grin. “Curious. So give. What’s her name?”
“Her name is Reana, and she has a twin sister Raina.” He twisted in his seat on the plane so he could look at Dezi, seeing the big grin on his friend’s face. He growled. “What’s so funny?”
“I’m just thinking about the way a lot of the names have worked out. Look at North and Nikki, Anders and Angelica.” He settled into his seat. “Just saying, looks like you’re next.”
Reyes shifted in his seat and ignored his friend. Dezi didn’t know the truth. Reyes had no intention of ever getting back together with someone who had betrayed him. What was that saying? Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. And that was how Reyes felt about that previous relationship. It was over. It was dusted. It was done.
At least he hoped so.
This concludes Book 16 of Heroes for Hire: Anders’s Angel.
Read about Reyes’s Raina: Heroes for Hire, Book 17
Heroes for Hire: Reyes’s Raina (Book #17)
He once picked the wrong woman … he won’t make that mistake again.
Reyes Drere came from a long line of gardeners. He’d known since he was little which way his life was going to go, and it had nothing to do with planting seasons. When he joined Legendary Securities after eight years as a Navy SEAL he’d been avoiding going home and joining the family business.
The family business that included an ex-fiancée he had no wish to see again. Her sister was a good friend, but there was nothing more dead than a dead love – unless it was a dead ex-fiancée …
Raina is reeling from the shock of seeing the only man she’s ever loved showing up at work one day, his new boss in tow. Ice is all about plants on a grand scale whereas Reyes appears to be all about denial.
Only the shocks continue as her twin and Reyes ex-fiancé shows up dead … and he’s the one with a motive …
Book 17 is available now!
To find out more visit Dale Mayer’s website.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Anders’s Angel: Heroes for Hire, Book 16! If you enjoyed the book, please take a moment and leave a short review here.
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Dale Mayer
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About the Author
Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).
She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!
To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.
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ANDERS’S ANGEL: HEROES FOR HIRE, BOOK 16
Dale Mayer
Valley Publishing Ltd.
Copyright © 2018
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
