by Shayla Black
“What?” Mystery didn’t understand, not with her heart racing, her fear spiking. “Searched it, you mean?”
Axel nodded. “Did you?”
“No.” Stupidly, she’d assumed that whoever had left her the picture had simply dropped it off and stolen out again, not wanting to be seen. In retrospect, if someone plotted to leave her a death threat, they were likely serious about killing her and might have hung around to do the job.
His head snapped up. He looked around the room. “Sit in that chair.” He pointed to the elegant piece with curved legs, upholstered in white damask, until she followed directions. “Phone in hand. Dial 9-1-1 and keep your finger hovered over the call button. If you hear or see anything out of the ordinary, hit it. I’ll be nearby.”
Mystery did as he demanded. Her finger shook as she stabbed at the buttons on her screen and waited. She followed him with her stare, feeling so much safer with him near. Axel alone understood where she’d been held, the harrowing ordeal of her kidnapping and rescue. She hadn’t had to explain why that photograph had terrified her or what it meant. He knew.
Around her, he opened the closet, checked behind the drapes before he pulled each one closed. Then he searched under every stick of furniture, including the bed—anywhere a person might lie in wait.
Finally, he emerged from the bathroom, its mirror still steamy from her shower. “The coast is clear.” He sat on the edge of the bed and dragged her chair closer to him. “Did you ever find out who paid for your abduction and why?”
“No.” She swallowed hard. “When we moved to London, I focused on putting it all behind me. My father swore that was the best course of action. I refused the tell-all book and movie deals. A lot of conspiracy theorists and crackpots wrote my dad and I about why they thought it had happened. I read the first few, but . . . I know I wasn’t abducted by aliens or the mafia or a super-secret sect of the government.”
“Of course not,” he agreed, looking around. “You didn’t know this Heath guy before your move to the UK?”
“No. He’s former MI5. He’s a good guy. His wife died. Um, I think he considers himself an unofficial uncle, if I had to guess. If you’re thinking he would ever hurt me, then no.”
Axel sat back. “I’m going to have you involve Heath in what happens next only because if I don’t, I suspect your father will freak out and hop on the next plane here.”
He’d figured her father out quickly. Despite the grim situation, she gave him a faint smile. “To say the least.”
“Call Heath, then. I’m going to reach out to some people myself. We’re going to figure this out. And once we do, you’re going to answer a whole lot of questions about why you lied, why you fucked me, and why you left without a word.”
* * *
RAKING a palm over the top of his shorn hair, Axel paced the room, watching Mystery have a trembling conversation with Heath. He’d check this guy out himself shortly because anyone who could look at Mystery and feel like her uncle had to be dead below the waist—or lying like a motherfucker.
Despite the danger, Axel’s desire to wrap his hand in her dark hair and watch her hazel eyes widen just before he captured her parting lips rode him hard. The need to have a long talk with her about the whys of her seduction today and all the reasons he found her deceit unacceptable needled him, too. But he’d handle those items once she’d calmed and he’d ensured her safety.
Cursing, he pulled his own phone from his belt, trying to decide who could best help with this situation. He needed Stone’s hacking ability again. But that would only get him so far. To keep Mystery safe, he needed to figure out who had abducted her years ago and why. He could count on one hand the number of men he thought capable of hunting down a ghost from someone’s past—but at least he knew that many. One in particular jumped out at him.
He hit the contact button and connected the call.
“Axel?” said the man on the other end with obvious surprise.
Yeah, they hadn’t exactly started off as the best of friends—accusing the guy of abduction and rape tended to make one unpopular with a new acquaintance—but they’d come to an understanding.
“Joaquin. Hey.” He winced. “I’d, um . . . start with some small talk and ask how you and Bailey are doing in Lafayette and how the wedding plans are coming—”
“But you need something.”
“Badly. You were able to solve Bailey’s past and get to the bottom of the threat that hung over her for years. I’m protecting a woman who needs the same.”
“She’s in danger?”
“Imminent.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
Axel breathed a sigh of relief. “I owe you.”
Joaquin snorted. “Hunter and Logan will probably send you a bill. They’re beasts on the shooting range and in the weight room. But holy shit, they are meticulous about billable hours.”
If the situation weren’t so dire, Axel might have laughed. He’d bet that taking over his retired stepfather’s security firm with his new stepbrothers, both former Navy SEALs, had been interesting.
“Whatever it takes,” he found himself saying.
Axel didn’t know why Mystery and her safety were so important to him. He could tell himself that he’d worked hard to rescue her once and refused to see her die now. He could say that she’d been through enough and didn’t need to endure more. He might even bullshit himself and claim he was only helping her because he didn’t like the idea of any woman in peril.
But Axel knew it was because of this sense of possession brewing deep in his gut. Right now, she was his. He wasn’t done with her—not by a long shot.
“What do you need?” Joaquin asked.
Axel filled the man in on today’s incidents. “Can you peek into Mystery Mullins’s past? See if you can find anyone who might have wanted to harm her then or now. I don’t have a lot to go on.”
“Fair enough,” Joaquin shot back. “I’ll start digging. You involving the police?”
“I don’t think there’s a way around it, but they won’t investigate the reason behind tonight’s incident. They’ll treat it as a simple B and E and move on.”
“Yep. I’ll let you know when I’ve got something.”
“Thanks a bunch. I’m, um . . . sorry I accused you of hurting Bailey when we met.”
“I was an asshole and probably deserved it.”
They laughed, and Axel hung up.
He had one more person to phone, but Mystery’s driver/bodyguard wrapped her in his arms. Axel watched, not at all happy. She might believe Heath saw her as his sweet surrogate niece. Axel snorted. No chance in hell.
She introduced them, and they sized one another up with a wary handshake.
Finally, Heath turned to Mystery. “You’re not hurt?”
“No,” she assured. “Scared, but whoever it was had come and gone before I even knew they’d been here.”
“When did you arrive on the scene?” Heath grilled him, his proper British accent unmistakable.
Axel didn’t like the man’s intimation. “If you’re asking whether I left this photo in her room to upset her enough to send her into my arms, the answer is no. I rescued her from that abduction years ago. Until earlier today, I hadn’t seen her since then. But didn’t you drive her here from my house? Haven’t you been just down the hall all this time? You have a key to her room, I’ll bet.”
Heath bristled. “Yes, I drove her here and I’ve been down the hall. And I do have a key. It’s my job to watch over her. Why would I try to frighten her this way?”
Axel shrugged. “Job security. As long as she thinks you’re necessary, Mr. Mullins will keep signing your paychecks.”
Or more likely the stiff Brit just wanted to fuck her. He understood that need completely.
“Axel . . .” She sighed, then turned to the other man. “Heath. This is silly. I refuse to believe either of you had anything to do with this.”
“I’m merely pointing out that he had oppo
rtunity and motive.” Axel stared at the other man.
Heath crossed his arms over his chest. “I suspect you had opportunity as well, since you ‘happened’ to arrive just after she found this photo in her room. I don’t know your motive yet. Maybe you were angry that she left your house quite suddenly today?”
“Stop it, both of you,” Mystery insisted. “Honestly, wouldn’t it be more productive to look for the real perpetrator instead of you two circling one another like rabid dogs?”
As much as Axel’s temper didn’t like it, his head knew she had a point. “All right. Since her kidnapping is unsolved, we’ll have to work that angle separately. For now, we need to contact the hotel’s security and see if they can find the video surveillance from the stairwells, elevators, and hallways leading to Mystery’s door.”
“Agreed. I’d like them to tell us whose key card was used to access the room.”
“Absolutely.” Axel nodded and turned to Mystery. “If you’re ever in a hotel room alone again . . .” Not that she would be for the foreseeable future. “Always throw the dead bolt home. You never know how good a hotel’s security is or the character of the people on their staff who have a master key to all the rooms.”
Heath cupped her shoulder. “He’s right. You must be careful, sweetheart.”
The sight of him touching her, even casually, rubbed Axel the wrong way. It took everything he had not to be a fidiot caveman and threaten to rip the man’s hands off.
“I know,” she murmured. “I forgot. I was . . . distracted. I feel so stupid now.”
“Never.” Heath sent her a searching smile. “Why don’t you sit again? I’ll call hotel security.”
“Do you think if I wait until morning to call my father—”
“He’ll hear about it before then,” Heath told her.
She sighed again. “Right. I’ll handle it.”
The other two both made their respective calls. Axel watched Heath warily. He didn’t trust the guy. Or maybe he just didn’t like the idea that another grown, heterosexual man got to spend so much time alone with Mystery. Axel doubted they’d slept together. But maybe that ugly truth just pissed Heath off.
Axel also wondered why it mattered so much. This morning, Mystery hadn’t been on his radar. Well . . . much. Now, he didn’t want any other man’s hands on her.
Filing that truth away as something to explore later, he made his way to a quiet corner of the room and scrolled through the recent calls on his phone again and hit Stone’s number once more.
“Twice in one day?” Stone asked. “Can’t get enough of me?”
“Maybe you should give up hacking and go into stand-up if you’re so fucking funny.”
Stone laughed. “No, I’d suck at it. But you give as good as you get. I like that. What’s up?”
“I need more information.”
“Since I’ve already got a date to meet the girl I’m interested in, I’m not sure what more you can offer me.”
Axel didn’t hesitate. “I’m her protector. She doesn’t say shit to anyone without my permission. If you want conversation, I suggest you help me.”
“You’re a sly bastard,” Stone groused.
“What’s it going to be?”
Stone cursed. “Tell me what you need.”
Axel smiled into the phone. “The hotel we discussed earlier? I need to see if you can hack into their security systems. I need camera footage of the top floor, leading to the room number you gave me. I also need to see if you can give me a list of everyone whose key card accessed the door to her room. We’re asking hotel security for these same records, but if someone on staff is involved, they could easily tamper with the evidence.”
“No sweat. Give me a few hours. It may not take that long. But I’ll give you some answers.”
“Thanks.”
“Hopefully, Sweet Pea will thank me on your behalf,” Stone said suggestively.
Axel rolled his eyes, and he realized that he didn’t mind another man touching the woman he’d shared scenes and sex with for the last two years. Across the room, Heath had his arm around Mystery, the woman he’d taken to bed exactly once, and Axel felt murderous.
He needed to get a fucking grip.
“Don’t hold your breath. Trust doesn’t come easy for Sweet Pea. She’s a kind soul and she’ll be polite as hell. I wouldn’t expect more than that for now.”
“You control who fucks her, too?”
Axel didn’t think Misty had been to bed with anyone else since they’d settled into their arrangement, but he could be wrong. And it wouldn’t bother him. As long as she found someone good to her, he was cool. “I’m not her pimp, asshole. I look out for her.”
“I don’t think that’s all you do to her, but I’ll put a lid on it, get you an answer, and call back soon.” Stone hung up.
Prick.
Axel watched across the room as Heath caressed Mystery’s back. She’d grown tense as she talked into the phone. She winced, shook her head, and looked like she fought back tears. Axel approached the two.
“Daddy, no. I’m fine,” she assured. “Between Axel and Heath, I’m perfectly safe. We’ll figure this out. I need to see Aunt Gail. I keep promising her I’ll come get some of these things Mom left for me, and I . . . just haven’t wanted to deal with it. She’s going on a mission trip in a few days, so it’s now or never. Besides, none of us ever knows how long we have left, and it’s been too many years since I spent time with her. I’ll be home soon.”
That perked Axel up. He remembered from Mystery’s bio information that her mother’s sister, Gail, was a spinster who lived in rural Kansas. Was that the reason Mystery had come to the States in the first place? If so, why had she stopped to spend a night or two in Dallas?
Heath gave her one more comforting pat, then sauntered his way. “I talked to the hotel’s security director. He said he’ll have the video feed and key card records for us by morning.”
“Morning? I was thinking more like an hour or two.”
“I was, as well,” Heath admitted. “Unfortunately, he says all those records are kept at a facility off-site, and they’re closed until tomorrow.”
Well, Stone would have answers much faster. Maybe he’d tell Heath that later. But until he trusted the guy, Axel refused to divulge much.
“So we’ll work around it for now. Did you call the police?”
“Hotel security said they would. They have a protocol for these things.” Heath clearly didn’t like the bureaucracy.
Axel seconded that. “We don’t need the red tape.”
“Exactly. But I suspect it’s a dead end, anyway. The police won’t know who left her that picture, and even if they could figure out the perpetrator’s identity, I’m sure it would be a greedy maid or a hired thug.”
Maybe. But someone far more nefarious had given the intruder that picture.
Axel paced. Joaquin couldn’t get to the bottom of Mystery’s past soon enough. He had to start figuring out who wanted to hurt her and why.
“You know, whoever left this picture for her tonight . . . what’s the motive? Why remind her of her abduction after all these years? Why now? What set this person off?” Heath asked.
Good question. “Well, judging from the message on the back, this person doesn’t want her on U.S. soil. She’s supposedly safer back in the UK. Has she encountered any threat there?”
“No.” Then Heath reconsidered. “Well, someone broke into their London flat not long after they moved in, probably five years ago. It was trashed. Some of Mystery’s jewelry was taken. But I think we were dealing with a petty thief, not the sort of animal who would threaten the life of a young woman.”
He didn’t have enough facts to say for certain. Axel filed that incident away and moved forward. “Who knew she intended to fly to the States, besides you and her father?”
Heath rolled his eyes. “Everyone who reads her Twitter feed. I’ve advised her to deactivate it, but she insists it’s one of the ways she keeps
in touch with fans and friends.”
“She put on her Twitter that she was coming to Dallas?”
“Not precisely. Look.” Heath pulled out his phone and launched
