by Malcom, Anne
And he didn’t. He walked forward until he was standing right in front of me. His eyebrow twitched as his gaze focused on my bruise. Those eyes turned a little less kind, anger sparked them. Fury. This stranger was furious about someone hitting me and he didn’t even know me.
“Keltan,” he said, holding out his hand. “Brookes,” he continued. “I own this place.”
It surprised me, because he wasn’t young, but he wasn’t old either. He didn’t really suit this fancy office or the fancy locale. But he also seemed like a powerful guy, not just with his muscles, but his whole aura. It felt light blue. Orange. Strong, loving, fearless.
I took his hand. It was dry. Warm. Huge. The grip was firm, but I had a feeling he was being extremely gentle with me, from his gaze to the softness of his voice. Looking at the man, I knew that he knew how to be hard and scary, like the other one that was watching the exchange. Who hadn’t been gentle with me.
“It’s nice to meet you, Keltan,” I said, my voice shaky, unsure of what to say. “I’m Elena, Phoenix,” I added, realizing I hadn’t uttered my name when I came in here all but clinging to the scary guy’s pant leg begging for help.
I’d changed mine and Nathan’s last name once we’d been in California for a few months and Robert had come knocking at the door. I didn’t want to go back to my maiden name, given to me by abusive, cruel parents. I didn’t want to keep one given to me by an abusive, cruel husband.
So I chose one, one that represented my rebirth.
“Elena,” Keltan repeated, voice firmer than his handshake. “We’re going to get your son back.”
Despite my knowledge of how cruel the world could be, despite wearing it on my face and feeling it in the hole in my heart, I chose to believe this kind man’s words.
Because I had no other choice.
* * *
“I can pay,” I said, wiping my clammy palms on my bare legs.
I felt very conscious of the fact I was in a very fancy and expensive office wearing cutoffs and a black tank with a Game of Thrones quote on it. Luckily I was wearing a bra at least, because the room was blissfully cool and whatever dignity I had left would totally be squashed if my nipples started peeking out from my tank in front of Keltan—the owner of Greenstone Security—and Lance Knox—the aggressive man who hadn’t spoken since I had spewed all my crap at him. I didn’t blame him. He probably thought I was an absolute insane person. I didn’t really care what people, even these hot guys—I noticed in a detached way that both of these men were incredibly attractive but I didn’t focus on that because I wasn’t focusing on anything that wasn’t my getting my son back—thought of me right now. They could decide I was Susanna from Girl Interrupted for all I cared, as long as they got Nathan back.
Despite being detached from caring about what people thought of me, my outfit was decidedly inappropriate in this atmosphere, it was what I had been in to pick Nathan up from school. As little as possible, as my AC in my junker of a car had just crapped out and I still had two more paychecks to go before I could complete my car fund and buy a new one.
I’d been scrimping for a year, not so I could look good in front of the moms at school—even though almost all of them apart from the ones I was friends with, drove cars that were worth my yearly salary—or so I could drive with AC. No, because my child was in the car. And I needed something safer.
Currently, my child was in more danger than being in a shitty car with no AC. So I’d use the new car fund as a deposit, or retainer, or whatever they needed to get started. If it wasn’t enough, I’d find somewhere to sell plasma.
“I don’t have much but I promise I’m good for it, I can do weekly installments, anything,” I continued, hot flush of shame blooming on my cheeks. I’d never been ashamed of how tight things were with money over these few years. I had left an abusive relationship with barely anything to my name, barely anything on my resume, and managed to make a home for my son and myself. I was not ashamed of that. I was proud of that.
As long as I had enough money to feed, clothe, and house Nathan, plus keep him safe, I was proud of myself.
But I imagined that the money it would cost him to get him safe would be more than I made in a year, judging by these offices and the fact I’d sneaked a look at their previous clients as Keltan had shown me to his office and excused himself for a second. Lexie Decesare, the frickin’ rock star. Numerous famous actresses, big names in the entertainment industry.
I was way out of my depth here, with my crappy Corolla parked down the street, with a twenty-dollar purse with little to no cash in it.
But I’d make it work.
“Money is not a conversation we need to have right now,” Keltan said, interrupting my thought processes. “Our main and only focus is getting your son back to you safely.” His voice was gentle, kind, calming. Not exactly things I would expect to come from a man who looked like this. I glanced to the ring on his left hand. I was happy whoever the faceless wife was had a man like that.
Lance, who wasn’t sitting, was just standing there rigid, dripping testosterone and menace all over the place. But it wasn’t directed at me, I had a healthy amount of experience of what it felt like to have menace directed at me. I wasn’t sure if it was the situation in general, the bruise on my face or just that was his default. I suspected it was the latter, but I didn’t have time or headspace to focus on this man. Instead, I focused on Keltan, who seemed like he could help me. Who seemed the kind of man who had the ability to take care of people.
I did not have a healthy amount of experience with men like that, but I recognized it just the same.
He leaned forward, clasping his hands together on his desk.
It was very orderly, I noticed. If Nathan was here, he’d be wandering around, picking things up, asking what they were and putting them back in the wrong places.
But Nathan wasn’t here.
The cold reminder was so sickening I had to hold my breath so I didn’t throw up the Pop-Tart I’d eaten on the way to Nathan’s school all over Keltan’s tidy and expensive looking desk.
“I’m gonna be honest with you, this isn’t usually our kind of thing,” Keltan said. “We usually pass things onto the police if we feel like they can take care of it or if it gets dicey for our client to circumvent the law. But from what you’ve told me, this isn’t something the police can take care of.” Again his words were even, but there was something in his eyes, frustration, anger.
I understood that, any decent man, decent human being would be appropriately horrified at the fact the police turned a blind eye to abuse and frickin’ kidnapping if the perpetrator had the right job title, right family name.
“I’m doing this because it’s what any decent person would do,” he continued. “I apologize that you haven’t met any of them in what seems like a long time. I’m doing this because I’m a father. I cannot even fathom what you must be going through right now.” The man actually grimaced, his face graying slightly.
I was happy that this child had a father like that.
I was happy that my child had a father like that who was going to be looking for him.
“Now, I heard something on the tail end of what you were telling Lance that I need to comment on,” Keltan continued. “You are a good mother. I don’t want you to question that. I may not know you, but I’ve seen more than enough to see that you’re a wonderful parent. A good parent is one that is willing to fight, pray, beg and do everything in their power for their kid. That’s you. And I promise you that we’re gonna get your boy back.”
Tears bit the backs of my eyes. I gritted my teeth against them. I was not allowed to cry now. I could cry after I had Nathan in my arms. After I smelled his hair. After he smiled at me. After I cataloged every inch of his body to make sure it was the same as it was before. After I fed him as much boxed macaroni and cheese as his little body could handle. Then, when I put him to bed, watched him fall asleep into a slumber without nightmares, then I could cry. I coul
d sob.
But only then.
For now, and until then, I had to hold it the hell together.
“Now, we have alternate methods of doin’ things, want to make sure that you’re—”
“I’m okay with it,” I interrupted Keltan. “Any and all ways to get my boy back unharmed, you do whatever you have to do. Whatever you’re willing to do.”
Keltan nodded, the corner of his mouth turning up only slightly. Not a full smile. Because there was no place for smiles right now. I didn’t feel like I’d ever smile again. I was empty, hollow. At the same time, I was full, bursting with fear, despair, rage, worry.
“The piece of shit, you want us to take care of him?” Lance spoke finally.
I jerked at his voice, so different than Keltan’s. Rougher. More violent. He wasn’t softening himself for me as I suspected Keltan was. Wasn’t trying to make himself less threatening, make me more comfortable.
Then again, all the soft-spoken men in the world in sleek offices couldn’t make me feel calm, so I weirdly appreciated it. The honesty of it.
“Excuse me?” I said, blinking.
“The husband,” he elaborated, or his version of elaborating. I suspected he wasn’t as articulate as Keltan. Keltan had explained he was the owner of the business and therefore had all the people skills. With a business like this, I knew there was a call for a different kind of people skills. A violent, dark kind.
This man excelled in the dark. You need only look at him to know that.
“Take care of him?” I repeated.
I thought I got what he was saying, but surely I must have been mistaken, my thoughts clouded by my own panic and feelings toward Robert.
Though the fact that Lance referred to him as a ‘piece of shit’ had me thinking he didn’t exactly have warm feelings toward him either.
But still, this was a reputable security company that had nice offices, celebrity clients, a location in a respectable neighborhood in a seriously nice part of LA. Surely he couldn’t be offering what I thought of it.
“You mean, like...” I trailed off, not sure if I was actually meant to speak about such things out loud. I didn’t know the etiquette.
If you’d told me this morning as I was chopping up bananas for Nathan’s oatmeal with him singing about giraffes in the background that I’d be sitting in a fancy office in LA with two attractive badasses potentially talking about putting a hit out on my husband I would have laughed my butt off.
But that was life.
So instead of verbalizing what I was going to say, I brought my thumb across my throat in an unmistakable gesture.
Keltan raised his brows, looking almost amused, but Lance merely nodded once.
I gaped and waited for Keltan, the more reasonable and kind of the men to correct him. He didn’t. He just stared at me in expectation.
Were these two men really waiting for me to confirm that I wanted Robert dead? Was this some kind of trap? I didn’t see how it could be, so it really seemed like if I responded in the way my evil heart wanted me to, they would do it.
“No,” I said finally.
Keltan raised his brow again, not in amusement. I wasn’t sure if it was disappointment or respect.
“A very big and dark part of me wants him to never breathe air again. Wants to make sure he does not walk on the same earth as my son. Wants to make sure that we never have to worry about him again,” I said, even as I verbalized it, I was tempted to change my answer. “But that would be letting his vile and deplorable actions change who I am as a person. Change my beliefs. I’ve given him a lot of power over me in the past. I will no longer give him permission to take anything else from me.”
Now I was sure I saw some kind of respect on Keltan’s face.
The other man’s, I wasn’t sure, because there was still that blank menace that masked any kind of human emotion.
But I noticed the veins in his arms protruding from his muscular arms and saw his fists were clenched at his sides. I couldn’t be sure that they weren’t like that the whole time.
I darted my gaze back to Keltan. “It’s not my choice to take Robert from this world, I don’t want that choice on my shoulders. That’s for someone different to decide. God, Buddha, Shiva, Isis, or whoever takes care of that kind of stuff. But I know that he’s obviously got a plan here. Robert is a meticulous man. He will have decided, for whatever reason I don’t even know, that he needs Nathan. Not wants.” I swallowed glass but forced myself to keep going. Information was power, all the power I had right now.
“I know he doesn’t want his son,” I said, voice even. “He doesn’t want people. He needs them. For image, personal gain, for punching bags.” I paused as a fresh wave of nausea rushed over me. He could not be hitting Nathan. No. He couldn’t be laying his hands on him. He hadn’t, not before. Because he was a monster, that was for sure. But even monsters recognized things that they couldn’t touch. Couldn’t hurt. That was the lie I needed to tell myself in order to get through all of this.
The thought of my little boy being hurt almost had me catatonic.
I needed to continue speaking. Keltan needed all the information on Robert so he could understand this man.
“I know that when we get Nathan back, he won’t give up,” I continued. “He doesn’t like being bested. He’ll try to retaliate. And he knows where I live now, obviously we’ll have to move. I’m okay with that. But if he knows your company’s involvement and tries to—”
“He’s not gonna touch us,” Keltan interrupted. “And we don’t give a shit if he tries. That’s not something that’s gonna make us hesitate at getting your boy back to you. Don’t worry about that.”
My heart felt heavy, so heavy I wouldn’t be surprised to find it sitting between my feet, bleeding. “You’re going to get my son back?” I whispered, all strength gone from my voice.
His gaze didn’t falter. “We will get your son back. I promise.”
Lance
“You shouldn’t have promised,” he said, closing the door behind him.
Keltan looked up from where he’d been staring at his desk, head in his hands. Lance guessed this was hitting him. Keltan was a tough motherfucker. A hard one. Not much could land on him, because he’d seen it all, death, torture, pain. They’d all seen that too much recently, with what happened with the Sons of Templar. They saw more of it with what happened to Polly. And that shit scarred all of them. Even him, who didn’t think there were any places left on him that were free to scar.
Didn’t even know her well, but you didn’t need to. You just knew. There were people so dark that you felt sick just being around them. Lance knew that because that was all he knew. It was all he was. Then there was another kind of people. The light kind. The kind that made you feel good.
Polly was that.
So yeah, that hit him, hit Keltan, because he and the rest of the men had pretty fucking strong thoughts toward men that put their hands on women.
But this was different. This was hitting him square in the chest.
It was a fucking child.
Lance had dealt with everything. Even shit with children, shit that sickened his fucking soul, but he’d seen it. Considered himself immune to it. To brutality. Emotion.
But seeing that woman in the fucking foyer, it awakened something in him.
Fury.
“What?” Keltan said as he walked into the room, he went to sit across from him, but he paused. This was the chair that she sat in.
He could already smell her in the room. She smelled of coconut and sweat. He liked it.
Too fucking much.
So he stayed standing, as far away from the chair as he could.
Keltan noted it as the fucker noted everything.
“You shouldn’t have promised her that we’ll get her son back,” he continued, folding his arms. “That’s not something you can promise. You know as well as I do, we don’t find that kid within twenty-four hours, we’ve got slim chances. Knowing what we kno
w already about this fuck, chances are already slim. Promising that woman her son is gonna get back to her in one piece is a mistake.”
Lance felt sick even uttering it, which was foreign. He wasn’t usually affected by the uglier truths in situations like this. He lived in the ugly truth. He liked it.
Until now.
Until the woman who smelled like coconuts hit his gut with her bruises and her stupid fuckin’ tank top and her visceral fear and love for her son walked into these offices.
Keltan’s face changed. His whole body. He was out of his chair in a blink, and across the room right in Lance’s face in another one.
He didn’t move. He never was one to back down from a fight, even with a man he respected and liked.
“We are going to find that kid,” Keltan hissed. “He’s gonna be in one piece. And that woman is gonna fuckin’ hold her son again.”
“Not for you to say,” Lance replied, even though he wanted to believe it.
Keltan’s eyes hardened. “Yes, it fuckin’ is. Because we’ve got intel on the guy. Recently transferred here, working as a detective. Wire has already told me he’s got plans on runnin’ for office like his dad. Most likely scenario is that he wants the pretty wife and son back to help boost votes. He’s not gonna lay his hand on that kid. He’s a piece of shit of the worst kind, but from what I understand, he’s not stupid enough to hurt him.”
“He was stupid enough to hurt her,” Lance replied, thinking of the bruise on her beautiful and delicate face and having to withhold his wince. That was odd. It wasn’t even that serious of an injury. He’d seen much worse. On plenty of people who didn’t deserve it. But with her it was different.
“Men stupid enough to lay their hands on women don’t have any smarts,” he continued. “They don’t have anything left to make them a man. They’re lowest of the low. They’ve got no limits. Morals. So that kid is in trouble.”
Keltan chose this moment to grab him by the shirt. He was surprised he didn’t hit him, he could tell he wanted to. It didn’t faze him, he was used to people wanting to hit him for telling them a truth they didn’t want to hear.
