by M. J. Perry
“Forgive me if I don’t believe you. I’ll check you out myself.”
“I figured you would. Your girl is in your office under your desk.”
“If that’s true why didn’t you tell Randy?”
“Because I’m an undercover Detective, we don’t put the innocent in danger. I told him she must have left.”
“We’ll talk about this once I have her safe. I want to know how the hell you got in here too.” I chucked him a pair of handcuffs. “Put these on until I can clarify your story.”
“No problem.”
I watched as he did as I asked then I took another pair off the desk and cuffed him to the bannister. He seemed to be genuine, but I wasn’t taking any chances with Chloe’s safety. I headed towards my office. “Chloe,” I called softly, so I didn’t spook her. Her head popped up over my desk. “Hey.” She whispered. She had tears running down her cheeks.
“Oh honey, please don’t cry.” I walked round the desk and gathered in my arms rubbing her back soothingly.
“I was so scared. I heard one of them talking about me; he was telling another guy all the disgusting things he was going to do to me when he found me.”
“The man in question is currently knocked out on the hallway floor baby.”
“Is he really?”
“Yes, come on. Lea is outside worrying to death about you and I need to call the police on these bozos.”
She gripped my hand tightly and allowed me to lead her out. She was so close to me it was as if she was trying to burrow under my skin and my anger spiked. How could anyone think they could go for my Chloe and get away with it? Randy Tom was going to pay for it. If the other guy wasn’t who he says he was, then he would too. He had a lot of explaining to do. We walked out the door and Chloe made a scared noise. “Baby, it’s alright, I’m here now.” I reassured her. “Talk,” I ordered Ashen.
“They want Chloe because they know how much she means to you.”
“What do they want her for?”
He looked at Chloe in apology before meeting my eyes. “The guy on the floor wants her for her body, but who we’re working for want her because they think they can use the threat of hurting her to get you to drop your case.”
I nodded. I’d already worked that out. “Where do you come in?”
“I have orders to keep an eye on the gang. We want the big guy but no one seems to know who he is.”
“I’m calling the police, I need confirmation of who you are and then I want this piece of shit out of my sight.”
I looked to the front door as I heard footsteps and Lea burst in with Caleb hot on her heels. “Chloe, shit, I was so worried.” She stepped over the body on the floor and pulled Chloe into a hug. “Are you ok?”
“Yes, they didn’t get near me thanks to David. And you for calling him.”
“You would have done the same. You need coffee; I think everyone could do with some. Let’s leave the guys to take out the rubbish and we can make some.”
Chloe searched my face. “You’re safe now.” I said quietly.
She nodded and let Lea lead her away.
Randy started to stir. “Handcuffs?” I asked Caleb. He chucked a pair at me. “Want to explain what’s going on?”
“I will, I just need to call the police.”
“Already done,” Ryder said as he walked up behind me. “Hey Ashen, how’s it going?”
“You know him?”
“Yes, you can take the cuffs off.”
I threw the keys at Ryder. “You do it, I need a minute.”
I stalked to my office needing space. My hands were shaking. Chloe had been so close to danger all because we were near to finding out the main man. If they thought we would back off, they had another think coming. This has only made me want to nail him more and I would do it. No one threatened Chloe and got away with it. I had to find out who the fuck was behind it all and fast before they made another attempt.
“David, are you alright?” Ryder asked quietly from the doorway.
“Not really, I’m really fucking pissed off.”
“And I get that but you need to focus.”
“I am focused.” I snapped.
“No you’re not, you’re focused on getting the bastard who sent them after Chloe and I understand that, but you need to see the bigger picture.”
“And that is?”
“We’re close, we must be because why else would they send someone to snatch her?”
“I get that, I know what it all means, but you can’t know how I feel right now knowing I’m the one that put Chloe at risk. It’s because of what I do that’s she’s in danger.”
“David, she’d be in danger even if you weren’t together. She’s your assistant. People talk, they’ve all thought you’ve been sleeping with her from the start.”
“I haven’t.”
“I know that, but rumours fly and like I said people know she’s your assistant, they presume you tell her important things about the cases we take.”
I sighed. “I know all that, but it still messes with me.”
“I understand.”
I met his eyes, and they reflected the sadness I heard in his voice. “You have someone, why haven’t you ever said?”
“I don’t have her. She’s divorced, her husband cheated on her. She isn’t in a good enough place for me to claim her right now.”
“The timings off, I know how that feels. She’ll be worth the wait though.”
“She sure will be. I’m not going to rush her and scare her away and besides it’s not as if I can go home right now. I’d put her and her daughter in danger.”
“She has a daughter?”
“Yeah, she’s a beautiful little things all big eyes and sweet like her mother.”
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that you loved her.”
“I love them both.” He admitted.
“I didn’t see that one coming. I thought you would be the eternal bachelor.”
“Lexi is my girl. I’ve known since I first laid eyes on her. Unfortunately, she was still married to that prick. Right, are you calm now?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
“Let’s go sort out this mess. I get first pop at Randy because he is a real prick. I’d like to find out what he gets out of this.”
“We could just ask Ashen.”
“We could, but asking Randy will be more fun.”
The look on Ryder’s face was one I knew I couldn’t argue with so I didn’t bother. I’d let him have his fun it would help send a message that our office and my people weren’t to be messed with. Lea walked in the door with a frown. “Is everything ok boys?”
“Where’s Chloe?” My heart jumped into throat.
“I’m here.” She said as she walked in behind Lea. I sighed in relief. Panic had been close. She couldn’t be alone again until we knew what was going on. I didn’t have any clue what to do though because I needed to be here, I needed to be involved, so did Ryder and Caleb. We couldn’t leave here to protect her, and I didn’t want her here caught up in it, all especially when we interrogated Randy. There was only one other person I trusted with her. “Baby, I’m going to call Alex and ask him to come and pick you and Lea up.”
“What, why?”
“I need to know you’re safe and being with him you will be.”
“Why can’t I stay here with you?”
She looked like she was going to cry and it nearly broke my heart. “We have to ask Randy some questions and I don’t want you involved.” I cupped her face in my hand using a thumb to rub away a tear. “Chloe, it’s important I sort all this out. We need to keep the children safe and to do that I need to focus. I can’t do that if you’re here.”
She bit her lip. “Ok, I’m worried about you, what if they send someone to hurt you?”
“I have my alpha bad asses to protect me, remember.” I grinned at her blush.
“Alpha bad asses huh, I like that.” Ryder laughed.
Chloe r
olled her eyes in amusement. “I’ll try not to worry. Will Callie be there?”
“Yes, maybe you can take the opportunity to get your dress, unless you already have it?”
She searched her pockets with a frown until she pulled out a folded bit of coloured paper. Quickly before I could see she passed it to Lea. “I got the picture, we could try couldn’t we?”
Lea squealed in delight. “Yes, we can. I’m sure with help we’ll find this somewhere.”
“I’ll phone Alex right now.”
“No need.” A voice came from the doorway. “What is this, a mothers meeting?”
“Alex,” I greeted.
“Caleb called and said you might need me.”
“He was right. Can you take the girls to yours until we can sort this shit out?”
“Yeah of course, Callie will be pleased. She’s been dying to meet Chloe.”
“I can’t wait to meet her too.” Chloe said shyly.
“Come on then. I have the car outside and Arnold is waiting.”
“Arnold?” Chloe asked.
“He’s my driver.”
Chloe turned to me. “Please be careful.”
“I will, I promise. I’ll stop by to pick you up tonight.”
“You’d better.”
“Go plan our wedding baby.” I leaned in and kissed her on the lips. I wanted to do more than that, but I didn’t want to embarrass her.
Alex nodded at me. Waiting until Chloe and Lea had walked out the door before he spoke. “Be careful. I’ll keep an eye on the girls they’ll be perfectly safe with me.”
“I know thanks. I'll owe you one.”
“Nope you won’t. I will still owe you.” With that, he was gone.
“Time to get to work,” I ordered. Ryder’s face lit up, and I grinned. This was going to be fun.
Chapter Twelve
Chloe
I climbed into the car after greeting Alex’s driver. I sat down with a sigh feeling exhausted. Lea climbed in behind me and I could hear Alex giving Arnold instructions to take us to his home, I watched Alex get in and sit opposite me. His eyes met mine, and I tried to smile but it was shaky. I didn’t feel like talking but clearly, Lea did.
“You could have been raped or murdered. We might never have found you.” She said into the silence.
I felt myself pale. I hadn’t thought beyond David saving me, I hadn’t wanted to think about what could have happened, but Lea was spelling it out for me and it made me realise how much danger I’d actually been in.
“Lea, you needn’t point out the obvious, I’m pretty sure Chloe knows that.” Alex said before I could speak and he sounded angry. Lea gave me an apologetic look. I gave her a tight smile, I knew she wasn’t trying to be mean; she was just voicing her thoughts out loud. I wanted to be with David right now, I wanted him to hold me and tell me that everything was going to be ok but I couldn’t be. He couldn’t do that without finding the answers he sought. He had to do his thing, and I had a wedding to plan. I looked at Alex determined to stay strong. “David told me you have a good idea of how we are going to plan a wedding in less than a week?”
He shrugged. “I might have some ideas.”
“Well, we could use the help. I need to find this dress.” I pulled out the picture and handed it to him.
He had a look at it. “I’ll get someone on it right away.”
“Just like that?” I asked in awe.
“Just like that,” He answered. He took a photo of my dress with his phone and sent it to someone. It was just as we were pulling up to his amazing house that his phone beeped. I held my breath when he looked at his phone. Surely, they couldn’t have found it so fast. He grinned. “What size are you Chloe?”
“I’m a size twelve.”
“Perfect.”
“Perfect?” I echoed.
“The dress will be here in two hours.”
Lea squealed. “Holy shit.”
I just stared at him. Could it really be that easy? “You mean it?”
He nodded. “Chloe, your dream dress will be here today.”
“Thank you so much.” I whispered gratefully.
He seemed embarrassed by my gratitude. “You’re welcome. I can see Callie standing in the window; we should go and put her out of her misery.”
I turned to the window by the huge front door and waved at her then I laughed as I realised she couldn’t see through the tinted windows. Alex was shaking his head his eyes smiling. Arnold came to open the door, and I followed Lea and Alex out. A smiling Callie came to the front door holding a baby in her arms and if I hadn’t known the sex of the baby, it wouldn’t have been hard to guess considering it wore pink from head to toe. As we got closer, I saw Callie had green paint in her hair. I smiled at her. Alex walked to her and put his arm around her shoulders kissing her head and then he kissed the baby. The loving look they shared between them made me smile.
“Callie, this is Chloe.” He pointed to me. “And this is Lea.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said politely. Her curious stare made me feel shy.
“You too, finally,” She grinned. “Nice to meet you too Lea.”
“Shall we go inside?” Alex said.
Callie turned serious. “In my excitement I forgot about the threat. Sorry.”
She backed up, and we all entered the house. It really was beautiful, the interior just as stylish as the outside. The one thing that caught my eye was the family photos. They were everywhere, on the walls, the tables and the windowsills. It was what made the house a home. Each photo had a smiling Callie looking like she was the happiest person in the world and I loved that. I wanted mine and David’s home to be just like it. She led us to the living room and on the walls hung painted pictures. Above the fireplace hung a picture of a meadow, it caught my eye because it was so peaceful. Callie saw where I was staring and she chuckled. “It’s beautiful isn’t it?” she asked.
“I was thinking it looked so peaceful. Whoever painted this should feel proud, I almost feel like I could climb in there.”
Alex slipped his arms around Callie. “My amazing wife painted it.”
Lea gasped. “You did?”
“Now the paint makes sense.” I grinned as I touched my hair.
Callie laughed. “Alex never tells me anymore.”
“You wouldn’t be you without paint splatters.”
“That’s probably true. I love painting.” She kissed Madeline’s head and passed her gently to Alex. “We have a wedding to plan. We can’t do that without coffee. We can go into the kitchen; I have it set up as our work station.” She walked out the door. I shrugged at Lea’s look and followed her. She hadn’t been kidding; there were magazines, notepads, an open laptop and what looked like business portfolios all over the kitchen table.
I raised my eyebrows at her. “You’ve been busy.”
She grinned. “I didn’t exactly get to plan mine, so I thought I could help you plan yours. David has told us so much about you, I kind of feel that I know you.” She looked at Lea. “I’m not trying to push you out.”
Lea grinned. “Lady, your husband just arranged for Chloe’s dream dress to arrive here in a couple of hours, I wasn’t even sure we would find it. Plan away.”
“Great. We have to find a venue, a florist, a cake maker, find a car and book a priest.” She was writing as fast as she was talking and it made me chuckle. David was right in thinking I would like her. She was lovely.
“I was thinking if you and Alex didn’t mind that is, that we could get married here? Your home is charming.”
She looked like she was going to cry. “You can say no.” I bit my lip.
“No, I would love for you and David to get married here. We’ll need to get it approved but Alex can do that. I’ll just go and tell him the good news.”
“Ok.”
“Help yourself to coffee.” She pointed to the pot, “Cups are in the cupboard above it.”
Lea headed over to the coffee and I sat down. Wow, I f
elt really excited. It felt real. We had a venue I had a dress. All I needed to do was everything else. Oh god, there was so much to do. I put my head in my hands. A hand gripped my shoulder gently and squeezed. “Chloe, it will be alright.” Lea said.
“I know it’s just that I’d always imagined I’d have at least a year to plan my wedding day and well...” I trailed off.
“Alex planned my dream wedding without any input from me in a few days.” Callie said as she walked back in.
“Why didn’t you help him?” I asked curiously.
She sat down opposite me. “Alex blackmailed me into it.”
“Blackmailed you, but why?”
“We’d broken up about six months before because he’d believed I’d cheated on him.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, right.”
“Thanks for that. I’m curious why you don’t believe I did?”
“The love you have for Alex is clear; when you look at him your heart is in your eyes.”
She shook her head. “Alex was a bit blinded from the photo shopped images he received of me.”
I gasped. “Who would do such a thing?”
“An unbalanced admirer of his but she’s out of our lives now. Alex wanted to buy a company but the owner would only sell to a family man, so he blackmailed me to marry him to become one. With his help and mine, your wedding will be just how you’ve dreamed of it. Have a little faith.”
“Ok.” I agreed, still reeling from what she’d told us. How could someone be so mean to do something like that?
The doorbell rang and Alex shouted that he’d get it. Five minutes later as I was flicking through a flower magazine, he walked in carrying a dress bag.
“Is that my dress?”
“Yes,” he laughed, “it’s certainly not mine.”
I jumped up and rushed over to him taking the bag from his hands I headed to the sofa so I could lie it down and open it.
“Holy cow it’s beautiful.” Callie gasped as she got a look at it.
