Hidden Dane (Hidden Alphas Book 4)

by Victoria Pinder

She’d even passed her real estate license.

  No one would call her doctor, but at least being a realtor brought in money until she found that faculty position she craved. It was time to stop getting degrees no one cared about except her.

  Tonight, though, that didn’t matter. This was about celebrating. Emily held open the door of the club and immediately smelled the alcohol.

  Her sister’s husband, Michael, had always taught her to be safe, so as she stepped inside, Emily checked her pocketbook—she had her fake jewels, and the sleeping pills that dissolved in alcohol in case she needed to escape someone who might have used some sort of date drug.

  None of her friends spent their breaks away from college learning defensive training from an overprotective brother-in-law, who also doubled as a second father in her life—but she was grateful that he cared.

  Her friends stood at a table with drinks already ordered and she headed straight for them. She hugged the dark-haired and feisty Maria, about to be a resident at the University of Colorado in Denver hospital; Florencia, an accountant with a nose for numbers, and Karla who was now a lawyer about to clerk at the Supreme Court in DC.

  Every single one of them had amazing careers before them. Everyone but her. Emily would figure out her life, eventually. She fingered her gold necklace as she looked at the drink menu. The moment a waitress stopped, she ordered a white mojito and let the necklace fall. Karla tugged her hand and gestured everyone toward the dance floor as she said, “Emily, this is going to be so much fun. Don’t look so sad.”

  “Let’s dance!” Emily followed, her mood bittersweet.

  Tonight they danced and drank for the last time. Who knew when they’d all be together again?

  Emily swayed with her friends to a fast song. Florencia asked, “Are you going to miss us when you move to Miami to be a realtor?”

  Emily refused to cry. She smiled and flipped her hair like it was part of her dance routine. “Of course. You three have such amazing careers ahead of you.”

  “You will too,” Karla said loyally.

  Maria tapped her arm and whispered as she pointed to a man with blond hair and blue eyes. “That guy is clearly looking at you, Em.”

  “He’s not even cute.” Emily quickly pursed her lips as she discreetly checked the guy out—he was at least twenty years her senior judging from his weathered skin and she wasn’t about to hook up with a man going on fifty when she’d literally just turned twenty-eight.

  No thanks. She continued to dance with her friends. Hopefully he’d get the hint if she looked away.

  However, her friends parted like they were the Red Sea and the man was Moses. He leaned close and she smelled cigarettes on his clothes. He held out his phone and showed her a picture of her younger sister in high school. “Ms. Mira, can I speak to you? It’s about your sister, Isabella.”

  Perhaps she’d read the man wrong, though a cold sense washed through her as she pointed the man to her table, away from her friends on the dance floor. “Oh. Sure, let’s talk over there.”

  Without a word he followed. She picked up her mojito that had been delivered and sipped as he said, “Ms. Mira, that’s an interesting necklace you’re wearing.”

  This necklace had started many conversations since Dane had given it to her to wear for her high school prom. She’d not seen or heard from him since, but that night was one of the sweetest she’d ever had. She put her drink down and shrugged. “It’s kind of a family treasure. Now, what about my sister?”

  The man looked over his shoulder at two other men near the door and then asked, “You consider Uriel Delligatti family?”

  “Who?” Her mind went blank. The last name was familiar from somewhere, but she’d never met a Uriel. The name rhymed with one of her favorite cartoon characters so she wouldn’t forget it.

  The man motioned with his hand—the two other men had grown to four associates, all menacing in their stance as they took out guns and raised them high.

  Patrons of the club screamed and ran toward the door. Her graduation cap tumbled off her short blonde hair, but it didn’t matter. Her heart beat fast as he clasped his hand on her arm and again showed his phone to her. “Look, this is your sister, Isabella?”

  “Yes. Why?” She pulled her hand back.

  Her friend Karla had made it to the door with the crowd. Karla held up her phone and said “911” and then ran with the others to safety outside.

  Her other two friends were not as lucky. Florencia and Maria now had guns pointed at their heads as they clutched each other. The man held his phone next to his wrinkled face. “She will die by my hands if you don’t give me that necklace.”

  Isabella wasn’t here in Gainesville—she lived with their sister and Michael, finishing her last semester at University of Miami in the spring with a business degree and interning at Michael’s company. Her ears buzzed from the screams inside the club, but this man, even with his guns, was no match for her brother-in-law. She shook her head and said, “You clearly don’t know my brother-in-law if you think that threat will work.” Most times, Michael had said, men with weapons were bluffing—but you had to be prepared for when they weren’t.

  The man put his phone in his pocket and said, “So you won’t give me the necklace?”

  Dane, even though he’d left her, somehow still mattered to her. Sure, she’d only known him two years of her life, but she’d never forget his kisses or the verbal sparring lessons.

  Her fingers gripped her glass—she needed to get out of here, like Karla.

  She released her hold on the drink and shoved the table at him, and when he wobbled, she kicked him away from her as she ran toward the door in a full-out sprint.

  Guns clicked and the man called behind her, “What about your friends?” She turned to see him nurse his chin as he snapped, “Do you have the same faith that they will be safe?”

  Her heart beat a mile a minute. She never should have come out tonight. Emily clasped her hands together. “Who are you?”

  He walked over to her and she shrank while coldness enveloped her as he said, “My name is unimportant. You’ll never see any of us again if you give me what I want.”

  Her friends mattered more than Dane’s memory—he’d left her behind. Her hands reached for the necklace but her fingers trembled around the difficult clasp. The man took this as weakness and as he touched her bare arm, she immediately twirled and in a smooth move she held his arm behind his back just as her brother-in-law had taught her. “And you’ve underestimated me.”

  The man growled an order and a gun popped off. Florencia screamed, “Maria!”

  Emily turned back and saw one of her best friends now lying on the floor bleeding. The man tugged at his arm to be released as he said, “Your friend didn’t have your talent.”

  Sweat formed on her forehead. The necklace wasn’t this important. She reached behind her neck with one hand as she shouted, “You won’t get away with this.”

  The man pulled his arm free. “Just give me the necklace, Emily, and you can get her to the hospital.”

  Her free fingers grasped the clasp as she said, “I-”

  “The curly haired girl,” he ordered.

  Another pop sounded in the air.

  Emily’s entire body froze except for her heart that pumped faster than lightning flashes in a storm. “No. Leave Florencia!”

  “She’s bleeding. Be faster, Ms. Mira.”

  “Fine. I need ten seconds. It’s stuck.” She pushed away from him and her hands shook with nerves as she unclasped the latch.

  “Back away, Emily.” Dane’s voice echoed through the night club. She turned toward the sound that came from the back of the shadowed space and met the gaze of her dark-haired rescuer who now had the bulging muscles of a man instead of the boy who’d given the necklace to her.

  For a second, she was back in his arms, still a teenager, and at the prom instead of here, in this silent nightclub as victims stifled their tears. Dane stood there like an avengin
g angel that just appeared out of nowhere. She blinked and suddenly he was behind her, pulling her away.

  Another man, dark-blond, tall, lean, but also muscular, who wore glasses, stood beside him and easily chased the four men who shot her friends away from the dance floor. They ran into the crowd outside. Without thinking, she latched onto him and said, “Dane.”

  He blocked her from the old man as he backed her out of the club, into a back alley. The second the door closed and they were alone, she swallowed. Inside the club, her friends were lying on the ground.

  She needed to help them.

  Dane held her waist. “Did he get the necklace?”

  “No.” She held up the gold necklace he’d given her years ago.

  He reached for her palm as he said, “Hand it over.”

  Without thinking, she took her necklace back and easily wrapped it around her neck as she said, “I need to get my friends to the hospital.”

  The dark night now flashed red and blue as sirens screeched in the air. He hurried her toward a black Bentley parked in the back. “The ambulances are already here. I called before I came for you.”

  At least her friends had a chance. She swallowed and hopped in the backseat of his car.

  His friend sat with the driver up front. She looked at all three of them and instantly had the sense these men worked together as she worried about her own friends. “Do they know to go inside?”

  “Yes. I reported guns fired before it happened.” Dane closed the door behind himself.

  The driver took off, fast. Near Dane, she wasn’t so cold and frightened that she’d freak out. Instead she took his familiar hand in hers, and prom night flooded her mind.

  At eighteen, after the night where he’d danced with her under the stars, she’d asked him to take her virginity and he’d obliged in that hotel room he’d rented for them.

  None of that mattered as the car raced toward the highway. She pulled her hand back and narrowed her gaze. “Why?”

  “I had to come back for you.” He leaned closer, sending a familiar thrill through her, and his gaze was on her neck as he said, “I knew they were coming for you.”

  She sat back and pushed on his hard muscular chest to get him to give her space. As he followed her unspoken order, she lowered her gaze and said, “Thank you, Dane.” Then she stared directly into his eyes without blinking or looking away. “But why didn’t you call me and tell me not to go out?”

  He scratched the back of his neck, flexing his muscles underneath his black shirt. “Would you have listened?”

  Her face heated. Would she have obeyed a directive from Dane to stay inside, even for her own good? She was so mad at his desertion all those years ago that she would have gone out to spite him. “Probably not.”

  He held her hand to his chest where his beating heart was pressed against her palm. “I need my necklace back, Emily.”

  Her fingers brushed against his hard muscles while she took her hand back and shook her head. “Absolutely not.”

  “Why are you always so difficult?” They turned toward the airport exit, the Bentley zooming.

  There was the boy she remembered. She crossed her legs, not caring her blue dress went higher onto her thighs and fingered the necklace that accented her low cut dress like they were still teenagers and she could tease him without consequences as she asked her most pertinent questions. “Why do you need this so bad? Who are those guys? What’s going on? Where have you been the past ten years?”

  He pursed his lips and motioned with his head to the two men in the front seat as they drove to the valet parking of the airport. “I can’t answer that here.”

  Right. She wasn’t giving him the necklace. They slowed to a stop and Emily slid out of the car. “Then I’m coming with you.”

  “You’re going to the hospital with your friends.” He joined her on the sidewalk.

  With Dane, she was her younger self again. She flipped her hair to her side and shrugged as she turned toward the airport. “You’re clearly in trouble. As I said, I’m coming with you.”

  “You’re always so difficult.” He fell into sync beside her.

  They stepped inside and the cold rush of air conditioning hit her in the face. Goosebumps grew on her body as she bumped into him and more quietly said, “And loyal, which is something you don’t seem to understand.”

  “Or want, Emily.” He led her toward the private plane section of the tarmac. She knew the area. Her sister Sophie had married Michael, a self-made billionaire, who had his own planes at his disposal. Michael also happened to be Dane’s father. Dane might have walked away from him, but he clearly still enjoyed the affluent lifestyle both his father’s lived.

  They passed security and his two coworkers joined them. “Now, that is the biggest lie I’ve ever heard from you.”

  The driver said, “Uriel, did you get the necklace?”

  She stopped mid-stride. The man at the night club. Her necklace. She blinked. How had she not put this together? She swallowed and asked, “Wait? You’re Uriel Delligatti?”

  His gaze narrowed as he took her hand, guiding her forward now as he asked, “Why?”

  She picked up the pace and scooted closer. Dane felt familiar and warm. Her cheeks heated as she lowered her gaze. “The old guy in the club-”

  “Ted Vet San,” he interrupted. “And he looks older than he is.”

  They made it to the wing with the private planes. Soon they’d have to walk out on the tarmac. She blinked as she met the one man’s gaze that always stirred her in ways no one else ever had, no matter what his name was. “What?”

  “His name is Ted Vet San.” He stopped.

  She crossed her arms, stopping too. “Teddy in there was asking for you. Uriel.”

  Dane focused on her neck. If she hadn’t worn this tonight, would Ted and his minions have broken into her apartment and just stolen it? She pressed her lips together as she waited for his explanation.

  Dane traced her hip. “He wants the necklace.”

  “Why?” She ignored the heat that grew inside her and pushed his hand away.

  His two associates headed onto the plane jetway, while she and Dane remained in the terminal. She wasn’t budging without answers. He lowered his voice. “It’s the key to opening a bank box.” His warm breath brushed her face.

  It was like they were completely alone for the first time in ages, until the bustle of people moving in the terminal shook her out of the reverie. “Don’t they usually use pins and personal ID?”

  Dane’s forehead pressed against hers and they shared the same air again as he whispered, like it pained him, “Edmond Pearce’s family set this up specifically and that necklace is the key.”

  Her brow furrowed as he stepped back and the space between them widened. She pursed her lips and asked, “Have you talked to Michael?”

  “I’m not talking to or about my biological father.” Dane’s demeanor darkened. “My life is my own.”

  Right. Dane had thought Edmond Pearce had been his father until the day that man killed his mother in front of all of them. She winced at the memory of flying bullets—she’d only been sixteen. Edmond had also condemned Michael to prison—Michael had escaped and returned home only to find out Edmond had also stolen his unborn son. Edmond was a horrible person who deserved his early demise. Emily crossed her arms and met Dane’s gaze. “You probably should call Michael, as these men are dangerous.”

  Instead of listening, he shook his head and stared at her throat. “I should never have given you that necklace.”

  More people passed them. She turned toward the jetway and kept her voice low as she said, “You did it because you liked me once.”

  At the entrance he held her arm in earnest. “Emily, you’ve always been too much. Just give it back to me now and we’ll go our separate ways.”

  “You should also remember that I don’t give up on what’s mine.” She pushed him off and then showed him the necklace around her neck. “This is mine.
Tell me. Why do you need to go to a bank and why is someone chasing you?”

  He blocked her, his muscular arms almost ripping through his black t-shirt, his chiseled legs in custom blue jeans, him, towering in front of her so she couldn’t pass. “I think you need to give me the necklace and go home.”

  She patted his shoulder and waited for him to move. After several moments, he finally did and she smirked. “Nice try. Now I’m going with you and you’re going to answer my questions.”

  He threw his hands in the air like he’d given up. “You were always bossy.”

  As she went down the jetway she saw his personal jet that could double as a passenger plane. They were clearly going straight across the Atlantic to London without stopping. She stepped on the tarmac. “You never complained. Besides, you need me.”

  He followed her and asked, “Why do I need you? I just need the necklace.”

  She hurried up the metal stairs. At the galley, she picked up a bottle of wine, a cork screw, and two glasses, then headed toward seats midway of the aircraft. He took off his suit jacket and hung it over the chair. Once he sat next to her, she handed him the glasses while she kept the bottle. “Because you know you can trust me, and I’m on your side. You need friends and I’m the best one you ever had.”

  The other two men were out of sight and she assumed they were in the cockpit.

  Dane held the glasses between his legs. “Which is why I don’t want you hurt because of me.”

  For the first time in years she felt like she belonged to something and she didn’t even know what was going on. She pierced the cork and twisted. “You can protect me by telling me what’s happening.”

  “Fine. Let me pour.” He took the bottle from her and pulled out the cork.

  Today had been the strangest day. Now that they were alone, he could tell her everything. Her body was alive and she was back with Dane. Whatever happened, she was here to help.

  Chapter 3

  Grabbing the wine had probably made her seem confident, Emily thought. Sitting next to Dane sent a pulse through her body that made long-dormant parts of her come alive, and she needed ten seconds to catch her breath.