Embracing Ellie: K&S Securities Series

by A. J. Andersen

  As much as the condition of Margot’s granddaughter tugs at my heart, it’s the uncovered window above her head that holds my interest. The view out the window is a little blurry, but nothing that I can’t fix. A smile pulls at my lips. I have been clearing up pictures worse than this one for years. It’s a talent I honed overseas when using blurry intel helped us locate and neutralize enemy targets. I’m not being cocky when I say I’m one of the best. It’s just the truth. Not to mention that with the availability of reverse image searching online most anyone can do this. To some extent anyway. I’m surprised Dominic didn’t know that. I can’t help but wonder if maybe he’s just too proud to believe we could find him from something as simple as a photo.

  As I make the final adjustments to the picture and upload it into the search program I smile reassuringly at Margot. The screen flickers with images before stopping and pulling up pages of results. Woodlawn Cemetery. The rest is easy. She’s obviously in a house, not in one of the industrial buildings in the area. The window, walls and dingy carpet are evidence of that.

  “She’s still in the city,” I say to the assembled group.

  Margot releases a small cry of relief, “You will be able to find her?” her voice is trembling.

  “We will find her,” Travis lowers himself onto the couch beside her and wraps an arm around her comfortingly. “Blake and I are really good at this.” He tells her reassuringly. Her eyes dart to mine and I nod my agreement. We are good at this. Better than good.

  Pulling out my phone I quickly send a text, dispatching the men I called earlier to the general location I think Grace is being held. If they see anything suspicious, they will let us know.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Ellie

  “Elinor,” Ms. Smith’s voice is breathless as she hurries down the hall behind me. I stop to wait for her. It’s almost lunchtime and I just want to park this monster of a cart and find a quiet place to put my feet up and eat my lunch. Ana texted me a while ago about maybe meeting up for lunch, but I’m a little behind on my rooms so that isn’t going to happen. I have got to stop thinking about Blake. If I wasn’t missing him so much, I wouldn’t be so distracted, and I wouldn’t be behind on my tasks.

  “I got a call from Mr. Stone,” she says, looking pointedly at me. I did ignore a call from him about ten minutes ago and deleted a text without reading it. “You are to meet Mrs. Cerelli and Miss Faye at the café and you are excused from the remainder of your shift.”

  I open my mouth to object. What the heck is going on? I can’t afford to miss half a day of work.

  “You will still be paid.” Her voice is stern and serious. “Now go on, Elinor.”

  She doesn’t wait for me to respond, just takes control of my cart and begins wheeling it away from me, leaving me standing in the hall wondering what the heck is going on.

  She glances back over her shoulder at me and looks annoyed to see that I haven’t moved. “Go, Ellie.”

  Her firm voice and usage of my nickname holds an undertone of something I can’t put my finger on so I nod, whispering my agreement to her retreating form. Unsure about what is going on I turn and head back in the direction I just came from, making my way through the crowd to the café. I slip inside and glance around until I see my friends seated in their usual corner booth in the back of the busy eatery.

  “Margot got a call from Blake and she sent me here to meet you two. I guess I have the rest of the day off and I’m still getting paid. What’s going on?” I squeak in a rush as I slide into the booth looking back and forth between my friends.

  “Dominic is here.” Faye gasps in a horrified whisper.

  “Here?” My eyes whiz around the crowded room looking for the boogey man. I have no clue what Dominic Cerelli looks like, but from what I’ve heard about him I can’t help but imagine that I would recognize him if I saw him.

  Ana waves her hand toward the busy card game area, “Well not here, here. Out there,” she says. “He was sitting at the blackjack tables when we were coming to find you.”

  “Oh, my goodness! What’s going to happen now?” I worry out loud. Wondering what this means for my friends and their men. For Blake.

  “Nothing that you need to worry about, angel.” Blake’s voice rumbles over me, igniting all my nerve endings at once. I hadn’t realized how much I missed him until I heard his gruff voice. Tears prickle my eyes, but I ruthlessly blink them back. This is for the best. I can’t allow myself to rely on him to fight my battles for me. I’ve relied on everyone else for a long as I can remember and it’s time for me to learn to fight them on my own.

  Before I can formulate a response, Xavier speaks from beside him. I wasn’t even aware of him being there, all my attention was focused on Blake.

  “Ellie, I’d like for you to take the rest of your shift off and spend it with these other beautiful ladies upstairs in the penthouse.” He carefully assists his pregnant wife to her feet and lovingly kisses her cheek, holding her close for a long moment.

  “Margot told me.” I whisper, lowering my eyes to the floor shyly. Xavier intimidates me even though I know that he doesn’t mean to.

  “Ana, love” he says, staring into her eyes, “take your friends straight upstairs and lock the doors behind you. Do not open them for anyone. We will let ourselves in when this situation is under control.”

  I can’t help it. My gaze flies to Blake’s, full of questions. He quirks his lips in a half smile that I’m certain is supposed to be reassuring, even though it’s not, and nods. If he wants me out of the way with the others, then I’m not about to argue. Even though I’ve been avoiding him I know he wants me to be somewhere safe and my heart soars with hope that I ruthlessly try to squash.

  “Come on girls,” Ana chirps, her swaying walk leading us toward the exit. I slip out of my seat and Faye hugs Travis tightly, whispering into his ear. Everything in me is pleading to go to Blake, to let him hold me close and assure me that he will be all right, but instead I force myself to follow Ana without looking up as I slip past him.

  “Ellie,” he whispers, his fingertips lightly brushing my hand. If I talk to him there is no way I’m going to be able to keep my distance from him. I snatch my hand back like his touch burned me, hating myself for doing it but needing to try for reasons that don’t seem as important as they did before seeing him. I stubbornly set my jaw and push past him, following Ana.

  I do my best to keep my distance from Blake, but six of us in the elevator make for tight quarters, even with Ana and Faye cuddled up against their men. He’s close enough that I can feel the heat radiating off his big body. His scent envelopes me and I can’t help but to breathe him into my lungs like an addict seeking a fix. Pushing him away has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done and the loss of the closeness we shared as recently as last week feels like a fresh wound with him standing so near. All my planning and making sure that we didn’t cross paths was for nothing. I miss him as much today as I did the morning I left him standing in the parking garage. What makes it even harder is knowing that he misses me too.

  This is the first time I’ve been to the penthouse as a guest and not for work. I thought it would be uncomfortable for me, but it’s not. After settling Ana in a comfy looking chair in the living room with her feet up, Xavier leads Blake and Travis out the door and back toward the waiting elevator. Blake stops before closing the door and turns, watching me for a long moment while I stand in the middle of the room, frozen in place by the weight of his eyes searching mine for signs of relenting. I know he spots my wavering commitment to my decision to block him out when one corner of his lips quirks up in a half smile and he gives me a slow wink. Travis calling his name breaks our connection and he silently mouths one word to me before closing the door behind himself.

  He’s isn’t going to let me ignore him anymore. I know it in my bones, and as much as it scares me it exhilarates me too. He’s coming for me.

  Soon. His silent word was soon…

  Chapter T
wenty-Three

  Blake

  Soon.

  It’s a promise and a threat. I’m done with this. I don’t give two shits if it makes me an asshole, but there is no way that I’m going to let her keep putting distance between us. I know that she thinks I messed up, but she needs to talk to me about it, not just push me out of her life like there isn’t anything growing between us. Like I haven’t fallen for her. After seeing her today, I know she’s hurting as much as I am.

  Her uniform dress is wrinkled, when she is usually crisp and starched, and she looks tired. More tired than usual, like she hasn’t even been getting her normal, limited amount of sleep. Seeing proof of her sadness all over her is the only encouragement I need. I won’t let her ignore me again. She means too much for me to walk away and let her go. I would, if I thought that was what she really wanted, but seeing her today convinced me that she needs to hear my apology. I don’t know what boundary I crossed when I defended her to Lawrence, but there was one and I need her to understand that I didn’t mean to upset her, but I’m not ever going to be the kind of man who can sit back and let someone bully my woman and make her feel… less than she is. Not when she is as amazing as Ellie is.

  I have plenty of time to think about what to say over the next few hours. Not that I come up with anything. I’m going to have to wing it, and that isn’t how I operate. I don’t like not having a plan. I always have a plan. It’s my thing. I’ve been making plans and following them to the letter since I was just a kid who landed in the system. Advance planning and controlling every detail is what has carried me through every tough time I’ve ever faced. Not having a solid plan for winning Ellie back scares me worse than any mission in my military career. Even more than the first time I lugged a black plastic trash bag onto an unfamiliar porch and met my first set of foster parents. Anxiety burns in my belly as I watch the monitors in brooding silence.

  At least I have a plan for this.

  When Dominic rises from his seat after losing another hand to the dealer, I’m confident that everything is in place. I’m going to do one better than following Dominic. I’m going to drive the bastard back to his lair and do recon. Travis doesn’t like it, but it’s the perfect plan. I keep a low profile, so the chance of Dominic knowing who I am by sight is slim to none, if he even knows about my existence at all. I’ve already changed into a driver’s uniform, black pants and a tee-shirt with the casino logo emblazoned over my left pec. I add a matching ball cap and with a salute to Travis and Xavier, I exit the office and stop in to check on Geno on my way to the garage. X’s buddy Grayson is with him in the security room, they are watching the same video feed of Dominic that I was.

  “You ready?” Geno asks, rising and taking a set of keys from a desk drawer and handing them to me.

  “Easy peasy,” I tell him, my voice light, accepting the keys from his outstretched hand. Driving Dominic is the easy part, I’m not worried about that at all. It’s what comes later that remains to be seen…

  “Be careful,” Grayson says, meeting my eyes, “He’s more dangerous than he looks.”

  I nod my thanks, knowing that he’s right, they always are. I pull up the hem of my shirt showing him the pistol holstered at the small of my back. I have another one in an ankle holster as well, but hopefully there won’t be any need for me to use either tonight. Heading to the garage I find the SUV that Xavier arranged for me to use. It has GPS that I already set up to relay my position to them via computer.

  I pull up the curb and hop out, opening the door for the tall silver-haired man striding through the automatic doors like he owns the place. I can see the resemblance to Xavier and oddly something about him reminds me of Grayson as well. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I file it away in my head. Something else to figure out later.

  Dominic slides into the back and I close the door and climb behind the wheel. “Where too, sir?” I inquire in an uninterested voice, playing my role of bored employee to a T. He points me in the direction he wants to go and I’m unsurprised when it’s toward Woodlawn, just like I suspected. Damn I’m good!

  Dominic fills the silence as we drive through the darkness, bragging about his winnings and the hot bitches he got numbers from tonight. I observed him for hours. It’s all a lie. He broke even gambling and since the waitress who was serving him most of the evening was Heather from the cafe the other night, and she’s into girls, there’s no way she handed out her number to an old man. I make appropriately impressed sounding responses and take the most direct route to the historic cemetery district.

  Dominic surprises me a little when he asks me to stop just outside of the main entrance to the cemetery. As much alcohol as he put away, and as talkative as he’s been, I figured that he’d have me drive him right to his front door. I guess he’s played the game long enough that covering his trail is second nature to him. I hurry out into the night and open his door. He tries to slip me a bill and I shake my head, pressing it back into his hand, “Thank you, sir, but the ride is on the house.”

  He smiles smugly, tucking the cash back into his billfold and walking off into the night with only a slight stagger in his steps. I hurry back into the driver’s seat and proceed to the end of the block where I shut off my lights and flip a U-Turn. Before backtracking in the direction that I came from I watch for the tall figure striding through the night.

  I spot him in the shadows and pull over and cut the engine. Pocketing the keys, I pull out my sidearm and melt into the shadows, following from a discreet distance while Dominic cuts through the cemetery toward a row of small houses across the street from a warehouse. He walks up the concrete steps onto a small porch where he knocks twice and waits to be let in. When he disappears into the mostly dark house, I make my way closer, identifying the places where sentries are keeping watch, and pull out my phone and place a call to Travis.

  As soon as he answers I speak, keeping my voice hushed, “This is the place. He’s got a house across from the cemetery next to a truck yard and warehouse. There are guards around the house and the warehouse next door.”

  “How many?” He asks.

  “Haven’t gotten close enough for a good count. Six, possibly more.” I edge closer, continuing to stay in the shadows, not making a sound. When I’m sure no one is close enough to hear me, I whisper into the phone, “Dominic went inside. I’m going to try to get close enough to see in the windows before I head back.”

  “Is that advisable?” Xavier asks lowly. They have me on speaker. Good. I won’t have to repeat anything.

  I’m confident that no one will see me. I laugh under my breath, “I’m not going to get caught. Standby.” I slip the phone back into my pocket to hide the glow from the screen and sneak between the guards into the overgrown bushes growing under the windows at the back of the house where there is more than enough cover. The smell of cigarette smoke and frying food permeates the air around me. Straightening slowly, I peer through tan curtains partially obscuring my view into a small room.

  Margot’s granddaughter Grace is basically in the same position she was earlier, barely dressed and huddled on the floor in the unfurnished room. A tray of food rests beside her on the floor, it looks untouched. I pull my phone out and switch to video chat and hold it up to the window while I take stock of the situation. She has more bruises than she did in the photo Dominic sent Margot. So, it was either an older photo or someone beat on her since this morning.

  Rage explodes bright red behind my eyes and my heart pounds in my chest, adrenaline making my hands shake. A low, angry growl rumbles in my chest. I hate people who mistreat children more than anything. Fucking disgusts me.

  “Don’t do anything stupid, Blake.” Travis demands. I flip the phone around and shut off the video before I reply.

  “I know Trav. I’m heading back, but we are getting her away from here tonight. We’re going to need more men.” I’d be going in alone, right fucking now, if the odds weren’t so badly stacked against me and we both know it. Ins
tead I will do the smart thing and go back for the rest of my team.

  “Agreed,” Travis bites out.

  Xavier’s voice follows not even a second later, “Agreed.”

  We’re all on the same page and there’s nothing more to say. I make a dismissive sound and hang up, texting Travis the address before slipping deeper into the darkness closer to where I saw two men smoking when I approached the house. A few more minutes of recognizance won’t hurt anyone.

  Slamming on the breaks, I stop the SUV in the middle of the parking garage when I see Travis and Xavier step off the elevator followed by Geno and Grayson. I jump out of the vehicle and stride toward them, burning with the anger inside of me at what I overheard before I left the house

  “Grace isn’t the only one they have in there.” I bark. “I was able to get close enough to hear the guards talking. Margot was right. There is an auction tomorrow.” That doesn’t give us nearly enough time to plan and execute a rescue of this complexity. My brain is already whirling with ideas, but I think simple is going to be our best bet in this case. Old fashioned smash and grab. There isn’t going to be time for anything else.

  “After we get Grace, and whoever else is there, I’ll tip Agent Weaver off about the auction and let the FBI step in and stop it.” Xavier growls, “I’m sure Dominic isn’t the only one who plans to be selling tomorrow.”

  Travis nods, “Sounds like a plan.” He turns to me, “Who else should we bring in on this? Right now, it’s the three of us, plus Geno and Grayson.” He motions to the pair standing behind him.