SEALed Bride: A Bad Boy Romance (Includes bonus novel Jerked!) (39 page)

“He’s stalking the house, Jimmy. Where are your people?”

He held up his hands. “We’re trying. But the guy is like a fucking ghost. He seems to know exactly what we’re doing before we do it.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“Speaking of that, I know my doorman isn’t the first Italian you beat the fuck out of lately.”

I laughed, remembering. “In my defense, that was his fault.”

“It was, but shit, Colin. You need to get yourself together.”

“Fuck that.” I put my hands on his desk. “I’m not doing shit until Fabrizio is found.”

Jimmy leaned back in his chair and stared at me for a minute. “You have a lot at stake here, don’t you?”

“O’Brian put me in charge of this.”

“And it’s his daughter. Pretty girl.”

I cocked my head. “Watch it.”

“I’m just saying. Nobody wants to see her hurt.”

“What are you going to do about this?” I nodded at the knife.

He shook his head. “I don’t know, man. Our people are scouring the city, just like yours are.”

I sighed and leaned back, returning to my chair. I knew I was giving him a hard time for no reason. There was nothing Jimmy could do that he hadn’t already tried. Jimmy was only middle management, after all.

“There’s one other thing,” I said.

“Fuck someone else up I should be worried about?”

I grinned and shook my head. “It’s about the note. When I looked at O’Brian’s security take footage, Fabrizio only appears on one feed.”

“What do you mean?”

“O’Brian has like, ten cameras watching his house at all times, but Fabrizio doesn’t appear on any of them. Except for the front door, and he couldn’t have possibly avoided that one.”

“How the fuck could he do that? Tamper with the tapes?”

“No way. It’s all internal.”

Jimmy looked thoughtful. “He has been mysteriously slippery. Maybe he’s just way more skilled than we thought.”

“Maybe he’s not, though.”

“What do you mean?” Jimmy cocked his head at me.

“What if he has help?”

He let that one sink in. “That’s a dangerous thing to say.”

“I know it is. But think about it. He’s always one step ahead. And now he’s slipping through our boss’s security like it’s nothing.”

“Who could give him that information?”

“Not many people. If he has inside help, then he has someone serious on his side.”

Jimmy nodded gravely. “Who have you told about this?”

“Nobody, yet. I’m still working it out.”

“Well, don’t talk about it. Keep it quiet for now. I’ll do some digging and see what I can find.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

“And Colin? No more beating on my people.”

I grinned. “Okay. I promise. For a while, at least.”

I stood up feeling deeply unsettled.

“Take care.”

“You too, Jimmy.”

He nodded and I turned and left. The whole thing stank. Everything about what had happened pointed toward a rat in the Mob. Worse, it pointed toward a higher-up rat. That was a big, fat, stinking rat.

I passed back through the front of the store. Jimmy’s guys were still looking at the doorman. I gave them a nod as I walked by and the doorman flipped me off.
I deserved that,
I thought as I left the store. Fortunately, the guys weren’t dumb enough to follow me.

Back in my car, I sat with the engine off, trying to come up with my next move.

Truthfully, as much as I hated it, there were no other options. I had to escalate the whole thing before it really got out of hand.

I pulled out my phone and called O’Brian.

T
he guys out front were trying to blend in, but even I could pick them out. They were sitting in a big black SUV and wore dark sunglasses. One was pretending to read the newspaper and the other was pretending to be on his phone.

I stepped back from the window and sighed, collapsing back onto my bed. Colin had been gone for a few hours, and although I felt pretty safe with the muscle sitting out front, I wanted him to come back. Things were all mixed up and weird, but for some reason he made it easier to handle. Even if he was a huge asshole, and even if I was only a distraction to him, I still felt better when he was in the house.

Nothing was worse than being trapped in my dad’s place. Frustrated, I got up and went to the window again. I looked out at the city, or at least at my dad’s block, and watched people walk by. It was amazing the sheer number of different people that moved through the streets on a given day. And the number of cars. There was never any parking.

Then I noticed: the black SUV that had been guarding the house was gone. There was a big gap where it had been.

Curious, I walked downstairs. All day there had been a bunch of different guys coming in and out, and although they never said much to me, I knew they were my dad’s boys. But suddenly, the house was completely empty.

“Hello?” I called out.

Nobody responded. I felt pretty creeped out, but there was no way the guys would just abandon me. Maybe they were on a little break, or other guys were replacing them soon. I sat down on the couch and nervously stared at the TV.

Nothing happened. For ten unbearably slow minutes, nobody came or went. The house was big and still.

That’s when I heard the noise. It was a scratching at the front door.

The image of that huge knife stabbed through the paper came back to me. I couldn’t help but picture the man from the tape kicking down the door. I could hear Vince’s voice, smell his skin, and a disgusted shiver ran down my spine.

I stood up and was ready to yell out or maybe attack whoever was on the other side when the door pushed open.

“Bren?”

I let out a huge breath.

“I’m over here,” I said.

Colin walked into the room, followed by my dad.

“Everything okay?” Colin asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, you guys just scared me, is all.”

Dad grinned. “No need to feel scared, my dear.”

“Your guards left.”

“I told them to take off.”

I nodded. “Well, welcome home, I guess.”

They stood staring at me for a second, and I thought I might have food on my face. Or maybe I had fallen asleep and there were weird patterns pushed into my skin from the pillow.

“What?”

“Your dad wants us to have family dinner.” Colin gave me a grin.

“Oh, okay.”

“Yes, family dinner.” That seemed to snap dad out of whatever was bothering him. “I have food coming soon. Go get ready to eat.”

He walked out of the room and headed upstairs.

Colin stood there looking at me. His expression softened once Dad had left the room.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“He wants to move you.”

“What do you mean, move me?”

“He wants to get you out of the city.”

I opened my mouth then closed it. I shook my head. “No, I want to stay.”

“Bren, he has a point.”

I gaped at him. “Are you serious?”

“You’ll be safer somewhere else.”

“No. I can’t keep running from this.”

“Yes, you can. And you will, until we catch your husband.”

“He’s not my husband,” I snapped. I didn’t understand why Colin was trying to get rid of me, but I guessed he had his reasons. “As soon as he’s caught, we’ll sign divorce papers.”

“You know what I mean. Once we have him, you can do whatever you want.”

“Why are you doing this?”

He stared at me for a second then shrugged. “Trying to keep you safe.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

I moved past him and started for the stairs.

“I’m not sure you have a say in it,” he called out after me.

I glared at him. “We’ll see about that.”

––––––––

D
inner was about as awkward as I had anticipated.

Dad sat at the head of the table, and me and Colin sat across from each other on either side of him. The food was from an Italian place I loved as a kid, and although the food was delicious, I was still seething about what Colin had said.

I understood the position I was in. I understood that my father was doing everything he could to keep me safe and was trying to fix my mistakes. I understood that Colin was going above and beyond by living with me, by putting his whole life on hold, just to protect me. But I couldn’t have them dictating what I did at every second of the day. They were trying to send me away like I was some disobedient teenager.

The silence was thick over the table as we ate. I realized it was our first real family meal, though Dad would freak if he knew what his adopted son and his daughter were doing.

Then again, I wasn’t sure if Colin had actually signed the papers or not yet.

Finally, Dad cleared his throat and broke the silence. I didn’t feel like talking to them, but I was thankful that the awkward tension was finally breaking.

“So, Brenna. Colin tells me you two spoke about the plan.”

I nodded. “I’m not okay with it.”

He blinked, then looked at Colin. “That’s not what you said.”

Colin shrugged. “I said I’d work on her.” He looked at me. “I worked on you pretty hard, right?”

I almost choked on my food. Colin was grinning at me sadistically. I decided to sidestep his obvious insinuation.

“Dad, you can’t just decide you’re shipping me off. I’m not a little kid anymore.”

“He knows that, Bren. You’re all grown up now.”

I stared daggers at Colin.

“He’s right. I know you’re grown. But you’re out of your depth on this one, kiddo.”

“I understand that you’re the professional in this,” I said, ignoring Colin’s looks. “But you have to at least ask me first.”

Dad nodded. “Okay, that’s reasonable.”

“We’re trying to look out for you,” Colin said.

“I know that.”

“It won’t be for long,” Dad added. “We’ll find the guy soon enough.”

“Where do you want me to go, anyway?”

“Out in Lancaster. I own a little farm. You’ll hide out there.”

“Nobody knows about it,” Colin said.

“Since when did you have a farm?”

He shrugged. “I’ve made some discreet purchases these last few years.”

“We’re all about being discreet,” Colin said.

I almost wanted to vomit. What was wrong with him? He was suddenly being so obvious about it, almost as if he wanted to rub it in my dad’s face or something. Was he trying to get us caught? He kept grinning at me and giving me these looks, and as much as I hated him in that moment, I had to admit that he was incredibly attractive.

It was pretty weird, hating and wanting your stepbrother.

“So, I’m just going to go live in the middle of nowhere until you catch Vince? What if he follows us?”

“He won’t follow,” Dad said.

“What if he does?”

“I’ll be with you,” Colin said.

I blinked. “You’re coming?”

“I will be, yeah.”

I rolled my eyes at him and Dad remained totally oblivious.

“That’s right. I’m sending Colin with you.”

“So, you’re sending me out into the middle of nowhere with him?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Was my dad desperately trying to put me in the most secluded spot imaginable with the one man that I wanted to go down on more than anything in the world?

“He’s your brother now, Brenna. He’ll take care of you.” Dad looked at me like my head was spinning in circles.

“That’s right, sir.” He looked at me and grinned. “I’m your protective older brother.”

I took a big bite of food to hide my embarrassment.

“Jokes aside, Bren, he can take care of you.”

“I really can.”

I chewed and couldn’t meet their eyes. If only my dad knew how Colin was taking care of me—and how badly I wanted him to keep doing it, even though I was beyond frustrated and furious with him for making jokes that could ruin everything.

“Can you do this for me?” Dad asked. “It won’t be for long. If I don’t have to worry about keeping you safe, I can concentrate on finding that piece of shit.”

I swallowed and sighed. “I’ll think about it, Dad.”

“Think fast. I want to move you tomorrow.”

“Okay. I’ll give you my answer in the morning.”

He nodded. “Fine. Enough business talk now. Enjoy the food.”

We ate in a strained silence for a few more minutes before I excused myself, leaving Colin and Dad sitting at the table. I was so embarrassed at Colin’s comments that I had to get out of there, even if it was a little rude. I cleared my plate and silverware then went out onto the roof deck, dropping down in my favorite chair.

Colin knew how to work me. Even when I didn’t want him to.

––––––––

I
sat out on the roof for a half hour, thinking over the decision I had in front of me, but I was no closer to choosing. The city spread out all around me, and I desperately didn’t want to leave it. Although I knew it was probably the right decision, and that Colin and my dad only had my best interests at heart, I still didn’t want to go. For some reason, I felt like if I left, then I would never come back. It took me so long to find my way back to Philadelphia, and it was finally beginning to feel like home. I had reconnected with Nick, even if only briefly, and I wanted to turn that back into a real friendship.

Even though I was practically a prisoner in my own home. And I was being stalked by my psycho ex-husband, or whatever he was.

Still, the city just felt right. But worse than that, though, I felt like running away would be giving in to Vince. He wanted me to be scared. He had always been that way, even when we were together. He wanted to control me through fear and he was willing to do whatever he had to do to keep me terrified at all times. If I was scared, he liked to tell me, then I was more likely to listen to him.

I had no clue why it took me so long to leave him. I must have been brainwashed or something.

It hadn’t been all bad, of course. But looking back on it, there wasn’t as much good as I had thought there was.

As I continued to struggle with my decision, Colin walked out onto the roof deck. I looked up at him and frowned.

“What do you want?”

“That’s not a very friendly greeting.”