The Dragon (G.O.N.Y. - Double Dragon) (24 page)

***

“Do you believe him?” Vince asked.

Ramsey had allowed Jax to leave. Before he’d summoned him, Ramsey had put shadows on the other man in Seoul, but they’d turned up nothing. Jax had his vices, women and gambling, but in the week that they’d trailed him, there had been no clandestine meetings, no added security, nothing to showcase a frightened man, or one staging a coup.

“I’m leaning toward it. You?”

Vince shrugged. “Jax was never power hungry.”

“What else did you find?”

While Jezebel rested, Ramsey and Vince had been on the hunt for the leak. It was someone close to him, someone who had unrestricted access to the house. It could be one of the servants, but Ramsey doubted it for the simple fact that they were never allowed into the security room. It didn’t stop him from cutting off their access to Jezebel however. Even the cook, who’d been under his grandfather’s employ long before Ramsey took over, had to taste everything he put on Jezebel’s plate. The servant who took her meals up was then escorted to her room by either Vince or Hannah.

Whoever the leak was, he was extremely intelligent. This was no amateur but someone seasoned enough that no precaution was too much. Not only had he snuck Chang’s men onto Ramsey’s estate after damaging the electric circuits and backup generators, he’d also written a code to override Vince’s commands to his phone. Precious minutes had been lost during that time and had it not been for his grandfather’s ally…Ramsey dismissed the thought. That was why Chang Chul-Moo was going to die. He’d touched Jezebel and almost cost him his child.

“I ran the tapes for the last two weeks,” Vince was saying. “Outside of the head of security and his team, only you and I have been in the security rooms.”

“Did you check him out? His team?”

Vince nodded. “Seems clean. He’s an ex-soldier, loyal to the family. When the electricity went out, the emergency bolt locked him in the room. He was unable to assist, as were two of his men.”

“And Bastian?”

“If Bastian’s involved, he had help. Bastian wouldn’t be able to crack those codes.”

“Run the tapes again.” Ramsey heard the growl in his tone and couldn’t care. They’d watched the footage over and over again and turned up nothing. “Focus on Bastian and see what you find.”

“Ramsey…”

“Do it!” Ramsey pushed to his feet and stalked around the desk. Frustration oozed from his very pores. A rat was right under his nose, clogging up his house,
his family
, with its stink, and he couldn’t find him. It had been easy to guard Jezebel while she was on strict bed rest, but now that she was going to be all over the house…

He shuddered. He’d move her again, but the rat would simply move with them. It would be counterintuitive. So, Jezebel would stay here, confined for the most part to her room, until he resolved this issue. She wouldn’t be happy, but she’d be safe. Above all else, he’d keep them safe.

***

She’d done her walking and stretching for the day and Jezebel was now back in her room, relaxing, or in other words, checking the stock value of her company on the New York Stock Exchange.

Another week had passed, putting her at 27 weeks or just over six months, and Dr. Chen was more optimistic about, well everything. Jezebel had asked about travelling once again, and the doctor hadn’t shot her down completely. She’d said, “relax for a few more days” and then weigh the pros and cons against her advice.

So this was her relaxing with someone’s borrowed laptop. As she stared at the numbers, Jezebel considered closing the laptop and turning the TV on. She was supposed to be relaxing, but the stock was down drastically. Carter Investors was a small corporation, trading privately in most of its stocks with a very small percentage available to the public. As she stared at the numbers, she bit her lip and exhaled loudly.

“That imbecile!” she bit out, closing the browser and searching out her email handler. She was logging into her old account to send a lengthy email to the Board of Directors when she halted. Did it even matter anymore? Her sister had called Brandon and told him where they were? Nothing had come of that though, so she wasn’t sure if Brandon had told his superiors. Maybe they just lacked jurisdiction. Still, she closed out of the browser and shook her head. There was no telling what she’d set off by going from being a practical ghost to yelling at her board for allowing the imbecile to run her company to the ground. “How hard is it to oversee a functioning business?”

“Everything okay?”

Jezebel’s head snapped in the direction of the voice. Ramsey stood in the doorway, staring at her peculiarly.

“What is with you and not knocking?” she groused.

His lips curved up as he closed the door and approached. “I always knock. You just don’t hear me.”

Jezebel turned away from him. “Hm.”

“What are you doing?”

“Relaxing,” she murmured sweetly. Not only was Dr. Chen doctoring her, but Ramsey had suddenly taken on the new profession of nursemaid. If she left her room to go anywhere, he suddenly appeared. One grimace on her face and he was suggesting she head back to her room and lie down. It was annoying. It might have been sweet were their situation different.

“Calling someone an imbecile who doesn’t know how to oversee your business is your idea of relaxing?”

With a scoff, Jezebel placed the lightweight laptop on the bed next to her. “You don’t knock
and
you eavesdrop.”

As he began moving to her, she eyed him suspiciously. He was dressed in his business casual as usual, a long sleeved dark gray, buttoned button down shirt on top and black slacks on the bottom. But his long arms, which were usually at his side or tucked gracefully into his pants pockets, were behind his back.

“What do you have behind your back?” His lips twitched further as he slowly approached the bed. Jezebel looked between his face and hands, curious. “I don’t like surprises…”

It was a lie. If the surprise was good, she liked it fine. Who didn’t like good surprises?

“No?” He stopped next to the bed and revealed his hands. It was a plate, stacked with pickles and a generous helping of peanut butter. “What about this one?”

Jezebel was reaching for the plate before he even finished. She’d considered buzzing Delilah to her room with the sole intention of having her sister go to the kitchen for snacks, but had decided to give herself an hour or two. She’d had a large lunch just an hour ago and just because she was pregnant didn’t mean she had to pig out. Although, that was her excuse when she did. She laid the plate next to her and while still watching Ramsey with suspicion, swirled her first pickle through the creamy deliciousness, and began her happy munching.

“Good?” He asked the question as she was preparing to inhale her second pickle. No longer did he look baffled as she ate her pickle/peanut butter dessert. Although he’d declined her suggestion that he give it a try, he now promoted her craving.

“What do you want?” It wasn’t that Ramsey Stone didn’t do nice things for her, like bring her food and snacks, compliment her on her looks despite her lack of makeup and the added weight, but he’d never made a show of it before. This had been a surprise and her intuition was telling her there was more to it.

“To make you happy and keep you safe.”

Jezebel froze mid-chew before rolling her eyes at his smirk and continuing along. “You can make me happy by allowing me to go home.”

His face pinched but grew relaxed soon after. “Soon.”

“Soon tomorrow or soon after the baby is born?”

“If you’re up to it, before the baby’s born.”

Joy spread through her body before vanishing instantly. “What’s the catch?”

He seemed surprised.

“Why now, Ramsey?”

Broad shoulders rippled in a shrug. “As I said, I want to make you happy and keep you safe.”

She frowned. “And I’m no longer safe here?”

He seemed to contemplate answering before he sat on the other side of the bed and faced her. His expression was somber. “I’d like you to stay in your room as much as possible over the next few days―”

“Dr. Chen cleared me.” She scowled at him. “I’m not on bed rest anymore, Ramsey.”

“I know. It’s a safety precaution.”

“I was right.” A chill snaked down her spine. “I’m no longer safe.”

He shook his head. “You’re safe, Jez. Don’t worry about that. It’s just a precaution.”

“Oh.” She glared up at him. “Why don’t you tell me about this precaution?”

“Excuse me?”

She settled against her pillows more comfortably, double swirled her pickle and bit into it. “I don’t have anything else to do but sit here and listen to you. Tell me why.”

***

Ramsey stared at his demanding, pregnant female and resisted the urge to smile.

Jezebel had that affect on him. From the coldness of her eyes, the stiffness of her face, and the harsh slash of her lips, he knew she was irritated. Still, sitting next to her, watching her eat that stomach-churning concoction the doctor had assured him was perfectly healthy, relaxed him.

“Someone in this house is a spy.”

Her chewing stopped as her eyes grew wide and her mouth all but fell open. He smirked. “You wanted to know.”  

After long moments, she asked in a whisper-soft voice, “Who?”

“I don’t know yet, which is why I want you in this room.”

“Because he’ll try to hurt me?”

“It’s possible.”

“I need to leave.” She stared at him in horror. “Is that why those people got to us? Because he helped them? Oh my God, Ramsey, I―we can’t stay here. What if he tries to kill me? Kill us?”

“Ssh.” He reached for her hand and gently stroked her fingers. “Let me worry about that. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“You said that before and I was kidnapped!”

He nodded. He deserved her anger. “I didn’t know I had a spy under my nose. Now I do and I’ve taken measures, precautionary measures, to make sure nothing like that happens again.”

She swallowed and pulled her hand away. Both hands laced over her belly as she closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths. “How long?”

“How long…?”

“When will you know who the spy is?”

“We’re searching right now. Hopefully, very soon.”

“And when you find him?” She kept her eyes closed, but her body tensed.

“Let me worry about that, Jezebel.”

***

Just because she was pregnant, terrified and confused, didn’t mean her hormones followed the logic of her emotions. For one, she was constantly horny. It was probably the isolation, and having Ramsey’s hard body curled around her every night despite her protests that he didn’t have to, but it was getting difficult to pretend he wasn’t the sexiest man she’d ever seen. And that annoyed her. Here she was, in solitary confinement after a miscarriage scare just three weeks ago, and all she could think of at night was jumping onto her sleeping partner and riding him until she was exhausted. Maybe she wouldn’t be so quick to have those thoughts if Ramsey hadn’t flat-out asked the doctor if she could have sex, but he had. With an indulgent smile, Dr. Chen had cleared it, stating that the bleeding had likely been stress and as long as they were careful… How many wild and raunchy dreams had she had starring Kang Jae Ramsey Stone? And it wasn’t just regular sex, it was all types of sex, positions and things she’d never been interested in.

Jezebel barely bit back her moan. Waking up in the middle of the night, horny and unsatisfied was embarrassing! She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the slickness between her legs but after minutes, she accepted defeat and simply lay there, awake. The first time it had happened, she’d run to the bathroom, wondering if she was bleeding again. Instead, the evidence of her arousal had stared back at her.

She’d think of other things: her company, how she was going to put her life back together once the spy was discovered and she returned to America, the sex of her baby, how he or she would look, whether she’d be a good mother, if it was wise to have Ramsey in their lives, if there was any future for them after this…

Jezebel sighed.

There likely wasn’t. He was a gangster and she wasn’t into those. Not even for Ramsey Stone. She had more than herself to think about and as long as he was The Dragon, they had no future.

What if he isn’t The Dragon?

She snorted. She knew enough about mafias to know one did not simply “leave” that business. It wasn’t as if he could walk up to…whomever and hand in a resignation letter. He’d probably be killed. The fear that the thought evoked had her tossing that thought far away. No, she wasn’t going to think of things like that. She was supposed to be stress-free, relaxed, not fearing for his life.

Jezebel shifted and in doing so, pressed her bottom directly into Ramsey’s stiff erection. She froze and before she could stop herself, rubbed said bottom against it. She was helpless to prevent the cry that tumbled from her lips as his hard sex rubbed against her. She hadn’t worn pants to sleep because the t-shirt reached her knees. However, the t-shirt was now around her waist, likely a result of her trying to find a comfortable position, and Ramsey’s silk pajama bottoms did little to hide the impression of his thick shaft as it ran along her slit.