Authors: Vanessa Fewings
“It’s time for your lesson, Mia,” I said.
She looked uncertain.
“Fencing,” I said. “Despite your insolence, I’m feeling merciful.”
Her face brightened slightly and she wrapped her arms around me in a hug. “I’ll try to please you. I will.”
I let Shay take her by the hand and lead the way out of the dining room, across the foyer, and all the way toward the gym.
I followed from a distance.
The chill of the air-conditioning hit us when we entered the large hall. The wooden floorboards were recently polished. This room was solely used for fencing.
I held back, preferring to stand by and study Mia’s interaction with Shay and watch for any signs of flirting, any indication I’d been so far gone I’d not seen who she really was.
It didn’t take him long to change Mia out of her dress and into the brand new fencing suit I’d had tailored for her. Shay handed Mia her new mask.
She threw me a nervous smile.
I wasn’t in the mood to offer one back. I merely glared at her, wanting to see that usual effect I had on her when my control was in full force. She bit her lip, her eyes darting to Shay and back to me in nervousness.
I was a monster when I was in this mood. My cock hardened when I thought of what I would do to her later.
Shay went over the basics.
“Mia, tie your hair back,” I told her.
She obediently twisted her hair into a ponytail and tied it in on itself.
I stepped forward and, with a fingertip, traced the line of a fine abrasion on the nape of her neck. “What happened here?”
She broke my gaze. “My collar caught when it came off.”
“We’ll replace the catch.” I caressed my thumb over it. “Be more careful.”
“Yes, sir,” she whispered it.
My fake enthusiasm faded as I made my way out toward the office.
There on my desk lay the sealed envelope Mia had slid the contract in. Despite being tempted to shred it, I needed to know Mia was going to be taken care of.
Even if we ended in the worst kind of way.
Had ended…
I folded it over and stuck it in my jacket pocket.
Caressing my brow, I ran over Zie’s scathing words about Mia, and I let out a slow protracted moan. Could I ever let Mia go? Would I become a haunting presence in her life, unable to admit I’d lost her to a younger man? He’d never feel the same way about her. I knew that with every cell of my being. He couldn’t give her the kind of love she deserved. Wouldn’t appreciate what he had.
Away from me, I couldn’t protect her, couldn’t prevent the world from getting to her.
I took a seat at my desk and swiveled in the chair, unable to remain still.
I made the call to Charlie’s.
“Rebecca please,” I said, and waited for the caller on the other end to go find her.
The on hold music made my blood boil. We were going to have to change that.
A click on the line.
“What’s up, Dr. Cole?” answered Rebecca cheerfully.
“All good here. How’s the kitchen?”
“Great. Mia’s settling in. She seems to be enjoying herself.”
I stopped mid-swivel and stared at my screen. “I need you to email me a list of all staff and volunteers. Addresses. Phone numbers. HR profiles.”
“Sure. Is everything okay?”
“Yes.”
“How does tomorrow sound?”
“Now, please.”
“Yes, right away, Dr. Cole. You sure everything’s okay?”
“Without delay. Understand?”
I killed the call and waited for her email.
CHAPTER 21
MY PHONE BUZZED in my pocket.
I pulled it out, shut it down, and slammed it in the desk.
Rebecca’s email still hadn’t come through.
The walls of my office closed in. Dark wooden panels and wall to wall books had seemed such a good idea when Terrance had first revealed his design. Now however, it made the room smaller.
Suffocating.
Over there, behind that glass cabinet, was the margarita cup, and beside it the mug Mia and I had painted during a date at Pottery Play. Afterward they’d been fired in a kiln to immortalize our chosen pieces. That spontaneous day Mia arranged had thrown me off center, bringing out a playfulness in me I’d never explored. It left the memory of an adorable date and time spent with Mia forever cherished.
Was I destined to smash them both? After love had evaporated from this place.
Loneliness seeped back to nestle in every corner.
With several clicks, I opened the tracking software on my desktop and waited for the map to appear. The red dot of the global positioning system circled on the center screen, doing its thing, waiting to pick up the tracker in Mia’s collar. We’d find it in plain sight. One of the bathrooms probably.
This was out of character for Mia. Perhaps I’d been wrong about her. Blinded by love like the idiot I’d been lately.
My spiraling thoughts needed to be reined in.
I refused to believe my doubt.
I knew Mia better than I knew myself. Something else had to be going on, and to prove it the fine hairs prickled on my forearms.
I shrank the GPS screen to the left hand corner. And refreshed my email.
A wave of uncertainty swept over me and I considered going to check on Mia and Shay. I’d left an ex-navy SEAL with the body of a rock god and the charisma to match alone with my girlfriend, a woman whose beauty made men speechless. Was I really this arrogant to believe there’d be no sparks? There’d been no sign of chemistry between them other than friendship, but I’d not been looking for any sign of betrayal.
It wouldn’t be the first time Shay had taken the hand of my submissive and led her off. We had an understanding. A mutual respect. Permission had to be granted before a sub was shared.
God, now I knew how Richard felt.
Just days after I’d matched Richard and Mia together, I’d been filled with the kind of regret that could eat a man alive.
Was this a fucked up karma of my own making?
My fingers twitched for my phone and I considered calling Richard and admitting again I’d been an ass and beg him to forgive me. Go over every last detail of why Mia had to be with me. Why I was the only man who knew how to handle her,
love her.
Zie had gone right for my jugular.
I was bleeding out.
I wasn’t accustomed to this strain of jealousy. I’d left Laura’s office in a quiet rage. I had to pull back on this suspicion and give Mia the benefit of the doubt.
The phone on my desk rang and I sent the call to voicemail. I wasn’t on Cedars schedule tonight and Dominic could handle Chrysalis. Everyone else could go to hell.
Rebecca’s email appeared and I sprang into action.
The list was long. Twenty full-time staff. Forty volunteers. None of them I’d personally hired because micromanaging wasn’t my thing. Though control was, and I regretted not applying my usual brand of scrutiny to those who’d been hired at Charlie’s. Evidently a chink in my armor.
Disregarding the female names, I concentrated on the men, separating them by age, and going further into their files to check for their assigned vehicle parking passes.
A red flashing in the left upper corner stole my attention and I opened the GPS back to full screen. Mia’s collar was at an address in Downtown L.A.
Wait.
Think.
Mia hadn’t been out of Leo’s sight and Shay’s men had tracked her every move before and after that. What the hell was her collar doing in L.A.?
That abrasion on her neck…
Sensing danger before I knew for certain, I went back to the previous screen. Only two volunteers had registered motorbikes.
My throat tightened when I saw the first name:
Decker Hern
.
Half in a daze, I pushed myself to my feet and hurried over to the wall, lifted off the painting, and went for the safe. After I punched in the combination, I yanked it open.
I fingered through the files and removed the one on Mia. The documentation my friend and D.A. Ethan Neilson and I had gathered and correlated to analyze the series of events on the morning of Mia’s mother’s death. Our investigation had been substantial and quite an achievement, bearing in mind the data went all the way back to when Mia was fourteen and lived in Charlotte.
Flicking through the files, I nudged Mia’s school records aside, along with the envelope containing the forensic evidence, along with Mia’s medical records obtained from her visit to the ER after they’d taken her mother to the morgue. Mrs. Lauren had been pronounced dead at the scene of their family home. We’d even obtained Mia’s blood work. Rummaging through, I pulled out the police report containing the name of her mother’s friend, AKA drug dealer, that Mia had provided. Adrian Herron. The man who’d quieted a fourteen-year-old Mia, when she’d hidden in the bathroom, by shooting her up with cocaine. He’d then gone on to administer the fatal dose of crack to her mom. A drug pusher’s miscalculation no doubt, but no less sinister. Adrian had fled the scene and, despite assigning a private investigator on him, Herron had disappeared off the face of the earth.
Until now.
Had it been him that Mia had seen the day we’d shopped on Rodeo Drive?
With my background search software opened up, I entered Decker’s name and date of birth. Decker Hern had changed his last name from Herron. He was Adrian’s brother.
Damn Leo for not watching Mia’s every move. She’d been out of his sight and Decker had gotten to her. Had he ripped Mia’s collar off her neck this morning?
And why wouldn’t she tell me if he had? Why lie?
The front door slammed.
I’d been holding my breath and couldn’t remember taking my last.
I went back to checking Decker’s file. An L.A. post office box came up as his address.
Fuck.
Rebecca hadn’t followed protocol and gotten a home address.
A knock at the door startled me from my panicked daze.
“Hey Cam,” said Shay, peeking round the door. “Sorry to interrupt. Can I come in?”
“Sure. How did Mia do?”
“Not bad. Not bad at all actually.”
Shay had changed out of his fencing gear and was back in his jeans and shirt.
“That was quick,” I said.
“I’m sorry. I just reacted and—”
“Please tell me you didn’t stab her with a saber?”
“Course not.” He shook his head. “I got a text from your dad. He’s trying to get hold of you.”
I released the send button on my desk phone and turned my iPhone back on.
Shay ran his hand through his hair. “I chewed Mia out for losing her collar.”
I pushed myself to my feet. “I’m handling it.”
“I know it’s none of my business. Still, she needs to be more respectful of the gifts you give her.”
“I’ve tracked it. The collar’s at some place in L.A.”
“Yes. Her friend’s place. Her friend borrowed it.”
“Mia told you that?”
He gave a nod.
“He’s not a friend, Shay.”
“He?”
My gaze drifted to the papers strewn on my desk. I gathered them up and slid them back inside the manila folder. I headed over to the safe and secured the file back inside.
Shay came over, knelt to pick up the painting, and handed it to me. “Mia had no idea she was being tracked.”
I secured the painting back on the wall and hid the safe. “Is she upset?”
“She was when she found out how much the thing’s worth.”
“It’s insured.”
“Still, I know it has sentimental value.”
“We’ll find it. Shay, we have a situation. We need to talk.”
Tension marred his face.
The phone shattered the quiet.
I headed back to my desk and took the call. “Yes?”
“Cameron!” my dad snapped.
“Hey, Dad. Can I call you back?”
“I’ve been trying to get hold of you. Why’s your phone off?”
“What’s going on?”
“Cam. They’re filing for a leveraged buyout.”
“The board? Why?”
“Check the shares.”
I leaned over my desk, grabbed my mouse, and punched up Cole Tea on the screen. A jolt of adrenaline spiked my veins when I saw Cole’s value.
Listening to Dad’s stream of words laced in fear made my mouth go dry. This wasn’t like him. He laid it out simply—Cole Tea was under a hostile takeover.
“I need you and Henry on that jet now.”
“I’m on my way. Call a board meeting. Sign nothing. Understand?”
I hung up.
“What’s going on?” asked Shay.
“I have to go to New York.” I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door.
“When?”
“Now. The jet’s fueling.”
“I’ll drive you.”
I bolted into the foyer. “Mia.”
Shay followed me out. “Cam, I brought up the collar tracker on my phone for Mia and showed it to her.”
“The address of where it is?”
“Yes.”
“Why?” I shrugged on my jacket
“To reassure her I could find it.”
“How did she react?”
“You didn’t tell her it’s an antique. And it once belonged to your aunt.”
“Why’d you have to tell her that, Shay?”
“It just came out.”
“Mia!” I called up the stairs.
“Hello, sir,” said Lincoln, appearing out of nowhere. “Ms. Lauren told me she’s gone to visit a friend. I was to let you know.”
A jolt of panic hit me when I read Shay’s face.
“She’s gone to get the collar back.” Shay grabbed my arm. “Cameron, you’ve got to get to New York. I’ll go—”
“Are your men tracking her?”
He closed his eyes in dread. “Without her collar…”
I grabbed the keys to the Bugatti Veyron.
CHAPTER 22
THE BMW WAS GONE.
I tried to steady my hands long enough to get the key fob to work. I knew Mia’s collar had been ripped from her neck.
Blinded by jealousy, I’d been wrong about everything.
Shay stepped out of the subterranean elevator and waved his laptop in the air to let me know he’d retrieved it from his Mercedes. My car door clicked open, which was a good thing as I’d contemplated kicking in a window.
Shay pointed to the Bugatti Veyron. “You don’t want to take something less conspicuous?”