Dominated: The Enforcers 2 (The Enforcers Series) (2 page)

Some of his men looked dumbfounded. They made no effort to hide their shock, though those closest to him didn’t look surprised at all. There was respect in their eyes as was their equal determination to keep Evangeline—and those she loved—safe.

Hatcher shifted position, his look one of unease. He opened his mouth more than once only to shut it and press his lips firmly together as if squelching what it was he wanted to say.

“What’s on your mind, Hatch?” Drake demanded.

Hatcher sighed. “Christ. Don’t take this the wrong way. I like Evangeline. She’s sweet.
Too
damn sweet and innocent for her own good, and I don’t want her to get caught up in a mess of our making and get hurt or killed any more than any of you do.”

“But?” Drake pressed, knowing Hatch had a lot more on his mind than extolling Evangeline’s virtues.

Hatcher’s unease grew and sweat glistened on his brow. “Just hear me out,” he muttered, repeating the same request Justice had made moments earlier. “You’re in deep with her already. You’ve never even considered keeping a woman this long, much less making her your queen and making sure everyone in the world knows it. Maybe . . . maybe it’s better that way.”

“What way would
that
be?”

Drake’s voice was a whip through the room, coiling and snapping with fury because he had a good idea of where his man was going with this, and if he was right, it was going to take Silas, Maddox
and
Justice to keep him from killing Hatcher.

“To make a clean break,” Hatcher said, his gaze hardening. “A break that has already been made and is probably best left alone. She makes you vulnerable. Hell, she’s already made you vulnerable. You’re in too deep, Drake. You don’t see it, but the rest of us do, and you’re going to get yourself killed and maybe us with you. She’s going to end up costing you
everything
.”

There were mixed reactions, from looks of
what the fuck
to cold stares that would melt stone and then absolute fury, from Justice, Maddox, Silas, Hartley, Jax and Thane, their faces, eyes, the set of their jaws.

“You’re already making, or planning to make, concessions you would have never allowed before. Maybe you should consider letting her go instead of making her your queen. Get rid of her, break it off and make it well known you’re finished with her and have no attachment to her whatsoever. It’s what you’ve always done in the past. It’s what you’ve already done, so leave it
alone
. You’ve never gotten as emotionally involved with a
woman and you damn sure haven’t turned over the entire goddamn city looking for one who clearly doesn’t want to be found. If you want her safe, then that is the best way you can do it because no one, especially after you ripped her apart in front of the Luconis, will even think twice about her. But going public with her? You’d be throwing her to the goddamn wolves and you know it.”

Drake stared so coldly at Hatcher that the temperature became frigid in the interior of the office. The others were visibly uncomfortable because they knew that Hatch, as well-meaning as he was attempting to be, had just fucked up. But then he didn’t know Evangeline. Had spent only a few moments in her presence while the others had spent a lot of time with her and understood only too well Drake’s obsession with her and that he would never simply “let her go.”

“Evangeline
is
my life,” Drake said, his rage mounting with every breath. “And if I lose her, I’m dead anyway. If you
ever
suggest that I get rid of her again, I’ll rip you apart with my bare hands. You are to speak of and to her with absolute respect. You are to treat her with the utmost regard, more so than myself. Evangeline will be your—and our—number one priority. Her happiness, her safety, comfort. Her every need will be met by all of us. And we will extend to her friends and family the same courtesy and protection that we give to Evangeline herself.

“The most important priority in my life is Evangeline and her happiness and well-being, and I expect—no, I
demand
—that every man who allies himself with me swears to protect her and be willing to give his life for her just as he would for me. And if there is ever a choice between me and Evangeline, there will be no question. Evangeline is to be saved at all costs and I am charging you, my brothers, with ensuring her safety and well-being if I am no longer around to do it. She is never to want or lack for anything. Are we understood?”

Hatcher’s eyes reflected his shock at Drake’s vehemence. After a prolonged moment of silence, he finally managed a hoarse “yes”
accompanied by a clipped nod of his head. By the looks on more than one of Drake’s men’s faces, Drake wasn’t the only one contemplating beating the hell out of Hatcher for his “input.” Drake made a mental note to never have Hatcher assigned to Evangeline without one of the others with him. Not until he could be sure of Hatcher’s absolute loyalty to Evangeline.

Drake had had enough and was thoroughly sick to his soul over the idea that one of his men had actually suggested that he allow Evangeline to think the worst and that he’d washed his hands of her. The mere thought made him physically ill.

He gestured for them to leave but when he looked up, Maddox, Silas and Justice still stood before him, regarding him solemnly.

For a long moment there was silence, and then Maddox said quietly, “She’s the one.”

Drake didn’t pretend to misunderstand what Maddox had stated. He knew damn well what Maddox was inferring. Drake had always avoided commitment and relationships like the plague. He’d never trusted anyone but those gathered in his office now, much less a woman. He’d vowed never to become emotionally involved with any woman, not only because he had yet to meet a woman who stirred him enough to want one but also because of the danger and risk posed to her for no other reason than whose arm she was on.

Now? Yeah, Evangeline was the one.

But instead of answering the question with a simple yes or no, he simply leveled a stare at them, one filled with determination and fire uncharacteristic of his usual cold, aloof features.

“I’m never letting her go. Even if it means tying her to my damn bed every night. If she ever wants out, then she’s going to have to
convince
me that I’m not who or what she wants and that the lifestyle I demand isn’t what she wants, and she’s going to have to tell me she isn’t happy. But she’ll never want for another thing in her life. I’ll make damn sure of that.”

“There will never be another like her for you,” Silas said as though
refuting that Evangeline would ever leave. But there was something else in Silas’s piercing gaze. Perhaps he sought to know just how deep Drake’s feelings for Evangeline ran. Silas seemed so sure of Evangeline, that she’d forgive him. But maybe Silas worried that Drake would betray her again?

“No,” Drake said flatly, in response to Silas’s statement. “How could there be? You only taste that kind of perfection once in your life, and if you’re too stupid to hang on to something that good and bust your ass to make damn sure you keep it, then you don’t deserve it.”

He lifted his gaze to Silas, anger and determination surging through his veins. He didn’t owe him or any of them a damn thing and yet this . . . Evangeline . . . and what she meant to him was too important to fuck up by being anything but blunt. There could be no doubt or he couldn’t be assured of their complete and utter commitment to his search. He swept his eyes over Maddox and Justice, including them in his impassioned, angry statement.

“Get this in your heads. Evangeline is
everything
to me. There is no Drake Donovan without Evangeline. If something ever happens to her, and especially if something happens to her because of me, I won’t survive it. I won’t want to. She gives me purpose. A reason to live. A reason to get up in the morning and face a new day. You don’t get that kind of light only to have it extinguished and hope to ever recover from it.”

His men seemed stunned, not over his feelings for Evangeline, because they shared them to a degree, but because he’d just laid bare his soul to them all. Understanding quickly followed their surprise while Silas merely gave a clipped nod as if satisfied that Drake had just passed some test he was unaware had been put to him.

Well good. Drake had gotten through to them and now that he had, he knew they would die for Evangeline. They’d put themselves between her and any threat because they knew if anything happened to Evangeline, they’d lose Drake too.

“We will protect her—and you—with our lives,” Silas said.

Maddox and Justice repeated Silas’s vow, purpose and determination now blazing in their eyes.

They’d all climbed their way up from nothing. They all had nebulous pasts, nothing given to them. Everything they had, they’d fought for. They were family, all pledged to one another by a bond stronger than any blood bond would ever be.

And now for the first time, they would be widening their intimate circle to include . . . a woman. Drake’s woman. None of them had ever involved themselves with any woman long enough for it to be considered a semblance of a relationship. They sated their needs, always ensuring that the woman was cared for, pleasured in return, and they were generous when they cut them loose. But no woman had ever even threatened to crack the hard shells around their hearts.

Until now.

Until Evangeline.

Part of his men felt envy, and part of them felt pity because now Drake had a hell of a lot more at stake than before. Before he had only himself and his brothers to worry about. He was feared and revered. No one dared to strike at him. But now Drake had a weakness and it could well be his ultimate downfall. His being impervious to
any
weakness had been what had made it impossible for his enemies to strike at him. Because Drake had no one or nothing he gave one fuck about. Now? He had a woman who was his entire world. And God help the fool who ever tried to put so much as a scratch on Evangeline because Drake would appear like an avenging angel or the scariest demon from hell and wreak savage vengeance on whoever wronged his Evangeline. And he would do it personally. He wouldn’t have Silas go after the bastard. It would be too personal. Drake would be unstoppable and would tear apart anyone who ever hurt his woman.

“Mr. Donovan! Mr. Donovan!”

Drake nearly growled in frustration at the unwanted intrusion as he stalked toward the elevator. It was three in the morning and he and his men had spent the day scouring the city, yet another hopeless day of searching for Evangeline that had come to nothing.

He whirled on the doorman and some of what he was feeling must have been reflected in his expression because the doorman recoiled and stopped in his tracks a few feet from where Drake stood at the now-open elevator.

“Whatever it is, it can wait,” Drake snapped. “I am not to be disturbed.”

For a moment, the doorman seemed to grapple with indecision, and in disgust, Drake turned and walked into the elevator. The doorman lunged forward, holding out his hand to prevent the doors from closing.

“It’s about Evangeline, uh, I mean Miss Hawthorn.”

At the mention of her name, Drake stepped off the elevator and grasped the older man by the lapels of his coat.

“What about Evangeline?” Drake growled. “Do you know anything?”

The man’s face was gray and his eyes flickered downward in guilt. What the fuck?

But then the doorman had seen Drake leave the building just a few minutes after he’d arrived with the Luconis. He sucked in a breath. Oh dear God. How stupid could Drake be? The doorman would have to have seen Evangeline leave as well. And the condition she was in when she’d left.

The doorman liked Evangeline. Had always had a friendly word for her, as Evangeline had for him. There had been genuine affection between the two, but Drake had never paid it any notice because Evangeline inspired that in everyone she met.

But what if . . .

The dread was crawling more insidiously through Drake’s body as his grip tightened and then finally relaxed, freeing the man to take a few stumbling steps backward.

It had never occurred to Drake to question the man. He’d been too frantic to find Evangeline, turning the entire goddamn city over like a deranged madman. What if the answer had been here all along and Evangeline had had to be out there somewhere, alone, desperate, hungry and devastated while Drake wasted time chasing all the wrong leads?

“Do you care for her?” the doorman asked in a nearly accusatory tone.

Oh yes, this man knew something and he was mad as hell over what Drake had done to Evangeline. And now Drake had to tread very carefully because if he gave this man any reason to believe he intended to harm Evangeline, he’d never get any information from the doorman Evangeline had taken under her wing. Just as she’d done with everyone else she came into contact with.

“Very much,” Drake said in a soft, dangerous voice. “Do you know where she is?”

“I saw her that night,” the doorman said in a bitter voice.

His eyes still reflected accusation as though he found Drake solely responsible for Evangeline’s departure. Drake was. Absolutely. But how much did this man know? Did he know where Evangeline was now?

“There was a terrible misunderstanding,” Drake said, nearly strangled by baring his personal issues to a complete stranger. But for Evangeline, to have her back in his arms, he’d do anything. “None of which was Evangeline’s doing.
She wasn’t supposed to be here.
”

The agony couldn’t be suppressed in his voice and he could swear the doorman’s gaze softened just the slightest bit.

“She’d planned a surprise for you,” the doorman said quietly. “And after, she was devastated. I wanted to help her. I tried. But she told me that if I did, I’d be out the door just as she now was.”

Drake flinched and then the familiar ache of sorrow invaded his chest, depriving him of breath. The doorman had tried to help her and Evangeline had refused aid because she worried Drake would fire him if he found out. For just a moment he’d allowed himself hope that the doorman could provide him answers. Could tell him where to find Evangeline.

The doorman rubbed his hand through his hair, suddenly looking weary and uncertain.

“May God forgive me if I’m wrong. May
she
forgive me if I’m wrong.”

Drake surged to attention. “What? What do you know?” he said, switching tactics because he now knew what the man was battling. He was uncertain of Drake’s intentions toward Evangeline and so was reluctant to give Drake any information that would help him find her. Now, unless Drake could convince him that he was doing the right thing and that he wouldn’t betray Evangeline by giving Drake any information he held, Drake would never pry it from the man, even at the risk of his job.

“It is very important that I get her back,” Drake said in a quiet voice. “I’m only half a man without her. I must beg her forgiveness, but I can’t do that until I find her and bring her home where she belongs.”

Some of the doorman’s wariness faded as he studied Drake’s face pensively. “You know, Mr. Donovan, I think I believe you.”

“I just pray she does,” Drake whispered.

The doorman sighed. “I put her into a cab and sent her to a hotel in Brooklyn that my sister manages. Evangeline, Miss Hawthorn I mean.”

“It’s okay,” Drake said, momentarily halting the doorman. “I understand she is special to you, as she is to us all. You do her no disrespect in calling her Evangeline. If I had to guess, she insisted on it.”

A smile curved the older man’s lips. “That she did, Mr. Donovan. That she did.”

“Now, back to the hotel you sent her to?” Drake asked, trying to temper his eagerness.

“She had nowhere to go,” the doorman said, a frown once more in place. “No money. She had nothing with her other than a few changes of clothing. I couldn’t let her go like that, without somewhere to go where she would be safe.”

“You did the right thing, and you have my utmost gratitude for ensuring her safety. You will be rewarded.”

At that the older man’s face hardened. “My reward will be seeing her here, safe and happy again.”

Then Drake frowned. “But that’s been five days ago now. Do you know if Evangeline is still there? She’s not the kind of person . . . that is, she’d never accept charity. She’s too proud. She’d never stay somewhere she couldn’t pay her own way.”

“My sister gave her a job as a cleaner, even though Evangeline was honest and up front and told my sister she didn’t plan to stay long. Just until she earned enough money to move on.”

Drake’s blood froze. Move on. God. How close he’d come to losing her for good. If she was even still there.

“Her shift starts in an hour,” the doorman said quietly. Then he lifted his chin, staring Drake down as an equal, fire in his eyes. “Don’t make me regret breaking her trust, sir. I would never do anything to hurt that young lady. She’s seen far too much hurt as it is.”

“On that you and I agree,” Drake said, closing his hand over the doorman’s shoulder. “Thank you. I’ll never be able to repay you for your kindness to Evangeline when she needed it the most and for helping me find Evangeline to make things right, though God knows I don’t deserve it.”

“Just bring her home, Mr. Donovan,” the doorman said in a somber voice. “It’s just not the same here without her.”

The words hit him where Drake lived. Right in the heart. Because they were absolutely true. Nothing was the same without Evangeline.

He nearly turned and hurried back out of the apartment building after gaining the name and address of the hotel from the doorman, but he needed to shower and change and he needed to call Silas and Maddox. They were the two who liked Evangeline the most, had the most vested interest in the search. Maddox still carried the weight of guilt for allowing Evangeline to escape in the first place, and Silas . . . Drake wasn’t sure what the connection between his enforcer and Evangeline was, only that it was the most unlikely friendship he’d ever encountered.

But one thing was for certain. Silas was fiercely protective of Evangeline, and Evangeline was equally protective of Silas, taking on anyone and everyone who dared malign him in any way. It would only be fitting for Maddox and Silas to accompany him to bring Evangeline home, to ensure her safety—and his.

•   •   •

Silas swore violently under his breath when the car bearing him, Drake and Maddox pulled up to the dilapidated hotel five minutes after Evangeline’s shift was to start. Drake sent him a startled look, one eyebrow arched in question.

But Silas offered no explanation. His only response was a dark, brooding scowl, one that was echoed on Maddox’s stony features. Neither man was happy that this was where Evangeline had been living and working while they’d been combing the streets of the city looking for her.

But at least the doorman had been caring enough to ensure that Evangeline had a safe place to go. For that, the doorman would have Drake’s undying gratitude.

“Wait here for me,” Drake said as he opened the door to get out. “And hope like hell that I can convince her to come back with me.”