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“It’s alright. You didn’t know. No harm done,” I say, as stoically as possible. Greyson nods, awkwardly giving me a quick goodbye as he turns to stride away from me as fast as he can.So he was flirting with me. Was I flirting back? Fuck. I totally was. Shit, I’m going to have to talk with the guys.
Tara pounces on me when I walk back into the restaurant. “I’ve seen a lot of attractive men in my life, but damn he was fine. He was basically undressing you with his eyes before I interrupted,” she squeaks, hip thrusting the air. “He might be a client, but that man wants you underneath him screaming his name.”
She may be right, but I won’t admit that.I shrug, not really knowing what to say. “Greyson is just a client and nothing more. Has he ever come in here before? Do you recognize him at all?”
“Trust me. I would never forget that man. I can confirm I have never seen him in here before.”
“Hmm, alright.” I know I need to figure more out about Greyson. Some things just aren’t adding up; I need to dig deeper and see what I can discover. “I should get going. I’ve still got a few things I need to do tonight.”
“You better come back soon, bitch. And make sure you bring Zep, Thiago, and Rian,” she teases, acting like she’s not conjuring up dirty images as we speak.
I pull her in for a tight hug, inhaling her sweet lavender scent. “Bye, babe. I’ll be back in soon.”
Eight
Ifinally pull into our driveway, waiting for the garage door to lift so I can park my car inside. Barely remembering the drive here, I must have been on autopilot the whole time, lost in thought about my run-in with Greyson. What are the odds that we were in the West Side at the same time? I obviously don’t run or own the West Side of Craibridge, but I’m around enough to know I haven’t ever seen him there before. The West Side is small enough to know everyone who lives there and I know he definitely doesn’t. It’s also small enough to know who frequents the area and again, I’ve never seen him there before.
Walking into the house, I notice it’s deadly quiet. I didn’t see Zep’s Ducati or Thiago’s McLaren so the guys are probably still out following the lead. This Jack guy must be putting up a fight since they aren’t back yet. He’s probably trying to make a deal out of it by asking for an egregious amount of money, but I’m sure once Zep shows his gun, he’ll be singing a different tune.
I lazily make my way upstairs, ripping my clothes off as I walk through the house. After the day I’ve had, I don’t care if my clothes are scattered across the place.Maybe they’ll be little breadcrumbs for my guys to find me when they get back. I could be the prize waiting at the end.
Changing into a black tank and blue silk shorts, I head to my office. For a home office, my computer setup is pretty impressive. The door to get in is both code and fingerprint protected so only the guys and I are able to enter. You can never be too careful, considering the activities that we get involved in.
Stepping around my desk, I admire my four monitor setup that Rian and I built together. My keyboard flashes with purple undertones as I start the system unit. The fans peeking through the clear plexiglass wall on the system unit are backlit with purple and blue lights, creating a glowing orb that surrounds the room. I switch the overhead lights to dim so the only thing I’m surrounded by is darkness peeking through the corners of the room and my orb of light from the system unit. This office is my happy place. When I have a shitty day, I can escape by locking myself in here.
The dark web is exactly like my mind, filled with darkness swirling around in pits of madness, something you can easily get lost in. Something that will suck your soul dry if you don’t have some lightness to cling to. Thankfully for me, the light in my life comes in the form of three god-like men.
I’ll never forget the day Thiago had to physically remove me from the room after I thought I’d found out where my sister had been this whole time. I’d spent seventy-two hours in here, only leaving to use the bathroom and grab the plates of food the guys left for me. They each would come in periodically to check in, but they silently understood my need to follow these leads.
When Lainey was taken, part of me went with her. She was my other half, the connection to my soul, the person who balanced me. Where I was a hurricane, she was the calm. Where I was darkness, she was light. The part that was reserved for Lainey has been hollow for fourteen long years and I’m not sure I’ll ever recover from the loss I feel.
I spent hours upon hours getting lost in the vast sea of the dark web. I let it squeeze my bleeding heart so tight it had me begging and bending to its every will. I fell into a raging storm of insanity tugging on my free will, to the point I was suffocating as it pulled me deeper and deeper. After three restless days of sitting in that office, I had myself convinced I would never find my sister and all of this effort was for nothing.
Thiago came in to check on me again and noticed the dark rings around my bloodshot eyes. His presence alone was enough to soothe me. The look of despair etched across my face had Thiago pleading with me to take a break. Realizing I was going to drive myself mad, I finally relented.
I was so weak that he had to carry me out of the office, taking me straight to the shower. I could feel the worry radiating from his body as he washed me. He treated my body like it was a temple he lived to worship. He gently carried me back to the bedroom, set me down, and made the sweetest, most tender love to me. Thiago and I already had a deep connection but that night his heart burrowed itself into mine more than it already was. We barely uttered a word, but he knew exactly what I needed, his body and soul so in tune with mine.
My gorgeous, broken man has the biggest heart that he hides underneath that charming and playful exterior. Although he has the sexiest accent that makes me melt, he doesn’t need to speak a word to know what I need.
Thi had a shitty childhood. His father was the devil reincarnate that liked to hit anyone who couldn’t fight back. That spawn of Satan was so bad that he actually beat Thiago’s voice out of him. Thiago didn’t allow a single word to slip from that beautiful mouth of his for six months. It was his own personally crafted weapon against his father. If his father couldn’t hear Thiago’s pain, he couldn’t get off on the power trip of preying on those weaker than himself. His father was fueled by screams, so without them, he couldn’t take pleasure in the destruction he caused.
Thiago spent time studying and understanding people’s body language so he could try to predict when his father’s wrath was going to be taken out on him. He silently took the blows, whips, and kicks each time his father became unhinged, feeling as if he had no choice but to be his father’s punching bag. Thiago believed that if he didn’t sacrifice himself, then his siblings and mother would become the victims of his father’s evil. He's a natural protector that would suffer through the worst pain with a smile slapped on his face to save those he loves.
The night he took me out of my office, I fell asleep wrapped in his warm embrace letting all of my pain temporarily wash away. Sometimes, I feel like I let my need to find my sister cloud my judgment, but thankfully Rian, Zep, and Thiago can all bring me back to reality.
I crack my knuckles and pop my neck, getting back in the zone. It can’t hurt to do another sweep for information on Greyson.Greyson Nash, what are you keeping from the world?I start my search trying different keywords and codes that could be associated with Greyson, hoping that these pull up more results. After spending what feels like hours circling around the darknet, I find nothing. Literally not a trace of Greyson. I can’t even find the police report I found the last time I researched him.What the fuck?I know I’m using the same search codes that I did before and I still find nothing.That’s not normal.At this point, there are two possibilities. Either someone knows I’m looking into him and erased the evidence so I couldn’t find it again, or I made it all up in my head. Seeing as how I know I didn’t make it up, that means someone knows I’m looking into him and they aren’t happy about it.
I hear the front door close.The guys must be home. I'm getting frustrated and should take a break before we have another situation where Thiago has to carry me to the shower. I take a deep breath and shut down my computer.
Nine
After I power down my computer, I head out of the office to see where the guys are. Firm arms wrap around me, spinning me as a giggle escapes from my throat. I smell Thiago’s cedar wood and musk scent surrounding me.
“I followed the trail of clothes thinking you’d be waiting for me on the bed ready to go,meu amor. I was sorely disappointed to find you weren’t there,” he whispers seductively in my ear, pulling me in tighter to him.
“Well now that you found me, what are you going to do about it?” I challenge, my heated gaze meeting his.
A deep groan rips from his throat. I can see the battle waging behind his eyes. “I want you every way I can get you, baby, but the guys and I want to talk to you about what we found today.” His tone shifts as he suddenly becomes serious.
