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“Good grief, Luke!” Daisy laughs into the phone when she picks up. “We’ve only been gone a few minutes. You will be fine without her until we get back.” Ah, it’s Luke. Poor man missing me already. I grin to myself wondering what he’s wanting. Like she said, we’ve only been gone a few minutes. Maybe he’s needing some files or something, but Erik should be able to get him whatever he needs.
“Calm down, Luke,” Daisy replies in a placating manner, but there’s an undertone of concern entering into her voice. What’s going on? Why is it sounding like he’s upset? “We’re just down the street atStyling Chic Boutique. We won’t be long.” Suddenly I can hear his voice over the line, but I can’t understand what he’s saying. He sounds upset. Is he yelling at her?
“Daisy is something wrong?” I ask, reaching for my clothes. Forget trying on the dresses. Luke is not the kind of man to be upset easily. Something is definitely wrong. An uneasy feeling is setting in, as if I can feel Luke’s fear even though we are apart. I begin throwing on my clothes, preparing to head back to Invictus.
“Luke! Calm down!” Daisy yells into the phone. She places her hand over the speaker on the phone as she turns to me. “No! Wait Marley,” she calls to me. “He’s fine, just freaking out on me for bringing you here.” Daisy removes her hand from the speaker on her phone. “Ace is with us, Luke. We won’t let anything happen to her. I promise.” I don’t care that Daisy thinks everything is fine. If Luke is freaking out, then there’s a reason for it. I’m finally decent, but still need to get my shoes on when I hear voices outside the dressing room. I exit, noticing Daisy grabbing the remain dresses from the hook. Every one of Luke’s brothers are in the store, including Dalton and Kelvin.
“Okay, Luke, okay,” Daisy says with resignation. “We will grab the dresses and head back. The guys are here now, so we have plenty of protection. Just calm down.” She ends the call and turnsto her brothers. “You want to tell me what the hell is wrong with Luke? He’s gone crazy.”
“I don’t know.” Bo shrugs. “He had just asked me to call a meeting, but then he began screaming at me to get down here and bring everyone with me. Daisy, I know you don’t understand because you haven’t been around much over the years, but Luke doesn’t get rattled. If he thinks there’s a risk to Marley, then he’s probably right. We should get back to the office, now.” I’m already heading toward the door. Dalton steps in front of me.
“Hold on,” he says gently. “Let me and Kelvin go out first, make sure the coast is clear, then we’ll move down to the office, okay?” I nod. Daisy huffs and rolls her eyes, but doesn’t argue. Dalton and Kelvin ease out the front of the store. I can hear Daisy speaking with Mrs. Grace about taking the dresses to Invictus for me to try on there.
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Grace,” Daisy begins. “My brother is being overly protective of Marley. He thinks it’s not safe for her to be here without a security protection detail. Would it be all right if we take the dresses back to his office, and I promise we will return the dresses and pay you for the one we chose.”
“Of course dear,” Mrs. Grace agrees. “I don’t understand why he thinks it’s not safe here at my store, but I’ve known these Robertson men a long time. I trust them. Besides Mr. Robertson already left a hefty payment for the dresses.” I should have known Luke had already taken care of paying for the dresses even though I’d told him I wanted to pay for the wedding, especially since we are having such a small ceremony. Oh well, my man is a control freak, what can I say?
Dalton pops his head back in the door. “We are clear to proceed.” He looks at Bo who nods. Rosco and Enos come up on either side of me. Bo and Ace are either side of Daisy. Dalton holds the door open for us as we exit. Kelvin is waiting to lead us back. Dalton takes up the rear. We move down the street at a fast clip. My heart is pounding with fear. I keep looking allaround, as we move, for any possible threat, as do my escorts. Their heads on a swivel as they say on those police shows. I keep expecting bullets to start flying or an explosion, but we make it back to Invictus without anything happening. Luke is waiting by the door. As soon as I enter, he is pulling onto his lap. His arms a tight band around me. He is shaking almost uncontrollably.
“It’s okay, Luke,” I whisper so no one can hear me except for him. “I’m here. I’m safe. What’s gotten you so worked up?” His face in buried in my neck. I can hear him taking deep breaths to calm himself. He’s told me over and over how just smelling me calms him down when he’s had a bad day. I don’t push him to answer, just wait him out. His sister on the other hand has other ideas.
“What the hell has gotten into you, Luke?” Daisy demands the moment she enters the door. My dresses thrown over her arm. Ace places his hand on Daisy’s shoulder as if to tell her to calm down. She glares at him but does seem to relax a little.
“Everyone to the conference room,” Luke says when he finally lifts his head. The others nod and head in that direction. Daisy continues to stare a hole into Luke and I, but with Ace’s urging she, too, moves toward the conference room, leaving Luke and I alone.
“Luke?” I question, looking deep into his eyes. I can see his apprehension and fear, but I see resolve, too. Whatever is going on, I know Luke is going to do his very best to keep me safe at all costs.
“Agent Morris called.” Luke’s voice is laced with bitterness. I’m not sure where this is going. “He has updates. Come on, I’ll tell everyone at once. I need you to trust me, Marley.” Luke is looking at me so intensely.
“I do trust you, Luke, completely,” I assure him. He nods and kisses me like he hasn’t seen me for days. I love how tender, yet urgently, his lips move over mine. I pour all my love into thiskiss. I want him to feel my love, my trust in him to keep me safe from whatever threat he has uncovered.
“Let’s go,” he says when we come up for air. I slide out of his lap and walk beside him as we make our way to the conference room. Everyone is already sitting around the large table when we enter. I follow Luke to the front of the room. He turns to face the room and, once again, pulls me onto his lap, kissing my temple as I settle myself in place. It’s a little embarrassing, but it seems they’ve all gotten used to Luke doing this. I don’t catch even a hint of a negative reaction to Luke’s PDA.
“First, let me say to Daisy, I’m sorry for going off on you.” Luke gives his sister a pointed look. “I shouldn’t have lost control like that. You had no way of knowing that Marley is still in danger, and that’s on me. I should have briefed you and Ace when you arrived. Now to the reason we are all here. Agent Morris with the FBI called a few minutes ago. His informant has found credible information that Marley is a priority target of this group, and they’re getting ready to make their move.” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. People I’ve never met are wanting to hurt me for something I didn’t even do.
“They’re very well organized and have done their homework,” Luke continues. “They have blueprints of my home, this office. They know our routines, comings and goings, and that Marley is now here every day instead of working at Jay’s. They had taken her out of the plans, but they’ve apparently obtained some new information, in the last few days, that has renewed their intentions to target Marley. The informant doesn’t know what this new information is, but whatever it is, it must be something significant.” Luke pauses, letting the information sink in. The men exchange looks with some silent communication passing between them. Daisy looks shocked to say the least. I notice Ace take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze.
“Agent Morris is planning to take Marley into protective custody,” Luke announces. I jerk my head in his direction. I don’twant to be in protective custody, not without Luke, but I don’t suppose I’ll have any say in the matter. “I’ve called my lawyer, and he is on his way over. I don’t trust the FBI to keep you safe,” Luke says, turning to me. “I want you here with me, but like Agent Morris said, I’m too close to this to see it clearly.” He turns back the room. “Therefore, the reason for this meeting. I need your opinions on the matter. Do I trust them with her life?” The room is utterly quiet. I feel sick as Luke’s information processes in my brain. These people are still planning to kidnap me, once again, but to what end? Are they going to kill me?
“What do they want with me?” I ask when the tension in the room has gotten to be too much. “I don’t understand why they are targeting me.” Luke tightens his hold on me.
“I don’t either, baby,” Luke murmurs. “But I promise you, I won’t let them take you, not again. I failed you the first time, but I’ve learned from my mistakes.” He is never going to forgive himself for his perceived failure, though I know it wasn’t his fault. There was no way to know the person trying to ruin my life would eventually kidnap me.
“I don’t think you should allow the FBI to take her,” Rosco speaks up. I look up to lock eyes with him. Rosco has always been an intense kind of guy from the moment I first met him, but this look has me quivering in fear. “We can protect her much better than they can. I don’t trust them, at least not with Marley’s life.” Luke is nodding. He already said he didn’t want them in charge of my safety, and it seems Rosco agrees.
“I agree, too,” Dalton joins the conversation. “They can’t be trusted, not with something this important. Morris is a good man, but he isn’t the only one we’d have to deal with. We can’t be sure that all of the agents are on the up and up. I haven’t forgotten the Sanders case or how it turned out.” Dalton looks around at the other men. Bo is nodding, as is Kelvin. Enos looks thoughtful. I wonder what he is thinking.
“We should get her out of here, now, before they arrive,” Enosadds. “They think because they are feds their word is law, which I suppose in a way it is. I haven’t forgotten the Sanders case either. I don’t particularly want to fight them, but I agree they shouldn’t be allowed to take Marley into custody.” Rosco stands up, followed by Dalton, Kelvin, Bo, and then Enos. Daisy is looking around the room like we’ve all lost our minds. Ace seems to be in contemplation, figuring out which side he wants to land on.
“You can’t just argue with the FBI,” Daisy protests. “If you try to hide her, they’ll come looking for her and likely take all of you in for obstruction. Please, Luke, listen to reason.”
“Thank you for your input, Daisy,” Luke replies easily, but his tone indicates he thinks she’s being naive about the FBI. “But you haven’t worked with them like we have. We lost a client a few years back when the FBI took over the case, citing they needed protective custody. When it was all said and done, the FBI had a double agent working for them. That agent gave up the client’s location, and they were murdered before they could give their sworn testimony. Perhaps it was an isolated incident, but I’m not willing to take that chance. You and Ace should make yourselves scarce for the next little while. You both still work for the government. I don’t want you to have issues with your jobs. Let us handle this.” Daisy nods.
“Let’s move out,” Rosco demands, heading toward the door. “We will figure out where to go on the move.” I guess we are going on the run?
LUKE
My brothers are in agreement with me that we can’t allow the FBI to take Marley. The question is, can we stop them? What are the consequences of going against them? Rosco is already on the move urging us to get on the road.
