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Julian may be ten years older than me, but I’ve never noticed the age gap. His slightly greying hair is the only thing that gives his age away. He’s the kinda guy women swoon over, and he’s ridiculously handsome and charming with it. I know I can be high maintenance at times, it’s hard not to be when you’ve been treated like a princess your whole life, but Julian seems to enjoy making me happy.
Work has kept him out of state for the past few days, with Dad’s sudden passing and his own dad close to retiring, he’s really had to step up and start managing some of the other offices. He must have a lot of stress on his shoulders.
“Take-out from The Olive tree and a bottle of something expensive, and I may consider forgiving you.” I put on a brave face for him and lay down my terms. I need a distraction from everything that’s happened these past few weeks. If I act fine, surely it’s only a matter of time before I start to feel fine.
“Grace,” Julian places me down with a serious look on his face. “I hated thinking about you being alone today. But I’m here for you now. Let me take care of you. Sell this place, move in with me.”
“We’ll talk about it over my mushroom risotto,” I promise, placing a kiss on his cheek before I shoo him out the door. I haven’t eaten anything all day, come to think about it, I haven’t eaten much since the accident happened. Perhaps knowing they are at rest now has relieved me enough to actually think about eating something I’ll enjoy.
“As you wish.” Julian kisses me again before he rushes back out, and I get on with my shower.
I think about what Julian said. It’s not that I’ve gone off the idea of living with Julian. He’s kind and loving, he can offer a woman a lifetime of security. The company’s doing well, and I know his father has already given over half his shares to him.
But when I agreed to marry him, I never thought I’d have to say goodbye to this place. I figured we’d still visit my parents on weekends. That our kids would play on the swing that Dad put in the huge oak tree out back for me when I was a kid. Thinking about leaving this place now seems far too overwhelming.
That being said, I’m gonna need Julian now more than ever. Unlike my friends, I made it through college without needing to get a job. I’ve never paid a bill in my life. My parents have always taken care of those kinds of things. And if I ever ran out of allowance, I simply rang Daddy and asked for more money.
Mom and Dad have left everything they had to me. I just don’t have the first clue how to manage it.
Stepping under the stream of water, I let the warm jets wash the stress of the day off my skin. I’ve been all cried out of tears for days now, spent the past two weeks living in a shell. But today I made both my parents a promise. As I lay a rose on their caskets, I promised that I’ll make the best of what they’ve left me with. That I would remember them, be grateful for them and celebrate their lives rather than mourn their death.
And now that I’m alone again, I’m starting to wonder how I’m going to stick to my word.
I get out of the shower and dry myself off, pulling on a tank top and some pajama shorts before rough drying my hair. In the end, I wind it up in a high bun on top of my head. If me and Julian are gonna be living together soon, he better get used to seeing me like this.
“You’re back quick, don’t tell me you forgot your wallet.” I force myself to sound upbeat again when my bedroom door opens. But all the blood under my skin chills when I look up and the man staring back at me through the mirror isn’t Julian.
This man is tall, and sturdily built with a stern look on his face. Dark eyes seethe treacherously into mine and I feel the danger expelling from them.
He wears dark jeans with a black hoodie pulled over his head, and I watch his tongue slowly move over his thick bottom lip when he sees that he has my attention. My eyes dart around the space in front of me, trying to locate something to defend myself with but as I move for my hairbrush, I realize I’m too late. And as soon as his rough, heavy palm wraps around my throat and crushes, I know I’m in a whole lot of trouble.
I watch the mourners leave, and my patience slowly grows thinner. I shouldn’t be here. I should be at the club, looking for Chop and bringing him to justice, or at least dealing with something that might actually hold my attention. I don’t give a shit what Jessie said before I left.
This is gonna be a lame fucking job. One I’m convinced Prez put me on either as punishment for lying to him about Ella being watched by the Bastards, or to test my trust before he lets me patch into his Charter.
This huge fancy house out in the countryside is where the address in the envelope led me to, and it ain’t the worst place to carry out a kidnap. There ain’t another house in sight so once all these people clear out, the risk of witnesses is gonna be low.
All I have to do is wait.
I pass some time searching through the envelope Prez gave me. Familiarizing myself with my target by pulling out the photo and taking a good, hard look at her.
Of course, the girl would have to be fuckin’ attractive. Her long blonde hair and big green eyes standing out at me from her photo. Skin, flawless, the kind that your tongue begs to roll all over and taste. And then there's that damn fuckin’ mouth. Full and upturned into a seductive little smile that does a successful job of turning my dick hard.
I’m gonna have to shut all that shit the fuck down. She ain’t the first pretty girl I’ve seen, she won’t be the last… and if this girl has any sense about her, it’ll be something she knows how to work to her advantage. I gotta make myself immune to that kind of fuckery.
This is the reason Prez sent me. My stone-cold heart is the reason I’m sitting here waiting to take some preppy bitch from her house.
The photo looks like it’s been taken professionally, the way she’s angled toward the light is too perfect not to be intentional. She’s the main focus of the lens, the rest is slightly blurry with all the different greens from the trees in the background, merging together to match the emeralds of her eyes. I can’t remember ever taking so long to evaluate a damn photo, but I convince myself that I’m being thorough. Whatever this is, if it’s important to the club, then there’s no room for error on my part.
I watch a skinny middle-aged woman leave the house, get inside a Honda, and back off the driveway, then decide to give it another half an hour to make sure she’s the last of the guests. I distract myself by googling the other address Prez gave me. The one where I’ll be holding little miss fuckin’ perfect until he decides to get in touch. It’s in a remote area about thirty miles from here, so I memorize the route while I wait.
I glance up when the front door opens. And this time it ain’t a guest that steps outside, it’s her, looking even more fucking tempting in the flesh. Her blonde hair is so long it touches the top of her ass, and the black lace pencil dress she’s wearing shows off every curve her body has to offer.
I don’t know anything about her, I don’t even know her name, or how old she is, but I can tell, even from back here, that she’s gonna be trouble.
As I watch her, I can’t help wondering what the hell she’s done to deserve having a man like me lurking in her shadows, waiting to take her.
Maybe she’s innocent in all of this, just important to someone who Prez wants to hurt. Or perhaps I’ll be holding her for ransom.
