AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Win rolled his eyes. “I’m aware. My bodyguard got called away for something.” His nose wrinkled. “So I figured I’d drop by and tell you…” He eyed the shattered remains of Mathieu’s phone on the floor. “What’s wrong?”
Fuck. Mathieu barely contained his huff. “What do you have to say, Win? Make it fast. I want you out of here.” He didn’t want anything compromising Win.
A dark expression crossed Win’s face quickly. Looked like hurt. But Mathieu could be wrong, he’d been wrong about a whole lotta shit recently. “A threat’s been made on my life.”
Mathieu crossed his arms, fire flaring in his gut at the thought that someone had the fucking audacity— “A threat,” he repeated.
Win nodded. “That’s why the bodyguard.” He shared what Jairo told him about the threat’s specific wording. “Someone’s baiting Jairo and they’re using me to do it.”
Mathieu couldn’t be sure if whoever issued the threat knew something or if they were simply throwing shit out there to see what stuck. It didn’t matter. A threat against Win was a threat against Mathieu and he didn’t respond well to threats. Mathieu pursed his lips. “They want Jairo to start questioning you.” Quickest way to fuck with a man’s mind, make him think the person he loved most couldn’t be trusted. He picked up the landline on his desk and quickly dialed a number. When it was answered on the other end, he barked an order. “There’s a threat made on Sparrow. Find out who. I want a name today.” He hung up and turned back to Win, who stood there staring at him with his eyes wide, lips parted.
His lips.
Mathieu licked his own, remembering their kiss. The way Win whimpered and moaned for him then turned around and told Mathieu it wouldn’t happen again.
“He thinks it’s you,” Win said softly, and it took a moment for his words to register.
“Huh?”
“Jairo thinks you’re the one behind the threats.” Win swallowed. “He has someone he thinks will lead him to you.”
Mathieu snorted. “Whoever he has isn’t one of mine.” Couldn’t be. He hadn’t been notified of anybody not checking in or anyone going missing. Win stared at him, gaze steady, waiting. Fuck. Mathieu picked back up the phone, dialing the same number as before.
“Sir.”
“I want an accounting of all our assets. Now. I’ll hold.” He didn’t break Win’s eye contact…until the other man nibbled on his bottom lip and then Mathieu couldn’t help dropping his gaze to that spot, salivating, hunger gnawing at him. He’d never stopped wanting Win, even when he’d been sure he’d lost any chance of getting the other man back. But now? Now he knew just how much Win reciprocated that want. Already, the air around them simmered with unspoken things, as visible, tangible, as the Southern heat in the middle of August.
“Sir.” The voice on the other end of the line came back, clear but hesitant. “We have two unaccounted for.”
“Find them, damn it. I want locations now.” For the longest time, he’d done what Win asked, choosing not to go anywhere near Jairo for fear of losing Win completely. But that goodwill only extended so far, and if Jairo indeed had one of his men then it was war. Judging by the worry in Win’s eyes, he understood that too.
“Mathieu—”
He held up a finger, putting a stop to whatever Win was about to ask. Wasn’t happening.
“Sir, we can’t locate one,” the female voice on the line spoke again. There was a gravity in her words, as if she knew the type of news she was delivering. “No one has heard from him since last evening.”
Mathieu gritted his teeth. “Family?”
“Wife and three daughters.”
Meaning this wasn’t someone to just not show up somewhere. He’d been taken. Mathieu inhaled just as a knock came on the door. “Send me his last known location. And the identity of the person who made the threat against Sparrow? That shit is top priority. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.”
He hung up as Jason entered. “Your appointment is here.”
Mathieu rubbed agitated fingers over the back of his neck as he nodded. “Yeah, send him in. And get me a new phone.”
Jason left with a nod, then another man came striding into the office. If Mathieu wasn’t watching too closely he might have missed the tightening of the newcomer’s jaw or the slight flare of his nostrils when he noticed Win.
Win, who stared back at their guest with bulging eyes. Made sense; the newcomer was Linc, his bodyguard.
Linc glanced from Win to Mathieu, standing there as if facing a firing squad. “You requested a meeting with me?”
Mathieu had planned to apply subtle pressure, but he didn’t have time for finessing so he cut to the fucking chase. “I know who you are and who you used to work for.” Win’s gaze bounced between them. “Forget Jairo Beltran, you answer to me now. Win’s secrets are now yours and you will guard them with your fucking life, otherwise, you won’t be the one I kill.” He stared into Linc’s furious gaze, telling him without words that he knew about the brother-in-law Linc kept tabs on through a secret app on his burner phone. “You can assume anything Win tells you to do—or not—from here on out, comes directly from me. He’s more important than you will ever be, so you’d better die protecting him.”
Win made a sound, but Mathieu ignored it.
