Prestige, page 12
“Once it’s safe for him, they’ll find a home. A relative or a family capable of helping him.”
She looked sad, and Troy understood. The thought of Logan being put into the system made him sad too, but there wasn’t much they could do about that. Lochlin Private Security was ultimately responsible for his well-being. Once Troy turned him back over to the agency, they would determine what would happen to him.
Even though Troy didn’t know who to trust on his team, he hoped Lochlin would do what was best for Logan. They’d make sure that he was cared for and had the professional help he needed to come to terms with losing his parents.
“Everything good out there?” He nodded toward the monitors.
“Yup. Nice and quiet.”
“Good.”
Gently grabbing her arm, he pulled her against his chest. She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his waist as he tightened his around her shoulders.
He held her close for several long seconds before whispering, “Can we shelve all this for about an hour or so?”
Lifting her head, she eyed him as her lips twitched into a slight grin. “That would be wonderful.”
He kissed her—a real kiss without interruption—taking his time to meld his mouth to hers and allow himself to soak up the feel of her. She started to deepen the kiss, to amp up the passion, but Troy put his hands to her face. The exchange they’d had earlier was hot and frenzied and threatened to consume them. Now he wanted to take a few moments to enjoy and appreciate tasting her.
Moving his lips to her jaw, he placed soft kisses along it and then down her throat.
She sighed, breathed his name, and tightened her hands in his hair. “You’re trouble, aren’t you?”
“I hope so,” he said with a smile. If he hadn’t known before, he did then. He loved her. With every bit of his soul, he loved this woman.
8
The moment Ana Cortez walked into the Prestige conference room, Meri slammed the door behind her before Marta could follow her in. Not that Marta was going to. She had lured Ana to the office. Meri was going to do the rest.
Though Troy had been hesitant to confront Randall, Meri’s gut told her that was the right thing to do. Troy had been on edge too long. He wasn’t seeing the most logical steps right now. He was so concerned with keeping Logan safe that he wasn’t looking for a way out. She was. And she knew this was it.
She wouldn’t tell Troy about this unless she felt that she’d made progress. Not to be sneaky but because he had enough on his mind. If she could end this without adding to his stress, that would benefit them all.
As a team leader, she’d often had to make calls that went against what other members of her team felt was the best option. She was right most of the time. And she was convinced she was right this time.
Confronting Randall, calling him out, was going to knock him off balance and give them the upper hand. Having his friend in her custody wasn’t a bad deal either. If Randall tried to stonewall Meri, she wasn’t above using a few nonlethal moves to get a few painful cries from the woman to loosen Randall’s tongue.
If that didn’t work, Ana would turn on him for not coming to her defense. Either way, Meri was going to get some answers. She hoped it didn’t come to hurting this weakling of a woman, but she would do what she had to.
The woman jolted and turned around. Her eyes grew wide, but she tried to hide it with a light laugh.
“Meri. You startled me,” she said, putting her hand to her chest.
Meri didn’t smile in return. She held Ana’s gaze as she made a deliberate show of locking the conference room door. Subtle but intimidating. If Ana were a professional, she wouldn’t be shaken, but as Ana watched, her face paled.
She stuttered and then forced her smile back into place. “Marta told me you were ill. I’m glad to see you’re feeling better.”
Leaning against the door, Meri crossed her arms and gave Ana her hardest stare. Ana’s gaze darted from Meri’s face to the gun in full view on Meri’s hip to the locked door, then back to Meri’s stone-cold eyes. Other than the sound of Ana’s audible swallow, heavy silence filled the room.
The silent showdown was obviously making this little twit uncomfortable. Good. Let her squirm. And squirm Ana did. Meri took resting bitch face to an epic level. When she leveled her stare and clenched her jaw, grown men would break before her. Ana didn’t stand a chance.
If Randall had been any kind of boyfriend, he wouldn’t have put Ana in this position. If he’d been any kind of leader, he would have prepped her for Meri’s signature move—the ultimate death stare. This proved that he didn’t have what it took to be the team leader that he’d always tried to be. This is why Meri was promoted over him and why Troy thought he might be resentful enough to sell out a Lochlin Private Security family.
“I-I-I…”
“You what, Ana?” Meri emphasized the woman’s name because she was certain it was as fake as the woman’s story.
She swallowed again.
Pushing herself from the door, Meri took one big step to close the distance between them. Nose-to-nose, she continued to stare.
“Call him.”
Ana didn’t move, but she made a pathetic whimpering sound.
“Call him,” Meri said again. “Now.”
The woman’s hands trembled as she fumbled with her purse. She had failed the test. Troy was right. “Ana Cortez” definitely hadn’t been professionally trained. She was too timid to have ever faced real danger. Meri almost felt bad for her.
Randall liked to play games to get laid. Meri had warned him a thousand times that he was going to lead the wrong woman on and get himself in real trouble. He likely didn’t suspect the trouble would be Meri using his foolhardy lover to get to him.
As soon as Ana dialed and started to put the phone to her ear, Meri snatched it from her hand. She listened to the ringing, still pinning Ana in place with her gaze.
“Hey,” a man answered, and Meri immediately recognized his voice. “What’s going on?”
“Why don’t you tell me, Randall?” Meri asked.
He was silent, but only for a moment. “Took you long enough,” he said. “You losing your touch, Meri?”
She gently pushed Ana into a chair. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to protect Logan Bantam. And you.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
“I didn’t snuff out that family,” Randall insisted. “But I know how it looks.”
Meri stepped back but kept her eyes on Ana, not trusting her any more than she trusted the man on the phone.
“Oh, yeah. How’s that?”
“The money I’ve been spending. Makes it look like I’ve been paid off.”
“Yeah. It does.”
He sighed. “Come on, Meri. You know me better than that.”
“Do I?”
“I’d hope so. You got a gun on my girl?”
“Not yet, but I’m not above shooting her to get to the bottom of this.”
Ana let out a soft cry, and her lip trembled. “Randall?” she called.
Meri lifted her hand to hush her.
“Ask her what her name is. Her real name.”
Cocking her head, Meri stared at the woman. “What’s your real name?”
“Ana…Gillion. I’m Randall’s wife.”
Meri didn’t like being surprised. But she was.
“We got married three months ago,” Randall explained. “I can afford to buy nicer things now. We have a pretty good second income.”
“So you got married and didn’t tell anyone?”
“I wanted to protect her. From him, Meri.”
“Who?”
His sigh was dramatic. “Troy.”
She felt a chill roll down her spine. “I don’t—”
“He’s been obsessed with you for years. We all knew it. It was kind of cute for a while, you know. New guy crushing on our badass boss. But then you guys started hanging out off the clock, and it became annoying how smitten he was. Then you left, and his obsession got scary. He damn near lost his mind when the director told us that you quit. We all protested when Troy was put as our new team lead. Nobody who gets that infatuated with someone should be making decisions for a team. The director passed it off as sour grapes, but Hank and I knew there was something wrong with him.”
Meri registered the mention of her other Lochlin Private Security teammate. She considered reaching out to him to get his take on what Randall was telling her.
Though she was having a hard time seeing this side of Troy, she also couldn’t deny that she’d known long before leaving the team that he had feelings for her. Maybe they ran deeper—and more dangerous—than she’d realized.
“He was checking our phone records,” Randall said. “He was following us to see if we met up with you. Nobody had talked to you, but he didn’t believe it. I got worried about his behavior, and I followed him one night. He sat outside your mother’s house for hours, Meri. Hours. Just watching.”
Another rush of anxiety rolled over her at the thought of Troy or anyone else watching her mom. The hazard of working a job like hers was that family could be pulled into the crosshairs if someone felt vengeful. She taught her team to never talk about their personal lives with clients, but she’d never told them to keep that same distance from their colleagues.
Randall continued, “That was the last straw. I went to Director Bruce and filed a complaint. He did an official inquiry. He agreed Troy was overstepping and threatened to have him suspended if he didn’t stop looking for you. He said it was abuse of resources, but the truth was his actions were bordering on stalking. Troy knows it was me. He knows I turned him in. That’s why he’s setting me up to take the fall for what he’s done.”
“Why the hell would he do that?”
“To get to you,” Randall stressed. “Are you listening to me?”
She hardened her gaze at Ana simply because Randall wasn’t there for her to glare at. “Yes, but how do those two things connect?”
“He finally found you. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“None of this makes sense, Randall,” she said, letting far more anger fill her tone than she’d intended.
“He found you, and he did what he had to do to justify going to you. He killed that family and took the kid so he’d have a reason to show up at your door.”
A knife went through her gut, and she shook her head. “Bullshit. Troy didn’t kill anybody.”
“It didn’t even take him ten minutes to show once he got the call that something had happened. The safe house was over twenty minutes from the office and thirty minutes from Troy’s apartment. No way he was in the neighborhood. He was close because he’d killed them.”
“No, he knew something was going to happen.”
“All he talked about until the director put a stop to it was how he was going to find you and bring you back. He was going to bring you back to the team, and things were going to go back to normal. He was fixated on that, Meri.”
“Look,” she said, refusing to believe him, “the reason I left was because—”
“Sarah caught you and Troy together and took off right before she got killed.”
This time the audible swallow came from Meri. “He told you that?”
“No. Sarah called me after Troy told her that he was going to put in for a transfer. I was the only other person who knew about what was going on with them.”
Meri opened her mouth, but no words would form. Going on with them?
“I saw her making googly eyes at him one day and warned her to knock it off,” Randall explained. “I told her romancing a teammate was against policy, and even if he would violate that, he only had eyes for you. She told me it was too late. He was tired of the way you always blew him off and had hooked up with her. They were lovers, Meri.”
The air whooshed out of Meri’s lungs like she’d been sucker-punched. “That’s not true.”
“Are you sure about that?”
She didn’t answer. She didn’t know how.
Randall sighed again. “She called me, screaming and crying after she caught you two together. She was upset because she’d caught her boyfriend cheating on her.”
“None of what you are saying adds up, Randall. Troy killed that family because he was obsessed with finding me? No. I don’t believe you.”
“Goddamn it, Meri. You’re smarter than this. He needed a way to lure you in. If he’d just shown up at your door, you could have slammed it in his face, but he knew you couldn’t turn away a client. Especially a kid.”
Meri shook her head even though Randall couldn’t see her through the phone.
“I was keeping an eye on Troy. I shadowed his computer for a long time. I had all the same information he did, and I was doing my own research. When the kid disappeared, they put us all on leave while they straightened out this mess. I knew exactly where Troy was going, so I came here too. Only difference is that I am here to help you. And to protect Logan from harm.”
“Really?” she asked with sarcastic disbelief.
“Look.” He let out a heavy sigh. “I’m on leave, but I’m still a bodyguard. I’m still working for Lochlin. That kid is in danger. Do you really think Troy went to these lengths to get his hands on you to share you with a kid? He’ll off him as soon as he thinks he has you locked in, and he’ll make it look like a hit. Just like he did with his parents. He is using Logan to manipulate you. Once he doesn’t need him anymore, that kid is dead.”
Meri felt sick to her stomach. “Randall—”
“I sent Ana to hire you. To get you alone so I could reach out to you. I was hoping to get to you before Troy did, but as soon as you handed her case off, I knew it was too late. I was watching your house, but you must have slipped by me. I lost track of you, but I knew at some point you were going to figure out her case was fake and find your way to me.”
She swallowed as she looked at the woman still trembling in front of her.
“He’s dangerous, Meri,” Randall told her. “If you don’t believe me, that’s fine. Don’t. But reach out to the director and get that kid back into protective custody. Don’t put his life in danger because you aren’t thinking clearly. Don’t let Troy use that little boy to get to you.”
Meri grabbed one of the pads of sticky notes and a pen from a stack on the table. “What’s Hank’s number?” When Randall rambled it off, she jotted the number down. “And yours?” She added it to the paper. “I’ll call you.”
“Meri—” Randall started.
“I’ll call you.” She ended the call and handed the phone back to Ana.
“He’s been really worried about you,” Ana said in a soft voice. “Not just the boy, but you. You should know that. He’s a good guy. Randall, I mean. He’s been so worried.”
Meri jerked her head toward the door. “Leave. And don’t you say a word about this to anyone. Understand?”
She nodded and rushed from the conference room straight to the front door.
Meri watched her leave before marching into Lynn’s office. “We may have a problem,” she stated as acid started to churn in her stomach.
Troy’s heart sank to his stomach when he heard gravel crunching in the driveway. As he gripped his gun, he looked to where Logan was examining rocks near the water. Releasing the snap on his holster, he was ready to draw his weapon, but he immediately recognized Lynn’s sedan. She was bringing Meri back to him.
Though the Prestige team had provided them with a cheap car, he insisted the car stay there in case something happened. Instead of Meri driving herself to the office for a meeting, Lynn picked her up. She said she would have missed the meeting, but it was crucial she be there to help resolve an issue with one of her teammates.
That was definitely the downside of having a team. One of them was always willing to start trouble. At some point, Troy was going to have to come clean with the full story on why he was hesitant for her to contact Randall, but he was hoping it wouldn’t come to that. If he could get this mess sorted out first, she’d never believe what Randall told her anyway.
Re-snapping his holster, he pulled his flannel shirt over the gun and smiled as Meri climbed from the car. He was so focused on her walking to him that he didn’t even notice Marta getting out of the back seat until Logan called out to her.
She smiled big and held up her hand to get his high-five. “What are you up to, little dude?” she asked.
“Come look at these rocks. They are so cool.”
Troy laughed as Logan pulled her toward the rocky little beach. “You are in it now,” he warned.
She smiled. “I don’t mind.”
“Hey, you,” Meri said to Troy as she stopped in front of him.
Her voice was stiff and cold.
He was about to ask her if something was wrong, but then Lynn warned Marta if she got her shoes muddy, she was walking back to the office.
He brushed off Meri’s cool greeting as her being a bit aloof in front of her boss. Even though Meri and Troy had known each other a long time, he supposed it wasn’t good for her boss to know they’d become lovers the night before. And that morning.
He sighed, recalling how she’d come to relieve him from watching the monitors in the wee hours. And how they’d taken advantage of the quiet house and the privacy of the loft once again before he’d gotten a few hours of rest while she took over the role of protector. He had to draw a long deep breath to stop himself from pulling her to him. Everything in him wanted to kiss her until she couldn’t breathe.
Later, he reminded himself.
She smiled a secret smile as she walked by him and subtly nodded toward the house. He glanced at Lynn and Marta, keeping an eye on Logan before following Meri. Troy had to chuckle at his reaction. Though there would be no lovemaking in the next few stolen moments, he was definitely going to sneak in a few heated kisses. He practically started salivating like Pavlov’s dog, eager for his treat, as he followed Meri into the house.
Once inside, they both peered out the window before Meri grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the hallway. The moment they stepped into the master bedroom, he held her against him for an open-mouthed kiss.
