Page 5 of Challenging Luke

"Not exactly," he replied. "We own a private security company." He indicated himself and his friends.

"The four of you own it." Monica sounded more interested in that than the reason behind them watching Alexander.

"No, there's actually seven of us who own it," he clarified.

"And someone hired you to watch Alexander Fletcher?" He could see the wheels turning behind those beautiful green eyes of hers, but he didn't know if that was good or bad for him.

"That's correct. So"—he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her—"now would you like to tell us why you were meeting with him?"

For the first time since he met Monica last night at the bar, she looked unsure; almost scared. It had him dropping the glare. His hands itched to reach out and comfort her, but he forced himself to keep them hidden under his crossed arms.

Monica made her decision with a large exhale. "I was meeting with him because he refused to take no for an answer, so I figured if I met him in person, I could tell him to his face that I never wanted to do business with him."

The way she spoke had the hairs on the back of his neck standing straight up. He knew all about the type of business Alexander was involved in and how he used manipulation to get what he wanted.

"What is it he wanted?"

He already had an idea, but he was curious if she would tell him the truth, if she would be completely open and honest with him about what was going on.

"To have me continue the arrangement he used to have with my former boss."

"Samuel Silverstein." It wasn't a question Ryker was asking. They all knew about Fletcher and Silverstein's past. Like himself, Ryker wanted to test how honest Monica was being with them.

"It's clear you already know everything, so what is the point of asking me questions?" Monica's tone told him she was getting more annoyed with every passing minute.

"Yes, we do, but it helps to verify. Intel can only take us so far," he told her honestly.

"So what more do you need from me?" Monica was an open book, both figuratively and literally. The spread arms she presented to him and the team showed she had nothing to hide. Interesting. She went from closed off when the discussion was about her to almost eager to give them information once she learned they were there for Alexander.

"Tell us everything you know about Alexander Fletcher," Austin spoke up this time.

Several expressions flittered across Monica's face. It was her job, as CEO, to protect her company. He didn't know if she held any loyalty to Samuel, but he wouldn't know for sure unless she started talking.

"Since you seem to already know a lot," she started, "I think it's safe to assume you know that Samuel is in jail for kidnapping my best friend, trying to extort a million-dollar ransom, something our company has in place for some of us. Not to mention hiring a hitman. Before you ask, no, I didn't like the man before that either. Yes, he was one of my bosses, but both Ash and I always thought he was fake, quite literally. You know, lots of Botox." She gestured to her face and body. Although he wasn't sure why since he'd seen her naked and he was nearly one hundred percent sure there wasn't a fake thing about her.

"Turns out we were right. Not only was he fake, but he also liked to abuse his wife. She testified, so, on top of the kidnapping charges, he had a slew of abuse ones. Meaning bye-bye, asshole. Unfortunately, he left a lot of problems. And I mean a lot. At first, Carmichael and Ash tried to clean it up, but we all knew Ash wanted nothing to do with the business, so eventually, we were able to convince her to leave. It took a while, but Carmichael finally let go of the notion of having his daughter take over his business. Cue me getting the CEO position, and still, years later, I’m cleaning up messes. This leads me to Fletcher, asshole extraordinaire, who didn’t like me telling him no over the phone, so I finally flew my ass out to meet him and tell him in person. Spoiler alert, he didn’t like the word no in person either.”

“Did he threaten you?” The question flew out of his mouth before he could tamp down the urge to stomp back into the restaurant and smash Fletcher’s face in.

Monica’s snort caught him off guard. “He tried. A little hard to do when I have no family I care about, and while he tried using my friends, that was pointless. The only friends I consider myself close to are all protected. Literally. Their men would snap someone like Fletcher in half without a second thought."

He thought back to what he learned about her friends. Monica wasn't lying. The men her friends married were a force to be reckoned with. They just so happened to be in a similar profession as his.

"What exactly did he want from your company?" Luke had almost forgotten what the whole point of this conversation was until Ryker spoke up.

"Insider information on our clients so he can exploit them and con them with whatever scheme he's working on at the time. Apparently, Samuel would let him know which clients would make the best targets based on their portfolios. He didn't do it often. He was smart enough to not raise suspicion, but there was a pattern. Something I discovered after I took over. Carmichael would have figured it out eventually, but I think he was still trying to see the good in his business partner after everything. Well, maybe good isn't the right word, but he didn't want to see just how far Samuel had gone to make extra money for his habits."

There wasn't as much anger in her voice as he would have expected, considering all the man had done, but maybe that had to do with the fact that she was used to it by now. She had said she'd been cleaning up the mess for years. At some point, she had probably gotten numb to the whole thing. That pissed him off even more. No one should have to get used to things sucking.

He met his friends' eyes, one by one. Caden was the first to understand his silent plea.

"I think we have all the information we need. We'll go report back to the rest of the team and leave you two to . . . talk." Caden practically pushed Ryker and Austin out the door, Ryker with a smirk on his face, and Austin looking like he wanted to protest, but Caden wasn't having any of it.

"So"—he turned back to Monica—"how about we start over? Hi, I'm Luke Matthews. What's your name?"

CHAPTER FIVE

Monica had to stop her lips from turning up. Sure, she had been pissed at first. Who wouldn't be? She had gone into last night thinking it would be a one-night fevered good time that she would file away. Instead, she was standing in front of the sexy man as he formally reintroduced himself, and tried to make up for what she assumed he perceived as an asshole move. Not that she was about to tell him differently, or go easy on him. She had a guard to keep up, after all. This was Rome and she lived nowhere close.