Page 82 of Mile High Baby

It took a moment, but when it sank in, his hands bit into mine. “That bastard seduced you?”

Is that what Alex had done? Was he playing me this whole time?

27

Alex

Fuck. Shit. Damn. I sagged against the wall outside of Henry's office as my world crumbled around me. Henry wanted to kill me, and to be honest, I couldn't blame him. If my friend fucked my daughter, I'd be pissed too. Strangely, the thing that impacted me the most, though, was that Victoria thought I was a murderer. She believed I was betraying Henry by working with Pitney to kill him. Clearly, she'd overheard the conversation I had with Pitney, and she took it as truth. It was proof that her feelings for me were nothing more than lustful attraction. If she had cared for me, surely, she would know that it all was an act. An act to distract Pitney while Dax and the team helped her escape.

God. The plan had worked like a dream. Very rarely did we execute a plan that went without a hitch. The minute my phone buzzed in my pocket with two quick phone calls telling me they’d successfully gotten Victoria out, I'd made my exit, heading straight to our van up the street that had been monitoring the visit. I handed over the pack of money Pitney had given me to a teammate who was charged with getting it recorded and to the D.A. Hiring a hitman surely carried more weight than fraud, so I was feeling good about finally putting that fuckhead Pitney away. Not that I didn’t have some bad feelings. I was pissed off that Victoria had put herself in such a dangerous situation.

I parted from the team and made my way to Henry's house to make sure everything was all right and then give Victoria a piece of my mind.

Knightly let me in, and his smile was ecstatic, happy Victoria was home. He told me Henry and Victoria were in his office but that he was rushing off to get champagne to celebrate. I made my way to his office but stopped short as I heard them talking, recognizing the tone of the voices weren’t of a happy reunion.

I couldn't fucking believe it. Not only did she believe that I was in league with Pitney, but she had managed to make sure Henry believed it too. I was about to walk in on them and clarify what I'd been doing with that discussion with Pitney. I'd been buying time. I'd been setting him up. And then she’d done the unthinkable. She revealed our affair. There was nothing I could say or do to overcome that. Even if they believed what I'd been doing when I met with Pitney, there was no getting over the fact that I had slept with his daughter. Our friendship was done.

I pushed off from against the wall and strode out the front door and down the steps. I made my way up the block, needing to walk off the anger, the frustration, the pain. I wanted to be angry at Victoria and Henry, but the truth was that I'd brought this on myself.

"Sterling? What’s up, man? Did you get the daughter?" Jacobs, one of the Saint Security team, stepped from the bushes at the edge of Henry's property.

"Miss Banion is home and all is well." I imagined at any moment, Henry was going to be calling Elliott or maybe even going to the top and calling Archer to tell him I’d fucked a client. God, my life was a shit show. I'd lost Henry. I'd lost Victoria's respect. And now I was about to lose my job. Not that I wouldn't be able to find other work, but it would probably be with a more unsavory crowd, like George Pitney, and I wasn't going to do that. It was ironic that I wanted to do good, but Victoria thought I was a murderer.

"Where you off to?”"

"I just need to take a walk. If anything happens or you need anything, get in touch with Dax or Elliott."

His brow furrowed, suggesting he could tell something was up. But he gave me a curt nod and stepped back into the shadows.

My phone vibrated in my pocket, and I had no doubt that it was Pitney. My phone had been blowing up for the last twenty minutes, likely starting the moment Pitney realized Victoria was gone. But why? He should have been arrested by now. He was on tape hiring me to kill Henry. With the fuck was wrong with the DA? I'd served Pitney up on a platter, so why was he blowing up my phone?

I turned the corner, heading up the long block away from the river. I wasn't going anywhere in particular. Just walking, my mind swirling like a whirling dervish, thoughts ricocheting off every corner of my brain. I wasn't able to string them together to figure out my next plan.

I was midway up the block, when arms came around me, gripping me hard. I moved to free myself when a bolt of electricity blasted through my body.

“Motherfucker!” I tried to struggle, but these guys were bigger and there were three of them. A needle prick stung the side of my neck. I was about to die. There was no fighting against being drugged, so I just gave in and then everything went black.

I woke in a dark,windowless room, my hands tied behind my back, my ankles tied to the legs of the chair like I was in a fucking espionage movie. But this was no movie. This was real. Interestingly, this wasn't the first time I'd been in a situation like this. Of course, it hadn't happened since my mercenary days when I was younger, and I usually had a team that knew I was gone and would come get me.

I scanned the room, simultaneously trying to work out the kinks in my neck and shoulders. There was no dealing with the headache likely from the drugs, but it was possible I’d been slammed around a bit. I had no doubt that I was here courtesy of Pitney, who I guess didn't want to give me the cushy room he had given Victoria. But he wouldn't. Not when he figured out that I’d set him up and saved Victoria. He’d know that I was working with law enforcement. Being the slippery fuck that he was, he obviously had gotten away. And because I was so lost in my head during my walk, I hadn’t noticed it when a van pulled up and Pitney’s men grabbed me.

Pitney was in real estate, among other things, so he owned a lot of properties throughout the boroughs and beyond. But he was also smart, so it seemed unlikely that he would take me to a location in which his name was on the deed.

I strained my ears to see if I could hear anything that would reveal my location. I heard nothing but the sound of my own breathing. It made me think of that tagline from the movie about no one can hear you scream in space. That’s where I was. In a dark void.

The door swung open, letting in a blast of light that had me wincing, shutting my eyes, and turning away.

"Sleeping beauty is up. Let the boss know."

Pitney's goon Guenther made his way into the room, stopping to stand before me. He crossed his arms and gave me a menacing stare. "You think you're so smart. Don't you?"

I shrugged. "Smart enough. How is your head, Guenther?" When the team had gone in to rescue Victoria, the plan had been to incapacitate him much in the same way he'd incapacitated me. His head had to hurt like hell, just like mine did.

His fist shot out, catching me in the chin with such force that one leg of one chair lifted and then smacked back down. It hurt like a mother fucker, but I used all the skills I'd learned in the military and then later in security to ignore it.

"You’ll hurt more than that when Mr. Pitney's done with you."

I wouldn't lie. A small shiver of fear slid down my spine. While there was no proof, there were certainly rumors that George liked to toy with the people he was pissed at. I imagine I was about to go through a long torture before my death and dismemberment. When they were done with me, there would be nothing left. I will have been eliminated from the face of the earth, like I'd never existed. And who would care? Sure, the Saint Security team would be pissed. Maybe I’d get a plaque on the Wall of Honor, but how long would I really be missed? My father probably thought I was already dead. Henry and Victoria would be pleased.