“I don’t have time to think rational, Kross. Something is wrong. I know it. Call Blaine and have him scramble the street feed in front of the building and for the whole block starting at nine this morning. You told me to get my girl. I’m getting her.”
My older brother took a deep breath and released it. “Kannon.”
“Twenty minutes, bro,” I said before hanging up the phone. I didn’t have time to debate or negotiate.
Kross wouldn’t have even consulted with me before clearing the building. The only reason I was being patient was because I hadn’t spoken to Carteay in weeks, so I didn’t know the situation. Still, she called me for a reason, and I wasn’t letting up until I found out what it was. For now, I was giving them a chance to produce her. I took a little walk through the parking lot to drop off a couple of packages before heading back to my car.
As I strolled through the parking lot, my phone dinged. I looked down at Kross’s text and smiled when I opened it to see Ceasar’s home address come across the screen. As much as I hated to leave the building without Carteay, inside I knew that she wasn’t there. I hopped in my truck and took off out of the parking lot as I plugged Ceasar’s address into my GPS.
As I drove, I kept shoving the thoughts of Carteay leaving me to the back of my mind. I kept telling myself that she wasn’t running from me when she left. That was what she said anyway. At the same time, she left without talking to me and had blocked me out of her life since then.
Even if I didn’t have feelings for her, I would have wanted to protect her. I didn’t like bullies, no matter who they were, nor did I like the idea of somebody being taken advantage of. Atthe end of the day, I was there to help her. This time, I wasn’t backing down.
My number one goal was to free her from the chains of her label. No matter how much I told her that she didn’t have to be afraid of a fucking soul as long as she was with me, I knew she wouldn’t be comfortable with that concept until I put some action behind my words. With that in mind, I drove the twenty-five minutes to Ceasar’s mansion.
As I rode up the winding driveway to his house, I thought about how it would have seemed that such an estate would have been gated. Luckily for me, it wasn’t. I parked right in front of the door before getting out of my truck and strolling up to knock. I could hear a dog barking its head off as I stood and waited for someone to answer the door.
A tiny woman with long, black hair opened the door with a confused frown on her face. After removing the oversized headphones from her ears, she looked back at the barking dog.
“Quiet, Frisky,” she fussed.
Apparently, Frisky didn’t give a damn about her order to be quiet because he kept right on raising hell.
“Ruhig!” I commanded. One simple word shut him up in an instant. The look of surprise on her face worked in my favor.
“Is Mr. Ceasar Williams here?”
“No, he’s not supposed to get in until later. I’m one of the maids.”
“Has he been gone all day?” I asked.
“He usually leaves around eight in the morning. He doesn’t get back until late.”
“Mr. Williams had an appointment with Kannon’s Kennels for Frisky to start behavior training this week. I had an opening, so I came to pick him up a couple of days early.”
“Lord knows she needs it. Does Mr. Ceasar know that you’re here today?”
“I told him I might have the chance to get her started early. I’m excited to get her enrolled in my classes. You’ll see a huge difference in her behavior after she spends a week at the center.”
“Wonderful. Is there anything you need to take with her?”
“Just a leash and her food so we know what to feed her during the week.”
“OK. Wait right here,” she instructed before taking a step back and pushing the door up.
She’d left the door cracked, so I nudged it open and stepped inside. The foyer was wide, but I could see the living room and a few doors from where I stood.
“Hello?” I called, knowing that anyone in the vicinity would hear me. I didn’t feel like Ceasar’s maid was lying about him not being here, but just in case, I made my presence known.
“Just a minute,” she replied.
“Since I’m here early, can I get something to write on so I can leave a note for Mr. Williams? I didn’t realize that I only had his business line until I was on the way here today.”
“Sure, give me a second. I will give you his cell phone number. I know that he would want to get personal updates on her progress. He loves her.”
I’m counting on it.
When she came back to the living room with Frisky’s food and leash, the woman passed me a notepad and a pen. I took my time leaning on a table next to a huge plant and scribbled a note to Mr. Ceasar Williams. I ripped it out of the pad and folded it twice.
