There wassomething irrevocably wrong with me. That’s what I told myself, at least, as I watched Poppy from my newest car. Dimitri and Ace insisted I have a driver, but I didn’t want to be a creep with an audience. I just wanted to make sure she was safe and maybe… see what she was up to. Her little attitude in the hallway just a few days ago ran my blood too hot. It was the fire that kept my blood singing. It was all I could think about.
So here I was, sitting in my car, watching her swipe at her cheeks as she pushed her sunglasses onto her face and marched down the street. Any normal person would have turned the car around, seen she was safe, and left… But I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted to know what she did with her time. I wanted to know who she spoke to, and most importantly, I wanted to know why she was crying.
I blew out a breath. Any normal person would just ask her on a date or maybe get her number, but I wasn’t exactlynormal. Plus, I had killed her dad, so both of those things didn’t seem like something I could participate in.
But this? Watching her from afar? This was easy. This was safe. This was innocent. I didn’t have to get too close. I didn’t have to let her in. I was just watching from a distance to make sure she was safe.Yeah. That was it.
Plus, we were going back to the same hotel. So I wasn’t technically following her. I was merely heading back to my own home. Completely innocent.
My phone rang, blasting me from my turbulent thoughts. “Yes?”
“We have another job for you,” Nana practically sang.
I cringed. Ace was right. They would probably never be done with me. “Does it have to do with the elitist I hate so much in this city?”
“Yes, now be quiet so we can tell you what the job is,” Grandmother snapped.
“Look,” I stopped talking as my eyes zeroed in on something in the alley Poppy was about to pass by. She was looking down at the ground instead of paying attention to her surroundings. I dropped my phone as I watched two men step out of the small side street and into her direct line of path. “Gotta go,” I muttered as I maneuvered my car through the small bit of traffic around me and slammed on the brakes as close to her as I could get, but it didn’t matter. One of the men had a bag over her head as the other wrapped his arms around her legs.
In broad fucking daylight? What the fuck was happening?
I kicked the door open and ran for my life. I had my gun tucked in my pants, but it would do me no good; I didn’t have a good line of sight and could easily hit Poppy if I wasn’t careful. At least she was fighting and I could barely make out her muffled screaming as I followed them into the alley.
On the other side of the alley was a van parked and ready. If I didn’t get to her in time, she would be gone. Their boots slipped on the slightly damp asphalt as she fought them tooth and nail. Both of their faces were covered in plastic masks that distorted their features. I pulled suppressor out of my other pocket and began screwing it onto my gun as I watched her fight and tear at the man trying to take her.
The first man had his back to me, hauling her legs up while she thrashed like a wild thing. The second yanked the side door open, shouting something I didn’t care to translate.
I drew my gun and fired. One clean shot to the leg. He went down hard, his scream echoing off the brick. The other dropped Poppy, either in surprise or because he wanted to fight me. She hit the pavement, rolled, and scrambled to her knees. She fought with the bag over her head, and the man must have changed his mind on fighting me because he turned around and kicked her in the shoulder. She hit the concrete hard, and I saw red.
Before I could think better of it and consider all of my options, I aimed my gun at his head and fired. Blood and gore splattered the side of the van, and the other man let out agirly, gut-wrenching scream as the smell of urine filled the small space.
Poppy groaned as she finally pulled the bag off of her head, and scrambled up against the wall. Her eyes blinked at the carnage before her and as much as I wanted to take out the second man, I knew I couldn’t. Not in front of her. Not after everything she’d already seen and been through. So instead, like a decent person—semi-decent—I clocked him in the side of the head and he went down hard beside the van.
I didn’t know if they were working with others or how much time we had, but I knew I had to get Poppy out of here and fast. That was… if my car was still where I left it. I couldn’t tell from here.
I knew she could probably walk, but she was missing a shoe. Not to mention her shoulder sagged where the man had struck her. Her eyes were wide in fear and her hair was a tangled mess around her head.
I hauled her up into my arms and carried her as quickly as I could down the alleyway and back to my car. Traffic was mostly gone, and the streets were pretty much empty in these parts, thank goodness. It was probably why they’d chosen this area to get to her. People tended to mind their business more in these parts. I tucked her into the car as quickly and gently as I could before I ran around to the driver’s side and peeled out into the minimal traffic. I double checked she was buckled in while maneuvering throughtraffic.
I grabbed my phone off of the floor and punched Benson’s name.
“It’s so lovely to hear from you after such a long hiatus. You could have come to pay me a visit; I have been so lonesome for you.” Benson’s voice played over my speakers.
“Cut the shit, Benson. I need you to track me, and I need you to wipe all security footage you can find in the area I was in just now.”
“Uh oh, did you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar,again?”
“I have company, Benson. I need you to be a little more… tactful.”
“Done. There wasn’t much security footage in the area. Just one of you carrying a beautiful damsel to your car. All wiped.”
I let out a breath. “Thank you.”
“Where are you taking her?” Benson finally asked. “I saw the cut on her forehead. She’s probably going to need stitches.”
I hadn’t bothered with thinking that far ahead. All I could do was get her to safety, and the rest would come later.
“There is a discreet entrance at our hotel for celebrities. We’ll enter through the parking garage.”
