“I did not want to scare her more than I already was,” the man added, holding out his hand. “And I need your phone as well.”
Frowning, Tommy handed it over, watching as the man powered down both his and Evie’s phones before pocketing them. Then he gave a small nudge toward the waiting SUV. “Get in. Passenger seat.”
Tommy narrowed his eyes.A suggestion.So, this guy wasn’t acting alone. And if he wasn’t bothering to hide his face, Tommy doubted there was a version of this story where he walked away alive.
He opened the passenger door and climbed in. The man followed, snapping a pair of handcuffs around Tommy’s wrist and the interior door handle before closing it with a solid click.
As the man walked around to the driver’s side, Tommy tugged experimentally at the cuff. It didn’t budge. He slumped back with a quiet groan. So much for trying to run at a red light or bail out in traffic, he’d just end up being dragged behind the vehicle.
“So… you’re a professional,” Tommy said as the man slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. “You kidnap people for a living.”
A low chuckle rumbled from the big man. “I do a lot of things for a living. Very few of them are nice.” The casualness of it sent a cold spike down Tommy’s spine. “Once a contract is signed and the money handed over, I carry out the directive,” the man added. The wordcontractlanded heavy in Tommy’s ears.
“Oscar Stanley hired you, didn’t he?” Tommy’s voice was flat, resigned. Of course it was Oscar. The man’s ego was more fragile than sugar glass, and over the last five months, Tommy had shattered it time and time again, first by stepping in with Evie and then by essentially firing him. He had expected some retaliation but had to admit he hadn’t thought he would go to these lengths.
“Pudgy bald guy, reddish beard, inflated sense of self-importance?” The big man sounded like he was both annoyed and amused by Oscar.
“Yeah. That's him.” Tommy glared out the window for a moment. The fact that Oscar had sent the man to kidnap him when he knew Tommy would be with Evie and didn’t care if she got hurt in the process royally pissed him off and if he managed to get out of this alive, he would make sure the pompous fucker lost everything. “He seriously said you could hurt Evie?”
“He said she was not to be harmed unless necessary. Why?” the man glanced at him curiously.
She’s his daughter.”
The man’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. The reaction was small, but Tommy saw it. Moral compass, then. He looked annoyed, disgusted, even, at the realization of who Oscar had put in danger.
“Would you have hurt her?” Tommy asked.
The man frowned, clearly insulted, but ignored the question. “And your relationship with his daughter?”
“Completely platonic,” Tommy growled. The accusation always made his skin crawl. “I’ve known her since she was two months old.”
“She’s young and beautiful, and you two appear very close.” The man shrugged, as if that explained everything. “She would be hard for any man to resist.”
Tommy’s temper snapped. “I was fourteen when she was born and I’ve changed her diapers.” His voice rose, sharp and furious. “She’spractically my sister! Is that what he told you? That I wasfucking her?”
A wave of nausea rolled through him. Sure, he could acknowledge Evie was becoming a beautiful young woman, but in his mind she was still the shy little girl who used to fall asleep on his shoulder with her thumb in her mouth. The idea of anyone twisting that made him sick.
“No,” the man said calmly, shaking his head. He didn’t flinch, didn’t even look offended. “He told me you are destroying his company and stealing his family from him.”
“Hiscompany,” Tommy muttered, trying to fold his arms over his chest. The handcuffs stopped him short, and he growled in frustration. “It’s my damn company. My father started it and passed it to me.”
The man gave him an amused look and rolled his eyes.
Tommy glared back, catching the unspoken judgment.Spoiled rich kid, born into it, never earned it- and for some reason, he wanted to set him straight. “I did a double major in business management and computer engineering at MIT,” he said tightly. “Then I spent seven years working in every division before I ever sat in the CEO’s chair. It wasn’t handed to me.”
He took a steadying breath. “As for stealing his family? I haven’t stolen anything. He drove Evie away himself with his need to control everything and refusal to accept that she’s her own person. He only supports her if her life lines up with what he wants.” Tommy shook his head, anger simmering under his skin. “I just want her to be happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. His lack of a relationship with his daughter is his fault, not hers, and certainly not mine.”
The man said nothing for several long minutes. The silence was thick, the road humming beneath the tires. When Tommy glanced out the window again, the signs told him they’d left Brooklyn and were already in Queens.
“Why does he consider it his company?” the blond asked suddenly.
Tommy exhaled. “He was the COO under my father. When my parents were killed by a drunk driver, I was only twenty-three. He took over as CEO until I was ready, then stepped back down without a fight. Everything was fine until I announced that Sloane Tech was changing direction a year later.”
He looked out the window, watching the lights streak past. “He wants to chase government contracts and focus on developing defense tech. I want to focus on innovation, on making technology affordable foreveryone, not just people in power. I also started updating our internal policies and procedures, removing things that didn’t make sense anymore. Stock dipped for a while; he panicked and tried to convince the board to remove me.”
Tommy’s mouth tightened. “He conveniently ignores that our stock recovered within six months and is stronger than ever.”
Tommy could hear the bitterness in his own voice, but he didn’t care. He’d been overlooking Oscar’s insubordination - the constant undermining, the quiet accusations - for nearly two years. He’d done it for Della and Evie, because they mattered to him, and he didn’t want to destroy whatever was left of their family.
