“You don’t need to thank me, baby. You just need to get your arse back here so I know you’re safe.”
“On my way home,” I promised.
“I’ll be there when you get here.”
Tears filled my eyes. It had been a day! And I was emotionally overwhelmed. But in that moment, the tears were happy tears.
I knew what I’d call my painting.
I’ll Be There When You Get Here.
Twenty-Nine
Jared
There was only so much a person could take before they snapped.
Hearing the terror in Allegra’s voice when she called to tell me a man was following her in Inverness was my breaking point.
Walker Ironside was a former Royal Marines Commando. I had the utmost respect for him because everyone knew it was no ordinary military unit. They were special operations and considered one of the most elite forces in the world. After his time in the military, he’d gone on to join a close protection team in the US, acting as security for high-profile members of the public. From there, he became Brodan Adair’s primary bodyguard before returning to Scotland to settle down as head of security at Ardnoch Estate.
The man had contacts and knew how to find people.
He’d found Hamish in just a few hours.
At the sight of Hamish stumbling out of a pub in this dimly lit area of Newcastle, I quietly got out of the car. Hurrying across the street into the shadows along the buildings, I followed him as he strolled in a slight zigzag toward his flat.
“Whatever you do, make sure there are no cameras around when you do it,” Walker had warned me before I’d left Scotland.
So earlier in the evening, I’d waited until someone let me into Hamish’s apartment building so I could make sure there were no cameras to witness what I planned to do. There were none. They weren’t wanted in places like this by certain people. Graffiti marred every inch of the ground floor of the building’s interior. There was a broken, rusted old bike just lying off to the side, rubbish that had been left to rot. The place stunk of urine and rotten food. It would do. I’d departed the apartment building to wait outside the pub Hamish visited every night.
And now there he was.
Blood pumped fast and hot through my body as I followed the bastard, picking up speed without alerting him. A group of lads on the other side of the street appeared, but they were too busy laughing and messing around to take note of me or Hamish.
The apartment blocks came into sight. A group of men were hanging out by a modified GTO and they turned to watch us. I looked away. I wasn’t in their business. Hopefully they’d stay out of mine.
Allegra was safe on Ardnoch Estate. Frustrated and concerned that I’d made the decision to go after Hamish alone, but safe and sound. Knowing that allowed me to focus.
Hamish dropped his keys trying to get into the building and almost bollocksed up my plans. But he quickly righted himself and entered the flats.
I picked up speed as he stumbled inside, following him through the door and giving him a shove.
“What the fuck?” He slammed against the stairwell.
As he straightened, his bleary eyes widened. “Jared?”
Loathing almost crippled me. And shame. That I came from such a pathetic waste of space. Grabbing him by the collar, I shoved him along the wall until I had him pinned.
He reeked of whisky.
“Get off!” Hamish struggled, but he was no match for me on a normal day, never mind on a day I still brimmed over with the rage and panic I’d felt listening to Allegra yesterday on the phone as she escaped Inverness.
I never wanted to feel that powerless again.
I slammed Hamish against the wall, his head making a dull thud off the concrete.
As he groaned, his head rolling, I snarled, “You made a big fucking mistake coming after my wife.”
