Chapter1
Gunner
The doorto the small surveillance room opened, revealing my right-hand man, Carter.
“You remember you’re the boss, right? Because watching surveillance tapes is way below your pay grade.” He slapped me on the back. “Sheesh, man, lay off the steroids. Your shirt is getting tight.”
I ignored his comment and turned back to the screens. We had two rooms set up in our office that housed surveillance equipment and the best tech money could buy. I’d made this one my unofficial second office since I spent so much time in it.
I didn’t usually get this closely involved in any of the jobs we did, unless it was a high-profile client. And Freya Olysses was as high profile as they came. She was the daughter of a mob boss and was currently hiding out in Ferguson, a small town in Washington.
It had been nearly two years since the assignment started. No protection job had ever lasted as long. And usually our clients knew we were protecting them. But since Freya and I didn’t exactly part on good terms, she would go nuclear if she knew I’d been watching her all this time.
“She still working on that website?” Carter asked, pulling my gaze from the now-empty screen.
I nodded and pointed to a screen that mirrored Freya’s. “This one’s for the Wildlife Society. Looks pretty good.”
Carter had installed a program on her computer that let me see everything she was doing. We planted the virus when she opened an email that was supposedly a client inquiry and clicked on a link.
You’d think as a web designer she’d be more cautious. But lucky for us, she wasn’t, and I could see everything she did on her computer. And if there was an emergency, we could hack her camera to figure out what was going on.
Her whole life was online. She hardly ever went out, except to meet her friend, Quinn. She barely dated and spent a lot of her free time ordering minuscule jumpers.
She was the opposite of everything I believed in. But for some reason, that didn’t stop me from watching her whenever I could. Now here we were, two years later, and my interest had grown into an unhealthy obsession. I didn’t like the other guys watching her, so I often did the surveillance myself, even if I had a million more pressing things to do.
I didn’t need the distraction. And frankly, I was angry at myself for letting things spiral so out of control. I usually had a tight hold over my emotions, and my days were planned down to the minute. I never did anything spontaneous and never deviated.
Until Freya crashed into my life.
“I’m out of here,” Carter said, stepping back. “You want Devon to take over?”
“Tell him to be here in an hour,” I replied, my eyes back on the screens. There were no cameras inside her apartment, so the occasional glimpse of her when she ventured outside was all I got. Today was laundry day, and it meant I’d get to see her more than usual. And despite my famed self-control, I couldn’t keep my eyes off the screens. My feelings confused me, since I thought I never wanted to see her again.
But when Constantine Olysses calls and asks for a favor, you don’t turn him away.Which was how I found myself doing the one thing I swore I would never do again—working for him.
I settled back into my chair and did the same thing I did every day: I told myself that today was the last day I’d sit in this room. I was the boss. I had better things to do.
Freya came back out of her apartment, and I involuntarily leaned forward. The camera we’d installed in the hallway captured her small frame as she skipped down the stairs. She never just walked. There was always skipping, hopping, or dancing involved, her thick, dark-blonde hair with pink tips swishing back and forth with the movement.
I was busy watching her bend down to get her laundry out of the dryer when my phone rang.
“Gunner,” the steely voice of Constantine Olysses greeted me when I picked up. “There’s been a development. I need you to retrieve her.”
I gripped my phone, wondering why the sudden directive. “Is there a problem?”
“We’ve run into a few issues. Nothing we can’t handle. But you need to keep her safe in the meantime.”
I didn’t like being in the dark, but he paid more for our services than anyone else ever had. Despite my vow to never work for him again—and then finding myself doing the biggest job I’d ever done not long after—I’d gotten to know him well. And I knew without a doubt he loved his family above all else and would do anything to protect them. If he said there was a threat, then there was most definitely a threat.
“I’ll send one of my guys,” I said, already going through a list of names while fighting the urge to pack my bags and book a flight to Seattle.
“I want you to do it. I don’t trust anyone else.”
I halted. This was unusual. And made me think the threat was more serious than he let on. “Sir, every single member of my team has been handpicked by me.” I also didn’t think it would be a good idea to get near Freya again, no matter how much I liked watching her on our screens.
“I’m well aware. That’s why I hired you. But this is my daughter we’re talking about. I want the best, and that’s you,” he said, his voice a command. “You’ve kept her safe for the past couple years, and you’ll keep her safe now. I trust you.”
My eyes were drawn to the monitor, and I watched Freya carry her washing basket upstairs, her usually quick steps slowed down by her load. And I knew that not only would Constantine insist, but the urge to see her again was hovering beneath the surface, waiting for an excuse to break free. And this was its chance. “I understand. I’ll leave tonight.”
