"Right now, I only have two and my gun. Normally, I can have five or more, depends on the situation. I have a spot in my vest and my boot so I can hide them at work."
"Bossman, what's the plan?" I try to change the subject. I don't want to know how much danger she's normally in.
"Duncan, take your girl, we can handle the rest, and just keep playing like nothing has changed. Maya, why don't you call your roommate and confirm with him that this Carl guy hasn't been by your condo today. Also, the day after tomorrow, we will call him about that inside person."
Just then, Maya's cell phone rings with the ringtone I've associated with Derek.
"Hello, D, what's up? I didn't expect to hear from you today." She pauses and I see the look of fear cross her face. "What? Oh my God! Derek, I'm so sorry." I signal for her to hold on. "Just a second, Derek, Duncan wants to say something."
"Baby, put it on speakerphone." She pushes the speaker button and my stomach clenches as I know this can't be good.
"Derek, do you want to repeat what you just said? If you can't, I understand. I'm in a room with the Securities International team. There was an incident here tonight too."
"Son of a bitch! This. Is. Done. I'm done standing in the back waiting for the next message to be your dead body. I won’t survive that, Maya. You know I won’t. But damn, my family is off limits. I'm calling Dad and having him come get you."
I need to lock down this anger I feel for this man. He practically just professed his love for her in front of my boys.
"Derek, stop! Duncan didn't hear the first part, tell him what you found." I hear the sigh come across the line.
"Duncan, what she isn't telling you is this has been going on for years. In the past, she got letters, flowers, and small gifts. When I moved in with her in Boston, she was being followed. It stopped and they went away, except for every June. You know what June is. But this latest shit is out of control. Tonight I went to a place I go to every year at exactly eight at night. This time, I found a single black rose lying on the ground where I usually stand. I ran back to the cemetery and, in the short time I was gone, a dozen dead roses were left there. Those are both apparent threats to me. I can handle that shit, but when I got back to the condo, there were another dozen dead roses outside Maya's door. I entered the condo to find another bouquet of daffodils and yellow hyacinths with a note. I've called the team here, but this ends now. After the delivery to my father earlier today and now this, she's being targeted and so are those close to her." He concludes with another long sigh.
"Derek, you need to go to a hotel. Get away from the condo. I already told your dad I was safe with Duncan for now. He needs to get away from me, too. Maybe I need to get away from all of you."
"No, Maya, I'm not leaving you, and you know how Dad feels about that," Derek snaps.
"Derek, what did the note say?" Joshua asks.
I can't speak, these two have a bond that I had no clue about. But the fact that this day of pain for him was turned into a horror is something I can’t understand.
"Who's this?" Derek asks angrily.
"I'm Joshua Donovan, owner of Securities International."
"Well, your team had better be good because Metro has a snitch. The note said, 'I love you and I'll kill anyone who comes between us. You're mine, Maya, no one else's.'"
"Derek, go to a hotel, now," Maya pleads.
"No, sexy, I'm not leaving you alone with all this. You know me better than that."
"Look, Derek, I'll only say this once, Maya is mine now," I say into her phone, then look into her eyes. "You're not leaving me, Maya." I can't help myself, I need it out there.
"Hey, Big Guy, she can be all yours, but she's my family. I'll kill you if I must. I'm almost as good as your girl there. You won't know I'm there when you die," Derek says calmly.
"Is that a threat, you bloody American arsehole?" I yell angrily into her phone. Maya pulls the phone away from me.
"Duncan, enough, please stop." She's angry with me. What the bloody hell is going on with them?
"Come get me, Duncan. It was a promise. I don't threaten. Joshua, are you going to help her, or do we need to do this ourselves?"
"Derek, I give you credit for attempting to stand toe-to-toe with Duncan, but I'll not go against him. He’s, my teammate. Do I need to warn you what I can do to you? Are you and Maya more than what you say?" Joshua asks.
Maya has a look of complete shock on her face. The phoneis silent for a moment and I dread the reply that I worry is coming.
"Do I love her? Yes. Does she love me? Yes. Are we a romantic couple? No!" There's a pause as he sighs. "Have I been between her legs?" Another pause and my blood runs cold. "Hell yes. She rides my motorcycle with me, we also practice jujitsu. She's my sister; we've battled our demons together and fought through fire for each other. I'll not ever let any harm come to her. As for sexual...yuck. That's so wrong. She'smysister, you dumbasses. My father and I adopted her into our family a long time ago." I let out a sigh and pull her to me. I know he isn't lying.
"Okay, Timothy will pull all the security footage and feeds in the neighborhood. I'll be sending a friend over in the morning with a new security system, it will link to our offices there and here. Maybe we can get some eyes on this wanker. As for the bobbies, go along with them, but send us copies of the evidence too," Joshua replies.
"Okay, tell me what happened there tonight."
