Page 14 of Danger and Dominance (Black Fox Security Doms #1)

David

As soon as the elevator doors opened on Monday morning, an unwelcome sight greeted David’s eyes.

He could see straight into the Black Fox Security lobby where Jennifer was standing behind her desk—not sitting—with an unhappy expression on her face as she faced down a blond man David recognized immediately and who definitely did not belong there.

Scowling, David stalked out of the elevator.

His movement must have caught Jennifer’s attention because she turned her head, and relief flashed across her face. Seeing her change in expression, Marshall turned around. Unlike her, he scowled as soon as he saw David.

Pulling the glass door open, David raised his eyebrow, keeping his anger off his face as he faced off against the former third owner of Black Fox.

Everything about Marshall offended his sensibilities, from the fact he’d been embezzling from the firm to knowing the man had been sleeping with Lincoln’s first wife before their divorce.

Even though he’d supposedly been Lincoln’s best friend.

Jennifer slowly sank back down onto her chair, watching both of them warily but no longer so on edge now that David was there.

“How did you get in here?” he asked before Marshall could say anything. “I thought your access was revoked.” He was going to have to have a word with Samuel and the other gate guards.

Marshall smiled. Maybe David was biased, but it was a smarmy smile. And it didn’t reach his eyes, which remained coldly blue as he met David’s gaze.

“Hello, David, good to see you, too.”

“I wish I could say the same, but I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to be seeing you in here anymore.”

Lifting his shoulder in a shrug, Marshall looked smug, and he didn’t bother answering David’s question.

“I’m here to offer you and your team a job.”

“No thanks.” David didn’t even have to think about it.

“Well, don’t be so hasty, David.” Marshall’s smile grew and seemed more sincere. Whatever he was up to, he was genuinely happy about it, which made David even more suspicious. “You don’t know how much money I’m offering to come join my team.”

David snorted.

“There is not enough money in the world.” Seriously. Even if Lincoln fired him, David would rather be on the street than work for someone like Marshall. He didn’t trust him, he didn’t like him, and he didn’t think the man had an ethical bone in his body.

Something in Marshall’s eyes flashed. He didn’t like being told ‘no’.

“Well, I’ll just stay here and put my proposal to the rest of the team. You don’t speak for all of them.”

Another snort of derision.

“Trust me, when it comes to you, yes, I do.”

He heard the sound of the elevator doors opening behind him and conversation drifting out into the hall that was abruptly cut off.

Speak of the devils. Turning his head, he saw that it was a full elevator.

Not just Claudia and Drew, but two of Harris’ team as well, Seth Loving and Miguel Gomez.

That made two snipers and two of the muscle.

Both Drew and Miguel were built like mini tanks.

None of whom had any love for Marshall, either.

David felt fairly certain he could drag Marshall out by the neck of his suit jacket if he needed to, but Marshall had a few tricks up his sleeve. Faced with an overwhelming force, there probably wouldn’t be a need for a forcible exit.

They came in, Claudia leading the way. Her dark eyes were cold, flat, and hard the way they went when she was in her sniper headspace.

There was a reason her call sign had been Scary.

Lesser men ran when they got that look from her.

Even David had to steel himself, and he could see Marshall doing the same as her snake-like gaze rested on him.

“What’s Shit Stain doing here?” she asked, directing the question at David even as she continued to stare down Marshall. Behind her, Seth and Drew snickered.

The other man bristled at her nickname for him but pasted on his smile again, acting as if he hadn’t heard it.

“I’m here to offer you all three times what you make at Black Fox to come work for me on a very important job… top secret at the moment, so I can’t tell you the details until you come join me.” He made the offer in a coaxing tone, hinting at big things, teasing them with the secret.

It didn’t work—to no one’s surprise except Marshall.

“No.” Claudia didn’t bother to listen anymore. She just started walking again, straight toward Marshall, who jumped out of her way rather than allow her to run into him as she headed toward the back. She paused at the desk. “You okay, Jen?”

“I’m great.” Jennifer gave her a thumbs-up and a weak smile. “No job offers for me, apparently. Not that I would take it.”

“Yeah, we’re good,” Seth said, snorting in a manner that was very reminiscent of the way David had done. He’d started walking, too, though he didn’t try to walk through Marshall like Claudia had. “I like making less money. I wouldn’t know what to do with more.”

“Three times is a lot and yet still not enough,” Miguel joked, keeping up with Seth.

They acted as if they didn’t see Marshall as they walked around him, heading for their side of the office.

Drew didn’t say a word, he just walked over to the front desk and leaned on the edge of it, arms crossed over his chest. It was clear he was hovering protectively around Jennifer and also effectively stated his preference without a single word.

Marshall’s face had turned bright red, a little vein throbbing in the middle of his forehead.

“You’re all going to regret this.” He spat the words out. “You have no idea what you’re turning down, what you could be?—”

“Doesn’t matter,” David told him. “We’d rather have our souls than your money.

You can take the answers you’ve already gotten as representative of the entire firm.

Your team might have followed you, poor bastards, but the rest of us see you for what you are, and we want nothing to do with you.

Get out. Don’t come back. And I will be figuring out how you got into here in the first place, and that way will be closed to you from now on. ”

Marshall’s upper lip curled in a sneer.

“You do that.” The words were a challenge.

“You’ll be sorry for not taking my offer, though.

Black Fox is dying. You can’t keep up the workload without me.

Lincoln and Harris don’t know shit about running a business.

That’s why they had me in the first place.

And there’s nothing any of you are going to be able to do about it. ”

Stalking out, he hit the glass door like he was trying to shatter it—not that he could, not without a storm of bullets, but damned if he didn’t try, anyway.

David watched him go with a frown.

It didn’t matter that he’d been entirely in the wrong. He was obviously carrying a grudge.

“Did he really think we were going to go work for him?” Drew asked incredulously.

“He can be bought, so he assumes everyone else has a price as well.” David shook his head. “I’m not sure he understands the meaning of the word loyalty.” He turned to face Jennifer. “What was he saying to you before I got here?”

“I asked if he had an appointment, of course, even though no one had anything on the calendar.” She looked anxious.

“Just in case someone forgot to put one on. I didn’t know who he was, and he wouldn’t give me his name.

He said he needed to talk to Lincoln and that he knew his way back there.

I told him he needed to wait out here, and we were arguing about that when you got here.

He was only here a few minutes before you, thank goodness.

I was about to call Mason. He was the only one in already. I take it that’s Marshall?”

While she hadn’t met the man before, she’d heard about him.

“That was Marshall,” David confirmed grimly.

“If he shows up again, call whoever is in the office. Immediately. We’re going to have to figure out how he got in, though.

Samuel should have known better than to let him into the parking lot, and if he came from the sidewalk…

Shit. He probably came from the sidewalk. ”

Before the building officially opened, they could get in using their key cards.

Marshall had either stolen someone’s or found a way to clone one.

There was someone at the front door during office hours, but not twenty-four-seven.

The parking lot booth had a guard arrive earlier and leave later than the walk-up.

That might need to change if Marshall was sneaking around. He would have to talk to Lincoln.

So, David started his day reviewing the security footage and confirming that Marshall had arrived by way of the front door, using a key card, before anyone was on duty downstairs.

Then he’d had to go ask Jaxon, Harris’ computer guy, to find out whose keycard Marshall had used and shut it down.

It turned out to be an unregistered one, so he set Jaxon on the task of setting up new key cards for everyone and shutting down access for all but the new cards.

He still didn’t know exactly what Marshall was up to because he doubted this was the end of it, but the man was already proving to be a massive fucking headache.

Then, when David was done with all of that, he had to get started on everything for the senator’s upcoming fundraiser.

Despite being a hell of a lot busier than he wanted to be on a Monday morning, he did remember to stop by to check in with Jensen that Cassidy had settled in okay. He’d been tempted to text her, but…

He needed to keep his head in the game, and she was a distraction.

A very pretty distraction but a distraction, nonetheless.

Jensen responded that she was hanging around the house and looking at the job options, and David had to be happy with that.

No point in going to check on her himself, after all. No matter how much he wanted to.

His team was relying on him.

Cassidy