Page 36

I t was around two o’clock in the afternoon when Kevin stepped out to grab a quick bite to eat with Chester Miller.

“I’ll only be gone an hour,” Kevin told her.

“No worries. I’ll handle things,” she promised with a smile.

Kevin lifted a hand toward her face and she steeled herself not to cringe.

Only Kevin’s touch never reached her. He froze with his arm extended and then gazed at something or someone over her shoulder. He dropped his arm, spun around, and marched out of the lounge.

Sara casually glanced over one shoulder to find Levi gripping the butt of the weapon tucked into his shoulder holster.

She snickered and rolled her eyes. “Come on, Wyatt Earp, let’s check the store room.”

With a smirk, Levi released his grip and followed her down the hallway to the storage room.

Levi pressed the comms in his ear and spoke. “Make sure the rest of the staff stay busy and out of our way.”

Sara knew the comms were connected between King at the door and West behind the bar.

She unlocked and pushed open the storage room. The inside was a mess. Boxes were piled high to the ceiling in some places and stacked deep all the way to the door. A small walkway had been cleared by shoving boxes on either side.

A minute later, the sound of the back door opening alerted Levi and he pulled his weapon. The man held one finger to his lips, and Sara froze with a box in her hands. Not Brenda’s stuff, but it was filled with old file documents.

“What are you doing?” Kevin stopped in the open doorway to the storage room.

Sara ignored Kevin and took two steps to plant the box into Levi’s chest. The bodyguard lifted his hands and held the box. Sara turned and found another old document box of card stamps when they used the old sign-in system and planted that box on top of the one in Levi’s hands.

“If I’m going to stay here, I’m clearing out this old stuff.” Sara placed her hands on her hips and tipped her chin at Kevin.

Her boss’s mouth gaped a bit and his eyes widened.

“You’re staying?”

Sara gave Kevin a winning smile and lied. “Yeah, I’m thinking about it.”

Kevin was thrilled, she could see it in the way his chest puffed up and the satisfied look he shot at Levi.

Levi scowled. The man really played his part.

“Over my dead body,” Levi said, his voice a low growl.

Kevin grunted. “You don’t have a say here.”

Levi gnashed his teeth, and Kevin took a small step backward.

“I’ll leave you alone to clean up, but when I get back, let’s discuss a new bodyguard.”

“You got it.” Sara waggled her fingers, and Kevin went to his office and then a moment later, walked out the back door.

“What a tool.”

She snickered at the disgruntled tone in Levi’s voice, but she didn’t tease him too much.

It took them a few more minutes of searching and Sara was almost ready to give up when she found it.

“Here!” she hissed and lifted the box from the bottom of a stack she had been going through.

Levi lifted the box and then the old file boxes before pressing his comms.

“Come to the back door,” Levi said and walked out.

Sara hurried after him and opened the door.

DEA agent Stolts was there and took the boxes before disappearing into a dark SUV. The vehicle started up and sped away.

Sara returned to the storage room, and along with Levi, they cleared more boxes.

The last thing she wanted was for Kevin to become suspicious.

One day later…

The following morning, the rental house was much quieter than usual.

Mainly, because nobody said a word when DEA agent Stolts plugged in one of three flash drives.

Stolts and his partner Carson had arrived just after eight that morning.

“These were in Brenda’s box,” Stolts said and tapped at the laptop screen.

Rowan, King, and West were clustered behind the couch, looking over her and Levi’s shoulders.

“This drive contains enough evidence of drug distribution and money laundering to put them all away for life,” Stolts said, pulling up photos of the second set of ledgers Kevin kept.

“Or the death penalty,” DEA Carson said from where he sat on the other side of Sara.

“There’s no death penalty in California,” Sara pointed out.

“Excuse him, he’s newly transferred from Arkansas,” Stolts said, shooting a stern look at Carson.

“Then consecutive life sentences,” Carson said with a smirk.

“Does money laundering and drugs put people away for life?” Sara was confused.

“No, but Brenda filmed Wilson and Chester killing a guy,” Stolts said.

“That’s what probably got her killed,” Carson added.

“Kevin is a killer,” Sara said, her voice weak with shock.

Another fucking killer.

She had even contemplated dating Kevin.

“Oh, for fuck’s sakes.” She squeezed her hands into fists.

Levi reached over and unfolded her fingers and brought them to his lips.

She gazed at him, his mouth touching her knuckles.

“Don’t even go there.” Levi shook his head.

But how could she not? Here was the second time she had gotten involved with someone who lacked common human decency and morals.

There was zero ethical behavior in Chris and now Kevin, and she had completely missed the signs.

What did that say about her ?

“I can’t trust my own judgement.”

“Yes, you can,” Levi said with a shake of his head.

“Let’s put this on hold,” King said, interjecting before she could snap back at Levi.

“Why?” she asked, holding onto her patience.

“You said you wanted to be in on the questioning of your kidnapper.”

“Yes,” she told King.

Had Kevin found out that she was working with the DEA and sent the kidnappers to get her? Which might mean that Kevin had an alternate video feed. She didn’t think so because Levi, King, and West had spent the last several days searching the lounge without anyone knowing. They had found nothing.

Perhaps her kidnapper would have the answers to her questions. That was a good place to start.

She needed to be in control of something, anything, to get rid of her feelings of helplessness.

Later that morning, Sara stood in the cold warehouse located near the wharf of San Francisco.

This place was abandoned, and she felt safe with Levi and the other men here.

She had to hand it to the men of Aries, they sure knew their stuff.

In all honesty, though, Sara looked away when the guy continued to be interrogated.

“You put my friend in the hospital,” West said in the kidnapper’s face.

“He was in my way,” the perp snarled.

Sara didn’t see what West did, but she had heard the kidnapper’s gasp.

“Who do you work for?” West asked.

The perp gulped and mumbled.

“We…work for her father.”

The words were horrifying.

Sara whirled around, and it took several seconds to comprehend the full weight of the man’s response.

She no longer felt safe with her kidnapper’s words ringing in the air.

West delivered a blow to her kidnapper’s gut, and the guy groaned.

So what? Sara hardened her heart.

She didn’t feel sorry for the guy who had tried to snatch her away.

However, knowing that he worked for her father definitely changed things.

“Did my father tell you to kidnap me?”

“He said… to remove you from the situation…and bring you home,” the man said, his words breaking up, cutting in and out.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Sara said. “I told them I wasn’t going back.”

“He knows you have a bodyguard.”

Sara jerked a bit and frowned. “What does that have to do with this? How in the world does he know I have a bodyguard?”

The perp shook his head. “I have no idea, but I made a call and they should be here any second.”

“Who did you call?” West moved in, holding brass knuckles in front of the guy’s face.

“The Joneses.” So go ahead and kill me, and I’ll see you all rot in jail.”

King placed a hand on West’s shoulder, and West immediately stepped away.

“You’ve got that wrong, pal,” King said.

“How so?” The perp frowned.

“We got company,” Rowan announced, striding over from where he’d been on lookout at the door.

Sara suddenly wanted to sit down when her father and his lawyer Tom Markem walked into the warehouse as if it were an everyday occurrence.

Wearing a black power suit, Jack Jones looked every bit the billionaire.