Page 9 of Ruthless Desires, Vol. Two (Ruthless Desires Series Extended Editions #2)

Elliot

In the morning, I get up with Oliver. It’s still dark outside, and I normally don’t get up this early, but I don’t want him to have to eat breakfast alone.

I check my phone and notice that I have a text.

Sparrow Belgrave: Don’t underestimate Aubrey.

What the hell? I shouldn’t be surprised that somehow Sparrow knows we’re Aubrey’s bodyguards for the next few days. Not only is she a master at making people disappear, the woman knows everything. That’s why we couldn’t turn down the Wyoming job when she offered. Inevitably, Sparrow has dirt on Ludo that we’ll need. It’s good to be in her circle so that when the time comes, we can buy it from her.

Still, it’s a potential safety problem that the information made its way to her.

Elliot: How did you find out Ludo hired us?

She doesn’t respond immediately, so I slip my phone back into my pocket.

As Oliver pours himself a bowl of cereal, he asks, “Did you sleep okay?”

“Like the dead. You?”

He shrugs.

“Woke up a lot.”

It’s classic for him, especially in a situation like this. No doubt, he’s worried about Ludo being suspicious of us. We’ve made sure to keep our relations with him civil and professional, but that all changed when Oliver accused Ludo of knowing where Wren was when she got kidnapped.

“We’ll be okay. We just have to tread carefully.”

“I will. I… I’m sorry, Ell. I just—I fucking lost it when we watched those videos Jordan sent us. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

He bows his head.

“We were all desperate to get her back.”

“But what if I ruined everything? What if this whole job is a ruse, a test of loyalty we’re bound to fail? What if Ludo never trusts us?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

I grab his shoulders, turning him so he’s facing me.

“One way or another, we’ll be the end of him, O. I don’t care what we have to do or what we have to sacrifice. As long as the four of us stay together, we’ll find a way. I promise you that.”

His brows are furrowed and his eyes are still full of doubts. But when he meets my gaze, I spot just enough of his usual determination—just enough that I know he’ll be okay.

“Okay,”

he murmurs.

It doesn’t take too long for Oliver to eat his cereal, and by then, it’s time for him to head to the condo. Just as he’s putting his shoes on, the door to Rhett and Wren’s bedroom opens and shuts quietly. Rhett slips out, padding across the room toward us.

“Where’s Wren?”

Oliver asks, peering behind Rhett.

“She’s still asleep. I just came out to say bye before heading back in.”

“Oh,”

Oliver says softly.

“You didn’t have to do that. I—”

Rhett catches him in his arms. Cradling the back of his head with one hand, he leans down and kisses him. Oliver clings to him, to the notion of safety and peace that comes with being inside Rhett’s embrace, before sighing.

“I love you both,”

Oliver says as he pulls away.

Rhett kisses him again before murmuring, “I know. We’ll see you later.”

When Oliver turns to me, I kiss him.

“Love you too, Ol. Text us if you need help.”

“I will.”

I hate watching him go. It’s one of the things I dislike most about our life—having to split up to get a job done. At least he won’t be far.

Once Oliver is out the door, I head into the kitchen area. As I go about making some coffee, I ask, “Did you get any sleep last night?”

“Some. I woke up after a couple hours and started going through the audio from the bug Wren planted.”

Rhett steps up to me, standing oddly close.

“Oh? Find anything of note?”

I go through the cabinets until I find the mugs, pulling out two. I’d get three, but I doubt Wren will be up for a while.

“Ell, stop.”

Rhett catches my wrist and spins me around to face him. He pins me against the counter, his hips pressing against mine.

“What…?”

“I’d like a proper good morning, that’s what.”

He says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world before tilting my chin up and kissing me.

Warmth floods my veins. There’s something about getting kissed by Rhett that leaves me feeling special. Right now, I bask in it, grabbing his hips and keeping him tightly against me. When he starts to pull back, I follow him, drawing the kiss out for another couple seconds.

I keep my eyes closed after we pull away, smiling.

“That was nice.”

“Why are you acting surprised?”

Why is he surprised that I’m surprised?

Rhett isn’t the most physically affectionate person, and he knows it. The amount of touch he’s able to handle ebbs and flows, but he usually keeps to himself. I’m not used to good morning kisses and hugs from him. But, I suppose, this tracks for how Rhett’s been acting recently.

“You’ve just been more physically affectionate lately. I’m not used to it. I’m perfectly happy about it, of course.”

Relief overtakes his features.

“I have been?”

“Yeah. You haven’t noticed?”

“Not…”

He rubs the back of his neck, staring at the floor.

“Not entirely.”

For a minute, we stand together silently, awkwardly. That’s a surprise for both of us. Awkwardness doesn’t often show up in our relationship these days.

Reaching behind me, Rhett pours our coffee. His free hand lingers on my waist as he does. And fuck, I love it.

“I should get back to Wren,”

he says.

“She hasn’t had any nightmares yet, which either means she won’t or one is still coming. I’d love to say it’ll probably be the former, but…”

I nod in understanding. During the time she’s been with us, I can count the nights she hasn’t had a nightmare on one hand.

“I’ll update the spreadsheet with a link to the doc I’m transcribing everything into.”

“Thanks.”

With one last kiss, Rhett heads back into the bedroom. I grab my laptop and set up at the kitchen table. By the time I have it on, Rhett’s already added the link. Sipping my coffee, I open the doc and immediately start scanning the text Rhett has typed out.

The conversations in the condo last night are nothing of note, and then there’s silence until around five in the morning. Rhett includes that there are a whole bunch of indecipherable noises, which is normal. At some point, though, Ludo speaks. He’s the only one talking, which makes me think he’s on the phone.

Ludo: Morning. Did you get the child? [laughs] Unlike me? Oh, this has nothing to do with sympathy. [pause] You’ll see. He’ll make an excellent backup plan if we need one. But we most likely won’t. Aubrey has taken a liking to Wren, so I’m sure they’ll be best friends by the end of the week. If the two of them bond, it’ll give me even more influence. [pause] Good, good. I’ll talk to you soon.

I narrow my eyes at the screen. That confirms my hunch. Ludo either wants or needs us close to him for some reason. Whatever is going on with this kid is concerning, especially since it seems like it’s somehow connected to us.

There’s nothing else of interest in the transcript, but I go over it again anyway. Then I start wracking my brain, trying to think of any kids Ludo could possibly use as a backup plan. The only one I can think of is Maria, and she’s far from a child. She’s only a few years younger than Oliver.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t think of any child Ludo could be talking about. Somehow, that makes it all much more unnerving.

At some point, I hear Wren and Rhett get up. I never heard her screaming or crying, which is a good indicator that she didn’t end up having a nightmare. Fuck, I hope so. She could use a good night’s sleep.

When their bedroom door opens, I drag my eyes away from my laptop and take her in. She has a throw blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and she looks like she needs to go back to bed.

“Morning, love.”

With a sleepy groan, she sits in the chair next to me. “Morning.”

“You didn’t have to get up if you weren’t ready to.”

She starts to reply, but a yawn overtakes her before she can. Then, “I tried to get back to sleep but couldn’t.”

“Too much on your mind?”

I ask as Rhett comes out of the bedroom and grabs himself more coffee.

Guilt shrouds Wren’s features as she fiddles with the edge of her blanket.

“Yeah. I think… I think I have some stuff to tell you guys.”

I’m bracing myself before I even realize I am. Never in my life has that phrase led to anything good. It means fights, yelling, slamming doors, and an underlying hostility that never truly fades. So when I turn to face her, I’m already preparing for the worst—although I’m not sure what that would be in this situation.

“Rhett?”

Wren says.

“Can you sit with us?”

Based on his hardened expression, he heard what she said to me. He sits across from us and folds his hands, resting them on the table.

“What do you have to say?”

“Aubrey is… very trusting.”

Wren squirms.

“She told me some stuff about Ludo. Stuff I don’t think most people would tell a practical stranger. I think she could be really helpful.”

“You don’t sound too happy about that,”

I say, hiding my relief. If all she has to talk about is her conversation with Aubrey, that’s so much better than whatever I was gearing up for.

“I wasn’t expecting to like her,”

Wren says.

“I thought I’d hate her as much as I hate Ludo. And now I don’t know what to do or what to feel. I know we can’t let her in on our plans. It just feels wrong to use her for information, that’s all.”

Pulling her chair closer, I put an arm around her.

“I know, love.”

Over the years, we’ve had to make a lot of sacrifices. One of the hardest things to let go of was the adherence to a strict set of rights and wrongs. We’re murderers for hire, for fuck’s sake. Of course we do questionable things. A lot of questionable things. Still, I’m familiar with the struggle. It took me a lot of time to get past it.

“But my priority is you guys and your plan,”

Wren says. Her eyes lock with Rhett’s.

“To get justice for Sammy. If getting close to Aubrey helps get us closer to our end goal, then it’s worth it. Besides, Aubrey seems to hate Ludo. I think she’d agree with our cause.”

“Why don’t you tell us what she said,”

Rhett suggests.

After taking a steadying breath, Wren outlines her conversation with Aubrey last night. The things that stick out to me the most are why Ludo is here and how much information Aubrey volunteered without Wren even asking. It almost sounds like a trap.

“How the hell does a kid fit into all of this?”

Rhett mutters.

“And what’s Ludo need a backup plan for?”

I add.

“I don’t like this.”

Rhett’s jaw is set, and his arms are crossed. No doubt, he’s thinking about the last child we know who crossed paths with Ludo.

“What are you guys talking about?”

Wren asks.

“Here.”

I pull up the doc again and angle my laptop so Wren can read it.

“This is the audio from the sunglasses.”

She perks up.

“It worked?”

“Yeah.”

I kiss her forehead.

“You did a good job, love.”

That seems to lift her mood significantly. Unfortunately, it only takes a few minutes, and then she’s frowning again.

“Ludo wants me and Aubrey to become friends? That’s… weird.”

“I agree,”

Rhett says darkly.

“I’m not going to tell you who you can and can’t hang out with, but there’s absolutely no way you’re spending time with her without one of us present. You’re not going anywhere by yourself.”

Wren doesn’t protest. At the moment, I think she prefers it this way. If I got kidnapped from my own apartment, I’d probably want someone around to keep me safe at all times, too.

My phone buzzes, and then Wren’s and Rhett’s do as well. Grabbing my phone, I see a notification from Oliver in the group chat with the four of us.

Oliver: Aubrey wants to hang out with Wren???

Wren: Sounds good to me!

Elliot: Nothing near water.

Wren hums when she sees my text.

“That’s probably a good idea.”

Oliver: Aubrey suggested shopping. She needs stuff for the honeymoon.

Rhett: Two of us should go.

The fact that he’s not volunteering means he doesn’t want to. Fair enough—Rhett has always hated shopping and dealing with other people. Stresses him out.

Elliot: I’ll come with you guys.

“Thank you,”

Rhett mutters.

“I don’t mind.”

I let my arm fall from Wren’s shoulders and kiss her cheek.

“Maybe it’ll even be fun.”

And maybe—hopefully—we’ll be able to learn something more about Ludo’s plans for us.