Morgan

I’d never been more grateful for how soundly Angelica slept than when my cell vibrated against the nightstand in the middle of the night. I slid my arm out from underneath her head and rolled off the mattress, grabbing my phone and quietly exiting the room before answering the call without bothering to see who it was. Considering the time, I already knew it wasn’t going to be anything good. “Cadwell.”

“Is that any way to greet your best friend when he busted ass to fly halfway across the country to come to your girl’s rescue?”

I chose to ignore any reference to him saving my Angel because it would only result in me wanting to punch him in the face. “You’re here?”

“Brought a team with me, too.”

“Hold on a second,” I instructed him, slipping back into the bedroom to grab some clothes from the closet. I didn’t want to meet his guys naked as the day I was born. After checking on Angelica to make sure she was still sleeping, I left the room and softly shut the door behind me. “How far out are you?”

“We’ll be at your house in five minutes.”

If his middle of the night flight with a team of his employees didn’t clue me in on the seriousness of the situation, then the fact that he’d have had to use the private airstrip down the street from my home would have. “Use the back door. I’ll have coffee waiting.”

I grabbed my gun from the safe in my office and tucked it into the waistband of my jeans before heading into the kitchen. True to his word, Brecken walked in five minutes later, followed by two burly men and a tall, athletic looking woman.

“It’s good to see you, man.” I pulled him in for a quick hug before stepping back and scanning the faces of his team. “I just wish it was under better circumstances or at least with a little more warning.”

“No time to waste,” he muttered, gesturing for his team to take a seat on the stools at the granite counter while he pulled me to the side. “I got confirmation they’re planning to move in on her in the next twenty-four hours. We need to take care of this now, before they send a team of their own after her.”

“What’s the plan?” I asked, holding onto my temper by the barest thread, knowing it wouldn’t serve a purpose to lose it. The only reasons I was able to keep it together were knowing my Angel was safely upstairs in my bed and that I could always count on my best friend to have a plan.

“How much money do you have laying around?”

I did a quick tally in my head. “About a quarter of a mil if it has to be cash, closer to two if they’ll take diamonds and bearer bonds.”

He whistled softly. “I should have hit you up for more money when I started the business.”

“You help me get my Angel out of this mess and you can ask for whatever you want.”

“You may not be my brother in blood, but you’re my brother where it counts.” He thumped his chest, over his heart. “There’s no fucking way I’m taking payment from you to save your girl.”

“I think Boss man’s gone loco,” one of his guys muttered from behind us. “You don’t ever look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“Shut the fuck up,” the female operative countered. “You damn well know his loyalty is the reason we signed on with him in the first place.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” the other guy grumbled. “But the promise of earning a shit ton more than we did in the military certainly didn’t hurt.”

“Enough,” Brecken barked at them before turning his attention back to me. “The plan is to leave Sera behind to watch over your girl while we head out to pay off the Chechens. And we’d better hope they’ll take diamonds because the cash alone isn’t going to cut it.”

“Her father’s that deep into them?”

“Deeper,” he murmured. “The money and diamonds will get your girl out of this mess, but the Chechens still want his ass once they manage to locate him.”

“They can have him,” I growled. “As long as he stays away from Angelica, I don’t give a damn what happens to that piece of shit.”

“Then let’s grab what we need and head out,” Brecken replied, looking down at his watch. “Because we’re meeting with them in less than an hour.”

He followed me into my office. I unlocked the safe again, this time pulling out all the cash I had on hand and a couple black velvet drawstring bags filled with diamonds. My parent’s wealth had done a lot for me in my life, but I was never more grateful for it than today, knowing the money they’d given me was going to save Angelica’s life.

While Brecken packed the duffel bag, I crept back upstairs and watched her sleep. I didn’t allow myself much time to savor the sight, just a moment. Then I pulled a pair of fur-lined handcuffs from the nightstand and slipped them around her wrist. My hope was she’d never know they were there, but I didn’t trust her not to convince Brecken’s employee that they needed to come after us. Girl power and all that.

I wanted her safe and sound in my home while I cleaned up the mess her father left behind. If the way I handled it pissed her off, so be it. I’d figure out a way to make it up to her later.

Getting to the meet was easy enough. They’d agreed to see me in the back room of a low-class strip club that was worlds apart from the places I owned. One of Brecken’s guys stayed with the car while the three of us went inside. The old guy sitting behind the desk wasn’t too intimidating, but the four guys surrounding us with their hands on the guns in their holsters sure as shit were. It was a good thing Brecken was standing behind me because I knew he had my back, literally and figuratively. I also knew he was the best shot in the room because he’d already been better than anyone else before the military got their hands on him.

“You’re here to pay off Mr. Rose’s debt?” the man asked, drawing my attention away from his goons and back to him.

“No, I’m here to make sure you stay the fuck away from my woman,” I corrected. “I could care less about her father’s debt to you.”

His eyes fell on the duffel bag in my hand. I stepped forward and tossed it onto the desk. He stared at me, presumably assessing my strengths and weaknesses, before unzipping the bag and looking inside. He pulled the stacks of cash out first, his thumb fanning the edges of the bills out on each stack before he placed it on the desk. He moved to the bags of diamonds next. Opening one and dumping the contents in his hand and then pouring it back inside to move onto the other.

“I can’t help but wonder about the girl,” he uttered, a calculated gleam in his eye. “That her father would so callously toss her to the likes of me, but a man such as yourself would pay handsomely to keep her from my clutches.”

“There’s enough money there for you to forget you ever heard her name.”

He cocked his head to one side. “I can’t help but be intrigued. Who’s to say she wouldn’t be worth more to me than what you’ve brought today?”

“If so much as a hair on her head is hurt, she’ll cost you a hell of a lot more than what was in that bag,” I warned.

He leaned back in his chair, a slight smirk tilted the side of his mouth. “I’d choose your words more wisely, Mr. Cadwell. You may be wealthy, but you’re too soft to take me on.”

I felt more than heard Brecken step forward, moving to my side. “He isn’t soft, and he wouldn’t be alone.”

“Ah yes, I’d heard you’re more than paid muscle to Mr. Cadwell.” He studied Brecken, nodding his head after a while as though he’d come to a decision. “Fine, consider the deal done. I’ll accept the money and the diamonds in exchange for the girl who I could have taken as my marker from her father.”

“You’ll spread the word that she’s not connected to him in any way going forward,” Brecken pushed.

“Yes, yes,” he replied, waving us off. “The last thing I need is the authorities breathing down my neck because the girl stubbed her toe or some such nonsense. I’ll make sure her father cannot use her as collateral again.”

“Thank you,” I forced the words past my lips, relieved to know Angelica would be safe but pissed at the thought of what this man would have done to her if she hadn’t been mine.

My beautiful angel—who I’d left shackled to my bed.