I sat back in the leather conference room chair flipping the Zippo lighter in my hand, craving a cigarette. It was agreed early on that smoking wasn’t allowed in this room and I complied—for the most part. I was far from a perfect man, so shit happened from time to time and it was what it was.

We were all present except Onyx. The man was no doubt starting his day off deep inside his woman, Torryn. I still couldn’t believe he fell in love, and when he did it was hard and swift. None of us saw it coming, but in the end we were all happy for him.

I knew what it was to be twisted up over a woman. I also knew what it was to let one go because you couldn’t give her what she needed. Except he made shit work, and I did not. That was the difference that blared like a red light that I was unable to avoid.

Onyx strolled in with a confident and relaxed smirk on his face, something we didn’t see often —the relaxed part, the man was always confident.

“Fuck, she’s got you,” Dane muttered, standing to give him a hand slap into a shoulder bump, greeting his best friend. “Comin’ in here looking all relaxed and shit. Looks good on ya, Onyx.”

It was the unique dynamic of our group. Dane and Onyx had always been a little closer. While I knew without a shadow of a doubt they all had my back, those two had a different, sacred bond. I’d often wondered how their connection was so strong. Maybe it was the time they had before Garrett and I arrived at the orphanage or just the fact that they didn’t know their families, where as I did. Either way, we had balance amongst the four of us, each giving something to the group.

Onyx met Torryn when she started dating his half-brother. Only, that’s not how he landed her. No, the man with balls of steel took her as collateral on her sister’s debt to our business.

It was smart.

It was cunning.

It was eventually successful.

Watching Onyx obtain it all, well, it made me crave more in life. I couldn’t help but wonder what that kind of happiness would look like for the rest of us. A fulfilled life was all anyone really wanted. Could that be possible for four misfits like us? Onyx sure gave me hope.

Garrett stood and gave Onyx a quick handshake. “Seeing this shit with you, gotta say, Onyx, you definitely don’t like to be dismissed,” he joked since he was there when Torryn McAllister dismissed Onyx, according to what I was told. It set the ball rolling for Onyx to go after her. And go after her he did.

I stood, flipping the Zippo lighter in my hand first before sliding it into my pocket. “Happy for ya.” I gave Onyx a nod, and he returned the sentiment.

“Let’s get down to business.” Garrett sat back down and pulled out files.

We all took our seats and got focused on work. We were a well-oiled machine with an underground baby business. It wasn’t something twisted or fucked up at all. Yet, according to the law and outside world, it was illegal as fuck, at least the way we did it.

Catching up on each client, surrogate, our financials, and our legal needs, we were ready to close out the meeting. I would be happy when this was over so I could go have a smoke. There was something about taking a deep pull of a cigarette and feeling it fill my lungs that soothed the piece inside of me that just wanted to take off to lands unknown and never look back.

The conference room door flew open, crashing into the wall. In stormed an angel on a death mission. It made my cock hard. Everything about her made my dick spring to life in a way no other woman ever got to me.

Her mission was me. The angel haired woman stood glaring at me with a face full of rage and a gun in her hand, pointed directly at me.

“Paxton fucking Williams, you son-of-a-bitch,” she screeched while I stood with my hands held up in surrender, trying to keep myself from laughing.

Dane made the first move, pulling his own gun and aiming it at her. There was no doubt in my mind he’d pull the trigger. He was a trained assassin after all. She didn’t know that, and I wasn’t about to tell her.

“Hello, Laurel,” I greeted her calmly, took out a cigarette and put it to my lips, but I didn’t light it. I looked at my friends, my make-shift family, and breathed deep. It felt good to know they had my back, but Laurel wouldn’t hurt me. She’d pretend she wanted to, but to go that extra mile, she couldn’t do it. Even if her mind screamed she had to hurt me, her soul was too entwined with mine to actually do it. I knew it even if she didn’t. “Go ahead and leave, guys. Don’t shoot her and no matter what you hear, you don’t come back.” I smirked while Dane reluctantly lowered his weapon after assessing the both of us.

“Don’t think that’s smart,” Onyx told me. He no doubt saw the level of venom in this woman’s glare. Laurel was on a mission to end me.

Rightfully so. In a matter of twenty-four hours, I bankrupted her. Took everything she had in a blink of an eye, and she wouldn’t be getting it back any time soon.

“Oh Laurel would be happy to kill me, but she can’t and she knows it,” I told them casually. We didn’t share everything, but they all knew I had a history with a woman named Laurel, even if I purposely never allowed them to meet.

Garrett passed me with a shoulder squeeze and stepped to Laurel. “Don’t shoot him in the balls; that shit just ain’t right, k?” he joked before exiting. He knew exactly what I had done. Hell, he even assisted. Honestly, I was shocked she didn’t turn the gun on him and shoot. Then again, the pull between us was too strong. She probably hadn’t even registered Garrett’s involvement, given her sole focus to me and what I had done. Truth was, Garrett wasn’t the mastermind behind shutting her down—it was all me, and her wrath was directed appropriately.

Garrett, Dane, and Onyx made their way out without another word. I moved to shut the door behind them. I locked it with the gun still aimed at me. Surprisingly, her hand was steady. Then again, Laurel Elizabeth Conrad was unshakable. She was the strongest woman I had ever known.

“Angel, so good to see you again.” My arrogance wasn’t hidden one bit. I knew this woman inside and out, and she knew it too. God, it felt so good to have her here in this room with me, only a few inches separating us. My cock hardened seeing her fury.

“You’re everything evil, Paxton Williams, and I’m no fucking angel.”

I stepped closer to her, the barrel now at my chest. The gun never wavered, which was impressive. I waited a beat for her to pull the trigger. She hesitated, and I seized the opportunity.

In a swift movement, I grabbed and turned the weapon, just as the gun went off. She cried out in pain, while I laughed since she brought this on herself.

Was I an ass for shooting her? Most definitely.

But I was an ass no matter what move she made. This was her play, and this was her roll of the dice. She landed on a bad square. It happened to us all at one point in time or another. That was the game of life.

“It’s just a graze.” I explained looking at the red trickle from the side of her arm. “Don’t fight me and you’ll get off with just that. Fight me and well …”

“You shot me!” she screeched, gripping her arm, blood lightly covering her fingers.

“Way I see it, darlin’, you came in here and pulled a gun on me.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Self-defense. You shoulda pulled the trigger when you had the chance. Now, Laurel, you don’t get to run.”

Knowing the guys would come back after hearing the sound of gunfire, I secured the weapon and removed the magazine, dropping the remaining bullet from the chamber. It didn’t matter that I gave them instructions to stay away no matter what they heard, they wouldn’t leave me in a pinch. So I had only moments to get us out of here. I tossed the gun to the floor before grabbing Laurel, who was clearly going into shock since she hadn’t budged, and scooped her up. She tried to push away to which I growled low and deep. It was a sound that scared grown men and brought them to their knees. It didn’t have the same effect on angel. She was a lot of things, but afraid of me wasn’t one of them. She should have fear, but she didn’t.

“Laurel, I don’t want to hurt you, but I will.” The warning was clear and precise, but once again didn’t faze her. She’d learn.

“You’re an asshole.” She grabbed her arm and tried to free herself from my grip.

“I am,” I confirmed calmly as I tightened my grip. Making my way down the hall, I turned into my office. Laurel was hitting, kicking out, and fighting me the whole way.

I would punish her later for this.

In my office, I grabbed a set of handcuffs that I kept for afternoon quickies with my secretary and slapped them on Laurel’s wrists. Her scream pierced the room.

“No one will help you.”

She panicked, fighting me more.

“The building is empty except for my crew. We’ve done far worse than kidnapping, angel. So you should know when I say I’m taking you—I am taking you. This can be easy or you can end up with more than a scratch from a bullet. Your choice.”

“Fuck you,” she spat at me, trying to pull her hands out of the cuffs to no avail.

“Oh, angel, I would love nothing more.”

“You took my money, Pax!”

“Yeah, I did,” I laughed back at her, loving her reaction and fed off it. “I wanted your attention. I got it. Now, let’s go.”

Again, she didn’t budge. So I scooped her up over my shoulder in a fireman carry as she continued to kick me, hit me, and she even bit me a couple of times, but I kept at my task. On a grunt, I managed to get her out of the building and into my SUV. With tires screeching, I headed directly to my cabin, with no neighbors and no one within miles to hear her screams.

It was time Laurel Conrad got with the program. She was mine, and I wasn’t letting her go.