Code name omega, p.13
Code Name: Omega, page 13
So now I’m calling in the favor, and since Dozer and Bebe both run the Research and Development division of Jameson, I knew asking something of Dozer would ensure Bebe’s help.
A little cunning and manipulative on my part, but I’m not holding anything back when it comes to protecting Abby.
“If he’s dirty,” Bebe says, keyboard clacking in the background, “I’ll find it. Give me twenty-four hours. Maybe forty-eight.”
“Thank you, Bebe,” I say, relieved to have her on the case.
“Sure thing,” she replies, then sweetens her voice. “And next time, call me directly. You didn’t need to reach me through Dozer, and now you wasted the favor he owes you.”
Bebe laughs and disconnects, but Dozer’s still on the line. “You didn’t waste your favor,” he says.
“I don’t need anything back from you,” I assure him. “I was happy to watch over Claire and Thea. Things good with you?”
“A lot of work setting up the new Jameson office, but yeah… things are perfect.”
I hear it in his voice… nothing to do with the job and everything to do with Jessica and Thea. “I’m glad for you, buddy.”
“Sounds like things are serious with this girl,” he pokes.
I see Levi Hellman’s property up ahead and consider what I’m about to do. “Yeah… it’s getting serious. Listen, man, I got to go, but I’ll touch base with you soon.”
“Later,” he says.
I don’t cruise past the driveway but rather turn into it and head straight for the main house. It’s a two-story red brick that looks about twenty years old. No garage but a carport protecting a Mercedes and a Lexus.
Exiting my car, I pocket the keys and stride up to the large front porch. It’s filled with nice planters and blooming flowers. I’m guessing there’s a Mrs. Levi Hellman somewhere as I don’t see this asshole being into gardening.
I press the doorbell and step back, looking out over the property. The house sits at enough of an angle I can see the first building that houses dogs. One of the things that struck me last night—as well as today—is how quiet it is. You’d think that with so many dogs, there’d be a lot of barking, but maybe those poor creatures are just so beat down by circumstance, they don’t have it in them to protest or show interest in anything.
A fierce surge of pride in Abby wells inside me, and despite the trouble she set into motion, I admire the strength of her convictions and the warmth of her heart.
The door opens, and I turn to see a woman standing there. Mid-thirties, perhaps, with bleached hair, long fake nails, and heavy makeup.
Exactly the type I’d picture on Hellman’s arm. “Mrs. Hellman?” I ask.
“Oh, no… I’m Levi’s secretary.” She pats her hair, cocks her hip out. “His wife is in Philadelphia visiting family.”
Shocker that his secretary is here at his home.
“Is Levi around?”
“Sure he is,” she says with a wave of her hand. “Let me get him.”
She doesn’t invite me in, but I’m glad. I want the openness of the porch.
I hear boot steps on hardwood floors and then Levi’s at the open door. He doesn’t recognize me at first as he stops at the threshold. “Who are you?”
And no sooner is that last word out of his mouth than his eyes go round as he remembers that day down at the clinic. He starts to say something, but my hand shoots out.
I grab him by the front of his shirt and jerk him out the door. I use his surprise and momentum to sling him right off the porch.
When he’d first appeared, I checked to see if he was wearing the holster, and he was not. I’m assuming because he feels safe in his own house, but I was prepared to alleviate him of the weapon had it been on his hip.
Levi’s feet hit the grass and his knees buckle, but I give the man some credit. He’s agile as he does nothing more than roll, springing to his feet.
Doesn’t matter… I jump off right behind him, and as he turns to face me, I’ve got him by the shirt again, this time with both hands. I push him backward, using my considerable size and weight advantage to walk him across the lawn where he slams into the side of my car.
It knocks the wind out of him, and he sags.
“Levi!” the blond secretary screams from the porch. “Should I call the police?”
“You do,” I warn her, “and he’s going to be investigated for attempted murder and arson.”
It’s a total bluff, but she doesn’t know that, and Levi certainly can’t take the risk. He yells at her, “Get in the fucking house, Laverne. And don’t call the cops.”
“Smart man,” I murmur.
As soon as the woman is gone and the door is closed, I lean in toward Levi, prepared to give him my directive. The pansy ass tries to bring his knee up to smash my nuts, but I easily turn sideways so it glances off my hip. I draw my right hand to my left shoulder and launch a backhanded fist straight to his nose. It’s not a hard punch, but it doesn’t take much to crush the cartilage there.
Levi bellows in pain, cupping his face as he bends over. Blood pours from his nostrils. “You broke my fucking nose.”
“Not like you didn’t deserve it,” I mutter, my hands once again grabbing fistfuls of his shirt to haul him up. “Now listen here, you sick fuck. If you ever go near Abby Blackburn or Dr. Schoen’s property again, I will end you. If you think I’m bluffing, think again. I’m a paid mercenary and former Special Forces, and I can make you disappear so no one will ever find you again.”
A slight exaggeration, but he doesn’t know that.
“Tell that psycho bitch to stay off my property—”
I pop him again, this time hard on his cheekbone with my fist.
Hellman cries out in pain. “Please stop hitting me.”
“Stop being a douchebag. Now… am I going to have any more problems with you?”
His head shakes in the negative, but hatred blazes from his eyes. I don’t care. This visit isn’t about resolution, merely a warning to keep him away from Abby until I can figure some other way to bring him down.
I sling Hellman away from my car hard enough that he stumbles and falls to the ground. He doesn’t stand but pushes up with one hand and wipes blood from his face with the other. I smile at him as I get into my SUV and turn around on his nice lawn.
As I’m heading down the driveway, I see the blond rush out the door and attempt to help him up. He bats her hands away and pushes to standing before stomping into his house.
I have no clue if that’s enough to scare him into submission until Bebe works her magic, but it’s the best I’ve got, short of killing the guy, and I don’t operate that way.
Feeling better about the situation, I stop at the grocery store and pick up chicken breasts, asparagus, and fresh pineapple to grill. I nab a bottle of decent-looking wine and return to Abby’s. I’ll order her into the shower, insist she put on fresh pajamas, and I’ll cook us up a feast.
Maybe we’ll watch a movie.
When I pull up to her place, I frown at the dark blue sedan parked behind her car. A rental car company sticker is affixed to the windshield—someone’s visiting, but she never said a word about it.
I take the stairs two at a time, grocery bag in one hand and keys in the other. Unlocking the door, I push it open to find three large men standing in the living room, and for a moment, I think Hellman has sent someone to deal with both Abby and me.
The men turn, eyes on me, and I see Abby behind one of them looking uneasy.
“What’s going on?” I ask neutrally, setting the grocery bag on the small table by the door so my hands are unencumbered to fight.
“Kellen,” Abby says, moving toward me. The three men step back, giving her free rein. “These are my brothers.”
My gaze moves among the men, and now I see it. All with the same black hair and green eyes. Christ, they’re so similar, they look manufactured.
In ordinary circumstances, this is where we’d all smile and shake hands, pleased to make each other’s acquaintances. I know damn well her sister Kat is warm and outgoing and in favor of our relationship.
But these three—all as big and tough-looking as I am—glare with open hostility. Something tells me they’re not here to check me out or make sure Abby’s okay. It seems they have an agenda, and by the look on Abby’s face, she’s not happy about it.
CHAPTER 15
Abby
I take Kellen’s hand and give it a squeeze. “Let me introduce you.”
Each of my brothers is polite and shakes Kellen’s hand. Ethan, the oldest at thirty-eight, doesn’t crack a smile. He’s here representing the family and takes his duties far too seriously. Everyone always says that Kat and I look the most like Ethan because we all have the same dimples.
Only problem with Ethan is we never see his anymore.
Trey is thirty-three, the hell-raiser of the group. He wears his dark hair long, just above his shoulders, and it drives my parents bonkers. He’s a ladies’ man, though, and supposedly the women love it.
And lastly, Wade, twenty-nine, only two years older than me and Kat, but he’s closest to us in age and in loyalty. We three always played together, never a shortage of mischief to find, given our vast farm. He’s the daredevil, the one who always egged us on to do stuff even if it got us in trouble. I’m counting on him to understand the reason why I did the things I did.
“And what’s the occasion for the visit?” Kellen asks, his eyes moving from me to my brothers.
“Oh, you know… just big brothers checking in on me,” I reply, my voice a bit shrill because that’s not an accurate representation at all, and the three Blackburn men filling my small living room intimidate me.
“More than checking in,” Ethan growls in disdain. “It’s more like saving her from herself and from bad influences.”
His eyes pin on Kellen with that last statement, who in turn crosses his arms over his chest and cocks an eyebrow. “Bad influences?”
“You threw fuel on the fire by getting into it with Levi Hellman and accepting that stolen dog—”
“Kat has a big mouth,” I mutter with ire, then turn to Kellen. “When you talked to her last night from the hospital, it freaked her out, so she told my brothers. They came to… to…” I turn not to Ethan, because he can be a bully, but rather to Wade, who I’m closest to out of the boys. “Why are you here?”
“To bring you home,” Ethan says, answering not just the question I posed to Wade but laying down a decree on behalf of the Blackburn family. “It’s more than time you took your place, and you’re causing trouble here that could land you in prison.”
“Last I checked,” Kellen drawls, his eyes lasered on Ethan, “Abby is an adult and fully capable of making her own decisions. Now, she might want to return home with you, but if she doesn’t, no way I’m going to let you drag her out of here.”
My heart surges with gratitude and… I don’t know what, but an incredibly strong tenderness for this man who has turned out to be my hero every step of the way.
“Last you checked?” Ethan repeats contemptuously. “Just because you’re checking her out under the covers—”
I gasp.
Kellen growls and lunges for Ethan but is thwarted by Wade stepping in front of him while Trey steps in front of Ethan. I don’t interfere because there’s probably close to eight hundred pounds of muscle and testosterone in here.
“Why don’t you remove these two boys trying to protect you from the equation,” Kellen taunts, stepping back toward the door and placing his hand on the knob, “and let’s take this out in the yard. I’ll let you check me out so you have no confusion as to what’s going on here.”
“Let’s do it,” Ethan snarls and steps forward, but Trey pushes him back with hands to his chest.
“Just stop it.” I glare at Ethan, hands on my hips. “You are in my home. You came here uninvited. You’re trying to bully me into submission like you always do because you think you know what’s best for me. Just like Mom and Dad, you don’t care what I want, only what serves the farm’s best interests. You wasted your time and jet fuel coming here.”
“Jet fuel?” Kellen asks. The curiosity in his tone overrides his anger.
“The family jet,” Wade answers.
Kellen’s eyebrows fly upward in shock, but he doesn’t say anything.
Yes, my family is rich.
Super rich.
Our horse farm is very lucrative, an empire unto itself.
I sigh heavily and rub the bridge of my nose. With my eyes closed, I say, “I think you need to leave.”
“Not while you could be in danger,” Ethan says stubbornly.
Trey and Wade remain silent, and I know they’re probably torn where I’m concerned. No one wanted me to leave Kentucky, but some supported me fully—that would be Thing Two. Some didn’t quite understand but still supported me—that would be Trey and Wade. And some didn’t care to understand—my parents and Ethan.
“If you’re worried about her safety,” Kellen says, calling all eyes to him, “I can assure you, it’s covered. I had words with Hellman a bit ago, and he’ll be staying away from Abby.”
My jaw drops, and I take a worried step into him. “You did? What did you say? What did he do? Are you okay?”
Kellen rolls his eyes. “Am I okay? Are you serious?”
I’m duly abashed, but I need details. I’m stunned he did this. “What happened?”
“I went to his house. When he came to the door, I had him come outside into the yard to talk.” I frown at Kellen, because that sounds far too civil. “Well, actually… I pulled him out of the doorway, tossed him off the porch… same difference.”
“Holy shit,” Trey mutters, and I hear the respect in his tone.
“I nicely asked him to stay away from you. I let him know I’m former Special Forces—”
“Are you?” Trey asks.
“Close enough,” Kellen replies with a side glance before turning back to me. “And that I have ways to make him disappear so no one would ever find him. He tried to knee me in the nuts, so I backhanded him in the nose and broke it. He might have cried. It was a very short conversation.”
I stare at this man—my hero—agog. That he’d physically intimidate another human to keep me safe is kind of… hot.
“You’ve probably only stirred him up more,” Ethan says contemptuously. “He’ll come after Abby to make you pay for humiliating him. She’d be safer in Kentucky with her family.”
My attention goes to Ethan, and I struggle to level my voice. “I don’t want to live in Kentucky. I’ve told you this at least a dozen times.”
“You need to quit running away from your problems,” he hurls at me. “You need to stop seeing home as a bad place.”
I whirl on Ethan and march across the room to him. Wade and Trey scramble out of my way. I stare up at him—the tallest of the brothers—and my green eyes meet his. “You wouldn’t know about my problems, Ethan, because you never bothered to ask me about them. You merely hold the party line. You put the farm first over your own sister.” Ethan’s jaw tightens, and Wade murmurs my name sympathetically. I ignore him. “You’re a good little robot, Ethan. You do exactly as programmed, and you have no fucking heart inside that hollow chest.”
A flash of pain crosses Ethan’s face, but I refuse to feel bad about my words. He’s an excellent representation of why I won’t move back to the farm.
Tears prick at my eyes as I realize he didn’t come here to protect or stand up for me. He’d never go confront Levi Hellman the way Kellen did. He came here for the farm’s benefit, not mine. He’s using my current circumstances to pressure me, and if I didn’t love him so much, I’d hate him.
I can’t stop the tears threatening to spill, so I blink once and let them fall. “You need to leave.”
Spinning from him, I dash at the wetness with the back of my hand and stride toward the door.
“Abby,” Ethan calls, and perhaps that’s contrition in his voice, but I let it roll off my back. I refuse to be suckered in by a sudden onset of understanding.
As I move past Kellen, he doesn’t stop me. But he does grab my hand and gives it a short squeeze before letting go. No words are necessary, but his action says that he has my back. It’s all very confusing at this moment, but when my head clears, I might consider this the point where I tumbled into love.
I exit the apartment, shutting the door behind me. I won’t be surprised if one of my brothers comes after me, but I really don’t want them to.
As I descend the staircase, I hear yelling inside, distinctly recognizing Ethan’s, Trey’s, and Wade’s voices.
Not Kellen’s, though. He’ll stay out of that squabble because he let me fight my own battle in there, and I appreciate it more than he’ll ever know. Just as he squeezed my hand to let me know he had me.
God… Kellen doesn’t even have a clue why I have such a rift with my family. We’ve never talked about it. Not that I’m hiding anything, but it’s definitely not happy, fuzzy memories keeping me away.
I head straight for the pasture behind the barn. My stomach rolls as I take in the blackened wood. Yellow caution tape flutters around the perimeter, meant to keep everyone out except the arson investigator, who came by earlier today. I have no desire to go in and see the damage. My heart thuds painfully upon remembering the panic and terror of last night.
The horses are grazing about forty yards ahead, tails lazily swishing at flies. I rest my hands on the top rail of the wooden fencing and whistle for Lunar. The other three horses lift their heads, but my boy is the only one that comes when called. He trots toward me, neck arched regally, his ears pricked forward. He doesn’t high step the way he used to, but that’s due to age and the fact we don’t train anymore. Anytime we ride, it’s purely for pleasure and to spend time together.
Kellen had assured me all the horses were okay, and I believed him. But I have to see Lunar for myself.
“Hey, my main man,” I murmur as he stops at the fence, eyes expectantly going to my pockets.
Smart boy.
When I don’t move, he bumps his head gently into my chest. Come on, lady. I know you have a treat for me.
