“Thanks, angel, I will.” I kissed the top of her head. “I need to check the computers and make a phone call.”
“Okay, I’ll make dinner. I saw we had some fresh salmon in the fridge. Does that and green beans sound okay?” Maren made no attempt to move. I wanted to stay in bed, but I needed to work.
“Sounds perfect.”
I disengaged our bodies and threw on a pair of sweats. Maren watched me in the reflection of the mirror and I enjoyed the lust in her eyes. Still, there was an innocence about her even after all the hardships she’d endured.
Leave Bane. Or you’ll end up in bed with her again.
The living room put enough space between us to allow me to clear my head. Stoking the fire, I added another log. So far the fireplace had been adequate to keep us warm without having to use the heat.
Sitting at the desk, I prepared to call Damien Wales. He needed to put his staff on high alert in case Eric and his team tried anything. I doubted Eric would go after a multi-billionaire who I previously worked for and had negligible interaction with publicly after I quit. I heard the shower turn on and decided now was as good of time as any to keep me from joining Maren.
I pulled out the phone and dialed the secure private line that rang into Damien Wales’ cell.
“Wales.” Curt as ever.
I switched to my security advisor no-nonsense tone. “Wales. Bane. Are you on your secure line?”
“Yes. Good to hear from you Bane. Alli and I were talking about having you over.”
My heart clenched as I thought about telling Wales the news. “I wish I could, but I’m calling for a reason that’s not pleasant.”
There was a change in his candid tone. “Are Alli or my kids in trouble?”
“No. But, I need all your staff to go on high alert and increase security to the top level.”
“What the fuck is going on, Bane?”
Here went nothing. “You know I came from a Black Ops group.”
“Yes, we never talked in-depth about it, but you said it was in the past.”
I blew out a small breath he couldn’t hear. “It was, until a traitor to the division I served in turned up alive. He’s supposed to be dead. I saw them execute him not five feet away. Right now he’s after me, but I can’t take the chance he’ll come after your family. Jeremy needs to create a false threat and increase security. There’s several scenarios I worked up he can choose from.”
“Just a second. Let me get Jeremy on it.” Damien spoke to Jeremy on another line issuing rapid fire commands. I’d enjoyed working for Damien. He always let you know exactly where you stood. I felt like an ass having ever put him in this situation. Damien came back on. “Bane, I need you to level with me. Do you think they’ll come after my family?”
“I don’t, but it’s not a chance I’m willing to take. Damien, I’m going to hunt those motherfuckers down and take care of it. After that, I’ll be disappearing to make sure that this can never happen to anyone who knows me again.” I knew it had to be done, but I hated leaving them. They’d been the family I never had but wanted from a distance.
The line stayed silent for a minute before Damien said, “I understand. All I ask is that you say good-bye. You’ve been like famil
y and saved the woman I love. You kept my past mistakes from taking away Alli. I almost lost her. If there’s anything I can do to help let me know. I’ll do whatever I can.”
“Thank you. I’ll get this taken care of. If you run into any problems, call this secure line.”
Maren came out wearing one of my long T-shirts that came down to her mid-thighs. She was beautiful. Long slender legs, tiny waist, beautiful brunette hair piled on her head. Giving me a smile and wink, she made her way into the kitchen. Damien’s voice brought me out of my mindless eye-fucking. “I’ll keep you posted. Bane, I don’t meddle, but everyone deserves to have someone they love in their life. I know from experience.”
Not everyone.
I wasn’t touching the last statement with a hundred-foot pole. “Thanks, Damien. I’ll keep you posted. Let me know if anything happens on your side.”
“I will.”
I hung up the phone and watched Maren as she moved around with easy grace. Perfect was one word to describe her. Deep down, I knew that I looked forward to enjoying the time we had together and letting my walls down. Keeping them fortified all the time was exhausting. Shaking my head, I pulled up all the information I could find on Hampton.
There was no doubt Security Branch was being monitored. Eric was a cold-hearted bastard, but he was smart. With Hampton’s wife being sick, I couldn’t drag him too far into this mess. I’d sent flowers to the hospital. It wasn’t hard to find where Felicia was being treated before all hell broke loose.
It was important to figure out how far this thing went since Security Branch had obviously been used to get me to Discrete Encounters.