Her blood chilled at Kevin’s angry threat. She couldn’t even think about something happening to Jay. “Don’t threaten me,” she snapped. “Or him.” In a fair fight, Jay could take Kevin without breaking a sweat. But she knew all too well that Kevin never fought fair.
“You’ve built a cushy little life for yourself and if you want to keep it, you’re going to help me. If you don’t, people you care for will…” He trailed off, letting her fill in the rest. “Come on, Ellie. I don’t even need you for much. I just need the layout of the building and the guards’ schedule. I know there are multiple shift changes during the day and all I need is the evening schedule.”
“That’s all you need?” She knew her question would sound like she was bending.
“For now. After a meeting I have Monday I’ll need more, but that’s it right now. It’s easy, Ellie baby.”
“Don’t call me that,” she snapped, the endearment making her skin crawl.
He snorted. “Whatever. You gonna get me what I want or do you want to let innocent people get hurt?”
She paused, as if she was thinking it over. Finally she let out a long sigh. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do, but no promises. And I’m holding on to your money. I don’t trust you not to kill me.”
He started to respond, but she cut him off. “Save it,” she muttered. “Can I reach you at this number?”
“Anytime, day or night,” he practically purred, making her want to reach through the line and punch him.
“I’ll be in touch when I have something.” She disconnected before he could respond and met Jay’s gaze.
Once again his look was hard, unreadable. “You did good,” he murmured before standing. As he did, Vadim, Wyatt and Hayden all stood. She just wanted to hide now that her past with Kevin had officially been exposed to people she admired. Jay looked down at her. “I’ll be back later, but Iris will be here with you and we’ll have two guards stationed outside and four waiting across the hall.”
She wanted to ask him more questions, but knew now wasn’t the time. Instead she merely nodded and watched as he silently left with the other men.
Chapter 9
“Not that I’m not appreciative, but why didn’t you go with them?” Ellie asked Iris. She knew the Serafina’s head of security was very hands on with anything security related to Wyatt or the hotel. And Ellie figured this counted in a big way.
Iris shrugged as she watched her carefully. Ellie felt like she was under a microscope as the tall, slender woman answered. “Wyatt will fill me in on everything, and…he wanted me to stay and check up on you. He didn’t want you to be alone right now and he knew Jay was too stubborn to sit this out.”
Surprise must have showed on Ellie’s face, because Iris continued. “You shouldn’t be surprised that Wyatt and the team care about you. You’re more than just an employee.”
Ellie swallowed hard. “I feel like a fraud half the time.” Saying the words out loud felt freeing and terrifying at the same time. She’d grown up with practically nothing and while she might not have had her sister’s talent, she’d been driven enough to graduate with honors and make something of her life. None of that made up for the fact that some days when she looked in the mirror she felt like she was playing dress up. Like the expensive shoes she bought herself or the nice makeup were all things to cover up who she truly was. A girl from the wrong side of the tracks.
“You know Wyatt and I grew up together?” Iris asked.
Ellie couldn’t believe she’d said that out loud to the other woman in the first place so she welcomed the change in subject. “Yeah.” That was pretty much all she knew though. Her boss was very private, especially when it concerned Iris.
“Did you know he was dirt poor because his alcoholic father blew every dime on whiskey?” Iris let out a surprisingly savage curse about the man Ellie knew was dead.
She shook her head. “No. I knew he grew up with very little because of that interview last year.” A business magazine had done a feature on Wyatt because of how far he’d come. From a small, Georgia town not even on the map, he now owned real estate all over the globe and was a billionaire with a virtual empire.
“Well, poor is probably an understatement. People in town called him white trash and they called me a lot worse. My mom and I were the only Native Americans living in that backwoods place and considering my mom latched on to any man who would pay her bills, you can imagine what they called me and her.” Iris let out a bitter laugh.
Ellie wasn’t sure how she should respond or if she should. “I…had no idea.”
Iris shrugged. “I don’t generally talk about my past and you know Wyatt doesn’t either, but it’s not a secret. I’m not ashamed of where I come from. It doesn’t define who I am.” Those dark, knowing eyes probed Ellie’s and it belatedly registered why Iris was telling her all this.
Ellie held the other woman’s gaze, stunned by the personal revelations. “I understand what you’re saying.” And she wanted to get to that place where she didn’t care about her past, didn’t care what people thought when they looked at her. The truth was, she didn’t have anything to prove to anyone. She just had to convince her brain of that.
Iris started to respond when the sound of the suite door opening made them both pause. Iris held a finger to her lips as she silently stood and withdrew a weapon from the back of her black pants. She moved to the edge of the hallway that led to the entryway then peered around. Immediately she relaxed and turned back to Ellie with a grin. “No threat.”
A moment later Sierra rounded the corner of the hallway with a pastry box in her hand. Ellie really hoped there was chocolate in there. Sierra handed the box to Iris and made a beeline for Ellie. By the time she’d stood, the sweet chef was pulling her into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re all right. I can’t believe someone blew up your car.”
Ellie hugged her back, not realizing how much she’d needed it until now. She’d come to adore Sierra in the short time the woman had been with Hayden, but she’d already liked her long before that. “I’m okay. Well, good enough,” she said as they pulled apart. She couldn’t say she was fine when someone was threatening her and those she cared for.
Sierra grinned and turned back to Iris who’d already opened the white box and was eyeing the contents hungrily. “If Iris hasn’t eaten everything I’ve got some treats that will make you feel better.”
“Sounds good to me. Maybe we can get into some of that wine?” Ellie nodded hopefully toward the marble-topped bar near one of the covered windows. There were bottles and bottles of expensive stuff and Ellie wasn’t ashamed to admit she could use a little vino to take the edge off her nerves.
“None for me because I’m on duty, but you two have at it. Definitely on the hotel,” Iris said. Then as an afterthought she said, “But that means I get more snacks.”
Ellie laughed, the feeling bubbling up in her chest strange yet freeing. She’d been so worried that Iris and Sierra would judge her or look at her differently because of her past and now that she knew that wasn’t true, she felt almost liberated.
Hours later, Ellie said goodbye to Sierra and Iris—who had a security issue that simply couldn’t wait—and headed for the large bedroom. No word from Jay yet, but the suite was still being guarded and Sierra had a personal security guy escorting her home until Hayden could break away from whatever it was he was doing with Jay and the others.
Though Ellie wanted to stay up and wait for Jay she was emotionally exhausted and knew she needed to be on her game the next couple days. Whatever plan they were putting into motion she had no doubt it would affect everyone and she wanted to be ready. After stripping off her clothes she didn’t bother digging through her suitcase as she climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to her neck. Barely a minute passed before she let sleep pull her under.
* * * * *
Jay leaned back against the cushioned swivel chair as Vadim dimmed the lights of the unused conference room they were all in. Right n
ow the team for this was small; him, V, Wyatt and Hayden. Jay knew it would get bigger once things were in motion but for now it eased his mind that the group was small and one he trusted implicitly.
Angling his laptop—that looked as if it had the capability to launch a shuttle—toward one of the blank white walls, V plugged a small device into the back of the computer, hit a few buttons, then smiled in that tiger-like way of his as a 3D image projected into the unhindered space. It wasn’t projected onto the wall but Jay understood why he’d needed the blank background.
The Serafina popped up, the entire building a skeleton of blue lines, showing nothing of the architectural genius that had gone into creating the hotel.
“Hold on,” V murmured as he typed in commands. A moment later the blueprint of the whole building fell away as he zoomed in on a room in the second level of the hotel. The room where the Dragon Collection was.
A moment later the outline of a display case appeared. That wasn’t part of the actual architectural plans, but Jay knew V had added it for their purposes.
“As you all know, this room is basically impenetrable because of these security additions.” He sounded smug, likely because some of them had been his idea. “Even if someone wants to come in through the vents, the alarm will be triggered. This case,” he marked it with his laser pointer, “is even protected underneath on the slim chance someone tries to come up from the floor below. The entire ceiling of that floor is rigged with sensors.”
“V, we know all this.” Wyatt sounded mildly impatient, a much more subdued version of what Jay was feeling.
He wanted to get to the damn point so he could get back to Ellie. She’d looked so lost and embarrassed as she called her ex and when he’d called her baby, Jay had seen red. But she’d done well. Now it was up to them to bring this guy down. Jay just wanted to end the asshole’s life, but knew that wasn’t the right way.