Chapter One
Eli scoped out the building he was entering. It was second nature for him after being in law enforcement for most of his life. The fact he’d just about been killed and lost a friend because someone in his department had dropped the ball sharpened his senses and made him a bit paranoid. The sad and frustrating thing about the accident was they would never know who was at fault.
He put it out of his mind and looked around.
The lobby was done in muted shades of grays and tans and looked contemporary and classy but made a great welcoming first impression. The front desk was tall, putting the receptionist who was sitting there at his height of six-foot-three when he usually towered over people. Comfortable-looking chairs and carpet and with the light coming in through the enormous windows instantly ease him.
“My name’s Eli Turner. I’m here to meet the owners.”
The woman smiled. “Yes, they are expecting you. Take the elevator to the second floor and turn right. The receptionist will show you the way to the conference room.”
“Thank you.”
He ignored the curious looks he received as he made his way toward the elevator. Eighteen months ago, he’d been a handsome, grounded man. After the accident that left him scarred inside and out, he’d been trying to find his footing or balance ever since, and it hadn’t been easy.
Now it was his job to care for Kendra, Rick’s widowed wife. Although he knew he wasn’t responsible for the bomb that had taken his friend’s life and torn his own body apart, he still felt responsible for her. Every law enforcement agency had the same theory of looking out for the families of the fallen officers. It had been like that for decades.
The problem was he never liked the woman. From the first meeting ten years before, he could tell she was a conniving, selfish bitch, but Rick had never seen what Eli had. Eli had told him the first time his wife tried to come on to him. She rubbed herself against him and ran her hand up and down his chest, but Rick laughed it off and said she was just messing around.
After the third time, Eli had given up trying to get his friend to see the woman for what she was. Now that he was gone, Kendra had parked herself in his life and pretended to be a damsel in distress. He knew she was playing with him because there wasn’t anything needy about the woman. It was all about what she wanted.
Now, she thought he was up for grabs since Rick was out of the picture. It was all so fucked up, and it made him crazy. The woman had been attracted to him before the accident, but after it, he could tell she tried hard not to look at the scars on his face and neck that the explosion and flying shrapnel had left. He knew what she wanted. He’d finally figured it out. She wasn’t after him. She wasn’t after the man but the dynasty of his family.
He’d come from more money than the Kennedys, Gates, Buffetts, and Fitzgeralds had ever seen. Over two hundred years ago, his great-great-grandfather bought into the railroad that was just being built across the United States in the mid-eighteen hundreds, and then the land he owned in Texas had sprung massive amounts of oil.
His family had been billionaires before any other family in America, and it had just steadily grown over the years.
Eli never told anyone because their attitudes changed every time, not even his closest friends. But he knew Rick had somehow found out and, of course, had told Kendra. Rick just never got around to telling him he knew, but Eli could tell from the way he’d treated him the last few weeks of his life.
Since she’d found out, she’d been worse than before and reminded him of a barnacle that he hadn’t been able to shake.
Before Rick died, Eli rarely saw her, even though she tried many times to get him to hook up with her. Still. Now she called him several times a day and needed him for various things like fixing things in her house, getting her car serviced. It was all shit she’d done on her own before Rick died, but he knew it came down to having him close and trying to get him to care about her.
It would never happen. He’d seen her for what she was initially, and she’d only gotten worse over time.
He was desperate to get away from her, so he decided to look into a security company he could buy into and become one of the owners. The fact it was several states away was a bonus. He never needed the money, but he’d never been one to sit around, and he wasn’t interested in the family business of making more money.
The elevator door slid open, and he stepped on. He needed to stop thinking about it and get his mind in the game. The file he’d read on this group of men had caught his attention. They all came from law enforcement like himself and had made a multi-million-dollar security business in a few short years, and it grew more significant and branched out more every day.
That was why they planned to take on more partners. There was a definite need and demand for their services.
Eli would meet them and a few other men they were bringing in as potential partners. After, he’d decide if it was something he’d like or if he would want to move onto something different.
He noticed an older woman with attractive gray hair behind the reception desk as he stepped off the elevator.
“May I help you?”
“Yes, my name is Eli Turner, and I have a meeting with the partners.”
“Yes, sir. Come with me, and I’ll show you the way.”
“Thank you.”
He looked right and left as he followed her down a long hallway. Everything he had seen so far was high-end and classy.
She opened the door and stepped back. “Here you go.”