Chapter Thirteen
She gripped his hand tightly with both of hers as they walked out of the building. He debated ordering a car or getting a cab to take them to Eli’s building, but he knew Lacey would have very little time to be outside until everything was taken care of. So, he decided to walk the nine blocks.
He was glad they’d done it because she was smiling when they got to the building. He bet she hadn’t been outside in a long time, even at her own house, and the fresh air did her good.
Cason gave the security guard in Travis’s building his name and then got them on the elevator.
“You won’t go anywhere, will you?” she asked.
“No. I’ll be here if you need me.”
The door slid open, and he saw Eli, Kane, Caleb, and Travis. It made him feel better that he wasn’t on his own in this, and these guys knew their stuff.
“She’s here,” Eli called out.
Within seconds, the girls ran down the hall. They stopped short of her and stared.
“Oh, wow,” Kinley said. “You look like Orphan Annie.”
Cason relaxed when they all surrounded Lacey, and she was smiling.
“Can she come back with us?” Kinley asked him.
“Sure.” He kissed the top of her head. “Go have fun.”
Her hand tightened on his, and she stared up at him. He could see the worry in her eyes, so he cupped her face in his hand.
“Baby, everything’s going to be okay. I won’t go anywhere. I promise. And remember, if you get scared or tired, just come out here.”
She exhaled and nodded and then let Kinley pull her down the hallway. He kept the smile on his face to reassure her every time she looked back at him before they closed the door.
“Another one bites the dust,” Caleb said.
Cason walked over to the table, set the file down, and looked up at Caleb. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s all good, man. I’m just saying you found your own little.”
He snorted. “We’ll see. What did you guys find out?”
For the next few hours, they went over everything they all found. The more they learned, the tenser it got.
“This is some fucked-up shit,” Caleb said.
Travis pushed his fingers through his hair. “I want to know what Judge Holloway and Nasir Daher-Akrahm’s connection is.”
Cason leaned back. “Fuck. I’m going to need extra security. We’ll never get her back if he gets his hands on her.”
Eli nodded. “I agree. They’d have her out of the country within an hour or less.”
“Do you have panic rooms in your condo yet?” Kane asked.
“Yes. I had that done before the kitchen, and I’ve shown her where they are and how to use the rooms.”
Cason wiped a hand down his face. “She shouldn’t be anywhere on the street. Fuck, we actually walked down here.”
Eli patted his shoulder. “She was in disguise. Hell, I wouldn’t have known who she was if she wasn’t with you.”
That made him feel a little better.
Travis got his attention. “I’ll have the car waiting for you in the basement, and he can take you straight to your building.”
“I’ll ride along for extra support,” Eli said.
“I’ll go, too.” Caleb turned to Travis. “Can you keep the girls here until we get back?”
“Hell, yeah. I won’t leave your place, Eli, until you guys are back.”
Cason felt real fear that he wouldn’t be able to protect her. “After we get back to my place, I’m not letting her out of the building, so if we have to meet. It will have to be there.”
“I’ll bring the girls by every so often, so she doesn’t get bored.”
“Thanks, Eli.”
Eli stood. “Let’s make lunch, and then you guys can go.”
Eli and Cason went into the kitchen and started making sandwiches while the other three men went over everything again.
Caleb whistled, and they all came running like a pack of puppies, making Cason grin.
They got the girls food first. Cason watched as they sat down on the living room floor around the low sofa table and had a picnic, and then the men worked on their own sandwiches.
Cason was packing up his file. “Are you ready to go?” he asked the men.
“Yeah. Let’s do this,” Caleb said and hugged Bella. “I’ll be right back. You stay here.”
She nodded.
“Wait, Lacey. You forgot your bag,” Kinley said and tore down the hallway and then was back and struggling with a heavy duffel bag.
“Thank you so much for everything.” Lacey hugged her and then the other girls.
“You’ll see them again soon, honey. The guys will bring them over to visit.”
“Okay. Good.”
Cason relaxed a bit when the group got down to the basement and into the car. Now he just needed to get her into the condo, and he’d deal with the security detail.
They made it to the back of his building without anything happening. The guys walked them to the back door, and he pulled out his keys.
“It wasn’t locked the day I came,” Lacey told him.
He tried the door, and it opened.
“Fuck, that’s not good,” Caleb said.