15
Patrena
“I’m fine. I’m with Tywin,” I told Lady A, talking low into the phone and staring straight ahead in an effort not to look or sound suspicious.
“Tywin? He’s that tall, fine-ass Vallin cousin, right?”
“Um hum,” I muttered, swinging my gaze in Tywin’s direction without moving my head.
“D and A were keyed up, geared up, and ready to go and shoot up the mall,” she said, offering me a status report.
Again, I swung my gaze at Tywin who was fortunately looking straight ahead. I was grateful he was deaf to the other side of my conversation because the LoC had gotten stirred up over the call Lady A had heard when I was in the bathroom with that lunatic.
“I don’t need sniper fire, suppressive fire, or the place set on fire,” I half whispered and half hissed when I heard Lady E in the background. “I promise, I’m fine. I’ll check back in later,” I said in a pleading tone, unable to hold back a smile at the thought that the ladies had my back.
“Okay, later,” Lady A finally conceded after a long pause.
A quick swipe over the surface of the phone ended the call before I set Tywin’s phone back in place on the dash. Although he wasn’t looking in my direction, I sensed he’d been keyed into me the whole time and prayed he naturally assumed I was talking to Mecca. The last thing I needed was to expose the Ladies. I had already done a bang-up job exposing myself.
I released a longwinded breath and took in the area we were currently rolling through. This was a different side to Tywin, one I would have never pictured because he didn’t fit in. This neighborhood, the luxurious houses, and expensive air surrounding the area drew my attention.
The street we drove along was lined on both sides with fat leafy trees that towered above us but not so dense that they didn’t allow you subtle glimpses of the multi-million-dollar properties behind strong metal gates and wooden fences. You weren’t getting past the shrubs without dialing up to the house to gain entrance into one of these places.
These weren’t houses. They were luxury estates, mansions that had house managers and groundskeepers. I focused my line of vision a distance ahead of us on a strong white picket fence that peeked from behind the thick canopy of trees and bushes. It appeared we were heading for the end of the line where the trees would lead into the mountainous view I had caught a glimpse of miles back.
Although the house wasn’t visible from the street we cruised along, I got the sense that it was situated on the other side of the tree-lined wall ahead of us. What other reason would Tywin have for driving us closer to a dead end?
The main road ran out, but a left or right turn would put us on a narrow, paved passageway along the tree-lined barrier. We turned right and crept along the roadway that you wouldn’t see unless you knew it was there or knew what to search for. As soon as we broke the tree line, a white brick mansion sitting up on a low-sloping hilltop began to fill my view.
The property stretched across multiple acres of land and was no doubt the crown jewel of the neighborhood. The mansion stood fierce and statuesque, expressing the grand state of its existence and hinted at the status of the owner and the people who resided there.
“Is this your house?” I questioned, surprised I had kept my curiosity at bay for as long as I had.
“Family home,” he replied. “It’s my father, the staff, and me. I own my own place, but other than Khane’s house, I believe this is one of the safest places in the city.”
“You don’t think it’s safe for me to go home?” I knew the answer, but I had asked the question anyway because denial about my status wanted to hang out in my head.
“I’d like for you to stay here until we get a lead on the men you encountered today. This house is guarded twenty-four hours a day. I’m confident that no one can locate you here, and if they are lucky enough to succeed, there is a two-thousand-square-foot bunker that they would need all branches of the military to break into.”
Dayem!
I nodded because I was impressed and overwhelmed by the update. If he were telling me this because he assumed I would protest staying with him, he obviously didn’t know me. I was dealing with a group of men hell-bent on snatching me in broad daylight. And there was also a mysterious tattoo etched on my body that I didn’t know the history behind.
If Tywin had decided to take me to my place, I wouldn’t have been crazy enough to stay there. I would’ve taken my ass to Khane and Desiree’s or Arjen and Mecca’s. After today, I would have knocked on somebody’s door and demanded they take in me and my travel bag.
Although I had planted myself in Denver, I also knew how to get lost if I needed to. I had been developing connections for years, getting women and children away from abusive men. I was also making sure I had a way to get myself out of the city, state, and country if my past ever came knocking.
Tywin stopped and waved at two armed guards standing inside of the gate. They were alert and had an unapproachable air about them that let you know they weren’t afraid to take someone out if they had to. They stared intensely while he punched a code into a little black box.
My observing gaze fell over Tywin. He was filthy rich. No, he was wealthy, which was many levels above rich and this place had the feel of old money like his family had always been wealthy. I had met Khane in the middle of a war and Arjen at his and Mecca’s wedding, so the Vallin family’s level of wealth hadn’t been a subject of conversation.
I usually did a decent job of matching people’s personalities to parts of their lives, but there was nothing about Tywin that screamed, rich man. None of what I was currently seeing was embedded in him or in his personality. Confidence, danger, and intrigue were what I had picked up on.
A glance around the inside of his car had me taking into account that we were rolling around in a black Aston Martin DB11. The car had more horses than a well-stocked ranch and it cost about four times what I grossed in a year.
Maybe the intrigue surrounding him and my attraction had distracted me from the details that were just now falling into my head. I recalled the cabin he and Khane had taken Desiree and me to the first night I’d met him. The place was obviously tech-friendly and my shocked senses had kept me from clearly seeing that it had likely been professionally decorated with expensive furnishings. The SUV he had driven me home in that night was a fully loaded Mercedes G-Wagon, and like Arjen and Khane, men were at Tywin’s beck and call.
However, he’d never given me the kind of vibe that he had it made, not like the picture unfolding in front of me now. Why was he choosing to put his life on the line like he had done today in that mall? His disposition was in stark contrast to his well-to-do reality. He could have been shot in the back protecting me.