Instantly Johnson’s body went limp, turning into a dead weight.
Axel let him drop to the tile floor, inwardly cursing the mess. He had to dispose of the body and clean everything up now. Including repairing the damage he’d done. Then he’d have to clean out everything Johnson had at the house. He couldn’t leave his own truck in the driveway too long either. No, he’d have to move it somewhere, then return here. He assumed that Johnson had his rental in the garage so he’d use that to dispose of the body. He’d just leave it in the trunk and set it on fire somewhere remote. Johnson would be found eventually but Axel didn’t care about that as long as it couldn’t be traced back to him.
All this was going to take time. Time he’d have to be away from Hadley. Which was why he’d wanted to do this the easy way. Dammit.
Hurrying back to the foyer, he put his battery back in his phone and texted her.
Still prepping for the interview. How’s the rest of your day going?
She answered almost immediately. Good, reading by the pool. Wish you were with me.
God, he loved how honest she was. No games for her. Wish I was too. I’ll see you soon though. Text you as soon as I’m free?
Please do. I’d like to do dinner tonight if you can?
I’m in. I’ll call you when I’m on the way. He didn’t plan to take her anywhere because he didn’t want her out in public. But he would be telling her the truth. Most of it anyway. That someone wanted her kidnapped and she needed to stay at her family’s ranch where she’d be safe.
Of course then she’d tell him to fuck off, though probably in nicer words than that. And that would be that. He’d lose her.
He told himself that it shouldn’t matter. That they barely knew each other. But it did matter. The thought of losing her now, when this little spark between them had just started… Hell. He felt like he was losing everything.
Chapter 9
—Honesty is better than sugar-coated bullshit.—
Axel reread the text he’d just seen from Hadley. Even though he knew it wasn’t going to change. When he saw the timestamp from a couple hours ago, his stomach tightened. She’d received a call from a vet she knew through her school program who’d asked her if she wanted to shadow a surgery. And she’d said yes. Because of course she would. She had no idea there was a threat against her.
He’d texted her back and hadn’t heard from her in ten minutes. It wasn’t like she owed him any response at all. Regret filled him, eating away at his insides like acid as he cursed his own selfishness. He should have told her. From the tracker he saw on her vehicle, she was close to her home so he was headed in that direction. She had to be okay.
His phone buzzed and when he saw her name, the relief that flooded his system was like a tsunami.
Headed home, surgery went well. Dog made it.
He texted back immediately. Good. I can meet you at your place if you’d like? He’d already been monitoring the cameras and hadn’t seen any movement. That was something at least.
Sounds good. I’m going to pick up Chinese food. Do you want some?
He didn’t want her stopping anywhere. I’ll grab it, just head home.
If you’re sure, I’ll take you up on that. I like orange chicken :-)
Got it. He paused, then added a smiley face emoji which was…out of character.
Fuck. He was telling her as soon as he brought the food over. He’d stop by, give her the food, and just get it all out. Then insist that she head to her brother’s ranch—and he’d follow her to make sure she got there okay. He was sure she wouldn’t balk at leaving her place once he told her someone wanted to kidnap her. But he still dreaded having to actually tell her, especially to her face.
It didn’t take long to get the food and get to her house. In fact, on his monitor he’d seen her arrive only two minutes before he pulled into the driveway.
Some of the tension inside him eased, until Brooks Alexander knocked on the passenger side door. Well, hell.
It took a certain kind of person to surprise him and Brooks definitely had the training. Axel unlocked the doors and remained still, keeping his hands visible as the other man slid into the leather passenger seat.
Brooks’s expression was dark. “Axel O’Sullivan. What the hell are you doing with my sister?”
No way to ease into this. “Someone wants to kidnap her. I’ve taken out two of the men hired. One more is still after her but won’t be arriving until tomorrow per my contact. I’ve been trying to figure out who hired them but no luck so far.”
Brooks blinked once, letting his surprise show for only a second. “How did you come by this information?”
“Do you know what I do for a living now?” He certainly wasn’t going to spell it out for the man but he needed to know what he was working with here.
“Yes.”
Okay then. That was…interesting. Not many people knew. But Brooks was not only trained, he had a lot of money and resources. He cleared his throat. “My pseudo-handler sent me her contract because, well, he didn’t like it. He thought I’d take care of it because…” Because it wasn’t the first time he’d stopped something like this. Axel didn’t say that though. “Anyway, when I looked at her familial relationships, I realized you guys had to be related because of your father.” Even if they did have different last names.
Brooks’s jaw tightened and he seemed to struggle for a long moment with what to say. “You still haven’t answered what you’re doing with her—what you were doing at my house. I know what you do but I also know you wouldn’t hurt a woman. So why didn’t you just come to me with all this instead of involving her?”
Axel turned to look out the driver’s side window at Hadley’s little house. It was adorable, like her. And it was probably the last time he’d see it in person. He turned back to Brooks. “I got to town as soon as I could and planned to warn her in person.”
When he didn’t say any more Brooks raised an eyebrow. “And?”
“And then I met her. I like her. A lot.”
Brooks’s jaw tightened again, and that clichéd statement that if looks could kill? Yeah, Axel would be dead. No doubt about it.
“She’s sweet and kind,” Axel added, as if he even needed to. Anyone who’d ever met her would know that. She was sunshine and rainbows, things he’d never had in his life. Things he knew he didn’t deserve. But apparently he was holding on to the insane hope that just maybe he could have her.
“Yeah, no shit. She’s not for you. Who does she think you are?”
“I didn’t lie about my name but she thinks I work in finance, that I’m in town looking for a new job. How did you find out about me?”
For a long moment Brooks didn’t answer and Axel figured he wasn’t going to. Finally the other man spoke. “You met a couple of my friends at the ranch. They ran your fingerprints—and one of them remembered you from an op after that. It took some digging, but one of my people put the pieces together and figured out what you do.”
The water bottle by the pool. He’d forgotten about it. And he’d wiped down everything else he’d touched. Damn it. That was the kind of stuff that got you killed. He was too distracted right now. Hadley did that to him. Running his fingerprints wasn’t something civilians did so that left a bunch of unanswered questions. Too bad for him he was pretty certain that Brooks wouldn’t answer shit right now. “Was that you at the marina?”
“Why’d you leave the FBI?” A blunt question from Brooks. Apparently he was going to ignore Axel’s other question.
All right, then. He turned away, not willing to tell the other man anything. “It doesn’t matter and the only person I’ll tell is Hadley.”