A Real Bad Boy(30)

Willow



Work. I was due to arrive back today, but I didn't want to get out of  bed. It was nice and cozy, and I swore it was still warm from where Zach  was. But he'd gone to work ages ago and I just laid there, lounging in  bed.

I was so tired lately that I'd slept and slept. A side effect of being pregnant. At least that was what I was told.

I set my hand over my little bump. It was tiny, not even noticeable, but  I knew where it was. I wondered about the little baby inside. As small  as a peanut and completely mine. I smiled thinking about it. Thinking  about Zachary Murdock with a baby. Now that would be surprise. But he  seemed as intent on it as I was. He wanted this baby.

He wanted me.

The feeling filled me up so warm that I was flooded with tingles all  through my body. He was everything I wanted. I felt safe when I was with  him and I knew that he would never intentionally hurt me. He would  never raise a hand to me.

This is the way it should feel, I told myself. And it was the truth.

Work. I had to go. I had to. I forced myself up and looked around. I was  in his house, with his things. All of my clothing was back at the  little house. I'd have to go there to get ready.

My head was in the clouds the whole ride over. I was imagining my future. A future with him.

He had a good job, working locally.

He wouldn't tell me what he did beyond ‘personal security' but I  couldn't imagine it would be that much more dangerous than a security  guard. Rich people did tend to get mauled by paparazzi, but I doubted  whoever his client was had anything more serious than that. I shuddered  at the thought of Zach using all those tools up on the wall, but that  didn't seem to be his life anymore.

He was here, he was staying. It was all coming together.

I was so filled with fantasies that I'd completely blocked out most of  the drive over and was surprised to be in my own driveway. My thoughts  were really running away from me. I got out of my car and started  walking towards it, anxious to get an outfit picked out and stand under  the hot shower. I was still living in dreamland, and I knew it. A world  where everything was warm and cozy, where I didn't have to think about  work or money.

But the truth was, I needed to come back to reality. I needed to figure  out how to fit it all in. "I can do this," I said to myself as I stuck  the key into the lock. I can live this life.

It was the one I wanted.

"Willow," a voice called out from behind me just as hands grabbed and wrapped around me, pulling me to the ground.

I reached out. I tried to grab, I tried to kick, my legs flailing as I  slammed anything I could grab. I was successful with one kick, but it  wasn't hard enough. He just moved around me, dodged me.

Elijah. I knew it was him. Even as he shoved the fucking bag over my  head and scooped me up. It was the middle of the fucking day and he was  fucking taking me right here in my own driveway. Fuck this shit. I  wouldn't let it stand.

I screamed as loud as I possibly could until he wrapped his hand around my mouth and pinched me with his other hand.

Fuck.

I still screamed into it, the vibration of my voice hitting back at me,  forcing me to try and make noise out of my nose. It was weak, it was  pathetic, and it wasn't long before my throat was killing me, but I  didn't stop. Not for anything. I wasn't going to give up. Not when I  still had so much to do.

Elijah wouldn't control me. I thrashed against him, but his hold was  solid as he threw me into a car. I fell against the soft cushion and  scrambled. He was there in an instant, binding my arms and legs. Nothing  I did mattered. I couldn't escape his grasp. At least not yet.

Zach. Zach had to figure it out. He had to come for me. He had to.

No one else would.





Zach



"What is the status?" Leo said as he walked into the warehouse. He was  dressed sharply, like he'd just come from some high profile meeting.

"You out with your new friends?" I asked. Ever since we found out that  they were not involved, he'd been working with them to try and figure  out what they did do.                       
       
           



       

"It was just another game of cards. Seems like all they do is play  cards, drink, smoke, and talk about women. Nothing truly nefarious and  the business contacts are invaluable." He said it like he was still  disappointed in their existence, a sneer on his face.

Leo was the kind of man who concentrated on the good he could do for the  world, but he also had a series of businesses to run, and I understood  why he did what he did.

Above all, however, what he wanted was justice for his fiancée. It was  why he did the things he did, and it was why I'd admired him. The job  brought me to him, but the kind of man he was pushed me to work as hard  as I could for him. Especially when I wanted to be at home under the  covers with the mother of my child.

"Got a lead on where Miles is heading. When do you want to move out  against him?" I asked. It had to be smart, it had to be strategic; we  both knew that. But it had to be soon.

"When is he likely to have the smallest accompaniment of men?" he asked.

"According to Glitch's records, this afternoon, when he's at an office  up in Peachtree Center. One of his corporations is having a meeting and  he has a headquarters there."

"That shouldn't be a problem. I rent an entire floor there for a new enterprise I have going. Might be an easy way to sneak in."

"Right, but if we are planning to take him out, it might not be your best bet. Especially if you don't want to be seen."

"Oh, I'll take him out, but first I want to meet him. I want him to know  I'm coming for him. Let's call it a little introduction, if you will."

That was a fatal error and I knew it, but I wasn't about to tell my boss  he couldn't run shit the way he wanted. Not now. Not when we were so  close to coming into contact with this man.

I had my own plans for Miles Landis, and it was just going to have to wait. I'd have to play it Leo's rules, at least for now.

But this might just have been the opportunity I needed, even if it came at Leo's expense.





Chapter Nineteen



Zach



"I wondered if you would ever figure out what happened to your Hope,"  Miles said as he stared down at us from his desk. There was a grin on  his face that let me know we were being expected.

Fuck, all of Glitch's careful planning and we were still a step behind.

"Why did you do it?" Leo asked. "Why did you kill her?"

"It was a mistake, actually. I pick girls. Pretty girls. Girls that no  one will miss, or if they did, they wouldn't get publicized. Hope was a  pretty girl. Out partying by herself. It was easy. Too easy. I didn't  realize she was yours. If I did, I would have never touched her." He  looked down in disdain. "My girls didn't have any fancy ties. Working  class, middle class, the little people. It's easy to take them out."  Then he grinned. "But she squirmed and she screamed and she was easy to  play with. So easy."

I could see Leo, but I knew from the number of men surrounding us that if he made one wrong move, he was going to lose his head.

"But you are a reasonable man. You understand how business works. You  know my secret. I can't guarantee you will keep this to yourself, but if  you can somehow promise, I'll let you go. A man like you would be  missed."

"What would keep me from telling everyone that you killed my fiancée?"  Leo asked, his voice barely under control. It was shaky, just like he  was. He was angry. Madder than I'd ever seen him. I understood why. If a  man like that laid a fucking hand on Willow, well, I'd snap his goddamn  neck.

Because that was the piece of shit I was. Still, I grinned at the thought of it.

"No one would ever fucking believe you. My DNA isn't actually anywhere  in police records; no one knows it was me. No one has any idea. Why the  fuck would they expect me? You'll just discredit yourself and the  companies you own. Is that really want you want?" he asked. "More  importantly, is that what your investors want?"

He was talking business when the reality of the situation was so much  more personal than that. A man like Leo didn't give a shit about his  finances when it came to Hope, and that was where he was underestimating  the man.

But I wasn't. I knew exactly what kind of man Leo was and I'd already  taken the appropriate channels to make sure that this shit went down a  different way.

"We're ready," Glitch said, right into my earpiece. Everything was in  place. We just needed to say the words and it would be a go.

"So you killed Hope, but what about the other fifteen?" I asked. "And what about the person who was with you."

"I like to have some fun." He shrugged his shoulders. He wasn't going to  give anything else away and he had more manpower than we did.