Chapter 29

CHAPTER 29

Willow

After Durango returned to the bedroom last night, we fell asleep. I can't recall the last time I slept so soundly.

Until this morning when I was awakened by a scream. I jump up, looking for my clothes.

"Hey, it's okay. That was just Samantha," Durango says with a grin.

I'm confused for a moment until I hear it again.

"Yes, Axel!" she screams.

Oh.

"Come back to bed. It's still early," he says.

I climb in next to him and manage to fall back asleep. By the time we finally bring ourselves to leave the bedroom to find coffee, we're surprised to find Samantha sitting in the kitchen, ready for the day.

The moment she spots me, she grins. "Good morning, you two."

"Good morning. I'm surprised to see you awake," I say.

She frowns. "You know I'm an early bird." She takes a sip of coffee, and I can't resist.

"True, but after your loud sex session this morning, I figured you'd sleep in."

She spits out her coffee, and Durango coughs to cover his laughter. "Loud? You could hear us?"

I shrug. "The neighbors could hear you."

Her face flushes red, and I almost feel bad. I've never seen her get embarrassed.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I'm happy for you."

She nods, then glances at Durango. "Are you two talking again?"

Durango glances at me and doesn't give anything away.

"You could say that," I say.

"Good, because I think you two are good for each other."

Axel walks in the front door, and Durango jumps up, ready to attack anyone entering.

"It's me," Axel yells.

He's carrying two bags. "I grabbed some breakfast croissants from a place down the road."

"Thank you," I say.

Durango goes to the coffeepot and pours two cups, bringing one to me. I take it and give him a quick kiss.

Axel smiles. "I'm glad to see you two made up."

"And I'm happy to hear you and Samantha getting along so well," Durango says.

Axel stills and glances at Samantha, who is flushing red again.

"Apparently, they heard us," Samantha says.

Axel smiles. "Hope we didn't keep you up too late."

Too late? I heard them this morning. Wait, were they up all night, too? I'll ask Samantha about it later.

"We're good," Durango says, putting his arm around my shoulders.

Axel sits down after passing around the food. "We need to come up with a plan. Because we can't hide out here forever."

"Axel's right," Durango says.

"Durango, Harding called and said the guys who kidnapped you are still in custody," Axel says.

I pause with the croissant almost to my mouth. "Wait, the guys are in custody? Did they tell you where Tyler is?"

Axel frowns. "Shit. Sorry," he says to Durango.

Durango takes a bite of food and holds up a finger, indicating he needs a minute. I cross my arms and lean back in my seat.

"Someone is looking for me because of information I learned on my last assignment. I have since shared that information, so hopefully, word will get around and no one will want to bother looking for me again."

"Tyler had nothing to do with you being kidnapped?" I ask.

He shakes his head.

"And why didn't you tell me this?"

"I didn't want to add to your stress. It's not common for someone to follow me after an assignment, and I didn't want you to worry any more than you already have been."

"Not common?"

"It's never happened before."

I stare at the table as his words sink in. "Hopefully, word will get around?" I say. "That's not very reassuring."

"Our focus needs to be how to stop Tyler from coming after you," Durango says.

"I have some ideas I'd like to run by you," Axel says to Durango. "Let's go outside."

Since both have finished eating, they stand up and walk toward the back door.

"Hey!" I yell at them. "This is my life. I should get a say in it."

Durango walks back and gives me a kiss on my cheek. "You will. We just want to talk through all the possibilities first."

I roll my eyes but don't fight them. The truth is, I'm out of ideas on what to do, and they have dealt with worse men than Tyler, I'm sure.

"I should check in and see if my employer has reached out yet." Samantha grabs her phone. "Nope. No messages."

"Didn't they suspend you for a week? You have a few days left."

She sighs. "If they want me back, they'll call me in advance. If not, they'll wait and tell me the last day." She scrolls through her phone. "Holy shit."

"What?" I ask, then pop the last bite of my breakfast sandwich into my mouth.

"Tyler is dead."

I nearly choke but manage to get the food down. "Look, I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, but I'm not in the mood for jokes."

She turns her phone to face me. "I'm not kidding."

A news story is pulled up, and the headline reads, "Heir to the Bentley Fortune Shot Dead."

I grab her phone and scroll through the article. "Tyler Bentley was shot while walking in New York City. No further details have been provided." I can't believe what I'm reading. I hand her phone back and pick up mine, immediately searching for Tyler Bentley. Several hits and all state the same thing.

"Was he mugged?" I ask.

"Who cares? This is great news," Samantha says.

The guys walk in from the back.

"Tyler's dead," Durango says.

"We know," Samantha says. "It's all over the news."

Durango walks up behind me and reads the headlines from over my shoulder.

"Our guy, Trip, confirmed it and called us," Axel says.

I stand up, feeling the need to move. "All it says is that he was shot." I turn to Samantha. "He could have been mugged or maybe those thugs found him."

"Thugs?" Axel asks. He turns to Durango. "Does she mean the men you told me about?"

Durango nods. "Yes, those two men Tyler named in that video."

"Do you still have a copy of that video?" Axel asks.

"I do," Samantha says.

"Who all knows about it?" Axel asks.

"Just Willow and me. Well, Tyler knew, but he's dead now."

Axel and Durango share a look.

"I doubt Tyler told anyone about the video," Samantha says.

"How can you be sure?" Axel asks.

"Because Tyler was secretive. Besides, if anyone in his family knew, they'd be in charge of deliveries, not his niece."

"I agree," I say. "Tyler was all about having secrets. I mean, I never knew he had a family. I'm certain they never knew about me."

Durango pulls his phone from his pocket. "I'm going to ask Trip to dig in further and see if he can get a copy of the police report." He steps into the living room as he's typing.

While Durango is out of earshot, I take advantage to see if Axel will answer my questions.

"Axel, do you think someone is still coming after Durango?"

He frowns. "Right now, I'm not sure."

"So, he might still be in danger," I say.

"Durango shared everything he knows, and I understand that's being looked into. Harding will tell the men who kidnapped him that her agency has the information, too. Durango will be safe."

"What information?"

Axel smiles. "You know I can't say."

I sigh in frustration.

"Hey," Axel says. "The less you know, the safer you are."

I roll my eyes. "Plus, it's also classified."

He laughs. "Yeah, that too."

Durango walks back into the kitchen and sits at the table. "Trip is working on it now. Fortunately, we caught him at a slow time."

"If Tyler is dead, doesn't that mean we can go back to Queens?" Samantha asks.

"Maybe soon," Axel says. "We have to rule out that someone else may be looking for you."

Durango scoops up the wrappers our breakfast sandwiches came in and shoves them into the paper bag on the table. "We don't know who drove him to my place and was waiting in the car to pick him up. It could have been someone who might try to finish the job or an unsuspecting friend. Hopefully, Trip can find out who owns that car."

I jump up. "What if he can't? We're going to be stuck here for weeks, aren't we?" I glance at Axel. "No offense, your home is lovely."

He laughs. "No worries. I get it."

Durango's phone vibrates. He grabs it and smiles. "Trip just sent a report on that car," Durango says.

Axel steps up behind Durango and reads over his shoulder. "And it's good news," Durango says.

"What?" Samantha asks.

"The car belongs to an Uber driver. Which means Tyler likely didn't have an accomplice working with him."

"Great!" I say. "Now we can go back to Queens and everything can go back to normal."

Axel and Durango share a look.

"Give us some time to make sure it's safe," Durango says.

"Maybe one more night here is for the best," Axel says, staring at Samantha.

Well, I'm not sure if this is still about our safety, but I can't complain about having another night with Durango.

"I agree," Durango says. "It's better to be safe than sorry."