Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Jada

I looked up at the towering building and wondered for the fiftieth time if I was doing the right thing.

Candace had texted me yesterday, and I needed to get my ducks in a row before she started demanding information from me.

I rode the elevator up to the sixty-eighth floor, watching the numbers light up one by one. “What is it with these Banachi men and tall buildings,” I muttered under my breath, the irony not lost on me. The elevator chimed softly, and the doors slid open, revealing a sleek, modern waiting area.

The room was immaculate and professional, with sleek leather chairs arranged in a tasteful pattern around a few glass coffee tables. A large, mahogany reception desk dominated one side of the room, where a well-dressed receptionist sat, her headset on as she handled a call with practiced ease. Her tailored blazer and neat hairstyle spoke volumes about the level of professionalism expected here.

I stepped out of the elevator, my heels clicking on the polished floor, and took a tentative step towards the seating area. Just as I turned, I collided with a tall, handsome man who seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“Whoa, there,” he chuckled, steadying me with a firm grip.

“Oh god,” I stammered, feeling my face heat up. “I’m so sorry. I’m not really sure where I’m going.”

The man stepped back, his smile warm and inviting. “Well, then maybe I’m the man you should be bumping into since I know pretty much everything here.”

I tilted my head to the side, scrutinizing him. Could this be Leo? I had never met him before, but I knew he was older.

“Uh, well, I’m looking for Creed. And probably Leo and the other minions,” I said, slapping my hand over my mouth the moment the words left my lips. I couldn’t believe I had just said ‘minions’ out loud.

The man laughed loudly, throwing his head back with genuine amusement. “Minions, huh? I think I can help you with that.” He extended his hand. “I’m Apollo.”

I shook his hand, still mortified but relieved to have found at least one of the people I was looking for. “Nice to meet you, Apollo. I’m Jada.”

Apollo nodded, his eyes twinkling with amusement. “Creed’s office is just down the hall. Follow me.”

I followed Apollo through the maze of corridors, each one more elegantly decorated than the last. As we walked, Apollo filled me in on the layout of the office.

I really had no clue what the Banachis did, but they obviously needed this big ol’ building to do it.

We stopped in front of an open door, and he herded me inside. “Here is Creed’s office. I’ll go get Leo. I’m the only other minion in the office today,” he chuckled.

Creed looked up from whatever he was engrossed in on his desk as we entered.

“I found her in the waiting room looking for Leo and his minions,” Apollo announced with a grin. “I figured I would bring her to you before she started asking Beatrice where the minions were.” He lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Beatrice is great at answering phones, but she’s not the brightest crayon in the box. I’ll be right back.”

Apollo left to go find Leo, and I stood there, feeling slightly out of place.

“Jada,” Creed called, his surprise evident. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

I pasted a smile on my face, trying to appear casual. “Uh, well...” I hesitated, unsure of how to explain myself. Ever since Candace’s text, I’d been paranoid about saying anything out loud, fearing she could somehow hear me. I really needed to get a tin foil hat. “Can anyone hear us in here?” I asked, my voice lower.

Creed tipped his head to the side, clearly puzzled. “What?”

The question sounded dumb to my own ears, but I pressed on. “I mean, do you sweep for bugs?” I cringed, realizing how ridiculous I sounded. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to figure out how to talk without sounding like I was losing my mind. I opened my eyes and sighed, “I sound crazy.”

Creed’s expression softened, and he stood up, coming around his desk to stand in front of me. “Jada, what’s going on?” he asked gently.

“I’ve got the head minion,” Apollo chuckled.

Apparently, Leo’s office wasn’t very far from Creed’s.

I stepped back from Creed and off to the side.

I had been right about Leo being older. He wasn’t at all ancient, but he was well into his fifties. His silver hair was perfectly combed, and his clothes screamed businessman. Well, to be honest, he screamed mafia boss, but I doubt that was the look he was going for, though it was fitting.

They all screamed mafia.

Creed didn’t take his eyes off of me. “What is going on?” he asked.

I looked around and wrinkled my nose. “Uh, well, I’m not really sure where to start, but if you could tell me if you sweep your office for bugs, that might help me.”

Apollo tipped his head to the side. “Sweep for bugs?”

I still sounded crazy, but now it was in front of Leo and Apollo.

“There are no bugs in our offices, Jada. What are you going on about?” Leo asked.

I might as well just get it all out there and let the cards fall wherever they may. “Uh, well.”

Apollo sat in one of the chairs in front of Creed’s desk and waited eagerly.

Leo looked already upset, and Creed just looked concerned. He was probably wondering if I was off my rocker and if he should take back his offer of faking a relationship.

“Do you know how you said Candace was around the bookstore a couple of weeks ago?” Might as well just get right to it.

“I told you not to worry about that,” Creed cut in. “It was probably her way of letting us know that she knew where Tatum worked,” he explained.

I shook my head. “You’re wrong. She was there for me.”

Leo shifted toward me. “What do you mean?”

“Why didn’t you tell me when I told you?” Creed demanded.

I held up my hand. “Can I please just tell you everything before you get mad?” I knew they were going to have questions, and I just figured I should tell them everything right off the bat. “Candace came to see me. She walked into the bookstore and locked the door. She told me who she was and that she had an offer for me.”

“Fucking Christ,” Apollo muttered.

“She wanted me to find out any information I could about you guys and report back to her. If I did what she said, then I wouldn’t die,” I confessed.

“This happened weeks ago, and you’re now just telling us?” Leo demanded.

“We’ve been looking for her, and she literally walked right into your bookstore and didn’t tell us.” Apollo shook his head.

“I couldn’t,” I insisted. “She told me if I even whispered a word about this to you guys, she would…hurt my family and then me. I wanted to tell you guys, but I was scared.” I looked around the office. “I’m still scared. I don’t know how she does it, but she knows things. Things that she wouldn’t know unless she was close or she was listening.”

“That explains you babbling about sweeping for bugs,” Apollo sighed. “Thought you were going crazy, Jada.”

“There’s no way in hell our offices are bugged. If they were, Candace wouldn’t have recruited Jada to spy on us for her.” Leo sat in the chair next to Apollo.

“Which I didn’t do,” I pointed out. “I only saw her that one time in person, and yesterday was the first time she contacted me.”

“What did she say yesterday?” Creed asked. “Let me see your phone.”

“I left it in my car,” I explained. “And it was just a text. She said she knew I was hanging out with you and that she would be in touch. I didn’t text anything back. I was freaked out that she knew about us because she texted right after Tatum and I talked. I can’t figure out how she knew about you. She has to be watching me, or she’s listening.”

“It’s probably both,” Apollo grunted. “Damn, I hate this bitch.”

“I’m sorry,” I called. “I wanted to tell you sooner…” I trailed off.

Leo slammed his fist down on the arm of the chair. “Why can’t we get ahead of this bitch?” he shouted. He stood abruptly and paced back and forth.

Creed eyed me closely. “That’s everything?” he asked.

I nodded. “Swear to freaking god, that is everything. She came to the bookstore and then texted me yesterday. You can have my phone. I don’t want the dang thing. I plan on getting a new one.”

“Probably won’t matter,” Apollo sighed. “She’s probably tapped your line.”

“That means she could hear me even when I’m not making a phone call?” I asked.

Apollo nodded. “With the connections Candace has, I’m sure that is possible.”

Leo stopped pacing and held up his hand. “Don’t get a new phone. Don’t do anything different than what you’ve been doing.”

“What?” Creed asked.

Leo’s eye connected with mine. “You are going to do exactly what Candace wants. You’ll meet, text, and call her whenever she wants. You’re going to tell her what we’re doing. We’re going to give her what she wants. Tell her you’re dating Creed and that Creed is falling in love with you. Tell her what he ate for fucking breakfast. You’re going to tell her everything.”

Apollo pointed at me. “Uh, I’m assuming you mean Jada is going to tell her everything we want her to tell her.”

“Uh, isn’t there something else we can do?” I asked. I had been hoping that once I told the guys about Candace, they would come up with another plan. “If she finds out that I told you guys, she’s going to kill me.”

Leo shook his head. “She’s not going to find out. She’s not going to know what hit her until she’s dead and in the ground. I’m not fucking around with her anymore.” He pointed at Creed. “I don’t care what it fucking takes, but you better make her believe you are in fucking love with Jada. If that means you getting fucking married and popping out a kid, do it. This is the first time we are going to have a leg up on her, and we are going to make it fucking count.”

Uh, what? Did he just say we needed to have a kid if it would bring in Candace? Hopefully, they caught her before it came to that.

Leo turned to me. “You will tell Creed the second Candace contacts you. If you hold back one single bit of information from us, Candace will be the least of your problems.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Creed called. “I think you need to turn that on Candace and not Jada. She didn’t ask for any of this.”

“Yeah, but when it fell at her door, she didn’t tell us,” Leo grunted.

“She threatened not only me but my family. What was I supposed to do?” I cried. “I hadn’t even met any of you when she came to me. I haven’t even told her anything.”

“And the only thing you are going to tell her are the things Creed tells you to.” Leo turned on his heel and headed to the door. “This is our only chance to get Candace, and no one is going to fuck it up for us.” He stormed out and slammed the door shut behind him.

My shoulders slumped, and all I wanted to do was cry. I had tried to do the right thing, and all I had done was piss off Leo.

That was a hell of a first impression.

“I’m gonna go try to calm him down a little bit.” Apollo stood and nodded to Creed. “You good here?”

Creed nodded.

“And I’ll call Princeton to let him know what’s happening.” Apollo glanced at me. “I think you’ve got enough on your plate right now. Don’t be too hard on yourself, Jada. Leo being pissed off is way more about Candace than it is you,” he offered.

I smiled stiffly. “Sure,” I whispered.

Apollo left with less anger than Leo had and softly shut the door behind him.

Creed had his hands in his pockets and just stared at me.

“Please tell me you’re not mad at me,” I whispered. “I’m terrified out of my mind that Candace is going to hurt me the second I walk out this door.”

“If I hadn’t asked you to pretend to be with me, would you have told us about Candace?” he asked.

“I was hoping I would have never met any of you, and I never got any information to give Candace,” I confessed. “I was hoping what little information Tatum gave me wouldn’t be enough for her, and she would find some other way to get to you guys.”

“And Candace would have just let you go scot-free?”

I threw my hands in the air. “I don’t freaking know, Creed. I didn’t ask for any of this. It’s not like I’m the one who went to Candace and offered to rat you guys out to her.”

His eyes dropped to the floor. “Fine.”

“Fine?” I asked. “How is any of this fine?”

He turned and moved back behind his desk. He clicked a few buttons on his computer and then shrugged on his jacket. He moved toward me and grabbed my arm. “Let’s go.”

“Go? Go where? What are you doing?”

His hand glided down my arm and threaded his fingers through mine. “We’re going to fall in love, Jada.”