Chapter 4

Chapter Four

THERON

Touching my lips to Emmie's, I make a promise to see her after I wake up from the night shift. She smiles, tilting her head back as she purses her lips and waits for another kiss. Dipping my chin, I touch my mouth to hers again.

“I’ll wait for you. You’re coming over to my place?” she asks in a whisper against my mouth.

I grunt. “I’ll be there when I can.”

Emmie purrs against my lips, then takes a step backward. She looks up at me through hooded eyes. Her lips poke out as she attempts to appear soft and sweet, maybe even a little innocent.

I know she isn’t innocent, though, especially with what we did last night in bed. Not an ounce of innocence is left in that girl. I touch my index finger to the tip of her nose.

“I’ll see you soon, lover,” she exhales.

She turns and walks away. I watch her go, then slip back inside my apartment, lock the door, and head back to the bedroom. Since I will be up all night, I need to get back to bed and try to get some sleep.

Grabbing a couple of sleeping pills, I set my alarm and swallow them, then lie down and wait for them to start working. Closing my eyes, I let my mind and my thoughts run, knowing that eventually, I’ll fall asleep.

And I do.

When my alarm starts blaring, I sit straight up, my heart slamming against my chest. Wide-eyed, I look around the room, trying to figure out what’s going on. I don’t even realize where I am; I was in such a deep state of sleep that I’m completely and totally discombobulated.

Once my breathing has calmed down, I shift my gaze to the side. I notice it’s after six in the evening. Touching my phone, I turn the alarm off then glide my palm down my face and back up, scrubbing it.

Clearing my throat, I throw my legs over the side of the bed and attempt to gain my footing. How in the fuck did I get to feel this old? My whole body aches as if I’m in my fifties.

Making my way to the bathroom, I take a shower in hopes of it making me feel less lethargic. Maybe I should have cut my sleeping pill consumption in half. It’s been a while since I’ve taken any, and I’m thinking whatever tolerance I had built up, I no longer have it.

I finish dressing, grab my laptop, and slide it into the bag, along with a thermos of coffee, and head toward the office. It doesn’t take me long to get there. This office is my second home. The building was our first purchase when we made our first real money.

It took us five years.

But we did it.

The six of us have built a security firm from the ground up, and we are the best in North Carolina and even the East Coast. We take jobs from Maine to Florida. And we’re known for being the best of the best.

Our calendar is always jam-packed. Every single day of the year, we have something scheduled. It’s everything we could have always dreamed of, especially considering where we came from.

Parking in my reserved spot, I shift my car into Park and open the door, then unfold from my BMW, grab my shit, and lock the car behind me. I make my way toward the private entrance of my office, lift my thumb, and wait for the beep and the click that unlocks the door.

Moving inside, I close it behind me, waiting for the lock to click into place before I continue to move through the building and toward the surveillance office, where I know everything is set up for us.

I use my knuckle to knock on the door. “C’mon in,” Boden calls out.

Wrapping my fingers around the knob, I push it open and step inside. He turns his head, and his eyes find mine.

“Merrick did us a whole goddamn solid,” Boden states.

Chuckling, I set my shit down on the table in the corner, then take a drink from my thermos before I turn to face him. There is a computer sitting on the table in front of him. The screen is on, and it shows an office.

“Did he get video, too?” I ask.

Boden laughs. “He sure as fuck did. Not much has happened yet, but I’m guessing once the club gets popping, there might be some action.”

“It’s a hell of a lot more entertaining than just listening,” I say.

“No shit,” he chuckles. “There’s a notebook there in case anything interesting needs to be jotted down. Nothing much has happened yet. Hopefully, this won’t take too long if this asshole was speaking in an open forum like that with Merrick just working away.”

Sliding my thumb across my bottom lip, I watch as he stands from his chair. I make my way to replace him in the seat and sink down. He gathers his things, then clears his throat as he turns his head to look over his shoulder at me.

“Agreed. We’re so close to this shit, Bo. I can fucking taste it.”

Boden smiles, although it doesn’t reach his eyes. I can see the trauma swirling around inside of them. I only know because that same trauma swirls behind my own eyes. We understand one another. We’ve lived through hell and somewhat come out on the other side. As best as we can, anyway.

“Me too, Theo.”

He leaves me alone in the room. Facing the screen, I tilt my head to the side as I begin to memorize the room. I take in every single thing that is there. Every knickknack, every little piece, everything. I need to know when something has moved.

It’s part of the job.

At least this one.

I’m not sure if it’s even valid, but there is nothing else to do, so it seems productive.

Making a few notes about the things in the office, I suck in a breath when I hear the door open and close. I lift my gaze, focus on the screen, and wait.

A man walks in. He seems around my age. I wait for him to walk around the back of the desk and sit down, but he doesn’t. Instead, he leans over the desk and riffles around on the seemingly thick black wooden top before taking a piece of paper.

Zooming in, I look at the paper. I can’t tell what it is exactly, but I do see that it’s an invoice of some kind. He leaves, and now the room is empty again. Leaning back in the chair, I let out an exhale.

If that guy grabbing an invoice is my only action tonight, it’s going to be a long goddamn twelve-hour shift.

LUCILLE

Yawning, I decide that I can’t investigate Emmie all day and then come straight to work. A girl needs some sleep. Flicking my gaze down to my phone, I smirk at the time because it means I can take a break.

And on said break, I’m going to research the Willow Club.

Picking up my phone, I touch the Safari app and type in Willow Club, owner. There isn’t much that comes up. Just a PO box and an LLC name. It says Echelon Nexus, LLC. Who the fuck is that?

Yet, there it is. Something else in this town that I’ve never heard of. I don’t see how this is possible, so I’m going to have to return my membership to the busybodies club.

My next goal is to find out who owns Echelon Nexus, LLC. It doesn’t sound like a real company. It sounds more like something that a group of people are trying to hide behind. Which, I think, could be the case.

I’ve never done so much research before in my life. The other girls who Theron brought to his bed were not complex in any sense of the word. I’m starting to wonder if this girl isn’t all she seems to be.

My initial search for the Echelon Nexus, LLC comes up with nothing. My break is over, so I’m not able to dig any deeper, but I keep the search up on my phone so I can try again when I take my lunch.

I’m going to find out who these people are and why she was at that club in the middle of the afternoon. There is a reason. I have no idea what that reason could be, but I’m going to find out because fuck Emmie Grant.

Fuck her for trying to be with Theron.

Fuck her for pretending to be demure and sweet.

I can tell she’s lying about everything, about who and what she is. I’m going to find out the truth. Because fuck her—again. Theron is and will always be mine. Even though he doesn’t see it right now, he owns me. I will not rest until I’m lying beside him every single night.

That is, not until my last name is Henderson.

Call me delusional. I don’t care. But there has never been anything in this life that I wanted and didn’t find a way to get. Theron is everything I’ve ever wanted. He might have slipped through my fingers a decade ago, but I will never let that happen again.

With renewed energy, I continue to work until my lunch break and am surprised at how quickly the time has passed. Smiling, I reach for the protein bar that I threw in my purse this morning and open it up.

Taking a bite, I continue my search for Echelon Nexus, LLC. It takes a bit of doing. Clearly, these people do not want to be found easily. I find it a bit comical, but at the same time, I can understand not wanting your business out there for the world.

However, this is a registered LLC, so I know they have to have the shareholder’s names publicly listed. They are somewhere, even if buried deep in the web. I’m seriously motivated to find out who owns this place now.

First, it was just because Emmie walked into the club like she owned the place. Now I want to know who is hiding the fact that they own said club and why. Willow Club is one of the hottest clubs in town. At least, that’s what I’ve discovered from my research.

If you don’t have a reservation for one of the upstairs VIP rooms, which cost more than I make in six months, then you have to stand in line for hours. Their social media is full of information, comments, and shares of people who have stood in line for hours just to get a glimpse of the inside before they’re turned away.

It’s fascinating to me that people would spend hours upon hours attempting entry to a club like this with no guarantee of success. I would definitely not be someone who was let inside. I am not someone who dresses overly sexily. I don’t wear high heels, and my makeup isn’t something that I spend much time on.

However, if I can’t get the information I need from this research, then I may have to play dress-up and figure out how to get inside that club. I figure that as long as my skirt is short enough, I should be able to slide right in.

Touching the arrow to go to the next search page, I tilt my head to the side as a website comes up that causes me to pause. It claims to be an LLC information page. I’ve never seen anything like it before, although I’m not an expert, so what the hell do I even know?

There are three names listed as owners of the LLC.

Callan Drake.

Ron Vale.

Asher Grant.

Grant .

There it is.

Taking a screenshot of the names for a later date, I decide to focus on Asher Grant. That is no coincidence. This man is related to Emmie. Now, I just need to figure out how. And I am going to do that.

After I finish work, I take a nap because I am starting to see double. I am so exhausted. Although at the same time, I feel euphoric, because I’ve had a break of sorts. And if this Asher is single, I may just need to do some groundwork.

I am beyond dedicated to this—to Theron. And I am willing to do anything to have and keep him. We’ve been apart for far too long. I am ready to keep him and never let him go again, no matter what it takes.

I will do anything.

And I mean anything .