CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

RYDER

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Savannah doesn't need me until midday as she's not leaving the house, so I'm meeting with Josh and Aidan this morning to debrief them on her stalker situation, as promised.

"So no more notes?" Josh asks, his ankle resting on his knee.

He's tanned as fuck from his honeymoon and looks happy. I'm happy for him but feeling a little triggered because my feelings for Savannah after seeing her in my bed with Max—the little kitty whore—are stronger than I anticipated.

I should have known. Nothing about Savannah Sinclair is ever simple.

I shouldn't have taken her home. I shouldn't have woke up with her in my arms. I shouldn't have tucked her up against me on the sofa and imagined spending my weekends with her for...

Ever.

Because that doesn't feel like it would be horrible. I could lie and say having her body on tap twenty-four seven is what I want, but that's a lie.

I want her giggles.

I want her little fingers sliding over my skin and asking me all her inquisitive questions. I want her caring eyes gazing into mine and to feel vulnerable enough to show her my pain.

And to be the man who tells her she doesn't need to hurt anymore. That I will celebrate her every win. I will fly her anywhere and everywhere and throw stupid rose petals into my hot tub filter, so it blows the fuck up...then buy a new one.

Because who cares?

She is way more important.

Why the hell doesn't anyone else see that?

Fucks me off. It fucks me off that I see it and I can't have her. And that we are both skirting around the subject and just accepting it.

Because we can't do anything else.

What I can do is protect her. That's why I'm in her life. Not to damn well fall in love with her. Or lose my mind, which...it feels like I'm doing.

I let out a breath and shake my head in answer to Josh's question.

"No more. Just the three so far," I reply as Aidan drops down onto one of the boardroom chairs with a coffee and slides mine over to me.

"'Sup?" Marshall walks in. "Jesus, you're tanned."

"No tan lines either." Josh smirks.

"Except from where your wife was lying over you," Marshall stupidly says, thinking he's clever.

Aidan and I lift our eyes to Josh.

Yup, he's going to lose it.

"Think of my wife naked on top of me again and I'll rip your balls off." Josh glares back.

Marshall stills and glances back and forth between us, looking a little ill.

I smirk at him, because watching him get fucked up is one of my favorite past times.

I like Marshall. I do.

But he's a Green Beret and confident as fuck.

So yeah, any time he gets taken down a peg or two is a good day.

"If it helps, she was wearing a bikini in my head."

Aidan groans and I chuckle.

"How did you survive this long, man?" Josh shakes his head.

"Charm?" Marshall asks.

"Nope," we all say simultaneously.

"Jesus. Drag the whiteboard over," Aidan tells him, trying to save his life. "We need to map out who was with her, where she was, and when the notes arrived."

I've done it in my head and mulled it over, but I'm not sure I can find a consistent pattern.

There will be one.

Unless it's random, which it could be.

"Who do we think are the main suspects?" Marshall asks.

"Nick," I say without hesitation, although I'm well aware I'm a little biased. Still, pays to be careful and interrogating him could be fun. "It could also be a couple of the members in her team."

"Names," Josh says.

"Luis, her assistant stylist. He's besotted." I shrug, because so am I. "Her PA, Briar. She has access. The talk show host, Selena Hendrix. There is no love lost between them and the woman has already acted dirty."

"Which also means it could also be unlikely," Aidan says, but nods at Marshall who is standing at the whiteboard with a marker. "Put them all down. We need to eliminate them once we prove there is no motive or have evidence they couldn't have been the offender."

Selena is a long shot, but I wasn't going to leave her out.

"And"—I sip my coffee—"her family has been demanding money from her. She's refused because of some toxic family history. So motive, but they don't have access to her changing rooms or the cash to be paying someone."

I've gone over this so many times in my head. They do have motive, but not the means. Around and around I've played this.

It might be worth one of our team going to visit them, but I'll need to tell Savannah and I know it will upset her.

"Who we talking?" Aidan asks.

"All of them. Mother, father, sister." I spin my coffee cup on the table. "It's super fucked up."

Josh watches me across the table.

"Did you bring her into the BHS offices for a workout yesterday?"

I nod.

He waits.

I don't answer.

"So three instances in one week. Nothing before then?" Marshall hums as he holds the marker pen against his cheek and stares at the whiteboard.

"What happened to her previous bodyguard?" I ask.

Jack, Savannah's driver, said he'd worked for her for over two years and, as expected, was sad the guy had passed away.

I just couldn't remember what from.

I hadn't paid attention.

Perhaps I should have.

"He had a heart attack..." Josh's voice trails off and he turns to Aidan.

"I'll see if there was an autopsy done," he says darkly.

My eyes dart between them, and I push away from the table as dots start to connect.

It's still a theory, but my heart is thumping and all I can think of is that Savannah is in the house alone with her team. It might be an overreaction because of my personal relationship with her, but I'm not fucking losing another woman under my protection.

Not again.

"Fuck. Are we thinking this person is dangerous?" Aidan asks as I stand as I pull out my phone.

"I'm not waiting to find out."

"Go with him," Josh demands as I stride out of the office without another word..

"Ryder. My car," Adian yells, jogging behind me.

"Answer damn it!" I yell when Savannah doesn't pick up her phone.

"I want a team together right now." We hear Josh yell as the elevator door opens.

"On it." Marshall starts barking out stuff.

We step in and I punch the buttons four times, but Josh tosses two bulletproof vests in. Aidan snatches them out of the air.

"Stay alive." Josh tells us and the door closes.

I hang up my second attempt at calling Savannah and let out a curse.

"Call the guards," Aidan says. "And stay cool. It's just a theory, Ryder."

Yeah, it could be.

But he wasn't in the Middle East when I watched a woman and child explode into tiny pieces of flesh, so I'm just fine preparing for the worst and being proven wrong.

"She's received three threats, and it's possible her bodyguard was murdered. So it's more than a theory Aidan." I grunt.

"Tap into the police lab database and see if there was an autopsy done on Savannah Sinclair's previous bodyguard." Aidan barks into his phone. "George...fuck, I don't know his surname. Josh has it. This is a priority."

I'm not paying attention to his call. I'm going through the list of suspects, wondering if it really could be one of her team or Nick.

Nick seems unlikely...

Unfortunately.

"Put this on." Aidan holds up the vest and I slide it on over my dark gray t-shirt as we step out of the elevator and walk over to Aidan's SUV.

Once my ass is in his passenger seat, I try her again.

Pick up, damn you, Savannah.

Then I try the guards.