“I’ve heard that before.” There was a tremor to the man’s voice now. Probably because he was high. “And no one has delivered!”
“Well you should have hired me first.” Max knew why the man-child hadn’t, of course. He cost more. But Max was also better at his job. Mainly because nothing was ever personal to him. He viewed things with a critical eye and didn’t make emotional decisions. Because the only thing that mattered to him was the bottom line. This kind of shit wasn’t personal to the people he kidnapped or killed. They were just part of a business arrangement. Except this client was a pain in the ass. Everything for Man-Child was about emotions. Entitled moron.
Even going after this target was stupid. But it wasn’t Max’s problem. He’d do what needed to be done, drop her off to the client, and get his money.
“I’m not going to be available for communication for the next twelve hours, possibly twenty-four.” Normally he didn’t go into that much detail, but a client like this one needed his hand held. Max could adapt to the situation.
“Why?”
He held back a sigh. “Because I’m going to be doing my job. Taking her is going to be tricky now that she’s gone to ground.” And he was assuming she had since she wasn’t at her place and her phone wasn’t traceable. “I’ll contact you when I’m in Miami.” And not a moment before because that was not how he worked. He might hold this guy’s hand a little, but he wasn’t going to cater to him. He was doing a job and that was all that should matter to any client.
“Fine,” the man snapped. “If you try to double-cross me—”
“You know my reputation.” He cut the fool off. “I always get the job done.” Of course there had been a few exceptions to that rule but the people he had decided to double-cross were all dead. So there was no one to ruin his pristine reputation. “Have you had contact with the others recently?” He needed to know if anyone else was going to get in his way. He’d simply eliminate anyone but he liked to know what he was up against.
“No. All three of them have gone radio silent.”
That was interesting. This guy had gone off half-cocked because his pride was injured and he’d hired men without the correct skill set to kidnap someone. Not complete amateurs but not the best either. Not that Max was the absolute best either. He knew his limitations and only took jobs he thought he could do. Hadley Lane was a challenge only because of who her family was. He’d been getting a little bored, so he was actually looking forward to this job. “If you bring anyone else in to this job in the next forty-eight hours, I will hunt you down and kill you. And I won’t be quick about it.”
The other man cursed then said, “Understood.”
The guy might be a fool but he wasn’t completely stupid, Max thought as he ended the phone call. Then he took the battery out. He’d toss it out the window once he left here. First, however, he wanted to check out this feed store.
He’d figured out that the girl must be at her family’s ranch. It was the most secure place and if he was hiding from someone, it was where he would choose to go. He hadn’t been able to find out much about the brother other than he seemed to have a few business interests but mainly ran the Alexander Ranch. The girl hadn’t posted anything on social media lately, so no leads there.
Her father, Douglas Alexander, was supposedly retired but still seemed to keep a finger in many of his businesses. And the man had just returned from Miami so Max’s money was on him being at the ranch too. Maybe because he was concerned for his daughter? Who knew. The only thing Max knew was that if he wanted to grab the girl, he had to get on that ranch. Because all three of the men that had been hired to kidnap her were now missing or at least out of contact. That couldn’t be a coincidence. So either Douglas Alexander had paid them off or he’d killed them. Which meant he might be waiting for a full-on attack.
Max was at the feed store because the Alexander Ranch got their deliveries weekly from it. And he was going to be on the next truck that made its delivery to them.
Sometimes the easiest way into any impenetrable fortress was the one that people tended not to pay attention to. Hired help often blended in. And he always used that fact to his advantage.
No one would expect this type of entry. And if he got this right, he’d get onto the ranch, get the girl, and get out. Of course, things rarely worked out so easily, but he wasn’t afraid to do what was necessary to get a job done. And collateral damage was sometimes a reality.
Chapter 18
—Life is too short for bad sex and shitty people.—
Axel strolled around the perimeter of the Alexander estate, looking for any holes in the security. Since it was after dark, it would theoretically be easier for someone to hide. Though maybe not so much, because of the thermal capabilities of the security cameras. He’d already reviewed the exterior camera feeds but he wanted to see where they were positioned. C-4, potentially Skye’s new dog, followed along with him, sniffing at everything but for the most part keeping up with Axel. She was a cute little thing, even if she was a mutt.
Once he’d done two sweeps of the estate, he knew it was time to go back inside. Even if he didn’t want to admit out loud that he was avoiding Hadley, he knew that was exactly what he was doing. Because the whole declaration he’d made about waiting to have sex felt pretty stupid right about now. He was trying to protect himself, he could admit it. At least to himself. But he also knew that no matter what he did, if she walked away from him, he was screwed regardless. Because he’d already fallen for her. There was no turning back at this point for him. It didn’t matter whether they’d had sex or not. And she was an adult. She said she wasn’t going to regret him. He had to trust that.
And he really, really wanted to be inside her right about now.
When he stepped inside the back door, a blast of warmth hit him. He was surprised to find her sitting there at the kitchen island, sipping on a glass of red wine.
Her entire face lit up with a smile when she saw him, revealing that little dimple that drove him crazy. “Did C-4 take longer than you expected?”
He pulled his gloves off then shrugged out of his coat and hooked it on the coat rack by the door. “I was actually checking out the security cameras. Your dad let me look at all the security feeds but I still wanted to see where they were set up myself. He’s got an incredible system here.”
And apparently they had sensors all over the ranch so if someone inadvertently triggered them while sneaking around, an alert went out to Brooks, Douglas, and their security team.
“So listen,” Axel said, feeling out of his depth. “I’m really into you.” God, he felt like an idiot saying it like this. What the hell was he trying to say anyway?
It looked as if she was about to respond when her dad stepped into the kitchen.
Douglas Alexander gave a warm smile to Hadley and a civil, reserved one to Axel. “Hey sweetheart, I see you’re taking advantage of the wine,” he said, smiling.
She smiled at her dad. “It’s the bottle you recommended and you are right, it’s amazing.”
“Would you mind if I steal your friend Axel for a few minutes? I wanted to talk to him about some security stuff.”
Even Axel knew that was a big fat lie and he was pretty certain that Hadley did too but she simply smothered a smile and nodded. Then she picked up her glass of wine and winked at him. “You guys can use the kitchen, I’m headed to bed.”
At the word bed, far too many images replayed in his mind and he had to shut them down fast. Especially since it seemed her dad was finally going to have some sort of talk with him. He’d been waiting for it. And he respected the guy for being concerned about his daughter. Axel knew that he was no prize. For the love of God, look at what he did for a living. If he had to prove himself, he would. He didn’t care how long it took.