Page 83 of Dominic Powers Duet Box Set
Shadow chuckles lightly and shakes his head. “Whatever you say.”
“You know something I don’t?” I ask incredulously.
Shadow’s smirk is honestly the only answer I need, but I continue to stare him down and wait for a verbal response. “I know plenty, Mr. Powers. Like I said, I know when the show my cards and when to play them close to the vest. This is how I operate and it’s not negotiable. There’s a reason you hired the best. Take my advice and it’ll be fine. I will update you as soon as it’s time to update you.”
“You’re right in that I hired Steele Security because of the agency’s reputation. But this ismylife and if you have information, I deserve to know it,” I demand.
Shadow turns his huge frame to face me in a covertly aggressive manner. His voice deepens, the corners of his eyes narrow, and his gaze hardens. “I have contacts working on this case that you wouldn’t dare evenlook at, Mr. Powers. The information they get comes in small bursts and then we have to piece it together to get the full picture. Our intel says your life is still in danger,” he pauses for effect, and I am instantly filled with dread. “The most recent chatter saysSophia’slife may be in danger andsheis possibly the primary target at this point. So maybe you should get to digging that grave a little faster.”
“You just let me pull Tucker off of following her knowing that?” I bellow.
“My job is to protect you and yours. She’s not yours anymore, now is she?” he asks pointedly.
“That doesn’t mean I want her to be hurt or killed!”
“This is exactly why I don’t share information until I’m absolutely certain it’s time. Now you’ll second-guess your every decision, trying to determine what’s best for everyone else. You’re already distracted. You didn’t even notice that we’ve been sitting in the hotel parking lot for the last five minutes. Leave the security concerns to me and you focus on running your business,” Shadow demands.
He’s right–I wasn’t paying attention to anything else. I know I won’t be able to get this veiled threat against Sophia out of my mind now. Jumping out of the car, I call Tucker’s phone. It rings several times and goes to voicemail. After several more attempts, my aggravation has increased one thousand fold.
“Tucker!” I yell into his voicemail. “Call me as soon as you get this message.”
Pacing back and forth in my hotel room, I oscillate between worry and anger. I’m worried that something has already happened to her and I’m angry that I care about it at all. She sided with my fucking enemy. She helped to try to bring me down. Then, she filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against me and has been demanding an extraordinary amount of money to keep it out of court and out of the press.
Cheryl, my lawyer, has reminded Sophia’s lawyer many times that there is a motion filed for a gag order. We both know that won’t mean shit if it goes to court, though. It’ll be a media circus and every aspect of my life will be torn apart for the world to make snap judgments. I have no doubt that my whole lifestyle will be called into question and used against me by those who don’t have a clue of what a real Dominant/submissive relationship even looks like. I’ll be portrayed as an overbearing, heavy-handed man who uses my position and authority to abuse women.
On the off chance that Christine, my housekeeper, has heard from Tucker, I quickly call her. “Christine, have you seen or heard from Tucker? I can’t get him on the phone.”
“No, I’m sorry, Mr. Powers, I haven’t been to the lake house since you told me to stay away. I haven’t heard from him. Should I go to the house and check?” she asks, her voice filled with concern.
“No, I’m sure he’s fine. I’ll try him again later. Thank you, Christine.” We say our goodbyes and I sit heavily on the bed. When everything became so dangerous, I told her to stay away from the lake house. I didn’t want her to become collateral damage in anyone’s attempt to get to me.
Shadow and I have dinner together, but in my distracted state, I’m not very good at keeping up my end of a conversation tonight. Tucker still hasn’t returned my call and that has never happened. Never.
“Would you stop worrying? This is exactly why I didn’t tell you anything. Tucker is a professional and he’s fine. He’s just busy and he’ll call you when he can. He knows you’re with me and that you’re safe. Whatever he has on his hands is his priority right now,” Shadow scolds.
“Have you talked to him?” I ask.
“Have Itoldyou that I’ve talked to him?” Shadow retorts.
The waiter approaches and I order bourbon on the rocks to help me relax and take the edge off. There’s nothing I can do from here anyway. Two more days of installation hell and I can turn the rest of the project over to my team to handle from here on out.
On the way to the worksite the next morning, I don’t mention anything about Tucker not calling me back. Shadow isn’t concerned about his whereabouts so I drop it for now. Tucker and I will have a major conversation when I get home. There’s nothing I can do with my cellphone locked up in the security office all day anyway.
Friday afternoon is finally hereand we are on our way back to the Knoxville airport where my private jet is waiting. My cellphone’s ringtone breaks the silence of our ride. Glancing at the screen to decide if it’s a call I want to take or not, I can’t hit the green button fast enough when I see the name.
“Tucker! Where the fuck have you been?” my voice booms through the car.
“Dominic,” Tucker tentatively says and every muscle in my body freezes as I wait for him to continue. “It’s Sophia. Do you want to know?”
Do I want to know about Sophia? That’s a loaded question if I’ve ever heard one.
“Tell me,” I state and ready myself for the worst.
“I’ve been with her for pretty much the last twenty-four hours. This is the first chance I’ve had to call you back. I followed her to Harrison’s house night before last, like I told you. Right after we hung up, she came running out of his house and he was close behind her.
“By the time I got to them, he had already beaten her up pretty badly. He was hitting her, tearing at her clothes, and choking her, but I knocked him off of her. He took off on foot just before the police arrived. He had another girl tied to the bed inside the house. That girl had been drugged, most likely with ecstasy or maybe even ruffies.
“The ambulance took Sofia to the hospital and they kept her for a twenty-three hour observation. There’s no permanent damage, but she has a lot of facial swelling and bruising. She’s not supposed to talk for the next week or two while her throat heals. I dropped her off at her condo yesterday.”
