A feminine voice cut through the silence of the room, interrupting Owen’s response and Jordan turned his head toward the entrance of the basement when he heard the clicks of heels tapping against the floor.
A blonde woman came into Jordan’s view just as several masked men shuffled into the room, taking up one side of the basement, surrounding the woman, while his own men took the other side and surrounded him and Owen, their stances rigidly alert.
Frowning deeply at the new and unfamiliar intruder in the room, Jordan stood to his feet, pulling Owen with him before facing the unknown woman. His eyes remained glued to her face as he tried to shuffle through his memories for recognition of her while the woman was busy ogling his body, visibly undressing him with her gaze as she licked her lips.
He had never seen or heard of her before, Jordan concluded, and not having the patience to deal with an evidently horny stranger as Emerald’s safety was his top priority, Jordan quickly spoke.
“Who are you?” His voice was deep and firm, his tone sharp enough to cut through the woman’s horny display and his impatience grew when her eyes met his and a wide grin spread across her face.
Her eyes searched his and when she didn’t see an iota of recognition in his eyes like she had hoped, she pouted, her eyebrows drawn together in a mock frown. “You don’t remember me,” she stated.
Not bothering to keep the impatience and brimming anger out of his voice, Jordan replied, “I have too many enemies to remember each one.”
The woman hummed, her grin widening as she tapped the barrel of her gun against her cheek. “Fearless. I like that,” she purred, her eyes twinkling.
Clenching his fists tightly, Jordan blew out a heavy breath, expression hardening with each passing second he spent down here instead of upstairs with Emerald, protecting her. “So what is it?” his voice came out snappy and he was unapologetic about it. “Here to destroy me like the others?”
Relishing in Jordan’s barely restrained anger, the woman jutted out her hip, a thoughtful expression on her face as she continued tapping her gun against her chin. Choosing not to waste any more time with her, Jordan moved to turn around to head for the stairs, but halted when he heard Owen cock his gun.
He looked back to see why he had done that and his gaze met with the woman, who now had her gun pointed directly at him, specifically aiming for his legs. Narrowing his eyes into a death glare, Jordan remained still, leaving half of his body turned to her while the other half faced the stairs.
“You want to shoot me?” He scoffed, his tone one of mockery.
“Anything to keep you from walking away,” she retorted and Jordan raised an eyebrow.
“Even at the expense of your life?”
Seemingly undeterred by his words, she spoke again. “I am not here to destroy you. At least not exactly. Although since I would be taking away something very important to you, it might destroy you, but I could always fix you in my way,” she tilted her head, her voice seductive as a teasing grin crawled unto her face.
“Let’s just say I came to finally eradicate a worthless obstruction in my way.” The disdain echoed audibly in her voice.
With unease blooming in his chest, Jordan shifted slightly to face her again. He had his suspicions but just to make sure, with eerie calmness, he asked, “And I’m that worthless obstruction?”
The woman shook her head, licking her lips as she ran her eyes over his body again. “Far from it actually,” she met his eyes. “You’re more of the. . . reason behind the purpose.”
“You shot at me,” Jordan stated blankly.
“Like I said, anything to stop you from going after her. The worthless obstruction.”
With his suspicions finally confirmed, Jordan turned around completely to face her, now taking her as a threat, a threat to Emerald. “Who are you and what do you have against Emerald?” he snapped, his tone laced with unbridled fury.
That god-damned pout crept up on her face again. “We had such a fun night together and you really don’t remember me?” she murmured childishly, almost sadly.
Jordan ran his eyes over her frame this time, scrutinizing her before a look of utter distaste shadowed his countenance – one he didn’t bother to hide. “I had a fun night with you?” He said the word ‘you’ with a scowl and the woman finally frowned.
“What does that mean?” She asked, an edge to her voice.
“I’m certain my response would shatter your self-esteem,” Jordan muttered in a bored tone, his eyes blank and a gruff laughter suddenly resonated from one corner of the room.
Without turning her head, the blonde woman pointed the gun in the direction and shot. Twice. A scream of pain followed by strings of curses escaped from the orange mohawk woman as she slid to the floor, clutching her bleeding legs.
Narrowing his eyes at her action and the look of nonchalance on her face, Jordan studied the blonde woman, who had shot someone without so much as a blink of an eye. He didn’t want to imagine what she’d do to Emerald if she got hold of her.
Tightening his fists at his sides, his jaw clenched so hard, it ticked. No, he wouldn’t let that happen. He couldn’t.
A moment of silence settled in the room against the backdrop of expletives rolling off mohawk woman’s tongue before something akin to a screech echoed round the space; the blonde woman was laughing – more like cackling – at Jordan’s words. She continued for a few seconds before coming to an abrupt halt, all humour draining from her eyes.
“Believe it or not, sweetheart, there was a night. One night, unfortunately. Remember that night at the club, your club? It was a few months ago, J. K’s Niterie, in the posh parts of Manhattan, a lowly waitress who had been put in charge of bartender duty. A victim of circumstance.” She droned on dramatically, making pauses and hand gestures here and there.
“What the fuck are you spouting?” Jordan spat, already on his last nerve.
“The brunette at the club? The one you mercilessly dragged into your room? The one you unleashed your fury upon? Or rather, into.” She bit her bottom lip, her gaze lingering on Jordan’s crotch area.
Jordan’s brows were set in a firm, hard frown as he filtered through his memories before his eyes suddenly snapped up to hers, realization flashing across his orbs. He remembered now. He remembered how he had been clouded by immense fury and jealousy that had pushed him into acting so blindly that night.
Still staring at her, Jordan took in her appearance. He could only remember her face vaguely but he had remembered her having brunette hair, however the woman currently standing before him had blonde hair, one she currently held up in a tight ponytail.
She grinned broadly, looking nothing less than a Cheshire cat. “Remember me now?”
Frowning even more deeply, Jordan gestured towards her hair. “Brunette,” he murmured.
“Dyed it blonde, had a few piercings and tattoos done in places I’m sure you’d absolutely love to tast-”
“Look,” he interrupted, “I’m really sorry about that night. I wasn’t thinking straight, in fact, I wasn’t thinking at all, but no excuse is enough for you to pardon my behavior.” His face was shadowed by heavy remorse as he apologized. “If there’s anything you want – I really am sorry. I regret it. I regret it immens-”
“No, no, no, don’t apologise,” she quickly cut him off, taking a step forward but immediately halting when Owen raised his gun. “Don’t apologise. You need not have any regrets either. I actually enjoyed that night,” her voice turned sultry as she bit her lower lip.
Frowning, Jordan asked, “What?”
“Yeah, I really did enjoy it,” she smiled widely. “Since that night, no one has been able to sate my sexual needs, J. K. You were so rough, so strong, so hard as you yanked on my hair while you pounded into me from beh-”
“So what are you doing here?” Jordan cut her off, his stomach churning in disgust at her words and the crazed look in her eyes. “And the goons,” he continued, not giving her time to talk as he referred to the masked men surrounding her. “Did you hire them? ‘Cause last I remember, you were a lowly waitress.”
Jordan spoke harshly, wanting to neutralize any interest she appeared to have in him. He didn’t want her to think he wanted to have anything to do with her. He only wanted Emerald. Only her.
The woman scowled, finally showing an expression other than a teasing grin. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” she said through gritted teeth before her scowl quickly dissolved into a grin, excitement brimming in her eyes and surprising Jordan with her sudden mood swings.
“We could get a table set up with some scented candles and I could tell you all about it over dinner an-”
“Look,” Jordan interrupted sharply, “I don’t have time for this. If you have a score to settle with me, we can do that later, but for now, I have more pressing matters to attend to.” He dismissed her before quickly turning toward the stairs again, but this time, more than ten gun cocks stopped him from proceeding.
Facing the blonde woman again, he saw that alongside her, all her men also had their guns directed at them, but his own men weren’t slacking off either as they were already in position. He was the only one without a gun in hand, but that didn’t mean he was unarmed or powerless.
“Do not belittle me because I am a woman, J. K. I am as much of a threat to you as Carl Johansson is.” She spat, anger etched on her countenance.
“I do not belittle you because you are a woman, Miss. It’s because a certain someone needs me right now, and that certain someone is more important to me than anything and anyone else in the entire universe. She is even more important to me than my life is and there is nobody, no fucking person that could stop me from going to her. Not. Even. You.” Jordan spoke, a resolute and valiant glint gleaming in his chocolate orbs.
The woman’s eyes flashed with fury, the visible veins in her temples throbbing anomalously. “Bridget. My name is Bridget, and you will not go to her,” she said through gritted teeth, her hands shaking around her gun. “Not when I’m alive, you won’t!” she yelled, thick veins prominent around her neck.
She suddenly chuckled, malicious intent shimmering in her eyes as she gripped tightly onto her gun. “I want you, Jordan Kale, I want you all for myself! And if I can’t have you, no one can.”
Narrowing his eyes at her index finger wrapping around the trigger, Jordan discreetly reached for one of his daggers from its sheath. Curling his hand around the hilt, Jordan watched on silently, well aware of the tension in the room as his men faced off with hers and he against her.
After a moment of absolute stillness, the calm before the storm, all hell broke loose.
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