***LONDON’S POV***
I step out of the elevator car and Reaper is walking towards me. He hasn’t noticed me yet, thus, I take a curve to the coffee machine in the lobby and act like I want a cup of coffee.
My heart is beating hard because by now, Sinner will be asleep and if they notice I am not at home, that will be the end of my escapades. The worst is that I haven’t even left the building yet.
The elevator dings and from the corner of my eye, I see Reaper walk into it. Sighing, I grab my hoodie cap and put it over my head.
Flagging down a cab, I instructed him where I was going to.
“That’s a secured neighborhood, Ma’am,” the cab driver says as I sit in the car, looking away from the building.
“I know,” just take me there please,” I say relaxing just a weeny bit.
I was feeling quite uncomfortable, my chest was tight and no matter what I did, I found it difficult to be making such a movement like this one.
Zane would be sick with worry when he woke up to find me gone. The worst part is that I didn’t think of leaving him a note. Huh! I just hope I can make it back on time before he gets so furious at me.
The cab is silent, while the driver focuses on the road, my brain wanders off wildly. After about thirty minutes, the driver pulls up outside an abandoned mansion and nods his head. d
Paying him, I make my way to the mansion.
From the outside, it looked deserted, as if no one had been there for about two decades.
*
If I thought the outside was dilapidated, I was caught aback when the doors were open and the inside was warm and beautiful.
I feel like there were a million eyes watching me, that shit made me feel uncomfortable, thus, I turned around to leave but I heard the doors banging shot.
Foot steps start descending the stairs and my chest tightens as I turn around to see Michael Logan walk down the stairs.
“Look who came to the party,” he says, excitement filling through his voice.
“Where is the boss?” I ask as he closes the distance towards me.
When Mike tries to kiss me, I shift my head to the side and it lands on my cheek.
“Ever so full of fire, huh?” he teases as he leads me towards a room beside the door.
“This way, come and sit here. You need to relax,” he says chuckling.
He was right, I didn’t even know I was shaking so badly.
“Cut the crap, Michael, I want to know who is making the deal with me,” I bark out flinching when he approaches me.
This causes Mike to stare down at me with contempt, before nodding.
He walks away into a double door and from instinct I follow him.
When I cross the carpet on the door, I stand, feeling like a cold bucket of water had just been thrown at me.
“The fuck!” I grit out.
“Welcome, baby,” Oliver says standing and walking towards me.
I take a few steps backward and he shakes his head, removing his gun from his holster and pointing it at me.
I look at Oliver in shock, since the last time he tried killing me, I haven’t seen him again, and now, here was he, working with Michael.
“This is a trap,” I breathe in gently.
“And you walked right into it, baby. Isn’t it love?” he asks slamming me to the door and using his gun to stroll around my face with it.
“Don’t touch me,” I spit out, but the cold metal of the gun running through my face made me so scared.
“I’ve missed you too baby,” Oliver chuckles and everything goes black.
Fuck! I’ve been a fool to walk right into a hell of a hole. Zane wouldn’t find it funny when he finds out I am not where he left me.
That is, sleeping beside him.
**
***ZANE’S POV***
I yawn, stirring awake and pushing my hand to wrap it around London’s waist, I frown when my side of the bed is empty and cold.
My eyes spring open as a loud banging sound comes on my bedroom door.
Sliding into my shorts, I head to the door and open it. I am met with a terrified looking Reaper.
“What is the matter?” I ask wearing my T-shirt.
“We might have a little problem, Boss,” he says scratching his neck.
“That is?” I inquire, combing my fingers through my hair.
“I came in here a while ago and found a sleeping Sinner downstairs. He wasn’t acting right. I didn’t think it was normal until Micah and Jesse went to the coffee machine and drank coffee. They are all asleep downstairs,” he explains.
“Which means?” I demand raising my brows at him, urging him to tell me what I want to know.
“Well, it seems like they have been drugged,” he finished.
My eyes widen as I look back to the bed. My little wife wasn’t there and I was just about to ask him when he supplied the information for me.
“I think you should see this,” he mutters holding his iPad to my face.
London wearing shorts and an oversized hoodie walks out of the hotel and books a cab. She looks back at the hotel, the camera picturing her pretty face.
“What the fuck did I just watch?” I ask, in shock.
“Your wife going out? Do you think she was running away?” he demands raising his brows as he takes the tablet away from me.
“I don’t think so. Maybe she might be mad at me? I don’t know, we had a rough night yesterday,” I say, doubting if that was the reason she left.
“You punished her again, didn’t you? You need to stop putting your hands on your wife, Boss. That is abuse,” Reaper says.
I scratch my short hair, digging my fingers into them.
“I will never put my hands on her. That’s just punishment. And as her Daddy, I need to set the records straight and keep the slates clean,” I say.
I don’t have to explain this to Reaper but he needs to see the bigger picture here.
“You are fucked up, Boss,” he dares say to me.
I frown, anger filling my eyes.
Using my elbow, I pin Reaper’s neck to the wall and tighten my grip there. “Don’t make me snap your neck,” I warn.
“Because I said the truth? Cut me some slacks, Boss, you wouldn’t do that,” he taunts me.
Flaring my nostrils, I knew Reaper was only looking for a fight. I wouldn’t give him one.
“What are you now, are relationship counselor? Or are you fucking London too?” I bite out my eyes seeing red.
“You mean you don’t give your wife enough dick that she needs to go to her bestie to get it?” Reaper chokes out.
“Stop talking,” I warn, so close to knocking him out.
“Or what, Boss? It has been hours since she left now. You would think the men came in here and took her, but there really was never a time your wife was kidnapped was she? Your little wife always sneaked out, right before your eyes,” he shouts and I punch him straight in the face.
Reaper pushed me off of him, his face bleeding and I wanted to unsee the visual before my eyes.
Reaper is the most practical one of my men. He knew what to say, whether right or wrong, it just turned out to be the truth.
“You can’t get enough of the truth, huh?” he asks giggling.
“I said you should shut up,” I order.
I was going to end up with a heart attack if I couldn’t control my breathing, and the earth beneath my feet seemed to be shaking.
“I will be downstairs if you need me,” Reaper says turning to leave.
Shaking my head, I stop him. “No. Stay with me, please. We need to talk, I am sorry I hit you Reaper, but I need you if I want London back here,” I tell him, my eyes glassing over with tears.
London is the only woman who will bring out the worst emotions in my body, and I would let her do it with pleasure.
Sighing, Reaper leads the way.
“What happened?” he asks taking the sofa in my room.
I walk to the window, admiring the busy streets of Lake Side City. I knew I had to trust Reaper and doing so, meant me being honest with him, and also myself.
“London confessed to having met Michael at the restaurant. It was all her plan,” I explain, letting the emotion of betrayal sweep through me.
“Did you hurt her so much she wanted to leave you and drug your men?” he demands.
I shrug.
“She did use her safe word, it was then I had to stop,” I say.
I was a beast. I didn’t deserve my wife. Yet, she is all the light surrounding my dark side. There is so much evil on my side that I might consume the light from her.
“Do you think she left me?” I question holding my breath.
“No. But London isn’t dumb. What you need to learn is that she wouldn’t submit to you if you come at her with a rod,” he mutters.
“It was a belt. And I did attack her tender flash behind her thighs and knees,” I shrugged out.
“Do you want London or your baby to end up dead before you know you have to start treating that girl with love and patience?” Reaper shoots out.
“I am a brute, Reaper, I kill people for a living. I do illegal shit…” I trail off when Reaper stands on his feet, shaking his head.
“You love London, Zane. Now, you are just abusing your power towards her,” he shrieks out.
“Then, it’s too late. My wife has left me and I wouldn’t go searching for me,” I finish, nodding my head towards the door, signaling that he should leave me alone.
“Boss! Zane! Listen,” Reaper says.
“I apologize for even thinking that you might have had an affair with London,” I cut him off.
“You don’t have to give up now. She might be in danger,” Reaper mouths out, trying to put me back on track.
“Is there a time she isn’t? This is what she chooses, Reaper, I can’t fight her over such decisions,” I explain, walking away from the window.
This time, it was Reaper who grabbed me by the shirt and brought him close to him.
He smelled fresh and I stood, taller than him with just three inches.
“What if your fucking wife had been blackmailed, huh, Zane? Have you thought about that?” he asks.
I close my eyes, shaking my head in denial.
“It can’t be. She left on her own,” I try making sense of the matter.
“Just like all the other times she had run away. Something always pushes her away from you,” Reaper says.
For a bad ass assassin, Reaper knew how to always shock me.
“Don’t look at me like that, Zane. I just love having London here bringing the steam to your life and keeping you on the edge,” he says, grinning from ear to ear.
When I step out of his embrace, he let me do so, those emerald eyes of his warning me not to fuck this up.
“You could be making a mistake,” I tell him.
“She is your mistake now, Zane. You accepted the deal when Micah offered his baby sister to you,” he teases.
I laugh, knowing that was true. I had been hooked by London since the first time I saw her all battered up in the hospital. When my men told me they didn’t hit her. That was where I knew I had to protect her.
“Until she comes back, let’s hope she hasn’t run away from me,” I murmur, relaxing for a while.