Brandon’s POV
Everything wore an orange tint as I rode through the busy city streets under the bright New York sun. The fight with Robin last evening was foremost on my mind, even more so the image of him standing there, smirking and slick, like he had some prior claim over Natalie.
The way she hemmed, didn’t tell him in clear words to bug off-it niggled at me. I mean, couldn’t afford to think about it. I had a meeting to get to. Deals to finalize. An empire to protect.
As I pulled onto the highway, I looked in the rearview-of course, out of pure habit more than anything. There was a black sedan, riding an inch too close for my taste. I sneered, then rinsed it away to nothing. I lit it and hit the gas to get around a truck going slower. The damn car did it too-in perfect tandem.
I tensed, hands tightening around that HUMMER steering wheel. I wasn’t some kind of rookie with this game-at least not when I was being followed. The adrenaline rush to my heart increased, and I laid my foot a little harder on the gas. So did the sedan, always staying right on my tail, it seemed.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath. My mind raced. I didn’t have time for this crap. Whoever was tailing me didn’t know with whom they were tangling. But the fact that they were so ballsy as to follow me in that manner-only one thing it could be: Arlys. She was the only one ballsy enough to pull off a stunt that reckless.
The next came, and I turned off onto a less crowded road. The sedan followed. Now I was sure. And that familiar rush of anger and resolve came back; she was dancing a dangerous dance, and in just a minute, she would find out just how dangerous it could get.
Just enough to be going on with. Right turn, gun it up a side street, then another and another; I knew them roads better than anyone, it was my city. Further and further behind with each twist, until finally I lost it in the mirror. I slowed when I knew I was clear of them.
I let out a relieved breath, took a small moment to steady myself, and then pulled into a parking lot. I needed to think, needed to regroup. Yet, no sooner had I reached for my phone than the display lit up with Aldo’s name, and then it rang.
“Hey,” I said into it, trying to keep my voice steady though my heart was still mid-beat.
“Brandon, listen, something bad went down,” Aldo’s voice was deep with an undercurrent of regret. “We’ll have to cancel the deal.”
I froze, my mind clicking into immediate attention. “What the fuck do you mean, Aldo? I was about to close today.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he cut in before my warning awkwardness would take root. “But it’s different now, Brandon. I cannot really explain over the phone, but…let’s say I’m under a lot of pressure at the moment.”
Realization cracked down on me like a ton of bricks. “That’s Arlys, isn’t it?” I said in a furious snarl. “She got to you.”
A pause at the other end, and that was enough for me. “No choice, Brandon,” he said, still in that begging tone that grated incontestably. “I had no choice.”
“I thought we reached an understanding,” I returned, voice a slush of cold anger barely contained. “You know the risks when you became a part of this with me.”
“I mean, you got no idea the kind of squeeze she puts,” Aldo stammered. “She’s threatened my family, my business-I can’t afford to take that kind of risk.”
My jaw clenched, anger spilling out of control. Arlys was cinching that noose uptight, and I was running out of wiggle room. “All right,” I choked the words out of my mouth. “But don’t fool yourself into thinking that I’m going to forget about this, Aldo. You cross me again, and it won’t be her you’ll have to worry about.”
“Brandon-”
Before he’d even gotten to the middle of the next sentence, I had hung up the phone. I growled in frustration, slamming the receiver down toward the passenger’s seat of my car. This whole thing had gone way out of hand: Arlys making her moves, tightening her grip-and now she was on the people I cared about, the people close to me, Natalie.
I had had enough. Finally, I reached for the phone and dialed down to her number in the contact list. She picked up on the very first ring, her voice oozing with that saccharine sweetness I had come to detest.
“Brandon,” Arlys purred. “What a surprise. I didn’t really expect to hear from you so soon.”
“Cut the crap, Arlys,” I barked, having zero tolerance for her stalling. “I know it’s you. You had someone tail me this morning, and now Aldo’s backing out of our deal. I won’t ask again-stay out of my way and stay out of Natalie’s way.”
She laughed again, but this time, the sound was cold, and mocking, and set a shiver running down my spine. “Oh, Brandon, you are always so dramatic. Why would I have someone tail you? Besides, I warned you about Aldo’s deal but you chose to throw it away. You cannot honestly expect me to stand back and do nothing while you deprive me of what belongs to me.”
“Nothing does. Not me and definitely not Natalie. If you think you’re scaring me off using these baby things, you are sadly mistaken.”
“Oh, I’m not trying to threaten you,” she said in a voice dripping acid. “Just reminding you what I’m capable of. But don’t fret Brandon; I have no interest in your precious wife. I want you, as long as I have you, she’ll be safe.”
I ground my teeth, fully aware of what she meant. “If you ever touch Natalie, then by God, I’ll get you back in ways you’ve never imagined.”
There was a pause, and in some way, I could just picture that evil grin that would be slithering across her face. “For that, I’m counting on it,” she purrs softly, the deadly edge deep inside her voice. “But just remember, Brandon-if I want her gone… she’ll be gone, and you can’t do a freaking thing to stop it.”
That line was dead by then, those last words replaying in my head like a death knell. I did not do anything. I just sat there, staring at the phone. A vile sense of foreboding settled in the pit of my stomach. She wasn’t playing any game-she was as serious as could be, and much more now than a minute ago, Natalie was in very real danger.
She needed to be kept safe from whatever it was Arlys had in store, though one does not know how to fight a person like Arlys, who seemed not to be controlled by any type of rule and held any sort of limits. This was an appearance of a power game, and this-well, this was another thing I forgot. Now, she zeroed in on Natalie, and it was as if she were using her for some kind of pawn in this vindictive, twisted game, and I just couldn’t allow that.
I turned over the ignition. My hands were shaking, and fear along with fury bled through my veins. My mind was racing so fast that I could nail down a pretty tight plan. I needed to be smart, to outmaneuver Arlys before she could play her next card. More than anything else, Natalie just had to stay clear of this mess.
I gunned the accelerator, and the car roared back to life, heaving me from the parking lot. I had to get to work, to piece together a way to counter Arlys’s moves, and hope it wasn’t too late.