Page 35 of Untamed Protector

He cocks his head, letting out a sigh as he listens to her reply. “Lena, this time it’s serious. This is not some stupid chasing game at my clubs and writing shit in the papers. You’re in danger now—both you and your friend, Lexi. You’re not safe at home. Go to the hotel and we’ll fight about it later. I need to go now and finish with Gabriel.”

We see him rolling his eyes as he listens. “Yes, I know you can handle yourself. I’ve seen you fight back. But that night in the club, my boys only wanted to remove you, not to hurt you. They’ve been told to be careful with all our guests, even the unwanted ones. Relax, we’ll send someone over to fix your place. You and your friend are safe. Please stop fighting me on this, okay? Oh, and by the way, you sound sexy when you curse.”

Dominic forces a smile and hangs up. “She’ll cooperate. She just loves to pick fights with me. But she sounded scared. And angry—she said they broke a family heirloom she had from her grandmother. I didn’t catch what it was exactly. The point is, she threatened to chop the balls off whoever did this. If she’s got that much energy and can still make sense despite hitting her head, then she’s alright.”

Lena might be safe for now, but Lexi’s in the eye of the storm. This maniac is after her, and while Mike, my toughest guy, is with her, Lexi’s a wildcard. Knowing her, she might pull something crazy and try to get to Lena herself.

I look up her number and call. It rings a bunch of times, but no answer. What if she left it somewhere again and took off? I’m about to hang up and call Mike when I hear her pick up.

“What do you want?” she says, cutting straight to the chase. Usually, I’d make fun of her for not saying hello first. But this is too serious now. I need to get her to be more responsible without scaring her off.

“You’re with Mike, right?”

“You want to talk to Mike? I’ll put him on. But he’s got his own phone, you know. He even gave me his number.” She pauses. I hear her walking away, and then Mike takes over.

“Hi, Gabe. Everything’s fine here.”

“Okay, good. So that you know, I’m going to break some bad news to her and she might want to take off. Her friend Lena got attacked. She’s fine; she has a minor head injury. Just make sure you lock the door and keep a close eye on Lexi. Put her on again, please.”

Seconds later, I hear Lexi. “Yes, boss.” God, she loves to push my buttons. She could use a good spanking. Mental note for another time.

“Lexi, I need you to listen to me. There’s been a break-in at your house. Someone vandalized the place and left a scary message written on the mirror. When Lena came home and found them, they shoved her against a wall. But she’s fine now. Don’t worry.”

“Where’s Lena now? Why isn’t she the one calling me? Is she really okay, or are you lying to me?”

“She’s fine, I told you. Look, I had a guy from my team outside watching the house. He saw the attacker leave and went in to check on things, and he found her. Lena’s packing up; she’ll move into one of Dominic’s hotels so she won’t be alone. She has a minor head injury, but it seems like just some bumps and bruises.”

“What if she has a concussion? Head injuries are serious; they can cause brain damage, a skull fracture, or cervical spine and neck injury. I’m taking her to the hospital right now.”

I can see why she thinks this could be serious, but it’s not. “Lexi, please listen. She didn’t get a concussion, just a little scrape on her head. Please don’t leave the building until I get there. Stay close to Mike, alright? Tell me you understand.”

“I need to talk to her,” Lexi says, hanging up before I can add anything else.

Lena is her best friend, so I get it. Mike knows what he has to do, and I need to go back to the guys.

“Lexi’s okay. Lena and her are talking. This thing is getting a lot more serious, guys. Damien, let’s consider a wider range of suspects than we originally thought. We need to tap into our network.”

“Let’s see what our main leads are. Who wants Lexi gone? Gabe, we need everything you know,” Damien asks.

“My gut tells me this could be a criminal organization tied to the port area. Peter whisked Lexi away from her quiet country life, where she was working in one of his factories, wanting to use her photographic memory and data skills for an investigation. He got her to sift through data he got from shady sources and favors from gangsters he does business with, and then he went to the cops with what she uncovered. They raided the port, made some arrests, and even got the older Petrov’s nephew. Lexi saved Peter’s company, but now she’s a target. They went after the Petrovs, and those guys have claws everywhere, even in the police, Lexi thinks.”

“Unfortunately, that’s true. There are a few rotten apples there,” Damien confirms. “I also heard about the raid they pulled off two weeks ago. I was down south for another operation, so I couldn’t be there. Give me twenty-four hours, and I’ll dig out everything the police know. If the Cartel put a price on her head, I’ll find out.”

“I’ll have my guys ask around some dealers who owe me. If her name pops up anywhere, they’ll tell me,” Dominic jumps in.

Damien raises an eyebrow and pouts. “That’s new. What do they owe you?”

“Damien, come on. You’re on the government’s payroll. You know I can’t tell you. It’s nothing illegal. I stepped in and saved one of their kids, a young girl, from a nasty fight. She was injured, and I took care of her until her parents arrived to pick her up. So, they owe me one—no dealing in my clubs or hotels. That’s all I could do. Unfortunately, they’re very well connected—they’re all over the region, so they have eyes that the police will never have. Let’s use them for a good cause.”

“I don’t trust them, Dom. They’re scum. Cruel, twisted assholes who play with people’s lives like a sick game. They calculate, manipulate, and spin their webs of lies with this cold precision that makes you want to scream. So, yeah, I don’t want to know any more about this stuff. I trust you.”

Dominic runs a straight business; no drug money gets near it. But the problem with staying clean in a dirty game is being constantly on guard. He hired an entire army of security guys to keep the riffraff out. Some of his guys also work for me when needed.

“Gabe, you can reach out to your clients, right?” Damien continues.

“I’ll need to make a few calls or meet with some of the more trustworthy ones. I need to see their faces when I ask them.”

By now, I work with almost all the big companies in this city. My teams are everywhere, which gives me access to all the major buildings, doors, construction sites, parking lots, and surveillance cameras. I’ve got the entire city in the palm of my hand. There are some clients that even Dominic and Damien don’t know about. Extremely wealthy and influential individuals who entrust their lives to me and my team every time they walk out of the house or travel. Eventually, someone will drop a piece of information that will lead us to the predator who’s after Lexi.

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