Page 116 of Beneficial Misfortune

Nate, Oliver, and Alex aren’t far behind Desmond, which is impressive considering he rode his bike here, but I’ve also seen how Nate can drive, so maybe it’s not that crazy.

Nate makes it to the desk first, and I can see the questions swirling in his eyes, but he doesn’t voice them aloud. There’s a time and a place for that, and this isn’t it.

No, right now we need to get Kat back to the house and probably looked at and get the asshole in the bathroom back to the warehouse.

“Daddy!” Addison shouts, running over to Nate with a huge smile before she launches into all the details of her day. She doesn’t get far before her little mouth pulls down in a frown, and she turns in his arms to look over her shoulder at Kat, who now sits on Alex’s lap, though Des is still right beside her.

“Mommy got hurt.” Her voice is so soft but full of sadness that it really pulls at the heartstrings. The same ones I would have sworn I didn’t have prior to the little princess.

“I know, Princess. That’s why we’re here. How about we head home and get her looked at? You guys had a long day. We can have Dale come make something and just relax for a little while. What do you say?”

Addison nods happily before giving him a hug. I look to Oliver, who stands just a few feet behind Nate. He’s been quiet since he came in, but his face tells me he’s deep in thought. He’s always been smart, a real brainiac. I’m still not sure what happened. Did they rush here because I wasn’t answering? And how did they know we would be here? Somehow, I bet he has something to do with at least some of those questions, but we’ll get to that. I look back at Nate to find him also watching Oliver, and I can’t help but raise a brow in question at him because if I didn’t know better, I’d say it almost looks like our little Oli might be envious of his cousin and father and the position they're in right now.

But that can’t be right…right?

Oliver might not have ever said as much, but he’s never really been one to seek out women, and he really hasn’t done anything since everything went down with Natasha.

Just another thing to look into later.

Clearing my throat, I pull both their attention back to me. “I have one of the issues handled. I’ll fill you in on it oncewe’re back at the house,” I say, careful to watch my words with Addison right here. Nodding toward the bathroom that’s still very much blocked by the vending machine, it only takes them both a moment to catch on.

“Hey, Princess, what do you say we go tell Uncle Alex, Des, and M-Mommy it’s time to go home? Daddy and Uncle Vince will meet us there.” Oliver smiles at her, and honestly, I’m surprised he only stumbled over the word once. Before she can answer, they’re moving towards the little group at the benches, and it only takes a moment before they all head out, leaving me and Nate to handle Trevor.

It’s probably for the best; should I need some help, which I don’t see happening, Nate would be my best bet. He might not use his training anymore, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have most of the same stuff I do buried in that mind.

“I know you saw the way he looked at her,” I say as we make our way toward the bathroom. Nate grunts as he helps me push the vending machine aside, and I know damn well it’s not because of its size. We’re big guys, and businessman or not, Nate is still in shape.

“I did,” he says after a second, nodding before he looks at me, and I know there’s more coming. “I saw it, and you saw it, but I’m not sure he’s quite ready for that conversation yet, so let’s just handle this for now. It’s easier.”

I can’t help but chuckle because he’s right, but he shouldn’t be.

Before I can push the door open, Nate catches my arm, and I stop to look back at him over my shoulder.

“He needs to be handled,” he says, his face deadly serious as he looks me in the eyes, and I know what he’s saying, even if he’s not exactly saying it. Nate isn’t one to use excessive force. He often will use basic scare tactics as needed or even buy people out if it’s required, but he isn’t one to ask me to kill people. I have done both with him asking and without, depending on thenature of the task, but it’s usually a last resort that he will ask it be done.

“They both do,” I say in lieu of agreement, earning a nod before he drops my arm, and we head in to grab the asshole who couldn’t take a hint. Too bad for him; it took too long for him to see the whole picture, and now it’s too late.

Whatever it takes to keep her safe.

Chapter 36

They're all worried, and I can’t say I blame them. Although, I feel they should be more worried about Addison than me, but what do I know, I guess.

I’d literally just convinced Nathan that they could go back to work, only for everything to go very, very wrong.

At some point on the way home, I’d fallen asleep and ended up sleeping through the night. I wake up in Nathan’s room, and although the clock says it’s six in the morning, he isn’t here. Instead, I find him, Desmond, Alex, Oliver, and Vince in his office.

I’d heard their voices before I knocked, but the second I knocked, the room went quiet behind the door.

“Come in,” Nathan calls, and I’d been about two seconds from just walking in anyway.

Pushing open the door, all eyes turn to me, and for a moment, I contemplate turning around and walking back out.

Each of the guys sits in a high-backed chair opposite Nathan, who sits at his desk, with the exception of Vince, who is leaning against the far wall.

Nathan pushes back from his desk, his chair easily rolling back on the hardwood floor. “Come have a seat, Kat.”

I stand still, unsure what he means at first; there are no open chairs. I’m going to go ahead and blame the fact that I just got up, not to mention everything that happened yesterday, for how long it takes me to make sense of what he’s saying.

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