Page 43 of Protection for Nichole

Was she making things up in her mind? The weather wasn’t good enough to sit outside like this dude. She’d thought about going over and confronting him, but not after what had happened on her last assignment. This guy keeping tabs on her scared her. It made her think he wanted to do something bad.

A shiver snaked down her spine as she entered the building and turned back, seeing his eyes on her. No doubt, the man was watching her. Before, she’d thought she was being paranoid, but she wasn’t.

Someone was watching her. Thank God she was moving. She wouldn’t be here after she left for lunch. There wouldn’t be any coming back this way to do one last goodbye. After lunch, she would head directly to the airport and wait in the security area.

For a moment, she wondered if she should call Jesse, but what could he do other than worry? This wasn’t a big deal. She would be fine. Just one lunch, and she wouldn’t be in Chicago.

Chapter 38

Devon receivedthe call close to four in the evening and hopped on a flight the next morning. His man was watching, complaining loudly about the weather, but he was there. A few miles outside the airport, traffic slowed to a snail’s pace. He couldn’t believe this was real life. He’d found her, knew exactly where she was, and couldn’t get to her because of some weird traffic shit.

“Could you go a different way?”

The driver glanced over his shoulder and rolled his eyes. “There ain’t no escape from traffic. This is Chicago.”

A commuter train screamed past, and anger filled him. He should have taken public transportation, but he hadn’t stepped foot on the subway in years, and he wasn’t about to start now. So what if he was running out of money? Selling Nichole off would net him a few million. There were some very rich men who wanted her. He’d shopped her around to a few of the bigger players who liked high-class concubines. They were very interested in getting their hands on someone like Nichole.

He understood why they wanted someone like her. Breaking a woman like Nichole would be a challenge. His assistant Alissawas the type of woman who understood giving a few blowjobs to the boss was just par for the course. Nichole would fight it for months, maybe years. Eventually, with a lot of work, she would learn how to treat a man. It would take time, though, and he wasn’t a patient man. He wanted his bitches to get on their knees without a fuss.

Finally, after more than an hour stuck in traffic, they made it to the street where Nichole lived. He tossed the driver some money and took off, not giving a tip. The guy had been too sassy, giving him lip about traffic. If someone had talked back to his dad like that, the man would have ended him.

Nichole was to blame for everything, and he was going to make her pay. He saw the guy they were paying to watch her place. Devon headed straight to him, ready to get the end game started, and put that bitch down like the dog she was.

“Where is she?” Devon asked.

“Fifth floor. She went in before noon. It’s almost two now. She moved some boxes out, but I haven’t seen anything in hours. The curtains are closed.”

“What apartment?”

“Five twenty-one.”

“You sure?”

The guy nodded. Devon could tell he was a tweaker. Whatever money they paid him would be lost in the man’s nose or up his veins. In a few weeks, the dude would be back on the streets trying to survive.

Devon moved to the building and tried the door. Locked. They had a button, but no doormen he could bribe. That sucked. He would have to wait for someone to come out to jump the door.

Minutes passed, and he was getting antsy. He wished people weren’t so suspicious because, before all this stupid storytellingon social media, he could have just pushed buttons until someone opened the door for him. Now, no one fell for that.

He was about to give up when some young guy, maybe twenty-two, stepped out and didn’t watch to make sure the door shut. Devon was in.

His hand shook as he pressed the button for floor five. He wasn’t scared, more excited to finally screw Nichole Benton over like she’d screwed his family. Whatever came from this, she deserved it.

His stomach clenched as he stepped out on the fifth floor, barely noticing the woman entering the elevator who he brushed past.

“Excuse me!” the woman nearly yelled as the elevator doors shut.

A part of him wanted to tell her to fuck off, but he was on a mission. Nichole was his focus. He paused with his hand raised outside her door. What would he do if she was in there? His plans weren’t fully formed. He just wanted to get revenge, and he hadn’t actually thought about how to get her out of the apartment to New York.

The door beside him opened, and an older woman, maybe fifty years old, stepped out. He tried for a genial smile women that age seemed to like.

“Oh, she’s already gone.”

The woman’s words twisted through his mind. It wasn’t what he’d expected her to say. “What?”

“She left. Took off about an hour ago. Gave me her kitchen stuff and some other things. Nice woman. I’ll miss living next door to her. She was quiet. Probably going to get some headbanger in here next.”

He missed her? How could he have missed her? She had been here, and now she was gone.

---