Page 12 of Eternally Bound

I leaned closer into his face, grabbed a fistful of his dirty hair and raised his head to face me. His eyes met mine, searching for mercy. But he’d never find mercy. Only my cold stare and ruthlessness.

“She would never leave her child behind. So they are both coming.”

* * *

I had sentCallen McLeod back to Scotland. He would deliver news of his own failure to Ainslee. Under the threat of death, he was instructed not to mention my name. I wasn’t ready for Ainslee to know who had won her in the card game. She was a reasonable woman, except when she lost her temper.

Glancing at the clock, I noted it was barely six in the morning. Alexander Caldwell would be awake. That man was a machine.

I pulled up his name in my phone book and dialed him up.

He answered on the third ring. “Daniel, do you know what time it is?”

I chuckled. “Time to get up.” I heard a soft groan through the handphone and guessed it had to be his wife. That man was fucking obsessed with his wife, crazy for her, and went through some crazy lengths to have her marry him.

“It’s just work,” I heard him say in a hushed tone. “Go back to sleep.”

It was followed up by some shuffling. It sounded like I caught my best friend’s brother still in bed.His wife must be making him soft and lazy, I thought, scoffing to myself.

A soft click of the door came through the phone and Alexander finally spoke up. “Now, tell me what is so important to call me at the crack of dawn?”

“I need a favor,” I started. There was no sense beating around the bush. He remained silent, waiting. I rarely asked for favors and only of people I trusted explicitly. My best friend, Maxim Caldwell, and his brother were two of those rare people.

“You got it. What is it?”

I smiled at his offer. The fact that he pledged the help without even asking what it was, spoke volumes.

“I need you to keep the leverage over Callen’s publishing house.”

When Alexander married Liberty, he started buying out pieces of Callen’s publishing house, including his partner. Callen fucked up when he double-crossed Liberty. He should have given her a fair share of the company. After all, he wouldn’t have had it if it wasn’t for her rolling up her sleeves. But Callen took the easy way out - he was all about easy. And now, he went as far as reaching out to Liberty, begging her to save his company again. The man had no qualms about using anyone.

“I own almost all of it, but there is still a small piece that belongs to him.”

“I’m aware.” Alexander bought out most of the shares of Callen’s publishing house, in retribution for how he treated his wife. It just added to another layer of our friendship. Layla Cambridge, Maxim’s woman, hated Callen’s guts too. It made me like her even more. “I need you to keep the ownership. I know your wife wants to be fair, but I need time.”

Silence followed. Liberty Caldwell was a unique woman. Anyone else would have been hungry for revenge after being treated poorly by a man. Her husband pretty much gave her the tools to get back at her ex-fiancé. Callen had left her at the altar and reaped the benefits of the publishing company that she single-handedly saved. But not that woman. She gave the termtaking the high roada whole new meaning.

“Time for what?” Alexander finally questioned.

“He gambled at my table, against my uncle, with a woman at stake,” I grunted, the anger simmering under my skin. “The mother of his child. I don’t want him to come up with money. Keep his assets tied up.”

“You are going to let your uncle have the woman?” he questioned. Alexander heard the rumors of cruelty my family was capable of.

“No, I intercepted and won the game.”

“Good.” There was a slight relief in his voice. I might be a better option than my uncle, but Ainslee should have never been put in that position. It still bothered me to know that my uncle even knew of her existence. I walked away from her so my family would never know about her. And Callen fucking McLeod almost delivered her on a silver platter. It made me want to gut the man alive. “I don’t intend to give anything back to that weak fucker. He doesn’t deserve what he has.”

There was no mistaking the detest Alexander felt for that man. I didn’t blame him. Callen was weak and inadequate. Ainslee deserved so much more. Maybe I wasn’t good enough for her, but now that she was back in my life, due to Callen’s actions, I intended to keep her.

Whether she liked it or not.

Chapter Four

Ainslee

Islipped out of bed before dawn and sat at my table, disturbed by my dreams. The day I sought out Daniel in London. A friend of a friend mentioned to Isla that he ran into Daniel Carrington in London. Daniel was on leave for a few weeks. The moment Isla found out, she rang me and I searched him out.

The pain of that day still lingered somewhere deep inside me. He never sought me out. Never came back to me, as he promised. Yet, he remained a part of me, never leaving my heart and my thoughts.

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