Page 10 of Tear Me Down
“How are you feeling, sweetie? Emmett’s been keeping me up to date, but I was worried sick,” she asks Ashia. Everyone who isn’t involved with Devil’s Hands was told that Ashia was ill. Advanced Pneumonia, and luckily everyone believed it with how much she works and tends to neglect her own health and well-being. Emmett knows the truth, since he is technically a partner now, but I made it clear to him that Linette was not to know that she was poisoned. Especially because all the small business owners know what a gossip his wife is.
“Oh, I feel much better, thank you. I’m sorry to worry you,” my sweet woman apologizes. Even when she shouldn’t.
“Oh, honey. Don’t apologize. The important thing is that you’re doing better.” Linette takes her hand and pats the back of it endearingly.
“Is everyone else coming?” Emmett asks me quietly, lifting his brows in a quick motion.
“Yeah. We were all scheduled to arrive about ten minutes apart. Starting with us,” I inform him. Now that he’s here, and Tyler and DJ shouldn’t be too far behind him, we can get started with the next phase of surveillance.
“Tyler is pulling up to the building now,” Carter says through the com, and I gingerly move Ashia in front of me, wrapping my arms around her tightly and leaning my head against hers.
“In about three minutes, the power is going to cut out. Do not move. You stay right with me until they cut back on. Okay?” I whisper in her ear, and she nods understandingly, melting against me so I encase her like a blanket.
“You two are just so cute! I was waiting for the day Ashia finally crawled out of the hole of loneliness she put herself in,” Linette says adoringly, and while I’m sure she didn’t mean it in an off-putting way, it still pisses me off. Ashia’s trauma and past abuse are not something to joke about or belittle. Linette is too narrow-minded to see the way Ashia cowers around strangers and jumps at sudden noises, and she hasn’t felt her tremors as she sleeps. I understand that with the medical troubles their son has, other trauma might seem smaller compared to Linette’s, but I won’t allow her scars to be looked down upon by anyone.
“Me too.” Ashia agrees, taking me by surprise. “He’s definitely worth the wait.” My heart skips a beat as she nudges her head into mine and pats my cheek lovingly. Linette’s eyes widen and a smile so big it shows off her white teeth spreads across her face, clearly seeing Ashia’s engagement ring.
“OH MY GOD! Let me see! Let me see!” Linette screeches and reaches for her hand and Ashia holds it out proudly for her to inspect. That contagious, fully formed smile beaming brighter than anything else in the room. She completely ignores the looks from the crowd around us as she sinks into happiness, their attention now drawn in our direction by Linette’s high-pitched demand. “It’s beautiful!”
“Isn’t it perfect?” Ashia asks, boosting my ego a little. “It was his grandmother’s ring. It means so much to me.”
“I would imagine. A beautiful woman like you deserves something equally as special.” A deep, familiar voice rings out from behind me, and my chest immediately clenches. I tighten my grip on her, needing to somehow fuse her body to my own. Dranan Hugo steps into my line of sight, right in front of our small group. “Dranan Hugo. It’s a pleasure.” He introduces himself and sticks his hand out for her to shake.
I don’t fucking think so.
Tucking her under my arm, I move beside her, grabbing his hand and shaking it before anyone else gets the chance. I hope it passes for polite, because all I can do is imagine squeezing the life out of the beating muscle in his chest right now.
“Damien Hartley,” I seethe. “Have you two met before?”
He directs his gaze to me, just like I want him to.
“No. No, we haven’t. However, it’s not often that I hear such wonderful things about one particular person in the community.” He looks back at her, and it takes every last shard of my sanity not to reach out and snap his neck. “I’m happy to hear that you are recovering well,” he says politely. She nods, trying to appear gracious, but I can feel the small tremors that wrack her body.
She shouldn’t be here. There’s too much exposure. Too many variables that I can’t control, and now the man that tried to kill her is standing right in front of her, staring at her and looking over her likeshe’sthe problem. As if the goodness in her heart was nothing but a stain on the map of his dark plan. My breathing becomes shallow, and I can feel the heat from my body manifest into beads of sweat on my forehead.
“You’ve got to keep it together, D. He cannot know who you are. Stay calm,” Carter says through the earpiece, but I can’t hear him incontestably through the rush of blood in my ears. It’s taking everything I have to not lash out. I want to shove my thumbs into his eye sockets and dig them out. Pry his jaw open until I hear it snap and watch as it dangles like a broken ventriloquist dummy. I want to display him in front of the world and show them what will happen if they touch my love. “Cutting the lights in ten seconds. Remember that I won’t have eyes on you two with the power out. Remain calm,” Carter says.
“Is everyone enjoying themselves?” the slab of meat inquires while looking at our group with feigned interest.
“Everything is beautiful. You’ve done a fantastic job,” Linette compliments him, and I almost vomit from the underlying tone of wonder in her voice.
“Five,” Carter echoes in my ears, and I sneakily hug Ashia closer to me, noticing the wicked grin on Hugo’s face as he looks over at Linette.
“I’m happy everyone is having a good time,” he directs back at her.
“Four.”
“I hope that you all find the presentation helpful and will consider joining us on bettering the community.” His deceitful professionalism causes my jaw to clench, so hard I’m afraid it’ll crack.
“Three.” I lace my fingers through Ashia’s and keep her close as I feel the anticipation growing in my body. It wasn’t supposed to work out like this. He shouldn’t be right in front of us, so close that he could touch her. When the power went out, he was supposed to be as far away from her as I could manage. I try to steer her in the opposite direction, but he speaks up, making us halt.
“I’m curious of your business, Mr. Hartley. What gave you the idea to open up such a cute little shop like yours?” he derides.
“He wouldn’t hurt her here, D. Remember that. There are too many witnesses.” I stare at him, keeping my focused gaze on him. That red-rimmed haze turns black, and I feel my muscles tense with the effort not to lunge at him. I hold her so close to my body I’m not even sure she can breathe, but the overwhelming need to protect her makes my body hum with electricity, threatening to short circuit at any time. “Two.” He moves to pocket his hands, forcing his pretentious suit jacket to ride up and show the glint of a knife hanging at his side—right by his hand. It was clearly designed for killing, laced with jagged teeth, but small enough to be tactical. Easily hidden and used swiftly. A bolt of worry shoots through my spine and raises an alarm in my soul. “One.”
Before I can move her out of the way, the lights cut out.
Chapter five
