Page 36 of The Boss's Possession

She looked up.

In the past two months she had gotten close to Miley. The woman was so nice, and yes, she was aware of what her husband did and who he worked for. When Willow had asked about it, she had merely said, love is love, and she wouldn’t have Peter any other way.

Willow had to admit she wouldn’t have Carson any other way either.

“What don’t you like?”

“Okay, I’m pretty sure there’s a dodgy guy watching the shop,” Miley said.

“A dodgy guy? You do know that Carson has men watching us all the time. It might be one of them.” Willow stepped away from the counter. There were no customers, but they did have a busy morning. She had put the last postage label on the latest online order as he moved to where Miley stood.

“It’s just a guy on a street corner.”

“Yeah, and do you see any of Carson’s men around?”

Willow couldn’t spot anyone and she frowned. “Maybe they’re having a break, or it’s shift change. I don’t know how Carson works.” She shrugged.

Watching the man, Willow couldn’t help but feel something bad was going to happen. He kept looking at the shop, and he did seem jittery.

She pulled out her cell phone and placed a call to Carson. It went straight to voicemail.

“Can you call Peter?” Willow asked.

Miley was already on her cell phone. “It’s busy, what the fuck.”

Neither of them had a chance to react other than to duck as a brick was thrown right at them, smashing the glass. Willow couldn’t believe it, but then something even worse happened. Something else was thrown, this time with fire attached to it. She watched it hit the fabric, smash, and whatever fluid had been inside it spread across the fabric, igniting it.

“Shit.” Miley grabbed her arm and Willow had to be pulled from the shop. Everything went numb around her.

This was her grandmother’s shop, and within seconds it was aglow with fire. At some point, Willow heard the fire truck heading their way. She was so freaking numb. Everything her grandmother had given to her went up in flames. Miley held her and Willow hadn’t even realized she was crying, until that very moment.

Carson hadn’t come. Why hadn’t he answered his phone?

She stared at the phone, which was aglow with Carson’s name, but she clicked “ignore.” Willow wasn’t going to talk to him, not now, not as she watched the fire crew try to temper the blaze.

Miley continued to hold her, and they had garnered a spectacle. She didn’t care. All she saw was her grandmother’s smile when she had been about to open the store. She’d been there to witness it and had worked in the shop that day, even though she’d been young. Ten years ago.

So much had happened in ten years. She lost her father, her mother, her grandfather, and her grandmother, and now she had lost the freaking shop.

Carson eventually arrived but seeing as they were surrounded, Willow didn’t cause a scene. Peter was there for his woman. Carson held her tightly. The moment his arms wrapped around her, she hated how quickly she felt safe. Pressing her face against his chest, she wanted to hate him for not being there, for not picking up the phone, but what could he have done? He wouldn’t have made it in time. There was no reason for her to hate him. This anger should be directed at the person responsible, not him. She loved Carson, so fucking much. He wasn’t the reason her shop had gone up in flames.

“I’ve got you, baby,” Carson said. “I’ve got you.”

She sobbed against his chest as she let it all out, wishing this was different.

Her grandmother’s shop, the one piece she still had of her, was gone.

****

“It happened so fast,” Miley said. “I had seen him on the street the moment I got there this morning. At first, I didn’t think anything of it, but then we had the morning rush, which was amazing, and this guy was still there. He was looking shifty.”

Carson listened to Miley’s description. He already had men obtaining the security footage from the shops and the streets surrounding Willow’s shop. Carson wanted to know why his men weren’t in position.

Staring across the living room, he saw Willow curled up in a ball. She had gone to sleep. He had brought Willow and Miley back to his place, which was something he never did. Peter was there, holding his wife.

They had been in a meeting, an important one with one of the MC clubs he dealt with. Whenever he was with them, all cell phones were turned off. It was the only time he had turned off his cell since finally staking his claim on Willow, and now he was pissed off.

“I told Willow and she walked over, and she must have seen the same thing I did. She started to call you, but it went to voicemail, and then she told me to call Peter, and the same thing happened, but then I remembered you guys were at a meeting.”

---