Chapter Five

Ambrose

I have never been so eager to get to the office as I am today. It has not even been three days, and I am at my wits’ end with Sierra. We have already had two arguments today over nothing. If she weren’t Anthony’s daughter, she would be left on her own. Never in my life has anyone gotten under my skin in the way she can, and I have dealt with a lot of assholes in my life.

“I will send someone to pick you up. I would do it myself, but I have an important meeting this afternoon which I forgot about. I will be home at five. Someone will stay with you until I return.”

I turn to face her in time to see her screw up her face and roll her eyes.

“Or I can make my own way back. I am not a child. I have pepper spray in my bag.” She protests.

“Yes, because that will do you good if someone tries to shoot you. You will be picked up. I will send you a photo and a name so you know who it is.” I reply, emotionless.

“Shoot me? What the fuck? Why would you say that to me?” she says, her eyes widening.

“Because it is the truth. You need to realise the kind of danger you can be in.”

Maybe I could have worded it better, but I am not here to protect her feelings. I am here to protect her life. I don’t need to be nice to her.

“Fuck you.” She snaps.

“Wade will pick you up. End of discussion.” I state firmly.

I refuse to get into it with her yet again. She isn’t worth my time. I have better things to do.

“You are an insufferable asshole.” She snaps and undoes her belt.

“Don’t try to disappear because I will find you,” I warn.

She doesn’t say another word. She climbs out and slams the car door. Does she realise this car costs over half a million dollars? If she does, she probably doesn’t care. I groan in annoyance as I watch her head over to meet her friends. I take my cell out and send her a text. I include Wade’s full name, a photo, the car he drives, and his contact number.

I have two guys already here to keep an eye on things in case anything happens. They are former Marines, highly skilled and trained in both weapons and martial arts. Sierra is protected with them around.

Sierra looks at her cell, glares over at me and puts it away. She had better be waiting outside when Wade arrives. She needs to realise just how much danger she is in. It isn’t some low-ranking criminals after her father. It is highly feared, powerful, ruthless people who wouldn’t think twice about killing Anthony or Sierra or hurting them. They could make them disappear without a trace. I don’t fear them. They would never come after me. It would be a death sentence for them. They don’t know my relationship with Sierra or Anthony.

I offered to help him out of the situation, but he insisted he wanted to handle it himself and didn’t want to drag me into his mess. I had to respect that and focus on protecting Sierra as I promised.

I sigh and drive to my work. I have a busy day ahead, but it will be a good distraction. I will enjoy the peace away from Sierra. I dread returning home tonight. With any luck, her mood will be better. I don’t like our living arrangement either, but we need to make it work. No matter how much we don’t want to.

I arrive and head inside. My employees all greet me, but keep their heads down. They know better. I call for my assistant Ellie to come, or more like, demand her to come as I get seated at my desk.

She scurries in with her head down, “Good morning, sir.”

“You can get my coffee now,” I say, not greeting her back.

They are employees. I don’t need to be nice. I pay them to be here, and that is more than enough.

“Yes, sir.” She replies and rushes off to get what I want.

I settle down and get straight to work. Hopefully, my staff won’t fuck up today. My mood is shitty enough without their incompetence making it worse.

My assistant returns with my coffee, setting it down.

“What else do you need, sir?” she asks timidly.

“I need you to confirm my meetings for the day. If anyone calls who has nothing to do with business, tell them I am not here. You are dismissed.”

She disappears out of my office. I have four meetings today. It should have been fine, but I have rescheduled one for tomorrow. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be home until eight. I don’t trust leaving Sierra for too long. Yes, Wade is good at what he does, but he has a softer side. If she tried hard enough, Sierra could manipulate him into leaving or taking her somewhere else.

I, however, don’t have a soft side and can’t be manipulated, especially by her.

***

It is just three-thirty. My next meeting starts in twenty minutes. My cell ringing from my desk drawer grabs my attention. I tossed it in there earlier because it was annoying me. I should probably check it. I pull it out to see Wade’s number flash on my screen. He is probably calling to tell me he has Sierra and is on his way to mine.

“Hello,” I greet.

“Sir, Sierra didn’t show.” He says nervously.

“What? Where the hell is she? How did she get by you and the other two?” I snap.

“I am sorry, sir. I don’t know. We have searched the campus and attempted to call her. She keeps rejecting our calls.”

“I will call you back.” I snap and hang up.

I find Sierra’s name in my contacts, calling her. She does the same to me and rejects my calls. I try three times; she rejects them all. I groan in frustration. I hope she has just gone somewhere else and nothing has happened to her. There is one way to find out; track her cell. I put a tracker on the cell I got her, but I am the only one who can track it because it needs a code. She pings at a bar not too far from campus. Did I not make it clear she wasn’t to go anywhere alone? The woman is impossible.

I call Wade back, and he answers after one ring. “I have found her. Tell Colby and Gunner to go home. You head to mine and wait there. I will bring her home, but I will need to take some meetings from my home office. You can keep an eye on her.”

I end the call and leave my office. I inform my assistant to tell my clients that I will be in touch and working from home for the rest of the day. I am pissed off! Her childish behaviour is affecting my work. She is going to be pissed at me for showing up and realising I have a tracker on her cell.

I jump into the car and drive straight to the bar. I double check she is still there before I go inside. She is. She won’t be for long. She will be leaving, even if I need to toss her over my shoulder and carry her out. If she told me where she was going and took Wade with her, it wouldn’t have been as much of an issue. What happens next, she brought on herself. She wants to act like a brat, there are consequences. What is so hard about following simple rules? Ones which could save her life. Will it take a scare to make her listen?

She isn’t stupid. She is intelligent, really intelligent, actually, so you would think she would know better. I climb out of the car and rush inside. The bar seems busy for an afternoon on a weekday. Do people not work or study these days?

I glance around for her. It takes me a minute to spot her. She is at a table with two women and four guys. Who are they> Does she know them, or has she just met them? I hope they aren’t strangers. She can’t trust any strangers right now.

I decide to give her one more chance to leave on her own. I call her and watch as she looks at her cell. She rolls her eyes and rejects the call. She can’t say I didn’t give her a chance.

Sierra can be mad at me for showing up all she wants. She hates me as it is, so it doesn’t really matter. I don’t care. She can hate me all she wants.

I stroll over to the table. “Sierra, it is time to leave,” I state firmly.

She freezes for a second before she finally looks up.

“Now, Sierra.”

I am not going to waste any time. We will be leaving this bar in the next two minutes, whether she likes it or not. I don’t have the time or patience for her games.