Chapter 45 Picking A Fight
Lara POV
"You’re the guard that Emmanuel assigned to me?" I said in horror.
It was Vienna, the intimidating female guard who looked as though she would much rather slit my throat than protect me. She stood outside my door in a black combat suit, a gun and other various weapons visibly strapped to her belt. The hallway lights caught the hard line of her jaw and the fierce, glittering resentment in her eyes.
I had not seen her since my first day here, and the strip search from hell that I would rather never think about again in my life.
"Oh, lucky me," Vienna sneered, voice dripping with contempt. "I could be doing something actually important, but instead I get assigned to babysitting a whore."
I narrowed my eyes, heat rising in my chest.
"Take that up with your boss, then. You don’t need to be here."
"It’s all your fault. You made trouble for Mr Sagres. You’re going to pay for wasting my time, bitch."
Her hand shot out and clamped around my upper arm like a vice. Before I could react, she was marching me, almost dragging me down the corridor, her boots striking the polished floor in sharp, angry rhythm.
"Hey!" I struggled against her grip, digging my heels in, but it was useless. "What do you think you’re doing? Emmanuel said you’re supposed to protect me."
"Oh, I’ll protect you alright." Her fingers dug deeper into my flesh, hard enough to bruise. "What, you think you’re going to tattle on me? Run to him and cry about how mean Vienna was?"
She leaned in close, her breath hot against my ear.
"Go ahead. See what happens. He won’t care. You’re just the newest toy he decided to play with. I’ve been at his side for years. I’ve bled for him. Killed for him. And what are you?" Her voice cracked with something raw and ugly.
"A warm body. A distraction. A whore who somehow got under his skin."
She threw me down on the ground.
I winced as my knees hit the floor hard, but it was not as painful as I had expected.
I looked around: Vienna had brought me into the gym, empty but for gleaming weights and machines, the floor padded with rubber.
Vienna laughed gleefully. I staggered to my feet.
I ran at her and tried to punch her, fueled by anger from her poisonous words. Vienna dodged easily, moving as though swatting off a fly. The next thing I knew, I was flat on my back on the floor again, all the breath knocked out of my chest.
"Pathetic," Vienna mocked. "How can you even keep up with him in bed when you’re so weak?"
"I’m not weak!" I snapped. But I was gasping for breath, too winded to get up again immediately.
"Yes, you are. Look at your skinny little arms and legs," Vienna said sourly, "Men always go for weak, helpless little whores like this...they would take pity on you if you cry and whine, eh? Not me. Get up!"
—
Emmanuel POV
Thick smoke rose into the air above the shipyard, visible from miles away. Millions of dollars up in flames.
As the car pulled up outside the shipyard, I caught sight of two police cars and a fire truck already parked outside. Two policemen were at the gate, clearly arguing with the shipyard guards, Dover among them.
"This is private property. We have sensitive materials stored on site. You can’t come in."
"—we have reason to suspect trafficking of Grade A illicit substances," one of the policemen said. An unfamiliar face, not from any of the nearby precincts.
I stepped out of the car.
"Is there a problem here, gentlemen?"
They turned towards me with a frustrated look.
Behind them, Dover made a face of relief, wiping sweat from his brow.
"And who are you?"
"I own this shipyard," I said, passing one of them my business card.
Emmanuel Sagres, CEO of Sagres Enterprises.
That was my official position.
"Mr Sagres," the policeman said, "we need to search the premises."
"That won’t be necessary," I said lightly.
"That’s not up to you," he said.
"No, but I believe you will soon come around to my way of thinking," I said calmly.
The policeman’s frown grew even deeper. But before he could say anything else, his phone ran, and he picked it up.
"Chief? What?! But—" he looked at me bitterly, eyes full of accusation. "—Right. Got it."
I made a face of mild interest as the policeman hung up the phone.
"Turns out this was a misunderstanding," he said heavily, sharing a frustrated look with his partner. "Sorry to have bothered you."
"Of course. Appreciate your work protecting the area, officers," I said.
The police cars drove away with a burst of dejected exhaust.
"What took you so long?" Dover said. "These narcs were not taking no for an answer."
"I had a few things to settle at the tower," I replied. "Has the fire been put out?"
We headed towards the warehouse.
"Yes, but we lost over half the stock," Dover said grimly.
He pushed open the warehouse door, sending another thick cloud of smoke into the air. Two bodies lay on a sheet in the corner.
I stepped over to examine them.
"That’s Ross and Tim, they were on duty tonight. Shot in the back of the head."I turned one of the bodies over.
"Make sure that their families are compensated," I said, examining the bullet wound.
Pulling out one of my knives from my sleeve, I dug out the bullet, rinsed it with water, and held it up to the light.
"Look familiar?" I said to Dover.
He picked up the bullet and then shook his head.
"You know I don’t have your terrifying memory, Boss. Did we sell this?"
"Yes. It’s from the last batch of weapons that we sold to Turdin three months ago."
"Motherfucker. Killing our men with the weapons we sold him."
"Indeed. He is really becoming a thorn in my side." I got to my feet again, dropping the bullet into my pocket. "Gather our men. Find out where Turdin is hiding these days. Messing with me is going to be the last thing he ever does."
Dover grinned, a glint coming into his eye at the idea of revenge.
"Oh, now we’re talking, Boss."