The Dom Identity (Masters & Mercenaries Reloaded 2)

“Please thank him for me. I know they don’t like to admit they were wrong.” She walked along beside him, his mother and Tag in front of them.

He stopped as they reached the glass doors, and he was confronted with a mob. Shock slammed into him because it was like something out of a movie set. A horror movie. There had to be two hundred people pressing against the police barricades. The instant the doors came open, they all turned, like a flock of predators scenting a long-denied meal.

She glanced up at him. “Didn’t expect so many, huh?”

She wasn’t surprised at all. No. She’d known exactly what she would be facing, and he’d brought her to this.

“I’m so sorry, bab…” He stopped himself. “I’m sorry.”

She didn’t look up, merely started to make her way out.

The press mobbed them, but DPD was there, holding the line, and Tag snarled at anyone who got too close. He could feel Deke at his back, knew they were protected, but he curled an arm around her anyway. It was so much. The lights. The shouted questions. The focus and the attention.

“Have you got another rich man on the hook, Vanessa?”

“Did you blackmail your stepson?”

“Mrs. Malone! Mrs. Malone, are you worried Vanessa Hale is going to use your son to get to your husband?”

His mother stopped at that one.

“I think we should keep moving.” Tag pointed to the big SUV with Kyle behind the wheel.

“I speak for the whole Malone family when I say Vanessa would be a lovely addition to our family should she decide she can put up with my son Michael,” his mother declared. “And she’s not guilty of blackmailing anyone. If you print that she is, well, our lawyers know how to handle a libel suit. Good evening.”

Tag put his big body between Michael’s mom and a camera. “Keep pushing, buddy. I’ve got five kids, and three of them are teenage girls. Do you think I don’t want to punch someone? Because I do.”

One of the cops was shouting, trying to get the crowd back.

“I love you, Vanessa!”

Michael was shocked by the thin man who reached out, trying to grab for her.

Ian punched the man in the face, and he dissolved back into the crowd.

Was this what she went through? This was fucking madness.

Her eyes were on the SUV ahead of them, focused on her goal. Deke had moved in front of Michael’s mother, with Ian on her side. Vanessa stayed close to the group, seemingly unaffected by the madness around her. The reporters were shouting questions her way, and the “fans” were screaming alongside them.

One minute she was walking close to him, and the next she was pulled from his side. She shouted out.

Someone had gotten a hand on her hair and was pulling her toward them. Michael caught sight of an older woman, her gray hair askew on her head. She had a hand in Vanessa’s dark hair, and she twisted, yelling something Michael couldn’t make out. Vanessa brought her arm up hard, breaking the hold, but the woman was trying to go over the top of the barricade, trying to get to her again.

Michael picked her up and shoved his way to the SUV where Deke was handing his mother up. Vanessa’s arms clutched him, wrapping around his neck hard, but he didn’t care. He was probably holding her so tightly she couldn’t breathe.

They would tear her apart if he let them. Literally tear her apart. What the fuck had she done to make strangers act this way? His anger was only tempered by his need to see her to safety.

He set her on her feet and helped her into the car and then turned, looking back at the gauntlet they’d run through. It was waiting there to swallow her up, to pull her into the anger and chaos.

He wanted to eradicate the whole fucking lot.

A hand reached out. “Please, Michael. We need to go.”

Vanessa sat next to his mother, holding her hand. They held on to each other, neither giving away a thing with their blank expressions.

“I’ll handle the cleanup.” Big Tag stepped back. Deke was already in the front seat.

Michael forced his body inside, getting into the far back. The minute Tag slammed the door shut, Kyle took off.

“That was intense. Ms. Jones, your job sucks,” Kyle said.

“It’s all right, love,” his mother said quietly. “We’ll get to Michael’s and I’ll make us some tea.”

His mother thought tea could fix anything.

“Are you all right?” Michael asked. It was a stupid question. She wasn’t all right. She had to be devastated.

“I’m fine. Thank you for getting me out of there.” Vanessa sniffled but she took a deep breath and seemed to shove all that pain down.

Kyle pulled onto the main road and sped off, taking them away from all that madness.