Zin ran the tip of his finger over the empty water glass.
“Have you heard from Porter?”
Storm took a deep breath and released it. Porter was Aspen’s brother and a close friend of theirs from the military. Zin worried about Aspen. Him and the rest of the team talked about offering her a job retraining their employees that were in charge of evaluating potential clients searching for missing people. One case nearly backfired and cost a woman’s life when her ex hired their company. If better, more in depth questions were asked, then they wouldn’t have had to send in Porter and his team to help save the woman’s life.
“He’s supposed to touch base tomorrow.”
“It is tomorrow,” Zin said and then smirked before he stood up and walked his glass to the sink.
“I’m going to try and get a little more rest.”
Storm nodded his head and watched Zin leave the room.
His men were good men. They were strong, resourceful, loyal, and they all wanted the same thing, yet knew they could never have her.
As their commander, he had access to their personal files back in the military. He picked and chose them by their experiences, their abilities and their survival instincts. They were so much like him in many ways, and their connections, their common grounds brought them closer than any of them expected.
Each of them, Winter, Weston, Zin, and York had troubled pasts as teens who came from broken homes and poverty.
They entered the military for a way out of their shitty homelives and as last resorts to surviving life. They each had a story to tell. They were so much like him and the family he came from.
Storm swallowed hard. He entered the military as an escape from his responsibilities and knowing that he wanted his own future, his own dreams and accomplishments, and not one attached to a name. But so much had changed. All the years he and his team served doing all those special operations and risking their lives didn’t leave them the security, the monetary cushion they all deserved for all they did. Instead it left them on their asses with nowhere to live, no better way of life, and ultimately him making a decision to save not only himself but also his team, his family.
Truth was, they had all been so used to taking orders, completing dangerous missions and so filled with anger and a need for that adrenaline rush they felt whenever they were in the midst of war, a battle, gunfire, that working for Nicolai felt right. Storm had a knack for business as did Winter and Weston. Zin and York were great at organizing, planning, working those numbers and putting on the pressure to get a response. Together they were feared, and eventually in two years’ time they became part of an organization Storm had joined the military to get away from.
He looked around the room at all the upscale items and décor. He preferred their house in Salvation on the ranch way outside the city and twenty minutes from Casper’s. Zin was right. This was where they felt most normal. But they weren’t “normal.” They were made men. They made the decision when faced with surviving civilian life, and that decision had its positives and its negatives.
They were trying so hard to go legit, but it seemed like they were never going to be able to get out of the Russian mafia. Their connections lay deep, and their abilities. The assets they now had were worth way more than any monetary value. They couldn’t make Aspen be part of this type of life. She would never be free. She would immediately be placed in danger as their enemies constantly searched for ways to penetrate their empire.
No, they had to stay clear of Aspen. Keeping her safe, watching over her as Porter asked when he was away on business or working on their estate in Tranquility was as close as they could get to her. Offering her a job retraining their employees was really a ploy by Porter to keep her out of Chicago and away from threats from her past. But the damn woman was stubborn, but also the only woman Storm would ever love. The only woman his team would ever want. But they had to keep that love, that desire, a secret. It was the only way to keep her alive.
Chapter 1
Aspen Brooks crossed her legs and watched Clarence Cartwright’s eyes zero in on her body. She wanted this deal to go through for so many reasons. Initially revenge ruled her mind. Knowing who some of the players were and risking her life, her soul to get the information she wanted hadn’t even fazed her. She was so damn hallow inside and there wasn’t a thing she could do about it. That saying that time heals all wounds was a load of bullshit when it came to her and her experience. No, she wasn’t healable.
This was the third damn meeting with this man, a multimillionaire who wanted to build a major business complex in Texas that would eventually expand over thousands of acres of prime land. If successful, which she truly thought he would be without a doubt, he would be worth billions.
“I’m impressed with the work you’ve done with these numbers, Aspen. Your concepts and Dmitri’s are so much better than anything I’ve personally come up with in designing,” Clarence said as he looked over the portfolio and her own personal ideas she felt he would be impressed with. Clarence leaned forward and looked her over.
She was dressed a little less conservative in her designer knee length, beige skirt that hugged her shapely figure and the camisole in pale yellow that showed off a bit of cleavage. Her designer bangle bracelets were in great contrast to the small heart of tiny diamonds that her brother had brought her right before he left for the military. She was only a kid, barely a teenager, but she cherished it.
Many people asked her why she wore such a plain, minuscule heart when she could afford one loaded with huge diamonds. They didn’t understand her. The wealth and reputation she established in business was her way of surviving.
“Are you certain that I can’t interest you in coming to work for me? We would be good together, Aspen.” He held her gaze with hunger in his eyes. She knew that look and just like all the others, it did nothing for her. There were only a handful of men that made her body, and her emotions react to them. They were five men she could never have, because they didn’t share the same feelings and thought of her like a baby sister.
She smiled and ran her hand across the pictures on the table, picking one up and looking it over.
“I’ll think about it, Clarence. You do know how much I like Texas. I prefer it over any other place.”
He looked her over and leaned back in his chair.
“I’ve often wondered why it is you work for a man like Dmitri. You’ve established your own reputation in the business world. You can basically name your price and land any job you want in most major cities.” She raised one eyebrow up at him, surprised by his question.
He quickly added as he leaned forward in his chair. Dressed casually with a white button-down shirt and khaki pants. They were out on his yacht and miles from shore.
“Don’t get me wrong. I like Dmitri. I understand what I’m getting involved with if I choose to use his company and all his connections. It’s the same with Andrei Renoke.”
“Oh, no it isn’t. Renoke will weasel his way into taking over your project. At first he’ll start with suggestions, ideas that you’ll pay for, and then he’ll begin asking for a cut, a partnership in building this enterprise of yours. Dmitri doesn’t want to take your limelight. Dmitri wants to ensure his companies and employees have work, and bring in income, keeping him and his associates at the top of the list of the best. They’re your hired help. You remain in charge, at the center of it all and everything remains Clarence Cartwright’s.”