Breaking Out (The Surrender Trilogy 2)

The day he told Slade to pull out of Winslow Cherokee Pharmaceuticals was the day he earned his promotion and corner office. The company had dealt out a contract with an overseas drug company that had taken some criticism for medications intended to curb the effects of dialysis. Lab rats were dying, and Parker saw this as a risk factor.

The company ignored the warnings, bought in with the questionable company and just like that, statistics came back, people were hospitalized, and the drug was recalled.

Stocks fell like stones from the Empire State Building, and Leningrad was saved from the collapse of Winslow Cherokee because of Parker’s quick intervention.

The partners were beyond impressed with his ability to not just know the brand names they promoted, but to see past the numbers and actually know the pulse of the companies themselves. He memorized the names of each CEO of every company they represented, studied their fiscal histories, and seemed to be unstoppable when it came to spotting the invisible red flags.

His clientele list had grown to a hefty figure, a number that men who’d been with the firm for years could envy. Parker didn’t give a shit about any of his clients. He needed to make money and if making them money made him money, then so be it. In the past four months he’d piled away what most middle-class men made in two years.

Now it was time to collect, but what he wanted most was hidden away where he couldn’t find her. Where could she be? She wasn’t at Patras. She wasn’t at the shelter. He knew Lucian could be a selfish prick when life required it of him, but something told him—something about that look in his eyes that day he stormed into his office—that he would not leave Scout stranded with nowhere to go.

He’d hid her somewhere. Parker just didn’t have a fucking clue where.

He paced his apartment waiting for Sherry to return. She was his only hope. He didn’t have a clue what else he could do. He’d never counted on not being able to find Scout. Not that he expected her to be handed to him on a silver platter, but the other week when they sat down to dinner he assumed they would reestablish contact and she’d keep him in the know.

Unfortunately that hadn’t happened. Lucian warned him he was taking her out of town. Did he leave her there? Was she even in Folsom?

The elevator dinged and Parker tensed, his eyes staring hard at the door. Three knocks and he let out a harsh breath.

“Thank fucking God.”

He opened the door and there stood Sherry. The resemblance was uncanny. “Hey, handsome,” she purred as she stepped inside.

“Hey, how’d it go?”

“Umm, well, it didn’t go like we had planned.”

“What does that mean? Did you fuck him?”

She plopped down on the couch. “Nice, Parker. No. It only took about a minute for him to realize I wasn’t her. He probably would have realized it sooner if he wasn’t stone drunk.”

He cursed under his breath and sat next to her. “Did you get it?”

She pursed her lips and arched a brow. “No hello? No how have you been? I’ve missed you? No kiss.”

“I don’t have time for this, Sherry,” he snapped and dragged a frustrated hand through his hair.

She looked crestfallen, but a woman like Sherry was made of tougher stuff. She quickly straightened her spine and reached into the breast pocket of her coat. Her fingers withdrew a slip of paper folded in thirds. “Is this what you’re looking for? Lucky for you it was on top of his desk. I nabbed it while buttoning up my coat. You owe me, because if he would have caught me . . .”

He snatched to paper from her and quickly unfolded it. His eyes greedily scanned the words. It was a lease signed by Lucian Patras himself for a Ms. Evelyn Keats. He kissed her. “You’re a genius!”

She looked uncertain. “Listen, I know you’re all goo-goo gaga for this girl, but I gotta tell you, that man isn’t someone you should underestimate. He’s sort of scary.”

“What makes you say that? Did he do something to you?”

Her mouth opened and shut. He leveled her with a hard look.

“Sherry, tell me what happened.”

For the first time ever, he noticed Sherry looked unsure, scared. “I . . . I just worry you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into. That man’s intimidating as hell. He knew you sent me.”

“Did you tell him?”

“Well, I didn’t have to. He asked. There was no point in lying.”

“What else did you tell him? I need to know.”

“Okay, calm down.” She took a deep breath. “He said you would never get what you were after. He told me to warn you off.”

“That’s because he’s scared.” The words came out to reassure her, but he knew they were partially meant to reassure him.