Fate’s Unseen Shadow (Cager #1)

Chapter 21

21

X avier made good on his promise to stay away the next day. And for the second day in a row, Ella sat at Damon’s kitchen table, his laptop in front of her, her genius fully on display. She’d begged him to let her go through his accounting records and investments, the same way a kid might ask for a candy bar. If she wanted to spend her off days from Cager working, then fine with him. He’d grown up middle class, busted his ass in the Marines, and the rest of his wealth came solely from Xavier’s and his business ventures in real estate. And if she could see anything to help him to improve his profitability, he’d take it.

So far, she’d identified two properties to sell and was now analyzing the sales contract for an apartment building near Atlanta he’d considered. And based on her suggestion, he’d arranged a meeting with the owner of an empty lot of land that wasn’t for sale…yet.

“You need to consider a property management company in Atlanta. That’s too far away for you and Xavier to cover alone. I’ll email you a few suggestions. Take them or leave them.” Ella scribbled something on the notepad beside her, making a tiny humming noise before looking back at the screen. She’d done so much math on the paper, and in her head, Damon couldn’t attempt to keep up.

“Also, I’ll put you in touch with our legal team to form a separate division. The more protection you have between you and these ventures, the better. You don’t want one thing to go to hell and give anyone a chance to touch the rest.” She looked up, no makeup, no smile, all business. “I assume Xavier will go along with whatever you decide? I’ve sent him a few emails, too. He hasn’t responded.”

“Of course.”

She nodded. “Good.”

He smiled.

She frowned. “What?”

“I don’t want to risk losing my financial analyst by hitting on you, but damn, you’re sexy like this.”

Her face cleared. “Oh.” She looked back at the computer, smiling. “That’s another first.”

“What?”

“Being called sexy while I’m calculating net operating income.”

He picked up her hand and kissed the back of it. “Stop talking dirty or else I’ll haul you back to the bedroom.”

Before she responded, his phone chimed.

Ryker: Found something I need to show Ella. Come over. Everyone will be here.

He stared at the text, hating to interrupt the distraction of his business to bring her back into reality.

A killer remained on the loose and was after her.

He’d tried to tell her several times about the man he’d seen outside her apartment Monday but couldn’t. Inside his apartment, the rest of the world didn’t exist. It wasn’t only her happiness he wanted to preserve. With her here, it was like he’d finally discovered the other half of himself.

Ella spun the laptop to face him. “Before you tell me what has put that look on your face, let me tell you one more thing. It would be best to get a neutral third-party appraiser for this property.” She pointed at the screen. “I’m going through the appraisal right now, and the person is contradicting themselves all over the place. I’ll save you the step of even reading this trash.”

“That’s an easy fix. I’ll get on that next week.”

She looked up at him. “Next week? Why don’t you go ahead and call them now?”

“I would, but we have something to do in about ten minutes.”

“Oh? And what’s that?” She grinned and leaned forward.

He smiled. “I wish it were that, but Ryker texted. He needs us to come to his place. Everyone will be there. He, um, found some things for you to look over.”

“What kind of things?”

“He didn’t say.” Which meant it wasn’t anything he wanted to share over a text message. “So finish that or note where you are in the document, and then let’s get ready to leave.”

With a tiny frown, she typed something before snapping the lid shut. “Playtime is over. I’ve enjoyed my past two days with you. It’s been nice to work again.”

“I’m glad.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised you let me help with your business. With your history of telling me what to do, I figured you wouldn’t accept my advice.”

He stopped her as she headed toward the front door. “I tell you what to do to keep you safe. I would never pretend to be smarter than you in this. You’re a damn genius at business. Why would I not take your suggestions?”

She blushed with the compliment and rose on her toes. “Thank you”—she kissed him—“for saying that. It makes me feel less like a needy, weak woman, which is all I’ve felt like since this began.”

“You’re needy, but not like that.”

Running her hand down his chest to his abs, Ella smirked. “I am. Very. Do we have time?”

Damon swatted her on the bottom. “Later. Get changed. Knowing Ryker, he hasn’t slept in days to try and get some answers. I don’t want to keep him waiting.”

“You’re right. I’ll go get ready.”

A few minutes later, Damon waited for her at the bottom of the stairs to her apartment as she locked her door. She wore low, tight jeans but hadn’t changed her T-shirt. It was one of his Marines shirts that she’d lounged around in for the past day.

“You realize you lost your shirt, right?” Ella announced.

“I’ll take it back so you have to come to my place whenever you want it.” The offer to ask her to move her stuff to his place nearly fell off his tongue, but he caught himself. They needed to sort out the other half of her life before they went forward with theirs.

He took her hand and led her to his car. “I don’t know what Ryker has for us. If it gets to be too much, let me know.”

She squeezed his hand. “I’ll be okay with you there.”

After a kiss on her forehead, he walked to the other side of the car, not commenting. He’d learned his lesson not to tell her how she’d feel, but it was still a tricky thing not to do. But she was right. He’d support her however she needed.

“I didn’t expect Ryker to live in such a normal-looking neighborhood.” Ella waved to a few kids playing in their front yard. “Who’d ever guess that a computer hacker the FBI wanted on their team would live in a standard three-bedroom ranch with a neighborhood pool?

“The house is owned in a shell corporation name, keeping it from being traced back to him.” Damon wound through the streets and pulled into his driveway.

Xavier’s truck sat against the curb.

“Where’s Slater?” she asked.

“Behind us.”

Slater drove up in his blue muscle car a few seconds later.

“Glad I’m not late.” Slater met them in the driveway, giving Ella a side hug. “I don’t know why we’re here, but I’m confident our boy would’ve kept you locked up in his bedroom for the next six months otherwise.”

Damon didn’t deny the assumption. It’d been tempting.

Ella shook her hair away from her face. “I’m sure Lacy would’ve come and found me tomorrow when I didn’t show up. But I’ve had a wonderful time the last two days.”

Slater snickered. “I’m sure you have.”

She swatted his shoulder. “That’s not what I meant.”

Damon cleared his throat. “She’s been looking over the real estate business. I will use her brain while I have it all to myself. I wanted to ask you and the others if anyone minded her looking over the books at Cager.”

Slater held up his hands before opening the back door. “I have no objections. None of us went to school for business, so the fact we’re successful is an absolute accident.”

Once Ella was a few steps ahead, Damon whispered to Slater, “Any idea what Ryker found?”

“No clue.”

“Me neither. I wasn’t sure if his message was brief because I had Ella with me and he gave you more information.”

Slater shook his head. “Nothing.”

Xavier stood in the kitchen, passing Ella a bottle of water when they turned the corner. “You know,” Xavier began, looking at Damon, “if I’d had a beautiful woman locked up in my apartment for the past two days, I’m not sure there would’ve been time for her to send other men emails.”

“Just focus on answering the emails,” Ella said, patting Xavier’s chest. “Did you read them all?”

Xavier shook his head. “I stopped at number seven.”

She cracked open the top of her water bottle. “I wrote a contract to transfer four investment properties out of my personal name and into your and Damon’s business. You know, once I’m allowed to come out of hiding.”

“You did?” Xavier looked to Damon. “Why?”

He shrugged. “Said that she’d rather us manage it. We’re creating a separate business to manage our properties and possibly hiring a management company for the properties in Georgia.”

Xavier held up his hands. “Tell me where to sign and what to do. As long as you both realize my calling is to help right here in Charleston.” He walked away.

Ella bit on her lip, watching him leave. “I just heard how I must sound. I’m sorry if I did too much.”

Damon cupped her face and brought it up to his, kissing her as she took her next breath.

She held onto the front of his shirt, swaying in his direction.

Slater slapped Damon on the back before tugging on his shoulder. “You can continue this after we find out what Ryker has for us. I’m on a security detail tonight and still need to go home and shower after going to the firing range earlier.”

Damon dropped a kiss on her forehead and murmured, “You’re incredible. Thank you for your help.” He interlaced his fingers with hers, leading her down the hallway behind Slater. “Let’s see what Ryker needs.”

Slater led the way down the hallway, stopping at Ryker’s office.

The typical three-bedroom ranch Ella had commented on wasn’t typical for Ryker. He’d turned one of the rooms into a computer room for work. Connected to the six computers along one desk in the middle of the room were three large TVs.

His gaming room sat across the hallway. It contained two more large monitors, a fancy chair, and a computer set up at a desk that took up half the room. And in the corner, a single bed.

At the end of the hall was Ryker’s bedroom. Through the open door, Damon spotted the messy king-size bed that, knowing his friend, he fell into when too exhausted from work to keep his eyes open.

Ryker turned around in his computer chair, making eye contact with Damon. “Ready?”

He dipped his chin. “Not sure for what, but sure, go ahead.”

Ryker shifted his focus to Ella. “I found him, Ella.”

She parted her lips, some color draining out of her face. “That’s…that’s what we wanted, right? We needed to find him.”

“Yes.” With another pointed look at Damon, Ryker turned back around. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

“This is Davies Scott.” Three images of the man popped up, one on each of the screens in front of them. “Otherwise known as Ella’s stalker,” Ryker finished.

Ella stumbled back into Damon’s chest.

He wrapped both arms around her, holding onto her. There was nothing to say. That was her stalker. His face burned into Damon’s brain. He’d memorize it, make sure if that man never got close to her. And if he did get to her...Damon would end him.

“I wish I never had to see him again.” Her breathing turned shallow, but she held it together.

“What’s his background?” Slater planted his feet apart, staring at the screens.

Ryker leaned back in his chair, casually swiveling back and forth. “Davies Scott served in Operation Desert Storm as a fighter pilot. He was dishonorably discharged after being accused of beating a local man to death over a gambling debt. He served six years in prison. That’s where his public information ends. I haven’t found any other information, but we’re still looking.”

“When were these taken?” Ella asked.

“Left to right. That is when you left the Pilates studio that day, when you described seeing him at the gas station. I pulled that footage, found you, and then found him. Once I matched the sketch you created with this image, I ran facial recognition software throughout most of Atlanta. I can get into a lot of the servers. I had a few more hits, but nothing useful. Except for the images I pulled outside your apartment. I found several. And when I say several, I mean I stopped at three dozen.” Ryker looked over her to Damon again. “The middle screen was taken from Monday. Is that who you saw?”

Damon kissed the top of her head, trying to stay relaxed against the surge of protectiveness. “Yes. That’s him.” He looked at Slater. “I regret not going with my instinct and going after him. Could’ve ended this shit then.”

Slater shook his head. “No. If he’d had any weapon on him, you could’ve been the one who ended Monday. Better to let Ryker do his job, and then we’ll do ours.”

Ella stepped away from him, crossing her arms as she turned to face him. “You saw him Monday and didn’t tell me?”

He held up his hands. “I didn’t know it was him. He seemed…off. And familiar. I tried to memorize the sketch of him, but I couldn’t tell from 75 feet away. I wasn’t going to say anything until I was sure. And here we are. Ryker confirmed it was him for you the same time he did me. I’m not afraid to keep things from you if it’s for your own good. Stressing you out when I didn’t have an answer wasn’t worth ruining the last two days.”

“’Cause you think I’m weak or you always know what’s best for me?”

His anger pushed at the edges with that accusation, but he gently took her chin and tipped her face up to his. “Because I wanted to show both of us that this thing between us is a hell of a lot more than a fling. I blocked out this shit for the last two days because we have a future to build, Ella. I’m not letting this short time get in the way of the rest of our lives.”

The fight drained from her eyes. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I’m scared and not thinking straight. I’ve loved the past two days.”

“And we’ll have a lot more of those. I promise.”

She exhaled and shifted back to face the room. “What happens next?”

“We figure out where this bastard is and get him before he gets to you. Where was the third picture taken?” Slater asked.

“Columbia, South Carolina.”

“Columbia?” Slater ran his hand over his short hair. “Do you think he gave up, or is he out looking for her?”

Ryker sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I have no fucking clue.” He looked exhausted, and a good dose of guilt soured the memory of the time Damon had spent wrapped around Ella for the past few days. But until now, there wasn’t anything he could do to help Ryker.

“I expanded my program, but that’s a hell of a lot of ground to cover. I’m basically shooting in the dark.”

“Is there anything that makes us think he knows she’s here?” Xavier asked.

Ryker shook his head. “I don’t see anything. Maybe he had another job in Columbia, and he’s not looking for her. We have no idea. That’s the shitty part. But I have all six computers searching for him right now. I’m about to reach out to a contact to help.”

“Is that safe?”

Ella’s question was overshadowed by Xavier’s snicker. “Is it your computer girlfriend?”

Ryker held up his middle finger, not turning to face him.

Slater found the topic amusing as well. “We still don’t know if you’re hung up over some old dude or hot chick, do we? People lie on the internet all the time.”

“It’s a woman. That’s what she said she was, and I have no reason to think otherwise. And yes, I’m asking her for help. I won’t tell her why unless I need to. I won’t even begin to pretend to be better than her. God, she’s good.” He shook his head, a laugh escaping. “Fucking genius.”

Slater lifted his eyebrows. “Well, um, hot genius computer women aside”—he leaned on the desk, staring at the man on the screen—“we found the stalker. We think we found the murderer. That’s part one. Part two is the why. If it’s limited to Davies, if he acted alone, there may not be a motive to worry about.”

“What do you mean?” Ella crossed her arms. “Why don’t we care?”

“It doesn’t change the outcome that he acted alone. For us, right now, we’re trying to keep you safe. We take out Davies, or get Detective Moore to take him out, and the threat is neutralized. You can go back to your life.”

“But we don’t know if it’s limited to Davies.” Xavier crossed his arms. “Is someone paying him to do this? Why?”

“My guess is that there’s a shit-ton of money at stake.” Ryker rested back in his seat and stretched his arms before interlacing his hands behind his neck. “My vote is Julia paid Davies to take you out. No offense, Ella, but she trashed you.”

“But Teddy was murdered.” Ella huffed. “She loved Teddy. I can’t see her paying for someone to kill him.”

Damon gripped Ella’s hips, keeping her back against his body. “What about Matteo?” he asked softly, his voice void of the emotion he felt.

“He has nothing to gain from it.” She looked to Slater. “His business has nothing to do with mine. He has no ownership stakes and can’t get any. He had no relationship with Teddy. So there wasn’t any bad blood that I knew of between them.” Ella twisted toward Damon. Frustration filled her expression. “I have no idea who it could be. I haven’t had any bad business deals, but that’s from my side of the table. Let me think again and see if I can’t figure out who would benefit from both Teddy and me being murdered.”

Damon pulled out his phone when it rang. “It’s the broker. I can call him back.”

“No, answer it,” Ella said, chewing on her thumbnail and staring into space.

Flipping it on speaker phone, Damon looked to Xavier. “Hello, Kurt.”

“Hey, Damon. I wanted to let you know that we got the sale.”

“Great.”

“I need you and Xavier to come by the office this afternoon and sign the paperwork.”

“We can do that,” Xavier said.

“See you soon,” Damon added, kissing Ella’s head. “I’ll be gone for a few minutes this afternoon.”

“Okay,” she replied, seeming absent from her answer as she kept her eyes locked on the picture of Davies. She played with the pearls around her neck. Damon had noticed the unconscious habit earlier today while she’d studied the accounting records. He’d let her have her thoughts while Slater continued to discuss the next step with Ryker. They needed to find this guy before he found Ella.

Slater looked over at Ella, his eyes scanning down to her feet. “Do you have any self-defense skills? Ever gone to a gym? Hit a punching bag?”

“Nothing more than Pilates. I’m surprised you think Damon will let me out of his grasp between now and when that guy’s caught.”

Damon snaked his arm around her middle, bringing her body fully to his. “Glad you’re getting used to the idea.” He gave her a light squeeze. “But hear Slater out. Like this afternoon, I’ll leave you to sign those papers and you’ll be at the apartment alone. Can’t hurt to learn a few things.”

“It won’t take long.” Slater turned and waved her to follow him. “C’mon.”

With a small grumble, she followed Slater into the living room. “That man is twice my size, Slater. There’s nothing I can do against him.”

“That’s not true. You can always land a good nut shot. Doesn’t matter the size of the man. We all crumple.” Slater grinned when Ella snorted with laughter. “Think you could do that?”

“Probably.” She squared her shoulders, seeming a little more confident. “Do you want me to practice on you? It’ll be easier if you start calling me pet names again.”

He held up his hands. “Nope. Not getting suckered into that one.”

“Fine. Kick them in the nuts. Got that one. What else?”

“The next two may hurt you a little to execute. First, take the heel of your hand to their nose. Shove upward.” Slater turned to Damon. “I won’t break your nose.”

“You better not.” Damon stood there as Slater demonstrated how to hit in slow motion.

Ella did the movement in the air. “Got it. Smush their nose into their brain.”

“Good visual.” Slater turned back to Damon. “The second is a throat chop.” He threw his hand at Damon’s throat, stopping as it touched.

Damon shot his friend a dull look. “Thanks for sparing me.”

“What else?” she asked, chopping in the air.

Slater shook his head. “That’s it for you.”

“What’s something you might do?” She chopped again through the air.

“Hold on, Jackie Chan,” Damon murmured, holding her around the waist. “You’re going to get yourself hurt. I’d rather you get away and run.”

Slater shrugged. “I like to headbutt opponents when the situation arises. It hurts, but hitting them right will hurt them much more. Decisive action. You can’t start and then stop. It’s not a face-to-face bash. It’s more like spearing them with the top of your head in their face.” Slater demonstrated it. “You can break a nose pretty easily.”

“Don’t do it, Ella,” Damon warned. “You’ll hurt yourself more than you can a grown man. Slater, you’re forgetting how short she is.”

She straightened. “I’m not that short.”

“You’re too short to headbutt a who is taller than you by four inches. Stick to the throat chop; it works great. Most men expect a woman to go for their nuts. The throat chop will be a surprise to them.” He glanced back down the hallway. “We’re gone,” Damon called. “Text me if you need me. Xavier, I’ll pick you up in thirty minutes.” He led her toward the door. “Let’s get you settled before I leave again.” He kissed her temple, teasing as he said, “I realize being away from me for an hour or two is painful.”

“I don’t know how I’ll survive. Oh, I know. I’ll shop for something new to wear tomorrow to Cager. Something cute.”

“Can I make a soft request without getting throat-chopped? Whatever you buy, make sure it covers your ass?” He opened her car door. “Please.”

“Sure.” She rose and kissed his cheek. “Thought about showing off my boobs instead this time.”

“You want every man in there to get their ass kicked tomorrow, don’t you?”

She smirked and sat down. “I’d rather see you tempted all night.”

“I’m tempted with you fully dressed.” He closed the door, hoping she was joking, but knowing that either way, he’d be watching over her. Always.