Ava had just drifted off to sleep when she was woken by loud voices and people moving around downstairs. She frowned and got up; she had gone to bed in one of her more risqué nightgowns after what Zane had told her. As she didn’t feel like showing it off to the rest of the house, she took one of Zanes hoodies and pulled it on. She opened the door and to her surprise she looked at Ryders back, he was standing in front of the door. “Ryder?” “Miss A, please go back inside the room and stay there,” he told her, only turning his head to glance down on her. “What’s going on?” “Nothing to worry about, go back to bed,” he said. Right, like Ava was some dumb bimbo. Something was obviously wrong, and Ava refused to be taken off guard again. If there was danger coming, she would be prepared for it. “Ryder, you are going to tell me what is going on or so help me god I will perform a vasectomy on you,” she said, she knew threats were how these men communicated to establish some kind of rank. She j
“I was needed,” Ava told Zane.“Who told you that?”“No one, but I’m not stupid. I knew something was wrong when people started behaving like ants, and then it was easy to figure out my help was needed.”“I have to punish Ryder for disobeying my orders,” Zane told her. “Don’t do that, Zane. He did try to make me stay upstairs. I just didn’t let him. It’s my fault,” she said.“Angel, he is twice your size. If he had wanted you to stay in a room, you wouldn’t have been able to get out,” Zane pointed out.“And if he hadn’t let me out, there is a possibility we would have lost Tom,” she countered. Zane gave her a hard look, but she refused to give in on this. After cleaning up his wound, she knew it didn’t need stitching, but some surgical glue would help the healing. “I’ll be right back,” she said as she walked over to the supply table and rummaged until she found what she was looking for. “Ava, this is serious. What if the people who ambushed us targeted the mansion?” he told her as s
Ava swallowed and stood up, walked the one step to the desk and placed her hands on the hard wooden surface. Zane followed her and stood beside her, placing a hand on her lower back.“Tell me why you are being punished,” he said.“Because I didn’t obey your orders,” she answered him.“That’s right. And why did I give those orders, angel?”“To keep me safe.”“So by not listening to my orders, you put yourself in danger. If one of my men would have put you in danger, do you know what I would have done to him?”“No.”“I would have killed him. No mercy.” Ava didn’t know what to say to that, so she stayed quiet, trying not to think about why it made her feel all warm and fussy inside. “I’m going to spank you as punishment. Since this is your first offence, I will use my hand. Don’t expect me to be so lenient in the future, understood?”“Yes.”“How many swats do you think you deserve?” Zane asked. Ava had no idea, this was unfamiliar territory for her.“Ten?” she hesitantly suggested. Zane
After waking up and joining Zane for lunch, Ava wanted to check on Tom. She walked to the guestroom he had been placed in and knocked on the door. The door was opened by a woman in her mid-thirties. She looked tired and surprised.“Hello, you must be Tom’s wife. I’m Ava. I’m sorry to disturb you. I just wanted to check to see how he is doing.”“Hello. Yes, I’m Samantha. Tom has told me about you, please come in.” Samantha told Ava and stepped to the side. “Thank you. How is he doing?” Ava asked.“Better, I think. He was a wake this morning for a couple of hours. But he has been sleeping since then.”“It’s normal. He lost a lot of blood. He will be tired for a while. May I?” Ava asked, nodding to Tom’s hand that was laying above the covers.“Yes.” Ava bent down and took his pulse. It was stable and strong and his skin felt warm but not heated. “He is doing much better than the last time I saw him. I’m happy. How about you? Is there something you need?” Ava asked.“Me? No, not really.
It had been two weeks since the ambush, and Zane was in a bad mood. They still had no solid proof of who had been behind it. Not that Zane didn’t have his suspicions, he was certain the fucker Johnson had orchestrated the whole thing. But he had been clever about it. All the men had been hired guns without affiliation to any organisation. The ones they had let live long enough to talk had said they had been hired by a Mr Smith, a man they all described differently. Everyone had been paid in cash and the money had proven almost impossible to trace. Almost, it was possible, but it would take time. That was why Zane was in a foul mood. He didn’t like the fact that someone had struck against his family and he hadn’t been able to retaliate. That also left the organisation vulnerable to more attacks. It left his angel in danger. Zane had wanted her to stay within the mansion grounds. She had happily obliged the first week. But over the last couple of days, she had become restless. It hadn’t
Ava had been in a bad mood for a couple of days, she felt trapped in the mansion. She had never been one for just sitting around, and now it felt like the walls were creeping in on her. Zane and Jax had even stopped taking her to the club. She knew why, but it didn’t stop the feeling of being trapped. She did regret yelling at Zane, she was hoping he wouldn’t see it as defying him and make him punish her. Or did she? She had conflicting emotions about it. To distract herself after shutting herself in her room, that didn’t really feel like her room anymore. She decided to call Gabriel, he had seemed a bit down lately, even though he insisted everything was fine. “Okay, spill it,” she had told him after they had talked for a while.“Spill what?” he asked. “Whatever has got you in a bad mood.”“Look who’s talking.”“I know why I’m in a bad mood, I need to know why you are. I need the distraction. I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours,” she said.“Fine. You know Ryder and I had coffee
“Yes,” Ava said and looked at Ryder. “Losing his grandmother like that has made him, I guess you can call it sensitive, for when people don’t touch base with him. Especially if he knows there’s a risk involved. He just needs to know everyone is safe.” Ryder nodded. “After his grandmother died, he hit a rough spell again. She had left him her house, so he had somewhere to live. But she didn’t have much money, so he needed to work instead of going off to college,” Ava continued. “It was before I knew him, but I think he was depressed and vulnerable. That’s when he met Jonas. Jonas was older, almost twenty years older than Gabriel, and from what I have heard, he was just confident and took charge over situations. Gabriel fell hard for him, and Jonas took over parts of Gabriel’s life.” Ava paused again, even if this wasn’t her story, and the pain in it didn’t belong to her. It still affected her deeply. “It got to a point where Gabriel was more or less emotionally dependent on Jonas. Jona
The spa day was just what Ava needed. She had thought the spa would be some small facility that acted as a front for Zane’s other business. But it turned out to be one of the most famous spas in the city. Not only that, but it had been completely empty except for the staff.“Mr. Velky has booked the spa for the day,” a sweet girl told her when Ava asked about it.“Yeah, nothing serious about that relationship,” Gabriel teased Ava. They had the most relaxing day, being pampered and talking. Gabriel told her he had already started working on some things for Zane. Amongst other things, Ava’s suggestion for a charity. He also told her that after Ryder’s confessing his fears to Gabriel, things between them had become better. Gabriel sounded happy and in love. Ava was more than happy for him. As they left the spa, Ava felt like a new person. Her muscles felt like rubber, her hair was shiny and her skin glowed and felt smooth. They dropped Gabriel off at his apartment before going home to th