Chapter Six

Daniel's nostrils flared. He had felt something tickling his consciousness, off and on. It was the feeling he has when he is being watched, a feeling that hinted of danger, but each time it came today, it was brief.

This feeling was frustratingly normal any time he came to a large city such as this one, which was one of the main reasons he hated to do it. It left him feeling exposed and always on alert, never able to relax or let down his guard.

He had a brief meeting over lunch with Lucas and Thomas, his CFO. Thomas was just as thrilled as Lucas about the ninety day stipend for terminated employees, but Daniel had already factored it into the cost of acquiring Elevated Financials. He showed them where he negotiated it towards the price of taking over. In fact, he expected to lose more people from the rip so as for right now, they were actually still on the black side of projected expenses.

He understood numbers and math, but they absolutely bored him. He knew Lucas was the same way, but Lucas didn't wholly approve anything unless he was convinced that Daniel and Clearfork clearly came out ahead. Thomas, though...

Daniel had known Thomas for a while. Not as long as Lucas, but Thomas had been in Daniel and Lucas's platoon in the military. Once battle buddy bonds as strong as theirs were forged, it takes an act of God to break them.

Which is almost what happened. Coming home had held a nasty surprise for both Daniel and Lucas that changed all three of their lives forever. Ironically though, Daniel grudgingly thanked that Christian God, the one he didn't fully trust, every day that those bonds with Lucas and Thomas remained. Thomas had become such an important piece to their success.

Thomas looked at numbers like a puzzle, using his instincts to sniff out anything amiss and where to invest where it would do the most good. He also seemed to sense when to pull the plug on a bad endeavor to minimize losses, even when Daniel himself didn't see it. He hadn't been wrong yet and the one time Daniel didn't heed his advice cost him dearly. He wasn't going to make that mistake again.

Now that the review on the updated expenditures was compared to the overall, he needed to check on the status of things back at home base. But that tickle was becoming an itch he was beginning to feel between his shoulder blades. Right at the moment it strengthened enough to irritate him, it would disappear. It was on the verge of driving him crazy.

He didn't usually work in the open in public like this, but he refused to go back to the office today and be accessible to  people popping in with questions, and everyone that wanted to kiss the boss's ass. He'd deal with it all at the next meeting. Until then, this was Lucas’s responsibility and Daniel planned on making himself scarce.

The hotel was an option, but he was restless and needed the fresh air and sunshine. It wasn't the open air of home, but it was still better than being locked away and he liked the simple feel of this restaurant. It blended old world simplicity with contemporary designs to give it an overall clean and subtly refined atmosphere. He was seated at a table in the corner that allowed him to look over the other patrons outside, the door to the restaurant, and pedestrians on the sidewalks.

His sense of unease didn't help that Elevated Financials was the first business he wasn't fully absorbing, shutting down and relocating. Plus, it was an extremely long way from home and it left him feeling slightly out of control. It also pained him knowing he would not have Lucas readily accessible for the near future. Lucas was his brother, his number two, but that is also why he trusted him enough to put him in charge here for the time being.

As for back at home, he left Justin in charge of everything while he was gone. Although Justin was in a higher position, he wasn’t in the upper echelon of leadership. Richard preferred having one of his top guys in charge, but that wasn’t an option since he needed them here to ensure things went as smoothly as possible. Everything was set to run like clockwork at Clearfork, and Justin was more than capable. Even better, he was dependable and Daniel knew Justin wouldn't hesitate to contact him if needed.

Besides, Donna, his assistant, was there and she would make sure Justin stayed on track. He was just getting ready to call her when the light tickling became a burning sensation, one he couldn't ignore this time. He knew with full certainty that he had been singled out and the person watching him just got sloppy.

They did not know who they were dealing with.

He took a moment to focus and felt the direction the attention was coming from and snapped his head up to catch the culprit in the act of spying on him, ready to take action if he needed to. His body vibrated at the intrusion as he prepared for six different scenarios, each one of them potentially life threatening.

But the culprit was closer, and much less lethal, than he imagined and he found himself locked on to a pair of brown, beautiful almond shaped eyes tinted by sunglasses. Most people wouldn't have been able to see past the dark lenses, but he wasn't most people and peered through them with ease.

What he saw was bottomless pain in those depths, a tread worn soul that was weary. The woman didn't move, or even blink as he held her gaze, silently commanding her to let him see. Her eyes stirred the demon within him, igniting a fierce fire to protect her and destroy whoever dared hurt her.

He saw through the shades that she truly was hurt, and not with just internal, emotional pain. The left side of her face was swollen and the tender skin under her eye looked like it was still in the process of darkening. He noticed where her makeup was heavier on that side in an attempt to cover it up.

When his attention shifted to the rest of her face, he noticed as she visibly wilted, like their connection was the only thing that had been holding her up, and now that it was broken, her strength failed her. She looked down and away, letting her dark locks fall forward as if she were trying to hide.

I see you, he thought silently.

We see you, the demon corrected.