I left the meeting that had gone late into the night where millions were at stake to turn around and fly back to New York. I’d expected Perry to tell me what a bad fucking idea it was because it’s one of our big accounts, and one he’d been working on, but he’d been just as eager as I was to get back to the city.
On the flight back, I didn’t sleep a wink. All I could do was stare at the picture they texted me. Reread the threat over and over again.
It’s not enough that they were arrested.
Their rich mommy bailed them out as soon as she could.
This incident is but a blip for them.
For me, it’s more than a blip. It’s a bomb that exploded on me and everything I thought I knew. I’d struggled with whatever it is me and Ash are, but in that moment, seeing her in their grasp, I lost my fucking head.
She’s mine.
Not theirs or her father’s or anyone’s.
Mine.
Everything my mother tried to drill into my head at dinner a couple of nights ago has long been forgotten. I’m clearly an idiot when it comes to Ash Elliott, and I can’t find it in me to care.
The stewardess lets us know we can depart the plane in just a few more minutes. Our car is waiting. Within the hour I’ll be home with Ash back in my arms. I’m wound up so tight I feel like I could snap at any second. I know I won’t calm my ass down until I see with my own two eyes she’s safe.
“Manda should have let them rot in jail,” Perry grumbles from beside me. “From what Keaton says, her dad is pissed.”
“Pissed?” I spit out, turning to glare at my brother. “I’m pissed he left her alone with those fucking monsters.”
“That’s basically what he told her dad. That if he couldn’t keep her safe, we Constantines could.”
“We?”
Perry shrugs. “We like Ash too. You think Keaton was going to let her stay there where those assholes live?”
It pleases me to have my siblings on my side. We may not always see eye to eye but when someone fucks with our own, we stand in solidarity. And since Ash is mine, my brothers and youngest sister have my back.
I make a call to Ulrich, our private investigator, while we wait to deboard the plane.
“Ulrich speaking,” he rasps out, his voice abused from a lifetime of chain smoking.
“I want everything you can dig up on Manda Mannford. Everything.”
His chuckle turns into a smoker’s cough. “Wanna know what brand of toilet paper she wipes her ass with too?”
“Everything,” I reiterate. “I don’t want anything left out.”
“On it, Boss.”
I may have shown weakness by calling the cops on those snakes, but it was a temporary solution to my problem. I’m only getting started on my retaliation. They’re going to feel violated like she felt violated when I fuck their lives so hard they have no choice but to become my compliant bitches.
The alternative for them is the fucking grave.
I walk into my condo, dropping my bag just inside the door, and storm into the living room. Ash sits beside Tinsley, curled up in a blanket, her bird cradled in her hands. As soon as she locks eyes with me, the fierce façade she’d somehow formed crumbles away revealing the sad, broken girl. I drop down on the other side of her, grab her hips, and haul her into my lap.
“I’m here, baby,” I rumble, kissing the top of her head. “You’re safe now.”
Baby?
I ignore that endearment, but I know Ash heard it because she starts to cry, clinging to my chest. Shrimp chirps loudly and skitters up the front of my jacket to my shoulder as if to tattle on the triplets right in my fucking ear.
I know, bird. I fucking know.
Keaton’s brows are at his hairline as he watches me hold Ash. He has to know by now that Ash is more than some employee. She’s so much more. Just because I’m in denial or can’t articulate it doesn’t change that fact. My smart brother certainly doesn’t miss a thing.
“Mother isn’t to know about this,” I say to Perry as he plops down beside Keaton.
“That you’re in love?” he taunts, grinning at me.
Ash lets out a teary laugh and then smiles at me. “What’s that? You’re in looooove?”
I roll my eyes at the way she draws out the word, which sets Tinsley off into a fit of giggles. Despite these assholes teasing me, I’m happy Ash isn’t completely ruined by the Mannford triplets.
“Lust, Cinderelliott. I’m in lust. Happy?”
She cackles and kisses my lips. “Very.”
Shrimp sings and flaps his wings. Then he sets to pecking at my head behind my ear. Damn bird likes to look for bugs in my hair. Ash says it’s his way of taking care of me. I think it’s fucking weird.