The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(104)

Adam had zero intention of allowing the man anywhere near Serena. “Serena made her decision. She chose to stop seeing you. You need to leave. You won’t be allowed inside.”

“Then I’ll wait until after the event, but understand this, Mr. Miles, I will see Serena. I made a mistake in walking away the other day. Poor Serena doesn’t know what she wants. She needs a guiding hand, and I won’t allow you to come between us. I have decided one thing, if it makes you feel better. Serena should be allowed to write whatever she likes. I realize now it fills a void in her.”

He’d studied up on this *. Oh, he’d had a file on him a mile wide about twenty-four hours after first meeting him. “I think what you need is an influx of cash. The martial arts business ain’t paying the way it used to, is it?”

His face went pink. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Your business is in trouble, and you just figured out how much money Serena makes off those books of hers.” Adam really wanted to shoot the f*cker in the gut, but Ian was watching. Ian would get upset if he had to hide a body. Even though, apparently, he was really good at it. “She’s not going to sign over her checks. Go away.”

“I’m not going away, you motherf*cker. I worked that girl for months, and I’m going to see my goddamn payoff.”

Storm reached for the lapels of Adam’s jacket, but Adam was way faster. He had the barrel of his gun securely between the motherf*cker’s eyes before he could grab Adam. Adam held onto the front of Storm’s shirt, balancing the man who suddenly seemed like he wanted to get away.

“Adam, is there a problem?” Ian asked. As usual, his boss was cool, calm, and collected. He merely watched as though waiting to see if Adam would really pull the trigger.

“Did she tell you about the stalker?” Adam asked.

It occurred to Adam that if Storm really wanted Serena under his thumb, a good way to do it would be to scare her senseless. It would have sent her straight into his arms, his house, that f*cking contract he’d wanted her to sign. How far would this man have gone?

“No. She didn’t say a word. I swear I didn’t know about it until that day at her house.” The deep Dom voice was gone, and he looked at the gun, his eyes nearly crossing. “I didn’t know anything.”

“Adam, I don’t think he did this.” Ian shook his head shortly, disdain dripping from his every word. “I believe you’ll find the man has peed himself. Not exactly the tough type. I think he’ll probably leave Serena alone from now on. Besides, according to Liam’s report, he was out working the night of the snake attack and out of town when her house burned down.”

“Her house is gone?” Storm’s eyes went wide. “Someone’s really trying to kill her? I thought it was a little joke.”

Adam groaned. The idiot really had peed himself. He let his grip go, and Storm fell on his ass, scrambling back. “Get out of here. If I see you around her again, I’ll use this.”

Storm scrambled away.

Ian sighed. “Damn, I was hoping it was him. He’s an *. My heart kind of lit up when I realized he was in line. No one ever lets me kill people anymore. I miss it.”

Adam looked out at the parking lot, a man catching his eye. He stood very close to Jake’s SUV. Too close. The man was average height and looked rather fit, but he was wearing a dark hoodie, and it was warm outside. The hood was pulled over his head.

Adam watched as he stopped and seemed to say something into his cell phone. There were four stores in the small shopping center. The Velvet Room was the largest, but there was also a convenience store, a Laundromat, and a used book store. Twilight was rapidly approaching. He’d wanted this to be done before dark, but the crowd that had entered the store looking to talk to Serena had been larger than expected.

Adam kept looking at the man in the hoodie. Ian put a hand on his arm, his eyes looking down at his phone.

“Do you have this? Liam says he might have found something. You had put out traces on a whole bunch of people in her life, and he wants to talk about a couple of them. Do you want to talk to Li or watch that ridiculously suspicious man?” Ian gave him a hopeful look. “Because I can take care of that *.”

No way, no how. If there was any chance this was the guy, Adam wanted a shot at him. “You go talk to Liam, boss. And send Jake out here.” Jake wouldn’t want to miss the fun if this went the way he thought it would.

“All right. I’ll put Sean on the front door. There’s a uniform at the back door, and Officer Sims is keeping close to Serena. She hasn’t seen anything odd yet. Just a bunch of women. Did you know some of them cried when they met Serena? What the hell’s up with that? I don’t get women. I’ll be back.”

Adam watched, the tension building, a little thrill running through his veins. Yes. Something was going to happen. He wasn’t sure what, but it would happen. Every instinct in his body told him to go still and wait.

The door behind him came open. Jake was at his side. “What’s going on? Everything seems quiet inside.”

Adam merely nodded toward the parking lot. He was fairly certain the man hadn’t seen him. There was a line of trees between him and the The Velvet Room. But Adam could definitely see him. He kept talking on his phone and inching closer and closer to the SUV.