Attest (Centrifuge Duet Book 2)(33)
Xander walking outside to take phone calls in the middle of dinner.
His urgent business trip that was never adequately explained.
I turn to him and wrap my arms around his neck. “Thank you.”
“For what?” Xander appears genuinely perplexed.
I point at the television that’s now moved onto the next juicy story.
“This was you, wasn’t it?”
He kisses me, then adjusts his tie. “No. Maybe. A little. It was mainly Harry. He phoned to say that your father’s investigators were sniffing a bit close to home. We had to remove the threat.”
Xander acts like it’s nothing. But, we both know he’s granted us another miracle.
He grabs his briefcase, kisses me again, then heads into the next room to say bye to the kids.
“Love you, sugar,” my husband drawls when he returns.
I grab the lapels of his suit jacket, and step onto my tip toes. After planting another thankful kiss on his lips, I echo his sentiment. “I love you, too.”
He heads for the garage door and pauses with his hand on the handle. I watch as I do every morning—with a mixture of fascination and a small tinge of fear—as his shoulders straighten and he manages to hold himself even taller. A darkness takes hold of him. It changes his aura and forecasts a predilection toward evil.
Xander turns the handle and heads off to work. What my husband, the former school teacher now does as a profession is a mystery to me. I don’t pry, and he’s never offered an explanation. All I know is it gives him the power to protect us from anything that may come our way.
And, that is good enough for me.
EPILOGUE
Xander
While the garage door rises, I run through the messages on my burner phone. Another day, another dollar, another crime that needs committing. In between the updates from my team, there’s a message from Harry telling me that it’s done. I assume he’s referring to the stitch-up job we did on our oldest enemies, Malcolm St. George and Henry Ray, and not the case we’re in the middle of fixing.
Knocking my car into reverse, I back down the driveway and make my way down our street with the care you would expect from a responsible family. Once I hit the freeway, it’s a different ballgame. I indicate and move into the fast lane, drop my car back a gear, and plant my foot. I need to burn some adrenaline before I clock in for the day, and this is the best way to do it. There’s not a cop in this country who’ll give me a ticket once they discover who I am, so this is best way for me to let of some pressure without repercussions.
The picture of Amber and the kids that I keep in my wallet catches my eye when flip my wallet open to show my ID to the guard at the front gate of my work compound and it makes my heart flip in my chest. They’re the reason, I do what I do when it would be easier to simply fade into the background.
They’re the reason, I’ve built an empire on the back of other people’s sins.
On the fence, the sign states, “B & L Security” in big bold letters. My offices are unassuming. The only sign of the danger in what we do is evident by the spikes on the top of the fence that surrounds the building and the armed guard at the gate, and that’s the way I like it.
To the world, me and my partner, Harry Lawson, provide bodyguards and security services to the rich and famous—and, for the most part that is our main line of business. It’s the side work, the illegal work, that makes us notorious and gives me free pass to speed down the freeway at one-hundred kilometres over the speed limit.
You see, the Centrifuge scandal and the situation that followed showed me where my true talents lie. I have a flair for seeing through the bullshit and finding the weak spots in that could be used to exploit my clients. In professional terms, I’m a fixer.
That might seem like nothing. But, tell that to the people who pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to have me provide a permanent solution to their problems. They’ll set you straight in a hot minute. I’m the go-to man when you need someone taken out. I can sniff out a rat before anyone else. I’m the only thing that stands between my clients and serious jail time, or worse death.
On the outside, I’m a simple man with a simple life.
I have a wife who adores me.
Three kids I’d kill for.
And, a thriving business that’s earnt me a stellar reputation for being a good guy.
Inside of me, deep down in that place where not even my conscience dares to wander, I’m evil. Tainted by my actions and bereft of morals and ethics.
“Good morning, Mr. Barrett. Here are your messages,” the receptionist greets me as I enter the ground floor of my office building.
“Good morning,” I reply, barely glancing her way as I take them from her and walk to the elevators that will take me to my office on the seventeenth floor.
“Oh, I forgot some,” she calls after me. Annoyance etched on my face, I head back over to her. She hands me a bunch of messages with a flirtatious smile on her face that I don’t return. Instead, I narrow my eyes and use them to transmit my displeasure at her inefficiency.
My rebuke has her expression turning sour and I make a note to discuss terminating her employment with Harry when he’s in town next. I don’t have time for women who want to get off on bragging about bedding the infamous Xander Barrett. Amber offers me all the love I could ever need—a quick roll in the hay with a groupie, no matter how good she may be, isn’t worth sacrificing my life with the woman I moved hell on earth to save.