Chapter 7

JORDAN.

THE GIRL DIDN’T KNOW WHEN TO QUIT.

Even now, as I held her in my arms and kicked her wickedly sharp daggers to the side, she still struggled against me. I felt that same unexplainable pull of attraction and awareness I’d felt when I’d seen her at the airport.

The men who I’d alerted on my way down after I’d seen her fly at Nadia like a vengeful bird surrounded us and two of them took her off my arms and for one insane moment, I wanted to snatch her back. She managed to elbow one directly in the nose and kick the other in the balls before I held her again.

“Stop damaging my men. You’re costing me a fortune in medical insurance.” I said in a low tone, inadvertently catching a whiff of her hair which, by some feminine miracle, still managed to retain hints of lavender and something a little more…industrial. Like wig oil or something.

Curious, I tugged at the platinum blonde hair and it came off, eliciting an indignant sound from her and proving my suspicions right. Deep brown locks tumbled down, giving off a stronger lavender scent and sparking some kind of memory in my brain and somewhere down south.

“Let go of me. Don’t any of you know how to properly treat a woman? Savages, all of you” she ranted, struggling some more which only resulted in her getting more pressed up against me. Blaine barked out orders to get Nadia and her partner out of the basement and give them medical attention while I just stood there, maintaining an iron grip on the lady who was now making some sort of weird movements, trying to shimmy out of my grip.

I couldn’t loosen my grip until someone got here with proper restraints that I could be sure wouldn’t be broken out of easily.

At some point, she stopped struggling in my arms and slumped forward and I instinctively relaxed my grip before I reminded myself not to underestimate her.

As I tried to once again secure her, her head snapped back, intending to catch me in the face but she must have miscalculated our height difference because she hit my chest with a thump.

However, this took me by surprise and I inadvertently loosened my grip some more. Quick as a whistle, she slipped away and turned, punching me square in the face before streaking across the marble floors on this level towards the bank of elevators on the opposite end. I swore and gave pursuit.

Halfway across, I tackled her to the ground and pinned her arms to the side. My previous mild amusement had turned into irritation as I restrained her for the third time.

“You wouldn’t be in this position if you hadn’t attempted to take what belongs to me, so do us all a favor and stay still”, I gritted out.

The restraints finally arrived and I snapped them on her myself, making sure to leave no wiggle room. I got off her and smoothed my hands down the front of my suit while she was hauled up by two hefty men.

I studied her in silence for a few seconds before ordering the men to take her to Room B-21. It wouldn’t be so easy for her to break out of there. Especially when I’d be handling her matters myself from here on out.

Blaine came to stand by my side and we both watched as she was taken away, still hurling insults in all directions and ranting about how there was no consideration for a woman or something.

“How does she still have this much energy even after Nadia beat the shit out of her?” Blaine wondered aloud.

I had no answer.

I turned back to the area around the door she’d opened and surveyed the damage. One man helped another hold an ice pack to his nose, one was still on the floor moaning in pain, one was helping Nadia sit against the wall and four more were carrying her partner’s and Enrico’s unconscious bodies out of the stairwell. I myself registered a throbbing pain on the left side of my face…The lady was dangerous.

I made my way down the stairs to her new residence with Blaine and observed her stare at her surroundings in disbelief through the one-way fiberglass on the top part of the door before punching in a code on the keypad next to it and stepping in when the door slid open.

Her gaze immediately whipped to me and her eyes narrowed “You” she said, taking a step towards me “You run this place, don’t you? Why would you have a room like this here?” she finished, her eyes once more raking over the violently pink room with padded walls on all four walls.

“It’s for the crazies, like you” Blaine ventured, taking a half step behind me when she leveled that glare at him and I filed the action away to torment him with it later. I took control of the situation.

“Do you need medical attention?” I asked, knowing the only thing keeping her from passing out due to pain and exhaustion was the adrenaline.

She simply stared at me without saying anything so I tried another tack.

“What is your name?” this time she smirked at me and asked, “Which one?”.

Impatience shot through me, “So you’ve got multiple names, which either means you’re an agent of some sort or you’ve got something to hide.”

I watched her face carefully, looking for any reaction that could let me know I was on the right track but she managed to keep her expression completely blank with a hint of mockery.

“I have a question of my own. Do you always keep that stick up your ass in there or do you take it out when you go to sleep?” she drawled, taunting me.

In a flash I was in front of her, gripping her arm hard…

“You’re going to shut that smart-ass mouth of yours or I’ll do it for you permanently. But not before I dig up every single detail of your miserable existence and show you why exactly nobody dares steal from me” I said calmly, watching as the first hints of fear crept into her eyes.

Good.

I released her and noted with some dark satisfaction the purplish bruises where my hand had been.

“In the meantime, get comfortable, because you’re going nowhere” I threw over my shoulder as we walked out and secured the door.

“Put two guys on the door in 12 hour shifts. And make sure they’re gay. I wouldn’t put anything past her at this point”, I ordered Blaine and he nodded once.

Unbidden, an image of her bruised body flashed into my mind and I hesitated before adding…

“Also send in the medical team and have them be on standby along with regular food. I can’t have her dying before I’m done with her.”

We parted ways at the elevators, him to do my bidding and me to continue my disrupted work day.

When I got to my office I slid into my leather chair and closed my eyes, replaying the moment when I’d pulled off her wig and her hair came tumbling down. The same hair that had been in my dreams off and on for some time now. I didn’t know who she was or why I was so drawn to her, but I’ll be damned if I don’t find out.