Breach of Honor by Naomi Porter

28 Will

A POWERFUL KNOCK echoed through the hallway from the front door. I’d just hopped out of the shower, and Miranda had rushed off to work a half hour ago. We’d lingered in bed longer than usual. Sex in the morning was the best way to start the day.

Our weekend in Arizona had brought us closer together, and in the last few days, we couldn’t get enough of each other. I knew it had everything to do with her parents’ approval of me. Hell, I was relieved to have their blessing to marry Miranda, but I could tell she had released any uncertainty she had been holding onto and opened herself to me completely.

More than ever, I wanted to propose in Paris.

The jerk knocking on my door was ruining my good mood. I threw on boxers, pants, and an undershirt before stalking down the hallway. The knocking increased with each step I took. Before opening the door, I peered into the peephole. Jason.

I flung the door open.

“What the fuck took you so long?” Jason growled, bolting passed me.

“Good fucking morning to you too, buddy! What’s with the banging on my door?”

Jason twitched as if he were going through withdrawals. “I just need to take a massive leak.” He practically ran to the bathroom and slammed the door shut. The crazy son of a bitch. Somedays… no, most days, I didn’t understand him.

By the time he returned to the living room, I was on the sofa drinking coffee and checking email on my phone.

“Crap, did you die in there? The shits plaguing you or something?” I snorted, eyes on my phone.

“Right, be an asshole. Where’s the little woman?”

I looked sidelong at him, instantly annoyed.

“What? I mean that earnestly.”

“Earnestly? Right. What are you doing here, other than dropping a load in my bathroom?”

The corner of Jason’s mouth twitched. “I’m just passing through. Thought I’d stop by to see my best friend.”

I studied him. Something felt off, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Can I crash in your guest room for the night?”

I shook my head. Miranda would flip.

“Dude, I’ll be on my best behavior and out of your hair by morning. It’s just for the night.”

I didn’t want to be a dick. Jason had always stayed with me whenever he was in town. Maybe Miranda would work late, a working dinner or something. Then she wouldn’t even notice him. Either way, how could I tell my friend no?

“Just for the night?”

“I’ll be gone by sunrise.” He grinned, relief in his eyes.

“Okay. What brings you to town?”

“Just taking care of some business. Want to meet for lunch? I’ll stop by SJI at noon… your treat.”

I set my mug on the end table and crossed my arms over my chest. The prick. Not once had he bought me even a cheap-ass burger. “Sure, my treat.” I stood. “I need to finish getting ready for work.”

“No problem, I’ll leave when you do.”

I nodded, making my way to the bedroom.

Freaking Jason, showing up unannounced. I shouldn’t be surprised. He rarely called ahead and would just drop by. It had never bothered me before, but it did now. I had Miranda to consider. This was her home too. I’d call her once I got to work and hoped for the best.

Seagulls occupied my attention as I waited for a response from Miranda. I could hear her breathing on the other end of the phone, hashing out her thoughts, I assumed. It was what she did anytime she had a decision to make.

“One night?” Her tone was hesitant, but I knew she was considering it.

“Just one night. But you can say no if you want. It’s why I called you.” Shit, I hoped she didn’t say no after I’d already told Jason yes. I could always put him up in a hotel, but it would make me feel like crap.

“He can stay for one night.” Still, her tone was uneasy. I hated hearing her this way.

“Are you sure? You don’t sound so sure.”

“He’s your friend. We need to find common ground.”

“Damn, I love you. Thank you, baby.”

“No need to thank me. I like making you happy just as much as you like making me happy.”

“That is so sweet, I think I just got a cavity.” I listened to her laughing, probably gripping her stomach. “Breathe, M…” I’ll never forget when I’d had her quite literally rolling-on-the-bed laughing back in February. She couldn’t stop, tears streaming down her cheeks, and she couldn’t breathe. Scared the shit out of me. I bolted to the kitchen searching for a paper bag, my heart hammering against my chest. I learned then Miranda hyperventilated easily.

Her soft gasps into the phone kicked my heart into gear.

Miranda inhaled, then slowly exhaled a few times, and I copied her as if I were there with her. “Sorry. I know how this bothers you.” She inhaled deeply again and released a cleansing breath.

“It’s okay. Better?”

“Mhm. I need to go though. My twelve o’clock will be here soon.”

“All right, have a good day. Love you.”

“Love you too, handsome. See you tonight.” She ended the call.

I didn’t even have time to wipe the smile off my face before Jason waltzed in after a single knock on the door. His hands were in his jean pockets as always. He had on his standard attire; black V-neck shirt and shiny black oxfords.

He reminded me of the guy on that Lucifer show. Simone had only mentioned the actor about a gazillion times.

“Hey, your secretary said you weren’t busy.”

Interestingly, Jason didn’t have his usual cocky swagger act on today as he sat in the chair in front of my desk. Again, he seemed nervous, jittery.

“Everything okay? You’ve been off since you arrived at my place.”

“What? Yeah. Oh yeah, I’m good. Just got work stuff on my mind.” Jason relaxed in the chair.

Work stuff? I didn’t really believe him, but then Jason wasn’t much of a businessman, so maybe he was just stressed. Either way, I didn’t have time to worry about it.

“Let me wrap up a few things, then we can go.” I turned my attention back to my laptop to finish an email I’d started before I called Miranda.

Another client wanted to make a withdrawal from their account. It shouldn’t have been a big deal—it was their money after all—but fifty grand for a European summer vacation was a lot. I hated how my stomach roiled every time a client wanted to withdraw a large sum of money. If it weren’t for the breach, it wouldn’t faze me. Of course I was going to give them the money. We couldn’t afford to appear weak or panicked with our clients. I just wished my blood pressure would calm the hell down.

“What’s going on here? It’s like fucking Fort Knox at the visitor’s desk. If it weren’t for Jorge speaking up, I would have been patted down and had that wand scanner thing ran over my body.”

“New security protocol.” I finished typing the email. York had made it crystal clear I wasn’t to talk to anybody about anything. I knew as much, but keeping all this information to myself was wearing on me.

“What for? I mean… everything okay in the land of the St. James billionaires?”

I slowly raised my eyes to his, then narrowed them after hearing a shaky element in his voice. His eyes darted away.

“Seriously, your family is on top of the world with SJI and your side ventures”—he shifted in his seat—“and offshore accounts.”

I closed my laptop and stood. “We’re just fine. Let’s go.” My gut tightened. I wasn’t sure why, but suddenly I felt off.

Must have been the fifty Gs I just approved to transfer out of the Barrett account.

We exited the elevator to a commotion in the lobby. A woman… Simone? I rushed over to the security desk.

“Let go of me! You don’t know who you’re messing with!” my sister yelled, trying to break free from the grasp of a new security guard who was jerking her around like a ragdoll.

“Hey, hey, hey! What the hell is going on here?” I pulled her away from Scout, one of York’s men. I scanned the area, hell’s fire bellowing in my core. “Where’s Jorge?”

“Lunch.” Scout sneered, eyes dark as night.

“Can you explain what just happened?”

“She refused to show an I.D.”

“I’ve never had to show identification before. He wouldn’t even let me use the phone to call anyone.” She sniffled into my chest, heart pounding against my hand on her back. I pulled her closer.

“It’s okay, Sim. It’s okay.” I stroked her back to calm her. The asshole had really freaked her out, but Scout appeared indifferent. It pissed me off how he didn’t show the slightest remorse for scaring her. This treatment of my sister was unacceptable. I didn’t care about the breach. If York’s men didn’t learn who was approved to enter without a pat-down, I’d lose my shit on all of them.

“Where’s York?”

“Lunch.”

“Is there anyone else here?” I tried to keep my voice down to defuse the scene because a small crowd had formed. I knew I wasn’t succeeding, my face was hot and Simone was sniffling in my arms.

“Mr. St. James, everything okay?” Jorge asked, eyes wild with worry.

“Who’s in charge when York is gone?”

Jorge stared at me blankly.

“Who?” My voice echoed in the lobby.

“Will, I want to go up to see Eva,” Simone whispered. “Please. I don’t want to be down here.”

I looked over my shoulder at Jason. “Hey, can you take her up?”

“Sure, no problem.” He collected Simone in his arms. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you out of here.”

Simone willingly went with him. Her long brown hair shielded her face so nobody could see her tears.

“I’ll be up shortly.”

Jason nodded. I waited for the elevator doors to close and then I turned toward Jorge.

“Mr. St. James, I don’t know who’s in charge. I just do my job.”

I believed him. Jorge had worked for SJI for the last five years and was a good man. Over the years at Christmas, his wife would send a dozen tamales for us. A humble gift, he’d say, handing me the package. They didn’t understand how much it meant that they even thought of me. And Rosemary’s tamales were the best I’d ever had.

“I’m sorry, sir.”

“It’s fine, Jorge. Go back to work while I have a few words with Scout.” I glared at him, jerking my chin for him to follow.

I wasn’t scared of Scout despite his beastly size. He had to be at least six foot three, weighing in at two hundred and thirty, maybe two forty, all muscle and a fierce stare. He could easily rip me to pieces, but this was my damn company, and these security guys better know their place and that I was in charge.

He followed me off to the side. “Who’s running things when York is gone?”

“Office five,” he said quietly.

“There isn’t an office five.”

He didn’t answer me, just headed down the service employees’ hallway and opened the stockroom door.

I was perplexed as to where he was going but followed him nonetheless.

“What is this? A supply run? Are you out of Post-it Notes?” I demanded, not about to be jerked around.

He snarled and stepped behind a steel rack holding boxes of toilet paper.

What the fuck?

On a keypad, he punched in a sequence of numbers, I assumed a code. The concrete wall slid to the side. A secret room? Stunned, I looked over the opening and keypad as Scout entered the room. I hadn’t been told the location of where York and his guy Axel were setting up their equipment.

A fierce growl and a loud crash made me flinch.

I rushed into the room. A man had Scout by the throat, pressed up against a wall. I assumed he was Axel, the guy York had mentioned.

“Don’t you ever lay hands on her again! Do you fucking hear me? Never touch her again!” he roared. “I’ll rip your balls off and shove them down your throat!”

Axel was about the same height and size as Scout with a body built like a lean linebacker. The veins in his arms looked like they were going to burst. For as much of a beast as Scout was, his eyes were watering.

I hung back, letting these guys figure out whatever the fuck had turned Axel homicidal. No way in hell did I want to interfere. Not that I was a weakling, I could bench one eighty. But I was leaner, a little shorter, and nowhere near a killer like these former Army Rangers.

“Let me go,” Scout mumbled, saliva oozing out the corner of his mouth, sweat dripping down the sides of his dark brown skin.

Axel released him, a murderous look on his face when he turned around. He narrowed his gaze at me, then looked back at Scout. He’d had no idea I was there. His chest heaved, hands trembling, and the skin on his arms, neck, and face glistened with sweat.

What had gotten him so fired up?

Wait. Axel said: Don’t you ever lay hands on her again! Her? Simone?

“Explain this… tiff,” I ordered, in a calm, in-charge tone. I needed to remember this was my company… well, my family’s company.

“Nothing to tell. It won’t happen again,” Axel said, blowing me off.

Right before I could demand an answer, York entered. The bald man was scary with his clenched jaw and creased forehead. A better name for him would be bulldog.

“What the fuck is going on?” His eyes darted around the room. A stack of boxes had toppled over when Axel threw Scout against the wall. “Answer me!”

“Scout patted down the heiress.”

Heiress? Simone wasn’t an heiress.

“He did what?” York whirled toward Scout. “You touched Miss Simone?” York got up in his face.

Scout didn’t cower; he stood firm, resolve in his fierce ebony eyes. “She wouldn’t show her I.D. I followed protocol, sir!”

York didn’t say anything.

I studied Axel, breathing deeply, arms flexed, chest moving like an oil rig. His reaction didn’t make sense, way over the top for a trained man. He’d been working at SJI for a few weeks now, watching the cameras and vetting every employee. He knew all the ins and outs of everyone with eyes on every square inch of the building. I hadn’t met him before now, but something told me there was a lot more to him.

What was it on the monitors that had enraged him? And at Scout? Because he’d tried to pat down Simone? None of this made sense.

“And you.” York turned toward Axel. “What gives you the right to beat his ass?”

“Nothing.” Axel held his gaze down, jaw tight. “I stepped out of line.”

“Yes, you fucking did!” York peered around Axel, and I followed his gaze to the black monitors. “Goddammit! Why are the monitors off?”

All three men went into a panic.

“Here…” Scout held up an extension cord.

“Son of a bitch!” Axel ran his hand over his dark coif of hair. I assumed in his fit of rage, he had somehow unplugged the system. “Plug it back in, and I’ll get the system up and running. It hasn’t been down that long.”

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I slipped it out to see a text from Jason.

Jason: In the elevator. Meet you in the lobby.

Will: K.

“I assume you have this under control.” I looked at York. “Make sure your men know who is approved and who isn’t. This fucking shit better not happen to Miranda if she comes to the office.”

“Yes, sir,” York replied.

I eyed Axel one more time before stepping out of the secret room. He pounded on the keyboard faster than my secretary Davina, who typed seventy WPM. He certainly knew his way around the system. Screens came alive at rapid speed while he hammered away. The veins in his arms still bulged, and I believed he might be holding his breath.

The sight was impressive, mind-boggling even.

The wall closed as I stepped around the steel shelf.