"I could use a guy like you." The bartender told Reynolds when they approached the counter."Oh, how so?" He asked. Gaude was still irritated from his encounter with the men and he had for a short while taken a step back. For this, Reynolds was grateful. The man had a soldier's approach to anything and everything, and while violence and force usually got the job done, Rey had long since learned that their were other ways to go around a problem.The woman shrugged. "I saw what you did over there for your friend here. I was going to call my husband, but it would have been a mess. You stepped in and did what you did. Let's just say I am a big fan of your method." She grinned. Reynolds grinned back. She was married and friendly, therefore she was safe. "Well, my method is expensive." He said. He did have to cover the cost of their drinks, didn't he?"The price of peace. It is a small price to pay, wouldn't you say?""Perhaps,"She was looking at Rey the way Kayla looked at him most days

"Pay up," Riker told Jamie, making a beckoning gesture with his left hand.Grudgingly, Jamie pulled out a wad of notes from his pocket and slapped it on the counter next to the other man. "You win." He grumbled."Again," Riker laughed.The air in the place smelled like cigarette smoke and alcohol exposed to the naked air. After years of being in cohorts with Jamie, he still could not get over how the man could stand places that smelled of cheap cigarettes and sweat, but barely had the stomach for violence. Both men had made a bet. If Reynolds agreed to work for them, Jamie won. If he refused their generous offer, Riker was the winner. What sane man born of a woman would refuse an offer like that, Jamie had said days before, when they first set their sights on TheJohns Conglomerate. Reynolds Sheen, Riker told his partner. And he had been right.Riker knew Reynolds. He knew men like him. They prided in their righteousness, slick bastards like those, and this got in the way of their

It was not often that a bridegroom decided against showing up for his own wedding. But at the same time, it was also not very often that people got married for reasons other than love, even if it was merely perceived love and was not true.Mei had arrived at the church at the back of one of the Land rovers the Johns provided when she arrived in the city. She was driven by a female guard, a mountain of a woman, whose hair was cut like a man's. When she overhead the conversation between Kayla and her husband, she’d decided to follow them. Her father complained about this habit of hers often. Her proclivity for following the wind anywhere it led, doing the first thing that came to her mind. It was an inclination she had worked hard to suppress, but when she watched Kayla storm out of the church, she knew going after her was the right decision. Somehow, she just knew.She beckoned to the guard. The woman marched to her. Mei half expected her to salute. "Come," she told her, "I could use

The day could not have gone any better, Hamish thought, suppressing a smirk.He could have sworn that God or whoever was in charge of this shit show called life had a soft spot for him. He had spent weeks feeding Grant with intel, hoping the man with all his hate would make something of it. It turned out that all the man had to his name was that hate. Nothing more. Sad to say, the same applied to his brothers, Sean and Tate. Both were sorry excuses for adversaries. If it were him and not Kayla they had gone after, he would have crushed them before the week was over.All that incompetence and, at the end of the day, it was Ceneau who—even without intending to—threw the family into chaos. If Hamish could see his stepbrother, he could have hugged him.After the call from Mei saying that Kayla was being rushed to the hospital, the wedding guest list quickly morphed, becoming an entourage. The fleet of cars that had graced the wedding raced through the city towards the hospital. Once ag

When the hospital discharged her later in the day, Lei was waiting to take her home.The Chairman had taken Reynolds to salvage what they could of the wedding and make arrangements for it to be held the next day. She must have dozed off as soon as they hit the road because she woke at home with Lei shaking her arm softly, whispering "Kayla," and she could not remember anything of the trip.Still groggy, she stumbled inside and pulled up short when she found his guard, Jovian, inside. He was cooking, his face calm. The man wore a black turtle neck that stuck to his body and his muscles stood out clearly under the thin, stretched fabric. He was a soldier, by all interpretations of the word, and he looked out of place in her whitewash, silverware kitchen."Ma'am," he said, pausing when he caught sight of her. If Lei was startled, she showed no sign of it. A peek in the pot showed her that he was making veggie garlic noodles.“You didn’t have to do this,” Kayla said.The man gave his v