Spanked by an Angel [Notorious Nephilim 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (20 page)

At the time, Zach’s words had sounded ridiculous, but now they made perfect sense. She didn’t owe her father anything more than money. She had skills and experience. She’d find another job and put the memories of Malcolm and Didi behind her forever.

With newfound hope, she wrapped up the rest of the pizza and retrieved her laptop. No new e-mails. She was almost disappointed that Zach or Emmett hadn’t written, but considering how abruptly she’d left, she couldn't blame them. No doubt they were convinced by now that she hadn’t cared for them at all.

That thought almost sent her into a downward spiral, so she reread the text message Zach had sent. They knew how much she cared. The text message proved it. She debated for ten minutes before finally resisting the urge to call them. It wouldn’t do any good.

There were no jobs in Duluth, but when she widened the job search to Minneapolis, there were five jobs for which she was qualified. She typed up a résumé and applied for every one of them. Minneapolis was only two hours away from Duluth, and she’d have an easier time finding an apartment there than if she stayed near home.

Abigail hadn’t felt this free since she’d gone away to college. In the morning, she’d talk to her father, give her resignation, and tell him to draft an agreement for paying back the money. It didn’t matter anymore. She didn’t give a shit about the money. All she wanted was her life back.

And Zach and Emmett in her bed. But that wasn’t going to happen.

* * * *

Emmett and Zach strolled into the lobby of the building that housed Cosslin, Walters, Ayers, and McLeod. The pretty blonde receptionist stared at them with her mouth open. She recovered with a blush.

“Good morning. May I help you?”

“Yes.” Emmett flashed his sexiest grin and leaned close enough for her to catch a whiff of the Polo he’d splashed on that morning. “Emmett Fallon and Zachary Neville. We’re here to see William Bennett Cosslin.”

“Oh, okay. Um…” She typed on her keyboard and stared at her computer monitor. “Do you have an appointment?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but he doesn’t—”

“He’ll see us,” said Emmett, still grinning.

The blonde was visibly flustered now. It was an unfair advantage to use his angel magic, as Abigail had called it, but desperate times called for sneaky measures.

“Tell him we’re here about his daughter, Abigail. It’s important.”

She frowned. “All right. I’ll see if he’s available. Please have a seat.”

She picked up the phone, but Emmett and Zach didn’t wait to hear what she said. They strolled to the leather sofas and chairs flanking a coffee table with
Sports Illustrated
and
American Lawyer
magazines arranged in a fan pattern on top.

The blonde approached them with a smile on her face. “Catherine, his administrative assistant, will be down in a moment to escort you up. Can I get you anything in the meantime? Coffee or a soft drink?”

Or me
, her eyes said. “No thank you,” said Emmett, the killer grin firmly in place.

“Well, just let me know.”

“We will.”

Her ass cheeks moved seductively under her tight skirt as she walked back toward the desk, but all Emmett saw was Abigail’s lovely ass. He shook his head and picked up a magazine. In order for this to work, he had to focus on the task at hand. Thinking of Abigail right now would channel all the blood from his brain straight to his dick.

When Emmett had first told Zach about his plan, Zach had emphatically refused to go through with it. Zach had been concerned Abigail would consider it charity, or worse, interference on their part. What was to stop her from feeling they were trying to control her just as her father had done? But when Emmett found the real estate listing for Abigail’s house online, Zach had changed his mind. Being under Daddy’s control was one thing. Being forced from her home was too much.

They’d talked about it for hours, finally deciding they’d rather free her from the financial hold her father had on her and risk upsetting her than letting her live like this for the rest of her life. She was too proud and stubborn to ask for their help, but they were stubborn as well. They were going to bail her out of this, regardless of the consequences. If they lost her forever, at least they would do so with the knowledge they had given her freedom.

Emmett flipped through the pages of the magazine without seeing the slick ads. He was picturing Abigail’s face when she found out what they planned to do this morning, and hoping as he’d never hoped before that she would be happy about it, not pissed off.

“What if she’s here today?” asked Zach softly.

“It’s a big place. We might not run into her.”

“What if she tells us to fuck off?”

Emmett glanced at his friend. “She won’t. She cares about us, Zach. I think she loves us. At the very least, we’ll have the chance to tell her we love her. No matter what, this time we won’t let her leave without knowing the truth. She has to make the decision. You know that.”

“I still think we’re forcing it.”

“Maybe so, but like you said, here, back home under his control, she might not be able to summon the courage and strength she showed at the resort.”

A tall woman strolled toward them with a bored expression on her face. The navy-blue suit she wore contrasted sharply with her spiky pink and black hair. She extended her hand as they stood.

“I’m Catherine Masters. Mr. Cosslin is in deposition for another twenty minutes, but he’ll see you afterwards. Please come with me.”

She led them to an elevator that required a key to operate. Emmett sighed in relief. It probably went straight to his private office. They wouldn’t have to parade through hallways and cubicles, so there was less chance Abigail would see them.

They waited forty-five minutes in a conference room that smelled of furniture polish and leather, nursing coffee from a Styrofoam cup, before a balding man with Abigail’s eyes thundered inside. The suit he wore cost at least $5,000, and his face had the look of shady deals and chronic high blood pressure. He took a seat across from them, put both meaty hands on the table, and leaned forward.

“Well? What the hell is this about?”

They had already decided Zach was to be the negotiator. His social skills were more refined. Zach pulled a leather checkbook and a pen from his suit coat.

“How much does your daughter owe you? Including the projected sale from the house?”

William’s eyebrows shot up, and his lips curled, but not in a smile. “What the fuck is this?” His voice was soft, but with a dangerous edge to it.

“We want to pay off her debt. All of it.”

“Who the fuck are you two?”

“Friends.”

“The hell you are. Why should you pay it off? She’s the one who owes it.”

“Does it really matter where the money comes from, as long as you’re paid?”

Zach’s voice had taken on a dangerous edge as well. The air in the room became charged. Emmett half expected Lilith to appear any second. She could smell blood like a shark. He had to dig his nails into his palms to keep from laughing at the look on William’s face. Zach had backed him into a corner in less than thirty seconds, and the bastard knew it.

“She owes me half a million dollars.”

Zach didn’t even blink. He merely glanced down and began to write on a blank check. “Do I make this out to you or the firm?”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“No, sir.”

“I don’t have time for jokes.” William stood, but Zach’s voice stopped him cold.

“Sit down, Mr. Cosslin. We’re paying off Abigail’s debt. Today. And you’re going to have one of those pretty blonde secretaries who works for you type up a nice legal agreement saying she is no longer financially beholden to you.”

William leaned across the table, his eyes narrowing. “Or you’ll do what?”

The air in the room thickened with the scent of ozone. Zach stood, his gaze holding William’s sneer as his hair swirled in a sudden wind. The lights dimmed until the only things visible were Zach’s eyes.

William’s eyes widened, and his jaw went slack. Beads of sweat broke out over his forehead. “What…what the hell are you?” he whispered.

“Someone you do not want to mess with, William. Now, to whom do I make out this check?”

The hairs on the back of Emmett’s neck prickled as Abigail’s voice echoed in the hallway outside. “I don’t care who he’s with, Catherine. I need to see him right now.”

The door burst open, and Abigail stood slack-jawed in the doorway, disbelief flooding her beautiful face.

“What…”

“Hi, honey,” said Emmett, his grin as casual as if they’d met on the street while taking a stroll. “Zach and I have been having a chat with your father.”

She blinked a few times, her gaze flicking from one man to the other. Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. The joy of seeing Emmett and Zach again was overshadowed by the fear settling over her like a shroud. If her father had done anything to hurt their business, she’d kill him. Why else would they be here dressed in suits?

“Have a seat, Abigail,” said her father.

“What did you do to them?” She closed the door behind her, leaving a shocked Catherine standing in the hallway. “You leave them alone. They have nothing to do with you and me. I’m going to pay you back. Every penny. And you can have the house. I don’t want it. It reminds me of Malcolm. And by the way”—she thrust the letter at him—“this is my two-week resignation.”

It took every ounce of courage to hold her father’s confused gaze as the paper fluttered to the desktop. She curled her hands into fists and refused to let any emotion except anger surface. The only way to get through this was to stay pissed off at him.

“Please sit down.”

Please?
Her father had never said “please” to her. Not once. What the hell was going on? She took a seat at the head of the table so she could watch their faces. Emmett and Zach beamed at her as if she were manna from heaven. Her breath caught in her throat as she looked into their eyes. Every muscle in her body cried out, urging her into their arms.

“What’s going on?” she asked, forcing her gaze to her father’s face. There was an unsettled look about him, and that was more disturbing than her confusion at why Zach and Emmett were here.

Her father cleared his throat. “It seems these two friends of yours have come to pay off your debt to me.”

Abigail shook her head. She couldn’t have heard him correctly. It was then she noticed the checkbook open in front of Zach, and a pen poised in his hand. “What?”

“All I’m waiting for is who to make the check out to.” Zach smiled at her with triumph in his eyes.

“Why?”

“So you can be free,” said Emmett softly.

“But I…” She had been about to say
she
was the one who owed her father the money, not Emmett and Zach, but the words wouldn’t come out. Technically, she owed her father nothing. “I can’t let you do this. The house was a wedding gift.” She glared at her father, drawing strength from Emmett and Zach’s presence. “You gave it to us. And as for the money Malcolm stole, I don’t owe that to you either. I’m moving to Minneapolis and looking for a new job there.”

Her father frowned. “I can’t recover that money from him, and you know it. And what about the lien on the house?”

“Sell it. Go ahead. Keep the proceeds. I really don’t want it. If Malcolm was stupid enough to file a lien, surely you can trace him, Daddy.”

Her father nodded. “Yes, I suppose I can.”

“Then you should be able to have him prosecuted for the crime he committed, no?”

Her father nodded.

“So? Am I free and clear? Is there something I can sign saying you can have the house?”

He seemed to have recovered from whatever had been upsetting him earlier. “What about everything I’ve done for you? I kept you on here after he left.”

“And I did the work for which I was paid. I don’t owe you anything extra for that.” She pushed the letter toward him. “You have my two-week resignation. I don’t have to give you more than that. I’ll leave today, if you want. I don’t care either way.”

His face turned red. “Why are you being so
ungrateful
?”

She glanced at Zach and Emmett again. Forcing childhood memories to the surface, she kept her focus on the humiliation and shame she’d endured for twenty-nine years.

“I’m not ungrateful. I’m just done living the life you think I should live.”

Her father locked gazes with her, but Abigail didn’t back down, not even when her mouth went bone-dry and her limbs trembled. She forced her eyes to his face, keeping her lips set in a firm line. She was done living in fear of this man.

“This will break your mother’s heart.”

Abigail bit the inside of her cheek. She would not back down. “I’ll only be two hours away. I can see Mother anytime she wants.”

Her father glared at her, disbelief filling his face.

“And I expect you to hire Sharon McKee back.”

“She should have told me where she suspected you’d gone.”

“Why? She didn’t violate a company policy, and you know it.”

“So that’s it then?” he asked.

“Yes. What do you want me to sign as far as the house is concerned?”

“I’ll have Catherine prepare something right now.” He glanced at Zach. “Would you really have written me a check for half a million dollars?”

“In a heartbeat.”

Abigail couldn’t hold back a smile. It was all she could do not to leap across the table and kiss Zach.

Her father rose. “Give me five minutes, and we’ll be done.”

She let him leave without another word, waited until he’d closed the door behind him, then practically flew into Zach’s arms. He kissed her neck and stroked her hair. Emmett embraced her as well, and she couldn’t stop the tears.

“I didn’t think I’d ever see you two again.”

“I told you we’d be here for you,” said Zach.

“You were not really going to give him that much money.”