Chapter 2 - The Dandelion Protocol|
Damon stood so quickly his chair rolled backward and slammed into the wall.
“Marcus.”
The conference room door opened almost immediately. Marcus Ellery had served as Damon’s security chief for fourteen years. He had been around long enough to recognize the difference between Damon being angry and Damon being afraid.
This was the second one.
“Lock the property down,” Damon commanded, his voice a low, lethal rumble. “Nobody enters. Nobody leaves until I know what happened.”
Marcus’s eyes flicked toward Ruby.
“Selena?”
“West staff residence. Find her.”
“I’m going with you.”
“No. Send two people. Quietly. I don’t want Ruby seeing anyone panic.”
Marcus nodded, already touching the radio at his collar to issue the silent alarm.
Damon looked toward the men around the table.
“This meeting is over, but nobody leaves this room.”
One adviser, a man who managed the logistics for the cartel's legitimate trucking routes, started to rise.
“Damon, we have a schedule to keep—”
“Nobody.”
The single word, delivered with eyes as dead as shattered glass, put the man firmly back in his chair.
Damon lifted Ruby into his arms. She immediately wrapped both arms around his neck, burying her face against the expensive fabric of his suit. For the first time since she had wandered into his life eight months earlier, the child was not curious about the men, the expensive room, the strange tension, or the papers covering the table.
Damon felt her heart hammering through her little cotton dress.
“Mr. Damon?”
“Yes?”
“Did I do it right?”
For some reason, that simple question almost broke the cold exterior he had spent a lifetime building.
“You did everything right, Ruby.”
“Mommy said you would know what to do.”
Damon looked toward Marcus, who was holding the heavy door open. There were very few things in Damon’s life that could still frighten him. He had faced rival cartels, federal indictments, and assassins. But the absolute, blind trust of a three-year-old girl and her desperate mother terrified him to his core.
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He carried Ruby out of the boardroom, his mind flashing back to the day this little girl had handed him a dandelion, deciding right then that the ruthless mafia boss was her friend.
He wasn't going to let anyone hurt them. Not in his house. Not ever.
