I hadn't gone to speak with her myself, aware that she'd seen my face on that wall facing her cage for every waking moment of her captivity. Seeing me now wasn't going to do her any good. The information Kody relayed was vague at best, and it was abundantly clear he was sparing me the details.
For that, I was thankful.
Less than twenty-four hours after Samantha was discharged into the care of her cousin, we found out she'd killed herself.
42
The process of healing took some time and a healthy amount of therapy for me. Unlike the boys, I wasn't used to all the violence, death, and destruction. It plagued my dreams to the point I would wake up screaming and thrashing, even with one of them sleeping beside me. After a few weeks, I'd admitted to myself—and to them—how scared for my own sanity I was becoming. After that, they'd sourced me the very best therapist in the state, and with her help, I was slowly healing.
Archer had needed more time in the hospital than he'd been happy with, but we’d given him no option to decline. The bullet wound in his side had chipped a fragment of bone from his rib, which had started causing complications, and I wasn't risking his health over his stubborn pride.
There’d been no way in hell he could make his fight and had to forfeit. That, I guessed, was the thing pissing him off the most.
To my surprise—in a good way—after a few weeks, the guys started taking turns accompanying me to therapy. Not to babysit me, but to participate. It was weird, but every damn time it made my heart happy. They were invested in this relationship and in my wellbeing. But more than that, they recognized the need for themselves to grow and heal along with me... They put their big dick energy aside and welcomed positive mental health changes.
Not to say they suddenly became choir boys, hell no. But every damn day our bonds grew stronger and tighter until I could barely remember what it felt like to be without them, criminal activities and all.
The first weekend of summer, Archer woke me up early and announced we were going for a vacation.
It was out of the blue enough that I sat up with a confused frown. "Vacation? Where to?"
His answering grin was all mischief. "Wait and see, Princess."
I scowled back at him. Surprises were not high on my list of favorite things these days. "Sunshine..."
He silenced my sleepy protests with a long, lingering kiss that made my heart race. "Pack a swimsuit, baby girl. Or don't." His wink was pure sex, and a wave of desire rippled through me. "Come on, it's a long drive, and I promised we'd be there for lunch."
I frowned again. "Promised who?"
He just kissed me again, then reached over and flicked Steele in the forehead to wake him up. "Come on, metal dick. We're leaving in half an hour."
Steele flipped him off without opening his eyes, but Archer just smirked and headed out of my bedroom.
I thought for sure Steele had gone back to sleep again, but the second the door closed, his arm snaked around my waist and he dragged me back under the covers with him.
"Mmm, good morning, Hellcat," he mumbled into my neck as he kissed my warm skin. His hands roamed over me, slipping under my sleep shirt and gripping my waist.
I grinned as he ground his hard dick against my ass. "Max... you heard the boss. We gotta go in half an hour."
"I heard him," he replied in a sleepy voice. His fingers hooked into my panties and tugged them down my legs. "Half an hour. So let's be quick, or I'll end up sharing you when he comes back to yell at us."
A low chuckle bubbled from me as he coaxed my legs open. "Don't need to tell me twice."
As it turned out, it was closer to an hour before we left the house. Steele and I used every second of that half hour, then still needed to shower and pack our bags for this mystery vacation.
Or rather, it was a mystery to me. Steele clearly knew where we were going because he helped me pack and discarded anything remotely dressy or formal. So that was my clue. Wherever we were going, it was going to be casual and comfortable the whole time.
It already sounded perfect.
We took one of Archer's black, bulletproof Range Rovers, and the boys gave me the front passenger seat. My phone rang before we'd even been on the road for five minutes, and a flash of anticipation raced through me as I looked at the caller ID.
"Leon," I answered, knowing he was the only one who’d call from a secured network. "How'd it go?"
"All sorted," the computer-genius mercenary told me. "I've emailed you with the three candidates I'd pick and earmarked my top choice. Up to you, though; it's your company to run."
I let out a long sigh of relief, feeling one less worry weighing me down. The past weeks had been a whirlwind of legal bullshit, red tape, and borderline nasty discussions with the board of directors at Wittenberg. Just eight days earlier, though, a court in Pretoria had officially signed off on my claim of ownership over one of the world’s largest companies—and diamond mines.
I was no idiot; I knew damn well that the sheer volume of money Archer had been able to throw at the case had fast-tracked it through the legal system a hundred times quicker than it could have been done otherwise. But even so, my nerves had been on edge every time I had to speak with the suspicious, judgmental old men on my company board. Not to mention their flesh-eating lawyers.
Leon's help had been the relief I so badly needed. He'd felt so guilty about not catching Dave in his security sweep that he'd offered me a freebie—something I'd happily taken him up on when I took an instant dislike to the man who'd taken over from Kruger as interim CEO.
I was in no position to run a company I knew nothing about. But I'd be damned if I kept a misogynistic old fuck in charge. Especially one who talked to my tits for our entire Zoom call and insulted me with every second word. Nope. No way in hell.
Ideally, I wanted someone in charge who I could trust, at least for a few years until I learned enough to become involved myself. In lieu of that, though, I wanted someone I could potentially grow to trust. Someone who would look after the interests of my family's company, not just line their own pockets. That's where Leon had come in. He'd run an extensive audit of the entire company's management team, and then looked further abroad to competitors.
"Thank you, Leon," I said with a sigh. "I really appreciate your help."
He just scoffed. "It wasn't a favor, MK. I owed you, big time. Anyway, get your legal team onto whichever of those candidates you like best. They're all poach jobs from direct competition, though, so maybe a personal touch might work in your favor."
I grinned and thanked him again before ending the call.
Archer gave me a curious look before returning his eyes to the road. "Good news from Leon?"
I nodded and opened my email to see who he'd picked out. I had been keeping up with his whole investigation, which had started weeks before the company had been officially handed over to me, so I was already familiar with who I thought he might have chosen.
"Knew it," I said, reading the names of the attachment files out loud.
Steele whooped. "You suckers owe me fifty bucks each."
I looked up from my phone, turning to peer at him in the back seat. "You three taking bets on my future CEO now?"