125

“And you will listen to Tom and the others,” Zane reminded Ava. Ava smiled at him. He had been reminding her of the rules they had established since they woke up.
“When have I not?” she asked. He just raised an eyebrow. “Okay, but I will be good. I promise,” she told him. Zane sighed and placed his hand on her belly.
“Maybe I should cancel my meetings and join you,” he thought out loud.
“That is sweet. But we will be fine. I will be there for little more than two hours and then Tom will take me home and I won’t go to the office until all of this is sorted,” she said.
“And?” he insisted.
“And I won’t leave the mansion grounds unless you are with me. Not even if all of our men are with me,” she told him. He had made her promise the same thing several times already.
“Good angel. Okay. I will miss you. Please be careful,” he said and kissed her. Ava smiled and rubbed off the lipstick from his lips.
“I will miss you too. And I’m not the one that is putting myself into danger. Please be careful, Zane. Don’t let him provoke you to do something stupid,” she told him. “You are about to be a dad, I kind of need you alive for that.” Zane smiled at her. He might show a mask of a hard and ruthless mob boss. But Ava knew he had pasted one of the sonogram pictures to the inside of his iPad case so it was the first thing he saw when opening it.
“I will be good,” he agreed. Together they walked downstairs and had breakfast with Gabriel and Ryder. “Let me know when you arrive at the office, before you head into your meeting and then when you are done,” Zane reminded her as he and Ryder were walking Ava and Gabriel to the car.
“I know.” She gave him a quick kiss. “Love you,” she whispered to him before they drew apart and Ava smiled at Tom that held the car door open for them.
“I see his is taking this well,” Gabriel teased Ava as they were driving to the office.
“Oh shut up. I’m thinking Ryder is just as bad as Zane. Any new safety rules? Maybe a new laminated instruction?” she asked and laughed as he turned pink.
“Well, I’m not going to tell you,” Gabriel huffed.
“We will see about that. I’ll just make sure to fill you up on Angel’s Bliss and I will get my information,” Ava joked.
“That’s not fair. I can’t get you drunk. There has to be a rule about that somewhere. Like you can’t use alcohol to pry things out of your friends while pregnant,” he said. They looked at each other and laughed. As they got out of the car and took the elevator up to their offices they were surrounded by a mass of their men.
“I’m happy our darlings aren’t taking this too far,” Ava said. As they got to the office, Ava felt strange seeing all the familiar faces, but not in a place where they should be. All their usual employees had the day off and the office was filled by their men, acting as office workers. It was like her two worlds were colliding and Ava found her brain had a hard time adjusting.
“Hello, Mrs. A. I’ll be your office manager for today, getting you things you need, serving coffee and all those good things,” Amy told her.
“Thank you, Amy. I know this is below you, but I’ll make sure my husband makes it worth while,” Ava said.
“Not at all. We are all happy to be here. You look amazing in that suit.”
“Thank you,” Ava said and walked into her office. She had worn the light grey suit with flared pants deliberately. It was flattering and it made her look like a business woman. It was a favorite of Zane’s as the back was bare with the exception for the collar that kept it all together at the neck and two loos fitting silver chains that crossed the back. That feature also made it less tight over her stomach and let her get away with her small baby bump. She texted Zane saying they had made it and everything was okay. Ava took a moment and went through some of the paperwork they would be discussing during the meeting. She started to relax in the familiar office. The intercom buzzed.
“The receptionist in the lobby has informed us that your guest is on his way up,” Tom said.
“Thank you, Tom.” Ava sent another text to Zane, letting him know she was heading into the meeting and was just about to grab her new laptop when an alarm she had never heard went off. Before she knew it metal shutters were slamming down over both doors and the window, leaving her office in a dusky light that came from the decorative lamps. For a moment she just sat frozen and listened. She couldn’t hear anything, not even the alarm. “Gabriel? Tom?” she called out. But no reply. Ava got up and hesitantly walked where the door to Gabriels office usually was. Now there was only a metal cover there. She reached out and knocked on the metal. It felt thick and firm, there was a low sound as she hit it. But she didn’t think it would be audible in Gabriel’s office. The intercom buzzed and she hurried over to her desk again.
“Mrs. A. Everything is fine. Please stay calm, the boss is on his way,” Tom said.
“Tom, what is going on?” she asked.
“Nothing to worry about. You are safe and the boss is on his way.”
“You said that. Why is my office a metal box?” she asked.
“It’s part of the new security system. The boss will talk to you,” Tom said. Ava took out her phone.

A: My office turned into a metal box.
Z: I’m almost there.
A: So Tom told me. Why didn’t I know my office could turn into a metal box?
Z: It’s to keep you safe.
A: Okay. So what is happening? Is Gabriel safe? The rest of our men?
Z: Gabriel’s office has the same feature as your’s. I’m almost there.

Ava looked at the message and accepted he wasn’t going to tell her anything.

A: I’m guessing you are trapped in your own metal box?

She sent the text to Gabriel.

G: I am. Did you know about this?
A: No. I wonder what triggered the alarm? I talked to Tom over the intercom. He sounded stressed, but I couldn’t hear gun fire.
G: I love how you just threw in that like it would have ben the most normal thing to hear. I have no clue what is going on outside. The only thing Ryder is telling me is that he will be here soon.
A: Zane is telling me the same thing. I guess we just have to wait.

Ava didn’t feel like sitting down behind her desk. Instead she leaned against it and hoped whatever was going on outside, it wouldn’t effect the contractor they were going to meet. there was a click coming from the shutter covering the main entrance to her office. Ava stood up, trying to prepare for anything, wishing she was better at using a gun so Zane would have let her have one. As the metal vanished up she could see the door was already open and Zane was standing in the middle of it. Her body relaxed on it’s own, just by seeing him. She smiled and walked towards him. He met her half way and hugged her.
“You are okay?” he asked in a low voice. She nodded and took her que from him.
“We both are,” she whispered. “What happened?” she then wanted to know. Zane frowned and led her out of her office. Ava was stunned to see three men on their knees in the middle of the office. Their hands were behind their necks and they were surrounded by almost all the men that had ben at the office with guns drawn. In a pile on one of the couches where visitors could sit and wait, there was a pile of weapons. Ava assumed they had been collected from the three men. She looked at the three men and took a moment to take them in. They were all a little older and the one in the middle felt familiar. He met her eyes and grinned. Avas blood ran cold. It was the grin she had come to love, a grin she saw on Zane’s face almost daily.
“Your father?” she asked her husband.
“Yes,” he confirmed.