The Auction House Deal: Bought by A Billionaire

Chapter 175: Close Call: Roman

The phone call with Matthew’s boss had been brief, and to the point.

It didn’t take long to point out to the man the threat I had made to Matthew.

The tone in his voice certainly informed me that he understood and was going to handle it.

Once I hung up the phone, I sighed, sent off a couple more emails, and stood from the desk. I checked my phone to see that quite a bit of time had passed and it was likely Hannah would soon be done with her dress appointment.

Maybe I could meet them and take Hannah home myself, or go to dinner if she was hungry. I patted my stomach. The meeting I had walked out on was meant to be catered.

Sighing, I headed for the elevator.

"Heading out so soon?" Rachel called.

"Afraid so," I sighed. "A lot is going on."

"Lauren told me," Rachel nodded. "If you guys need anything, just let me know."

"Thank you, Rachel. I appreciate it. You’re one of the only constants in our life," I called to her as I hit the button to the elevator.

"Love you," she called.

"Love you, too," I said with a smile.

As I stepped in, I knew that I needed to do something special for my cousin soon.

She never missed work, coming in even during those spells I couldn’t come in myself. She made a handsome salary, of course, but something a little extra to make sure she knew she was appreciated would be nice.

I brainstormed on ideas all the way down to the lobby, thinking that maybe a luxury gift basket and a week vacation would do the trick. I was sure I could organize with Lauren for her to help me out while Rachel had a vacation.

I pulled out my phone to text Lauren, when an email shot across my phone. It was Matthew with the appropriate paperwork.

I smirked. That’s what I thought.

I shot off my response, including the legal department in my carbon copy line.

My phone rang, and, before I even got out of the lobby, I had a talk with one of the lawyers about the legalities and process of getting that company. It was all very routine and uneventful, but something necessary.

Just as I started my goodbye on the phone call, one of the main elevators opened, and I saw Matthew step off. His eyes locked onto me right away. I suppressed my smirk as to not rub in the victory as he glared hard in my direction. It was like he couldn’t stop himself when he approached and jutted a hand in my direction.

"You are so entitled!" He barked. "You really think that there was any sort of nefarious motive in my wanting to make sure every single detail was squared away? Could it be so impossible for you to consider?"

I fixed the buttons on my jacket.

"Look, Matthew. While I understand this is a big deal for you and the company you’ve come from, I handle acquisitions on a nearly weekly basis. I know when I’m being jerked around. And perhaps you should consider that dotting every I and crossing every i should be done in a timelier manner. A manner where I don’t have to leave whatever it is I’m doing to come down here and talk filing fees and fines.

Understood?"

"Jerk," the guy muttered and turned away.

Once his back was to me, I rolled my eyes. Again, I was appreciative that he was just trying to squeeze more work out of the position before being let go, but he was wasting my time and being snarky. Besides, the person buying your company for a generous price might have a little bit of a right to be entitled.

Allowing myself to chuckle, I shook my head and went back to texting Lauren. I needed to organize a time that Lauren could help out so Rachel could get a break.

Maybe I would even plan her a vacation and book it in advance, so that she would definitely go. It was something to consider. Where would she want to go, though?

I tucked the thoughts away and focused on the evening at hand. I needed to find Hannah and make dinner plans, and just wind down from such a long day.

Stepping outside, I texted Hannah to ask if their appointment was done. The dress shop was less than a block away.

As I hit send, I noticed a flash of black out of the corner of my eye but assumed it to be regular traffic.

Then, it came closer. In the blink of an eye, it was coming up onto the curb in front of me.

I jerked back out of sheer instinct, and that alone.

The black car hurried back onto the street, smashing into one of the cars parked on the side of the street. Glass sprayed me, cutting my cheeks as it blew past.

My eyes tried to take in the scene, but it was almost as if my brain just wouldn’t totally process it. It was as mess of violence and mayhem before my very eyes.

Then, the car peeled off, and I just tried to collect myself for a moment.

I blinked rapidly and shook my head. Once I was sure I had my head on right, I moved to the car that was hit.

"Are you okay?" I called through the window.

The driver was clearly shaken up, but nodded. They were already on the phone with the police. I sighed inwardly, knowing I wouldn’t be able to go anywhere for the time being. Not until I gave the police my statement.

The worst of it was I needed to let Hannah know, but I didn’t want her to worry like I knew she would.

I took a deep breath and brushed the glass off my jacket. I would wait until I was done with the police, then I would give her a call. At least, then, I could give her my full attention.

It was only a matter of a few minutes before the sirens were blaring in the distance.

I took another deep breath, and another. What was I supposed to tell them? What was I supposed to tell that poor driver? Hell, what was I supposed to tell myself?

There was one thing for sure, it was the Auction House.

Maybe it was the rogue agent that tried to get Hannah at her charity. My jaw clenched just at the thought.

Was I the target, or were they just hoping she was with me?

All that it meant for sure was that they were watching us. This wasn’t good. I needed to call Ed and Marcus, and I needed to up security again. I was kicking myself for not doing it before.

The police arrived, and I tried to gather myself. It wasn’t a fond feeling I had, noticing I recognized some of the officers faces. Not always a good sign, was it? It meant you were either always in trouble or always in danger.

I think I would have preferred to just be in trouble, if I was honest. Some tickets or fines would have been favorable to all that we had dealt with. Hell, maybe I would have even taken a night in the slammer if it meant ’The Auction House’ were words that never had to cross my mind again.

The officers approached, and I made my statement. I told them what I had observed: the car coming up on the curb, the black car, what model I was sure it was, and how I had reason to believe that it was targeting me given my past involvement with criminal investigations.

This led into talking about the attempted kidnapping, and how the FBI was already informed.

The moment i said that the FBI was informed, the looks on their faces changed. They weren’t interested, and felt like their toes were being stepped on.

I couldn’t help but roll my eyes for the second time that day. Why couldn’t anything go right that day?

My frustration was building, and I was quickly growing sick of it all. I just wanted to get home and have the night with Hannah. Get through telling her what happened, get through the phone calls I would have to make, and get in bed and do absolutely nothing but hold my wife.

As they walked away from me, I heard a gasp. A familiar gasp.

I inwardly winced as I turned to locate Hannah.

Right, the dress shop was right down the street. Of course she had heard it and came to see what was going on.

Could I protect her from anything at all? It didn’t feel like it.

There was already a little crowd formed, and there were people parting like the Red Sea as they were shoved side to side. That had to be her.

I braced myself for impact and to tell her everything. As much as I wanted to protect her, I knew nothing good ever came of hiding things from her.