Dangerously Deceived Read online

  Dangerously Deceived

  Aegis Group Lepta Team #3

  Sidney Bristol

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  Inked Press

  Dangerously Deceived

  Aegis Group Lepta Team #3

  The mission: Keep a hot-headed woman from getting them all killed.

  Navy SEAL Vaughn Fernandez believes in maximizing every moment, and when it comes to the instant attraction between him and a maid, he's all in. Except the curvy beauty isn't a maid at all. She's the client's girlfriend, and that's a line he's never crossed.

  Carla White lives a picture-perfect life. To the world, she is a rags-to-riches story on the coattails of her high school sweetheart. In private, it's a different story. Her relationship is fake, but her feelings for the tall, dark and handsome bodyguard are very real. She might not have the chance at a happy ending, but she can live in the moment.

  A jet setting dash across the globe kicks off Vaughn and Carla's secret love affair as they race to rescue their target. However, sooner they complete their mission the shorter their time together is.

  Explore the whole Aegis world in these series...

  It all began with the Aegis Group.

  Dangerous Attraction

  Dangerous in Training

  Dangerous Games

  Dangerous Assignment

  Dangerous Protector

  Dangerous Secrets

  Dangerous Heat

  More Coming Soon!

  Within Aegis Group, special teams take on special jobs, beginning with the Alpha Team.

  Dangerous in Love

  Dangerous in Action

  Dangerous in Transit

  Dangerous in Motion

  Dangerous in Charge

  Other specialized teams exist under the Aegis Group umbrella, including Lepta Team.

  Dangerously Taken

  Dangerously Involved

  Dangerously Deceived

  Dangerously Broken (2019)

  Dangerously Entwined (2019)

  In Dangerous Games it continued with the Gone Geek girls.

  Beauty and the Geek

  Mr. Purr-fect and the Geek

  The Jock and the Geek

  The Gamer and the Geek

  The Adorkable Girl and the Geek

  The Fake Boyfriend and the Geek

  When the Seattle office of Aegis Group opened the Twisted Royals took the stage.

  The Origin Story

  Alpha Prince

  Her Prince

  Bad Boy Prince

  Noble Prince

  Stay tuned for the appearance of the Troy Team and Omega Team.

  For short reads, tune in this December for the Body of Danger novella series kick-off.

  Heart for Danger

  Mind for Danger (2019)

  Soul for Danger (2020)

  The other Smith brother takes us to the Texas SWAT series, a small town suspense series.

  Fighting Redemption

  Stolen Redemption

  Reckless Redemption (coming soon)

  To the readers. You guys stick with me through all my crazy ideas and tell me to keep them coming. <3

  When I saw you I fell in love, and you smiled because you knew.

  ―WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

  Table of Contents

  1.

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  4.

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  12.

  13.

  14.

  15.

  16.

  17.

  18.

  19.

  Epilogue.

  1.

  Wednesday. Aegis Group, Seattle, WA.

  Vaughn Fernandez wasn’t ready for the real world. Out there, off the job, he had a thousand pound weight to deal with. Things were so much simpler when he was working. Their objective was always clear, get the asset, get out. If only there were clear-cut rules for life.

  He bent and grabbed his gear bag from the pile in the lobby, intending to head to the bunk room for a few hours of sleep before he caught a plane to Texas. The rest of the team was probably sitting around, bullshitting or going over the upcoming trip to South Africa. Vaughn wished he could get excited about the trip, but not when he was worried about his brother. Again.

  Mom hadn’t asked for his help. They’d been through detox enough that she had her own system down. But he knew she’d appreciate the company at least, on top of all the other things Vaughn did when he was home.

  Zain Lloyd, the man in charge of the Seattle office, stepped into the hall, barring Vaughn’s path. Zain was that quiet guy people overlooked and underestimated. Probably because of his prosthetic hand as if that were some indicator of the man’s crazy skills. And that was an opponent’s first mistake. Zain was one of the scariest bastards on the planet, and he didn’t have to break a sweat to give people nightmares. There wasn’t a secret he couldn’t find out.

  “There you are.” Zain nodded toward the conference room. “You’re not headed home yet.”

  Vaughn perked up. Another job?

  Lepta Team wasn’t scheduled for an R&R break for another week. Being called out on the heels of another op wasn’t unheard of. Normally they did get at least one night in their own beds.

  Guilt landed a gut blow a moment later. Mom was alone in dealing with his brother, and here Vaughn was relieved to have a mission?

  He was a shitty son.

  “Where we going this time?” Vaughn fell into step with Zain.

  “Lebanon.”

  “What?” He was so caught off guard he stopped walking. “I thought we weren’t welcome.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s where the job is taking you.” Zain turned to face Vaughn, pitching his voice lower. “If your mother needs help, just say the word.”

  Vaughn’s spine straightened, and he glared at the man who’d become his boss.

  Zain held up his hands, palms out. Little lights flashed in the fingers of his prosthetic. “You can also tell me to fuck off, that it’s none of my business why you’ve made so many trips back to El Paso when you keep saying you hate that place.”

  Vaughn swallowed down the instinctive fuck you reply. Too many people liked to offer their advice on what to do and how to deal with his brother.

  Zain wasn’t passing judgment. He’d never been an asshole. Knowing about Vaughn’s brother was probably standard operating procedure. Hell, they’d more than likely uncovered the years of drug abuse back when Vaughn was hired. His brother’s record hadn’t mattered then, and it didn’t matter now. Zain was offering some damn help, which was a lot more than other people did.

  Zain blew out a breath. “Fine. Fuck it. I should have kept my damn mouth shut. Sorry.”

  “Thanks, boss. I um, most people don’t get it.” Vaughn looped the strap to his bag over his shoulder. “I’ll check with Mom. She’s probably got a handle on it. Kind of hate thinking about how often we’ve done this. Thanks for the offer. She shouldn’t have to do this, you know?”

  “I can’t imagine what you two go through with Santiago. He’s damn lucky to have you as family.” Zain tilted his head toward the conference room. “Anyone else know?”

  “No.” Vaughn grimaced. Usually he and his team mate Nolan bitched about their brothers, but lately Nolan’s focus had shifted to his soon-to-arrive child. Besides, things hadn’t been the same between them since Vaughn broke it off with his last girlfriend, who happened to be Nolan’s girlfriend’s best friend.

  “Okay. She needs anything, contact me directly and I’ll handle it personally. No one else needs to know. We’re a team.” Zain gestured toward
the conference room. “Come on.”

  Vaughn dragged his feet long enough to shoot a text off to Mom that he was off on another op. He hadn’t mentioned his fleeting plans to come home, mostly because they rarely panned out during weeks he was on-call. That appeased his guilt some, but not enough.

  That done, he hurried to join the others in the large conference room.

  “When’s she going to pop?” Riley asked.

  Nolan glared across the table at the other man. “Not for another four weeks.”

  “How long are you out for?” Grant, their team leader, passed out a few stapled pieces of paper.

  “Paternity time is six weeks. Nolan’s spot will be filled in two week rotations with some of our fresh meat guys I want to see perform in a more demanding setting.” Zain flipped off the lights. “Tell Erin and Yvonne I’m sorry you guys aren’t getting a chance to go home this time.”

  “I don’t think either of them are in the state.” Nolan glanced at Riley.

  “Nope.” The other man shook his head.

  “Well, good then, because you’re all headed to Lebanon by way of New York City.” Zain tapped his phone screen. “Meet one of our original clients for Lepta Team, Ashton Khoury of Khoury Investments. The company is one of those catch-all’s for guys who buy businesses, develop them and sells them for profit.”

  Vaughn leaned back in his chair and studied the picture of a twenty-something rich guy in a suit. If he had to guess, the man was six even judging by his proportions. He worked out. Dressed well. Nothing remarkable about the guy to Vaughn except that he was just a hair on the side of too pretty. Then again, he was a top level kind of guy, probably never did any grunt work.

  “What happened to him?” Vaughn asked.

  “Nothing. It’s Mr. Khoury’s assistant, a Jared Moss, that’s been kidnapped while in Lebanon overseeing a passion project in the north of Lebanon. Mr. Khoury has some kind of conservation thing going on up there. Now, before you all point out that we aren’t welcome in Lebanon, I’ll direct you to the packets that Grant has handed out.” Zain flipped on the lights and glanced around the table. “As of today, you no longer work for Aegis Group. You’re direct employees of Khoury Investments. Aegis Group is contracted to support you.”

  Vaughn snorted. This roundabout way of allowing them to do their job was bullshit. “Is this job worth the hassle? Is the Lebanese government even going to buy this?”

  “Mr. Khoury took a chance on us in the very beginning. He put up about half the money it took to set up this office and fund many of our security features that sets us apart. So, yes, this is an important job not just because he keeps us on retainer, but because he’s been with us and we can attribute many of our corporate clients to him.” Zain glanced around the room. “I understand if you all have reservations about going to Lebanon. None of you were around in the beginning when Ethan Turner was with us. His death was tragic. It also forced us to evaluate clients differently.”

  “That was ages ago.” Riley sat forward in his chair. “Things have changed. Right?”

  Zain shook his head. “Not as much as we’d have liked. Last year we had an op go through Lebanon. It was a tense situation getting in and out of the country. Which is why we’re being cautious.”

  “Sorry for being late.” Melody Nguyen breezed into the room. She’d changed into another skirt and jacket suit complete with heels. “Merida and I couldn’t find us a flight out tonight, but we’re on a red eye that will put is in New York around eight.”

  “In the morning?” Vaughn cringed. It was too late to make it there by eight tonight.

  “Yes, tomorrow,” Melody replied.

  “Fantastic,” Zain said.

  “I’ve got a question.” Vaughn held up his hand. “Why all this trouble for an assistant? And do we know what the kidnappers want? What was this guy doing when he was kidnapped?”

  Melody zeroed in on Vaughn. “There have been no demands issued. Mr. Khoury reached out to us the moment he was informed of Jared Moss’ abduction. As for why all this trouble for an assistant? My guess is that he is a valuable employee.”

  Grant pushed up out of his chair. “Jared Moss was up in the mountains checking in on some sort of resort Khoury is building in conjunction with a group trying to preserve the Lebanon cedars. Ecotourism is what the email said, I believe.”

  “Correct. There is some security footage but nothing we can use to make a positive ID.” Melody nodded. “Our itinerary has us in New York first thing in the morning. We’ll meet with Mr. Khoury at his home, strategize, hopefully have demands from the kidnappers, then travel to our Egypt office to stage for either the rescue or delivering payment. Mr. Khoury is insisting on traveling with us.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” Vaughn groaned.

  It was hard enough keeping the people they were rescuing safe. The more people they added, the harder the job got. And when clients tagged along things, just got worse.

  Melody stared at Vaughn. “Not our typical way of dealing with things, but we’ll make it work.”

  “Uh.” Nolan held up the packet of papers. “This last page says Ashton Khoury and a Carla White are traveling with us. Who is Carla White?”

  “Correct,” Melody said without missing a beat. “Carla White is Mr. Khoury’s girlfriend, who will be traveling with him. My understanding is that she also works for him.”

  Great. Maybe Vaughn would rather take detox duty than this.

  “Any questions?” Zain asked. “No? Well, bunk room is open. There are fresh sheets. I’ll have Merida get you guys some dinner delivered. Good luck tomorrow.”

  Vaughn rubbed his hand across his face and flipped through the paperwork.

  This was going to be a shit show. He could see it coming.

  WEDNESDAY. LEBANON.

  Farez had always seen himself as a peace-loving man. He’d taught his children to handle conflict by discussing the facts and setting aside their feelings. Reason won out. Or it had.

  He glanced behind him at the pale face of the terrified American in the back of the truck.

  How had things gotten this far?

  The answer was rooted in problems so complex and a history going back hundreds of years. But it was hard to care about that when people were going hungry and losing their livelihoods, and all that stood in their way was a rich foreigner.

  One of the young guys Farez had brought along reached over and smacked their prisoner in the face.

  “Hey.” Farez pounded his fist on the window. “Stop that.”

  The kid glanced up. Hani. That was his name. The nephew of one of his neighbors. He was the ring leader of the toughs Farez had brought with him.

  Desperate times forced his hand.

  This was not the future Farez had seen for himself.

  THURSDAY. ASHTON KHOURY’S Home, New York City, NY.

  Carla hadn’t slept. How could she?

  Jared was family. And now he was gone.

  Ashton had cried himself to sleep in her lap, too scared of what might happen. He’d been a complete mess since the call from the foreman on site at the resort. Everything was on Carla’s shoulders to figure out, like usual.

  She loved Ashton, but he was shitty in emergencies. That’s why he needed her and Jared to manage him. They kept him going, remembered all the details, cleared the way so he could be this powerhouse of energy and ideas. It was a team effort, and one third of their team was now missing.

  Carla sprayed the mirror and swiped the surface in time to the music.

  She should be getting ready, primping, something. But she needed this.

  The moment Ashton saw her he was going to chew her out about how he hired people to do this, blah blah blah, and she’d tell him what she always told him: He should have picked someone that wasn’t the maid’s daughter for this farce.

  When Carla was stressed, she cleaned. And right now, with little to no idea if they’d ever see Jared again, the best therapy for her was a bucket of cleaning pro
ducts and the many glass surfaces in the condo. There were always fingerprints to wipe away.

  There.

  One window done.

  She turned from the stunning city view straight into a hot, hard wall of human flesh.

  Carla yelped and jumped away.

  The man in front of her was totally unfamiliar. She blinked up at the man staring down at her, his hands up and brows lifted.

  Oh, damn.

  His eyes were like the best tasting, drizzly chocolate and his lips were curved up into a smile she wanted to kiss.

  Down girl.

  Heat rose up her neck, clawing at her cheeks.

  Mr. Chocolate Eyes lifted his hand and pointed at his ear. Small, steel hoops dangled from each lobe.

  Was he pierced somewhere else? What did he want?

  Throbbing base notes pulsed in hear ears.

  The music.

  She snatched the headphones off, her mind finally catching up with the moment.

  “Sorry,” she blurted.

  “I didn’t mind the show. You’ve got some good moves there, Ginger Rogers.” His smile widened.

  Her cheeks heated. Oh, God. Had she been dancing and cleaning?

  “You could show me a thing or two.” He shifted his hips from side to side, moving his arms in time and narrowed his gaze.

  Hot damn. Whoever he was, he could move. Probably much better than her.

  The moment allowed her to take him all in. Tall, dark, handsome with a smile that said he knew how to laugh. That was her type. And if he knew how to dance?

  “I think you’ve got some pretty good moves.” She grinned at him.

  “Hey.” He snapped and pointed at her. “You know what’s good for your soul,” his finger dropped to her bare feet, “but not your soles?”

  Her brain wasn’t fully on-line. Jared would have a name for this moment, some witty word combo that described the way her tongue stuck to the top of her mouth, the warm fuzzies and her complete inability to think.

  “What?” she asked slowly.

  Mr. Chocolate Eyes grinned and spread his hands. “Dancing.”

  “Oh.” She drew the word out and chuckled. “I should have seen that one coming. Cute.”