The SUV cut through Westchester traffic as Lex's phone buzzed again — not with panic this time, but with precision.
ELINOR SHAW — MESSAGE RECEIVED
Her name alone steadied him like a hand on the shoulder.
Benny leaned over. "Is that her? Did she find something?"
Lex opened the message.
Then blinked.
Elinor:
I've purchased you a company.
Details waiting at your hotel.
Your new bodyguard will meet you downstairs.
Don't argue. — E.
Lex exhaled sharply through his nose.
"...She bought me a company."
Benny's jaw dropped. "She—what? Since this morning?!"
Lex rubbed his temples. "She doesn't sleep."
"What kind of company?"
"Probably one I didn't intend to own today," Lex muttered.
The phone buzzed again — an incoming call from Elinor.
Lex answered immediately.
"Elinor."
"Are you alive?" she asked briskly, as if this were standard operational protocol. "You sound alive. Good."
"I'm breathing."
"Lovely. Now," she continued, "I've taken the liberty of fixing three of your most immediate problems."
"Three?"
"Yes, Lexington. Three."
He could hear paper rustling, keys tapping, the faint clink of teacups.
The soundtrack of a woman running empires from behind bifocals.
"First," Elinor said, "I purchased a security operations firm on your behalf."
Lex froze. "You what?"
"It was on sale," she said. "And the former owner was laundering money poorly. A terrible combination. I fixed it."
"Elinor—"
"They specialize in celebrity protection, digital investigations, and discreet muscle. All things you require right now, given your talent for stepping into vipers' nests."
Benny mouthed vipers' nests??
Lex ignored him.
"What's it called?" Lex asked.
"Shieldpoint Solutions," she replied. "I've already inserted your name as majority shareholder. You have forty-two employees now. Do try not to lose them."
Lex pinched the bridge of his nose. "I didn't ask for—"
"You asked for manpower," Elinor cut in. "You implied urgency. I delivered. Now hush."
Lex swallowed a groan.
"Second," she continued, "I hired you a bodyguard."
Lex's voice sharpened. "I don't need a—"
"Yes, you do, Lexington," she snapped, sounding exactly like someone who used to wrangle his father into eating lunch. "You are about to antagonize men who don't bury evidence — they bury people."
Lex clenched his jaw. "Who is he?"
"A man named Kade Santoro," she said. "Former private security, former Marine, former 'problem solver' for several wealthy idiots with more enemies than IQ points."
Benny blinked. "Wow."
"He also," Elinor added, "once dragged a drunken director out of a cartel-owned bar with only a stapler and a bad attitude. I like him."
Lex blinked. "…A stapler?"
"It was loaded," Elinor said.
"With staples?"
"No, Lexington. With rage."
She continued as though nothing was strange.
"He'll meet you outside your hotel in twenty minutes. Try not to provoke him; he's very large."
Lex exhaled. "And the third problem you fixed?"
Elinor sighed dramatically — the sigh of a woman doing three people's jobs with one heart and questionable patience.
"Oh, that one was easy," she said. "I bought you a shell company to use as a Hollywood front."
Lex froze. "A front for what?"
"For anything," she said. "Buying scripts. Meeting directors. Hiring investigators. Walking into studios without looking like a teenager with a big checkbook and no boundaries."
Benny snorted before he could stop himself.
Lex glared.
Elinor continued, unfazed:
"You're officially the CEO of Latham West Media Holdings. It has no debt, no reputation, no scandals, and no soul — perfect for Los Angeles."
Lex leaned back against the leather seat, stunned. "Elinor… this is insane."
"Insane?" she scoffed. "You're hunting powerful men in a city built on illusions. You need tools. You need cover. You need people who won't faint when danger breathes on them."
A beat.
"You need structure, Lexington. You can't wage war out of hotel rooms forever."
Lex stared out the window, the cityscape widening before him.
"Elinor."
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
The line softened.
For a moment she sounded less like an empire-builder and more like someone who had watched a little boy grow up too fast.
"You're welcome," she said. "Now go save her."
The call ended.
Lex lowered the phone slowly.
Benny exhaled. "Lex… she bought you a security firm, a fake studio, and a tank disguised as a human being."
Lex didn't smile.
Instead, he closed his eyes for one controlled breath.
"Kade Santoro," he murmured. "All right."
The SUV pulled up to the hotel.
Lex stepped out of the SUV and into the bright California sunlight. The hotel loomed tall and modern behind tinted glass, but it wasn't the building that made him pause.
It was the man standing at the entrance.
Kade Santoro.
Arms crossed.
Shoulders like carved stone.
Black T-shirt stretched across a chest built to break doors.
Sunglasses reflecting everything except emotion.
A scar cut clean along his jawline, the kind earned from violence, not accidents.
He didn't move as Lex approached.
"You Latham?" Kade asked, voice a low rumble that was somehow louder than the traffic.
Lex stopped in front of him.
"I am."
Kade didn't nod.
Didn't smile.
Didn't extend a hand.
He simply said:
"Interview time."
Lex blinked once. "…What?"
"Interview," Kade repeated. "I don't work for anyone. I choose who I protect. And right now? You're a name on Elinor's list. So before I sign on, you and I are gonna set rules."
Benny looked between them like he'd accidentally wandered into a gladiator arena.
Lex crossed his arms. "Fine. Let's talk."
Kade jerked his head toward a quieter corner near the valet stand.
"Over here. No eavesdroppers."
Lex followed.
Kade walked like a man who expected bullets at any moment.
Kade stood facing Lex, arms still crossed.
"First rule," he said, "I don't babysit. If you want someone to fetch coffee or hold your jacket, hire a butler."
"I'm not looking for a babysitter," Lex replied. "I'm looking for someone who doesn't panic under pressure."
"Good," Kade said. "Second rule — you listen when I say move. You listen when I say stop. You never rush into a room before I clear it. Your life becomes my job. Don't make my job harder."
Lex nodded once. "Understood."
"Third rule," Kade said, leaning in slightly, "I don't cover for lies. If you're doing something stupid, illegal, or suicidal, you tell me up front. No surprises."
Lex's expression didn't change. "I don't do surprises."
"Everyone does surprises." Kade cracked his neck. "Fourth rule: I need the full situation. Not the PR-friendly version. Not the watered-down version. Everything."
Lex inhaled slowly.
Kade's voice dropped.
"And last rule… I don't run from trouble. But I do need to know exactly how deep the pit is before I jump in after you."
Lex exhaled.
"All right," he said. "You want the truth? Here it is."
Lex shifted his stance, posture sharpening.
"A woman named Rose Russo is missing," he said. "Someone altered her schedule, wiped studio footage, manipulated her itinerary. The last place she was seen was the Sunset Marque Hotel."
Kade nodded once, slow.
"Who took her?"
"We don't know yet," Lex said. "But Eli Harrow is involved."
Kade's jaw tightened.
"Harrow."
It wasn't a question.
It was a curse.
"You know him?" Lex asked.
"Everyone in private security knows him," Kade said. "You don't cross a man like that unless you've written your will… twice."
Lex didn't blink. "I'm crossing him."
"Why?"
Lex's eyes hardened.
"Because he crossed Rose."
Kade studied him for a long moment — measuring, weighing, calculating.
"Is she your girlfriend?" Kade asked.
"No."
"Your responsibility?"
"No."
"Your blood?"
"No."
"Then why risk your neck?"
Lex answered without hesitation.
"Because someone took her," he said. "And I don't let people get taken from me anymore."
Kade looked at him — really looked — and something shifted.
Professional respect.
Or maybe recognition of a man with old wounds and fresh rage.
"All right," Kade said quietly. "You passed."
Lex raised a brow. "That was the interview?"
"That was part one," Kade replied. "Part two's easy."
He extended a large, calloused hand.
"If I'm in, we do this my way. Full protection protocols. Full intel sharing. No half-truths. No running off alone like a Hollywood idiot with a death wish."
Lex clasped his hand.
"Deal."
Kade squeezed back with a grip like steel.
"Then I'm your guy."
Benny let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
Kade turned to him next.
"You the sidekick?"
Benny squeaked, "No!"
"Good," Kade said. "Don't act like one."
He turned back to Lex.
"Now," he said, sliding on his sunglasses again, "where do we start?"
Lex's expression sharpened.
"The Sunset Marque Hotel."
Kade cracked his knuckles.
"Perfect," he said.
"I love beginning with the scene of the crime."
Lex stepped forward.
California heat shimmered across the pavement.
And with a new soldier at his side,
the hunt officially escalated.