Stingray Billionaire: The Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (45 page)

CHAPTER
FIFTY-THREE

Dax

I
pulled up in
front of the club to find a fire truck and several ambulances parked in front
of the door and a large crowd of neighborhood residents and club goers standing
behind a barricade on the opposite side of the street. I flashed my ID at the
officer doing security and he waved me through.

"What the
hell is going on?" I yelled as I slammed open the door to the club and
found Kesha and two of the dancers standing in the middle of the dance floor as
paramedics worked to revive a young woman with long, dark hair. The remnants of
her silver club dress lay under her like a blanket, but her silver platform
pumps were still on her feet.

The cops had
evacuated the club while the paramedics worked on the girl, but no one had
thought to turn off the music and lights. I told Diamond to go flip the switch
on both, and she quickly moved away to take care of it. I looked back down at
the girl and wondered what had happened. It wasn't the first time someone had
OD'd in the club, in fact, we were prepared for that with vials of antidotes
for various drugs. We understood the risks of drugs and knew that most ODs were
accidents, but we didn't want to attract too much attention, so I kept a
trained paramedic on staff. As a result, we'd normally avoid scrutiny.

"Kesha, what
the hell happened?" I said under my breath as we watched the paramedics
work.

"No idea,
boss," she whispered. "This one was dancing like crazy and then she
just dropped like a rock."

"Where's
Javi?" I asked wondering why our resident paramedic was absent.

"That's the
problem, boss," she said quietly. "He's treating four more in back.
These guys don't know it, though. I tried to avoid attracting attention."

"Oh
fuck," I felt my heart drop to my stomach. One we could explain as a
reckless club kid who over did it, but five was way too many to explain away.
"What the fuck happened?"

"Not a
clue," she replied.

"Did the
shipment arrive?" I asked.

"Yep, they
brought it in just like clockwork," Kesha said.

"Did she buy
the new stuff?" I could feel a wave of dread building as I started
considering all the terrible possibilities.

"Not sure
yet," she said as the paramedics loaded the girl onto a gurney and wheeled
her out to the ambulance. I held the door for them and nodded when the
investigating officer told me not to go anywhere.

"Fuck! Go
check on the others," I said. I didn't want to draw unnecessary attention
to the other club goers, but I also didn't want four dead kids in my back area
when the cops came to search it. Kesha took off for the back. I crossed my
fingers that Javi had been able to get to them in time.

When Kesha came
back out and gave me the thumbs up, I asked where Riza was. Kesha pointed up at
the office and I hightailed it up the stairs to talk with her.

"Ri, what the
hell is going on here?" I demanded to know as I stormed into the office.

"Hey, get off
my tits. This club is not my domain," she said as she stared at me.

"What the
hell is wrong with you these days?" I was genuinely confused as to why my
best friend and second in command had turned into a mean girl since Lydia's
death.

"You really
don't have a fucking clue, do you?" she said shaking her head.
"You're such a self-centered asshole."

"Riza, what
is going on?" I walked over and took her by her shoulders and shook her
gently. "Talk to me. Seriously."

"Dax, you are
so wrapped up in your business and pursuing this new lawyer," she spat.
"Yeah, I see how you look at her and rush off to go fuck her all over
town. Don't act like you’re shocked or offended."

"Wait, you're
pissed because I'm after a chick?" I said, shocked to realize that Riza
might be jealous.

"Oh God,
don't go getting your panties in a wad," she said rolling her eyes.
"I'm not jealous of her, I'm pissed because in this whole fucking mess you
seem to have lost sight of family, dipshit."

"How have I
lost sight of family?" I was bewildered by her accusation.

"You locked
Beck up in a fucking mental hospital!" she screamed. "You don't do
that to family!"

"I didn't
lock Beck up in a mental ward, Ri," I said. "I told you that I put
him in a rehab facility so he could dry out and stop using. That's not
forgetting family, that's taking care of them!"

"He didn't
want to go!" she yelled. I could see that she was extremely upset, but I
couldn't understand why she couldn't see that what I'd done for Beck was to
save him not hurt him.

"Yeah, well,
kids don't want to eat their vegetables, but you make them eat them for their
own good, right?"

"That's not
the same thing, Dax!" she yelled. "You've always done this! You
always think of what you want and what you need and you never fucking ask
anyone else what they might want!"

"Riza, what
the hell is going on?" I shouted. "Why are you so over the top about
Beck? He's my brother! I know what's right for him!"

Riza stopped
pacing, stood staring at me with her hands on her hips like she used to do when
she was a kid. Stubborn and opinionated, she had never failed to stand up for
me or Beck with Papi, and now she was yelling at me like I was him.

"Forget
it," she said shaking her head as she dropped her fists and turned toward
the door. "You're always right, we're always wrong. You win, Dax. You
always win."

With that, she
walked out the door and slammed it so hard the room shook. I had no idea what
was going on, but I knew that I had to find out because things were quickly
slipping out of my grasp. If I wasn't careful, I'd lose control of everything
and send us all crashing to the ground.

CHAPTER
FIFTY-FOUR

Brooke

At
eight o'clock, I heard Alma come in and begin her morning routine. I didn't get
up, because one thing I'd learned about Alma was that she did not like her
morning routine interrupted and that she'd come talk to me when she was good
and ready. I continued reading Dax's file until I heard a knock on my door.

"Come
in," I called as I looked up and saw our office secretary standing at the
door with a worried look on her face. "Good morning, Alma. How can I help
you?"

"Good
morning, Ms. Raines," she said. Alma was holding a sheet of paper in her
hand. "This is not good, not good at all."

"What isn't
good?" I asked as I looked at the sheet she was holding.

"This,"
she said as she crossed the room and held it out to me. "It came on the
fax machine a little while ago. This is not good, Ms. Raines."

I gave her a
confused look as I took the paper and scanned it. It was a standard fax sheet
with my name and our law firm's name clearly printed in the recipient boxes.
What was disturbing was the drawing below the information. It was set up in
triptych form with a hand drawn picture of a woman kneeling, then a second with
a gun held by a hand without a body pointed at the back of her head, and the
third panel was the same woman with a dark spot in the center of for forehead floating
in a body of water. Her eyes were two large X’s, and in all of the drawings,
the woman was nude.

Underneath the
drawings was a note that said:
You're
next.

I looked up at
Alma and then back down at the fax. "When did this come in?" I asked.

"Just a few
minutes ago while I was making coffee," she said as she stood in front of
me with a miserable look on her face. "This is not good, Ms. Raines. This
is not good at all."

"So I've
heard," I said, immediately feeling guilty for feeling frustrated with the
woman. "Alma, are you alright?"

"Ms. Raines,
I've never worked in an office where there have been death threats made,"
she said. "I'm not comfortable with this level of violence in a law
firm."

"Well, don't
worry. We're going to get to the bottom of this and no one is going to be
harmed," I said trying to reassure her. My mind was spinning as I tried to
think calmly about why someone would send a threatening fax to our firm and why
they would threaten me specifically. "Have Jordie and Roger come in
yet?"

"Mr. Lee
called to say he was on his way and Mr. Lewis came in when I did," Alma
replied as she twisted her hands and plucked at her sweater.

"Alma, I
don't want you to worry about this, okay?"

"Okay, Ms.
Raines, I'll do my best to carry on and not worry," she nodded. I knew she
was lying, but I needed her to keep the front desk together while I tried to
figure out what the hell was going on.

As soon as Alma
went back to her desk, I walked down the hall to Roger's office and tapped on
his door. "Roger, you got a minute to talk about something weird?" I
called as I cracked the door.

He was on the
phone and hadn't heard me knocking. I cracked the door a little wider and was
about to call his name, when I overheard him talking to someone on the other
end of his phone.

"No, she has
no idea," he said. "Yeah, I think I can get what I need from her. No,
I don't think she has any idea that we're onto her. Uh huh, I'll take care of
that this afternoon. Okay, now stop calling me, you're gonna get us both in trouble.
Okay, bye."

I stepped back out
into the hall and pulled the door partially shut before I tapped on it again
and called Roger's name.

"Hey Brooke,
c'mon in and have a seat," he said in his surfer dude tone. There was
something unsettling about having heard him talking in such straightforward
terms to the person on the phone and then switching back to his laid back voice
to talk with me. Somehow, it felt like it should have been the other way
around.

"Got anything
on the Malone case, Roger?" I asked as I watched him closely.

"Yeah,
actually. I'm going to head out to the marina this afternoon and check out the
boat," he said as he shuffled papers around on his desk. "I think one
of the dock managers saw Lydia out there alive a few days before she turned up
in the water, so I want to get his statement before he forgets
everything."

"Good
thinking," I said nodding. I wanted to ask Roger about the fax, but my
intuition told me that I should wait until Jordie arrived and then discuss it
with him first. "Anything else?"

"No, why?
Should I have something else?" he asked as he looked up from his desk and
smiled.

"Nope, I
guess not," I said and turned to go. "Hey, how's the girlfriend? I
forgot to ask in all the excitement."

"Eh, she's
yesterday's news," he said waving me off. "You were right. It was
another false hope."

"I'm sorry,
Roger," I said, feeling genuinely sad for him. "Hey, you know that
wanting to be in love isn't a false hope. It's just thinking that you can be in
love with everyone that is."

"Yeah, I'm starting
to realize that," he said with a wry grin. "But thanks."

"No
problem," I said as I turned and left his office. I walked back to mine
wondering what on earth was going on with Roger and why he was hiding
information about the case. I looked at the stack of legal documents from Banks
and Associates on my desk and vowed to get the truth out of Jordie when he
finally arrived.

CHAPTER
FIFTY-FIVE

Dax

By
the time Javi had revived the club goers in the back room, the sun was high in
the sky and I was in desperate need of coffee and some breakfast. I wanted to
see Brooke. I dialed her number and was surprised when she actually picked up.

"What's up,
Malone?" she said in a rushed tone.

"Just needed
some breakfast after a rough morning and was wondering if you might join
me," I said casually.

"As legal
counsel or something else?" she asked in the direct way that made me very
aware of the fact that she'd started something that we weren't going to be able
to finish over breakfast.

"Legal
counsel, of course," I said as I rolled my eyes and grinned.

"Don't roll
your eyes when you say that," she shot back. "I can hear it."

"Sheesh, you
are one tough cookie," I said.

"You seem to
keep forgetting that it's my job to keep you from being sent to prison for a
murder you didn't commit," she said dryly. "I need to be tough."

"Of course
you do," I replied. "Breakfast?"

"Where and
when?"

"Meet me at
the LID in twenty minutes," I said before adding, "I've got
information that might help the case."

"See you in a
bit," she said and disconnected. I stood there staring at my phone shaking
my head. Brooke Raines was something else.

When she walked
into the diner twenty minutes later, I grinned as I saw that she was still
wearing the clothes I'd removed from her body a few hours before.

"Stop looking
at me like that," she ordered as she slid into the booth and picked up a
menu.

"I ordered
you coffee," I said as the server put the steaming hot mug in front of her
and asked if we were ready to order. Brooke nodded and proceeded to order and I
added mine to it. "Sheesh, order the left half of the menu why don't you?

"Very funny,
I'm hungry," she said as she sipped her coffee carefully. "In case
you forgot, last night was a busy night."

"Oh, I
remember, all right," I said as I eyed her appreciatively.

"What do you
have for me?" she asked, brushing me off in favor of maintaining a
professional distance. I told her about the situation at the club and what had
happened, except that I omitted Javi and the club goers in the back room.
"So, don't you have people drinking too much on a regular basis? It
doesn't sound like much of an emergency to me."

I looked at her
and realized that this was the moment when I either told her the truth or I hid
everything. If I hid things, I was most likely going to go down for Lydia's
murder and the thought of never seeing Brooke again, never holding her against
me or doing things that made her moan with pleasure, well, that was a little
more than I could take. So I took a deep breath and began speaking.

It took me almost
an hour to tell Brooke everything, and to her credit, she listened patiently
and asked questions when she didn't understand the scope of something. I told
her the history of my organization and how the club was the cover for our other
business, while also carefully explaining the background and scope of it. When
I finished, I looked at her and waited for her to speak.

"Okay, I'm
glad you told me this," she said as she signaled the server for more
coffee. "I'm not sure how we're going to deal with it in the case because
it puts a whole new spin on the reasons why you might have wanted Lydia dead.
But I got some new information this morning and I think maybe I might have a
lead on who actually committed the murder."

"Oh? What's
that?" I asked wondering what the cops had come up with now.

"This is a
copy of the message that came into the office fax this morning sometime between
eight and eight fifteen," she said as she handed me a sheet of paper with
three drawings on it and the words “
You're
next”
underneath the drawings.

I looked at Brooke
and then back down at the drawings before I pulled out my wallet and threw a
wad of cash on the table and stood up. I looked down at her as I felt the rage
rising in my chest and said, "I will take care of this." Then,
without saying another word, I turned and marched out of the diner and back to
the club.

No one was going
to threaten Brooke. Not if I had anything to say about it.