Stingray Billionaire: The Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (50 page)

CHAPTER
SIXTY-THREE

Dax

I
put the pedal to the metal and hauled ass to the marina, hoping that Jordie had
done as I'd asked and called the cops. Riza was on the loose and she was
dangerous, and I didn't want to take any chances that she was actually going to
harm Brooke.

"Foolish!"
I yelled as I slammed my fists against the steering wheel. "Foolish and stubborn
and reckless!"

I could feel the
panic rising in my chest as I thought about what Beck had told me and how I'd
entrusted everything to the one person who was intent on bringing me down. I
couldn't understand why Riza was so angry and resentful. I'd done everything
her father had ever asked, and I'd made sure that the business stayed intact,
despite the fact that running drugs had never been my choice for how to make a
living.

But Papi had saved
us. He had made a home for us when no one else could or would, and I owed him.
I was loyal and I did what I said I would do! Now, I was being punished for
decisions that hadn't even been mine to make? It wasn't fair!

I was furious with
Riza. Why hadn't she talked to me about how she felt? Why hadn't she said she
was mad that Papi didn't leave the business to her? I would have found a way to
make it right! Instead, she spent years nurturing an unnecessary grudge that
now threatened to end in violence. My heart felt heavy just thinking about it.

And, poor Beck had
been the pawn in her game. He hadn't wanted to be a junkie, but she'd made it
so easy for him and encouraged his habit, even when he'd wanted to quit. What
kind of person destroys the people who love her?

"Dammit, Ri!
You should have told me!" I yelled in the empty car. I felt angry and
sick, and my feelings were bouncing back and forth between rage at Riza for
what she'd done and worry over what she might still do. I had no idea where
Brooke was or if she was okay. Come to think of it, I had no idea if Ri was
working alone or with others. She might have an entire posse of people who were
helping her pull this off. I slammed my fists on the steering wheel and pushed
the car up to the outer range of acceptable speed on the highway, hoping that
the cops wouldn't stop me.

I pulled into the
parking lot at the marina in record time and was frustrated when I didn't see
any cop cars. I saw several cars, but none looked familiar. I wondered how
Brooke had gotten to the marina since she didn't own a vehicle. I peeked in the
windows of the cars in the lot and quickly found the one that Brooke must have
borrowed. Her briefcase was in the front seat and next to it was her cell
phone. I cursed her for leaving her phone in plain sight in a locked car and
made a mental note to scold her for it.

I walked over to
the manager's office and pounded on the door. When no one answered, I went
around back to the door that Mick, the manager, used when he didn't want to
deal with people. He'd let me in on the secret because, as he'd said,
"You're not an annoying asshole."

I pulled open the
door and cursed under my breath when I saw Mick lying next to the backdoor out
cold, bound and gagged. I pulled him off the floor, put him on his bunk, and
untied the ropes around his wrists and ankles before I removed the gag. Mick
started to come to as I went to grab a glass of water for him.

"Wha…what the
hell?" he said in a groggy voice as he reached up and rubbed the back of
his head. "Who the hell are you?"

"It's me,
Mick, Dax Malone – you know, the one who's not an asshole?" I grinned as I
handed him the glass of water.

"What'd ya
hit me for?"

"I didn't hit
you," I said. "I came out to the marina and when you didn't answer
the front door, I came around back to check that you weren't having a heart
attack or something."

"Somebody hit
me," he said as he raised the glass and sipped gingerly. "Man, my
head fucking hurts!"

"Yeah,
that'll happen when you get smacked," I nodded. "Any idea who hit
you?"

"Nah, I was
working the front desk and I came back here to grab another cup of coffee and
whammo!" he said slapping his free hand down on the bunk next to him.
"What time is it?"

"It's about
half past six," I said. "Why, you got a date or something?"

"Actually,
yeah, I do," he grinned. "Good looking chick with long black hair
said she wanted to take me to dinner and a movie."

"You sure
that didn't happen while you were out?' I asked as I quickly pulled together
the missing pieces and decided that it was most likely Riza who'd knocked him
out.

"Nah, she was
a real live girl all right," he grinned. "She's been coming by here
every couple of days for the past few weeks and working on your boat. Hey, I
thought you'd hired her! She said she was there to clean things up and get it
ready for some kind of trip."

"What else
did she tell you, Mick?" I wanted to get as much information as I could
before I confronted Riza. She was angry and knew her way around a lot of
different kinds of weapons. At this point, I wouldn't have put it past her to
have stocked up the boat for a long trip straight out of the country. What I
was worried about was who she might, or might not, be taking with her.

"She said she
was looking forward to a big dish of rice and beans and a cold Dos Equis down
on the coast," he said as he drank a little more water and swung his legs
over the edge of the bunk.

"Take it
easy, sailor," I said. "You've suffered a blow to the head and you
might want to get that checked out."

"Eh, I've had
a lot worse in my day," he smiled as he rubbed the spot where she'd nailed
him. "This is just gonna be a good goose egg and little bit of bruised
ego."

"Mick, I need
you to do me a favor," I said as I quickly shifted tracks and thought
about Brooke. "I need you to get up and call the cops and have them come
out to the Isabella."

"Why? What's
up?" he asked. "You done something illegal, son?"

"No, not
me," I said. "But I think your dark-haired beauty is about to, and I
need to stop her before it's too late."

"Aw,
man," Mick groaned. "I hate the cops."

CHAPTER
SIXTY-FOUR

Brooke

When
I came to, I knew Roger and I were in some serious trouble. I looked over and
saw him lying next to me, re-bound and gagged, and it looked like he was in
pain. I raised an eyebrow and he tipped his head toward the front of the cabin.

Whoever had done
this to us was still on board, and I could hear him moving around outside. It
sounded like he was readying the boat to leave the dock, but since I couldn't
see anything, I couldn't be sure. The back of my head ached from the blow, and
my arms and legs felt cold where the ropes had cut off the circulation. I
started to feel the panic rising in my chest, but I quickly calmed myself by
remembering all the times that Teddy had locked me in small spaces when we were
kids. I had become a regular Houdini out of necessity.

I focused on
dipping my head and slowly moving the gag out of my mouth. I needed to be able
to talk to Roger and then yell for help when the time came. I made quick work
of the gag and then turned my attention to the ropes around my wrists. Whoever
had bound me had excellent training in rope tying. I knew this because the
summer after Teddy had gone to Boy Scout camp was the roughest one, as I
learned to undo the expert knots they'd taught him.

"Roger, do
you know this person?" I whispered as I worked the knots. He shook his
head. "Have you seen him?"

Roger nodded
emphatically and then shook his head as he tried to speak through the gag, but
whoever had tied it had made sure that his tongue was immobile, and that rendered
his speech utterly useless.

"No, you
don't know him?" I asked breaking down the question into answerable parts.
Roger shook his head. "Does he know you?" Another head shake.
"Have you ever seen him before?" Head shake, this time more emphatic
as Roger continued to try and speak. "Hold on, hold on, I've almost got
this undone," I said as I bit down on my lip and pushed the knot against a
loose floorboard. That little bit of pressure was enough to loosen it so that
my fingers could work it apart. It was tediously hard work, but I was afraid
that if I didn't focus on getting us out of here, we were going to wind up on a
ship out at sea.

I quickly undid
the knot and then reached over and untied Roger’s gag.

“It’s not a man,”
he blurted out. “It’s a woman. Young. Tall. Dark hair. She’s mad about
something, but I don’t know what. I tried to talk to her and that’s when she
knocked me out.”

“Roger, who the
hell is she?” I whispered as I worked the knots around his hands before turning
back to the ropes around my ankles.

“I’ll tell you who
the hell she is,” a voice on the other side of the cabin said. “She’s a woman
who is sick and tired of getting the short end of the stick.”

“Uh, hi,” I said,
not sure how to approach the situation with a stranger who’d knocked me out and
tied me up. “I’m Brooke, this is Roger.”

“I know who the
fuck you are,” she said as she moved across the floor and stood over us.

“Riza?” I said in
disbelief. “You’re Dax’s right-hand, aren’t you? You came to see me in my
office.”

“Yeah, I was and I
did,” she nodded as she looked down at Roger and me. I got the distinct feeling
that we were being sized up, and that whatever she decided in that moment would
determine how this whole situation played out. All the better to keep talking,
I thought.

“Why did you tie
us up?” I asked.

“Because I’m sick
and tired of being the one who does the dirty work and never gets the credit,”
she said matter-of-factly. “I’ve played second fiddle to Dax for most of my
life, and I’m fed up. I’ve protected him and kept all the bad stuff at bay, and
he’s never once thought about anyone but himself.”

“And you’re angry
with him,” I said.

“Damn right I’m
angry,” she scoffed, then as an afterthought, added, “You might not want to
undo those ropes.”

“Why is that,
Riza?” I asked.

“Because if you
try to escape, I might have to shoot you,” she shrugged in a way that made me
realize she might not be acting rationally. I had assumed that she knew exactly
what she was doing and why she was doing it, but as I watched her, I wondered
if she’d experienced a break with reality and was now living in some alternate
world where her sense of justice made sense.

“Riza, why would
you want to shoot two people you don’t know?” I asked. I didn’t want to provoke
her, but I needed to know what we were dealing with so that I could figure out
a way out of here. Roger sure as hell wasn’t going to do it, since he was still
wrestling with the knots around his ankles and looked like he might fall over
at any moment. “Tell me why you’d want to shoot me and Roger.”

“Because you’re
going to destroy everything my father spent his life building,” she said as if
I knew exactly what she was talking about. “You, or people like you, killed my
father.”

“Riza, how could
we kill your father? We’re lawyers who are trying to help Dax,” I said.

“Fuck him,” she
said as she stooped down and opened a lower cabinet and started moving things
around. “Fuck them all. I’m sick of being their go-to girl who does everything
for them.”

“Who’s them,
Riza?” I asked. My brain was spinning as I tried to figure out how I was going
to get Roger and myself out onto the deck. It was the only way we were going to
be seen or saved, but I couldn’t move fast or she’d suspect what I was doing
and might decide we weren’t worth the risk.

“All of them,” she
said waving an arm across her body to indicate everyone. “I’m sick of it, you
know? Don’t you ever feel that way with this idiot?” She pointed at Roger and I
took a deep breath and hoped he would forgive me for what I was about to do. If
I saved us from being shot, I was pretty sure he would.

“Oh yeah, I know
exactly what you mean,” I said rolling my eyes and then shooting Roger a hard
look that said shut the hell up in any language. “They’re always making me do
stuff that they think is beneath them. I get sick of it, too. That’s why I
decided we were taking Dax’s case.”

“You decided
that?” she said popping up from behind the cabinet to look at me. “You made
that decision?”

“Yep, sure did,” I
nodded. “I told them that they had to stop dicking around and get serious about
our clients or we’d never make it.”

“And, how’d that
go over?” she asked.

“About as well as
you might guess,” I shrugged. I felt the knots around my ankles loosen and I
knew that I was closer to being free. I looked at Roger and hoped that he
understood I was providing cover so that he could keep working on his own
ropes. He nodded slightly and I inhaled deeply, knowing he understood what I
was doing.

“What made them
listen to you?” she asked.

“I just told them
my plan, laid out the map for how we were going to handle everything, and then
said they had a choice,” I said. “They could get on board or walk out the door,
either way, I was taking the case.”

“That’s pretty
ballsy,” she said.

“Yeah, well,
sometimes you just have to grab the bull by the horns and ride,” I replied.

“Too bad your
story is total bullshit,” Riza said as she rose up from behind the cabinet
pointing a loaded automatic rifle at us. My heart dropped into my stomach and I
scolded myself for having been arrogant in assuming that she and I were on the
same page.

Riza and I were
definitely not on the same page. Not at all.