Stolen Love, The Complete Collection: An Alpha Billionaire Romance (7 page)

“I’ll be right there.”

I went from hot temptress to cold-blooded killer in seconds flat. I grabbed a 9mm Sig Sauer out of my bedside table.

“Mackenzie, what the hell?” Jason said, stepping back.

I went to my closet and retrieved a machete from my weapons drawer. I motioned for Jason to get out of my bedroom, and he moved quickly, shocked into silence. I got him to the front door and opened it.

“Sorry, I’ve got work to do.”

“What’s going—?”

“A friend of mine is in trouble. I’ll call you later.”

I kicked him out the front door without another word of explanation then raced swiftly across my living room until I reached the back window, which led up to the roof of my building. I couldn’t move fast enough, knowing that Lexy was in trouble. It was going to take all of my talent and every last one of my skills to save my friend.

* * * * *

When I hit the coordinates that Lexy had given me, I saw her hiding in the shadows not too far from an underpass. She stepped out of the darkness, and I threw myself into her arms. “Oh god, Lexy…thank god, you’re okay.”

“Well, I don’t know that I am.”

“What do you mean?”

James Anthony Trenton stepped out of the shadows as well. Immediately, I converted my manner to business. “Mr. Trenton, I’m sure that we can come to some agreement that will both make you happy and allows us to continue working our business.”

“No, we’re not working with this man at all. We can bust through this, Mackenzie.”

“Lexy, please.” She was hotheaded, and it rarely helped situations like this.

“Come on, Lexy, you beautiful little vixen,” Trenton said. “Don’t you want to work with me?”

“I don’t want anything to do with you!” spat Lexy.

Their exchange caused me to raise an eyebrow. Could there be a spark between these two? And could I use that to my advantage?

“Well, then…what are we going to do, ladies?” James had a strange smirk on his face that worried me.

What are we going to do indeed?

Chapter Four

Jason

Day Two

What the hell just happened?

For the longest time before leaving, I stood outside her door, puzzled. To say I was in shock was an understatement. Who was that girl and where had she come from? I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do more at that point—smack her or kiss her again. I had experienced what could only be described as the most insane sexual experience of my life, and the girl had literally kicked me out of her home afterward. I was currently doing the walk of shame, and I didn’t know how any of it had happened. She had literally tossed me out of her home and done it so quickly that I had barely gotten in a word edgewise. Seeing her grab those weapons and holster them like she was ready for war had been shocking to say the least.

I had come to give Mackenzie a piece of my mind, so how on earth had I managed to end up in her bed instead? The answer to that question was pretty easy—I had wanted to be there. She had looked impossibly hot in that slip she’d been wearing. And then there was the way she had talked, and my god…the way she had tasted. How could I have resisted her? I had wanted her from the moment I met her, and for her to come on to me like that was not only refreshing but incredibly attractive. I had fallen under her spell instantly, and although I had shown up at her place, prepared to throw down with her, I ended up having the most magnificent sex.

But then she had manhandled me to the door with a gun in her hand. Where had she gotten those kinds of weapons, and what did she need them for? It hadn’t even occurred to me that a thief might own weapons like that. And what had that call been about? What friend was in trouble? Did that mean Mackenzie was in trouble, too? Fear at the thought that Mackenzie could be harmed in any way surged through me.

I was starting to lose my mind thinking that I might never see her again. What if she had been spooked and had decided to relocate elsewhere? Or maybe she was hurt…or worse. And that phone call—I shouldn’t have let her go alone. Though, judging from the sight of her, I had to assume she knew exactly how to take care of herself. She hadn’t looked like she needed any help at all. But she’d obviously felt the need for a gun and a machete.

A machete?

Good god, what scenario could there possibly be that would require a machete? Who was this girl? She’d looked like a damn ninja the first time I saw her, and now the weapons… There was certainly a lot more to her than I had ever realized. It made me want to find her that much more.

What was worse was that Brett had been calling me every hour on the hour asking about information on Mackenzie. Between the two of them, I really thought I was at risk of losing it. My phone started going off again, and I clicked on the call from Brett.

“What is it, man? I’m in the middle of something.”

“I was just calling for a status report, Jason. Have you found her?”

“I think I would have an easier time finding her if you stopped calling me every five minutes. It’s annoying to say the least.”

Brett had been on me like a gnat on fruit, and I knew that I couldn’t possibly tell him that I had already found Mackenzie, bedded her, and then let her get away again—possibly forever. No, that wasn’t a conversation I planned on having with him. He already thought I was an idiot for bringing her to the party to begin with. The fact that Brett was being so relentless had caused a lot of anger to build up in me. Why was he suddenly acting like such a dick? At first, he had laughed about it and acted like finding Mackenzie would be a kind of game. Now he had suddenly made it his purpose in life to bring Mackenzie to justice? What was his problem? And why the abrupt change of attitude? I had never been so angry with my friend in all the time I had known him.

“Look, Brett, I have to go. I’ve almost got Mackenzie, and these calls are distracting. I have shit to do.”

“Screw that, Jason. It’s taking you too long to find her.”

“Too long? I’m sorry, when was the last time you were on a manhunt? You gave me three days, so back off. Besides, why do you care so much about the loss of these paintings? They weren’t even yours—they were mine!”

“So now it’s okay to steal things that don’t belong to you?”

“No, Brett, it’s more than that. Why does it matter to you so much that Mackenzie got away? Why do you care? Your behavior lately doesn’t add up.”

“Yeah, whatever, man. You don’t know what you’re talking about. Call me when you find her.”

Brett hung up, and I was left feeling uneasy about the conversation. What was his deal? I was starting to think that Brett was hiding some pretty sizable secrets of his own.

Chapter Five

Jason

Day Three

I slept fitfully and woke shortly after dawn, blinking out the sleepiness that had overtaken my body. I had been up most of the night looking for Mackenzie to no avail. She had just up and disappeared, and I was starting to wonder if I would ever see her again. The thought made me very uncomfortable. I couldn’t imagine having an experience like that with a woman and then never laying eyes on her again. I’d used every connection I had to find her, but all I came up with were dead ends.

Where could she have gone?

I kept playing the scene in the apartment over and over again in my head. The weapons, how alarmed she’d been…and who could forget the sex? I wondered who she had been talking to. She used had used the name Lexy when she was on the phone, but the name wasn’t familiar to me in any way. Another dead end. Whoever Lexy was, she was important enough to have rattled Mackenzie and made her run out the door like that.

The phone rang. For a moment, I thought it might be Mackenzie, but then I realized it couldn’t be. She didn’t have my home phone number. The number came up as an unknown caller, and I rarely ever got such calls. I couldn’t imagine who it would be.

I clicked on the phone and gruffly said, “Hello?”

“Mr. Kensington?”

The voice was mechanical. Whoever it was must be disguising their voice. The sound of it grated on my nerves. “Who is this?”

“We have your sister.”

I was suddenly wide awake and sitting up in my bed. What the hell was this? God, I hoped it was a joke.

“Excuse me? What the hell are you talking about? And I suggest you remember who it is you’re talking to.”

“Mr. Kensington, we know exactly who we’re talking to. Don’t mistake this call as a joke. We have your sister, Janelle. This is very serious.”

I was particularly close to my sister Janelle. In fact, she was truly the only person I was close to in the family, and I always made sure she was taken care of and kept close to me. I couldn’t possibly imagine why someone would want to kidnap Janelle, or how they had even gotten to her. She was completely innocent, and the fact that someone had targeted her enraged me. I would kill with my bare hands anyone who touched Janelle—or anyone I loved for that matter.

What the hell was going on here? The past few days had been a whirlwind of ridiculousness. I was completely at a loss for how I had become so incredibly unlucky. I had been robbed numerous times, I was on the search for one particular thief, and now a ransom demand? What had become of my peaceful existence?

“I suggest you let her go immediately. You’d better not have harmed a hair on her head. I’ll hunt you down and kill you myself if you do anything to her.”

“This is not the time to be making threats, Mr. Kensington. I will call again later tonight to release the details. I will return your sister safely to you, Mr. Kensington, as long as you listen to me and do exactly what I ask. Do not involve the police.”

The person hung up. I clicked the phone off furiously. Someone had Janelle and was holding her. This was ridiculous. My instinct was to call the police. You’re always supposed to call the police. But when it’s your sister’s life in the balance, it changes things. But how on earth was I going to handle this alone? Should I call Brett? No—I felt like he wasn’t being straightforward with me these days. And I had no details. Would he even be able to help me anyway? I looked at my phone—it was 10:00 am. Why make me wait an entire day to give me the details? Why not just tell me how much they wanted right now? I’d pay them anything as long as Janelle was safe. Why make me wait until the evening? None of it made any sense to me.

My phone dinged, alerting me to a new message. I snatched it up, thinking it was the kidnappers. I opened up an email, and to my surprise, it was from James Trenton. I hadn’t dealt with Trenton in a very long time. What the hell could he possibly want?

Jason,

I require your presence later tonight. Please don’t disappoint me. We go way back, and you owe me. Come to this address…

James Trenton

There was an address attached to the message, and I recognized it as Trenton’s home. I couldn’t for the life of me imagine what he could need or want from me. My hands were quite full already with Mackenzie and now the kidnapping of my sister.

Is it possible they’re all connected?

Could Trenton really have something to do with the kidnapping of my sister? Surely not. And yet…the kidnapper had stated that he would be in contact later that night, and now I was supposed to meet Trenton later that night as well.

Was it just a coincidence…or was I in for one hell of a night?

Stolen Love

The Thief Series, Volume Three

(An Alpha Billionaire Romance)

By

Katie Kyler

www.KatieKyler.com

Chapter One

Mackenzie

Day Three

I found myself in a hotel with James Anthony Trenton and Lexy. I needed to stay focused on what was happening around us and find some kind of a hole, a way out. But things just seemed to be getting worse with each passing hour.

Being held prisoner by a man like James was decidedly not a good thing. What you saw was definitely not what you got. He might appear sophisticated and cultured on the surface, but he had a reputation for being a little twisted, and that’s what worried me. I had no idea what the man was truly capable of. I knew if he wanted to, he could be terrifying, but could he also be deadly?

We had jobs waiting for us and being a prisoner was just delaying them further. I didn’t want to believe that this could end up a fatal rendezvous, but what other purpose would James have for kidnapping us? These scenarios didn’t typically end well for the people involved in them. I tried not to be nervous, but I was intelligent enough to know that we had gotten ourselves into a real pickle of a situation. And currently, there didn’t seem to be a way out of it. Lexy and I were sitting on a couch, stashed in a hotel room James had rented. We’d have to just sit there, try to be patient, and wait to see what would happen next.

“So what the hell do you plan on doing with us here, James?” I asked, the irritation in my voice obvious. “This is a little shifty even for you. Why don’t you just let us go?

“Oh, I’m sure you’d just love that. You two just stay put for now. I’ve contacted an associate of mine and am waiting for him to arrive. Then you’ll see what happens next.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. The idea of an associate of James showing up didn’t make me feel any better about the situation, and I could only hope once again that our lives weren’t in danger. James was behaving very suspiciously by bringing in someone else, and I knew we needed to be on our toes.

“Who is this associate?”

“All in good time, my girl, all in good time.”

I glared at him, worry brewing in the pit of my stomach.

He turned his attention to Lexy. “It’s a shame that someone as beautiful and intelligent as yourself would be in the line of work you are.”

“It’s
because
of those things, James, that I’m so good in the line of work that I’m in. Sometimes it’s much more profitable to be bad. Maybe if you were better at
your
job, you wouldn’t find yourself the victim of circumstances like this.”

I snorted. I loved Lexy. Even though we were most probably in a life or death situation, there she was, egging the man on like she didn’t have a care in the world. She was certainly one of a kind. I couldn’t help but notice how longingly James looked at her. I think he really had a thing for her. They barely knew each other—and on top of it, we were currently his captives—but he was clearly staring at her with undeniable adoration. It was truly something to behold. They had undeniable chemistry, yet Lexy acted as if she didn’t notice. But I knew it was all an act. Lexy needed to use all her wiles in a situation such as we were in—and it might be the thing that saved us in the end.