Her Sweet Liberation: Billionaire Secrets - Book Six (7 page)

Now he just had the little problem of saving himself.

********************

"Marco, please, you've got to help me. I'm begging you." There had to be something of the old Marco in there, that cool young guy who had wanted to change the world.

"What has that prick gotten you involved in Lindsay? That family is up to its neck in dirty money and organized crime. I'll make that guy pay if it’s the last thing I do before they take AltNews away from me."

He held up the locket.

"You gave me a pretty good smack in the jaw Lindsay, and maybe I deserved it, but you didn't see me get this, did you?"

"Marco, it won't make any difference, it's just pillow talk."

"You fucked him."

"No I didn't. Not that time."

"Oh well that's just fine then because all the other times you fucked him don't count, right?"

"Who I fuck or don't fuck is none of your business Marco and that locket is mine."

"It's a surveillance device paid for by AltNews, so no, it's not yours, it belongs to me and it contains disclosures of public interest. Mikhail Boyevik, an American citizen, was essentially 'disappeared' by your fuckbuddy without trial or due process and you think that's okay? In a democratic society? In the United States of America?"

"Marco, they have Nena. They want money."

"No. Fuck no. Don’t say that Lindsay." Blind as he was with jealousy, still he couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to the little girl, or of being in anyway responsible for her danger. "I told you to drop this story."

Lindsay couldn't raise her eyes to meet his. It was the worst part of this whole rotten deal.

"Look at me Lindsay. Is that who I was speaking to just now? The Russian mob?"

She nodded her head. He would have to know the full truth.

"And they think you assaulted one of their guys today. They want money from you too, but I swear to you I'll straighten all of this out. Believe me."

"How the hell did this happen?" Marco was in shock.

"Dale…he was trying to help me with a debt they claim I have to them. One of his security people overpowered a guy who was with me and then Dale gave him wad of newspaper cuttings instead of cash."

"That son of a bitch." He held up the locket again. "This stuff may not stick but he'll have a hell of a time explaining it." He began walking away.

"Where are you going Marco?"

"I'm getting this story and this audio online right away. It's over for that asshole."

"Nena is in trouble, I need two thousand dollars and I don’t have it."

It stopped him in his tracks. Sure he blamed Dale for messing up his life and taking Lindsay away from him, but he wasn't so heartless that he could ignore Nena being in trouble. He would do anything to help her and then he would crucify Dale for having brought even the merest shade of darkness into her world.

He looked at Lindsay.

"How much can you raise?" He said.

"I've got about eight hundred bucks in my account and I have a few things I can pawn. There's my mom's wedding ring, my dad's--"

"You don’t need to do that."

His tone had softened, Lindsay watched him in amazement. He was coming through, despite his hurt and despite everything that had happened, some part of the old Marco was still there.

"Look, I don’t have much either Lindsay, but whatever I have is yours. Wait here, I've got some cash in the house."

He disappeared to his bedroom and left Lindsay standing in the hall. She had never felt so small, so humbled. How could her life of defiance and fierce independence have come to this? All she had ever wanted to do was tell the truth and make the world a better place.

When Marco returned he had an envelope. He pushed it into Lindsay's hands.

"It's nearly three thousand dollars. I wish it was more."

"Oh my God Marco.…" It was too much. Tears rolled down her pale cheeks.

"Take it. I'm not broke yet but that's all I have here."

He pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm coming with you." He said, but she pushed him away.

"No. You can't. They told me to come alone. If they see anything, anyone at all, God, I don’t know what they would do to her."

Marco nodded and stood back.

"Stay in contact. Call me as soon as it's done. I'll come get you."

She threw herself forward and gave him one more hug, fighting to hold back more tears. Marco swallowed hard. If only she could want him the way he wanted her. Why couldn't she see what was standing there right in front of her instead of falling for that cold-hearted billionaire asshole?

"Go on." He said. "Go get her. Call me as soon as you can."

She let him go and nodded her head, wiping the last tears away before walking back up the hall. Watching her walk leave was one of the most painful thing Marco had ever done. When the door closed he held up the locket in his right hand.

"Now for you Hargrave. Let's see you buy your way out of this shit-storm."

He turned and walked down the hall to his office. Taking Dale Hargrave down was going to be the saddest, emptiest victory of his life.

********************

Clayton Hargrave wasn't in the mood for beating around the bush. Dominic Troy may be his brother's personal Head of Security but that meant nothing if Dale had disappeared on his watch.

"We need full disclosure Dominic. I understand your loyalty to my brother but Dale's life could be at stake here. Now spill it. No omissions."

Dominic took a deep breath. He had sworn secrecy to his boss, but on the other hand, Dale had said nothing about disappearing into thin air.

When Shirley, the security detail assigned to Nena, tried calling her boss and got no reply she took it to be an emergency. He always answered for her and didn't feel like screwing up twice in one day. She had expected him to be there by now so she scanned up and down the street at the same time as she put a call in to Dale's Head of Security to put them on alert. When she saw her boss's car still running at the side of the street with the door open her heart sank. She headed back to the playground and introduced herself to Nena and her babysitter. The young woman was suspicious but she was also aware of the relationship between Dale Hargrave and Lindsay so she didn't freak out.

The news of Dale's disappearance had rippled quickly through the Hargrave organization and then to Mayweather Services. Within an hour Clayton and Ruben were together in Ruben's place while Nadia and Suzy were on their way back from their interrupted vacation. Dale had been incredibly secretive ever since they had returned from Point Nemo, missing days at work and being defensive about his activities. If it had been anyone else they would have had him shadowed and investigated, but this was Dale and they had decided to trust him.

Now the details would have to come out.

"It's a girl." Dominic said at last.

Clayton and Ruben showed no reaction other than to exchange a glance. Dale Hargrave didn’t lose his head over women, but then again, the same could have been said of either of them until just a few of months ago.

"Keep going." Ruben said.

"After Point Nemo he started seeing this woman. She's a reporter."

"Back up there. A reporter?" Clay was incredulous. "Dale hates the press. What the hell was he doing with a reporter?"

Dominic shrugged. "Beats me. She's hot though. He's been chasing her and asking us to gather information on her work, her boss, her past, her personal life. You name it, he wants it."

"Who is she?" Ruben asked.

"Her name is Lindsay Day. Here's a picture of her." He handed his phone to Ruben. The immaculately turned out billionaire took a quick glance and then curled his sensuous lips in anger. He said nothing but handed the phone on to Clay.

"Well, she's definitely hot alright." Clay said. "Who does she work for?"

"A news media startup called AltNews. All online stuff. But it's about to fold. Dale made sure of that."

"She was at Point Nemo." Ruben said. "She was the first hostage Boyevik leveraged us with."

Clay looked at the picture again and the recognition dawned.

"God damn it, you're right." His mind worked fast. "She knows about Boyevik and our little hostage crisis. Of course she's been leading Dale on. The little news-rat wants her story. God damn it, how could Dale be so damn stupid?"

"With all due respect sir," Dominic interjected, "he was fully aware of her intentions and has containment plans in place. There's never been a hint of the story going to publication despite all the time they've spent together."

"How much time is that?" Clay asked.

"Hold it Clay." Ruben interrupted. "We can get to the bottom of their relationship later, what we need now is a clue as to where Dale is. Dominic, what's your take?"

"Lindsay Day has legal guardianship of her eight year old niece. A little girl by the name of Nena. Dale suspected she was in danger of kidnapping from the Russian Mafia. He was on his way to check on her when he disappeared. We had a run in with the mob earlier in the day."

"This gets better and better." Ruben smiled. He was worried about his friend but he was also in his element. While most people would pray for an end to a nightmare like this, he was ready to take on the mob for as long as it took and hostage crisis was his thing. He had rescued Clay and now he would pull Dale's ass out of the fire. His two best friends, two of the sharpest men he had ever known, were coming off the rails because of love?

The world had been turned upside down.

"Tell us about the 'run in'." He said.

"Mr. Hargrave called us out on an emergency. He told me to have a thousand dollars in cash and an envelope full of dollar sized newspaper cuttings to look likethe same amount. We were involved in a small time pay off to the local mob, a character called Vasily Petrov and one of his goons Piotr. It was to take place outside the AltNews offices. We ended up giving Piotr the fake cash as Mr. Hargrave believed giving them the real money would only lead them to ask for more and he wanted this thing ended. We were ready to take them on but things went off the rails when Ms. Day disappeared. She left his home, ostensibly to go shopping, but gave her bodyguard the slip. Mr. Hargrave was understandably furious and that's when he set out to find Nena and her babysitter."

Clay looked over at Ruben and shook his head.

"I can't believe this is happening again. What's your take?"

Ruben opened his laptop and pushed it over to Clay. "Look at this." He said. "This right here."

"Why this one?" He asked, looking at the blip of the tracking device on screen.

"It was activated earlier today outside the offices of AltNews. This is Dale thinking ahead. That's Piotr. Find him and we have Dale."

Clay nodded and got to his feet.

"Let's get going. Where do you want me and my people?"

"Sit down Clay." Ruben said. "I've already got operatives closing in on him. You need to stay out of harm's way. I don’t need two Hargraves in the hands of the Russian mob."

Clay didn’t move.

"This is my brother we're talking about Ruben. I need to be there."

"I've got a hunch about something Clay." It was all Ruben needed to say. He was notoriously right in these situations.

"You better not be going out on a limb on this one Rube." He sat down again. "Now shoot. What's the plan?"

********************

When Lindsay reached the playground there was no sign of Nena, her babysitter or Piotr. She was reluctant to make a call in case Dale was tracking her phone but she had no choice. She had to know that Nena was still okay. She was relieved when Tanya picked up on the first ring.

"Where are you guys?"

"We're back at the apartment. Is everything okay Lindsay? You sound different?"

"Everything's fine. I just wanted to make sure you and Nena were okay. I'll be home soon."

"Everything is just fine except for these guys out front."

A chill went down Lindsay's back.

"What guys?"

"They look like FBI or something. They have a couple of big SUV's badly parked out front and they're looking up and down the street like they're expecting the president to arrive. Is this something to do with Dale?"

Shit.

She heard another call coming in and looked at the phone. It was Vasily.

"Gotta go."

She ended the call to Tanya and jammed the phone to her ear.

"Vasily I was here on time. I swear to God." She said before the mobster could say a word. "I have the money. All of it. Two thousand in cash."

"For member of Hargrave family? I don’t think so."

"What are you talking about?"

"Here.Speak to him."