The Courtship Maneuver, Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Club BBW Romance) (16 page)

A
t five o’clock
I was ready to get the heck out of the office. Sam’s project proposal was edited, and my inbox was at least moderately under control. I was also antsy and bored, a frustrating combination. The office was quiet, so no fires to put out there, and I hadn’t heard anything about Nolan. I had my fingers crossed that he’d called Axel, but somehow I doubted it. Calling Axel for help was too simple and straightforward. So far nothing Nolan had done was simple and straightforward.

I, on the other hand, was more than happy to be simple and straightforward. Following Sam’s directions, I picked up my phone and called Axel to let him know I was planning to leave the office. He sounded distracted, and said he hadn’t heard from Nolan, but I should go ahead and leave. His guys would be following me.

I got my purse out of the drawer in my desk, shut down my computer, and turned off the lights, locking Sam’s office door before I went. It was a little unnerving knowing that Axel’s men were watching me when I couldn’t see them. It was possible that they weren’t that sneaky; I was just oblivious. That was fine with me, I didn’t want to learn how to spot a tail, I just wanted all of this to be over.

Driving back to Sam’s house, my mind drifted, and I realized that despite sleeping the night before, I was still exhausted. When my phone rang on the seat beside me, I jumped and swerved a little in my lane. Looking down, I saw Tim’s name on the display. I sighed. I appreciated that he was worried about Nolan, but there was nothing he could do at this point but get in the way. Picking up the phone, I said,

“Hi Tim. Everything okay?”

“No. Everything is seriously not okay. You need to get here now.” He was frantic, the words spilling out, high-pitched and tight, reminding me of his tension when Sam and I had met him in the coffee shop.

“Tim, calm down. Tell me what’s happening.”

“Nolan called me. He asked me to come get him. I did and… and Chloe he’s in bad shape.”

“Is he hurt? If he’s hurt, take him to the hospital, Tim.”

“I can’t. I can’t drive and before he passed out he made me promise not to call anyone, but I knew I had to call you. I need you to come here.”

“Where are you?” I asked. Tim’s obvious fear was leaking into me.

“I’ll text it to you,” Tim said. “Are you in the car? You sound like you’re in the car.”

His words shot out in staccato bursts and I raced to keep up. “I’m in the car,” I said trying to reassure him. “I’m on my way, just send me the directions. I’ll be there as soon as I can, and we’ll figure out what to do. Is he bleeding? Does he need medical attention right now?”

“He’s okay for now but get here fast, Chloe.” The phone cut off, and I made a frustrated sound in my throat.

I stared at the road ahead, unseeing, as I tried to think. Before I could get my bearings on the meaning of Tim’s call, my phone chimed with a text. An address and the words, ‘Come quick!!!’. Tapping the address brought up the navigation app on my phone. It wasn’t far, only a few miles from my current position. I made a split second decision and hit ‘Start’ on the app. A female voice directed me to get off the freeway at the next exit. Which was almost directly to my right.

Cars honked and swerved as I wrenched my steering wheel and barreled toward the exit, cutting off the sedan behind me and almost running a convertible off the road. I saw the driver give me the finger in my rearview, and another vehicle, a black SUV, follow the same path, pushing the convertible further off the road, missing the exit by only yards, blocked by the sedan I’d almost hit.
Crap
.

That was probably Axel’s guys. I hadn’t meant to lose them. If the sedan had swerved just a few feet in the other direction, they’d still be right behind me. I glanced down at the phone, planning to call Axel, but the map was a mess of squiggled lines and if I changed screen to place a call, I’d lose my bearings, even with the navigator giving me verbal directions.

A command to turn left tore my attention from the phone and back to the road. I swerved into my lane, only to make a hard right a minute later. I was lost without the map, leaving known commercial areas and heading into an industrial neighborhood filled with warehouses. What was Nolan doing here? And how had Tim found him?

I didn’t have time to wonder. I was directed to make another turn, the navigation speaking over itself as it warned me of the next turn, then the next. After more than five minutes of driving, my heart pounding in my chest, my sweaty palms gripping the steering wheel, I pulled to a stop in front of a large square building. My car was the only one in the small parking lot.

Just as I was beginning to wonder if I was in the right place, getting ready to pick up my phone and call Axel to let him know where I was, the rusty door opened and Tim stuck his head out.

“Chloe,” he called. “Hurry up, get in here. Nolan’s asking for you.”

I shoved my phone in my purse and jumped out of the car, racing to follow Tim into the building.

“Nolan,” I yelled, looking everywhere for my brother. I didn’t see him. I spun around to ask Tim where he was and slammed straight into Dog.

Dog grinned down at me, then looked over at Tim, who was sliding a bar across the door and locking it into place, shaking his head.

“That was too easy,” Tim said, turning to face me. “You had me scared when you said Nolan was going to turn himself in to you. Not when we hadn’t found him yet.”

I backed away from Dog, a sick feeling in my stomach. Knowing the answer I was going to get, I asked, “Where’s Nolan?” Dog laughed.

“Good question,” he said. I kept moving away from him and felt around in my purse for my phone. I doubted they’d let me make a call, but maybe I could hit the right buttons by feel and get a call out anyway.

“He’s not here?” I asked, still moving away from Dog. I’d figured that out already, but it didn’t hurt to play dumb. Not that I was playing. I was here, wasn’t I? Dumb enough to be caught in their trap. My eyes were locked on Dog’s smug, grinning face. A mistake, I realized too late, when I backed directly into Tim.

His hands closed over my arms, wrenching them behind me. It was like the day before all over again, but this time I wasn’t being taken to safety. This time I was in serious trouble. Tim threw my purse to the floor and held my wrists together with ease, securing them with something that cut into my skin. For a skinny guy, he was a lot stronger than he looked.

Dragging me backward by my hands, he pushed me down into a metal chair and said, “Hold her.”

Dog’s fingers closed over my shoulders, digging in, pressing me down into the chair. Tim took more of what I saw were zip ties and fastened my feet to the legs of the chair. The hard plastic cut into my ankles. I yanked against them anyway. They didn’t give. Behind me, Dog cut through the tie on my wrists, giving me a moment of slack before he strapped my right wrist to the back of the chair with a speed that suggested he wasn’t new to using zip ties as restraints.

For just a second, my left hand was free. Panicked, my breath coming in short gasps, I swung at Tim, catching him on the jaw.

“Bitch,” he said, backhanding me across the mouth, driving my lip into my teeth. I tasted blood. He leaned in and I saw his glazed eyes, his pupils hugely dialated. Like the day Sam and I had met him in the coffee house, beads of sweat pearled on his forehead. Crap. Sam had said he was high that day. Was he high now, too? That couldn’t be good.

None of this was good. I wished I’d called Axel from the car and taken the risk on getting lost without the map. I wished I hadn’t gotten off on that exit so quickly, losing Axel’s man behind me. I hadn’t meant to. I hadn’t meant any of this. I’d thought I was coming to get Nolan, not walking into a trap.

I licked the blood from my lip and looked at my captors. Tim shifted from one foot to the other, bouncing on the balls of his feet, unable to stay still, his eyes wide and gleeful. Dog just stood there, arms crossed over his chest, studying me.

“She’ll be worth something when we’re done with her,” he said to Tim, who nodded. My blood turned to ice in my veins. “Get her phone and send the message.”

Tim picked my purse up off the floor and pulled out my phone. It looked like he was tapping out a text. When he was done, he shoved the phone in his pocket.

“Let’s see how long that takes,” he said. Looking at me, he went on, “Now we find out how much Nolan loves his big sister.”

“I thought you worked for Tsepov,” I said to Dog. “Why are you with Tim? Why am I here?” I couldn’t get the pieces to fit together in my mind. Since when was Tim connected to Dog? He’d told us about the poker room… he’d pointed us straight in Dog’s direction, I realized, though at the time Tim had seemed clueless.

Dog snorted in amusement. Or disgust at my ignorance. I didn’t care, I wanted to know what was going on.

“I do work for Sergey. Ungrateful asshole. I bust my ass for him, but I’m not full blooded like the rest of them. I’m the mutt of the family. The American,” he said with a sneer, imitating Tsepov’s accent. “I’m not useless to everyone. I’ve got buyers for that data Nolan’s holding. And as soon as I get it, I’ll be free of Tsepov. Your brother is going to make me rich.” As an afterthought, he added, “And so are you.”

Tim said, “You mean he’s going to make
us
rich.”

Dog shot him a dismissive look and agreed, “Sure, he’s going to make us rich.”

Tim didn’t notice that his partner wasn’t excited about his contribution. I didn’t have good feelings about Tim’s future with Dog. But that was Tim’s problem. I was afraid of the answer, but I had to ask. “How am I going to make you rich? I don’t have any money.”

Dog laughed. Tim giggled, his eyes roving my body with a greedy gaze that felt like he could see right through my suit. Dog said, “We’re going to sell you right along with the thumb drive of data we’re taking from your brother. It’s a lucky coincidence that our buyers for the data have a use for pretty young girls. The data is actually their side business. They’re looking to get into competition with Tsepov. But their main deal is girls just like you. Sweet. Young. Lots of tits and ass. Easy prey. We’ll sell you to them. And they’ll sell you over and over until there’s nothing left.”

“Once we get the drive from Nolan, we should break her in,” Tim said, staring at my breasts. Between my blouse and suit jacket, I was covered up, but under his eyes I felt naked. My skin crawled at the idea of either of them touching me. I closed my eyes and prayed Axel and Sam could find me before these men got what they wanted from Nolan and both of us disappeared forever.

“Maybe,” Dog said, his own eyes lingering on my body. “I wouldn’t mind getting a piece of that before we sell her. After the business is done with Nolan.” Addressing me, he said, “I wasn’t going to bother with you. But when I saw you the other night, I told Tim you could be useful. Our buyers are going to love you.”

I jumped when my phone rang. Tim looked at it, then shrugged. “Her boss.”

Sam. Axel must have called him. Or maybe he was just checking in. I wished with everything I was that I could answer the phone and hear Sam’s voice. The ringing stopped. A few seconds later, the phone dinged with a voicemail. I wondered if I would ever get to hear it. The ringing started again almost immediately.

This time, Tim’s eyes flared with excitement and he moved to answer it. Dog held his hand out and Tim put the phone in it, his lower lip pouting out in a sulk. Dog answered the call, saying, “Nolan. It’s Dog. I have your pretty sister. You want to guess what I’m going to do to her if you don’t bring me that drive in the next half hour?”

Dog snorted, then held the phone up in front of me. “Tell your brother you’re still alive,” he ordered.

“Nolan,” I said, loudly enough that I was sure he could hear me. “Nolan, don’t-”

I didn’t get the rest out. Dog slapped me with his big, hard hand, striking my face right where my lip had split. Warm blood ran down my chin. Dog murmured into the phone in a menacing tone. I couldn’t hear Nolan’s response, but Dog grunted in annoyance and gave him the address of the warehouse. “Fine, then move fast. I’m getting bored, and little Chloe is tempting. Got me?” He hung up the phone, tossing it on a nearby table.

“He’s coming?” Tim asked, bouncing again on his toes. Dog nodded.

“He says he’s holed up outside Mountain Springs in a cabin or some shit. But he’s on his way.”

“Sweet.” From the back pocket of his saggy jeans, Tim produced a knife in a black leather sheathe. He waved it in my direction. “Let’s cut that suit off her and have a little fun while we wait.”

Dog sighed and looked at me, shaking his head. “This guy is a pain in my ass.” With no warning, he pulled a gun from the waistband of his jeans. The sound of the shot was deafening in the open space of the warehouse. I’d never heard a bullet in real life. They were quieter in the movies.

A perfect round hole appeared in the middle of Tim’s forehead. For an endless moment he remained suspended in the air. Then he fell to the ground in a rush, like a balloon deflating all at once. I heard a scream coming from somewhere, sharp and high pitched. I looked around in a panic before I realized it was coming from me.

I
was leaving
the Forum Shops when the phone rang. Axel. Hoping he was calling to say they had Nolan, I picked up.

“Trouble,” Axel said. “My guy following Chloe lost her. She pulled off 215 too fast for him to follow. Pushed a car off the road to do it and blocked the exit. He tried to pick her back up, but she’s gone.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” I asked, losing my breath. “Why would she do that?”

“My guy said it looked like she answered a call right before she flipped. We’re going to find her, Sam.”

“Fuck, Axel. Where are you?”

“My office, for now.”

“I’m coming to you,” I said, hanging up. Fuck. What had I said about not leaving her alone until this was resolved? I’d promised her I was going to watch her back. Logic told me that Axel’s men were a better safeguard than I was, considering their training. But no one was good enough if she managed to evade them. And if I’d been in the car with her, I’d know where she was.

The ring box in my pocket felt like it weighed a million pounds. Without Chloe, it meant nothing. Without Chloe, I had nothing. Driving on autopilot, I headed for Axel’s office. I tried calling Chloe, but it went straight to voicemail. I told myself that this could all be fine.

She could have decided at the last minute to stop at the store. She could be in a spot with bad phone reception. I knew that was bullshit. Chloe knew she had to be careful, knew she was being followed by security. She never would have risked losing them unless something was wrong.

Axel met me at the door, his expression grave. “I’ve got every available man working the area where she got off 215. We’ll find her.”

I started to answer when Axel’s phone rang. My heart lurched. He had more going on than Chloe, it could be about anything. But I needed it to be about my girl.

“What?” Axel barked into the phone. “Did they say where they had her?”

I waited, every muscle in my body frozen solid. Axel grabbed my arm and led me into his building, past the front desk and into an empty conference room, saying, “Hold on,” he put the phone on speaker and set it on the table. “Sam is with me. Tell me exactly what happened.”

It was Nolan, finally doing something right. “I should have called you before,” he said, his words tumbling over each other. “I was going to. I swear. But you have to get to Chloe. Dog called, said he has her. He’s the one who’s been stopping me from getting to Sergey. I didn’t know it was him.”

“Nolan,” Axel said in the unyielding tone I’d heard him use when he was running out of patience. “Where are they? Could you tell if Dog was alone?”

“In a warehouse. I’m sending you the address. Tim was there too. He texted me from Chloe’s phone. They must have grabbed her-”

Axel cut him off. “Did they let her talk to you? Give you proof they have her other than using her phone?”

“I heard her. She was trying to tell me something, but I think he hit her. What do I do?”

“What’s the time frame?” Axel demanded.

“I told him I was in Mountain Springs. So maybe another forty-five minutes before he thinks I could get there.”

“Where are you now?”

For once since this whole mess began, Nolan stopped being a self-centered ass and played it clean. He gave Axel an address that was less than five minutes away. Axel told him the location of the offices and ordered him to come to us. “I’m going to put the phone down and get my men on this address. In case anything goes wrong, keep the line open until you’re inside my office. Got me?”

“Yeah. Be there in a minute.”

Axel straightened and picked up a land line. I waited, chest tight, hands fisted, while Axel relayed the address Nolan had texted to his men who’d been with Chloe. They went back and forth for a few minutes, talking in a short-hand I couldn’t follow, while I stood there, feeling completely useless.

I was a smart guy. I was rich. I had connections. None of that was any use in getting Chloe back. I would have given every penny if Dog had asked, just for the promise of her safety. But he hadn’t asked for money. What he wanted, only Nolan could give. I was going to fucking kill that little shit. After we got Chloe back.

Endless minutes later, the front door to Axel’s building swung open to admit Chloe’s little brother. I’d seen Nolan a few months ago when he’d picked Chloe up from work. He’d looked a hell of a lot better than than he did now.

His skin, normally the same warm gold as Chloe’s, was pale, his eyes drawn and red. He looked like he hadn’t slept or showered in days. At the sight of him, Axel hung up the phone.

“I’ve got men surrounding the building, but they can’t get eyes on Chloe.” Looking at me, he said, “There was a shot a few minutes ago, then a woman’s scream. The healthy volume of the scream suggests that Chloe wasn’t the one shot.”

“She fucking better not have been,” I growled at Nolan, who turned sheet white. He was the opposite of Chloe in almost every way. Tall and lean where she was petite and curvy, his hair dark and straight instead of light and wavy. But his eyes were hers and the sight of them so pained and afraid pulled at me even though I wanted to punch him.

“Can you get her out?” he asked Axel, ignoring me.

“Not without putting her at risk,” Axel said. “There isn’t a way in that provides any cover. Not that we can see. My guys can’t get eyes on the floor, but they can see enough of the layout from the roof of the building next door to tell that it’s an empty square. No back hallway or protected door. Someone has to go in.”

“I’ll go,” I said. Axel shook his head at me.

“Sorry, Lancelot. Dog doesn’t seem to have a problem shooting that weapon. And you’re nothing but a threat to him. It has to be Nolan.”

“Anything,” Nolan said. “Just tell me how to get her out and I’ll do it. This wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”

“What the fuck did you think would happen when you started working for the Russian mob?” I asked. Nolan stepped back and looked to Axel for help. When Axel only stared him down, Nolan studied his feet and said, “Not this. I was bored at my job and then I had a bad game. Tsepov was cool about it, let me work it off. And he had me doing some cool shit.”

“Illegal shit,” Axel clarified. Nolan shrugged.

“I guess. I didn’t think about it coming back to Chloe, I swear.”

I didn’t say anything. There was no point. Nolan was too young, or too self-centered, to grasp how his actions had endangered Chloe. And now wasn’t the time to explain it to him.

“Do you have the drive?” Axel asked. Nolan gave him a wary look. Axel put his hand out. “Stop fucking around.”

Nolan dug his hand in the front pocket of his stained, ill-fitting jeans and pulled out a small, silver thumb drive. There was nothing remarkable about it from the outside, its value was in the information it contained. Axel plucked it out of his fingers, startling a “Hey!” from Nolan.

“Does Dog know what this looks like?” Nolan shook his head in a negative. Axel crossed the room and rummaged around in the drawer of the front desk. He returned with another drive, this one red with a thick black stripe around the cap. Plugging it into a nearby computer, he began dragging files onto it. Over his shoulder, he asked, “Does Dog know exactly what’s supposed to be on the drive?”

Nolan shook his head. “No. As far as I know, only Tsepov and I know. And I guess whoever Dog plans to sell it to. It’s more-”

Axel held a hand up, cutting him off. “Don’t want to know, kid. Seriously. Your boss is hanging back on this. He wants this drive, and he wants you back in the fold. The rest of us stay safe as long as we don’t get in his way and we don’t know what’s on that drive. Got it?”

Nolan nodded. He watched the silver drive disappear into Axel’s pocket with frightened eyes. Axel handed him the substitute.

“Don’t worry kid, you’ll get it back. I have no interest in pissing off Sergey Tsepov. But we get your sister out of there first.”

“Yeah, okay. Just-” Nolan swallowed hard, his eyes still on the pocket where Axel had stashed the silver drive. “Don’t lose that.”

“I won’t.” Axel said. “Apparently, it’s worth more than your life. Now pay attention. We’re running out of time. This is how you’re going to play this. And you’re not going to fuck it up.”