Found (Bad Boys with Billions Book 2)

by Laura Marie Altom

  “Liam, please go . . . Take Darcy.” I could deal with my own death, but not the girl’s and certainly not his. Blaine and I were experts at this dance. We’d performed for years. I’d known from the first time he’d held that very knife to my throat that he would one day kill me, and now the time had come. There was no satisfaction in this knowledge—that could only come from ensuring Liam and Darcy safe passage. “I’m all right.”

  “I’m not leaving you,” Liam said. “This ends now.”

  “It’s okay,” I assured him. Exhaustion bore down on my shoulders. Everything we’d been through over the past months culminated in a gnawing, burning hole in my chest. I was tired. So very tired. “My time with you has been more than I’d dared dream of finding. As long as you and Darcy are safe, if Blaine agrees, I want to go with him.”

  “That’s my beauty.” Blaine rose. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders but kept his gun aimed at Darcy, whom I still held. He kissed my cheek, then rubbed hers with the barrel of his gun. “I always knew you’d come back to me.”

  I retched.

  “Do you remember what today is, my love?”

  I couldn’t stop dry heaving.

  Liam said, “How about you act like the gentleman you claim to be and let both ladies go. You and I will settle this man to man.”

  “You’re not a man,” Blaine sneered. “In ancient times, I would have already taken your life for what you’ve done—and had that act approved by law.”

  “Great. Save for one small problem. You’re a scum wife beater and in the twenty-first century, you’re the one who gets to die.”

  “I’m so bored with this conversation, aren’t you, my love?” He came at me with his lips sneered like writhing night crawlers. He repulsed me on every possible level. “It’s our anniversary. We should celebrate.” He looked to the child. “Darcy? Is that your name?” The little girl’s eyes widened.

  “Leave her alone,” I spat.

  “We have you surrounded!” a man on a loudspeaker announced from outside. “Release the hostages, then come out with your hands up.”

  Not only did Blaine not comply, but he abruptly shoved me forward, then wedged his gun over my shoulder and Darcy’s, using us as a platform to rest his forearm upon while shooting out the paned window.

  The force of the concussion left my ears ringing. With her arms freed, Darcy had clawed at the tape on her mouth, and she now screamed.

  “Shut her up, or I will,” Blaine said in a matter-of-fact tone.

  Fear paralyzed me.

  I was aware of Liam easing toward me to take Darcy, but my tunneled vision viewed him fractured and broken as if through shattered glass.

  “Uncle Liam!” Darcy cried.

  “I’ve got you, babe.” With the child in his arms, Liam dove out the door.

  Blaine fired, and Liam cried out, as did Darcy.

  “Noooo!” I screamed.

  “Good riddance.” Blaine wrapped his arm around me, manhandling me deeper into the little house.

  “Liam!” I cried. “Darcy!”

  From outside rose the horror of Natalie’s wails.

  “Shut up!” Blaine thundered, shooting blindly out the door and the broken window.

  “Let her go!” commanded the voice over the loudspeaker.

  Deeper and deeper we descended into the pool house. Down a dark hallway and into a powder room.

  Glass shattered somewhere behind us, and Blaine fired off five rounds in that direction.

  I wished I could be stronger, wrestle and fight against him. I wanted to live, to see Liam again, but if he were really gone, how could I live? He was my reason for being. Even worse, if sweet, innocent Darcy had been killed, I wanted to die. I would beg for God to make me a plea bargain. I would beg Him to take me and return life to that precious girl. All those months ago, back when Nathan had warned me my great affair would end in disaster, he’d been right. “Leave us in peace,” Blaine warned, “or I’ll kill us both!”

  “Let her go!” Liam ordered. Wait. Liam?

  “Liam?” I cried, buoyed by hope. “Are you all right?”

  “I’m good.”

  “Come one step closer and she’s dead!” Blaine fired another blind round.

  “Leave me!” I called to my dear Liam. “Please, save yourself!”

  From outside the cramped bathroom, it sounded as if the whole world were writhing. Had Liam’s security team and the police entered the building? It was so dark, I couldn’t see. Or, maybe fear had struck me blind.

  Blaine held me in a chokehold and in flailing for air, my elbow nudged the light switch. Like lightning, it produced thunder.

  From somewhere behind Blaine, a form grabbed him, wrenching him from the room and into the hall. Blaine’s gun clattered to the floor, and he punched again and again at the figure I couldn’t see. Then, the two men rolled and I saw Liam was on the bottom.

  “Nooo!” I cried, pummeling Blaine’s back and pulling his hair.

  “I can’t get a clean shot!” an anonymous voice called.

  Suddenly there was blood, so much blood, flowing onto my Liam like a death-filled river.

  I heard myself screaming, but was powerless to control the sound.

  Liam was dead. I saw him covered in red.

  Someone wrapped his arms around me, but I fought. I had to be with Liam. To tell him how sorry I was for ruining his life.

  “Ella!” a man screamed. “Calm down. It’s okay. Everything’s okay.”

  As if propelled by a silent lift beneath him, Blaine’s still body rose, and then was pushed over. He now lay on his back. His hunting knife’s hilt protruded from his chest. Blood gurgled past his lips and his eyes had rolled back in his head.

  I was screaming again and again, but then came the only voice I wanted in my ear. “Babe, it’s okay. He’s gone. He’s never hurting any of us again.”

  “Liam?” Not believing he was really there, and that his fantastical words might be true, I fluttered my fingers over his face. “Is it really you?”

  He captured my wrists and gaze. “It’s me, and you, and back in the house, Darcy’s okay, too.”

  Though I was filled with relief, a tremble shuddered through me and refused to stop. My teeth chattered and my limbs hung leaden, and then locked. I couldn’t move, but then I didn’t need to.

  “Mr. Stone.” A uniformed officer blocked our way. “We’re going to need you to stick around to answer questions.”

  “Now?” Liam asked.

  Garrett stepped in. “I’m Mr. Stone’s attorney. As this was clearly a case of self-defense, and my client not only saved himself, but Ms. Patton and a minor child, how about we give him a brief period to collect his thoughts, and I’ll bring him to you for an official statement first thing tomorrow.”

  The officer appeared dazed by Garrett’s legalese, but eventually nodded before gesturing us on our way.

  “Thanks, buddy,” Liam said to his friend. “For everything.”

  “No problem. See you in the morning.” I was beyond touched to find the big, bad lawyer’s gaze teary. In helping us, he’d proven he really did have a heart after all.

  While police swarmed Blaine’s body, Liam carried me out of the dark pool house and into the light.

  His precious face was covered in blood. Blaine’s blood. Liam had risked his life for me.

  “Thank you,” I somehow managed past my dry tongue.

  “You’re welcome. But if you ever pull a stunt like that again, there’s going to be trouble.”

  He carried me past Owen and Natalie and the nanny and twins who were fussing over Darcy, who’d been strapped to a paramedic’s rolling exam table.

  “I thought you said she was all right?” I struggled against him.

  “She’s fine,” he assured me, readjusting his hold. “They’re taking her in for observation.”

  “What about you?” I asked.

  “I’m good. Just itching to be free of that bastard’s blood.”

  Awa
y from the crowd, he carried me up the stairs and into a guest room. He set me on the edge of a granite tub. Told me to stay while he backtracked to lock the door.

  He next knelt before me to remove my clothes. I hadn’t realized it before, but they were stained with blood and sweat. He tenderly peeled them from me, one by one, wadding them to toss in a designer trash can. He turned on the oversized tub’s water and lifted me in, then freed himself from his own soiled khaki shorts and T-shirt.

  He took small soaps and shampoos from a countertop basket before sitting behind me in the rising warmth. He cupped his hands to wet my hair, and then he washed and rinsed it and then soaped my body, scrubbing every inch of me clean. I did the same for him, and then we emptied the filth, only to fill the tub again with clear, clean water.

  Entangled in each other’s arms, we lay for what seemed like hours, maybe days.

  Exhaustion rendered me incapable of motion. But I felt Liam’s solid strength beneath me. Heard the reassuring beat of his heart. My senses felt alive alongside him, and for the first time since I’d been an innocent bride, I felt new again. Reborn. Bathed in this man’s light and love.

  I couldn’t be sure what the future held. But one truth I did know was that we’d face it together.

  Liam

  I’d been apprehensive about returning, but the farther Ella and I walked hand-in-hand down my stretch of Big Sur’s beach, the more the place’s healing magic took hold. Brilliant July sun baked into our skin, purifying us and making us whole.

  Ella had been the one who’d forced the issue.

  In June, Owen found her video and dozens more. Blaine had charged five hundred a pop in a pay-per-view scheme. He’d made a fortune, which Ella had inherited and was using to establish her own charity to help women who escaped abusive husbands start over again.

  I’d been afraid for her, but her bravery in the face of adversity made me love her all the more. She’d even forced her parents to watch the video. Afterward, they’d been inconsolable about the fact that they’d believed Blaine over their own daughter. Ella’s relationship with them was strained, but at least they now had hope to rebuild the trusting family unit they’d once shared.

  “Remember the first time you brought me to this spot?” She’d paused to perch on the tree trunk where we’d shared a steak dinner and cheesecake alongside a crackling driftwood fire. “And how Penny prepped that delicious meal, but you forgot to bring plates?” She dazzled me with one of her brightest smiles. “Of course, it worked in my favor when you ended up having to feed me.”

  “You liked having me wait on you, huh?” I leaned in to nuzzle her neck. She tasted of sun and salt and sand, and I loved her more than I’d ever dreamt it was possible to love a woman. Before we met, I’d adhered to a strict rule of leaving women before they left me. She’d changed everything by making me want to stay—not just for the duration of a contract, but for the rest of our lives.

  “I loved it.” She giggled when I lost my balance, resulting in both of us falling a short way to land on our backs in the warm sand.

  “If you’re done giving me a hard time,” I asked, “what do you want to do? Swim? Hike? Eat lunch? Let me have my way with you right here and now?”

  “Uncle Liam! Uncle Liam!”

  I groaned, holding my hands over my eyes to shield them from the sun. To Ella, I asked,

  “Do you have something to tell me?”

  “Oops. It was supposed to be a surprise, but Nat’s parents are in this weekend, so I invited their whole family out to stay.”

  “Thanks for asking.” I was glad Ella and Natalie had become fast friends, but what did I have to do to get my future bride to myself?

  “Sorry.” She scrambled to her feet. “Guess I forgot.” When she turned sideways, raising her shoulder, then resting her chin on it while blowing me a kiss, I was left wondering if a man could die from a too-hard cock. Her red bikini would be the death of me.

  Making matters worse, instead of Ella having her way with me, Nat and Owen’s sheepdog, Henry, decided he wanted to lick my face. “Hey, buddy. Good seeing you, too.” I rolled over, pushing myself upright while Henry took off, barking at a gull trio.

  The twins ambushed me, each taking a leg.

  “Look who I found.” Ella held Charlie on her hip. Darcy had clamped onto her hand. Owen and Natalie had taken her to therapy immediately after Blaine held her hostage, and she’d soon returned to her usual bubbly self. Ella was still her favorite. “Did you notice Darcy’s new suit? Pretty spiffy, huh?”

  Grinning up at me, Darcy wrenched her face and asked, “What’s ‘spiffy’?”

  “Super cute. Like you.” Ella tweaked her nose. To me, she said, “So, I thought we’d have a few more minutes before our company arrived, but I’ve run into a problem with the wedding and need your help.”

  “Okay, shoot.” The twins had chased off after the dog, and Darcy plopped down to start a sand castle. With the kids occupied, Owen and Natalie had gone for a swim. Nat’s parents were barely in sight, down by the hot tub.

  “Well, Wednesday, Carol took me for a dress fitting, but the dress didn’t fit.”

  “I thought the whole point of the fitting was to have it altered?” Ella had decided on a Christmas-themed wedding to be held in a Swiss castle. The guest list had been held to fifty, and though I’d never let her know, I think I was as excited about the event as she was. It was going to be off the hook, with sleigh rides and cocoa and, after the guests left, plenty of making love in front of roaring fires . . .

  Damn, if my cock wasn’t already swelling in anticipation.

  She reddened. “I could, but I have a feeling that by Christmas, my problem’s going to be even worse. Would you be okay with an August wedding held right here on the beach?”

  “August?” I wrinkled my nose. “Babe . . . none of the cool kids get married in August. Plus, I’m psyched about the castle. Jewel said they make the cocoa from legit Swiss chocolate.” Jewel was our wedding planner.

  “What if we visit Switzerland for Christmas, but get married sooner? Like August?”

  I grabbed Charlie to give him a good tickle. He looked even cuter than usual in his crab-themed red swim trunks and striped T-shirt.

  “Liam?” she nagged. “August wedding? Are you in?”

  “Look,” I said, “I don’t mean to be a hard-ass about this, but now that we’ve got the whole Christmas theme planned, I’d rather stick with it.”

  “Okay, well, that’s all well and good, but considering I’m three months pregnant, we might be a little busy around the holidays. You know, with preparing for our newborn.”

  “Wait, what?” Had she really said what I thought she’d just said? “No way!”

  Blueberry-blue eyes shining, she swallowed hard, and then nodded. “Say something. Are you happy? Scared? Excited? Personally, I’m feeling all of the above, but mostly happy.”

  Happy didn’t cover the all-consuming joy blocking every intelligent thought from my brain. I was elated. Euphoric. Overjoyed.

  “Say something,” she once again prompted.

  I tried, but words wouldn’t come. My throat knotted and my eyes stung.

  In that moment, when I pulled her against me, holding her for all I was worth, I felt my mother’s presence even stronger than I had that long-ago night I’d proposed. “I love you,” I finally managed to get out. “August doesn’t work for me. Let’s make a few calls and get a pastor out here tomorrow. We’ll already have Nat and Owen’s crew here, so all we need to do is find Carol and Nathan. Yvonne and Peter. Even your parents—but only if you want.”

  Now, she was tearing up. “You really think we should do this tomorrow? You’re willing to give up your cocoa and sleigh?”

  “Oh, hell yeah.” I fell to my knees and kissed her already barely rounded belly. All this time, our baby, our precious son or daughter, had been growing right in front of me. “How long have you known?”

  “Just a few days. I’ve suspected for a while
, but after getting my hopes up before, I didn’t dare believe this was real. But Thursday, I went to an ob/gyn and she confirmed it. I’m due mid-January.”

  “But you’re having a boy, right?”

  She laughed. “How am I supposed to know? It’s way too early to tell.”

  “Yeah, well, I thought we’d already agreed that my heart couldn’t take a mini-Ella roaming around, so we’ll just plan on this being a boy, okay?”

  She kissed me, then looked to Charlie. “Do you think he’s going to be this big of a pain through my whole pregnancy?”

  “Gah!” He grinned and kicked.

  “There you have it,” she said. “It’s official. Even Charlie agrees.”

  “Charlie? You’re now taking advice from a kid who’s not even one year old?”

  “He’s advanced for his age, aren’t you, sweetie?”

  The debate raged on, but not for too long, because we had a shotgun wedding to plan.

  Need more?! Keep reading for an excerpt of Need!

  Nathan

  “I, Ella, take you, Liam, to be my lawfully wedded husband . . .”

  If I heard one more word of the happy couple’s vows, I’d fucking hurl.

  I stood on the fringe of their big event with my hands shoved in the pockets of the khakis I’d picked up at Goodwill. Why wouldn’t I want to look my best for the love of my life getting hitched to a billionaire who’s actually perfect for her, and can give her the kind of life of which I’ve never even dreamed?

  Everything about the beachfront nuptials was perfection.

  Gently lapping surf—check.

  Violet-streaked sunset kissing the ocean—check.

  Pillar candles lining the aisle and practically an entire freaking orchestra playing powderysoft Vivaldi—check, check. Toss in thousands of white orchids and roses, wandering flamingos, a champagne fountain, a tent with tables heaped with food and a vodka-ice-luge carved into an enormous E & L, and the scene was straight out of a circus freak show of flashy wealth. Only the thing about Liam was that I truly believed not a bit of this was for show, or to prove he’d win a wedding-of-the-century dick-measuring contest, but because he loves Ella so much that in ways, he’d reverted to a little kid, eager to prove his love by buying her every single toy on her Christmas list—only it was July, and knowing Ella, the only thing she’d ever really wanted Santa to bring was love.