“Sorry,” she said, sitting up. “I didn’t mean to go to sleep.”
“Don’t be sorry. I can tell you’re exhausted.”
“I probably look like death warmed over, don’t I?”
It was so far from the truth that he smiled. “Hardly. Look, I hated to wake you, but I think we need to get you out of here. What do you say?”
She closed her eyes and nodded. When she spoke, her voice was rough with relief. “Yes. You have no idea how bad I’ve wanted to leave. But he has people watching me, so I couldn’t risk it alone.”
“Well, you have me and Em now, and two of my security people are keeping watch outside. What do you say we get you to my house first and then figure out what to do from there?”
“Oh, Warren, I hate to put you to so much trouble, but I’m so desperate that I’m going to.”
“Hey, it’s no trouble. We’re old friends, remember?”
She nodded and swung her legs off the bed. Before he knew what was happening, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
He held her for a moment, keeping very still and letting her take the comfort she needed from him, forcing himself not to think too much about how she felt in his arms. When she let go at last, her hands still resting on his shoulders, he said, “I’m going to send Em in to help you pack and get ready. Just keep going a little longer, and then you can rest as long as you need to.”
“I’m okay. Don’t worry about me. How much should I pack?”
He stood up, immediately regretting the moment all contact was broken between them. “Just the necessities for a couple of days. We’ll get whatever else you need later.” When Kara nodded, he turned away and went to get Em. She was watching from the doorway, leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest. Which meant he didn’t need to explain anything to her.
“I’m on it,” she said softly, stepping past him.
Warren got on his phone and called his pilot to have the plane ready for takeoff in 45 minutes. Hopefully, they’d be able to get clearance that soon. The air over Vegas was congested with traffic from the international airport.
Next, he called his assistant, Marty. “I’m bringing a guest home with me,” he said without preamble when Marty answered. “She’s got a baby, so have the staff get ready for that. I want security doubled and everyone on high alert. I’ll brief you more when I get there.”
“Yes, Mr. Drake.”
Warren heard the surprise beneath his words, but Marty never questioned him.
That taken care of, Warren went outside and conferred with his two bodyguards, Abe and Ronin. “What have you seen?”
Abe, who stood six foot four in his bare feet and was built like a linebacker, nodded to a black van a short distance down the parking lot. “There are eyes on this place, but we have no way of knowing how many boots they have on location or if they have orders to try to stop her from leaving.”
“I suspect they’re just here to report what they see,” Ronin added. Considerably smaller than Abe, but with sharp eyes and devastating martial art skills, he was just as much of an asset.
Warren trusted that they were more than a match for whatever watched in the darkness. “I need to get my friend and her baby from the apartment upstairs and into the car. How do we handle it?”
They thought for a minute, exchanging looks as if they could read minds. Then Ronin said. “We’ll pull the car up here on the sidewalk with the passenger door open by the steps. Keep her low when you bring her out. We’ll be on the steps facing out, creating a shield as she comes down.”
Nodding, Warren said, “My sister is coming out too, but won’t be as much of a target.”
“Same plan for her,” Abe said. Then he gave Warren a firm look. “And you too.”
Warren clenched his jaw but nodded. He paid them to keep him safe, after all. “Okay, get ready.”
When he went back upstairs, he kept his attention focused on the objective: to get Kara out of there. But her shifting, almost frantic eyes and the obvious tension of her shoulders made him want to just stop and comfort her.
Later. There was time for that later.
Kara stood in her living room dressed in tight-fitting jeans and a long denim shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a loose braid and a bulging bag hung on her left shoulder. The baby was buckled into his car seat, and Em stood close by with a small suitcase.
“Have everything you need?”
Kara nodded. “I think so. It’s hard to think since this is happening so fast, but I have my wallet, keys, laptop, and all of Aiden’s things. What else?”
Warren thought a moment. “Is there any paperwork or anything you want to keep private in case someone breaks in while you’re gone?”
She gasped and ran over to a kitchen drawer. She pulled it open and grabbed a pile of papers. After stuffing them in her bag, she took a long breath. “Okay, that’s it. Really, nothing else here is important. But I do need the car seat base out of my car.”
“Can’t we just get you a new one?”
“Aiden isn’t going anywhere unless his seat is fastened in.”
Warren pressed his lips together at the delay, but obviously she knew more about this than he did. “I’ll take care of it. Which car is yours, and where are your keys?”
Kara pulled a key chain with two keys and a car fob out of her pocket. “It’s the blue Corolla right outside.”
“Okay. Give me five minutes and then come out and keep low. My men, Abe and Ronin, will be helping you get safely down the stairs. Em knows them well, so you can trust them. I’ll see you in the car.”
“Ten minutes.”
He paused at the door. “What?”
“Have you ever moved a car seat base before?”
“No. It can’t be that hard.”
“Ten minutes would be extremely impressive for a newbie,” Kara said, shrugging.
Warren glanced at Em, since she had kids. She nodded at him too. “She’s right.”
Several minutes later, Warren was cursing his big hands under his breath as he tried to unfasten the metal clips wedged in the crack of the back seat, behind the car seat base, and clamped to some metal hook he could only barely feel. “This is ridiculous.” Taking a deep, calming breath, he focused hard and finally got the first clip undone. The second one was easier. Spinning around, he hurried back to the car and passed it through to Kara while Abe and Ronin stood guard. Kara had it installed again with a speed that had him in awe.
As soon as the baby was secure, Abe and Ronin got in, Ronin at the wheel, and they rolled out.
Kara turned backward in her seat, looking back at her apartment.
“You’re safe now.”
She turned back to him with haunted eyes. “Safe, but this is far from over.”
Chapter Five
The plane ride was not easy on Aiden. Even in Warren’s fancy jet, the pressure must have bothered his ears. His pacifier helped, but after not getting any sleep, Kara felt like she had nothing left to deal with the stress.
Em had tried to help, but Aiden hadn’t calmed down for her. Kara wasn’t surprised, since Aiden had never been around other people, but it was frustrating.
She was about to start crying herself when Warren put his phone down and came to sit across from her. “I have no idea what I’m doing, but can I try?”
Hesitating, she considered telling him she was fine. But she wasn’t. “That would be great. He’s never been around strangers really—just at his doctor appointments, so I don’t know how he’ll react.”
She handed him over, and Warren took him from her. He moved awkwardly. If he hadn’t told her he didn’t know how to hold babies, she still would have figured it out. Aiden cried until Warren turned him around. Then he stopped crying for a second, like he was surprised. He stared at Warren for a second and then cried again, but it was half-hearted.
“Hey there, buddy. Nice to meet you. I’ve been
friends with your mom for a long time. Think we could be friends too?”
Unlike most people, Warren didn’t talk to him in a high-pitched baby voice. His deep voice soothed her as much as it did Aiden. As she thought about it, it might have been the first time a man had ever talked to her baby. No wonder he was so captivated by Warren’s voice. “Wow.”
Warren smiled up at her but quickly turned back to Aiden. “There now, maybe your mom can get some sleep.”
“I don’t think I can. I’m exhausted, but I’m too keyed up. Can we talk instead?”
“Only if you really want to. I admit, I’d love more information. I’ve been working on getting my whole legal staff ready to go, but with little to go on, they can’t do much.”
“I didn’t expect that kind of help. I just needed help getting out of the apartment, so you don’t need to do that.”
He adjusted his grip on Aiden, who was swaying back and forth, trying to reach his toes. “Tell me everything.”
Kara took a moment to figure out where she wanted to start and what she wanted to say. “It wasn’t very long into our marriage before things started to change between Derrick and I. Maybe the newness wore off really quickly for him, or the novelty, or whatever. He started coming home late or not at all. Every time, it was with a claim that his mother needed him for business matters, and since she owns a casino, it made sense that she could need him all night. Then there were just weird things. There were always these goons showing up at home with him and quiet conversations between them and phone calls that he had to leave the room for. And he would get irritated or even angry if I asked about the work he was doing. I mean, I’ve obviously never been married before, and my parents aren’t exactly role models for a normal, healthy marriage, so what did I know.”
“Your instincts were telling you something was wrong though, huh?”
“Yeah.” How did she get through this part? “We grew apart, and I knew it wasn’t going to work out. Even worse, I knew that whatever his mom had him doing, it wasn’t strictly legal, you know?” Warren nodded, so she took a deep breath and continued. “One night he came home in a really good mood. He paid attention to me, complimented me, and apologized for the way he’d been acting. He swore he’d been under a lot of stress and that was the reason for it all. So, uh…” Her cheeks felt like fire. This was ridiculous.
Warren’s jaw looked tight enough to break his teeth for a moment, but then he took a deep breath. “Go on.”
“That was the night I got pregnant. I didn’t know it of course, but there was no other possibility. And over the next few days, things went right back to the way they’d been, only worse. A couple of weeks later, I got fed up with it and went over to the casino. I went straight to his office and walked in on a private party he was having for himself.” Sick with the memory of that night and with the shame of her husband cheating on her, she looked down at her feet. “I confronted him the next day and told him I couldn’t live like that. He shrugged and said that was fine with him. The next thing I knew, he brought me the paperwork to sign.”
“A lucky escape for you,” Warren said.
“I thought so at the time. A divorce in Nevada is really easy, especially since we were residents. I wanted out, and I didn’t care about anything else. Derrick offered me a settlement of half a million dollars. He said if I didn’t contest it, the divorce would go right through. By this point, I had missed my period. I was terrified. Sure enough, a pregnancy would have held everything up and complicated everything. Plus, by this point, I was sure Derrick was involved in a dark world that I didn’t want my child exposed to. So, I didn’t take a test. If I didn’t know I was pregnant, the divorce could go through quickly and I could disappear from Derrick’s life.”
Warren was quiet, his brows drawn together in deep concentration. To Kara’s amazement, Aiden had slumped over against Warren’s chest and fallen asleep. She itched a bit to shift the baby into a more comfortable position, but the last thing she wanted was for him to wake up.
At last, Warren asked, “So, how do you think he found you?”
“He said his mom found out about the baby and wants him. Derrick wouldn’t even care except that she’s threatened to cut him out of her will if he doesn’t get his baby. He wants a paternity test, which of course would prove he was the father. And then we’d have to go to court.”
“He’d be required to pay child support.”
Kara shook her head. “I don’t need the money, and I’m terrified of what Aiden would be exposed to if Derrick got any kind of visitation rights or joint custody. His life is a constant parade of gambling, drinking, strippers, and who knows what else. I don’t know if he was using drugs, but I wouldn’t be surprised. No. I can’t let Derrick get to him.”
“Well, I guess the first thing we need to do is look into Derrick’s family business and habits and see if there’s anything we can use against him there. Then we need to look at all the options for how to protect Aiden legally. I’ll get my best people on it.”
The comfort of not bearing the whole weight of Aiden’s welfare on her own was an overwhelming relief. Her eyes pricked with hot, unshed tears as she looked across at Warren and Aiden. Warren was strong and fit, but his true strength lay in his drive and confidence. He hadn’t become a billionaire by sitting back and letting life pass by. No, he’d always been the kind of person to go at everything full force, nothing held back, and never willing to accept defeat. Knowing that his current objective was helping her and her son made her hope, for the first time, that maybe this would all turn out okay. “Thank you,” she said, her voice husky with tears. “You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”
Warren rubbed Aiden’s back, his broad, masculine hand amazingly gentle. “You never have to thank me for helping you, Kara. It’s what I want to do.”
She didn’t know how to respond to that. No words seemed enough. Nodding, she turned her head to the window. It looked out to the east, so she could see the first colorful rays of the sunrise stretching out across the dim, shadowy land so far beneath her. She never would have believed everything that had happened the morning before. In a way, she felt distant from all of it, like it was happening to someone else. But maybe that was because she was so tired.
Soon after they landed in L.A., Kara found herself in another car. This one was even more luxurious than the last and smelled like Warren. How she knew what Warren smelled like seemed like a dangerous question to ask herself, so she didn’t think about it. She just held Aiden, willing him to stay asleep just a little longer. But eventually, he was going to wake up.
“Oh man,” she said, her voice sounding groggy even to her own ears.
“What?” Warren asked from beside her.
“This little guy has been asleep all night. Which means he’s going to be wide awake in a few hours and I will not be.”
“Don’t worry about Aiden. You just get the rest you need. There will be plenty of people around to help. Me, Em, and a few trusted staff members. Relax, Kara. You aren’t alone anymore.”
A warm feeling flooded through her. There was no way Warren could understand the depths of loneliness she had experienced the last five months, but his words were exactly what she needed to hear right then. She’d always imagined Derrick finding out about Aiden would be the worst possible thing that could happen, and for the most part it was. But it did bring some welcome benefits as well. Warren and Em were definitely two of them. But the other was that now she could finally let her parents meet Aiden, because what would it matter if Aiden did end up as her parents’ latest social media buzz story?
Chapter Six
It was rare that Warren slept in. Usually, he was awake before sunrise to work out before he got to work managing his extensive portfolio of business interests. No doubt his various secretaries, managers, and executives were going crazy at not having heard from him yet, but sleeping till after noon had been exactly what he needed after his long stressful night bringing Kara to his
home in Bel Air, not to mention dropping Em off at her house. His people could manage without him for one day. Today was about Kara.
Was she awake yet? As anxious as he was to talk to her, he hoped she was still asleep. She needed the rest.
Turning over in bed, he reached for the remote control on his bedside table that opened his shades. With a push of a button, the shades rose silently, revealing the twenty-foot-long stretch of glass doors that opened from his bedroom onto the deck overlooking the Los Angeles skyline and the ocean beyond. It was a sunny day, but thanks to the overhanging roof over the deck, it didn’t completely blind him, just helped him clear the last of the cobwebs from his brain.
He stood and stretched. His muscles were stiff and would benefit from a light workout, but he didn’t have the patience for it. Walking across the satin-finished hardwood floors, he hit the button on the control board that turned off the security system on the glass doors and pushed them open. The heavy glass slid smoothly in its track, and the sweet summer breeze swept up from the valley and into his room. Walking outside, he passed by the shaded seating area and out to the rail where he could stand in the sun.
The view in front of him stretched out to the horizon. Below, the massive city sprawled through the green valley, cut through with highways and business sectors and urban housing. All those lives, all those troubles and complications. Happy families and broken hearts and a million hopes and dreams. So few of them had the resources available to him.
Kara’s story last night had given him the full perspective on the difficulties that lay ahead of them. As much as he agreed with Kara that Derrick would be the worst kind of father for Aiden, he was, in fact, the father. Warren knew very little about family law, but without any kind of criminal record or convincing evidence that Derrick’s association would be detrimental to his son, he didn’t know what they would be able to do about it. But he would do everything in his power to help her.
Saved by the Billionaire Page 3
