Stolen Hearts: A Dark Billionaire Collection

by Elizabeth Knox

  Madigan huffs out a heavy breath, rolling her eyes. “Put your listening ears on, alright? I don’t know who you think you are, but you’re not my overlord. I don’t have to tell you anything. The only person I owe an explanation to is Christian.”

  I clench my hand into a fist, trying to hold my frustration back and be a gentleman to this woman. Although, she’s making it incredibly hard. “That’s where you’re wrong. You see, I’m the one Christian sent to make sure your ass doesn’t get capped. So, I’d appreciate a little transparency when it comes to your friends back there.”

  She shakes her head back and forth slowly, almost like she’s fighting with herself on whether or not she’s going to tell me a damn thing.

  “I’ll keep it simple for you. I’m great at my job. So great that I’ve never lost a client. The only problem here, Mads, is that I can only do my job if you tell me what in the actual fuck is going on. Keeping secrets doesn’t work in this line of business. You need to tell me every damn skeleton you have in your closet, plus the ones you’ve already buried in the backyard. Nothing is off-limits.” I breathe in a little easier and hope she understands where I’m coming from. I’m not trying to be a dick, but I have a job to do. If she’s making my job difficult, I can be sure to return the favor and make her life a living hell.

  “Look, I get that Christian sent you to take me to Atlanta, but he didn’t tell me I’d have to unleash everything.”

  “Of course he wouldn’t. He always leaves out the important shit,” I grumble. When I agreed to help him, I at least thought he’d try to make it a little easier. “Look, I’m only asking because I need to know about whatever mess is headed our way. Obviously, you’re no innocent. Now, will you just tell me what is going on?”

  Madigan looks down to her hands as she starts to speak, but stops when the stewardess comes down the aisle. “Is there anything I can get either of you now that we’re at the correct elevation? Oh, and you can take your seat belt off, honey.”

  Madigan is quick to unbuckle her seatbelt and pull a leg under her knee, “I’d love an orange juice if you have one, and a cinnamon roll.”

  The stewardess glances over to me, and all I can think about is how this chick went from an OJ to a cinnamon roll. “And what about you, Mr. Reggie?”

  “I’m fine, Alison, but thank you for the offer.”

  Alison goes down the aisle and goes to get Madigan what she wants, leaving her and I to speak amongst ourselves.

  “Can we just go with the short and sweet version?” Madigan says.

  “That’ll be fine.” Anything is better than nothing. I fuck up and let my southern Louisiana accent slip out, causing her to let a smile slip through.

  “I screwed up and got close to the wrong people. I thought that . . . they weren’t as bad as they were. I ignored every warning that was sent my way and before I knew it, I was sucked in too deep to get out.”

  “Until today,” I speak up. I search her eyes and see that she’s telling me the truth. I might not have the details yet but there’s something genuine about this girl under her tough shell. Alison is back, and hands Madigan her cinnamon roll and orange juice, slowly disappearing back down at the end of the plane.

  She offers me a half-smile, “Yeah, until today. I got into a relationship with a man who played me like a game. He bought me nice things, told me I was pretty, and I was head over heels in love with him. I fucking believed him too. I don’t know what’s more pathetic, the fact I believed him or that I stayed.”

  “What do you mean?” I ask, needing her to elaborate on the latter part of what she said.

  She takes her hand and runs it through her long, wavy hair, meeting her eyes with my own. “I was in a relationship with a man that thought it was okay to hit me.” Madigan pulls her shirt up and I see a bruise across her ribs.

  “He kicked you,” I state, hearing her story far too many times to count from others just like her.

  “Yes.” The way she says it convinces me she’s filled with regret, not wanting to be in that situation. I can’t help but think at least she got out. Thank goodness she has brothers like the Steeles, who will move mountains to make sure she’s protected.

  Madigan’s drink is brought out to her and she slowly sips at it over the course of a few minutes. Silence fills the airplane as an eerie feeling washes over my whole body. Unable to keep quiet, I ask the one question that’s pressing at my mind. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “Lots of things. There’s plenty of time for the nitty-gritty, though.”

  The way she looks out the window makes me believe I haven’t even begun to hit the tip of the iceberg. I came into this hating the assignment, thinking that I’m nothing but a glorified babysitter for a spoiled-rotten woman, but I was wrong.

  I may have only known her for twenty minutes, but I can tell there’s more underneath the surface. It’s my job to find out what it is and protect her in the process.

  I give her a stern look as I promise something I never have. “Don’t worry about a thing. I’ve never lost a client and I’m sure as hell not going to now. I promise, I’ll get you out of this.”

  There’s an unspoken code in my line of work.

  Promises— we’re never supposed to make them.

  Chapter Six

  You have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy

  ~Buddha

  Madigan

  I don’t know why I told this Reggie guy a damn thing. I’m sure I didn’t ‘have’ to do anything, but I know Christian and he’d only send the best. If Reggie is going to be protecting me, giving him small slivers of my life can’t hurt. If things work out, I might just open up even more to him but I hope he isn’t holding his breath. It’d be a shame for a man looking as scrumptious as he does to die.

  The plane landed ten minutes ago and I was instructed to stay on board until the car arrived. From what I can tell, we’re at another private airport. “Will the car be here soon?” I ask Reggie, who’s standing at the door. The stairs were put down right after we landed and I hate it because I can feel the awful humidity seeping in. It would’ve been so much nicer if he kept the door closed and the air conditioning pumping through this thing.

  “It’s rolling up now,” Reggie says, waving his hand over for me to follow him.

  I scan my eyes over his body, not able to figure out why a man would choose to wear a full suit in this weather. Rising from my seat, I walk up to where he is and follow him down the stairs out to the car on the pavement. My door is already wide open for me as Reggie turns his head back in my direction. “Scoot to the other seat, behind the driver’s side.”

  “Sure thing,” I mutter out, stepping into the vehicle.

  Everything passes by in the blink of an eye as I’m being chauffeured throughout Atlanta. Myself, Reggie, and our driver are all silent during the trip. I want answers, to know where I’m going, what I’ll be doing, to know anything really, but I refrain from asking. Instead, I need to focus on breathing and accept the fact I’ve made a series of decisions that will change my life forever. Every fiber of my being feels nothing but anxiety at this moment, but I have to push through. If I need to be anything right now— it’s strong.

  “You were sassy as shit on the plane, and now you’re being quiet?” Reggie cocks his head to the side and snickers at me.

  “I have a lot to think about. Wouldn’t you say?”

  “Don’t you mean worry?” he counters back, causing me to re-think what I’m doing. There’s something about him that just digs deep under my skin and irritates me. It’s even worse that he’s right, but there’s no way I’m going to tell him that.

  Rolling my eyes, “I’m not worrying about a thing.”

  He raises both of his brows, “Oh, really? Shoot. If I were in your position, I would be. Logan and Jordan are really intimidating until you get to know them. Christian . . . well, you know him.”

  As if I wasn’t already hiding being nervous, Reggie’s words shoot me in
to overdrive. Now, all I can seem to do is worry. It doesn’t matter what I’m worried about, whether it’s minuscule or huge. I wonder if they’ll hate me the second they meet me, or will they judge me about something stupid like the color of my shirt. Regardless, I can’t worry. I need to stay sharp and accept what’s coming my way.

  I glance over to Reggie after looking out my window for a couple of minutes while deep in thought and see exactly what he’s doing. “You’re a dick. Why are you trying to get me all flustered?” I demand to know, raising my voice just a tad.

  “I wasn’t,” he objects.

  I’m not buying it. He wants me to get upset, but what’s his reasoning behind it?

  “You’re full of shit. I see what you did there. You want me to get flustered before meeting Logan and Jordan. Goodness,” I huff out, running a hand through my hair. In any normal situation, I would’ve walked out of the room, so considering we’re in a moving car, it’s not really working in my favor. Since I can’t walk out, I continue speaking. “What do you even know about my relationship with my brothers anyway or about me for that matter?”

  His face contorts from playful to straight-up annoyed. His brows furrow together and that playboy smile he has turns into a firm line. Just as he opens his mouth, he digs into his suit and pulls out his phone, bringing it to his ear.

  “Yes, I have her. You’ll be there at what time now? Ah, okay. Yes, we’re already on the way. We should be there within ten minutes or so.” Reggie keeps his eyes trained on me as he speaks, only I’m not sure why.

  I know I don’t look anything like my siblings based on the photos I’ve seen of them— maybe that’s why? Or is he staring for the same reason he’s fucking with me — because it’s a game to him?

  He slides the phone back into his pocket and picks back up from where he was interrupted. “I know that you met Christian by accident at the lake house when you were seventeen. You had skipped your last week of school and came down to where your father would bring you a couple of times a year. You were supposed to meet up with your Dad, but he canceled on you last minute for a business trip. You thought you could have a nice relaxing time until he came back but much to your dismay, it was raining for most of it. Christian was told not to go to the lake house because he was grounded but went anyway. You two met one another and that was the end of your father’s best-kept secret.”

  I’m taken aback with the details he knows. Things I’ve never told a soul before. How did he even know it was raining? “I’m surprised. I didn’t think you’d know any of that.”

  “I always make sure to do my research.”

  I didn’t take this man for the cocky type when I first met him, but obviously, I’m wrong.

  “Yeah, right.”

  Our driver makes a right-hand turn and we approach a gated community. Looking past the gates, I see multilevel townhomes. Each one of them has earthy tones with stone fronts, looking quite a bit different than New York houses do.

  I hear the unmistakable sound of a code being punched into the gate lock although I keep my gaze focused on outside the vehicle. I want to fully take in the community I’m soon to be part of. Honestly, while my mother and I have lived a luxurious life, we hardly ever went out of the city. Dad would bring me to the lake house, but I was never allowed to come to Atlanta. In layman’s terms, I was forbidden from ever coming here. I’m betting that had a tiny bit to do with me being his unwanted love child. He never confessed it, but I’m not stupid.

  “What’s the address Reggie, thirteen-hundred?”

  “Yeah, Carlos. You head up the street and it should be the last one at the end. Christian wanted some semblance of privacy for her. Plus, there’s an access road we can use to get out in a jiffy if shit gets a little crazy.”

  “Ah, I see. We’ll have to take the alternative route out since I’ll be Miss. Madigan’s personal driver.”

  Hearing that Christian is having someone drive me around makes me a bit more cautious. I also wonder why he feels the need to have someone driving me around when I’m fully capable of driving myself. “I doubt I’ll want to get out and about for a while. I really don’t think I need a driver,” I speak up, looking between Reggie and Carlos in the rear-view mirror.

  “It doesn’t matter what you want, Miss. Madigan. Mr. Steele has paid me to be your personal driver and I will do as he orders of me unless he changes his mind. I wouldn’t hold your breath, though. Once Mr. Steele’s mind is made up, it’s rare that he changes it.”

  Carlos drives a little way up and we go down a short driveway. He taps a button at the top of his SUV and the garage door opens, exposing a massive garage. Surprisingly, there’s plenty of room in here for another SUV. Usually, homes like this are cramped and tight.

  Carlos turns the engine off and opens his door while Reggie and I follow his lead. I unbuckle my seatbelt and open my door, placing my feet on the step bar and stop. For some reason, all of my fears come running to the front of my mind. Every doubt and skeptical thought plagues me like a sudden fever.

  I hear footsteps coming my way and turn to meet Reggie’s gaze as he turns around the side of the car and faces me. “Either way, you’re gonna have to get out of the vehicle. Your brothers are going to be here in a couple of minutes.”

  “Do they know what they’re about to walk into?” The answer will either calm me or make me stroke out.

  Reggie’s face drops and it’s all the answer I need. He doesn’t have a clue.

  Chapter Seven

  “Everything is temporary; emotions, thoughts, people and scenery. Do not become attached, just flow with it.”

  ~ Unknown

  Madigan

  I managed to muster up some strength and walk from the garage into the house. Right when you come out of the garage, you end up behind the kitchen. If you look to the left, there’s a door that leads out onto a small porch and fenced in backyard, but if you go right, you see an open floor plan.

  The kitchen is small, but it’s very well done. Marble countertops make the room pop against matte black cabinets, but on the top, they’re white matte causing the contrast to be eye-catching. The chairs at the island are a bright canary yellow, making the room come alive. The living room is directly across from the kitchen and has the same hardwood floors spanning over the entire space. Looking down the hall, I can see they continue on and would place my bets on the fact they go upstairs as well.

  I can’t figure out why, but I look to Reggie, who’s leaning against the island after just grabbing an apple from the bowl of fruit in the middle. Part of me sees some sort of safety in his presence. But I should feel that way, right? He is my personal security, after all. I still can’t shake the feeling on why I’m looking to him. What has he done to gain my trust in the last few hours that I’ve known him? The answer is nothing. He hasn’t done anything to prove himself to me.

  Well, except for when he grabbed my arm and yanked me onto the airplane as the Falcones hired hands came running after us. And, he might’ve been a little demanding to know more about my situation but I’m sure it was with good intentions. He was the one who said he’s never lost a client. I’m just going to naturally assume he doesn’t want to start now.

  Reggie takes a bite out of what I’m assuming is a red delicious apple. Based on the dark red color and size, it looks just like one. He’s keeping his eyes trained on me. He reminds me of a wolf in the middle of the woods eyeing a rabbit. His facial expression is primal, like within a moment’s notice, it’ll change into something I least expect.

  The front door comes swinging open and just like we were in a scenario where I could be hurt, Reggie drops the apple from his hand, grabs me and brings me back against the island, keeping his body in front of mine.

  Carlos is standing a couple of feet away from us, grinning from ear to ear like a jolly old man. “You’re so adorable. It’s just the Steeles.”

  “Reg?” I hear Christian’s low voice call out into the house and slip away from Reggie, ru
n down the short hallway straight into my brother’s arms. He looks good, well, better than good actually. We’re barely six months apart in age, but he’s known for being a cocky bastard. Unlike anyone else, he’s paler with dirty blonde hair and the lightest blue eyes you’d ever see. They’re so light that I feel like I’m looking into the ocean when I stare at them. I’ve always looked at Chris like he’s my protector because he is, plus, how beefed-up he is, adds to my confidence in his ability to watch out for me.

  “Damn, sis. Did you miss me or something?” Christian chuckles, pulling himself away from me, looking over my face.

  “Maybe,” I confess, trying to hold the tears back. I didn’t think to be here, face to face, with him would cause me to have any sort of emotional reaction. How dumb I was to think like that. Christian is the only one who knows the truth about my identity. He is honestly the only man on this earth who somewhat understands me, the one person I don’t have to hide anything from. While we may not talk every day, that’ll never tarnish the bond we’ve developed over the years. I can only hope that Logan, Jordan, and I don’t have a rocky start.

  “Are you gonna tell me what’s going on with you now or what?”

  I lower my head and look at the floor, “I don’t even know where to start, Chris.” I use his nickname, trying to make the air in the room feel a little thinner.

  “You gotta start somewhere, Mads.” He calls me my own nickname, causing me to smile for just a second and forget what type of reality I’m living in.

  “That’s easy for you to say, you’re not the one who has to face the consequences.” I pull away from him, crossing my arms in a comforting way. My mother always used to tell me that it was a way to close myself off to people and that I should break the habit, but anytime I feel like I’m under attack, I automatically revert.

  “I somehow think that’s a load of crap. If you were being a damn angel, you wouldn’t be down here in the first place.”