The Billionaire's Secret Flame
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“Help,” she said, her voice nowhere near loud enough for anyone ahead of her to hear her. “Help,” she tried again.
Behind her, men shouted again, but she refused to look. If she didn’t look, she didn’t have to know how close she was to being overtaken. She could hear footsteps, but the distance between her and people was shrinking.
“Help,” she managed to get out, loud enough for her own ears to hear. “Help me.”
A car pulled right in front of her, and she had to dodge right to keep from running right into it. So focused on the black truck, she didn’t look at the person who got out of the car. She distinctly heard a male say, “She’s running from someone.”
“Stay out of this,” Jim yelled, and Sami pushed herself to go faster. Tears streamed from her eyes, and she couldn’t get the air needed to yell for help again.
Behind her, a car horn sounded. Once, twice, and then it stayed on as someone leaned on it.
Everyone turned in that direction. People saw her. She ran and watched as realizations crossed their faces. If she could just get to that black truck….
A man got out of the driver’s seat, and he wore all the leather Mia said he’d been wearing. The rockstar, Declan Phelps. Against drug use and all forms of abuse. He’d help her. He had to help her.
She waved one arm, feeling like she’d be overtaken any moment. Thrown forward, her face ground into the asphalt. “Help.”
People came toward her now—all kinds of people, rockstars included.
“He’s after me,” she said. “He kidnapped me. Help me.”
A bigger man reached out for her, and with three more strides, she grabbed onto his hand. He swung her behind him, and suddenly there was a wall of people between her and Jim. The relief almost stung, and she dropped to her knees, sucking at the air. There wasn’t enough oxygen.
“Come on,” someone said, and she let them pull her to her feet. “Don’t look.”
Murmurs of “police” and “the cops are here” reached her ears, but she let whoever had her guide her through the crowd.
Panic struck her again. She couldn’t go anywhere with anyone. She jerked away from the hand on her arm and looked at the man.
Declan Phelps.
“Leave me alone,” she said, swiping at her tears. “I need a phone.”
“You’re safe now,” he said, his voice slightly accented. His eyes were a bright, electric blue, and he reached for her. “Let’s get to security. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”
Sami didn’t feel safe, and she didn’t put her hand in his. She turned back to the crowd, only a dozen feet away. The cops had indeed arrived, their blue and red lights filling the sky. They forced the crowd back, and a cry went up.
Declan moved in front of her. “Hey. What’s your name?”
“Sami!”
She turned at the sound of Andy’s voice, her pulse tripling once again. “Andy.”
“He’s your boyfriend, yeah?” Declan linked his arm through hers and took her with him out into the road.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Sami managed to say, but Declan either didn’t hear or didn’t care. He waved and whistled, and Andy turned in their direction.
Time slowed as he jogged toward her, panic and relief and everything in between on his face.
Her Andy.
The man she wanted to be her boyfriend.
He swept her into his arms, holding her tight, tight against him. “Sami,” he said again. He stepped back, and everything was happening so fast now. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?” Anger flashed in his eyes as he examined her.
Sami couldn’t speak. Tears spilled down her face and everything seemed to be shaking again. She felt dangerously close to passing out again, and Andy wrapped his arms around her again, picked her up, and took her into the airport amid the chaos outside.
Chapter Fifteen
Andy would’ve paid anyone any amount of money to get some privacy. Thankfully, he only had to tell the first security guard he saw that he needed an office or a room with a lock, that the woman in his arms had been kidnapped and recovered, and they needed somewhere safe until the police could talk to her.
“All right,” he said, locking the door behind him and setting Sami on her feet. “It’s all right now, sweetheart.”
She kept crying, and Andy’s whole heart shattered at the sight of his strong, beautiful, determined Sami. How he loved her, and his only instinct was to hold her and protect her. The guilt infecting all his organs would never leave him, he was sure of it.
“Come sit down,” he said, trying to get her back to calm and rational.
“No,” she barked, finally looking at him. “And you don’t get to call me sweetheart.” The anger shone right through her tears, piercing Andy’s already broken heart. “You don’t get to break up with me and then do that.” She shook her head and swiped at her tears. “That’s not fair.”
“I know,” he said, shame filling him. “You’re right.” He fell back a step, and then closed it again. “I was wrong.”
Sami calmed, though tears still leaked down her face. She glared at him, and Andy deserved every bad feeling she had for him in that moment.
“I figured out the mozza ball soup,” he offered. “We have every plane grounded out of this airport. You weren’t going anywhere.”
“I can handle your brother,” she said icily. “In case you didn’t see me out there.” She held up both of her hands. “I fed you clues while still drugged. I got out of handcuffs by myself. I escaped the freezer where they’d put me. I am not a porcelain doll.”
“I didn’t—” Andy cut off, realizing the angry, red lines around her wrists. His own fury shot toward the sky. He raged internally for a moment, and then the frustration faded.
“Of course you’re not a porcelain doll,” he said, moving forward and embracing her again. She stood stiffly in his arms, but he didn’t care. “I know you can take care of yourself.”
“Then why—?”
“I didn’t want to be where we are right now,” he said into her hair. “Do you have any idea how much you mean to me? I’d never be able to live with myself if something happened to you.”
She relaxed a little, almost leaning into him. Almost. “Well, something did happen to me, even though we broke up.” She stepped back, and he let her go, desperate to find a way to make things right between them.
“I was scared,” he said, letting all his emotions bleed into the words. “Heck, I’m still scared. But this weekend, I realized I love you more than how scared I am.”
Sami blinked at him, her tears drying up. She wiped her eyes and looked at him. “You love me?”
“Desperately,” he said. “I know now that it was stupid to break up with you. But I was trying to keep you safe, trying to do the only thing I knew how to do. My brother and father—” He couldn’t continue. She knew what they were like now anyway.
“I don’t want to leave Forbidden Lake,” she said. “I’m not running.”
“We don’t have to run,” he said.
“I’m not hiding out in that penthouse for the rest of my life either.”
“I need to stop doing that too.”
Her fingers unclenched, and Andy watched as all the fight left her body. She took a few steps and collapsed into the chair in front of the desk. “Then what do we do? They won’t go to jail for long. I’m fine. It’s a simple kidnapping charge.”
Andy crouched down in front of her, taking both of her hands gently in his. “First, I’m going to apologize again. Tell you I love you again. Hopefully kiss you and make up. Then, we’re going to talk to the police, and then I’m taking you home.”
Sami’s eyes met his, and everything in Andy went soft. He loved her so much. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered just as her chin started to wobble. “I love you. I love you so much it hurts. I’ll do whatever I can to make sure this never happens again.”
She wept, and Andy reached up to wipe her tears. “Okay?”
Breaking their connection, he sighed and leaned his forehead against hers. “Okay, up next. The police. I’ll be right beside you the whole time.” He stood and went to the locked door, suspecting someone would be waiting for him.
Sure enough, Officer Quinn stood there, talking to the security guard that had let Andy into the office.
“She’s ready,” Andy said. “Should we stay here or go to the station?”
“Let’s stay here,” Office Quinn said, coming forward. He stepped into the office, his partner only a couple of paces behind him. “Hello, Sami.” He smiled at her. “What is with you Addlers, huh?”
She laughed, a sort of sad, choked laugh that tore at Andy’s heart. “I know,” she said. “How are you, Morgan?” She hugged him, and Andy watched her settle back into her confident self, her eyes red but no more tears falling.
“I’ve called your parents,” he said. “Everyone’s on their way.”
“Everyone?”
“Your brothers can be overprotective,” Officer Quinn said, and Andy wondered if he should be worried. Probably, but he’d always liked Jon, Liam, and Phoenix. Of course, that was before he’d endangered their sister by allowing his family to kidnap her.
“Let’s start at the beginning.” Officer Quinn went around the desk and sat down. “I think Andy said you had his dog at the park.”
Andy had a very hard time separating Sami from her family. When they arrived, he faded into the corner, eventually leaving as they showered her with love and hugs and questions filled with concern. He said he’d remain by her side through everything, and he wanted to. But seeing her with her family when his was so messed up was hard.
Harder than he’d thought it would be.
Life wasn’t fair. Andy knew that. But it still seemed like he’d been dealt a very bad hand when it came to family members.
He wandered down to the café near terminal two, glancing around. Grateful that nothing had happened here, he turned back to find Sami coming toward him. “What are you getting?” she asked.
“Getting?”
“You came for food, right?” She looked at him, and so much was said between them. No, he hadn’t come for food. She knew that. “I’m starving.”
She took his hand in hers and steered him toward the salad refrigeration unit. “I’m feeling salady.”
“Sami,” he said, so many insecurities in the word.
“Andy, if you break up with me again, I’m quitting.” She looked at him, her eyes sharp. Still a little red-rimmed, but she was definitely back to her normal self. Well, her new normal. One that glanced around before she picked out a Cobb salad and plucked an extra ranch cup from the shelf above it.
“And Tanner Global will fold without me,” she said with a smile. “Do you really think you can live without me?”
“No,” he said. “I know I can’t. This past weekend was horrible.”
She pressed a kiss to his cheek. “For me as well.”
“It’s just…your family is so great, and mine is so not.” He wasn’t sure how to articulate how he felt. “I don’t want to run. I don’t want to take you from them. But I’m honestly not sure how we can stay here.”
“We can,” she said. “My father’s got a whole team of lawyers, Andy. You do too.” She faced him, her eyes so bright. So sure. “We’ll make sure they never bother us again. Okay?”
He nodded, nowhere near hungry.
“Aren’t you getting something?” she asked. “Or am I going to eat by myself?”
“We’re going back to my place for dinner,” he said. “I’ll order you all the salad you want.” With that, he took her salad bowl and her extra dressing back to the refrigeration unit. “Are we ready?”
“No, I just said I needed a break.” She laced her fingers through his. “You said you wouldn’t leave my side.”
After that, he didn’t. Sure, he saw the surprise on her brother’s faces when they arrived back at the security office hand-in-hand. He heard the whispers. Saw the understanding in her mother’s eyes. Sami ignored them all, and Andy followed her lead.
The questions ended soon after that, and the police officers left. Her younger sister stepped over to Sami and hugged her with the words, “See you later.”
The rest of her family followed suit, and her mother put her hand on Andy’s arm and said, “Take care of her, Andy,” on her way out.
He was pretty sure it was Sami who took care of him, but he simply nodded. Phoenix, the biggest of the Addler brothers stopped in front of him too. “She’s safe with you?”
“Phoenix,” Sami said with plenty of warning in her voice.”
“I’m just asking,” he said. “I have a place no one can find. You need somewhere to be safe tonight.” He looked at Allegra, his fiancée, who Andy had met several times at family dinners. “Right, hon?”
Andy wasn’t sure what that was about, but she nodded and said, “You’re welcome at our place, Sami.”
“I’m going to Andy’s,” she said. “He can lockdown his whole building in under a minute.”
“It actually takes about five,” he said. “But by then all the doors are locked and all the elevators aren’t functioning. I live on the twentieth-floor penthouse.”
Sami stepped to his side. “And he has about thirty security cameras.”
“Fifty-two,” he muttered.
Phoenix’s eyebrows went up, but he still looked a little unsure. “Wow,” he said. “Almost like you were expecting something like this to happen.”
“Go on, Phoenix,” Jon said, giving him a push to get him going. “I want to say good-bye too.” He wrapped Sami in a hug and shook Andy’s hand. “Don’t listen to my brother. He’s just worried, that’s all.”
“What happened with all you Addlers?” Andy asked.
Jon cut a look at Sami. “You didn’t tell him?”
Sami pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I wasn’t sure he’d want to be with me if he knew how cursed we all are.”
Jon scoffed, laughing a moment later. “We’re not cursed, Sami. If I’m right—and I’m right—you’ll be engaged before Cassie and I get married.” He grinned and walked out of the office, the last Addler to leave.
Andy turned to Sami. “You’re cursed?”
“No,” she said. “Sort of? I don’t know. All of my brothers had secret relationships with their fiancées. All of them—the women—got into some kind of trouble. Allegra had a stalker who kidnapped her. Cassie had a step-father who came for her half-brothers.” Sami lifted her shoulder as if what she was saying was normal. Commonplace. “Serenity got nabbed by some drug dealers a few months ago.”
“And now my family kidnapped you.” Andy hated those words as they came out of his mouth. “For ransom.”
“Hey, at least we’re unique, right?”
Andy didn’t want to laugh, but a chuckle came out of his mouth. He sobered quickly and looked at Sami. “We’re okay, right?”
She lifted up onto her toes and pressed her lips to his. “More than okay. You said you loved me, and I think there was a promise of all the salad I wanted somewhere in there too.”
Six months later:
Sami left the courtroom, her testimony finally finished. She’d been out of the office for two weeks, and she actually couldn’t wait to get back to it. Back to the email. Back to the phone calls. Back to the meetings.
Back to Andy.
His lawyers had pulled out everything they could, from filing charges for licensing a vehicle to the wrong person to Jim’s parole violation for leaving Chicago without giving proper notice to his PO to searching the house in Hodgkins and finding drugs—which added another charge.
With most of the charges against Jim, Andy had found a way to get his brother to say their dad had a gun, an
d that became his father’s biggest charge. Having the weapon made everything worse, and Officer Quinn had found a revolver in the blue SUV.
Sami had never seen it, but that didn’t matter. The gun was there and could’ve been used.
As she walked with the two police officers to the cab, she told herself it didn’t matter. She’d told the truth—all of it—to the grand jury, and whatever happened in sentencing wasn’t up to her.
Both she and Andy had made statements about what they’d like to see happen, and she could only pray the judge would give the longest sentence possible.
She didn’t need a police escort everywhere. Jim and Wheaton had been in jail for the past six months, and Sami was sure some of Andy’s money kept them there. She didn’t ask him, and he didn’t tell her.
She’d decided that some secrets were worth keeping.
She made the quick flight from Chicago back to Forbidden Lake, where Andy met her right outside the terminal, just past security. She ran the last few steps to him, throwing her arms around him and finally feeling like they were free.
“It’s done,” she said into his ear, glad when he lifted her off her feet and hugged her tight.
No other words were necessary.
“Dinner at my place still?” he asked.
“Of course,” she said. For the first few nights after the attack, she hadn’t been able to be alone. She’d stayed with Andy all the time, taking up residence in a bedroom on the other side of the penthouse. Some of her things were still there, but she didn’t stay over anymore.
He drove them to the office building that faced the lake and keyed in the code to the private door on the west side. Up they went, the scent of brown sugar meeting her nose.
“Did you have someone deliver?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “I baked.”
“You did what?” She turned and gaped at him. “You baked what?”
He shook his head and smiled. “You think I can’t do anything.”
“I do not,” she said. “I know you can do anything you want. But baking. Wow.”