Relentless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series Book 5)

by Mallory Crowe

  By Mallory Crowe

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Fonts used with permission from Microsoft.

  Copyright © 2016 by Mallory Crowe

  Mallory Crowe (2016-12-06). Relentless (Fractured Farrells Book Five)

  Want to get more FREE from Mallory?

  Sign up for the author’s New Releases mailing list and get a free copy of Part One through Three of the Cross Falls Saga AND a free bonus scene showing April and Sam’s first meeting years before the events in Teaching The Boss!

  Click here to get started: mallorycrowe.com/free/

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Epilogue

  Bonus Scene

  THE COCKY THIEF Sneak Peek!

  Check out all of Mallory Crowe's Books!

  Nathan was angry. No, that wasn’t right. He was pissed. Furious. Livid. He pushed open the door to his apartment and the object of his fury wasn’t in sight.

  But he knew from the purse on the black coffee table in the living room that she was there. “Carla!” he called, but there was no response. He shook his head. If she wasn’t going to answer him, that meant she wanted him to come to her. Which meant she could only be one place.

  He set his suit jacket over the arm of the couch as he went down the hall to the master suite in the apartment. He knew she’d be waiting for him, so when he came in and saw the half-naked woman splayed across his bed, he didn’t feel the slightest hint of shock. “You need to leave.”

  Carla ran a hand down her neck and over her breasts before moving lower. There was a time he wouldn’t have hesitated to crawl right onto that bed with her and work out his frustrations, but not today. Even in her designer lingerie and the garter belt—she knew he was crazy for garter belts—his body felt nothing for her.

  “Come here, baby,” she said in the low, husky, breathless tone that made him think that she’d been having some fun with herself before he ever arrived.

  Her dress was lying across the dark oak chest against the wall; he picked it up and threw it at her in anger. The fabric fell against her face in an ungraceful heap, and he finally seemed to get her attention. “What the hell?” She sat up and ran a hand through her dark curls. “What’s wrong with you?”

  “What’s wrong with me? I had a great lunch today. With your husband.”

  Carla paled as she backed up on the bed to put more space between them. “You saw Lyle? What did you tell him?”

  Nathan advanced on the bed as she continued her retreat. “I spent the entire time buying him drink after drink because I felt so bad for the son of a bitch about his divorce. But then he started talking about you. About the trip he’s taking you on next month. I hear Paris is great that time of the year.”

  “Come on, Nathan. What does it matter? You and me are just having fun. So Lyle is waiting back home for me. That doesn’t affect you at all.”

  “No. I have rules and you were well aware of those rules. I don’t screw married women, Carla. I want you out of here.”

  Instead of running out like he wanted, Carla took a deep breath before she started around the bed. He could tell by the sway of her hips and the way she started to nibble on her bottom lip that she wasn’t about to go anywhere. When she reached him, she ran one hand over his shoulder as the other one skimmed over his chest, stomach, and then stopped right over his cock, which had decided that the sexy liar in front of him was still worth it.

  “Baby, it’s me. Remember? No strings attached.” She stood on tiptoe to press her half-naked body against him and press a kiss to his neck. “Just a fun time,” she whispered. “Don’t you want to have fun with me? With my body?”

  Her nose touched his as she leaned in closer, but Nathan managed to break the spell just in time as he pushed her away. “Get out, Carla. If you come around again, I’m going to have security remove you from the premises.”

  Nathan turned and walked away before she could pull anything else on him. He wasn’t known for his self-control, and trying to be the good guy was too damn hard sometimes. Hard and unnatural. A few seconds later, Carla came out of the bedroom in her dress. He poured himself a drink as she grabbed her purse and headed for the door. He’d hoped she was going to leave and that would be that, but he wasn’t that lucky.

  “You’re such a hypocrite,” she said.

  He took a drink of the whiskey, trying to focus on the dull burn of the liquid. “It’s not like I’m a married man who refuses to screw over some poor bastard.”

  “No. But this stupid moral code of yours is ridiculous. I know the real you, Nathan. You’re not the kind to find a nice girl and have a picture-perfect life. You and I are the same. So don’t judge me for not being afraid to admit it.”

  Nathan sighed and went to take another drink before he realized he’d already downed the entire glass. “Thanks for the life analysis,” he said, keeping any emotion from his voice.

  Carla just shook her head at him before she finally turned and walked out. Nathan grabbed the glass decanter and fell onto the couch. It was getting dark and he was running low on whiskey. He had a whole collection of Scotch and bourbon, but he didn’t want any of that. Hell, he didn’t even want whiskey right now. He wanted...

  Fuck, he wanted to go out. He pushed himself off the couch and was in a cab in minutes. He knew the address off the top of his head, and it only took ten minutes for the cab to get there.

  The doorman recognized Nathan immediately; after all, the building was Farrell-owned. He took the elevator up to one of the highest levels and walked the familiar path to the door he was looking for. Without hesitation, he pounded on the hard wood.

  It only took a few seconds for the door to swing open and Nathan’s brother, Logan, glared down at him. “What the hell?”

  “I’m here to see my lovely family,” BS’ed Nathan. “Now, are you going to invite me in?”

  Logan narrowed his eyes. “Have you been drinking?”

  “Well, yeah. But I’m not drunk.” Without waiting for an invitation, Nathan pushed past Logan’s arm and into the apartment. “But I am looking for my sister. Where is she?”

  “Sister-in-law,” pointed out Julie as she emerged from the hallway leading to the bedrooms. She wore some white flowy nightgown that was loose enough to more than fit her very pregnant stomach.

  Nathan pointed at her. “You. I need you right now. Can we talk?”

  “You can talk now,” said Logan gruffly.

  “Somewhere without you.”

  Logan looked as if he were two seconds away from throwing him out, but Julie came to the rescue as she took his arm and led him through the ap
artment and to the balcony. The wind up here was rough, but at least Logan wasn’t around, even though Nathan could still see his brother looking at them disapprovingly through the glass.

  “What’s going on?” Julie tried to manage the shoulder-length brown hair that the wind was whipping around.

  “Something is wrong with me.”

  Julie stared at him in confusion. “What?”

  “I’ve been screwing around with this woman for the past three months and I ended it tonight.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

  She started to step forward, but he stepped back. “I’m not.”

  “If you’re not sorry, why are you here?”

  “Because I should be! I found out that she was married. I mean, I knew she was married, but I found out she was happily married. I thought she was in the process of getting a divorce. That’s against the rules you gave me, so I told her it was over and she left.”

  “That’s great, though. A few years ago, you never would’ve done that.”

  “But I didn’t do it because I felt bad. I did it because that’s the rules. I don’t miss her. I don’t feel bad for the poor sap she’s married to. I only did it because it’s what you told me. And now...nothing. No regret. Not the hint of being sad. I was pissed, but I was more angry that she lied to me. So what the hell is wrong with me?”

  As though his worst nightmare was coming true, a look of pity crossed Julie’s face. “Oh, Nathan—”

  “No. I’m serious. I think Walter did something to me. I think I’m broken and now everyone is getting married and having kids and I’m going to be the sociopath uncle.”

  Julie rolled her eyes. “Oh my God, Nathan. You’re not a sociopath. I know you. You’re warm and funny and kind of a hornball, but that’s okay.”

  “You know the things I’ve done, Jules. If I had a moral compass, do you think I could’ve done that?”

  “Well, you’ve been nothing but nice to me.”

  That didn’t count. “You’re my sister.”

  “I wasn’t when you met me. You were nice to me even though it didn’t give any benefit to you.”

  “That was years ago. What about now? Maybe I’ve gotten worse.”

  Julie pursed her lips together. “Then go back a few years. You said your breakup didn’t make you have any regrets or make you sad. So what was the last thing you remember that made you feel something? Really feel something.”

  Nathan didn’t have to think. There was one thing that always lingered in the back of his mind. “That was forever ago.”

  “Yes, but it still feels. It left its mark. That means you’re human and you can suffer with the rest of us.”

  Nathan looked over his shoulder at where Logan sat on the armchair right inside the apartment. He had a feeling Julie wasn’t suffering all that much lately. But she was right. He was human and he had the scars to prove it.

  “So do you feel better?” she asked.

  No, but he nodded anyway to give Julie peace of mind.

  “Good.” She leaned in and gave him a tight hug. “You’re going to be fine.”

  He nodded, because for the first time that night he felt as if he would be okay. Because now he had a plan of action.

  She was right. The answer was in his past. There was one person who had ever made him feel anything remotely genuine, and the second he’d cut her out of his life, everything had snowballed to his current state.

  So now all he had to do was get Katy back.

  Katy didn’t know whether she should be angry or terrified. “Do I have to go up there?”

  Sean, the front desk clerk, seemed confused by the question. “Like, um, I guess not. I can just stick a bucket under it or something.”

  She let out a small laugh at the offer. “I appreciate that, but the answer is yes I have to go back there. It’s the joys of being the manager.” She could see the relief pass over Sean’s face at the realization that he didn’t have to deal with the mess upstairs. “Where is Mr. Parker now?”

  “Uhh...” Sean flipped through the notebook in front of him. “I moved him to the Plum Room.”

  “Did he seem upset? Actually, it doesn’t matter if he’s upset. Let him know that we’ve arranged for a comped dinner for him. Can you get a voucher up to him ASAP so he doesn’t have time to go online to write an angry review? Let him know that we’re going to take care of the problem right away and we really apologize for the inconvenience.” Katy didn’t think the instructions were that complicated, but Sean was frantically writing down every word she said. Once he was finished, Katy held out her hand. “I will take that bucket, though.”

  Sean immediately twisted around and disappeared into the supply closet behind the desk and came back with a bucket that probably used to be blue but had faded to a dull gray over the years.

  From there, she walked up the ornate staircase that led to the guest rooms. Seal Cove Inn was a converted house that had been built in 1860 by a wealthy merchant out in the middle of nowhere at the time. There were various rumors for why he’d built something so far out from town, but it worked so well for the city crowd who wanted to get away, Katy was just grateful he did.

  There were eight rooms on the upper three floors, and the entire bottom level was devoted to entertainment for guests, including a restaurant, reading room, television room, and one ground-level suite. The problem room in question was the very top level, the Tower Room. The second level had four bedrooms, the third level had three bedrooms, and then there was the lone room up on the fourth level. It was normally one of their biggest moneymakers because of the amazing views of the ocean and the privacy offered, but apparently there was now water falling in from the roof and onto the bed.

  After she finished climbing the three flights of stairs, she could assess the damage herself. It hadn’t rained in about a week, so she wasn’t sure how old the leak was, but it hadn’t been there the last time it rained.

  It was an old house. Leaks happened; it was part of nature. But this leak shouldn’t be here. The roof had just been completely redone two years ago. Katy was still feeling the residual effects of all the headaches she’d suffered while trying to juggle the guests and construction crew.

  She put the bucket on top of the bed to catch the dripping water, but the rain was letting up so the flow was already slowing. She made a mental list of all the things she’d have to do now: Change the bedding. Make sure the mattress was dry before it started to mold. Make sure the mattress wasn’t already starting to mold. Make sure no one stayed in this room until the issue was resolved. Check the warranty on the roof. Call the construction company to see what they could do.

  In addition to all the other appointments she had scheduled for the day. Katy stood back and set her hands on her hips. She could do this. Mr. Parker would get his free dinner, and he’d been a guest long enough that he probably would be understanding.

  Mr. Parker must have a large nest egg because he’d been a guest for almost three weeks now. A guest in the most expensive room in the inn. Except for the reservations that had been booked before he’d arrived, he’d insisted on staying in the top floor room his entire stay.

  She’d sat with him for a few minutes during that first week, trying to get more of his story. She tried to say a personal hello to all the guests, and he’d told her that he was an author and using the inn as a setting in his newest book. She’d done an Internet search for his name but had found no books, so either he used a pen name or he was telling stories.

  But as long as he was enjoying his stay, she didn’t care why he was here.

  The door behind her creaked open. Get someone to oil the doors, she mentally added to her list. “Hey, can you help me...” She trailed off when she turned and realized it wasn’t a member of the staff coming into the room but a man in a suit dragging a suitcase in. Alarm bells immediately went off. “I’m so sorry, sir, but this room isn’t available at the moment. If we just go downstairs, we can sort everything out.” As she spok
e, a sense of wrongness hit her.

  And that was when she realized who she was talking to. Katy stepped back as though that would make the present situation go away. As if that would make the unwanted memories stop flooding her mind.

  Nathan Farrell. Standing in the same room as her. Any doubts that this was a strange coincidence fell when she saw his cocky grin.

  “Hey, kid.”

  Her mouth opened and then snapped shut. Then opened and then shut. She did what any rational adult would do when faced with the same circumstance: she turned to walk away from Nathan to the only escape she could find. The bathroom. She shut the door behind her and leaned against the aged wood and tried to focus on not hyperventilating. No. Give her leaks, give her mold, give her irate customers, but please, for the love of all that was holy, please don’t give her Nathan Farrell.

  “Katy, come on. I’m not here to start anything.”

  His voice. She’d somehow forgotten that voice. The deep baritone. The smile that could always creep into it to make everyone around him fall in love. In love... No. She wasn’t that girl anymore. She was a rational professional. “This room isn’t available at the moment,” she called out, as though they weren’t conversing through the door. “If you go downstairs, I’m sure we can get you accommodations that will work much better for you.”

  “Katy, come out of there.”

  “You first!” she called, finally breaking the charade.

  “I’m not going anywhere until you come out and I’m guessing someone is going to hear us and come up to check.”

  Damn. Even if no one heard them, she was sure members of the staff would come on up either to see the leak or to look for her. Which meant she needed to go out. She needed to face this.

  Katy pressed her hands over her skirt and mentally assessed her appearance. As the manager, she tried to look her best, but did she look Nathan Farrell good?

  She turned her head to look at herself in the mirror. It was just past noon, so her makeup was still holding up, but she wouldn’t mind a quick lipstick refresh. Her blonde hair really could’ve used a touch of highlights, but she hadn’t had time for the salon in about a year, so it was its natural dirty color.