Determined & Derailed (Storm Corp Book 1)

by Gracie Wilson

  “Tory’s going to be pissed about this. You know he hates traveling with our fake IDs.” Clark shook his head. I knew every time we did it, that it was a risk I was taking, but I would never be able to let Maxwell go. He was going to die and at my hands. All I had to do was find him.

  We headed to the Gale home and informed Tory of our new plans, which of course, Clark was right, He was pissed about it, but that didn’t stop us from going to Vegas. Once we’d landed, I met up with the Private Investigator. He told us about the warehouse and all the information he could get. Maxwell was running and not just from us. I was assuming that Davey was trying to get to him too. We made a few stops to pick up some protection before we got to the warehouse. In the last three months I had taken a bunch of defense classes and I had an amazing shot record at the gun range. I figured this would make them worry less, but now they just thought I had an excuse to be reckless.

  As we approached the warehouse, I knew he was there. I don’t know how, but I could just feel it. “He’s here, let’s go.” I followed Tory and had Clark behind me. When we entered the Warehouse all hell broke loose.

  “Get him out of here.” I looked to see the man that shot Blake yelling and I saw other men take off with Maxwell. He was out the door and took off running to the helicopter that was waiting outside the large doors of the warehouse. I knew I wouldn’t catch him and with that many men we wouldn’t get to him.

  “Get Maxwell.” I was yelling to Tory and Clark. They took off running and began to fight against a few of the men that had stayed behind, to give Maxwell the chance to get away.

  I saw the man responsible for Blake’s death take off in the other direction and before I knew what I am doing, I was chasing after him.

  “Lexi, no.” I heard Clark, but paid no attention. I followed him right into an abandoned room. Before I knew what had happened I heard a bang, bang and I was thrown back against the fencing cage. His hand was still holding the gun, so I grabbed mine and shot. Bang, Bang, Bang. I heard screaming coming and I knew the guys were coming. I saw the man who I’d just shot three times fall to the ground. He was dead with the final shot I’d put into his skull. I got justice for Blake, at least. I saw blood on the floor next to me, causing me to get lighted headed.

  “Alexis.” I heard Tory scream. I looked over to see Tory and Clark running through the doors to me. I tried to stand, but I couldn’t. I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me.

  “Oh my God, Lexi.” I saw Clark looking me over and trying to assess how badly I was injured.

  “Don’t worry the first one hit the bullet proof vest and the second just grazed my arm. Superficial, I’ll be fine. He on the other hand is very much dead.” I snorted and couldn’t help the laugh that rumbled out of me. I just killed a man and I’m laughing? What the hell is wrong with me?

  “Lexi, we have to go now.” I was pulled up and we were running out of the warehouse and back to the hotel we are staying at, ditching our weapons, and Tory ran in for medical supplies at something called Shoppers.

  “Lexi, I didn’t teach you all this so you could run off and get yourself killed.” I sensed Clark’s panic and felt guilty.

  “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t let him get away, not after what he did to Blake.” He sighed and I knew he wouldn’t fight me on that.

  “This will only make Maxwell angrier. He’s going to know you aren’t dead or missing.” I looked out the window of our car, hoping he did figure that out.

  “He’s going to get sloppy and when he does, I’ll put a bullet in his head just like I did with his goon. I will take everything he holds dear away from him. Just like he’s done to me,” I said, filled with so much hatred.

  The car door opened and Tory got in with all his bags of supplies. “Did you talk to her, Clark?” He nodded and replied in such a Clark like way.

  “Of course, and her thick head didn’t listen. Let’s just get her cleaned up and head home to Toronto?”

  * * *

  In the weeks following my shoot out with Maxwell’s goon, I hadn’t been able to get a trail on him other than that he was in New York. The papers ran a story of how his head of security was gunned down and there were speculations as to if he was dirty or not. I looked to the pile of magazines that we got to keep track and Nolan was staring up at me from the page. “New York’s Number one Bachelor.” He looked just like I’d remember, but there was sadness in his eyes. The story ran two days ago and it was all over the web.

  “Lexi, get in here, you should see this.” I got up and ran to the living room to see what Clark was talking about. Tory was just sitting there, staring at Nolan wide-eyed and jaw dropped. Clark rewound the TV and I began to listen. It was Nolan talking about the company and the charity work our company had been doing.

  “So, Nolan, maybe you can answer the question that the tabloids have been running...where in the world is Alexis Storm?” I gasped at the question and I saw his eyes were weighed down by his emotions.

  “Alexis is doing some travelling and taking some time off after the incident and loss of our mutual friend Cohen Price.” She continued to talk about everything under the moon before going into his newest award.

  “So you’ve been voted New York’s number one bachelor? What can you say to the ladies out there and what are you looking for?” She was smiling at him. He gave a small sexy smirk that I had grown to love so many years ago.

  “I’m looking for that girl who calls me out on my crap and is so thick headed she wouldn’t listen to anyone but her own thoughts. Strong, brave and full of life, think the girl next door or your best friend. But that doesn’t make her ordinary, but extraordinary instead. A girl I want nothing more than to take care of but who wants to take care of herself first.” The way he emphasized ‘take care of’ brought my thoughts back to the letter I wrote him.

  “That sounds extremely specific.” He laughed at her and it lit up his eyes.

  “It should, the other thing I want to tell the ladies out there is that I may not be married yet, but I am not a bachelor. My heart is already spoken for.” The audience gave a simultaneous “awww.”

  “Don’t leave it at that, tell us who the lucky lady is?” the hostess asked.

  He looked right at the camera before he spoke and I knew he was imagining that it was me he was looking at. “Why, Alexis Storm of course. I’m going to marry that girl, sorry ladies.” The woman looked like she’d hit the jackpot, with this coming out first on her show.

  “Anything you’d like to say to her if she’s watching?” I was leaning off the couch, barely breathing.

  “I love you, Alexis, and I’ll see you soon.” I was speechless and just sat there when Tory flicked the channel.

  “See me soon, like he was coming after me or something else.”

  Before I got an answer, the TV channel said it had an important announcement. “Billionaire Company Owner Maxwell Finch found dead in his New York office.”

  “Tory, what did that say?” He looked as stunned as me.

  “No leads in his murder, but we will keep you updated as things progress.” I looked to Clark and he didn’t know what to say.

  “What does this mean for us? What does it mean for Lexi?” Clark was trying to figure out our next step, but I already knew. Maxwell was only the middleman. There were others out there doing the pushing, he was just following orders.

  “It’s time we pack up and go home. Our vacation is officially over. It’s time to go back to New York and get all the answers we have been wanting for months.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  When I stepped off the plane, there were cameras flashing everywhere. Someone had tipped off the press that I was heading back in New York. I never thought that I’d be such news, but after the last year I’d had it was like slowing down in front of a car accident to get a look.

  “What happened, Alexis?”

  “Where did you go, Miss Storm?”

  Worst one was “Did you run away because of the
death of Cohen Price?”

  I hadn’t been home for more then two seconds and Cohen had been brought up. I felt my heart sink at the mention of Cohen, knowing he was the one person I wouldn’t be to come home to ever again.

  Looking up, I saw Davey and Jax with a group of men, some I didn’t remember, so they must have been new. They approached me and Clark put his arm around my shoulder, shielding me from the cameras. We were rushed from the airport and it seemed like yesterday we were fleeing this very airport to get away from everything. I felt this overwhelming urge to cower away. I knew I haven’t done anything wrong, but the guilt of everything was still weighing down on me. There hadn’t been a day that I hadn’t thought of Cohen, but being here was like having him back in my world, but cruelly that wasn’t possible and this place was just a reminder of that.

  Once we were in the SUV, I felt this awkwardness overtake. “What are you doing here? How did they know I was heading back? How did you know?” We hadn’t called Davey to tell him we were coming back either. I wanted to try and sneak back in and meet with Davey privately, to find out who was behind the death of Maxwell and to tell him my part in this whole thing.

  “When you called the concierge of your building, the new door man called it in to the tabloids. He’s been fired and escorted out of the building, but the damage was already done,” Jax said and the sound of his voice tugged at me.

  “We have contacts at the Tabloid and they let us know you were coming. So we rushed here to meet your plane and to secure safe travels back to the Penthouse. If you were going to tell someone you were coming back it should have been me.” I smacked my hand to my face, knowing I never should have called the building.

  “Guess it will be all over soon enough that I’m back, maybe we should have just stayed at home.” I’d been in New York less than ten minutes and I already missed my home in Toronto.

  “Home? Where the fuck was that, Alexis? I thought it was here in New York with me? Not wherever you flew off to without telling us.” I was stunned at Jax and the hatred I heard in his voice.

  “I left you a letter, Jax, I told your dad I was leaving and you know why I had to.” He let out a laugh that was full of hatred and anger.

  “A letter doesn’t make up for shit when you love someone and they have left without telling you no matter what it says. What the hell do you mean you told my dad you were leaving?” He turned to his dad. “ You could have stopped her or called me and you didn’t?”

  “Not that I have to explain to you, but we both know she was safer out of town. But right now isn’t the time for me to be explaining myself, Jackson.” Hearing Davey tell his son to back off made the SUV that much more quiet.

  “It’s not like she had a choice, Jax, Nolan was going to kill her. She wasn’t safe here with Maxwell alive.” Clark coming to my recue made my eyes perk up a bit until he brought up Nolan. I remembered Nolan talking just days before on the TV about seeing me soon. Had Nolan meant that he’d be seeing me soon because he knew where I was and was coming after me? That answer I didn’t know, but with the death of Maxwell, did that mean he was free or was he working for whomever was in charge of Maxwell?

  “What are you talking about? Nolan would never do that. He’s been looking for her everywhere just like I have. He was just as pissed off that she’d taken off.” I screamed, unable to take any more information in.

  “I don’t give a fuck what he is. He was probably pissed off because he was told to take care of me and then I disappeared before he could make me disappear. I don’t want to talk about this, Jackson. My home was in Toronto, where I was safe and if I can’t make this shit work here, I will sure as hell go back there. I’ll do what I have to do, to keep myself alive. If you have forgotten, Cohen died trying to save my life, so I’d like to actually live one so it wasn’t for nothing.” The entire vehicle was stunned into silence at my heated outburst to Jax.

  We pulled up and there were cameras everywhere, waiting for us. Clark took my hand and pulled me out into his chest, shielding me from the flashing, but I still heard every word they said.

  “Did you run because of Cohen Price?”

  “Who’s that you’re with, is he your new boyfriend? Aren’t you marrying Nolan Nathans?”

  And…

  “How are you moving on so quickly following the death of Cohen and what will Nolan Nathans say to this new person in your life?”

  I heard Tory saying multiple times ‘No comment’ as we were rushed through the doors into my private elevator.

  “They don’t know the truth about Clark yet?” Davey just looked at me without giving anything away.

  “I figured it would be something you two needed to do and you did tell us not to say anything,” Davey said. I had forgotten that conversation a little over three months ago. I just nodded in response.

  “Nolan is going to know you’re back. I’m surprised he’s not already here, but he will be at the office when you return. This brother secret will not stay buried forever. You will need to get a hold on it soon.” I turned to Clark, but he beat me to a response.

  “Tomorrow we will go see my parents and my sister. We need to tell them before they see it on the news.”

  Walking into the penthouse was like being back at the day of Cohen’s funeral all over again. The tears I’d left here sprang up and threatened to plummet from my eyes. “I can’t believe he’s been gone for three months.” No one said anything in response, but Tory gave me a hug and rubbed my back.

  “I know it feels like every moment without him is painful, but it will get easier. I know you don’t want to hear that, but trust me. You will heal and love again. Just like he would have wanted.” I wept into Tory’s chest, not caring who the hell was watching. I just needed this security right now.

  “Thanks, Dad,” I said, whether we weren’t in Toronto anymore or not. Dad was what he was being right now.

  Davey debriefed us on what had been going on the past few months and I just sat there soaking up all of the information. Jax asked to speak to me privately and I didn’t want to, but I figured he deserved this at least, so I followed him to my office.

  “I know you don’t get why I did it, but—” His lips crashed down upon mine and I was lost in the sensation of his warm lips against mine. He traced his fingers along my neck, causing me to shiver in an entirely good way. I felt myself being pressed against my desk and he pushed me against it, knocking everything off of it.

  “I missed you so much, Lexi.”

  At this moment I couldn’t think of anything but my need to be closer to Jax. So I started undoing his shirt and with each button my heart picked up speed. I dropped his shirt to the ground and started to undo his pants. His hands were already pulling up on my dress, bringing it over my head to join his recently discarded shirt on the floor. Before long we were down to nothing but my underwear. He was standing before me completely naked in all his glory, not at all embarrassed. Looking him over, I knew he had nothing to be embarrassed of and he most likely knew this.

  His body was perfect, ever inch of it had me begging to be closer to him. I felt his hands on my back, undoing my bra and I began to slide off my panties. I never expected it to go this far, but right now I knew I needed this with Jax even if it wouldn’t change all the things between us.

  “Jackson.” It came out in a moan and I felt his fingers tighten against my hips, digging into my skin, causing me to moan louder.

  “I missed you, Lexi. God, I fucking love you.” I felt his fingers moving from my hips up my stomach, to my breasts and he slowly started circling when he brought his mouth down to them.

  “I love you too.” I felt his tongue sweep across my heated skin, causing the most unbelievable feeling. My head fell back as he gently brought me down flat, climbing on top of me. We were entirely laid out on the desk now as he climbed on top of me, taking in all of me with his eyes.

  “God, Alexis, you’re so fucking beautiful.” I barely registered his words as he began p
ressing his body against mine. I felt his erection up against my opening and I let out a whimper. I put my hands around his back, grabbing him and pushing him against me. There was no better way to show him what I truly wanted with him. I felt him ease himself into me and the sensation was enough to almost send me over the edge right there. I grabbed his backside, bringing him down to me and giving me the control.

  “Lexi.” It came out raspy, only making my hormones rise and I tried to take control of our motions, but he stopped me. He held my hips, stopping me from being able to take the control I wanted.

  “Please, Lexi, just let me love you the way I want to.”

  With those words I gave up all control and just took his lead. He was slowly pacing himself and making me want him even more. His right hand was on my breast, rubbing my nipple and his left hand was rubbing my spot between my legs as he moved slowly in and out.

  Before long I was hanging on a ledge of complete pleasure, craving more. As he picked up his pace, I felt myself fall off that ledge and was coming apart at every seam.

  “Jackson…” I moaned against his chest as I found my release. When I said his name, I felt him shiver against me and moaned as he too had found his climax. As we came down together, I felt like I’d finally done something right.

  “Lexi, I love you.” Before I got the chance to say anything, he said the words that broke my heart.

  “God, Lexi, I wish I knew you were coming back so soon, because I’ve never wanted something this much before in my entire existence. But…” I felt like the floor had been dropped out from underneath me.

  “I’m leaving, Lexi, I’m going back to help train some new recruits for the army.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  I was up and pulling my clothes back on faster than I thought possible. Why did I do this to myself? Everyone I loved left me. Why would he have this amazing moment with me only to leave me alone?