Taking the Thief
The Caribbean Rivalry Series
Book 3
C.M. STEELE
Copyrighted © 2018 C.M. Steele
All Rights Reserved
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Cover design: C.M. Steele
Cover Image: Deposit Photos
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Julian and Natasha
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
Julian and Natasha
Natasha wasn’t in the mood for this. With a migraine dancing in her eyes, she just wanted to rest on the plane. After her cousin dropped her and her bestie off on the tarmac, Natasha took her meds and passed out while they flew to her brother’s island resort…or so she thought. Getting off the plane and into the waiting limo, Natasha is taken to a suite when she is called by a different name. This was all she needed. Before she realizes it, she’s being questioned by some mean looking guys. They want to know where the girl is that she stole the identity from. She has no clue who the woman is, but one thing’s for certain…she’s on the wrong island.
Julian Navarro has been working himself to the bone in order to give his sister the good life. The death of his parents left him cold and hardened his heart and determination. Realizing that he’s been neglecting her for a long time for work, he decides to spoil her with an overly lavish trip to the island. There’s just one little hiccup in the process. She hasn’t arrived, and there’s another woman pretending to be her. The little identity thief is trapped in a room giving his police shit, but Julian wants answers, and he wants them now. Sending them on their way, he takes over the interrogation. It was a huge miscalculation. The woman in question is his latest competitor’s sister, and she’s stolen more than Marisol’s identity, she’s stolen Julian’s heart.
This is the third book in The Caribbean Rivalry Series
Chapter 1
Natasha
This day is turning out to be really shitty. I woke up with a headache that’s growing by the minute. The thumping in my skull is driving me insane. It’s only going to get worse as the day goes on. Maybe it’ll pass if I caught it early enough. I’ve already popped in two Excedrin Migraine, but I know silence and my eyes closed are the only things that ease the pain. Zoey, my best friend, is doing her best to handle all of the packing for me. She knows that once I get one, I’m done. I’m starting to believe there’s a correlation between my headaches and what I eat. I put on my sunglasses and chill before we make our way out to the SUV. Viktor gives me a smile, but I don’t feel like being nice to anyone right now.
We arrive at the airport on the tarmac. I tip my head to the side, examining the plane’s exterior. This isn’t my brother’s plane unless he managed to acquire a new one which I doubt. “Why does his plane look different?”
“His is being serviced. He borrowed this one,” Viktor answers before walking up to the stewardess. He was only supposed to drop us off, but he wanted to make sure we were set. I nod, then drop down on the bed-like seats. They are so comfortable and just what I need. I lay my head back and plug in my earbuds to drown out the sound and pass out. Zoey doesn’t mind because she’s happy to be going while she has some time off from her cleaning gig.
The next thing I know Zoey’s waking me up. “Hey, how are you feeling?” she whispers, looking at me as if I’m going to fall apart.
I give her a smile hoping that she’s not going to worry too much. Worst case scenario, I stay on the island longer to get my fill. “I’m better now. I think the stabbing pain’s calming down. I’m hungry.”
“Here. They set out a buffet of fruits and treats.” I snack on a few pieces, feeling immediately better.
“Wow, Mikhail went all out,” I say, munching on the snacks.
“Yes, he did, but what do you expect for you? He’ll spoil you as often as he can.”
“Yeah, I think it’s a way of making up for our parents’ death. But something’s up with him.”
“I noticed the last time I saw him. The scowl was gone, but then it was as if he wasn’t in the room with us.”
“I know right,” I agree while pouring myself a glass of orange juice. “I need to have a little talk with him.”
I move back to my seat when the light comes on. “Well, let’s wait until we have a boatload of fun because I don’t want to ruin the mini vacation.”
“Very well,” I mutter. I take a drink of juice. Then two ladies come out to clean up the food before we descend.
“I hate this part of the flight,” I admit, slipping my earbuds back in. Zoey just laughs at my weird quirks. I get that I’m strange, but alas she still loves me. Once we start to deplane, I feel a shift in the atmosphere. Two large men are waiting down by the bottom of the stairs. One moves to the car without a word. The other one lingers much longer, staring at Zoey with his brows knitted. He’s tall and military looking with his short brown hair cut close to the scalp. We’re led to the car, and the silence is deafening.
“I thought my brother would be meeting me here,” I say, trying to get him to say something. I had a terrible feeling about this. I had no idea who this guy was. I know the majority of the staff at the resort.
“He’s in a meeting. We’re to take you to the hotel,” he grunts. I nod and get in the SUV with Zoey sliding in after me.
“Goodness, I’m having a bad feeling about this. I’m guessing that they think we’re someone else because I can’t see them treating us bad. My brother wouldn’t tolerate that nonsense from his staff,” I whisper as the grunty guy gets into the truck.
“Well didn’t your cousin say that the plane was rented. Maybe it’s the owner’s staff.”
“True. That could explain some of their behavior.” I see the hotel, and I know that we’re not where we’re supposed to be. “Fuck, Zoey. We’re not on Ostrov. We’re fucking somewhere else.” It’s a Navarro Resorts hotel.
“What are we going to do?” she asks in a hurried whisper, panicking and looking back and forth between the driver and me.
“We’re going to speak to the manager of the hotel or something. I can book my own room and then call Mikhail and find out what the fuck is going on. I can’t believe that I didn’t ask questions.”
“Your head was pounding, and the flight was pretty damn short.
” Yes, I suppose it was shorter than the normal flight to Ostrov.
“Well, how could they let us on the plane without verifying our information?” I ask.
“Viktor gave them our passports.” Grunty muscle man opened the door as we pulled up to the front. Immediately, his eyes are focused on Zoey.
“Ladies, please come this way,” he orders. I’m not sure if it’s my headache, the frustration of the situation, or he’s really a dick, but he’s rubbing me the wrong way. I need to straighten his ass out.
“Um…sir,” I interject, but someone walks up to him and takes our luggage, and they have a whispered conversation. Music is playing at the entrance, and my brain doesn’t like it. My eyes hurt and my head throbs insanely.
“Shit, are you okay, Nat?” It sounds like she’s yelling. I need to be laying down.
The soldier boy in front of us grunted like a dick, but I don’t have the patience for this. “I’m fine, Zoey.”
“Follow me, ladies,” the guy mutters. I don’t know who he is, but judging by his attitude, I’m thinking he knows that we’re not who they thought we were. Another man came behind us and then they took us to a room that’s clearly meant for questioning people. They take our things, leaving us with nothing. Brutus and his minion are holding our purses. I can’t even call my brother. Fuck. There were only two chairs, so Zoey and I take the seats. I have a damn headache, so irritation is holding back the fear I should be feeling. I need to get a hold of my brother. Someone has a lot to answer for.
“Where is she?” gruntosaurus roars at me. “Where is Marisol?”
“Jackass, don’t yell at her, she’s got a fucking migraine. We got on the wrong motherfucking plane it seems. It would have been fucking wonderful if one of your dumbass staff members told us that before we took off. We’re not even on the right island.” Expecting to be cleared of wrongdoing soon, I rest my head on the table.
“Are you trying to tell me that you both didn’t intentionally board a flight using fake passports?”
I sit straight up fast, feeling the pain instantly. “What the hell is wrong with you? Look in our purses. Our IDs are in there,” I add, resting my head. “I’ll have your lousy company reimbursed for the flight, but hell if I’m going to tolerate being scolded something that’s not our mistake.”
“You mean these?” he said, tossing out our passports. I take mine and open it up just as Zoey does the same thing.
“What the fuck?” Zoey blurts out.
“These aren’t ours. Check our purses,” I exclaim, then put my head back down on the cold steel table. Zoey holds my hand and pats it. I can hear rummaging, and then he snarls. I lift my gaze to see him staring angrily at my ID.
He looks right at Zoey, lowering his head to meet eye to eye. “I don’t know what you two are playing at, but you come with me.” He pulls Zoey up by her arm. She refuses, sitting back down. He releases her then bends down and lifts her over his shoulder with her ass practically in his face. Zoey gasps, hitting him on his back. The next second she gets a little smack on her ass. “Behave. I don’t want to drop your feisty ass.”
“You can’t just take her,” I argue.
“The hell I can’t. You two need to be questioned separately. Don’t move.” He turns to his other clown on guard duty and says, “She doesn’t leave. I’ll be back.”
“Okay, terminator,” I mutter with a middle finger.
“Get to the chopper,” Zoey adds in her best Schwarzenegger.
I laugh which sends another pain to my head. “Fuck,” I hiss. Gruntosaurus Magee carries her out of the room, and his sidekick closes the door behind him, and I hear it click shut. I’m sure his goon is standing outside the door watching me like I’m a prisoner. I grab my phone since they left my bag. I lift it and see that there’s no damn cell reception. Resting my head is the best I can do.
Chapter 2
Julian
Rubbing my hands over my face does nothing to wake my ass up. Every day, I’m up early and working until the wee hours of the morning. I think it’s time I took a break from work. I’m sure they can run this place without me. At least, I’m ninety-five percent sure.
A knock at my door shakes me out of my fog. “Come in,” I call out. It could only be one of two people, my best friend and head of security, Grant or my assistant Carina. Everyone else knows not to bother me when I’m in my office.
“Good morning, sir. I have a stack of reports you asked for,” she hands me a small pile.
“Thanks.” I set them down and give them a cursory glance. It’s harder to examine figures on a computer screen, so those get printed out, and I can make my notes. I work hard to manage the finances as perfectly as possible with several resort locations, I need to make sure everything goes according to plan. Especially after my parents’ death five years ago. Things went downhill fast. In my grief, I lost a great deal of clientele, and the standards that the hotels maintained had fallen. Once I realized the damage that had been done, I got my head on straight and worked day and night to make this hotel, in particular, the best in the Caribbean. In an area of the world where there are beautiful beaches and fancy hotels, the competition is high. My latest competitor is a Russian mobster. I don’t know what dirty tricks that bastard will go to in order to get ahead.
“Don’t forget your sister is coming today,” she reminds me. I haven’t forgotten. I’m planning on making it special for her. I miss the little brat.
“What time is Marisol supposed to arrive?” I ask my assistant, Carina. I’m gathering up everything I need to meet with the staff. It’s our weekly prep and pep talk. Keeping morale high and the hotel running efficiently takes a great team of employees. I have some good ones, and we’re always looking for more.
She has her tablet out, looking through my schedule. “In about one hour. Your schedule will be full until noon.”
“Thank you, Carina. That’ll be all.” I wave my hand to dismiss her. I have to get out of here before I’m late. Even though she’s a good assistant, I wonder if she’s interested in more. She lingers too long and too involved in nothing that pertains to her. It’s either that or she’s looking for a promotion. The latter is a possibility. The other will never happen. I’m a damn workaholic and don’t have time to fall in love with anyone and don’t want to set myself up for a messy fling.
I grab my materials and head out to my staff meeting. I walk into the room and greet my staff, “Buenos dias, todos. Good morning, everyone. My sister will be arriving today, so I will be taking the next few days off. That means that you’ll be trusted to run the place as if I was standing over your shoulder watching. I’m sure you all will, but it’s important that I can trust the staff not to play when the boss is away.”
“Are you going to be around for major issues or do we need to contact someone else,” my concierge manager Xena asks. She’s young but has been working here since she turned sixteen making herself an integral part of the Navarro Resorts family. And she earned herself the recent promotion.
“Give them to Carina, and she will do her best to leave me out of the situations.”
“Anything I need to be made aware of?” I ask them. Sometimes I can see at least one of them itching to tell me how perfect their department is going or cowering if something isn’t going to plan.
“Everything is running smoothly with the food supply. We have enough stock, and the local vegetation has produced enough fruits for the rest of the season.”
“Great. How are guest services, Juan?” He’s the supervisor for the entire guest services. If there’s a problem, he’d know first.
“Perfecto. We haven’t had any complaints at all. The new front desk manager has been a real improvement from the last.” Yes, we fired our last one when he was found stealing credit card information. That is a big problem. Guests don’t want to come back when they feel violated like that.
“Bien, let’s go over today’s agenda.” The meeting lasts a full ho
ur before I call it.
Just as I’m heading back to my office, Grant, my head of security and my best friend, comes walking up to me. I’ve known him for years, and he’s been with me through the tough times. I don’t know what I would do without him. “We have a serious problem.” He leads me to my office and closes the door in a rush.
“What the fuck is going on? Where’s my sister?” He was supposed to pick her up at the airport. The fact that he’s here and she’s not at his side is a big fucking problem.
“That’s the problem. She and her friend weren’t the passengers on the plane.”
Clenching my fists and open them several times before barking out, “What? Then who the fuck was on my plane and what did they do to my sister?” I go around my desk and hit the lock, getting my twenty-two and slipping it into my waistband. I’m not a killer, but my sister is missing, and I want motherfucking answers.
“It’s worse because their passports have Marisol’s and Destiny’s info on it. I separated them so we can question them one at a time.”
I can’t see past the red haze of pure fury. “I’m about to kill some thieving bitches. That better be all they are.” If they harmed my sister, they would pay with their lives. I can’t fucking believe this is happening.
“Here’s the thing. The one with Marisol’s name is Natasha Dobrev.” I can feel the ire spread across my face and through me. Mikhail Dobrev purchased a nearby island in the Caribbean. He’s a fucking Russian thug, or that’s what we were told. He comes into significant wealth enough to buy an island after his parents’ murder. I had a feeling that the bastard would be coming after my family and me. You can’t stop criminals, but he fucked up because he left his sister in my grasps.
I take out my phone and call Mari. I need to know where she is. I’m hoping to all hell she answers her phone.
“Wow, I was just thinking about you,” she answers as soon as it rings. She doesn’t sound upset, but I am.
Taking the Thief Page 1
