Tempting The Boss

by Mallory Crowe

  Victoria had to struggle to hide her disbelief. Joslyn thought Victoria wanted the paparazzi following her around? And what did she mean by “struggling to survive”? He started out with more money in that trust fund than some people earned in a lifetime. But she decided to keep her doubts to herself. “I never meant to hurt him. We can work something out. If he needs more money, I’m sure I can help.”

  “I don’t need your charity, hun. I need everything.” She picked up a small circular device off the counter. “Cute, right? When it’s on, it blocks phone reception for anyone in range. Bought it online for a steal. I know how attached you are to your phone.”

  Victoria’s heart quickened as Joslyn’s eyes fell to the phone on her hip. Please don’t see the pepper spray. Please don’’t see the pepper spray.

  “I need to make a call. This would’ve been easier if you’d drank your margarita like a polite guest, but I think we have to do this the hard way. Now toss your phone over here.””

  Victoria plucked the phone from her belt clip and tried not to think about what Joslyn had laced the drink with. Here’s hoping her text to Dean went through. “So you’’re not going to shoot me?” She kicked the phone across the floor.

  Joslyn laughed. “I’m not going to get any money if I’m in jail for your murder. Terry probably wouldn’t even consider having me after that. No. You’re going to jump off the roof.”

  ~~~~~

  The unknown number popped up on Dean’s phone for the third time. Dean glanced between the road and the glowing screen. Even if it was a client, he didn’t make a habit of driving on Manhattan streets while talking on his phone.

  But when his phone rang a fourth time, he finally gave in and picked up. “Who the hell is it?” he bit out right as a cab swerved in front of him with absolutely no notice. He held himself back from cursing at the cabbie.

  “Please tell me Victoria is with you,” said the deep voice on the other end.

  “Huh? Is this a reporter?”

  “No, you moron. It’s Gordon. I need to get a hold of her. She’s in trouble and neither she nor Jace are answering their phones.””

  Dean’s blood ran cold at the mention of Victoria being in trouble. “What the fuck good is a bodyguard if he’s not going to protect her!”” he shouted into the phone.

  “I need to figure out where she is. Last I talked to Jace, he said she was meeting her brother for dinner.”

  “Son of a bitch. I knew that smug asshole wanted her dead. When I get my hands on him—”

  “It’s not him. The fiancée, Joslyn Devereaux. Her parents died under mysterious circumstances. The police never convicted her of anything, but the lawyers did some fancy maneuvering and her sister ended up getting the entire family fortune. Billions of net worth went to the sister and Joslyn got nothing.”

  “You’re saying she killed her parents?”

  “I’m saying she’s used to money and just found out her fiancée was basically cut from Daddy’s will. I think Victoria might be with her already.”

  Dean’s heart ramped up to a fever pitch as he tried to focus on the road. She was somewhere in the city and he had no idea where. “You need to find her. Track her phone, look at traffic cams, something!”

  “This isn’t a fucking TV show! Her GPS tracker isn’t coming through for her phone and this city has millions of people in it. If Jace or she don’’t contact someone, there’s nothing I can do.”

  “God damn it!” screamed Dean as he threw the phone. The sound of the plastic clanging against the old, beat-up dash echoed through the truck. Dean glanced up just in time to see a pedestrian jaywalking right in front of him.

  He jerked the wheel to the side, narrowly missing the guy as his truck slammed into a trash can. For a second, he sat there in silence. He should be running somewhere. Looking for Victoria. She could be dying right now and he was sitting in the truck doing not a fucking thing.

  Because that’s all there was. Gordon would know if she were at the office, and the bodyguard would answer the damn phone if she were at home. What was a fucking handyman supposed to do? Drive around aimlessly until he happened to see her? He punched the steering wheel. ““Fuck!”

  Damn it, if driving around aimlessly was all he could do, that was better than nothing. He bent down to fish his phone off the floor of the passenger seat and tossed it on the seat. Right as he put the truck in reverse, he noticed the alert light flashing. Maybe Gordon found her.

  He yanked it up and his breath caught when he saw the text message from Victoria.

  An address. No explanation. No call. Just an address.

  His tires squealed as he slammed on the gas. When he got his hands on Joslyn, the bitch was never going to know what hit her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  “What do you mean the bodyguard is unconscious?” snapped Joslyn into her phone.

  Victoria shifted her weight, trying to think of any way to get past Joslyn and make it out of the apartment. The cell phone blocker was off, so as long as she could call 911, she’d probably be able to hide out somewhere.

  “What do you think he’s going to do when he wakes up? Forget that the same night his boss committed suicide, he was beaten by random thugs in the lobby. You better make sure that man never wakes up again.”

  Victoria’s eyes widened. “You can’t kill Jace.”

  Joslyn sighed and held the phone away from her face, gun still firmly pointed in Victoria’s direction. “I’m not going to kill him. I’’m telling the nice gentleman downstairs to do it.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you!” screamed Victoria.

  Joslyn’s smile disappeared, replaced with a sneer. “I’m going to need one of you up here. I think Ms. Green is going to need help getting up to the roof.””

  As Joslyn hung up, Victoria’s heart sunk in her chest. Jace could be dying at that very moment. All because of her. In some futile attempt to protect her. “Why? Why cause this much destruction over money? Let Jace live and I’ll give you anything you want.”

  “It’s not just money. It’s what I deserve. It’s my birthright.””

  “If anything, it’s Terry’s birthright,” bit out Victoria.

  “And where would Terry be if it weren’t for me?” asked Joslyn with a smug smirk. “He would be a broke beach bum. I brought him back to where he belongs. I brought him back to a family that doesn’t even want him. But he and I will be restored to what we were meant to be.”

  A knock banged on the door behind Joslyn, and Victoria jumped. No, no, no, no. Joslyn she could handle. She could catch her at a weak moment. Overpower her. Something. But now there were going to be two of them…

  Joslyn opened the door and the doorman from downstairs stepped inside. Instinctively, Victoria took a step back as he moved past Joslyn, a conspicuous red substance splattered onto his formerly pristine uniform jacket.

  But this could be a good thing. She was probably paying whoever this was and the one way Victoria was sure she had Joslyn beat was with money. “Whatever she’s paying you, I’ll quadruple it if you get me out of here.”

  He turned a stern expression on her. “I don’t know how much good that will do me when you send the cops after us, lady. At least with her, I know I won’t get turned over to the police.”

  Joslyn smiled in victory. “He’s right. Police only make things more complicated. I’m sure you understand, since you never bothered to call any last week. But I figured you wouldn’’t. You’re not exactly the type to admit weakness. That’s why this will make so much sense.”

  “Nothing about this makes sense.” Victoria took another step back.

  “The stoic socialite swan dives off the skyscraper. If it makes you feel better, your story will be told for years.”

  “Not comforting.” Victoria’s mind raced. Think. Distract them. Even if Jace was incapacitated, Gordon might realize something was wrong. He could be sending for help right now.

  Except he had no idea where she was. Ev
en so, she had to stall. Had to do something. “Who is C. Jones?”

  “She’s your killer,” said Joslyn with pride. “I’’m not stupid, you know.”

  Agree to disagree, thought Victoria.

  “Things don’t always go according to plan, as you have made painfully evident. I’m well aware that if I’m even suspected of this, Terry will never marry me, and I won’t get a pretty penny. I tried to cover my tracks by having Donny here take care of you at your little My Daddy’s Dying party, but apparently your handyman has a temper. And when North Carolina didn’’t work out, I knew that the old saying is right. If you want something done right…”

  Victoria took a deep breath. Lying was definitely called for when dealing with this level of crazy. “You don’t have to do this, Joslyn. I promise that as a member of my family, you will be protected. It was my father who kicked Terry out. I’’m nothing like him.”

  Joslyn didn’t even respond to Victoria’s offer. “But either way, I’m not getting caught. The second Terry told me about his situation, Casey Jones was born. Bank accounts, Social Security number, credit history. Everything leads back to him. This apartment is registered to him. The phone number I texted you from today is his. I. Am. A. Genius.”

  Victoria glanced to her phone, which was still discarded on the floor. Terry never sent her any texts? “You changed his number in my phone when we were planning my father’s funeral.””

  “You should really be more careful with that, sweetie. Well, should’ve been more careful.” Joslyn glanced between Donny and Victoria. ““Well, this has been fun, but I think sooner is better than later, right? There’s a dead bodyguard downstairs so we should hurry this along. Let’s go to the roof!”

  ~~~~~

  Dean parked illegally in front of the building and stared up at the ornate brickwork leading up thirty or so floors. “I’m here,” he said into the phone.

  “Just sit tight, Dean. The police are on their way.”

  Dean eyed the bumper-to-bumper traffic that he’d fought through just to make it there. Where was the nearest police station? He didn’t know the Upper East Side well enough.

  “I’ll just go inside. Maybe the doorman saw something.” He was already crossing the sidewalk to get to the door. Except there was no doorman.

  Dean paused as he eyed the closed doors in front of him. After he glanced up and down the street again, he still didn’t see any sign of Victoria. “Screw it,” he muttered to himself as he reached forward and pulled the door open.

  He frowned as he walked inside. No doorman and no key needed to get into this nice of a building? The yearly rent in this place was probably more than his entire house was worth. It didn’t make sense for them to not have better security. The entryway leading to the two elevators wasn’’t very big. Just enough space for a small sitting area. It was eerily quiet as Dean stared at the elevators. The police were on their way. He shouldn’t go charging in with no game plan and no idea what kind of trouble she was in.

  But if he didn’t go charging up, that meant he needed to wait and twiddle his thumbs while Victoria was all alone. He paced back to the front door and listened for any sound of sirens approaching. What if they weren’t in a hurry? What if they thought Gordon was paranoid and taking their time getting there?

  Damned if he’d wait around patiently when they were taking their sweet ass time.

  He twisted around and found himself looking straight down the barrel of a 9mm handgun. “Whoa.” Dean held up his hands.

  The man on the other end of the gun looked ready to pull the trigger any moment. What was probably a clean-cut, Abercrombie type had dust covering his black suit jacket and blood dripping down the side of his face.

  “Take out your phone,” he bit out. “You’re going to make a call for me.”

  “I don’t want any trouble.” Dean slowly reached for the phone in his back pocket.

  The man tensed as though he expected Dean to pull out a weapon.

  “I don’t want any trouble,” he repeated. “I’’m here to check on someone. I think she might be in trouble.” Dean wasn’t sure whether he should mention the cops were coming. It could freak the guy out more or scare him off.

  “Dean Carey?”

  Dean didn’t know whether it was a good or bad sign that the psycho knew his name. “How do you know who I am?”

  The guy dropped his gun. “Gordon showed me your file. Shit. Does Gordon know you’re here?”

  It finally clicked. This was Victoria’s bodyguard. “The police are on their way,” he said quickly. “What the hell happened to you? Where is Victoria?”

  The guy grimaced. “Gordon told me that the brother’s girlfriend was the one who wanted her dead. Ms. Green came here to have dinner with her brother and wasn’t answering Gordon’’s calls, so I ran inside. The doorman and some other guy jumped me.”

  Dean tensed and scanned the empty entryway. “Where are they now?”

  “I was out cold for a bit. When I came to, I took out one of the guys. The other one was gone.”

  “Took out as in…?”

  “Alive but not causing any trouble,” said the man. “I need to get upstairs. You stay here and let the police know what’’s going on when they get here.”

  “Hey!” shouted Dean as the bodyguard turned towards the elevator. “You’re not going up there alone. You’re bleeding out all over the place and there’s at least one guy who already got the jump on you up there.”

  The man twisted back and stared Dean down. “You’re right. You come with me.”

  Dean didn’t need to be told twice. He followed him to the elevator and paused by the fire safety cubby carved into the wall. “I’m guessing you don’’t have an extra gun.”

  The bodyguard eyed Dean. “Even if I did, I wouldn’t give it to you.”

  “Fair enough.” Dean pulled the fire extinguisher free.

  The other man grunted and Dean couldn’t tell whether it was approval or annoyance. “Come on.”

  Dean came up behind him as they both had to wait for the elevator to come down. Dean’s fist tightened around the handle of the extinguisher. If he found anyone laying so much as a finger on Victoria, they were going to wish they’d never been born.

  ~~~~~

  As Donny approached her, Victoria fought through her nerves. She had the pepper spray, but even if she got a full amount in Donny’s face, Joslyn still had the gun. She’d never make it to the door in time.

  And that was assuming it all didn’t go into her eyes anyway.

  So when Donny grabbed her by the arm, she swallowed the revulsion and kept herself from reaching for the one weapon she had.

  As his meaty hand closed around her bicep, disgust filled her. He was going to kill her. He’d already murdered Jace, and now he was going to throw her off a roof. The panic crept in, and her stomach churned with nausea. Just get out of the apartment. Once she was in the hallway, she could make a break for it. Joslyn and Donny would be close to each other. One good spray could get them both.

  Before her newfound plan could give her any sort of comfort, Donny yanked on her arm. She tripped over her feet, her heels not making the sudden dragging any easier. Her gut instinct was to scratch and claw and punch, but she knew she needed to wait. But that didn’t mean she had to be quiet.

  She needed to distract them. Keep them from seeing her when she reached for the spray. “Please don’t do this,” she begged. ““I’ll give you anything you want.”

  “Shut up,” he spat out as he pulled her towards the door.

  “Money, houses, cars, women. Just name it and it’s yours. Do you have any idea the kind of influence I have in this town?”

  Joslyn stood in front of the door, free hand on her hip while the other held the gun loosely. “Are you going to be quiet out there?”

  “Joslyn, I can give you anything you want. I will make you the hottest thing to hit the city. You’ll be on the cover of every gossip rag. Everyone will want to be your fri
end.”

  “Thought so,” said the crazy bitch as she slammed the butt of the gun into Victoria’s face.

  All her pleas fell into the back of Victoria’s mind as her vision went blurry. The pain reverberated through her and for a moment, the only reason she stood upright was because of Donny’s fingers biting into her arm.

  Somewhere through the spinning haze of her vision, she saw Joslyn open the door. “Go now before she gets chatty again.”

  And then Donny was dragging her into the hallway. The hallway! This was her chance. Her plan. She tried her best to concentrate. What was the plan? Spray. Hit the eyes and run for the stairs. Not much of a plan, but better than taking a nosedive off the building.

  As they got closer and closer to the elevator, she knew her window was closing. It was now or never. She reached back for her spray when the dinging of the elevator signaled it had stopped on this floor.

  Donny and Joslyn stopped in their tracks as the elevator doors slid open. For a moment, Victoria figured she was hit much harder than she originally thought, because Dean and Jace both stood together. Waiting for her to join them.

  But then Jace and Joslyn both raised their guns, pointing them at each other.

  “No! No guns!” shouted Victoria as Donny pulled her in front of him like a shield.

  “Get your fucking hands off her,” growled Dean as he took a step out of the elevator, not paying any attention to Joslyn. Just her. Damn it. She wasn’’t going to let any of these crazies touch a finger on Dean’s head.

  “If you shoot, the entire building will know,” said Victoria. All she needed was for Joslyn to look in her direction. “You won’’t get a penny from my estate.”

  All Victoria could see was Joslyn’s profile, so she couldn’t tell whether she could make it past the crazy to get her attention. All she had to do was get eye contact. “When the papers find out you wanted people to believe this was a suicide and there were bullet holes up and down the hallway, the entire city is going to laugh at you.”