by EM Gayle
What Alex Wants He Takes
EM Gayle
Gypsy Ink Books
WHAT ALEX WANTS HE TAKES
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What Alex Wants Duet
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Copyright © 2018 E.M. GAYLE
A small portion of this book was previously published in Reclaiming His Submissive Copyright 2011 Eliza Gayle
This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or business establishments, events, or locales is coincidental.
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All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Contents
Don’t Miss Out
Also by E.M. Gayle
About The Book
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Also by E.M. Gayle
Books Writing As Eliza Gayle
Don’t Miss Out
Would you like to read the book that started it all for free and meet two more hot alphas? (yes, it’s a menage!)
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Also by E.M. Gayle
Contemporary Romance
Purgatory Masters Series:
TUCKER'S FALL (also available in paperback & audio)
LEVI'S ULTIMATUM (also available in paperback & audio)
MASON'S RULE (Also available in Paperback & audio)
GABE’S OBSESSION
GABE’S RECKONING
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Purgatory Club:
ROPED (also available in audio)
WATCH ME (also available in audio)
TEASED
BURN
BOTTOMS UP
HOLD ME CLOSE (also available in paperback)
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What Alex Wants Duet:
WHAT ALEX WANTS HE GETS
WHAT ALEX WANTS HE TAKES
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Pleasure Playground Series:
PLAY WITH ME (also available in paperback & audio)
POWER PLAY (also available in paperback)
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Single Title:
TAMING BEAUTY
About The Book
This is book #2 of the What Alex Wants Duet. Please read WHAT ALEX WANTS HE GETS before beginning this novel.
Lies. Betrayal. Danger.
LOVE is definitely a risk.
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HARPER
For one bright, shining moment I believed in love, but fate has once again decimated everything I thought I knew. Now I’ve been thrust into the middle of a game I can’t break free from.
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To survive I will have to fight, but when it comes to love, I’d rather walk away than be humiliated again.
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ALEX
I am determined to get what I want at any price. If I have to take it I will—even if that leads me to a thing or two that are definitely illegal in the state of New York. Not having Harper in my life is simply no longer an option. For her I will crush anyone who gets in my way.
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She is worth the risk…
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Note: This book should be read after What Alex Wants He Gets (available now)
Chapter 1
Harper
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I stared out the window at Alex’s building until it disappeared from sight. Fear held me paralyzed as tears continued to trickle down my face. Had Charlie been on the phone with Alex telling him that I’d been taken by two men in suits? Would he pursue me?
I couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad possibility. This wasn’t how I wanted to die. Hell, I didn’t want to die period. But If I had to die, I didn’t want Alex to find out the truth this way. This was my cross to bear. My dumbass mistake to deal with. Hopefully Charlie hadn’t overheard any of the incriminating details these men had spilled.
What I couldn’t figure out was why my ex-husband bothered with the façade of the FBI to come after me. Personally, he liked a smooth-talking long game, but this seemed over the top even for him.
As my mind whirred with the all of the regrets and bad decisions I’d made, I also began to contemplate how the hell I would get out of this mess. Honestly, I was afraid to even turn around and face my captors again. Now that I was about ninety-five percent sure they weren’t real agents, I didn’t know how to act. Was I supposed to go along with the ruse? Or call them out?
Kidnapping 101 was a little out of my wheelhouse as a culinary master. Unless they wanted to get into a bake off, then I’d be good to go.
I covered my face with my hands. Hysteria was obviously setting in and if I didn’t get control over my emotions I didn’t stand a chance in hell of escape. What I should have been doing was paying attention to my captors. Because I didn’t see anything coming until I felt the prick in my arm. I tried to jerk away from the pain, but a hard hand prevented my movement.
What the hell?
I looked down too late to see a syringe being pulled from my arm. My situational awareness sucked. Apparently, I was an easy target.
“What was that?” I asked as I saw the man’s face begin to blur.
“Just a little something to make you a little easier to handle, that’s all.”
“Whhyy?” And why did my voice sound so far away?
“Because you have a long trip ahead of you and no one wants to fight to get you there.”
My eyes were drooping fast. I couldn’t focus. There were still words coming out of his mouth, but I couldn’t understand any of them.
He’d said a name, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it. Something foreign, I think. And familiar. As the darkness crept closer, I tried to fight it to no avail. This—whatever they’d given me—I couldn’t resist it.
I mistakenly thought I’d had time. I’d thought wrong. I tried to say something more, but a fresh wave of fear clogged my throat. They were going to kill me and there was nothing I could do to stop them.
Alex.
I’m so sorry.
I should have answered your calls.
Chapter 2
Alex
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“What do you mean they took her?” He could barely understand Charlie’s frantic message because his heart had stopped beating.
“I’m sorry, sir. I tried to get to the vehicle to question the circumstances, but they got her in their SUV before I got halfway to the sidewalk.
“Did she say anything? Do anything?”
Charlie choked. “She was crying, sir.”
Alex felt the anger rise and the blood in his veins begin to boil from it. “I’m halfway to you. Don’t go anywhere until I get there.”
He hung up the phone before his doorman responded and pressed the
code on his phone for Gerard, his head of security.
“Hey, boss. What can I do for you? Do you need a car?”
“Fuck yeah, I do,” he barked, uncaring how abrupt he sounded. Gerard was a big boy and he needed to get the picture in the quickest way possible. “Bring the Spyder around and do it quick. I think Harper has been kidnapped.”
“Fuck. On my way.”
The phone went dead before the elevator doors even closed. He had no doubt Gerard was already formulating a plan and the minute they met he would have a thousand questions that he couldn’t answer. Because he fucking knew nothing. Other than he’d tried to call her all day and she’d yet to return any of his calls or messages. That and the empty penthouse upon his return were enough to drive him mad, but this?
Instead of being concerned at the time, he’d begun planning the various ways he would deliver her punishment for ignoring him. It had been too long since he’d seen her and they had some time to make up for.
Not to mention a discussion about how they’d left things the last time they were together.
His fucking brother.
Ronin had stuck his nose in business that was not his and he’d been forced to fly to Italy to deal with it. This was precisely the kind of bullshit from his family that he’d been trying to get away from for the last decade. Between Ronin and his father, they’d fucked up more of his life than he dared think about.
He grit his teeth. Fuck Ronin. Harper was missing and he had no real details on why or how.
Although his gut was beginning to fill in the blanks whether he liked it or not. The timing of all of this was far too convenient. His trip to Italy, his inability to reach his woman, and now this. He didn’t believe in coincidences, especially not a string of them.
The doors swished open and Charlie rushed forward with a flurry of details. To the casual observer, the man might seem nothing more than an average doorman, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, he’d hired Charlie years ago while he was still on active duty with the Navy SEALs.
In his position, that kind of planning ahead became critical in more ways than one. While he’d dared hope his life never took this extreme turn, he’d prepared for it nonetheless.
Because fucking Ronin and his shitty asshole father could not be trusted. And they were dangerous. The pit in his stomach grew with every reminder of the crap his mother had gotten them into and how little she cared about that.
“Tell me every fucking detail,” he ordered. “You and I both know no detail is too trivial.”
“Yes, sir. It happened fast, so there isn’t a lot of information yet.”
Alex narrowed his eyes as his impatience flared.
“Approximately twenty-one minutes ago two men approached Ms. Allison outside the building.”
“What? Why didn’t you notify me then?”
“We had reports of several smoke alarms going off in the building and were in the midst of investigating.”
“A fucking diversion.”
Charlie nodded. “Yes, sir. I believe so. While I wasn’t able to witness the two men approach, everything was picked up by the cameras.”
“And audio?”
He shook his head. “Very little. I believe the unknown assailants were aware of our audio and video surveillance. While they weren’t able to avoid the video, they conveniently were positioned in a way that prevented most of their conversation from being picked up.”
Alex’s head was about to explode from the information he received. He’d paid a ridiculous amount of money to ensure he had the absolute top of the line security on this building, Harper’s tiny apartment, her place of work and any other place either one of them were likely to utilize. Even the Glass Kat had received a generous donation for upgraded security just in case.
“Do we have anything?”
Again, Charlie nodded. “I’d rather show you,” he said, walking over to the bank of video screens discreetly hidden by the concierge counter in the lobby of his building.
When he rounded the desk to face the screens, each monitor had still images of Harper and the two men who’d approached her. While there was a lot of information to digest here, it was the image on the last screen that made his blood boil.
One of the men had a tight grip on Harper’s arm as he obviously led her to their vehicle. The fear stamped across her face solidified the man’s fate instantly. He would be the first one to pay for this.
And there would be others. Of that he had no doubt.
His stepfather and stepbrother were not the only ones in the family who didn’t cringe at necessary violence. While he didn’t seek it out like they did, he also didn’t shy away from whatever it took to get things done. Or to protect the ones he loved.
The pain in his chest at the sight of Harper in peril sliced deep. He had to get her back—quick.
“See this one.” Charlie pointed to one of the middle monitors. “That looks like a badge. It’s a little grainy, so I can’t quite make out the credentials for certain, but it looks like FBI to me.”
He turned to face Charlie. “The FBI took Harper?”
“I doubt it. See this one.” He pointed to another image and the outline of a gun visible underneath the man’s suit coat. “I don’t have to see the weapon in person to know it doesn’t look standard government issue. I think they were someone else posing as FBI.”
The details of Harper’s kidnapping, and he had to face facts that it very much looked like a kidnapping, were not looking good.
“Professionals?”
The man nodded. “For sure. They knew where our surveillance equipment was placed, at least enough to avoid some audio detection, and the minute I exited the building they got her in the vehicle before I could reach them.”
Right at that moment the squeal of tires sounded in front of the building accompanied by the roar of an engine he recognized well. Gerard had arrived with the Porsche.
“I’ve got my cell phone. Keep on that video footage until you find something else that helps. We’re going to need it. Call me the second you have something.” He raced towards the entrance and the car waiting at the curb. Going after them after this much time seemed futile, but he had to try.
He’d barely climbed into the passenger seat and closed the door when Gerard raced away from the building.
“Got anything?”
Gerard frowned as he shifted smoothly into gear. “Not much so far, sir. A general direction. I’ve got someone hacking into traffic cameras now, but it’s going to take time. You’ll have the info on your phone and the car’s navigation as it comes in.”
“Time is a luxury we don’t have.”
“Yes, sir. I agree. Whoever did this had to know your operation fairly well. They will be prepared.”
Alex clenched the muscles in his jaw. There were very few options for this kind of thing. Business rivals seemed unlikely. His relationship with Harper was too new for anyone to take this seriously yet. And he’d managed to keep it out of the media thus far so they wouldn’t know to use her as leverage. That left only a few close people who still should not have known shit.
Ronin.
The word popped into his head for the billionth time in the past twenty-four hours. That little shit had caused him more than his fair share of trouble over the years, but his chaos in Italy had come out of the blue and intersected a critical deal that left him no choice but to go there immediately.
“Did anyone else approach Harper while I was gone?” She’d left his apartment after three days and returned to hers, that much he knew. He’d also assigned Gerard as her personal security detail, so he’d not worried too much. His plan for tonight had been to explain his absence and subsequent silence and get her back into his bed—for good.
“No, sir. I dare say her workaholic tendencies rival yours. She was either at work or at home, with only visits from some pizza palace uptown. And yes, I had those deliveries thoroughly vetted.”
He would have laughed
at Gerard’s assessment if his phone had not pinged. He glanced down and saw a video still image of the vehicle that had taken Harper. The picture was taken with a low quality street cam so he barely made out her head in the backseat. But he trusted his team knew what they were looking for.
“Take a right there.” He pointed to the next road as Gerard shifted the car down and took a hard right that any other vehicle might have refused to navigate. He was beginning to appreciate every dime he spent on this one more and more.
“That’s all they got? This feels like a wild goose chase.”
Gerard nodded tightly. “It definitely makes a case for professionals and not the Feds.”
“Charlie told you already?” He was kind of impressed how quickly his team mobilized.
Gerard tapped his earpiece. “I was live with Charlie by the time you entered the lobby, sir.”
Definitely impressed. If only it were some kind of fucking drill and not Harper’s life depending on them to find her.
