In Bed With the Billionaire

by Jackie Ashenden

  As Elijah had explained the situation to Zac and Eva, Violet had sat there quietly, the tension around her gathering tighter and tighter, obviously working herself up into a towering rage.

  It hadn’t exploded yet, but it was only a matter of time.

  “I had my own agenda,” Temple said levelly. There wasn’t any point trying to hide it now, not when she actively wanted these guys to help Theo. In fact, if she told them about Thalia and about how Theo had saved her, then that was only going to help, surely? “My sister was taken by traffickers seven years ago. I’ve been trying to find her. The trail led to Fitzgerald, and from there it went on to Jericho. That’s why I approached Zac for the contract. I wanted to find my sister.”

  Violet had shifted on the couch, turning to face Temple, her brilliant turquoise eyes cold. “So is that the only reason he’s alive now? Because you don’t have the information yet?”

  It’s not quite the only reason.

  No, it wasn’t. But they didn’t need to know that.

  Temple met Violet’s gaze unflinchingly. “He gave me the information just before we met with Elijah. He showed me a picture of Thalia, and he told me he’d rescued her.”

  Something shifted in Violet’s gaze. “Rescued her? What are you talking about?”

  Briefly Temple explained how she’d managed to get close to Theo, about the girls he chose every Saturday night. About how, far from keeping them for the night as sex toys, he helped them escape.

  “Why the hell would he do that?” Elijah demanded. “Surely that’s risky?”

  Of course it was. But she thought she knew why he risked it. She met the big ex-bodyguard’s gaze. “He didn’t explain, but I can guess. He’s spent years working toward this one goal, years playing a part. Not being able to do anything for those women…” She stopped, remembering that bleakness in his eyes, the terrible weariness. “I think it must have done something to him. I think actively helping at least a few prevented him from going insane.”

  Violet made a sound, and instantly Elijah was going over to the arm of the sofa where she sat, reaching out to her. But she put out a hand, stopping him. Her face was pale, her eyes blazing. “I knew it,” she said fiercely. “I fucking knew it.” She turned her attention to Zac, her expression furious. “You were going to kill an innocent man.”

  Zac betrayed nothing. “We were going to take out the man behind the destruction of a good many innocent lives. He’s still responsible for that, Violet, make no mistake.”

  “He’s trying to bring it down!” Violet pushed herself off the arm of the sofa in a sudden, sharp movement. “He’s trying to end it!”

  “Princess.” Elijah had come to stand behind her, slipping an arm around her waist. “It’s okay. He’s still alive.”

  But Violet ignored him, turning back to Temple, fury stamped across her delicate features. “You were going to kill him.”

  She understood the other woman’s rage, God how she understood. “I was. That was the contract I undertook for Zac. And I was going to take his death for myself too, payback for my sister.”

  “He rescued your sister, so your revenge plan is fucked,” Violet said. “And if it’s money you’re after then I’ll double whatever payment Zac’s offered. Just leave Theo alone.”

  Temple had no idea what her next move would be, she’d had no time to think it through. But she knew, with all the certainty of gut instinct, that she wouldn’t be able to go through with killing Theo, not now. Violet was right. Her revenge plan would be an empty one.

  Which means everything you’ve done has been pointless.

  Ruthlessly she shoved the thought away. “I’m not going to kill him, especially not when he’s the only one who can destroy that trafficking ring.”

  “So you believe him?” Eva’s voice was sharp. “You believe he was telling the truth?”

  Violet was still staring at her, and this time there wasn’t only fury in her eyes but a kind of desperation too. Theo’s sister wanted to believe.

  “Yes,” Temple said flatly. “He is.”

  “And where’s the proof?” Zac asked.

  Temple looked at him. “The proof is my sister, not that I needed any. Theo wasn’t lying.”

  “Theo,” the big mercenary echoed. “Not Jericho.”

  A stillness fell over the room. They were all gazing at her, and she knew what they were thinking.

  “I assumed he didn’t know that you and I knew each other,” Elijah said slowly.

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “And I also assumed, that when he said you meant something to him, it was an act.” His dark eyes narrowed. “But that kiss he gave you wasn’t an act.”

  “Kiss?” Violet scowled. “What kiss?”

  “Yeah,” Eva murmured. “Good question.”

  A strange surge of possessiveness went through her. What had gone on between her and Theo was private. It didn’t concern them. “That’s none of your damn business.”

  Elijah ignored her. “He seemed comfortable being around a woman who’s there to kill him. Does he know what you are?”

  “Yes.”

  Eva muttered a curse. “Please don’t say you told him who hired you.”

  Temple stared at her erstwhile boss. “What do you think?”

  “I dunno. You had no problems at all with delivering me to that prick over there.” She inclined her head toward Elijah.

  The reminder was an uncomfortable one, though why, Temple didn’t quite understand. Betraying Eva to Elijah had been part of the job and Elijah had promised that no harm would come to the other woman. And he’d been right. “That was as a favor to that prick over there. In return for information about my sister. I’m sorry, but Thalia trumps everyone.”

  Eva snorted, clearly not agreeing with that pronouncement. Well, she didn’t have to. The past was the past, and nothing could change it now.

  “Look,” Temple said, trying for patience. “Instead of arguing about a stupid kiss, why not focus on what’s really important? Like his plan for taking down the network.”

  “Yes,” Violet agreed unexpectedly. “She’s right. Who cares who kissed who? We need to decide whether or not we make an ostensible alliance with him, help him.” She still looked furious, and Temple couldn’t blame her.

  Zac’s expression was granite hard. “I’m sorry, is there a decision to make here? The man has destroyed countless lives, and I’m not getting involved with anyone who could be a potential threat to Eva.”

  Eva rolled her eyes. “You gotta chill out, Zac. I’m fine.”

  “I don’t care how fine you are. It’s not happening.”

  A cold shred of doubt gathered in Temple’s gut. “Okay, I understand you don’t trust him, and that’s reasonable. But I’m here as a demonstration of that trust, and I’m pretty certain he wouldn’t have handed me over to Elijah if he hadn’t meant what he said.”

  “It’s a meaningless gesture.” Zac’s precise British accent was clipped. “If he knows you’re an assassin, he also knows you can handle yourself. Plus, I bet you anything he’s also bloody aware that Elijah wouldn’t harm you.”

  All true. All fucking true. She didn’t look away from Zac’s penetrating amber gaze. “I have information on him. I know his identity as Theodore Fitzgerald. I know where he lives. I’m a risk to his anonymity.” She paused. “All of those things can be used against him, so it’s not just violence directed to me he was concerned about, it’s what that information could do to him if it got out.”

  Eva let out a breath. “She’s got a point, Zac.”

  The big mercenary’s attention flicked over to her. “You can’t seriously want to do this. You, of all people.”

  Eva scowled and thrust her hands in the pockets of her black jeans. “Yeah, okay, so no, I don’t. But … I’m torn. If Temple’s right and Jericho really is planning on a big takedown, then I want to be part of that. I want to help. Fuck, that’s what I’ve been trying to do for the past seven years.”

&nbs
p; “I’m with Eva.” Violet’s voice was flat with certainty. “I know you don’t want to trust him, but at least give him a chance to prove himself. You don’t have anything to lose after all.”

  That Zac didn’t like this was obvious. His jaw was tight, tension radiating from him, making the cold in Temple’s gut get even colder. “We have a USB memory stick with a lot of incriminating information on it. Which means we can do this without his help.”

  “Can you?” Temple asked quietly, feeling she had to say something. Anything. “Sure you might have some information, manpower and resources, but he’s the one who’s built all the alliances. Who has all the information the authorities need. He’s at the center of all of it. If you attempt it and only manage to smash a couple of those rings, what’s going to happen to the rest? The Triads, the Russian mafia, they’re gun-shy. If they hear of shit going down, they’ll pull out. They’ll start protecting themselves and those networks will be lost.”

  “Fuck,” Elijah muttered. “We’re going to need him, Rutherford. No way around it.”

  “If what she’s saying is true,” Zac replied coldly.

  “Why the hell would I lie?” Temple tried to make her voice sound completely level. “I have no horse in this race.”

  But the intensity in Zac’s gaze didn’t lessen. “Unless you’re trying to save him.”

  “All right, all right,” Eva murmured. “Enough. We need Alex and Gabe, and Honor and Katya in on this too.” She moved over to the tall Brit and put a hand on his arm. “Why don’t you go call them?”

  There was something about the two of them that caught at Temple, in the same way watching Violet and Elijah together caught at her. A kind of understanding flowed between them, a wordless connection that had a part of her yearning in a way she hadn’t experienced before. She’d never felt lonely in all the years since she’d left home, or at least, she didn’t miss not having someone around who knew her and understood her.

  The only yearning she’d felt for someone else was for her sister.

  Yet now she could feel an … emptiness inside her. A hunger. She wanted someone to touch her like Eva was touching Zac. Wanted someone to hold her the way Elijah had put his arm around Violet. Someone who was there for her. Someone who made her feel safe on a level that went beyond merely physical. Someone who made her feel less alone.

  Theo. You want that with Theo.

  No. What she wanted was to find Thalia. Until that happened, she couldn’t think of anything else, still less what was going on with Theo.

  Zac had moved over to the windows, his cell phone in his hand, while Eva turned around, glancing over at Violet. She pulled a face. “We had to do it, Violet,” she said quietly. “After everything that’s happened, we had to.”

  Temple said nothing. She’d heard what had happened to the small, silver-haired woman. Eva had been kept for two years as a sex-slave by Fitzgerald himself.

  Theo’s father.

  Imagine having to live with the knowledge that your father was a murderer. A rapist. A slaver. And then try to imagine being slowly turned into that very same monster by the person who was supposed to protect you …

  Temple’s throat constricted. And she’d thought her old man had been the biggest shit to walk the face of the earth. What had Theo’s father done to him to make him think that faking his own death was the only option?

  “He’s still my brother,” Violet replied.

  Elijah had moved close to her again, sliding his arm around her and drawing her in close. She leaned her head against his shoulder, her gaze finding Temple’s. “You said you believed him. Why?”

  Carefully Temple considered her words. “Because we talked. And the things he told me … There was something in his eyes. He looked—”

  “Tired,” the other woman interrupted softly. “He looked tired. Yeah, I saw it too.” She closed her eyes all of a sudden. “I can’t imagine his life. I just can’t imagine it. All the dreams he had, all those plans.”

  That awful ache had taken hold of Temple again, sinking its claws in deep. And even though some part of her didn’t want to know, a greater part of her did. “What plans?”

  Violet sighed and opened her eyes again, grief glittering in the depths. “He was going to get married. And once he’d finished his law degree, he had a job in a firm all lined up. He and his fiancée were even scouting out apartments. They were going to move in together…” Violet stopped. “Her name was Rose. She was lovely.”

  Oh God. He’d had a fiancée. He’d had a career. He’d had a life. And he’d sacrificed all of it.

  The ache deepened into a dull pain, one that went right through her.

  She hadn’t had any plans. When she’d been smaller, before she knew how the world worked, she’d wanted to be a movie star or be on TV, because the lives of those people seemed far nicer than her own by comparison. Then she’d gotten older and realized that unlike those people on TV, there was no escape for her. Her family was on the poverty line, the local school was where the dealers hung out, and there were no jobs to be had unless you liked earning money on your back. No hope for a better life. The best she could have hoped for if she’d stayed was marrying some guy in the area who at least had a job and could look after her.

  She didn’t know what was worse: that Theo had had all of that or the fact that he’d had to give it up. At least she’d had nothing to lose.

  “That’s … awful,” Temple said, conscious of the fact that her voice sounded thick.

  Violet’s blue eyes sharpened on her all of a sudden. “Why didn’t he tell me about all of this? Why didn’t he at least give me some hint of what he was doing?”

  “He wanted to protect you.” Temple held the other woman’s gaze, willing her to believe it, because it was true. “He didn’t want to drag you into it.”

  “He still should have told me. I’ve spent a whole month thinking he’s this monster—”

  “Don’t make the mistake of thinking he’s innocent,” Eva cut her off shortly. “Sure, his intentions may have been good, but while he’s been setting himself up as King Trafficker, people have been killed. Raped. Their lives utterly destroyed. And after sixteen years of that shit? No one stays unchanged.” Her gray eyes flicked to Temple’s, sharp, perceptive. “Do they, Temple?”

  She didn’t have sixteen years of “that shit.” She only had seven. But there was no mistaking the look in Eva’s gaze. You’ve taken lives. You know there’s no coming back from that.

  Anger moved inside her, slow and heavy. An instinctive, defensive reaction. She opened her mouth to deny it, but Elijah forestalled her.

  “I’m not innocent.” His voice was level. “And neither is Rutherford. Does that make us monsters, Eva?”

  Eva’s gaze flickered at that, looking over to where Zac stood talking on his cell phone. “No, I guess not.”

  Temple found herself gazing at the man standing at Violet’s back with his arm around her. The man who’d helped her once years ago, who’d given her the tip with regard to Fitzgerald. He’d been the guy’s right-hand man, his lieutenant, and she knew what that would have entailed. Elijah Hunt was as far from innocent as it was possible to get.

  And yet there he stood, a lovely woman in his arms, and despite the coldness in his tone and the air of suppressed violence around him, there was something in the way he looked at Violet. In how that coldness vanished from his voice when he spoke to her. At his posture, protective and yet relaxed, his thumb stroking absently over the skin of her wrist.

  Was that happiness? Had he found it with her? Was it possible for a man with blood on his hands to have that? To find some redemption?

  Maybe for him. Not for you.

  Zac must have finished his conversation because right then his voice fell silent and he put his phone away. Eva crossed over to him, going to stand right in front of him. He straightened, and, moving with extreme deliberation, he raised a gloved hand, took a handful of Eva’s hair and pulled her head back. Then, obvious
ly not giving a crap about all the people in the room, he covered her mouth in a hard, possessive kiss.

  Shock pulsed through Temple. She kept expecting Eva to pull away, to say something sharp, sarcastic, and cutting, but the other woman didn’t do anything of the kind. She merely stood there, letting Zac kiss her in that possessive way, her small hands spread on his chest.

  Temple heard Violet murmur something to Elijah, but she didn’t take it in, too busy staring at Zac and Eva. She shouldn’t look, she knew that. Not at such an intensely private and vulnerable moment. But she simply couldn’t drag her gaze away from the two of them.

  Eventually, after what seemed like a very long moment, Zac’s hold on Eva’s hair loosened and he released her, trailing his fingers in a caressing movement through the long, white strands. He looked down into her face and again, something wordless passed between them. Then he lifted his gaze to where Elijah stood with Violet. “Alex and Gabe are in agreement.” His voice was as calm and as level as it always was, as if he hadn’t just kissed Eva passionately in front of everyone. “They think you should accept Jericho’s offer, Hunt. Stop taking down operations here and ally with him. Then we wait to see if he does what he says he’s going to do.”

  Elijah’s expression was granite. “That’s a fuck load of trust we’re giving him.”

  “Then it’s lucky we have an insider.” And his gaze shifted to Temple.

  She ignored the cold lump inside her that hadn’t gone away, that felt like it was stuck there, a piece of grit inside an oyster that wasn’t going to turn into a pearl any time soon. That was only going to hurt. “What are you thinking?”

  “Yes,” Violet said, her voice sharp. “What are you thinking, Zac?”

  “All I’m thinking is that Temple here can make sure Jericho does what he promised,” Zac replied mildly. “Make sure that whatever information he said he was going to release is actually released.”

  “What makes you think I can do that?” She had no doubt she could, even if she believed Theo wasn’t going to make good on his promise. But she wanted to hear what the rest of them thought.