In Bed With the Billionaire

by Jackie Ashenden

  Zac raised one dark brow. “I’m sure you know already, Temple. Do I really need to say it out loud? Jericho’s your lover. You’re closer to him than anyone else.”

  There wasn’t any point in denying it, not when she supposed it must be obvious. “Okay,” she said carefully. “I can make sure he does what he promised.”

  “What makes you so sure we can trust her?” Elijah glanced at Temple, suspicion in his eyes. “If she’s his lover, that doesn’t mean she’ll do anything for us.”

  It was a fair enough question. She didn’t say anything, watching Zac to see what he’d say.

  Zac’s amber gaze settled on her. “She might if I told her that I’d find her sister for her.”

  Everything in her went tight, and she had to not show it. “Jericho told me she was alive.”

  “But did he tell you where she was? Does he even know? I can find her, Temple. And after all this is over, I’ll tell you where she is.”

  It wasn’t an issue, of course. Not when she was sure Theo meant what he said, that he would destroy his trafficking networks when the time came. But still, she wasn’t going to refuse if it meant she’d be seeing Thalia sooner.

  “In that case,” she said. “I have no problem with making sure the information Jericho has gets into the right hands.”

  “And Theo stays alive.” Violet was insistent. “No matter what happens, he comes out of this in one piece. Okay?”

  Temple turned to look at the other woman, catching a glimpse of the barely hidden desperation in her blue eyes. God, she knew that desperation. She knew what it was like to hope. “Yes,” she said, the only answer she could give. “I’ll make sure he comes out of it in one piece. No matter what.”

  The others didn’t say anything to that, and soon the conversation moved on.

  But later, as she was coming out of the bathroom, she found Zac waiting for her in the little hallway just outside the door.

  She paused, her heart sinking, a part of her somehow knowing what he was going to say. “This is about the contract, isn’t it?”

  Zac was leaning against the wall, his arms folded. “Yes.”

  “What about it?”

  “It stands,” he said flatly. “After Jericho has sent the information to the authorities, I want you to take him out.”

  Her heart squeezed suddenly tight. “Why?”

  Zac’s expression was hard. “Because it doesn’t matter how good his intentions are, he’s still a threat. An unknown quantity. He’s a loose end, and I don’t like loose ends. Especially not where Eva is concerned.”

  “He wouldn’t hurt Eva,” she said and believed it. He wouldn’t, especially if he knew she was one of the women his father had hurt personally.

  “How do you know that?” Zac’s piercing golden stare was almost impossible to meet. “He’s been the head of a global trafficking network for sixteen years. You don’t get to be that powerful without a few bodies in the closet. And in this instance, a few of those bodies are going to be female.”

  The pressure in her chest increased and she had to fight to breathe. “I’m not saying he’s innocent.”

  “No, but your instinct is to defend him, I can see it.” He tilted his head, his focus on her sharpening. “Why? Is the sex that good?”

  Anger rose, adding to the pressure. “It’s got nothing to do with the sex,” she snapped, not quite able to keep it out of her voice. “Jesus, you of all people should know that nothing is ever quite as black and white as it looks.”

  Something moved in his gaze at that, though she couldn’t tell what it was. “Quite frankly I don’t care how complicated or otherwise it is. My primary focus is keeping Eva safe, and if that includes taking down the son of the man who hurt her, then that’s what I’ll do.”

  She wanted to argue, wanted to tell Zac that no, Theo wasn’t innocent, but he wasn’t as guilty as he seemed either. Did that mean he deserved to die? Was there no hope for him? No hope of redemption?

  Because if there’s no hope for him, there’s no hope for you.

  She almost shook her head to get rid of the thought. It was different with her. She’d only been defending herself.

  You weren’t defending yourself from all those other people. You killed them for money.

  The breath caught in her throat, the pressure in her chest intense, painful. “You find my sister, and I’ll do whatever you want,” she said, forcing the words out, forcing herself to say something so she wouldn’t have to listen to the voice in her head. “And if that includes putting a bullet through Jericho then I will.”

  Zac didn’t smile, only gave a sharp nod of his head. “Give me her name and anything else you can think that might be useful. I’ll start putting out feelers to see what I can find.”

  She swallowed. “And Violet? What about her?”

  Zac’s jaw hardened. “I’m sorry for Violet, but my concern is for Eva. And for all the women that have been hurt by him and his father.” He paused, searching her face. “Don’t you want to take a little justice for your sister, Temple? For all those women who were hurt?”

  This could be your shot at redemption. Your chance to right the balance.

  Temple stared at him, feeling the weight of something terrible settling down over her. Something she’d thought she’d escaped. An inevitability. Maybe there was no hope of redemption for Theo. But maybe, if she did this, there’d be a chance for her.

  “Yes,” she said thickly. “Yes I do.”

  “Good.” He pushed himself away from the wall. “This conversation is just between the two of us, understand? No one else needs to know.”

  “I understand.”

  It was just a contract, and she’d taken lots of contracts before. Killing a man was easy after all.

  But as Zac walked away, Temple felt as though she’d just signed her soul away to the devil.

  * * *

  Jericho leaned on the rough stone rim of Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, watching tourists taking photos of each other. Not far away, Dmitri sat on a bench, ostensibly reading the paper. There were a few of his other guards dotted around the area, all of them blending in with the crowds the way they were supposed to.

  Hunt had texted him that morning that he had an answer for him and would deliver it, along with Temple, at eleven a.m. at the fountain.

  Nervousness wasn’t something he felt these days, and he didn’t feel it now—at least he didn’t think the strange unsettled feeling in the pit of his gut was nervousness. But maybe it was. Though, he had no reason to feel nervous. If Hunt wasn’t on board, then Jericho would just have to forget his newly found scruples and take over his father’s erstwhile empire by force.

  He didn’t want to do it, and he’d try not to hurt Hunt in the process, but if that’s how it was going to go down, then that’s what he’d have to do.

  Most options, in his experience, tended to be limited ones.

  And then, right on eleven, as a couple appeared at the top of the stairs leading down to the fountain, he suddenly realized what that unsettled feeling in his gut was.

  It wasn’t nervousness. It was excitement.

  Because he couldn’t take his eyes off the couple descending the stairs. Not Hunt, immediately recognizable in a black overcoat, but the woman beside him. Small and slender, red hair cascading down her back. Temple.

  And it was her he was excited about seeing. Her, he realized suddenly, that he’d missed the night before.

  He’d tried not to think about her at all, sitting in his office all night, drinking tumbler after tumbler of Scotch and none of it touching the sides. He’d been going over the information his men had given him about his father’s empire, while at the same time dealing with issues in Europe. The Lychenkos were getting impatient, which was irritating, and he was debating the wisdom of arranging a happy accident for the pair of them. Probably not the best tactic when the rest of the family were getting cold feet, but at least it would get
them out of his hair.

  Certainly thinking about the Lychenkos was better than thinking about the woman he’d given to Elijah. The woman he couldn’t get out of his head, but should.

  It wasn’t because he was worried about her. Elijah wouldn’t hurt her and even if he did, she was more than able to protect herself. No, he was far more selfish than that. It was because he was hard for her and wanted her under him. Wanted her fire between his hands, heating him up, because sometimes he just got so fucking cold.

  He was cold now, too. Christ, he couldn’t wait to touch her.

  However, it wouldn’t do to appear desperate so he stayed exactly where he was as Temple and Hunt approached. Hunt’s expression gave nothing away, but Temple’s …

  He frowned. She looked pale, and there was a certain tightness to her jaw. Her gaze when it met his was opaque, but he didn’t miss the flicker of wariness that moved in the gold depths. As if she was … afraid.

  Jesus. What the fuck had happened? Had Hunt done something to her, after all? By God, if he had, he was a dead man.

  Slowly, Jericho pushed himself away from the rough stone of the fountain, straightening up as Hunt came to a stop in front of him.

  “Here she is,” the other man said shortly. “Safe and sound.”

  Jericho ignored him, staring at Temple, trying to resist the urge to grab her and pull her to him. “Are you okay?” he asked. “You’re not hurt?”

  She shook her head. “I’m fine.”

  No, she … wasn’t. Something had happened, he could feel it in his bones. Still, as much as that made him want to pull his gun and stick it straight up against Hunt’s forehead, he restrained the urge. The alliance. That’s what this was all about. That was the important thing.

  So instead, he held out his hand to her in wordless command. She didn’t hesitate, stepping away from Hunt and coming to stand beside him, taking his hand and letting him interlace his fingers with hers. They felt cold. Then again, it wasn’t the warmest day, and she was only wearing a coat.

  He held her hand tightly, the unsettled feeling inside him calming. Fuck, it was good to touch her again. To have her skin against his, feel her warmth. He tightened his fingers even more, fighting down the almost overwhelming urge to pull her away to the car he had parked not far off. Push her inside and take her right there in the backseat, not giving a fuck about who was watching.

  But Hunt was right in front of him, staring at him, the asshole’s black eyes way too sharp for his own good.

  “What’s the decision?” he asked, trying to make it sound like less of an order.

  “You have a deal,” Hunt said flatly. “I’ll put on hold my plans to dismantle the operations here and put it around that we’re forming an alliance to take advantage of the European trade routes.”

  Adrenaline surged in his bloodstream, a great wave of it.

  This was the last piece of the jigsaw and now he had it, the end was in sight. Fucking finally.

  He kept the triumph and the relief locked down, betraying nothing. “Excellent. In that case, I’ll require access to all the records you have on the various networks operating here. I’ll also be sending in some people who’ll be doing a little road trip for me.”

  Hunt’s gaze narrowed suspiciously. “Why?”

  “Because I can’t take down all the networks and the people involved unless I have incriminating information. Which means I’ll have to send people in to get it for me.” He paused and raised a brow. “Unless you have some already?”

  The other man was silent a moment, then he nodded slowly. “I’ll take a look. See what I can find. Fitzgerald was careful with his records, but Eva managed to download a whole lot of crap from his computer. There might be something there that could be useful.”

  Jericho didn’t flinch at the sound of his father’s name. He’d long gotten past that stage. “There better be. The faster I get that information, the faster I can take down this shit once and for all.”

  Hunt’s expression didn’t change. “Just because I agreed to this doesn’t mean I trust you.”

  “I’m not asking for your trust.” He found he was stroking Temple’s fingers over and over, an absent, comforting movement. Really, he should stop doing that. Yet he didn’t. “Just remember that I could have come in and taken everything you have by force. At any time. And I didn’t.”

  Hunt didn’t like that, his dark eyes glittering with menace. “You could certainly have fucking tried,” he said coldly. “Whether you would have succeeded is another story.”

  “Well, we can agree to disagree about that.” He paused. No, he shouldn’t ask. But then if he didn’t, he’d probably never know.

  Maybe it would make things easier if you didn’t?

  It would make things easier. And that was as good a reason as any to ask the question, since making things easier for himself was the last thing he wanted to do.

  “Did you tell Violet?”

  Temple’s hand in his tensed.

  He didn’t look at her, keeping his gaze firmly on Hunt’s. He would bear this no matter what the guy’s answer was, he just fucking would.

  “Yes,” Hunt said. “She believes you.”

  His chest hurt all of a sudden, the adrenaline rush of before turning into something else, all of it gathering into a hard, painful knot right behind his breastbone.

  She knew. She believed him. He wouldn’t end this with her thinking he was the bad guy, the ultimate villain. That he was stained with the same kind of darkness their father carried around inside him.

  “Oh, Peanut,” he whispered softly, very, very softly, so that no one would hear him.

  He wasn’t going to see her after this was all over, that much he knew. He wasn’t going to see her ever again. But that was for the best. For both of them probably.

  There was so much he wanted to say, reasons, justifications, explanations. But he didn’t say any of them. They were, after all, only one thing: excuses. And he couldn’t give Violet, of all people, excuses. Couldn’t give them to himself either.

  So all he said was, “Tell her I love her.” It would be the only chance he had to say the words to her.

  An expression he couldn’t name flickered through Hunt’s black eyes. “I’ll tell her.”

  Jericho held the other man’s gaze for a moment longer, then without a word, he turned and walked away, his hand firmly gripping Temple’s, heading in the direction of the lake.

  She walked beside him silently.

  “What did he do to you?” Jericho asked after a moment, keeping his gaze on the path ahead. “And don’t tell me nothing, don’t tell me you’re fine. I can see you’re not.”

  She didn’t answer immediately, but her hand remained relaxed inside his.

  They avoided another group of tourists and dodged a small knot of mothers pushing strollers.

  “I met Violet,” Temple said at last.

  His jaw felt tight, tension across his shoulders. “Was Hunt telling the truth? Did she really believe me?”

  “Yes. She did. And she—”

  “No,” he cut her off, not wanting to hear anymore. He’d told Hunt to pass on his message, that’s as much as he could do. It was better not to think about Violet now. “I don’t want to talk about Violet. That’s not what I asked anyway.”

  Temple sighed. “He didn’t touch me, Theo. I’m damn well telling the truth too.”

  “What did I tell you about that name?” He shot her a warning glance.

  Her mouth tightened. “Fine. Nothing happened to me. I was treated well. It’s all good.”

  But it wasn’t all good. Then again, it probably wasn’t the best time to talk to her about it now. He’d get it out of her one way or another later.

  He turned his attention away from her, staring straight ahead once more. “We’ll be flying back to Paris tonight. I have a few issues I need to deal with personally.”

  “Oh.” She was silent a minute. “My sister. You said you rescued her, that she was ali
ve. Do … do you know where she is?”

  Her sister … Ah, yes. That was the last thing he’d given her the day before. The picture of Thalia he’d managed to find.

  “No,” he replied. “I got Dmitri to put her on the first flight out of Paris. I know she arrived in the States and that she got help from the person I’d organized to set her up a new identity. Beyond that, I don’t know what happened to her or where she went.”

  “Right.” Another pause. “Is it possible to maybe find out?”

  He could. He could get someone to investigate what had happened to Thalia, find out the information for her.

  And you know what’ll happen once she has it. She’ll kill you and leave.

  “I could,” he answered. “But once you have the information, what’s to stop you from killing me right now?”

  Her face was pale, her expression with that hint of wariness to it. “Well, your plan to take down the trafficking rings for a start. I definitely don’t want to kill you before that happens.”

  “No, you probably don’t. Perhaps I’ll investigate then, see what I can find out. And once this is all over, I’ll give you the info if I find any.”

  This time she glanced at him, a bright flicker of gold, her expression unreadable. “Not before?”

  A group of joggers enveloped them for a second and he waited until they’d gone.

  “No,” he said, the word was quiet.

  She was quiet as they continued to walk on a little farther, then she said, “I gave you my surrender, and you still don’t trust me?”

  “Not when you won’t tell me the truth.”

  “The truth about what?”

  Shit, maybe now was the time.

  He stopped, forcing her to stop too, tugging on her hand so she had no choice but to turn to face him. “The truth about what happened to you at Hunt’s. Because something happened, Temple. You think I can’t see it in your eyes? You’re wary, you’re distant. Something’s changed, and I want to know what it is.”

  There was no flickering this time in her amber eyes. They met his without hesitation. “Nothing happened, Jericho. Nothing’s changed. So whatever it is you think you’re seeing, it isn’t there.”