Bad Boy Billionaire: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Romance)

by Claire Adams

  “Good night, Roxanne.”

  I knew she wanted to help more with Ana’s case, but after she had been strangled, I just couldn’t risk having her anywhere near the drama that was about to unfold. We were going to be dealing directly with Stephano and none of us knew what he was thinking about Roxanne. She was too much of a wild card and would have to stay back at the hotel.

  She wasn’t going to like it and I felt her pull away from me as we talked. But Roxanne definitely wasn’t going to be anywhere near Stephano if I had anything to say about it.

  I made sure to set an alarm so I would be able to wake up in the morning. After the night, we had just had, there was no way I was going to want to get out of bed when the sun rose. I was exhausted and I could tell Roxanne was, too.

  Typically, I didn’t have problems getting out of bed in the morning. In fact, I loved mornings. I liked to make a healthy breakfast or grab one when I was on the road. Often, I would workout before breakfast – and sometimes after. During this particular assignment, I hadn’t had much time for workouts, but I figured our night of sex had been plenty of exercise for the day.

  Sleeping with Roxanne had started to become a regular and comfortable thing. I didn’t care where her hands went now and instead I was able to sleep like a rock throughout the night. I liked having her in bed with me. It made me feel like life was normal. Not much about my life had been normal in the last few years, so I relished the idea that Roxanne and I might be able to put something together that seemed normal.

  When morning came, I certainly wasn’t rested because we had been up most of the night, but I felt ready to take on the day. I knew the day was going to be long, but that was alright. We had a plan and we were going to execute it like the professions we were. At least I could count on Nate and PJ to do a great job.

  Both of them came from the same world I did. They knew what it took to deal with a situation like we were going into. I was confident if we worked together as a team, we would be successful when the day was done. And that was all that mattered – bringing Ana home safe and sound and letting Jordan take care of her.

  We needed to eat and meet up with Chase, Nate, and PJ. Roxanne could stay at the hotel with Jordan while the rest of us figured out a way to meet up with Stephano. If all went right, we could end up with Ana in our custody by the end of the day.

  “Hey, let’s go grab some breakfast,” I said as I tried to peel my eyes open after turning off my alarm.

  But as I turned over in the bed, I realized that Roxanne wasn’t there. It was her hotel room, so she had to be around somewhere. But my gut had that horrible feeling that it sometimes got and I jumped up out of bed to check and see if she was in the bathroom.

  I knocked on the bathroom door, but when there was no answer there, I opened it up to look for her. Unfortunately, she was nowhere to be found. I looked around to see if I could find a note or anything from her and I didn’t see a thing. My stomach was in knots as I tried to figure out where she could have gone.

  Roxanne hadn’t been all that happy with me because I said she didn’t have to come with us to Stephano’s. Perhaps she had gone downstairs for breakfast without me, I thought as I got dressed and made my way back to my room.

  “Hey, have you seen Roxanne?” I asked Nate as I passed him in the hall.

  He was dressed and looked ready to take on the day. He had on a tacky-looking pair of pants and shiny shoes. He looked like one of the regulars on the Miami scene. It was a good touch since we were going to try and blend in that day. I certainly couldn’t have pulled off an outfit like that. I was actually pretty happy that Nate was the one who would be dealing with Stephano and not me. I couldn’t have worn that outfit without laughing.

  “You are leaving her room. I would guess she’s in there somewhere,” Nate laughed.

  “Nope, I think she went down to breakfast already.”

  “I’m on my way down there. I’ll keep here company,” he said with a wink.

  “For God sake, don’t make her uncomfortable. I’ll be down in ten minutes.”

  “I’ll make her really comfortable.”

  Nate knew just how to bug me when it came to women. I didn’t usually have someone around, but the times that I did, he made sure to drive me absolutely crazy. It had gotten him tackled on a few occasions when we were younger.

  I hurried and gathered my things in my room and made my way to breakfast downstairs, only to find Nate, Chase, Jordan, and PJ all sitting there, but no Roxanne. The feeling in my stomach continued as I looked at the four of them and realized that she was not there. She wasn’t in her room and she wasn’t at breakfast. Where the hell could she be?

  “She’s not here, bro,” Nate said.

  “Who?” PJ asked.

  “Roxanne.”

  “Oh, she came and visited with me early this morning. Gave me some tips on dealing with Stephano. She was very helpful.”

  PJ looked horrible, but a good horrible. Jordan had worked on her hair and makeup and PJ looked really damn close to what I imagined a woman who had been held captive would look like.

  Her cheeks were sunken in and her hair greasy. Even her collarbones appeared more prominent. After seeing her looking so put together the day before, it was hard to wrap my brain around how she looked as she sat there at breakfast.

  “Oh, good, I’m glad she visited with you. Do you know where she went after your talk?” I asked.

  I tried not to seem too alarmed, but Roxanne really didn’t have any place she should be going without me with her. Stephano was likely to figure out something was going on when he saw that she hadn’t been back to the hotel we were at before. Quite frankly, simply sending those men to the hotel was enough for me to think that she should stay away from Stephano altogether.

  “She said she would catch up with us later today and to be safe,” PJ said. “Was there somewhere you needed her to be?”

  “What’s up, Jackson? Where do you think she went?” Chase asked.

  “Not sure, I think she got mad when I said we didn’t need her to help anymore.”

  “What? Why would you say that to her?” Jordan angrily asked.

  From the tone of her voice, I knew that I had done something wrong. There was always a tone that women used when they thought you were being ridiculous. But the problem was I didn’t know exactly what it was that I had done that was so horrible. I had only asked her to stay at the hotel for her own protection. I wasn’t trying to be mean or anything like that. I just wanted to keep her safe.

  “Sorry. I didn’t think she would need to be involved anymore. We had the plan to use PJ today and I expect that we will get Ana while we are there today.”

  “Oh, God, Chase. Is this what he’s like all the time?” Jordan said in disgust.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I mean, you fucked her until all hours of the night last night and then told her you didn’t need her help anymore. Doesn’t that seem a little bit like you were using her? Don’t you think as a woman she probably felt horrible about having you stay with her and then you saying that?”

  The way Jordan said it made me feel horrible. I absolutely wasn’t using Roxanne. I was trying to protect her. I didn’t want her to be anywhere near Stephano or for him to have any clue that she was involved in anything we were doing. As far as he knew, Roxanne had run off with her new boyfriend. I would let Chase and Nathan deal with Stephano regarding PJ, and I would just stay in the background. It seemed like a good plan to me.

  “I wasn’t using her. I was protecting her so she didn’t have to be involved anymore,” I said firmly.

  “Did you ask what she wanted?” Chase asked.

  “No, I would assume she didn’t want to be killed by Stephano. But that was just my assumption.”

  I hated that Chase was stepping in, too. Now that he was married, he thought he knew everything about women. But only a few months ago, he would have done the exact same thing I had done and wouldn’t have known w
hat he did wrong, either.

  “I think what Jordan is trying to say, was that you should have discussed things with Roxanne. Especially after you two decided to make things physical. She could have assumed you just got what you wanted from her and then were telling her she wasn’t needed.”

  “Wow, Chase has become domesticated,” Nate laughed.

  “I could see how she would be confused. Especially coming from a lifestyle where people use those women and then drop them,” PJ added.

  “Well, what am I supposed to do now? She’s gone!”

  “She said she would see us later. Let’s just finish the job and you can make it up to her this evening,” PJ said as she looked at the group. “We should get going. It’s going to be difficult to get a meeting with Stephano.”

  I felt absolutely horrible, but I really didn’t think I had left Roxanne feeling like I had used her. My gut said that something else was going on. The only good thing was that she hadn’t taken any of her personal things from the hotel room. If she had planned on just leaving and never coming back, I would have expected some of her things to have been gone.

  “Alright, well, let’s get this party started. Chase or Nate, which one of you are going to sell PJ to Stephano?” I asked, although I had already decided that I thought Nate should do it. I was trying to communicate better since everyone seemed overly sensitive about things.

  “I think it should be Nathan,” Jordan said. “He seems more like the kind of guy who would buy a girl and then decide he didn’t want her after all.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Oh, it’s true, Nate. You do have commitment issues,” Chase laughed.

  “I’m only thirty-four years old! It’s not commitment issues. I’m just enjoying my single lifestyle.”

  Nate looked the part and he naturally acted the part; he was going to be the perfect person to sell PJ to Stephano. Now all we needed to do was get an appointment with him. Getting an appointment meant that we needed to have someone introduce Nate to Stephano. We were going to have to use PJ’s contact from the port authority.

  “Okay, okay, let’s get him on the phone with Stephano and get me sold so I can get some intel to you guys as soon as possible,” PJ said as she checked the camera she had in her eyeglasses.

  “Do you think he’ll let you keep my glasses on? This camera is our only linkto see what’s going on,” asked Jordan.

  “Yeah, he’s not going to care if she glasses. If anything, he’s going to care that she has clothes on. So no wire or any guns. We can’t risk him finding those,” Nate added.

  “Alright. Let’s move on this. I want to have this girl rescued by dinner time so I can eat a fat and juicy steak,” PJ said as she rubbed her stomach.

  Chapter 18

  ROXANNE

  After talking with PJ, it was clear that she had book smarts, but not street smarts. I felt like there was no way she was going to make it into Stephano’s house. If, by some miracle, she did make it into his house, he would quickly see through her plan and realize that she was not really from overseas at all.

  It drove me nuts that Jackson was pushing me out of being involved in the investigation. I knew what was going on just as well as PJ and the others. I was invested in helping Ana and it was more than just a job to me. I wanted to change my entire life and I was going to start by being there to get Ana out safely. Deep down, I knew I had a much better chance with Stephano than PJ or any of the guys could have. I knew him so much better than all of them combined.

  I couldn’t just stand by and watch as the whole operation went down in smoke. Ana’s life was still on the line and I couldn’t risk having her sent overseas. It had become personal now, and I was more determined than ever to make a difference and save her. She was a nice girl and didn’t deserve what was happening to her.

  The last few days with Jackson had opened up my heart more than I even knew was possible. I couldn’t remember the last time I had passionately cared about a cause. But there I was, worried to death that something bad was going to happen to Ana.

  If my plan worked out, then Jackson would have to look at me as more than just some girl that was there for him to have fun with. He would have to look at me as someone he could work with and certainly someone who deserved to be paid $250,000 for helping rescue Ana. I wasn’t a charity case, and I didn’t need Jackson to protect me. I had been looking out for myself my entire life.

  The best way to get Stephano on my side was to make sure he knew he was in control. He didn’t like it when the women who worked for him thought for themselves. This had been an area of contention between the two of us the entire time I had worked with him. But I knew right away what I had to do in order to gain his sympathies and get inside his house.

  “Punch me,” I said to Michaela.

  “Um, hi, Roxy, it’s good to see you, too. And no, I’m not going to punch you. But I did tell you never to call me again.”

  “I didn’t call. This time, I came to see you,” I said with a smile. “Come on, I’ve been gone and Stephano is going to be pissed. Just punch me, please.”

  “I’m going to punch you, but not because you want me to. I’m going to punch you because you’re putting me in danger by coming here. Stephano could be following you and you led him right to my work.”

  “Then punch me.”

  Without hesitation, Michaela punched me right in the mouth. I felt the sting of it as the pain radiated through my entire jaw. Soon, I felt the wet trickle of the blood as it fell from my split open lip.

  Michaela and I had our differences, but she knew as well as I did that there was no messing around with Stephano. If I was going to go back to him and beg for him to help take care of me, I needed to look like some serious shit had happened.

  I still didn’t know if Stephano had actually told his goon to strangle me behind the club. I didn’t think he had said any such thing, but I really had no guarantee. I could have been walking right in Stephano’s house when he wanted me dead. There was no safety net, no right or wrong, I had to just go with my gut.

  “Thanks,” I said as I turned to leave.

  “You be safe. You know he’s no one to mess around with. I can help you if you ever decide to actually get away from him.”

  “Thanks again ,Michaela. Take care of yourself.”

  I knew she didn’t hate me. Michaela was just trying to protect herself from what she knew Stephano was capable of. I would be doing the exact same thing if I still lived in Miami and had tried to escape Stephano. The thing Michaela didn’t understand was Stephano knew exactly where she was. He always kept track of his girls after they left him, just in case he ever needed a favor. The girls thought they had gotten away from him, but he never truly let them get away. He always kept them in his sights.

  My plan had always been to get far away from Miami, so far away that he wouldn’t bother looking for me. I had thought about moving out to Seattle or Portland. Anyplace that was on the west coast would have been just perfect.

  After meeting Jackson, though, I started to think about what life would be like if I really had a normal life. It was motivating to meet him and to have a semi-normal relationship with a man. Even if Jackson and I didn’t last after we rescued Ana, I would always be grateful to him for opening my eyes to what a normal life I could have away from Stephano.

  I didn’t take a taxi, and instead opted to walk to Stephano’s house from Michaela’s salon. It was early in the morning still, but I knew Stephano could track down a taxi if I took it to his house. He would find out where I had been and even find out where it had originally picked me up at the hotel before going to Michaela’s. I couldn’t risk that for Jackson and everyone else, so I walked.

  As I approached the front security guard, I took off my sunglasses so I could look him in the eyes. I had made an effort to smear my makeup so it looked like I had been crying. I was carrying the hi-heels and had dried blood from my broken lip on my face.

  “I’m just going to see a
friend,” I said as I looked the man in the eyes.

  “Okay,” he said without asking me another thing.

  I had to assume that the security guards had more than a few women coming and going from Stephano’s house. They probably didn’t consider a woman in a miniskirt and bare feet as a threat to him. Although, I was a huge threat to Stephano. I was going to get Ana out of his house – and any of the other women he had there. It was a fact that I was going to help take him down.

  “I need to see Stephano,” I said as a man came to his gate.

  “He’s busy.”

  “Tell him Roxy is here.”

  The man stepped away from the gate and talked into his walkie-talkie before he returned and opened the gate. I knew Stephano would let me in. I knew there was no way he could turn down the opportunity to tell me I was wrong and he was right.

  Or, Stephano was letting me into his house so he could finish the job that he set his goon out to do the other night. I felt my heart beating faster as I walked toward the door. I could have just willingly brought myself to the home of Stephano Copal when he wanted me dead.

  I felt sweat start to form on my brow and I wiped it off before Stephano could see me. I couldn’t let him know how scared I was of him. He had to think I was so scared of the man I had been with that I was willing to come back to him. I needed him to see that he was needed by me. That was the only way I would ever be able to convince him to let me stay in his home.

  As I walked inside, it looked surprisingly normal. There wasn’t a big party going on and there weren’t dozens of security guards all around as I had expected. There were expensive paintings on the walls and high end furnishings throughout the house. It was a very stylish house that could have been in a magazine even. It surprised me.

  “Have a seat, he’ll be right here,” the guard said as he pointed to the plush couch in the middle of the room.

  “So, your independence didn’t treat you so well?” Stephano said as he walked in from the kitchen.