Devereaux Billionaires Complete Series: Books 1-4

by Mallory Crowe

  Jace sat in the recliner and looked out over the room. “I told you. Because there’s a man who is very good at killing people who is unfortunately interested in you.”

  Emma rolled over on her side and rested her head on her hand. “So? That’s not your problem. Are Luke and Michael paying you? I didn’t think Luke would ever want to see you again after he found out what you did to me.”

  He scoffed. “What I did to you? If I remember correctly, I think you did a few things to me too.”

  She could feel the blush taking over her face and wished desperately that Jace didn’t notice. “You know what I meant.”

  Jace leaned forward, resting his arms on his legs. “Why did you do it?”

  Great. He was answering questions with questions now. “Do what?”

  “Me. You don’t know me all that well. I’m sure you have and can do better. So why last night? What happened?”

  Damn it. How dare he compare what she did to him to what he did to her? “I slept with you because I cared about you,” she snapped. “You were different than anyone I ever met and I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life thinking I was never with you.” As soon as the words were out, she wished she could take them back. As though she needed to be any more vulnerable than she already was in front of Jace.

  At least he didn’t look too smug at her unfortunate confession. Instead, he rose and stood over her. “Did you ever stop to think that I feel the same?”

  Emma couldn’t speak as her eyes met his. No. He couldn’t feel the same. He would’ve been honest with her if he had. He would’ve been helping her, not running around behind her back. “No,” she finally said. “I never thought that.”

  His jaw tightened as though he wanted to defend himself, but whatever he wanted to say, he didn’t. “I’m using the bathroom,” he finally said. “So you have thirty seconds to change so you don’t have to sleep in your damn jeans. Then you can go to sleep and pretend I don’t exist again.”

  Michael nodded a thanks to the guard as he sat down. He looked around at the jail visiting area. The whole thing was just so...depressing.

  The colors were either beige or gray, and everyone he’d passed who wasn’t a guard had an air of hopelessness that only came from people in especially hard times. Hell, he felt like shit being here and he didn’t even like the inmate he was going to see. How horrible would it be to visit a mother or brother in a place like this?

  Before he could dwell too much on all the different turns life could’ve taken, the door behind the glass he sat in front of opened and there was his nemesis. He allowed himself to feel a brief moment of victory as the guard led in Joslyn.

  Her dyed red hair had grown out, so there was a good inch or two of her brown roots visible. She wore the standard drab gray outfits of all the inmates with the name of the jail stamped on the back.

  The guard led her to the seat. Joslyn narrowed her eyes at Michael as she picked up the phone on the other side of the glass. “Funny,” she said. “I was told I was meeting my lawyer.”

  Michael knew she probably picked up on the fact that he’d paid the guards to lie to her but he wasn’t about to admit it. “The man at the front must’ve been confused.”

  “Well, now that we have this cleared up, have a shitty day, Michael.”

  Before she could stand, Michael said, “Your sister is in trouble.”

  Joslyn paused for a moment before she responded. “I don’t have any family, remember? Luke made that very clear.”

  “Some guy met with her the other day. He said his name was Dave and threatened that she’d pay if she didn’t get him some USB drive and your computer. Care to share where that USB drive is?” The question burned in his throat. The very notion of needing his cousin to help him with anything went against everything inside him.

  Emma and Joslyn were practically polar opposites. Emma was welcoming and funny. Joslyn always had better things to do than associate with family, and even back when she was in high school, Michael could see that her mind always calculated the best way to get ahead. His minor dislike had turned to full-on disdain after his aunt and uncle died. He knew everyone handled grief differently, but Joslyn didn’t even bother to fake any tears. She was going out with friends, buying new cars and had even scheduled to have the entire Devereaux Georgia estate completely remodeled.

  Luckily, Luke and Michael were able to get her access to the family funds blocked by then. After they were able to prove she was an official suspect in her parents’ death, they celebrated that she’d never have access to the family money again. It might never bring back his family, but at least he could cut the bitch off from her one true love: money.

  “I can’t help you.” The corner of her mouth twisted up as though she enjoyed seeing him squirm.

  “If you don’t like me, fine. But don’t take your anger at Luke and me out on your sister. She’s always supported you.”

  She scoffed. “Support is a strong word, but at least she never hated me as much as you. You’ve been around for a while, Michael. You know that when you ask for help, you need some sort of leverage. So if I do help you, what are you willing to offer me?”

  Fucking bitch. “I don’t have anything for you. You’re going to prison for years. No possibility of a plea deal since there is no doubt you’re guilty as hell. Your only saving grace right now is that you failed to kill Victoria. That’s what’s keeping you away from life in prison.”

  She leaned back and smirked at Michael. “For someone so good at business, you still have such a hard time getting the most basic concepts of life. If you don’t have leverage, you need to fake it.”

  Realization hit him like a brick to the face. “You faked it.”

  “Sometimes you have to play the cards you’re dealt. I saw an opportunity to improve myself and I took it.”

  “So when this guy goes banging on Emma’s door demanding things you stole, there’s no possible way for her to give it to him.”

  “Oh, I don’t think that is going to happen. The Dave I met wasn’t exactly the knock on the door type. She’ll never know what hit her.”

  Before Michael could say anything else, Joslyn hung up the phone and stood to signal the guards to take her back. “Joslyn!” called Michael, not sure whether she could hear him. “Who does Dave work for?”

  She gave him a wink before she turned away. “Who does he work for?” shouted Michael again, but by then it was too late. She was already gone, and the jail workers on his side approached him with stern expressions.

  Before they could yell at him, Michael twisted away and stormed away from the visiting section. He needed to call Emma back and give her the news, but the very thought of telling her the situation she was in made him want to throw up. Luke never should’ve let her go back home. At least if she were here, Luke and Michael could keep an eye on her. There were people they could hire for the times neither of them could be around her. They could track down this Dave guy and stop him before he got close.

  But now the only way he could protect her was through a phone call. The only saving grace was that Jace Lance was still with her, but even that was questionable. When Michael had met with the man, he’d seemed professional enough. Michael never thought that Jace would sleep with Emma.

  For that matter, he never thought Emma would sleep with Jace. They might be the definition of polar opposites, but he couldn’t fault the man for good taste in women. But if Luke was right about how pissed off Emma had been when she left, Michael could only imagine what had gone down when Jace showed up at the Devereaux estate.

  Something must’ve gone right, because when she’d called Michael that morning, it didn’t sound as if she’d killed him. She hadn’t sounded happy about it, but she hadn’t killed him. As angry as Michael was at Jace at the moment, he was just damn grateful Emma wasn’t alone.

  Michael’s private car waited for him outside the jail. He got in and told Jim, his driver, to head back to the office. Once there, he could handle
the call to Emma and tell her that he couldn’t help at all. He was used to making unpleasant calls in his office. He could handle it better there.

  Pinching the bridge of his nose, he leaned against the seat and took a breath. Everything had been going so well. The company had turned record profits. He and Luke were probably on the best terms they’d been on for years. Joslyn had been arrested and would no longer be a problem anymore.

  But he should know better. Just like whenever he sat down to analyze why the new software being designed wasn’t keeping everything out that it should. At first, it would seem as if there were an easy solution, but as he drilled down closer and closer to the problem, it always ended up being more complex than he originally anticipated.

  But once he got down to those complexities, then he could demolish whatever virus he was going after and make a firewall ten times more powerful than before. He just had to look at this problem like a virus. Once he drilled down and found out who was controlling this Dave guy, he could demolish the real danger and keep his family safe.

  The car stopped in front of the towering DevX Tech building a few blocks away from Times Square. Michael nodded his thanks to Jim before he climbed out of the car. The building guards didn’t ask for his credentials or ID, since they all knew him. He took the elevator up to the executive floor, running his security badge over the keypad, signaling that he had the authority to go to that level.

  DevX Tech. He tried to run a lean operation, but a certain amount of top-tier talent demanded flashier offices. The software field in general was known for fancy perks for all employees. The executive level included a fully stocked lunchroom, a gym, and a rec room that included a pool, Ping-Pong and foosball table.

  It sure as hell made it easier for him to pull the long hours that he was becoming more and more used to.

  The elevator doors opened to the executive floor and Michael made his way straight to his office. Though they enforced an open door policy, Michael kept his door locked whenever he wasn’t in his office due to some of the more sensitive documents he kept.

  He paused when he noticed that not only was the door open, but someone sat at his desk. Not at the visitor side of the desk, but in his damn chair.

  Motherfucker, this was the last thing he needed today. He quickened his stride and pulled out his phone. But instead of getting scared when the woman in the chair saw him, she simply sat up straighter and looked him over.

  Michael didn’t quite know what to make of her. She was bombshell gorgeous, with thick, curly dark hair and deep brown eyes. Except her eyes were stone cold as she observed him without a hint of guilt or shame for breaking into his office.

  “You have two seconds to tell me who you are or I’m calling the cops.”

  The corner of her mouth hooked up. “Well, look no further.” She picked something off the desk and held it up.

  Shit. That looked like a pretty official badge. He held out a hand. “Can I see that?”

  The woman pulled it back a bit. “No. But you can call my home office and verify the badge number.”

  And he sure as hell was going to do that. As soon as he found out what she was doing there. “Can I help you with something, Officer?”

  “At the FBI, we’re referred to as agents, actually. And I’m here to help you.” He raised a questioning brow as he waited for her to continue. “My name is Evelyn Price, and I can save your cousin, but only if I get the full cooperation of you and your brother.”

  Emma hung up the phone and looked out over the front of her home. The picturesque trees that swayed in the breeze. The pristine, curving drive that led up to her family home that she’d been so desperate to get back to.

  And all for nothing.

  “What did Michael say?” asked Jace from behind her.

  For a moment, Emma was so tempted to toss her phone out into the perfect scenery that surrounded her. Damn it, why couldn’t anything go right?

  Jace apparently picked up on her mood. “That bad?”

  She tightened her lips and tried to take deep, calming breaths. “There is no USB. She faked it. Wouldn’t tell Michael who she blackmailed, but was nice enough to laugh at the idea that Dave was sniffing around me.”

  “Don’t worry, Emma. We’ll handle this.”

  She snorted. “We’re not doing anything. The second Michael and Luke find someone else qualified to be my babysitter, you’re going back to New York.” The words burned in her throat. The very idea that she needed someone to watch out for her drove her crazy, let alone the idea that Jace was the one who would be watching.

  And instead of fighting her, Jace stayed quiet. Somehow that pissed her off even more. Did he want to be the one down here? He’d said that he cared about her last night. If he was telling the truth, wouldn’t he be more insistent about it?

  All morning, he’d been this silent, constant presence. As she did her morning tasks, walked around the gardens to make sure everything was doing well, checked her email, emptied the dishwasher she’d filled before she’d left for New York, Jace was there and not saying a word.

  And as much as she wanted him gone, the thought of a stranger doing the same thing seemed somehow worse. Jace was seeing her most intimate rituals, but they had slept together. Somehow him standing by her side as she did mundane tasks like laundry didn’t seem as annoying.

  Not to mention he hadn’t asked for a single thing. She’d even been a little sadistic and hadn’t offered him any breakfast. Now that even her stomach was growling, Jace had to be starving. He probably needed to eat twice as much as her a day just to maintain all his muscle.

  “I need to go to town,” she said. “We can get some breakfast and some food to stock the pantry.”

  Jace nodded. “Sounds good. Are you ready now?” He wore the same outfit as the day before, gun securely in place under his jacket. He was probably ready to leave at any given moment if needed.

  She wasn’t quite as ready to drive off at the drop of a hat. “I need my purse first.” He nodded and followed her inside through the entryway, up the stairs and back to her bedroom where she’d left her purse the night before.

  Even though he’d been in the room with her the entire night before, the feeling of him behind her, watching her, as she bent over to pick up the shoulder bag set every nerve on edge. But she supposed she shouldn’t be surprised by her nerves. She’d never had any men over to her family home. The few boyfriends she’d had in the past had all started and ended on various college campuses.

  Most of the available men in town were too afraid to approach a member of the Devereaux family, and the ones confident enough to approach were too arrogant for Emma’s tastes. Which was strange because Jace sure wasn’t lacking in the arrogance factor, but somehow it didn’t bother her as much.

  Maybe because even though he was always right, he would take the time to listen to her opinions? Or because the few times he did make mistakes, he was able to admit it and shrug it off?

  Not that it mattered, thought Emma as she grabbed her keys and headed out of the bedroom, Jace dutifully a few steps behind. As soon as they were down the stairs, Jace quickened his stride so he could reach the front door first and hold it open for her. “Thanks,” she said under her breath, belatedly realizing she’d broken her own rule and said something pleasant to him.

  “Can I drive?” he asked as they approached her car.

  Emma let out a huff. Just when she thought they were getting better, he went and said something else frustrating. “Don’t trust a woman behind the wheel?”

  He narrowed his eyes at her. “Or it’s a really nice car and I’d love the opportunity to try it out.”

  Oh great, she was being paranoid again. She thought back to how excited he’d seemed to try out Joslyn’s Jaguar.

  “But I really want to drive because on the off chance we have to make a quick getaway, I’d like to know how it handles.”

  Looked as if she wasn’t the only paranoid one. “Go for it.” She tossed him t
he keys. Of course he snatched them out of the air easily. But instead of crossing over to the driver’s side, he remained next to the passenger door and held it open for her.

  Emma slid inside and once again found herself thanking him. Darn Southern manners were so ingrained in her she couldn’t seem to turn them off.

  Jace slid in the driver’s seat and the engine roared to life. Well, it was a luxury car, so it sort of hummed to life. “Where to?”

  “Turn right at the end of the drive onto the highway. It’s about ten miles down the road until Main Street. I like to get a lot of my food from the weekend farmers’ market, but since we probably need to eat between now and then, we can stop at the big box store to pick up essentials.”

  “Works for me.” He put the car in gear and navigated through the winding driveway.

  Emma let her head fall back against the headrest and stared out the window. This whole silent treatment she’d been giving Jace all morning was much easier to maintain when they weren’t enclosed in a tiny space together. “Tell me something about yourself,” she blurted out.

  His eyes shifted between the road and her. “What exactly did you want to know?”

  Emma shrugged. “I don’t know. You keep telling me to trust you, but I don’t really know anything about you. You already know pretty much everything there is to know about me and you’ve taken over my family home. Don’t I deserve something in return? So tell me something that you’ve never told anyone before.”

  Jace was silent and Emma sighed. What was she expecting? It wasn’t as if they were dating. He had no reason to be anything other than distant.

  “My real name is Sean,” he said softly.

  Emma perked up in her seat. “Sean?” She supposed the name fit him. Strong. Virile. But she didn’t know if she could ever think of him as anything besides Jace.

  “I mentioned earlier that I enlisted in the Army when I was sixteen. I got away with it by signing up as my brother, Jason. Except I never got used to being called by his name, so I shortened it.”