Devereaux Billionaires Complete Series: Books 1-4

by Mallory Crowe

  He hit the number for one of the higher levels, and the high-speed elevator had them there in no time. The doors opened to a less impressive hallway, but it was obvious that there was something big going on in the room behind them. But in front of the doors were two men in suits and clipboards. It made sense that this would be invitation only.

  Luke confidently strode over to them and gave his name. The “bouncer” looked over his board and turned a few pages. “I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t see your name here.”

  Evelyn set a hand on her hip and raised her brow at Luke. Well, this should have a damn good explanation.

  “There must be some mistake. Colin Carter knows I was supposed to come tonight. Can you call him over?”

  The bouncer nodded and pulled a radio from his pocket to call this Colin Carter person over.

  Evelyn straightened as she saw the man approach a minute later. Colin Carter had the muscular build and observant gaze of someone who wasn’t a casual guest. Or even an off-the-street rent-a-cop.

  Evelyn was willing to bet military, but she knew well-trained men like that came from many different sources.

  The question was, where did Luke find him?

  “He’s okay,” said Colin as he reached them without even asking for Luke’s name. And Evelyn knew the bouncer hadn’t said it over the radio. “They can come on in.”

  Luke nodded his thanks and pulled Evelyn into the beautiful ballroom without saying even a thank-you to Colin Carter.

  “What’s going on?” she whispered to Luke, even as she put on a smile.

  “I’ll tell you everything,” he promised. “After I get a drink. Do you want one?”

  Of course she didn’t want a drink. She wanted to know the truth. “Water, please,” she bit out, letting her tone carry exactly how she felt about his behavior.

  He led her to the bar and she followed, glancing around the room for any sign of threats. The room had soft blue lights around the border, giving the room a relaxing glow. One side of the room had tables for the guests to sit, and servers walked around with trays of gourmet hors d’oeuvres. Two sides of the ballroom were flanked with an outdoor terrace that overlooked the nightscape of the city and Central Park. Renting this space must’ve cost a fortune, but, like Luke said, the Farrells could afford it.

  Then she saw someone across the room who had her stopping in her tracks. “Is that Cali?”

  Luke cursed under his breath as Evelyn pointed to a woman in the middle of conversation with three men all in suits just as expensive as his own.. “Huh. I didn’t realize she knew the Farrells. But she is pretty personable. Maybe she got an invite.”

  Evelyn tightened her lips as her eyes darted nervously around the room.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked. Evelyn had seemed on edge all day. Did she know the real reason he was here?

  “We need to see who exactly invited her. Come on.” Evelyn started across the room and Luke followed. He didn’t have time for this. He needed to get to Longineu before he saw Luke and bolted.

  As they got closer, Cali turned away from the men she was talking to and scanned the crowd before she noticed him and Evelyn. She gave them a confused smile as they approached.

  “Hi, Cali,” said Evelyn in a strangely cheerful tone.

  “I didn’t realize you were coming tonight, Luke.”

  Evelyn smiled over at Luke. “Funny. I thought this had been on your schedule for ages.”

  “Not the one I keep.” Cali glanced between the two of them.

  “The one in my head,” he bit out.

  “Whatever you say.” Cali smiled. “Easson just ran to the restroom. He should be out any minute if you want to meet him.”

  Evelyn stiffened and reached down for her purse. “Easson is here?”

  “Yes. He invited me.” Cali studied Evelyn for a moment and her face fell. “Why—is that a bad thing?”

  “Why is that a bad thing?” asked Luke.

  Evelyn looked around the room again and Luke realized her anxiety was increasing by the second.

  “Because your boyfriend tried to kill me," admitted Evelyn.

  “What?” shouted Cali.

  “Evelyn...”

  “Easson is very dangerous and he’s working for the people who are after Luke.”

  Luke stared in disbelief at Evelyn, and she refused to meet his gaze. How long had she known? Why the hell hadn’t she told him?

  “And you decided to let me carry on with him...why exactly? So you could keep tabs on him? Have a way to track him?”

  Luke shook his head. “Cali—”

  She backed away. “No. I’m leaving before I get pulled into any more of your shit. And if you see my ex-boyfriend, please tell him that I don’t appreciate being used by anyone.” She turned and cut across the room, making a beeline for the door.

  Luke started to follow when Evelyn grabbed his arm and pulled him off to the side of the room. “What the hell is going on here?”

  “You’re asking me? You’re the one who’s been letting my assistant date a serial killer.”

  “That was a calculated risk after much consideration. He was dating her to get close to you and if we want to catch him, I needed him close. I only found out how dangerous he was today and I would’ve told you if I weren’t convinced you were hiding something from me. Now spill. What are we doing here?”

  Luke clenched his jaw as the anger coursed through him. Evelyn had used him. Used Cali to get what she wanted. “I thought we were partners,” he hissed.

  “We were never partners!” she snapped. “You’re good at what you do, but you’re not a cop or FBI agent or anything. You’re not investigating this with me. I’m here to protect you, which is damn hard when you bring me to parties with killers, and I have a sinking feeling you knew he would be here.”

  “Hey, I didn’t know apartment guy was here.” Easson. He knew he didn’t like the sound of that name. “I’m here because Longineu is here tonight and I’m going to bring him, and the entire Thirteen Stars organization, down.”

  “And you were going to tell me this when?”

  “When you became a fucking human being and stopped putting your investigation in front of people’s lives.”

  Rage burned behind Evelyn’s brown eyes and for half a second, Luke thought she would scream at him right then and there.

  But she contained herself and took two deep breaths. “Let’s go talk about this before Easson, or worse, Longineu, spots us.” She turned and made her way for the nearest exit into a long hallway. She glanced at the first few doors they passed before she opened a door to a janitor’s closet and pulled Luke inside.

  “What the hell are you doing?” he asked as the door closed behind him.

  “I’m talking some sense into you. You can’t go up against Longineu on your own.”

  “That’s no worse than you using one of my friends as bait.”

  “She had an FBI tail all day. As soon as I confirmed that her boyfriend was the one who attacked me, I made sure she was under protection until I had enough backup to take him in. I wasn’t leaving her in the dust, Luke. I promise.”

  He stared her down, trying to decide how much of what she was saying was sincere and how much was just to save her own ass. “What would you do if Easson was in her apartment with her? Alone. What would your FBI tail have done then?”

  “Cali had already been alone with him multiple times. There was no reason for me to believe she was in immediate harm.”

  “A calculated risk. That’s all it was to you.”

  “Yes, it was a calculated risk! After everything these people have done to me. To you. To your family! I took a risk.”

  “Anything to get this over with and back to your precious Texas and the job that almost killed you, right?”

  She shook her head and tears started to well behind her eyes, but she blinked them away. “You idiot. Maybe I did this because I want to protect you. Maybe I—”

  “Yeah, right,” he interru
pted.

  “Maybe I did this because I love you, you moron, and I want to protect you. And thank God I’m here, because without me, you’re throwing yourself right in the middle of this.”

  He stared down at her, speechless finally. Had she just said that she loved him? Was that just another ploy? She sure as hell didn’t look like she was joking.

  Evelyn reached out for his tie and pulled him in, kissing him fiercely. Luke was still pissed, but he couldn’t help kissing her back, tangling his tongue with hers.

  It didn’t seem to matter where they were. As long as they were together, he would want her: kitchen, office, fucking janitor’s closet. He still wanted to push her back against the wall, hike up her skirt and wrap her legs around him.

  She let go of his tie and stepped back, but he followed her, not breaking the kiss. If he stopped, they’d go back to fighting, and he didn’t want to deal with that. He just wanted to stay in this sexy cocoon and ignore the reality of where they were and that they were each furious.

  She ran her hands over his shoulders and arms and a strange, plastic noise cut through the silence in the room and Luke suddenly realized he couldn’t move his hand.

  He broke the kiss and looked over where Evelyn had zip tied his wrist to one of the supports in the metal shelf next to them. “What the hell—”

  In a flash, she had his other hand zip tied to the same beam.

  “Are you kidding me?” he snapped.

  Evelyn stepped away and leaned back against the door. “Sorry, Luke. You obviously have a death wish and I’m not going to let you put yourself in any more danger. I have to go and try to apprehend Easson by myself since Cali won’t want anything to do with him anymore and we won’t have a good way to track him after tonight. So it’s now or never. I’ll get you once he’s out of the way.”

  “Evelyn! I am not sitting here doing nothing while you’re out fighting for my life! Now cut these fucking things off me!”

  “I’ll be back soon,” she promised as she opened the door.

  “Wait! Does this mean you lied?”

  She paused. “Lied about what?”

  “You fucking know what.”

  “Stay here.” She walked out, shutting the door and leaving him alone.

  Evelyn blinked back tears as she tried to keep her walk as straight as possible as she went back to the ballroom. Keep it together. She needed to stay focused. Once Easson knew that Cali was on to him, he’d know she and Luke had found out who he was and he’d slip out of their fingers.

  Arrest Easson. Get him to flip on Longineu. Get Longineu to spill the beans on all of Thirteen Stars. Problem solved and she would be well on her way to not going back to Texas.

  Evelyn pulled out her phone and dialed into headquarters. She’d need backup and support if she was going to bring Easson in. Local police said that it would be about ten minutes before anyone could get there, but Evelyn needed to get eyes on Easson so that they could have some game plan to bring him in once backup got there.

  She reached the ballroom and glanced inside, looking for the man who could put all the pieces together. She frowned as she thought back to the file Hotchins had given her earlier that day. If this guy really was black ops like it said, there was a real chance that he wouldn’t flip once in custody. Those guys could handle an interrogation like no other.

  She’d just have to hope that loyalty wasn’t his strong suit. She scanned the room once more, but there was no sign of Easson.

  Damn it. She headed down the corridor, looking for any sign of him, but nothing. Evelyn reached into her purse to feel the comforting butt of her gun and paused in front of the men’s room. Without giving warning, she pushed the door open. Judging by the lack of curses thrown at her, there was no one there. Just to double-check, she looked inside each of the three stalls, but there was no one there.

  If he wasn’t in the ballroom and wasn’t in the bathroom, where the hell had he gone? She’d need to go back to check on Luke to make sure he was still secure, and then she’d do another loop around the building.

  She did one quick look through the women’s room before going back to the janitorial closet. Her stomach flipped when she saw that the door hung open. Did Easson already get to Luke?

  She ran over and her fears were confirmed when she saw the cut remains of the zip ties and no Luke. “No,” she breathed.

  Evelyn twisted around and ran straight into a hard chest. “Luke! I was worr—”

  Nope. Not Luke.

  She stepped back as she looked up into Easson’s dark eyes.

  Luke rubbed at his sore wrists as he snuck into the ballroom, making sure Evelyn was nowhere around. He would’ve been in there for ages if the metal shelving beam he was hooked to hadn’t rusted enough to become sharp and jagged. Just enough for him to work away at the zip tie. But he knew it was only a matter of time before Evelyn realized he was gone and came after him.

  He needed to make sure he got his point across to Longineu.

  Colin Carter stood in the back corner of the room and met Luke’s gaze, giving a slight nod of acknowledgment. Luke nodded in response and took out his phone, dialing Longineu’s number.

  “I wondered when I’d hear from you,” said the cocky bastard when he answered.

  “Where are you?” he bit out, scanning the room.

  “I’m enjoying some choice cigars with some of my friends, far away from you. How can I help you?”

  “I know about Bella.”

  There was silence on the other end of the line and he knew he’d hit a mark. “What?”

  “I’m at the Farrell party. I know you’re here too. Now do you want to talk to me or do you want me to let the entire city know just how much of a scumbag you are?” He turned in a circle, looking for any sign of the man.

  “You don’t have any proof,” said Longineu, the fear evident in his voice.

  “I have everything I need. Now come and face me, you son of a bitch.”

  There was another pause before Longineu said, “Come out on the terrace, back corner. We’ll have some privacy.” Then the line was dead.

  Luke tried to keep his nerves under control. He only had one chance at this. He’d thought that he’d be able to talk reason into Evelyn once she was here and there was no time for her to back out. That wasn’t going to happen now. So he’d have to go in alone.

  The memory of Evelyn shutting the door on him cut like a knife. That was how she saw him: A hindrance. In the way of her getting what she wanted.

  But she was right about one thing. These people had fucked with his life for the last time, and he was going to show them exactly what happened when you messed with a Devereaux.

  Ken Kemmerling had taken the coward’s way out and jumped off a building rather than face the repercussions from the leaders of this group. He had a feeling Longineu wasn’t as afraid of them. He was a good ol’ boy. Too close to the heads to ever think they’d hurt him. Luke had a feeling Longineu himself was one of the leaders.

  So in order to get him to turn on his friends, and himself, Luke needed leverage. Leverage like Joslyn had discovered.

  Luke found the balcony and slid open the door. The large open area wrapped around the entire side of the luxury hotel, but it was easy enough to see where the cluster of men smoking cigars was. Luke put his hands in his pockets and walked over casually, getting angrier with each step. Angry at Longineu. Angry at Evelyn. Angry at himself.

  The men around Longineu noticed his arrival and moved to form a barrier between Luke and their boss. Luke smirked at them. “I think we need our privacy for this one.”

  “Bring your pepper spray today?” Evelyn wrapped her fingers around the butt of her gun in her purse.

  His mouth twisted into a cruel smile as he took a step forward and backed her into the closet. “I have lots of other toys I could use on you.” His eyes glanced around the room at the various chemicals and supplies that lined the shelves behind her. “I’m assuming you’re the reason my date b
ailed on me?”

  “I’m the reason she realized you were just using her.”

  Easson tsked at her with his tongue. “I underestimated you. Again. That won’t happen this time.”

  Damn. She was kind of counting on that whole underestimating thing. She pulled out her gun and aimed it at him. “Don’t come any closer,” she warned. Backup had to be close. All she had to do was keep him busy for a few minutes. Which was difficult, considering she was dealing with a guy who could kill in seconds.

  “I’ve looked into you, you know.” He took a step closer.

  She inched back, but there was only about six inches between her and the shelving unit behind her. If she got cornered, she’d have no room to fight if she needed to. “Find out anything interesting?”

  “I figured out how you got the drop on me the last time we danced.”

  “Never assume a woman can’t fight.”

  “I never thought someone who had so little respect for herself that she’d sleep with a mark could be trained. My mistake.”

  “Says the guy who had to pepper spray me in order to run away.” What if she shot? He was right in front of her. She could aim at the head and get one clean shot. But then they’d have nothing on Longineu and be back at square one. He was only a few feet away and guns weren’t best for close combat. Damn it, nothing about this room was good for close combat. But at least Easson had the same disadvantages as her. And she was the only one pointing a gun.

  “I think that the two of us are going to have some fun together.” Easson took one more step forward and started to push the door shut.

  Nope. She wasn’t going to wait for him to make a move. Without waiting any longer, Evelyn fired off a round, but Easson charged her. He was on her in a flash, shoving her back against the shelves. She tried to aim the gun at him, but he slammed her head back into the metal beam Luke had just been tied to.

  As bright lights flashed behind her eyes, Easson twisted the gun out of her hand, ejecting the clip and letting both clatter to the floor. Evelyn gritted her teeth and tried to get ready to go at him again, but he punched her full on in the face before she could move.