Leverage (Part II) (Billionaire Romance)

by Alexx Andria - Leverage (Part II) (Billionaire Romance)

  She was going to the Caribbean! She’d pay with cash and disappear.

  “Good luck finding me, Boston Kincaid.”

  #

  Boston roared when he realized Julianna was gone. “Find her!” he yelled to Richard, too agitated to temper his tone with his father’s oldest friend. “I want her credit cards flagged, her debit cards monitored…anything that would tip us off to her whereabouts.”

  Richard frowned but kept his opinion to himself as he nodded and disappeared.

  She’d left him. The little minx had picked up and split. An emotion so wild he couldn’t rightly put a name to it, whipped through his body like a white-hot lash, searing tender parts and creating chaos in his mind. She carried his child and yet she bailed. How dare she do something so reckless. He dialed her cell phone, not surprised when it went straight to voicemail. He knew she wouldn’t be so careless as to answer the phone knowing he could have it traced but he would leave her a message. “Julianna, you’re being foolish. Call me back and tell me where you are. I will come and get you — and I will forgive this transgression. But if you make me chase you…I cannot guarantee you’ll like what happens when I catch you. And make no mistake…I will catch you. You carry my legacy. Nothing will stop me. Nothing.”

  He clicked off and went straight to his room, needing a shower and clarity. Richard would track her financial movements but if she paid cash, the trail would stop at a certain point. Julianna was a smart woman but she would mess up and he would be there to grab her.

  That was a promise.

  #

  Nothing will stop me. Nothing

  Boston’s words rang in Julianna’s memory as she boarded the plane and she wondered how long Boston would look for her before giving up. What about Tom? A voice worried at the back of her mind but she couldn’t think of Tom right now. Chances were Boston would stop paying the bill for Tom’s rehab at some point but he wouldn’t do it right this second. He would likely dangle that in front of her, trying to persuade her to come back to him but she wasn’t going to cave. Not this time. The stakes were so much bigger than ever before. She longed to call Tom and tell him everything but she couldn’t do that. Not yet. She still feared his reaction. Her brother was all she had in this world and she couldn’t bear knowing she’d shamed him, even if it was to help him. No, she was alone in this.

  A single tear escaped to slide down her cheek but she didn’t bother wiping it away. She knew there was plenty more where it’d come from because her heart felt strangely damaged.

  She wasn’t in love with Boston. She was using him just as he was using her. But now there was a baby to consider. A living breathing human being that would tether her to Boston in ways she couldn’t even fathom.

  But even as she tried to tell herself that she didn’t harbor any feelings for Boston, she knew that was a lie. In the past six weeks, she’d come to feel something for the impossibly sexy and enigmatic man, but she didn’t want to acknowledge that the tears she was crying might be for something else.

  She was leaving him.

  And she was carrying his baby.

  What a fucked up situation. For Christ’s sake, she was a walking country song. All she was missing was a tractor and a dog.

  #

  Boston swore under his breath. His eyes burned from staying awake all night and his gut churned from using alcohol as his only sustenance but there’d been no way sleep could find him when his mind wouldn’t shut down for a blessed minute. Julianna had done exactly what he’d figured she’d do to escape and if he weren’t half-drunk and beyond exhausted he might’ve been impressed.

  “She’s using cash,” Richard said. “And since you don’t have access to her bank account, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

  Bullshit. “Hire a private investigator. There are ways to find people. I want to know where she is by the end of the day.”

  “You need sleep,” Richard said, casting a strong look of disapproval Boston’s way. “You look like hell. And you don’t smell very good either.”

  “I didn’t realize I was running for Governor,” he said sourly, rising from his chair on stiff legs to make himself another drink. “She could be anywhere by now. Hell, she could be at an abortion clinic, sucking that tiny life right from her body and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.”

  “Do you really think she’d do that?” Richard asked.

  “How the hell should I know?” Boston snapped, dropping two ice cubes into his glass before pouring two fingers of scotch. “It’s not like we talked about those sorts of things.” They didn’t talk much at all. All they did was fuck. Gloriously. And he was damn addicted to the feel of her body next to his at night. God, he wanted to punch something so badly that his hands shook. Or maybe it was because his blood sugar was plummeting. He downed the glass and deposited it to the bar, focusing on Richard with displeasure. “Why are you still standing there? Go find her!”

  “You need sleep and a swift kick in the ass. And I’m not sure in what order.” Boston stared, unable to believe that Richard was being so openly insubordinate. But apparently, he wasn’t through because he continued without pause. “You obviously haven’t learned a thing about the girl because here you are ready to drag her back by her hair to get what you want. Has it occurred to you that maybe a different approach would yield better results?”

  Boston narrowed his slightly tipsy gaze at Richard. “How so?”

  “The girl is scared. The pregnancy has changed the game and thus the players. It’s time for you to woo the girl if you’re going to get what you want. Ask yourself…do you still want Julianna?”

  “Yes,” he growled.

  “Then you’re going to have to get her to come back to you on her terms. If you force her, it will end badly.”

  “She signed a contract,” Boston reminded Richard in a cold tone but Richard was immune and simply shrugged. Boston stabbed at the air between them. “I’ll make her wish she never met me if she doesn’t come back. That’s my baby in that belly and she doesn’t have the right to keep it from me!”

  “You’re not thinking clearly. Go to bed. When you wake, I’ll have something for you to go on. In the meantime, do yourself a favor and sober the hell up.”

  Richard didn’t wait for Boston’s answer and simply left the room, taking Boston’s ire with him. Good God, Richard was right. He was drunk and his head was spinning. Somehow, he found himself in his bedroom and fell face-first onto his bed. Immediately, Julianna’s scent enveloped him and groaned, clutching the bedding in his hands, wishing she was still there beside him instead of God knew where, doing God knew what.

  “Please don’t kill my baby,” he murmured in an agonized voice to the still room. “Please, Julianna…”

  #

  Julianna walked into her suite and let out a soft gasp of amazement at the deluxe accommodations that only wealth could provide and for a split second she forgot all about everything that had made the flight miserable and quickly let the diaphanous drapes fluttering in the soft, salty breeze, slide though her fingers. Everything gleamed with sunlight and her soul smiled with happiness and delight. The past few months, working two jobs, worrying about Tom, quitting school, and shelving her dreams and ambitions slid away, leaving her with nothing but hope that things were going to work out somehow.She left the windows and went to the bedroom and couldn’t help but stare at the bed wistfully, picturing Boston lying there naked with that hungry gaze trained on her, making her feel as if she were the most beautiful woman in the world. Her hand strayed to her still-flat stomach and wondered what Boston would think if she got fat. She couldn’t imagine that he would tolerate a woman who was suddenly ungainly and hormonal. Julianna bit her lip and her brow dipped with a sadness she couldn’t understand. What did she care what Boston would think of her burgeoning figure? Their relationship had been irrevocably changed from what it had been and there was no going back. Before, she’d found some kind of peace and acceptance knowing that at th
e end of the contract term, she and Boston would simply walk away from one another. At least in the beginning that’s how she’d come to terms with their odd relationship. But within the last week, she’d begun to have feelings for the jerk.

  Which made the current situation so much worse.

  Why had he lied to her about not being able to have kids? She couldn’t understand why he would say that to her unless he’d hoped to get her pregnant and wanted to make sure she didn’t stress about birth control.

  Her head ached from the questions. And she was hungry. Always hungry. And sick. The nausea was becoming a constant companion. It was as if now that she knew she was pregnant, every symptom of pregnancy was piling up on her. She glanced at her fingers. Were they swollen? How soon did that happen? Julianna groaned and shook out her fingers, going to her bag to find some crackers to munch on. She reached for her phone and saw two more messages. Both from Boston. She deleted them both before she could change her mind and call him.

  This was his fault.

  He could stew in his own juices for a while.

  Damn him for getting her pregnant in the first place. She crunched into the cracker and slowly chewed, her thoughts in a jumble. Pregnant…a word she never imagined she’d ever utter from her own lips. Not after what happened to Mindy King.

  “You’re pregnant?” Julianna had whispered, eyes widening in shock while her best friend nodded and shooshed her, swearing her to secrecy as the memory from that winter night bloomed in Julianna’s mind. Suddenly she was no longer in the Caribbean but Mrs. Heizen’s English class, senior year. “Do your parents know?”

  “Hell no. Not yet. If they found out…I’d be grounded for the rest of my life.”

  “I’m no expert but something tells me they’re going to find out eventually. How far along are you?” Mindy shrugged, a small fearful motion that spoke volumes. “Have you been to the doctor yet?”

  “No. How am I supposed to see a doctor without my parents finding out?” Mindy whispered back, returning to her book when Mrs. Heizen glanced up to survey the classroom. They were supposed to be reading “Pride and Prejudice” but Mindy and Julianna had bigger problems than whatever was happening in Jane Austen’s world. “What are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know yet. Maybe it’ll just go away,” Mindy said in a hopeful tone but Julianna shook her head. As far as she knew pregnancies didn’t go away on their own.

  “You need to tell your parents. This isn’t going to go away,” Julianna told her friend, concerned at how Mindy had paled. She reached across and grasped her hand. “Don’t worry. I’ll be there for you. Maybe it won’t be that bad.”

  Mindy graced Julianna with a look that said, yeah right, have you met my parents? and Julianna knew it was going to be a rough conversation.

  But as it’d turned out, Mindy hadn’t had that conversation with her parents. Maybe if she had…Julianna closed her eyes, shutting out the memory of how her best friend’s blood had covered the bathroom floor, spreading like a crimson tide, covering the white tile of Mindy’s downstairs bathroom in a wash of red, and her chest tightened with the cries that felt on lock-down since that day. People have babies everyday and they don’t die, she told herself.

  But sometimes there are complications, a voice whispered.

  Yeah, that’s the part that scared her. Julianna squeezed her eyes shut and tried to calm her fluttering heartrate. She needed to see a doctor. Immediately. Was she going to go through the pregnancy or terminate? Her hand strayed to her belly, trembling as what felt like the biggest life decision she’d ever made, weighed on her shoulders. She wished she had someone to talk to, to help her weigh the pros and cons of her situation but she had no one. Signing on the dotted line had assured her financial security but it had isolated her as well. At this point, she was fairly certain she’d breached her contract but she didn’t care. She was feeling wildly reckless — something she probably should temper before she did something terribly stupid — but she couldn’t bring herself to stop.

  One way or the other, her life was about to change…forever.

  #

  “I don’t understand…how can she just disappear like that?” Boston queried, his tone sharp and unyielding. “It’s been a month and nothing? Not a single peep? Not a single blip on the radar? Either I’ve hired a complete incompetent or Julianna has the skills of a ninja. Somehow I doubt it’s the latter.”

  “She’s using cash. Apparently, she had enough in her bank account to move around freely.” Hank Voltsch, the private investigator Boston had hired the moment Julianna had split, shrugged with a cold smile. “Though it’s hard to understand how a waitress managed to amass enough money to disappear like that.”

  Boston shot Hank a quelling look. “I didn’t hire you to discern those details. I hired you to find her and thus far, you have failed. Tell me why I shouldn’t have you thrown out of my office?”

  “I didn’t say I was completely empty-handed. She accessed an ATM in St. John and took the maximum amount available, which means she’s getting low on disposable cash.”

  “St. John? Isn’t that in the Caribbean?”

  “Yep. One of the American territories, a ferry ride away from St. Thomas.”

  Boston stared. His little bird had flown somewhere warm and beachy. Ironic that he’d been planning to take her somewhere similar when all hell had broken loose. He picked up his cell and texted Richard to buy him a plane ticket to the Caribbean. “Anything else?” he asked Hank.

  “That’s all I could uncover. Should I keep a look out for credit or debit card transactions?”

  “Yes,” he said. “If she so much as buys a smoothie with her card, I want to know about it.”

  “These services are costly…”

  Boston waved away Hank’s next statement with a hard look. “You will be paid commiserate with what you provide. As I said previously, thus far, your services have much to be desired. Understand?” Hank didn’t appear happy to be shut down like that but he knew better than to press when he clearly didn’t have an advantage. Boston flicked his wrist, dismissing the man. “That will be all. Call when you have word.”

  A frisson of excitement jangled his nerves at having something to go on, even if it was a small tip that could ultimately leave him searching for a needle in a haystack. When he found her he was going to make her pay for daring to leave him the way she had. Even if she weren’t carrying his child, there would be hell to pay but now that the stakes were higher? A part of him wanted to crush her. But then that murderous rage warred with the side of him that just wanted to hold her close and pamper her with a lifestyle only he could provide her.

  Why Julianna? Why did you run?

  Was she eating properly? Was she getting enough rest? Maybe this was all for naught. She might’ve already gotten rid of his baby. God no. His knees threatened to give out on him and he stumbled against his desk.

  His cell phone dinged. Richard had procured a plane ticket and it was waiting for him at the terminal. He shoved his cell into his pocket and bolted for the door. With quick, terse instructions to his staff, he left without looking back.

  He was going to find Julianna.

  And heaven help her when he did.

  -3-

  Julianna’s eyes widened as the quick whomp-whomp-whomp from the Doppler magnified the sound and filled the small, private room. “Is that?” She couldn’t even say the words but her eyes filled with tears. Dr. Miles Lassiter, a handsome man with deep blue eyes and sandy hair with surfer blond streaks, smiled and nodded and she couldn’t speak. That was her child’s heartbeat. “Is it…healthy?”

  “Sounds healthy to me, nice and strong. Is this your first baby?” Dr. Lassiter asked in a polite manner and Julianna nodded, biting her lip when the urge to bawl overwhelmed her. She’d never felt so alone in her life and it was all Boston’s fault. Noting the sudden sheen in her eyes, Dr. Lassiter gentled his voice as he pulled the Doppler from her belly and returned it to its cradle
to ask, “Are you okay? I take it this was an unplanned pregnancy?” At her watery nod, he smiled in understanding and she realized she must look like a weepy frump, nose running and red, and bloated to boot. “Do you need someone to talk to?”

  God yes. “No, I wouldn’t want to overstep.”

  “Not possible. Being a good listener is part of my skill set. Besides, I’m a sucker for a woman’s tears…particularly those of a beautiful woman. Gets me every time.”

  She smiled, grateful for his kindness and his willingness to indulge a weepy, hormonal woman. She couldn’t really tell the sweet, good-looking doctor specifics about Boston but she supposed she could be vague. “I don’t know where to start. I’m…not quite sure what I’m doing. I never saw myself as having kids and now here I am, pregnant and alone. Not exactly what I had in mind when I envisioned my life.”

  “So the father isn’t in the picture?” Dr. Lassiter asked carefully and while she should’ve been honest that she’d run away from the father, she shook her head in answer. “Ah,” Dr. Thomas said quietly. “Well, it’s not the end of the world. A single mother raised me and I turned out pretty well. A good mother is worth twice that of an absent father. You’re going to do fine.”

  “I wish I had your confidence.” She wiped at her eyes and ignored the wash of guilt that followed for lying about Boston. But to be fair, this was all Boston’s fault. If he hadn’t lied to her about being able to father children, they wouldn’t be in this situation. But then if she hadn’t bolted she knew in her heart, Boston would be by her side right now. He’d seemed truly shocked by the news — of course, then he’d accused her of cheating on him. As if that were possible! The man hadn’t given her a moment’s peace in the weeks that she’d been pinned to his side. Oh, and now you’re complaining? I seem to recall a lot of moaning and gasping “Oh God! Yes, yes!” The voice in her head sounded distinctly like that of Boston Kincaid and that just wasn’t cool. The voices in her head were not allowed to sound like him. “You know when you imagine how your life is going to unfold? Well, I just never imagined I’d ever be in this position,” she said with a tiny sniff. “I was in college. I was going places.”