Kidnapped by the Billionaire

by Jackie Ashenden

  “Anyway, he left me a note. I found it in my bedroom in the middle of a book he’d loaned me. It said Be careful. I didn’t know what it meant and was going to ask him about it. And then he disappeared.” Violet’s fingers moved in his hair, her fingertips gentle on the back of his neck. His cock was hard and he wanted to pull her down on him because that was better than hearing the pain in her voice, yet something inside him held him back.

  “He’s not dead, Elijah,” she said quietly. “In fact, I have evidence he’s alive.” Abruptly her fingers tightened in his hair. “That’s why I need to get out of here. Why you need to let me go. I have to find him.”

  It wasn’t loss in her voice now but desperation, and he didn’t like what that did to him. Didn’t like the way it made his chest tight and his own determination waver for just a second.

  He jerked his head up and looked into her blue-green eyes, keeping his hands right where they were, hard on her hips. And there it was in her face, that desperation stamped all over it. And pain. And grief.

  “Please don’t leave me to Jericho.” The raw honesty in her tone lined his ribs with barbed wire. “Please. I’ll be your bait if you need it, but please don’t leave me with him, not when I’m so close to finding my brother.”

  He hadn’t thought about what would happen to her after he used her to lure Jericho out, because her well-being or otherwise hadn’t concerned him. But as he stared up into her eyes, into her flushed and lovely face, he realized that had changed and no matter how much he didn’t want it to, her well-being concerned him now.

  How had that even fucking happened? And what the fuck was he supposed to do now? Growing his conscience back again wasn’t supposed to happen, especially not when he was so close to his own goal.

  Her hands shifted, holding onto his shoulders, and she didn’t look away from him. And he was struck by the fact that although he was dangerous to her and she should be protecting herself against him, she was doing the opposite. Making herself vulnerable all over again by revealing these truths to him, by begging him.

  “Why are you telling me these things?” he demanded, his voice sounding strange and somehow wrong in the hard, tiled space of the bathroom. “Why the fuck do you think I care what you want?”

  “Because you’re sitting here letting me clean up your wound. Letting me touch you. Letting me talk about Theo. Because everything I’ve just given you, you could have taken for yourself and you didn’t.” Her throat moved, the look in her eyes unflinching. “I don’t know why, whether it’s a weird, fucked-up case of Stockholm Syndrome or what, but … I trust you, Elijah.”

  He felt the words slide through him like a sharp, heavy blade, transfixing him.

  Trust. Holy fuck. Was she insane? Why the hell would she trust a monster like him?

  “You shouldn’t.” His hands tightened on her hips. “Trusting me is the last thing you should do.”

  “I know that. Intellectually that’s obvious. But whether I should or not, the truth is that I do.”

  The barbed wire inside his chest was painful, cutting him to ribbons.

  You aren’t worthy of anyone’s trust …

  “It changes nothing.” He kept his tone harsh.

  Her mouth was so soft-looking, so red. He wanted to tug her head down and taste it.

  “Perhaps not. But … I’ve never told anyone about Theo before. You’re the only one who knows.”

  The wire pulled tight, digging in, and he opened his mouth to say something else, some lie about how he didn’t give a shit. But that wasn’t what came out.

  “He killed Marie.” The words were out before he had a chance to take them back. “Your father and Jericho, they killed my wife.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Gabriel poured scotch into one of the Second Circle’s fine crystal tumblers then carried it over to the woman who sat on the couch, her black hair glossy in the firelight coming from the hearth in front of her.

  His beautiful Honor, who was looking pale and worried. Well, fuck, he could relate. He was feeling a bit pale and worried himself.

  They were in the Nine Circle’s favorite meeting place, a room in Alex St. James’s club, the Second Circle. With wood-paneled walls, tall library bookshelves, wingback chairs and a long leather sofa, the space was reminiscent of a Victorian gentleman’s study rather than one of the most modern and exclusive private members’ clubs in New York.

  Alex himself, Honor’s brother and Gabriel’s best friend, stood in front of the fire, his arms folded, watching his sister. He didn’t look so worried, but Alex always hid his feelings well. Then again, Gabriel recognized the gleam in the other man’s too-blue eyes. Whether he hid it or not, Alex was concerned for his sister.

  Sister …

  The word echoed weirdly inside him. He was still getting used to the thought of a sibling, had barely had much time to process it at all what with everything that had been going on. But now, after meeting with that prick Elijah, the fact that he had a half sister was smacking him full in the face.

  A sister who was currently being held captive by a cold-eyed asshole who was using her for some kind of revenge plan.

  Gabriel knew revenge, had spent a good portion of his fucked-up life pursuing it himself, so he understood where the guy was coming from. But the fact that he was using Gabriel’s newly discovered half sibling to get it had destroyed every bit of sympathy Gabriel had for him, not that there was much to start with anyway.

  Elijah Hunt had nearly gotten two of Gabriel’s friends killed, and now he had Gabriel’s sister. That made Gabriel more than pissed. That made him fucking enraged.

  “Are you sure she was okay?” Honor took the tumbler from him, staring up at him as she did so.

  “He said she was alive.” Gabriel sat down next her, sliding an arm around her waist and drawing her close. He fucking hated seeing her so unhappy. It made him want to kill someone. “I believed him.”

  “But he wouldn’t say where she was or why he had her?”

  “No. I was going to shoot the bastard right then and there, but he said he had Violet under guard.”

  “And you believed him?” Alex asked.

  Gabriel flicked his friend a glance. “I could have bluffed him out, but I didn’t want to do that without more information. Anyway, we know the area she’s in and Eva’s trying to see if we can pinpoint it further by using Violet’s cell phone signal.”

  “I thought we couldn’t find that anymore?”

  “Yeah, but Eva thinks she can pick up its last known position. She’s working on it now.”

  By the fire, Alex was standing very still. “You know, I’ve been trying to figure out why that asshole was so familiar,” he murmured. “Even back in Monte Carlo I was certain I’d seen him before.”

  Gabriel raised a brow. “So?”

  “So, I did some searches of my own. Through the Second Circle membership records on the off chance it might throw up something.” Alex had the fucking smuggest look on his face.

  “What?” Gabriel demanded. “You found something?”

  Honor’s attention had shifted from the fire to her brother, her body tensing against Gabriel’s.

  Alex’s blue gaze gleamed. “Yeah, actually, I did. When the club first opened ten years ago, we did a massive publicity drive and pretty much had thousands of membership applications even before the doors opened. I went through each and every application because I wanted to vet them personally. Hell, I even interviewed some of the applicants before I granted approval.”

  Gabriel watched his friend’s face. “Don’t tell me he was one of them?”

  “He wasn’t,” Alex said softly. “But his wife was.”

  “What?” Honor was frowning at her brother. “Stop being cryptic, Alex.”

  “I was looking back at some old pictures of the opening party we had, and he’s there in the crowd with his arm around this tall brunette. And it wasn’t until I saw that picture that I remembered that the reason he’s so familiar is beca
use I used to see him around here in the early Second Circle days.”

  “But you said he wasn’t a member,” Gabriel murmured.

  “No, he wasn’t. I tried doing a search on his name, but turned up nothing. He wasn’t a member. Which means that the only way he could have been at that party was if he was someone’s guest.”

  “So, the brunette…?” Honor took another sip of her scotch.

  “I went through the names and photos of the first lot I granted membership status to. She was there. Marie Archer. A high-up in one of the big investment banks. She had a guest signed up on a permanent basis, her husband. A guy called Kane Archer.” Alex paused, the firelight leaping across his face. “Kane Laurent Elijah Archer.”

  Gabriel narrowed his gaze at the other man. “Shit. So maybe that’s why we haven’t been able to turn up anything on him? We’re looking at the wrong name?”

  “That was always the risk. Zac certainly thought that was a possibility.”

  Honor leaned forward and put her scotch down on the coffee table in front of her. “Did you find anything on him then?”

  “Yes. Kane Archer was into venture capital. Started out young from what I could find on him and was doing extremely well with a firm he started up himself.” Alex dropped his arms and began to pace in front of the fire. “He used to come here a lot with his wife, judging from the records. I remember him, but my memories are a little fuzzy.” He flashed a brief, self-deprecating smile. “I was going through an … experimental phase at the time so pretty much all my memories are fuzzy.”

  Honor rolled her eyes. “Thanks for sharing, Alex. Okay, so what happened to him then? How did he get from Kane Archer, venture capitalist to Elijah Hunt, mercenary?”

  Alex stopped pacing. “That is the sixty-four-million-dollar question.”

  “Did you give the name to Zac?” Gabriel leaned back against the couch, still holding onto Honor. They needed to get on top of this because the more they knew about this asshole, the quicker they could find some way of getting Violet away from him.

  Alex gave him a long-suffering look. “Of course I gave the name to Zac.”

  “What about his wife?” Honor asked quietly. “What happened to her?”

  “I gave her name to Zac too and—” A chiming sound came from Alex’s pocket. “And that should be him right now.” Pulling his phone out, he hit the answer button. “Yo, Zac. You got anything? Yeah, okay. Putting you on speaker now.” Moving over to the coffee table, he put the phone down.

  “Okay, so here’s what Eva and I found.” Zac’s deep voice with its clipped, English accent filled the room. “Kane Archer apparently died in a car accident seven years ago. The police found his car overturned and ablaze in a quiet backstreet. They determined he’d crashed it while drunk and probably grief-stricken after the disappearance of his wife. Archer reported her missing two months prior to his death. She vanishes while at dinner with Elijah present.”

  Interesting. Very interesting indeed.

  “Was she ever found?” Gabriel asked.

  “The missing person’s file has remained open,” Zac replied. “Though police turned up no trace of her. After her husband died there was little impetus to keep searching.”

  “Wonderful,” Honor said dryly. “What about her family?”

  “She had none. In fact … where was it…” The sound of papers being shuffled came down the line. “Ah, yes. She was an only child and her parents died when she was in her teens. Same with Archer. His parents died soon after he was killed in the car accident.”

  “Grim.” Alex folded his arms again. “So basically his wife disappeared and then from the looks of it, he faked his own death.”

  Gabriel released Honor and sat forward, going back over his meeting with the cold-eyed, scarred man once more. “Revenge,” he said slowly. “He’s after revenge.”

  Honor turned to him. “He said that specifically?”

  They’d already talked about it after he’d gotten back from the meeting, but it was worth repeating for the others. “No. He wouldn’t admit to anything. Like a fucking locked box. But I know when a man’s looking to kill and Elijah Hunt sure wanted to kill someone.”

  “He wanted Fitzgerald’s head.” Zac’s voice was flat, certain. “And he was pretty fucking upset when Eva shot him instead. It sounds to me as if he’s still on the revenge track, he’s just had to change his target.”

  “To who?” Honor’s blue gaze moved from Gabriel to Alex then back again. “And why?”

  “I know why.” Gabriel glanced at his friend standing near the fire, because he suspected Alex knew why too. And sure enough, there was understanding in the other man’s eyes.

  “His wife,” Zac said, confirming it. “He wants revenge for something that happened to his wife.”

  “Fucking love,” Alex muttered. “Gets you every goddamn time.” He looked impatiently down at his watch then let out a breath.

  Gabriel didn’t need to ask what he was checking for. Katya was out on a fact-finding mission about Eva’s traitorous driver, Temple, who’d disappeared after they’d come back from confronting Fitzgerald. And clearly, judging from Alex’s restlessness, she was late getting back.

  “I don’t give a shit why he wants revenge,” Gabriel growled, Alex’s impatience suddenly getting to him. “I want know to who the fuck his target is. And why he needs Violet for it.”

  Sounds came from the phone on the table. A door closing and footsteps, Zac murmuring something.

  “I have an idea why.” It was Eva. “A woman mysteriously vanishes and then her husband turns up working for Fitzgerald and wanting revenge? I’m sure you can work it out yourselves too.”

  “Ah, fuck.” Alex’s voice was full of disgust.

  “Yeah,” Eva said. “Fitzgerald took her for his little business.”

  “Oh God.” Honor shook her head and reached for the tumbler on the table.

  It made sense, that was for sure. Gabriel felt an unwanted sympathy for the man turn over inside him, which was just fucking annoying. Because regardless of the whys, Elijah or Kane or whatever the hell his name was still had Violet.

  “We need to know who he’s after,” he said flatly. “He said it was more complicated than revenge, that if it was as simple as that, he’d have have killed Fitzgerald years ago. But he didn’t.”

  The fire leapt in the grate, a shower of sparks erupting from it.

  “If his wife was taken by Fitzgerald, then I know what he wants,” Eva said.

  But Gabriel had already worked it out for himself. “He doesn’t just want the guy dead, he wants to take down the whole fucking empire too.”

  A small silence fell, the implications of that slowly sinking in. Because they all knew how twisted that empire was, how complicated. And that was only what they’d seen of it in the States. Evelyn Fitzgerald’s little crime industry went beyond this country, had tendrils that snaked into other parts of the world, linking to other crime syndicates in China, the Middle East, and Europe just for a start. Who knew how deep it went? How far?

  “He can’t do it alone,” Eva said finally. “He’ll need help.”

  Gabriel glared at the phone. “What the fuck? Getting Violet away does not involve helping the prick who took her. We leave that shit to the authorities.”

  “Seriously?” Eva sounded annoyed. “Since when did you ever want to involve the authorities, Gabe?”

  Unfortunately, Eva had a point. He must be getting soft in his old age. “Okay,” he said reluctantly. “No authorities. But I’m not helping that motherfucker. He’s lucky I didn’t shoot him when I had the chance.”

  “If he’s bent on taking down Fitzgerald’s human trafficking ring then I don’t give a shit what you want.” Eva’s voice was hard. “I’m going to give him any help he needs.”

  Of course she would, and he’d probably do the same if he had Eva’s history. Still, there was a life at stake here. “And if taking that down means Violet gets hurt?” he asked harshly.
/>   There was a silence this time.

  “We need more information,” Honor said, her voice abrupt. “We don’t know anything about Elijah Hunt or his motives, and what we have now is just guesswork. Eva, have you made any progress with Violet’s cell phone signal?”

  “It’s not broadcasting now so it’s either off or destroyed, but yeah, I have a last known position for it,” Eva answered. “It’s in the West Village, where Gabe met Elijah, so that kind of confirms where she might be. Whether she’s still there or not is another thing.”

  Impatient, Gabriel rose to his feet. “Give me the address, Eva. I’ll get over there now.”

  “Wait.” Zac this time, his tone flat with command. “We need a plan, Gabe.”

  But Gabriel was done waiting. This shit—all of this shit—had been going on for far too long and he was sick of it. He wanted Honor happy, wanted his family safe, and if that meant taking out one bastard who kept getting in the way, then he was all for it.

  Reaching over to the phone, Gabriel picked it up. “I go get Violet and maybe I’ll let Hunt live. That’s the motherfucking plan, asshole.” Then he ended the call and tossed the phone to Alex, who caught it, the look on his face enigmatic.

  Honor had risen to her feet, turning to face him. “Are you sure this is a good idea? I think Zac might have a point. Sitting down and working out a plan isn’t wrong.”

  “No, but the longer we chat about plans and shit, the longer that gives Hunt to go find somewhere else to keep Violet. We need to move now before he moves her.” He reached out, settling his hands on her hips and tugging her close, looking down into her pale, pretty face. “It’ll be okay, baby. I’ll get her back.”

  Honor’s dark brows pulled down. “Be careful, Gabe.”

  “Always.” He bent and kissed her. Hard.

  * * *

  Violet stared down into Elijah’s dark gaze and felt something inside her crack apart. Her mouth opened and she started to say something, though she wasn’t really conscious of what it was—probably something trite and ridiculous since her brain was still reeling from what he’d just revealed.