The Billionaires: The Bosses

by Calista Fox

  “Bayli!” Christian yelled out. She was in her nightgown, curled in the fetal position.

  Her eyelids fluttered open, but she appeared to have difficulty focusing on him and Rory. She weakly said, “Finally, someone found me.”

  Christian scooped her into his arms and carried her inside. Rory closed the door behind them and stalked toward the thermostat.

  “Wait, no,” Christian said. “Don’t make it any colder in here. She’s going to have to acclimate as it is.” To Bayli, he asked, “How long were you out there?”

  “No idea.” Her voice was but a mere wisp of dry, crackling air.

  Christian told Rory, “Get a glass of water from the tap.”

  “Why not a bottle of cold water from the fridge?”

  “Because it’s not good for her insides when her internal temperature is so damn high.”

  “How would you know that?”

  “I read it somewhere,” Christian told him. “I think she has heatstroke. And she’s sunburned.” Her skin was coated in perspiration as well. “We should put her in a bath.”

  Rory ducked into the bathroom. Let out a harsh litany of swear words and stormed back into the suite. “There’s no fucking water! That’s why she didn’t fill the tub when she was stuck out there.”

  Christian carefully placed her on the bed, propping her against the mound of pillows, as Rory went to the wet bar and grabbed several bottles of unchilled FIJI from the butler pantry. He set them on the nightstand and then returned to the bathroom for towels.

  Christian twisted the cap off the water and held it to Bayli’s mouth, helping her sip because her body was shaking. She attempted a deeper drink, and he eased the bottle away.

  “Not so much, so fast,” he told her in a quiet voice. “Little sips. Okay?”

  She glared at him through eyes that danced in their sockets. Christ, for all he knew, her retinas were fried.

  Rory dampened a hand towel and wiped all the makeup from her face. He tossed it aside and reached for another, moistening it as well and gliding it gently along her neck and collarbone. Christian helped her sip some more. He wished like hell he could remember precisely how to treat heatstroke. It’d been in an article in the Wall Street Journal when a CEO’s plane had crash-landed in the tropics and the executive had only narrowly survived the extreme climate.

  They needed to cool Bayli down, just not so quickly that she went into shock. So no packing her in ice.

  Christian told Rory, “We have to get the water on so we can get her in the bathtub.”

  Rory handed over a wet towel. “I’ll be back.”

  With Rory out of the room—because he didn’t want his best friend exploding over the terrifying situation for Bayli—Christian asked her, “How’d you get locked out? It’s not an automatic lock.”

  “Melita,” she said, still hoarse and weak. “She didn’t know I was out there. She locked up before leaving.”

  “Do you remember when that was?”

  “I’d just had lunch.”

  Christian swore under his breath. “So about four hours with no water. Thank God you’re a smart girl and created some shade for yourself.” He kissed her temple. “The problem is, all that glass and metal probably adds about six to ten degrees to the temperature in that confined area. You must have felt like an ant under a magnifying glass with the sun beating down on you.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”

  “Not your fault,” she said with a feeble attempt at a smile. “Melita can’t be blamed, either, Christian. She knows I don’t spend any serious time out on that balcony. It was an honest mistake. Don’t have her fired or anything, okay?”

  “Always worried about others.” He kissed her softly. Then said, “I’ll have to figure out how to break it to Rory, because he will want her fired.”

  “Not when he calms down and sees the incident for what it was.”

  Rory returned minutes later and started the bath. He then told them, “Kind of odd that the water was turned off outside.”

  “Maybe because they didn’t think anyone was here,” Bayli offered. “They could conserve water during the day that way if they have some leaky faucets or sprinkler heads.”

  “Sure. That makes sense.” Though Rory didn’t look convinced.

  Bayli pulled in a few unsteady breaths. Tried to collect herself, evidently. She closed her eyes for a couple of seconds and this time inhaled deeper.

  But then her lids fluttered open. Her tawny irises were clouded and she frowned.

  “What is it?” Christian asked, instantly alarmed.

  Her head rolled on the pillow and she pinned him with a look. “When was Lily here?”

  * * *

  “You have fucking got to be kidding me!” Rory thundered.

  After Bayli had spoken, both Rory and Christian had taken a hearty whiff of air and there it was—the faint scent of Chanel No. 5 clinging to the fabrics as it always did following Lily’s departure.

  Christian appeared to put a good deal of effort into keeping his jaw from clenching and his tone from being downright lethal. “She didn’t have lunch with you, Bayli?”

  “No.”

  “She had no reason to be here at all,” Rory pointed out, not bothering to couch his own anger in a calmer demeanor the way Christian had. “Her assignment was keeping all the logistics flowing with the production crew. That was the reason you brought her along. Not to hang out with Bayli.”

  “I’m well aware of that,” Christian said.

  “I never saw her here,” Bayli interjected.

  “That’s because she’s clearly working behind the scenes to scare you off. Think about it,” Rory urged. “She has access to your home address. She’s seen you wear the bracelet that was destroyed. She knew you were spending time at Christian’s apartment—”

  “She seemed genuinely surprised when she learned I’d been spending nights there,” Bayli reminded him.

  “That’s what she wanted you to think.” Rory got rolling again. This time, his irritation was directed at Christian. “Why the hell did you need to bring her along?”

  “I don’t want to lose her at the office.”

  “She’s behind all of this, Christian!”

  “You don’t know that for a fact,” Christian said as he stood and got in Rory’s face. “So just bring it down a few notches and we can figure out what’s really going on.”

  “Seems pretty cut-and-dried to me.” Rory’s fury built, fueled by the very real and distressing fact that Bayli looked like hell, had actually been to hell, and it could have been so much worse. What if they hadn’t found her for another couple of hours? “Lily was a bit too eager beaver to jump in and help with the show in Bayli’s absence. An absence she orchestrated.”

  “She wanted to take my place?”

  “Yes,” Rory told Bayli. “And prior to all this, she was pissed at Christian for some time for not getting the chance to audition when we decided to change the platform for the show.”

  “Look, I understand that you’re upset, Rory,” Christian said, “but—”

  “You brought her along to placate her, Christian. But it’s your goddamn assistant that almost killed my girlfriend!”

  “Your girlfriend?” Christian demanded as his gaze narrowed, his eyes turned even icier, and his chest pressed to Rory’s.

  “Our girlfriend,” Rory corrected. Though he didn’t back down.

  “Please,” Bayli admonished. “Don’t fight. That won’t solve anything.”

  That she didn’t move from the bed to intervene spoke volumes. She was still suffering from the heatstroke.

  “Goddamn it!” Rory exploded again.

  “Stop!” she shouted, albeit raspingly. “Stop arguing with each other before you say more you’ll regret later on. I’ll live, okay? And, sure, our accusatory fingers can currently be pointed at Lily, but that just might be too easy. The comments on the video and the angry e-mails I received all came aro
und the same time as the spiders, with similar messaging. And none of that was from Lily. Some guy in Japan found the means to get to me in New York, so apparently I was wrong when I said he couldn’t reach me here in Mexico.”

  “You really think it’s your online stalker wreaking all this havoc?” Christian asked, his tone still holding a razor-sharp vibe, though he spoke more softly to her.

  Meanwhile, Rory was still sufficiently riled.

  She said, “Chances are very good. His entire campaign has been to keep me away from Rory. Having me ‘accidentally’ locked out so I couldn’t make it to the taping of the show plays right into that.”

  “But shutting off the water?” Rory shook his head. “That’s downright dangerous, Bayli. Potentially deadly.”

  A shudder ran through her. “Yes.” She reached for the FIJI and took a few more sips. Then said, “I need to get into the tub. And then I have to call Scarlet.”

  “You think she can help?” Christian asked.

  “If I tell her everything. Rory, I’m going to need to give her the contact information for the police officers investigating the ransacking of my apartment. Scarlet has connections with the NYPD. I’m sure they’ll let her in on the case. She has global connections, as well. She can get access to federales here in Huatulco if need be.”

  “Fine,” Rory concurred. “Whatever we can do to put a stop to all of this.” He gingerly lifted Bayli into his arms and carried her into the bathroom. He set her in the tub and turned off the water. It was moderate, just cool enough to be refreshing without sending her into shock or anything.

  She sat back, immersed up to her neck, and let out a long sigh.

  “Oh, my God. That’s so helpful.”

  Rory scowled. “I didn’t even take off your nightgown.”

  “Doesn’t matter. It was just as drenched as I was. Sort of used to having it plastered to me now.”

  Rory knelt alongside her and swept strands of damp hair from her forehead. His heart wrenched at the sight of her. Over knowing what she’d just been through.

  He said, “You must have been really scared.”

  A light mist covered her eyes. She worked down a hard swallow. Nodded her head.

  “Bayli, I’m so sorry.” He pressed his lips to her cheek, then her mouth, which had chapped.

  “You don’t have anything to be sorry about, Rory. Other than being mad at Christian. He’s not to blame for any of this. Whether it’s Lily who’s behind this or some crazy fan in Japan, that’s not Christian’s doing.”

  Rory shoved away from the tub and stood. “This is a lot more complicated than our relationships in the past, honey. I don’t know that Christian and I were ready for this. That we can handle how wrapped up we both are in you.” His shoulders bunched and his gut coiled. “Maybe we just proved that we can’t.”

  He left her to soak while he went back to the wet bar and poured a stiff drink.

  Christian was nowhere in sight.

  * * *

  Bayli’s heart hurt.

  The tension between Christian and Rory was excruciating to witness. But she understood the extenuating circumstances. Knew she must have been a fright when they’d discovered her. Knew they’d probably been half out of their minds with worry when she hadn’t shown up on location.

  Adding to the disastrous situation was Lily’s potential involvement. Though Bayli really couldn’t fathom she’d go to such extremes just to stand in for or push Bayli out of a cooking show. There had to be more—

  She sat up suddenly. She recalled the notecard Rory had recovered from the lobby after the spiders had been delivered.

  STAY AWAY FROM HIM

  She’d assumed that warning had been for her to stay away from Rory.

  But if Lily had been upset over losing Christian to Bayli, perhaps that was the actual warning. Maybe it had nothing to do with Rory—and everything to do with Christian. And the show.

  Her mind working feverishly seemed to help her body come along more quickly. Bayli carefully climbed out of the tub, peeled off her nightgown, and wrapped herself in the matching satin robe. She was alone in the suite and that gave her pause, making her wonder if she should seek out Christian and Rory. She didn’t actually think they’d come to blows over her, but then again, this wasn’t some minor lovers’ quarrel they were embroiled in. She could have been seriously injured. And both men were wound tight over that realization.

  Bayli might be able to alleviate all of that and strengthen these suddenly tenuous bonds. She phoned Scarlet and spilled everything.

  * * *

  Christian had a dozen different thoughts running through his mind, including the very ominous and highly infuriating notion that Lily could possibly have had something to do with Bayli being trapped on the balcony.

  “Should we call the doctor the resort recommended for emergencies?” Rory asked as he joined Christian on the patio.

  “Already did. He’s on his way over.”

  “Good. That’s good.” Rory stuffed his hands in his pockets. Hung his head.

  Christian let out a long breath. “If you’re here to apologize—”

  Rory’s head snapped up. “I’m still really pissed.”

  “Of course you are. That’s second nature for you.”

  Rory smirked.

  Christian said, “Be pissed all you want. For as long as you want. You have every right to be, and so do I. But the bottom line is, we need to know what’s really going on here. Who’s really trying to hurt Bayli.”

  “Agreed.”

  They stared at each other a few moments. Then Christian’s cell rang with the specific jingle for gate access. He answered the call, confirmed it was the hired physician, and then punched in the code to let him through.

  Christian said to Rory, “Maybe you can make her something easy to eat. Then she should probably sleep.”

  TWENTY-TWO

  Bayli woke the next morning to familiar voices approaching. She opened her eyes as Christian entered the suite, followed by Rory. But she homed in on the female voice. Sat up and grinned as Scarlet stepped around the men and rushed over to the bed.

  “What on earth are you doing here?” Bayli all but squealed as Scarlet sank onto the edge of the mattress and they hugged.

  Scarlet said, “Christian sent a plane for me. I have tons of news. Been up most the night. But first, how are you feeling?”

  “Like I could drain a lake.” Bayli reached for her glass of water bedside and gulped half of it down. “And it feels like there’s a marching band playing inside my head, heavy on the drums and cymbals, epic tempo, totally out of sync with each other. Not to mention my skin is fried, so I’m shivering, even though psychologically I’m still burning up on the inside.”

  “Sorry I asked,” Scarlet deadpanned.

  Bayli laughed. “Aside from all that, I’m just fine.”

  “That’s what I like to hear. Now, here’s the lowdown, if you think you can handle it before breakfast.”

  “Definitely before breakfast so I don’t heave on you if this gets too terrifying.”

  “Bayli—” Rory cut in.

  She raised her hand. “I can deal with this. Don’t go all Superman protecting Lois Lane on me.”

  “More like the Beast saving Beauty,” Scarlet muttered under her breath. “But anyhoo. Here’s the situation: Your stalker is still locked up in Japan. He was definitely the one to send you e-mails and post the hatergrams on YouTube. He was not, however, the one to send you the creepy-crawlies via courier.”

  Bayli’s stomach churned. “Thoughts on who did?”

  “Not just thoughts. I’ve nailed it down. So, the officers who investigated the break-in at your apartment found a guy who saw the would-be robber on the fire escape. They had a sketch for me, which they e-mailed. I forwarded that sketch to the courier service, and they confirmed the NYPD rendering was the same guy who hired them to make the delivery.”

  Bayli sighed dejectedly. “Let me guess. That man was someone hir
ed off the street. So no way to track him down.”

  “Wrong!” Scarlet instantly lit up like a Roman candle. “This guy isn’t cloaked in shadows. See, I scanned the rendering into a digital file, uploaded it, and ran matches. That led to an actual photo. Which led to a craigslist account. When I delved deeper into that, I discovered this guy is linked to a service that’s sort of like mercenaries for hire.”

  “I’m starting to get queasy,” Bayli said. Christian and Rory moved in a little closer. She gave a slight shake of her head at them. “Don’t coddle me. I have to hear this. I have to face this.”

  Scarlet was clearly locked in investigator mode and excitedly told them all, “I had someone from my network track down Paul Richards, our bad guy, and my pal did a little shakedown that I don’t even want to know about, but we learned Richards was hired through the Internet links. And I pinpointed the ISP for where those communications to him originated.”

  Bayli spared a glance toward Christian and Rory. This was going to be a big reveal that would set the stage for everything that followed.

  Her gaze drifted back to Scarlet. “Please tell me the ISP is from a Japanese prison server.”

  Scarlet frowned. “Not this time. The domain associated is in Manhattan.” She peered at Christian, then Rory, and added, “More specifically, from Davila–St. James Enterprises.”

  “Nobody yell,” Bayli quickly said. She shot both men a look. “No. Yelling. My head is killing me as it is. Just … process. And don’t point fingers.” She turned back to Scarlet to explain, “This is very sensitive. The woman I told you about is not only Christian’s assistant, but they also slept together on occasion. Over the course of three years. Touchy subject.”

  “Bayli,” Christian ground out.

  “I’m setting the scene, so Scarlet knows all the players. I already gave her the four-one-one on Lily; I just didn’t mention her full involvement with you.”

  Scarlet stood and started to pace. Bayli recognized that to be her friend’s strategic planning disposition and waited patiently—as much as was humanly possible, at any rate—to learn what Scarlet came up with. Rory and Christian appeared much less tolerant with the waiting game but clearly didn’t want to upset Bayli.