License to Love: Holiday Box Set (Contemporary Romance)

by Kristen James

  He smiled again as he pulled his gun out. He had put on quite a show when pretending to help her before. That hadn’t been him at all. This evil monster was the true Alexander.

  He took the last few steps and snatched a fistful of her hair. She didn’t scream. She wouldn’t give him that. He yanked her down the stairs with him and rammed them both into another door on the first flight, throwing it open. There they stood, both panting, between two doors, one leading outside while the other led back to the parking deck.

  “The van’s outside,” he said as he stopped to breathe. At least she had winded him. “We’re getting in it, or I’m putting a bullet through your head and then one through Nick’s.”

  He didn’t care about getting the key? Maybe this wasn’t about the money after all. She felt sick. Trapped.

  “Then shoot me.”

  His teeth-baring sneer relaxed into a confused frown as he studied her eyes. His fist held her hair tightly, keeping her head in place so she had to stare back at him. He wasn’t a cold-blooded killer. He was an emotional killer. She watched his eyes and, as he battled his conflicting emotions, his expression changed. She realized she was a prized possession to him, something he didn’t want to smash to pieces.

  “I said shoot me.”

  He unintentionally let his hand slip from her hair. She stepped toward the inner door.

  The movement jarred him and he aimed a gun steady at her. “Do you really want me to shoot you? How about in the leg? You won’t be running off then.”

  “Ha! I thought you said you’d put that bullet through my head.” She yelled at him and immediately regretted it. She was playing with pain. He could, and he would, shoot her if it wasn’t fatal. She didn’t know which would be worse: dying or going with Alexander. Cora took another step and was only two feet from the door.

  He shook the gun. “I’ll rather have you with a bullet in you than not at all.”

  Her hand reached out and touched the door handle behind her. He didn’t react but a tremor shook through her. “You’ll really shoot me?” She’d managed to change her tone. Maybe she could talk him down and get him back to the fake and polished manner he used before. Maybe she could use his feelings for her. Because, otherwise, she wasn’t making it out of this alive.

  If only she’d told Nick how she felt.

  She took the last step and stood with her back against the door. Her hand gripped the handle and she wondered if she could run out the door before he shot her.

  “Does this game turn you on, Cora?” he asked, half smiling. “Do you think I love you enough to not kill you?”

  “Love?” At her question, he lowered the gun and his face relaxed as he looked at her.

  “I’ve watched you grow into the woman you are. No one else knows what you want.”

  “So you thought I wanted to lose my father?” She used a daring tone, one she probably shouldn’t use when he had a gun. “You thought I wanted you to frame my father? Try to kill him? Take my life away? Is that what you’re claiming love is all about?”

  “I did whatever it took to be with you.” His arm lowered completely. “Did Nick try all that hard? You’ve been chasing Nick, but I’ve been chasing you.” His gun hung on his limp arms while he waited for her answer.

  “You’re wrong about him. I ran from him, and he still risked his life for me. He does what’s right.”

  Alexander fired his gun.

  She dove down, covering her head, but the second shot didn’t come. The first one hadn’t hit her. Thank God, she wasn’t hurt. She looked up at him. Alexander’s eyes grew wide and crazy at what he’d done. The gun remained pointed at the door as she swung it open and passed through it, away from him.

  Sixteen

  Cora waited till the door clicked shut before breaking into a crazy sprint, inhaling air like she’d been underwater. He could have killed her! Oh God, he had been planning to kidnap her this entire time. She just wanted to get Nick and get out of this unhurt.

  She followed the stairs upward, two or three at a time. She didn’t know where she was going, but only that she was running away from Alexander. Please, please, please, don’t be behind me. She burst through a door and into someone’s arms.

  “No!”

  “Here she is!”

  It wasn’t Alexander. Her body jerked to fight him but he was huge. He carried her thirty feet down the hallway and into another hotel room, where he all but dropped her on the floor. She spotted Nick seated in an armchair against the opposite wall, and he sprang to his feet. Terrance pushed him back, but Nick fought him off and engulfed her with his arms. She was shaking all over and unable to stop, even with Keith and Terrance watching.

  “Are you alright? Are you hurt? Damn it! I’m sorry. I should have been watching you.” Nick rambled and checked her over before aiming a death-threat glare at Keith. “You asshole!”

  Keith drummed his fingers on the wall, looking irritated as if his basketball team wasn’t doing well in a game. “Sit down, both of you. I need to think.”

  “You almost got her killed.” Nick started to step toward him but Cora gripped his arm. He looked into her eyes; his face was fierce and dark. She didn’t want him trying to strong arm his way out of here, given what everyone else was carrying.

  “That’s your problem.” Keith paced, holding onto his gun and studying it as if it held the answer to all of this. “My problem is getting my money back. I don’t mind sacrificing the two of you to do it, either.”

  They had no choice but to sit on the couch. She turned to Nick. They couldn’t talk but she hoped he was thinking along the same lines. It wasn’t hopeless, not when they knew how to get Keith’s money back. It suddenly seemed so simple.

  “I can still get the key,” Cora said. Keith stopped and turned to her. “Let me go and I can get your money back.” She didn’t want to confess that they have had the key all along.

  “No.” Nick grabbed her shoulders and faced her. “You can’t try that again.”

  “What other choice do you have?” Keith slipped his gun into his holster under his jacket.

  “Let me go,” Nick said. Cora dug her fingernails into his arm to stop him. She needed Keith to believe that they had to get the key back from Alexander. She could do that. Nick couldn’t. When Keith tilted his head and studied Nick, she could tell he knew that too. She had to pretend she was going to find Alexander.

  “No,” Keith said at last. He turned to Cora. “I’ll keep Nick until you return my money. That’s a nice, easy swap.” Using the hotel’s stationary and pen, Keith wrote several numbers down and gave her the paper. “This has Alexander’s cell phone number as well as mine. Get in contact with him. Get the key and then my money. I don’t care what you have to do. Understand? When you have my money, call me. I’ll give you the rest of today.”

  She wouldn’t be calling Alexander. They were done with him. Thank God she didn’t really need him to get the money. “And I’ll hand over the money when Nick is safe.”

  He met her gaze and tipped his head. “Exactly, my dear.” She couldn’t read him. It didn’t matter anyway. She would get the money. Nick grabbed her arm and looked deep into her eyes. He wanted to know what she was thinking. Sadly, there was no way to tell him.

  She took in his warm, loving eyes and striking face, imprinting every detail to memory. He had risked his life by getting involved and standing up to his family, to save her life and Jerry’s life. Now she’d try to save his.

  “This won’t take long,” she promised. “I’ll call soon when I have the money.” She hoped he could read everything she felt in her eyes.

  Nick continued arguing as Keith opened the door and smiled at Cora. “We’ll talk to you soon, now won’t we?”

  “Want me to follow her?” Terrance asked.

  “No, not necessary,” Keith said as she walked away. “If she wants Nick to live, she’ll be back.”

  She felt herself shaking as she walked to the lobby, but she shoved her hands into
the pockets of her shorts in an attempt to control it. Tears threatened her eyes. She’d left Jerry before and he got shot. Now she was leaving Nick – again – but this time it was the right thing to do. It was the only way. An old saying came to mind: if it’s meant to be, it will be. Maybe fate could work even in such a dire situation as this.

  She stopped at a bathroom to fix her appearance, running damp hands through her hair to tame it and washing her face. There was a light blue coloring developing over one of her eyes, and she didn’t have makeup to hide it. So she did what she could and hurried out.

  The hotel had a phone for local calls so she dialed Adam’s number. She had memorized it earlier.

  “Adam.”

  “Are you all right? Where are you?”

  “I’m okay, but they’ve got Nick,” she started. “Keith wants his money today or he’ll kill him.”

  A string of Spanish followed and she easily guessed what it meant. “Okay, alright, stay calm.” Adam’s steel voice reassured her. “I’ll come get you, we’ll get the money as soon as the bank opens and then meet Keith.”

  She directed him to a meeting place several blocks away.

  “I’ve got good news,” he said. “The FBI is helping us.”

  “The FBI?” Herald and Adam had been busy the last two days. “Tell me about it once we meet. I need to get some distance between me and Keith.” Adam agreed, and she took off at a good pace, using alleyways and walking between buildings. She watched her back the entire way so she noticed right away when a blue Sedan started trailing her. Maybe Keith had sent someone after all.

  Her gut told her otherwise. She broke into a run. Tires screeched behind her. People yelled at her as she pushed through the morning crowd. She ran past a narrow alley and spun around when she realized it wasn’t wide enough for a car. She ran down it while recalculating how to get to her meeting place. She’d be safe once she reached Adam.

  Two men stepped in front of her. She tried to run around them but one caught her with an arm around the waist. “What the hell!” She punched and kicked him. “Are you with Keith? Because I’m helping him.”

  The large, rough man stared at her without answering.

  “Thanks.” It was Alexander behind her. He strode down the alley, a stern expression on his face. The man let Cora go and then he took something from Alexander’s hand. Money. Payment for helping him. Son of a bitch.

  He grabbed her arm and headed back toward his car. The two men walked behind them, ensuring she’d go.

  “Who are you running from?” he asked as he opened the passenger door.

  “You don’t need to worry about me.” She considered screaming for help. Someone would help, wouldn’t they? Alexander pushed her in and hurried to the other side. She tried the door but couldn’t open it.

  He jumped in and ripped the car back into traffic.

  “Please, you have to let me go.” She turned to face him and changed tactics. “Keith’s going to kill Nick if I don’t meet him this evening with his money.”

  Seeing the amusement in his cold eyes enraged her beyond belief. Stupid laughing eyes. Nick, think of Nick.

  “So tell me, how are you going to get a million dollars?”

  At least she got to smile now, even if it was short lived. “I’m giving him the million dollars you stole.”

  He pulled into a parking lot and parked, turning to her. “Your old man actually took my money?” His cold voice didn’t reveal anything, but she could guess how mad that made him. He was just like Keith.

  “He moved it. That’s all. Into a safe deposit box so Keith wouldn’t find it in my account, but I don’t have time for this.” She loathed hearing her own desperation, but she had no choice. She banged on her locked door.

  “You want to save Nick’s life?”

  “That’s what I’m trying to do, you jackass.”

  “You’re mad at me?” He chuckled. “I’m not killing Nick in a few hours. Wow, Keith’s a heartless man to kill his own son.”

  Takes one to know one, doesn’t it? “You piece of shit!” She started hitting him.

  He grabbed both her wrists. “Do you have the key with you now?”

  Honesty had always been her best bet, and right now it might save her life. “No.”

  “You’re meeting whoever has it?”

  How did he know so much? Her teeth clamped together, sending pain through her jaw, but the pain actually brought relief from her urgent anger and fear. She nodded.

  “Then what?” he asked.

  “I have Keith’s number.”

  “So if Keith gets his money, he’ll let Nick go, whether or not you’re there?” Alexander leaned closer to stare into her eyes. She understood what he was suggesting, and she didn’t have any other choice. Nick had to get out of this alive. She didn’t answer because they both knew he had her. Once he read her face, he let go of her.

  He handed his cell over. “Call this person, Adam I’m guessing, and tell him to get the money and meet Keith. Don’t explain why you won’t make it. Don’t mention me. He’ll ask questions, but just say you’ll call back. Got it?”

  Cora had to dial three times before she could punch the numbers in the correct order.

  Adam answered and gasped her name, “Cora?”

  “Listen.” She choked on her dry throat. “I need you to pull the money out of the deposit box and set up a meeting with Keith.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m short on time. Can you meet Keith and get Nick back?”

  “Yesss….” The unspoken questions seemed to provide their own answers. Adam knew she must be in danger but unable to tell him.

  Sensing the pause in the conversation, Alexander leaned his head next to hers to listen.

  “I have to go.” She ended the call.

  Cora sat for several minutes with Alexander’s cell phone sitting on her lap. She pondered how many seconds she needed to call 911 or Adam again, for help. Could she fight Alexander off long enough?

  She moved her thumb toward the screen to dial but Alexander’s hand reached over and took his phone back. She never looked up.

  ***

  Keith’s white Avalanche pulled into a state park outside of Eugene. A minute later, Keith and Terrance walked on either side of Nick as they approached Adam in the middle of the parking lot. Adam stood alone, not wanting to reveal Herald’s involvement. Adam could see the question in Nick’s worried eyes at first, but then Nick seemed to guess that Adam was protecting her.

  “Where’s that girl?” Keith demanded.

  Adam tried his best to get around the question. “Let’s just keep this simple. I’ve got the money.”

  “This is a serious situation, I don’t want any games. Now where is she?”

  This had been his uncle growing up. His family. Now Adam saw not only suspicion, but hatred in Keith’s eyes. “We thought it’d be safer this way.”

  Keith’s gaze moved to the briefcase in Adam’s hand.

  “You can count it.” Adam opened the briefcase, sat it down, and then stepped back. Terrance grabbed it and both he and Keith looked it over. They decided it was all accounted for and clean.

  Nick slightly tipped his head at Adam in question. Adam responded with a very slight sideward movement of his head. He didn’t want Nick losing it out here and getting someone killed, but he couldn’t ignore him. Nick had never fallen for a girl like this, with his heart and soul. Adam knew Nick’s feelings about Cora were bigger and stronger than his drive to go to law school and defend the helpless. That was saying a lot when it came to his cousin. Nick clinched both his fists, and appeared to be on the brink of exploding.

  After closing the briefcase, Keith stood and said, “This is all over now, and you’re both out as far as the family is concerned.”

  A look passed from Nick to Adam, and they didn’t need to waste words expressing their feelings. Keith and Terrance headed back to their vehicle, and Herald pulled the car forward.

  They jum
ped in and Herald hit the accelerator. They sped out of the parking lot in the opposite direction of Keith’s Avalanche. It should have been time for their victory dance but instead Nick pounded his fists into the back of the seat.

  “Where is Cora?” Nick’s voice was grim.

  “Alexander’s got her, we think.” Adam spoke in a low voice through gritted teeth. He was angry at himself for letting it happen, and for not knowing where to begin the search for her. “She called, but couldn’t tell us anything. So we came and got you.”

  Nick balled his fists again but stopped himself from hitting anything. “That’s it? No ideas?”

  Herald and Adam said his name at the same time and kept talking.

  “The police are watching the airports.”

  “And now the FBI is on the case.”

  “What brought them in?” Nick asked.

  Herald explained, “Keith’s been under investigation for a year. Someone alerted them to the drug operation, but they haven’t been able to collect enough evidence to arrest yet.”

  “It’s better than that.” Adam handed Nick a 9 mm handgun to replace the Beretta Terrance took from him. “They believe us.”

  “Great.” Nick’s low, tight voice sounded more determined than Adam had ever heard it. Nick checked the gun for ammunition. “Now if we can find Cora. How long ago did you hear from her?”

  “Two hours.”

  ***

  Alexander sped out of town and headed east, one hand was rested on his lap and holding a gun pointed in her general direction. The windows were tinted and the door wouldn’t open.

  “Where are we going?”

  “You think I’m going to tell you?”

  “What am I going to do?” Cora snapped. “Send a telepathic message out? I don’t have a phone and you’ve got a gun.”

  “Aren’t you feisty today?” Alexander smirked at her. “I like it. Okay, fine. I might as well tell you. After all, what are you going to do about it?” While speaking, he pulled his gun up and smelled it, smelled it. He slowly turned his head to see the look of horror on her face. He smiled at her. “My Taurus Tracker, this little baby’s been through a lot with me.”