Storm Redemption

by Magda Alexander

  “Did he? Well, then. Maybe I can after all.”

  After we drop off Andrew with Nanny, we head to the dining room and find the rug’s been taken away. Someone’s measuring the window to install new bulletproof glass.

  We eat in the kitchen. It’s going to be a while before I enjoy a meal in the dining room again. Somehow I manage to eat with one hand. The other hand is busy holding on to Gabriel. He doesn’t seem to mind.

  While we eat, Gabriel explains about the sessions with Chris Langenfeld and how much they’ve helped him see my point of view as well as his brother’s and sister’s. Although it’s a hard slog, he’s learning to let go of his need to control everything around him.

  “I think you should continue your sessions with her once you go back.”

  “Yes.”

  I rise from my seat and curl my body around his lap. Tangling my hands through his hair, I brush it back. “What are your plans?”

  “Plans?”

  “Yes.” I lay my head on his shoulder. “I think you should stay here with us.”

  “Do you?”

  I nibble his jawline, drop small kisses along its edge. “Next Saturday is your birthday. I was planning on flying to London to help you celebrate. But since you’re already here, I think you should stay.”

  “Do you, love? Well then, maybe I can remain for a week.”

  Chapter 41

  ______________

  Gabriel

  “HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GABRIEL.” Elizabeth’s voice. How could that be? She’s in D.C. and I’m in London. Wait. That’s not right. I will my eyes open and try to clear the fog from my mind.

  She’s kneeling on my bed. No. Our bed. I’m in D.C. Andrew’s standing on the mattress with her help. A sleepy smile rolls over my lips. “Yes. It is.” Can’t help the gravel in my voice. Went to bed at four. Trying to run a business seven hours ahead is hell. But I wouldn’t change a thing. Not if I have this to wake up to each morning.

  “Daddy’s not at his best, Andrew. Why don’t you give him a kiss?” She gets him close enough so he can smack his lips against my cheek. Not really a kiss, more of a suck. He scrunches his face and shakes his head. Guess he doesn’t like my prickly overnight beard.

  “We have all kinds of things planned for daddy, don’t we Andrew?”

  Clamping on to my nose, he bounces on the bed. Drool escapes him. He’s a charmer, my son.

  “First of all, Jorge is hard at work on daddy’s favorite French toast. And tonight we’re having a birthday party at the Ragin’ Cajun.”

  “Are we?” I curl my hand across her nape and give her a quick peck on the lips. Not long enough to satisfy me, but it will have to do for now.

  “CeCe and her husband will be there, and a couple of surprise guests as well.”

  “Who?”

  “If I told you it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?”

  I shake my head. “When did you plan all this?”

  “This week. I wanted to make it special for you. So come on, get out of bed and jump in the shower so you can have breakfast and open up your presents.”

  The rest of the day goes by in a haze. After breakfast, a mountain of presents awaits me in the living room. Books, slippers, scarfs, a silver frame which contains a picture of Andrew and her. It will sit on my desk where I can gaze at it all day. Later on she shows me Andrew’s latest accomplishment. Scooting an inch at a time. Backwards. I can’t believe how much he’s grown in only two months.

  “Did you like your presents?” she asks while we dress for dinner.

  “Yes.” I pull her into me, kiss her while inhaling the gardenia-scent of her. “But all I really want is you naked in bed.”

  She laughs, and her eyes sparkle. “And we’ll get there. Soon.”

  A wave of sadness rolls over me. “I’ll need to return to London after the weekend.”

  “Why? I only have five more weeks of school. Surely you can run Storm Industries from D.C. for that period of time. We can be together every day, every night.”

  I slip my tie around my neck, but leave it hanging loose. “We’ll see.” There are some things we need to set straight, but that conversation will have to wait until after dinner.

  The media’s there at the restaurant. She arranged not only a private party at Casey’s restaurant, but invited the press as well. CeCe and her husband are there. So is Carrey. No doubt to mend fences over Brian Sullivan and the theft of the papers. Smith Cannon is a great law firm. But after everything that’s happened, I don’t see a way of trusting them again. But that’s something to deal with in the morrow. Tonight we enjoy ourselves.

  “And the biggest surprise guest. Ta da!” Elizabeth says, pointing to the back of the restaurant.

  Edward strides through. It’s so good to see him here. Although we’ve reconnected, things will never be the way they used to be. Both of us have changed too much. But maybe our new kinship can be better, stronger. God knows I’ll do everything in my power to make him happy again.

  She’s rigged the television to communicate through the internet and she plays back a couple of messages—one from Brianna and another one from Royce. Both prerecorded for the event.

  Brianna seems preoccupied. But I have no doubt she’s safe. Jake’s standing in the background, arms crossed, watching over her. “Happy 34th birthday, brother dearest. I’m sorry I can’t be there to celebrate it with you. Maybe next year. Give Elizabeth and Andrew a kiss from me.”

  Royce’s is a tad longer. “Had to trek thirty miles through the ruddy jungle to send this. Hope you appreciate it. By the way, thank you for sending Dr. Wilkinson. She’s been a great help.” He doesn’t sound grateful. Is she there with him? Yes, she is, standing in the corner. He gets closer to the camera and whispers. “I’ll get you back for this, you blighter, if it’s the last thing I do.”

  I bark out a laugh. I can only imagine how he feels. Being forced to spend time with a woman he can’t seduce.

  “Have a great birthday, big brother. And hug the little one for me.”

  The media are in their glory with this celebration. Taking plenty of pictures, they float in and around the guests.

  “Why did you invite the press?” I ask Elizabeth.

  “We spend most of our relationship hiding from them. I’m tired of them getting the wrong idea about us, so I thought I’d give them something positive to write about.

  “And what is the right idea?”

  “That we’re crazy in love with each other.” She mashes my face with birthday cake. I grab her and kiss her, and that’s the photo that makes its way to the gossip rags.

  A little worse for the wear, Edward sits alone staring into his wine glass. Wishing I could do something to cheer him up, I glance at Elizabeth, “I have an idea.”

  “What?”

  “I think we should get married again.”

  A look of anxiety crawls over her face. “Tonight?”

  “No. On the anniversary of our wedding day. We can reenact the ceremony, everything the same, except this time, Edward will be the best man.”

  “You do realize I’ll be studying for finals at the time.”

  “You can do it. You can do anything. After your finals, we can go on a second honeymoon.”

  “Not to the Caribbean.”

  Tilly’s face intrudes into my thoughts, but I quickly vanish it. She would be the last person who would wish me to grieve. “No. Not the Caribbean. I was thinking Italy. Have you ever been there?”

  Her eyes take on a soft glow. “No.”

  “You’ll love it.”

  When we return home, Nanny takes Andrew to put him down for the night. I hate to part with him, but he must get his rest.

  “There’s something we need to discuss. Somewhere private.”

  “Upstairs then.” We take the elevator to our private suite. Our entire future hinges on this conversation. It could go either way, but I need to know.

  She drops into the love seat that is part of the sitting room o
f the penthouse’s top floor. “What did you want to talk about?”

  “I’ve put $20 million at your disposal for anything you need.”

  Her brow scrunches. She can’t quite figure out where I’m coming from. “Gabriel, I don’t need your money.”

  “Nevertheless, I want you to have it. And if you need anything more, just contact my man of business, and he’ll transfer whatever you need.”

  She waves her hand. “What brought this on?”

  “The agreement we made before we married.”

  “What about it?”

  “The year and a month will be up in January.”

  “And?”

  “And you can file for a divorce then. I wanted you to know you won’t suffer financially if you do.”

  A soft smile lights up her lips. “If you want a divorce, you’ll need to do the filing, for I won’t.”

  An overwhelming joy floods through me. I drop to my knees, take her face in my hands. “If you don’t want a divorce, then what do you want, darling girl?”

  “The same thing I’ve always wanted since we met.” She skims her index finger down the line of my jaw to my lips. “You. I want you, Gabriel.”

  I kiss her fingertip. “I’m yours for the taking, love. All you have to do is reach.”

  While those mesmerizing emerald eyes shine at me, she threads her hand through my hair, kisses the corners of my eyes, runs a finger down the blade of my nose.

  Unwilling to take any more, I drive her into the love seat and ravish her mouth. “You won’t leave me.”

  “You better believe it, buster. From now on, I’m sticking to you like glue. Somebody has to keep those bowling bunnies away from you. After my last exam, we’ll fly back to London and return to our penthouse where I’ll stay in your home, in your arms, in your bed. Forever. If you’ll have me, that is.” She says with a small secretive smile.

  “If I’ll have you?” I choke out.

  “Gabriel, how can you think I’ll ever leave you?”

  “You left me once.”

  “I was angry at you. But you’re trying so hard to make things right between us. And you love me. Truly love me. I know that now. I never knew the meaning of love until you proved it to me.”

  “How?”

  “When you allowed Andrew to come to D.C. with me. You trusted me, loved me enough to know that would be the best thing for us. And that my darling, wonderful, husband is the meaning of true love. It took a while to sink in, but I finally understood. I never wish us to part. I love you so much. I didn’t know how much until you weren’t there. I missed you so much I hurt with it. I love you,” she whispers.

  “And I, my darling girl, love you. When we return to London, I want you to come work for me.”

  She shakes her head. “No. Not yet.” When I sound a protest, she lays a finger across my lips, shooshing me. “Not until I graduate. I have a lot to learn from Sebastian’s company.”

  “I’m not happy with that decision. But if that’s what you want. Fine. I don’t know what the future holds, but all I ask of it is you by my side.”

  “Will you stay here with me until I finish my semester?”

  “Yes. Storm Industries can do without me for the next five weeks. I’ll arrange for William to take care of things while I laze about here with you.”

  She nibbles my lower lip. “What will we do to pass the time?”

  I pick her up and carry her to our bed. “I suspect we’ll think of something.”

  Chapter 42

  ______________

  Gabriel

  MY MOBILE’S TRILL wakes me up in the middle of the night. Probably some blighter calling from London oblivious to the different time zones. Nothing that can’t wait a couple of hours. I let it roll over to voice mail, but the damn thing trills again. Has to be something important; otherwise they wouldn’t have called again. Scrubbing my face, I grab the phone.

  “Hello.” Can’t help the gravel in my voice. Fuck’s sake. It’s three a.m.

  “Mr. Storm?” I barely catch my name, faint as it is. Not only that, but the background crackles.

  “Yes.”

  “It’s Terrence.” The head of security in Brazil.

  What the hell’s he calling about? It’s the middle of the night there as well. “What’s going on?”

  “Your sister . . . Jake Cooper . . . missing.”

  “What!” I come alert in a hurry. “Explain yourself.”

  Elizabeth stirs awake by my side, lays her hand on my arm. “What’s wrong?”

  I lay a finger across my lips to signal silence while I listen to Terrence’s garbled account.

  “A week ago . . . traveled deep into the jungle . . . equipment theft.” They didn’t return.”

  Bloody hell. I can only hear every other phrase.

  “Did you call them?” I pray he can hear me.

  “Yes, Sir . . . satellite phone . . . no answer . . . three days ago.”

  “Did you send out a search party?”

  “What?”

  Damn it. He can’t hear me either. I repeat my question hoping to God it comes through.

  “Yes, Sir . . . had to call it back.”

  I clutch the phone hard. “Why the hell did you do that?”

  The crackle dissipates, and his words come through loud and clear. They’re enough to chill my blood. “Hurricane coming, Mr. Storm. Need every man jack here to secure the equipment. Once it blows over, we’ll—”

  The line goes dead.

  “What’s wrong?” When I don’t respond, Elizabeth tugs at me. “Gabriel. You’re scaring me.”

  I swallow past the lump on my throat. “Jake and Brianna have gone missing, and a hurricane’s bearing down on Brazil.”

  When she wraps her arms around me, I’m grateful for her warmth because I’m chilled to the bone.

  “Jake’s an ex-Navy seal. They’ll be fine. And hurricanes don’t travel that far south.”

  She’s right about that, but Terrence wouldn’t have called unless he was damn sure. I pull up the internet on my phone and key in the url of a website that provides worldwide weather information. When it pops up, I type Natal, Brazil. What I see there stops my breath.

  A category 5 hurricane is churning in the Atlantic headed straight for the east coast of Brazil. The bullseye for landfall? Natal, Brazil. Right where my sister is.

  A Note from the Author

  To the Reader,

  Thank you so much for reading STORM REDEMPTION. I hope you liked it. Having readers eager for the next installment of a series is the best motivation for a writer to create new stories. If you enjoy reading my work as much as I enjoy writing my stories, you might want to:

  1) Sign up for my newsletter. If you do, you will be notified about the publication date of STORM CONQUERED, the next book in the Storm Damages Series, as well as other Magda Alexander releases. Here’s the link:

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  2) Connect on Facebook, Twitter and my website. I post excerpts of upcoming releases on my website and my Facebook page as well as announce contests and giveaways.

  Visit Magda Alexander website at: http://magdaalexander.com

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  3) Leave a Review. Please consider writing a review for this book at the estore where you purchased it. Reviews are very important to authors. They not only help us improve our craft but guide other readers to our books. So, if you’re so inclined, I would love for you to leave one.

  4) Send me feedback. If you have a question or a comment, feel free to send me an email at magdaalexander@gmail.com. I love to hear from readers and try to answer every email.

  Kind regards,

  Magda Alexander

  Excerpt from

  STORM CONQUERED

  Jake and Brian
na’s story

  Coming Fall 2014

  Natal, Brazil

  Jake

  SHE SWAYS AROUND THE DANCE FLOOR of the local watering hole, her body undulating to the samba rhythm, breasts thrust forward one second, hips the next. Bare midriff, wisp of a top, shorts that reveal more than conceal her perfect ass. Every masculine eye is glued to her. She knows what she’s doing, the witch. She wants them lusting, burning for her.

  One man, tongue hanging out, openly massages his crotch. He’s not the only one. The stench of body fluids—sweat, cum, who knows what else—fills the room. Her gaze roams over the crowd, challenging them, laughing at them. You may look, but you can not touch. After all, for most of them, she’s their boss.

  What the fuck is she doing? Back in London, she was a wildcat. But she never behaved this way in the field. At least, not in the past. No wonder Storm fired off an S.O.S. ‘Figure out what the bloody hell’s going on and fix it.’ Her behavior, coupled with the vandalism and the equipment destruction, could very well deep six Storm Industries’ billion-dollar project.

  A wild-eyed, none-too-sure-on-his feet idiot lunges for her. Laughing, she skips out of his reach, but another man snags her arm and drags her to his lap. Knowing what’s coming, I don’t so much as twitch.

  A blade appears in her hand. Where the hell she’s been hiding that little beauty is beyond me. She stabs toward the man’s crotch. Wincing, he releases her. Wise of him. A man’s rather fond of his balls.

  Several men, unaware of the knife, spring toward her. But before anyone touches her, she twirls away, still sporting that siren’s grin. Men run into each other, someone throws a punch. Grunts, groans, chairs fly. Storm’s security team swarms in to break up the fight while she sashays out the door as beautiful and unreachable as ever.

  The scourge of my life. The love of my life. Brianna.

  Acknowledgments

  I’ve been singularly blessed by, first and foremost, my critique group, the Crit Divas, Lula Diamond, Teresa Hearl, Loni Lynne, and Andy Palmer. Without them, this book would not exist. Second, I’m grateful for my family, including my in laws. After the publication of STORM DAMAGES, they’ve been a constant source of support, even if half of them are shocked by the “sexy stuff.” Next up’s my wonderful Street Team, the Magda Alexander Storm Chasers, especially Jennifer E., Aubrey Salome, Tiffany C., Nancy M., and Kristine A. who took the time to beta read the book. I’d also like to thank Rachael Rozenberg who suggested the title for the book. Last, but certainly not least, to the many readers who fell in love with STORM DAMAGES and STORM RAVAGED. You not only wrote great reviews, but were a constant source of joy and motivation while I wrote STORM REDEMPTION. I offer my gratitude to each and every one of you.