Stolen Love, The Complete Collection: An Alpha Billionaire Romance (15 page)

And Brett…I wouldn’t even have the opportunity to ask him why he’d done this to me. How he could conspire with two lunatics and put my sister’s life on the line? Why hadn’t he just told me he needed money? I could have helped him. Instead, he chose to stab me in the back.

Maybe Mackenzie had the right idea about not trusting people. I guess I trusted too easily and ended up surrounded by enemies, one of whom was now threatening to kill the woman I loved. This was all my fault. I never should have brought Mackenzie into it. I knew I was in way over my head, but this was my call to action. I needed to go in there and save her. Hoping it was the right decision, I made my move to enter the building.

A hand grasped my shoulder, and I spun around quickly, ready to fight. It was Lexy. She and James were behind me, and Lexy held a finger to her lips. My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest.

“You scared the shit out of me,” I hissed. I breathed deeply, trying not to hyperventilate.

“That much is obvious,” James said.

“What are you guys doing here? I was just about to go in.”

Please don’t die on me, Mackenzie. I’m coming
.

“We heard everything on the earpiece and headed over,” Lexy whispered. “You can’t go in there. It would be a mistake.”

“I have to. You heard what Susan said—she’s going to kill Mackenzie and then my sister. We don’t have time to wait. We have to stop her. I can’t lose both of them—I just can’t.”

“Going in there will probably result in Mackenzie getting killed as well as you. We don’t know who else is in there. Where’s her husband? He’s either out here somewhere, or he’s in the office with her. He could be hiding, waiting for you to come through that door. Right now, it’s too risky for you to be jumping in half-cocked.”

“Susan’s crazy. She’s completely lost her mind. I can’t just sit back and hope she doesn’t kill Mackenzie. She could do it any second. We don’t have time for discussion.”

“We understand where you’re coming from, Jason, but Lexy is right,” James said. “If you rush in there right now, it could be suicide, and Mackenzie will still be standing there with a gun aimed at her chest. We need to be smart about this.”

“We didn’t come over here to just stand outside of a building with you,” Lexy said. “I have a plan.”

“And it’s a damn good one,” added James.

“You don’t have to worry, Jason. Mackenzie trained me well, and I have no intention of losing my best friend tonight. But James is right—we have to be smart about it.”

We all crouched behind the box as Lexy explained her plan. She was right—it was damn good. We were all going to work together to save Mackenzie and Janelle. Hopefully, Mackenzie could stall long enough for us to do so.

Chapter Five

Mackenzie

Starring down the barrel of a gun puts your whole life in perspective. There I was, standing in front of a crazy woman, wondering how much longer I had to live. There was only so much talking I could do. But one advantage I believed I had was that she was obviously a novice with her gun. I could tell by the way she held it. That also told me she’d never learned how to shoot. So she’d definitely have trouble hitting a moving target.

I looked down at Brett once again and noticed the bullet wounds in his back. That’s how she’d gotten the upper hand on him. Not because she was skilled, but because he was defenseless and walking away from her. His face was a mess, but shooting someone at close range was a pretty easy thing to do. The woman wasn’t a marksman, and I could use that to my advantage.

As crazy as she was, her adrenaline was pumping, and she was out of her element. Her hands were shaking, so she wasn’t in complete control of the situation. That was good news for me because I was in complete control of myself. I remained calm and relaxed.

Another advantage I had was that we were in close quarters. I had always believed that guns were pretty useless in close quarters, especially if your opponent was fast. If I could overwhelm her and move in quickly, she would have only a split second to move in on me with the gun, and there was no way her reflexes were as good as mine. I was confident I could overpower her if I got the chance.

The woman was an amateur, and that realization put a smile on my face. She thought she was in the big leagues, but she had no idea who she was up against. She assumed I was just Jason’s girlfriend and nothing more. I was dealing with a small-time criminal who had made small-time mistakes. I could overpower her and stop this right now.

“What the hell are you smiling at?” the woman barked out.

I continued smiling at her. “I just think it’s amusing how poor people always think they can get over on us rich folks. Didn’t your parents ever tell you that the rich always win?”

Judging by the look on her face, I was getting a rise out of her. I needed to provoke her and get her angry so she would make a mistake.

“How dare you,” she hissed. “No one is better than me, least of all some trust fund bitch like you. Will you still be smiling when you have a bullet in your head?”

The woman took a step toward me. She could never hit me in the head from her current distance and she knew it. She was moving in for the kill, and when she did, I would be ready for her.

“I’m sorry. It must really suck to know that your whole mortgage probably costs as much as me taking one shopping trip to Rodeo Drive. Your life is meaningless, and I have so much money that I use bills for tissues.”

The woman’s face was turning beet red. “You bitch! You’re going to pay for that!”

The woman took a couple of steps toward me, and I dodged quickly to the side then slammed my elbow into her wrist, knocking the gun out of her hand.

Chapter Six

Jason

We had been listening to the altercation the whole time, waiting for the moment to move in. When I heard the scuffle between Mackenzie and Susan, I couldn’t wait any longer to see if Mackenzie was okay. No one was going to keep me from going to her. I launched myself over the crate as I heard Lexy call out to me. I didn’t look back, and I didn’t give her an opportunity to convince me to stay behind. I didn’t care if I was killed—I needed to see if Mackenzie was okay.

When I burst through the door, I found my gorgeous Mackenzie on top of an unconscious Susan. Relief flooded through me when I realized that she was unharmed. I ran to her and scooped her up into my arms.

“That was the worst fifteen minutes of my life,” I told her, squeezing her tightly. “I’m so sorry I didn’t come sooner. Lexy thought it was too dangerous.”

“No worries. I had things completely under control.”

I looked at Susan. “What happened?”

“I punched out your housekeeper.”

“That’s my girl. Believe me, she deserved much worse than that.” I kissed Mackenzie gently. “I was terrified I’d never see you again.”

“Come on now, I’m a professional.” She winked and hugged me. “And I’m not going anywhere.”

I let go of her, and she went about tying up Susan so she wouldn’t be able to escape if she woke up.

Lexy’s voice crackled over the earpiece. “We have Janelle, Jason. We found her, and she’s okay.”

“Oh, thank God.” I sighed, feeling a huge weight lift from my heart. Mackenzie and my sister were safe and sound. Everything was turning out right for once. It was then that I noticed Brett on the ground. I went over to him and knelt down.

My friend…what happened to you?

Just then we heard a gunshot, and my heart clenched in my chest. I looked over at Mackenzie, who stood there wide-eyed. Edward was still unaccounted for.

“Lexy! James! What’s happening?” Mackenzie yelled. Her face had gone abruptly pale.

The earpiece crackled again, and this time it was James’s voice that came through. “We’re okay, Mackenzie. Edward killed himself. He was in the room watching over Janelle. Didn’t know he was armed. I turned my back on him, for Christ sake… He could have shot me, but he turned the gun on himself instead.”

I stood there stunned as the implications of that statement came through loud and clear. It was over. It was finally all over.

Chapter Seven

Jason

The sirens seemed to be coming from all directions, and we were soon surrounded. I looked out the window and saw press vans showing up as well.

“What the hell?” I asked.

“It’s Susan,” Mackenzie explained. “You heard her—she had a ton of videotapes. She must have sent them to the police before she came here tonight. The police will think we did this and take you to jail.”

Well, that wasn’t good news. The woman had certainly covered all her bases. Looking down at her unconscious body, I had the strong urge to strangle whatever life was left in her. She had caused a real fine mess in my life, and I wanted nothing more than to teach her a lesson. But unlike her, I was no murderer. She would live to see another day.

“Apparently, she invited the press as well,” I sighed. “What a shit show. So much for winning the day.”

It was going to be up to me to save everyone now. I couldn’t let anyone take the fall for the mess I was in. I would make sure that I at least got the rest of them out. Fortunately, my little thief had not become a murderer—she had only knocked Susan out.

Susan groaned as she woke up from the slumber Mackenzie had blessed her with. Her groans told me she was alive and was going to be okay. That would help us somewhat, but we would still have to explain a very complicated situation to the police and hope they believed us. James and Lexy entered the main room with Janelle, who ran to me. She cried softly into my chest, and I held her tightly against me.

“It’s okay, Janelle. Everything’s going to be okay now. I’m so sorry you had to go through this.” I kissed the top of her head, and she looked up at me sadly. I saw how deep the cut on her cheek was and knew I would have to call in the best plastic surgeon I could find to fix her face. The poor thing would probably have nightmares for months after this ordeal. Would she ever recover from Susan’s cruelty? Would she be able to trust anyone again? It upset me that Susan’s impulsive behavior might impact my sister’s life forever. It ignited that old familiar rage, but I knew I had to calm down if any of us was going to get out of this.

“They were in one of the back rooms. Sorry about the suicide. I didn’t expect it,” James said.

He looked a little rattled by the whole experience. It was good to know that I wasn’t the only one.

“Well, we have bigger problems than that now. The police are outside, and they think I’m a murderer.”

Janelle gasped. “No, they can’t possibly think that. I can explain everything to them.”

“They won’t believe you. You were tied up and gagged the whole time, and you had earphones on. You would have no way of knowing whether I was involved in any of this or not.”

“But this can’t happen to you.”

“Janelle, I told you that everything will be alright, and I mean it. Just trust me.”

I looked at James. “Take Janelle and meet me at the flashing lights.” I turned to Mackenzie. “The police will be surrounding the whole building soon. I need you and Lexy to run. Get out of here before they come inside. You don’t need to be a part of this.”

“I don’t want to run, Jason. I can face the music with you. We haven’t done anything wrong here. We can still win this if we just tell them the truth.”

“Please, you need to go. We have no idea what Susan has told them, and let’s be honest, you two don’t have the cleanest hands. Just go, please. I love you. I promise you that I’ll meet you at home.”

She nodded. “Whose home?”

“What’s mine is yours, beautiful,” I said, handing her my house key. “I promise I’ll see you soon.”

Lexy and Mackenzie sprinted to the back of the building to escape. I watched them go, hoping I would be able to keep my promise to Mackenzie.

Chapter Eight

Mackenzie

I sent Lexy back to our apartment to wait. If things went badly for Jason, they would probably head to his mansion to get me, and I didn’t want Lexy to be involved. I hugged her tightly, and she wished me luck.

I hadn’t liked leaving Jason behind, but he had a plan, and only he could execute it. There was a chance that his place in society could save him if he was able to create enough doubt in their eyes about the claims Susan was making. There were dead bodies littered all over that office, however, and that didn’t look good for anyone.

Once I arrived at the mansion, I turned some lights on and then spent my time worrying. I paced back and forth from room to room, slowly going crazy. The more I paced, the more I regretted leaving Jason behind. I hated standing there waiting, not knowing what was going on. I wondered if James had gone back to my apartment with Janelle or if they had stayed behind to wait for Jason. I hadn’t understood the “flashing lights” request that Jason had made, either.

I waited and waited and worried and worried. The longer I waited, the less likely it seemed that he was going to come home to me. It would be the first promise he had broken. But I guess I couldn’t hold him totally responsible for not keeping his word. Things had gotten out of hand, and we had all underestimated Susan and what she was willing to do to get her way.

I didn’t know what I would do if I lost Jason so soon after finding him. We had gone through so much together in such a short period of time that I found it hard to believe it could end without warning. I didn’t want it to end. I wanted to see what the next chapter in life held for us. It hurt me to think I wouldn’t get that chance.

I would have to save him. There was just no way around it. I needed to come up with a plan and figure out my next steps. If the police took him in, I’d need to case the place to get him out, and that would require explosives. If they injured him, he’d be brought to the hospital. Getting him out of there would be a piece of cake. They would have an officer guarding the door, but an officer would be no match for a woman who knew how to scale the outside of a building. I’d just enter through his hospital window. Thievery did have its advantages…

The front door opened, and I spun around to see Jason walking through it. He was home! I rushed to him and jumped into his arms, causing us to tumble to the floor. I giggled as I kissed his face all over, so happy he had arrived home to me in one piece.