The Billionaire's Prize: Taken & Tempted: (Book 3 Billionaire Bodyguard Series) (23 page)

Cade paced with his arms crossed, feeling like a caged lion prowling back and forth behind bars. He couldn’t help the sinking feeling that he’d agreed to send Kylie on a suicide mission.

Growing more anxious by the second, he reconsidered the hasty decision to call in reinforcements—which, after a thorough debate and by unanimous vote, had brought Logan Stone to their doorstep.

“Please hurry.” Kylie could barely stand still herself, rocking heel to toe impatiently. “Lucy Ramos gave me a set time and it’s running out.”

Moving with swift but precise motions, Logan fitted the bulletproof vest over her shoulders. The weight caused her knees to buckle until she locked them straight. Slone stood behind her and helped tighten the shield around her torso.

Cade hated watching them manhandle her. He’d nearly crawled out of his skin when she’d stripped from the waist up leaving her in only a bra for all male eyes to feast on her ample, perfect breasts. He fought the instinct to rip their eyes out.

The breath wheezed from her lips. “It’s a little tight…across the chest.”

Logan smiled wryly. “Someday an enterprising military contractor will create tactical gear that fits the female form. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened yet.”

“At least not in sufficient quantity to make it available on short notice,” Slone said. “Plus, most don’t have this handy addition.” He pointed out the squishy packets tucked into slits at the front of the vest, fake blood that leaked on impact to look like the real thing.

“Right.” Logan checked the harness, nodded with satisfaction, and left Kylie to button her blouse.

Good thing,
Cade thought, wearing a dark frown. If Logan or Slone had attempted to
touch her that intimately, he might’ve blown a gasket.

“Easy, man.” Liam approached and set a hand on Cade’s tense shoulder. “They’re professionals. They know what they’re doing.”

Cade tightened his arms across his chest. “I don’t care.”

“You will when she walks out without a scratch on her.” Liam clapped his shoulder in rough, brotherly reassurance, which made Cade wish to God his brother was here. He never realized how much he relied on Trey to be his rock. Through this whole ordeal he’d had no safety net, no one to fall back on, no advice to guide him.
No one like Trey who knew exactly what to say to help him keep it all together. But he respected Liam for trying.

“Thanks.” He sent Liam a look of gratitude. “You’re a decent stand in for Trey.”

“Hardly.” Liam shook his head, knowing no one substituted for Trey’s calm rationality and undaunted stability. “But if it has to suck a donkey’s ass, you know we’re right here with you.”

A reluctant grin tugged at Cade’s lips. “Yeah, I know. I appreciate that.”

Adam joined the conversation. “You’re here to protect her, you’ve got her back. She isn’t going in alone.
This won’t be like that night five years ago.”

Cade went stock still. His pulse thundered in his ears.

It’d been five years since he’d lost his dad. To.
The.
Day.

Liam exhaled a terse sigh and glanced heavenward. “Bro, I love you,” he said through a tight jaw, “but you suck at consolation.”

“What?” Adam’s eyes widened. “I’m just saying this won’t go down like that. It’s supposed to be a good thing.”

A whiplash of emotion shredded Cade’s insides.

Resolute, he stalked toward Kylie.

Logan stood in front of her, discreetly placing the microphone and camera that would feed images and information to the control board he’d set up in the conference room.

Cade shoved him aside and clasped her face in his hands. “You don’t have to do this, Kylie. We can call it off. We’ll find another way.”

“It’s a little late for that,” Logan said in quiet, measured tones.

“I don’t give a damn,” Cade snarled. “I’m not sending her in there alone. I made that mistake once. It’s
not
happening again.”

“I know what you fear.” Kylie’s gaze bored into his soul like two beams of light that pierced the dark despair consuming him. “But I have to do this.”

He blinked back the sting in his eyes. “I can’t lose you, too.”

She caught his hands in hers. “I need to count on you. You promised me we’d get through this together.”

“We will.” Cade drew on an inner strength that matched his brother’s. “I’m going in with you.”

“You can’t.” Slone shot him down.

Cade fixed him in an icy glare. With lethal calm, he said, “I’d like to see you stop me.”

Slone stood in a defensive posture and flexed his chest.

Logan sliced his hand through the thick animosity. “Stand down, Rowan. That’s an order.”

Instantly, Slone complied, though a muscle ticked furiously in his jaw.

Adam stepped forward. “If that’s Cade’s decision, then I stand by him.”

“Same,” Liam said. “Three against two.”

Slone growled, “If your stunt gets her killed, so help me—”

“Enough.” Logan stepped between them. “Cade’s going in.” He gestured to Liam to hand him another bulletproof vest.

“There’s no time,” Cade said. “Kylie’s fully equipped. That’s all that matters.”

Slone narrowed his eyes. “Don’t play the hero.”

“I’m no hero.” Cade’s lips spread with a cold
smile of assertion. “I’m the man I should’ve been five years ago.”

The words rang true the moment he said them.

“You need a Kevlar vest,” Logan insisted.

Cade ignored him. He looked into Kylie’s eyes and found all the fortitude he needed. “Time to kill this switch.”

*

The glow of audiovisual equipment cast a cool blue light throughout the limousine. Logan had set up a miniature command station inside, so they could be on scene and react to potential threats at a moment’s notice.

Kylie’s nerves stretched taut, almost to the point of snapping. Despite the limo’s smooth ride, she felt every bump in the road like a bone-jarring impact.

For a moment she closed her eyes.
Please let
Lindsey be okay.

Her fingers itched to reach for Cade’s hand. But he seemed miles away in thought, his usual charismatic warmth locked away, his posture stiff as he sat forward with his hands folded. He didn’t look at her, didn’t touch her, didn’t blink. He just stared straight ahead.

It bothered her tremendously that he hadn’t worn the bulletproof vest Logan had offered him. He’d asked for only one thing out of Logan’s stash of high-tech gear—a taser shaped like a cell phone that he’d clipped to his waist.

And, curiously, he’d requested money.

“Adam,” Cade had asked before they set out on the trip, “do you still have the cash I gave you to pull strings?”

“Sure. How much do you need?” Adam had responded.

“All of it.”

Adam had handed over a significant amount of money without question. A sense of foreboding had followed. She wasn’t sure what he meant to do, since offering a bribe wasn’t part of the plan they’d rehearsed before piling into the limousine. In the back of her mind, she questioned how she’d pull off this face-to-face meeting.

The sound of Logan tip-tapping on his laptop keyboard set her teeth on edge. Then he paused. “You’re good to go.” He sent her a compassionate glance. “You have a lot of well-trained, highly skilled people in your corner, Kylie. You’ll make it through this in one piece.”

“Don’t worry about a thing.” Slone’s penetrating gray eyes offered the confidence she longed for from Cade. “You remember the plan?”

She nodded tightly. “Cade stays in the hallway. I go in with the stack of evidence to exchange for my sister, while the limo stays parked out front and your tactical team waits in the rear.”

“And the safe word?” Slone prodded.

“Mayday.”

“As soon as you say it, the team and I will storm the warehouse. We’ll get to you before Lucy Ramos does. You can trust me on that. I’ve carried out dozens of rescue missions under heavy enemy fire.” He winked. “This is cake.”

“If you say so.” She patted her vest, beneath the layers of her shirt and coat, the only thing between her and a bullet.

Logan hit the enter key. “Say something.”

“Like what?” Hearing the echo of her own voice on a slight delay startled her.

“We’ll see and hear everything you do,” Logan said. “As well as every word and action from others in the room.”

She gulped. “Others?”

“We assume she’ll have a couple of her goons with her,” Slone said.

“Oh.”

Of course Lucy wouldn’t be there alone and exposed. But the thought of facing the type of men who’d tried to shoot them on the yacht made her tense with anxiety.

Uncertainty prickled across her scalp as they pulled up to the designated meeting place. The windows of the warehouse were boarded shut behind metal bars, like a haunted prison.

“Remember,” Logan said, “the FBI is on their way.”

The notion offered her a boost of reassurance, and gratitude swelled in her chest that Logan had such far reaching connections. She hoped the combination of Logan’s equipment, Slone’s team, and the FBI would be enough to save her and her sister’s lives.

Logan’s phone buzzed. He skimmed the text message. “My buddy in the local FBI outpost says they’ve put a trace on Lucy’s Cadillac by tapping into the vehicle’s On-Star system. It’s parked within the six block vicinity. If she and her cronies think they’ve set a trap for you, we’ll spring a bigger one on her. When she leaves this building, it’ll be in handcuffs.”

“If I don’t get to her first,” Slone muttered, his fists clenched.

She swallowed. “As long as my sister isn’t the one who leaves in a body bag.”

Throughout their discussion, Cade maintained his stone cold silence. She wondered if he’d heard a word they’d said.

Slone nudged Cade. “Don’t do anything idiotic. Like stray from the plan.”

“I’ll do what I have to do,” Cade said quietly.

Logan nodded to her. “It’s go time.”

Cade wrenched open the car door. He didn’t reach for her hand to help her out. He refused to look at her at all. He shouldered through the heavy door that creaked on its metal hinges.

Once inside the building, she climbed the stairs at a slow trudge toward the third floor.

The glare of caged construction lights, hung at distant intervals, barely illuminated their path. When she looked at them and glanced away, blind spots speckled her vision.
It shocked her that the building even had electricity.

The place smelled musty with wood rot and gross neglect. Sheets of plastic concealed parts of the ceiling that had caved in. The silhouettes of dangling wires, cracked beams and abandoned machinery looked like an elephant graveyard of alien life forms.

Creaks and groans from the dilapidated structure made her tense at every turn. She expected someone to jump out of the shadows and attack them any minute.

Cade kept a few paces ahead of her the whole way, his lean athletic body moving with easy grace. The shield of his presence took the edge off her gnawing worries, and she silently thanked him for choosing to go in with her.

On the third floor, Cade hung back. He waved at her to go ahead of him. She picked her way through piles of debris toward a doorway that shed light into the hall.

“Lucy Ramos?” she called out.

A wicked laugh raked over Kylie’s skin. “Right on time. Come in.”

Summoning confidence she didn’t feel, Kylie entered the room. Broken glass crunched under her feet. She clutched the binder against her stomach as if it could shield the sound of nerves fluttering restlessly inside her, her gut screaming for this to be over.

“I have what you asked for. Where is my sister?” she demanded.

“Diego is keeping her company.” Lucy gestured toward a darkened corner where two sheets of plastic converged.

There in the shadows, a blindfold over her eyes and a piece of duct tape across her mouth, sat her sister tied to a chair. Lindsey struggled against the bindings, frantic sounds coming from behind the tape. A trickle of dried blood made her hair stick to her forehead, her face shiny from sweat and mucus and tears, her features contorted with fear.

Oh, my God.
“
Lindsey!” She rushed toward her sister. “It’s okay. I’m here.”

Lucy stepped in front of her, stopping her in her tracks. The woman clicked her tongue against her teeth in mocking disapproval. “No, not yet. We have a few things to discuss first.”

“I’ll give you whatever you want,” Kylie cried. “Anything, just let her go. Please.”

“That depends.” The woman’s voice sounded soulless, her eyes as dark as a demon’s. “I saw you arrive in style. Once again, your lover has pulled out all the stops to see to your comfort. Where is he?”