The Billionaire's Prize: Taken & Tempted: (Book 3 Billionaire Bodyguard Series) (24 page)

“Who?”

“Don’t play me for a fool, little girl. I know he’s here.” She glanced toward the open door. “Don’t keep us waiting, Cade.”

To Kylie’s mortification, Cade sauntered into the room. He made a great show of dusting himself off. “Damn, woman. This place is a pit. We could’ve made this arrangement without me ruining my new suit.”

In her earpiece Kylie heard harsh whispers between Logan and Slone, but nothing she could make out clearly. She froze, having no idea what to do next.

“Well, well, well.” Lucy’s lips pulled in a sneer, her eyes crackling with amusement. “If it isn’t Daddy’s golden boy. He spoke highly of you, during our brief alliance.”

“Whatever.” Cade’s callous disregard made Kylie blink. “I’m done with this game,” he said, reaching into his pocket.

“Not so fast.” Lucy motioned to a second goon, the one who didn’t hover over Kylie’s sister. “Javier, frisk him.”

Obligingly, Cade held out his arms while Javier patted him down. “See? I’m unarmed.” He unbuttoned his shirt halfway exposing his bare chest. “No armor. No gun. I came here to make a deal.”

Cade slowly reached into the pocket of his suit jacket and withdrew the money Adam had given him. “How much do you want?”

Lucy narrowed her eyes. “You’re not buying your way out of this. Her freedom isn’t for sale.”

“Her freedom?” Cade scoffed. “I don’t give a damn about her. I want
my
life back. So how much do you want to take her off my hands—five hundred? A thousand?” Cade unceremoniously chucked the money at her. “Ten thousand? It’s yours. Just take her off my hands.”

The loose bills fluttered to the floor, settling like crisp fall leaves onto the clumps of cash at Lucy’s feet.

Kylie reeled. This was
not
part of their plan. “Cade?”

“Shut up,” he snapped at her. “I’m sick of your dead weight. You’ve caused me nothing but grief since you landed on my doorstep.”

“Wh-what?” She couldn’t believe the harsh words falling from his beautiful mouth.

“I have a goddamn business to run. I can’t be going all over creation to save your ass. I’m done.” He turned to Lucy. “Do we have a deal?”

Lucy eyed him suspiciously. “You don’t care what happens to her?”

“Her or her sister,” Cade said. “Take the cash. Dispose of the bodies however you want.”

Stunned, Kylie stumbled back. “No…”

Was this a sick joke? Why would he say those things?

Lucy flicked her gaze to her, lit with satisfaction seeing a tear track down Kylie’s face. Then her eyes fastened on Cade. “I admit I’m surprised. I thought she was your little treasure.”

“She’s a pain in my ass. I want her out of my life. Whatever it takes. I’ll leave the details up to you.”

“How thoughtful.
Since I planned to kill her anyway.”

“Good.”

How could he sound so glad? So cold? So convincing? …Unless he meant every word.

Kylie choked on the possibility, her throat on fire in an effort to hold back her tears. Her heart wrenched.
No, you can’t leave me, Cade. You promised. You promised!

Lucy prowled toward Cade, her body sinuous and cat-like. She traced a fingertip along the vee of his half open shirt. “You want nothing else from me? Not even your father’s last words before I killed him?”

“Please.” Cade rolled his eyes and spoke in a derisive tone. “You did me a favor by taking out my old man. We didn’t see eye to eye on how to run the family business.” Cade shrugged. “With him out of the way, I turned the company into a billion dollar empire.”

“Interesting.” Lucy stepped back and motioned to her closest henchman. “Javier, take the files from her and burn them.”

Following orders, the man pried the binder out of her numb fingers. Using oil from the lamp, he spilled the viscous liquid onto the binder, dropped it on the floor, and flicked his lighter. The case files erupted in flames.

Lucy grinned with malevolent satisfaction. She turned to Cade. “Since I did you such a favor five years ago, I’m not inclined to do all your dirty work. You kill the girl.”

Kylie’s heart slammed against her ribs. “No, please. Don’t do this.”

“Fine.” Cade’s jaw hardened. He held out his hand. “Give me a gun.”

Lucy snapped her fingers. “Javier, do as the man says.” The henchman gave Cade one of his weapons, and kept the other trained on Cade’s head. “If you turn the gun back on me, Javier will blow your head off.”

Cade gave a heartless laugh. “Don’t worry, lady. We won’t have any problems as long as I get to walk out of here intact. If I’m not back in my limo in…” He glanced calmly at his watch as though late for a meeting. “In two minutes, my driver has the Denver police on speed dial. Besides, you don’t want the exposure of having my blood on your hands. I have far too many connections.”

Lucy frowned and nodded. “You have my word. I’ll let you leave—after you shoot the girl.”

Cade took the gun and pointed it his target. “No problem.”

Wrecked inside, shaking with fear, unable to believe what was happening, Kylie pleaded with him. “Cade, please, don’t do this.” Tears spilled from her lashes, stinging her cheeks. “Please. I’m begging you.”

Cade glanced up and down her body in a chilling appraisal. His lip curled in disgust. “Sorry, sweetheart. It’s been fun, but I can do better for a lot less hassle.”

As he raised the gun, her hope and her heart shattered. His eyes contained no pity or empathy. Just cold, cruel determination.

Cade aimed the gun at her head.

Had this been his plan all along, from the start? But how could he, after everything they’d been through? She loved him…

I love you.
She mouthed the words as he cocked the gun.

An explosion burst her eardrums.

The force knocked her to the floor. Her head slammed against the concrete. She couldn’t breathe. Instinctively, she put her hands to her chest and felt warm liquid pour through her fingers. She heard her sister’s muted scream.

“Straight through the heart.
How fitting.” The mocking voice belonged to Lucy.

“Clean up the mess,” Cade replied, his words nearly drowned out
by the ringing in her ears. “And make sure none of this comes back on me.”

Unable to breathe, Kylie gasped as shadows clouded her vision. She saw his expensive shoes, spattered with red, turn and walk away. She heard a distant door slam.

Right before everything faded to black.

“Kylie.”

The sound of her name tugged at the edges of her consciousness, drawing her out of a chasm of blackness.

“Kylie, wake up.”

Someone shook her relentlessly. The haze over her eyes began to clear.

“Baby, wake up. Come back to me.”

Blinking, she struggled to focus on the face hovering above her. She gasped a lungful of air, and sweet breath filled her aching chest.

A blurry yet beautiful vision stared down at her.
An angel,
she thought. With golden hair, the bluest eyes she’d ever seen, and a face that could’ve been chiseled by the hand of God Himself.

“Am I in heaven?”

A soft laugh drifted from his perfect lips. “No, baby. You’re safe—very much alive and well.”

The vision sharpened into clarity. She swallowed. “Cade?”

“Yes, honey.” He smiled. “I’m here.”

Perplexed, her eyebrows pulled together. “You…you shot me.”

A pained expression settled on his features. “I know. I’m sorry about that.”

“And you…said things… Did you mean them?”

“God, no, sweetheart.” He smoothed her hair with gentle hands, as she lay with her head in his lap. “I didn’t mean any of it. I had to make it seem believable.”

Tears welled. “You had me convinced.”

Liquid compassion and sorrow filled his eyes. “It was the best way I could think of to keep you alive. Since I knew you were wearing the vest, I needed to be the one to pull the trigger. I couldn’t leave Lucy’s aim to chance.”

Kylie froze. “Is she here?”

“No, sweetheart. Relax. The FBI has her and her men in custody.”

“But how…?”

A grim smile tugged at Cade’s lips. “I left and slammed the door at the end of the hall so they thought I’d gone. When Javier went to make sure the coast was clear, I tasered him. Same with the second guy she sent out. Once I took them down, I waited for Lucy. She fled out the window down the fire escape, where Slone’s team caught her.”

Kylie’s fuzzy brain strove to mold the explanation into a coherent shape of how events had unfolded.

Although her chest hurt and her head pounded, she could only remember one thing. The way he’d looked and sounded when he told her she meant nothing to him. That he could do better than her for with less hassle. Then him turning and walking away as if she were the easiest thing in the world for him to forget. His reasoning made sense, yet the agony of losing him had broken her heart into a thousand pieces that still lay in a brittle, confusing heap in her chest. She couldn’t live through that again. After all of this madness, she yearned to be back in her old life, surrounded by her own things, safe from heartbreak. Away from him.

“Cade, you sounded so convincing…”

A troubled frown bracketed his mouth. “We can talk about that later.” He kissed her forehead. “Someone here really wants to see you.”

Struggling, Kylie sat up with Cade’s help. She saw her sister standing with a blanket around her shoulders, talking with two FBI agents.

“Lindsey?” she whispered.

Her sister’s head turned toward the sound of her voice. “Kylie!”

Lindsey broke into a run, then dropped to her knees and skidded across the floor to Kylie. They crashed into each other with open arms.

“You’re okay.” Kylie’s relief overwhelmed her. “Thank God you’re okay.”

Cade stood and stepped away, giving them space to hug and kiss each other in a rampant display of affection.

“I didn’t think we’d make it out of here alive,” her sister sobbed.

Kylie hugged her tight. She wanted to be miles away from the scene of the crime, just her and her sister, recreating their lives that had nearly fallen apart. “Thank God you’re okay.”

Lindsey gave a watery laugh. “That’ll teach me to change my travel plans.”

Kylie sniffed. “Darn right. Don’t you ever do that again.”
My sister.
My family.
My life.
“I missed you so much.”

Eventually, the FBI agents pried them apart to gather relevant facts and information.

While they questioned Kylie, Cade had his arm around her the whole time, filling in the blanks when necessary. He kept her pinned to his side.

Instead of comforting her, his nearness felt stifling.

How was that possible?

She loved him. Didn’t she?

Conflicted emotions circled her heart like barbed wire, piercing her with self-doubt. How could she have fallen in love with a man she barely knew within a matter of days? What did that mean for the future? And what sort of future could possibly await them, thrust into a whirlwind affair brought on by mutual fear for their lives and based on impulsive emotions?

Her pulse throbbed in an erratic, unnerving rhythm.

Nothing made sense.
They
didn’t make sense, together, now that they had both achieved their goals. Kylie had her life back, and Cade had his father’s killer behind bars.

But then what?

Neither of them had planned that far ahead.

The worst part was that Kylie suspected, on some level, part of what Cade had told Lucy was true. She’d caused him nothing but turmoil. He’d taken on her protection as a duty, a vow to break the cycle of the past.

Did Cade even love her?

She had no idea, and he’d never given that indication.

If he did, was passion alone enough to construct a new foundation to build the rest of their lives upon?

Once the FBI told them they were all free to go, Kylie glanced at Cade, a rising level of uncertainty filling her.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, brushing a kiss to her lips. “We did it. We made it through this together. Like I said we would.”

A growing numbness spread through her. “I need to spend some time with my sister. I want to go home.”

He pulled back, alert caution in his gaze. “Sure. I get that. She can move into the guest room, and you’ll sleep in my bedroom with me.”

“No, Cade.” She struggled to say the words. “I need to go home—
m
y
home.
In Las Vegas.”

He stiffened, his arm tightening around her. “If this is because of what I said earlier, you have to believe me, it was all part of the show. I didn’t mean any of it—”

“I believe you,” she said, though dark doubts crept further into her mind. “It’s just, so much has happened in the past week. And between us. I just need…space, and time. To sort all this out in my mind.”

“I can give you space,” he said softly. She hated the hurt she put in his eyes. “You don’t need to leave.”

“Please, Cade,” she whispered, her voice catching with emotion. “I need to be there for my sister, to put our family back together. Just for a little while.”

“How much time do you need?”

“I don’t know.” She sighed, feeling disoriented and depressed, but knowing this distance between them was necessary. So they could each consider what they wanted, what they needed. Even if it meant they never came back together again. The thought stabbed her like a serrated knife. But better for him to decide he didn’t want her now, than in six months when she gave him all of herself and would have nothing left of her heart to salvage. “I have to put things around me in order again. I can’t think in the middle of chaos. I’m not like you.”

He cupped her face with one hand and smoothed his thumb across her cheek. “I know we come from different worlds. But I want to meet you somewhere halfway.”

“And when I can do that, when my heart and head are in the right place, I’ll call you.”

He dropped his hand. “You’ll call me,” he said, his gaze hardening.

“Yes.”

“That’s all I deserve after what’s happened between us. A phone call.
Maybe.
”

Feeling a sudden chill, she hugged her waist. “It’s all I can promise you right now.”

“Save your promises.” He took an abrupt step back as if he could no longer stand near her. “Tell me in person. When you come back to me.”

The words sounded like half-demand, half-threat. With no warm little space in between for her to cling to. She either wanted him or she didn’t.

Everything or nothing.

There would be no in between with Cade.

She should’ve expected that, but the reality bit into her sharply. She averted her face,
blinking away the sting in her eyes, as he turned his back on her and walked out.

*

A fist pounded on the sixth floor conference room door.

“Go away.”

Cade sat in a chair, hunched over his laptop, typing an email that laid into a newscaster on Fox Business Network who’d misquoted Soren Security’s quarterly financial report that just came out Monday. Investors had been hounding him for three days straight, demanding answers. He’d fielded all their calls and had dealt with their concerns, for the most part, freeing him up to hunt down the source of the screw-up.

A key slid into the lock that Cade had bolted from the inside. He stopped typing when the door swung wide. Damned janitor had let someone in despite Cade’s strict orders to be left alone. Undisturbed. For however long he chose to shut himself away in here.

“What do you want?” Cade snapped.

“God, you’re a crabass.” Liam strolled in carrying a heavy brown sack with a grease stain,
along with a tall garment bag. “Is this the new normal? Am I supposed to get used to you like this?”

“Guess so,” Cade muttered.

“I brought you a change of clothes. And food—remember what that is? The stuff you eat that keeps you alive?”

“I’m fine.”

“Okay then, don’t eat. I’m not going to sit here and force-feed you. But you seriously need to change your clothes.”

Cade scowled.

“Is that what I smell all the way from my office?” Adam strutted in, joining his brother.

“Whatever.” Cade was in no mood to deal with either of them. “If I’m that offensive, walk away.”

“And miss watching lover boy pine away in misery?” Adam grinned. “Fat chance.”

“Adam,” Cade said through his teeth, “if you want to leave here with your arms still attached, you need to go now.”

Adam snorted. “Or what, you’ll tear me limb from limb?”

“Pretty much.”

Liam elbowed his brother in the ribs. “Quit it. Or he’ll never change out of those clothes. Then he’ll stink up the entire floor.”

Shaking his head in mock regret, Adam said, “Then we’ll have to open all the windows, let the fresh air in. And it’s too damn cold for that nonsense.” The amusement in Adam’s tone mellowed. “I take it she hasn’t called.”

Cade skewered him with a glare. “You think?”

“She better hurry the hell up.” Adam fanned his face. “We’re dying in here.”

“I don’t smell,” Cade muttered. “And I’m not hungry.”

Liam sighed. “Yeah, well, you look like a homeless man, with your wrinkled shirt and your beard and your hair messed up.”

“You think I care?”

Adam shrugged in response. “I sure as hell don’t, but it’s bad for publicity when the face of Soren Security looks like road
kill.”

“Like you give a crap about our image.” Cade scoffed at Adam. “Walking around in t-shirts and ripped jeans.”

“Hey, at least I showered today. More than you can say.”

Cade shot to his feet. “I’m working here. Get out and leave me in peace.”

“Peaceful misery.” Liam contemplated the paradox. “Nah, I like annoyed misery better. I think we’ll stay.”

Cade’s anger boiled dangerously close to the surface. “You better
re
-think that answer.”

Ignoring Cade, Adam strolled over to the couch near the pool table. He slapped the cushions back into shape, plopped down and crossed a booted foot over his knee. “How’s the couch treating you at night?”

Cade shrugged.
“Better than sleeping on my bed of nails at home.”

With a sympathetic nod, Liam asked, “Too many memories?”

“My whole goddamn penthouse smells like her,” Cade admitted, irritated by his cousins doing a hack job of running interference, saving him from himself—or something equally as noble and stupid. If they knew what was good for them, they’d run fast in the opposite direction. He had a short fuse, growing shorter by the second.

Liam went to the fridge in the mini-bar. “Jesus, dude. Is there
any
beer left?”

“Nope.” Cade smiled without humor. “I’ve moved on to bourbon.”

Arching his eyebrows, Liam said, “That’s not good.”

Cade shrugged. “It is what it is.”

Adam sighed. “So are you going to keep searching for her at the bottom of every bottle, or will you call the girl already?”