Kidnapped by the Billionaire Read online

  His teeth were at the side of her neck, and he was moving inside her even deeper, even harder, each thrust pushing her into the wall, and her legs were shaking, the maddening circling of his fingers relentless. She could hardly breathe through the sharp edge of pleasure.

  This was way more than she’d thought. Way more than she’d ever imagined.

  He bit her in the sensitive place between shoulder and neck, the pain only adding to all the sensations, the stretching of her sex around his cock and the merciless friction as he drove himself into her. The brick scraping at her palms, scratching her cheek. The iron weight of his arm around her, the slide of his fingers on her clit. Ruthless, searching.

  A rough, cold wall at her front, a hot, hard wall at her back. And she was crushed between.

  God, she loved it. Perversely it made her feel safe, protected. All those hard surfaces containing all the wildness inside of her. A wildness gathering tighter and tighter, a wave about to break. A bomb about to explode. She squeezed her eyes shut tighter, her whole body beginning to shake, sounds she had no control over starting to come out of her mouth.

  She wanted to turn, to see his face, see if he was feeling this like she was, but she couldn’t. And a nameless panic gripped her, as if she was on a roller coaster moving faster and faster, and she couldn’t stop it or slow it down. Because nothing would. She was going to come and come hard, right here in this alleyway, with a man who she’d repeatedly tried to tell herself wasn’t dangerous.

  But he was. Of course he was. She just hadn’t realized where the danger was coming from.

  He was right, she should have listened.

  Then his thumb pressed down on her clit as he thrust high and hard, and the wave broke, the bomb exploded, her scream bouncing off the buildings on either side of them.

  And she came and came and came.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Honor paced back and forward in front of the tall windows of Gabriel Woolf’s Tribeca apartment, watching as the sleet hit the glass. Crap weather for a really crap day.

  “Eva’ll be here in five,” Gabriel’s deep voice rumbled from behind her. “She’s got a lead.”

  Honor stopped and turned to stare at the man she’d fallen so unexpectedly and so deeply in love with.

  He was coming across the apartment toward her, tucking his phone away into the pocket of his jeans, all contained power and leashed menace. God, so sexy. Construction magnate and ex–motorcycle club president, he was the ultimate bad boy.

  She’d never get tired of watching him.

  Gabriel reached her, his long-fingered hands settling on her waist, pulling her close. His dark eyes were fierce, searching. “You okay?”

  Honor swallowed, letting herself lean against him, content to absorb his heat and strength for a moment. “No, not really.” Because she wasn’t. The last few weeks had been hell. First Alex had been shot and almost killed, then the real identity of Gabriel’s father had come out. Evelyn Fitzgerald, pillar of New York society, also rapist, murderer, drug lord and pimp.

  And now that the man was dead, she couldn’t get ahold of Violet, his daughter and her best friend.

  She was worried, terribly worried, and no amount of pretending otherwise was going to work. Before all the crap had gone down with Fitzgerald, Violet had sent a text telling Honor she wanted to see her. Honor hadn’t replied immediately, too caught up with the discovery that it was Fitzgerald who’d been behind many of the awful things that had happened to her friends. But after he’d subsequently been shot and the truth about him being Gabriel’s father had come out, she immediately picked up her cell and tried to call her friend.

  Except Violet hadn’t answered. She hadn’t texted either.

  Which made Honor worried, because there had been something urgent in the first text Violet had sent. I need to tell you something.

  And now she’d seemingly disappeared.

  At first Honor had wondered if it was shock at Violet’s father’s murder—security expert Zac Rutherford’s clean-up crew had removed all evidence of the real cause of Fitzgerald’s death, courtesy of Eva and point-blank range, planting evidence that would lead police to the assumption of a professional hit. But as the hours had ticked by and there was no contact from Violet, Honor had begun to wonder if something more sinister had happened.

  Fitzgerald had a lot of enemies and now that he was gone, there were probably many people who’d want to take advantage of that. People who might find his daughter fair game. His unsuspecting daughter.

  Honor had tried getting in contact with Hilary Fitzgerald, Evelyn’s wife, but the woman was refusing all calls and Honor wasn’t able to get any information about Violet from her secretary who’d obviously been tasked with fielding all the attention.

  Going around to Violet’s Upper West Side apartment had drawn a blank too. There had been no answer to her knocks, the apartment remaining silent.

  It was then that Honor had become officially worried and gone to Gabriel.

  They really didn’t need another problem, because although Fitzgerald was now dead, the remains of his empire were still very much alive and someone would want to know who’d taken it out. Someone would want payback. Then there was the fact that the man’s drug and human trafficking businesses seriously needed taking down, and if anyone could do that, it was the Nine Circles. Eva King, CEO of Void Angel, one of the country’s biggest tech companies, and tech head extraordinaire, had already begun putting together evidence for an anonymous tip-off to the CIA and Interpol, since getting the authorities involved was the next step.

  Yet Gabriel had been insistent that tracking down Violet was a priority. Not that any of the others had protested. Violet was now his half-sister, and that made her one of theirs.

  His hands tightened on Honor’s waist. “We’ll find her,” he said with his characteristic certainty. “Don’t worry, baby.”

  She rested her palms on his chest, loving the hard warmth beneath the dark blue cotton of his T-shirt. “Thank you. I know there’s not a lot of time, what with—”

  “Hey,” he interrupted gently but firmly. “Violet’s your friend and she’s my fucking half sister. You really think I’d just let her disappear?”

  Honor sighed. “No, of course not. We’ve just got a lot of other things to think about. And … well, I don’t even know if she is missing.”

  “She’s not answering your calls or your texts, and she’s not at her apartment. That’s enough for me to start getting worried, especially after what happened to Fitzgerald.”

  Honor stared at the material of his shirt. “She’s not involved in any of what went on with her father, Gabe. I know she’s not.”

  A gentle finger caught her beneath her chin, tilting her head up so she met his dark brown eyes. “I know she’s not. Believe me. But that shithead’s got lots of enemies around, and now that he’s gone, she’s a sitting duck.”

  Anxiety twisted inside Honor’s chest. “What if she’s dead already? What if someone got rid of her?”

  Gabriel’s thumb and forefinger gripped her chin a little harder. “Hey, we don’t know what’s happened and wild guesses won’t help. She’s a valuable hostage. Which means if she’s been taken, someone’s gonna want to keep her alive.”

  He wasn’t wrong. She just had to keep hold of that hope. “Okay, you’re right.” Honor let out a shaky breath. “It’s just going to come as a huge shock to her. God, she’ll be so scared.”

  One corner of Gabriel’s mouth turned up a little. “I don’t know her like you do, but if she’s related to me in any way, she’s not gonna be scared. She’s gonna be pissed.”

  Honor thought about it for a moment. Violet was laid-back, a perpetual student, always giving the impression that she was flitting through life and never settling. But there had been moments when Honor had wondered if that was the real Violet. Whether there was something more behind the dreads and the silvery jewelry and hippie clothes. At college Violet had hung out with the arty, alter
native crowd, and Honor had heard the stories of their wild parties and even wilder sexual exploits. Her friend gave off the impression of a free spirit who did what she wanted and didn’t care what anyone thought of her. Yet she’d been very caring about other people. Certainly she’d always been very supportive of Honor.

  Sometimes though, Honor got the feeling that all of it was an act, a mask Violet hid behind. That her concern for other people was merely a way of distracting from her own issues, a method to keep everyone at a distance. Honor had never pushed it with her friend, since at the time she’d been running from things herself. But now she wondered about it.

  Maybe Gabriel was right. Maybe Violet was stronger than Honor thought.

  At that moment, there was a buzz from Gabriel’s security system, heralding Eva’s arrival no doubt.

  Sure enough, a minute or two later, a small woman in black jeans, an Iron Maiden T-shirt, black leather jacket, and steel-toed Doc Marten boots stalked in. Her silver hair was in a long ponytail down her back and she carried a small laptop with her.

  There was something different about her today that had Honor frowning. Then she realized. Eva didn’t have Zac with her.

  “Hey.” Eva greeted Honor shortly as she headed toward Gabriel’s heavy wooden dining table. “You’re going to want to see this.”

  Typical Eva. She wasn’t very demonstrative and didn’t mess around with small talk, but once she gave her loyalty, it was to the death.

  “Eva,” Honor began as she followed the other woman over to the table, “I can’t thank you enough for—”

  “It’s okay,” Eva interrupted, putting the laptop down on the table. “Violet needs to be found, that’s all there is to it.”

  Gabriel, who’d gone to open the door, now emerged from the hallway, his phone in his hand. “How did you get over here, Eva? Zac just called to ask whether you got here safely.”

  Eva gave a snort as she pulled out a chair and sat down, reaching out to push a button on the computer. “Asshole. I already texted him to tell him I was here.” Despite her obvious annoyance, there was a thread of something that Honor thought was probably affection in her voice.

  The past couple of weeks had changed things for all of them, and while some of those things hadn’t been good, some of them were. Like Zac and Eva finally getting together.

  Honor had been surprised to learn they hadn’t been an item before, considering the way Zac stood guard over her like Cerberus before the gates of Hell. But given Eva’s traumatic background, it wasn’t any wonder.

  “He said you came by yourself. On the subway.” Gabriel’s disbelief was palpable. Before a couple of days ago, Eva never went anywhere by herself.

  Now, the small silver-haired woman only lifted a shoulder “What can I say? I’m a badass motherfucker.”

  “You can say that again.” Gabriel came to stand behind her chair. “What made you want to go and attempt something like that?”

  “Zac likes the subway. I wanted to see it from his point of view.”

  “Cute. But Zac wasn’t happy about it.”

  “Zac can stick it up his butt.” Eva sounded completely unconcerned. “Do you want to see this lead or not?”

  “Yes, we most certainly do,” Honor said crisply, giving Gabriel a quelling look. “What have you got?”

  Gabriel gave her a wolfish grin, but stepped back, giving her some room to see the screen from behind Eva’s chair.

  The other woman’s fingers moved quickly over the keyboard. “Okay, so I ran that facial recognition software I’ve been playing with through a couple of databases. And it came up with a hit.” She pressed a button and a picture abruptly came up on the screen.

  It looked like it was a still from a security camera, given the angle. A shot of a subway car full of people.

  Eva’s fingers moved on the track pad, and the picture zoomed in on a woman sitting with her hands folded in her lap. The magnification made everything a little blurry, but there was no mistaking the long dreadlocks hanging down the woman’s back. Or the little stud in her nose. The finely drawn lines of her pretty face.

  Violet.

  Honor let out a shaky breath. There was a time stamp on the image. Yesterday afternoon, at least an hour or so after everything had gone down with Fitzgerald. “That’s her. So she was on the subway.”

  “Yeah, but wait. There’s more.” Eva pressed another button and another series of shots came up. Pictures of Violet sitting there, then standing up as everybody in the car started to do the same, moving toward the doors. Must have been slowing for an approach into a station.

  “Look,” Eva said softly. And the last picture came up. Of Violet waiting to get out, standing among the crowd of people.

  At first Honor couldn’t see what the big deal was, and then Eva slowly magnified the image. Behind Violet, standing very, very close, was a tall, massively built man in a long, black overcoat. Again, his features were blurry, but nevertheless she recognized him. The scarred face, the dark, cold, empty eyes. Elijah.

  “Fuck,” said Gabriel.

  His arm had come around Honor’s waist and for a moment she could only lean against his big, warm body and stare at the image on the screen.

  “Yeah,” Eva muttered. “And that’s not all.”

  Another series of images popped up on the screen, all taken from what looked like more security cameras. Of Violet walking out of the subway station with Elijah. He was standing very close and had one hand on her arm, the other lowered and hidden in the folds of his coat.

  “He’s got a gun on her,” Gabriel murmured.

  “That’s what I thought too.” Eva touched the track pad again, bringing up another image. This time it was the outside of the subway station and it was possible to see Violet and Elijah standing on the sidewalk with a cab drawn up beside them.

  Honor didn’t know what to feel. Relieved that Violet wasn’t dead—or at least she hadn’t been yesterday—or even more worried considering who’d taken her. “God, so what does that mean? That she’s been kidnapped by this Elijah guy? But … I mean why?”

  “Elijah’s an asshole, no doubt about it,” Eva said quietly. “But Zac and I had dealings with him. Up in Fitzgerald’s office, he was supposed to have a gun on me the whole time and yet at the crucial point, he let me go. I don’t know why. I do know he wanted to kill Fitzgerald himself and he was really pissed when I pulled the trigger.”

  “Not forgetting what happened in Monte Carlo with Alex,” Gabriel added. “He tipped Alex and Katya off about Fitzgerald’s interest.”

  Honor shook her head, glancing back to the image on the screen. Violet’s face was curiously blank, but Honor recognized that look. Shock. Fear. Whatever Elijah wanted her for, it wasn’t good.

  “He was going to kill Zac though, wasn’t he?” she asked Eva.

  Eva nodded. “Yeah, but like I said, he was pretty fucking pissed. He wanted Fitzgerald’s head.”

  “So he’s gone after his daughter instead,” Gabriel murmured. “He wants her for something. Revenge maybe.”

  “It doesn’t matter why.” Honor looked at him. “What matters is that we find her.”

  Gabriel didn’t reply, but then he didn’t have to. She could see nothing but fierce agreement in his eyes.

  “Funny you should mention that,” Eva said. “Because I got the name of the cab company from the taxi in that security camera shot. Managed to hack into their databases too. You can see all the fares and where they went, it’s very handy.”

  Honor glanced at Eva. “Please tell me you—”

  “Way ahead of you.” Eva gave her a smug grin. “They were dropped off at a West Village address. I checked the street and it’s a park, nothing much there unfortunately. But they would have had to walk to wherever they’re going, which means we can narrow down their destination pretty significantly.”

  Honor frowned. “But they could have gotten another taxi, couldn’t they?”

  Gabriel released her to lean over Eva�
�s shoulder and study the laptop screen closely. “No,” he said. “I don’t think Elijah would have wanted to risk too many people seeing him. Didn’t Zac get a shot off at him?”

  “Yeah, he did. But the bastard ran before Zac could take him down.” Eva did something with the track pad and another program came up, a map with lines going everywhere. “I’m trying to predict directions they might have taken at the moment and am running that facial recognition stuff through security-camera footage from the area. There aren’t many cameras unfortunately, but with any luck, something will turn up.”

  Honor tried to pull herself together. God, she’d been through worse. She just had to hope Gabriel was right and Elijah wanted Violet for something specific. Something he wanted to keep her alive for.

  “Well,” she said firmly. “If he’s got a gunshot wound, he can’t have gotten far.”

  “He better not have.” Gabriel’s smile had turned razor sharp. “No one fucks with my family and gets away with it.”

  “Shit.” Eva sat forward all of a sudden, staring at her laptop. “Looks like we’ve got him nailed down.” She typed something and another picture popped up. A street view this time, of a couple waiting for a crossing signal. And if Honor hadn’t already known Elijah, she would have had to look twice at the woman standing next to him in order to recognize Violet.

  Because all her hair was cut off.

  “Oh my God,” Honor murmured, shocked. “What happened to her?” Violet had had dreadlocks for years, and Honor had gotten used to the long golden tails of her friend’s hair. Now Violet looked almost … naked without them. Small and vulnerable.

  “This is today,” Eva said. “A couple of hours ago from the looks of things.”

  “We got an address?” Gabriel was all business.

  “Yeah, totally.” She called up another program and typed something into it. “Just sent it to your phone.”

  “Good.” Gabriel stepped away. “Time to go see a man about my fucking sister.”

  Oh really. So he was going without her? No damn way.

  Honor reached out and caught his arm. “I’m coming.”