Falling_A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Read online

  Her shoulders slumped, worry and disappointment lining her face. “What about the autodialer? I know we need to go, but I still need to find Andrew. What if this person knows about him? My brother could be in danger and not even know it.”

  “Izzy…” I wanted to tell her there was no chance in hell that the guy threatening her life would know about Andrew, when she had only just found out about him, and we had so little information to go on. Yet I knew that this would set her mind at ease, and if nothing else, looking for her brother would give her something to do while we waited for this to blow over. “We’ll run in and see if the autodialer figured out the combination. But then we’re leaving straightaway. Am I making myself clear? I refuse to take any chances when it comes to your safety.”

  “Slater…I really appreciate all of this. You don’t have to do any of it, and yet here you are, dropping everything to take care of me. It means a lot to know that you really care. I’m just sorry that it’s been hard for me to wrap my head around your family’s past. I feel like such a bitch.”

  “Hey, I’ll be having none of that. I know the difficult situation I put you in, and the last thing I’d expected was for you to shrug off everything I told you. Because if you didn’t have an issue with my past, given the things we’ve done, then you wouldn’t be the person I thought you were.” How would any decent person be able to simply overlook something like that, without batting an eye? The answer was they couldn’t. Which simply meant this might take a little time, and I’d have to work extra hard to prove to her that I was no longer the kind of man who would have her questioning her relationship with me. “I just hope you’ll find a way to see past it all, and realize that I’m no longer that man.”

  Izzy leaned over and kissed my cheek, her lips lingering on my skin before she settled back in her seat. “Thank you for being so understanding, Slater—and for all your help.”

  “Whatever you need, love.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Isabelle

  Amazingly enough, the autodialer had found the combination while we were gone and the safe was now unlocked, though not yet open. “I can’t believe it worked.”

  Slater removed the autodialer from the safe’s door, and then stepped aside with a wave of his hand. “All yours, love.”

  That was the one thing about Slater, despite his criminal past—not once had I felt like he was interested in my money. Yet before meeting Slater, that had always been a concern, despite the fact that whoever had bothered to show me any interest already had more money than they knew what to do with. They just wanted more. And the fact that he didn’t touch anything in the safe, but rather let me be the one to go through everything only further proved his trustworthiness, even if it was a small detail.

  I pulled open the unlocked safe door, the weight of it heavy and the handle cold in my hand. My heart hammered against my ribs in anticipation as I tried not to get my hopes up, since I knew chances were good that I’d soon end up disappointed. Surprisingly enough, the safe was filled with stuff.

  “Could you please help me put all of this on my mom’s bed? I want to make sure I don’t overlook anything.” I figured the best way to go through everything would be to lay it all out and make sure the safe was completely empty.

  “Good idea.” Slater took the bulkier items and put them on the bed as I emptied the safe of whatever was left.

  We stood there looking at the stash as if it were some newly unburied treasure. And though there were jewelry boxes—no surprise there—there were also several envelopes and papers. I picked up one of the envelopes and pulled out the letter, my hands shaking. Yet it was nothing. Nothing more than a verification from a lawyer’s office about some business dealings. I picked up another envelope, and was yet again disappointed. And again. And again. One by one, I went through the papers that had been hidden away, only to find that there was absolutely no information on Andrew, and I may never get to find him.

  I screamed in frustration, even as tears rolled down my cheeks. “I don’t know why I got my hopes up. Of course my mother wouldn’t leave me any information on my brother. Though you would think that after my father’s death, she would at least come clean to me about it. But no. She had an image to protect. She couldn’t have anyone whispering behind her back about her infidelity.”

  Slater ran his hand down my arm, his fingers knotting with mine before he pulled me into his arms, offering me a bit of comfort and solace when it felt everything around me was crumbling. “We’ll find him, Izzy. Even if we have to hire the best investigators out there. I swear will find him.”

  I let out a sigh and pulled out of his arms, feeling disheartened. Picking up one of the jewelry boxes, I opened it, even though it was doubtful anything in there would lead to Andrew, since the boxes were fairly small. Yet there was no point in not being thorough.

  I searched through the first jewelry box, and was hit with a wave of emotion as I recognized all my mother’s favorite items. Her sapphire ring. Her diamond brooch. Her pearl necklace. Her diamond engagement ring. I swiped my tears, hating that I was so emotional over my mother when she was causing me so much distress. Yet no matter what, it had become clear to me just how much I missed her now that she was gone. “I hate that my mother and I didn’t have a better relationship—and now, I’ll never have the chance to fix what was between us.”

  “Sweetness…do you really think your mother would have changed? It kills me to see you so upset, but I don’t want you feeling guilty about the relationship you did or didn’t have with her.” He cupped my cheek, his touch gentle and his blue eyes kind. “It was clear you did your best to make her happy, but…she wasn’t exactly an easy person to please. And I may be out of line for saying it, but she didn’t exactly take your feelings into consideration when it came to anything—not even your own life.”

  I knew what he was saying was true, and to a certain degree, it did help me let go of some of my guilt and the “what-ifs” that were haunting me. Because Slater was right…she wouldn’t have changed, and I had already done all I could to make her happy—to make her love me. But I’d always fallen short—and she’d never changed. “You’re right. I know you are. It’s just…hard.”

  “I know it is, love. And maybe it had nothing to do with you. Maybe it was more about her hating herself for the decisions she’d made. Maybe she couldn’t show you the love you deserved because she felt guilty about putting your brother up for adoption.” Slater let out a ragged breath and pulled me into his embrace, kissing the top of my head. “I honestly don’t know. But there’s one thing I’m sure of—she missed out on loving the most amazing person out there.”

  Slater’s sweet words eased the pain in my heart. And maybe he was right. Maybe my mother had always held me at arm’s length because she felt guilty about Andrew. But now more than ever, it felt like Andrew was the missing piece of the puzzle that I needed to find.

  I opened the other jewelry box, only to be disappointed once again. “Nothing here.”

  “It was worth a try at least. And now you know the combination to the safe, though you may want to change that number at some point.” He started to gather everything up so we could lock it away once more. But as he started to place everything back in the safe, he paused. “Hold on a sec, love.”

  He handed me back the items he’d been putting away as I tried to look over his shoulder, to see what had caught his attention. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know… Something about the inside of this safe doesn’t look quite right.” He ran his hands over the interior walls, which were lined in black velvet. “I think there’s something here… Got it.” Slater pulled out a false bottom to the safe, and then stepped aside. “Izzy…I think it’s what you’ve been looking for.”

  There wasn’t a lot. But it might just be enough.

  “I think you’re right. I think these are about my brother.” With my heart racing, I pulled out the tray that lined the hidden compartment, my eyes falling on the
few pictures that lay above a handful of papers, as I went over to the bed so I could easily go through everything.

  I picked up the pictures, and looked at the first one. It was my mother when she was in her late twenties, holding an infant wrapped up in a baby-blue blanket and wearing a matching colored hat. “It has to be Andrew.”

  He was so tiny, and his face was so sweet. I moved on to the next photo of a young, red-headed boy of about four or five, happily playing with a dog at a park. It left me wondering if my mother had some contact with the family who had adopted Andrew or if she’d paid someone to occasionally check up on him. If I had to guess, it was the latter, since I doubted she’d want anyone to trace Andrew back to her and risk my father finding out.

  There were a few more pictures, similar to the one in the park, and these definitely felt more like they’d been taken from a distance, without Andrew’s knowledge. In one, he appeared to be around ten years old, heading toward a building—a school maybe?—and then in another picture, he was playing soccer and must have been around fourteen. “He sort of looks like me, don’t you think?”

  “He does, love. His red hair’s darker than yours with a little more brown, but you both have similar eyes and freckles. The shape of your face is similar too.” He tilted his head to the papers. “Is there any information that might help find him?”

  I sure as hell hoped so.

  There was a letter from the adoption agency stating that they’d placed Andrew with a family but that it was a closed adoption, which meant she would have little access or information. But then there were a handful more papers with some basic information on Andrew, no doubt obtained by whomever she’d hired and had also taken those pictures.

  Maybe she’d actually cared—or at the very least had been curious enough to look into Andrew’s well-being.

  And then I spotted it.

  A name and address.

  Andrew Stephenson, of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Slater

  The smile on Izzy’s face mirrored the tears of joy that had her green eyes shimmering. I cupped the back of her neck and bent my head to hers, my heart so happy for her. “You’ve found him, love.”

  “Slater…thank you for helping me through this all. I don’t think I could have managed any of this without you.” She pressed her lips to mine in a quick, hesitant kiss, and I swore, it took all I had not to plunder her mouth for more. But then she kissed me again, still hesitant, as if trying to figure out how she felt about me, before seemingly coming to some sort of conclusion that had her kiss deepening, giving me far too much hope.

  Yet by the time she pulled away, there was no way I wouldn’t be making her mine once more. I just needed to see her through this first. “Let me give Dane this latest information. It should be enough for us to track down a current address. But we can’t forget that you might still be in danger. We really need to go, love.”

  I took snapshots of the info and sent them to Dane so we could get going. There was no one guarding the gate, since she had no security currently, and I’d feel a hell of a lot more relaxed once we were on the road.

  She gathered up the papers and photos and carefully slipped them into her handbag, before locking up the safe so we could get going. “Ready.”

  I grabbed her hand and quickly led the way to the car, my gaze scanning the area, breathing a sigh of relief once she was inside the safety of my car, and even more relieved once we were on the road. I grabbed her hand and kissed it, keeping my eyes on the road. “We’ll be at my family’s home in about an hour and a half. Maybe two if we hit evening traffic.”

  “Sounds perfect—”

  The hit came from behind, jolting us in our seats as we were rammed by a massive SUV, Izzy’s frightened screams filling my ears. I hit the gas, trying to outrun the next hit, the attacker’s headlights blinding me as they bounced off my mirror, my engine revving as I sped around the curvy backroads, trying to avoid oncoming traffic.

  I took the next turn hard, as we got pounded again, jolting us forward with the sound of crunching metal. But he didn’t let up, his bumper locked on mine as he shoved us, just as we went into yet another bend. “Hold on, Izzy.”

  There was no chance of me staying on the road. All I could do was try to minimize the damage as we plowed into the tree line, but even that was impossible, the trees too dense to avoid. We came to a brutal stop, our bodies whipped against our seat belts as our airbags deployed and everything went black.

  With my head spinning, I fought through the inky darkness of unconsciousness, knowing that whoever drove us off the road might very well come to finish the job. Forcing my eyes open, I turned to check on Izzy, her name falling from my lips as I tried to wake her, even as I grabbed one of my guns from the glove compartment.

  Izzy moaned, starting to come around when there was a shot fired, shards of glass spraying all over us. I tried to shield her with my body while firing my weapon, aiming at shadows in the dark of night, stopping only once I’d emptied my clip. But I needed another weapon. Just in case.

  I tried to get to my other gun, when I quickly realized that I’d been hit, my shoulder burning with a sharp pain. Not that it mattered if Izzy was still okay.

  Yet that was my last thought as my head started to spin and darkness engulfed my vision, swallowing me into its depths.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Isabelle

  Everything hurt.

  It felt like I was buried under a heavy weight, pinned to my seat, as sirens screeched in the far distance. Were they getting closer?

  But as my head started to clear, I was overcome with dread, realizing that the weight on my chest was Slater and he was no longer conscious. I tried to shake him awake, trying not to panic. “Slater.”

  Had I heard gunshots? I could have sworn I had. Had Slater been hit?

  No…this couldn’t be happening.

  Yet I knew he’d been shot, no doubt while protecting me, shielding me with his own body.

  “Slater! Wake up. Please!” Tears slipped down my cheeks as my chest tightened with the fear of losing him.

  He couldn’t leave me.

  I screamed out for help, while trying to get Slater to come around, rolling him off me so that I could try to stop the bleeding.

  His chest.

  I bundled the fabric of my jacket and pressed it to his wound, not sure if it’d help any, but at a loss of what else to do.

  Then someone yanked open the door, panic hitting me like a punch to the gut as I got ready to fend off my attacker and protect Slater.

  Yet it wasn’t whoever had run us off the road. “We’re here to help. We’re going to get you out of here.”

  “You need to take care of my boyfriend first. Please. He’s been shot.” My voice cracked as I forced the words past the lump in my throat, trying to hold onto the hope that Slater would be okay.

  I loved him, damn it. And I needed him in my life.

  I couldn’t let death take him away from me.

  Yet I was soon forced to let him go as they carefully moved him and took him away, my heart breaking with the fear that I may not ever see him alive again. With Slater as my only thought, I barely registered everything else that happened, my focus shattered as the paramedics asked me questions on the way to the hospital, my body strapped down to keep me immobile and minimize any damage from the accident.

  But I couldn’t work my brain around their questions, and instead kept asking them the same thing.

  “My boyfriend…I need to know if he’s okay. Please.”

  But they had no answers for me. Not even once we were at the hospital. All they could tell me was that he was in surgery, and that he’d lost a lot of blood.

  They cleaned my wounds, X-rayed me, poked, prodded, bandaged, and bound me as I was forced to wait for news. Yet I wasn’t waiting on my own. Slater’s entire family was here, filling my room and the nearby waiting room. And though everyone was solemn and quiet, at lea
st I was no longer alone, especially since Colton and Slater’s mom sat by my bedside.

  She squeezed my hand. “Don’t you worry, my dear. My boy isn’t going anywhere. He’ll pull through this just fine. Just you wait and see.”

  “I hope you’re right. Because I love him, and I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose him.” I swiped at my tears as they fell, the lump in my throat painful to swallow down.

  A knock at the door had me hoping that it was news on Slater’s condition, but instead it was the police. “If you’re feeling up for it, we’d like to ask you some questions.”

  Despite the neck brace, I nodded and immediately regretted it, though my pain didn’t matter. “Whatever I can do to help…”

  One of the officers, a woman in her early thirties, stepped to my bedside, her voice calm and soothing. “Can you tell us what happened, to the best of your knowledge?”

  “Emerson Blackthorn called to let us know that Ray Billings, my mother’s killer, had somehow managed to convince a judge to release him on bail—which, no offense, was clearly an asinine idea, especially after he’d murdered my mother.” If they’d left him in prison, then Slater wouldn’t be fighting for his life. “We were going to get out of town, just as a safety precaution. But I wanted to go back…”

  This was all my fault.

  Tears stung my eyes as the other officer took a step forward. “What happened next? Did you remember something?”

  “I asked Slater to quickly go back to my mother’s home. We had been there earlier in the day, and I had wanted to run back there to grab a few things.” I glanced over at Slater’s mom, silently trying to apologize to her before returning my attention to the officer. “We should have never gone back. Billings…he must have been waiting for us, because not far from the house, someone started ramming us from behind. Slater tried to keep us on the road. But it was so windy and narrow, and when we got hit again…he lost control of the car.”