Blackmailed by the Billionaire Brewer (11 page)

Chapter Eleven

Piper closed her front door and leaned back against it in the darkness as fatigue
threatened to overwhelm her. She’d been very firm with Matt about not seeing her back
to her apartment, but had allowed him to have a driver bring her home from the heliport.
It had seemed a little rude to be so adamant about parting on the tarmac like that,
especially after what had happened between them in the elevator, but she could instinctively
tell that he would be very persuasive if she let him within five feet of her front
door.

This place wasn’t a palace, and it was mortgaged so it didn’t even really belong to
her. But it was her home and her sanctuary, and nobody got to invade it and make themselves
at home unless they were going to stick around for a decent period of time. Ten more
days in her life didn’t count as a decent amount of time at all, so Matt was not coming
in—this was the space where she would put her life back together when things got back
to normal.

She sighed and rubbed her eyes before flicking on the light and throwing her purse
down onto the sofa. And then her blood ran cold as she heard a key turning in the
lock. She was frozen to the spot as the front door opened and her worst nightmare
began.

“Hi, Red.” Stanley was inside and shutting the door behind him before she could react,
and he slumped back against the door with a can of cheap beer in his hand. “Good party.
Didn’t bring your new loverboy back with you tonight?”

Adrenaline gave her a voice even if fear had paralyzed her body. “He’s…he’s in the
bathroom,” she said quickly. “So you’d better get out of here fast. And that key was
for emergencies, so give it back immediately.”

“Forgot I still had it, didn’t you?” He smirked. “This qualifies as an emergency,
baby. I want you back and I’m here to get you.”

“Matt!” she screamed and took a step backward, hoping to scare Stanley off. Her mind
was racing, but she couldn’t think clearly for sheer terror.

“Nice try, but we both know there’s nobody else here. I watched you come in alone.”

She felt sick. “You watched me?”

“I watched, I waited, and…” He made a tutting noise that unnerved her. “I forgot to
knock. Sorry.”

“I don’t know what you’re hoping to achieve by all this because we’re not getting
back together. Give me back my door key and go.”

He eased himself away from the door. His jacket was disheveled and smelled of stale
cigarette smoke. Her heart thumped painfully as he threw himself onto the sofa, stretched
out, and made himself comfortable. “But, baby, it’s cold outside.”

“I’m serious, Stan. I’m asking you to leave.” She spoke as slowly and calmly as she
could, but she was beginning to feel helpless. “And give me the key
back
.”

Her breath caught as he fished it out of his shirt pocket and twirled it in his fingertips,
the metal glinting in the lamplight. “You’ll have to come and get it.”

“If you don’t do as I say, I’ll call the cops.”

“They won’t be interested in a domestic argument, sweetheart. They have much more
important work to do, rescuing real damsels in distress.”

“Domestic argument? You’ve broken into my house and you’re threatening me!”

He shook his head sadly. “Poor, naïve little Piper. I have a key, a key you gave me.
And I’m your boyfriend. They’ll charge you for wasting police time.”

“You are not my boyfriend. You dumped me, remember?” Indignation overrode her fear.
“The police will take my word over yours. You really must be drunk.”

He stumbled to his feet and lurched toward her. “I made a mistake. Just seeing you
looking like you did tonight made me realize what an ass I’d been and how much I miss
you.”

She shook her head in disbelief. “Don’t you remember all the things you said to me
on Christmas Eve? The list of reasons why you couldn’t stand to spend another minute
as my boyfriend?”

“Heat of the moment, babe. I don’t know what got into me.”

“No, Stan, no. It wasn’t heat of the moment because you’ve been running me down and
making me feel small almost since we first met at college.” She raised her voice in
the hope that the neighbors might hear the sound of arguing and counted the words
off on her trembling fingers. “Stupid. Fat. Ugly. Embarrassing. Difficult. Deluded.
Low class—”

He raised his voice, too. “Your mom’s a cleaning woman and your dad drives a school
bus.”

“How did I ever put up with you?” She exhaled angrily and motioned to the front door.
“Just get out. I have nothing more to say to you. Ever.”

The sofa creaked and his hand grabbed her by the throat. “We’re not done,” he grunted
into her ear, his hot nicotine breath making her flesh crawl. Then he reached around
her to grab a breast. “I’m going to remind you what you’ve been missing these last
few months and you’re going to damn well enjoy it. We were going to make babies together
some day. Remember that?”

“No! Stop it.”

The breath left her body as he twisted her round and kissed her neck with hot, slippery
lips. “I know you’ve missed me,” he grunted as she wriggled and tried to push him
away. “Stanley’s here to give it to you big time, baby, you know you want to—”

He froze at the sound of the doorbell ringing and then slammed his hand over her mouth
before she could call out. She kicked out at his shins, but couldn’t hurt him enough
without her shoes on—it just had the effect of making him angry as well as surprised.

“Quiet,” he whispered harshly, pushed her against the wall and shoved her legs wide
by jamming his feet against her ankles so she couldn’t kick him further. “Sh.”

Her heart hammered with fear and hope as the doorbell rang again, and then came the
sound of a fist banging on it. She spluttered against his clammy hand and tried to
bite his flesh, but his grip was too tight and she was struggling to breathe. The
lights were on, thank God, so whoever it was would know there was someone inside.
Or at least she hoped they would.

She prayed silently that whoever it was wouldn’t just walk away and leave her alone
with Stanley. She wriggled and thrashed like a trapped eel and tried to make as much
noise as she could, but Stanley’s ever-tightening grip and the weight of his body
pinning her to the wall meant she couldn’t get out more than a muffled squeal.

The bell rang again and this time the person outside didn’t take their finger off
it. That wasn’t the behavior of teenagers fooling around, so maybe help was just a
few feet away. Stan had never been this crazed before and she was scared, really scared.

“Piper, I know you’re in there, so open up!” shouted Matt. Her heart leaped and Stan’s
grip became even more vicious.

Silence.

Seconds ticked by, and she could feel confusion and hesitation pulse from Stan’s hot
fingertips as she swallowed in the thick silence. Then heavy blows raining down on
the door startled him and his grip slackened for a second—long enough for her to seize
her chance and bite his palm as hard as a she-devil.

Stan screamed with pain and jumped back cursing. “You bitch!”

“You bastard!” she yelled back, twisting out from under him and grabbing a table lamp
to fend him off. She was able to breathe properly now, but was seeing stars from lack
of oxygen, and the taste of Stan’s blood in her mouth made her want to puke. “Get
out!”

Then there was a click, the sound of fast, heavy footfalls on the carpet, a blur of
black, red, and white, and Stanley’s yelp as a fist crunched into his jaw. He fell
backward with a crash into her bookshelf. A black-suited hulk Piper had never seen
before picked him up by the neck like a garbage bag, and Stanley’s feet dangled pathetically
as he was manhandled out of the front door.

Matt held her by the shoulders before she could catch her breath again. “Are you okay?”
Black fire blazed from his eyes.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine,” Piper said and shakily pulled her jacket around herself. “The
blood is his.”

Matt pulled a silk handkerchief from his inside jacket pocket. “I’ll call a doctor
to check you out.”

“No really, I’m just shaken up, he didn’t get a chance to…to actually do anything.”

Matt pushed the front door shut with one finger. “I knew he’d be trouble. You should’ve
let me come back with you. Let’s lock up here and I’ll run you down to the hospital
so you can get checked over.”

“Seriously, no, I don’t want that. I’m okay.” Piper leaned weakly on a chair back
and just stared at him for a few moments. He was still looking like the ultimate socialite
in his black suit but for a few stray hairs after that undignified scuffle. He still
made her heart beat faster, maybe even more so after saving her. But maybe she was
just in a state of shock.

“If you’re sure…”

“I am.” She rubbed the back of her hand over her neck where she’d been held. “How
did you know? How did you get in?”

Matt bent to pick up a strip of plastic from the floor. “One two-liter soda bottle
and thirty seconds is all it takes with a crappy front door like yours. You need a
deadbolt fitted. And that security chain won’t work unless you actually secure it
from the inside when you get in.”

“You did that? You broke in with a plastic bottle?”

“Not me. Frank.” He nodded his dark head toward the cheap door. “The big guy who’s
about to throw your ex, the jerk off, into the garbage dumpster, unless you want me
to stop him and call the police instead? Or arrange for something more permanent?”

Maybe she should call the police. “No, no, the dumpster is fine.”

“I knew you’d say that.” He shook his head. “Anyone would think he still had you wrapped
around his little finger the way you protect him.”

“I’m not protecting him.” She felt indignation rising as her heart rate slowed. “But
there’s nothing much they can do now. You and your ‘friend’ did a much more effective
job, I’m sure. He won’t be back now, not after being humiliated twice in one night.”

“Are you 100 percent sure of that? Because there are two witnesses now who saw what
he was doing to you, and I’m pretty sure we all know what he was about to do before
he got his butt kicked.” He frowned. “He’s dangerous, Piper.”

“He’s also a coward,” she said. “I know him, he won’t be back.”

“You can’t be sure of that. And what about your sister and your cat? Who knows what
that maniac is capable of? Promise me you’ll talk to the police in the morning—I’ll
come and drive you to the station. Or we could do it now.”

She shook her head. “In the morning, I promise, but on my own. I don’t need my hand
held.”

“Okay, have it your way.” He sighed and brushed her tightly clenched fist with his
knuckles. “You can’t stay here on your own now, it’s not safe. Let me stay with you
if you won’t leave with me.”

He had a point, but she had to dust herself off and face reality at some point after
all this, and she still had an unanswered question. “Why did you come over when I
asked you not to?”

“Do you wish I hadn’t?”

“Of course not, but no meant no. It really did.”

He sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Okay, I sent Frank over to keep an eye on things
after you were dropped off this evening. Just in case.”

Her jaw dropped open. “You had me under surveillance? Spying on me?”

“Just looking after your welfare,” he said quietly, but had the grace to look awkward.
“If it hadn’t been necessary to intervene, you would never have known.”

“So that makes it all right?” She crossed her arms over her chest to stop herself
from shaking. Shock over what had just happened was setting in. “I’m beginning to
wonder what your real motive was. Control freaks do this kind of thing, Matt. Is that
what you are? A control freak?”

He shrugged and looked around him. “You’re right, I didn’t get where I am today without
needing to be in control. And total control at that, so maybe I deserve that label.”
He nudged the toe of his shoe thoughtfully against the leg of the coffee table. “My
name is Matt DeLeo and I’m a control freak.”

Was history just about to repeat itself? Could she even consider letting a man take
control of her life again? “It’s not that funny from where I’m standing. Stanley’s
a control freak, and I don’t want to be around guys like that anymore.”

His face darkened. “I might just have saved your life a second time if that counts
for anything at all. And I’m sure as hell not another dickwad like Stanley.”

Matt was right and now, as well as feeling revulsion at being assaulted by her ex,
she felt miserable for not even saying thank you.
Great.
“I get that, and I’m grateful. Thank you.”

“Thank you, but good-bye?”

She needed some time alone, some space and silence to work through the sickening events
of the last half hour. To heal, like a wounded animal. “Sophie’s at my parents’ house.
We had a heart-to-heart a few days ago about her staying here because it wasn’t working
out. She doesn’t live here anymore, and we’re both fine with that.”
She gave him a weak smile. “I’ll be fine here on my own now, Matt, and when you go,
I’ll put the chain on properly just to make sure, okay? I usually do, but Aspen enjoys
playing with it dangling there. Makes one hell of a noise, it’s a miracle the neighbors
haven’t complained.”

“You could come back to my place.”

“And which ‘your place’ would this be? One of your cabins? A studio over a burger
bar? Some prime office space?”

“Actually it’s a five-star penthouse suite at the Crowne Embassy a few blocks away.
For a few days. There’s a gym and you get breakfast made for you—”