Reckless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series Book 2) (17 page)

“I wasn’t accusing—”

“Do you think I didn’t want to say something? To scream at you? Punch you right in your cocky face? But every time you reminded me who you were, you’d do something so...
human
. I just kept hoping you’d leave and I could move on, but you couldn’t even do me the justice of leaving me alone.”

“You know why I couldn’t leave you there.”

“Because you’re protecting me. Yeah, I got that. But the thing you don’t understand is I’m not some valuable piece of property you get to protect. I’m a living human being and you don’t own me. Your money and power can push me around—take my land, take my jobs—but you can’t take me. I don’t belong to you.”

“You think that’s what this is about?”

She let out a laugh. “Of course that’s what this is about! You and your family take whatever you want and damn the consequences. I know that better than anyone and I’ve seen the disastrous effects. I just need to keep reminding myself of that.”

“I didn’t bring you here because I think I own you,” he bit out.

“Then please enlighten me. Because I have spent days trying to figure out what the hell goes on in that mind of yours and all I can think of is that you’re staking some sort of medieval claim on me and you’ve got another thing coming if you think—”

“I brought you here because I love you, God damn it!”

Malia’s mouth snapped shut at his admission. Of all the ways she’d thought he’d try to defend himself, that never even crossed her mind. “You don’t—”

Robert stepped forward until he was just inches away. “Don’t you dare finish that sentence. Because I know what I feel, and I might not be used to the concept, but I am madly in love with you. And you will be under my protection until I know you’re safe and then you can leave or run off or do whatever the hell it is you want to do with your life, with or without me. But at least I’ll know you’re safe.”

Malia was utterly speechless as his words sunk in.
Was it possible that Robert could actually feel that strongly about her?
She replayed their small talks, the smiles, all the times she couldn’t help but kiss him.
Had he actually been feeling something?

Before she found any words, he pulled a white envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her. “Here, take this. Alex and I need to figure some things out. I’ll be back soon, though.”

“What is this?” She took the envelope.

“It’s proof that I’m not keeping you here against your will.” He turned and stormed inside, leaving Malia alone on the patio. Once he was out of sight, she looked down at the envelope in her hand. Her jaw dropped as she looked inside. “Oh my God,” she breathed.

She didn’t have to count the bills. There was a withdrawal receipt on top of the stack of hundreds. Ten thousand dollars, taken out that morning when he’d been out. Before he knew who she really was.

Malia stuffed the bills back into the envelope and looked up to see whether she was being watched. That was more than enough to get her back on the island and get her reestablished in a new place. It was enough that she could leave whenever she wanted.

And now she had no idea what she should do.

Malia toweled herself off and headed back into the house. Robert and Alex were hunched over the kitchen island with papers spread out in front of them. As soon as she walked in, they stopped talking and looked over at her.

“Have you heard anything from your sister?” she asked in a conversational tone, as though nothing had happened.

“We’re actually discussing Logan,” said Robert, earning him an angry glance from Alex.

“Logan? Isn’t he in prison?”

“I see you’ve stayed updated on our family,” said Alex. He’d tried being nice before, but apparently since he knew who she was, he was on the offensive.

“I don’t need to explain myself to you.” She tried to keep calm. “Just trying to make conversation. Don’t worry. You two just keep on doing what you’re doing. I’ll be upstairs.”

She didn’t want to say she ran, but there was definitely some pep in her step as she made her way up the stairs to get out of there as quick as possible. As soon as she got back to her room, she pulled out her phone and did a quick refresh on Logan Farrell.

Arrested for insider trading seven years ago and was serving out a ten-year sentence. Nothing about it recently, though, so she wondered what the guys were talking about downstairs. But her mother had been pretty vocal about the entire ordeal. Actually, she’d been pretty happy about it.
A Farrell in prison. One down, four more to go.

But she’d also mentioned a little theory one day. She was saying that she suspected that the trading deal Logan was busted on was actually headed up by Walter. Meaning that the wrong Farrell was probably the one behind bars.

She raised a brow when she noticed one of the more recent articles. No wonder Alex was here. Logan had been transferred to a prison in southeast California, right outside LA. The one person who knew what it felt like to be screwed over by the Farrells.

Malia set the phone down and shook her head. She’d always assumed the Farrells were swimming in piles of money and laughing at the rest of the world. Seemed as if they had more problems than she imagined.

She took a quick shower to wash off the chlorine, and after she braided her wet hair, she slid into her blue shorts and a loose pink t-shirt. In LA, she’d probably stand out like a sore thumb. She was so used to the casual clothes of the island she didn’t know whether she could fit into this crowd even if she wanted to.

Once she was showered and dressed, she went downstairs. Robert and Alex weren’t in the kitchen. Instead, there was a note in strong, sure handwriting.

Ran to the downtown office. Be back soon.

-Robert

At least she wouldn’t have to deal with Alex being grumpy around her. She rummaged around the cupboards until she found a glass and drank some water. The place seemed so quiet and empty. She was all alone with a working cell phone and ten grand burning a hole in her pocket. Robert said he was going to trust her, and this was probably her test.

So, did she run away or give Robert another chance? She took another drink of water. She might need something stronger in order to get through the day.

––––––––

R
obert powered up his laptop in the corner office of the LA Farrell Enterprises building. He didn’t use it all that often, so the office was used on a rotating basis by him and his brothers.

“As soon as we go over the Fullmont Building deal and then the Atlanta one, you can head out of here. These two can’t wait any longer, though, and we need your approval on some of the last-minute details.”

Robert nodded as he started to go through some of the basics. It was easy to push work to the back of his mind when he was with Malia, but now that he was actually going through the emails, he was reminded of how far behind he was.

“So how far are we on the Logan situation?”

“We’re closer than we’ve ever been. Once we had access to all of Walter’s emails, it was only a matter of time before we found some proof of all the moves he’d orchestrated for the frame-up. In a few months, Logan will be a free man.” Before Robert could get excited, Alex added, “And he’ll probably never speak to any of us again.” Alex had been the one to spearhead this little project to get Logan out of prison. A project that would've been easier if Logan would talk to any of the family members.

“We don’t know that.” Ever since Jean had come into the family, she’d been the push they needed to get Logan out. As long as Walter had been alive, there was no evidence that Logan had been framed and no one they could talk to without Walter somehow beating them to the punch.

But now all they had to do was jump through a few quick hoops.

“Where’s Nathan right now?”

“He flew back to the city as soon as we were done out here. I think he had some party or something. I had a few alerts about him being out.”

“You still get emails whenever he pops up online?”

“I have those alerts on all of us. Julie taught me that. It’s useful.”

“It’s useful for us since we’re not mentioned often. Nathan is in the press every day.” Robert opened up the packet for the Fullmont Building and started to go over it. “When did you start to talk to Julie?” After Nathan’s image started to become more problem than playboy, Robert had hired Julie Anne to help make sure their family didn’t come off worse than the public already thought they were.

And she’d managed to keep Nathan’s drunken, drug-fueled exploits from the press from the second he’d started paying her exorbitant fees. But as far as he knew, Nathan was the only one who worked with her. Not Alex.

“I’ve been emailing her a bit. Getting her opinion on how to handle Logan.”

“I thought we were handling Logan.”

“We are. But he’s been in that hellhole for years. We can’t expect him to get out and for things to just go back to normal. It’s fair to assume that he’s going to...act up. I was thinking that if we got Julie involved early, we could be proactive about it.”

“Logan won’t talk to us. Why would he listen to a stranger?”

“Same way we got Nathan to listen to her.”

That was a valid point. Julie wasn’t the first PR consultant they’d hired. She was, however, the prettiest, and it was much easier to get Nathan to listen to a pretty woman than some old bearded guy. From what he could tell, Julie had been nothing but professional with Nathan, so he didn’t care what got Nathan to listen as long as he behaved himself. “So you’re going to throw a beautiful woman at Logan and hope she can rein him in?”

“You’ve talked to her before. She’s smart and knows her shit. I’d say that if there’s anyone who can keep an eye on Logan for us, it’s her. Nathan has been on the straight and narrow for a while now.”

“You think he’s on the straight and narrow?”

“I think the women he’s fucking aren’t showing up in as many tabloids and I haven’t seen him photographed drunk or inebriated in months. It might not be straight and narrow, but at least he’s on a fucking road.”

“Point taken. I guess it couldn’t hurt to have Julie on our side.”

Robert kept on going through the to-do list and would look at his phone every few minutes, but there was no word from Malia. Not that he really expected her to call, but he wanted to know whether she’d left. She had the means now. There was nothing keeping her in his home. He didn’t want to think of her running out the second she had a chance. He wanted her waiting for him. He wanted her to smile when he got home and walk up to him, wrapping her arms around him the second he walked in.

It was a strange fantasy. Usually when he thought of Malia, he thought of her naked and underneath him in bed. Or in the pool. Or shower. Really, naked anywhere he could get her. But he supposed that as long as she was around him, he would be happy.

But he had no illusions. Whatever he felt toward her, it was one-sided. She’d made her opinion of him more than clear, and now that he knew the whole truth about her past, he understood her reservations. What he wouldn’t give to bring Walter back from the dead just so he could give him the sucker punch the man truly deserved.

Right as he was trying to push Malia out of his head, he opened up an email that made his blood run cold. It was from the same sender of the photos he’d received in Hawaii. This time there were no pictures. Just one jumbled letter that sent panic through his veins.

You are trash. You are an adulterer. I can’t believe you had the audacity to come into my home (the home that I built and created with love) and tell me lies right to my face. You are conniving. You pursued me from the beginning and I was too weak. You have destroyed my life. You are scum. Did you just come in my home to watch me make a fool of myself? To think I felt pity for you after that day. You are pathetic. You are trash. You brought your whore with you and you’re both going to pay.

Robert slammed his computer shut and pulled out the power cord. A second later, he was out of the office and making his way to the elevator.

“Robert!” called Alex from behind him, but Robert didn’t stop. He needed to get back to Malia.

He took out his phone and called her, but there was no answer.
Damn it.
She could be in the pool or ignoring him.
Or worse.
He jammed the down arrow five times as he willed the elevator to come faster. He tried to calm down, but nothing seemed to work. There was no proof that the person who sent the email was anywhere close. They could still be on Hawaii for all he knew and was just trying to get a rise out of him.

But he remembered when he’d first gotten the pictures and threat emailed to him. He’d tried to tell himself that it wasn’t anything. That he’d just pick up Malia later that day and they’d be fine. And later that day, before he’d gotten there, her house had burned down. He wasn’t waiting this time. He was going to find Malia and find some way to convince her that she needed him. Even if she didn’t love him, she had to recognize that she was in danger.

“What the hell?” asked Alex as he reached Robert.

He had good timing because the elevator doors opened right then. “I got another email. I need to check on Malia.”