Remorseless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series Book 3) (21 page)

Matters got even worse when he sent the call and stepped forward until the gun was pressed right to her forehead.

Julie forced herself to remain stock-still and not move a muscle. She remembered the one time her uncle had taken her to the shooting range. Rule number one of shooting: Don’t point the muzzle at anything you don’t want dead. She’d avoided pointing a gun with no bullets at so much as a toe. Now there was a fully loaded one right at her forehead.

“I’ll see you soon,” said the goon.

In her fear, she had missed the entire conversation. She blinked as he moved the gun a few inches away.
All it would take was a misfire or him not paying attention to the trigger finger and—

“All right, sweetie. My buddy is going to check out your boyfriend’s apartment. If he doesn’t see what we’re looking for, or if he gets picked up by the cops, I’m going to make sure you tell me the truth.” The gun inched forward until the end of the barrel was pressed to her cheek, and he ran the gun down, over her cheekbones and then under her chin, until he could tilt her head up so she met his gaze. “Do you understand?”

Because of the location of the gun, she didn’t want to nod or move her mouth. “Mmm hmm,” she managed to squeak out.

“Good. Now let’s find something to tie you up with. Shit’s about to get kinky.”

––––––––

T
he fifth reporter of the day left, and Alex set a hand on Logan’s shoulder. “We’re halfway there,” he said.

Logan ran his hand through his hair before he rubbed his eyes. Alex noted that he rubbed them softly. An old trick they’d been taught when growing up. If you rubbed your eyes too intensely, that would cause dark circles. Considering the number of photographs and interviews he had left, it wouldn’t be great if he looked exhausted in the pictures. It was their job to portray the image of a happy and together family.

It shouldn’t be too hard. They’d been playing the role since they were kids.

“I never thought I’d miss prison.” Logan reached for the bottle of water he’d been provided and took a deep gulp.

The one good thing about today was that he’d managed to get the answers to questions he’d never personally feel comfortable asking Logan. Maybe not the honest answer, but the lies were better than the nothing he’d had. Information about the structure of the days behind bars. What kind of food he ate. Whether he ever got in any fights behind bars.

Some lies were easier to spot than others. Namely how he told every single reporter that he’d kept in constant contact with his brothers. It was exactly what he wanted: Logan to show a united front with the family. To smile and act polite in front of the cameras.

But he knew it was all a lie, and that burned in a way he didn’t think possible. He’d had enough bombshells dropped on him in the past week. He couldn’t still be wrapped up in Logan shutting him out, especially considering that he now knew the reasons behind his self-imposed solitary confinement.

“Fuck,” breathed Logan.

“What’s wrong?”

“My phone is dead.” He shoved the thing back into his pocket.

“Didn’t you charge it last night?”

“The thing has held a charge for days. I figured it would be fine for one more.”

Alex thought back to Logan checking his phone multiple times during every one of their breaks. That would be enough to drain an already low battery. “Expecting a call?”

“No,” said Logan gruffly.

“Playing Angry Birds?”

“Angry what?”

Alex let out a laugh. He’d have to get as many of the pop culture jokes out of the way fast, because he was sure Logan would be caught up soon enough. “Just a game. Don’t worry about it. But if you need to use a phone, I’ve got mine on me.”

“I don’t need to make a call.”

“So you were waiting for someone to call.”

Logan looked over at Alex, and his grimace spoke volumes about his mood. “I asked Julie out this morning.”

God damn it.
He’d told Logan not to do it, and the son of a bitch had done it anyway. “Did she say she’d think about it?”

“No. She just said no.”

Judging by the dead phone battery, Logan wasn’t happy with that answer. That also explained why Julie had sounded so reluctant to do dinner with Logan that night. “You were hoping she’d change her mind?”

“She likes me. I know she does. She can’t lie about that.”

That might be up for debate, but Alex didn’t know enough about how Julie felt about him. “Don’t worry. We can go out tonight and have a line of girls around the block for you.”

“I don’t want a line of girls. Just that one. And she wants to be with me too. She just doesn’t want to be with a Farrell.”

Alex tensed. “She said that?”

“Have you talked to her about her past? Her childhood?”

“No. Was it messed up?”

“It was perfect.
Leave It To Beaver
perfect. One dad who worked a normal job; her mother was a schoolteacher and she has one older brother. Grew up in suburbia. Went to public schools. Had a fucking dog. Why would she want to get involved in our shit?”

Not one part of Alex thought it was a good idea for Logan and Julie to do anything together, but the idea of her turning them, er, Logan down because of their past got under his skin. Alex glanced down at the schedule. They still had five minutes before the next interview started. “I can go out and get you a new charger. I can be back in twenty.” Logan started to say something and Alex held out a hand. “No. You’ve been through hell today. This is the least I can do.”

“No. I want the fucking charger, but my apartment is closer. Just go there.” Logan took out his wallet and then pulled out the plastic key card. “And if you happen to see Julie, feel free to tell her that you’re okay with this.”

Alex nodded as he took the key.
Logan was serious about this.
It wasn’t that he just wanted to get into her panties. Alex remembered the cocky brother he used to have. Ambitious and more than willing to learn from Walter. He’d always thought prison would just exacerbate all of those id qualities. He’d be just as self-absorbed, but now angrier.

But here he was, facing demeaning question after demeaning question, all for the sake of a company that had done nothing for him.

No.
Alex thought back.
Julie had gotten him to agree to all this
. Everything he was doing, he wasn’t doing for the sake of family or even the stake of the profits. He was trying to impress Julie.

Once he was in the lobby, he asked the receptionist to send him a driver. Logan’s apartment was only a ten-minute drive at this time of day. During rush hour, it would be faster to walk, but he should shave some time with a car.

He told the driver the address and looked down at his phone. Five missed calls, all from the same person. He put the phone back in his pocket. He needed to tell Logan about what was happening. Hell, he needed to tell everyone, but with all the excitement of Logan’s return, there hadn’t been a good time.

Good time. Fuck, there was never going to be a good time.
If Robert were around, maybe he could’ve slipped away from the family business for a few weeks to get settled, but he was stuck at the moment. So he’d get on Logan’s good side by helping him with the Julie situation, and then he could try to tell Logan the truth.

Alex had never personally lived in the building that he’d arranged for Logan to stay at, but he’d been there plenty of times, either meeting with business partners who were staying there or for various business meetings. So he was able to go right to the elevator and insert the key to lead him to the apartment.

Even though it was a long way up, the sleek, state-of-the-art elevator took him up in mere seconds, and the doors slid open without a sound. Logan had neglected to tell him where the phone charger was, but it wouldn’t take too long to find whatever outlet it was probably still attached to.

But he only made it three steps inside the apartment before he realized he wasn’t alone. Alex stopped in his tracks and listened harder as the shuffling came from around the corner—the kitchen. That didn’t make any sense. No one could break into this building. Well, they could, but it had never happened. Those key cards were so heavily encrypted it would take a mastermind to copy one, and there were enough cameras around the entrance that it made any covert operations hard.

Considering how hung up Logan was on Julie, it couldn’t just be some woman still there from the night before. It wasn’t as though he was dealing with Nathan.

Alex pulled out his phone. He didn’t know the number for building security, so he played it safe and put in 911, but he didn’t send the call. Instead, he stepped forward. He didn’t want to have police at a Farrell-owned building if it wasn’t a hundred percent necessary.

Except his black dress shoes were far from silent on the marble floor, and whoever was in the apartment must’ve heard him. “Who’s there?” asked a deep voice from the kitchen.

Alex debated lying but decided the truth might be better. His name did hold power over people. “Alex Farrell. Do you have permission to be here?” He took another step forward but paused before he reached the start of the hall that led to the kitchen. If the man had a weapon, he would be right out in the open.

But before he could make the choice, the man ran out in a dark blur. He jammed his shoulder into Alex’s gut, pushing him out of the way as he ran for the elevator. Alex stumbled and started to fall back, but he managed to catch himself before he toppled over and ran after the man.

The guy hit the button to close the doors over and over again, but Alex managed to get into the elevator right as the doors slid shut.

Once the guy started to punch, all logical thought went out the window. Alex blocked the first blow as the second hit him squarely in the jaw. Alex hadn’t been hit since he’d played rugby in high school, and his vision flashed in and out as he fell back against the now closed doors. A fraction of a second later, everything seemed to fall back together, and he knew exactly what he had to do. He slammed his hand on the emergency stop button and ducked as the guy tried to punch him again.

This time, instead of getting his face, he got the hard steel of the elevator wall. And the momentary distraction of that pain was all Alex needed. He stood up as he aimed an uppercut right to the guy’s ribs. And then he didn’t stop. Blow after blow, all he could think about was this son of a bitch on his territory. Threatening his brother.

No one was allowed to threaten his. Threaten his family. Threaten her.

The guy started to fall back against the wall as his legs couldn’t hold him anymore, but Alex couldn’t stop. Suddenly the elevator doors opened and Alex was being pulled away. It was only then that he remembered where he was. What was happening. This wasn’t his home; this was his work. No one had been in the apartment. Everything was safe. He unclenched and re-clenched his fists, trying not to think about the blood on them as he pulled himself free from the security guards who had pulled him away.

“Is everything okay, sir?” The head of security stood between Alex and the intruder. His tone held the normal amount of respect, but Alex could tell the guard wasn’t sure which one of the men he should be protecting.

“Everything isn’t okay. That man was in my brother’s apartment.” He tried to sound calm and collected, but he was still catching his breath and the adrenaline made him shake. Even though he was back in the real world now, he would give anything for five more minutes alone in that elevator with the guy.

Now that he could get a better look, “guy” seemed like an overstatement. This kid was probably barely out of high school, assuming he graduated. Judging from the sunken-in cheekbones and scabbing on the face, this guy was a heavy drug user of some kind. “What were you doing here?” Alex asked.

The head of security put up a hand to keep Alex away from the kid. “I already called the police, sir. Why don’t you just—”

Alex pushed past the man and stood over the bleeding and bruised intruder. “How did you get in?” he screamed.

“A key,” he said, apparently in no mood to keep quiet. “A guy gave me a key. He said if I went in and got some paperwork, he’d pay me a grand. It was supposed to be easy, dude.”

Easy.
Anyone who thought they could steal from him and it would be easy was out of their fucking mind. Alex turned and walked away from the elevator in disgust.
Fuck, he didn’t need this.
One of the security guards stayed in the elevator while the head of security followed him. “My phone fell in the apartment upstairs. I need to get a hold of my brother. Logan. He’s at Farrell Tower.”

Even though being his gopher was far out of the responsibilities of the guard, he nodded dutifully. “Yes, sir.”

He started to turn but hesitated, and Alex let out an exasperated sigh. “If you have something to say, just fucking say it.”

The guard tightened his lips until he started to carefully speak. “When we got there, sir. You were yelling. Telling the perp to stay away from Ashley. Who is Ashley?”

Alex felt his blood run cold. “She’s none of your damn business. Now grab me a phone.”