Stingray Billionaire: The Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) (51 page)

CHAPTER
SIXTY-FIVE

Dax

I
walked along the dock looking for the Isabella and listening for sounds of life
on the boats. I heard nothing until I rounded the corner and saw the Isabella
sitting in the slip with the cabin door open. It looked like someone had been
prepping her for a trip, and I was sure I knew who that someone was.

“Ri?
You here?” I called out. I knew it was risky approaching like this, but I
decided that it was better than sneaking up on her. Six of one, half dozen of
another. “Ri, you out here?”

I
stood still as I waited to see if she would emerge from the cabin or not. I
patted the holster I’d put on before leaving the club and reassured myself that
I had protection just in case I needed it. I didn’t usually carry a gun, since
being arrested with one would present some problems given the fact that I
didn’t have a license to carry one. Mostly, I’d just relied on Riza to do the
dirty work of gun carrying.

A
few minutes after I’d called her name, Riza emerged with her arm around Brooke.
She was holding a pistol to Brooke’s head and had an arm around her waist as
she moved them both forward.

“Dax?”
Brooke called. Even at this distance, I could see the terror in her eyes as she
moved with Riza across the back end of the boat.

“Yeah,
I’m here. Ri, what the hell are you doing?” I hollered.

“Taking
control of my damn life,” she yelled back. “That’s what I’m doing.”

“This
doesn’t seem like much control to me,” I observed. “Why don’t you let her go
and we’ll talk about this?”

“Hell
no, what kind of fool do you take me for?” Riza laughed. “I’m not an idiot, you
know.”

“No
one ever said you were, Ri,” I said. “But you need to tell me what the hell is
going on.”

“I’m
sick of all your shit, Dax,” she said as she pushed Brooke to the back of the
boat and looked out over the water. “I’m sick of all the women, the drugs, the
club. I’m sick of babysitting and strong arming and basically fighting all your
battles so that you can sit up in your little safe room and rule the universe.”

“How
in the hell am I ruling the universe?” I shot back. “I’m taking the heat for
every fucking thing that happens. It’s my job to keep everyone on track and
away from wars! Don’t you think I’m sick of it, too?”

“But
you have all the glory, Dax,” she said. “You are regarded as the high and
mighty heir to Papi D’Oro’s throne, and everyone fears and respects you. You’re
the shit, my friend.”

“How
do you figure? Everyone fucking hates me!” I yelled. “I make decisions that
piss everyone off and you get to move around freely, going places and doing
things however you like. Meanwhile, I’m confined to the six blocks around my
club and apartment! I can’t venture out into other areas, because if I do, it
starts a war!”

“Bullshit,
you stay put because it’s easy and because you’re the king of the hill when you
stay in your six block radius,” she yelled. I could tell she was getting really
agitated and knew that if she got really worked up, she just might pull the
trigger.

“Why
are you holding Brooke?” I asked. “What did she ever do to you?”

“Not
to me, Dax,” she said. “I’m sick of these women who use you up and then dump
your ass. It’s hard to watch it happen.”

“What
the hell are you talking about?” I asked. “Can I please come closer so we don’t
have to shout at each other?”

“Ten
steps closer, but don’t fucking try anything or I’ll shoot your little
girlfriend,” she warned.

“Ten
steps, got it,” I said as I took exactly ten steps and came close enough to see
that Riza was holding a nine-millimeter pistol to Brooke’s head. That was the
weapon that had killed Lydia – suddenly, I had a sick feeling in my stomach,
but I needed to know the truth. “What about the women?”

“You
always fall for the white girls,” she said. “You choose these snooty women with
big degrees and lots of money, and then you use the ones who aren’t respectable
enough to be seen in public with.”

“What
the hell are you talking about?” I said angrily. I knew exactly what she was
talking about but I didn’t want her talking about it in front of Brooke.

“Diamond?
Or don’t you remember?” she said. “C’mon, you know how you hit it and quit it
with the dancers. Don’t be a liar, Dax.”

“I
know, I know,” I said. “But that was something we agreed about! They didn’t
want anything more than what we had going on! I didn’t deny anyone anything!”

“Yeah,
right,” she said rolling her eyes and looking at me. “You blow off anyone who
doesn’t fit your idea of who Mr. Hotshot should be dating.”

I
knew right then that I had to turn the conversation around or she was going to
end up shooting all of us.

“Riza,
why are you doing this? What do you want? Tell me and I’ll give it to you,” I
said.

“What
do I want? What do I want?” she cried. “How come no one ever asked me that
question before? What do I want? I want my life back! I want my Papi back! I
want my family back!”

“Riza,
I can’t bring Papi back,” I said gently.

“Don’t
you think I fucking know that, asshole?” she shot back. “I’m saying what I want
are things that I can’t have! So, now I’m aiming for things I can have.”

“Like
what?” I asked.

“Revenge,
mother fucker, revenge,” she said as she tightened her grip on Brooke, causing
her to gasp as Riza pushed the muzzle of the gun to her head and looked at me.
“Maybe if you start losing all the things you love, you’ll begin to appreciate
those people who do shit for you every damn day!”

“RIZA,
NO!” I yelled as I launched myself onto the boat from the dock. I heard the gun
go off as I flew through the air and landed on top of Riza. We wrestled like
vicious wolves as we fought for control of the gun. I grabbed her hand and
tried to wrench the gun out of it, but she had a tight grip and used it to whip
me in the head. The blow made me see stars, but I didn’t let go as I fought her
for control of the weapon.

Riza
was swearing and raging as we fought, but I could feel myself getting calmer
and more relaxed. It was a strange sensation to be so angry that I felt like I
was melting away into nothing, and then the world went black.

CHAPTER
SIXTY-SIX

Brooke

“You
shot him!” I screamed as I felt an undeniable rage rising in my chest. “He was
trying to help you!”

Riza
turned and aimed the gun at me and I realized that I was at a distinct
disadvantage in this situation. She pointed the gun at me and motioned for me
to get away from Dax, who now lay bleeding on the deck.

“Riza,
he loves you and wants what’s best for you,” I said trying to find a way to tap
into something that would remind her of her love for Dax. “He’s your friend, he
doesn’t want to see you hurting.”

“He
doesn’t care about me!” she yelled as her hand shook. “None of them care about
me! I want my life back! I want my life back!”

“This
isn’t the way to get it,” said a voice from behind her. Riza spun around,
pointing her gun at the person speaking and yelled at him to back off.

“Riza,
you don’t have to do this,” Roger said. “Listen to me, I get it. You were in a
war zone and you fought for your life every single day. It was stressful and
demoralizing to realize that you might be doing more harm than good, right?”

Riza
nodded as her hand shook, but she didn’t say a word.

“I
know, I’ve been there,” Roger continued. “You survive in unbearable conditions,
and you fight for the freedoms of people who seem to hate you, and you watch
your comrades die when insurgents do horrible awful things. I get it, Riza.”

“It
was horrible,” she said in a small voice. “To watch people die.”

“I
know, war is hell,” he said as he moved toward her. “And you come home feeling
like no one in the world could possibly understand what you’ve been through.
You don’t know how to live a normal life after you’ve been living on fast
forward in high alert all the time. Everything feels boring and slow.”

“Yeah,
that’s it exactly!” she nodded as she looked at Roger. “It’s like no one else
can understand where I’ve been. And how do you talk about that shit with
civilians? They can’t handle that, and they didn’t sign up for it. We did. We
signed up to serve and protect and we did. But man, what’s left when you come
home?”

“I
know the feeling,” Roger said as he moved closer and put a hand out showing her
that he wasn’t a threat. I watched him, absolutely mesmerized by his calm
demeanor and his confidence. This wasn’t the flakey Roger I knew – the one who
fell in love with every woman he dated and then moved on after a few weeks.
This was organized Roger who understood someone else’s pain and was openly
addressing it in an attempt to alleviate it.

“I
don’t know what to do,” Riza said in a small voice as she looked at Roger
helplessly. “I don’t know how to live my life. I keep thinking that if I just
organize it and make it fit into a neat little box, everything will go back to
normal and I’ll feel okay. But it doesn’t. Nothing feels okay.”

“That’s
because you’re suffering from PTSD,” Roger said. “Believe me, there are
thousands of us who are suffering from it. It makes everything feel like you’re
walking waist deep in molasses. It makes you feel like an outsider in your own
family even. I know, I’ve been there.”

“How
did you get better?” she asked.

“It
takes time and a lot of talking about how you feel,” Roger said as he held out
his hand palm up as he looked at the gun and then at Riza. She shook her head
and then looked at him. “Give me the gun, Riza. It’s not going to solve
anything, and you’ve already hurt someone you love. Don’t you want to stop?”

“I
want my life back!” she cried. “I just want my life back!”

“I
know you do, Riza,” Roger said sympathetically. “That’s all any of us want. You
can get it back if you want to, but you can’t get it back if you’re dead.
Please, give me the gun.”

She
looked at him with a pain so raw and fresh that I gasped and looked away. Roger
didn’t, though. He stayed with her and held her gaze until she reached up and
gently set the gun in the palm of his hand. He closed his hand around it and
dropped his arm to his side as he reached out and pulled her to him with his
other arm. Riza burst into tears and sobbed in Roger’s arms as the police
officers who’d been waiting at the end of the dock stormed the boat and took
her into custody.

“Don’t
worry, I’ll be there for you,” Roger said quietly as they cuffed her and led
her to the waiting car.

“Riza,
I’ll meet you at the jail and arrange for bail,” I said as she walked down the
dock.

“Why?”
she called over her shoulder.

“Because
you’re one of Dax’s people, and you deserve the best legal counsel you can
get,” I said. “You’re worth it.”

She
bowed her head and walked slowly to the car as I turned my attention to Dax,
who was being loaded onto a stretcher and wheeled to a waiting ambulance. He
wasn’t conscious, and I asked the paramedic if he was okay.

“He’s
stable at the moment, but that could change quickly,” she said. “We need to get
him to a hospital right away.” She turned and nodded to her partner who helped
her lift the gurney onto the dock and they ran toward the ambulance.

I
started to chase after them, but Roger grabbed my arm. “He’ll be okay. Let them
do their jobs.”

“But,
Roger, he was shot,” I said as I looked at him and brought my hands to my face
as I began to cry.

“Brooke,
he’s going to be okay,” Roger said as he pulled my hands away from my face and
tipped my head up. “He’s going to be okay. The shot wasn’t that serious.”

“How
the hell do you know that?” I asked.

“I
was a medic with my unit in Iraq, and I’ve seen guys live after far worse
shots,” he said. “She wasn’t shooting to kill.”

“I
need to get to him,” I said as I headed for the dock. Roger pulled me back and
reminded me that we needed to answer the investigator’s questions, and then I
needed to get Jordie on the phone and have him start arranging bail for Riza.

“We
have a job to do, Brooke,” Roger reminded me. “Let the doctors take care of
Dax, and let’s go take care of everything else.”

I
nodded and let him help me up on to the dock. “Oh hey, my shoes,” I said as I
stood looking down at him in the boat.

“Got
‘em,” he grinned as he held up my pumps with one hand.

“How
did you…” I laughed.

“Hey,
I know women!” he laughed as he hopped up and handed me my heels.