The Billionaire's Heir: Billionaire Obsession (Tycoon Billionaires Book 4) (16 page)

Breakfast at the Quinlan’s was an impressive event – the homey kitchen buzzed with happiness and excitement, even before the ‘wake-up’ coffee had been served. Mrs. Quinlan made far too much food, and everyone tucked into pancakes, bacon, maple syrup, and an array of pastries – despite there only being seven people staying here now that Adam and Amy had gone off on their honeymoon, and Sarah, Dylan, and Clara had left first thing for various reasons.

Thank goodness yesterday had been so sunny for Adam and Amy, because today the storm clouds were gathering overhead and the sky was grey. Thunder rumbled in the distance, and Samira was sure the rain was going to pour all day once it started.

But the weather wasn’t important. Samira felt cozy – part of the family – as she sat at the breakfast table, chatting with Ivan, Jake, Joseph, Ellie, and the senior Quinlans about life, politics, and everything in between. Quin was sitting on her lap, banging a spoon on the table, which seemed to make Jake wince with each blow.

She wrested the spoon out of his little fist. “Sorry, Jake. I guess you’re not used to having a six-month baby around?”

“Nope. I’m not really a baby kinda guy.”

“We’ll soon change that,” Ivan said. He stood up and drew his son into his arms, then he stepped around to where Jake was sitting. “Here… just sit with him on your lap.”

“Oh… er…” Jake reluctantly opened his stance and allowed Ivan to place the giggling six-month-old in his arms. Jake was tense to begin with, but he made eye contact with his nephew and slowly relaxed. “He’s pretty cute I guess.”

“He’ll melt anyone’s heart,” Mrs. Quinlan said. “The girls will be beating a path to his door when he’s older.”

“He’s gorgeous,” Joseph said, glancing at Ellie.

She smirked. “You’ll have to wait a little longer, Joseph Quinlan. I’m in the middle of writing an exclusive story for the newspaper.”

The others chuckled.

“No hurry,” Joseph said kissing her.

Love and pride swirled in Samira’s heart as Jake drew Quin a little bit closer and relaxed a little more.

“So what’s everyone’s plans for today?” Mr. Quinlan asked, shoveling a forkful of pancake into his mouth. “Taking it easy and having some time out?”

Ivan and Samira exchanged a glance. “Actually,” Ivan said. “Samira’s going to stay here with you guys, while me and Jake head back to Texas on Adam’s jet to get Samira’s passport back.”

Mr. Quinlan gazed blankly at him. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. She needs it you see. If she wants to stay in the country. Clara’s friend in immigration can help, but only if we get her passport back.”

Mrs. Quinlan opened her mouth to reply, but Jake chuckled and everyone looked at him as he jigged Quin on his knee. “He
is
adorable,” Jake conceded.

“We’ll be back tonight, okay,” Ivan said. “You’ll hardly even know we’re gone.”

****

              Feeling content after a hearty breakfast, Samira stood by the front door, saying goodbye to Ivan and Jake. Mr. and Mrs. Quinlan were bonding with Quin in the kitchen, pretending that their sons weren’t heading off into danger – and not really asking too many questions.

Ivan clutched the suitcase of cocaine in his hands as he and Jake loitered on the doorstep. Everyone was trying to pretend this was just a casual trip back to Texas, but Samira knew it was potentially dangerous. Mr. Langdon had confessed he was a killer – and would do it again. She trusted that Ivan could take care of himself, but she couldn’t bear the thought of losing him now she’d only just found him. 

She kissed him. “Don’t let Langdon hurt you. I want you back here tonight.”

He wrapped her in his arms. “I’ll be back before you know it, sweetheart. Just take care of our little boy for me. I’ll bring you your passport and then we can make sure you can stay in this country – and perhaps we can extend our family...”

“I’d like that.” She glanced at Jake. “Please take care of my husband.”

Jake chuckled kindly. “I think he can take care of himself, Samira. Come on, Ivan. Let’s go confront that motherfucker.”

Samira watched them leave in the taxi for the local airfield – where they were going to ask Adam’s pilot to fly them to Texas. She closed the door, then strolled back to the kitchen, where Mrs. Quinlan was holding Quin on her lap, looking utterly smitten by her grandchild.

Samira sat down and poured some coffee from the jug.

“Did they get off okay?” Mr. Quinlan asked.

“Yeah. They’ll both be back tonight. I hope.”

“You can trust Ivan,” Mrs. Quinlan said. “He won’t let anything happen – not now he’s got you and this little one to take care of.”

Samira frowned. Did Mrs. Quinlan know they were doing something more dangerous than they’d let on? She
had
been married to Quinlan Senior during his shady past, so maybe…

Joseph sipped his coffee. “Adam and Amy should be in Hawaii by now.”

Ellie glanced out the window – the rain had started pouring hard. “Lucky them. I’d love a vacation.”

“We should all go away,” Mr. Quinlan said. “The whole family together.” He smiled at Quin in his wife’s arms. “All three generations of Quinlans.”

“Including long-lost brothers,” Ellie said with a grin.

“That sounds wonderful,” Mrs. Quinlan said. “Samira, where would you like to go?”

Samira smiled contentedly. “I’m happy right here and now with my wonderful new family.”

Joseph held her in his warm gaze. “You’re a great addition to the family, Samira.”

“Thank you. I must admit I was worried I wouldn’t fit in. I know it sounds crazy, but I thought you all hated me.”

“How could we hate you, darling?” Mrs. Quinlan asked. “You’re adorable. It’s wonderful to have a new daughter. And this little cherub – who I love with all my heart.”

She tickled Quin, making him jiggle his body with excitement.

“Well, Ivan said you're quite a traditional family,” Samira explained. “And I know I’m not exactly, um… like that.”

Mrs. Quinlan smiled maternally. “We're only traditional in the sense that we embrace the traditional values of loyalty, honesty, and being the best we can. We're not puritans or anything. In fact, don't tell Ivan but – she flicked a flirty glance at her husband –
we
had to get married in a hurry, didn't we darling.”

Mr. Quinlan grinned. The others cheered and whooped at this revelation.

“I bet you were so beautiful on your wedding day,” Samira said. “Do you have any photos?”

“Sure,” Mrs. Quinlan said. “Here, take Quin – I’ll go get them.”

Samira stood. “It’s okay – you look so lovely with him. I’ll get them. Where are they?”

Mrs. Quinlan frowned. “Er… Where
did
we store them? Actually, I think there are some in a suitcase under the bed in Ivan’s room. Go take a look there.”

Samira nodded. “Okay. I’ll be right back.”

Glowing with satisfaction, Samira jogged up the stairs and strode into Ivan’s room, then she crouched to feel under the bed. Her hand banged into a suitcase, so she pulled it out and frowned at how similar it looked to the case that had contained the cocaine. Presumably Ivan had shoved the cocaine under the bed with such haste that he hadn’t realized there was a similar one already here. And he’d probably pulled it back out again without really looking – just as she had.

Which meant… the cases would’ve been under there side-by-side…

But obviously he would’ve picked up the right one just now. Wouldn’t he? He would’ve opened it and checked before he left. There’s just no way he would've made the same mistake twice. But if he hadn’t
known
about this other one…

Praying this suitcase was indeed full of family photos, she took it back down to the kitchen, where she placed it on the now-cleared table in front of everyone.

“Oh you found them,” Mrs. Quinlan said, clutching Quin close.

“Yeah,” Samira said, feeling like she was in a trance. She opened the lid with a flourish, and her body washed with urgent terror as she was confronted with the bags of cocaine once more.  “These damn drugs are haunting me…”

Mrs. Quinlan stared at the cocaine. “Well, I didn’t know we had
that
under the bed.” She glared at her husband. “I assume this is nothing to do with you?”

Mr. Quinlan’s face was frozen in shock. “No, no I’m pretty sure it’s nothing to do with me.”

Joseph stood up slowly. “Samira, if this is Langdon’s cocaine, what the hell did Ivan take?”

“Family photos. Oh god.” She grabbed her phone from her purse. “I’ll tell them to come back.”

Tension washed through her body as she listened to the dial tone. The phone rang in her ear – taunting her – until it disconnected with a bleep. There wasn’t even an option to leave a message. Perhaps the network was bad because of the storm? But she needed to get hold of him before he strode back in there with a suitcase full of old family photographs!

She tried again, but nothing. “He’s not answering.”

“You got Jake’s number?” Joseph asked.

She shook her head. “How can we contact him? Hey, we could go after him. Perhaps they haven’t gotten on the plane yet…”

Joseph checked his watch. “I’d imagine they’re probably just boarding now if the traffic was okay. Listen, I’ll drive you to the airfield. And if they
have
already gone, well… maybe we can go after them. I can fly a light aircraft.”

Ellie scoffed. “Joseph, you've had three lessons.”

Joseph zipped up the suitcase. “I can take off, land, and keep the plane airborne. Come on Samira, you’d better come with me – I may need you to tell me where to go.”

Ivan watched the land below fall away as he sat in the leather seat of Adam’s jet. The suitcase of cocaine was on the seat behind him, and Jake was sitting across the aisle, staring ahead of himself. Ivan checked his phone one last time, but it was definitely not working. It must be this storm…

The rain was pouring hard, and the humidity was high. The pilot had been reluctant to take them, but Ivan had explained the urgency and he’d relented. Hopefully they weren’t about to plunge to their deaths when the tail caught fire from the impending lightning.

He looked away from the window and stretched. In a few hours they’d be back in Texas...

“So, at last we’re alone,” Jake said.

Ivan tensed. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

He turned to face Jake – who was gazing at him. Jake smiled. “It doesn’t mean anything… I just got a bit obsessed with you for a while. With the family. I still can’t believe we met like this.”

“Mom and dad seem ecstatic. So what are your plans? I mean, you’ve got debts to pay, right? You know we can help you… Or if you’re not interested in handouts, I’m sure Adam and Dylan are recruiting right now.”

Jake gripped the armrest. “I assume our deal still stands? For me spying on Mr. Langdon? Especially now Langdon’s probably not going to pay me. I hope you appreciate the sacrifice I’m making by losing out on his money.”

Ivan’s insides corroded slightly. “Yeah, I’ll pay you, don’t worry. I forgot how mercenary you are.”

“You don’t know anything about me, Ivan.”

“Just that you love money.”

“And
you
don’t?”

Ivan shrugged. “It’s important, but not as important as some things.”

“Wealthy people always say shit like that.” Jake glanced at the seat behind Ivan. “Maybe I should take a couple of bags of coke and sell it. Surely Langdon won’t miss it… it’ll cover my payment from him.”

Ivan stared at him. “You’re not serious? No wonder they kicked you off the police force.”

Jake smirked. “I’m joking, okay.”

Ivan stood up. “I’d better check you haven’t tampered with this. I need to make sure I get Samira’s–”

“Ivan, would you relax… I haven’t taken anything out.”

Ivan rested his hands on the suitcase and fiddled with the zipper. He wanted to trust his new brother, but he hardly knew him. Perhaps this three hour flight was the perfect time to find out more.

Ivan let go of the suitcase and sat back down. “So… you ever been married? I know you don’t like kids much.”

“Never been married. Not too sure what I’ll do after this… To be honest, I feel a little lost. You ever feel like that?”

“Only for the last eighteen months.”

“But then you got Samira back?”

“Uh-huh.”

They listened to the whirring engines for a moment. Ivan gazed out the window and watched the thick grey clouds whipping by.

“Samira’s a great girl,” Jake said. “You’re a lucky guy. I was actually thinking of hooking up with her myself back on the ranch.”

Ivan glared at him. “You need to stop talking right now.”

“I didn’t know she was your girlfriend at that point, did I?”

“No, you thought she was your employer’s
wife
.”

“That’s different. I knew it wasn’t true love between them.”

“What would
you
know about true love? You who’s so money-driven?”

“Hey, when you’ve got nothing but a truckload of debt, money becomes pretty high on the priority list, okay.”

Ivan twisted to face him. “Jake, I told you, we can help you with your debts. But there’s definitely one thing I
can’t
help you with.”

“What’s that?”

“I can’t stop you being an asshole – only you can manage that. And exactly
when
you choose to do it is totally down to you.”

****

The rain was still pouring hard as they landed bumpily down in Texas. Ivan hoped this wasn’t the tail-end of a hurricane… surely there would’ve been warnings? They took a taxi back to the ranch and rushed to the front door, trying to keep dry. There was a huge black limo parked in the driveway that Ivan had never noticed before.

“Looks like he’s got company,” Jake said, as they huddled under the porch with the suitcase of cocaine. “And it doesn’t look like it’s the girl scouts.”

Ivan eyed up the limo, then took out the front door key that Samira had given him. “I guess at least we’ll have the element of surprise,” he said as he slid the key into the lock.

They stepped into the dimly-lit hallway out of the rain and stood on the doormat in the ringing silence. “You ready?” Ivan asked.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

They made their way up the carpeted spiral staircase and across a lavish corridor. It was a clean and modern house, but there was an eerie feeling of tension in the air, which was irritating Ivan, making him feel tetchy. As they approached the door to Langdon’s office they heard raised voices from within – someone was making demands; someone
else
was trying to wriggle out of them.

“Sounds like that limo owner’s not too happy,” Ivan said. “I don’t want trouble – I just need Samira’s passport.”

“Let’s go in and hand over the coke,” Jake said. “
I
can take care of things if it gets too intense.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Jake drew back his shirt and flashed his gun.

“Holy shit, Jake, what did you bring that for?”

“I know what sort of person Langdon is, Ivan. He’s a killer – and he’s in trouble. He’ll lash out at whoever he can.”

Ivan sighed. “Alright, well try not to shoot anyone.”

Ivan kicked the door open and they both strolled in with the suitcase.

****

Samira had to admit Joseph looked pretty sexy flying this plane with his pilot’s headset casually slung over one ear. He was still wearing his trademark shades and leathers, and she knew most of the female population of the music-loving world would be envious of her right now. But she was more than happy with his eldest brother. The three-hour journey here had been a great opportunity to get to know him better, and one thing was for certain, he adored Eleanor.

“We’re just approaching the airfield now,” Joseph said – pausing from talking about Ellie for a moment. “Should be landing in a minute, then we can take a taxi to the ranch and hopefully save the day.”

Samira chuckled. She loved Joseph’s levity and optimism. “So you were just about to tell me how you and Ellie met.”

“Oh yeah.” His face lit up as it did whenever he spoke about his fiancée. “She was trying to get an exclusive on me. And it worked.”

“She seems really nice.”

“She’s one in a million – so supportive of my music. And I’m totally supportive of her work too, of course.” He smiled, then opened his mouth to continue singing her praises, but something on the navigation console bleeped like an ear-splitting alarm.

Joseph stared at it. “Uh oh…”

Samira’s body tensed. “What do you mean ‘uh oh’?”

The plane suddenly juddered, then swerved downwards.

“Shit!” Joseph shouted, as he struggled to stay in control.

“What’s wrong?”

“We’re falling…”

“No
shit
!”

The engine clunked again, and Samira realized they were falling
fast
.

“I thought you knew how to land this thing!” she shouted above the racket of the squealing engine.

He tried to remain calm. “There’s something wrong with the landing gear. I’m gonna make an emergency landing. That field down there should do… hold on!”

Samira could see he was working hard to stop them from crashing, but as the plane landed, it bumped along at an immense speed, hurtling past startled cows and through hay bales. Samira gripped the seat tight, praying she wasn’t about to die – but she was being shaken wildly by the impact of the wheels on the ground… They ripped through a fence and eventually slowed to a halt near the staff cottages.

Staff cottages
… they were on the ranch!

She breathed, trying to discern whether the worst of it was over. Even though she was completely stunned, her thoughts turned to where Ivan and Jake could be right now. She hoped they’d be safe…

****

Langdon was sitting behind his desk flanked by the two biggest Mexicans Ivan had ever seen – they looked as if they could easily snap Langdon’s wiry body apart. One of the Mexicans was holding an ivory-handled knife over Langdon’s hand – which the other guy was pressing against the expensive desk. Ivan realized with dread that he and Jake had just interrupted at the point where Langdon’s fingers were about to come off, one by one.

“Welcome to the party, gentleman,” a voice opposite Langdon said. “I didn’t know we were expecting anyone else.”

Ivan turned and saw a middle-aged well-bred man dressed in a stylish suit, with cowboy boots, and a smart ponytail. His face was pockmarked from too many fights in his youth, and he spoke with a heavy accent that Ivan couldn’t quite place – but he had a bad feeling it was possibly Columbian. Or Sicilian.

He’d obviously come to find out where his cocaine was. But actually, this could work out perfectly – Ivan decided they could simply hand it over in exchange for Samira’s passport and get the hell out of here.

Ivan drew on his inner-alpha. “Lost something, Langdon?” he asked.

“Where is it?” Langdon hissed, trying not to show his fear.

“Right here.” Ivan held up the suitcase.

“Then you’d better give it to Mr. Andreas. He’s not to be messed with.”

“I will. But I want Samira’s passport.”

Langdon chuckled sinisterly. “Is that all?”

“That’s all.”

Langdon moved toward his desk drawer, but Mr. Andreas held up his hand. “I told you not to move a fucking muscle, Langdon.”

One of the burly Mexicans squeezed Langdon’s fingers. “Ow!
He’s
got your fucking coke… I told you – these idiots got involved by mistake.”

“And what’s this passport you want?” Mr. Andreas asked Ivan coolly.

“It’s my wife’s,” Ivan said, relishing calling her that. “And I’m not giving you this suitcase without it.”

Mr. Andreas chuckled. “Big talk. You know we’re all heavily armed and could just shoot you, I assume?”

Ivan shrugged, refusing to be intimidated. He was sure he could get away with this. One passport for one suitcase…

Mr. Andreas nodded, then he turned back to Langdon. “Give him the passport.”

Langdon started to move toward the drawer.

“Not you,” Andreas said. “You could have
anything
in there. Juan, you get it.”

Juan grunted and opened the drawer. He pulled out a few pieces of paper and some documents, then he grabbed the passport and leaned over the desk to hand it to Mr. Andreas, who opened it.

“Iranian, hm? Oh, she’s pretty. Samira… very nice.”

“Give it to me,” Ivan said, keeping his nerve.

“Not so fast,” Andreas said. “How do I know I can trust you? Open that suitcase,
then
you get the passport.”

“Sure.” Ivan set the suitcase down on the wooden floor and unzipped it. He flung open the lid… and the world shifted nastily around him as he was confronted with yellowing family photos, postcards, and some old lingerie. He reached down in a trance and picked a well-worn garter belt. “Oh
shit
…”

“Not quite the idiots you were expecting, Langdon,” Andreas said impassively. “More like double-crossing motherfuckers if you ask me.”

Still crouching in front of the suitcase, Ivan frantically tried to think of how to get out of this alive. He glanced up at Jake who was staring at Andreas, seething.

As Langdon started trying to back-peddle to Andreas, Ivan signaled to Jake, then toward the door – hoping they could both make a run for it. But Jake continued glaring at Andreas as if he hated him to hell and back.

“Jake,” Ivan said through gritted teeth. “What’s wrong?”

Jake spoke loudly, silencing the others who were arguing. He didn’t take his eyes off Andreas. “You’re the asshole who shot me. I’d hoped we might meet again – but I thought it would be in hell...”

Andreas laughed. “I don’t remember you, sorry. I shoot a lot of people.”

“I was a cop. You ruined my life.”

He cracked his knuckles. “Good. I hate cops.” He reached inside his jacket. “But you’re still alive, so I obviously didn’t ruin your life
quite
as well as I should’ve. Allow me to finish what I started. No one screws me over – accidentally or otherwise.”