Waterfall Kisses: A Billionaire Love Story (Saltwater Kisses Book 8) (21 page)

“Let's get going then,” Elijah said, stepping to the side and waiting for me to catch up with him. I was glad he was with me. Even if he drove me nuts, I knew Elijah always had my back. Even in this. If Leo's boat wasn't there, Elijah would know what to do. He was good at stuff like that.

Together we walked along the beach. Eli moved through the dark like a hunting cat- never tripping or stepping on anything that could give away his position. Me, on the other hand, sounded more like an elephant stampeding through the bush.

It wasn't long before the glow of the lamps on the dock greeted us. My footsteps sounded hollow and doomed as we walked along the wooden planks to where Leo stored his boats.

The stall holding
Speed Demon
was empty.

My heart stalled. My chest collapsed and I couldn't find the air to breathe. Elijah's strong grip found my elbow, keeping me from sinking to my knees. I was glad he had come with me.

“Is there another boat?” he asked, his voice gruff and commanding enough to make me answer.

“Yeah, the Silver Lightning...” I turned from the empty stall and went to the next one. Maybe Elijah knew how to hot-wire a boat and we could go out looking for him. Maybe there was a radio and we could contact him. Maybe he was tied up in that boat because someone had stolen
Speed Demon
.

The last one was rather far-fetched, but I still hoped for it.

But Leo wasn't bound and gagged in the boat. Instead, Murdoch sat in the driver's seat with this feet propped up on the dash.

“Hey, boss,” Murdoch said into his headset, his dark eyes landing on me. “There's a girl here to see you.”

I swallowed hard, unable to make out the words coming through the headset. The headset must have been some sort of long distance radio for Leo to communicate while out on the racing boat.

Murdoch nodded at whatever command was given to him, plopping his feet on the deck with a thud. He stood, taking the headset off his head and handing it to me. It looked tiny in his giant hands. I swallowed hard and took it, careful not to drop it in the water.

“Leo?” I asked, my voice shaking. I didn't want to argue again. I just wanted to know he was safe, but somehow, being out on a ridiculously dangerous speedboat in the middle of the night just didn't scream safe to me.

“I'm sorry about earlier.” Leo's voice came in crisp and clear over the headset.

“It's okay,” I said, leaning against the hull of the boat. “Where are you?”

“I needed to think,” he replied over the headset, not really answering my question. “Charlotte, there's something I need to tell you.”

“You can tell me anything.” I closed my eyes to focus on his voice, visualizing him turning the boat around and driving back. Slowly.

“I'm being blackmailed.”

“I kind of figured that out,” I told him, rolling my eyes. “Can you tell me about what?”

“It's not something I'm proud of,” he said slowly. “But I shouldn't keep it from you. It's keeping it from you that got me blackmailed in the first place.”

“Okay.” I was a little nervous now. Leo was perfect in my eyes. He was everything I could ever want in a man. The idea that he could have done something so terrible that he could be blackmailed about it is a little intimidating. I hoped he wasn't an ax murderer. I could handle just about anything, just not ax-murderer.

“Do you remember why I don't gamble any more?” he asked. His voice was eerily calm on the radio.

“You said you nearly lost everything,” I answered slowly, opening my eyes and looking out at the water as if I might see him coming back. “That it scared you.”

“That's right.” He paused and then let out a long sigh. “I didn't get a loan for the business, Charlotte.”

“What? What loan are you talking about?” I frowned, not following his logic. What did a loan have to do with blackmail?

“The loan that got us started, that had such an amazing interest rate-” He took a deep breath, waiting for me to hate him. “There was no loan.”

It took me a moment to put his words together. Leo had gotten us a loan to get the business started. That loan was the reason we had been able to have a successful launch and get the business where it was today. We had just talked about it a couple nights ago at the gala. I remembered the loan, so I was confused as to how there wasn't one.

“But, I wrote checks to pay the interest...” I shook my head, not understanding. It had felt like a real loan at the time.

“You paid
me
the interest.” He quickly added, “I put every dime back into the company from those checks, but there was no loan.”

I swallowed hard, not really wanting the answer to my next question. I could already guess, but I needed to hear it. “Where did the money come from then, Leo? If it wasn't a loan, how did we get forty-thousand dollars to start the business?”

“I won it in a football game.” The boat engine revved again in the background. “Remember the big state game, when we all had nachos together in my dorm room? The other team was the favorite. In fact, it was supposed to be a blow out, but I got an insider tip that their quarterback was out with an injury.”

I remembered the game. I remembered not being able to talk at the end of it for screaming at the players not to blow it. The only reason we won was a field goal in overtime that broke the record for the longest field goal kicked by our team. It was considered the game of the decade- one of the closest, most bet on games in the history of the school.

He stopped, and I could hear him inhale sharply on the other end of the line. “The 4:1 odds were too good to pass up, and we needed the money. I bet nearly all of our business capital on it.”

It took everything I had not to gasp and take off the headset.

“The only problem was that their quarterback wasn't the only one out,” Leo continued, his voice low and full of regret. “Our star running back was out that day, too. For four hours, I was positive that I had just lost the entire ten-thousand dollars I borrowed to make the bet,” he said, finishing the story. He stopped talking and waited for me to say something. “I'm so sorry, Charlotte.”

Ten thousand dollars. Now, that was hardly any money to us, but back then, it was every dime Bastian, Leo, and Gabe had. They had saved for months working odd jobs and eating nothing but ramen. It had been everything back then.

And Leo had bet it all.

“You never said anything...” I was still processing the implications. Leo had bet all of the money without asking anyone. If the kicker had missed... Our business never would have existed.

“How could I?” Leo's voice cracked. “You looked at me like I was hero when I said we had forty-grand. I didn't want you to look at me like a gambler. I didn't want you to see the real me.”

I remembered how happy I had been. How happy everyone had been when Leo said we had a forty-thousand dollar loan to start the company. Leo had been the hero for weeks. I could only imagine the guilt he carried knowing that he was lying to us about where he got the money.

“It's what made me quit gambling. A gust of wind, an untied shoelace, and I could have lost everything.” His voice pleaded for understanding and forgiveness. “I had hoped no one would ever know. That it would just disappear and I'd be forever known as the man who got a loan. Not the man who risked his friend's dreams without even asking.”

“And the blackmailer found this out?” I asked, trying to keep my head on straight. This definitely did change the way I viewed Leo. For all these years, I'd thought that he'd begged the banks or found a rich uncle to borrow the funds. But just risking everything without even asking? I could see why he didn't want anyone to find out.

“Yes. The longer I let it go, the more successful we were because of the extra money, the more ashamed I was of it.” He sighed. “When the blackmail started, they only wanted a little bit of money. When you have a billion dollars, a hundred grand is pocket change.”

I nodded. It was strange how keeping a ten thousand dollar bet quiet was worth hundreds of thousands, but money was no object to Leo now. It was no longer about the amount, but what had happened and making sure that people weren't hurt by it. It wasn't just me that would be furious. That money had been Gabe and Bastian's.

I took a deep breath. I didn't know what to think, though I could feel the fury building in my stomach. I closed my eyes, trying to center myself.

“What about the slush fund?” I asked. “You said that it was related to the blackmail? Are you using it to pay the blackmail?”

“I promise you, I had nothing to do with the slush fund's missing money,” he said quickly. “But I can't tell you more on the radio. I need to talk to you in person.”

“Okay.” I opened my eyes and looked around. Murdoch had his arms crossed and was pretending to sleep in the driver's seat while Elijah leaned nonchalantly against a pylon, managing to look relaxed and deadly at the same time. “Well, I'm here by your boat with just these two scary men watching me. I'm not happy about what you just told me, Leo. But, I'll be here.”

Leo revved the engine. “I'm coming back in. Will you give the headset back to Murdoch?”

“Leo, be careful,” I blurted out. I knew he would be, but I needed to say it.

“I'll go slow,” he promised. I could hear the promise in his voice and I knew he meant it. Or at least, he meant slow for him. “Charlotte?”

“Yes?”

“I didn't take that money.” He paused, and I heard the boat engine rev again. “I think I know who did though.”

“You can tell me when you get here,” I told him. “Just get here.”

“One more thing,” Leo said. “I love you, Charlotte. I have for a long time.”

I smiled without thinking, wishing that he didn't melt me so easily. I was angry, but he was on that dangerous boat that I hated. The boat that only added to my nightmares of being left alone. I didn't want my last words to him to be those of anger. “I love you, too, Leo.”

With a lump in my throat the size of Texas, I pulled off the headset and handed it back to Murdoch.

“Okay, boss.” Murdoch picked up a tablet from the passenger seat and tapped it twice. “Computer says you're lagging slightly on the right. Be sure to compensate.”

I put my hands on the side of the boat, trying to keep my thoughts from spinning so wildly in my head. Leo was on his way back and he had an idea of who took the money.

Blackmail.
I hated the word.

I took a deep breath. This was a lot to process. The man I loved had done a terrible thing. Granted, he wasn't an ax-murderer, but he had done something worth blackmailing over. I hated the way my stomach clenched when I thought of how he had kept this a secret all these years. Yet, the guilt of that decision had eaten away at him for the past five years to the point where he thought he didn't deserve me.

I hit the side of the boat with the palm of my hand, needing to vent the frustration. How could Leo have done this? He had been perfect until now.

I knew the answer, but I still needed to ask the question. He had done it to make his friends enough money to start their business. It was done with the best intentions. He had saved us, even if he had risked everything to do it.

I hated the shades of gray that left me. What he had done was wrong, but had created the right outcome. He had made all our lives better because of his arrogance. If he had just told us all from the beginning, none of this would have happened.

I had to wonder, would Bastian and Gabe have signed off on the bet if Leo had just asked? I wasn't sure. It was possible. Bastian and Gabe were risk-takers. There was a chance that Leo could have done it with their blessing. I wasn't sure if that lessened his guilt or not.

Not really, I decided. He should have asked. He should have told us instead of calling it a loan. Just because I understood
why
he did it didn't mean I agreed with him.

And now he was being blackmailed. And the slush fund was still an issue.

What if they were connected? Whoever knew this secret of Leo's would have to be close to him, maybe even close enough to access his money. I knew we gave limited access to secretaries and assistants when we had big projects or big clients to woo.

Could one of them still have access?

I shook my head. That didn't make any sense. The accountants were too careful and the passwords changed too often. It had to just be a coincidence. With the app coming out, someone must have just forgotten to mention a big dinner or an emergency flight to the accountants. It honestly wasn't that much money in relation to what billionaires could spend, so it had to just be some sort of oversight.

I sighed and looked over at Murdoch. He was frowning at the tablet and telling Leo something about one of his engines. I hoped Leo got here soon. Maybe, once I could talk to him in person, I would feel better. Maybe I wouldn't feel so lied to.

“Mr. Westbrook?” Murdoch's concerned tone caught my attention. “Leo?”

“What's going on?” I asked, the pit of my stomach suddenly falling. Cold dread swept over me. Something bad had just happened.

“Leo!” Murdoch shouted into the headset. He shook his head and looked at me. “The radio just went dead. It's probably just a glitch in the system. It should be back up in a minute.” He held out his hand to stop me, but the flicker of terror deep in his eyes told me the truth.

“Leo...” I whispered. Cold dread filled me and I shivered in the tropical heat, getting goosebumps up and down my arms. Something bad had happened to him. I prayed it was just my imagination getting the better of me, but deep in my heart, I knew.

He had crashed.

T
he sun slow lifted her radiant head out of the dark ocean, sending light to cast out the shadows of night. I knew it would be warmer soon, but I was still cold with dread. I hugged my arms around me tighter, watching the rays of light bounce off the water and shimmer with hope. Maybe with the dawn they would find him.

I stared out at the water, watching the waves and trying really hard not to think of sharks.

The coast guard will find him
, I told myself, repeating like a mantra. If I said it enough times, it had to be true. They would find him, sitting there grinning in his boat, totally fine- just with a dead battery. Not scattered across the ocean with the debris of his shattered boat.