The TROUBLE with BILLIONAIRES: Book 3 (5 page)

“What about the water lady?” I asked.

Rawn looked hard at me, but he didn’t say anything. I could see the wheels running, playing the whole scenario over in his head. Then, his eyes jumped back to Conrad.

“Tell me everything they said to you.”

Conrad took another bite of enchilada slowly and swallowed before he answered. “They say that Logan Mitchell was on Stage 5 of Star Studios doing a photoshoot for Cepheus when he had a sudden seizure. They say that Madison administered to him while Annie called 911 and you waited for the ambulance in the parking lot. Then, they say he was taken to Portland General where he was treated for anoxycodone overdose.”

“How would they know it was oxycodone?” Logan asked. “We don’t even know for sure what set it off.”

“And I wasn’t in the parking lot until…”

Rawn’s voice trailed off. He leaned forward and dropped his plate on the table, cursing under his breath.

“What?” Madison asked.

He glanced at her. “The photographer’s assistant was in the parking lot talking to someone on her phone when I heard the ambulance pull up. I ran out there and saw her, but I didn’t think anything about it at the time.”

“The photographer’s assistant?”

He nodded before looking at me. “Did you see where that lady with the waters went?”

I glanced at Logan. I had been so focused on him that I wasn’t sure I would have noticed the Dali Lama walking in during those few minutes. But I tried to remember.

“She was gone by the time the ambulance came. The photographer was pulling his equipment out of the way, cursing under his breath about something…lost time, or something. I don’t really remember. But I don’t remember anyone else, just the paramedics and Madison.”

Rawn started to say something, but stopped.

“What are you thinking?” Conrad asked.

“I’m thinking I need to get back to the office.” He stood and held his hand out to Madison. “And I think you should head over to the photographer’s studio and see if you can talk to his assistant.”

Conrad nodded, immediately pushing his plate away and holding out his hand to Mellissa. She took it gracefully, slipping off of the stool without complaint. But, again, she had barely touched the food on her plate.

“What about me?” Logan asked.

“I want you to stay here,” Rawn said. “Until we know what’s going on…”

“But I’m supposed to be in Los Angeles this evening to begin shooting a new movie.”

Rawn began to object, but Madison interrupted whatever it was to answer for him.

“We’ll call your manager, have him make an excuse.”

Logan shook his head. “If I don’t show up, rumors will start to spread.”

“He’s right,” Conrad agreed. “The innuendos in the story that came out this morning will be used as fuel to build the fire against him.”

“And I can’t imagine that will help Cepheus’ reputation,” Logan said.

Rawn looked torn and more than a little annoyed. He wasn’t the kind of guy who liked to be second-guessed. He studied Conrad for a moment, then inclined his head. “Then Logan goes to Los Angeles. But I’d prefer that he does not go alone.”

“I’ll go,” I said.

Madison immediately shook her head, her mouth opening to object. I stood up, gesturing between Rawn and Conrad.

“You guys have work to do. I’m just sitting here with all this time on my hand. I can do it.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Madison persisted. “Mellissa can go—”

“No. I need Mellissa here,” Conrad said over whatever she might have said next, causing Mellissa to give him a long, searching look. He shrugged. “I work better when you’re around.”

“Annie should go,” Rawn said. “It would be less curious to public than if someone associated with Cepheus was with him.”

“No,” Madison said. “We could hire a bodyguard, or someone else to go with him. It shouldn’t be Annie.”

“Why not?” I asked.

Madison looked at me, but then her eyes moved to Logan. He was still on the couch, silent despite the plea I could clearly see in Madison’s eyes.

“It’s just not a good idea.” She came toward me and took my arms in her grip. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“How am I going to get hurt?”

Anger began to boil in my belly, as I wondered if there was something more going on here than just my best friend looking out for me.

All the whispers, the stolen looks.

Him asking for her after his seizure.

“Rawn’s right,” Logan suddenly said, standing behind me. “Annie’s the best choice. It’ll look less suspicious to whoever’s behind all this.”

Madison shook her head, but she must have realized she was outnumbered because she didn’t say anything else. She just squeezed my arms, a long, sad look passing between us before she finally stepped back and returned to Rawn’s side.

“I’ll have the jet fly you down this afternoon,” Rawn said. “Try to be careful and stay away from any suspicious food or beverages.”

Logan nodded.

They headed for the door, Madison the last to step through. I followed, ready to close the door on her foot if I had to. I didn’t understand what was going on, and Madison’s parting words didn’t help.

“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you know everything about him.”

***

Madison

Rawn pulled me out of the apartment, as Annie’s expression tightened into what I used to call her ‘pissed as a cat’ look. I’d seen that expression dozens of times before, usually aimed at some guy who’d done her, or me, wrong. I’d never seen it directed at me.

She didn’t understand what was at stake here. I was so afraid she was walking into a nightmare she would never forgive me for not stopping.

“What the hell is going on with you?” Rawn asked, pulling me down the hall and pressing me against the door of our apartment—of the apartment that held the secret room—as the elevator door closed on Conrad and Mellissa.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you’re acting like a jealous woman. Why would you tell Annie she can’t go to LA with Logan?”

“Did I seem jealous?”

“You did.” He ran his hand up over my shoulder to cup my throat in his hand. “If I didn’t know better, I’d go back in that apartment and beat the shit out of Logan.”

“There’s nothing going on.”

“There better not be.”

“I’m with you, Rawn,” I said, touching his face gently. “Nothing’s going to change that, not even some movie star.”

“Then, what the hell’s going on?”

I dropped my hand and glanced back toward the door that hid whatever was going on between Annie and Logan in that moment. I hated this, hated having a secret. I didn’t want to keep this from Rawn any more than I wanted to keep it from Annie. But I’d promised.

“I just don’t want to see Annie hurt.”

“Isn’t that the chance anyone takes with a new relationship?”

“This is different.” I looked up into Rawn’s warm eyes and wished I could just live there in the comfort of his gaze. “He has secrets.”

“Everyone has secrets.”

“But his could hurt Annie.”

“Is this about his drug addiction?” Rawn cocked his head slightly, referencing rumors that Logan was treated at a drug rehab center last year. “He doesn’t seem to be struggling now.”

I shook my head, wishing it was as simple as that.

“Then what? Did he tell you something yesterday at the hospital?”

I nodded, convinced I wasn’t revealing anything that I shouldn’t.

“But you promised you wouldn’t tell anyone.”

I nodded again.

Rawn groaned as he leaned in closer to me. “Annie’s a big girl, Madison. I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

I wanted to agree, but I knew Annie better than I had known my own sister. She seemed tough on the outside, but she was like a child on the inside. She wasn’t equipped to face what her future might hold for her if she got involved with Logan. She swore her interest was purely physical, but I knew that wasn’t true either. For all her horror-loving, junk-food eating nonchalance, she was a romantic at heart. She wanted what they all wanted: a man to love her more than anyone else.

“I know you care about your friends, Madison. But sometimes you have to let them make their own mistakes.” Rawn brushed his lips against the side of my face. “Everyone has to learn in their own way.”

“She won’t forgive me—”

“Forgive you for what? For being a friend to a guy who looks like he could use a few?” He sighed, his breath washing over me like the warmth of the sun after a long winter. “I think you should be more worried about us than what Annie might or might not do at some future point.”

“Us?”

“Yeah. Do you know how long it’s been since we’ve had any significant time alone together? Since the last time we walked into this building for a reason other than hiding or protecting one of your friends?” He kissed my cheek again, his lips sliding slowly down over the curve of my jaw. “If all this bullshit wasn’t going on right now, I’d drag you in there and…”

But he didn’t finish what he had been about to say. He stiffened, pulling back just slightly. I knew why, and it made tears come to my eyes. He had been about to say he wanted to tie me up. He wanted to tie me up and put a blindfold over my eyes…just like my kidnappers had done. It was a game we played before, before everything had changed. And we played it again in the aftermath, just so I could prove to myself that my ordeal hadn’t changed anything. But it had. It changed everything. And the more time passed, the more difficult it was for me to submit to something that had once been as easy as breathing. And Rawn knew it.

My kidnappers had stolen my sense of security, my ability to trust even the man I loved. But what was worse, they’d taken it from Rawn, too.

For that, I hated them, each and every one of them, with a passion that rivaled the passion I felt for Rawn.

“We’ll find the time,” I said softly. “I want to.”

“I know.” He kissed me, his lips lingering a long few seconds. “It’ll be okay.”

But I wasn’t as sure as he was.

***

Mellissa

“Who were you talking to?”

The woman’s eyes widened, as she stared at Conrad, her gaze jumping from him to me before falling to her lap.

It hadn’t been difficult to arrange a meeting with the photographer’s assistant, Terri Donatello. It only took a phone call. Conrad threw enough work the photographer’s way that he was willing to do just about anything to keep their relationship friendly.

But she didn’t seem too excited to share what she knew with us.

“You were seen out in the parking lot just after Logan Mitchell collapsed. What were you doing? Who were you talking to?”

“Maybe I called 911.”

“Then, why did you go outside?”

Terri shrugged, her eyes still stuck to her lap. She wouldn’t even look at us now. That couldn’t be good.

Conrad opened his mouth to say something else. I could see by the tension in his shoulders and the muscle popping in his jaw that whatever he was about to say would not be calm. I touched his shoulder.

“Why don’t you step out, let me have a go at her?”

Conrad’s eyes narrowed slightly. He clearly didn’t like the idea, but he didn’t argue. He stood and walked out of the cavernous room that was the photographer’s private work space.

“What is this? Good cop, bad cop?”

I shook my head, trying my best to offer a peaceful smile. “No. This is about trying to protect my friends.” I leaned forward and rested my chin on my hands. “Was it a guy? Is that what all this is about?”

She glanced at me, and I knew I was right. But then she stood and wandered over to one of the many tables set up around the periphery of the room, picking up a camera and turning it over in her hands.

“You don’t know anything about me.”

“No. But I know that my friends were at that photoshoot and that one of them could have died from a bad reaction to whatever was in that water bottle.” I walked up behind her but didn’t touch her. “I also know that it seems like someone’s targeting me and my friends, and I want to know why.”

“I’ve never even heard of you,” she said, spitting the words out like they tasted bad. “You or your boyfriend.”

Boyfriend? Was it that obvious that Conrad and I were together?

Not now, Mellissa.

“Then who was your target?”

“It wasn’t me,” she said, spinning around. “I didn’t give that poor guy the water bottle. That was Lena.”

“Lena?”

Her eyes widened slightly as she realized she’d given a little too much information. She started to walk around me, but I stepped into her path, blocking her against the table.

“Lena who?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know her last name; I just met her that day.”

“But she knowingly handed out water bottle with drugs in them?”

Terri shrugged. “He told her to.”