by C. D. Samuda
C.D. SAMUDA
Dangerous Liaisons
DANGEROUSLY WILDER BOOK 2
Published by Yorkside Press
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2020 by C.D. SAMUDA
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without the expressed permission of the author or publisher.
For information contact:
Yorkside Press
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Author contact:
www.cd-samuda.com
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CONTENTS
Prologue
Gage
1 – Braun
2 – Leroy
3 – Braun
4 – Braun
5 – Braun
6 – Braun
7 – Braun
8 – Braun
9 – Kitara
10 – Braun
11 – Leroy
12 – Braun
13 – Braun
Kitara
14 – Leroy
15 – Braun
16 – Kitara
Braun
BOOKS IN THIS SERIES
Upcoming Releases - 2020
The Debt
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
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Warning
This novel and subsequent books in series contains/will contain mild to moderate instances of violence, strong adult languagee and sexual situations that are only suitable for mature audiences.
This book also ends on a cliffhanger and will continue in book 3.
Trigger warning
Violent situations involved
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This book also ends on a cliffhanger and will continue in book 3.
Prologue
Gage
I knew leaving Leroy at the will of the police was futile. He had most of their palms greased and he would find a way out. On the other hand, no one might find him and he would perish. I didn’t want that on my conscience. At that moment my phone vibrated and I was torn between answering and returning to free Leroy.
Although he claimed he was not my father’s son, he was still my brother. The bond had severed, but I felt that the blood was the same. Leroy had always had a penchant for making up stories to save his ass. To me this was no different.
The Wilder men were separate and apart from any other male species and I knew in my heart that Leroy was my blood. I had no idea what conversation he overheard between our father and my mother, but I had a feeling he misunderstood. It was uncanny that he had a stark resemblance to our father – the same eyes, hair, brows and nose. Even the way Leroy walked or the way he fingered his chin in contemplation was the same as our father. There was no way he was not of the same blood.
“Hank, pull over,” I told the driver. “We’re heading back. Just let me take this call.”
I checked the incoming call to see whom it was. My heart skipped a beat upon seeing that the number was Rayne’s. A small smile played on my lips as I answered. Finally, we would be a family after so long apart. The day we met came rushing back to me like it was yesterday.
It had been a rainy afternoon in mid-October. The leaves had started turning brown on the trees and the weather was changing. Dad and I had only just finished a business meeting with our Japanese associates in a restaurant downtown when she and a few of her friends walked in.
I took one look at her and knew she was going to be mine. I chuckled as I recalled getting up from our table and boldly walking over. Her three friends were looking at me, curious as to where I was headed. I kept my gaze on my prize. When I walked up to her and gave her my card, she glared at me.
“Excuse me,” she said. “Who the hell are you?”
“The man you’re going to marry.”
She scoffed as her friends urged her to get to their table. “And who says I’m not already married?”
“The way you walk tells me you haven’t had a man in a long time, baby,” I returned. I leaned close to her ears. “Your pussy is aching to be licked like a sweet ice cream cone. I bet each time you move, your clit rubs against your lacy panties and that’s the most pleasure you’ve gotten in a long time.”
“You sonofa…” she raised her hand to slap me but I caught it, pulling her up against my body.
I didn’t care that I only just met her. A thrilling feeling enveloped me as our bodies collided. The fire that sparked in her eyes when I slipped my arm around her waist was unmistakable. I dipped my head and closed in for the kiss. She gasped, leaving an opening which I took. Her lips were sweet and soft, tasting likes strawberries.
I did not take her tongue, but instead sucked on those succulent lips. I could feel the tremor pass through her body as a whimper escaped her lips. I released her, setting her straight and looked into her dark brown eyes.
“Now, tell me your name and give me your number.”
“R-r-r...,” she stuttered.
“Her name’s Rayne and her number is…,” one of her friends jumped in with the information.
A sigh escaped me as I realized that our journey had been cut short by my brother Leroy. I also realized that maybe he had always been jealous of Rayne and me and his vendetta had little to do with my role in the company. I wanted to put all that behind me and make up for the years I lost behind bars.
But the dark cloud still hung over still us. Until Leroy paid for his crimes, things could not go back to the way they were. Leroy would always be a thorn in our side and I would not allow him to hold us hostage for another minute. I returned my attention to the phone and opened the channel.
“Rayne.”
“Gage, you found him,” her voice was brittle. “You found our baby.”
“Have they arrived?”
“Yes, they arrived a minute ago,” she replied in almost a whisper. I could tell she was trying to hold back her tears. “Thank you Gage. Thanks for finding our son.”
A child crying could be heard in the background and Rayne cut the conversation short. I knew it was going to take some time for Gage Jr to adjust to new people. He was raised by Leroy’s mother and this must be overwhelming for a four year old. The circumstances under which he’d been taken must have scared him as well.
I put away the phone and instructed Hank, the driver to turn the car around. Regardless of what he’d done, I didn’t want that his death on my conscience. Not this way anyway. If no one found him, without food or water, he would certainly die in that basement. As he spun the car around, a sense of doom gripped me. I was anxious to get to Rayne and was torn between getting home and doing the right thing. I hesitated.
The car it a bump in the road, lifted off the pavement and started spinning in the air. I felt the vibration of the explosion before the heat engulfed the cabin of the car. Then the car was dropping fast while the flames surrounded me. All that remained on my mind in that moment was Rayne’s kiss. I was also certain in that moment that Leroy had won this battle and I would not live to see my son or to tell Rayne that I still loved her.
1 – Braun
Silently I walked away from the chaos in the living room with the words of my brother’s demise echoing in my head. All that was on my mind was getting to the truth. Gage was not dead… I wouldn’t accept that. I sprinted up the stairs and into my bedroom, shutting the door softly behind me. Stalking to the closet, I snatched the Swiss Army backpack Gage had gifted me for my sixteenth birthday. It was fitted with all
the essentials for surviving in the wild – Swiss army as well as bowie knife, flashlight, water canister, duct tape, rope for climbing, blanket and a few other items. He’d promised that we would go camping when the time was right. That time never arrived.
Opening the closet door wide, I stepped inside and reached towards the back. My hand felt around the back shelf until it touched the smooth surface of a velvet covered wooden box which I pulled out. I opened the box and took out both Hellcat 9mm and checked their cartridges. I walked back to where I took the gun case and felt around the shelf once more until my fingers touched a small carton containing spare ammo.
Placing the weapons on the bed, I pulled out one of my suits, the one I was saving to start working the office with Gage. It took me approximately ten minutes to finish dressing and leaving my room. As I headed back down the stairs, I absently reached around my back to where I had secured one of the weapons in my waist. Steeling myself against any emotion of grief or loss, I was ready to do what needed to be done. As far as I was concerned my brother was alive and I would find him and bring him home.
Pausing on the stop step, my mind went back to half hour earlier. It was around 9:30 PM. Rayne had gone upstairs to put her son to sleep after a tantrum where he was insisting he wanted his ‘mommy’. I was in the living room with Gage’s team, men I was meeting for the first time. Ron had arrived with some documents for me to sign giving me power of attorney in the event that anything should happen to Gage.
“I won’t sign these,” I refused. “Gage will take care of business himself.”
“Yes, that’s a given,” Ron said. “But it is always prudent to have someone who has your best interest at heart, should the unforeseen happen. It’s just a precaution… and he trusts you implicitly.”
“Regardless…,” my response was interrupted by Angel the ex-marine, who was instrumental in bringing the child safely from Cleveland.
“Braun,” he said, his voice stoic and face expressionless. “I think you should take this call.”
He handed me his cell phone. My knuckles went white as the man on the road told me the news of Gage's accident. I stood there for what seemed like ages, as his words echoed through my mind.
“Tell me he’s alright,” I said.
“The fire department removed a charred body. We don’t know if it’s the driver Hank or Gage.”
“It’s not Gage,” I succinctly declared. “My brother is alive and he’s coming home soon.”
Rayne had returned to the living room and stood dead in her tracks listening to my end of the conversation. When I hung up the call and handed back the phone to Angel, she grabbed my hand.
“Where’s Gage?” She asked. “Tell me what he said. Where is Gage?”
I didn’t want to tell her, but she and Ron was now standing in front of the television where there was a newscast about an accident… Gage’s accident. I rushed over to the coffee table and picked up the remote, switching off the television. But Rayne had already caught the gist of the news.
“No,” she shrieked. “No, no, no!”
I grabbed her shoulders. “Rayne, calm down. He’s not dead.”
“Gage,” she said through a hiccup. “He’s… no – no –no.”
“Rayne, pull yourself together. This isn’t the time to break down.”
Her eyes flew to mine and widened, while she brushed away a tear that rolled down her cheek. “What did you say?’
“Pull yourself together.”
“He said that,” she ranted. “Gage said those words. That it’s not time to break down, it was time to break even… break even, he said. He said….”
“Stop babbling,” I commanded her. “You need to focus while I’m gone.”
She appeared confused as her tear filled eyes stared up at me. “Where are you going?”
“To bring Gage home.”
That promise I intended to keep. All eyes settled on me as I descended the stairs and returned to the living room. Rayne seemed calmer now and she walked over to me as I entered. One of the security guards came and spoke to Calvin, who immediately left the room. The guard returned to his post at the front, while Angel and his team of three conversed in low tones in one corner.
Ron appeared concerned as he watched me set my backpack down on the floor and straightened my tie. I knew I seemed odd to very one watching me, donning a suit in the middle of the night. Gave always wore a suit no matter the occasion.
As Rayne opened her mouth to speak to me, my cell phone buzzed. Keeping my eyes on Rayne I walked to the far side of the room. I didn’t want her listening to my conversation and working herself up to a frazzle in the event that it was another call from Gage’s team on the road. Ron moved towards her and spoke to her softly. I opened the channel without checking the number, while keeping my eyes on her.
I answered the way I usually answered my phone. “Braun.”
“Braun is that you?” A not so familiar voice asked. “It’s your aunt Kathy. I just saw the news.”
Katherine was married to Roman’s brother who lived in Idaho. I hadn’t seen her since I was knee high. Our uncle Kenneth and his son Kent were at Dad’s funeral. However, Katherine was unable to travel due to some illness which prevented her from leaving home. She had to have twenty-four hour nursing care.
“Aunt Katherine, how are you?”
“I’m okay, just stuck in this wheelchair. I have been trying to reach your uncle who went on a business trip in Asia a few weeks ago, but his phone isn’t connected,” she started talking and I was apt to listen. “Your cousin Kent is in New York on business. His secretary told me he’s in a business meeting. I’ll have him come up as soon as he can.”
“No need for that Aunt, we have everything under control.”
“Nonsense,” she replied. “You need family at a time like this.”
“I have to go now Aunt, you take care.”
“I will talk to you again in the morning, okay.”
Immediately after hanging up with my aunt, the phone rang again. Seeing that it wasn’t Gage’s number, I switched it off. I was in no mood to speak about a death that didn’t occur. All that was on my mind was finding Gage.
The crackling of a gunshot caught the attention of all that were in the room. Angel and his men pulled their weapons and sidled up to the wall and the front door. I rushed forward, reaching behind with my right hand, gripping the handgun. I was through the front door and running down the drive as I was certain that the sound came from there.
“Braun!” Rayne was screaming my name from behind and I blocked her voice from my mind.
It wasn’t time to listen to whining women. I needed to focus and she was proving to be a distraction. I told myself that any woman I was going to make my own would be just like me. Tough and unyielding.
Halfway down the drive, I noticed that the pedestrian gate was open. I was just in time to see one of Leroy’s men, Nickoy jump into a dark SUV before the vehicle sped off. Sprinting forward, I pulled my weapon and fired in the direction of the speeding vehicle. As I sped forward, aiming towards the moving vehicle I almost tripped on a body lying on the concrete. I skipped over it and continued firing on the SUV, which disappeared around the corner.
Seeing that it was futile pursuing the vehicle on foot, I retreated, coming back to see Calvin’s lifeless body lying there. His chest was covered in blood. I knelt and felt for a pulse. There was no pulse. He had also stopped breathing. I stared at the Calvin, the one who had pulled the trigger on Bainbridge for Leroy. The one who was instrumental in Gage’s incarceration. There was no sympathy from me.
In my mind it was clear that this was a message. He betrayed Leroy when he switched sides. For me, this was one less burden to contend with as I was never keen on Gage recruiting Calvin in the first place. There were so many times I wanted to shoot him between the eyes from his role on my brother's incarceration. Now the deed was done and it was no sweat off my back.
* * *
Some time ear
lier…
“Yo, Calvin,” one of the security guards called.
No one paid it any mind as this was a regular thing between the security detail on the property. Moreover, with the news of Gage’s accident, no one would care about what was happening on the outside.
“What’s up man?” Calvin asked casually as he slipped through the door that led unto the deck.
“Nickoy says he has a package for you. Something about it being confidential, from the boss.”
“Leroy?”
“Yeah.”
As Calvin walked away from the guard, he mumbled within himself. “What the fuck does Leroy have to give me?”
He rounded the house and trampled through the lawn, making a short cut down the drive. When he stepped onto the pavement he noticed the vehicle parked at the gate. Nickoy alighted the back passenger seat and waved.
“Hey man, long time no see,” Nickoy greeted cheerily.
Calvin relaxed his shoulders, bounded down the drive and opened the pedestrian gate. “Nickoy, what’s up dude?” Calvin greeted, stepping outside.
“The boss sent you a package, says I must hand it to you myself.”
Calvin regarded his old colleague and noticed he was not carrying a package. When Nickoy stepped forward, his hand inside his jacket he thought maybe, Leroy was sending him money in order to keep his mouth shut about shooting Bainbridge. But as they closed the gap, and the other man withdrew his hand from inside his jacket, Calvin froze. His chocolate complexion lost some color as he stared into the barrel of a gun.
“Package delivered,” Nickoy said. “Sign and sealed.”
He felt the hot slug pierce his flesh before he heard the explosion.
2 – Leroy
That bastard left me to die and he would pay for that.
Every time I tried to free my wrist from the chains, they cut deeper into my skin. Each slice of the metal into my flesh added to the number of slugs I’d pump into Gage’s sorry ass. To make matters worse, the leviathan tossed my cell phone. I was expecting a call from Jack about the job I gave him. I wanted Gage dead by any means and Jack was the best man for the job. He was supposed to have gotten back to me by now.