Billion Dollar Wolves: Boxset Bks 1-5

by Dee Bridgnorth

  Orion frowned. Divide and conquer. It seemed like a good plan. And yet if Alaina Ariosa was at the hospital with their mother it was possible that there was more going on than any of them realized. “So, what happened to Eleni, Skye, Landry, and Kami?” Orion asked Paulsen.

  “They’re still at the hospital.” Paulsen pressed his lips into a line. “In fact, it’s possible that they don’t know you’ve been accused.”

  Orion felt his mouth pop open in shock. “What?”

  “Well, your mother closeted herself up with Alaina and I believe that’s when the hospital staff contacted us. We got an annoyed sort of call from the nursing supervisor.”

  “Right.” Orion could see how this had played out now. He pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’ll just let our ladies know what’s going on. If you don’t mind?”

  Paulsen raised the mug of fresh coffee that Devon had just handed him. “I’m really not feeling any urgency. Go right ahead.”

  Devon pulled out his phone. Jason and Zane followed suit. They needed to let the ladies know what was happening. Divide and conquer only worked in a non-mobile-phone world as far as Orion was concerned.

  About the time Orion had sent his message, the younger policeman came stumbling down the steps carrying a weapon in his hands. The kid looked as though he was only working this holiday season because he was so far down on the proverbial department totem pole that he didn’t have any choice. His feet were still too big for his body and he was so enthusiastic that he was probably fresh out of cop school.

  “I found it!” the kid said excitedly. “It’s a snub-nosed thirty-eight just like the lady at the hospital said!”

  “Uh huh,” Orion mused. “And where did you find it?”

  “Well, it was kind of in the master bed.”

  That was rather alarming. Orion realized that this meant his mother had been messing with the gun somehow either while she was in bed passed out from her sip of Absinthe, or that she had tossed the gun into her bed after she’d gotten up. Either version suggested that the woman was out of her head with the desire for revenge against her sons. It was almost like she had planned the whole thing. The trip downstairs in her pajamas. The collapse. And had Tisha just laid there while Eleni slapped her face? That was a pretty serious and very un-Tisha-like occurrence. There was something very suspicious going on here and Orion would not have put it past his mother to try and start building a case against them that she could then take to the probate judge to say that they were trying to get rid of her to avoid the whole suit.

  “Yeah. In the bed.” Zane exhaled a heavy sigh and looked at his brothers. “Because that’s what happened. We all went upstairs and accosted her in her bedroom.”

  Orion nodded sarcastically. “Yeah. And don’t forget the part where we just left her laying there in a puddle of her own vomit while we used a gun to threaten her some more. Because all of us are total cowards who would threaten our mother’s life while she was already in a state of complete impairment.”

  Paulsen exhaled a heavy sigh that mirrored all of the ones coming from the King brothers. “Yes. That’s pretty much what the woman is claiming.”

  And so it begins…

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The emergency room waiting area was strangely crowded for Christmas Day. How many people actually wound up in such a place on a holiday like this? It seemed absolutely strange to see all of these people milling about talking about their coughs and their aching joints, upset stomachs, and other various ailments. Then Eleni thought about how easily Tisha had become the center of the Christmas holiday at the King’s when she collapsed at the bottom of the stairs and required a trip to the ER. Perhaps that was some of what was going on here. How sad. Or no. Sad wasn’t even the right word.

  “Is that…” Skye reached across the seat between them where Landry was sitting and tugged at Eleni’s arm. “Isn’t that your mother?”

  Eleni was already shaking her head to suggest that this was impossible when she spotted the distinctive figure of Alaina Ariosa striding into the emergency room. Alaina did not even look Eleni’s way. She marched up to the nurse’s station and check-in desk and leaned over to speak to the nurse on duty.

  “Wow, she’s certainly dressed for the occasion,” Kami remarked softly from Eleni’s other side.

  “Oh God,” Eleni whispered. “This can’t be good.”

  Her mother was indeed dressed for the occasion. As long as the occasion was something that required a bright red sweater dress, silver stiletto heels, and a black cashmere wrap draped over her shoulders. Alaina was carrying a silver spangled designer disaster of a purse. She was immediately taken back behind the nurse’s station where the patient exam rooms were located.

  “Tisha didn’t want us back there,” Skye said irritably. “And we were the ones who brought her in!”

  Eleni swallowed the thick lump that had just appeared in her throat. “My mother and Tisha have been thick as thieves since they were in elementary school. But when I say thieves I mean just that. If my mother just went back there it means the two of them have enough of a common purpose that they’re willing to overlook the fact that they currently claim to hate each other.”

  “Okay.” Kami bobbed her head. “So what could that common purpose be?”

  “Money.” Eleni didn’t even have to guess. “It is literally the only thing that they care about. Tisha had to have offered my mother something.”

  “You?” Landry suggested.

  Kami pulled a face. “Orion?”

  “Both, I think.” Eleni remembered her last conversation with her mother. “My mom thinks that if I marry Orion she’s going to get to mooch.”

  “That’s classic,” Kami snorted. “At least she’s smart enough to think of that. My father is still convinced that it would be better if Devon and I divorced so I can marry someone who can work for him.”

  “Yeah, but isn’t the whole key giving him your money?” Eleni pointed out. “I’m not going to do that. Orion isn’t going to do that. I bet you and Devon won’t give a cent to your father. Right?”

  “I get your point.” Kami opened her mouth to say something else, but then suddenly looked as if she’d been goosed from underneath. “Oh! Oh, damn, it’s my phone. Sorry! I forget sometimes when I stuff it in my pocket.”

  Kami pulled out the phone and glanced at the display. The hospital seemed to be a bit of a barrier for phone service. There had been almost no data since they had come into this place. At the moment Eleni was worried that Orion would soon think that she was intentionally ignoring him. Then her phone buzzed too.

  Eleni pulled out her phone and realized that both Landry and Skye were doing the same. “All four of us?” Eleni muttered. “I feel like that’s a bad sign.”

  “No shit!” Kami’s voice rose in pitch. “They just got arrested? What the hell?”

  Eleni started at the words on her tiny smartphone screen and tried to make sense of it all. “Arrested for assault…”

  “That bitch!” Skye leaped to her feet. “I am going back there and I’m going to kick that woman’s ass!”

  Thankfully Landry grabbed Skye’s arm and pulled her back into the seat. “No way! Don’t be rash. We can’t let the tricky bitch know that we’re onto her!”

  “Right.” Skye plopped back down and started tugging at her lower lip. “So how do we do this? Play dumb?”

  Eleni’s mind was spinning. Assault. As if any of those sons—even the unwanted half brother—could possibly be accused of such a thing! They weren’t violent like that. And they had no reason to assault their mother even though she so very much deserved it! At some point, Tisha Olivares-King and her cohort—Eleni’s mother—had to be held accountable for their lies.

  “We’re witnesses,” Eleni said suddenly. “We need to leave right now and meet the guys at the police station. They can’t be charged if there are witnesses that can say beyond doubt that we were present and that Tisha is lying.”

  “Elen
i Ariosa!” A nurse was waving to Eleni. “Ms. Tisha Olivares-King will see you now!”

  Skye’s snort was dripping sarcasm. “Will see her now? You must be joking. What are we, waiting for an appointment?”

  Eleni bit her lip. She stood up and waved at the nurse. Then she turned back around and pointed at the other women. “You guys go. Find out where the brothers are and make sure that you get there too. That way there’s no doubt that the truth will come out!”

  “What about you?” Kami protested. “We can’t just leave you here!”

  “I’ll be fine,” Eleni insisted. “I’m going to go back there and see how much information I can get out of those two. Trust me. I’ve been listening to them try and manipulate everyone around them my whole life. I can handle this.”

  Skye was already up and heading for the emergency room exit. “Got you, kid. We’ll be in touch.” Skye waved her phone. “I know you won’t get reception back there, but you need to text us all anyway. Make a group text of it. That way we’ll have all the info we need no matter when the information highway manages to cough it up!”

  It was a good suggestion. Eleni bit her lip and felt as though she were stepping off a cliff. Then she followed the nurse back to the patient rooms hidden behind a set of automatic double doors controlled with a swipe of a keycard. Wow. They weren’t kidding about security in this place!

  The emergency ward was doing its level best to be festive this holiday season. Eleni could even see one doctor walking around with a Santa hat on his head and a clipboard in his hand. Garlands of greenery had been hung from the walls and draped over EKG machines. It was all very pleasant. At least it was until Eleni heard her mother’s overloud, cackling laughter coming from the room at the very corner of the ward’s distinctive square shape.

  The supervisor leading Eleni through the maze of nurses, doctors, and other random carts packed full of medical equipment visible cringed at the sound of Eleni’s mother’s laugh. Then that laugh was followed up with a very loud continuation of a story obviously being told by Tisha. Eleni quickly pulled out her phone and started a group text that included as many of the King brothers and their women as she had in her contacts list. For some reason the group just did not seem large enough. She needed an army.

  “And then I told my son, of course I would be supportive of your desire to marry poor little Eleni! No doubt he’s just getting the kind of cold feet that every man has in these situations. You know Orion! He’s just such an emotional cripple. I cannot imagine how he got that way. He just had such a loving childhood.”

  “Here you are, ma’am.” The nurse murmured the words as she pulled a curtain back and revealed Tisha Olivares-King leaning back against a mound of pillows in a hospital bed while Alaina Ariosa danced attendance. “The doctor will be back with you shortly, Ms. Olivares-King. And I do believe that the local authorities want to speak with you a little more about the assault charges you wanted to file.”

  Assault charges? Eleni had to struggle to hold her tongue. She wanted desperately to barge into this exam room and pretty much start telling off her mother and Tisha. The two women were talking about marrying a daughter to a son while simultaneously claiming that the son had just committed armed assault against his mother? Gee. What was wrong with this picture?

  But now wasn’t the time. Eleni closed the curtain behind her and then took up a meek stance with her hands clasped before her as she stared at both her mother and her mother’s doppleganger in selfishness.

  “I hope you’re feeling better, Ms. Olivares-King,” Eleni murmured. She purposefully did not presume to use the woman’s first name. It wouldn’t score the kind of points Eleni needed right now. “You certainly look much better.”

  “Well, it’s no wonder now that all of that horrible Absinthe is out of my system.” Tisha gave a self-deprecating little laugh. “That stuff is absolutely horrible. I cannot imagine how Orion can just sit there and drink it all day long!”

  Eleni’s mother tried to launch into a personal story. “This one time—”

  “Nobody cares, Alaina.” Tisha cut her right off with an imperious wave of her hand. Tisha was still staring at Eleni. “So I’m to understand that you’re engaged to marry my son?”

  “Isn’t it just wonderful!” Alaina gushed. She pressed both of her hands together, eyes shining.

  So now they were playing it like this. Hmm. It would be interesting to see where Tisha was going with this line of inquiry. “Yes. I’m engaged to marry Orion. We’ve been close friends for a good long time now. It seemed like the next logical step.” Not really. But right now it was important for Eleni to be on both sides. Or rather—all three sides.

  “I told you,” Alaina stage-whispered to Tisha. “My daughter is loyal to me and nobody else. She knows which side her bread is buttered on. This isn’t some love match. If you need information about your sons, then Eleni is your girl.”

  Eleni is your girl? Honestly? That was what her mother had to say about it? How awful was that? Eleni exhaled a shaky breath of anger and pulled out her phone. She whipped off a quick text to the group and then glanced at Tisha. “And what is it that you want to know exactly?”

  “I want to know what my sons know,” Tisha snapped. “I want to know why they aren’t excited to get rid of that stupid company. It’s a sinking ship! They should be thrilled to hand it over to the Dunlops. It will be their problem. My goodness, all of the personnel problems! It’s a wonder the place hasn’t gone bankrupt yet!”

  “Personnel problems?” Eleni snorted. “You realize that the entire city knows that you’re the one who stole the payroll. Right? Most of the city’s working people are standing behind the King brothers since it’s equally well known that Orion paid for a lot of that out of his pocket.”

  “He did?” Tisha actually looked surprised. “I didn’t know that. What an idiot.”

  “Idiot?” Eleni shook her head and tried to understand how one woman could be such a selfish piece of work and so clueless all at the same time. “It was a selfless act that increased the loyalty of that company’s employees to him and to his brothers. Explain to me how that’s stupid or idiotic? Who do you think those employees will support when it comes time to make a choice?”

  Tisha folded her arms over her chest. She had remained in her own purple satin pajamas rather than change into a hospital gown. “That’s just silly. There’s no choice to be made.”

  “Isn’t there?” Eleni held out her hands. “I don’t know what your sons know. I just know what I know. And I know that your employees don’t like you very much. They view the company as belonging to the King brothers and that you’re nothing but a money-grubbing widow who didn’t put a single ounce of work into the company during her husband’s lifetime. And most of them think you killed him, by the way. Did you know?” Eleni tilted her head.

  The mottled red rage that suffused Tisha’s face was enough to make even Alaina take a step away from her bedside. “How dare you say that?”

  “Oh, it’s pretty easy actually.” Eleni took a deep breath. Was she going too far? Her own mother was standing right there. She had to be careful of what she said if only to protect the privacy of the King brothers. “I mean, I believe that you and I”—Eleni gestured between herself and Tisha—“know that there are several very compelling reasons to not believe that Big Mac King was killed in a hunting accident. Perhaps the coroner isn’t in the know. But you and I are, Ms. Olivares-King. And that changes everything. Don’t you think?”

  Tisha sucked in a gasp and her face when from red to pale white. Of course Eleni’s mother looked baffled. “What are you talking about, Eleni? You’re making no sense at all. What doesn’t the coroner know? He’s the one that did the flipping autopsy!”

  “Don’t you…” Tisha pressed her lips together.

  “Oh, I’m not,” Eleni assured the older woman. “But you need to remember that you’re sitting here wondering what your sons know. Correct? Well, maybe what you need to focus on i
s what do they suspect that they know?”

  “I can’t be charged!” Tisha said quickly. “That’s impossible. There’s nothing else to say about it. My husband is dead and buried and his death was a horrible accident.”

  “I guess so.” Eleni just shrugged. “I don’t know what it takes to change the coroner’s ruling. Maybe it can’t be done. I don’t know anything about that. It’s not really my thing. You know? You were just asking what your sons knew. I was only trying to suggest that you might want to think about what’s happened—you know—between you and your husband.”

  “Between me and my husband?” Tisha said weakly. Her face was pale, her lips bloodless, and she looked faintly ill. It was probably just the Absinthe. Right?

  “Sure,” Eleni said with a nod. “I mean, there’s only so many times that someone can cry wolf before the cops start getting suspicious. Don’t you think?”

  It was obvious that her comments had already sank in much deeper than she could have hoped. Eleni didn’t want to give away any strategies that the King brothers might be trying to take to probate court. That wasn’t her goal. But she did want to keep Tisha scattered and worried. That would give the brothers time to get their case together for the probate judge. Nobody could change the coroner’s ruling right now. But Tisha didn’t know that. Not for sure.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  “No. You need to let me talk to the officer in charge of this investigation right now!” Skye’s voice travelled all the way back from the reception area of the police station to the little holding area where Orion and his brothers were being casually kept for the time being.

  The atmosphere inside the police station was festive. Or at least it had been until Skye got on her tirade about false charges, false imprisonment, and something about a failure of due process.

  “Man, I love that woman,” Jason murmured to himself. “Listen to her! She’s like a pitbull!”