GABE (Silicon Valley Billionaires Book 2)

by Leigh James

“Is everything okay?”

  Timmy nodded, but he looked haggard.

  “I can read your face,” I croaked, fearing the worst. There were a lot of things on that list. “Just tell me.”

  “It’s Wesley, ma’am. He had a minor heart attack last night.”

  The world tilted underneath my feet. I grabbed on to the island so I didn’t fall over. “Oh Jesus. Is his brother on his way?”

  “He got in late last night. He’s with Wesley now—I spoke to him this morning. He said the doctor was worried that Wesley…might have suffered some brain damage. His heart’s working too hard… He’s worried that the oxygen supply might’ve been cut off.”

  I was still gripping the island when my phone buzzed. I lunged for it.

  Your sister will be live in five minutes. My attorney will send the closing agenda later today. Please be prepared with everything we discussed—let’s finish this.

  I opened my laptop while Timmy shot me a worried look. “Hannah’s going to Skype me,” I explained. My nerves were jittering, my stomach roiling. “Did you hear from Gabe? They never came back last night.”

  Timmy nodded, his big, beefy neck straining underneath his button-down shirt. “Mr. Betts said they were doing some surveillance in Oakland. They might have a lead.”

  My heart froze. “Really?”

  “That’s what he said—but I don’t know anything more than that. I’ll be over here, out of sight.” Timmy went to the other end of the room just as the application opened.

  The screen came to life with an image of Hannah sitting, staring at the floor listlessly. Another large bruise ran down her chin to the top of her neck—the size of a large palm.

  “Oh my God, Hannah!” My voice cracked. “What did they do to you?”

  She looked up at the computer, but her eyes didn’t seem to focus. “I told you they were assholes—and I told them that too. I guess they didn’t want to hear it.” Her voice came out funny and thick. She pointed to her face. “That’s how I got this.”

  I felt like I might pass out, but I gripped the island and put on my game face. “Listen to me, you are out of there. Just a few more days. Don’t say another word to them. You are coming home, and this is going to be okay. I need you—Wesley needs you.”

  A flicker lit up Hannah’s eyes. “How is he?”

  “He’s okay,” I lied. “His brother got back from deployment to come and see him. But he needs you. He’s been asking for you.” God would probably strike me down for lying like this, but I needed to motivate her, to make her feel needed.

  Hannah nodded and managed a weak smile. I noticed that her lips were dry, chapped, and cracking. “Good. That’s really good.” Her words were slightly slurred.

  “Hannah—are you on something? Did they make you take something?”

  “They gave me a sedative. They said it was for my own good—so I wouldn’t mouth off so much that they wanted to shoot me.”

  The floor swerved underneath me again, making me woozy. “Oh my God.”

  She shook her head. “Don’t worry. It’s almost better that I’m out of it, because I can’t yell at them or even yell at you. But I remember everything that’s happened, and I’m going to say it again: I will never forgive myself if something happens to you.”

  “Nothing bad’s going to happen. Don’t worry about it—Li Na and I have everything worked out. I will be here for you, and everything’s going to be okay.” More lies, but hopefully someday, this would be true. I just had to find a way to come back to her.

  “Okay,” said a male voice in the background. “Tea time’s officially over. We’ll see you soon.” And with that, the screen went black.

  I put my face into my hands. “Timmy, can you call Ash for me? They need to know about this, and I need to find out where they are.”

  “Of course, ma’am.”

  I hustled to my bedroom and got dressed, ignoring my dizziness and the roaring in my ears. Seeing Hannah look injured and disoriented hit me like a mortal blow, but I didn’t have time to fall apart right now.

  I brushed my teeth, dragged a brush through my hair, and raced back out to the kitchen. “Let’s get to the hospital, okay?” I didn’t even wait to hear Timmy’s answer. He looked as worried as I felt. I knew he’d want to see Wesley as soon as possible.

  The waiting room at El Camino was busy, but we immediately spotted Ellis Eden—there was no mistaking Wesley’s older brother. The family resemblance was striking. Ellis was six-foot-four and built like a linebacker, his hair closely cropped.

  He stood as we approached and offered his hand for a firm handshake. “Ms. Taylor, it’s a pleasure.”

  I must’ve looked surprised, because he said, “I recognize you from the articles I’ve read. I wanted to know who my brother worked for.”

  “I’m so sorry about Wes. He’s an amazing employee, an asset to our team, and he was protecting my sister when he got hurt. He sacrificed himself for her,” I said, and promptly burst into tears. “I just hope he’s going to be okay. He means so much to all of us.”

  Both Ellis and Timmy chivalrously averted their eyes, simultaneously offering words of comfort.

  “No need to apologize, ma’am,” Ellis said. “Wesley loves his job, and he’s aware of the risk involved.”

  “How’s he doing?” Timmy asked as I wiped my eyes and tried to stop bawling.

  “Okay. The doctor said the tests they ran earlier don’t show any negative impact, but they can’t be sure…not until he wakes up. He can’t have any visitors this morning.”

  “Of course.” I pulled myself together enough to talk. “Did he have a heart attack?”

  “A minor one.” The muscle in Ellis’s jaw popped. “The doctor said his heart’s been working too hard, pumping blood to repair the damage…”

  “What’s the next step?”

  “They said they’ll run some more tests while he’s resting. They may consider waking him up, but they don’t want him to experience any more trauma right now.”

  My phone buzzed with a call from Gabe. “I’m at the hospital with Wes’s brother—can I call you right back?”

  I hung up and looked at Ellis. “You should stay with us while you’re here.”

  “I’m fine. I checked into the hotel down the street—I need to be at the hospital while I can.”

  “How long will you stay?”

  “As long as it takes, until he’s stabilized,” Ellis said. “Eddie told me a little bit about what’s happening out here. I’m sorry about your sister.”

  “Thank you.” I blew out a deep breath. “We’re working on getting her back. I’ll bring her to see Wes once we do. I think it’ll help.” I gave him my cell phone number, and he promised to call as soon as there was an update.

  I called Gabe as Timmy and I headed back to the car. I felt lost—it was a weekday morning, and I should be at work, but everything was coming unraveled.

  “Babe—how’s Wes?”

  “Not good. He had a minor heart attack. The doctor’s worried that his heart’s working too hard, trying to repair his body. He’s concerned there may have been brain damage. But they don’t know anything yet.”

  “Oh fuck. That’s fucking terrible.” I could feel his pain through the phone.

  “His brother’s here—Ellis. He said he’d text us any updates.”

  “I’ll call Dr. Kim too, and see if he can give us any details.”

  “Listen, I talked to Hannah this morning. She looked terrible. She had a huge bruise on her face and neck. Her eyes couldn’t focus—she said they’d given her a sedative.”

  “How were you allowed to speak with her?”

  “Because I asked to.” I swallowed hard and prepared myself—lying wasn’t an option this close to the closing. “Li Na texted me last night. They’ve scheduled the closing for Friday. She wanted to make sure that I was on board with all of her demands. I said that in order for us to go forward, I needed to speak with Hannah again.”

  Dead sil
ence radiated from Gabe’s end of the line.

  I licked my lips nervously, desperate to change the subject. “So why didn’t you come home last night? Timmy mentioned they might have found a lead?” With all the bad news this morning, I hadn’t been able to focus on the glimmer of hope Timmy had mentioned earlier.

  “Ash thinks he found something. We’ve been watching this one condominium.”

  “Watching for what? What did he see?”

  “Just part of a plate, one that could be on our watch list—don’t get your hopes up yet.”

  “Don’t worry.” I laughed, but it sounded bitter. “Getting my hopes up isn’t really my thing right now.”

  He cursed under his breath. “I hope Ash’s right, because you are not getting on a plane to go to motherfucking Shenzhen! Do you understand?”

  “Do you understand that I can’t handle fighting with you right now, on top of everything else?”

  Gabe exhaled in a hiss. “Yes. I don’t want to fight.” But he was fighting to keep his voice even. “What are you doing this morning?”

  I bit my lip, staring out the car window. “I guess I’m going to work. I need to…wrap things up.”

  “Is Timmy with you?”

  “Yes. Are you staying in Oakland?”

  “Yes—at least until we figure out if this is actually a lead. I’ll call you in a little while, okay?”

  “Okay,” I said. But as the driver headed toward Paragon, I had never felt less okay in my life.

  GABE

  The scalding coffee burned my throat, but I drank it anyway. The burn was better than feeling out of control. I could barely process the morning’s events.

  Wesley—young, strapping Wesley—had suffered a heart attack.

  Hannah had been drugged.

  And Lauren was threatening to do what Li Na wanted. I understood, but Lauren couldn’t get on that plane. It would be over my dead body—even if she didn’t care for my word choice. It was accurate.

  Levi and I sat in the back of the surveillance van, waiting and drinking our respective coffees. We’d parked a few streets over from the house Ash was checking out.

  “Why’re you here, again?” Levi asked.

  “Because I’m not your silent partner on this case anymore. This is my family, and I’m done sitting around, doing nothing.”

  “What did you find out about Zhao?”

  “I found out that she’s scheduled the closing for Friday, and she’s still expecting Lauren to get on a plane afterwards.”

  Levi waited for me to continue.

  “Li Na called last night, to ask Lauren, CEO to CEO, if she would honor the agreement.”

  “And?”

  “And Lauren said she would. And when she just called, she said that she’s spoken to Hannah this morning via Skype, and that Hannah was beat up, drugged and semi-catatonic.”

  Levi leaned his head back against the interior of the van. “And Wes had a heart attack. Jesus. This could not be going more wrong.”

  “That’s why I’m here—we need to find Hannah before the closing.”

  “And you think you can help?”

  “No,” I admitted, “but at least I won’t have to sit at home and wait to find out what’s happening.”

  “What else did you find out about Zhao? Anything useful?”

  “I think so.” I frowned. “She doesn’t seem to have hung on to any personal relationships after her divorce. But it made me think about what she is after.”

  “You mean aside from Lauren’s multibillion-dollar technology?”

  I nodded. “I don’t think it’s just the money.”

  Levi looked interested. “Well, then, she’s deeper than I thought. Tell me.”

  “I think it’s about her standing, her reputation. I think she’s someone who has big dreams and is used to accomplishing them. She also has an important business standing in Shenzhen, and she’s been boasting about the technology her company’s about to acquire. But she hasn’t been able to create something as technologically sophisticated as the patch, which is what’s necessary to be a star in a rapidly changing healthcare market. In order to deliver, she’s taking the alternate route to success.”

  “Okay…so? What’re you going to do about it?”

  “I’ve got some ideas. The most important thing is getting Hannah back. Then it’s getting Li Na out of our lives.”

  “Without Lauren going to Jiàn Innovations.”

  “Of course. That’s the whole point.”

  My brother inspected his coffee. “When’s the closing scheduled for, again?”

  “Friday.”

  His gaze rose to meet mine. “So Ash had better be right—this needs to be it.”

  “That’s what I said.”

  The door burst open and Ash came in, breathing hard. “Guys.” He grinned at us, then leaned over to catch his breath, as if he’d literally sprinted back to the van. “Be prepared to shower me with gifts, compliments, and food—you both owe me.”

  Chapter 21

  Lauren

  I settled into my desk and went through my backlog of emails. This would be one of the last times I sat here like this…but I refused to think about it, just like I refused to think about how terrible Hannah had looked this morning, and how Wesley was in danger.

  I allowed myself to focus on my work for a few hours. I had to do something, and it was the only thing I’d ever been any good at.

  When I finally looked up, my gaze automatically went to the windows and at the grounds below. This was one of my favorite views in the world, the acres of neatly manicured lawns glistening in the early morning dew. Soon, the property would be on the market. Another CEO with another vision would buy it and make it their home.

  I didn’t know who I’d be without Paragon. It’d been my life’s dream for so long, I wasn’t sure where I ended and my company began.

  Don’t think about it. Find a new dream to dream.

  But this wasn’t the time to dream—I had to be laser-focused, to see this through to the end. I’d been excited when Gabe had offered to sell me his subsidiary company, but what was happening with Li Na, Hannah, and Wesley had me reeling, eclipsing all hope.

  How could I focus on the future when I wasn’t sure if I, or the people I loved, even had one?

  I pushed the thoughts from my mind. The image of my sister haunted me, but selfishly, it was Gabe I couldn’t extricate from my thoughts. What if I have to leave him? What if this week brings…the end of us?

  My gaze wandered over my desk, coming to rest on the picture of my parents. I was glad they weren’t here to witness Hannah’s kidnapping. Still, my heart hurt looking at it—I missed them. When they died tragically, too young, my heart had broken. My parents were why I never wanted to fall in love in the first place. Who could bear another loss like that, when people you loved were taken from you?

  But even though my heart ached with missing them, I knew they were still with me. Because that was what love did—it changed you forever. It marked you on the inside, making you grow stronger even as it made you vulnerable. Because loving somebody was brave. It was if once you took the leap to care about someone else, your heart muscles got stronger.

  They had to—it was an evolve-or-die situation—because when you loved someone, your heart was walking around outside your body.

  Or it was being held captive.

  Or it was in a medically induced coma.

  Or it was on the other side of the world, cursing you, because you’d left it to fulfill an unbearable duty.

  I put my face in my hands, and Stephanie buzzed in, jolting me from my reverie. “Mimi White is here to see you.”

  This surprised me. Mimi rarely dropped in. “Okay?”

  Mimi nodded curtly as she came in, then sat across from me. She looked pulled together as usual, in a plum-colored blazer, her silver bob a sleek helmet. “I came to apologize.”

  “For what?”

  She shot me a look. “For calling Olivia, our
United Kingdom distributor.”

  I opened my mouth and then closed it. Mimi White had been the one to sell us out.

  Mimi crossed and uncrossed her legs, looking as nervous as I’d ever seen her. “Before you say anything, let me explain myself. Paragon is important to me. My time on the board has been an honor.”

  “Thank you for that.” I took a deep breath. “But you had no right to share the news—I told you it was confidential.”

  “You did, and I went against your direct order.” Mimi pursed her lips. “I was trying to sabotage the sale.”

  I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. I’d known Mimi for years. I couldn’t believe she’d betrayed me like this, in my hour of need. “It’s not your sale to sabotage.”

  “I understand, but this technology isn’t Li Na Zhao’s to steal either.”

  “That’s true, but it’s not the most important thing. Hannah’s safety is the most important thing.”

  “I know what I did was wrong—and I admit, it’s not like me to be this reckless.” Mimi nodded tightly, her face turning red. “But the injustice of all this… I couldn’t tolerate it.”

  I waited for her to collect herself and go on.

  “Olivia’s a friend of my daughter’s from prep school. I thought if I could tell anyone, to try to do something about this, it should be her. But then she didn’t follow through, so I contacted some of the others.”

  I put my face in my hands. If our partners were alerted about Paragon’s impending sale, there could be a backlash. I knew from reviewing the international contracts recently with Bethany that they were assignable; but I also knew that our distributors could opt out after a twelve-month period. No one was supposed to know about the sale yet. That might’ve made me a poor business partner, but I didn’t want to give any of them notice—any time to prepare to jump ship.

  “I don’t understand why you did this—you know it could’ve compromised the sale. If Zhao hears that our partners are nervous about the transition, it could make her hesitate. I can’t afford that right now.”

  “You have to understand that I would never do anything to hurt Hannah. I wasn’t thinking about that aspect.” She winced. “I was trying to stir up an international coalition to stop the sale. I don’t believe in negotiating with terrorists, Lauren. I’m sick about what’s happened to Clive Warren, your sister, to the security guards.”