GABE (Silicon Valley Billionaires Book 2)

by Leigh James

  “Li Na.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “What.”

  “You don’t deserve my company.”

  “Not this again.” Li Na rolled her eyes. “The concept of ‘deserving’ is so American, and so irrelevant. That sort of emotional thinking doesn’t interest me. A seamless transaction for this deal does. I’m out of patience, Lauren—I never had much to begin with.”

  “I don’t need you or your patience. I have Hannah back.”

  If I’d surprised her, it didn’t show—she didn’t hesitate. “Events outside of this closing have no bearing on our agreement.”

  I leaned forward. “That’s not how I see it.”

  “It doesn’t matter how you see it. We have a contract, one that I’m prepared to honor. Today.”

  “It’s not going to happen—not today and not ever.”

  She sighed, suddenly and dramatically. “I was hoping we could avoid any more…tactics.”

  “Do you know what I was hoping?”

  Li Na blinked. “I’m sure you know I don’t care.”

  “I was hoping that I’d have the opportunity to do this!” I grabbed the Purchase and Sales Agreement I’d signed and gleefully ripped it in half. I kept ripping until tiny pieces of paper fluttered all over the conference table.

  Li Na arched an eyebrow as if she found my antics ridiculous.

  Good. Let her. “Even more than that? I was really, really hoping I could tell you to fuck off today. That’s what I’ve been hoping for. And now that my sister’s safe, I can!”

  I hopped up, smiling at the screen. “So, fuck off, Li Na! Paragon’s still mine, and I’m taking it with me. If you try to come after me or my family again, I’ll make you pay.” I leaned toward her image on the screen. “No one messes with my family and my company and gets away with it. You want the patch? Figure out how biotechnological science works and make one of your own—oh, that’s right, you can’t, because you’ll never be as smart as me, you murdering, kidnapping, conniving bitch!”

  I slammed the laptop closed and proceeded to fan myself to calm down. I looked from Bethany to the others. Bethany was clapping, Petra had her fingers pressed against her temples, the paralegal looked like she might burst into tears, Levi was taking a video, and Ash and the other men looked thoroughly entertained.

  “Let’s go,” I said. “I need to see my sister.”

  Chapter 24

  Gabe

  It killed me not to go to the closing, but I’d promised to get Hannah home safe.

  I paced while Hannah was being examined, waiting to hear from Lauren. If she’d done something to Li Na, I wanted to know what it was. More important, I wanted to know she was safe.

  The minutes crawled by like hours. Finally, Levi texted me. Lauren just told Li Na to fuck off and it was AWESOME. Got a video for you. We probably need to quadruple security. See you soon.

  He sent me the video, and I watched, speechless and incredibly turned on, as Lauren ripped up her contract and told Li Na to fuck off. Finally.

  I immediately fired off a text to Charlotte, my UK distributor. She was waiting to hear from me. Paragon isn’t being sold to the Chinese. Please let the others know.

  Bloody brilliant, she wrote back at once.

  Lauren is bloody brilliant, indeed, I texted back. As a backup plan, in case we’d been forced to close, I’d had Kami update all of Dynamica’s agreements with our international distributors. Instead of a one-year waiting period, they’d had the instantaneous right to withdraw from their contracts upon the sale of Paragon Laboratories. And Charlotte had been about to get them all riled up for a mass exodus, just like I’d asked her to.

  The revised documents had been approved by Li Na’s attorney, but the revisions were buried in the thirty-fourth amendment of each agreement, located roughly on page nineteen. I’d done this so if Li Na bought Paragon, she’d get the company without its international distribution channels, a hobbled version of its former powerhouse self.

  But it didn’t matter anymore. Lauren had rescued the company, and Hannah was safe.

  I smiled as I paced the hallway, waiting for my badass girlfriend to come home to me.

  We’d set up one of the guest suites for Hannah. An hour after Levi had texted me, Lauren rushed inside, making a beeline for her sister. I followed close behind. Dr. Fisher was sitting on the far side of the room, talking quietly on her phone. Hannah was propped up on the bed, glowering at the IV tube connected to her forearm. It looked as though she’d showered; she was wearing an old T-shirt and leggings.

  Lauren climbed onto the bed, gently wrapping her arms around her sister’s bony shoulders. “You’re too skinny, oh my God! I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

  Hannah patted her back. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

  They held each other and cried for a minute. I looked away.

  Dr. Fisher ended her call and came closer. “Lauren, I’m sorry, but I need to get back to the hospital.”

  “Of course.” Lauren pulled back and wiped her eyes. “And thank you so much for coming here—it means a lot.”

  “I’m happy to do it.” The doctor took a step in, smiling at the sisters. “I did a thorough examination, and Hannah is mostly fine.” Dr. Fisher and Hannah locked gazes briefly. “But I’ll need to see her for a follow-up in my office.”

  “What can we do for her here?” Lauren asked.

  “As I explained to Hannah, she is a bit dehydrated, so we took the precaution of starting an IV. You need to make sure she’s drinking lots of fluids. I also explained to your sister that it’s very normal to experience post-traumatic stress after something like what she’s been through. She might need therapy, an antidepressant, or an antianxiety treatment—”

  “And I told you that I’m fine.” Hannah scowled at the doctor. “But I forgot to say thank you. I know you’re super busy and that you made a special house call for me.” She tried to sound conciliatory.

  “It’s my pleasure. I’m thrilled that you’re home safe and okay,” Dr. Fisher said. “I’ll send one of my staff to check the levels later and change the IV.”

  “Thank you again,” Lauren said. The doctor left, and she turned back to Hannah. “If Dr. Fisher says you need an antidepressant, you’re taking an antidepressant.”

  “I don’t need an antidepressant, and I don’t need you bossing me around either!”

  “Okay, okay. Easy.” Lauren wrapped her arms back around her sister. “Let’s not fight—let’s hug.”

  “I’m glad to see you, even if you are bossy.” The aggressive tone leached out of Hannah’s voice, and she sounded gravelly with exhaustion. “Why did you guys have to go to San Francisco—is it what I think?”

  Lauren pursed her lips. “You don’t need to worry about anything right now—just rest.”

  Hannah sat up a little. “Don’t tell me to rest—not when you just sold your multibillion-dollar company and the technology you’ve been working on for your entire adult life!” Hannah arched an eyebrow, a flash of her old self shining through.

  “Okay.” Lauren smiled. “I won’t.”

  “Because…?” Hannah looked too afraid to be hopeful.

  “Because I didn’t sell Paragon. Not to that overdressed, unscrupulous hack known as Li Na Zhao, and not to any other bully either.”

  I held my phone out to Hannah, grinning. “I have a video of your sister telling Li Na to shove it. It’s awesome.”

  Lauren blushed while Hannah watched the video, her hand clasped over her mouth. “Wow. I mean…yeah. Hell yeah.” She looked up at me. “What’ve you been doing to my sister? I mean, don’t answer that—”

  “You inspired me,” Lauren interrupted. “You fought this whole time, and you weren’t afraid of anything. All I had to deal with was Li Na’s sour face on a screen—you dealt with a lot worse than that. I figured it was the least I could do.” She tucked a lock of Hannah’s hair behind her ear. “Paragon is ours. We built it, and we’re keeping it. We have to continue our wo
rk to help the greater good.”

  Hannah’s eyes were wide. “You don’t have to convince me.”

  “Your shares have gone up in value, by the way.”

  “Great. When I’m feeling better, I can go shoe shopping,” Hannah joked.

  “When you’re feeling better, you can buy an entire shoe-manufacturing plant,” Lauren corrected her.

  Hannah looked stunned, but only for a moment. “How is Wes? Gabe swore he’s fine, but I didn’t believe him.”

  “He’s still in El Camino.” Lauren shot me a look. “He’s doing better.”

  Hannah sat up straight. “I think you’re lying too—why did you just look at Gabe like that?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lauren lied. “Just rest—please. And don’t worry about Wesley right now. You’ve been through a lot, and you don’t need to think about anything but recuperating.” Lauren paused for a moment, her lips pursed as she inspected her sister. “Is there anything you want to tell me? Did they…do anything to you?”

  “They didn’t touch me—aside from the occasional chokehold or punch—if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Lauren blew out a deep breath and put her face in her hands. “Okay.”

  “Can I go see Wes?” Hannah looked from Lauren to me. “Please?”

  “Of course,” Lauren assured her, “just as soon as you’re feeling better.”

  Hannah sat up. Without flinching, she pulled her IV out. “I’m feeling better.”

  “Jesus, Hannah—”

  I put my hand on Lauren’s shoulder. “Let’s bring her over. It’ll be good for both of them.”

  Timmy had brought some clothes from the house. Hannah tore through the duffel bag, threw on a Stanford sweatshirt, and pulled on some UGG boots over her leggings. “Let’s go.”

  Lauren looked tense, but to her credit, she didn’t argue. She just followed her sister out the door.

  Hannah was mostly silent on the drive to El Camino. “Tell me how Wesley is—how he really is. Tell me everything that happened. I told you—I thought he was dead. He was shot right in front of me, and he hit the island hard. The guards dragged me out of there right when it happened. I never even got to check him.”

  Lauren sighed and reached for her sister’s hand. “When he got shot, the bullet nicked his heart. He passed out and hit his head when he fell—there was swelling from that, so the doctors decided to put him into a medically induced coma.”

  “Oh…oh God…” Hannah started crying.

  “They wanted his body to have time to heal itself without more trauma. Everything was fine for the first few weeks.”

  “But?”

  “But then he had an arrhythmia, and he had a mild heart attack. They’re worried that his heart’s been working too hard.”

  Hannah clenched her hands into tight fists. “Do they think he’s going to be okay?”

  “They do—”

  “But they won’t be one hundred percent sure until he’s awake,” I interrupted. Hannah needed to know what we were dealing with; we couldn’t protect her from the truth forever.

  “The doctors who are taking care of him are amazing,” Lauren said. “They’re the best. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything.”

  “I understand.” Hannah blew her nose, crying for another minute. It was hard news to deal with, not what she’d been expecting.

  Finally, she calmed down. “I’m scared, and I’m worried, but I can’t wait to see him. What’s his brother like?”

  “His name’s Ellis,” Lauren said. “He’s special ops and he looks like he’s special ops. I think he’s bigger than Wes, and I didn’t even know that was possible.”

  Hannah looked out the window. “Is he nice?”

  “Yeah—I mean, he’s quiet, but this is also hard on him, I’m sure.”

  “He’s going to hate me.”

  Lauren looked sharply at her sister. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m the reason Wesley’s in a coma and almost died. If there’s something wrong with him when he wakes up—if he wakes up—it’s my fault.”

  “Hannah.” Lauren reached out and gently touched her sister, but she flinched. “No one blames you for what happened to Wesley. It was his job—”

  “I was distracting him—”

  “If this is anyone’s fault, it’s mine.” Lauren’s voice was sharp, but it was also shaking.

  “I’m pretty sure this is my cross to bear.” Hannah glared at her. “So enough of that.”

  “That goes for you too.”

  “Fine,” Hannah said, turning back to the window.

  “Fine,” Lauren said.

  We drove the rest of the way in tense silence. Ellis jumped up when we got to the lobby. “You must be Hannah.” He approached her, and she stiffened as if she were expecting him to attack.

  But instead, he hugged her hard.

  She burst into tears. “I’m so sorry. I feel terrible about everything. Poor Wes!”

  “You don’t have to be sorry—it’s his job, and I know he loved protecting you.” Ellis rocked her back and forth, rubbing her back. “He’s going to be so happy you’re here. I’m so glad you’re okay.”

  “Thank you. I…hope…he’s going to be…happy I’m here.” The words came out choked, in between racking sobs.

  “Shh, it’s okay.” Ellis led her to a chair and handed her a tissue. “Take your time calming down, and then we can go see him.”

  I texted Dr. Kim, letting him know we were here and asking for any updates. Most recent tests indicate normal brain activity, he wrote back. We will probably take him off medications to bring him out in the next few days.

  Hannah calmed down, wiping her eyes and straightening her shoulders. She nodded at Ellis. “I’m ready.”

  He motioned for us to follow, and we headed down the hall to Wesley’s room. I sucked in a breath when I saw him—even though it’d only been a few days, it looked as though he’d shrunk in size. His skin and lips were pale and lifeless. I suddenly understood Dr. Kim’s concern about atrophy. Wesley needed to be woken up so he could start moving around and regaining some strength.

  At least, that was the hope.

  Hannah didn’t wince or hesitate—she rushed to Wes’s side and laced her fingers through his. “Hey…it’s Hannah. I’m back. I’m back, and I’m so, so sorry about what happened…” Her shoulders shook for few minutes as she cried.

  She forced herself to recover quickly, taking a deep breath. “I met your brother. Kind of not the circumstances I was picturing, but he’s still really nice…” She looked over and smiled at Ellis through her tears, then she turned back to Wes. “Oooh, and Gabe rescued me. Like, with a gun. Lauren hasn’t forgiven him yet, but I bet that’s going to be interesting—”

  Lauren scowled. “Hannah.”

  Hannah shrugged defensively. “Just catching him up.” She turned back to Wes. “The point is, I’m home now, and I need you. Lauren was about to sell Paragon to You-Know-Who, but she ripped up the agreement. It was badass. I have it on video. We’re ready to get back to work, but I need you with me…” She continued talking and crying, squeezing Wes’s arm.

  I motioned for Lauren to come into the hall.

  I pulled her against me. “Do you want to leave them alone for a little while?”

  She pressed her face against my chest. “For a few minutes.”

  “Do you want me to have Timmy take you home? You look exhausted. I can stay with Hannah for a little while longer, until she’s ready to go.”

  “I don’t think we should let her stay much longer. I haven’t even mentally dealt with the fact that she disconnected her IV. We’re going to have to call the doctor…” She leaned up and kissed my cheek. “I’m going back in. I’m worried she’s running on adrenaline and she’s going to collapse.”

  My phone buzzed with a call from Levi. “I’ll be right there.”

  “Gabe—are you at the hospital?” Levi sounded tense.

/>   “What’s the matter?”

  “It’s Mom—she’s fine, it’s nothing serious. Well, it’s sort of serious…”

  “Can you please tell me what the hell is going on?” I roared, my nerves shot from the long, fraught day.

  Levi sighed. “She wants to know if she should move back the wedding because of everything that’s going on.”

  My body sagged in relief. “Oh.”

  “That doesn’t sound like an answer.”

  “It’s not up to me!”

  “Mom thinks it is.” Clearly, he thought this was a mistake.

  I couldn’t believe this was the newest crisis. “When’s the wedding again?”

  Levi tsked. “Next weekend.”

  “Tell her it’s fine. Lauren and I will be there.”

  “Good—she’ll be happy to hear it. I’ll make sure that I have my best team covering Hannah and Wes.”

  “Great.”

  “It is great,” Levi agreed, “especially because you’re paying for all this coverage.”

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’ll see you at home.”

  “I’ll be the one with the bourbon. See you soon.”

  Chapter 25

  Lauren

  “The nurse is coming back over. They’re going to reconnect your IV.”

  Hannah put her hands on her hips. “Call them and tell them to forget it—I don’t need an IV. I need to be mobile; I’m going back in to see Wes first thing in the morning.”

  I sat on the bed and scooted over next to her so our shoulders were touching. “You’ve been through a lot, and you need to get better. You’re no good to Wesley if you’re not healing.”

  Hannah rolled her eyes. “I’m fine.”

  “Listen, I appreciate that you want to be there for him. I knew you would, and I think it’s awesome. But you have to take care of yourself. Promise me.”

  “I promise.” Hannah picked at her T-shirt for a minute. “But Lauren?”

  “What?”