Testing The Boss (Billionaires In The City, #5)

by Mallory Crowe

  He set the bottle on the counter and reached up for the glasses as the floor creaked behind him. Was Evelyn done already? Somehow he thought she’d linger under the water, looking for any reason to avoid him after that fiasco.

  He turned to face her, determined to act as though nothing had happened. Except for the mind-blowing sex. He’d own up to that. “I hope you like red wine, because that’s all we—”

  Something slammed into the side of his face, and the last thing he remembered as the world went dark was the sound of his parents’ favorite wine glasses smashing on the hardwood floor.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Evelyn jerked her head out of the water at the sound of the glass breaking. She opened her mouth to ask Luke whether everything was okay, but stopped herself. She knew Luke well enough to realize he didn’t drop things.

  If he had knocked something over, he probably would’ve cursed. Or she’d hear him going into the closet for the broom and dustpan. Something. All she heard over the sound of the shower was silence.

  Unease drifted over her. She’d been around long enough to know when to trust her gut. Leaving the water on, she pushed open the shower door and stepped out. She ran a towel over her soaking hair and body as quickly as possible. She peeked around the corner to make sure there was no one in the master bedroom off the bathroom, but it was empty.

  After verifying the room was clear, she pulled on her t-shirt and panties and grabbed her gun holster off the dresser. The gun was already loaded, so she flicked the safety off. If she was overreacting, Luke might think she was crazy, but she was here to watch over him, so he’d have to deal with her crazy.

  Evelyn was about to leave the bedroom when she heard heavy footsteps approach. The soft sound of boots against hardwood echoed through the house. Which was worrisome, because why would Luke be wearing boots right after a shower and before bed?

  Her heartbeat sped up as she glanced around the room. There was nowhere to hide except the closet; that would be the first place anyone would look, and it would effectively trap her.

  She took a calming breath and took a chance by standing behind the open door. As he entered, he wouldn’t be able to see her, but if he looked in this direction she’d be outed. Chances were that he’d start with the bathroom and closet, and that would give her the chance to get a jump on him.

  She held her breath as he approached, trying to make no sound at all. His steps slowed as he entered the room. He paused in the middle of the room, and Evelyn tried to get a look.

  He wasn’t the man from her apartment. This man was older, maybe in his forties, and even though he was muscular, he appeared to have a substantial beer belly. He headed for the bathroom and disappeared into the other room. Evelyn leveled her gun in that direction. She started to step out from behind the door when Luke’s voice cut through the house. “She’s not here!”

  Shit. He wasn’t alone, which meant that Luke was with whoever this asshole brought with him. If she shot the guy in the bedroom, the other guy might freak, and who knew what he would do to Luke. Evelyn slipped out of the room while Beer Belly was still in the bathroom. She tiptoed through the empty hallway. She’d heard glass breaking but wasn’t sure where. It could be from anywhere, considering the entire cottage had hardwood and the sounds echoed like crazy. She paused at the end of the hallway. Chances were that once she emerged, guy number two would see her and she’d have to act fast.

  But then a grunting sound came from the kitchen and Luke screamed, “Evelyn, get out of the hou—” The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed through the house, and Evelyn kicked into gear. She stepped out from the hallway and immediately saw the man standing over a tied-up Luke, ready to strike him with the butt of his handgun.

  Evelyn didn’t hesitate as she brought up her gun and fired off three shots in quick succession. The man fell hard and fast. She met Luke’s eyes. He seethed with anger and she knew there was going to be hell to pay for whoever was behind this break-in. But the anger disappeared in a flash, replaced by fear, and she knew Beer Belly was coming up behind her. She tried to turn in time, but the man already had his gun up and aimed. All she could do was drop to the floor as bullets flew right over her head. He ran as he fired, which had to be hurting his aim, but the closer he was, the more dangerous he was.

  She fired off a round blindly and ducked behind the corner where he couldn’t see her anymore. In a flash, Luke was at her side. His hands were still bound behind his back, and two trickles of blood covered the right side of his face. “Untie me.” He knelt next to her.

  “A little busy,” she muttered as she stared at the hallway. Either the guy was going to come into the main living area firing blindly, or he was going to try to get out of the cottage via the back rooms.

  The sound of smashing glass from the bedroom answered that question. “Shit. He’s making a run for it.” Everything in her wanted to chase after the man, but her priority was Luke, and they weren’t exactly alone in the house.

  She pushed herself up, passed the small table to the counter and snatched a knife from the counter. She went back to Luke and knelt next to him, eyeing the zip ties that held his wrists. The thing was so tight his hands were purple. No wonder he wanted it off. It had to hurt like a bitch. She cut through the plastic in one quick motion before she pulled him up to stand. “Come on,” she said. “We need to get to a phone.”

  Without waiting for him to respond, she pulled him into the bedroom and grabbed the first phone she saw, which was hers. She dialed 911 first, asking for paramedics and alerting them to a suspect running on foot and described his clothes and build. She had a feeling he’d be long gone before the police got out here, even with the quick response time in such a high-income area.

  After that, she called Hotchins, who agreed to get in his car immediately to drive out. But it would still be hours before he arrived.

  She hung up the phone and looked back to Luke. “Police should be here any minute. We need to talk to the guy who roughed you up before they get here.”

  She turned to go back to the kitchen, but Luke’s hand on her arm stopped her. “Evelyn, wait.”

  She pulled free of his grasp. “I have a job to do, Luke. The paramedics will be here soon to take a look at your head.” Without waiting for a response, she headed back to the kitchen to look down at the man she’d shot. “Damn it,” she muttered.

  The man wasn’t familiar to her. Younger than the one who got away, but still strong. Evelyn bent down and pressed her fingers to his throat, looking for any sign of a pulse. Nothing. She’d hit him three times in the chest, and his death had probably been instant. A cold ice flowed through her veins. “Damn it!” she said again.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Luke from behind her.

  “What’s wrong? I just killed a man.” She didn’t look back at Luke; instead, she stared at the dead man at her feet. At least his eyes were closed. It was always so much worse when they were open. He only wore a black t-shirt and black jeans, so there wasn’t much room for him to have any identifying information. She felt his pockets and when she felt something hard in one, she pulled out the cell phone.

  “He had a gun, Evelyn. There was nothing else you could do.”

  She thought back to the moments before she fired. Once Hotchins was here, she’d have to give a full, detailed report of everything that happened. She stood, holding the phone in her fist. “How did they get to you?”

  “Snuck up behind me like cowards. Knocked me out with something, and the second I woke up, I called to warn you.”

  “Did they say anything? Give any indication of how they knew where we were?” Hotchins was the only one she told, but did that mean he was the traitor? That made no sense. He’d been riding her harder than anyone to bring down the Thirteen Stars.

  “As I said, it was bang, then me screaming for you to get out of the house. Which you didn’t do, by the way.”

  “My job isn’t to run and hide. It’s to bring down the people who want you
dead.” Which she’d failed to do. Horribly. Fuck.

  “I’m happy you take your job so seriously, believe me, but I don’t want you putting yourself in danger for me.”

  “Trust me, I don’t want that either. I’ve already done too much for you.”

  She heard him approach and she steeled herself for his questions.

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Evelyn forced herself to go blank. To force out any possibility of a relationship from her mind. “That man never should’ve died.”

  “I told you, Evelyn, it was self-defense. He had a gun. Who knew what he was going to do to me? To you?”

  “Not that. He could be a link to Longineu. These guys, the ones who do the dirty work, they break easy. If we brought him in, this would all be over. I shouldn’t have killed him.”

  “You didn’t have a choice!”

  Turning to face him, Evelyn snapped, “No, I didn’t have a choice! I got one look at him about to hit you and everything went blank. Empty. I had to stop him the easiest way I knew how! And now he’s dead and you’re still in danger for God knows how long. And that’s because I was worried about you.”

  “What were you supposed to do?”

  “Shoot a warning. Distract him. Get him away from you and hit his firing arm. I’m a good enough aim. I could do it.”

  “With another guy in the house? You were surrounded.”

  “I’m a worse agent around you,” she said softly. “My feelings and emotions got in the way and they jeopardized this entire operation.”

  Sirens sounded in the distance and Evelyn knew the police would be here any minute. Good. Then maybe she wouldn’t have to finish this conversation.

  “Does that mean you’re leaving?” asked Luke. His own face was stone cold, and the flashing blue and red lights started to fill the cottage, making his features seem even more harsh.

  “Of course not. I started this investigation. I’ll finish it. I just can’t let myself be distracted any more. It’s hurting both of us.” The sound of a car door closing told her that they needed to start recounting their stories to the police. But to pound the point home once more, Evelyn said, “And once this is over, I’m going back to Texas.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Luke eyed Evelyn’s boss. The man looked haggard, which made sense considering he’d left his home at nine p.m. and driven two hours to get to a crime scene.

  Hotchins wore jeans and a wrinkled gray button-up. He had light brownish-red hair, and a short beard covered the bottom half of his face. And he seemed just as upset as Evelyn did about the whole thing.

  By this point, Luke had gone over the entire thing five times, but he was pretty sure he’d made it clear to the locals that he didn’t want to have to go into the station to answer more questions.

  He’d rather just sit and stew in his own anger for a bit longer. If he’d had his way, the son of a bitch would still be alive too. He’d snuck up on Luke. Invaded his home. Threatened Evelyn.

  What would’ve happened if Evelyn hadn’t heard the glass break? What if she’d written it off to him being clumsy and continued on with her shower? The other guy would’ve found her naked and alone, and there would’ve been nothing Luke could’ve done to stop it.

  His fists were clenched so tightly that his arms shook, and he forced himself to relax them. There were too many people here for him to have a temper tantrum, and there was nothing he could do now. The one man was dead and the other one could be anywhere. There were empty houses all over this time of year, and he could’ve broken into any of them to hide out. And considering the wealthy families who owned the homes in the area, the police weren’t about to start searching random homes in hopes they found the man Evelyn referred to as Beer Belly.

  Hotchins approached and Luke took a deep swig of water, wishing it was something else that could distract him from the clusterfuck around him.

  “I hope you’re doing okay, Mr. Devereaux,” said Hotchins.

  “Honestly, it’s been kind of a shitty night.”

  Hotchins nodded in understanding. “I believe it.”

  Hotchins didn’t know the half of what was pissing Luke off, but he wasn’t about to enlighten the agent.

  “I just got off the phone with your brother and cousin. They’re both fine and haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. Mr. Lance said he’d work on getting them protection that they could, um, trust, as soon as possible.”

  Which meant he might be trying to send more guys to Luke. And if there were new bodyguards for Luke, that meant Evelyn wouldn’t be anywhere close. He glanced down to see that his hands were curled into fists once more.

  No. All he needed was some time. He’d be damned if Evelyn was going to blame what happened on their relationship and he’d be damned if she was going to wallow in guilt over killing some man who wouldn’t have thought twice about doing the same to her.

  “How is Evelyn doing?” asked Luke.

  Hotchins’s brow furrowed. “Evelyn? She’s a professional. She’s doing fine.”

  “She just killed a man,” pointed out Luke.

  “And she will process that in her own time. Right now you’re her number one priority. Because of the incident at her apartment, we’re hesitant to get anyone else on your detail, so she’s determined to stay on. I guarantee, you’re safe with her.”

  Great. Hotchins thought he was complaining about Evelyn now. “As long as she’s in New York,” muttered Luke.

  “What was that?”

  “Evelyn told me that she wants to transfer back to her old position when this is all over. I’m just worried that the investigation will stretch on too long and she’ll go back sooner.” Or she’d finally let her anger take over and leave as soon as possible to get away from him. Luke was reasonably certain he could get Evelyn to come back to him if he had time. But he couldn’t woo her from across the country. Well, maybe he could, but the kind of chemistry he and Evelyn had in person was electric. He needed her to remember that feeling.

  And hopefully she’d realize how unique it was.

  “I’m sure Evelyn will stay until everything is taken care of,” said Hotchins.

  “I’m going back to the city tonight,” said Luke.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

  “I have no idea if it’s a good idea, but our theory about hiding out obviously didn’t get us anywhere and I have shit to get done.” True, but not work shit. As much as he trusted Evelyn as an agent, this situation with the Thirteen Stars was getting out of hand, and he needed to take over.

  He had one major advantage over the FBI. He had no problem breaking all laws necessary to get what he wanted. And he wanted Evelyn Price.

  In order for that to happen, Brian Longineu was going to have to go down.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Hi, Gail,” said Evelyn with a fake smile as she sat down on the other side of the interrogation table.

  The older woman looked as if she’d been through hell. Her eyes were red and puffy, her hair a tangled mess. Despite her attempts to be cold, Evelyn had to admit she felt bad for her former friend. She knew that Gail had been kept in nice conditions under the circumstances. She’d had a bed and blanket and, except for Hotchins, no one had interrogated her at all. So her deteriorating physical condition was almost completely due to stress and her guilty conscience.

  Which meant that there was still a federal agent in there somewhere.

  “Evelyn,” said Gail. “Believe it or not, I’m very happy you’re okay.”

  “I don’t know if I can believe that.” Gail had refused to talk to anyone but Evelyn after she was brought in on Monday, so she and Luke had split up. He was going to be secluded in his office for the morning, and Evelyn took the opportunity to get this interrogation over with as soon as possible. “I’m assuming you had your reasons for talking with Longineu.”

  A tear rolled down her face. “I don’t even know who I talked with. They never told me their name.
”

  “This person offered you money to give information about my investigation?”

  “No! Well, yes. It’s not that simple.”

  It never was. “Explain it to me.”

  “They stole our savings. Almost every penny from my husband’s 401k. We’d be left with nothing and the boys are still in college...”

  “You work for the FBI. If they committed financial fraud, why wouldn’t you come to us?”

  “Because they didn’t even take it!” She took a few deep breaths, as though trying to calm herself down. “They made it disappear. He didn’t direct the investments himself. He doesn’t know the first thing about money. So we checked the box that had the fund direct investments for us. And last year, every single cent was put into the highest risk investments in the market. There was nothing we could do.”

  They both knew that was a lie. If she had come to the agency, it would’ve raised alarms. Got people looking into it. But, that being said, they might not have been able to recover the money either. And money made people do things they normally wouldn’t do.

  “I tried to avoid giving them anything useful. They only asked for easy things at first. They only started asking harder questions recently. But I never told them the Devereauxs were working with you, I swear!”

  “You didn’t have to. You told them I was working the case and Longineu spotted me at Luke’s office. You remember how you recommended I go to his office?” Though Longineu had still somehow known exactly where she was sitting...

  “I didn’t want to.” More tears poured down Gail’s face.

  Evelyn wanted to be dispassionate about the whole scene, but it was hard not to feel sorry for the woman who’d almost caused her death. “Do you know if any other agents were working with them?”