The Billionaire Bad Boy Plan

by Michelle Love

  He hoped that very much.

  Sam opened his eyes, his vision coming in and out of focus. Isa. Isa had saved him. The pain in his head was excruciating, but he searched his vision for any sign of her. He knew she had been there; he could smell her perfume. Whoever had hit him from behind had been strong, very strong to be able to drag his six-five body out here to the boathouse. Isa would stand no chance against whoever it was. Sam staggered to his feet and lurched toward the house.

  I’m coming, baby, I’m coming…

  Cal couldn’t take his eyes from her, and he thought now that he couldn’t blame Sam and Karl for being so enchanted with this woman. Dudek – ha, he’d enjoyed torturing that sap before he had killed him – even then Karl’s loyalty to Isa hadn’t faltered. He had taken him to a small trailer out on one of the highways, a place no-one ever went, but was still connected to a power supply. The big chest freezer he’d installed only last week. He knew he would keep Karl’s body until he needed it. But first, he wanted to have some fun.

  ‘Strip.’

  The gun was pressed to his forehead, but Karl Dudek didn’t move. Cal cocked his head to the side, amused. ‘You think you can disobey me, moron? Strip.’ Karl looked into the taller man’s eyes and saw the blankness there. No humanity. Trembling, he pulled his clothes off, let them drop to the floor.

  Cal smirked. ‘And your underwear.’ Karl dropped his shorts, cupping his genitals. Cal motioned to the chair and Karl sat.

  ‘You don’t scare me.’ Karl’s voice was scratchy. Cal laughed, and pulling out a handkerchief, started to open the drawers in the trailer’s kitchen. ‘I ain’t got nothing worth taking.’

  Cal turned back to him. ‘Now Karl, you do yourself a disservice.’ He pulled something out of a drawer and handed it to him. A knife. Karl frowned, fear starting to curl his stomach. ‘You have something I very much want to take.’

  Karl stared at him, not understanding. Cal sat down on the bunk next to his chair, fixed the gun at him. ‘Slice your finger. Do it.’

  Karl obeyed, slicing the tip of his index finger. Cal looked at the cupboards next to him. ‘Write…’I’m sorry.’

  Slowly, Karl realized what was going to happen. ‘No. You wanna kill me, you’re going to have to shoot me.’ His face set with determination. Cal smiled. It was strangely sensual.

  ‘Karl… I know you want Isa to be safe…don’t you, Karl?’ He leaned in so his face was an inch from Karl’s. Karl tried not to show how scared he was.

  ‘You leave her alone.’

  ‘Well now that’s very much in your hands, Karl. Because by the end of the night one of you will be dead. And either you do as I tell you - sacrifice yourself for her - or I’ll put a knife in her gut. I’ll kill her and it won’t be quick, Karl, I can promise you that.’ He smiled pleasantly.

  Karl was shaking uncontrollably. He smelled his own piss, warm, pungent, felt it pool on the seat, heard it drip on the floor. Cal looked at him, contempt. He gestured to the cabinets again.

  ‘Write.’

  Karl obeyed. His whole body felt cold, numb. Cal watched him, his eyes unblinking.

  ‘Now,’ and his smile terrified Karl,’ disembowel yourself.’

  Karl stared at him, uncomprehending. Cal sighed.

  ‘Cut yourself open. Can I make it simpler, moron? Either you stick that knife in your gut and slice it open… or she dies.’

  Cal waited. Karl closed his eyes, murmured a prayer and, taking a deep breath in, rammed the blade into his abdomen. Agony beyond belief. He screamed and Cal shoved an oily rag into his mouth to silence him. Karl choked and gagged, jerking the knife along his belly, begging for God to take him now, please God, now…

  As Karl Dudek cut himself open, Cal Petersen laughed, put his lips to the dying man’s ear and whispered. ‘You fool. You utter fool…you can’t save her, no one can. Hear this Karl, hear this. I’m going to kill her anyway….’

  She knew it was over when she opened her eyes and saw how she’d been bound. This is it, Isa thought calmly; this is the end. She looked up and held Cal’s gaze, saying nothing.

  He smiled at her. ‘Hey, gorgeous.’

  Isa stayed silent. She would not give him the satisfaction. She kept her face calm despite the lurching terror she felt and when Cal showed her the knife in his hand.

  ‘You look so beautiful tonight, Isabel. So, beautiful.’

  Silence. Cal smiled and ran the tip of the knife down her cheek. ‘No one is coming to save you now.’

  ‘Go fuck yourself.’ Quiet. Calm. Measured.

  Cal smirked – and she saw him grip the handle of the knife. She waited for the pain.

  ‘Isa!’

  A voice from far away. Sam’s voice. Both Cal and Isa looked towards it, then at each other.

  ‘Fuck.’ Cal stood, and suddenly Isa was scared he’d kill Sam. No. No-one else. But Cal turned back to her with a smile. ‘Shame. I was going to enjoy doing this slowly.’

  ‘Like I said,’ Isa said in a low tone. ‘Go fuck yourself.’ Then she drew in a long breath and screamed with all the strength she had left. ‘Sam!’

  Cal growled and drove the knife deep into her belly. She gasped; the pain was unimaginable, but Cal did not stop, stabbing her over and over, frenzied, merciless.

  Isa could taste blood – her blood – felt her entire body go cold as she bled out. Cal twisted the knife in her stomach, and she groaned as the steel sliced through her.

  Sam… Isabel Flynn’s last conscious thought was of her love, her beautiful, wonderful, love and how he would be destroyed by this.

  Sam…I’m sorry…I love you…I love you…I…

  He heard her scream and adrenaline coursed through Sam’s body as he turned towards the sound of it. Then he heard another choked-off cry, a cry of agony.

  No. No, this wasn’t happening.

  Karl Dudek was dead, confirmed dead. She should have been safe. Sam stumbled through the house, trying to hear her voice again but now all he heard was the blood rushing in his ears.

  Cal’s frenzy calmed, and he threw the knife to the ground, taking in what he had done. Isa was struggling to breathe, her lovely eyes agonized, confused, her beautiful body ruined by his knife. She choked, coughing up blood and Cal laughed.

  ‘Sam will be here any second. And he’ll know; he doesn’t win this time. He’s so goddamned crazy about you this will destroy him. Your death will kill everything he is; he’ll be broken.’

  He stroked her face then cut her bindings and laid her on the floor. Her eyes were closed, and her breath was coming in faint gasps now. He bent down and kissed her still warm lips. ‘Goodbye, beautiful Isabel. This really is the end.’

  He left her bleeding out and slipped into the shadows, wanting to hear the moment Sam found her.

  ‘Isa? Oh God, no, no, no, no, no, no… please… help me! Someone help me! Isa, please, no…’

  Cal heard the horror in his brother’s voice, the heartbreak, the terror and he smiled. In a few hours, he would be by his side, comforting him, acting the strong supportive brother, telling him over and over that they would never stop hunting for Isa’s killer. In seconds, he was out of the hospital and into the inky Washington night.

  Sam fell to his knees beside her. ‘No…. no…’ He couldn’t breathe. Isa. She was so still, so silent. God, what she must have gone through, the terror… the pain….

  He gathered her to him, and she moaned slightly. Alive. Oh thank God…

  ‘Baby? I’m here, I’m here, please stay with me…’

  Isa murmured something and Sam tried to make it out but then her head fell back, and she passed out. He scrambled for his cell phone, praying the attacker hadn’t cut them off. As he called the emergency services, he could not take his eyes from his love. Please, don’t let me be too late.

  Isa opened her eyes and gazed at him, mouthing something. I love you…

  ‘I love you too, baby, just please, please hold on for me.’

  She nodded and tried to speak a
gain. He bent his ear to her mouth.

  She said one word.

  Cal.

  And with that word, Sam’s world came crashing down.

  Sam asked Cal to meet him at the apartment later that day. Sam waited for Cal to arrive, a feeling of calm in his body. He still couldn’t believe what Isa had told him. One word. Cal.

  Focus. Breathe. See this through. Halsey knew, he was on his way. Sam had spoken to him at the hospital and Halsey, although conflicted, had said to him, ‘Do what you have to do.’

  Sam was grateful to him. More than anything now, he needed to know. Why?

  He closed his eyes against the images of Isa’s bleeding and broken body lying so still in his arms.

  ‘Bro? Where you at?’ Cal. So calm. So nonchalant. Sam looked up as Cal walked into the room.

  ‘What’s up? You look terrible.’ So much fake concern.

  Sam fixed his brother with a stare.

  ‘Isa’s dead.’

  Cal was staring at him in horror. ‘What?’

  Sam gazed back at his brother. ‘She’s been murdered. I found her. God, so much blood.’

  Cal shook his head. ‘No, no. God, Sam, I’m so… how?’

  ‘God, my god, my god, Isa…’ Even though he was giving a performance, the horror of what had happened hit him, Sam’s legs gave way, and he sank to the ground, sobbing. Cal rushed to him, holding his older brother as he cried out like a wounded animal. ‘Cal, how can she be gone? Why would anyone do that to her? My girl…. my girl…’

  ‘Christ, Sam, I’m so sorry.’

  ‘I call the paramedics straight away, but they couldn’t save her.’

  ‘Oh, my god.’

  The two brothers were silent as Sam gathered himself. ‘Before she died, she told me something, Cal.’

  Cal shook his head, smiling. ‘What was that?’

  ‘She told me who stabbed her.’

  ‘Did she?’ Cal was grinning now, knowing exactly what he was going to say.

  Sam was very still. Taking in his half-brother’s smug, all-knowing, murderous smirk. How was this possible?

  ‘I can’t believe this is happening.’ Sam got up and threw up into a trash can. No, this couldn’t be happening. It was all true. Cal had stabbed Isa, had stalked her, terrorized her and then finally he had kept his promise and brutalized her. He couldn’t help but picture Cal stabbing his love, driving his knife into her again and again, wanting to see the light go from her eyes. Beyond doubt now, angry sobs coming from him, he turned – and Cal was pointing a gun at him.

  ‘You killed her.’

  Cal smiled. ‘Of course I did. Do you want to know what it felt like to stick that knife in her? Heaven. After all this time. She was brave, very calm. And I told her why: that you have everything and I had nothing our whole lives. That she was the final straw.’

  Sam shook his head. ‘How did you have nothing? You had everything I did: money, opportunity. Everything.’

  ‘Except our father’s love.’

  Sam laughed humorlessly. ‘You’re kidding, right? You killed my beautiful girl because Daddy didn’t love you? You sick fuck. He never loved anyone after my mother was murdered. He took your mom in after she got pregnant with you and gave her a good life. Gave you everything I ever had. Yeah, he had trouble expressing love. Poor, poor, fucking psycho Cal. Did you do Paul and Seb too?’

  Cal smirked nastily. ‘Yep. But Isa was the prize. God, you have any idea of how long I planned to kill her?’

  He moved closer to Sam, who stayed silent, the rage in him building. Cal leaned in. ‘Since that first time you fucked her. I saw you, I followed you out to that island, to the gallery. When I saw her… god, I wanted her? Who wouldn’t? But of course, you got there first. How long was it before she let you fuck her? An hour? Two? Whore. When you two were asleep, I got into the apartment and just watched you. I wondered about putting a knife in her then, have you wake up to her dead beside you. But then, I thought: No. Let him fall in love with her, let him know he could never live without her and then take her away in the worst, most brutal way. Which what I did.’ He smiled. ‘You were too late by seconds, Sam. Seconds.’

  Sam roared then and charged him. Cal fired at him, and Sam felt the red-hot iron of the bullet in his shoulder, but he didn’t care. He plowed into Cal and knocked him back, onto the floor, his hands around his half-brother’s throat. Cal was laughing.

  ‘Do you think I care if you kill me now, Sammy? Do you honestly think I care anymore? I did what I meant to do.’

  He managed to ram his knee into Sam’s stomach, and the older man jerked backward, winded. Cal was up then, his fist connecting with Sam’s face. Sam staggered back, and Cal was on him.

  ‘You always had to have everything, didn’t you? Every single good thing. But not her…why should you have her and not me? My only regret is that I didn’t get to fuck her before I killed her.’

  Sam roared, his rage all-consuming and then Cal could not match him. Sam slammed him back against the wall, Cal’s head perilously close to the marble fireplace. Cal gave him a bloody grin, his mouth cut open from the ferocity of Sam’s blows.

  ‘I don’t care what you do to me now, brother, I really don’t. Because I got to kill Isa, got to feel her blood on my hands.’

  Sam suddenly stopped, his hands clutching Cal’s head, and his gaze bore down on his betrayer. ‘I am going to kill you, but there’s just one more thing, Cal, and I want you to die knowing it.’

  Cal was smug. ‘And what’s that?’

  Sam smiled then and bent his head, so his lips were at his brother’s ear. ‘Isa’s not dead.’

  Cal’s eyes widened in stunned horror, but just for a millisecond before, with all his might, Sam slammed his head hard against the marble fireplace and cracked Cal’s skull wide open.

  A few minutes later, Halsey arrived – alone. He took one look at Sam, sitting against the far wall away from his brother’s body. Halsey checked Cal’s pulse. Dead. Good riddance. He glanced at Sam.

  ‘Sam, go, get out of here. I’ll deal with this.’

  Sam looked at him, confused. ‘John, I did this. I’ll come along with you; I won’t make a fuss.’

  Halsey looked at him. ‘Sam, after everything you’ve been through…look, I should have…god; I don’t know but this I do. You’ve been through enough. Let me deal with this. Go see Isa. Tell her I hope she feels better soon.’

  Sam scrambled to his feet and shook the other man’s hand. ‘Thank you, John, thank you. From the bottom of my heart.’

  John Halsey nodded. ‘Get out of here.’

  With a grateful smile, Sam shot one last look at his dead brother, and rushed out of the room. John Halsey looked down at Cal Levy’s body and shook his head.

  ‘Motherfucker,’ he said quietly and went to work.

  Isa sat up in the hospital bed, feeling sore, wounded but relieved to be alive. It had been a close call, they had told her, but after being airlifted to the city, and taken straight into a seven-hour surgery, she’d pulled through.

  When she woke two days later, she found Sam by her side and they stared at each other for the longest time before kissing.

  ‘What happened?’ She touched his bandaged shoulder. Sam shrugged.

  ‘He managed to get a shot off. It’s not bad. Nothing to what he did to you.’ He gave a strange, strangled laugh. ‘How the hell you’re still alive? Jesus. You’re made of strong stuff, baby.’

  She laughed but then her face turned serious. She hesitated, looking away from him.

  ‘The body in the fire…’

  Sam’s hand tightened on hers. ‘Honey. It was Karl. Cal murdered him weeks before, kept his body in a deep freeze.’

  They looked at each other for a long moment. Isa swallowed the lump in her throat and asked the question she didn’t know if she wanted the answer to.

  ‘Is Cal in jail?’ Her voice was small.

  Sam shook his head. ‘No, baby, he’s gone. Gone.’

  ‘Dead?’r />
  ‘Yes. Very, very dead. This time it really is all over, darling. All over.’

  She let out a breath. ‘Good.’

  He covered her mouth with his, feeling her respond and smiled. When they broke apart, he became serious.

  ‘Marry me.’

  She stroked his cheek, chuckling. ’We’re already married.’

  ‘I mean, properly, in front of our friends, you in a big meringue dress, me in a morning suit, Zoe giving you away.’

  Isa grinned, tears in her eyes. ‘You know what, just this once, yes. Okay. Let’s be ostentatious. I think we earned it.’

  He kissed her. ‘God, Isa, I’m so sorry I didn’t stop him from hurting you. I just couldn’t believe he would do this.’

  Isa shook her head, stroking his face. ‘None of us did, baby. At least no-one else died.’

  Sam looked down and she frowned.

  ‘What?’

  Sam was silent for a minute. ‘Casey’s dead too. Cal killed her. Halsey found her before he came for us. Cal shot her.’

  Isa was shocked. ‘Oh, my God. I’m sorry.’

  Sam’s hand tightened on hers. ‘I’m not.’

  ‘Sam!’

  ‘I’m sorry, Isa, but she got what she deserved. She was screwing him for years, even when I was married to her. She wanted you dead as much as he did. Together they planned your murder, Isa. They designed your murder.’

  ‘And paid with her own life.’

  Sam nodded. ‘I guess she’d outlived her usefulness. After all, that was his endgame. Neither you nor I were meant to survive. I’m surprised he didn’t go after Zoe too.’ He sighed. ‘If Casey…. I want to blame her for everything. But I can’t. I blame myself.’

  ‘Don’t you dare do that, Sam Levy, just don’t. We all make mistakes and if you’re to blame then so am I. But the fact is Cal was psychotically jealous of everything you had. I was just an object for him to possess. And when I fell I love with you, the only way that his deranged mind could deal with that was to kill me.’