“Don’t worry about it. He brought up some small properties up in Maine and I told him to look into it. If we decide to acquire the properties, he’ll be handling the takeover.”
“You gave him busywork?”
“I gave him work to keep him busy.” It also happened to be the kind of work that Nathan thrived on. The small mom-and-pop places like they were thinking of acquiring were always a bitch. No matter how generous they were with their purchase offers, emotions ran high. Nathan could convince a preacher to sell the church that had been in the family for centuries if he put on his special brand of charm. “It’s going to be fine,” said Alex. “Trust me.”
Robert was more than happy to relinquish some of his control over the Farrell empire if it meant he could be with Malia more, but it wasn’t coming naturally to him. To his credit, the midnight phone calls wanting to know how things were going were becoming fewer and farther between.
“If you’re not worried then...”
“Call him yourself. Invite him to Broadway. Nathan’s never been opposed to a musical or two.”
Robert rolled his eyes. “Nathan isn’t opposed to a musical if he can get laid.”
“Yeah, but you can act like Malia is making you call and ask. Then you can get a feel for his state of mind without seeming like you’re actually being a big brother.”
“Blame Malia, huh?”
“I doubt she’d mind.”
“Anything to keep the family together.”
“We are,” said Alex.
“What?”
“Together. We’re getting there. Nathan is doing better; Logan is out. Jean found us. We’re in a better spot now than we have been in a long time.”
“And we’re going to have one more girl in the family soon.”
Alex blinked a few times. “You’re marrying Malia?”
Robert was taken aback. “What? No. I mean, yeah, definitely, but I wasn’t talking about that. Jean’s baby. She’s pregnant with a girl.”
Huh. So he was going to be an uncle. Or half uncle. However those things worked. That was...strange. He knew he was going to be an uncle already, but knowing it was going to be a little baby girl somehow made it different. A little baby girl with Colin Carter as a father.
Poor thing wasn’t going to be allowed to date until she was thirty.
“There should be a party, right? We have to buy gifts or something.”
Robert nodded. “I think that’s what normal families do.”
“I’ll call Jean and see what she wants. I think any excuse to get together with family is something she wants. She and Colin are flying in tomorrow. I guess she wants to be around as much family as possible when she has the baby.”
“That’s good. The family is better together.” Robert probably was happy Jean would be close by considering he still had guilt about spending so much time in Hawaii.
Alex nodded. “Go. Enjoy your day. Don’t go to the office.”
“Because there’s something you don’t want me to see?”
“Because you need to relax. I have everything under control. I promise.”
Well, this wasn’t under control. Alex guided the Audi R8 to the gate at the Connecticut house. Sitting outside of the gate was a police cruiser and an officer who looked particularly pissed off as he said something into the intercom.
Alex drove alongside the cruiser and rolled down his window. “Everything okay, Officer?”
The young kid looked as if he was barely out of the academy and Alex was willing to bet that he had no idea who he was dealing with.
“I’m Officer Hart. I am responding to a report of a stolen car on this property. I’ve been trying to get inside, but I’ve been denied entrance.”
Ashley. Her stepfather must really want her back if he’d gone as far as to call the cops on her. “A stolen car? I think it’s unlikely that there would be a stolen car on my property.”
The cop glanced to the obviously expensive estate in front of them and back to Alex. “It’s what the insurance-installed tracker told me.”
Alex pushed the button to open the gate. “Well, why don’t you come in and we’ll sort this out.” He hit the gas and sped down the long driveway leading to the house and slammed the brakes right in front of the main entrance. Ashley’s car—rather, Geoff’s car—was in plain view and there was no time to move it.
As soon as he walked inside, Mr. Jones and Ashley were coming to the door. Jones from the back of the first level and Ashley running down the stairs. “Alex—” she started, but he held up a hand to stop her.
“I need you out of sight for a few minutes. Jones, let the officer in. Get him a drink. Tell him I had to take a call and will be right out.”
Ashley immediately started back up the stairs; Alex rushed to the back of the house and to the left until he reached his office. His computer was always on, so he unlocked it and did a quick search on Officer Hart; first name Scott. It wasn’t long before he knew exactly what precinct he worked at and who his direct supervisor was.
Never go into a battle without the upper hand. He might hate Walter, but the man had instilled some damn good life lessons in him, that was sure.
Alex stood and fixed his suit jacket, which was wrinkled after the long drive into and back from the city. As he walked, he adjusted his sleeves and rolled his neck. This was going to be easy.
The officer was in the sitting room, looking exceptionally uncomfortable. For something called the sitting room, people really hated to sit.
“Thanks for waiting,” said Alex. “So I hear I’ve stolen a car? I have to say, that’s news to me.”
The officer stood straighter. “There’s a white Porsche outside registered to Geoff Cameron. He reported it missing off his property last night. Do you know how it got here?”
Alex kept his face blank. “It was there this morning. I already have a Porsche. Mine’s red. I don’t need a white one.”
The officer didn’t appear amused. “Can I see the registration for the white Porsche on your property, sir?”
“No need for a formal title. Call me Alex. Alex Farrell.”
For his part, the officer didn’t show any intimidation at the name, but the slight narrowing of the eyes let Alex know that the guy realized who he was talking to.
Alex held out his hand and Officer Hart took it. Alex tightened his grip and pulled the cop in close. “Now you can take the car and do whatever the hell you want with it. But you tell Geoff that if he ever sends the cops or any of his men to my home again, or even if he drags his ass out here himself, then I will give him something to fear.” Alex let go and patted the officer on the shoulder. “I hope we’re good. I’d hate to have to call Percy and tell him we had a problem.”
At the mention of his supervisor, Hart took a step back. “I’ll have a tow out for the car as soon as possible.”
“No tow necessary. I’m betting the keys are going to be inside the car if we look hard enough.”
The cop nodded. “Sounds good to me.”
Alex left the sitting room and made his way to Ashley’s room. He pushed open her door without knocking and she jumped up from where she sat at the bay window. “I need the keys to your car.”
After a momentary pause, Ashley pulled them out of her bag and handed them off to him.
“Is there anything in the car you need?”
Ashley shook her head and Alex turned to leave.
“Wait!” she called softly.
Alex stopped.
“You’re not going to turn me over?”
“Call me crazy, but I don’t want to see you arrested for auto theft.”
“If you do this, you’ll piss Geoff off,” she warned.
Alex twisted to face her, and her face fell as she took a step back. He didn’t try to hide the anger that was so close to rising to the surface. “Geoff can be as pissed as he wants. I’m not an enemy he wants.”
Geoff Cameron looked out of his window over the city. He could feel his v
ictory closing in. Just a few more meetings and he’d have the Lieberman accounts locked down. That would mean six figures in his pocket immediately.
It really was a good day. But not good enough. He wouldn’t be able to truly breathe until he had her back.
His computer flashed to the screensaver mode and there she was. It was the three of them. Him, Nadia, and Ashley. She was smiling in the picture. She liked to make it sound as if he was so mean to her, but this picture told a different story. That smile. The way it lit up her blue eyes. He gave her that smile. It was their trip to San Diego. They were at the zoo, and Geoff’s driver, who’d helped to carry bags, had taken the picture.
Why couldn’t she remember the good times? Yes, Nadia’s loss had been tragic, but that was in the past now. They could move on. They could be happy together.
“Sir?” said his secretary from the doorway to his office. “There’s a Captain Percy Darchs on the phone for you.”
Geoff perked up. This was the news he was hoping for. “Thanks, Susan.” He picked up the phone and brought it to his ear, already grinning in victory. “Percy! I’ve been waiting for your call. Did you recover my car?”
“The good news is that we have located the car and our officers are arranging to have it towed to a location of your choice.”
“I knew there was a reason I put in a good word for you with the mayor.” It was amazing the shit he could get done with a word here and there. He didn’t even need to throw money at things. He had enough weight that one significant glance could get zoning boards and lower politicians to go his way.
“And I appreciate that, Mr. Cameron. If there’s anything I can help you with in the future, you have my private line and you’ll get right through.”
Wait, that wasn’t all, was it? “What about the woman who stole the car?” He’d been envisioning getting Ashley back all morning. He’d walk into the jail cell or wherever she was being held, and she’d run right into his arms and thank him for being so forgiving. She’d be confused, but he’d make her understand. He was doing all this for her.
“There was no woman located with the car.”
“That’s not possible. Was it on the side of the road or something?”
“One of my officers found it on the property of one of the Farrell boys.”
Geoff threw his coffee mug across the room. It smashed against the thick glass windows, sending glass and what was left of the brown liquid all over the office. Geoff knew exactly what happened. If it was a Farrell, that meant the cop never even tried to look for her. A Farrell wouldn’t allow it without a warrant, and Geoff would know if they needed to get a warrant. “You’re telling me that you’re just going to let her get away?”
“We got the car back. That’s the important part, right?”
“No. The important part is that I get what’s mine back. Everything that’s mine.”
Farrell or not, he was getting Ashley back. It was only a matter of time.
Ashley sat at the edge of the wall and looked down at the water. It was low tide so there was a long distance between her bare feet and the waves below. The water looked cold and angry, reflecting the cloudy skies above.
But it didn’t appear as though it was about to rain. It was the type of cloud cover that hung around for no apparent reason. Not raining, but blocking the sun anyway. Ashley had a feeling it would upset a lot of people, but with her fair skin, she appreciated the excuse to not wear sunblock.
Especially considering she didn’t have any sunblock with her.
“You’re not supposed to sit there,” said Alex from behind her.
Ashley turned around and looked up at him. He was still in his suit pants and nice shoes, but his jacket was gone and his shirt was unbuttoned. She’d already felt exactly how strong and hard he was even now, but now she glimpsed the tight shirt he wore beneath the button-down.
“I promise not to fall in,” said Ashley even as she mentally double-checked her stance to make sure she wouldn’t accidentally topple over. The currents could be so intense that if she fell in at the wrong time, she might never make it to the safety ladder thirty feet to the left of her.
Alex seemed to believe her as he got down to sit on the wall next to her. He took off his shoes and socks one by one until he was barefoot as well.
“Thanks for today.” Ashley looked out at the water instead of at Alex.
“I have plenty of cars for you to use,” said Alex. “I sent Jones to pick you up some basics too. Maybe tomorrow you can run out to get some clothes.”
Makeup. It had been too many days in a row without makeup. All she had was the normal random lipsticks in her purse. But she missed her moisturizer and foundation and mascara. Her eyelashes were almost as light as her hair, so mascara was pretty much a necessity for her. But as much as she wanted to get back to her version of normal, Alex offering to buy her things wasn’t a solution. It was a Band-Aid on a mortal stab wound. “I can pay for my own things,” she reminded him. “I just need you to help me get access to my funds.”
“The marriage thing.”
“The marriage thing,” she agreed.
“I mentioned the situation to my lawyer today. He said he’s going to look into ways to get the terms of the will looked at.”
“You want me to take Geoff to court.” Of course he would. Alex was a fighter. It’s what he did. He fought battles and won. Except Ashley wasn’t like that. “I don’t want to fight him. I just want this entire thing behind me.”
“You’ll have all my muscle behind you. All my lawyers. You won’t be under his thumb anymore.”
“I’ll be under yours.” Trading one man who ruled her for another. Admittedly, Alex didn’t seem to have the same domineering personality, but the point stood.
“But if you marry me, you’ll be in complete control? I hate to break it to you, but marriage has been an institutionalized way to subvert and subdue women for centuries.”
“When I marry you, I’ll get my money. In this day and age, marriage barely counts. Money is what matters.”
“Marriage matters to me.” Alex abruptly stood and started back to the house.
Ashley twisted around and carefully got up so she wouldn’t fall into the water and followed him inside. “Fine. If you don’t want to marry me, then I’ll move on. You still have brothers, right?”
Alex pivoted around and advanced on her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nathan is closer to my age than you. Maybe he’d be a better option. He’s used do doing crazy things on a whim. I’m sure I can...convince him.” She looked innocently up at Alex and tried not to be cowed by the ticking in his jaw.
“You stay away from Nathan.”
“Don’t worry about your brother. I already told you, I’m not a gold digger. I’ll be completely up front with him just like I was with you.”
Alex took another step closer. “You’re going to offer him the same thing you offered me?”
Ashley tried to find her voice. “It seems fair.”
“You’re going to offer to fuck Nathan in exchange for his name?”
Ashley tilted her chin up in defiance. “In exchange for his signature on a piece of paper, I’ll do whatever Nathan wants me to do. He’s about as pretty as you are. Maybe I can even close my eyes and pretend it’s you.”
Alex reached out and grabbed her arm. Not painfully, but forcefully. “Nathan isn’t going to touch you.”
Ashley leaned in closer. “Then stop him. Sign the paper yourself. But you can’t have it both ways, Alex. You’re my first choice, but my number-one priority will always be my freedom. If you’re not going to get it for me, I’ll get it from someone else.”
“Not Nathan,” he repeated, his grip tightening.
“Then who? Who do you want me to go batting my eyelashes at? Maybe next time I’ll buy them a few drinks first to make them more agreeable than you. I can wear a short little skirt to give them a preview of what they’re getting out of the deal.” His grip
tightened again, and she knew she was hitting a nerve. “I have this great little dress. It’s all black sequins, which I thought would look gaudy as hell, but when I put it on, every man in the room has to look at me. It’s like it calls to them. I bet if I walked into a bar in Manhattan wearing that, I’d have fifty different rich Wall Street guys begging to marry me.”
Alex snapped and he bent forward to kiss her roughly. Ashley didn’t fight him. She didn’t want to. She might not know who this new Alex was or really think they’d be compatible as husband and wife, but she trusted him. She trusted him to do the right thing by her, she trusted him to protect her, and she trusted that even if he slept with every pretty woman who looked his way, she’d still always want him on some level.
So she set an arm over his shoulders and let her body fall against his as she kissed him back. Even though she’d been apart from him for so long, his body came back to her. Just like that first night on the island in the kitchen, she molded herself to him, pressing her breasts to his hard chest and feeling the very evident erection pressed against her stomach.
Alex finally let go of her arm to run his hands over her back, one cupping the nape of her neck to hold her in place as he deepened the kiss. The other moved lower and settled half in and half out of the waistband of her shorts.
It had been so long since she’d kissed anyone, let alone her Alex, it was easy to get carried away. Even the smallest things seemed so sensual. The size of his hands against her. The stubble under her fingertips. How his fingers would tighten on her ass, a grip that would’ve been painful if it didn’t turn her on so much.
When he pulled away from the kiss, they were both gasping for air. But instead of dropping her as if she were on fire and escaping into the house, Alex held her close, resting his forehead against hers. “I’m not a white knight,” he said finally.
Ashley tightened her lips as she tried to bring herself back to earth. “I’m not a damsel,” she managed between breaths. “I’m a businesswoman offering you a deal.”
Restless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series, #4) Page 5