The Undercover Billionaire

by Jackie Ashenden

  “All right,” Van said from behind him. “Now we’re all here, you’d better fucking explain what the hell is going on, Wolf. Because I’m sick of you sneaking around and being vague and generally a pain in my fucking rear.”

  Lucas said nothing. Obviously his middle brother agreed.

  Fuck.

  Wolf didn’t sit, he turned and went over to the windows, trying to collect his thoughts, figure out what the hell he was going to say. There was no point hiding anything now, or making excuses about not having the time to explain. Not that he had the energy for more subterfuge anyway.

  His brothers deserved to know the truth, because in many ways he’d failed them too.

  He kept his gaze out the window, his hands in his pockets. “You know I had a close relationship with Dad. Well, there was a reason for that. He told me that I was his real son.” There was nothing but silence behind him, so he went on. “He said that he and my mom were going to get married, but she left him, and didn’t tell him she was pregnant. He only found out three years later when he was contacted by someone at a boys home. Apparently a kid had been handed in, and he’d been named the father. So he went to find out about this kid, and there I was. He told me he’d had tests done and that, yes, I was his son. I had to keep it secret, because de Santis was a real threat and he didn’t want anything to happen to me.”

  More silence from behind him, but he could feel his brothers’ shock all the same.

  “He said that he was going to try to find Mom, and that one day, when the threat of de Santis was gone, he’d acknowledge me as his son and we’d be a family again, like we should have. But in order for that to happen, I was going to have to do a job for him. He wanted me to infiltrate the de Santis household. Get close to the old man, gain his trust. Be a double agent. He wanted information about what de Santis was doing, plus, when the time was right, I would be in position to take out the prick whenever Dad was ready.”

  “Fuck,” Van muttered at last. “You serious?”

  Wolf didn’t turn around, didn’t want to see his brother’s face. No doubt they thought he was stupid too, for believing all those lies, because he himself could hear now that he’d said it out loud, just how ridiculous they sounded.

  Christ. How had he ever believed them?

  Ignoring Van, he went on. “So I did. I did what he told me to. I got close to de Santis and to Olivia too. I did jobs for him, passed on information, made myself useful. All that kind of shit.” He paused. “That’s why I was around to save Grace, Luc. De Santis wanted that asshole taken out, so I took him out.”

  “I thought you were back on base,” Lucas said, sounding a little rough. “That you’d cut short your leave. That’s what you told us.”

  “Yeah, well, I lied. I’ve been in New York all this time.”

  “Why?” Van this time, the question barked out. “To stick around for de Santis?”

  At last Wolf turned around, looking both his brothers in the face. “You want to know what was in my letter from Dad? He told me he’d finally found out where Mom was. But he couldn’t get her out while de Santis was alive, which meant my final mission was to finish the job we’d started together. I had to kill him. Dad said in his letter that once de Santis was dead, I’d get the information about where Mom was. He also said he’d be sad he wasn’t here to finally be the family we’d always wanted, but that his name was on my birth certificate. I could get Mom and tell the world that Noah Tate was really my father. It wasn’t exactly the way we’d always planned it, but it was something.”

  Van muttered a curse, vicious and soft. “His name wasn’t on your birth certificate.”

  Wolf slowly shook his head. “No. And Mom? Turned out she died years ago.”

  Shock rippled over both his brothers’ faces.

  “What?” Lucas demanded. “What do you mean she died?”

  “I mean, Dad told me exactly what I wanted to hear. I wanted a family and so he promised me one. All I had to do was kill his enemy.”

  “Christ,” Van muttered, scowling. “That prick has a lot to answer for.”

  Lucas was staring at him, his sharp gaze inescapable. “So is that what you’ve been doing all this time? Planning on how to take de Santis down?”

  And failing. Always failing.

  Wolf tried to give his usual fuck-you smile, but it didn’t work. “I tried,” he said roughly. “I fucking tried. In fact, that’s where I’ve just been. I confronted him at his house, even had a gun. Even pulled the goddamn trigger. But he was wearing body armor, so all I did was knock him flat on his back.”

  Van’s expression darkened. He flicked at glance at Lucas, who frowned, then looked back at Wolf. “You shot him?”

  Wolf heard the condemnation, felt it like a knife in his chest. But he refused to look away, meeting his brother’s green-gold eyes head-on. “Yeah, I did. You gonna tell me I’m stupid too?”

  “Of course you’re fucking stupid,” Van growled. “I wouldn’t have picked you for a cold-blooded murderer, though.”

  The knife twisted, an intense, burning pain. “Turns out I’m a lot of things.” He tried to make it sound casual and not like he was falling apart on the inside. “I’m a weapon, Van. That’s all I was brought up to be. Dad fed me all those lies just to make me the bullet in his fucking gun.”

  “Oh bullshit.” Lucas’s cold voice was heavy with derision. “You’re a goddamn Navy SEAL. You’re no one’s fucking weapon.”

  Wolf shook his head. They didn’t understand, neither of them did. “I’m not even that, Jesus Christ. Where do you think I’m going now? I’m going to Virginia to hand in my goddamn trident. Because yeah, you’re right. I’m a murderer. I’m a coward. I’m a dumb fuck who didn’t know any better, and I don’t deserve to have it any longer.”

  Lucas’s chilly gaze glittered. “Why? Because you nearly killed a man? Because your Daddy lied to you and didn’t love you after all? Jesus, he told me that my mother burned alive because of a fire I lit. But do you see me running off to Virginia to hand in my trident? No, you don’t. I accept what I did, but I’m not letting it define me. And I’m not letting Noah and the way he manipulated me run my life, either.”

  Wolf took an involuntary step forward, his hands in fists at his sides, anger and pain feeling like they were tearing him apart. “I shot him, you fucking asshole. I shot him right in front of her and now…” He stopped, Olivia’s white face and the tears in her eyes as she got out of the car all he could see.

  You’ll never be hers.

  He couldn’t stand it then, being here in this room with the only two people he’d known for most of his life, the two men he’d looked up to and tried to be like, who were looking at him like he was a stranger and one they didn’t particularly like, either.

  Without a word, he headed straight for the door, only for Van to reach out, grabbing at Wolf’s arm. Wolf was taller than Van and a touch broader, but the strength in his oldest brother’s fingers brought him up short.

  “Wait.” Van’s voice was flat with authority. “This is about Olivia de Santis, isn’t it?”

  No, Christ no. He didn’t want to talk about Olivia and what he’d lost, not now. Not in front of these two men. “Let me fucking go,” he growled, trying to pull away.

  But Van held on. “It is, isn’t it? What did she say to you? Christ, if she hurt you—”

  “She didn’t,” Wolf lied, cutting straight across his brother. “She’s the only person in my whole fucking life who ever told me the truth.”

  So why don’t you believe her?

  The thought fell into a hole in his mind, dizzying him, and for a second the room faded away. There was only that question. And there was only one answer.

  He hadn’t believed her when she’d told him he was smart, that he was more than simply a weapon in his father’s hand. And he hadn’t, because he was afraid of the truth.

  He was afraid of being weak. Afraid of that hole inside him that wanted his father’s approval so desper
ately. That wanted so much to belong. So afraid, that he’d let himself believe his father’s promises, his lies, because belief was all he had. And then it had been turned against him.

  So how could he believe her? When everyone else had done nothing but lie to him?

  Van was staring at him, his gaze so sharp it was like he’d been taking sniper lessons from Lucas. “Jesus,” he said at last. “You’re in love with her.”

  Of course you are. You’ve been in love with her for years.

  “No,” Wolf said, though he could hear the lie in his voice as soon as it came out.

  “You fucking are.” Van let go of his arm. “Then you shot her dad. Good for you.”

  His fist was cocked, ready to punch Van in the face before he’d even realized what he was doing. “Don’t you fucking talk about her,” he growled. “Don’t even say her name.”

  But his brother didn’t look at the fist aimed at him. “What happened? She walk out on you?”

  Wolf said nothing, trying to resist the urge to punch him.

  You don’t want to punch him. You want to punch your own stupid face. Because you made the wrong decision. You should have believed her and you didn’t.

  “Yeah,” he ground out. “Funnily enough she didn’t like me shooting her father.”

  “Then why did you?”

  “Because apparently I’m fucking stupid.”

  It was Lucas who answered. “And you’ll be even stupider if you believe that bullshit.”

  “Fucking A.” Van didn’t take his eyes from Wolf’s. “Jesus Christ, Wolf. You’re volatile, but you’re not dumb. And if you let the woman you love go because of it, then you really do have shit for brains.”

  Wolf’s fist wavered, wanting to drive forward into his brother’s face.

  They didn’t understand, they just didn’t.

  Or maybe it’s you who doesn’t understand. She saw something in you and you’re still looking for every excuse in the book not to believe her.

  But if he did believe her, what then? Who would he be? Who would he belong to?

  You could belong to me …

  Longing swept over him, so intense he could hardly stand it. Oh God, if there was anyone in the entire world he wanted to belong to, it was her. But he’d refused her, made the wrong choice. He couldn’t take it back.… Could he?

  His fist slowly lowered.

  “I have to let her go,” he said hoarsely, even though he hadn’t meant to say anything at all. “I made the wrong choice. You can’t come back from that.”

  Van’s gaze flicked to Lucas’s then back again. “Of course you can. You fail and then you get back up and try again. Didn’t you learn anything at Coronado? Never quit, Wolf. You should know that.”

  “Never quit…”

  His breath caught.

  If he gave her up, let her go, he’d be quitting, no two ways about it. He’d be letting himself be defined by his father, by Cesare de Santis. Letting himself believe that he was simply the big dumb asshole who was weak when he should have been strong, who wasn’t worthy to be anyone’s son.

  Or he could make a different choice.

  He could choose to be the man he wanted to be, if only he knew what kind of man that was.

  You know what kind of man you want to be.

  Of course he did.

  He wanted to be the man Olivia thought he was.

  He wanted to be the man she loved.

  “Holy shit,” Van muttered, eyeing him. “What’s wrong now?”

  “I just thought of something.” Wolf jerked his arm out of his brother’s grip. “There’s someone I need to see.”

  Van opened his mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by his phone going off. Scowling, he held up his finger, indicating that Wolf was to wait, then pulled his phone out of the pocket of his jeans. His scowl deepened. “I have to take this. Looks like some shit is going down.”

  “What shit?” Lucas asked.

  Van only shook his head and hit a button, raising the phone to his ear.

  But Wolf was already turning away, heading for the door.

  He couldn’t wait.

  He had to see Olivia. Right the fuck now.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Olivia perched on the edge of the couch in the sitting room, her hands in her lap. Her father had been taken to a private hospital straightaway, before she’d managed to get back after Wolf had taken her, but everyone had assured her Cesare was alive. That it was true what Wolf had said, he’d been wearing body armor underneath his shirt. He’d probably have a broken rib or two, but he’d recover.

  After Clarence had asked her whether she wanted Wolf Tate taken down for what he’d done to the boss and she’d declined firmly, he’d called Angus, her father’s driver, assuming that Olivia would want to get to the hospital straightaway, and had been very surprised when she’d refused.

  Ignoring him, Olivia had gone straight to her father’s office and booted up his computer. Then she’d proceeded to copy every single one of his files onto a small hard drive that she’d then stuck in the pocket of her skirt.

  When the Feds came, de Santis staff would no doubt try to destroy his computer and make sure all those files were erased, but now she had them.

  Her father wasn’t going to be able to escape what he’d done, not this time.

  She didn’t know what to do after that, so she’d gone downstairs, thinking to wait in the sitting room, though what she was waiting for she had no idea.

  She was still so angry and hurt at Wolf. At his refusal to accept what she kept telling him, his refusal to listen to her. Proving to her that her love didn’t matter to him, not one goddamn bit.

  Then again, her love had never mattered to anyone, had it? It hadn’t saved her mother and it hadn’t saved her father.

  All it had done was hurt her.

  She got up in the end and walked out of the room, pausing only to grab a coat, and then, after another idea struck her, making a detour into her father’s study yet again to grab something else from his desk.

  A gun.

  After slipping it into the pocket of her coat, she went back downstairs and let herself out the front door.

  She walked down the sidewalk, not having any direction in mind, just needing to move, her brain going over and over what had happened. Wolf pulling that trigger and her father falling.

  “I’m a fucking weapon. That’s all I am. That’s all I’ll ever be.”

  Tears slipped down her cheeks and she let them fall. She’d already cried a lot today, so what was a few more?

  She had no idea what she was going to do now. It all seemed so pointless. The Feds would come and they would pull apart her father’s life, and they would pull apart hers too. With any luck they’d believe her that she had no idea what her father had done and she wouldn’t be named as an accessory, but she had to accept the fact that she might be.

  She’d tell them the truth whatever happened.

  The sidewalk was still icy so she kept her head down, watching her step, so she didn’t see the man in front of her until it was too late to avoid him.

  It was like cannoning into a tree.

  Her hands came up to steady herself against a rock-hard chest and she was looking up, an apology already coming out of her mouth, “Oh God, I’m so sorry. I didn’t see—”

  Whatever she’d been going to say died in her throat.

  The man was looking down at her and one of his eyes was green and one was blue. He had a short, black Mohawk, and his hands were large and warm, and they were gripping onto her arms, holding her still.

  “Olivia,” Wolf said, his gravely voice rough round the edges.

  She stiffened, a flood of fury and pain erupting inside her and she reached into the pocket of her coat for the very small, DS Corp handgun. It was tiny, experimental, and she had no idea why she’d even slipped it in there in the first place, it had just seemed like a good idea at the time.

  She knew now.

  Her
fingers closed around it and she’d whipped it out of her pocket and pressed against Wolf’s flat stomach before she’d even thought about it. “Remember what I said if you came back?” she said softly. “If you even thought about touching me?”

  His eyes widened, but he didn’t move or let her go. “Do it,” he said. “I deserve it.”

  And she knew all of a sudden that if she was to pull that trigger, he wouldn’t avoid the shot. He’d take it and he wouldn’t stop her.

  Pain closed her throat. “What are you doing? Why did you come back?”

  “Because I had to tell you something.”

  “Tell me what?” She pressed the barrel harder against his gut, his abs tensing as she did so. He was so close she could feel the heat of his body and the warmth of his palms soaking through her blouse. It made her ache.

  “That I should have listened to you,” he murmured roughly, searching her face. “That I shouldn’t have pulled that trigger. I should have believed you when you told me I didn’t have to be a machine, I didn’t have to be a weapon. But I didn’t listen and I didn’t believe you, because I’m a fucking idiot and I was afraid. Because choosing to believe you’re stupid was a better excuse than choosing to believe a lie.” His fingers gripped her harder. “You were right. I was still doing what Dad wanted, still being what he wanted me to be, and I told myself that’s what I wanted to be too. Because he’s my Dad and I loved him, and I wanted him to love me back. I wanted to be his son.” His voice turned hoarse. “But he didn’t love me, Liv. He lied to me. Everyone fucking lied to me. And so … I couldn’t let myself believe you.”

  Her throat constricted and she had to swallow in order to breathe.

  “But you’ve never lied to me,” he went on, hoarsely, raggedly. “You’ve never lied, not one time. So I’ve got no fucking excuse now, have I? I’ve got no choice but to believe you. That I’m not just a weapon. That I’m smarter than I thought I was.” He was tugging her close, and it had to have hurt to have the barrel of the gun sticking into his stomach, but if it did he gave no sign, those brilliant eyes holding hers, full of something fierce that reached inside her and gripped her tight. “I’ve got no choice but to believe that I’m the man you seem to think I am. I’ve got no choice but to become that man.” His massive chest heaved as he inhaled raggedly. “I want to, Liv. I want to be that man. I don’t want to be a weapon anymore. I don’t want to be another fucking tool all those bastards use to hurt each other. I want to belong to you. Because you’re the woman I love.”