Ruthless (A Lawless Novel)

by Lexi Blake

  “Good for old Riley.” Kyle turned down the hall past her own office. He nodded toward her door. “That’s mine now. It always should have been mine. Your father was weak, and God knows you’re completely pathetic. You’re not cut out for this level of the business world. I always knew that.”

  “Yes, you’re so much more suited. You couldn’t even finish college. If you think you can really run this company, you’re high. I suppose you can run it into the ground, but I’m starting to suspect that’s your father’s plan.”

  “His plan is to pass the company on to his son, as it always should have been. Why do you think he’s done all of this? It’s been for me.”

  “Now you’re delusional.” She had to hurry to keep up with him. She glanced around, hoping someone, anyone was still at the office. “He’s going to sell off all the important research and pocket the money for himself. Or he’ll simply take as much money as he can and get the hell out. If StratCast lasts another five years, we’ll all be lucky. I would bet he’s got plans for his retirement.”

  Kyle kept right on walking, dragging her along. “Of course he does. That’s the point. He’s going to retire and I’m taking over. He bought a nice place in Europe and I’ll be appointed the CEO in less than two years.”

  “Where?”

  “Why do you care?”

  She had a suspicion. “I do. Where is this retirement home?”

  “It’s in Saint Petersburg. He’s made all the arrangements. My stepmother’s family is from that part of the world. The Venice of the north. Dad is going to be happy there and I’ll take care of things here.”

  “Russia. He’s retiring to Russia? Do you know who retires to Russia, you moron? People who don’t want to get extradited to the U.S.” She might not have been thinking before, but Kyle was proving he never thought. Not once in his damn life. “Do you really believe the board is going to back you as CEO? You have almost no management experience and no college degree.”

  That seemed to make an impact. Kyle stopped briefly before his jaw went hard and he started walking her toward his father’s office. The door was closed ahead.

  “They’ll do it because my father will tell them to and he wouldn’t do that to me. He wouldn’t lie. I’m his only son.”

  “And he worked his hardest to not pay child support.”

  “My mother was a whore,” Kyle replied with a frown. “He was right not to pay her a dime. She would have spent it on drugs. That’s another reason he’s leaving me the company. He left me there with her.”

  “You think your father is capable of feeling guilty? Do you understand why he wants this thumb drive? It proves that he stole the whole basis of StratCast from Benedict Lawless. He had my husband’s parents killed.”

  “Sure he did. Now who’s the delusional one?”

  “It’s all true.” She wasn’t sure why she was trying to convince him, but she kept on.

  “No. Your father was the thief.” He opened the door and shoved her through. “My dad is protecting me and this company.”

  Castalano stood behind his desk. “That’s right, son. I’m protecting your legacy from my former partner.”

  Lily sat in a chair in front of the desk. She turned, her eyes red from crying. “Ellie, I’m so sorry.”

  She nodded. There was nothing to do now except try to brazen her way through. “It’s all right. I’ll give you the thumb drive downstairs. Walk down with us and we can be done with this.”

  “Or Kyle can take it from you.” He nodded to his son.

  Kyle grabbed her bag off her shoulder and turned it upside down. He quickly found the thumb drive. “Got it. And you’re an idiot, Ellie. Haven’t you figured it out? How did we find out you had this? Who do you think turned you in?”

  She looked back at Castalano. “You bugged Lily’s phone.”

  Lily’s skin was a pale white. “Ellie . . .”

  Castalano put a hand on her shoulder. “Lily’s worked for me for years. I saw this coming a long time ago. Who do you think opened the accounts under your name?”

  Ellie felt a hole open inside her. Lily had been her friend for years and yet she’d carefully herded her, leading the lamb to slaughter. Lily had been her only friend.

  “Ellie, I had to do it to save my father,” Lily said. “I never meant to hurt you.”

  Ellie had always come second. Second to her father’s business. Second to her sister. She always would be.

  Except Riley hadn’t seemed to care that she was throwing away his best shot at revenge. Riley seemed to be trying to put her first.

  Nothing mattered except getting back to Riley.

  “You have your source code and you let me know that you’ve taken everything from me.” She wasn’t going to give any one of them her tears. They didn’t deserve her tears. She would save those for later, when she was wrapped up in her husband’s arms and he would hold her tight. She would definitely save them for Drew, who would likely yell at her, and Hatch, who would absolutely yell at her. Tears might work on them.

  She could handle their anger. The certainty came over her. She could handle Drew and Hatch being pissed because they wouldn’t kick her out. They would yell for a while and then force her to sit down with them and solve this next problem as a family.

  The one thing she’d never had.

  “I’m going home. You can sit here and fool these two all night.” She turned, but Kyle was there blocking her path.

  “There is something I can still take,” Castalano said.

  That was when she noticed he was holding a gun, pointing straight at her.

  She stood firm. “How exactly are you going to explain killing me?”

  “Well, dear, you came here to kill me. When you showed up—uninvited, might I add—and tried to convince me to stop the prosecution of your case, I explained that I wouldn’t. That was when you got violent. Wasn’t it, Kyle?”

  Kyle chuckled. “She did. I saw the whole thing. Didn’t you, Lily?” He leaned in. “By the way, she’s been my mistress for years. Do you know how we laugh about you?”

  Lily stood. “That’s not true, Ellie. I slept with him because I pretty much had no choice, but I would never laugh about you. I love you. I admire you. I hate myself for what I’ve done.”

  “But you’ll continue to do it, won’t you, dear?” Castalano asked in a silky smooth voice. “You’ll be the one to tell the police that your friend was corrupt, that you saw everything.”

  Lily looked back and tears rolled down her face. She stared for a moment and then turned back to her boss. “No. I won’t help you kill Ellie. And Kyle, he’s been selling technology to the Russians for years. He’s going to gut the company and flee the country. He never intended to leave you a damn thing.”

  “That is unfortunate.” Castalano turned the gun and shot Lily in the head.

  Ellie stared in stark silence. She couldn’t breathe. What had happened? Her dear friend, the woman who had betrayed her, fell to the ground dead.

  “Why did you do that?” Kyle screamed the question as he moved toward Lily’s body.

  Ellie wanted to scream, wanted to charge Castalano, but she now had a shot. She turned and bolted out of the office, leaving everything behind.

  He heart was racing. He’d killed Lily. He’d shot her and Lily wasn’t here anymore. No matter what she’d done, Ellie hadn’t wanted her dead. She couldn’t even process it at this point.

  She had seconds. She couldn’t wait for the elevator. She wasn’t sure she could get to the stairs. There was a bank of cubicles in front of her. She dipped down behind the first one as she heard a second shot.

  Her heart pounded, adrenaline flowing through her system in a great rush. What had happened? Had he shot his own son?

  “Ellie, dear, this won’t do. Why did you kill your friend? And my boy. I can’t believe you were so jeal
ous of their love. But then you had to have him, didn’t you? Could you thank your husband for sending the reporter our way? He’s made this very simple. Everyone knows you had an affair with Kyle. I didn’t mean to kill Kyle yet, but it does wrap all of this up in a neat bundle.”

  Naturally, he intended to play it that way. She kept her mouth closed and listened. He moved from his carpeted office to the marbled floor. His shoes tapped against the marble and then went silent again as he hit the carpet the cubicles sat on.

  She didn’t hear Kyle at all. Castalano could be lying. It could be a ruse, but she didn’t think so. She thought he’d really done it. He’d gotten rid of all the witnesses who could speak of his crimes.

  “I never actually thought the boy was mine anyway. Like that bitch couldn’t have paid off someone in the lab.” His footsteps moved ever closer.

  Ellie crawled to the next row, staying as close as she could to the cubicle walls. She had to get to the stairs someway. Or she could run down the hall toward the back stairs.

  “You’re going to make this hard on me.” Castalano sighed. “I had all the cameras taken offline. When the police ask, I’ll tell them I didn’t want your begging and pleading broadcast. After all, you’re the daughter of my partner. I knew you as a little girl. I assure you, I’m ready for the questions.”

  She heard something, a squeaking sound that caught her attention. She went still and Castalano was silent for a moment.

  “No one’s coming to save you. I’ve given instructions that no one is allowed in the building. It’s just you and me. Why don’t you come out and have some dignity?”

  He didn’t realize how much some people hated him. Maybe the guard wouldn’t let Riley through, but maybe he would.

  Then what? Riley would walk right into an ambush. He would likely take the elevator and Castalano would hear it. He would shoot her husband like he’d shot his own son and Lily.

  She had to get him away from the hall. Where Castalano was likely standing, he would see Riley right away.

  “My husband won’t let you get away with it.” She moved quickly to the next row, keeping her head down. The cubicle walls were nice and high. He shouldn’t be able to see her unless he jumped on top of a desk—despite his obvious decent health, he was still an almost-seventy-five-year-old man with one hip replacement behind him.

  She heard him moving, trying to track her and getting farther from the bank of elevators. That might give Riley a chance, though she was no longer sure she wanted him to come after her.

  The thought of him dying was worse than anything. A world without Riley Lawless wouldn’t be her world.

  “I’m sure he’ll try, but I’ll be gone in a few weeks. I’ve made my last deal.”

  “You’re selling the coolant project to the Russians.” She moved again, edging toward the stairs. She could outrun him. All she needed was a few seconds and a little distraction. She would get to the stairs and run one floor down. She wouldn’t let him pick her off from above. One floor and then she would cut over and call the police. She would hide in R&D.

  “Your coolant project is netting me both twenty million and the assurance that I won’t be extradited. I really will get my retirement out of this place, and poor Benedict’s children will be left with nothing. Again. That thumb drive wasn’t the source code. We destroyed that long ago. No, it’s much worse. It’s your father’s burn file on me. It’s everything I’ve ever done. I had one on him as well and Patricia. Mutually assured destruction. It’s the only way to go. He was supposed to leave it to me in his will, but your father was a giant ass. He sent Patricia hers, but left me hanging. I think he figured out I’d set you up at some point. He loved you in his own way.”

  “Is there proof that you killed Benedict and Iris Lawless?” She was almost there. A few more desks and she would have to be ready.

  “I should think not. We buried that. There is no proof. Well, there might be a bit, but only Patricia has that information. Why we left it with that bitch, I’ll never understand, but our friend trusted her more than the rest.”

  Friend?

  Was he talking about the fourth person who was in on the conspiracy? She’d learned everything about the night the Lawless parents had died. She’d made a study of them over the last two weeks. Iris’s body had been found next to her husband, a bullet through her head. The police had claimed it was murder-suicide. It had really been an assassination.

  She needed to get that stupid thumb drive back. Maybe her father had left her more than Castalano thought.

  She heard the doors to the elevator slide open.

  “Ellie?” Riley’s voice floated through the space.

  “He’s got a gun!” Ellie screamed, no longer caring if she gave up her position.

  Gunfire boomed through the room and she heard someone grunt.

  “Ellie, you stay where you are!” Riley shouted.

  “Oh, poor Ellie. I hit your husband. I might be old, but I’m quick,” Castalano said.

  Riley was hit? She couldn’t stay down. She stood and ran toward the hall. She felt something burn as Castalano shot at her, but she didn’t pay attention, merely kept running because Riley was on the floor. He was behind a wall of cubicles, but Castalano was moving in. She dove to get to Riley, her knees banging on the carpet and pain flaring through her system.

  Bright red blood stained his white shirt. Where was it coming from? It seemed to be everywhere.

  “I told you to stay where you were,” he said. He still had a gun in his hand, but he was shaking.

  Tears blurred her vision. “Where are you hit?”

  He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Take this gun and get the hell out. I’ll keep the pistol and I’ll distract the bastard. Drew’s coming up the stairs. He’ll protect you. Find Drew. Bran is with him, too.”

  “Why aren’t you with them?”

  He looked over at her, those glorious lips of his turning up. “Too impatient. Had to get to you, baby. Love you.”

  He was turning a ghastly pale, his skin graying before her eyes.

  He pressed something into her hand. Cold metal brushed her palm. It was a gun. Apparently her husband had come fully armed and ready for battle.

  She’d never used a gun before, never held one in her hands.

  “Ah, what a lovely couple.” Castalano stood over them.

  Riley tried to bring his gun up, but his hand shook and then his shoulder jerked back as Castalano shot him.

  “He should have known better. You don’t have the stomach for real business, Ellie. Let me tell you how this is going to go.”

  She didn’t care. She was done living in his world. Without another thought except to pray Riley had taken the safety off, she raised the gun and fired and fired and fired.

  An acrid smell hit her nose and she watched as Castalano looked down. He put his hands to his stomach and fell to his knees.

  Ellie stood and moved to him, kicking his gun out of the way.

  “Ellie! Riley!” Drew ran in looking far too competent with a gun in his hand. Bran was behind him.

  Thank God they were here, because she didn’t want to stand over her enemy. She had more important things to do.

  She dropped to her knees beside her husband. “Riley, where are you hit?”

  “Feels like everywhere.” He slumped down, but his hand found hers. “Did I ever tell you how pretty you are?” His eyes were glassy as he looked at her. “So damn pretty. My Ellie.”

  She couldn’t lose him. Not now.

  Bran dropped down beside her. “Ambulance is on its way.”

  “Don’t let him.” Riley groaned as he tried to sit up.

  “Stay down and don’t move,” she ordered.

  “Drew, no.” The words slurred from Riley’s mouth.

  Ellie looked over and Drew was kneeling by Castalano.


  “Please don’t let him,” Riley begged.

  She stood because she couldn’t let her husband down. He’d come for her, taken a bullet for her. There was nothing left in her heart for him but love, and she needed to stop his brother from making a horrible mistake.

  “Drew, don’t.”

  Drew’s face was completely blank, his hands circling the man’s throat. Castalano was still breathing, though he was unconscious. “All it takes is one twist, Ellie. One little twist.”

  “And then you’ll be as bad as he is.” She put a hand on her brother-in-law’s shoulder.

  “I already am.”

  “No.” She knelt beside him. He hadn’t closed his hands around the older man’s throat, but the potential was right there. “You’re not.”

  “You have no idea the things I’ve done,” he replied.

  “You saved your family. Don’t leave them now. Please, Drew. Let the court handle him. Let justice take care of him. Please.”

  Drew cursed and finally stood and turned back to his brothers.

  “You know that’s a flesh wound, Riley.” He shook his head. “And we got everything on tape. The guard agreed to turn the cameras all back on once Bran and I explained the situation.”

  “He confessed,” Ellie explained, getting close to her husband again. “He confessed everything to me. And it’s not a flesh wound. It’s serious.”

  Riley grinned, a drunken look. “Chicks dig scars.”

  The elevator opened and the room was suddenly filled with EMTs and NYPD.

  She watched as they rushed her husband out, Bran and Drew holding her hands.

  Seventeen

  Three weeks later

  Riley stepped into the elevator and brushed off his brother’s help. Bran had turned into a meddlesome thing, always standing over him and watching. “I’m fine.”

  “Dude, you just got out of the hospital where you went through multiple surgeries.”

  He had some serious new scars. He really did hope his particular chick dug scars.

  Although his wife hadn’t come to the hospital to collect him. She’d come to visit him and she’d held his hand, but she’d treated him so gingerly he wasn’t sure if it had been about love or guilt.