Ruthless (Fractured Farrells: A Damaged Billionaire Series Book 1)

by Mallory Crowe

  He downed what was left of the Jameson and stood, turning until he found Eric Nasser’s table. Jean had given him the quick breakdown, but Colin had known about Nasser’s dealings in town well before he ever showed up.

  Guys like this had to be dealt with in a particular way. They sensed weakness and preyed on it. Luckily, Colin didn’t have many weaknesses to exploit. He strode up to the table confidently.

  Nasser looked up expectedly. “Can I help you?”

  “I was hoping we could have a talk. I wanted to discuss a mutual friend of ours. I think you know a Katherine Hill?”

  Nasser perked up. “What about her?”

  “I think she owes us both money. So who’s going to get paid first?”

  Jean slammed her hand down on her alarm clock, praying for a few more minutes of sleep. Except the alarm didn’t stop blaring. Jean winced and sat up, trying to break through the layers of sleep. What the hell?

  The door. Someone pounded on the damn door. Glancing at the clock, the hands read two in the morning. Shit. That meant that she needed to be up in an hour anyway, so there was no going back to bed. Whoever was here was going to get a talking-to, that was for damn sure.

  Jean stumbled out of bed and pulled on a t-shirt so she wasn’t answering the door in just her panties. She snatched some jeans from the top of her dresser and held them in her hands as she crossed to the door. If this was some drunk ass at the wrong trailer, she sure as hell wasn’t going to bother opening the door for that.

  Except when she looked through the peephole, her heart sank. She’d rather have a drunken redneck than this. Her mother pounded furiously at the door. “Hold on!” she shouted as she pulled on her jeans.

  She yanked the door open once she was decent. “Good grief, I’m here. What’s wrong?”

  “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d given me a key.” Katherine pushed past Jean to come into the trailer.

  “Yes, giving you a key would cause you to wake me up in the middle of the night less,” she said sarcastically.

  “This is my trailer too, Jean. Momma left it to the both of us.”

  Jean rolled her eyes. Grandma absolutely did not leave the trailer to both of them. But fighting with Katherine was an exercise in futility, and Jean just wasn’t conscious enough for that at the moment.

  Katherine and Jean looked more alike than Jean liked to admit. Mainly because there wasn’t much of an age difference. Katherine had lied about her age to get the bartender gig in the eighties, so she was only eighteen years older than Jean and liked to dress as though she were still in her twenties, wearing low-sitting jeans and a halter top that showed an ample amount of belly and cleavage. But she had the body for it. She pretty much never had to pay for any drinks when she dressed like that, so Jean gave up being embarrassed.

  At least she didn’t live here, so she couldn’t steal any of Jean’s clothes. “Do you want a coffee?” Jean headed to the kitchen area to put a pot on. She had a feeling this would need lots of coffee.

  “No, I don’t want coffee. Can’t you see I’m in the middle of a crisis?” Katherine followed Jean.

  “Okay then.” Jean filled the coffee pot with water. “What crisis is it this time?”

  Katherine snorted as tears filled her eyes. “You don’t even care about what’s happening to me, do you? My own daughter is more interested in coffee than her own mother. I don’t know where I went wrong. Where your morals got so twisted...”

  For the love of— “Mom, please tell me what’s wrong. I’m sorry I’m cranky. I just woke up.”

  Katherine tightened her lips and crossed her arms, making her cleavage stand out even more. “I need you to take this seriously. I’m having a crisis here.”

  “Is there anything I can do to help?” forced out Jean. Even though she already knew what her mother wanted.

  “Eric found me tonight. He’s calling in his loan. I need to pay him in the next week or I’m done for.”

  Jean rubbed her temples, trying to make sense of this. “Eric called in his loan? Why? Did you do something to piss him off?” Jean knew Katherine had racked up the gambling debt, but she consistently spent every penny she made there, so him loaning her some funds here and there was still extra profitable for the casino.

  Except that when people were late with payments, Eric wasn’t known for being gentle.

  “I didn’t do anything! He came to the motel tonight and said I was a flight risk! I don’t know where he got that idea. This is my home and I’m never going to leave as long as I’m alive. Even if that is only for another week...”

  “Wait, wait. Eric isn’t going to kill you. He’s an ass, but he’s a reasonable ass. I’m sure if we just talk to him—”

  “Did you think I didn’t try that already? I threw myself at his mercy. I even offered to sleep with him for a—”

  “Whoa. I didn’t need to know that, Mom.”

  “Well, I need you to know how seriously I’m taking this!”

  “Got it!” The coffee finally dripped out of the filter compartment and Jean eagerly waited for a cup’s worth to be ready. “So how much is he trying to collect?” asked Jean, half afraid to hear the answer.

  “He agreed to give me an extension if I can come up with ten thousand in the next week.”

  Jean almost dropped the mug she was holding. “Ten thousand in a week! God, Mom, how much did you borrow from Eric?”

  “I’m having a crisis right now and you want to judge me?” Tears filled the corners of Katherine’s eyes and Jean believed they were real. As much of an actress as Katherine could be, the threat of death could cause a lot of fear.

  “We’ll have to find some way to reason with Eric. He’ll just have to take a partial payment or something.”

  “I already told you! Reasoning with that man doesn’t work!”

  She’d told her that offering to sleep with him hadn’t worked. That didn’t mean he couldn’t be reasoned with. Maybe. He had to know there was no way Katherine would have that kind of money on hand. It was as if he was looking for an excuse to get rid of her.

  “I know you’ve been saving your tips and stuff. And you don’t even have to pay to live here. Can’t you help out your mother just this one time?”

  “I help you—” Jean broke off. There was no use reminding Katherine all the times she’d helped bail her out of trouble. Times she’d gone without paying her own bills to make sure Katherine had a car to drive to her job, or the times she’d picked her up drunk from whichever random casino she found herself at. “I don’t have any savings right now. I spent everything fixing the leaky roof this spring in my rent-free housing.”

  Katherine’s face fell. Obviously her main plan had been to empty out Jean’s savings. “Well...” Her eyes roamed around the trailer, almost as though she were looking for something to sell. “What about Striker? He has money, right?”

  “My boss? The boss I half expect to fire me every single day? Yeah, I don’t think he’s a valid resource for a loan. What about your boss?”

  “Oh, I already asked him. Not tonight, but there have been other times I’ve needed loans, and I knew you weren’t about to lend me anything.”

  Jean narrowed her eyes. No, she’d never lent her mother money because she knew it would go straight into the casino, but there were times she’d been there for Katherine when no one else had. “Mom, I swear there’s nothing I can do!”

  “Nothing? Please, Jean. You’re such a sweet, friendly person! I know there must be someone you can ask!”

  “There’s no one I can—” Oh no. There was one person. One cocky, arrogant, scam artist of a person. But he wouldn’t give her anything for free. If she managed to get a loan from him, she’d have to go along with his stupid scheme. What was the prison sentence for fraud? Probably longer than her preferred prison sentence of nothing.

  “You do know someone?”

  Jean ran a hand through her hair. “I know someone but the situation isn’t...ideal. How sure are you t
hat Eric is going to kill you? Maybe he was exaggerating? Besides, I’ve never heard of him hurting a woman.”

  Katherine raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Oh, you’ve heard of it. You just didn’t know. Remember Misty Evans?”

  “Didn’t she die in a trailer fire?”

  “From a cigarette that she didn’t smoke and her boyfriend didn’t smoke. But I happen to know that she was going to run off with Frank, and on her debts with Eric, and he found out first. And Jenny Nettles.”

  “That was a car accident. She was drinking and driving.”

  Katherine scoffed. “I was bartender that night. Jenny hadn’t touched a drop. Mainly because she was too busy packing to meet up with some rich guy she met on the Internet. Word was that she wasn’t coming back.”

  The blood rushed from Jean’s face. “You’re saying Eric killed them both?”

  “More like he had them both killed. Guys like that don’t do their own dirty work. They have people.”

  God... She’d drunk in the same bar as Eric. He’d even bought everyone a round on his better days. She covered her mouth as a wave of nausea washed over her. She’d known he was scum, but she’d never let herself think about it too much. Nothing she could do about him, and it wasn’t as if his less than savory activities affected her. Except now the son of a bitch had his eye on her mother.

  “Um... There’s one guy I can ask, Mom. I get off work at two today, so I’ll try to track him down as soon as I can. You’ll keep in touch if anything changes? You still have a week?”

  A large smile covered Katherine’s face, erasing any sign of tears. “Oh, honey. I knew you’d come through for me!” Katherine wrapped Jean up in a tight hug, which didn’t help the unease in her stomach.

  Katherine pulled away and Jean gulped in deep breaths of air.

  “Thank you so much, honey! I’ll stop by later tonight to see how everything went!”

  Katherine was gone just as quickly as she came, and Jean was alone. The trailer was suddenly too cold and too quiet, everything thrown off-kilter whenever Katherine stopped by.

  The only saving grace was that the coffee was ready. But even that didn’t seem to warm Jean at all.

  Jean looked at the clock for the thousandth time during her shift. The minutes seemed to tick by as she kept on waiting for Stranger—well, Colin—to walk through the doors. He’d been following her everywhere else; she just assumed he’d show up, even if he wasn’t allowed back.

  As soon as her last table paid their check, she ripped off her apron and grabbed her purse and keys from the back. After a quick, rushed good-bye, she went to the only place she could think of that someone might know where Colin had stayed: Ron’s Bar. It was too early to be open for the public yet, but some of the regulars were allowed in early and Billy the bartender would be around.

  And bartenders generally were the most knowledgeable people in town. Like she expected, Billy was refilling the stock behind the bar when she walked in. He must’ve heard her approach because he turned around to give her a quick nod of hello. “Jean! Don’t normally see you in this early.”

  “It’s been one of those days. Hey, Billy, do you remember that guy I was talking to in here yesterday?”

  He smiled knowingly. “Oh boy...did you make a love connection?”

  Jean didn’t think it was possible to roll her eyes enough at that suggestion. But if she said no, that would raise more questions that she didn’t have time for. “I really want to find him, but I rushed out of here before getting his number or anything. I was wondering if you heard where he was staying?”

  Billy shook his head. “No luck there. But he drove a clean-looking black F-150. The kind that looked like it had never been used to haul anything. I’m sure if you drove around some of the motels, you might see it parked out front. Sorry I can’t help you more.”

  “That’s plenty of help, Billy. I appreciate it.” She didn’t want to think of how he knew what kind of truck Colin drove. Obviously the cameras in the parking lot were there for more than show.

  She started to turn to leave when Billy added, “No problem. After you left, he talked with Nasser for a bit, if that helps.”

  Jean froze in place before she twisted back around to Billy. “He spoke to who?”

  “Eric Nasser. He joined his table for a bit and they had a drink together. Not too long. Maybe fifteen minutes. Not sure if they were friends or what. Not too many strangers are ballsy enough to approach Eric and Eric isn’t known for inviting people to sit with him. Seemed worth mentioning.”

  Oh yes...it was worth mentioning. Colin had been playing her like a puppet, and he was going to find out exactly how hard she was to control.

  Colin went down for another push-up when the pounding on his door started. Not the sweet gentle knocking of housekeeping. The angry, purposeful pounding of a five foot five, hundred and twenty pounds of pissed off. Looked as if Jean found him finally.

  He did three more push-ups really quick, bracing himself for the storm that was about to come before he jumped up and crossed to the door. He pulled it open when Jean was still mid-knock, causing her to stumble forward a bit before she caught herself.

  She tilted her head back to glare at him as she narrowed her eyes. “What the hell did you say to Eric Nasser last night?”

  Word really did travel fast in small towns. He stepped aside and held out a hand. “Why don’t you come in?”

  She craned her neck to look at the room behind him, her eyes full of mistrust. “I’d rather stay out here.”

  “Well, I’m half naked so I’d rather have this conversation indoors.”

  Her eyes widened as she looked over his bare chest. Her gaze traveled down to the trail of hair that disappeared beneath his sweatpants.

  His cock immediately jerked, eager for the female attention, but he clenched his fists to control himself. This particular female was off-limits. “Besides,” he said to pull the attention off him, “it’s harder for me to slam the door in your face from in here.”

  She shook her head in disgust as she stepped inside, taking great pains not to touch him. He moved aside for her before he pulled the door shut, and she didn’t waste any time before letting him have it.

  “What the hell did you say to Eric? Do you have any idea what you’ve done? He’s going to kill my mother!”

  Colin nodded as he listened, waiting for her to reach the inevitable conclusion that she needed him. “Katherine is hardly mother of the year.”

  “That’s no reason for her to be murdered, you sociopath! You need to call Eric and undo what you’ve done.”

  “Or...you can get enough money that you’ll never have to worry about your dear old mom again.”

  If looks could kill, he’d be six feet under. Jean reached in her back pocket and pulled out her phone. “I’m calling Eric right now and you’re going to explain to him that this is all one big giant misunderstanding and that my mom is good for the money. Understand?”

  “I’m not saying a thing until you agree to go back to the city.”

  “Good grief, find someone else! I don’t want any part of your stupid fraud and there are hundreds of money-hungry women you can get to do your bidding. Go find one of them and leave me alone!”

  “Well, I guess you don’t care what happens to your mother then.”

  Her fist shot at his face lightning fast. If he hadn’t expected it, she might’ve gotten one over on him. But he caught her wrist in his hand and twisted it behind her back, his free hand catching the other swinging fist before it made contact.

  As he locked her arms in place, the pressure pushed her roughly against him, and he tried not to focus on her breasts pressed up against his chest or the smell of her shampoo. “Don’t hit me. Understand?”

  “Then don’t manhandle me.” She struggled to get out of his grip, but he wasn’t budging. It really did give him a thrill to have her so close to him. One more reason she was smart to run as far and fast from him as possible. If only he would let
her.

  “I think we need to figure this out. I’ll give your mother the money she needs, but you need to come with me.”

  She looked up at him. Anger practically vibrated off her. “Please. I’m more convinced now than ever that you’re a serial killer. If you think I’m going anywhere with you, let alone across the country, you’re insane.”

  The corner of his mouth hooked up. “Not sure if you’ve noticed, but I have you right where I want you. Alone. In my room. With no one to hear you scream. So if I wanted to hurt you, now would be the time, wouldn’t it?”

  Once again she tugged at her arms, but he tightened his grip. Not enough to hurt, but enough to let her know she wasn’t going anywhere until he allowed it.

  “Billy knows I’m here. He knew I was looking for you.”

  “Billy isn’t going to come busting through that door any time soon, will he?”

  She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Averting her gaze, she took a deep breath.

  Every inhale pressed her closer to him, and he closed his eyes for the briefest second, allowing himself to savor the feel.

  “Please let me go,” she said softly.

  He released her as though she were burning him and stepped back, working to regain his focus. Damn it, this was inconvenient. When was the last time he’d gotten laid? Now that he thought about it, it was well before the old man croaked. That had to be the problem. He’d gone too long and now his cock had a mind of its own.

  Once he got back to the city, he could make some calls and get this taken care of. Until then, the lost heiress was off-limits.

  “You should be thanking me,” he bit out.

  She scoffed. “Excuse me? Why the hell should I thank you for anything?”

  “Because I’m the one person in your life who’s honest with you. Everyone who pretends to care about you is all full of shit. But I can actually take care of you for life without lying about what I want in return.”

  “How silly of me to not realize how generous you are.”