Jewels And Panties: (Book 1-15) Billionaire Romance Series

by Brooke Kinsley

  When I followed her into the coffee shop, my hands were shaking. She'd probably curse me out and tell me she'd never want to see me again. She'd no doubt tell me how much she hated me and how much better her life was without me in it.

  I expected her to brandish her purse at me like a battleaxe and smack me around the face. I would have taken it too. After what I put her through it was the least I deserved. As I tapped her on the shoulder, I waited for to get mad, but she didn't. Instead, she threw me a look of sheer revulsion as she noticed my meager frame and tatty clothes and that hurt so much more.

  "It's true," I told Chrissie. "She's with that billionaire Bosworth."

  "Really?"

  Her eyes lit up as though her insides were illuminated with pure malicious greed.

  "So you spoke to her?"

  "I did."

  "And?"

  What was I supposed to say? That seeing her again lit up my life? That her eyes shone like diamonds and her hair was like the finest gossamer? Was I supposed to tell her all about how I regretted every second of betraying her and that seeing her again opened up a wound inside me that I was terrified would never close again?

  "She was a real bitch," I lied.

  "Oh yeah?"

  "Yeah, she called me all sorts of names. I mean the language that came out of that woman. Just wow."

  Chrissie's eyes shone brighter.

  "What else?" she asked, scratching at the insides of her arms.

  I noticed her scars were starting to look like chicken scratch.

  "And this."

  Hanging off the edge of the bed to reach my pants, I pulled out the two twenty dollar bills and handed them over. Never in my life had I seen someone so excited over forty dollars and I glanced away, nauseated.

  "She just gaveyou this?"

  "Yep."

  "Woah... We could get hundreds. No. Thousands from that billionaire bastard and he'd never even notice."

  She scratched her arms again and a slight scattering of blood began to raise itself to the surface of her skin.

  This is the lowest point of my life, I thought. Things could not get any worse.

  I hated the way Chrissie concocted her plan to take advantage of Etta but I hated myself more for going along with it. It's not like I wanted to but with my house foreclosed and the two of us cooped up in this tiny apartment, I didn't have two dimes to rub together and things were desperate. We all know that desperate men commit unthinkable sins.

  "Yeah, I suppose he wouldn't notice but it doesn’t mean that she has any access to his money, or that she’d just hand it over to us."

  "We’ll give her a real sob story she can’t say no to. Nurses love sob stories. When you seeing her again?" asked Chrissie as she folded the money and placed it beneath the alarm clock.

  I knew Etta never wanted to see me again but if I had to, I could always bump into her again.

  "Soon," I said and felt the guilt weigh heavy in my stomach.

  “How soon?”

  “Just soon,” I replied and rolled over, feeling a single tear escape and run down into the pillow.

  Chapter Five

  Etta

  I didn't know why I was there. Had no idea what exactly it was I was looking for but as though I was being lured to the place by a divining rod, I found myself back at my old house.

  After leaving Craig behind, I'd driven around for hours until the sun set. Right now, I couldn't face the prospect of climbing back up that mountain. It wasn't that I didn't want to see Lincoln. I was desperate for him to hold me and tell me everything was going to be okay. But I knew nothing was going to be okay, not with that cop still chained to the wall.

  Crying silent tears, I looked up at the blacked out windows of the house and saw there was nothing and nobody. A large foreclosure sign was hammered into the front garden and inside, I could just about make out the outlines on the walls of where the cupboards had been ripped out.

  Why hadn't Craig mentioned this earlier?

  Although it explained why he looked so bad and why he seemed so hungry.

  "Fuck..."

  I wasn't even sure why I was crying anymore. The tears were definitely not just being shed over Craig, the son of a bitch.

  It was all too much. Seeing where Jet had died, knowing all the secrets of the Waters' House, knowing all of Lincoln's secrets while being tangled up in them myself. It was spinning me around.

  I had no idea of what normality was anymore but as I thought about Lincoln and all he had given me, of the way he touched me and how his kisses felt, I knew that I wouldn't trade any of that for even one second of normalcy. I needed to get home to him but I was too scared to find out what he'd done when I returned.

  My phone rang from inside my purse and I scrambled to answer it.

  "Linx! Speak of the Devil. I was just thinking about you."

  "You were?"

  "I'm always thinking about you."

  I cringed at myself and my girlish confession.

  "I was thinking about you," said Lincoln. "I've been worried about you."

  "Linx, you have so much to be worried about right now. Don't think about me."

  He grew quiet. In the background, I could hear footsteps and on instinct, I knew they weren't his. The cop was walking around which meant he was okay, he was alive! It also meant that Lincoln had removed his restraints.

  "Where are you?"

  "Erm... Where are you?"

  "I'm in the house waiting for you to come back," replied Lincoln with a frustrated sigh.

  "I'm just on my way home. Won't be long."

  I moved to hang up but he wasn't letting go.

  "So, where are you?"

  "Just... downtown.Thought I'd do some shopping."

  "Shopping? You didn’t think we had more important things to worry about."

  It was my turn to sigh and I thumped my head back against the chair as I looked up at the stars through the windscreen.

  "Okay, I lied. I'm sorry. I just needed to get away. It was all stressing me out."

  The footsteps continued in the background. There was the sound of a door opening and closing, the jangling of keys. It was then that I realized they were now outside.

  "Where are you going?" I asked.

  "Nowhere," he said.

  We were now both lying.

  "Hmmm..." I replied.

  "You know you still haven't told me where you've been? Please don't tell me you're back at the Waters' House. I know how you love that place."

  He forced out a nervous laugh.

  "Don't worry. I'm not there. I'm just at a girlfriend's house."

  "Girlfriend? It better not beNorma you talked about last time. All your friends seem to have murderous pasts."

  "It's not Norma! It's just... a friend from the hospital."

  My palms grew sweaty as I clutched the steering wheel. I always was the worst liar and in the moment, I didn't even know why I was doing it. It's not like I'd done anything wrong. I didn't go out of my way to see Craig, so why the dry mouth and racing heartbeat?

  "So... I'll see you when I get back?" I asked.

  "Sure," he said but in the background I was sure I heard a male voice, the bang of a car door, the sound of shoes crunching on the gravel driveway.

  Whatever he was doing, I'm sure he had a reason to do it. His life wasn't ordinary and that meant his intentions often weren't either.

  "I love you," I said and truly meant it.

  "I love you so much, honey."

  Besides all the chaos, I knew he was telling the truth. Amidst all the madness and danger I could be certain of that.

  "See you soon, honey. I'll keep the bed warm for you."

  "You do that."

  He hung up and I realized the phone was wet with tears.

  "Pull yourself together," I told myself and gripped the steering wheel.

  Looking up at the old house, I remembered the last time I'd been here I'd dragged my stuffed suitcase up the drive as Craig cried in the
hallway.

  "Jerk," I thought out loud. "Total son of a bitch. Jerk. Asshole."

  I felt ashamed for not thinking of a more eloquent insult but I didn't think he deserved one. As I pulled away from the house and sped out onto the highway, I cursed myself for giving him money. Even then, as he sniveled into his mocha, I knew he was using me. It wasn't even the money that was bothering me. It was the principle that he still thought he could get what he wanted.

  "Asshole," I said again through gritted teeth. "I bet he's having a few beers on me tonight."

  And what were the chances of him just stumbling across me like that in a random coffee shop I'd never been in before? The more I thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed.

  He couldn't have followed me, could he?

  I shook my head as I tried to rid myself of the paranoid thought.

  There's no way. It was just a coincidence. It just couldn’t be.

  But as I left the city behind and drove through the endless darkness of the surrounding forest, I felt a shiver creep down my spine like an invisible icicle. Something didn't feel right. He had to be up to something.

  Chapter Six

  Lincoln

  "This place is going to be the death of me, you know that?"

  Berger shot me an unimpressed look as he held his hand to his head as though he was intent on keeping his brains in place.

  "Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" I asked, leaning forward to inspect his scalp in the dim light of the car.

  "I'm sure. You don't have to keep checking on me every two minutes. It's just a bump on the head. Your girlfriend would have to do a damn sight better in future if she wants to actually kill me."

  The vision of her slamming the vase down on his head will be forever stamped in her memory. Not because of the violence, or because the vase was worth a small fortune, but because it was the very second I knew she had my back. She'd kill for me. I could trust her.

  As I looked over Berger's slumped, exhausted body, I wondered what would have happened if she had killed him. I wondered how it all came to this.

  "I'm just saying. It kinda feels unethical as a doctor to not have you taken in for assessment. You could have a bleed on the brain, swelling, concussion, a hemorrhage, all kindsa complications."

  Again, he looked at me out the corner of his eye.

  "I'm fine," he insisted. "Anyway, is this really the time to talk about ethics?"

  He waved his hand out across the front of the car toward the Waters House.

  "I fucking hate this place," he said. "Seem to spend most of my life here. Swear to God it's like it’s cast a spell on me and I can't get away."

  "You read my mind, buddy. I'm starting to think the same thing."

  "So why are we here?"

  "I have a plan."

  "A plan."

  "Well more of an idea."

  I reached into my pocket for my hip flask and took a sip of scotch and let it burn down my throat. Offering it to Berger, he hesitated for a moment before taking it.

  "Not saying no to free booze," he said. "My mother didn't raise an idiot."

  He gulped it down and grimaced as it recoiled back his lips.

  "Urgh... Stuff's like rocket fuel. Anyway, tell me about your idea."

  "You can help me. Or rather, I can help you help me."

  "Look just shoot it straight. I'm not in any frame of mind for riddles."

  The house was shrouded in darkness with a thick layer of fog simmering over the parking lot. Upstairs, Phaedra's bedroom light was on. I imagined she was up there keeping tabs on everything and writing out meticulous notes in her books. Downstairs, another light flicked on as I imagined one of the girls wandering into the lounge, sleepless. It was almost midnight but the house never slept.

  "Okay. I know things you don't and you need me. And you know things about this house that you've come across legitimately. I mean, you've been investigating the house, right? You rescued one of the children. I say we team up."

  "Team up?"

  He looked aghast.

  "I'm not teaming up with a murderer!"

  But a look came across his eyes as he considered the possibilities.

  "Are you saying you want me to arrest people for you?" he asked, not quite grasping at what I meant.

  "No. I'm saying with the help of the police you can point me in the right direction and with my help, we can take a whole generation of scum off the streets. We'll do it ourselves."

  "Madness," he replied and closed his eyes. "Crazy. No. This isn't... You can't be serious."

  "I'm more serious than you could imagine. I mean what are the chances of all of this stopping if judges are in on it, if yourvery own chief can't be trusted? I say the two of us take them out. I have the money to make sure we don't get caught. You have the expertise to find out everything we need to know."

  "No!" he yelled and clapped his hands to his ears.

  Jumping out the car into the rain, he began hurrying down the street, his figure shrinking as the darkness closed in around him.

  "Berger! Get back in the fucking car!"

  He ignored me and wrapped his arms around himself, shielding himself from the downpour.

  "Berger! Get back here!"

  I slammed the car into gear and caught up with him. He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead as though he didn't want to believe I was beside him.

  "Will you get back in the car?"

  "Fuck off. Dirty God damn doctor. You think you can just become the police, just become God and decide who can live or die?"

  I braked hard and, startled by the noise, he stopped walking.

  "You're damn fucking right I can play God. When there are children being brutalized and no one does a thing I think I have to do something!"

  His eyes met mine. He knew I was right.

  "We can't just kill people," he said and wiped his hands through his wet hair. "I didn't become a cop for that. I wanted to save people."

  "You will be saving people," I insisted and thrust a hand out through the passenger side. "Get back in the car."

  He looked nervously up and down the street. In the distance, car headlights approached glistening through the rain drops like jewels suspended in the darkness.

  "I think Phaedra has a visitor," he said as we watched the car pull up outside the front of the house.

  We both watched as a young girl climbed out and scurried up the steps to the front door with something tucked under her arm.

  "What the hell?" said Berger as he squinted to see better. "That's... That's... Dana you bitch!"

  "You know her?"

  Horrified and dazed, he sat back in the car and stared down the street as the young girl was greeted at the door by Phaedra. She took the file gratefully before slamming the door shut. The girl ran back to her car, looking over her shoulder as she sped away. The whole transaction took less than ten seconds and left us dumbfounded.

  "What was that?" I asked.

  "That was my fuckbuddy giving away files to Phaedra."

  "Fuckbuddy?"

  "Dana," he explained. "She works at the station."

  "With you?"

  "Not with me but..."

  His eyes widened.

  "She was carrying a file under her arm."

  "Yeah, I saw it."

  "And..."

  He slammed his hands down on the dashboard.

  "Fuck! I should have known it was stolen and that I didn't just lose it."

  His face was turning crimson with rage before my eyes.

  "You can't trust anyone," I said.

  He buried his head in his hands.

  "No, you're right," he said. "So what makes you think I can trust you?"

  I took a deep breath and took another sip from my hip flask.

  "Because we both want the same thing and besides... you have a lot to blackmail me with. You're the only one who knows I'm a killer."

  Apart from Etta, I thought.

  "We both want to save t
hose children in any way we can. By any means necessary. Believe me, that's all I want."

  "No... Just no..." he kept telling himself. "This is all too crazy. What would stop you from trying to kill me? You could have earlier."

  "Exactly. I could have but I didn't because I need your help. I'm asking you man to man to help me, to join me to take down these bastards."

  I held out a hand.

  "Please, join me. We're stronger together."

  An anguished look flashed across his face as he wrestled with his feelings. I could tell he was coming around to the idea. He pushed his fingers into his inside pocket and I just knew that he was touching his badge, deciding how much it meant to him. If it meant anything at all to him anymore.

  Eventually, he let out a long exhale and shook his head as though he didn't believe what he was about to do.

  Slapping his palm into mine, he shook my hand furiously.

  "Okay," he said. "I'll join you. Let's kill those bastards."

  Chapter Seven

  Dana

  How exactly did the chief convince me to do this? It's raining like it's the end of the world and the thunder is rumbling so hard it sounds like God's up there beating the crap out of his wife with a frying pan.

  I pulled up outside the Waters House and laughed at myself. I'd been so scared to come here like I'd been sentenced to a stretch in hell but the place looked so... normal. It was slightly bigger than the other buildings along the street and it was scruffier but it had a strangely warm vibe as the lights from inside burned through the rain drops.

  Still, I didn't appreciate the chief telling me to come out here to do his dirty work for him. He knew I'd do whatever he said but I at least knew he'd thank me appropriately when I saw him next.

  My phone rang but I ignored it. I wanted to get this over and done with and reached for the file that was lying flat across the passenger seat. Inside, lay all the secrets of this Bosworth guy, of all the people Berger had been investigating and I had no idea what this Phaedra woman was going to do with it all but I wasn't going to argue with the chief. I'd heard stories about what had happened to people who disobeyed him, terrifying things that made me cold.