BEASTLY LOVE BOX SET: Romance Collection

by Lindsey Hart

  Veronica’s eyes widened, and he cursed himself. He shouldn’t have told her that. He wasn’t a bad man. He wanted her to understand that. It killed him that she might think he was one of those animals he’d tried so hard never to become. He’d forgiven millions in debt because he had no choice sometimes. If it meant hurting another person, the money just wasn’t worth it. That didn’t mean his goons didn’t install fear because they did. Fear was the only way to operate in a business like this.

  “I would never do that. You know me. No matter what, I’m still your big brother. I’ll always look after you and take care of you. I would never, ever hurt anyone. Not even Trace Redden.”

  “You won’t?”

  “No. There are other ways to get revenge and to take care of the slime of society.”

  “I wish you wouldn’t call him that I… I- thought- that I…”

  “What? You thought you loved him?” What could his sister possibly know of love? She was just past her twentieth birthday. He was ten years older than her and he’d been careful to avoid such foolish notions. Emotions, feelings, love- it was all just weakness in his eyes.

  Veronica hung her head. “He was a user. He knew who I was, probably the entire time we were together.”

  Cam sighed. “Even though we have different last names to protect you, people can still find out I’m your brother. I warned you about men like him.”

  “I know. I know what you said. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe you or that I wanted to scorn you or something. I just- he’s a good man. I know it. He hasn’t had an easy life. He might be rough like you said but he has a good heart. He’s smart, tender… I know you wouldn’t believe me but I know it. He has this sister, she’s younger. He took care of her. Raised her the same way you raised me. That’s how I know he could never be all bad.”

  Cam froze. The start of a plan was already picking its way through his brain. “How did Trace get those photos anyway? Why would you have sent him something like that? I thought you knew better.” Veronica hung her head again. Cam couldn’t stand to see all her vibrancy shadowed by sorrow. He placed his hand on her shoulder.

  “I didn’t send them. Trace… he was the one who took them.”

  Cam’s blood turned to ice. He had never hurt someone before but this was different. He wanted to harm Trace Redden more than he’d ever wanted to do damage to another person in his life. This time it wasn’t about money. It was personal.

  “Please Cam! I know what you think. You can’t imagine how I of all people could- give- myself to him.”

  He slowly shook his head. “No. That’s not what I was thinking at all.” Veronica stared hard at him. He could tell she thought he was a liar. “I was thinking that Trace Redden is finished. If he’d treated you like the lady you are and treated you with respect I would have let him be. If he truly loved you, he never would have had a problem with me. I value what you think far too much to intrude in your life. I have to let you make your own choices even if I don’t agree with them.”

  “I know that Cam but-”

  He cut her off. “I will fix this but you aren’t going to like the outcome. You just have to trust me. I promise no one is going to get hurt. It might seem dire but it’s not. You know me. You know me as your brother, not the way the whole world sees me.”

  “I- I do trust you but please, don’t talk like that. It’s scaring me.”

  “You mentioned a sister.” Cam pointedly ignored Veronica’s words. “Trace Redden loves his sister. He cares for her. He would probably do anything in the world for her.”

  “Yes. Of course, he would.”

  “Good. I’m going to take her.”

  Veronica’s mouth fell open. “What? Are you insane? Take her? What does that even mean?”

  “I’m going to take her to the island. It’s remote. No one would ever find us. I’ll stay there with her for as long as it takes for Redden to come to his senses and return those photos. His sister in exchange for the pictures. I think she’s worth ten million to him. Do you?”

  “No! I mean, yes of course but you can’t do this! It’s not right.”

  “No one will get hurt. She’ll just be removed for a couple of days or however long it takes Redden to give those photos back. The island is paradise. We both know it’s my refuge. It’s beautiful.”

  “You never take anyone there! Not even me!” Veronica stared at him in shock.

  Cam shrugged. There was no derailing his plan now. “It will probably be the best vacation Redden’s sister ever had.”

  “Sarah. Her name is Sarah,” Veronica ground out. “Please don’t do this. Just pay him the ten million and be done with it.”

  “Are you kidding me? He’s probably made copies. Whatever he gives us isn’t going to be half of the trouble that will come our way with men like him. We aren’t going to give in. That would be a display of weakness and once you show weakness, you’re finished.”

  “I know that. You’ve always taught me that. This is just so- unlike Trace. You might think he’s a bad man and not worthy of me but he always treated me well. We were together for almost a year. You think that would mean something. I really did think he loved me.”

  Cam stifled a baffled laugh. Of all the stupid things he’d heard, Veronica believing that a man like Trace Redden could ever love anyone. Cam did have to allow that Trace supposedly loved his sister enough to get her back. Cam’s whole damn plan hinged on it.

  Cam reached over and placed a hand gently on Veronica’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of all of this.”

  Large blue eyes glistened with sorrow and uncertainty. “That’s half what I was afraid of,” she whispered before rising and silently leaving his office.

  CHAPTER 2

  The music in the club pulsed and pounded out a violent beat that shot right through Sarah Redden’s skull. “Remind me again why I let you drag me out to this.”

  Her best friend, Roxie, flashed her a winning smile. “Come on Sarah. You don’t have to be such a drag. You never come out with us. This is supposed to be fun! We’re twenty-five! These are the best years of our lives!”

  “Fun. Hmm. Sorry, which part is that? The music that’s pounding so loud I can’t hear myself think or the drunk people that keep tripping all over each other or the guy ralphing in the corner or the seedy assholes that keep hitting on me and refuse to take a hint?”

  Roxie rolled her eyes. She raised her coke mixed with rum to her pink lacquered lips and took a long sip. “All of it. You only get to live once.”

  Sarah pulled her phone out of the black beaded clutch looped around her wrist. She checked the time and found to her relief that it was after one. She flashed Roxie the screen. “Looks like I already put in my dues. I’m going to head home. I’m exhausted.”

  To her credit, Roxie actually looked crestfallen. “Really? Sarah! We’ve only been here for a couple hours.”

  A couple hours too many. “I know. I’ll make it up to you another night.”

  “You’re the only person I know who drives to the bar because they don’t intend on getting drunk and having a good time. Isn’t that what this is about?” Roxie stuck out her lip in a pout. “Besides, you were supposed to be my ride home.”

  Sarah pulled a twenty out of her clutch and handed it over. “Here. The cab ride is on me. Be safe. Use your head. Don’t take a drunk asshole home with you.”

  Her best friend smiled sweetly and batted her lashes. “Who me? You know that I have better judgement than that.”

  You have the worst drunk glasses I know. “Yes. Of course.” Sarah hugged Roxie goodbye. Afterwards she was relieved to beat a hasty exit out the back door of the club.

  Sarah pushed open the heavy back exit and stepped into the darkened alley. The club was on a warehouse street that had been revamped and changed into a series of trendy clubs, upscale boutiques and café’s. Unfortunately, at this hour the only thing open was another club down the block.

  Sarah walked
quickly, trying to make her way to her car. It was parked a few blocks over since the street had been a solid wall of traffic when she and Roxie arrived earlier. The early May night was cold. Sarah shivered and wished she had a jacket to pull around her. As it was all she had on was a black sparkly mini dress and six-inch heels that were not at all suited to picking her way down a pot hole strewn street and over a crumbling sidewalk.

  She glanced around as she exhaled, sure she could see her breath. She was going to be pissed off if she got sick from being dragged out on such a cold night. She hadn’t even wanted to go but Roxie could be quite convincing.

  A muffled scrape on the sidewalk behind her made the hair on the back of her arms stand up. She spun around, shivering. She scanned the street behind her but all she saw was shadows.

  The area was dark, with hardly any streetlights. Sarah wished that she’d asked Roxie to walk her to her car. Even paying some drunken idiot to do it would have been better than nothing.

  Sarah wasn’t the kind of woman who went down without a fight. If someone was following her they were going to get a fistful of the keys she took out of her clutch and threaded through her knuckles. Growing up on the streets of Chicago, even with her brother there to protect her, had hardened her.

  A heavy footfall sounded to her left. She spun, her eyes wildly searching the street. Her heart hammered painfully as fear crept up her throat and cut off her breath. There was no one there. Just the shadows from the alley she’d just passed. Maybe she was being paranoid.

  Sarah quickened her pace. The faster she walked, the surer she was there was someone following her. Her heart hammered hard in her chest. Fear and adrenaline flooded her veins. She thought about kicking off her ridiculous shoes and running the rest of the way to her car, but it was still another block and she knew if someone was following her she probably wouldn’t make it.

  She couldn’t show fear. Weakness wasn’t the way to go. She was going to be strong and face whatever…

  Strong arms wrapped around her waist while another hand came down on her mouth. She screamed but the sound was muffled. She struggled and thrashed violently but the man holding her was like a brick wall. He was at least a good foot taller than her and his grip was as hard as an iron band.

  Sarah bit down hard on the hand over her mouth and the man cursed. She kicked out and up, landing her heel in some fleshy spot on her assailant’s leg. A grunt of pain followed by a series of curses lit up the night.

  She whirled, punching out with the keys threaded through her knuckles. Her attacker yelped in pain and held a hand up to his face. It was too dark to get a good look at him. Sarah was about to strike out again when a second assailant grabbed her arm from behind and wrenched it backwards. Sarah cried out in pain and despair as her knuckles opened and her keys fell to the ground.

  Another arm, as rigid and unyielding as the first, gripped her around the shoulders. She tried to struggle, tried to get away but her attacker was too swift. His hand moved over her mouth. There was a flash of white and a horrible smell. Sarah breathed in and felt her body sag. Black spots danced in front of her eyes. She tried one last time to strike out before everything went black.

  CHAPTER 3

  Pain like a pounding drum flared through her head. Sarah struggled to open her eyes but she felt like she was swimming through a sea of blackness. She tried hard to crest the top but each time she got close she was sucked back under. She kept struggling, kept trying. Eventually she breached the surface.

  One eyelid cracked open. The light pouring into the room through a large window assaulted her and she squeezed her eyes shut, preferring blackness over the painful pinpricks of sunshine.

  She waited a minute for the fog in her head to clear and she tried again. She blinked, finding the light not so painful on the second try.

  She realized she was on her side on a large bed. A pillow had been placed under her head. She blinked again, trying to figure out if she was in some dream or if this was real.

  Then she remembered.

  She was at a club. Those men had followed her to her car. She’d tried to get away. They’d grabbed her and put a rag over her mouth and that was it. They’d obviously kidnapped her and taken her somewhere.

  She quickly glanced around the room but there was no one in sight. Her hands were tied behind her back. When she tried to flex her wrists, the rope cut in painfully. She stopped, gasping at both the pain in her wrists and the dagger that shot through her head when she tried to move an inch to take in her surroundings.

  The pain finally cleared though her stomach rolled in protest. She realized the ceiling was high. It was strangely dome like and looked like it was thatched. She’d been to Mexico and stayed at a resort once. Wherever she was no kind of reminded her of that. The walls weren’t drywall. They were stucco or something strange and whitewashed. The floor was tiled with large red hued squares. The roof was what gave the place away as being tropical. That thatched roof didn’t belong on any house in Chicago. Her eyes flew to the one window in the room. She had to struggle to turn her head to see it. Her stomach revolted again, and she nearly gagged at the lightning bolt of pain that seared her brain.

  She knew she was right when just outside the window, the fronds of a palm tree danced happily in the breeze.

  Sarah froze. Not only had someone kidnapped her, they’d taken her god knew where! She doubted she was even in the States any longer. She could be anywhere. She didn’t even know how long she’d been out.

  Heavy footfalls outside the door alerted her that someone was coming. She shut her eyes, her first instinct telling her to pretend she was still out cold but she knew that wouldn’t work. Her breathing had changed tempo. Whoever had taken her was probably smart enough to notice. Better she just faced whatever was going to happen to her now instead of wondering, doubting and turning her mind inside out with fear and anxiety.

  “Good to see you’re finally awake. My men said you put up one hell of a fight. If I didn’t know better I would almost be impressed.”

  Sarah didn’t recognize the deep masculine voice, but she did recognize the man’s face when he stepped into view. He walked around to the side of the bed she faced and perched on the edge. His features, which some might have called handsome, were as hard and cold as she was sure his soul was. They were set in a frightening scowl. He was dressed to match in a black t-shirt stretched tightly across his broad shoulders and powerful chest, black pants that looked like some combat uniform and a set of boots that could only be called intimidating. An aura of power suffused the air around him. Sarah could tell that he was a man who was used to having his orders obeyed.

  “Cameron Spade. I should have known.” Of course. It all made sense now. To think Cameron wouldn’t retaliate after they’d taken those photos had been sheer folly, but they’d been desperate and desperation made people do stupid things.

  “Sarah Redden.” His eyes swept over her form while she studied his face. She refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing that his hard gaze sent a shiver racing up her spine. He was intimidating alright with those ice blue eyes and short cropped jet black hair. His entire face looked like it had been carved out of stone. It was all hard planes and angles from his high cheekbones and strong brow to his sharp jawline. Thick stubble darkened that jaw, but he looked like the kind of man who bore a perpetual shadow.

  “Yes. So, you know my name. Big deal,” she spat sarcastically. Her voice never wavered once though she tasted fear at the back of her throat. Cameron Spade was not a man one crossed lightly. The entire world seemed to understand that.

  “And you know mine. That’s not the problem though is it? We both know you wouldn’t be here if the pathetic excuse for a human being that is your brother hadn’t fucked with my family. Your filthy animal brother not only put his hands on my sister, he took indecent photos of her in the guise of- I don’t know- caring. She should have known better but she’s a naïve girl. Perhaps I’ve protected her far too much for her o
wn good. I know that the world can be hard but I’ve tried to shield her from the worst of it. I succeeded until she knew the name Trace Redden.”

  “Is that why you’ve taken me?” Sarah swallowed hard. “To make me pay for those photos?”

  He laughed but the sound was harsh and cynical. “Certainly not. No one is going to be paying for them at all. That’s the point. I took you because your brother demanded ten million dollars in exchange for the safe return of those pictures. Now I demand the pictures in exchange for your safe return.” He raised a dark brow mockingly. “Do you think you’re worth ten million dollars? To your brother, I mean.”

  She choked on her angry retort. Her heart plummeted in her chest. Guilt and grief assailed her. “By taking me you’ve as good as signed my brother’s death certificate. Can you live with yourself knowing that?”

  For an instant, an instant so fleeting she was almost not sure it happened, Sarah thought she saw a shadow pass over Cameron’s cold blue eyes. It vanished so quickly that she couldn’t be sure it was ever there at all. He shrugged, his scowl deepening.

  “Why would I care about what trouble your brother is in? If he’s done something so dire to his own safety that he needs ten million dollars to dig himself out, it’s not my problem. He should have known better.”

  Yes he should have. And so should I. A hard wave of guilt crashed over Sarah again. She tasted the bitterness of frustration and agony when she swallowed. “So I’m to be your prisoner then? Kept here, wherever here is, until my brother returns those photos? How does he even know that I’m safe or that you have me?”

  Cameron’s smile was wicked, hard and cold. It turned Sarah’s blood to ice.

  “I have everything taken care of. Once I am notified that your brother has returned those photos and any and all duplicates, you will be released. If I find out that he has not been honest and kept some digital copy… well… we all know what will happen then.” Cameron’s look was so wicked and cold it turned Sarah’s blood to ice. She knew then that every single story she’d ever heard about him was true. She didn’t doubt that he was as good as his word.