Billionaire Beast (Billionaire Bikers MC #2) (11 page)

“Who are you going to believe?” Tina asked.

“First, I wouldn’t believe you even if I had seen it
with my own two eyes. Second, Temperance belongs to me
and
Jay. If she wants to fuck him in front of the club, then she
can. She’s ours. Third, that was your final strike for me. I want you out of
the club for good.”

Richard looked pissed, and when she caught sight of
the other club members, she knew that Tina had pissed them all off one too many
times.

“I suggest you leave the club until we come to a
decision,” Russ said.

“But—”

“No buts. Get the fuck out,” Jackson said.

Temperance watched as Tina glared at all of them. That
woman was not going to back down without a fight.

****

Later that night, Jay sat back, stroking Temperance’s
hair. Her feet were in Richard’s lap. It was that time of the months so fun and
games were out of the question. They were snuggled on a large sofa. They were
in their pajamas, and Temperance wore a large nightshirt with a kitten on it.
The pajama pants had cows.

She cuddled a hot water bottle against her stomach,
and had fallen asleep.

“What will happen to that woman at the club?” Jay
asked.

Once they had sent Tina off, they had left the club.

“We’re going to get our club lawyer to handle it.
We’ll pay her off, but she’ll be bound by an agreement that states she is to
keep the running of the club a secret. If anything gets leaked, we have the
means of making sure her life is ruined.”

“Wow, don’t you think that is a bit harsh?”

“Besides the fact she called Tempe fat, there is more
at stake than just some rumors. Look what is happening to innocent women. I
will not allow a spiteful woman to risk others. I don’t care about myself. She
can talk about the club all day long to everyone, but we’re not just any club.
We’ve made ourselves targets, and that is on us. I regret it, but there’s
nothing we can do.”

“More women have been taken?”

Richard sighed. “Sadly, yes. More have been taken, and
we can’t know for certain who it is.”

“No one can do a good deed anymore without it becoming
an issue.”

“You’ve got that right.” Richard rubbed at his
temples.

“Did you always want to be a biker?”

“No. The only thing I ever wanted was to help people.
That’s it. I wanted to help people.”

“You are helping people,” Jay said.

“Am I? Right now it seems I’m killing more than I’m
helping.”

“You can’t blame yourself for what is going on. You’re
doing a good thing, and I bet you’ve saved hundreds of women.”

“Now women are being killed, and I can’t help but fear
what will come next.”

Jay looked over at his friend. He never for a second
thought he would be loving Temperance with another man. Richard was a good man.

“We’ll handle it together. We’re a team, right? We’ve
got each other, which at times is more than others have.”

Richard touched her leg. “I can’t lose her.”

“We won’t. We have this, together.” Jay smiled. “I had
lunch today with my bodyguard. His name is Curtis, and he’s ever so nice.”

Richard started to laugh. “You shouldn’t have noticed
him.”

“It was kind of hard not to. At first I thought I had
an admirer, and then I saw he was packing. I went out, shook his hand, and we
had lunch. He’s a good guy. He’s got three kids, and a wife who worries about
him.”

“Curtis is a good man. He’ll keep you safe.”

“I also know you’ve got two guards on Temperance.”

“I don’t think she knows about them,” Richard said. “I
prefer that. I don’t want her aware of the danger that I may have caused her.”

“You’re not going to lose her. She loves you too damn
much to lose you.”

Richard sighed. “I love her with my whole heart. I
never thought I’d love a woman as much as I love her. She’s my life.”

“I agree.”

“I want this to be forever,” Richard said. “Can you
handle that?”

“Sharing her?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve been handling it just fine. I happen to like
you, Richard. No, I’ll never want your dick, but I can see us sharing her.”

“I’ll marry her.”

“You’re the one with all the money,” Jay said.

“It’s not about the money. I want her to be protected,
and I know she’d protect you as well if anything was to happen to me.”

“Are you proposing to me?” Temperance asked, sounding
sleepy.

“I thought you were asleep.”

“I was. I’m not asleep anymore.” She rolled over. “Are
you proposing?”

Richard chuckled. “Yeah, I’m proposing.”

Temperance smiled. She looked up at him. “What do you
think, Jay? Should I make him ask again?”

“I think you should put the guy out of his misery.”

Temperance laughed. “Yes, Richard, I’ll marry you.”

Chapter Ten

Three days later, Richard was back at the clubhouse.
Jay and Temperance had stayed at home to make dinner, and he was going to miss
it if the meeting ran over.

“I’m sorry it has taken me so long, but I finally
found the one person that was present within a specific time frame,” Lewis
said.

“What?” Russ asked.

“Each woman was killed, and from the autopsy report,
the suspect is male. The damage to the woman’s bodies was consistent with that
of a blunt force trauma, which anyone can do, but it takes strengths. These
women, they were taken, tortured, and killed, dumped. Other women would not be
able to work alone for this. They don’t have the physical strength to carry
this out.” Lewis spoke without any emotion. “There was no rape, which is why
the cops are coming to us now no longer as potential suspects. It’s something
that doesn’t add up.”

“What do you mean?” Richard asked.

“Murder, there’s a reason for it. There is a
relationship between most victims and the murderer, and I’m not talking like
father-daughter relations. This can be something like each woman insulted the
murderer, which is why he killed them. This doesn’t add up. Each murder is
completely related by one thing, us.”

“So because it’s not rape, they’re saying it’s a
problem, and we’re the only connection?” Richard asked.

“There have to be at least two different killers out
there. The women that were found before were raped, so it was done by someone
else. Each serial killer, murderer, criminal, they have what is known as a
calling card. These three women do not match the women that were found raped before.
None of these women had anything in common, they don’t look the same, share the
same lifestyle. We are what connect them, which leads us to this man.” Lewis
clicked on a remote, and three images came on screen, each at different angles,
but what had Richard sitting up was he recognized the guy.

“What about this man?” Richard asked.

“This is the person that has been present near the women.
It’s not a coincidence. He was at Blake’s club, and was seen leaving a few
minutes after Darlene. They had been dancing together. He was also a visitor at
your building, Russ. Tania was the one who showed him around.” Lewis pointed to
the next image. The man was driving a van, and he watched as Sarah climbed
inside on the small video of the footage Lewis had taken.

“What’s his name?” Richard asked.

“For the last two, he used a different name. I don’t know
what name he was using for the first one with Darlene,” Lewis said.

“He’s part of O’Brian’s entourage,” Richard said.

Richard had seen him, and he used his cell to start contacting
O’Brian.

Putting his cell to his ear, he waited for O’Brian to
answer.

His heart was racing as he stared at the image on the
main screen.
Fuck!
He’d not even
given it a thought to check out O’Brian’s entourage. His club life had never
entered his working life unless he had a club whore visit him to take care of
his problem.

“Richard, what do I owe the honor?” O’Brian asked.

“The man who has been your guard, the one who stands
in the back.” Richard gave a brief description of the man.

“Yes, I know who you mean. I don’t have his details. I
use a security firm who sends out different men for me.”

That man had been with him while he’d been with
Temperance. Hanging up his cell phone, he made his way out of the meeting,
rushing downstairs as he started to call Temperance’s cell. It went to
voicemail. Next he called Jay.

Nothing.

Then he called his apartment, and once again, nothing.
He didn’t even explain to any of his club brothers. Climbing onto his bike, he
shot out of the private parking area, not caring about his own safety.
Something had gone wrong. He knew it.

He’d been so fucking stupid not to have seen it or
check out what the fuck was going on, but he’d been distracted.

Richard would never make that mistake again.

****

Temperance’s head was pounding, and when she tried to
touch her face, she was stopped.

“Wait … what?” Her foggy brain was struggling to catch
up with everything that was going on, and it only served to make her more
confused.

“Ah, she’s waking up.”

Frowning, she opened her eyes and turned her head.
Nothing was in focus, so she blinked her eyes to try to clear her mind.

“There she is.”

She remembered being in the kitchen with Jay, and
having fun. As she glanced around the warehouse, it looked abandoned, and she
couldn’t see any sign of Jay. Someone had broken into Richard’s apartment, and
Jay had been shot. God, he’d been shot, and now he was bleeding.

Tears filled her eyes and started to fall. Jay could
be dead, and no one knew.

“You’re starting to remember.”

“What are you doing?” she asked.

Opening her eyes, she forced herself to look at the
man who was taunting her. She recognized him but didn’t know how she did. They
had never talked before. There was nothing that stuck out about him.

“What am I doing? Let’s see, I’m trying to gain the
attention of the billionaires affecting my business. Now, they make think
they’re smart, but they haven’t got anything on the corporation as a whole.”

Temperance stayed silent as the man kept talking.

“Don’t you think it’s a little lame? A bunch of
billionaires thinking they can save the world.”

“They’re not trying to save the world. Just the women
and children you hurt.”

The man threw his head back, laughing. “They don’t
need to be saved. They’re there to be used. If I don’t use them, someone else
will.”

This man sickened her. “You will be stopped.”

“I doubt it. Where there are women, there will be men
who can order them like cattle. Sometimes, we get a picture of the woman they
want.”

“Why do you have me?” she asked.

“I needed to teach the little lame bikers a lesson.
They seem to think they have their billions so they can do what they want.”

“You have nothing, and think the same thing.”

“I’m providing a service.”

“You’re a monster.”

“That I am. I won’t lie about who I am.”

Temperance looked around, and saw that she was sitting
on a chair with her arms stretched out. She didn’t even want to think about
what this man had in store for her. Whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be
pleasant.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“I’m thinking it’s time I made a call.”

The man turned away and left her.

Tears were pouring down her cheeks, and she was
struggling to keep herself together. She was petrified, and she was trapped.

Stay calm, Temperance.

She kept repeating the same words over and over in the
hope that she would eventually believe her own words.

****

Richard slammed into his apartment and found Jay lying
on the floor in a pool of his own blood.

Grabbing his cell phone, he dialed for an ambulance,
checking Jay’s vital signs.

“My friend has been shot. I need an ambulance. His
pulse is faint.” Richard told them the address, and rolled Jay over.

In the distance he heard his friends rushing into his
apartment. Dropping his cell phone, he removed his jacket, pressing it to the
wound.

Jay finally moaned. “Fuck me, please tell me I’m
dreaming and I’m going to wake up to Temperance about to ride my face.”

“Now is not the time for jokes.”

“I’m not joking. Fuck me, that hurts.” Jay opened his
eyes and started leaning against the kitchen sink.

“Colorful language for an accountant,” Lewis said.

“I’ve been shot, and I bet it’s your fault. Pissed off
any employees lately?”

“None, but it is our fault.”

“Where’s Tempe?” Jay asked.

“She’s not here.”

“What do you mean she’s not here?” Jay stared at him,
sweating. “Fuck, I can’t—did they take her?”

“I don’t know what the hell is going on,” Richard
said.

“Do you have security cameras around the whole of the
building?” Lewis asked.

“Everything is controlled with computers now.” Richard
pressed the jacket while trying to think, and not panic. It was fucking hard to
do.

Temperance was gone. Jay was shot, and it looked bleak.

“I fucked up,” Jay said.

“What?”

“I didn’t protect her. Someone has Tempe, and I fucked
up.”

“Shut up, Jay. We’ll deal with this, and we’ll find
her, and we’ll make the bastards pay.”

“At what cost, man? They hurt her, and we’re not going
to get the same woman back.”

Richard couldn’t think about that shit right now.

“Got it,” Lewis said.

“Help me up,” Jay said.

“You need to rest.”

“I’m not dead yet, and I have a right to see this
shit.”

He had no choice, so with Jackson’s help, he got Jay
to his feet. They moved toward the main television where Lewis had hooked up
the security footage. He was rewinding it back to the point where the apartment
was first broken into.

Richard recognized one man as the guy on O’Brian’s
security detail. He didn’t recognize the other guy.

The guards that Richard had assigned were out cold.
The only one not there was Curtis, but it was his night off.

“Fuckers came in and started shooting. We didn’t have
any time.”

Richard didn’t have security cameras within his
apartment, so next he saw Temperance fighting them. She was trying to get away,
screaming, kicking, and even biting.

He cursed when he saw one of them slam their fist in
her face, and Temperance went out cold. They picked her up and disappeared.
They clearly didn’t care about being caught. Richard had never seen anyone do
this out in the open, which made him wonder who they had as contacts within the
law. Lewis typed, changing each camera angle, and they watched as the men
dumped her in the back of a car, and drove off.

Richard thought that would be it, but Lewis was
already moving onto the next step, framing the license plate, and running it.

“What are you doing?” Jay asked.

“I’m finding where he went. I’ve got recognition
software that I can access.”

“I don’t feel so good.” Jay started to sway, and
Richard held onto him, leading him to the couch.

“I’ve got you, Jay. The ambulance will be here, and
we’re all going to be okay.”

“You’ve got to protect her. She’s too precious to
allow anything to happen to her.”

“Jay, shut up, and stop worrying. You’re going to be
fine.”

“If I don’t make it, you’ve got to keep her.”

Richard gritted his teeth. “Shut up.”

“You’ve got to love and cherish her, and you’ve got to
go through with it. You’ve got to marry her, otherwise I’ll come down and haunt
your ass.”

“You’re not going to die.”

“I’m so cold.”

****

Temperance tried not to cringe when she caught sight
of the man coming back. He was laughing, and she didn’t like that. It was terrifying.

“I see you’re still awake.”

“I’m not exactly comfortable,” she said. Her arms were
spread out, and her ass was starting to get numb.

She was in an abandoned warehouse used for torturing
people and she was more concerned about her numb ass.

Get your head in the game.

The man laughed. “This isn’t about your comfort. Do
you really think they will come for you?”

He grabbed another chair and sat in front of her. Her
heart was racing, and she was trying to hardest not to let the fear show.

Richard will come.

The BBMC will come.

In the beginning she’d thought the billionaire bikers
were a bunch of men who didn’t know what they were doing. They were just
playing at being tough men. Now, she saw what they were doing, and she appreciated
it more than ever.

“You know, I’ve trained a lot of girls for a lot of
men to be their pets.”

“Is that what you do? Train them to be animals?”

“Hardly animals. Some girls, they fight, and it takes
killing another to keep them in line.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I’m thinking if I kill you, it’ll keep everyone else
in line. They have Mandy, and she was great for soothing the girls. She played
her part. It was just a shame she decided to turn on us.”

“Mandy helped you?”

“In the beginning she fought like a wild animal. My
mentor, he found her the hardest to break, which was why she was given special
privileges over time. Once she earned enough, he kept her on to help the other
girls. He had no idea the whole time she was a traitor. The woman is an expert
actress. No other woman is ever going to get that close again.”