His Heart (By His Command #9) (billionaire romance / romantic suspense) (5 page)

I hurried to retrieve the phone and typed back to her.

Good for you. Glad you could join us.

There, I’d show her. I wouldn’t back down.

But Katherine didn’t back down either.

You’ll be joining me.

I scoffed. Then typed.

What makes you think that?

I wouldn’t allow myself to fall into her trap like Kellen and others. I wanted to take her words with a grain of salt. She needed action behind her words to scare me. I closed my eyes and desperately tried to convince myself of that, but once the phone vibrated again, my heart raced.

I read the message and my heart nearly stopped.

Oh, well since I’m holding a gun to the back of someone’s head... someone that’s important to you... you may want to come see me... dear Isabella...

I thought about asking for proof. Calling her out. But she was crazy enough to pull the trigger if she really had a gun. And someone important to me? Who could be important to me in the hotel?

Two names came to mind.

Two opposite people...

First was Kellen. She had already tried to kill him once, forcing me to save him. Would she do the same thing again? Keep bringing me to Kellen to save him. Maybe it was her way of forcing Kellen and I together so she could have Jonathan Black to herself.

Good luck with that...

Second, what if it was Jonathan? If she knew his schedule... she could do something. I saw Jonathan leave the hotel room, but not the hotel. I didn’t see him get into a limo and drive away. And even if I did, who’s to say something didn’t happen on the way to his meeting with Mr. Denninbraugh?

Fuck.

I hated it. I hated it all.

And that was exactly why.

With Katherine alive anything was possible.

I hated what I had to do next.

I had to text Katherine back.

I had to ask for her room number.

And then I had to go to her hotel room.

-8-

I thought about taking the knife - or the gun - but came to my senses quickly. If I showed up at Katherine’s hotel room with a weapon, what would happen? If she was serious about having a gun herself then. I’d be dead. Jonathan would be dead. Maybe even Kellen would be dead.

And Katherine would win.

That rotten bitch.

At the door I shook my head. She had been literally right under us. I assumed the rooms to be private enough that she couldn’t have heard a thing between me and Jonathan, but that didn’t mean she didn’t think about it. She could have been in her bed, staring at the ceiling wondering what Jonathan was doing to me.

I knocked and the door quickly opened.

I stared ahead expecting to see Katherine in some seductive clothing, holding a gun. Instead, I stared at the chest of a man. A huge man. I looked at his face, which appeared to have to muscle too. He was a massive man, definitely some kind of bodyguard. Great, just what I needed... Katherine to have protection for herself. It made me worry even more, thinking for sure she had to have had cameras in the hotel room, spying on me and Jonathan.

“
Who are you?” I asked.

“
Walk,” the man said.

His voice matched his size and I shivered.

He was in a black shirt and black pants. His eyes were empty and cold enough to kill without remorse. And he looked the type that would take a hundred bullets from police before stopping whatever actions and urges came to him.

He led the way into Katherine’s room which was damn close to a copy of mine and Jonathan’s room. He walked slow and I noticed his hands were open, the tips of his fingers shaking.

Shaking?

Was this big guy afraid?

If he was afraid...

He pushed at the bedroom door and it opened with ease. He stepped into the room, taking up the entire doorway as he did, thus blocking my view of whatever waited in the bedroom.

When he stepped to the side that’s when I saw Katherine.

That’s when I saw someone on their knees, hands folded in front of them.

It was a man.

A man the same size as the man who had led me to the room. The look on his face was empty terror. He was white as a ghost, and rightfully so, because Katherine had a gun pointed to the back of his head.

Katherine wore a blue dress that looked way too happy to be worn for such a terrifying scene. When she saw me she smiled and then puckered her lips and kissed at me.

I swallowed and tried to not look as afraid as I was.

It seemed for every thought I had, Katherine had a way to top it. Just as I thought I could honestly kill the woman, she had to do this to me. To show me she was capable of the same... only she didn’t need to practice with eggs or imagine it. She just went and did it.

“
Say hello,” Katherine said and jammed the barrel of the gun to the back of the man’s head.

He winced in pain and swallowed.

“
Hello,” his voice said.

“
Aw, how precious,” Katherine said. “You didn’t think you’d need them, huh?”

“
Need who?” I asked.

“
These two clowns,” Katherine said.

I looked at the men. I had no idea who they were.

“
I’ve never seen them before,” I said.

Katherine cackled. I noticed she had her other hand behind her back. She looked at the other man and nodded. When he made a move, I jumped back and screamed. I thought he was going to grab me and throw me at Katherine. Then I’d be at her sick mercy.

Instead, the man walked to Katherine just as she produced a second gun. He moved to his knees, matching his partner. And there stood Katherine, guns pointed to both men’s heads. She stared at me with those wild, erotic eyes, loving the power she possessed.

“
These are your friends,” Katherine said. “Isn’t that what he told you?”

“
Who?”

“
Jonathan,” Katherine said. “He thought he could get you some protection while he was out...”

Katherine paused with her mouth open and let the words sink into me. And that’s when it started to make sense. Jonathan said he had made sure security was in the hotel for me. And there they were on their knees, hands folded, guns pointed at their heads.

Fuck.

“
Now you get it,” Katherine said. “And to me it’s so simple... isn’t it?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“
Don’t shrug at me,” Katherine said. “I’ll fucking pull these triggers...”

“
Sorry,” I said. “Sorry. Don’t hurt them.”

“
Why not? Do you have feelings for them too? Like you do for Kellen?”

“
I do not...”

“
Shut up, Isabella,” Katherine said. “You’re emotionally useless and weak. Jonathan should be ashamed of himself for even touching you.”

I stepped forward, wanting to get her. Katherine lifted one of the guns to me and smiled. I stopped dead in my tracks. My body shook and I thought I was going to lose my bladder.

“
That’s right,” Katherine said. “Back up. Calm down. Listen to me talk. If you don’t... I’ll blow these two to pieces. Then I’ll go find Kellen and put a hole in chest. And finally... you and I will wait for Jonathan to come back. And I’ll make him watch me kill you... before I fuck him like you could never, ever do.”

“
What do you want?” I asked.

I knew the answer, but it was the only question that came to mind.

“
I want my money,” Katherine said. “And it seems I’m going to have to prove my point. Really hit it home.”

“
You poisoned and attacked Jonathan already,” I cried out.

“
And did he give me my money?”

I closed my eyes. “No.”

“
Because he’s not afraid enough yet. We’re going to have get to him, really good. I want to see him beg for me.”

Katherine smiled and her eyes fluttered for a second. I noticed.

...I want to see him beg for me...

Was any of this really about money?

“
What do you want him to do?” I asked.

“
I want him to feel the pain I feel. I want to feel the power of his money. Which is really my money, Isabella.”

“
Of course it is,” I whispered. “Do you have to hurt these men though?”

“
I’d kill the world to get to Jonathan,” Katherine said. “And you think he loves you? You think he’ll stay loyal to you?”

“
Yes,” I said. I meant it and I wanted to piss Katherine off.

“
He won’t,” she growled.

She lifted the gun in her right hand and pointed it at me again.

“
No...,” I said.

“
He won’t,” she said again. “I should fucking kill you for being so stupid.”

“
Katherine...”

“
But I won’t,” she said, her voice suddenly calm.

She brought the barrel of the gun down with force right to the back of one of the security guys’ heads. He cried out and fell forward to his hands. I could see the blood already pouring from the wound. Katherine kicked at him.

“
Get the fuck up,” she said. “Back on your knees.”

The man forced himself up. His face was pale and blood trickled down his head to his neck and then shirt.

“
So what next?” I asked. “What do you want me to do? I offered to talk to him...”

“
I want him to come to me,” Katherine said. “He has to do it. So he can see...”

I saw that look in Katherine’s eyes again. She really wanted Jonathan Black to come to her. And I started to believe it wasn’t just for the money. It was for more. She wanted Jonathan and hated that he refused to go near her. Maybe that was Jonathan’s way of dealing with her. If he ignored her she’d go away.

But with Katherine standing there with guns pointed to two men, I had a feeling she wouldn’t just go away this time. I’d have to outsmart her and kill her. I’d use everything she had against her. It would be my only chance.

The good part of the situation was that I’d need to stay afraid, and that wasn’t hard to do with Katherine looking the way she always did. Even if I managed to do anything to her it didn’t imply for a second that I feared the crazy woman.

“
What do you want him to do? Write you a check for three billion dollars?” I asked.

Katherine laughed again, enjoying how naive I could perceive myself to be.

“
Oh, Isabella,” Katherine whispered. “I wish there was a way we all could be together. I’d love you too. I’d fall for you. That innocence... like you’re so dumb it’s cute...”

I forced a smile. “Thanks.”

“
Jonathan will know how to get me my money,” Katherine said. “That’s why you can’t be involved. You can’t be there. Ever. You need to... just not be there.”

Katherine’s eyes looked ready to pop. I could see her shaking, so I told myself not to point it out.

“
Why these guys then?” I asked. “They aren’t doing harm. Jonathan’s not even here.”

“
Because I felt like it,” Katherine said. “Because they’ll run back and tell him.”

“
So we’re getting out of this alive?” one of the men asked.

Katherine let out a growling scream, knowing she had perhaps slipped something she didn’t mean to. I watched her lift the gun and all I could see was her killing the man. At the angle they were at... if she pulled the trigger it would have all come at me. And that was something I wouldn’t have been able to withstand.

Instead of shooting him, she brought the gun down on the top of his head like the other man. He cried out but Katherine didn’t stop. She continued to strike him, over and over. The man tried to turn and Katherine hit him in the face.

“
Turn again and I’ll shoot,” she said.

Then she looked at me.

All bets were off.

I stared into the eyes of pure evil.

“
Katherine,” I said. “What do you want me to do?”

“
I want him,” she said through gritted teeth.

“
Of course... just... how? When?”

“
Do you know you could have the other one?” Katherine asked.

“
Other one what?”

“
Kellen. He’s an amazing man. A wonderful lover too. He could touch you...”

I shook my head. I didn’t want to hear it.

Katherine took a step back and stood up on her bed. She now towered over all of us in the room. She pointed one gun at the men, moving it left to right. The other gun was then pointed at me.

“
Come here,” she said. “Now.”

I had no choice but to walk to her, to walk further into the room.

I stood next to the bed and stared at the gun pointed at me.

“
He would take you anywhere,” Katherine said. “Anywhere in the world. You could have anything you wanted, without the greed and murder that Jonathan brings.”

“
And you want that?”

“
I want my fucking money,” she said.

She was trying to cover things up, I could see it and sense it all over the room.

“
Just tell me how I can help,” I said.

Katherine smiled. She then put both guns into one hand, managing to somehow hold both of them. With her one hand now free she grabbed my face like she did back on Jonathan’s not-so private jet. Her nails were sharp and my eyes watered. I blinked fast, letting the tears fall down my face.

“
I want my money,” she whispered. “I want Jonathan Black dead. And I can do it. Not you.”

“
Of course,” I said, struggling to speak.

“
Of course,” Katherine mimicked.

She pushed me away.

“
That’s your problem,” she said. “You follow. You’re a sheep. Worthless.”

I hurried away from Katherine as far as I could go. She stepped from the bed in an elegant fashion and had a gun in each hand again, and a gun pointed at each man.