Capital Risk Read Online Free PDF Page B

should consider the consequences of this kidnapping. If you succeed and a child is born?” I whispered the threat. “I will burn this prison to the ground and scorch my enemies into ash before I let you become a father to my son.”

    Reed crowded my bags and dog into his rental car. I’d traveled from the Poconos west, running from Pennsylvania to Minnesota. We had to take a private plane to California.
    I tried not to think of Josiah and Mike. Tried not to remember the footage of their plane crash Darius forced me to watch.
    It didn’t work. Weepy and sick and exhausted, I collapsed in my seat. Reed said nothing as I darted to the bathroom twice. I curled up beside him and let the hours pass with inoffensive small-talk about Hamlet.
    I couldn’t ask about Nicholas.
    The plane descended into a tiny airport off the California coast. Reed lived West of San Jose, in a little ocean town known for the surfing community. He loaded me into a private car and pointed out his favorite board shop, coffee house, and the road he took to get to the Mavericks, a crazy surfing spot half a mile out into the ocean.
    Reed rubbed the scar on his cheek. “You think that’s bad, you should see a twenty foot wave crashing over your head.”
    Yeah, not something I would have done even before I landed in my current condition. “Isn’t it dangerous?”
    “Sure, but that’s the fun of it. It’s an adrenaline rush. Nothing like it.”
    “Not my type of adrenaline rush.”
    “What’s yours?”
    It used to be nights spent passed between each of my step-brothers. Now it was just nights running in fear. I was tired of that particular rush.
    Reed turned from the main drag and headed up a secondary road leading away from town to the quiet hills overlooking the ocean. It was a beautiful place—peaceful, but exciting. Very Reed.
    “I’m surprised you left here to live at the estate,” I said.
    His fingers tightened over the wheel. “Didn’t have a choice. When Dad says come home…”
    I shivered. “Right.”
    “Don’t worry. I’ve got security systems and everything working. It’s safer than Max’s penthouse.”
    Nowhere was safe, but I appreciated his concern. We parked outside a beautiful, modern house, with more windows than walls. Hard angles and a classy, tight design blended it into the hill. The ocean was in clear view from a balcony stretching over the sloping hillside. The house rested in a forest of scrub and dark shadow.
    I didn’t wait for him. I edged from the car and whistled for Hamlet. Reed followed with my bags.
    “I won’t lie,” he said “They’re going to be upset.”
    Not for long.
    The front door creaked open. Hamlet burst inside as if he had lived there his whole life.
    Max paced in the living room. Hamlet, of course, launched at his weak leg. The hulking, beast of a man crashed against the couch with a pained profanity. The fluffy goldendoodle gave him a sloppy lick.
    Reed dropped my bags in the doorway. He pushed me in front of him.
    Traitor.
    “Look who I found,” he said.
    “Jesus, fuck!” Max swore, rubbing the tension from his face with a thick hand. The muscles over his arm tensed, and the pattern of dark ink stretched tight. “Christ, am I glad to see you, baby.”
    I didn’t answer.
    The words refused to whisper.
    He stood before the window overlooking the moon-kissed ocean, bathed in shadow and wrought with a strength I once thought would protect me from everything.
    The golden halo of his eyes burned within the dimness of the house, captured in a moment’s rage and relief. The color dazzled, sharpened, and cracked as frustration trapped his expression. The rugged line of his jaw hardened, and the regal angles of his face encased him with a poised grace.
    But beneath the edge of sophistication, I saw what I’d ignored for so long.
    The thin curl of his lips.
    The slope of his nose.
    The angle of his brow, and the dark strength that held his body in perfect, disciplined