Billion Dollar Bad Boy (Big City Billionaires #1) (21 page)

Silver's nose ground on mine, his searing words kissing my ears. “You're accusing me of planning to kill you when you won't even
listen
to my side.” He tightened his hands, breathing faster—deeper. “You said you wanted to know why I came to this city, why I came back for you.”

Hot tears of exhaustion prickled the corners of my eyes. “Was it to destroy what was left of me? Is that why you've been playing with me, so you could twist me up inside and fuck me over? You broke me, you fucking
broke me! Why did you come back?!
”

His teeth bruised me as his kiss smothered my mind. Pleasure and pain sponged through my skin. I was ready for war, not for this. I wanted to hate him, and in a way, I still did. But betrayal wasn't enough to lock my senses away from someone like him.

I gasped for air when he freed me. The fervor in his eyes was disorienting, I had the strangest suspicion that he was just as lost as I was. “You,” he hissed out, the word as permanent as a tattoo on his flesh. “I came back because of
you.”

My blink was sluggish; I struggled in his grip, yet he just squeezed me harder. “That isn't an answer, I want a real answer!”

His whole face crumbled, I saw his molars as he shouted. “I couldn't stop thinking about you! Is that what you need to hear?”

Quicker and quicker, I was floating away from my own body.

What does he mean?

He spat out more words, each coming hotter—more furious—than the last. “I couldn't get you out of my mind!” Laughing, Silver cupped his temples and backed away. “And then you went and forgot about
me.
”

I slumped on the wall, my knees giving out until I sank to the floor. “I don't... I don't understand.”

“Neither do I.” Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Silver backed up into his desk so violently it shook. His nameplate fell to the floor, ignored entirely. “Why would a girl I'd met for a few mere minutes be hammered into my skull?”

He wasn't watching me. It was one of the few moments where he wasn't. Able to study the curve of his nose and the way his hair faded down his temples, I thought he looked exceptionally tired.

Then he jabbed his eyes back at me, and I jumped. “Do you want to know what I figured out?” he asked.

“Please,” I said on impulse.

He smiled with one side of his mouth. “I like that word on your lips.” His chest flared, like he was gathering himself. “This is what I know. That day we met—that fateful little moment? I was at the climax of finally getting the revenge I'd been desperate for. I had no intention of staying in this city once I was done. I was ready to forget everything.”

Every answer he spit just gave me new questions. I didn't want to stop the flow of information I was getting, so I sat on my hands and listened quietly.

Silver said, “A year after robbing those bastards, you still lingered in my thoughts. Fuck, it was frustrating!” Laughing without humor, he hung his head. He was speaking to the floor, or maybe himself. I felt like an observer. “You were no one, and I was becoming
someone.
I used money and my growing power to invest in more of both. It was easy, and finding women to distract myself with was even easier.”

A splinter of disgust stabbed into me.
Stop. Fucking stop.
I was here for answers, not to question if learning the truth would divide Silver and me even more. I didn't
want
to be connected! He'd wronged me... and I had to keep that in my heart.

I had to.

“No matter how many girls I screwed, though... at the end of everything, as I fell asleep or my mind wandered, you were there.” He lifted his eyes, burning me like an ageless sun. “
You,
Alexis Willow. The girl from my past.”

My blood flash-flooded my veins, making my heart pound.

In the recess of his voice, I sensed his sincerity. “I knew I had to make you my present.”

Clutching at the sides of my knees, I summoned pain, fear, anything to smother my rising delight. No matter how I tried, I couldn't get my rage to clog the path to my soul.

My voice cracked. “You came back just to be with me?” A wave of light-headedness made me sway where I sat. “How did you even find me?”

“I had your name.” He cracked a wider grin. “I've got some talent with using information, remember? I'm the infamous hacker that got away.” It should have felt like he was bragging. It didn't. “I've been watching you for so long, trying to grasp what made you so chronically addicting.”

“So you
were
stalking me,” I whispered.

“Yes. When you asked me that on our first date, I was surprised.”

First date?
“I still don't understand. What did I
do
to you?” How had I affected this bold, impossibly forceful man?

Silver leaned forward. His fingers crushed the rim of the desk, knuckles turning white. “That day in the bank, do you remember what we talked about?”

“I don't know. I really don't.”

“Money, right?”

I breathed out through my nose. “Yes. You were robbing the damn bank, of course it was about money.”

He chuckled, and the sound made me stare at him. “Not
my
money. Yours. Alexis, you offered me everything you had.”

Had I done that? Digging back, I remembered what he meant. I'd handed him my bank info, imploring him to take the money I'd set aside. I'd wanted him to leave everyone alone, flee before an errant bullet was fired from him or a brave cop.

Silver gripped the desk harder, I waited for the wood to splinter. “You needed that money, didn't you?”

“It was going to be for college. For leaving the city.” Acid bubbled on my tongue. “I spent it all on therapy instead. It took me forever to handle my anxiety well enough to get a fucking job.”

“Because of me.” It wasn't a question.

“Because of you, yes.”

His eyes were hooded, no light touching the black centers. The sun hit him from behind, extending his shadow so that as it stretched over the room, floating an inch from me on the rug.

Finally, he must have realized what he'd done to me years ago. What he was
still
doing by continuing to reach out to me. Did he feel regret? Did he feel anything at all?

Silver's voice was so low that I had to strain to hear him. “You were the first person I'd ever met that knew that money wasn't as important as someone's life.” His chin touched his chest, I couldn't see his expression. “I'll say it again. I never planned to hurt you that day.”

With great effort, I kept myself steady. “What about now?”

His eyes shot up, raw and wild. “Excuse me?”

Silver had hacked another bank, the radio had told me. If the first hadn't been enough, why was this one any different? There was a chance people would get caught in the middle the longer he was on the streets.

People who might not be lucky enough to survive with
just
emotional scars, like me.

My stomach ate itself as I weighed my question. “Do you even think about anyone else, or do you just want more money?”

“Why would I...” He locked up. “Ah. You've been watching the news.”

Pulling my numb hands up, I gestured around the luxurious office. “You have all this, why are you stealing more?”

“You're right, I'm rich. Why
would
I rob anyone?”

He was challenging me to come up with a reason. As I hunched there, my hands balling into fists... I slowly let my arms drift to the floor. He was right, why would he risk robbing another bank if he didn't need the money?

Licking my lips, I said, “You wouldn't. You're saying it's not you.”

A flicker of relief glowed in his handsome face. He was happy I believed him. “It's not me. Though I'd love to know who it is.”

Rattled by all this information, I cradled my head in my hands. Silver had led me on the road to hell, he'd stolen my confidence and I'd wallowed in the despair of that for years. But who I'd been back then... and who I was now... was as different as night and day. I'd changed again and again.

What about him?

Before I could react, his long arms curled around my huddled body. Everything in him flexed, he lifted me like I weighed nothing. The front of his shirt brushed my cheek, his scent comforting me.

Sitting back on the desk, he held me tight in his lap. “Do you believe me, that I wouldn't hurt you?” His lips were so close. So damn close.

He saw me staring, following the energy that connected between our bodies. “I'm not sure.”

Silver cracked a surprising smile. “That honesty again. Then how about this.” The same fingers that had dug into his desk gently rolled down my cheek. “I'm going to prove to you that you're safe with me.”

A layer of tingles moved with his hand. “How?”

“By spending every waking moment—and some non-waking ones—at your side.” The sunlight flared behind him, finally catching the edges of his perfect teeth. “I told you before. Now that I have you back, I'm never letting you go.” He nuzzled my ear, eliciting a whimper. “My beautiful hostage. My
Pet.”

“I have so many more questions,” I said, turning his way.

“You know so much already, what else is there?”

I watched him from under my eyelashes. “You said I forgot you. But the you that I knew back then... he was a monster. Did you really want me to remember that?”

“No, not at all. Selfish or not, I never wanted you to remember that day. In just a few months, we've created something so hot, so addicting between us.” He nuzzled the hollow of my throat. “For awhile, I'd hoped I could satisfy my curiosity with you... and then forget you.”

I hugged him harder.

“But I couldn't do it. I couldn't shake you off. When you remembered who I was, I was distraught, and also happy. You finally knew me. I didn't have to hide anymore. What finally jogged your memory?”

The reminder of the video on my phone had me tensing up all over again. Silver sensed it, embracing me like he could squeeze the pain away. “That guy who was facing off with you outside my work, Detective Roose? He sent me a video of the robbery.”

“Is that so,” he mused softly.

Eyeing him, I was reminded of one of the reasons I'd come here. “He's been talking to me for weeks. He really wants to find you, Silver.” Ice settled in my veins. “You have to be more careful.”

“I'm very careful.”

“No you aren't! You kept talking to me even when I told you not to!” Under my barrage of words, his expression was calm. The corner of his mouth was begging me to kiss it, his eyes warm as an Indian summer. “Weren't you worried I'd turn you in to the police?”

Running a knuckle across my forehead, he brushed my earlobe. “When you're in love, you stop caring about the risks.”

Love.

My heart took all of my focus. It spun and swelled, it possessed my mind.

Love.

Heat settled in my skin, my vision focusing solely on Silver. “You love me?” I whispered.

“If you hadn't figured that out by now,” he said, cupping the back of my head. “Then I've done a very poor job.” Stroking my hair, he cradled me against him. “I'll never forgive myself for being the one that fucked up your life.”

Shoving him back on the desk, I kissed him while he was still stiff with shock. He'd expected a longer battle with me, for us to create new scars.

I spoke against the softness of his lips. “You
did
fuck everything up. You tore my world apart and left me in pieces. But ever since you came back into my life... I've become someone braver, bolder, and more confident than I'd ever dared to be before.” My fingers linked with his. “How could I not love you for that?”

There was no hesitation in how he pulled me to him. We'd already been touching, but somehow, he compressed us until our hearts were fighting to become one. I wanted to laugh, to fucking cry, to dance on the desk and then scream the news down at his employees.

I was in love with the man who'd destroyed me.

How fitting that he'd be the one to put me back together again.

Silver

––––––––

S
he entered the room like a princess from another time. It wasn't her dress—that was purple and hugged her tight—and it wasn't a crown—she hadn't even done her hair up. No, Alexis just glowed with the serenity of someone who could draw every eye and never even realize it.

As sweet as she looked, there was no hiding the womanly way she walked. My cock twitched when she brushed her hands down the front of the dress, accidentally revealing more cleavage.

It was a miracle I didn't rush across the room and take her right then.

She spotted me, taking in my tight black shirt and faded jeans. Her smile rose, then fell; I knew she was wondering if she'd over dressed.

One look around the large event hall, and she'd see it was just me who'd gone casual. This was a party for my company, I could wear whatever the hell I wanted. I wasn't meeting with buyers or big wigs or anything.

Tonight, I was planning to have fun.

“Silver,” she said when I got close. “Wait. Do I call you Keswick in here?”

Grinning, I scooped my arm around her middle. “It's probably better if you do.”

Tucking against me, she eyeballed the milling people. “You're not acting like we're a secret.”

“Because we're not. I want to make it obvious to every man in here that you're already mine.”

“Then what does it matter what I call you?”

Pulling her around so that she was facing me, I was surprised to see her cocky smile. It was contagious. “Fine. Call me Silver, I'll call you Pet, and we can wonder what everyone is thinking about us.”

“Alexis!” The woman who bounced our way was waving her arms frantically. In her yellow dress, her short dark hair made her look like a sunflower. I didn't need to ask her name—I knew this was Laralie.

I'd never claim I was a 'good' person. Lies came easy, especially the ones that kept you safe. Or kept others safe.

I knew everyone that was close to Alexis. I'd made it a point to research them and keep tabs. Early on, I'd justified it as a way to learn more about her... to understand her, and in that process, maybe understand why I'd become infatuated.