My Bad Boy's Secret: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (205 page)

              I tried to think quickly, even though I knew that there was no way we were getting out of this predicament peacefully. I didn’t have to look to know what daddy and everyone else was doing. They were reaching for their guns, too.

              “I asked you a question, what are you doing? Put down that man and put your…”

              The female ranger didn’t get to finish her sentence. Andrea, one of the Maggadino family’s toughest enforcers, whipped out his automatic pistol and fired at the male ranger a dozen times, hitting him instantly. A seasoned gunman like him could shoot straight from the hip and never miss hit his target. The ranger screamed in pain and fell down.

              The woman scrambled behind the truck and readied her gun, but our guys outnumbered and outgunned her. Daddy led the gang, pointing his pistol, and they fired waves of bullets. The truck sprouted hot and fresh holes, windows shattered, and the tires soon went flat.

              I have to give the woman props for being brave enough to face ten heavily armed Maggadino made men and Amilcare “The Shark” Adalfieri. As soon as she lifted herself up to fire back at us, I already had my mini-pistol out from my handbag and fired along with the other guys. We shot her in the chest and shoulders, and she fell on her back. The two rangers never had any chance against us.

              With both rangers down, the adrenaline started to fade and I came back down to reality. It hit me that we had totally screwed up my plan.

              “Fuck!” I yelled again. Everyone looked at me and I saw that they were thinking what I was thinking. If we were alone before the shooting, we wouldn’t be for long after all of the noise from the exchange of firepower. All that noise had to have woken up every single living thing within a five-mile radius. Granted, we were in the middle of nowhere in some forest, but it was still risky. We totally blew our cover and did away with all the secrecy.

              “We have to get out of here, now,” I growled. “There’s no time to waste. Put Blake in the van.” I pointed with my gun at each ranger. “We have to take them with us. We can’t let anyone see them. Pick those guys up and throw them in the trunk of the Cadillac. It’s the biggest trunk we’ve got.”

              “Why we gotta take the rangers, Ms. Adalfieri?” asked one of the guys. It was Marco, one of the heavies, and whose biceps were way bigger than his brains.

              I shot him a withering glare that made him shrink, and his shoulders slumped. “Because, imbecile, we just caused a commotion that woke up every single person camping in this park, thanks to our shooting and shouting. We might as well have shot flare guns into the sky. Do you want every police officer in the state to come looking for us? When people come over to investigate the noise, they’re going to see blood, a shot-up truck, and footprints on the ground. Now do as I say, and let’s get out of here!” I was seething by the end of my speech. My face felt hot and I was ready to slap someone.

              Marco was scrunching up and trying to look invisible. He wasn’t doing a good job of it, too. The other guys looked scared, which was a small comfort to me.

              Daddy put his hand on my shoulder. “It couldn’t be helped,
cuore
. There was no way we could’ve known two officers of the law would appear out of nowhere. Let’s just get what we came for, hide some of the evidence, and get the hell out of this tree-covered shithole.”

              I surveyed the damage. Even if we had the time, we couldn’t disguise the mess we just made. The rangers’ truck was Swiss cheese after all the bullets we hit it with. I knew there were bloodstains and impressions left by our feet and imprints from the dead bodies on the ground. In less than half an hour, I was sure that people would be swooping in to find out what the noise was. The best thing we could do was grab the bodies and run.

              I tried to keep up my tough appearance. I couldn’t let the others know how I really felt. I blamed myself for the ruckus, and I knew that despite what daddy said, he was disappointed in me.

              The guys carried the rangers and threw them on top of each other into the Cadillac’s spacious trunk. They weren’t breathing or moving. At least we wouldn’t let anyone else find them. We’d figure out how to get rid of them later.

              “Do you know a place where we can buy a lot of acid?” I asked daddy as I started up my BMW.

              He thought for a moment. “There should be some in Memphis. I know some guys.”

Chapter 2 – Rose

              The conference was even duller than Luciana described it. I tried not to fall asleep during most of the panels. How could there be this many human beings in the world who actually were capable of listening to the intricacies of tort reform and Constitutional theory?

              I was surprised and disappointed at myself for not caring that much about the conference. Only one convention on gang culture, signs and tattoos had anything interesting associated with it. I stayed for all of that. I had just walked out of a discussion on business law practice because another guy was “accidentally” brushing his hands over my butt and pulling my hair. He was another of the dozens of men who kept giving me their phone numbers and asking me out on a date. Apparently, just seeing a female lawyer made them lose all self-control.

              I had to get away from those pigs, so I went to a nearby Starbucks and got myself a coffee. I checked the newsfeed. The third item caught my eye.

              “Fatal shooting reported at cabin in Atlanta outskirts, rangers missing,” the headline read.

              Like clockwork, my phone rang from the police.

              “Sorry to bother you, Ms. Whitney, but there’s been a crime, and it may concern you,” said the officer on the other end.

              “What is it?” I asked.

              “There was just a shooting at a cabin in a local forest near a national park. We think there are casualties, but no bodies have been found yet. It happened near the residence of your friend, Luciana Adalfieri. We’re calling you since she listed you as an emergency contact. Are you able to come over and help us investigate the crime scene? You may be able to help us.”

              I felt my vision turn black. This was awful. Luciana had already been through one horrible tragedy. What could have possibly have happened now?

              “Yes, I’ll come. I’m free right now. I’ll get in my car and be there as soon as I can,” I said rapidly. I got the address from the officer and drove, breaking the speed limit but not caring. I called the babysitter and asked her to watch my kids for a longer time than initially agreed, promising to pay her more money in return.

              I arrived at the cabin and saw that it was swarming with people. Police, detectives, and crime scene investigators were hard at work. I found Officer Wills, who had called me, and asked him for details.

              “It’s a weird case, ma’am. There’s not a lot to work with. Witnesses reported hearing gunshots and hearing yells, but no one actually saw what happened. What we know is that a ranger team from Fish and Wildlife drove over, and engaged in a gunfight with some unknown party. The truck they were in took some pretty serious damage. We found blood on the ground, indicating the rangers were shot, but there were no victims found on the scene, so they might have been taken by the perpetrator in an attempt to hide the evidence. We see a lot of footprints, possibly belonging to men, leading from the north part of the forest. Park rangers reported that a party of about a dozen men arrived in the park a couple days ago, so these footprints may belong to them and they may be the suspects. The footprints continue and are in the direction facing the rangers. Two pairs of footprints lead from the cabin. One pair looks small and faint, and appears to have been left by women’s high heels. Another is larger, like a man’s foot. The woman walks and her prints mix in with the prints of the men over in that bushy area of the forest. The man, however, walks and his footprints change. His movements become more sporadic, there are fewer and deeper prints, and at this point he falls down. You can still see the impression his body leaves. We see the group of footprints walk south, away from the cabin, and then a bunch of tire tracks leave the same way visitors enter the park.”

              “So it sounds like a kidnapping or something like that?” I wondered.

              “Could be, ma’am. Your guess is as good as mine. Pretty much all the evidence we’ve studied comes from outside. We still haven’t thoroughly checked the cabin. We learned that it belonged to Ms. Adalfieri, and we were initially concerned that she was the victim of a murder or kidnapping, so we called you.”

              We walked up to the cabin and entered. Two detectives were scouring it for evidence. I walked through the rooms. Nothing really stood out until I saw the jacket on the bed.

              “Hang on, I know this jacket,” I said. “This is my boyfriend’s jacket. What’s it doing here?”

              “Your boyfriend? What’s his name?” asked Officer Wills.

              I paused and thought. “I’m not sure,” I finally admitted.

              “You’re not sure?” said the officer in surprise.

              “Yeah, sorry, we’ve been having some issues lately. I saw the light was still on in the kitchen. So people were in here before.”

              “Looks like it, ma’am.”

              I saw used kitchenware and I smelled food. Someone had been cooking. The table was set, and a dirty plate and fork were present. A bit of risotto was still in a large bowl.

              “The people who were here were present until pretty recently,” remarked the officer. “It must have only been your friend. She was the only person who owned this place, and witnesses say she was the only person who ever stayed here.”

              “But my boyfriend’s jacket is here. That means he came too,” I insisted. “And that just isn’t possible.”

              “Why’s that?”

              I didn’t want to admit that Blake raped Luciana. She promised me not to tell anyone, and I swore not to. But this made no sense. Why would Luciana take Blake here? Why would she spend any time with him after what he did to her? Did Blake force Luciana to come?

              I saw a computer in the corner of the living room. A detective was fiddling with it. “Hey, it’s still on! Maybe something on it might help us. Could be a clue here.”

              I walked over and saw the page was on an email account. The name on the account said “Robert Jackson”. That was the name he gave me when we first met. But Luciana mentioned a Blake. I was seriously confused.

              There were just the emails I sent him, and that was it. He didn’t have any emails from anyone else. All the messages in the inbox were read, but I noticed one email in his draft folder. I clicked it and saw it had no name yet. But it was addressed to me, so I clicked the email to read it.

              For the entire time I read it, I couldn’t say anything. I was too shocked to talk. I could only concentrate. He addressed the email to me. He told me that his real name was Blake, Blake Snatch. He said that he hated me for playing with his feelings and leaving him. But I never did any of that. I didn’t return his calls and emails because he raped my friend. He told me that he was a bad guy, and that he was being completely honest and open with me. He wanted to talk to me again, so that he could explain things further.

              I felt my head grow light. I wanted to lie down and faint. It was too much for me to handle all at once. This email was a clue, but it made me more confused than ever. What was Blake doing here? Why was he so upset at me? What did he want to talk to me about? What did I ever do to hurt him? And where was Luciana?

              I sat back on the couch and tried to breathe deeply.

              “Are you all right, miss?” asked one detective.

              “I’m sorry, I just had a really rough moment. I need a minute to breathe,” I told him.

              “Can I get you something? A glass of water or some food?” he asked.