Stranded Temptation: A Flaming Romance Read online

  The smile died on Jane’s face, and her eyes turned glacial. “You and your stupid efficient operating practices. We could have gone on like we were, but you had to dig your nose into the past accounts.

  “I tried to get rid of both you and Max by placing timed bombs on the airplane engines. You should have been over water with no land or rescue for miles. And then there’s the stupid fuck who was supposed to mess with the plane’s dashboard. The damn coordinates led you to Central America. Which really pissed me off when I found out. Just the name ‘Richards’ would’ve brought cartels for miles around.”

  The sick sensation in the pit of her stomach grew. Max’s last name had brought the cartels in.

  “But you both survived!” Jane looked fit to kill. “Then Paul and I started the rumors requesting Max’s removal for mental incompetence, but it seems that’s failed. And both times, I tried to get rid of you before you dug any deeper, you ended up being saved by some goddamned miracle!

  “We cut the brakes in your new car, sent you a nice little acid bomb, and what happens? You’re still here! And I’m sick of it!” She paused, straightened her hair, took a deep breath, and smiled. “But no more. Tonight, we’ll take care of you ourselves,” she singsonged and pointed the gun at Kara.

  Jane had stopped in the back lot, beside a rusting container, waving the gun at her. “Now, get out. Nice and slowly.” Kara contemplated escape. The bitch probably couldn’t shoot for shit. Then from the other side of the container, Frank stepped out and was at her door in seconds. So much for escaping.

  She stepped out of the car and stood next to the vehicle. “I know it’s you who set up the fake vendor and submitted fake invoices.”

  “Oh, goodie,” he replied, then grabbed her head and slammed it against the roof of the car. Talk about an instant headache. Frank yanked her back. Her world spun, and her knees could barely hold her up.

  “Frank and I were so close,” Jane spat, coming around the car. “We were so close to being done with taking money. All we needed was several million, and then we’d be able to disappear and live the life we both wanted. And I would have gladly left Dan. But once you started digging, we knew it was a matter of time before you figured out it was us.”

  She waved her gun. “Let’s get this done. I have to pack still.”

  Frank dragged her to a set of steps that led down to the water. More specifically, the side of a dock about to collapse under its own weight.

  At the bottom, he pushed her off the last step and she sank up to her waist. He pushed her against a piling for the dock.

  With a rope Jane carried down, Frank wrapped her over and over, finishing with tying her hands together behind her.

  “Did you bring a knife?” he asked Jane.

  “It’s in the car—”

  “Well, go get it, bitch,” he said.

  Standing two steps up, Jane was eye level with Frank. “Watch what you say to me, asshole. I can turn you over like this.” She snapped her fingers.

  “If I go down, I won’t go alone. And when I’m jacking off in my cell, I’ll think of you having to suck that old man’s dick.”

  Jane cringed, saying nothing. She turned and went up the stairs.

  “Fucking god,” Frank said, “what was I thinking when I fucked her?”

  “That’s easy,” Kara said. “Nothing but getting off.”

  Frank stepped down to the last step and put his face in hers. “You got that right, my dear Kara. What will poor Max do when he can’t find you?”

  “He will and you’ll be in jail a long time.”

  Frank smiled. “Once we leave and close the gate behind us, no one will hear you while you drown.”

  Waves rocked higher on her body. The tide was coming in. She gasped.

  “Yes, sugar. You’ve figured out how you’re going to die. But wait, there’s more.” He turned to look up the steps and yelled, “Hurry the fuck up!”

  “Hold you damn horses,” Jane said, appearing at the top of the incline. They met in the middle, Jane handing a knife to him. She was afraid to ask what he meant to do. She didn’t know what he could do with it. Cut her free? That would be stupid.

  Frank reached out and slashed the blade across her arm.

  “What the hell? Frank what are you doing?” she asked.

  He swiped again, this time on the lower arm. “How do you expect the crabs to find you without your blood flowing to them? You’ll be a very pretty dinner.” He cut a few more place then backed away. The water approached her shoulders.

  29

  Max paced Kara’s office, wondering where the hell she was. He’d asked one of the female employees to check the restroom. She reported back saying Kara wasn’t there. He thanked her, and she scuttled away like a scared mouse. What? He said thank you this time even.

  Meghan walked and jumped back when seeing him. “You, too?” he asked her.

  “Me what?” she said. “Your startled me.”

  “Never mind,” he growled. “Have you seen Kara lately?”

  “No,” she replied, “I came over to talk with her.” Meghan pulled the drawer in Kara’s desk open. “Her purse isn’t here. She must’ve gone somewhere.”

  “During work hours?”

  “Sorry to remind you, Max, but it’s after five p.m. now,” Meghan replied. “Maybe she went home.”

  “I’ve been calling her for the past thirty minutes and she’s not answering. See if she’ll pick up for you,” Max suggested. Meghan tapped a button on the phone’s screen and tapped icons. After a moment, she scowled. Pulling the phone from her ear, she said, “I got voicemail, too.”

  “Dammit, if she isn’t answering my calls, she’s going to force my hand,” he replied. He really didn’t want to this.

  Meghan looked at him with a question on her face. “Force you hand how?”

  He grumbled. “It’s nothing.”

  Meghan raised her brows and plopped hands on her hips. Oh shit. He knew what that look meant. Meghan might be little, but she was a powerhouse when she wanted to be.

  “Okay, chill, woman,” he said. “It’s all Brian’s fault. Bitch at him.” She waved her hands, encouraging him to continue. “When we got the new company phones, Brian insisted we put an app on them that tracks where the phone is.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” she asked.

  “I think it’s an invasion of privacy,” he answered.

  “Oh,” she said, “how do you activate it?”

  He sighed. “If we use it then he’ll win.”

  “What?” she said.

  “We made a bet where I said we’d never use it and he said we would,” Max said.

  Meghan pointed to his phone, a grimace on her face. “Brian wins this time, buddy. Bring up the app.”

  He typed in the password, then Kara’s last name.

  “What the hell?” he said. This couldn’t be right.

  “Where is she?” Meghan asked as she leaned over the desk and pulled the papers resting there.

  “The old distribution warehouse. Why would she be there? Two others are with her.” He enlarged the screen the tapped on the blue dots. Frank’s name and his father’s wife’s name popped up onto the screen. “That’s even worse. What the hell are all three doing there? Having a secret meeting?”

  “Oh my god,” Meghan said, holding the papers turned upside down on Kara’s desk. “Look at this.”

  It was from a bank with a foreign name. Across the top, the name of their lawyers was printed. It asked whose name was attached to account number. He guessed that was the mysterious vendor she was working on. Below that, the name attached to the account was Frank Thomas.

  “Frank is the person stealing from the company?” Meghan said. “Holy shit. Didn’t see that coming.”

  “Kara might be in trouble. I have to get to her,” Max said.

  Meghan followed. “I’m coming with you.”

  “I’ll leave you if you’re slow,” he called over his shoulder.

 
“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be ahead of you most of the time,” she said, running to keep up with his long strides.

  In his car, he tossed his phone to Meghan. “Tell me if I make a wrong turn. Haven’t been by this place in years.”

  “Why would those three be together?” she asked.

  “Obviously, she knows Frank is the one defrauding the company. Would she confront him?”

  “No,” Meghan said. “That’s not her style. She likes to come up behind and grab the balls and squeeze until they say mercy.”

  Max shifted his legs around, uncomfortable. “Thanks, Meghan.”

  Pulling up to the open entrance for the distribution center, he wondered why the gate was open. He’d never seen it that way. He drove in and saw Jane’s car at the far end close to the dock. Spinning out rocks, Max rushed toward that area. He got out immediately, leaving the car running. Meghan stayed in the car.

  He heard a sound that could’ve been a voice, but it was too short. He called again.

  “Over here!” she yelled, loud and clear.

  He approached the dock, debating whether or not to walk on it.

  “Ma—” Kara screamed. He stepped to the side of the old dock to see water lapping the bottom of the pier. When the waves rolled out, he saw something floating on the water’s surface. It looked like hair. Suddenly, a head appeared where water used to be.

  “Kara!”

  He tripped his way down the steps and jumped into the water. “Kara,” he kissed her, holding her face in his hands. “What the hell is going on?”

  “I’m tied to the support—” water splashed into her face.

  Max took a big breath and went under. She felt the rope tug as he cut through it. Water rushed in, covering her head. Her feet floated out, released from the column. Max popped up, got a breath, then went under to untie her hands.

  The water remained above her neck. She tilted her head back to keep her nose as high as she could. Suddenly, her arms snapped free and she floated out with the undertow.

  Max grabbed her and pulled her toward the steps where she could sit and tell him what was happening. With help from the incoming tide, he lifted her and set her on the second tread. He followed and perched below her.

  She coughed. She was ready to puke thinking about what was in the water that got into her mouth. Max took her face and kissed her again. “Tell me who did this?”

  “Jane and Frank,” she said, still coughing.

  He couldn’t believe Frank would do something like this. His father had been loyal to a fault. And Jane—he believed she could do anything. “I saw the report from our lawyers. They put Frank as the owner for CalTek.”

  Kara nodded, heaving for air. “Come on,” he said, “Let’s get you to the warm car.” He helped her to stand. But she seemed hesitant to go. He pushed up forward and she stepped up, then shook her head.

  Halfway up, she said, “Jane’s got a gun.”

  “That’s right,” Jane said on the top step. “And now I can kill both of you.

  “Not yet!” Frank hollered out. He came to stand beside Jane. “Let them come up. I got some questions for Max.” Jane waved them up with the gun.

  The thought crossed his mind to jump back into the water and swim away, but he didn’t think Kara would be able to go far with her current breathing issue.

  With a sigh, Max conceded, assisting Kara onto each step. At the top, Frank and Jane faced the water, Jane pointing the gun. Max moved Kara with him to the side, farther away from the gun. And out of the way of his car if it were to suddenly come alive and decide to run over someone.

  “Frank,” Kara asked, “what the hell is the fake company all about? What did you hope to gain from it?”

  “Now who’s stupid?” Jane said. “It was all my idea and it was genius until you fucked it up.”

  “But I don’t get what the end game is. Money?” Kara pressed for answers.

  “Of course, it’s money,” Jane answered. “The money we received from the company was used to buy products shipped to the US.”

  Then Max remembered where he’d seen CalTek’s name. On the shipping containers of the cargo ship at the island.

  “Oh god,” he said. “You were part of the drug ring sneaking drugs into the US hidden in dolls?”

  Jane looked at Frank then turned back to Kara and Max. “How do you know that? Who told you?”

  Max shook his head. “Do you know where we were rescued?”

  “Some island off Panama,” Jane replied. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  He didn’t feel this was the time to review their trip when Kara and he needed to focus on how they would survive this. Then he saw the answer. He stepped farther to the side away from the slope down to the water.

  Then Max’s car—still running, but with Meghan behind the wheel—lurched forward, colliding with Frank’s body. Jane tried to shoot Meghan but missed. She turned back to them, but Kara was there, waiting. Her leg hiked up and stretched out, planting her shoe against Jane’s face.

  The blonde fell down the hill, still shooting wildly for him and Kara.

  Frank hit the water with a loud cry. He yelled that his leg was broken.

  Like Max cared at the moment.

  Sirens came from the front of the building. Several black and white cars with flashing lights rushed toward them. Meghan must’ve called them when he went down to cut Kara loose. This nightmare was finally over.

  Kara went limp against him. He glanced down at her and saw blood spreading on her wet shirt.

  She’d been shot.

  30

  Max paced the hospital, again. This time, Meghan, Brian, his father, and Detective Ortiz joined him. A ball of tension settled in his stomach and wouldn’t budge. Fuck. He wanted to kill his father’s bitch of a wife. When Kara had passed out in his arms, his heart had stopped beating. Memories of her pale face and blood-soaked top made his anger rise until he growled.

  After speaking to Brian and Meghan, the detective walked up to Max. “Mr. Richards, it looks like we’ll be apprehending Paul Thomas. I’ve sent patrols to arrest him. Mrs. Richards and the younger Mr. Thomas will be arrested once they get medical care.”

  He had to clench his teeth at the urge to argue for them to be arrested exactly as they were. They deserved every bit of pain after what they’d done to Kara. But after he saw his father’s shoulders slump, he held his tongue.

  “Is there anything else you need from us?”

  The detective shook his head. “No. I think we’re good. If we have any other questions, we’ll contact your assistant and set up a meeting. I hope Ms. Masters gets well.” He offered his hand. After they shook the detective departed, leaving Max with his father off to the side and away from the others.

  “I’m sorry, son.” The older man sighed. For the first time in years, he looked old and tired.

  “You couldn’t have known she’d be psycho.”

  His father gave a sad shake of his head. “No, but I should’ve taken the time to get to know her better before marrying her. Don’t worry, Max. I’m done. No more impromptu weddings. No more new brides or adding women on the board that don’t belong. I’m taking a break.”

  Now that he knew what love was, it was impossible to fault his father for looking for it again. Max clasped a hand over his father’s shoulder. “It’ll be fine, Dad. Just take it one day at a time.”

  “Hey, maybe you and I can go camping and fishing one of these days?” Seeing his old man’s eyes light up again at the mention of camping together made Max smile.

  Max nodded. “Sure, Dad. I’d like that.”

  Meghan and Brian walked up, and soon the four were in deep conversation over what had occurred at the warehouse. It was a few hours before the same female doctor came out of the operating room.

  The doctor frowned at Max. “Didn’t I tell you to stop that woman from doing any more crazy stunts?” She shook her head and smiled. “She’s fine but heavily sedated, again. She’ll come
around in a few hours. Luckily, the bullet lodged in a muscle but didn’t break any bones. No major arteries were severed, and she should be healed in no time. She’ll probably heal faster than the last time.”

  Max was finally able to breathe without feeling the tight sensation in his chest. “Thank you.” He sighed.

  The doctor gave him a sly grin. “If she shows up here with any other injuries, I’m holding you personally responsible.”

  “Never again,” Max promised. “She’s mine, and I’ll make sure she’s taken care of.”

  Kara opened her eyes to a dimly lit room. She turned her face to the left and once again, there was Max. This time, he held her hand and looked right at her.

  “Hey, baby.” His voice was low and rough. There was concern in his eyes.

  Warmth spread through her. “We have to stop meeting like this.” She grinned. With the press of a button, she was sitting up in the bed.

  “I swear, Kara, I have aged thirty years in the past month,” he grumbled.

  Laughter bubbled up inside her. “I’m sorry, Max. It’s not like I actively look to get hurt.” And if it were up to her, she’d never even break a nail for the rest of her life.

  He stood from the chair he’d been sitting on, moved to the edge of the bed, and sat beside her on the mattress. “I know. I just can’t imagine life without you.”

  The amount of emotion in his words made her breath hitch. “I love you, Max.”

  He cupped her face in his hands and leaned forward until they were nose to nose. His gray eyes reminded her of two moonstones. Beautiful. Mysterious. Hers. “I love you, too, Kara. I know you have this entire weird thing about not depending on someone and our relationship’s moving along too fast, so I’m willing to wait until you’re not so freaked out about marriage before I ask you.”

  He loved her! She lifted a hand, trailed her fingers down his jaw, and encouraged him with a smile. “Ask me now, Max.”

  He frowned. “Are you sure?”

  “Ask me now, Max. Or I might have to dump you,” she warned.