Boned: A Stepbrother Romance (Mandarin Connection Book 4) Read online

But it was Bone that held the grip on my heart.

  It was the knife, back again.

  I woke each day, bathed in sweat, afraid my true feelings had somehow been made clear to him.

  It just couldn’t happen.

  There was no way we could ever be together, especially now, I rationalized.

  We were forbidden lovers, and the brief glimpse of Heaven I had experienced would have to last my lifetime.

  It had to be enough.

  There was no other way.

  —————

  Ever since the funeral, I had been having terrible dreams and weird fantasies about Bone.

  I had seen him at the service, and then the reading of the will.

  Since then, he’d vanished.

  The Olympic Team had been forced to rescind his membership.

  No one had seen him.

  Karl and Stephan had tried to find him, but he hadn’t returned their calls either.

  The only thing we all knew was that he had gone off to Manhattan, and was apparently still alive.

  Nobody had any idea of whom he might be visiting there.

  Or, they weren’t sharing that information with me, if they did.

  —————

  My step brothers had kindly set me up in an apartment at Playa Del Rey, in Los Angeles, following the funeral.

  It was beautiful, and the Pacific Ocean roared and crashed in the background.

  About eleven o’clock, I was finally awake enough to notice I was hungry.

  I walked down to the pool, feeling peckish.

  I figured I could afford a drink, to wash away the night terrors.

  I stepped up to the bar, wearing my bathing suit and a towel around my waist.

  That’s when I got the first inkling that something was going on.

  I saw Stephan was on a cell phone, and from the sound of it, he was speaking with a woman.

  “Yes, that’s right. Octavius,” he said.

  He saw me approaching, and turned away.

  Now, what was that about?

  “Tomorrow at four pee em? Yes, approved,” he said.

  I saw him glance my way, and waved.

  Again, he turned away.

  What the hell? I wondered.

  I waited by the bar, and then ordered a Bloody Mary.

  The bartender gave it to me in a plastic cup.

  I hate plastic cups.

  I took out an olive and munched it, looking out at the ocean.

  —————

  I watched as Stephan conducted and then finished his business with the mystery woman.

  He sauntered over to the bar.

  “We need to talk,” he said.

  “Oh, really?” I replied.

  I sucked on an olive, trying to gauge what was happening.

  Stephan looked at me with some interest, and I could see he was struggling with whether to trust me with some secret or other.

  “Not here, let’s go for a ride,” he said.

  “Okay. Where are we going?” I asked.

  “Paris,” he said. “Paris, France.”

  I dropped my Bloody Mary, spilling it all over the bar.

  —————

  “Rachel, there’s something you need to understand, and I am not sure how I am going to be able to tell you this,” began Stephan.

  We were flying at 45,000 feet, in a private Gulfstream V, exactly like the one my parents had been flying when they were killed.

  The irony did not escape me.

  “Please don’t tell me Bone’s dead,” I begged him.

  The tears were close.

  “No, it’s nothing like that,” said Stephan.

  Then, Stephan gave me a sharp look.

  “Oh my,” he said. “Karl was right!”

  He started to chuckle, and then laughed out loud.

  “Shit! This is perfect!” he said.

  “You’re in love with Bone!” he laughed.

  I looked at him, hating him in that moment, for his grabbing my precious secret from me.

  Daggers shot from my eyes, and I started to weep.

  “Hey! Hey! Rachel! Don’t, it’s okay! It’s okay, babe!” he said as he tried to calm me down.

  He reached out for my arm, but I recoiled from him as if his hand was a snake.

  “Don’t touch me!” I yelled.

  The flight attendant looked our way.

  “Is everything in order, Miss?” she said.

  She was looking at Stephan, puzzled.

  She knew that he was normally beyond reproach, and this was his aircraft, after all.

  “It’s fine, Jessie, my step sister is just a bit distraught still. You know,” he said.

  “Yes, Jessie, I’m sorry. I’m just an emotional wreck right now,” I said.

  “Would you care for a drink, Miss?” she asked.

  “Just a water, no ice, please,” I said.

  “Sir?” she asked Stephan.

  “Jack and Coke, Jessie, and thank you,” he said.

  “Yes, thank you, Jessie,” I said.

  We sat there, looking out at the clouds, and soon enough, Jessie returned with our drinks.

  She set them down, asked if we needed anything else, and then went back to busy herself in the galley.

  The plane flew along in silence for a few minutes.

  “It’s true. I don’t know what to do about it. Please don’t hate me, Stephan,” I begged.

  Stephan sipped at his drink.

  He watched the clouds go past for a minute, and I thought maybe he did hate me, after all.

  “It’s not that simple, Rachel,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” I said.

  Then, I began to realize, with mounting horror, that it was far more complicated indeed.

  Stephan was in love with ME.

  —————

  CHAPTER NINE

  Lovesick

  It was as plain as the nose on my face!

  I had never really seriously considered it, but, looking back, I knew.

  Stephan had been the one who’d always been there, teaching me how to play tennis, and helping me get used to our new status in the billionaire community.

  Moms and I were not at all used to the instant attention being rich brought.

  I remember that it took us both a very long time to adjust to the idea that we never again need worry about paying bills, or not having enough money to repair the house, or buy a new car.

  Through it all, Om was schooling Moms about this new way of life.

  And I had been mooning over Bone, (and, let’s face it, Karl as well, especially once he dumped his silly wife).

  But it was Stephan who was always there for me.

  When Bone was competing, it was Stephan who’d made sure we all met and celebrated Bone’s victories.

  Stephan was the one to whom Karl would confide, and Stephan was the one that Om made sure looked over every contract that came their way.

  His athleticism belied a very strong and good heart.

  He went out of his way to assure that our family ran smoothly, the business aspects of the clothing line well in hand.

  Om never had a worry once he had set Stephan on a task.

  Karl was a bit headstrong and wild, and liked adventure, and in his own way, was reliable for the family.

  And Bone had become a star athlete with the Olympics in his sights.

  I couldn’t help how I felt about him, could I?

  The heart wants what it wants, that’s what they always say.

  Was that true?

  Then, what about Kevin?

  Oh, God!

  Did Kevin fall in love with me, too?

  My head spun with these revelations.

  I was suddenly feeling slightly nauseous, but I noted we were finally descending towards Le Bourget.

  Stephan turned to me.

  His face was a stoic mask, unreadable.

  “Rachel, I still haven’t been able to tell you what I needed to, but I
am obligated to do so before we land,” he said.

  “What? That you love me? Is that the secret message all of us have in this sick family?” I heard myself say.

  “Well, you’ve loaded that question with a lot of assumptions, Rachel,” he said.

  “But, I will tell you what I know. You can decide the importance of each,” he continued.

  —————

  For the next ten minutes, as our private jet came in for a landing, he spoke.

  My eyes grew wider and wider, as each revelation came.

  It was impossible.

  It had to be a bad joke.

  I didn’t want to believe it at all.

  When he was finished, he stood up and walked to the back of the jet, and spoke to Jessie for a few minutes.

  Jessie went up front to the cockpit, knocked on the door, and said one word to the pilot.

  “Octavius,” she whispered.

  The pilot bent over to his flight bag, retrieving a package, that he handed to her.

  Jessie went aft, and then handed the package to Stephan.

  Then, she went back to the cockpit and went in, locking the door behind her.

  I sat there as Stephan busied himself opening the package. He looked through the contents.

  Stephan came back with an envelope, and sat down in the seat across from mine.

  “This is the thing that will change our lives, Rachel,” he said.

  He pushed it across the mahogany table to me.

  I opened it, and read what it said.

  “A fire? Arson? Deliberately crashed? Om? This can’t possibly be true?” I said, unbelieving what I had just seen.

  “Yes, it is,” he said. “These records show that is what happened.”

  “Do you believe it?” I asked, incredulous.

  Stephan stared out the window, thinking about his answer, as the plane came in to touchdown.

  We were in Paris.

  —————

  “Bone will be meeting us here, and I want to be clear about something, Rachel,” Stephan finally said.

  “What?” I replied.

  I was filled with dread that he was going to tell me he loved me.

  “I am not going to get between you and he, Rachel, since you love him,” he said.

  “But, I am also not going to give up my own dream,” he said.

  “You need to tell Bone how you feel, despite your reluctance. He needs to know this,” Stephan said.

  “Why?” I asked, confused and genuinely concerned.

  “Because I have a plan. A dangerous plan. It will mean all of us have to trust each other, and be completely open about our feelings. It’s imperative that we work towards our goal, that of saving the family fortune,” he said as he retrieved the stack of documents I had read.

  He skimmed them for a bit.

  Finally, he placed them in a neat pile on the center of the table.

  He slapped the papers with his palm.

  “This is a lie,” he concluded.

  “And, we are going to expose whoever is behind it,” he promised.

  I saw the determination on his face, and in that moment, I saw something else.

  And, a tiny spark of feeling began to burn.

  It scared me to consider it.

  It horrified me to think I was fickle, or maybe even just insane in that way.

  I pushed the feeling far down, because there were more important things to consider.

  And, that way lay madness.

  —————

  We didn’t have enough time for Bone and I to address the elephant in the room.

  He was waiting for us with an armored limousine, and we went straight from the jet to the limo, and then roared off to a building on the outskirts of the airport.

  The limo pulled up into what appeared to be a hangar of some kind.

  Bone sat next to me on one side, and Stephan on the other.

  Three armed guards sat across from us in the car.

  To say the atmosphere was awkward would be an understatement.

  I tried to read Stephan’s mind, or Bone’s.

  They both said nothing the entire trip, each wrapped up in their own thoughts.

  The guards spoke occasional guard-talk into their headsets.

  I didn’t like the guns they all had in holsters.

  I liked the ugly little rifles they carried even less.

  That’s when I noticed that Stephan was wearing a gun in a shoulder holster, under his jacket!

  And, to my shock and surprise, so was Bone!

  Just what the hell was going on?

  This was Paris, the City of Love, and suddenly I felt like the love interest in a Jason Bourne film.

  That thought offered me very little comfort.

  —————

  Stephan and Bone were having a meeting in a conference room that had been swept for monitoring devices by an expert team from Black Dog Protective Services.

  Black Dog had come highly recommended from one of their friends.

  His name was Brett Ghent, he of “Pecker” fame.

  I heard them discussing the details with the owner of the security team, a retired United States Marine Captain, named David Spalding.

  “I heard about that incident in which you helped out Brett Ghent and Ghent, International, a while back, Captain Spalding,” said Stephan. “That was some pretty fine work.”

  “Ahem, sir, I can neither confirm nor deny,” began the handsome black Marine.

  “Anyone who knows about that knows all about it, Captain,” said Stephan. “No need for false modesty.”

  “Sir, you are speaking about highly sensitive and classified information,” said Spalding.

  He looked around nervously, to see if anyone might have been eavesdropping.

  “Does Alpha Team ring a bell to you, Captain? Robert King? Miami? Commander Derek White is a close personal friend of our family, as is Mr. Ghent. How about ‘Ocaba Bien’?” said Stephan.

  Captain Spalding looked startled, and then stared carefully at Stephan for a long minute.

  Then, he held out his hand, and gave him a huge smile.

  “Well, I am very sorry, Mr. Jaeger, for any doubts on my part,” he said.

  Stephan laughed.

  “You are particularly well-informed. Derek said you were not a fool,” he added, with a wink.

  As they shook hands, David Spalding spoke a few words to one of his colleagues.

  “Bart, these are the guys Brett told us about? You know? And Derek and Travis vouch for them as well. From what I know about them, they are our kind of people. You be sure to treat them that way, okay?” he said.

  The man named Bart nodded, then spoke into his Jawbone headset.

  “Bruce, get this place swept as clean as you can, then relay to Walt over on Alpha Team. Copy?” he said.

  Bart wandered off, and the other men sat down to discuss what they knew.

  “Rachel, can you come here for a moment?” asked Bone.

  My heart pounding at hearing him saying my name, I walked over to the men.

  —————

  As I sat at the conference table with my two steps and the Marine Captain, I wondered what we could do.

  One of the Black Dog agents was giving a presentation on the information that had been collected.

  It was marked “Classified”, and “Top-Secret”, which I found odd.

  The agent had looked directly at me at one point, and then at Capt. Spalding, who nodded.

  Stephan also looked at me, grinning.

  “I’d be you’d never thought you’d need a Top-Secret clearance for anything, did you, Rachel?” he said, grinning even more.

  I was taken aback, and tried to remember when I had signed some manner of paperwork regarding this.

  I couldn’t place it, immediately.

  Then, I remembered when Moms and I had signed a bunch of stuff at the lawyer’s offices one day, shortly before Om and she had been married.

&n
bsp; I figured it was the standard pre-nuptials that all rich people had the less-fortunate sign before whisking them away to paradise.

  Maybe I was just being a bit cynical, but I always thought our luck was just some fluke that was sure to evaporate into a misty dream.

  That day had been very special, since Moms and I had gone to the spa, then for a mani-pedi, and we were so giddy and laughing and…

  My eyes filled with sudden tears, as I fought against a wave of nostalgia and grief.

  Moms had been so full of life, and happy for the first time in a long, long time.

  She’d been everything to me, my guiding star.

  And now, she was gone!

  How senseless was her death!

  I sobbed, then pushed it down.

  This wasn’t the time to be weak, not here in front of all these hardened warriors.

  But, as the agent reported on the remaining findings, my heart sank.

  It was staggering.

  My mind didn’t want to accept what the investigation had revealed.

  —————

  The insurance companies that had served Jaeger Industrials, and Stephan’s clothing assets in Thailand, had made a detailed accounting on their own.

  The information was collated, and several of their agents had done deep dives into the corporate structure, including a forensic accountant.

  What they found was disturbing, and my heart was in my throat as the agent recounted it.

  Six months before the crash, Om had taken out huge life insurance policies on himself and Moms.

  He had raised the coverage limits for the Stephan Jaeger Clothing Line, LTD factory in Thailand.

  For some unknown reason, he’d arranged for the Gulfstream V to have an early engine and airworthiness inspection.

  The approved schedule for the aircraft didn’t show a need for this for another eight months.

  The acceleration for the inspections was unusual, since the FAA didn’t normally make exceptions in the case of privately owned aircraft.

  Shortly after the crash, the actuaries and detectives for the insurance company, the NTSC and FAA, and the local government in the Thai province where the factory had been located each conducted independent investigations.

  Evidence had been collected, and inquiries made.

  The paper trail led directly back to my stepfather.

  Om had been in this up to his neck.

  There was even some suggestion that there might have been drug-trafficking or smuggling involved!

  A report was tossed up on-screen that showed that a Mr. Robert King, who had recently been killed when his boat exploded in Miami, had been seen in the area where Om’s factory had been built.