ROMANCE: SPORTS ROMANCE: Scored by the Billionaire (Alpha Billionaire Secret Baby Football Romance) (Alpha Male Sports Romantic Comedy) (5 page)

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He felt the same way, she guessed, because they showered together the next morning and giggled at the close quarters of his little shower with two people in it. Then they got dressed and he had to go to work. She was a little disappointed, but it was Saturday and he only had half a day, so she could entertain herself until he was done.

“Actually, if you don’t mind, I will walk with you and then head over to Chancers Diner and make some calls, maybe meet up with Mags until you are done. More than likely I will head home and change into different clothes,” she told him and he smiled, leaning over to kiss her. He was six foot to her five two so it was a reach.

“You can walk with me anytime Annie, anywhere,” he told her in response and she loved how close they had become so quickly.

They strolled down the street and stopped for bagels and coffee. They enjoyed breakfast as they walked and he gestured to a tall, ten story building as they approached.

“That is it. Jacobs Financial Service. I am part of their security. Kind of boring, but the pay is excellent. I have a suspicion they hired me to be able to say they hire veterans, but I will take what I can get, ya know?’ He said with a dry humor. She agreed. As they approached a man came out the front doors, looked around, saw Mike and seemed relieved. He ran over and Mike stepped a little ahead of Anna, guarding her without thinking about it.

“Jesus Mike, I am glad you are here man. The place is going bonkers. There was a break into the system last night,” The tall thin man said. He was a nerdy looking guy with red hair and glasses. He wore a nice suit like Mike did, but this man’s suit hung on him like a scarecrow.

“A break in? Shit Kyle. How did that happen?” Mike asked him. The man glanced at Anna and then back to Mike and then she recognized the look when he turned back to her. He had recognized her.

“Are you…” he began.

“Yes, this is Anna Hart, an old friend from high school. Anna this is Kyle Norton, a buddy of mine,” Mike told her.

“Pleased to meet you,” they both said at the same time.

“So what’s going on Kyle, that shouldn’t have happened?”

“No shit man! I don’t know. It happened sometime last night and the company is shut down for the day. They are going to want to talk to you. I told them you would be here soon and came out to meet you. You are never late,” Kyle said with a degree of respect. Mike nodded absently.

“Crap. I think I might know what happened or maybe who happened,” he told Kyle turning to Anna.

“I have to go Anna. I am sorry but this is serious,” he told her putting his arms around her, giving her a quick hug.

“No problem Mike, you have a job to do. I am going to go over to that deli for a while though, so let me know if you need me for anything,” she could not help saying.

Not that she could imagine what it would be. He kissed her and she returned it with gusto before he went into work. She watched until he was out of sight, in the lobby, before going across the street. Her phone rang Adele as she approached the door to the deli where she had run into Mike the day before. It was Maggie. Anna smiled, this would be fun, she thought.

“Hey Mags, what’s up?” She answered cheerfully.

Anna got a cup of coffee and took a seat, telling Maggie about her night. Her friend was extremely happy for her. Anna watched the people on the street as she talked to her friend and noticed a car across the street in front of Mikes work. It had been there when they had walked up, she thought absently. A gray four-door, she wondered what they were waiting for.

“Oh and Anna, I have a little bad news, your folks know already. A friend of theirs was in the Park last night and recognized you and Mike. Rumor mill has it they are not happy, so heads up,” her friend said and that got her full attention.

“Jesus Mags, in a city as big as this and I can’t even date a guy without them knowing. Well screw them. They can’t chase him away anymore. I won’t have it and I am pretty sure neither would he,” Anna told her fuming. Her phone beeped and she looked down and it was her financial advisor. He never called her and it was Saturday.

“Hey Maggie do you mind if I call you back, there is an incoming call,” she told her.

“Your mom?” She asked.

“Nope, money guy,” she said.

“Oh yeah, take that call. Talk to you later,” Maggie said and Anna flipped over to her financial man. George Wilson.

“Hi George, what is up, nothing bad I hope,” she said. It turned out to be infuriating.

“You can’t be serious! Mom and Dad are trying to take over control of my money! What the hell man, how can they do that?” She asked.

“Calm down Anna, they can’t. I explained that to them and reminded them they have no access to anything of yours, exactly as you set it up. I honestly don’t think she believes me when I tell your mom that, even though I know you have told her yourself,” he said exasperated.

“What grounds are they using to say they should have control of my funds?” She asked. She had to take deep breaths to keep calm.

“They said you are dating someone they don’t trust, whatever that means to them. Look Anna, who you date is your business and frankly I don’t care. If you are happy, cool. There is no way they will be able to push this through. She claims they are going to file the paperwork, but I am sure it won’t even be accepted. I called you mainly to let you know what was going on. I take it you haven’t heard from them?” He asked.

“No, but they are going to hear from me, don’t worry about that. I am sorry my parents are ruining your Saturday George. I hope it gets better for the both of us,” Anna told him. He was nice and brushed it off, but when she finished the call she got up and headed for the door, looking for her mom’s number.

“All done ma’am, you left your purse?” the waitress asked.

“No, I’ll be back, I just have an unpleasant call to make. Could you keep an eye on it for me?” She asked the petite black haired woman.

“Certainly ma’am. It will be here when you get back,” she answered. Anna thanked her and called her mom. She began pacing out in front of the deli as it rang. This was the final straw.

“Well, hello dear. We were wondering when you would call,” he mom said in greeting.

“What the hell do you think you are trying to pull. Are you nuts!” She said, abandoning any chance at a civil conversation.

“You cannot speak to me that way!” Was her mom’s response.

“You are trying to rob me, damn right I can. I talked to George and I am assured my money is safe. You know he is a lawyer too right? Not just a financial planner?” She snapped.

“We are only looking out for your…” Anna interrupted her.

“I am tired of hearing that crap mom. I did the ballerina thing for you two and I even ended up liking it, but I am done being the trophy you get to show your friends!” She said, barely able to keep from shouting. She watched the car across the street pull a U-turn and head toward the diner.

“How dare you? Mike Hardlake will only bring you down and we can’t allow it.” Her mom said angrily as the car turned down the alley next to the diner. She hardly it.

“I will dare more than this mom. My next commercial is out on Monday and I will be in the papers again. How do you think it will look when people find out you have a vendetta against a decorated Navy Seal!” She snapped. Anna did not know if Mike was a decorated officer or not, but he was a Navy Seal.

“You wouldn’t dare. Just threatening me proves you are not fit to handle your own affairs!” He mom shouted into the phone. Anna felt herself blush. She was embarrassed for her mom’s behavior and suddenly sad that that this conversation was taking place at all. She remained silent thinking, it was bound to come to something like this eventually. Her parents had always believed they ran her life.

“Are you there? Did you hang up on me!” He mom asked.

“No mom. I am about to though, and when I do I am calling a lawyer, and double checking the security at my condo. I might even check the prices of living overseas,” this time her mom got silent. Anna sighed. She wasn’t really going to live overseas but at least it shut her mom up.

“Look mom, I don’t know why you and dad can’t just be proud of what I have accomplished and let me live my life. I guess it really doesn’t matter anymore. I gave up on that hope years ago. So consider this a goodbye and any further communication will happen between our lawyers,” she said and hung up, turning off the ringer and vibration.               She turned next to the alley looking back towards Mikes work. Out of habit she tucked her phone into her top and bra. She saw Mike waving and smiled waving back. Amazing she thought, he was an immediate mood lifter. He was shouting and she could not hear him as he vigorously pointed behind her and then began running towards her. Traffic kept him on the other side of the street, but she could see panic in his face. With an instinct she did not know she possessed she started to drop to the ground at the same time an arm went around her throat and dragged her back into the alley kicking and screaming.

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Anna was dragged down the alley and shoved into the back seat of a car. She got a good kick in and the guy manhandling her fell partially out. He swore and dove in as the car took off. He landed on top of her and held her down with his greater weight as she heard cursing coming from the front of the car.

“Hold her idiot,” said the voice. Then she felt something round and metal against her temple and she froze.

“Stay quiet bitch or I will end you,” the rough voice of her attacker said hoarsely. She did.

The car jerked around turns and at one point it felt like the car had been hit. After another moment the ride smoothed out and right after that it came to a stop. They couldn’t be far from the Deli, she thought confused.

“What do you want?” she asked quietly.

“You’ll find out soon enough, now shut up,” said the voice pinning her down.

Then the car door opened and she was dragged out into another alley. The guy with the gun was a big, beefy, blond man in janitors clothing and the driver who she could now see, was a little guy in similar clothes. The big guy held a gun to her ribs and hustled her into an old rusted metal door that clanged behind them. They went down a dark stairwell into what looked like the bottom level of a warehouse. In the far corner there was a long table and a few chairs with a couple of cots. Was this their hide out? She wondered.

“Can you tell me what is going on now?” She asked. A man got up from one of the cots and looked at all of them angrily.

“What the hell is this?” He asked. He was a dark haired, good looking guy in a gray suite.

“That Navy Seal spotted us and he is the only one who was there yesterday when we did the job. He can finger us, and you. This is his girlfriend, we think, so we took a hostage,” the little man said.

The man in the suit walked over to her and she was pressed up against the big guy, feeling the gun in her ribs. She took a deep breath and put on her game face. It was like a performance, she told herself, just get through it. The man in the suit looked her over briefly and cursed.

“Do you have any idea what you have done?” He asked his crew.

“What are you talking about? All of us were made. We can hold that Mike guy off with her. We didn’t have any other choice,” the little man said.

“Oh really. No other choice than to kidnap New York’s most famous ballerina. Look at her! She is the one who danced at the Olympics last year, she is New York’s golden girl. Once our pictures are out, everyone in this city will lynch us if they see us and you say you had no choice!” He raged at them. Anna did not think her popularity was that strong, but went with it anyway.

“He is right you know. It would be better if you all just let me go. At least it will give you a head start,” she told them trying to sound reasonable. The man in the suit sneered at her.

“No chance now girl. We pulled off the perfect heist, except for your boyfriend. Everything would have gone smooth as shit through a goose except for him. Okay then, we can still make this work. As long as you weren’t followed I can get someone to get us out of town, and hopefully the country. For now, we sit tight. They don’t know where we are so we sit tight. Mark, go loose the car,” he ordered the man who had been driving, he turned and left quickly.

“She didn’t have a purse or anything?” He asked the remaining thug.

“Naw. She has nothing on her. We are clean there,” he answered and Anna had to keep from smiling. She had her phone and thanks to her loose blouse it could not be seen in her bra. They could find her with GPS, she realized, if she stayed calm she was going to get out of this.

“So what about me?” She asked.

“Don’t worry girl. When we leave we will leave you here. I want nothing to do with a murder charge, especially a celebrity,” he told her and walked her over to a chair and sat her down.  He then turned to the big guy who was sticking his gun in his pants.

“Seriously, you don’t recognize her? She is on cereal boxes, television commercials, the newspaper. I guessed you don’t read, but how could you miss that. All you had to do was get back here without being seen and we would be good,” he said disgustedly and went over to the table and poured some coffee.

She was a little surprised they didn’t tie her up or anything. Then again, she didn’t see any rope around. The man offered her some coffee and she accepted. They obviously did not expect her to do anything stupid and she decided not to. Not yet anyway. Just wait, she told herself, an opportunity will present itself. So just be friendly and calm.

“So what exactly did you guys do anyway. I am assuming they already know back at Mikes work,” she said. The leader nodded.

“That’s true, besides, you can tell the press when they interview you and we are gone. We will be as famous as you are. The thieves who got away. I worked there until yesterday,” he began. Anna was wondering what happened to the driver and why he wasn’t back yet.

“I was in the tech side of security with some geek and your boyfriend. Your boyfriend saw me going in after shift when he left last night, he saw these other jokers too. It shouldn’t have mattered though. We transferred money from the financial group to an off shore account that cannot be traced or touched, and crashed the server. Nothing should have been known until Monday at least so I don’t know what the hell happened there. Like I said though, I can get us out of this,” he finished.

In Anna’s mind she thought the guy was way too optimistic about his chances. She finished her coffee and heard a clanking coming from the stair well. Then she heard the door slam, like when they had come in. The driver? She wondered. The big guy muttered, “about time” and started walking from where he was standing against the back wall. A shadow seemed to move over him and then Mike dropped from the rafters to his feet behind the man. Anna was stunned and could only watch in amazement.

When Mike landed his left arm went around the big guy’s throat and he twisted sideways, pulling the man’s gun out of his pants while holding him down and to his left. Mike did not appear to even notice the guys struggling, he just pointed the gun at the guy in the suit.

“Not a great plan Dan,” he told the man. His eyes flicked to Anna with a touch of relief.

“Hey honey,” he said conversationally. Then he looked back at Dan.

“Kyle had the computer back up first thing. You were the only one in last night when I left. Not hard to figure out. The cops should be here soon,” he said. The big guy slumped, limp and Mike dropped him without a glance. Dan was terrified.

“You killed him!” He said.

“No, this isn’t a war zone. He will wake up in a few minutes with the worst kind of head ache. How bad of a head ache do you want?” Mike asked, walking towards the man. Dan raise his hands in fear. Mike did something with the weapon and the clip dropped out. Mike then reversed his hold on the gun and hit Dan in the jaw. He dropped unconscious. Mike threw the gun over by the big guy. Anna was stunned. She felt like she had seen something from an action movie. Mike turned to her and she ran to him and he scooped her up swinging her around.

“Are you okay Annie, really okay?” He asked and she could hear the emotion in his voice.

“I am fine; they didn’t hurt me. That Dan guy recognized me and got all paranoid. He even got me coffee,” she said and suddenly her legs felt weak and she sagged. Her adrenaline left her.

              “It’s ok honey, it is reaction to danger catching up to you. I am proud of you Annie. You held it together in time for us to find you. Nice job keeping your phone going,” he said with a hug and a kiss. She felt a glow from his love; him calling her honey was the sweetest sound she had ever heard. She was safe and her man had saved her.