The Courtship Maneuver, Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Club BBW Romance) by Alexa Wilder

then,” I said, trying to muster every ounce of confidence I had. It wasn’t much, and the bouncer knew it.
    “I am sorry miss, but they have already seen you. You must wait to see if they will come for you.” He gave a deliberately obvious look at his wristwatch and then back at me. I had the sudden urge to stomp my sandaled foot. I still wasn’t sure this was exactly legal even if he was claiming the bar was a private club.
    My chest loosened with relief when Axel rose and headed our way. He barely acknowledged me as he took my arm with a nod to the bouncer and led me back to their table. All he said was, “Keep your mouth shut and let me talk, Chloe. Do you understand?”
    Sam met my eyes as we walked closer and I couldn’t help the glare that escaped. Knowing that a tantrum would only get in the way of finding out about Nolan, I reined in my emotions and smiled up at Axel with the sweetest, most compliant expression I could muster. I saw in his eyes that he wasn’t buying it, but was at least relieved that I was going to play along.
    I sat in the chair he pulled out for me, pretending to ignore Sam, which was nearly impossible, considering how every cell in my body woke up the moment I was close to him. But I was still too pissed off to know what to say. This was neither the time nor the place to begin the argument we’d have the second we were alone.
    Axel, apparently done with hanging around now that I was there, focused his attention on the big, red-faced man sitting opposite us and said, “So let’s get into it. Do you know where Nolan Henson is?”
    The man’s gaze sharpened. “I already told you, I have no idea where Nolan Henson is. Did you think that if you brought his sister here I would soften up and tell you?”
    I drew in an audible breath. I’d never seen this man before in my life. How did he know who I was? Nolan occasionally had friends over to our apartment, but not this man. I would have remembered him. There was something about him, something off, as if he were lying or playing a part and not doing it terribly well. I didn’t understand enough about what was going on to know if my instinct was accurate or if it was just my own nerves making me jumpy.
    “How do you know who she is?” Axel asked.
    “Nolan talked about his sister Chloe all the time,” the man said. “What a good sister she was, even when she nagged him to clean up his room or eat his vegetables with his dinner.” He smirked at me as if laughing at my concerns. “But he never mentioned how beautiful she is.” His eyes raked over me and I wished, for the first time since I’d tried on the clothes Lola had chosen for me, that I was wearing the suit Sam had thrown away.
    Sam shifted beside me, saying nothing, but the waves of coiled menace that rolled off him were enough. Dog must have thought so too because after a quick look in Sam’s direction he refocused his attention on Axel.
    “Chloe isn’t what’s important here,” Axel said. “When was the last time you saw Nolan?”
    “I saw him Saturday,” Dog said.
    “Were you with him before he disappeared?” Axel asked.
    “Not right before, no. The last person who saw Nolan before he disappeared is dead.”
    I gasped and straightened in my chair. Was he implying Nolan had killed someone? I bit my tongue hard to keep from asking questions. Axel asked them for me.
    “What are you saying?”
    “Look, normally I wouldn’t talk about any of this outside the family,” the man said leaning forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “But I can tell you three are going to cause trouble until you find out what you want to know, and that isn’t going to help anybody.”
    For the first time since I walked in, Sam spoke. “So why don’t you just talk and we’ll get out of your way.”
    “Nolan has been working for Sergey,” Dog finally said. “He was given a job. To-” A pause, “acquire some information from a competitor. Very valuable information. As far as we