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

know, he acquired this information. In the process, one of the competitor’s men turned up dead and Nolan is nowhere. Neither is the information. Believe me when I tell you there are a lot of people who would like to know where your brother is.”
    He said this last part staring at me. I stared back, my eyes wide with horror. So not only was my brother missing, he’d gone missing while committing a crime for a Russian mob boss and possibly killing someone? I wanted to run screaming from the room, denying that Nolan could have done any of it. After the last few days I wished I was still naïve enough to believe him that innocent. It was going to take a lot to convince me he killed anyone, but the rest - hacking information for Sergey Tsepov and then messing up somehow and running away? It hurt my heart how easily I could believe that part was true.
    “Chloe, describe to Dog the men you saw in your apartment,” Axel said in a low voice. I did as best I could remember. When I described the tall man with the heavy accent who’d had the gun, I would have sworn I saw recognition flicker in Dogs eyes, but he said,
    “They don’t sound like anyone I know. But a lot of people are looking for Nolan. Who knows who they could be?”
    “And does Tsepov think Nolan is holding the information to sell it himself?” Axel asked. Dog shrugged as if he either didn’t know or didn’t care.
    “Sergey likes his little pet. He doesn’t believe Nolan has the balls to double-cross him. But he will find him either way. And if he can prove that Nolan tried to betray him-”
    Dog shrugged again, clearly not concerned about my brother’s fate. My stomach rolled. For a few seconds my mouth flooded with saliva, and I thought I was going to throw up. I had no idea what a Russian mob boss would do to an underling he thought had betrayed him. I was sure that whatever punishment I could dream up, Tsepov’s would be worse.
    Sam and Axel both stood at once, Sam taking my arm in his as he did, pulling me to my feet beside him. Axel handed Dog a business card and said, “If you hear anything, It’s worth something to let me know.”
    Dog gave the card a brief look and set it on the table beside his drink. I doubted we’d be hearing from him. He had his loyalty, and it wasn’t to Nolan’s family.
    With a steely grip on my elbow, Sam half led, half dragged me out of the bar. He propelled me straight to his truck, his silence heavy. Before I could mention it he said to Axel, “Get someone to bring Chloe’s car back.”
    Axel’s answer was, “Keys?”
    I thought about arguing, but the look in Sam’s eyes convinced me to let him have his way. I pulled my car keys out of my purse and handed them to Sam who tossed them across the parking lot to Axel. Opening the truck door, he lifted me in and watched, hands on his hips, while I fastened my seatbelt. Did he think I was going to make a break for it? We were in the middle of a dark parking lot in the middle of downtown Vegas and I didn’t even have my own car keys.
    Sam was in the car, engine running, when I opened my mouth to speak. I didn’t get out a sound before he raised his hand to stop me, saying “so help me, Chloe, do not say a single word until we are home and behind a locked door. I guarantee you I will be a lot more reasonable once I know you’re somewhere safe.”
    With a huff, I sat back in my seat, mouth closed. Not because he’d told me to be quiet. I had plenty to say, and I was going to say it. No, I kept my mouth shut because when I started yelling at Sam I didn’t want to have to worry about him watching the road. I wanted his full attention so I could make sure he understood how completely furious I was. Unfortunately, I had a feeling Sam was thinking the exact same thing.

4
Chloe
    I followed Sam into the house, down the hall from the garage, and into the kitchen where he whirled on me, his eyes so angry they shot blue sparks. “What the fuck were you thinking, Chloe?”