The Billionaire's Kisses (Tycoon Billionaires 1)

Amy pulled out of Adam’s arms. “I think I understand. Tariq and Ivan are lovers and they faked Ivan’s death so they could run away together.”

Ivan chuckled kindly. “Very perceptive, Ms Carter.”

“Thank you.”

“But wrong. I’m not actually gay.”

Dylan’s anger cracked. “So why the lies? Listen, someone better explain to me what the fuck is happening, or I’m gonna lose my fucking temper.”

Ivan wrapped his arm around Dylan’s shoulders and squeezed. “Calm down and let me explain, little brother. The fire, my death, my sexuality… it

’s all been one big hoax. We only –”

“Why the hell would you do that to us?” Dylan demanded.

“Let him speak,” Adam said.

Ivan strode over to sit down on the tatty leather couch. Amy realised he must’ve been hiding down here for some time – whatever he’d been hiding from. It wasn’t exactly homey in this basement. The exposed wooden floorboards were covered in old rugs, and the walls could probably do with a lick of paint. But the alternative – whatever that was – was obviously worse.

Ivan draped his arm across the back of the couch. “That last day you saw me… it was fucking manic. I’d been working all night the night before, and I got home that morning to find my apartment ransacked. We already knew some oil sheiks from Saudi Arabia had discovered that me and Tariq were working on the perpetual motion device and they wanted it. And they wanted us dead. Oil and all that, you know – the perpetual motion device would make oil unnecessary. As soon as they sent round their thugs with the first threats, we panicked and realised we needed to get rid of the blueprints and the prototype, so we asked you to stash them at Quinlan Brothers headquarters for safe-keeping.” The emotion cracked in Ivan’s throat and he rubbed his eyes to compose himself. “God, I’ve missed you guys. It’s so good to see you again.”

Adam and Dylan exchanged a glance, then Dylan strode over to sit next to Ivan.

He rested his hand on his brother’s arm. “We’ve missed you, too. More than words can say.”

Tariq stepped forward and took over the story. “That evening, we decided we had no other choice but to kill off Ivan in the fire.”

Amy frowned. “Why?”

Ivan sighed. “Well, we realised that the fire would make the Saudis think all our work had been destroyed – throwing them off the scent – and we faked my death so they wouldn’t try to kidnap any of my family – who I love more than my life. Tariq doesn’t really have any close family – just one cousin in California – so we decided he could stay alive for now and deal with any issues that came up.”

“Issue one,” Tariq said. “How to get back our blueprints and prototype from the Quinlan boys so we could really destroy it. But then I got arrested, which was actually good in a way, because it kept me safe from the Saudis. But it also meant the whole Quinlan family was potentially in danger if the Saudis ever found out where we’d stashed everything.”

Dylan shook his head. “This is unbelievable.”

“It’s pretty intense, isn’t it?” Tariq folded his arms across his chest. “Luckily – after a couple of terrifying weeks in custody, I managed to convince my parole officer to bring me an FBI agent.”

Adam pulled Amy tight against himself, as if he was scared she might disappear. Or maybe he just wanted to ground himself in reality in the midst of this madness. “So you involved the FBI in this?” he asked.

Tariq shrugged. “Sure. We needed protection. Anyway, as soon as I got out of jail, we decided to get our blueprints back from you – just in case the Saudis approached you. They haven’t, have they?”

Dylan shook his head. “No…”

“Good,” Tariq said. “So we guessed you wouldn’t just hand everything over to me, because you were so sure I was responsible for Ivan’s death. But luckily, when I saw Ms Carter last week, I knew one of you scoundrels would go after her – and I was right.”

Adam smirked. “Well, I’m only flesh and blood, and she’s one hell of a woman.”

“She is.” Ivan took over the story. “So when Tariq came back saying he thought Ms Carter and Adam cared for each other we knew we should involve her in our plan. I’ve never known Adam to introduce a woman to our folks, so I guessed there was something deep going on.”

“So,” Tariq said. “We concocted the tallest tale we could think of to persuade Amy to work with us. Sorry about the lies, Ms Carter.”

“Well, it’s okay, I suppose.” She sunk against Adam’s body for support. “But what about your scar? It looks pretty real.”

“It is real. We needed to make it look convincing.”

Dylan grimaced. “You burned yourself?”

Tariq nodded sadly. “Had to.”