Going Down Easy (Billionaire Bad Boys 1)

“When?” Kade asked. “When did he start asking questions?”

Kendall met his gaze. “After your picture showed up on Page Six with Lexie.”

“Fuck,” Kade muttered.

“What?” Kendall asked.

Lexie glanced at him, waiting for him to explain.

Kade rubbed his finger over the casing of his watch. “I’m going to assume Julian had someone watching me. Someone who knew about us before the gala. Probably after you spent the night that first time after my accident.” He held up his injured hand. “I’m sure he looked into you,” he said to Lexie. “It’s what I would have done. Hell, it’s what I was doing and how I found out about Julian and Kendall,” Kade muttered. “And Julian probably introduced himself to your sister right after the PI gave him the info.”

“Who is this Julian?” Kendall asked, perplexed and wary.

Lexie slid closer to her sister and put an arm around her shoulder. Because no matter what Kendall had done, she was her twin, and this news was going to hurt. “Julian is Jay’s real name. And Julian is suing Kade for a piece of his company. I’m sorry, honey, but he was using you to get to Kade through me.”

Kendall met her gaze, identical watery blue eyes staring back at her. “He used me? He set me up from the beginning?”

Lexie nodded.

“What happened after he saw the Page Six picture?” Kade asked.

“He started talking about how much money Kade must have, and when I said I had financial problems, he told me if I took something from the apartment, a guy like Kade had so much he would never miss it. He suggested it often, and I was desperate enough to do it.” She pulled at her sweats over and over. “I got myself in deep and I kept spending. I hit my limit but the bill was coming in.” She started to cry. “I didn’t mean to steal. Jay said it wouldn’t hurt anyone, and I wanted to believe it.”

Lexie pulled her twin against her, looking at Kade over her sister’s trembling body. “I’m going to kill him,” she muttered.

“Not if I get to him first. Kendall,” Kade said in a gentler voice, “you said you haven’t heard from him since Saturday. What happened Saturday?”

“I gave him the watch to pawn, and he said he’d get me the money. He hasn’t gotten back to me. He always answers right away, and now it’s like he’s disappeared.” She sniffed and pulled away. “I feel so stupid.”

“Don’t. He set you up and used you. There’s no way you could have known.”

“I’ll find Julian and take care of things,” Kade said, rising from his seat.

“Wait. I stole from you,” Kendall said, her voice rising, as if realizing what she’d done for the first time. “Oh my God. Are you going to call the police?” She jumped up in a panic.

Lexie rose to her feet too. “Kade said he wouldn’t,” she told her sister, looking to him for reassurance.

He nodded, indicating he planned to keep his promise, and she breathed a long sigh of relief. He paused, as if waiting for her to say something more, but she was spent, lost, and hurting. And Kendall was silently sobbing in relief, hanging on to Lexie with everything she had.

Kade gave her one long, lingering look. “I’ll just let myself out,” he finally said.

“Thank you,” she mouthed at him.

One side of his mouth lifted in a small smile before he turned and walked out.

Kendall collapsed then, dissolving into a heap on the floor, consumed by huge, gulping sobs. So Lexie did what she always did; she knelt down and took care of her twin, pushing aside the fact that this whole mess had affected her life too.

She’d lost her job and a guy she really cared about because Kendall had once again spiraled out of control.

Chapter Twelve

Kade knew he had to make decisions about a lot of things in his life, starting with Julian. It was unacceptable that he’d go after anyone in Kade’s life, let alone target a woman who’d never done anything to him. Worse, a woman with a mental illness who would never have seen him coming. Kade didn’t just want to stand up for Lexie, he wanted to look out for her sister.

Instead of going to work the next morning, he headed for Julian’s apartment in Midtown. He walked up the stairs of the old brownstone building, his temper rising as he reached the apartment and knocked hard on the door. He timed his visit before nine a.m., hoping to catch Julian at home and, yeah, maybe at a weak moment. Who knew what he’d been doing the night before. For damn sure he hadn’t been with Kendall.

When no one answered, he banged harder. “Julian, open the fucking door.”

Just when he thought he was going to have to turn around and come back later, the door swung open, and his old friend stood in front of him. This was the same guy he’d met freshman year and bonded with from day one. Julian had spent holidays with Kade and his father when his parents couldn’t be bothered. But at some point, drugs had become more important than friendship, and nothing had been the same since.