Their Greatest Treasure (Power Surge: The Billionaire Club 1)

“Why?” she asked then took a sip from her glass of red wine and placed it back down onto the white linen tablecloth.

“A beautiful woman like you should dine at the finest restaurants in the city with the best views.”

She swallowed hard and then traced the rim of her wine glass with her index finger. “I didn’t say that I haven’t dined at such a fine restaurant, just not this one.”

“Did Desi bring you to places like this?” Riker asked, shocking her. Her finger paused on the glass, as she thought about his question. She locked gazes with him. Riker and Nash were big men, and they sat only inches away from her on either side. She wanted more space. She felt herself begin to panic.

Riker held her gaze, and it was a serious expression on his face. “Tell us about him.”

“No,” she replied without hesitation.

Nash scooted his seat closer. His knee was touching hers, and the small connection caused an instant shock to her system.

“Please.” She lowered her eyes to t

he glass.

Then she felt Nash’s hand on her knee. He caressed her skin, and whispered to her. “We want to understand what’s going on. We care about you. We don’t want you to be in danger.”

She snapped her head toward him. “Why do you care?”

Nash looked away from her a moment. She felt Riker scoot closer to her now, too.

She waited, anticipating something but unsure what. Then Nash spoke.

“We lost someone.”

She could hear the sadness in his voice. The woman who helped to name the club The Jewelry Box? Now her own heart ached and became filled with emotions she wasn’t accustomed to, like jealousy. This woman hurt them, or they hurt her. God, please don’t tell me that they hurt her.

“The one who helped name The Jewelry Box?” she asked, and Nash nodded. She looked at Riker. He didn’t seem as upset as Nash.

“You loved her, too?” she found herself asking, and immediately Riker shook his head in denial.

“We both cared for her. We shared something special. When Maggie died, we were both devastated. She was our lover,” Riker explained.

Chastity took a deep, unsteady breath. “How did she die? When?”

“We killed her. It happened two years ago.” Nash leaned back to take a sip of his wine.

“What do you mean killed her? Please explain that to me.”

“We weren’t always in the club business. We made our money in investments, and we used to be federal agents,” Riker explained. She was surprised, but also impressed.

“She came into our lives two and a half years ago. About a year into an investigation, we met Maggie, and things just happened between the three of us. As the investigation began to get intense, we were about to expose the mastermind behind a huge international drug smuggling operation. We became marked men, and the bad guys blew up our boat. Maggie was supposed to meet us there. She had called and told us she was waiting, with a surprise. On our way there, we were tipped off about a deal going down, and we called Maggie to tell her we would be late but she didn’t answer. We got concerned, and then we both got calls threatening us. They said that they would go after our girlfriend. Of course we rushed to the marina, with backup, and as we got there, we saw Maggie waving to us,” Riker explained.

“She looked right at us as she stood on the boat. We were fifteen minutes late.” Nash ran his hand over his face.

“The boat exploded as we ran down the dock toward her. We didn’t make it in time. Someone set a bomb,” Riker said.

Chastity reached for Nash’s hand and for Riker’s.

“I’m so sorry. I can’t believe that you had to go through that. Did you ever find out who did it?”

“No,” Nash said then brought her fingers to his lips and kissed them.

“This is why we want to make sure that you’re not in any danger. Who is this guy, Chastity?” Riker asked her.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and began to explain.