Secret: A Stone Billionaire Series Novel (The Stone Billionaire Series Book 5) Read online

  Secret

  A Stone Billionaire Series Novel

  Kaya Woowdward

  Kindle/E-Book/Paperback Edition

  This is an original work by Kaya Woodward.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.

  This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer. Any resemblance to actual persons, places, events, business establishments or locales is coincidental.

  Cover art created by the author.

  Find more at KW Cover Design

  Created with Vellum

  Here’s to my editor.

  AUTHOR LINKS

  WWW.KAYAWOODWARD.COM

  FACEBOOK PAGE

  FACEBOOK GROUP

  EMAIL

  FIND ME ON GOODREADS

  THE STONE BILLIONAIRE SERIES

  SECRET

  A Stone Billionaire Series Novel

  BOOK FIVE

  BY

  KAYA WOODWARD

  Contents

  Part I

  1. Evan

  2. Leigha

  3. Evan

  4. Leigha

  5. Evan

  6. Leigha

  7. Evan

  8. Leigha

  9. Evan

  10. Evan

  11. Leigha

  Part II

  12. Evan

  13. Leigha

  14. Evan

  15. Leigha

  16. Evan

  17. Leigha

  18. Evan

  19. Leigha

  20. Leigha

  21. Evan

  22. Leigha

  23. Evan

  24. Leigha

  25. Evan

  Part III

  26. Leigha

  27. Evan

  28. Leigha

  29. Evan

  30. Leigha

  31. Evan

  32. Leigha

  33. Evan

  34. Evan

  35. Leigha

  36. Evan

  37. Leigha

  38. Evan

  39. Evan

  40. Aidan

  41. Noah

  42. Aidan

  43. Evan

  44. Noah

  45. Evan

  IV. Six Months Later

  1. Leigha

  2. Evan

  3. Leigha

  4. Evan

  5. Leigha

  Thank You!

  Author Links

  Part I

  1

  Evan

  February 28, 2018 - Prague

  “You sure about this?” Lucius asks.

  He sounds bored with the whole thing.

  “If my father says we make a deal with Elizabeth so that we can get the twins back, we do it!” I snap back at Lucius.

  “Deal my ass,” Lucius mutters.

  “Is your man in MI6 trustworthy?” I ask for the tenth time.

  Lucius glares at me.

  “He’s not my man, first of all. Second of all, he’s a special-operations operative you know nothing about. Are we clear? Do I need to remind you yet again, Evan?” Lucius says sternly.

  “Clear,” I huff.

  He’s the one who fucking told me there was an MI6 operative that would be watching the whole exchange.

  “He better not be some fucking government hack,” I mutter.

  “That’s enough!” Lucius roars.

  My back suddenly slams against a brick wall and pain sears through my spine.

  “Pull it together! Focus, Evan!” Lucius yells at me.

  We have an intense stare down until Lucius finally lets me go with a rough push in front of him.

  He’s right.

  I have to get my head out of my ass.

  Just because Vic is dead, doesn’t mean the world has stopped turning

  We continue down the deserted avenue until we reach the warehouse where the rendezvous is set.

  “What did she say again?” I ask Lucius.

  He looks up from a quick check of his Glock.

  “The text said to come alone,” he reports.

  “Well, we’re alone,” I say.

  Then, I shrug.

  Lucius takes a deep breath and turns the door handle to see it’s unlocked.

  “Quiet,” he whispers.

  “Oh, fuck this!” I swear.

  I open the door and walk inside, a bullet just missing me as it whizzes past my head.

  I felt it; I sensed Death pass so close by my head.

  Instantly, I drop to the ground and a spray of bullets peppers the wall, sending a cascade of debris all over me.

  I barely notice Lucius next to me as he grabs me and pulls me into the cover of a bunch of crates.

  They offer little to no protection, but the door is no longer an option.

  “This was a set-up!” I scream.

  “You bitch!” I roar.

  I’m blinded by my rage. I stand up, foolishly, my own safety be damned.

  Every bullet in my pistol flies through the chamber at rapid pace as I aim directly at nothing.

  I can’t see shit, but I hope by shooting aimlessly I can provide enough distraction for Lucius to hit the lights.

  Then, one by one, the hired guns suddenly begin to go down.

  Even Lucius is stunned as each of the windows of the broken-down warehouse is shattered by high-powered rounds.

  Whoever protects us, they are lethal; no one goes unpunished.

  Suddenly, it goes silent.

  There’s just smoke.

  It’s like a bloody war, and we’re the only survivors.

  That’s when I see a flash of blonde hair move down the stairs on the far side of the warehouse, and walk through a door.

  “Elizabeth!” I scream.

  Without a second thought I bolt for the door she went through.

  My gun is empty, but I don’t care.

  I try not to do anything too stupid.

  I pause at the doorway, swapping magazines, the empty one hitting the floor before I burst through.

  I scan carefully, looking for targets.

  There’s a set of stairs, and an exit door.

  I pause, hearing footsteps on the stairs.

  I jump them two at a time.

  My only focus are the flashes of blonde hair above me as I chase after Elizabeth.

  My mother.

  I’ll gun her down in cold blood if I must.

  I don’t care who she says she is to me; she’s no mother of mine.

  I begin to catch up until I hear another door open and slam shut behind me.

  “The roof!” Lucius yells at me, from somewhere far off.

  I hear the engine of a helicopter.

  I wonder if Elizabeth is about to escape for good, but I burst through the door.

  The flash of blonde hair runs towards the chopper.

  Steadying myself, I aim and then I take my shot.

  She goes down.

  The helicopter hovers, then goes lower.

  I see someone jump out, but Lucius shoots them.

  The body jerks once, then falls and hits the ground.

  We both run at full speed, and I lunge for Elizabeth before she can rise.

  She makes a slight moan.

  I forcefully pin her against the hard surface of the roof.

  In the distance, I hear shots; but I can’t register what’s happening.

  The wo
man I am staring at isn’t my mother.

  It’s Lauren.

  “You’d fucking kill me!” I scream at her.

  “I’m still going to do it!” Lauren spits back.

  She struggles against me, futilely.

  I’m far stronger, and I force her back onto her stomach, hold her hands behind her back, and scream in rage.

  “You piece of shit! You betrayed us!” I rage at Lauren.

  Then I’m suddenly blown back by a wave of heat.

  I wonder if I’m dead.

  There’s an incessant roaring in my ears, as I fly through the air.

  I can’t go out this way.

  Not this way…

  My body slams against the roof and the breath is sucked right out of my body.

  There are black spots in my vision, but I fight through it.

  In and out.

  In and out.

  Breathing hurts, but I push through it, driving through the pain in time to see the helicopter on fire as it swirls away from us, clips the side of the building, and then does a straight nosedive into the ground.

  There’s another wave of heat as it explodes in flames and I shield my face from the blast.

  I’m hurt; it’s hard to breathe.

  When I look up, I can see her.

  Lauren.

  She runs for the edge of the building, throws something, and then jumps.

  “Ugh,” I groan, lying on the asphalt of the roof.

  “Fuck me!” I moan.

  “Yeah, that’s what you always Stone, but I’m not about to do it!” a voice says crisply.

  Then, I hear that laugh.

  That fucking laugh.

  I force myself to sit up, and when I turn around, I’m face to face with Merc Torelli.

  “What the fuck?” I swear.

  “That’s all you got?” Merc says.

  His hand is outstretched to help me to my feet.

  I notice he is cradling a rocket launcher under his other arm.

  Merc is casual and relaxed, as if he blows up choppers every day.

  Oh, my bloody hell!

  He is Lucius’ man from MI6!

  “Merc,” I say, slowly.

  “Evan,” Merc replies.

  I ignore his outstretched hand and push myself off the ground, despite every muscle in my body straining in protest.

  I refuse to let him help me.

  “What the fuck!” I shout.

  The words fly from my mouth in anger.

  “I owe you an explanation,” Merc replies calmly.

  “What the fuck Merc! You were dead! I watched you burn! At your fucking funeral, I gave your mother the flag off a Goddamned empty casket because they told me you were ashes Merc! Do you know what you did to me?” I rage at Merc.

  “What you did to Leigha?” I continue.

  “Do you know how hard that was on your family? Your friends? What about us?” I scream at him.

  My voice booms over the sound of sirens below.

  “Later, Evan. We have to get to the safe house, before we’re shot at again,” Merc replies.

  “Evan,” Lucius grabs my arm.

  He puts a hand on my shoulder.

  “Calm down,” he says.

  It’s like the bastard knew I was winding up to punch the shit out of Merc!

  I glare at him, staring at his tight grip on my wrist.

  “Let me go, Lucius,” I seethe.

  “Come on. He’s right. We need to go. Now,” Lucius says.

  Merc pushes some boxes aside in a tattered, worn-down apartment in the bad part of Prague.

  I think to myself that it’s a good thing we all have guns.

  Lucius grumbles about the cold.

  “Start a fire,” Merc says.

  He points to the fireplace.

  “No heat in the building,” he says.

  Then, he disappears behind a door.

  I assume he needs to speak with his people.

  Whoever that is...

  “So, you know him?” Lucius asks.

  I watch him build a fire with some scraps of wood that are littered around the safe house.

  “Understatement,” I growl.

  I browse the apartment and locate an unsavory brand of vodka, and a couple of chipped mugs.

  It’s not Chivas, but I’ll take it.

  Lucius gratefully takes a mug of vodka from me before he sits on the worn-out couch.

  It sags under his weight.

  I decide to stand.

  Finally, Merc reappears from the other room of the safe house.

  “I spoke to my people,” Merc starts.

  “I thought we were your people,” I shoot back before he can say anything else.

  “We. Were. Your. People,” I tell him.

  My voice is stone cold.

  This is not forgivable.

  “Evan. Listen. This wasn’t an easy decision, okay?” he says.

  I stare at my best friend, wondering how it is that he is still alive.

  “I knew what I was doing, Evan. I knew the consequences of taking this decision. But, not one part of me really wanted to leave anyone behind. I didn’t have a choice; it was this, for the greater good, or nothing. I chose the greater good,” Merc explains.

  I guess Merc thinks his excuse is good.

  Maybe he even thinks of it as an apology for abandoning Leigha and me all those years ago.

  Abandoning his family, his friends.

  “That’s not good enough!” I yell at him.

  “You could’ve told me!” I shout.

  “And, then what, Evan?” Merc yells back at me.

  “You would’ve convinced me not to go!” he says.

  “Don’t you understand, Evan? This is what I wanted! What I worked for! To be part of something bigger than the Goddamned prep school nightmare we lived through! I didn’t want to be another rich boy with nothing to do! I wanted to make a Goddamn difference! How can you fault me for that?” Merc says, his voice cracking from emotion.

  “I’m not just another rich boy!” I scream in reply.

  “I didn’t say that!” Merc shouts.

  “Yes, you did! You implied that because I didn’t fake my own fucking death to get away from the mess that my life was, you’re better than me!” I rage at him.

  “That’s not what I meant!” he screams back at me.

  Then, his voice softens, as he fights to get his volume back to a reasonable level.

  “You know I would never think less of you because of your choices. Can’t you do the same for me?” Merc questions.

  He has a point.

  “The way you just…” I start.

  But, I can’t finish.

  I’m overwhelmingly happier than I thought, just to see his face again.

  The scar across the left of his jaw is new, but his shortly cropped hair is the same; his brown eyes the same.

  “I’m sorry,” Merc says.

  “I had to do it, you know? I wouldn’t have left like that if I had a choice,” he adds.

  “Come on, Evan! It’s me! Merc,” he pleads.

  “It is still you, but that doesn’t mean I forgive you,” I say.

  “Well, I did just save your asses out there!” Merc reminds me.

  “Thanks for that, incidentally,” Lucius interjects, smirking.

  Merc grins back.

  “Yeah,” I say.

  But my voice is tinged with malice.

  “Thanks,” I retort.

  “You’re welcome,” Merc shoots back.

  Then, he tips an imaginary hat.

  As always.

  Jesus Christ, am I glad to see him!

  Then it hits me like a wave.

  The sadness that overcomes me, every time I remember that I’ve lost her.

  Vic is gone.

  She isn’t coming back.

  “Evan,” Merc’s voice is there.

  I can’t respond.

  I need to wait for the wave to pass.

  The breath is
sucked out of me, like I’ve lost the will to live.

  Suddenly, I’m back in the emergency room, staring at a wall, waiting for someone to tell me I haven’t lost it all.

  But I have.

  My chest tightens, and I brace myself against the wall, close my eyes, and count to three.

  One.

  I will stop thinking about Victoire Bishop.

  Two.

  She would not want me to be miserable.

  Three.

  Everything will be alright.

  When I open my eyes, Lucius and Merc both have looks of concern on their faces, and I wonder just how much longer these attacks are going to go on.

  “I’m okay,” I say.

  I wave my hand in dismissal.

  It’s done.

  It’s over.

  I can’t go back; I need to move forward.

  “Are you sure you’re okay?” Lucius asks.

  “Fine,” I say, just to get him off my back.

  “Alright, you want to talk about it?” Merc asks.

  “I don’t want to talk about anything with you,” I snort.

  “Evan, you thought he was dead, now he’s not. Given the current circumstances, you should be a little more forgiving, right? Who knows when you’ll see him again?” Lucius reprimands me.