Power Player: Anti-Hero Game (Power Chain Book 2) Read online

Of course, I knew who Paxton Williams was as well as his buddy, Garrett Monroe. The two were inseparable when we were kids growing up in a hell I’d tried to forget. While I didn’t live with them at the orphanage, Paxton had shared the horrors they faced. I knew too much and so little at the same time. Paxton confided in me years ago. It was too dark, too raw for my young mind to comprehend. His only reprieve from the nightmare was this unlikely brotherhood he formed with Dane, Onyx, and Garrett. Especially Garrett. Even now, the same was true. Garrett worked as an attorney in his own firm in downtown Philly where he shared an office with Paxton Williams, an accountant.

  Apparently, my accountant and legal Power of Attorney.

  He was the one man my body couldn’t deny every time I thought of him, but my mind screamed danger, forcing me to keep my distance. Paxton was like a tidal wave and I knew the minute I allowed him to crash into my space, he would swallow me whole. I would drown under his presence and lose myself in his world.

  He was that powerful and all-consuming. He was also dangerous. It radiated from him.

  The one man who twisted me up inside without a single care about the damage he’d be sure to leave behind when he finished with me was never far away. I had no doubt he would break me, and it was a heartache I wouldn’t survive a second time.

  Paxton Williams was all things wrong and oh so right at the same time.

  He was sexy as sin, confident, and not afraid to go after what he wanted.

  And what he wanted was me. He’d made it clear on many occasions.

  The problem was Paxton had this edge to him that I just knew would break me. He had the ability to suck me in and never let me up for air. It was too much. He was too much. He was fearless and haunted. I saw it in his captivating eyes every time he was near me.

  He didn’t really want me though—not the way a man wanted a woman. No, I was a possession that told him no, and no one said that word to Pax—ever. I was no more than a challenge for him and once he got what he wanted, he’d leave me without a fuck off, because that’s the kind of man he was.

  I knew it. He knew it. And he refused to make any concessions or excuses for it. I had to take him as he came, and that was a man who wanted me under his thumb. I simply wasn’t that kind of woman, period.

  Inside the bank, I was once again greeted by the ever peppy Julia, who immediately recognized me. This was the nice thing about working with a local branch on a regular basis. They knew me here and should help me get my accounts back. I entered feeling confident this misunderstanding could be easily fixed and life could return to normal.

  “Is there any way for me to get this reversed and gain access to my accounts again?” I muttered the words quickly, wanting this all to go away.

  The petite woman with dark brown curly hair looked as though I just asked her to climb Mount Everest, pregnant with a weight on her back. It wasn’t that serious, right? With a few key strokes they could undo what they did just as simply.

  “I’m very sorry, ma’am, but it will take some time to do that, and it has to be approved by the CEO. Once an account is frozen and if it were to ever want to be reopened, there is a vetting process it must go through. There is a bunch of paperwork that needs to be done.”

  I blew out a breath. Okay paperwork, I could tackle that. But a process? I didn’t have time for that. My eyes narrowed as I clenched my hands around the strap of my purse. “You mean to tell me that someone, who I did not give access to, can come in and close down my accounts in one day, but I, the owner of the account, can’t get it reinstated for what—weeks? Months? Years?”

  She became flustered, shuffling papers around her slim deck and looking at her computer. I knocked on the desktop grabbing her attention. “I’d like an answer.”

  “Ma’am, I assure you that Mr. Williams had all the necessary paperwork, with a signature that was double checked with your original paperwork and driver’s license.”

  This was absolutely absurd!

  I cut her off. “Were you the one to get this done?”

  She nodded. “I met with Mr. Williams and Mr. Monroe first. Then, I took it to Misty, our head teller to approve. She got the approval from John, the lead banker present, and we all agreed his documentation was in order, Ms. Conrad.”

  “I want to talk to your CEO, now.” Pointing my finger on her desk did nothing to get her to pick up her phone and dial the extension, only angering me more. “You connect me with someone who can help me.”

  “Yes, of course.” She nodded as she picked up the phone on her desk, punched some numbers, and got through to whomever she felt I needed to talk to.

  The relief didn’t come one bit as I waited on pins and needles. A large man in height with light brown hair that stuck up all around approached me. “Miss Conrad, I’m Marvin Steanger, and I’ll be happy to help you. Please come this way.” He extended his arm to the door off to the side.

  Once in his immaculate office, he had me sit in front of him. His desk was three times the size of Julia’s cubical area, and the view screamed this was a man of importance, which gave me hope.

  “Julia informed me of your situation, and I’ve brought up your file.” He set a manila folder on his desk, then turned the computer screen toward me. Pulling out several sheets of paper, my hands shook causing the thin contract to do the same. There in perfect words stated that Paxton Williams was my Power of Attorney. My blood boiled. He was like a tick I couldn’t pull off me, sucking me dry. Even his scrawl on the bottom of the page pissed me off.

  “As you can see, ma’am, all the paperwork was in order.” He laid out the rest of it as I read as quickly as I could. “Mr. Williams had every right to freeze these accounts.”

  “No, he didn’t,” I ground out between clenched teeth. “I never signed this document. Or any document with Paxton or Garrett’s name on them. Ever. And you didn’t think to contact me to validate this before shutting me down?”

  He coughed slightly then clasped his hands in front of him. “Ma’am, this happens all of the time. People get hurt and are in the hospital. Others are committed into institutions and need someone to look over their accounts. We do not know these reasons, only look at the documents provided. The signatures matched what we have on file.”

  “What was given to you was a fake. I never signed anything, and isn’t that against the law?” I took in a deep breath because this wasn’t getting me back to my money.

  “Well, I’m sure you can seek legal representation to fight this in court. But that’s going to be between you and a judge. Once you sort that out and a judge signs off that this was indeed fraud, we can reverse the freeze.”

  I gasped in shock. “A judge!”

  “Well, Ms. Conrad, if you feel this was an error then you must follow all the steps including the legal ones.”

  “Look, I need to reverse this. As you can perfectly see, I’m not sick, nor am I going to an institution. And to be clear, I don’t have a stalker except Mr. Williams, so I certainly wouldn’t give him access and power over me like this.” I threw my hands up in the air in frustration. I’d deal with the legal ramifications of pressing charges later. “I need to get my accounts back so I can live and you know—pay my bills including legal representation, as you put it.”

  “I’m really sorry, but that will take some time. We have a process that we must follow from the Federal Government to get them turned back on. I understand that you’re upset, but there isn’t anything I can do other than submit the paperwork to get this started.”

  I stood from the chair needing to move. “This has to be some sick joke. Pax can shut my accounts down in a day and yet, I can’t get them back up.” I threw my hands up wildly as the emotions were too much. I wanted to scream, cry, throw something.

  “Pax, ma’am? It sounds as though you have a relationship with Mr. Williams. Maybe with all of your stress from the stalker you don’t remember signing the documents.”

  The laugh that left me was dark and heavy. “There is no re
lationship. And I assure you the only stalker I have is HIM!”

  His face paled. “Would you like for me to start the paperwork, ma’am?”

  Clenching my teeth, I growled out my words, “Yes, considering you fucked up by closing my accounts when you were not authorized to. And believe me, there will be action taken against you and whoever is involved with this.” I would make them all pay no matter what it took.

  Storming out the office, I felt the world falling around me. How could this happen? When I got my money back, it certainly wouldn’t be staying in this bank. One thing was for certain, Paxton Williams was giving me my money back, I wouldn’t take no for an answer!

  2

  Paxton

  I sat back in the leather conference room chair flipping the Zippo lighter in my hand, craving a cigarette. It was agreed early on that smoking wasn’t allowed in this room and I complied—for the most part. I was far from a perfect man, so shit happened from time to time and it was what it was.

  We were all present except Onyx. The man was no doubt starting his day off deep inside his woman, Torryn. I still couldn’t believe he fell in love, and when he did it was hard and swift. None of us saw it coming, but in the end we were all happy for him.

  I knew what it was to be twisted up over a woman. I also knew what it was to let one go because you couldn’t give her what she needed. Except he made shit work, and I did not. That was the difference that blared like a red light that I was unable to avoid.

  Onyx strolled in with a confident and relaxed smirk on his face, something we didn’t see often —the relaxed part, the man was always confident.

  “Fuck, she’s got you,” Dane muttered, standing to give him a hand slap into a shoulder bump, greeting his best friend. “Comin’ in here looking all relaxed and shit. Looks good on ya, Onyx.”

  It was the unique dynamic of our group. Dane and Onyx had always been a little closer. While I knew without a shadow of a doubt they all had my back, those two had a different, sacred bond. I’d often wondered how their connection was so strong. Maybe it was the time they had before Garrett and I arrived at the orphanage or just the fact that they didn’t know their families, where as I did. Either way, we had balance amongst the four of us, each giving something to the group.

  Onyx met Torryn when she started dating his half-brother. Only, that’s not how he landed her. No, the man with balls of steel took her as collateral on her sister’s debt to our business.

  It was smart.

  It was cunning.

  It was eventually successful.

  Watching Onyx obtain it all, well, it made me crave more in life. I couldn’t help but wonder what that kind of happiness would look like for the rest of us. A fulfilled life was all anyone really wanted. Could that be possible for four misfits like us? Onyx sure gave me hope.

  Garrett stood and gave Onyx a quick handshake. “Seeing this shit with you, gotta say, Onyx, you definitely don’t like to be dismissed,” he joked since he was there when Torryn McAllister dismissed Onyx, according to what I was told. It set the ball rolling for Onyx to go after her. And go after her he did.

  I stood, flipping the Zippo lighter in my hand first before sliding it into my pocket. “Happy for ya.” I gave Onyx a nod, and he returned the sentiment.

  “Let’s get down to business.” Garrett sat back down and pulled out files.

  We all took our seats and got focused on work. We were a well-oiled machine with an underground baby business. It wasn’t something twisted or fucked up at all. Yet, according to the law and outside world, it was illegal as fuck, at least the way we did it.

  Catching up on each client, surrogate, our financials, and our legal needs, we were ready to close out the meeting. I would be happy when this was over so I could go have a smoke. There was something about taking a deep pull of a cigarette and feeling it fill my lungs that soothed the piece inside of me that just wanted to take off to lands unknown and never look back.

  The conference room door flew open, crashing into the wall. In stormed an angel on a death mission. It made my cock hard. Everything about her made my dick spring to life in a way no other woman ever got to me.

  Her mission was me. The angel haired woman stood glaring at me with a face full of rage and a gun in her hand, pointed directly at me.

  “Paxton fucking Williams, you son-of-a-bitch,” she screeched while I stood with my hands held up in surrender, trying to keep myself from laughing.

  Dane made the first move, pulling his own gun and aiming it at her. There was no doubt in my mind he’d pull the trigger. He was a trained assassin after all. She didn’t know that, and I wasn’t about to tell her.

  “Hello, Laurel,” I greeted her calmly, took out a cigarette and put it to my lips, but I didn’t light it. I looked at my friends, my make-shift family, and breathed deep. It felt good to know they had my back, but Laurel wouldn’t hurt me. She’d pretend she wanted to, but to go that extra mile, she couldn’t do it. Even if her mind screamed she had to hurt me, her soul was too entwined with mine to actually do it. I knew it even if she didn’t. “Go ahead and leave, guys. Don’t shoot her and no matter what you hear, you don’t come back.” I smirked while Dane reluctantly lowered his weapon after assessing the both of us.

  “Don’t think that’s smart,” Onyx told me. He no doubt saw the level of venom in this woman’s glare. Laurel was on a mission to end me.

  Rightfully so. In a matter of twenty-four hours, I bankrupted her. Took everything she had in a blink of an eye, and she wouldn’t be getting it back any time soon.

  “Oh Laurel would be happy to kill me, but she can’t and she knows it,” I told them casually. We didn’t share everything, but they all knew I had a history with a woman named Laurel, even if I purposely never allowed them to meet.

  Garrett passed me with a shoulder squeeze and stepped to Laurel. “Don’t shoot him in the balls; that shit just ain’t right, k?” he joked before exiting. He knew exactly what I had done. Hell, he even assisted. Honestly, I was shocked she didn’t turn the gun on him and shoot. Then again, the pull between us was too strong. She probably hadn’t even registered Garrett’s involvement, given her sole focus to me and what I had done. Truth was, Garrett wasn’t the mastermind behind shutting her down—it was all me, and her wrath was directed appropriately.

  Garrett, Dane, and Onyx made their way out without another word. I moved to shut the door behind them. I locked it with the gun still aimed at me. Surprisingly, her hand was steady. Then again, Laurel Elizabeth Conrad was unshakable. She was the strongest woman I had ever known.

  “Angel, so good to see you again.” My arrogance wasn’t hidden one bit. I knew this woman inside and out, and she knew it too. God, it felt so good to have her here in this room with me, only a few inches separating us. My cock hardened seeing her fury.

  “You’re everything evil, Paxton Williams, and I’m no fucking angel.”

  I stepped closer to her, the barrel now at my chest. The gun never wavered, which was impressive. I waited a beat for her to pull the trigger. She hesitated, and I seized the opportunity.

  In a swift movement, I grabbed and turned the weapon, just as the gun went off. She cried out in pain, while I laughed since she brought this on herself.

  Was I an ass for shooting her? Most definitely.

  But I was an ass no matter what move she made. This was her play, and this was her roll of the dice. She landed on a bad square. It happened to us all at one point in time or another. That was the game of life.

  “It’s just a graze.” I explained looking at the red trickle from the side of her arm. “Don’t fight me and you’ll get off with just that. Fight me and well …”

  “You shot me!” she screeched, gripping her arm, blood lightly covering her fingers.

  “Way I see it, darlin’, you came in here and pulled a gun on me.” I shrugged nonchalantly. “Self-defense. You shoulda pulled the trigger when you had the chance. Now, Laurel, you don’t get to run.”

&
nbsp; Knowing the guys would come back after hearing the sound of gunfire, I secured the weapon and removed the magazine, dropping the remaining bullet from the chamber. It didn’t matter that I gave them instructions to stay away no matter what they heard, they wouldn’t leave me in a pinch. So I had only moments to get us out of here. I tossed the gun to the floor before grabbing Laurel, who was clearly going into shock since she hadn’t budged, and scooped her up. She tried to push away to which I growled low and deep. It was a sound that scared grown men and brought them to their knees. It didn’t have the same effect on angel. She was a lot of things, but afraid of me wasn’t one of them. She should have fear, but she didn’t.

  “Laurel, I don’t want to hurt you, but I will.” The warning was clear and precise, but once again didn’t faze her. She’d learn.

  “You’re an asshole.” She grabbed her arm and tried to free herself from my grip.

  “I am,” I confirmed calmly as I tightened my grip. Making my way down the hall, I turned into my office. Laurel was hitting, kicking out, and fighting me the whole way.

  I would punish her later for this.

  In my office, I grabbed a set of handcuffs that I kept for afternoon quickies with my secretary and slapped them on Laurel’s wrists. Her scream pierced the room.

  “No one will help you.”

  She panicked, fighting me more.

  “The building is empty except for my crew. We’ve done far worse than kidnapping, angel. So you should know when I say I’m taking you—I am taking you. This can be easy or you can end up with more than a scratch from a bullet. Your choice.”

  “Fuck you,” she spat at me, trying to pull her hands out of the cuffs to no avail.

  “Oh, angel, I would love nothing more.”

  “You took my money, Pax!”

  “Yeah, I did,” I laughed back at her, loving her reaction and fed off it. “I wanted your attention. I got it. Now, let’s go.”

  Again, she didn’t budge. So I scooped her up over my shoulder in a fireman carry as she continued to kick me, hit me, and she even bit me a couple of times, but I kept at my task. On a grunt, I managed to get her out of the building and into my SUV. With tires screeching, I headed directly to my cabin, with no neighbors and no one within miles to hear her screams.