The Debt: The Complete Series (An Alpha Billionaire Romance) Read online

  Max sighed, put the cigarette in the corner of his mouth and grit it between his teeth. “Club Alpha is a very high-end, exclusive organization that caters to the most wealthy men in the world. And what we provide is an experience tailored to each person’s liking, kind of like…I don’t know…Millionaire Matchmaker or something.”

  She felt a little relieved. “Oh, so it’s like a dating service.”

  Raven wanted to believe that she’d gotten it wrong. It was all just a big miscommunication. They didn’t want her to sleep with rich guys for money.

  “Something like that, yeah,” Max agreed.

  “And you recruit women to set up with these millionaire dudes,” Raven said. “I get it.”

  “Now you understand,” he smiled. “Come, walk with me a bit.” He started walking down the sidewalk and she followed along, rushing to keep up with his long legs.

  “You just got me fired,” she said. “That doesn’t exactly make me want to work for you.”

  “I understand,” he replied, “but you needed to see that I’m not to be ignored.” A plume of smoke floated out of his mouth.

  “Well, what am I supposed to do?” she asked. “You want me to go to more parties or something? Because I’ll go to a few parties, but I can’t promise anything.”

  He stopped walking and turned to face her. “You signed a one month contract with us. At a minimum, that means two nights a week working for Club Alpha.” He took the cigarette from his mouth and tipped ash onto the sidewalk near his feet. “We pay a thousand bucks for a night’s work. At eight nights, that’ll net you eight grand for a month’s work.”

  “A thousand dollars for one night?”

  “Yup. Not bad, huh?”

  Suddenly, her suspicions were growing again. She thought back to the bedroom she’d accidentally stumbled into the previous night, and what those naked women had been doing inside it. Two of those women had invited her to the party, which meant they probably worked for Club Alpha as well.

  They were hookers.

  “I’m not a prostitute,” Raven said, her voice quivering.

  Max shrugged and smiled. “I don’t care what you call it, honey. All I know is that you pissed some people off with that stunt last night.”

  Tears stung the corners of her eyes. “What stunt?”

  “You turned down a very high profile client, and that makes us look really bad, and we don’t ever look bad. Ever.”

  “I didn’t know I was making anyone look bad. How could I have known?” she asked him. “Nobody gave me time to read the papers I signed. They told me it was just a formality, they tricked me.”

  Max seemed amused. “That’s a very sad story. I’m outraged on your behalf.”

  “Clearly, you don’t have a problem with the shady way your company operates. You seem to enjoy it.” Her hands were squeezed into tight fists. “I wish you’d just leave me alone, go bother some other girl.”

  Max dropped the cigarette on the ground and stepped on it, squashing it. “None of your complaints matter to me, Miss Hartley. I’ve heard it all before. What I can tell you is, you’re going to have to work this off one way or the other.”

  “I’m not going to have sex for money,” she told Max, her chin lifting. “You can get me fired, you can do whatever you want. I don’t care.”

  Max looked at her squarely, as if really seeing her for the first time. “You will care, though,” he said. Then he wiped his nose, turned and walked away from her down the street, disappearing around the corner.

  Raven was angry.

  She’d been fired from her job, a job she needed very badly to make enough money to cover the rent on her apartment, put food in her refrigerator, pay her credit card down every month.

  And now she was jobless, with only enough money saved up to last her a couple of weeks at most. A man was threatening to make her life even worse if she didn’t prostitute herself for his company—and all of it was happening because of Jake Novak.

  Jake had obviously complained about her to Max Mendez and Club Alpha, and now they were trying to destroy her in retaliation for hurting the poor guy’s feelings or something.

  It made her furious that a man as wildly successful as Jake Novak felt the need to punish her when he didn’t even need to pay for sex. Every woman at that party last night and many more within walking distance would’ve gladly slept with him if he’d so much as looked in their direction.

  On her way home from the restaurant, Raven’s phone rang again. She expected to see UNKNOWN CALLER, but instead it was Skylar.

  “Where did you go just now?” Skylar said. “Suddenly I’m covering your tables, it’s getting crazy in here.”

  “I got fired,” Raven told her, as she got to the door of her apartment.

  “You got fired? For what?”

  “It’s complicated,” Raven said.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. I need you here, this place is going to suck without you!” Skylar whined. “Who’s going to watch me smoke cigarettes and listen to me complain about the shitty hostess?”

  “I’m going to miss that, Sky, and I really needed the money too,” Raven said. “Anyway, there’s nothing I can do about it right now.”

  “You’ll get a new job,” Skylar said. “But what happened? Did you get in an argument with Dick?”

  “No.” She thought about telling her friend the truth, but decided against it. Skylar couldn’t help her, and she tended to have a big mouth, even though her heart was in the right place. “Look, Sky, I’m home now and I need to start looking for a new job right away. Call you later?”

  “Listen, you’re going to be fine, I promise. Don’t stress,” Skylar said. “Who knows, maybe Dick will come around and give you your job back.”

  “Somehow I doubt that,” Raven said.

  They got off the phone and Raven went inside, then plugged in her old laptop that was beaten to hell and needed a serious upgrade. At first, she was just trolling the local job boards for restaurants looking to hire waitresses, but then she started thinking about Jake Novak and getting angry all over again.

  This was all his fault.

  She did a Google search out of curiosity, and saw that he was appearing in Copley Square later that very day, doing some outdoor free performance for the public to promote the start of his North American tour, and they said he would even be available to sign autographs. His performance was set to start at three o’clock.

  Raven sat back on the couch and thought about it. If she could somehow get close enough to talk to him, she would let him know how his actions had affected her. Maybe he’d see fit to try and put things right, call off his goons, reverse whatever it was that had gotten started with Club Alpha.

  It’s his fault, he should make this go away. They’ll listen to him if he tells them to leave me alone.

  And if he refused to help her, Raven would at least have a chance to give him a piece of her mind and tell him to his face what a jerk he was.

  It seemed like a good idea, and so she went to the bathroom, quickly redid her makeup and hair, got dressed in a new outfit more suitable for the occasion (it never hurt to look your best), and then headed out the door.

  Raven didn’t know if she was being totally delusional or if this was the best idea she’d ever had in her life.

  By the time she’d stepped off the train at Copley Square and started trying to make her way to the performance area, Raven already knew that she’d severely underestimated just how popular Jake Novak was and how many other fans would show up to see him live and in person.

  In actuality, thousands of people had shown up, streets were shut down and blocked off by police cars, and there was a large security presence to help control the wild crowds of mostly screaming young women.

  Raven felt a surge of desperation and bitter disappointment as she pushed her way through the throngs of girls singing Jake Novak songs, carrying signs, giggling and laughing about their idol, while Raven considered turning around and
getting back on the train, going home and crying into her pillow.

  But no, she wasn’t going to let the Jake Novak’s of the world win.

  These guys were all alike, she thought, her anger growing by the second. They lied and manipulated girls like Raven who were too trusting and nice for their own good. But Raven was going to set things right. She wouldn’t run away this time.

  I’m not a prostitute, I’m not a whore, and I’m never going to let anyone make me feel like that again.

  Never. You hear that, Jake Novak?

  As Raven slowly moved with the crowd, the mass of people made their way into Copley Square and closer to the temporary stage that had been set up. Suddenly, she heard the beginnings of one of Jake’s most famous songs begin to play.

  It was blasting so loudly from the giant speakers set up around Copley, that it could be heard echoing all over the vicinity.

  A cheer erupted from the audience and everyone around her started squealing, pushing and shoving.

  “He’s starting!”

  “Oh my God, we’re going to miss it!”

  Raven was having a hard time moving, since everyone seemed as determined as she was to get near to him. Finally, she realized that this was a losing proposition.

  She wasn’t going to get within a thousand feet of the stage, and in any case, he’d be performing, not able to converse with anyone at all.

  But what would he do when he got offstage?

  She had no idea, but Raven knew she could calm down, think ahead, and be where he was going to be before he even got there. Work smarter not harder.

  Raven pushed her way over to a bored looking security guard who was standing with his arms folded and looking like he’d rather be just about anywhere else.

  “Hey,” Raven said, approaching him.

  The guy stared down at her. “Yeah?”

  “Is there a way for me to get a message to Jake?”

  The security guy burst out laughing. “Sure, I’ll deliver it to him personally.”

  “I’m serious.”

  “Yeah, I know you’re serious.” He looked around at the sea of humanity. “Do you realize that every girl here wants to somehow talk to him?”

  “I know, but I’ve actually met him and it’s important.”

  “Listen, it’s not going to happen.”

  Raven sighed. She looked the security guy in the eye. “I’m not some crazy fan,” she said. “I hardly even like his music. But I need to get him a message, it’s an emergency. What would you do if you were me and you absolutely had to get in contact with him?”

  The guy rolled his eyes. But he seemed to believe her, as if he could sense the truth behind her request. “If I were you, I’d go over to the corner of St. James and Clarendon where they’re going to have his limo waiting when the whole thing is over. It’s out of the way, and maybe—just maybe—you’ll have a one second opportunity to wave and shout his name or something before they get him the hell out of there.”

  “Thank you so much,” she said, meaning it.

  The guy ignored her and went back to scanning the crowd.

  It took Raven almost thirty minutes to push her way through the crowd and then find her way to the corner of Clarendon and St. James Street. By the time she arrived, Jake had played his last song of the very short set. It had been strange hearing him sing as she moved through Copley, his voice echoing in her ears as she walked.

  There was no doubt that he was talented—his voice was incredible—and even though she couldn’t see him, Raven had to admit that his songs gave her a thrill.

  Remembering being so close to him, having his attention on her, she wanted to see him again. Yes, she was angry with him, but Raven couldn’t deny that she was attracted to him in a way that made her brain scrambled and her knees week.

  Don’t forget, he was into you. He even tried to get you to meet him again.

  Yes, that’s because he thought I was an escort.

  But there simply had to be a misunderstanding, though, because why on Earth would Jake Novak need to pay for sex?

  It just didn’t make any sense.

  There was indeed a stretch limousine waiting idly on the corner of the street, and the driver was standing outside and gabbing with a police officer.

  Other than that, there weren’t too many people around, everyone was closer to the concert, and that made Raven think that perhaps the info from that security guard had been accurate.

  So she stood around, pretending to be on her phone, walking back and forth on the street, and generally trying to remain under the radar.

  After about an hour, she saw another police car pull up, and then another. Moments later, a small security detail showed up as well.

  He’s on his way, she thought, her heart rate picking up. All of her senses were on alert now as she tried to see where he might be and if she could somehow anticipate where he’d be coming from. She needed to position herself to get closer to him when he walked by.

  Raven thought about just standing near the limo, but they’d for sure clear her out of that area.

  Instead she stood where she was, at a distance, and watched and waited.

  It was only by chance that she spotted him coming from a totally different direction than the concert. He was surrounded by security, at least six gigantic men with headsets, and they were leading him down Clarendon Street. Shockingly they were going almost entirely unnoticed by the teeming throngs of girls in the area.

  Raven started walking toward the oncoming phalanx of bodyguards, knowing this was her one and only chance.

  As they approached, she caught sight of Jake walking in their midst, and he made eye contact with her too. His eyes widened in recognition and surprise, but something else, too.

  She couldn’t tell if he was happy to see her, or absolutely horrified that she’d showed up out of the blue.

  Suddenly, he was whispering to one of the security guards, who then began ushering Jake along even more quickly.

  “Wait a minute!” she yelled. “Jake, I need to talk to you!”

  A few of the security guards turned their heads and looked curiously at her as they passed by.

  “Jake!” she screamed even louder. He was almost at the limo now—she was going to miss her chance. And he’d seen her, which meant that he wanted to avoid her.

  She knew he recognized her, and it infuriated her that he was ignoring her like this.

  “Jake Novak, I’m going to tell everyone about you!” she yelled, her voice louder than she even thought possible. “I’m going to tell all your little fans about how you really treat women!”

  The security detail surrounding Jake had finally reached the safety of the limousine, and the door was opened, and then he slipped inside and was gone.

  Raven felt horribly defeated and humiliated.

  What a waste. What had she been thinking, imagining a guy like him would care about her or what she was going through?

  She was like an ant trying to get the attention of an elephant. Worse, she was like an ant trying to get the attention of the guy riding on top of the elephant. At least the elephant might have accidentally stepped on her.

  Just as she was about to turn around and slink away from the scene of her failure, one of the security team started walking towards her. “Hey, you,” he said. He was a large African American man who was the size of a small mountain. “Is your name Raven?” he asked.

  “Uhh…” she wasn’t sure what to say. Maybe Jake had told the guy to have her arrested for being a stalker.

  “Come with me,” the mountain-sized man said, wiggling his finger for her to follow, and then he started back to the limousine, which hadn’t yet moved from its spot.

  Raven nervously followed him, aware that all eyes were on her. The entire team of security guards was watching her, each of them wearing the same strangely noncommittal expressions.

  When she got to the limo, the door was opened for her.

  “Mr. Novak wants to speak
with you,” the security guard told her. “Get in.”

  Raven couldn’t believe it. She glanced at him one last time as if to make sure it wasn’t all a big prank.

  “This is what you wanted, right?” the man asked her, annoyed now.

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  “Then what are you waiting for? It’s time for all your dreams to come true,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

  “Fine.” She tried to sound confident, to remind herself of her mission. She wasn’t there as a fan or a groupie, she was there for justice.

  Raven got inside the limousine and the door was shut, closing her in.

  And sitting right across from her was only one other person—Jake Novak. He was lounging on the spacious black leather seat looking startlingly handsome and relaxed.

  Dressed in an all white suit with a black tie, he had the aura of a movie star that had just walked off the red carpet, or perhaps stepped right out of the movie theater screen. His short brown hair was styled and no hair appeared out of place, his beard stubble just the right amount for perfect bedroom sexiness.

  Raven thought that if she’d taken a picture of him in this moment, she could have plastered it right on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and it would have been just right.

  “So,” Jake said, shifting ever so slightly in his seat, “you wanted my attention, you got it.” He gave her a slight smile, but his eyes were wary and cold.

  Raven was shaking, her entire body vibrating with anxiety being this close to him. For a moment, she was completely lost in her body’s visceral attraction to him, so lost that she’d forgotten why she was there.

  What was the reason? Hadn’t she wanted to tell him something important?

  But no, there was nothing that justified her imposing on Jake Novak, the biggest music and film star in the free world. She was costing him more money by making him sit there for two minutes than she would earn in her entire lifetime.

  “I, uh…” she licked her lips and crossed her legs. She was wearing skinny jeans and a cashmere sweater. “I have something to tell you.”

  Jake looked her up and down, then his phone buzzed and he checked it briefly. “Okay, say it then. I’m waiting.”