Title: The Lost Tycoon
Series: Baby for the Billionaire #5
Author: Melody Anne
Publication Date: February 24, 2014
Mystic has nothing left – no family, no friends, no one she can rely on. She is all alone and frightened. Managing to get past her ex, she flees, running to the other side of the country, landing in Seattle, she changes her appearance, her name, her life.
After a year, she begins to feel safe. Her ex won’t find her. She’s beginning to pick up the pieces of her once shattered existence and carve out a new world for herself.
That is, until a tall, well-dressed man shows up at her job and tells her they need to talk – and he knows her real name. Fleeing to get away from him, she rushes to the back room and grabs her Taser. When she hits him with it, she thinks she’s home free.
She’s not.
All Mystic has done is really tick off Bryson Winchester, and all he’s trying to do is help her by getting her scum of an ex off the streets.
Mystic has a choice to make. Is this a man she can believe in? Is any man worthy of her precious trust? She’ll find the answers, though they may not be what she expects or wants – her entire world is about to be turned upside down, because not only will she find there are some men out there worth trusting – she will find out the secret of her birth – the reality of who she really is.
Some things should stay in the past – and others… Other things will come back with a vengeance.
Oh, no. Oh, no. Misty looked up into the steady gray gaze of the giant of a man standing in front of her. No! She was safe. It had been a year — a full year. It was only a few months ago that she had let down her guard, had decided it was safe to live again, had gone back to her natural hair color.
Jesse had moved on, surely. He wouldn’t have stayed single this long. He had to have a woman to boss around — to beat up on, by now. He would still hate her, still want her dead, but he wouldn’t still be searching for her. There was just no possible way.
“I…uh…I don’t know who you’re referring to,” she stuttered, and she crept toward the door to the back room. She was working a crappy job at a fast-food joint. It was nondescript, possibly even considered a bit seedy, and they hadn’t blinked when she’d given them her false name, her poorly done fake ID. She sure as heck wouldn’t eat the food there, not with their lax views on hygiene. They hadn’t even made her get a food handlers card. But, the job was working for her for now, allowing her to save up for her next move – though she wasn’t saving much.
If she could just get through the door, get to her locker, then she’d be able to grab her Taser. She’d started leaving it in her purse just a few months ago. Up until that point, she’d carried it on her, keeping the small, but hopefully effective, device in her pocket, just in reach of her shaking fingers.
This was what happened when you grew lax. This would be what killed her.
“Please don’t be afraid. I’m here to help you.”
“I don’t need help. You have the wrong person,” she said, her voice more steady. He was watching her move toward the door, but he wasn’t taking a menacing step toward her — wasn’t reaching for the gun she knew he had to have on him.
She was close, so close. Inching a bit closer to the door, she kept her eyes on his hands. Those would tell her his next move. She’d become an expert at reading Jesse through his hands. The second they clenched she had known she was in trouble.
This man’s hands were sitting idly at his hips, just kind of hanging there. “Can I please sit down with you for a few minutes of your time? I won’t ask you to go anywhere alone with me.” His voice, she was sure, was supposed to convey trust.
That only made her more suspicious.
“Sorry. I have to get something from the back room.” She took her chances and darted through the door, not looking back as she made her way to her locker. Thankfully, it was open, since it was only her and one other kid on shift, who she actually trusted. She quickly reached into her purse.
When her fingers clasped around the small Taser, she felt her fear dwindling. It wasn’t as deadly as a gun, but it would knock a large man down long enough for her to get away.
“Ms. Elton, please–”
He’d followed her. And he was grabbing her arm.
Misty didn’t hesitate. She turned back to face him and pushed the button on her weapon. His eyes widened with shock followed by a shot of pain as thousands of volts of electricity traveled through his skin into his stomach.
He released her arm, and Misty took a step, planning on getting the hell away — far away from him and this place. It was time to find a new city. She’d stayed too long, far longer than she had originally planned, but her car had died, and she hadn’t saved enough to move again yet. Almost but not quite. The heck with it now, though. She’d take a bus, and live in a shelter for a while.
She wouldn’t be returned to Jesse, not ever again.
When the man’s hand snaked out and grabbed her leg, tripping her, Misty gasped. She got ready to use the stun gun again, longer this time.
“I don’t think so,” he growled between clenched teeth. He smacked the gun from her hand and pinned her beneath him.
When Melody isn't writing, she enjoys spending time with her family, friends, and pets. She lives in a small town that she loves, and is involved in many community projects.
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