Page 3 of Capturing the Ruthless Billionaires

He said he was once a professor of economics at a prestigious university, and since his trailer was filled from top to bottom with books on the subject, they gave him the benefit of the doubt and listened to his lectures about a variety of things, from economics to arts and literature.

He was fucking smart, and he passed on his knowledge. It was just as well that he was a drunk who really liked the sound of his voice and asked only for an audience.

They honed their bodies in the same manner as they honed their minds, instinctively understanding that they were destined for greater things. It wasn’t long before they’d earned themselves a reputation in the trailer park.

When they turned fifteen, they had the heads of three dragons tattooed on each of their chests. The artist didn’t bother with their ages or whether they had their families’ permission. But having those tattoos was important to them. The trailer park that made them the men they were was called Three Dragons Peak.

But there had also been a fourth member of their group who they vowed to protect with their lives and who became their first and only priority. It soon became apparent to them, however, that they needed help, and that’s when they struck a deal with Lady Lydia, a newcomer to the park. She was a fortune teller who lived in a nice little trailer but who was being harassed by a group of thugs, beating her up and stealing the cash she made from telling fortunes and selling her good luck potions.

They offered her protection in exchange for her help. But, one night her trailer burst into flames.

They’d been too late to save her, and that day, they’d lost all the love they’d managed to rummage up inside them. From that moment on, they became the ruthless men they were today.

The property on which the park had stood was sold, and everyone was evicted. It had been that small act that had prompted Slade, Cian, and Lachlan to take on the world. They had just turned eighteen and worked their asses off. Two jobs a day. And at night, they offered their services as bodyguards to anyone willing to pay. Their clientele was mostly crime lords, but it paid the rent, and they kept their heads down when falling into a life of crime would have been so much easier.

They bought stocks that rose steadily. They invested in real estate and dabbled in agriculture and pharmaceuticals, and soon, they had a share of almost everything the world had to offer. But it was their investment in a tech company that set them apart.

Individually, it might have taken them longer, but they’d pooled together their talents, their viciousness, and their prowess, and between the three of them, it took them ten years to become ruthless multi-billionaires.

There was never a shortage of anything. Not power, money, or women. But the day they bought back the land on which Three Dragons Peak had once stood, it felt as if there was nothing left to do.

Until this…

Slade clenched his jaw as his glare roved around the people in front of him, feeling the flames of Lady Lydia’s trailer on his face as if it were happening right before his eyes again.

Then he slowly centered his gaze on only one single thing in the fucked-up dungeon of Swan House. Everyone else was going to die a horrific death at their bare hands; no face was forgotten, but she...

The dark-haired, hazel-eyed, ethereal beauty, with her perfect symmetry and soft curves that not even her modest dress could hide—the one who staggered back from them in fear—was going to die the slowest.

He flexed his hand as if he could feel the porcelain smoothness of the skin of her throat against his palm as he slowly squeezed the life out of her. He’d watch the light flicker from her eyes, pieces of her diminished pride slip out of her with every breath she struggled to take before he ended her. And she knew it. She could sense his hatred through the enigmatic expression on his face. She knew they were going to kill her.

How fucking dare her family bring them down to their knees, making them their fuck slaves because they still believed in some ancient useless rite that had no place in this day and age. Yet here they were, chained in their cells.

He brushed aside the shift inside him as his gaze remained on her, hardening his eyes as he quelled the heat suddenly rising from his veins and filled them with cold, harsh, and cruel fury.

Maybe they wouldn’t kill her. Maybe they would make her suffer first while her family looked on before they ended her life and then theirs. Either way, Swan House was going to pay for what they’d done to them.

The muscles in Slade’s back flexed with fury. He gritted his teeth so hard that his head started to pound. They’d gotten soft. No. They were taken by surprise. They made all the money in the world. Three Dragons Peak belonged to them. There was nothing more to do, and they’d taken their eye off the ball.

They wouldn’t have seen Swan House coming if they were a nuclear bomb, and in that one second, Chester Swan, her father, and his fucking council of cronies had fucked them over with a dandelion.

A dandelion.

Chapter Three

Alexandria lay in her bed so still that she forgot to breathe. She closed her eyes, but her mind wouldn’t give her a moment’s reprieve. Their escape plans played in her head like a loop, and each cycle ended with a question.

How could she have speeded things up? Was there a way? Did she miss something? The only sure way they could leave successfully was by plane, a private aircraft. It ensured the greatest distance between her family and them. They couldn’t fly commercial. And, with her limited cash, she had sold most of her jewelry and just enough clothes so as not to cast any suspicion on her actions, leaving her with nothing else to sell. She had to use every penny as efficiently as possible.

This was the only way to escape. She hadn’t left any stone unturned, and yet everything would still be left up to fate at the end of the day. The sobering thought made her close her eyes again tightly and simply pray to any entity listening.

She could just make a run for it. Grab Rhea and Cara and run. But it was a stupid idea. They wouldn’t get past the staircase, let alone out the front door.

The council insisted on installing state-of-the-art surveillance equipment in their house after her initial and only refusal to participate in the centennial ritual, fearing she might evade her responsibilities as Swan House's daughter by running away. They obviously thought she was really stupid.

But her childhood home, with its high ceilings and long passageways, became her prison. She was guarded every hour of the day, no matter what she was doing or where she was going.

University had become agonizingly awful in the last two weeks, constantly being followed and watched as if she were some sort of royalty when she wasn’t. She dropped out, vowing to return to finish her degree in art and literature when she got her life back.

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