CHAPTER ONE
Luelle
Full name: Christoff J. Meikle
Age: 27
Height: 6’3
Weight: 169
Origin: 40% German, 40% Italian, 4% African descent, and 2% Asian
Languages: English, German and currently learning Italian.
Occupation: Investor, Real Estate Mogul and Heir to the vast Meikle and Koenig fortunes.
Personal History: Unknown.
Family History: Unknown.
Public Knowledge: Christoff is the oldest of the Meikle triplets. Each born three minutes apart. His brother, Rolf J. Meikle was the second born, and lastly their sister Maja J. Meikle. Each are estimated to be worth $200.5 billion and counting. They are the close and personal friends to the Chicago Mancini crime family, which leads the world to believe that they are more than just business moguls and inheritors of old money. However, no one has ever been able to prove that to be true.
Letting out a frustrated groan, I raked my polished fingers through my short curly black and brown hair, throwing my head back against the metal bench. Reading up on Christoff Meikle was frustrating and getting more and more frustrating every time I went over it.
There was hardly anything available on the man! He was a worldwide household name and there was nothing on him! How does a billionaire and GQ’s current number one sex bod, not have any useful public information?
That’s it Elle, you are in way over your head!
I pulled my head back up and looked down at my iPad at the picture of the well suited, impeccably groomed, chiseled face man staring back at me.
“It’s definitely photoshopped.” I mumbled to myself. Not that it mattered. He was just another target.
A dangerous target that I am about to fly into blind with no hopes of ever landing, but I had no choice but to take off nevertheless. Once I was finished with this job, I was off to France where I could escape and live out the rest of my days in some small rural area, trying out a farmer's life.
Thank you, Gerald, for Christoff.
I personally would never have picked out this bod, but he had the type of money I needed to set myself up for years to come. So naturally, Gerald chose him. He was always so greedy with money and always wanted more. The constant desire to get more, was what always landed him in jail and lucky for me I still had three weeks to get my money and get away before Gerald got out from serving his current three-year prison sentence.
Standing at six foot one, with muscles on top of muscles, abs as hard as rocks, was bald headed Dark Chocolate Gerald Fisher, meeting him had been pure unadulterated lust at first sight. The need to want to be pushed up against a wall… any wall, and be pounded into that very same wall like a piece of meat by him was deep. The day I saw him walking across the park in the Hammocks in Kendall was so strong that I ran up to him and introduced myself as his one and only.
Of course, having no interest in a sixteen-year-old back then, he had walked off telling me to get lost. Not that I had ever let that turn me off. I had to run to catch up to him and explained in short detail, that I wanted only to get into bed with him, but since I knew my age and the fact that if he ever did sleep with me, he would be thrown in jail for the rest of his life – and I sure as hell couldn't have let that happen at the time – that I would just settle for being his friend, and getting to know him.
He shoved me aside and continued walking. So, I had quickly scribbled my number down on a gum wrapper and caught up with him again and shoved the paper into his back pocket, all while grabbing a feel of his big hard ass. It wasn't until two weeks later, I got a call from a police station, saying that Mr. Fisher was in holding and I was his contact person.
That should have given me the hint at the type of person he was but I wasn't in the position to judge anyone. Especially when I had lied and said I was his contact person he was given the phone and his deep sexy voice sent shivers down my spine.
“You’re the girl I met the other day weren't you?” He whispered over the phone.
“Yeah. Why call me now and from jail of all places bod?” I asked trying to sound nonchalant.
He sighed. “I need bail and it's set at two thousand. Can you help me out?”
Smiling I nodded forgetting he couldn't see me. “Sure thing, but on one condition.”
“I won't do what you asked!” He ground out from clenched teeth. “If that's your condition forget I called.” With that he started to hang up the phone.
“Whoa, now hold up, I wasn't even thinking that, but I like where your head is at. All I want is for us to be friends. I mean if I'm going to help you with two grand, I sure deserve at least a friend status don’t you think…” I was going to say his name, but then realized I didn’t know it. Only his last name. “Fisher.”
There was a long pause and I heard someone in the background telling him to wrap it up. Another minute passed and he finally spoke again.
“We are friends,” His voice lowered to a pacified tone. “That’s why I called you. Now take down the address.”
Happy as a sex starved sixteen-year-old could be, I took down the address and got up out of my old torn pajamas and called up my best friend's deadbeat brother Jason to come help me bail out Fisher. Of course, I had to pay the fool three hundred dollars for driving me and bailing the guy out, but Jason was over twenty-one, with a legal ID and he was happy to help with almost anything as long as he got paid.
Right after Jason bailed Fisher out he asked if I wanted a ride back home, but I told him no. That Fisher and I would catch the bus. He had shrugged and left me outside the police station waiting, iPad in hand. Fifteen minutes later my Dark Chocolate came walking out the doors with an angry look on his face.
“Fisher!” I shouted, waving frantically at him.
He groaned and flipped his hoodie over his bald head trying to look inconspicuous. “Gerald. Not Fisher.” He grumbled, walking past me.
I caught up with him. “Good to know. Look my ride left and I thought since we are friends now, we could just go get something to eat –”
“Little girl, what makes you think I want to go get something to eat with you?” He replied curtly, cutting me off as he started to walk faster.
The sound of the cars honking around us was starting to drown him out and with him walking so fast I fell behind. So, I grabbed him and forced him to stop and face me.
“Look bod! I spent two thousand three hundred on your fine ass, so the least you can do is slow down and say thank you!” I spat at him. He only glared at me and the look seriously frightened me. “Or if you like I can march my ass back up in that station and tell –”
“Look kid, I may be a lot of things but I'm no child molester okay. Now take your rich ass home, to your rich mommy and daddy –”
“Rich?!” Confused. “Why do you think I'm rich?”
“I met you in the Hammocks, you just spent two grand on a stranger –” He looked confused.
“I'm not rich bod. I stole that money.”
He blinked, processing the information. “Stole?”
Shaking my head, I brushed my curls from my eyes, and explained to him. “Yeah, stole. Getting money from an ATM is the easiest thing to do on short notice.” I smiled knowingly when I saw how his interest in me suddenly changed. “I live right here in North Miami, only I live over in Little Havana.”
“Really?” It was the first time he had ever smiled at me, and the sight of those almost perfect teeth made my heart melt like ice on a hot summer day. “I told you my name kid, what's yours?”
I took his hand with my own teeth showing as bright as the night lights. “Luelle, but call me Elle.”
And just like that, a friendship, partnership, and a relationship. A more physical-possessive relationship began.
What are you doing?! Concentrate on what's at stake here!
Shaking my head at the past, I started packing away the iPad in my ratty old backpack and stared across the street again at the ever impressive Icon Brickell apartments. The kind of luxurious waterfront apartments that only those well off could afford. While people like me only worked in places like these and that was if I could pass the extensive background checks.
Which of course I could. Once I worked my fingers across any keyboard, I could make anything work my way. Except for now apparently.
For two whole weeks, I’d been deprived every other day of my full eight-hours of beauty rest, constantly trying to hack into Christoff Meikle’s personal financial information was a royal pain in my ass. Nothing came up for him and every time I actually found something that could be useful to me it never fully worked out or it was a dead end. So, in deciding that he was worth my current level of frustration I decided to take a look into his personal network system, which again was another pain in my ass.
His network was programmed to reset every five minutes with new firewalls and spy software. The man obviously paid top dollar to have such a state-of-the-art program. Which to me meant he either had trust issues, really loved his money and privacy, or someone else had tried and succeeded in stealing from him once. I'm banking on the ‘or’ here.
Whatever the case, it was stopping me from getting my biggest payday yet. I was now down to three weeks left to get what I needed and being gone for good. Now, annoyingly I had to think up a whole new plan because I didn't have the time to sit and write a whole new program to bypass Christoff’s unbreakable network.
Hence why I am currently sitting in Miami Circle, waiting for the ever handsome billionaire, who was somewhere in the Icon apartment overlooking this park. What am I going to do once he emerges, I have no clue!
All I knew was that he was meeting someone in their apartment here due to an emergency, which led to a change in his unpredictable schedule. Getting this one piece of information from his secretary’s assistant was like pulling out my wisdom tooth with a pair of pliers. Hard and painful!
Taking my time crossing the park, I relaxed my mind all the while watching the apartment building’s entrance. Christoff’s driver would come out first to get the car so I had to keep an eye out for him. Once I saw him then I would do what needed to be done. I had to make sure Christoff did not leave me behind.
Once I approached the building I saw the tall Hispanic looking male, who drives him around, emerge from the clear automatic doors and wave his hand towards one of the valet boys. He said something to the guy that caught his attention and I watched as the young man nodded, quickly searched for the keys and ran off.
Pulling my cell phone from my jeans pocket I called the number I had on speed dial. It rang twice before it was answered. “He’s coming out. His driver just had the car come around. Are you ready?”
There was a grumble on the other end. “Ready?! I thought you said, you would think of something else?! We’ve been here two hours and you can't come up with a better plan than this?!”
I rolled my eyes hearing Jason complain. What I was about to do was plan B which I had made in case I couldn't think of a plan A. “Look I paid you, okay? Just get into place and do what you got paid for please. If he leaves and I don't get paid, then I'll gladly let Gerald know –”
“Fine!” Jason quickly cut me off. “But I won't like it. Just try not to die, Elle.”
He hung up and I placed the phone back into my pocket. I, myself, hoped I wouldn't die too, with what was about to happen. Running across to where I knew the car would be heading, I stood on the sidewalk as the cars passed by and pulled my phone out again. Unlocking the phone, I took a deep breath and sent a small prayer up to God.
I don't know when Christoff got into the car, I only saw the white Mulsanne drive off and make a left towards me in order to turn onto the main road of Brickell Avenue. With the other pedestrians moving so quickly behind me, my heart skipped a beat as I watched in slow motion as the car approached.
Wondering where Jason was, panic shot its way through my veins and I glanced down at my phone to text Jason again, when suddenly I felt a firm hand on my back, followed by a hard shove forward.
Christoff
At the sudden jerk of the car, followed by the sound of glass breaking, I stretched an arm out, grabbing hold of the passenger seat in front of me to prevent myself from being flung forward. José, my driver, was turning the steering wheel to the left with such force that Milo who was sitting right next to me started cursing in his native language. Trying to gain control of the car José, slammed on the brakes and reached for the emergency brake.
The screeching of the tires rang loud as the car made a complete three sixty, before finally coming to a stop. But not before stopping halfway on the sidewalk where innocent pedestrians were running and screaming, “Get out the way!” The four of us inside the vehicle groaned as we each took a hit to the head.
Automatically my hand reached for my head and I massaged my temple where I had been hit.
“Jesus, José.” I groaned out. “Did I not tell you I wasn’t looking to spend excess money on this trip.”
The man groaned and shook his head as if trying to also shake off the blow. “Sorry Boss, but she came out of nowhere.”
“Are you okay Boss?” Ludger, my bodyguard asked, more interested in my wellbeing, than my interest in the money I was about to have to spend to repair the rental car.
“Yes Ludger.” I answered in a pained voice to put him at ease.
“Sì Ludger, I’m fine as well, thanks for asking.” Milo pitched in, annoyed with the situation. “José is fine as well it seems, now can we go see if this woman is dead or alive, before we have bigger problems on our hands, gentlemen?” He glanced at all of us before opening the car door and getting out.
Ludger followed Milo’s lead mumbling under his breath while we stumbled out of the car.
Straightening as I stood, I massaged my neck and watched as the crowd of witnesses grew with their phones in hand, cameras on. Each mumbling, gasping and pointing. Out of the corner of my eye I saw José and Milo bend and saw that they were asking people to get back.
Ludger however stayed by my side. “Think it’s probably best you wait in the car, Christoff. We don’t want your face on tonight’s international news.” he mumbled, moving around me to hide me from the cameras.
“No, I have to at least see to the woman. It would be a much bigger disaster if the camera sees me going into hiding instead.” I tapped him on the shoulder as I went around him.
Of course, the woman was really more of my concern than the media getting a hold of me on some video recording, not acting the way the public would expect from me. They loved watching for anything and everything I did because I refused to give interviews and kept my life private.
They were all vultures just circling and waiting for the kill.
Shit! My phone! “Ludger my phone. I was on the phone with –”
“Milo has it Boss,” He nodded in the slim Italian man’s direction and I saw him talking to the person on the other end before ending the call.
Thank God for the day I hired Milo Coppola as my assistant. The man took on my life and all my problems as if they were his own.
“She alive Milo?” I asked as we walked up beside him. I knelt looking at the young woman, as she laid lifeless on the hot pavement.
“She is Boss, but barely. She is bleeding from her head.” He handed me my phone while pulling out his own. “It’s best we call an ambulance and report –”
A weak hand shot up and pulled at my tie that hung loose around my neck. “No cops.” The woman coughed out. “N...no hospitals. No…”
Caressing the side of her face I pulled my handkerchief from my inside jacket pocket and slowly wiped the dripping blood from her eyebrow. “Sweetheart, you have to go to the hospital. Don’t worry, I’ll pay for everything. I’ll make sure you get better.” I whispered trying to reassure her.
She turned slightly towards me as her piercing eyes opened and caught mine, the pain in her eyes stopped me as I looked upon her slender face. Blood was soaking in her black curls and her breathing was labored. But she kept on insisting. “No…no cops…no hospitals.” She winced in pain and arched her back upwards crying with pain. “N-no…no cop…”
“What do you want me to do? You need help!” She opened her mouth to argue with me again but instead screams of pain came from her. “Look if it is about the money don’t you worry, I said I’ll take care –”
“I…will sue…you…if you c…call –”
“Are you fucking mad right now?! Sue me for trying to help you!” I yelled and Milo hushed me immediately, not wanting the crowd to overhear.
“Boss, let’s just take her.” he said, dialing a number on his phone. Grasping the tenuous situation. “Dr. Isaac is here this week on vacation with his family. I can give him a call –”
“We are not doing that.” Ludger interrupted. “We don’t know her. Call the ambulance, and we will sort this out the right way.”
José, who had been quiet the whole time spoke up. “Right or wrong, this woman needs help. She is in pain and she is bleeding. There are people around with cameras and we are here wasting time debating.” He looked at me. “Boss, if she dies here all these cameras have proof it’s our fault. She needs help Boss, and now.”
He was right. Right way or wrong way, she was bleeding out in front of me. I glanced down at her and her soft brown eyes were closed again. She had passed out due to the pain.
Against Ludger’s wishes I removed my jacket and handed it to Milo. “Call the doctor and get him here now! Use my jacket and keep pressure on her head. José get the car we are going back to the Icon.” Carefully I lifted the woman into my arms while Ludger carefully angled her head into my chest.
Heading to the car, Milo called the doctor, while José started the car.
“Christoff, you are going to regret this.” Ludger grumbled. “My job is to protect you –”
I raised my voice, effectively cutting him off, not wanting to hear another word from him. “Which you do perfectly, but right now Ludger, I need you to shut up and help me save this woman’s life. Now help me get her into the car and let's go.” I knew he wasn’t happy with my decision, but José was right. This Miss ‘I will sue you’s’ life was on the line. A death I did not need on my hands. So, granting her wish at the moment was the easiest thing I could do right now.
Once in the car Milo placed the jacket under her head which laid peacefully in my lap. Getting off the phone with the doctor, Milo assured me that the man would be at the apartment in an hour, but would ask his associate, who was twenty minutes closer to quickly meet us at Icon.
Trusting Dr. Isaac enough to know that his associate must be trustworthy, I agreed. “I’ll take care of everything regarding Dr. Isaac's coworker. In the meantime, I will have my secretary cancel all meetings and our flight back home immediately. Just until this povero fiore, is better and not threatening to sue us.” Milo pressed a number that was on speed dial and smiled. “Let’s just be safe and still give Charles a call. Just in case she really does want to sue. I’ll ask him to draft something up to protect us.”
He turned his head and greeted Charles’ secretary when she answered the line.
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