Blackmailed by the Billionaire

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Cayce

Holy s**t! Who is she?

I was sitting at the bar counter of the same café where I’d had breakfast nearly every day for the last year. But this was the first time a woman had walked in, captivating me from the very moment I set eyes on her.

She had the body of a professional dancer — lithe and graceful without even trying to be. Long, silky, straight, silver hair moved in waves around her shoulders. Her dark eyes stood out the most, but everything about her stood out to some degree.

I’d seen the hair color multiple times on other women and hadn’t found it attractive. But on her, it was gorgeous. Maybe it was because her flawless skin was the color of ivory. Maybe, it was that it combined with her silvery hair to make a dramatic contrast between them and her dark-as-sin eyes. Eyes that were surrounded with thick, dark lashes. Eyes that didn’t seem to take me in at all.

She took the empty seat right next to me at the bar. “Coffee, black.”

The waitress, Jean, put a cup in front of her then handed her the menu. “What’ll you have this morning?”

The gorgeous woman pointed at something on the menu then picked up the coffee. Pursing her lips, which were covered in a shiny purple lipstick, she blew across the surface, sending the steam to swirl in tendrils over the cup.

Not wanting to out and out stare at her, I observed all this out of the corner of my eye. It wasn’t like me to be so awestruck. Suddenly, I realized my mouth was hanging open, so I quickly shut it. I wiped my lower lip, wanting to be sure drool wasn’t hanging off it.

God, what an amateur.

I wouldn’t call myself the smoothest man in the world. But I wasn’t the dork I was making myself out to be at the moment either. Try as I might, I couldn’t think of a single thing to say to her to initiate a conversation.

The young woman looked at her phone, scrolling through it. After a few minutes, Jean came back carrying two plates. She placed them in front of us, smiling away. “Here you go.”

We’d ordered the same thing, and finally, the mesmerizing girl looked at me with a smile. “Seems we like to eat the same thing for breakfast.”

My ears heard her speaking to me, but it took a moment for my brain to catch up as I just gazed into those amazing eyes of hers. Like a moonless night sky, they were so dark and full of mystery.

“Sausage is good.”

What a dumbass thing to say!

“I mean, out of the breakfast meats, I like sausage the best.”

“Me too.” Picking up her fork, she cut into the cheese omelet. “I try to stay away from dairy as much as I can. It produces cellulite, you know. But once a month, I allow myself to have my favorite breakfast treat; a cheese omelet.”

I couldn’t imagine cellulite daring to show up on her perfect body. “You seem to be taking excellent care of yourself.”

“I try to.” She looked me up and down. “You look like you workout too.”

“Five days a week. I take weekends off, though. Saturday is meditation day, and Sunday is my cheat day.”

An image of the two of us cuddled up on my sofa, a fire in the fireplace, some soft music wafting through the air came to my mind. The way my d**k began to tingle between my legs had me asking, “Would you like to join me this weekend?”

“Wow.” She just shook her head. “We don’t even know each other’s names yet, and you’re already asking me to spend the weekend with you.”

Ouch!

“I didn’t mean it like that.” I had meant it that way, but now I regretted saying it at all. “Let’s start over. My name is Cayce Duran. And you are?”

“Zurie.” She didn’t seem like she was about to offer her last name.

“Okay, Zurie. Cool name, by the way.” I took a long drink from my bottle of water, trying to think of other things I could say without offending her.

“Thanks,” she said before turning her attention back to her plate. As she continued eating her breakfast, she seemed to be trying to ignore me.

I didn’t want to be pushy, but I had my doubts that I would ever run into her again; I didn’t want to let this opportunity slip by. But, once again, I was stumped for what to say. So, I just ate my food while trying to think of something witty.

Jean came to refill Zurie’s coffee cup. “Beautiful morning, isn’t it? What do you have planned for your day, miss?”

“A run on the beach, to start off with,” Zurie said as she gestured to the tracksuit she wore.

Finally, I had something I could say. “I’m looking at some property out that way after breakfast.”

Jean and Zurie just looked at me as if what I’d said was odd in some way, but I didn’t see it as odd at all. Despite what I thought, it didn't change anything as Jean asked, “You’re just about done, Cayce. Ready for the check?”

I wasn’t about to leave. “No. I’d like a glass of orange juice. Gotta get in some vitamin C.”

“Funny, you’ve never ordered that before.” I’d grown up in Brownsville, Texas and Jean and I had gone to high school together. She was a couple years older than me and didn’t have a problem telling me what she thought.

“You two know each other?” Zurie asked Jean.

“We’re locals, went to school together,” Jean said as she went to get my juice.

Zurie had a rather unique accent, so I asked, “Where do you hail from, Zurie?”

“I moved here to Brownsville from Pretoria, South Africa a few years ago.”

“With your family?” I figured she was in her mid-to-late twenties and probably wouldn’t have left her home country all alone.

“No. My mother and sister stayed there.”

“What had you making the move to Texas all on your own?” I knew there must have been something serious to make her leave her family behind.

“I’ve always wanted to live in Texas,” she said with a smile. “And I love the beach too. So, I got out a map of Texas and picked the location that suited me best.”

I found that hard to believe. “So, you just up and decided to move here all alone? And you had no idea what you would do once you arrived?” I knew I was being nosy but couldn’t seem to help myself as I went on, “Do you do freelance work or something?”

“Yes,” she replied curtly as she took the last bite of her food then wiped her mouth with the napkin. “And what do you do, Cayce?”

“I did work at a large company here in town. But I recently quit. My brothers and I are working on our own thing now. That’s why I’m going to be out at the beach after this. I’m meeting a realtor to check out some land we can build on.”

She finally looked interested in something I had to say and turned her chair to face me. “What kind of thing are you and your brothers working on?”

I never shied away from a chance to talk about our dream, so I turned to face her too. “We’re going to design a device that will generate electricity from ocean waves.”

Her eyes went wide as her lips curved into a smile. “So, you’re smart.”

“I am on the brighter side, and so are my brothers.”

Jean placed the glass of orange juice on the bar. “Here ya go, Cayce. And why didn’t you say something about quitting your job?”

Shrugging, I didn’t know why I’d kept that to myself. “I guess I’ve been distracted with all the things we have to get going on. Plus, our conversation is usually about what I want to eat, not what I’m doing with my life, Jean.”

Hands on her hips, Jean asked, “When did you quit Mantabo?”

“Three days ago.” And it hadn’t been easy either. We had had to go and see Niko Armstrong in person to let him know we were leaving his company. And he was not happy about our leaving.

“Bet Armstrong was pissed,” Jean said as she nodded knowingly. He hated anyone leaving that place. “When my husband quit his job as a custodian there, Armstrong threatened him with disembowelment if he ever spoke a word about what goes on out there.”

Zurie leaned in close. “What goes on out there?”

I knew I couldn’t say a thing to anyone about that. And before I could say a word, Jean answered, “He won’t tell you, honey. My husband wouldn’t even tell me what they did out there. Niko Armstrong is into something that he wants no one to know about. And he guards those secrets like a dragon guarding his stolen treasures.”

“In Niko’s defense, if anything is leaked about the weapons being created there, it could cost him billions, if not trillions. He pays his people extremely well, and then there’s the cost of all the materials used. Some of the inventions don’t even pan out and have to be scrapped.” I understood why the secrets had to be kept. “Not everyone can be trusted to stick to the agreements they signed. But my brothers and I can be trusted. We have no desire to screw over Mantabo in any way.”

“What did he threaten you guys with?” Jean asked.

Zurie watched me closely. “Yeah, did he threaten you?”

“I’m not exactly the type of man one threatens.” I wasn’t boasting, but it was true. Niko knew enough about me not to throw any threats our way. Otherwise, there would’ve been hell to pay. “I don’t negotiate with terrorists.”

“What does that mean?” Zurie asked as she eyed me warily.

“I come from tough stock. Last year, some people thought they could do some pretty bad things to some of my cousins. In the end, the perpetrators ended up becoming the victims, and now they’re six feet under.” I had it in me to be every bit as ruthless as my cousins, the Nash brothers. If it came to anyone threatening me and my brothers, I could easily take someone out without batting an eye.

“Six feet under?” Zurie asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.

“Dead,” Jean enlightened her.

Zurie’s eyes dropped, and she stared at the floor. “Oh.”

“Not that I would ever resort to violence unless I saw no other way out.” I didn’t want Zurie to think I was some ticking time bomb. “I believe in trying to reason with people. But some people can’t be reasoned with. I’m just glad that Niko Armstrong let us go with nothing more than him objecting strongly to our leaving. If he’d said a thing about disemboweling anyone, then that could've led to some very terrible things.”

Zurie looked up, reaching into the front pocket of her pants. “What do I owe you, Jean?”

“I’ve got it,” I said as I took out my wallet.

“No,” Zurie said, nodding her head as she placed a twenty on the counter. “Here you go, Jean. Keep the change.”

Jean placed the check on the counter. “It’s only eight bucks.”

Zurie seemed to be in a hurry to leave as she got up. “No, you keep it.”

I handed Jean a twenty too. “Keep the change from mine as well. See ya tomorrow.” Walking out behind Zurie, I had to ask her out. Otherwise, I would never forgive myself. “Hey, Zurie, wait up.”

Stopping just as she got out the door, she turned to me. “What?”

“You wanna go out sometime?”

Shaking her head, she sighed. “Look, I don’t know you, Cayce. I don’t like the idea of going out with someone I don’t know.”

“We could meet for drinks or something then. I’d really like to get to know you better.”

Turning around, she began walking to her car. “I don’t know.”

I moved up beside her. “Come on. I’m harmless.”

“How can I know that for sure?” She stopped by a small, silver car. “Especially after what you just said in there.” She gestured toward the restaurant.

“Jean would’ve told you to stay away from me if I was anything but a nice guy.” That was God’s honest truth. I couldn’t help but smile. “You really like the color silver, don’t you?”

“I really do,” she said as she ran her hand through her silky hair. “Give me your phone, and I’ll put my number in. I’m not saying I’ll meet you anywhere, but if I’m in the right mood when you text, I just might show up. But I might not.”

Opening my contacts list, I quickly put her name in then handed her my cell. “I’ll hope for the right mood then.”

Handing me my phone back, she shrugged. “You can hope, I suppose. See ya, Cayce.”

“You certainly will.”