My Billionaire Fling by Maci Dillon
GABE
“You smug son of a bitch. I gave you what you wanted.”
Clutching the phone in my iron fist, I see red. If I ever get my hands on this cunt, I’ll end him.
“No, asshole, you gave me pennies compared to what you’re worth to keep me quiet.”
Frustration seeps from my pores.
“Name your price,” I grind out.
When a sadistic laugh filters through the line, I toss a dart at the board across from my desk.
“You don’t get it, do you? I don’t want your money. My old man left me with more than enough. But what five-year-old needs millions of dollars in his piggy bank? A father is worth more than any dollar amount you could ever offer. And yours took mine away.”
We’ve done this dance a dozen times now. I throw money at him, and he comes back for more. Now he’s saying he doesn’t want it. Fuck me, I promised Sophia this bastard was gone from our lives, then suddenly he’s calling me in the middle of the fucking night while I’m in bed with the woman I love.
The woman who’ll never forgive me for lying to her.
For hiding who I am.
I won’t let this fucking asshole ruin my life, despite what my father did to his.
“My father’s sins aren’t my own. Trust me, I lost my father that day too.”
Another wicked laugh pushes me over the edge.
“Listen here, asshole, I don’t know what your end game is, but stop hiding behind your fucking phone and tell me what you really want.”
“I want you to suffer like I did. An orphan at five and taken advantage of by the woman who was supposed to care for me. Yeah, I’ll never have a Sophia in my life, I’m too fucking scarred. But you… you’re living your best life as if you’re not bred from the scum of the earth. Tell me, GabrielBartholomew of Connecticut, how do you think Sophia will feel when she finds out what you’ve been hiding?”
Son of a bitch!
“You stay the fuck away from her.”
“Too late. It’s a glorious day for a family gathering at the cemetery, don’t you think?”
The phone goes dead, and I throw it across the room in my rage.
Not today. This can’t fucking happen today. Of all days, this will break Sophia.
Picking up my phone, I race from my office and yell at Elise, “Have Viktor meet me out front.” It’s rare for her to work with me in London these days. I mostly have her running the headquarters in New York. Confused, she yells back as I enter the elevator. “Will you be back?”
“Not today,” I answer as the doors close, and my heart nearly explodes from my chest.
I consider calling Sophia but don’t want to interrupt her family moment. And for all I know, this asshole, Danny, or Dustin, might be calling my bluff.
Viktor is pulling to a stop as I exit the building, and I jump in the back seat. “The cemetery.”
Fifteen minutes later, we turn off the main road and drive slowly through the gates of the cemetery. I have no idea where they are, but I’m on the lookout for a man who doesn’t belong near my woman.
“Up ahead, Sir?” Viktor points to three people gathered around a grave, fresh flowers lighting up an otherwise dark day.
“Slow down,” I say when a vehicle sneaks in from the other direction.
It appears to stop, and we wait to see if anyone exits the car. Viktor parks us between the trees, a way back from where Sophia is now crouched over her parents’ grave. Shielded by the trees, I’m unsure if the occupants in the other vehicle can see us, but I’m sure we can’t be seen from where the three most important people in my life are standing.
Half an hour later, Sophia, Jarett, and Roman leave, passing the car parked to the side of the road up ahead. As we pull out, a man exits the vehicle with a white envelope and places it on the headstone. Glancing in our direction, he gives a swift nod.
Motherfucker.
“Drive.”
As we approach the area, the town car hums past us, windows down, and the sly son of a bitch grins at me. My fingers clench the door handle so hard it might break off in my hand.
“Glad you could make it. I’ll see you at Maximum.”
Words can’t express the level of loathing in my blood for this man and his apparent hatred for me. The sick bastard wants to see me sweat, and fuck, if I’m not blinded with guilt already. Viktor pulls over and keeps the engine running while I collect the message he left for me.
On the front, the words Copy Number Two are scrawled in black ink. I return to the car and direct Viktor to Maximum while I pull the contents from the envelope. Multiple copies of newspaper clippings about the crash are amongst a photocopy of my original birth certificate, change of name petition, and a photo of my father and me at his sentencing.
It’s the last time I ever saw my father alive. The photo was taken as he hugged me goodbye before he was ordered from the courtroom and thrown inside a maximum-security prison upstate. I never visited him because I couldn’t stand to look at the man.
When I heard of his death six months later, I wasn’t surprised, nor did I cry for the death of the man I no longer knew. It wasn’t hard to imagine he’d gotten mixed up with more than the deal which killed three innocent people.
Karma took him in the end—bludgeoned to death outside his cell by another inmate. That day, there was one less monster in the world.
But I now realize my father’s actions created another monster twenty years later—one intent on ruining me for the actions of my father.
As we enter the street, I see Danny Thorne leap from the town car and enter the wooden doors. My legs bounce, willing the traffic to speed up. I have no idea what he plans to do or say when he gets inside, but I don’t want Sophia hearing the worst without me present.
The moment we’re close enough and the car slows to a near stop, I jump out and run the rest of the way.
“Gabe,” Sophia rushes to me and throws her arms around me as I enter the speakeasy.
Confused by her public show of affection and by the lack of her desire to kill me, I glance around in search of Danny. That’s when I see him, sitting at the bar, a beer in hand and a cocky grin on his face. Slowly, he shakes his head and turns away.
But not before Sophia follows my gaze and recognizes him. Her body tenses as she pulls away from me. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll explain later, I promise.” I take her hand and lead her to the booth, signaling to Maxine for our usual drinks. I choose to sit on the opposite side of Sophia today to keep Danny in my sights.
