Dirty Billions: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance: (A Chicago Suits Second Chance Romance) (13 page)

I
reread
the email from Daniel for the umpteenth time. He’d first told me the news over the phone, but I had him put it in writing, It was almost as if it wasn’t real unless I saw it in print.

Late yesterday afternoon the nanny went looking for Raylene when she hadn’t appeared downstairs, and found her unresponsive in bed. She phoned for an ambulance, but Raylene was already dead, an autopsy will be done but the assumption is she choked on her own vomit. I will make all the arrangements regarding Raylene. You need to get yourself to Honolulu as soon as possible to sort out Harlan.

What could I do? Jenny kept texting me with wonderful news about her mother and Abbie, and I didn’t know how to tell her about my own news.

Not that I thought it was wonderful. I didn’t want my son not to have a mother. I mean, I didn’t want him to have any contact with her because she was so spectacularly disinterested in his wellbeing, but I wanted him to have the ability to
have
her if he later decided that’s what he wanted.

For all the time Abbie had been sleeping on Jenny’s couch, stopping me from seeing her, I’d been desperate to see her. And now she’s texting me wanting me to come see her and I don’t know how in fuck I can.

How could I begin to explain my situation to her? I knew better than to pull her into my fucked up life, and I’ve gone and done it anyway.

But right now, after nearly three weeks, my desire to get Jenny in my arms was greater than any urge I’ve ever known.

Babe, I’m picking you up and taking you on that vacation you promised me

Something told me I was going to regret this, but it was the only thing I could think of to do.

When?

An hour, tell them you won’t be in next week

If she didn’t go for this, I was going to have to take her anyway. I could send her home Sunday if she wanted to get to work that bad.

Let me try

A huge rush of relief washed over me as I read her text. I needed her to get through this.

I didn’t feel anything, I’m sure that’s wrong. I was married to her. It seems so cold. But she was practically a stranger to me. One I happened to share a child with. One who happened to be trying to extort money from me.

We’d slept in the same bed for three nights. After that, I cleared out to the other side of the house.

Each day her belly grew larger, I drank less. Raylene, on the other hand, drank more.

When the baby was born, she took no interest in him. Thank god for the nanny, she gave Harlan the maternal love his mother denied him.

I spent every second I could with Harlan. My chest burst with a type of love I didn’t know existed.

But as long as I was in the house, Raylene got worse. The violence she unleashed on me spilled over to the nanny. We decided that she was too big of a risk, and that her violent behavior could easily spill over onto Harlan.

It wasn’t a risk I was willing to take. Chicago seemed like the only option to me. I’d open a new club and make it my flagship location. I’d settle in the city for good, and give Harlan a stable home to grow up in. Ideally in Jenny’s arms.

Daniel assured me it would only take a few short weeks to finalize everything. And here we are how many months later? Raylene put up a fight to the end. A fight for the most money her son and photos would fetch.

Good news, next week booked off, leaving the office now!!!!!!!

Excellent, can’t wait

Now I just had to figure out how to tell her.

“
B
aby
, you remember my right-hand man, Blake?”

“Hi,” I said to the towering man.

Blake took up the whole sofa Collin and I shared on the way to Houston. Collin and I sat facing each other in insanely comfortable leather reclining seats.

“He’s coming with me for work.”

My face fell. “Are you going to Hawaii for work?”

“No, no. I have a few personal things to sort out. Blake is taking care of the work”

“As long as I can relax on the beach,” I said with a creased brow.

I thought this was supposed to be about the two of us taking a vacation together. What was this personal thing? I was about to ask when the jet started speeding down the runway and hurtled into the air.

Chicago grew smaller underneath us, and I kept my head glued to the window until the familiar landmarks were too small to make out.

Steph, the flight attendant, appeared once we’d leveled off, with drinks and hors d’oeuvres.

“Dinner will be ready in about thirty minutes,” she said setting a plate of bruschetta on the table between Collin and I.

“Great Steph, thanks.” Collin’s voice didn’t have its normal tone. It seemed like a dark edge crept into it.

“So, what’s the personal stuff you have to sort out?”

“Can we have dinner first?”

Collin shifted in his seat and looked over to Blake.

I could be mistaken, but Blake seemed to be an angry man. He hadn’t said anything since I’d stepped onboard. Not even hello. He sent off a ‘don’t mess with me’ vibe, which I suppose made sense since he works in nightclubs, but this is his private life, why not relax?

“Fine. But I don’t like this feeling that you’re hiding something.”

Collin bit off a large mouthful of bruschetta and chewed. Blake had finished all his bruschetta already and Steph brought him another plate of it.

Collin didn’t attempt any conversation.

The tension in the air on the plane was thick enough to cut with my knife. To cope, I took my phone out and flicked through my apps. For a moment I considered playing Candy Crush, a game I’d weaned myself off two years ago, but Steph arrived with our dinner just in time.

Delicious smelling chicken Alfredo filled the air with garlic.

“Here you go,” Steph said setting my plate in front of me.

“Thanks Steph, it smells delicious,” I said, glad to have spoken to someone, anyone to break the mood.

The three of us ate our meal in silence, my mind spinning the entire time of whatever Collin didn’t want to tell me. Was he moving back to Honolulu? Was he coming to sort out a house?

* * *

S
ilence hung
over us all they way through the passionfruit cheesecake dessert. At long last, Steph came and cleared away the last of the plates, ending the hour and a half of torture.

I cleared my throat and said, “Dinner’s finished, are you going to tell me now?”

Collin collapsed the table between us, folding it into a clever compartment hidden in the wall of the plane. He perched on his seat and reached across to take my hands in his.

While I waited for him to speak, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to know or not. Everything had been going so well between us, and I panicked it was all about to end.

“I…I have no idea how to tell you this.” He shifted his eyes to mine. “Someone died.”

“What? Oh my god, that’s terrible. Who?”

Collin wagged his head in a half nod, half shake. He squeezed my hands, so tightly it hurt but I didn’t stop him, I wanted him to talk.

“My wife.”

“What? You’re married?” My heart raced, as I tried to sort through my confusion.

“Separated. We were separated.”

“But why didn’t you tell me?” I pulled my hands from his and gripped the tops of my arms.

“I didn’t know how. I didn’t want to lose you.”

“So if she hadn’t died, would you’ve told me?” I looked around the plane, searching for escape when one was impossible. Blake stared at us, the same angry look on his face.

“Yes. Definitely. I’ve been trying to finalize the divorce.”

“I see. When was that going to be?”

“She held things up, it should’ve been done by now, before we ever got back together.”

I nodded, not sure how to react or what to think. In all the times I asked him what he’d done over the past seven years, he never once said anything about a serious relationship, let alone getting married.

I flopped back in my chair, conscious of Blake’s eyes on me. How could we have such an intimate conversation with an audience? A great, big, angry one.

“Baby, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, that was wrong. You deserved to know.”

I bit my bottom lip and nodded, still trying to absorb the information.

“I can’t believe you never told me you’re married.”

“Was. I was married.”

“Right, you’re a widower now. I’m sorry for your loss”

The color drained from Collin’s face. Perhaps I was giving him too hard a time. After all, the guy’s wife just died. His fucking wife. And he was telling me on a plane on the way to deal with the dead body. I swallowed my outrage to keep some control in front of Blake.

“Baby, it might sound harsh, but she meant nothing to me, I never liked her. Not for one day.”

“Then why did you marry her?”

Collin sat back in his seat, and glanced at Blake. His eyes found mine again, a renewed heat in them. “I hated her. I’ve always hated her. She’s a horrible person. Was a horrible person.”

“So you’re glad she’s dead?” My voice betrayed my disgust that anyone would ever be glad over another human’s death.

“No. Not at all. I didn’t want her to die. All I ever wanted was for her to leave me alone.”

The earlier silence resumed, Collin and I both stuck in our thoughts. Blake, I had no idea what went on in Blake’s head, or why he didn’t seem to feel the least bit awkward at watching the exchange between Collin and I.

After a few minutes I asked, “Sounds like you really hated her.”

“I did. She was a truly awful excuse for a human being.”

“Why?”

“Huh?”

“Why did you marry such a horrible person?”

H
ow do
I explain this mess to Jenny without sounding like an asshole myself?

“Honor,” I said.

She burst out laughing, a ruckus laugh that prevented her from speaking.

My leg jiggled, waiting for her to stop and say something. I’m scared as hell I’m going to lose her for this. And if I don’t, I’ll lose her over Harlan.

She wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes and said, “Did you just say honor? For real?”

“Yeah baby, I did.” My cheeks went warm with embarrassment and shame.

“Honor because…”

I closed my eyes and muttered, “She was pregnant.”

“Pregnant! You have a child?”

I nodded.

“Are you fucking serious? You have a fucking child and you didn’t tell me? During any of the conversations we had about what we’d been up to since we’d last seen each other? You didn’t think it was worth mentioning?”

“I didn’t want to lose you.”

“Why would you lose me if you had a child? What decade do you think we live in?”

“I’m sorry baby, I really am.”

“Sorry because you have a child, or because you lied to me?”

“Both.” I wanted a child with Jenny. A perfect life with her.

“This child. Do you hate it as much as you hated her?”

“No baby, it’s not like that. My son, Harlan, he’s the reason I stopped drinking.”

“Now you tell me. Didn’t we sit on this very plane and I asked you why you stopped drinking?”

Fuck, I fucked this up. “You’re right, I should’ve told you then.”

“Harlan huh, do you have much to do with him?”

“I’ve been trying to get custody. She’s been using him to get more money in the settlement.”

Jenny’s face didn’t betray what she was thinking. I thought I knew her so well, could read her so well, but right now she was a blank.

“Do you want to see some photos of him?” I pulled out my phone and flicked into the album.

We each leaned forward in our seats and I held out my phone for her to see. Her hand wrapped around mine as she tilted the screen to see. Not wanting to lose the warmth of her hand, I didn’t let go.

As Jenny flicked through the photos, she flicked her eyes back and forth between the screen and my face. Occasionally she looked over to Blake.

“He’s adorable,” she finally said.

“That smile’s enough to melt the heart of a guy like me.”

Jenny looked into my eyes and smiled, a smile that flickered across my heart and made me think maybe everything would be okay. I couldn’t wait to see Harlan in her arms.

“Is that her?” Jenny pointed to the photo of Raylene holding Harlan.

“Yeah, that’s Raylene.”

“It’s a bit freaky, kind of like looking in the mirror for me.”

“Oh no baby, she is nowhere near as beautiful as you.”

“She’s more beautiful,” Blake said, his gruff voice taking me by surprise.

“Exactly, Jenny, you’re far more beautiful.”

“No. Raylene is more beautiful,” Blake said.

“Blake, what the fuck are you talking about?”

“I’m tired of sitting here, listening to you trash Raylene. She was a beautiful woman.”

Blake almost never offered an opinion. And never without being asked for it. He knew better than to butt in on one of my private conversations. But more than that, why was he defending Raylene? Why did he even have an opinion on her?

“I’m not about to get into a debate with you over this. Is there some other point you’re trying to make?”

The big man’s body shuddered and he buried his hands in his face. Jenny’s eyes widened as she stared transfixed by Blake, his sobs now audible.

In all the time I’ve known Blake, I’ve never once seen him display any emotion, let alone cry. Something wasn’t right, and I didn’t like it one bit.

“What’s going on Blake? Talk to me.” I said, trying to keep my voice measured.

Without looking up, Blake said “I loved her.”

The words smacked me with the same force as if he had hit me with his meaty fist. Where did that come from?

Jenny’s head moved back and forth, from me to Blake to me but she didn’t say anything.

“What are you saying?” I’d managed to sound calm, even though I was anything but.

Blake lifted his head out of his hands, his beady eyes red from tears. I wasn’t about to look away, and bore my eyes into his, demanding explanation.

“I loved her. We were going to get married after the divorce was finalized.”

I swallowed his words, why didn’t I know about their relationship before now? Blake lowered his face to his hands again, sobbing into them.

“That’s great Blake. Really. You never thought to tell me about your relationship with her? With my wife?”

“You hated her,” he said, his words muffled by his hands.

“Yeah, we all know that. What we didn’t know was that you loved her. That’s a pretty big piece of information you kept hidden from me. Don’t you think it was something I should’ve known about?” The fury bubbled up from deep down within me, and I stopped talking before I lost control. I pursed my lips, my breath heavy behind them.

My mind a blur, I realized I’d found out the person feeding Raylene information about Jenny. Fuck, did he have the photos too? I opened my mouth to accuse Blake but Jenny’s timid voice cut me off.

“You kept a pretty big piece of information hidden from me. Don’t you think being married with a baby was something I should’ve known about?” Jenny’s voice was quiet at first, gaining confidence until it ended in a roar.