The TROUBLE with BILLIONAIRES: Book 3 (16 page)

“He did it personally,” I said quietly.

“Please tell me that isn’t what I think it is,” Rawn said. “Please tell me that Aurora’s assistant is not the mastermind behind this whole nightmare.”

But I couldn’t, because I knew the opposite to be true.

The man who identified me to my kidnappers, the man with the glasses, the one Peggy called the nerd her boss had sent over.

The man whose wingtip shoes Annie saw after her accident.

The man whose face was on the security tapes outside the home of Rawn’s parents.

The man who took me under his wing and taught me the ropes in Aurora’s office.

The man who would have access to Aurora’s emails, who could fake a trail that connected her to my kidnapping.

The man whose aunt was the CEO of this company, the same CEO who was making him work his way up the ranks instead of giving him a plumb job like she did for seventeen-year-old Rawn.

The man who was obsessed with sundials—who never failed to tell anyone and everyone who would listen how they were the greatest scientific breakthrough ever made—had allowed that obsession to be his downfall.

That and his signature wingtip shoes.

“It was him,” I said, conviction strong in my voice. “It all makes sense.”

No one said anything for a long time.

***

The police came the moment Rawn called them. The detective seemed a little disinterested when we first began to talk, but as the details piled up, the evidence building, he became more interested. And then he dropped a bomb.

“We were actually opening an investigation on Mr. Wallace. We arrested one of the gentlemen involved in your kidnapping, Miss Miller, and he pointed us in Mr. Wallace’s direction. We had just begun, so we didn’t have enough to arrest him, but what you’ve given us is enough to take to a judge.”

I felt like high-fiving everyone, but I kept my response in check as Rawn thanked the man and walked him out of the office.

Conrad walked over to his small bar and poured himself a stiff drink. “Want something?” he asked over his shoulder.

“No.”

I walked over to him and touched the place between his shoulder blades.

“Have you talked to Mellissa since your fight?”

He glanced at me. “She told you?”

“Yeah.”

He shook his head, as he downed the liquid in his glass. “She wants space. I’m trying to give it to her.”

“For a man who’s been married before, you sure are oblivious when it comes to women. Don’t you realize the last thing she wants is space?”

“She specifically said—”

“She was angry and hurt. Come on, Conrad, you have to realize you’ve been a little blind when it comes to her these last few weeks.

“I mean, I realize that all this stuff with Rawn and Russell has been time consuming, but surely you’ve noticed how odd Mellissa’s been acting. I mean, even I noticed and I’m not always the most observant person in the room.”

He set his glass down, shoving it hard against the others so that they all rattled on the glass shelf.

“I just thought she was feeling out of sorts because of everything that happened last month.”

“Stress doesn’t cause nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, a lack of appetite, and exhaustion. Well, maybe the exhaustion, but not the other symptoms.”

He turned to me, his brow creased with concern. “Do you think she’s sick?”

I groaned. Really, how blind could he be?

“Conrad, Mellissa is pregnant. And I think she was going to tell you over dinner the other night, the dinner that you brushed off to help your ex-wife.”

Color drained from his face. “Are you sure?”

“I didn’t ask, but all the signs are there.”

He stood stone still for the longest moment, and then he brushed past me and grabbed his jacket off the back of his office chair. Then, he was gone, and I was hoping I had done the right thing.

I picked up my own bag and headed for the door. I grabbed a passing secretary and said, “Could you tell Mr. Jackman that I went to our room and I’ll be waiting for him there?”

She nodded, a funny quirk to her eyebrow as she watched me walk away.

***

I was sitting in the center of the bed, wearing a bright orange corset that left little to the imagination. My hands were bound to the headboard, a blindfold over my eyes. It had been a trick getting it all accomplished by myself, but I hoped it struck the right cord when Rawn walked into the room.

By the audible gasp I heard, I think I hit my mark.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m seducing my boyfriend.”

He came to the bed, his weight causing it to shift. His hand brushed the blindfold, but I twisted away before he could take it off.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I want to do this.”

“Madison, I don’t want to push you. I don’t want to make you do anything that makes you uncomfortable.”

“But that’s what I’m trying to tell you. It doesn’t scare me anymore.” I shifted slightly, turning toward the place where I thought his face was. “Remembering that it was Russell’s voice I heard during my ordeal, knowing that the police are about to arrest—”

“Have arrested.”

“—have arrested him has given me back a measure of security that I lost after it happened. I’ve got my life back, and I want to share everything, all we’ve done and all we’re going to do, with you.”

His breath was hot as he sighed close to my throat. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

He pushed me down against the mattress and grabbed my ankles, securing them to the footboard. Then, he disappeared, not making enough sound so that I could trace his movements. But it didn’t frighten me. I knew he was still there, that he would never abandon me.

Then, I heard the telltale sounds of a whip and my belly tightened.

It wasn’t fear. It was an excitement I was pretty sure I would never have known if I had not met Rawn Jackman.

And later, as he lay satiated beside me, he slipped a simple diamond on my finger.

“I had this whole speech planned out,” he said quietly. “But you, as always, outshone me and proved once again why I can’t imagine my life without you in it.”

Six months later

Madison

I stood in front of the mirror as my mother carefully positioned the veil over my thickly hair sprayed and pinned hair. It fell perfectly over the sides of my face and down over my arms, covering what the dress didn’t. She began to cry again, and I smiled, handing her a tissue.

“I’m the one who’s supposed to be crying.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” my mother said. “I just can’t believe this day has come. I was so afraid…” She stopped, reluctant to mention the darkness of our past on such a happy day.

“Allison would be crying right next to you if she was here.”

“She would, wouldn’t she?”

I laughed. “And she would complain about the bride’s maids’ dresses I picked out, even if they were the most glamourous, most amazing dresses ever made.”

Mother laughed too. “She would definitely do that. Allison found fault with every formal dress ever made.”

“I don’t know, I kind of like these,” Mellissa said from her place on the couch.

She was as round as a beach ball, but she had that amazing glow that people were always talking about when it came to pregnant women. Seven months and she was still going like a firecracker, refusing to let anyone stop her from performing all the duties expected of a co-maid of honor.

Annie, perched on the couch arm beside her, nodded. “And the color is awesome.”

They were red, a bright, amazing red, like the deep color of the roses in my bouquet. The color of love. Annie had a special affinity for red these days. I suspected it had something to do with Logan, but I was afraid to ask. She might actually tell me.

My mother had insisted that my four cousins be bride’s maids, but I couldn’t decide between Annie and Mellissa as my maid of honor. So I gave them both the honor and sat back, watching as they were able to bring everything together with amazingly few disagreements. It was almost as if they were meant to partner up and plan their best friend’s wedding.

Annie and I had done the same for Mellissa, though her wedding four months ago had been a quieter, simpler affair than this. Just like she and Conrad. Despite his Texas roots, they didn’t do things in a big way. It was two weeks before we even knew they were engaged.

But that might have had more to do with the fact that Conrad selfishly kept Mellissa all to himself during that time than anything else. He had a lot to make up for.

It was her chest infection, Mellissa was careful to tell everyone she thought might judge her. She was on antibiotics for a long time during and after the infection, it was that bad. And the doctor warned her to use another form of birth control because it might interfere with the pill. But she wasn’t seeing anyone when he told her, and then everything that was going on when Conrad came into her life was a little distracting.

I understood how that could be.

It didn’t matter though. She was going to be a wonderful mother, and Conrad was as devoted as any new father should be. They were even working together now, running his PR firm, though Conrad insisted that would stop the moment Mellissa gave birth.

If he was serious, then he didn’t know his wife very well.

And Annie…she graduated from college last week. Our apartment looked like a warehouse, all the boxes that were stacked up against walls and balanced on overburdened furniture. Rawn and I were practically living together already, mostly at his house, but occasionally at the apartment. Annie was moving to LA. She’d gotten into the Master’s program at Cal State. And, of course, there was Logan.

I never should have interfered. I should have given my friend the benefit of the doubt. She was stronger than anyone would ever give her credit for. Even after Logan explained his disease to her in graphic detail, making her read books and webpages about the devastating effects, she refused to give up on him. She insisted she didn’t care, that none of it mattered. In the end, he gave in to his own need to have her and to have her love in his life. They’d been happily carrying on a long distance relationship ever since.

Now that they would be living in the same city, I was afraid no one would ever see either of them again.

“We’re running late,” Mom said with a quick look at her watch.

“Rawn’s waiting for his parents. Their flight was delayed.”

“I should go check and make sure everything’s okay.” She kissed my cheek lightly. “I’m so happy for you, darling.”

“Thank you, Mom.”

As soon as she was out the door and the silence descended on us again, I fell onto the couch, my bell skirt whooshing out around me. Annie laughed, pushing at the material that had fallen over her lap.

“When I get married, it’s going to be a mermaid style, not these poufy things the two of you wore.”

“Mine was very traditional,” Mellissa said. “Very southern.”

“I like mine,” I said. “All this lace makes me feel girly.”

“Yeah, like Belle from
Beauty and the Beast.
”

I smiled because I liked the comparison. “Exactly.”

“I see myself more of a Cinderella, with an Ariel twist.”

I could see that. “And red.”

Annie shoved her shoulder into mine, sliding off the couch arm as she did, but then she laughed. “Maybe.”

“Can you believe how much has happened in the last eight months?”

“A year ago, you were still hiding behind your books, trying to get your degree as quickly as possible so that you could go to work.”

I nodded. “And just a couple of months later, I did it. And then I came on to Rawn in the park—”

“The park? Did I miss this story?” Mellissa asked.

I glanced at Annie.

“It’s not one you probably want to hear,” Annie assured her.

“Well, a year ago, I didn’t know either of you, and I was in witness protection, worried that my grandmother would say something in her growing senility that would give us away.” Mellissa ran her hand over her belly. “Now I have a new career, a new husband, and a baby on the way.”

“And I’m running away to Hollywood to live with my movie star boyfriend,” Annie announced.

Of all our stories, hers seemed the most surreal, but it was actually the most probable of the three.

“Funny how life can throw you these incredible curves.”

“Let’s just hope it all settles down for a while.”

“Amen.”

Then, the room shuttered, debris raining over us as the most deafening sound blew against our eardrums.

I threw myself over Mellissa, thinking only of protecting that unborn baby from whatever evil was invading our lives now. Annie did the same, diving over me, our bodies tangled and piled on top of one another. It seemed to last forever, the noise, the vibration, the shower of drywall and ceiling tiles.

The door burst open and my father’s voice called out.

“Girls? Are you okay?”

Mellissa was the first to move, twisting out from under my upper body. Annie pulled herself up to her feet, offering a helping hand to aid me to my feet. There was a stream of blood running down the side of Annie’s face, pooling briefly in a thin scar that was left from her car accident. I grabbed the box of tissues still sitting on the dressing table and pressed a handful to her temple.

She hissed, but otherwise seemed unfazed.

“Mellissa?”

“I’m okay.”

I helped her to her feet, searching face, arms, and hands for any sign of trauma. “The baby?”

“Kicking like he wants the heck out of there now.”

“You should probably come out of here, girls,” my father said, stepping back. “Until the fire department gets here and can determine if it’s stable.”

“Are you okay, daddy?”

He nodded, rapping the side of his head. “Can’t damage an old noggin’ like mine.”

Then Rawn, Conrad, and Logan were rushing up behind him, pushing everyone and everything out of their way to get inside. They were unhurt, having been on the front steps of the church waiting for Rawn’s parents to arrive.
Thank God for late flights!
If they had been on time, the boys would have all been standing at the altar and there’s no telling…

“What was it?” I asked from the circle of Rawn’s arms.

“Don’t know.”

“It sounded like some sort of explosive,” Logan said.

“A bomb?” I asked.

Everyone kind of looked at me like I had gone insane. But with the way things had gone in the past, it really wasn’t that farfetched an idea, was it?

“We need to get out of here,” my father repeated. “We don’t know how secure this is.”

Rawn agreed, drawing me out of the church in the circle of his arms, careful to direct me over the larger pieces of debris. Logan and Annie followed with Conrad, carrying a protesting Mellissa in his arms, until we were all standing on the lovely lawn in front of the small church. A great number of our guests were there, too, most untouched by the explosion because they were enjoying the quartet we had set up on the lawn, but some covered in dust and debris, their fine suits and dresses ruined with the mess.

I scanned the crowd, saw my mother and brother, and a number of friends and acquaintances from school and work.  It seemed most everyone had managed to get out in time.

Annie and my mother conspired to keep things on track, directing everyone to the small garden off to the side of the church. The wedding, of course, was called off. But we had the caterer bring her wares early, feeding not only the distraught guests, but the firemen as well.

It wasn’t until late that evening that we learned exactly what had happened.

Someone had placed a bomb under the altar that was rigged to go off five minutes into the ceremony. If we hadn’t been running late, the priest, Rawn, and I, and most of our closest friends and family would have died or been seriously injured. Fortunately, there were only five injuries that required hospitalization.

And one death.

The CEO of Cepheus had been horrified by the idea that her nephew could cause the chaos and tragedy that hers had done. But she stuck by him, paying his lawyers and working with the court to get him the psychiatric help she insisted he needed. Schizophrenia ran in her family, but it was such a well hidden secret that Russell likely didn’t even know.

He knew now.

We never got a real explanation for Russell’s motives. But his hatred of Rawn ran so deep that while on parole awaiting trial, he decided he had nothing left to lose. He decided that he might as well complete what he had started.

He rigged the bomb. He envisioned killing me and Rawn on our wedding day. Instead, he murdered the only person who still loved him enough to fight for him.

The CEO of Cepheus Scientific, Jennifer Mientkiewicz, was the only fatality of the bombing at St. Michael’s Church that day.

The police found Russell in his apartment the following morning, hanging from an electrical cord in his bedroom, a note that said simply,
Sorry,
pinned to his chest.

Ironically, Russell’s actions that day resulted in the complete opposite of what he had wanted. Rawn was made CEO of Cepheus, and he took the company in a new direction, changing everything he had always hated about his career.

And we got married, a month later, the ceremony slightly more subdued than originally planned. But it couldn’t possibly go off without a little excitement. Mellissa and Conrad welcomed a seven-pound baby boy six hours after Mellissa’s water broke as she stood by my side at the altar.

They named him Christian.

It just seemed appropriate.

~ END ~