WIFE WANTED (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) (20 page)

It was the only thing that made sense. That’s why he wouldn’t just come forward about his true identity. And worse, she’d handed over files from Yancey’s company. Everything about Phoebe’s life was now riding on the line. One wrong move, and she’d lose everything she’d worked so hard to get. That, and any chance she had at saving her mom. Phoebe sighed and felt tears prick her eyes as she pictured her mom lying in that damn hospital bed, awake but unable to speak. Unable to walk out on her own.

She recognized Phoebe, but it only lasted a few minutes before her memory went blank again, and Phoebe felt the last ties to the woman she’d known vanishing. It had taken everything she had to not lose it—throw things, scream, yell at how unfair the world had been. That all she was trying to do was save her mom. Was that too much to ask? To give her a fighting chance at being able to live a little longer? Maybe see Phoebe get married to a man she truly loved, have some kids, and finally be at the point in her life when she wasn’t worried about whether she would have a job tomorrow? Or if some crazy guy would come after her because she stuck her nose where it didn’t belong? What happened to the days of being normal?

“You lost them,” she said. “You lost them and you’re never getting them back.”

She wiped the tears angrily from her cheeks. Tonight was about getting answers and putting an end to her relationship with Ben…Riley. She had to remember his real name was Riley.

And tonight, he was going to learn what it meant to lie to a woman like her.

Her cell buzzed, and she glanced down to see a text from “Ben.” There was a car waiting for her out front. He was already waiting at his place, something at work ran late, so he was going to meet her there.

“You have your own damn car?” She shoved her cell back in her purse and stormed out of her apartment. “Of course you do. You have everything, you rich bastard. Just like all the rest of them.”

But he hadn’t acted like a rich bastard. He’d been nothing but sweet and gentle to her the whole weekend. Making her laugh, making her forget about what waited outside her apartment door. Made her feel like she mattered to someone else, really mattered.

She stepped out onto the sidewalk and saw a black town car with a gentleman dressed in a suit waiting to open the passenger door. “Good evening, Anna,” he said with a smile as he pulled it open and waved her in. She smiled back, acting as if nothing was wrong, and slid inside. The seats were leather, and she tried not to feel too impressed as the driver hurried around to his seat and pulled away from the curb.

Phoebe stared out the window and watched as they headed out of the familiar streets she lived on and into the rich part of the city. “He lives over here?”

“Yes ma’am, owns a penthouse.”

“Figures,” she muttered.

“I’m sorry?”

“Oh, nothing, sorry. Just…I wasn’t expecting such style from him, you know?”

The driver smiled in the rearview mirror. “He treats all his guests with the utmost respect, as I’m sure you will see when we reach his home. Just a few more minutes.”

And, as he said, a few minutes later, they pulled up alongside the curb of one of the most expensive luxury loft and apartment buildings anywhere in the city. Phoebe stepped out of the car and craned her neck to stare up at the tall glass and steel building.

“If you go straight through those doors and to the elevator, hit the button for the top floor. It will take you to his front door. Good evening, miss.” He held the door open for her, and the second she passed through, headed back to his car and drove away.

“Guess there’s no chance of running away now.”

Phoebe straightened, gripped her purse tightly, then stalked towards the elevator and waited impatiently for it to descend the twelve stories to reach the lobby. A guard at the front desk watched her and smiled when she glanced his way. She returned the smile, though all it did was make her feel even worse than she already did. When the elevator arrived, she stepped inside, hit twelve, then waited. The ride up was slow, and by the time the doors dinged open again, she thought she’d lost her nerve.

Until she remembered how great last weekend had been and just how much she was going to miss it because of this man.

When she stepped out of the elevator, Phoebe put on the best smile she had, strode straight up to the front door, and knocked gently a few times. She heard music coming from the other side of the door and the clinking of glasses. There was the sound of heavy footsteps right before the door unlocked, and he pulled it open.

“Anna, glad you made it,” Ben said tightly.

Riley. His name is Riley Marston and he’s a liar,
she reminded herself as she stepped past him.

“Yes, thanks to the car you sent. I didn’t know you could do that.”

He closed and locked the door as she carelessly tossed her purse and jacket on a nearby chair. “Perks of being close to the boss.”

“Ah, I see. You’re friends with him,” she said as she twirled around and took in his place. “This is incredible, Ben, really. Look at those ceilings!” Phoebe’s smile was genuine as she took in this place—his place, the home of her pirate. It suited him well. There was metalwork on the walls, bits and pieces with candle holders or picture frames. She’d always thought art like that would make a place look cold, but not here. Here, it looked exquisite. There was even a set of double swords over the fireplace on the far wall. She laughed as she hurried over to look at them. “Cutlasses?”

He followed her over with a nod and drink in hand. “Yeah, souvenir from a trip with my grandfather. Where we both got the piercings done, too.”

She took the martini from him and sipped it. “That’s pretty good.”

“For a pirate, you mean?” he asked with a raised brow, his lips twitching in a smile, but as Phoebe stared at him, she saw something else lurking in his eyes. A darkness she hadn’t noticed before. “Dinner won’t be ready for a while yet. Make yourself at home.”

He stepped away and motioned for her to find a seat on the couch, which was leather that felt like butter to the touch. She expected him to sit next to her as they’d done at her place, but he remained standing, and she felt a wave of cold hit her in the face. He was up to something or he knew something, just like she did. It had to be about the files, but if anyone had a right to be angry at that, it was her. She’d shown them to him in complete confidence and he’d up and taken them. Her only proof of what Yancey was up to.

Phoebe leaned back into the couch and sipped her martini a few more times. “Nice place. Did you inherit it somehow?”

The liquor burned down her throat and settled warm in her stomach. Usually, she wasn’t a gin drinker, but tonight, it bolstered her nerve.

Riley glanced around and shrugged. “Thought I needed a place of my own, so no.”

“You had the money to buy this?”

“You’d be surprised what I have,” he said, then sipped his martini, blue eyes all of a sudden steel, watching her. “Just like I was a bit surprised to find out what you had.”

The bitter tone of his words made Phoebe flinch. The heat she’d felt towards him all weekend, the fire that had warmed her in his presence, was slowly being snuffed out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But if I did, I would say that maybe—whatever you found out I had—I should not have been so nice as to show you,” she said as her voice grew louder. “Maybe I should have ignored you that night at the restaurant and never tried to escape my date with you.”

He laughed and set down his drink. “Yes, that horrible date with that horrible man that you wound up with at a function the next week! Come on, Phoebe, you’re not fooling anyone.”

The second her name left his mouth, he frowned and cursed, turning away from her.

“Don’t you dare walk away from me! How did you find out my real name?” she yelled as she followed him. “I never said anything about it, so how?”

“You don’t cover your tracks as well as you think.”

“Oh, and you do? Why the hell didn’t you tell me your real name? Riley Marston! Richest damn man in the city, and you lied to me! What, were you embarrassed to be seen with someone of my standing? Am I not good enough for the likes of you?” She shot back the rest of her martini and wiped her mouth on her hand. “You CEOs are all the same. Cold, hiding behind your damn money.”

He shook his head as he went into the kitchen and grabbed an oven mitt.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I will not,” he said, pointing a bright green mitted hand at her, “let my dinner burn just because of you and your…your ignorance!” He yanked the oven door open, leaving Phoebe trying to catch her breath and tapping her fingers on the countertop. “That is ungodly annoying by the way.”

“I don’t care! You stole those files from my place! You lied to me!”

Riley slammed the oven closed, cutting off whatever delicious smells were emanating from it, and turned it off. “Like you didn’t know who I was at the restaurant! Stop lying, Phoebe, I know everything.”

“Know what? I didn’t know who you were ‘til today.”

“Don’t give me that shit.” He stalked towards her, but she refused to move. He reached around her with another muttered curse and grabbed a file, a different one from the ones she’d shown him. “No? Are you sure about that, Phoebe Baron of Yancey Securities? You’re more than just the archives girl, aren’t you?”

He slammed the file down on the counter and Phoebe hurriedly flipped it open. She stared down at a picture of herself, the same one that matched her ID badge for work. “How did you get this file? This is confidential! You don’t even work for Yancey.”

“I know people. Just like you know people—all the wrong damn people.”

Phoebe shook her head frantically as she tried to wrap her head around what was going on. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“The game is up, Phoebe. I’ll admit you put on a good act, but I’m not blind any more. I have my sources,” he snapped, “and they have never lied to me. They saw you with Diane Chandler, you work for my enemy, of all people, and you’re dating Mitch Harper!” He held up his fingers when he said dating. “I should’ve known something was up when you showed up with him at the function, then left him to sit with me.”

“I didn’t sit with you. I was with Linda, or whatever her name is.”

“I don’t care. You have done everything you can to get close to me. That weekend? Everything you told me? How much of it is actually true?”

The harshness of his words took all the anger out of Phoebe, and she felt tears start to stream down her face. He cursed and stepped away, laughing at her or his stupidity, she wasn’t sure which. Her hands shook as she picked up the file. He thought she had lied to him about everything. About her mom, about Mitch. Why was Mitch even such a big deal? Unless he’d figured out her profile on that damn website, too. But either way, that did not give him the right.

“You still stole my files,” she whispered, holding on to the last little bit of argument she had.

“No, those were my files that you stole, and for all I know, you have the damn laptop too. You forgot to mention that you interned at my company two years ago,” he said, jabbing a finger at the file. “Seems odd, especially when I told you who I worked for.”

Phoebe frowned. “Internship? What are you…” But then she remembered. It had been her first big offer, but her mom had gotten sick and her parents moved in with her. Things had gone downhill. She’d barely been there for two weeks when she had to quit. “You son of a bitch. You think I stole files from you two years ago? Why would I show them to you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know why you did half of the things you did. Playing on my losses to get close to me,” he said, glaring at her. “Why did you do it, Phoebe? Part of Yancey’s grand plan?”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself if you know everything, Riley Marston,” she said snapping the file shut. “Since you know everything else, I expect you to have the answers to those questions too!” She hurried over to her purse and jacket, then marched to the front door.

“Where the hell are you going?”

She barked a laugh as she turned to stare him down, tears in her eyes and her heart shattering into pieces. “I thought you were different. For once in my life, I trusted my instincts, and look where it got me. Dealing with just another jackass.”

As he headed towards her, he shook his head and crossed his arms across his chest. Arms that had so recently held her close. “You lied to me first, Phoebe. You got yourself into this mess.”

She felt her chest tighten, and the last bit of her heart broke. “Goodbye, Riley. Go screw yourself.” Phoebe yanked open the door, skipped the elevator, and ducked into the stairwell as he yelled after her. She nearly fell down the twelve flights as tears blurred her vision. She should’ve known it was too good to be true. Here she was, standing on the curb as thunder boomed overhead and rain started to patter down around her. No one to give her a jacket this time. No one to keep her safe and out of the rain.

Something buzzed in her purse, and she pulled her jacket up over her head before she pulled out her cell. Rain poured down around her, making it hard to hear. “Hello?”

“Phoebe, it’s Mitch.”
“Mitch.” She sighed, then felt the tears coming again. Before she could stop herself, she started to cry even harder. “Mitch…I…oh, man.”