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THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 199
He worked on me in the elevator, too, alternating kisses (and well-placed caresses) with requests.“Come on.”“No,” I giggled as he nibbled my ear.“Are you coming back to the party?”I pushed him away at arm’s length and gave him an Are you serious?! look. “With my makeup like this? Hell no.”He grinned with self-satisfaction. “What? You just look like a beautiful woman who’s had the time of her life.”“Ohhhh, aren’t we self-congratulatory!” I said, and tapped the tip of his nose with my finger.“Well, I figured it was classier than saying ‘had her brains fucked out.’”“Yes, although the second part’s true, too,” I said, stood up on tiptoe, and bit his lower lip softly.He grunted… and then leaned over and hit the STOP button on the control panel.The elevator rapidly slowed and came to a halt.“Connor?” I asked, slightly alarmed.“We need to talk for a second,” he said.There wasn’t the annoying, clanging alarm that you normally hear in an elevator when someone stops it. I didn’t re
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 200
In the overwhelming chaos, I didn’t know what was happening. All I knew was that Connor had slumped against me and we had fallen to the floor. He was lying on top of me, unconscious.At least, I prayed that’s all it was. Or I would have been praying if I hadn’t been screaming frantically.Suddenly Connor rolled to the side, and I thanked God that he was alright – Except his eyes were closed and he sagged like a rag doll, no reaction on his face.“CONNOR!” I screamed, clutching at his limp body. “CONNOR – ”And then Johnny was there above me, just a foot away, ten times more panicked than I had ever seen him. He looked like a man who had just lost his entire family in some horrible, sudden tragedy, right before his very eyes.“Lily, are you hit?!” he yelled.“Connor – ”“LILY, ARE YOU SHOT?!”“No, no, I’m okay,” I babbled, and immediately burst into tears.I needed to tell him – I needed to tell him how Connor had sensed the danger, and had wrapped his arms around me, shielding me fr
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 201
Todd the limo driver was pretty damn good. Even without a siren and flashing lights, he got to the hospital just as the EMTs were unloading Connor’s stretcher outside the Emergency Room.The limo screeched to a halt and Sebastian and I jumped out. Johnny was already on the sidewalk as the EMTs released the legs and turned the stretcher into an instant gurney.“Johnny, is he okay?!” I cried out as Sebastian and I ran across the sidewalk.And then I heard the most beautiful sound ever:Connor’s voice, even though it was more like a croak.“…Lily…?”I rushed up beside him and burst into tears. He looked blearily up at me and grasped for my hand. I grabbed it and ran beside him as the EMTs rushed him inside.“…are you okay?...”“Yes, yes,” I sobbed.“…are you sure?...”“You’re the one who got shot!”“…I got shot?”“Just a little bit,” Sebastian said drily.Connor looked up at Johnny. “…don’t I pay you so that doesn’t happen?...”I glanced over at Johnny and saw the guilt on his face.Conn
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 202
I almost started crying again as soon as I entered the dimly lit room.Connor was lying in a hospital bed, dressed in a flimsy hospital gown and his eyes closed. He was hooked up to a ton of machines, and the gentle beep… beep of an EKG machine filled the silence. There was an IV with clear fluid taped to his arm.He looked peaceful. For that, I was grateful.I sat down next to him in a chair and held his hand with both of mine.“Connor, can you hear me?” I whispered.There was no sound but the beeping of the heart monitor.There were so many things I wanted to say to him… and now that he couldn’t hear me, couldn’t talk back… now was the only time I had the courage to say them.“I just wanted to tell you… I love you,” I said, wiping tears off my cheek. “You don’t have to say it. You don’t ever have to say it. I just want you to know that I love you. I’ve always loved you, and I never stopped loving you. I’m sorry I walked out two months ago… I just… please… please get well… please… ev
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The hallway exploded.“Connor!” I gasped.“Connor!” his mother cried out.“Mr. Templeton, get back in bed!” Dr. Sarpara ordered.Somewhere down the hall, somebody yelled into a phone, “Security!”“Come on, man, don’t,” Johnny pleaded, and tried to gingerly push him back into the room – But Connor stood his ground. He gripped the door with one hand to steady himself, and with the other hand pointed at his family like some sort of specter of death. “…get… these fucking people… OUT of here.”“Even now?!” his mother howled. “Even now, you attack us – ”“After you tried to ruin me?!” he yelled, his face wracked with pain from his broken ribs. “After you tried to destroy the woman I love?!”My heart swelled with so much emotion when he said that, I almost burst out crying.“You don’t love her,” Lenora Templeton scoffed, her voice filled with acid.“After you tried to have both of us killed?!” Connor shouted.“What?! Don’t listen to her!” Lenora screamed as she pointed at me. “Why are you
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 204
I didn’t have to turn around, though, to tell who it was. I could see his towering height and imposing outline reflected in the glass, his body silhouetted against the white glow of the hallway.“How is he?” Mr. Templeton asked in a weary voice.I looked over my shoulder at him. Truthfully, I was a little scared.Make that a lot scared.“He’s doing fine,” I said in a quiet voice, trying to mask my nervousness.“Is he in much pain?”How can he even ASK that? I wondered – and then realized that the only image he had of his son was of him yelling at Mrs. Templeton from the hospital doorway.I wasn’t sure I should tell him – I was pretty sure Connor would be angry with me – but hell, he was a father asking about his son.“He’s in a lot of pain, but they’ve got him on pain killers. He’s sleeping right now.”“Good,” Mr. Templeton said, and he sounded like he meant it. Like he was relieved.He slowly walked over to the glass and stood by me, though he never looked at me once. He just gazed o
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“Jesus,” Sebastian muttered.The three of us – me, Sebastian, and Johnny – were all standing in the hallway outside Connor’s room. Sebastian had just finished playing the voicemail back on his phone. Johnny refused to leave Connor, so we’d had to move from spot to spot like we were using a divining wand until we finally enough reception to play back the message. It was muffled and staticky in places, but most of the conversation came through.Johnny frowned at me after it was over. “Why did you go outside?”“You know I went to go get the food!”“You could have walked through the hospital.”“I would have if I thought that psychotic bitch was going to be waiting for me.”“Yeah, well… don’t go outside unprotected again.”“You were going to send me home,” I pointed out. “She could have just as easily gotten me when I walked out to catch the cab, or when I got to my apartment. Besides, she didn’t do anything – and she’s not going to do anything, not when there’s this much heat on her from
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The cops came by shortly thereafter to question Connor. I watched them suspiciously the entire time, wondering which one might be getting paid off by Miranda. Connor knew about as much as I did – which is to say, not much more than he’d been shot. He repeated the story several times, but nothing interesting surfaced until one of the cops asked, “Did you recognize the shooter?”“No. Do you have any information on him?”The cops looked at each other. “Not yet.”“‘Not yet’? It’s not like he got away – you’ve got his goddamn corpse.”“His prints aren’t in the FBI database, the federal prison system, or any of the state prison systems.”“Of course not, somebody either hacked the system and wiped his record, or he’s from out of the country,” Connor snapped. “Have you tried Interpol yet?”The cops looked at each other again. “Uh… that’s our next step. All that about somebody hacking the system or him being a foreigner – why did you say that?”“Because the person behind this isn’t going to t
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THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR Lily
The only part that was slightly sad was that Connor’s mother and brother didn’t attend. His mother was still under heavy psychiatric care. She wouldn’t have even known what was going on, according to Connor. As much as I disliked Lenora Templeton, that news saddened me. I only wanted her out of my life. I didn’t want her to end up like this.His brother had checked himself into rehab. Though he sent his congratulations, Vincent told Connor that he didn’t think he could attend, knowing what Miranda had done and how she had met her end. He felt he was still in too precarious a situation emotionally to leave the safety of the rehab center.I know that Connor still bore a lot of anger and hurt towards his mother and brother, but he would have liked to have had them there – as long as they behaved themselves.Things were improving, though. His mother was gradually getting better, and Connor had worked out a deal to take over as interim CEO of the Templeton Group while his brother was in r
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR Lily
But as far as wedding days go, it wasn’t the only one.Come on, I’d gotten married in sopping wet clothes, on a deserted island in the Caribbean, with only four people total in attendance.Did you really think I wasn’t going to have a billionaire-style shindig, with all my family and friends?Connor and I decided on it spontaneously, as soon as we got back home. But rather than hold it in New York City, with all its bad memories from the last couple of weeks, we held it two weeks later in Lake Cuomo, Italy. Have you ever seen pictures of Lake Cuomo? It’s like an Italian Renaissance fairytale. George Clooney bought a residence there, with good reason – it’s one of the most beautiful places on earth. And that’s where we had our wedding.There was only one shadow hanging over the entire day.After we were escorted back to St. Vincent by the policemen, Connor immediately hired a team of divers to go down to inspect the yacht’s wreckage. There was one body in particular he wanted found.B
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR Lily
It turns out Johnny was right: we didn’t see a single shark the entire way.That doesn’t mean it was a piece of cake. What with Johnny and Connor’s wounds, and my needing to rely on their help when I was tired, it took us almost an hour. By the time we got to the island, we were exhausted. But Sebastian was there to greet us. As we approached where the waves started to break, he saw us and started yelling and waving ecstatically from the beach.“A little help!” Johnny shouted at him. Sebastian immediately raced out into the waves and dragged me to shore. “Thank God, thank God,” he kept sobbing as he helped me lie down on the sand. Then he went back out and helped Johnny and Connor limp their way onto the beach.We all collapsed next to each other. Connor and I held hands as we stared up into the blue sky, too weary to speak.“I thought I’d never see you again,” Sebastian said, wiping tears from his face.I was touched; it was the most vulnerable I’d ever seen him.“No such luck,” Co
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR Lily
The happiest moment of my life was when Connor proposed to me.The second was when he burst through that door.And the third was seeing the look of surprise on Miranda’s face when she realized what I had done to her.While Connor kept her talking, I picked the lock and undid the handcuffs from my right wrist. (Bobby pins to the rescue!) Then I grabbed Miranda’s arm and slapped the cuffs on her.Anytime I’m ever depressed about anything from now on for the rest of my life, I’m just going to remember the look of surprise on that murderous bitch’s face, and everything will be better. Instant anti-depressant.Miranda yanked her arm up with a clank! of the chain, but she was locked to the metal armrest of the chair – which was bolted to the floor.She screamed in fury, and pulled the gun’s trigger.BLAM!But I’d purposefully bumped her aim away from Connor – so all that happened was one of the creepy glass spider cases shattered into tiny shards.The gunshot hurt my ears, but I’d been expe
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR Connor
I couldn’t take the shot. I wasn’t Johnny; my aim was good, but not stellar, and the floor was already at a 20 degree tilt. Miranda had her gun at point blank range to Lily’s head. If she pulled the trigger before I got her – I slowly held my .45 away from my body and let it fall to the floor.All the ugliness I knew was inside Miranda revealed itself on her face. It was the evil leer of a serial killer, the grin of a Great White Shark.“I win,” she gloated.My heart sank.It was over. I had failed.I looked at Lily, both sorrow and love welling up at once. She was seated in some sort of chair bolted to the floor, and was handcuffed to the metal armrest.Lily’s eyes were frantic, but her lips were moving. She was mouthing something…Keep her talking.I couldn’t tell for the life of me what she had in store, but I complied. I looked up at Miranda. “You win. You can do with me whatever you want, but please – let Lily go.”“Don’t waste your breath,” Miranda snarled. “Walk towards me w
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR Lily
The door suddenly burst open, and there stood Connor with a gun in his hand, just like the star of an action movie.My heart soared with love – and fear. Because Miranda was standing behind my chair, just like the villain in an action movie.I was between them – Miranda’s human shield.I felt the barrel of Miranda’s pistol jam against the back of my head.“Drop it,” she commanded, “or I kill her.”Connor looked at me helplessly.“Don’t worry about me – shoot her!” I begged him.But he wouldn’t take the chance. He held the gun slowly away from him and let it fall to the floor. CLUNK.I felt Miranda’s pistol stop pressing against my scalp, then saw it appear next to me as it pointed at Connor.“I win,” she said, and I could hear the sneering triumph in her voice.
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR Connor
I rushed over to Leo’s body, staggering in the tilting hallway as I ran.He was lying face-up on the ground, a pool of blood spreading out beneath him on the floor.He saw me coming. Tried weakly to lift his AR-15 – I put two more rounds in him with my .45.BLAM BLAM.He lay still after that.Adrenaline coursed through me like a drug, sharpening my senses while making everything unreal.I felt sick. I had just killed a man. I had just taken a life. He was a traitor, yes, and someone who was planning to hand me over to be killed – but still, I felt queasy.Lily.She was all that mattered. I pulled myself together.“Nice shooting,” Eve said in my ear. “Oh ye of little faith.”“What?” At first I thought she meant something about me doubting my abilities to shoot someone, which didn’t make any sense.“You thought I was a turncoat? AGAIN?”“Oh,” I said sheepishly. “Sorry about that.”“Hmph. We’ll talk later. Go down the hallway the way you were originally heading – there’s a half-dozen g
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR Lily
BOOM.There was a massive explosion somewhere on the ship. Every glass pane in the spider terrariums rattled, and a couple cracked.“What the hell?” Miranda said, and stumbled to her feet as the yacht began to tilt to one side.After my initial shock from the blast, I watched Miranda’s face. She was reacting with more fear – in fact, with more emotion – than I’d ever seen her display before.She looked back at me, her eyes wide with surprise.After all the indignities the bitch had put me through, I couldn’t resist. “Guess my fiancé’s here,” I said, and gave her a little smile.
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR Connor
I was halfway down the deck when Eve spoke in my ear. “Connor, there’s a problem.”“What?” I whispered.“Juan and Leo are on the other side of the yacht, but I’m not getting any video feeds of them.”There was a dull WHUP in the distance, then another one a few seconds later.Not like gunshots, exactly. But they did sound like a heavy book being dropped on a wood floor.I ducked into an alcove with a door in it, and hunkered down into a squatting position. “Juan? Leo?”“We separated, and Juan ran into a guard,” Leo’s voice said. “Juan’s dead, but I got the other guy before he could sound the alarm.”SHIT. Already things were going to hell, and we’d barely engaged the enemy yet.But… something didn’t make sense…I frowned. “I heard two silenced shots. How come I didn’t hear any regular gunfire?”“They’ve got suppressors, too. The first one was the guy shooting Juan, the second was me shooting the guard.”I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something seemed off. I just chalked it up to
