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THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR Miranda
This was a disaster.I dialed my contact’s number.“Yes?” said a man’s voice.“They found the limo.” I could barely contain my anger. From the sound of my voice, a stranger might have thought I was merely annoyed – but anyone who had dealings with me would know their life was on the line.The man sounded stunned. “Shit. My men told me they made sure it would never be found.”“They were stupendously wrong.”“Miranda… look… I’ll eat the cost on this. I’m sure it was an honest mistake – ”“We’ll decide the appropriate actions to take later. I don’t have time to deal with your men’s incompetence right now.”The voice turned pleading. “Miranda, these are good guys – except for this one wrinkle, they did an A+ job. Don’t make me – ”“LATER. Activate the contingency plan.”Stunned silence. Then – “Are you kidding me? You really want to go through with that?”“It’s why we developed it in the first place.”“It’s going to look highly suspicious, doing it the first day he’s in Rikers.”“Your me
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 232
To distract myself from the horrific scene on the shore, I walked away and placed a second call to Mr. John Koffitz, the lawyer Mr. Templeton had called after he left the penthouse. I’d left a previous message while we were waiting for the dive team, an hour before.I got his voicemail. “This is John Koffitz of Koffitz Crane Berkley and Jones. Please leave a message.”I didn’t want to identify myself as Connor’s fiancé, in case he thought Connor was guilty of the murder, so I just kept it vague. “Mr. Koffitz? Hi, Lily Ross again… I really need to talk to you about Augustus Templeton. It’s urgent. Could you please call me?” I said, and left my number.I knew that if he Googled my name, he would find out all about my connection to Connor thanks to my nude photos and Miranda’s blackmail from a year ago – but I couldn’t help that. And if he weren’t mixed up in the conspiracy, there was no reason he wouldn’t call me back.He never called me back.When I returned to the crime scene, Bert an
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 233
There were two bedrooms in the cabin. One had been turned into a makeshift office, with a laptop and printer.Koffitz brought up a document on his laptop and printed out a copy. “The only problem, of course, was that he didn’t get to sign the papers. So it’s worthless in court. BUT… he fully intended to sign it the following day.”I looked through the papers. I didn’t understand some of the legalese, but even to me it seemed clear that Mrs. Templeton and Vincent split every physical asset and bank account, but Connor got control over the company itself.“This makes no sense,” I said. “Mr. Templeton had dinner with us once. That was it. He wasn’t going to sign over everything he’d worked decades for just because of that one dinner. Even if he was trying to mend the relationship, he wouldn’t have done that.”“You’re thinking Augustus wouldn’t have given Connor control because of whatever bad blood existed between them. But the truth was, he immensely respected Connor. Connor was the one
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 234
From the moment the judge denied me bail, two thoughts kept me going: holding Lily in my arms again… and getting revenge on Miranda. Both were excellent ways to keep my mind off the nightmare my life had become.My reference points for prison were Hollywood movies, so I can’t say that I was totally prepared for what came next – but there were a bunch of moments that felt vaguely familiar. First there was the transfer from the jail in Manhattan to Rikers. They put me in an armored van for the trip.Let that sink in for a second.An armored van. Like a Brinks truck, the kind they transport millions of dollars in.Why? In case I’d hired a bunch of mercenaries with rocket launchers to break me out?I think the New York judicial system had seen one too many bad action flicks.There was the check-in, where my belongings were inventoried in front of me and put into storage. Then there was the shower and de-lousing powder. (That was an unpleasant first for me.) Then a new orange jumpsuit, s
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Our car sped away from Sylvan Beach through the tree-lined country roads of upstate New York. Johnny drove, and I sat next to him in the front seat.“So how much of that did you hear?” I asked Eve over the phone.All of it.“Do you think you can find anything on Miranda?”Already on it. By the way, Bert’s about to call.“What?” I asked, and then suddenly the phone rang.I checked the screen: it was Bert.“Weird,” I muttered, and answered the call. “Hey Bert.”“Anything turn up with your field trip?”“Yeah, a lot – but Eve probably doesn’t want me discussing it over the phone.”There was a ping! in my ear, and I held it out to see a text message from Eve:Definitely NOT. Do it in person.“Do you have to listen in on my phone calls, too?” I asked, annoyed.Yes, came the immediate text.“What?” Bert asked.“Nevermind. Just thinking out loud.”“If you can’t tell me the details, then tell me this: good news or bad news?” Bert asked.“Good news, but not the smoking gun we were hoping for. W
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 236
Bert said goodbye to us in the prison parking lot. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he cautioned me. “Give it 48 hours. The system will work.”“Right,” I said sarcastically. “Because it’s worked so well so far.”Bert gave me a scolding look, then nodded at Sebastian and Johnny. “Gentlemen, I’ll be in touch,” he said, then got in his Mercedes and drove off.“What do we do now?” I asked Sebastian and Johnny in despair.“Apparently, we go home and wait,” Sebastian said, sounding almost as hopeless as I felt.As we all got in the car, I heard my cell phone chime. Eve had sent me a new text message:Screw waiting. Want to do something crazy?An hour later, Sebastian, Johnny, and I sat around my phone in the penthouse, staring at the screen.I used your document on Miranda as a starting point. I thought you were exaggerating how secretive she was.“I wasn’t,” Sebastian said.I figured that out pretty quickly. She’s good – I’ll give her that. I searched high and low, and I finally found several
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“I cannot fucking believe I am going to fucking Tanzania,” Sebastian groused.It was almost midnight as we stood on the tarmac at the airport. Two private jets owned by Connor were fueled and on the runway. Johnny stood there with an overnight bag; Sebastian had a decidedly larger one.“There’s no fashion show in Tanzania, Sebastian,” I teased him.“Do not say a thing to me,” he sniffed, then muttered to himself, “I could be going to Venice…”“Be careful, okay guys?”“We’ll be fine,” Johnny said.A head popped out of the open door of the Africa-bound plane: Stan, one of Connor’s four bodyguards. “You ready to go, Sebastian?”“I’ll be right there,” Sebastian called, then turned back to me. “Do NOT do anything stupid while we’re gone, Lily. I mean it. Johnny and I are doing this as part of a deal. Your end of the deal is that you’re going to lay low and be there for Connor and not do anything crazy.”“I know, I know,” I muttered.“Do I have your word?”“I already told you yes!”“I want
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR Connor
After the skinheads tried to kill me, things actually got worse.I got tossed in solitary confinement, right after my hospital visit with Lily, Sebastian, Johnny, and Bert. Apparently in prison, even if you try to defend yourself against a murder attempt, you get thrown in solitary.Maybe they would have been more forgiving if I’d let the skinheads kill me.I didn’t complain, though. The longer I spent in SHU – the ‘security housing unit’ – the fewer chances Miranda had to have me shivved in the back. Despite my relative safety, the next two days were not fun. No word from Bert, no word from Lily, just 40-plus hours in an 8x10 concrete cell with a toilet that stank of sewage. The ‘food’ they shoved through the feeding slot three times a day tasted only marginally better than the toilet smelled – but I wouldn’t let them get to me. I shut my mind and ate the food, did hundreds of push-ups and crunches, and plotted like the Count of Monte Cristo for whenever I got out of prison.Miranda
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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
