Share

The Billionaires
The Billionaires
Author: Danny Walker

Prologue

Author: Danny Walker
last update Last Updated: 2023-06-29 11:35:08

Thump, thump, thump.

Fucking hell! Someone take my head out of the drum of this washing machine. The

wash cycle continues as my cell phone vibrates against the surface of the bedside table. The sound is like a nail gun going crazy. I unglue my eyes.

My lofty, gilded ceiling comes into view.

I stretch out my arm, fumble around, locate the blasted thing, hold it over my face, and squint at it. The blue light from the screen blinds me. Screwing my eyes, I hit the green button and put it to my ear.

“Boss, I’ve been pushing the bell for some time, and didn't get a response. Are you okay?” Semyon’s alarmed, booming voice tips the washing machine into the spin cycle.

“What time is it?” “After seven, Boss.” “So?”

“At night, Boss.” “What?”

I took four pills and decided to lie down for a few minutes, but I must have been more wiped out than I thought. I should have been at the club by seven.

“Bring the car around to the front in fifteen,” I instruct, pulling myself off the bed.

My shoes are haphazardly kicked in two different directions, but I’m still in my clothes. Rolling my shoulders, I make my way to the bathroom. I open my mirrored cabinet, and reach for a new box of

tablets. Discarding the plastic wrapper, I go into the drawing room and head for the bar. It’s an antique, made from wood reclaimed from a Russian church.

Warning. Do not take more than twelve tablets in any twenty-four hour period.

Fuck that. I pop out eight pills into the palm of my hand. Grabbing a bottle of Grey Goose, I unscrew the top, and take a generous swig of neat vodka. Nice one.

Fortified by the best legal anesthetic available, I go swiftly to the bathroom. In ten minutes, I’m showered and dressed in a fine Saville Row black tailored suit.

I grab my phone and wallet, and glance in the hall mirror. No time to shave. Still the five o’clock shadow suits how I feel. I open the door, and cool autumn air fills my lungs.

“I’ve called ahead and informed Vanessa that you’re running late and to have dinner ready for 8:30, Boss” Semyon says, as he opens the rear door of the Maybach.

I nod my approval and slide into the limousine’s luxurious leather interior. The air is scented with expensive perfume, and over the smooth purring of the engine, classical music plays. Semyon closes the door for me, and climbs into the front passenger seat. Immediately, Zohar, my stone-faced driver sets off for the club. I let my body ease back into the seat. Shutting my eyes, I rest my throbbing head on the plush headrest.

Were it midweek I sure as hell would not have left the house, but it’s Friday. It’s the one night I never miss being at the club. It’s not the truth, but I tell everybody that it’s because Friday night is sucker’s night. It’s time the dreamers, the hopers and the scammers will all be along. They go because, of course, life is a complete fantasy-fucking-land.

In their tiny, greedy bird-brains they think they’re just gonna stroll into my club, and a few fun-filled hours later, hit the £100,000 Free Stake (which has the same lure of fresh blood for the Great White shark). Sure, the odd one does good, gets to hold it in sweaty palms … for a bit, but that’s when the big hook comes out to play.

It’s the glittering, sweet-smelling, dream ticket out of their miserable, pathetic lives: the irresistible

£5,000,000 Free Stake. The idea? Put a hundred K in there that didn’t belong to you in the first place, and win five million. It fucking fries their brains. Even the most cautious, most level-headed gambler will forget that he walked through my front door, the man who never loses.

What does the man who never loses, rush to his club like a slave running to his master, on a Friday night for, you ask? Even when his head is fucking killing him?

Awww … look at you. All curious.

Stick around, cupcake, and maybe you’ll see me get it.

Danny Walker

Be sure to follow me if you enjoy... Thanks

| 4

Related chapters

  • The Billionaires    1

    NIKOLAI Roman and Andrei, both over six foot five, retired Special Forces soldiers, and the most loyal and reliable of my security team, are already waiting outside the entrance of Zigurat. You’re thinking because I’m a Russian billionaire, it’s fancy and probably built in a pseudo pyramid style, aren’t you? Nah. The location is discreet, and it’s sandwiched between some plain, gray offices on a deserted backstreet. There are no bright lights to announce its existence. In fact, the nicest thing you could say about the entrance is it’s nondescript. No cameras, or reporters hanging around. Exactly the way I like it. We neither advertise nor court any attention. One has to be recommended by another member to enter, then there is a rigorous vetting process. Before a punter can step a foot through our door he must understand exactly what’s on offer inside … and the risks … of non-payment. This way there are no, well, let’s call it, misunderstandings. Roman opens my door. I slide out, a

    Last Updated : 2023-06-29
  • The Billionaires    2

    StarQuietly, so I don’t wake Nigel, I slip out of bed. I tie my robe, lift my phone off the bedside table, and go downstairs. In the kitchen I switch on the coffee machine and set the dining table for two before pulling open the heavy curtains.Outside daylight is beginning to appear and I sigh with pleasure. The garden always looks best at this time of the year when the honeysuckle, freesia, sunflowers and roses are all out. I open the French doors and go out into the cool, fresh air. This is my favorite time of the day. When Nigel is asleep upstairs, the air is filled with the sounds of birds, and my mind can plot out my storyline. My phone rings. I take it out of my pocket and look at the screen.“Hi, Nan.”“Good morning, Love,” she greets brightly. Nan is like me. An early bird. Sometimes she’ll get up at five in the morning and start cleaning out the garden shed. It drives my granddad crazy.“You all right?” I ask.“Other than my dodgy knees and your granddad’s dodgy mouth, I’m

    Last Updated : 2023-06-29
  • The Billionaires    3

    STARHis words don’t even register. I shake my head. I can’t have heard right. “What?” “Oh, darling,” he croons. “Don’t look at me like that. You know I can’t take it.”“What are you talking about, Nigel?” I ask slowly. “I’m an addict. I’m addicted to gambling,” he mutters. “Gambling?” I repeat stupidly.He nods, a pained expression on his face. “What? At work?”“No.” He exhales loudly. “In casinos.”I stare at him blankly. Nothing makes sense. We’ve been to a casino once. Two years ago. We sat together at a blackjack table. Nigel refused to play, but I did. He looked on with a slightly disapproving expression as I played three rounds and gleefully collected my winnings. Three hundred pounds. “But you don’t even like gambling!”He runs his fingers through his hair. “I like it too much.” “Since when?”He shrugs. “Recently. It started off as just a little fun, small amounts, letting off some stress. You know the intense stress I’m under in the city.”“Stress?” I echo.“You have no idea

    Last Updated : 2023-06-29
  • The Billionaires    4

    StarHis words don’t make sense. My whole body feels like it is on fire. I’m an ordinary girl. I live an ordinary life. All of this is unbelievable stuff. Stuff of gangster movies.“He wants you,” he repeats glumly. “Me? What do you mean me?”He covers his face. “Fuck, Star. Do I have to spell it out to you? He wants you … your body.” I frown. “My body? Why would the owner of a gambling club want my body?”“You don’t need me to tell you why.”“But he doesn’t know who I am. I could be a frumpy, middle-aged housewife for all he knows.”His brow furrows. “I’m beginning to think that someone is jealous of me. They know that the most important thing in my life is you, and the best way to destroy me is to get to you.”Nigel goes on talking, but I stop hearing him.“He didn’t use the hammer because you agreed to let him have me, didn’t you?” I ask, my body crawling with revulsion.“No,” he denies, looking at me with wide eyes, and shaking his head vigorously.“Oh, my God. You damn coward. Th

    Last Updated : 2023-06-29
  • The Billionaires    5

    STARWhen I get out of the shower Nigel is waiting for me in the bedroom. I walk past him without looking at him and go to my wardrobe.I open my underwear drawer. “Have you called him?” “No.”“I’ve got to pick up Nan now. I’ll be back this afternoon. Please make that call by then.” “We need to talk,” he says.I let my towel drop and pull on my panties. “No, we don’t.” “Our marriage …”“Shame you didn’t think about it while you were happily gambling away everything we have,” I spit. He walks towards me. “Please, Star.”In the mirror, I see him standing behind me. His hand reaches out, and I watch transfixed, as his fingers caress my breast. His hand is a few shades darker than my skin.The image is erotic.I carry on watching him. Surprised at how I feel absolutely nothing. He slides around to the front of me and latches his mouth onto my nipple. I look down at him suckling at my breast. Like a … vampire. He looks up and our eyes meet. The expression in my face makes him freeze. He pu

    Last Updated : 2023-06-29
  • The Billionaires    6

    Star “Wanna do breakfast?” Rosa, my best friend, asks. I’ve know her since we were in primary school, and she’s always taken it upon herself to look out for me. She doesn’t sound quiteawake yet.“Yes,” I say automatically. “What’s up?”“Nothing.” “Bullshit.”“What makes you so sure something’s up?” I ask. “Let’s call it tone.”“I’ll tell you when I see you.” “But you’re all right?”“Yes.”“Sure?” she insists. “Sure.” “Lucianos?” “Okay.”“Can you get there in twenty minutes?” “I can get there in ten,” I tell her.“See you in ten, then.”As I park the car it starts pouring down with rain so I hold my bag over my head and run into the café. As I stand inside the doorway brushing my hands down my light jacket, I spot Rosa. You cannot miss her.She is stick-thin with flaming red hair cut into a smooth bob. She is wearing scarlet lipstick and what looks like a lace

    Last Updated : 2023-07-07
  • The Billionaires    7

    Star I gasp. “That is low. Even for you, Rosa. Nigel is absolutely devastated. You would be shocked if I told you what his original plan to sort out this mess was.” Rosa folds her arms and looks at me steadily. “Be good enough to share his brilliant plan with me.”“He was going to arrange for an accident … for himself so that I could collect on his life insurance money.”Even saying the words is painful to me, but Rosa bursts out laughing. “And you believed him?”The way she laughs makes me feel foolish, but I straighten my spine. Rosa can’t be objective about Nigel. Until this morning, Nigel has always been good to me. “Yes, I did. You should have seen the state he was in this morning.”“I love you, Star, but honestly, when it comes to Nigel you are just unbelievably naive. I mean, if I hadn’t met you before you got entangled with him, I would have written you off as an irredeemable bimbo. You think the su

    Last Updated : 2023-07-08
  • The Billionaires    8

    Star When I get back home, Nigel is in the front room slumped on the sofa. The atmosphere is tense and strange, and there is an open bottle of whiskey on the coffee table. “You switched your phone off,” he says, standing up and coming to me. His hair is ruffled and his face is pale and stressed. I’ve never seen him look so unhappy and depressed. “Why?”“I didn’t want to speak to anybody.” My voice is wooden. “Where have you been?”“Out,” I say briefly.There is a flash of something in his eyes. “Where?”I want to say, none of your business, but I can’t. This is my Nigel. My hero for so many years. Turns out my idol has feet of clay, but he is still my husband. “I met Rosa for coffee,” I reply, as I brush past him to go upstairs.“Did you tell her about me?” he asks in a strange tone.I turn around to look at him, surprised that he’d even ask. “Yes.” “I bet she was delighted,” he says bitter

    Last Updated : 2023-07-09

Latest chapter

  • The Billionaires    71

    ReeseFeeling happy, ridiculously so, I put my key in the door and push it open. It’s been a week since I moved in with Drake and I’m still floating on a cloud of joy. The apartment is quiet. Drake is out visiting with his agent about a sponsorship deal for anew sneakers company. He’s glad to be back training again, even though he comes home every night exhausted. A couple of times he tried to sneak me into the locker rooms again, in the hopes of re- enacting our kinky first-time meeting, but we’ve had no luck so far. There have always been people around. Sometimes I wonder how fate works. How easily I got in and found him alone the first time, but now it’s almost impossible to find a moment when it is quiet.I dump my keys on the side table and kick off my formal shoes. I’ve just returned from an interview at one of the colleges I hope to attend in the new year. I’ve always been wary about pursuing something away from Dad and Morgan, for fear that they would need me, or that somethi

  • The Billionaires    70

    ReeseAnother morning, another unfamiliar place for me to wake up in, but this time, the fact I’m somewhere new doesn’t throw me. In fact, it sends a shiver of joy down my back. I turn over to see Drake lying next to me, fast asleep and sprawled across the luxurious covers ofhis massive bed.It was last night that I officially moved into his apartment in the city. His place is great because it’s less than an hour’s drive from where Morgan is staying so I can be closer to her. I don’t know how much longer Morgan must stay in the hospital, but I hope she will be discharged soon. Now that we have found out her condition is treatable, I can’t wait for her to start living her life again.Drake drove down to pick up all my stuff, and we took a road trip across the country together. It’s something I will remember forever. It was like a dream. The sun was shining, and the wind was in my hair. We talked, we laughed, we ate, and when we just couldn’t keep our hands off each other anymore, we s

  • The Billionaires    69

    DrakeT he hospital doors slide open smoothly in front of us. Reese squeezes my hand. I glance down at her, and possessive pride bubbles inside me. This is my woman and only mine. It makes me sad that she must go through this pain. Thank God, I’m here tosupport her through it. She’ll never have to deal with anything like this on her own again. “Are you ready?”“Almost,” I say, and wrapping one arm around her waist and the other in her long hair, I pull her towards me. Caught off guard, she gasps and I claim her open mouth. Her fingers come up and grasp at my shirt trying to pull me closer, closer, and closer still. Her curvy body pushes into mine, molding herself against my hardness. All the passion and fervor I feel for her comes to the fore and all I want to do is pull her into a quiet corner and fuck her so hard she screams, but I don’t. I pull back and look into her eyes. They are glazed and heavy-lidded. Her lips are red, swollen, and slightly parted, as she takes short, quick b

  • The Billionaires    68

    ReeseWhen I open my eyes the next morning, it takes me a couple of seconds to realize where I am. I blink at the watery light streaming in through the bay windows. The chipped paint on the panes remind me.Drake. The cheap hotel.I snap upright in bed and look around, scanning the room for him, but I don’t see him. There is an indentation in the pillow, but the sheets are cold. Memories of last night come tumbling back. Drake couldn’t get enough of my body. Sinking into me again and again. Like he couldn’t get deep enough. Like a beast. Like he hadn’t fucked in years. Surely, he hasn’t run out on me in a crummy hotel in the middle of nowhere?So why do I feel this creeping sense of dread?What if everything he whispered, roared, and growled last night was a lie? A technique to get what he wanted. What if all he ever wanted from me was a night of sex so he could move on already. The sudden sense of loss and hurt is so acute it makes me feel sick to my stomach. Until I hear his voice c

  • The Billionaires    67

    DrakeI drive fast, faster than I should in someone else’s car, faster than I’ve driven in a long time. I just want to put as much distance as possible between me and my parents’ betrayal. I trusted them completely. Fuck, they didn’t even let me believe Santa Clausexisted because it was wrong to cheat kids! They robbed me of that innocent fantasy and lied about this massive deal!My mind flashes with memories of my childhood. All kinds of images slam into my head. Everything was a lie. I try to figure out if there is some way I could have known this. If I had been more vigilant, could I have put the pieces together before now? Even raging with anger, I know I still love both my parents, and I always will, but what they did to that poor woman.Unforgivable.My heart bleeds for Morgan. All those wasted years pining for me. Carefully cutting out my pictures from newspapers and magazines, and framing them all. Making a shrine for me. Watching every game. She was pale and frail. Like she

  • The Billionaires    66

    ReeseI''m wearing out the carpet in the living room pacing back and forth when Drake re- emerges. I can’t take my eyes off him. The look on his face is unlike anything I’ve seen on anybody before. He is so livid his eyes are practically shooting sparks. His mouth isclamped tightly with steely determination, and there’s a white ring around his mouth. Uh oh, something big is about to go down. What did we expect, though, when we invited someone as hot- headed as Drake to find out that he’s been lied to his entire life?“Do you have a car?” he asks through clenched teeth.I look at him blankly for a second. A car? Then I nod quickly. “Yes.”He marches over to me, grabs my hand, and starts dragging me along with him.“What are you doing?” I protest, even though a part of me loves the feeling of his hot flesh against mine again.“Come on. I need your help.” “To do what?” I ask.“To take me to my father.”I feel a cold sensation rush up and down my body.“I need to go over there now,” he s

  • The Billionaires    65

    DrakeI must admit this whole thing has started to give me the creeps. I was certain that it was all a scam. Fuck, I wouldn’t even have come if I didn’t want to mark Reese as my property so damn badly.To start with I’m not good at all this emotional stuff, but worse I’m not so sure anymore that it’s a scam. My bullshit-o-meter has been waiting to spot a crack, a problem in the story so that I can unravel and bring the whole thing down around them, but so far nothing. Could these three really be that good at pretending?I straighten my shoulders. Maybe this will be it. Reese was the honey trap, the Dad is the bit player, but the woman upstairs. She’s the eye of the storm.I get to the landing and find three doors, but only one is slightly ajar. I start walking towards, but before I can even knock, a woman’s voice calls from inside the room, “Drake?”I push open the door and my eyes immediately fall on a woman in a flowery nightgown. She’s sitting up in a double bed and leaning forward

  • The Billionaires    64

    ReeseWe both stand stock-still and listen to the noises upstairs. Someone is getting out of bed, and I’ll put money on it being Dad. Surely, they can’t have heard us? Even though Dad’s hearing is poor at best and the drugs effectively knock Morgan into such a deepsleep that it is sometimes hard to deliberately wake her up, I can’t be totally sure that they have been oblivious to everything that we’ve been up to down here. All I can hope is that Drake managed to muffle most of my noises by stuffing my panties into my mouth.I have no idea what I look like, but my face feels flushed, and my breath is still coming so fast I’m sure it must be blindingly obvious to anyone who lays eyes on me that I’ve just climaxed. Terrified that I’ll give the game away, I close my eyes and try to calm myself, but it’s hard, especially knowing that he’s right there, looking at me with more lust than I know what to do with.How am I supposed to react normally in front of my parents with a guy like this a

  • The Billionaires    63

    DrakeI called the number that Reese left, hoping that I’d find some way to get hold of her again, but instead, I found myself talking to the lady claiming to be my real birth mother. My hackles were still up, but she was so incredibly happy to hear from me that I ended uplistening to her with a kind of detached amazement.Was it truly possible for someone to pretend that level of sweet innocence and pure joy?I guess, if you’re pulling this kind of scheme, you should go all in and pick the sweetest, kindest, most adorable little lady you can find.Obviously, I agreed to meet her. The way I figured it, I’ll walk through her door, get to the bottom of the scam, then go find Reese and finish what we started. Any screwing that happens along the way, of course, will be purely incidental.The closest airport to my hometown is a small city about an hour north of it. It is a wet, thickly fogged day, and it sets the tone for the way I feel.It’s been forever since I was back here. Usually, m

DMCA.com Protection Status