Page 23 of Billionaire Unexplained: Kaleb

“I’m glad that you didn’t,” she said softly. “Before I left, my friend, Kim, tried to alter my appearance as much as possible. She dyed my hair back to its natural color and cut it all off. My hair has always been my most recognizable feature. I look a lot more normal without it. But even though I look different, I’m still worried that if I go into a populated place, someone will still recognize me.”

I handed her phone back to her. “They might,” I conceded, finally getting used to the idea that Annelise and my Anna were the same woman. “Especially if they’re a huge fan. But it’s entirely possible that you won’t be recognized. If someone thinks they know who you are, you can always blow them off and tell them you get that all the time. You can acknowledge that you sort of have the same features, but laugh it off and tell them you’re not Annelise. I live outside of town. No one will bother you on my property.”

“If someone recognizes me, the press will be all over that within hours if they get wind of my location and who I’m staying with in Montana. For the most part, no one bothers me much in Los Angeles. The locals are used to seeing celebrities everywhere. But it would be a juicy story if I was shacked up with a very eligible billionaire in Montana. The press would want to know who you are and if there’s a romantic relationship between the two of us. That would be hell for you,” she murmured fearfully.

I shrugged. “Do I look worried? I have property, Anna. It’s not like they’re going to be allowed to camp out on my front lawn. Tell me the whole story about what happened to you that made you leave California.”

I reached out, snagged her body and tugged her next to me because she looked terrified.

Anna wasn’t worried that the press would find her. It probably happened to her all the time when she wasn’t in Los Angeles. She was actually concerned about inconveniencing…me.

She slowly relaxed against me. “I found out that my parents were murdered right before the last concert on my mega tour, which was in Los Angeles. I’m not sure how I got through that night. I think a large part of me was functioning on autopilot, Kaleb. Right after it ended, I went to my dressing room, and I had no idea what to do. My brain shut down to the point where I barely knew my own name. All I could think about was escaping to get my head on straight again. The press would have had a field day if they’d seen that meltdown. Kim came and picked me up, and I stayed at her place for the night. Both of us have become experts at evading the press when I don’t want to be interviewed, and they will chase me down if I give them something to write about. We went to her shop the next day after it closed, and she did my transformation. I hired a private charter service to fly here, and I was in Montana by the following morning. You pretty much know the rest. I missed the driveway I was supposed to go down and ended up here in the middle of a blizzard.”

I thought about all of the things she’d told me without telling me she was a famous pop music icon.

Her weird hours.

Foregoing her college degree for a lucrative opportunity.

Being a workaholic.

The constant stress of her career, which I’d actually highly underestimated.

Needing to get away from Los Angeles because she wasn’t functioning well.

All of those details about her life suddenly fell into place and made sense to me.

She’d been famous for a long time, but I couldn’t remember a single scandal that was attached to her.

She obviously was a workaholic without a real personal life.

I’d gotten to know her, and I was certain that she wasn’t into the Hollywood party scene.

She’d actually teased me about women falling over me. Hell, she could have any guy she wanted with a crook of her finger. She wasn’t just beautiful and kind. Anna was incredibly famous.

“Everything I’ve ever told you is true,” she murmured quietly. “I just left out some of the details. I planned on telling you the truth before we parted ways.”

“I don’t blame you for not sharing the truth with a stranger. We both agreed not to talk about some of the details of our lives. So music was your opportunity? The reason you decided against your college plans?”

“Actually, I’d already been accepted to Juilliard,” she explained thoughtfully. “I loved pop music, but I didn’t grow up dying to be famous. My original plan was to be a concert pianist. I was gifted on the piano, and my parents worked their butts off to keep me in classical lessons from the time I was five years old. I was discovered by a record producer who was on vacation in Bozeman. I was messing with a guitar and pop music I’d written myself. That discovery led to an official audition and then an offer to cut a record in Los Angeles right before I graduated from high school. I can’t say that I really regret that I didn’t become a concert pianist, but I still love classical music.”

“I like it, too,” I shared. “Mom is into classical and my dad was a country music fan. I was never really into the music on the pop charts. That’s probably why I didn’t recognize your face. Everyone recognizes your name, but I’ve never sat and really watched you perform for any length of time. Your face just wasn’t that familiar to me.”

She smiled brightly as she looked up at me. “Are you trying to say that you’re not impressed because you’re hanging out with Annelise?”

She was joking, but I could tell that she really wanted me to tell her that it didn’t matter that she was Annelise Kendrick.

And honestly, it didn’t matter.

I’d been shocked in the beginning, but Anna was no diva.

To hit her level of success for so many years told me that she was driven, which was commendable, but she was still the same woman who had fallen into my window a few days ago.

“I’m about as impressed as you were about me being an insanely rich billionaire,” I informed her drily.

She shrugged. “I’m not a billionaire, but I have enough money,” she said nonchalantly.

I was certain that she did.

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