Page 11 of The Billionaire Love Match

Colt rubbed his eyes. “We could have one of the women—”

“One of the women?” His mother stopped pacing. Oh no. Moving to stage three. “Do you not understand? Twelve million people tuned into this live episode. The retention rate was through the roof! Average watch time was over 45 minutes. This isn’t about one of the women. The world has fallen in love with Casey.”

His head snapped up at her name. He still felt that strange protectiveness over her. Even at the idea of the world loving her. Oddly, he realized he felt an intense jealousy. He wanted Casey all to himself.

“The world will forget about her tomorrow.”

His mother crossed her arms. “She has two trending hashtags.”

“What? No way.”

“See for yourself.”

His mother leaned against the wall and eyed him coolly as he snatched his phone and checked Twitter. Sure enough. #caseygate was the number two trending hashtag. The number four hashtag was #teamcasey. He scrolled through some of the tweets.

Clearly this is rigged or he would have picked the right girl for him. #caseygate

Don’t know if I can keep watching! Bumbling billionaire bachelor is more like it. #teamcasey

The only thing not fake about this reality show was Casey. #teamcasey #bringcaseyback #caseygate

Casey got robbed! Sign this petition to get her back on the show! #teamcasey #caseygate

He clicked through to the petition and saw over 10,000 signatures already. His mother was known to manipulate things, but even she couldn’t move that fast. He had a sinking feeling in his gut. She wasn’t going to let this go. And now that the watching world was carrying the same torch, it was really out of his hands.

The feeling of dread also came along with feeling of excitement. Selfishly, he did want to see Casey again. Daily if possible.

Even in the confines of the show, maybe they could figure out if they should give things a try. Maybe it would be clear that they just had spectacular physical chemistry and nothing else. Either one would be good for ratings and keep him out of trouble with his mom. He just needed a plan. No matter what, he didn’t want to see her hurt. But if she was already America’s sweetheart, she was pretty protected.

He looked up at his mother, almost afraid of his next words. “We could go get her. Right now. I’ll tell her it was a mistake. Beg her to come back.”

His mother’s mouth opened slightly and her eyes looked over his shoulder as though watching an invisible screen. “Show up at her house unannounced. Where she’s probably crying and being consoled by her best friend. You can tell her that you were wrong not to pick her. Get down on a knee—ask her to come back. It’s genius.”

She looked at him with such a feverish excitement that Colt should have seen the next part coming.

“Of course, you’ll have to send one of the other girls home now.”

“Now?”

She pressed her lips together. “Right. Now.”

“Who should I send home?” he asked. “And how do I say it? What way are we spinning this?”

“We can’t have you looking like the bad guy,” she said. “I could use some of the dirt I have on the women as an excuse.”

“Dirt?”

She waved a hand dismissively. “You know. Things we got out of the background checks and interviews.”

Of course she had dirt on everyone. She probably had a whole file on him as well. After a few minutes, she and her assistant Nancy had decided that a tall redhead named Beth was the unlucky woman. Now Colt just had to surprise the girls at the house only to send Beth home. In front of all the other girls, of course. His mother loved public humiliation. Allegedly she had violated the contract by being in an open relationship with her boyfriend.

“I’ll bring the car around,” his mother said, striding out of the room.

Colt sighed and put his head in his hands.

“You okay, Mr. Wood?” his bodyguard Mike spoke up.

“Ask me in four weeks,” Colt said. “Did you take care of that thing? With her boyfriend?”

“He’s on ice. And our legal team is working their magic.”

Colt stood. “Fantastic. At least that one thing will be good news for Casey.”

Even if nothing else was.

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