Page 27 of Billionaire Devil

“Really?” This is clearly shocking to him.

“Really.”

“Do you know his name?”

“Yes. But he died a long time ago. There wasn’t a lot to google. He was a drifter from west Texas. My mom said he had trouble written all over him but that he was so good-looking she went with it anyway. She said she fell head over heels in love with him but she knew from the very first minute that there was no way he’d stick around. And shewas right. He stayed for a few weeks, then one morning he told her she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met but that it was time for him to go. He walked out and she never saw him again.”

“What?” An incredulous chuckle. “This story sounds made up.”

“I wish it was.”

“So your mother just…never heard from him again?”

“Nope. When she found out about me, she tried to contact him, but she had no phone number and no address. It was like he disappeared into thin air. And then one day I googled him like I used to do from time to time and there was a death notice. It was sort of a coincidence because he’d only died a few days before I googled him.” I’ve never actually told this story to anyone in this much detail. But this is what I seem to do when I’m with Colton Maddox. So I keep going. “He was riding a motorcycle somewhere north of Kansas City and got hit by a sixteen-wheeler. The cops actually found a photo of my mom in his wallet with her name written on the back of it. So they called her up and asked her if she wanted his ashes. She told them to sprinkle them into the wind. It was where he was happiest.”

Colton gives me a sympathetic but sideways glance. “That’s unbelievable.”

“Yeah. It is.”

“And your mother? Is she still in Venice?”

“She died around two and a half years ago. Of a brainaneurysm. She was totally fine one minute and then suddenly she was gone.”

“Jesus. I’m sorry, Lila.”

“I actually think it’s a good way to go.” It’s something I’ve thought about a lot. “You’re just living your life like you always have and then, bang, you’re dead. The doctors told me she probably didn’t even feel it.”

Colton reaches for my hand and gives it a squeeze. “That’s fucking rough, honey. I’m sorry.”

I shrug, easing my hand from his, ignoring the flurry of butterflies that just took flight in my stomach at the contact. “What about your mother? Are you close with her?”

“She died when I was five.”

I watch his face for a second. I wasn’t expecting that. “I’m sorry, Colton.”

“After she died, my father went into full-throttle asshole mode. I’m sure part of it was grief. He really loved her and she must have loved him too, fuck knows why. My brothers have said that all the good parts of him died when she died.”

“Wow. That’s…awful.”

“Nothing was ever the same.” Colton’s voice has gone huskier at the memories. He’s almost completely lost the roguish playfulness that’s usually so much a part of his personality. “We had a brigade of nannies for a few years but my father decided to send us to boarding school when I was seven. To keep us in line.”

“You went to boarding school when you wereseven?”

“Yeah. It felt like a prison. My brothers handled it better than I did.”

I can see for the first time that Colton Maddox isn’tonlya happy-go-lucky playboy. Under that cocky exterior, he’s got some deep emotional scars. No wonder he’s afraid of commitment. Maybe his sense of abandonment still haunts him.

“Is your father still alive?”

“Nope, he had a massive heart attack a few years ago. We grieved for what could have been more than what was.”

“Sometimes that’s even harder.”

He glances over at me and it’s connective. “Yeah. It is.”

“But you have your brothers.”

“Yeah, I have my brothers. They’re a pain in my ass but they’re also my best friends.”

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