Page 61 of My Cruel Billionaire

“I can’t tell them apart, buddy.”

“I can,” he said. “Look, I colored the tips of their tails with magic marker. Clyde is blue, Moe is Pink, see?”

I started to say something about how he shouldn’t be drawing on someone else’s puppies when an idea sparked in my brain. My mouth dropped open, and my mind raced through the possibilities. Yes, yes, it just might work.

“I love you so much, Damon. You just gave me an idea.” I hugged and kissed him. “Mommy will be back. Have fun with your puppies… and don’t draw on them anymore.”

I tracked down Evan at the hors d'oeuvres table.

“Forget what I said before. I’m back in the game.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Jenna

I stood at the top of a twisted, hollow skyscraper. I’d been inside of this building a few times before and always found it fascinating as far as architecture goes.

The hollowed-out design meant the lobby was fifty stories tall. I could look down and see the ground floor from where I stood. Pod-shaped elevators, decorated with industrial-style light bulbs, moved up and down in a never-ending dance.

If I thought about it, I could almost pretend I was in some sort of futuristic sci-fi setting. But I didn’t need the escapism of fantasy on that day. No, I was riding the waves of a different kind of euphoria altogether.

The atrium combined with the glass walls of the elevators meant I could pretty much see everyone as they came and went on all of the floors, including my own. There was a reason that I had picked that particular vantage point to have my scheduled meeting.

Speaking of which, I noticed Michael enter the lobby far below. I could tell it was him by the way he walked, even though I couldn’t actually make out his facial features from that far away.

He stalked across the lobby floor, entering one of the capsule-shaped elevators. I watched as he rode the elevator up, making a stop here and there along the way. A grin came to my lips, because Michael seemed to have some idea he was being watched. He kept looking all around, everywhere but up at where I perched on my raptor’s limb.

The elevator let him off on the top floor with me. He almost walked right past the little peninsula I stood upon. I waved at him, and his gaze swiveled over to land upon me.

Michael wore a confused expression as he walked toward me.

“Jenna? What are you doing here instead of Evan? He sent me a text that there was an important, life or death matter regarding the merger.”

“Evan didn’t lie to you,” I said. I gestured at the chair opposite my own. “Sit down, Michael.”

“Sit down?” he scowled. “No, I will not sit down. This is intolerable. I told Evan I would no longer work with someone as incompetent as you have proven yourself to be. I will not participate in this… are you eating popcorn?”

“Why, as a matter of fact, I am eating popcorn.” I held the bag out to him, munching away even as I spoke. “Bite?”

He opened his mouth to protest, and I gestured at the chair again.

“Sit down, Michael. Relax and take a load off for a spell. You’re just in time for the show.”

“The show?” Michael shook his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “No dice, Jenna. I don’t know what you’re playing at here, but I have no time for games. Not with a billion dollars at stake with the NonPoint and Leisure Unlimited merger. You must be out of your mind if you think I want to play along with… whatever this is.”

He gestured vaguely at me and my popcorn.

“We need to resolve this situation with the mole and saboteur. And since you are incapable of helping me, Jenna, I must do this task by myself.”

“Oh yeah?” I chewed a mouthful of popcorn and swallowed it. “Is that so?”

“Yes,” he said stubbornly. “It is so.”

“Huh. How’s that working out for you again?”

His face darkened, but he didn’t speak. I grinned around my delicious repast.

“You, uh, you got your suspect in custody yet? No? Uncover any evidence or, God forbid, proof? Hmm. Curious, most curious.”

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