Page 20 of The Royally Broke Billionaire
Just as she was thinking that nothing could dampen her mood, she turned a corner and practically ran into Finn.
“Oh, hi!” She smiled up at him, unable to believe her good luck.
“How could you?” Finn hissed between his teeth, practically sneering at her. His normally soft, kind brown eyes were glaring down at her with a decidedly sharp edge of venom.
Piper stumbled back, startled by his angry glare and bitter question. Finn’s hand shot out to catch her. Despite his obvious annoyance, his impeccable manners still shone through.
He steadied her, but too quickly yanked his hand back from her as if she had burned him. Alarmed and perplexed, Piper stared up at him with wide eyes. It was obvious that he was furious with her, but her mind scrambled to come up with a reason for his bitter anger and came up dry.
The only mistake she had made was a brief kiss with Cole on the beach, but last night’s flirtation with Finn had taken place after that.Had he pondered it during the night and decided he was angry with her about it?
That didn’t seem logical, so Piper asked him, “How could I what?”
“You spoke to the press about Liam being King Sebastian’s son,” he accused.
Piper couldn’t believe her ears. Shaking her head for emphasis, she said, “No, I didn’t.”
“There’s a quote from you in the article.” Evidently having already memorized the damning words, he said in a high-pitched tone, ‘The royal family will want to put their own spin on Liam being the official heir to the throne of Isle de Monsail.”
Piper’s mouth fell open as she realized she had said these exact words to Cole on the beach yesterday.Did the billionaire leak the story to the press, or had the obtrusive drone recorded her?In either case, the quote had been taken out of context and without her permission.
Her breath came in short pants as she worked to understand what had happened. Finn glared at her as if he had just discovered she was a minion of the devil himself.
“Are you going to try to claim that you didn’t say that?” He narrowed his angry gaze down at her.
“I did say it,” Piper admitted. She intended to quickly explain that she hadn’t leaked it or intended for anyone but Cole to hear, but Finn huffed out an exasperated breath, wheeled around on his heels and stalked towards the royal dining room.
Piper followed quickly on his heels. Rather than giving her a chance to explain, he announced loudly to the already-seated royals, “The traitor is here to dine once more at your table and pretend to be your friend.”
Guilt overwhelmed Piper, even though she hadn’t done anything wrong. The stunned, hurt looks from around the table made her feel like a horrible person. After struggling to swallow, she croaked out the words, “Please… I didn’t… I wouldn’t…”
She couldn’t seem to formulate the words to properly defend herself from this unjust accusation, even though she was completely innocent.
“You betrayed our trust in you?” The hurt expression shadowing Queen Tess’s eyes was undeniable. Even though the words were voiced as a question, Piper could tell that the queen already believed them to be true.
“No,” Piper tried to defend herself, despite the sharp edge of panic that had firmly lodged itself in her stomach.
“So, the press has misquoted you? You didn’t reveal that Liam is the heir to the throne and indicate that the royals would want to put their own ‘spin’ on the story?” Icy venom dripped from Trey Donovan’s tone, making Piper glad she would never have to face him as a business rival. Even though she had seen his softer side in his dealings with his wife and sister, there was no doubt in her mind that he would make a formidable opponent.
Unable to look them in the eyes, Piper hung her head. “No, they didn’t misquote me, but those words were only meant for Cole Daniels.”
At the sharp intake of breath from someone at the table over that revelation, she quickly defended her choice to speak to him about it. “He had already figured out that the king was Liam’s father, and I made him promise not to reveal the scandal to anyone.”
Trevor Donovan made a disbelieving scoffing sound in his throat. “You honestly thought that you could trust Daniels? He’s a snake.”
“Talking about your snake of a brother again?” The deep baritone voice came from the entryway. All eyes turned to discover that Cole had joined them in the royal dining room.
“Actually, he was talking about you.” Trey informed Cole with a bit too much brutal honesty.
The dashing billionaire looked completely unperturbed by the Donovan brothers’ harsh words and angry stares. “While you two gossip queens have been sitting down here tittering about me this morning, I made another eight figures. At this rate, my holdings will surpass your combined wealth in a matter of weeks.”
The Donovan brothers both rolled their eyes and shook their heads at the pompous man. Trey lifted Ellie’s hand to his lips before saying, “Believe it or not, there are more important things in life than money.”
His wife beamed at him as if he single-handedly made the world spin on its axis.
Piper was impressed that neither of the billionaire brothers felt the need to brag to Cole about how much moneytheyhad made this morning. She was confident that their multinational businesses earned them millions while they ate breakfast. Unlike Cole, they were polite enough not to boast about it.
Cole strolled confidently over to the table, even though it was clear that he wasn’t a welcome guest. The impeccably trained waitstaff smoothly added a chair and place setting for him.
