Page 28 of Billionaire in Disguise

She nodded. “It’s also why I’m so disappointed with the horrible conditions. I wonder if he has any idea of what it’s become.”

He hadn’t. It was no excuse.“He should know,” he said softly.

“I suppose you’re right,” she murmured. “Still, I’d like to believe he’s a good guy, who employs some not so good guys.”

Still no excuse.“Hopefully, he will realize it.”

She nodded, tracing her fingers over the letters of his name. “He wrote a book about computers, life and all sorts of things. It motivated a lot of people, including my brother and me.” She tossed the magazine down on the table. “I admire Knight, but Joshua idolizes him. He knows his entire life history.”

A buzzing sounded in his ears. If her brother knew him that well, he could very well recognize him.

How would he hack his way out of this one?

Chapter 8

It was time to reveal the truth.

Exposure was inevitable, and ever-closer, with Joshua’s arrival the next evening, the day of the anniversary party and their last day here. If Adrianna discovered the truth at the same time as her family, disaster would ensue, and the entire ploy would be compromised. If it somehow made its way to the media, it would cause true disaster. Yet despite all these reasons, one thing mattered more.

Dominick couldn’t bear to keep the secret from Adrianna any longer.

What started as an innocent ruse had turned into something more deceptive, more duplicitous. He’d justified it with his altruistic aim, yet somewhere along the way, motivations and consequences transformed, and misdirection turned into outright dishonesty.

He hated lying to her.

Something had shifted these past days. His world, his goals,him. Emotions surged, faster and further reaching than any in his life. Spending time with Adrianna recaptured good times of the past, when he was just a kid with a computer and a dream. Somehow he’d become the man in the ivory tower, the person sitting behind a desk and a hundred assistants, managing people, or as he was beginning to suspect, being managed himself. Here he was part of something, helping her family, enjoying life, not simply watching it. She brought back the past, redefined the present.

She was his future.

For a man who dabbled in zeros and ones, emotions were not easy. Yet sometimes the heart just knows.

Wait. It almost sounded like he–

“Don’t you just love it?”

Yes, he did.

“I do.”

Adrianna smiled. Yet she did not know the question she had truly asked, the answer he gave. How could he have missed it? Perhaps because he’d never felt this way before, and yet now it was so clear. He now knew how he felt about this woman. Not because of what they shared, but because of the emotions it revealed. He was meant to care for this woman, hold her, keep her safe and happy.

He loved this woman.

They had not known each other long, yet his soul recognized hers.

A deep breath in, a deep breath out. “Adrianna, I have something to tell–”

“Nick, I want to tell you–”

They chuckled, as much in unison as their words. “Go ahead,” he said softly. Their days may be dreadfully short, yet tonight the hours were endless. “What do you want to tell me?”

“Actually, I want toshowyou something.” She reached for him. “Come with me?” He grasped her hand, and the familiar connection sparked.

Then he followed the woman he loved into the darkness.

* * *

It shouldn’t matterthat his eyes lit up whenever they touched.

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