Page 45 of Owned By a Billionaire

Yes, I knew that well enough. The man could move mountains and throw lightning like some malevolent mythical god. Only Rey was flesh and cold blood.

Resigned to giving him what he demanded, I sighed. “Send us the details, and I’ll see what I can do. I’m certain Manon and Drake will decline.”

“That won’t be a loss. I only want our lot there.”

“Manon is one of us. More than you care to think. Remember your roots, Reynard.”

“They’re long buried, just like yours.” He gulped back his drink and poured two more without asking me this time. Like he was preparing me for more bad news. “Which brings us to the issue of those exhumed bones.”

I took the glass and sipped like a woman condemned. “That malodorous detective keeps poking around.”

Rey didn’t respond.

“You were meant to deal with it, so it would never come back to haunt us.” My throat constricted as I controlled a battalion of emotions. I wanted to scream at him for making a mess of what could be my doom.

“Yes, well, Jim was a chain-smoker. I suppose he didn’t figure that I’d develop that site.”

“Why did you?”

Rey shrugged. “The building was condemned. My hand was forced.”

“But you must have known this could happen.” Until the opening of this investigation, I’d almost laid that gruesome chapter to rest. Except for those nightmares when Alice made a haunting appearance, poking her finger into my face like she had that fateful night.

“The point is this, Caroline—you’re the primary suspect.”

“No, I’m not. It’s your late friend Reilly, who everyone knows was connected to you.”

“I can make this all go away.” He fluttered his fingers as though we were talking about something light and frivolous.

As I watched Rey fill his glass once more, I had a sudden urge to have him removed from the house, to unchain myself from him forever.

“Well, then, let’s hear it,” I said.

“I want Elysium and that crumbling estate next to it,” he said. “I’m told they can’t afford the rent. They’re running the farm down. It’s not producing.”

“I know about that. Declan has expressed interest in working with the farmer to transition into an organic producer.” As his bloated request began to sink in, I shook my head. “My family won’t sit back and allow it.”

“Then Elysium, for now. Sign that over, and I can make this investigation go away.”

I bit my lip and, taking a deep breath, finally asked, “Why? You’ve got all that land behind it.”

“But Elysium is prime land. The views are matchless. You know that.”

“I know you want to fill it with your drug-dealing riffraff and install a seedy men’s club. It sickens me. The proximity to Merivale and the children…”

“We had a deal, Carol, and now I’ve come to collect.”

“Yes,” I said bitterly. “My Mephistophelean nightmare.”

He chuckled. “Oh, Carol, look where you are.” He pointed at the stunning view of Grosvenor Square. “You wouldn’t have any of this. You wouldn’t have met Cary, whom I can see you’re madly in love with.”

I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t tell what disturbed me more, that my passion for Cary was so obvious or that Reynard was right.

A thought suddenly occurred to me. “Did you have that building brought down on purpose?”

Rey shrugged. “You always see the dark in everything, don’t you?”

“When one is dealing with the devil himself, what do you expect?”

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