Page 88 of Owned By a Billionaire

As a welcome diversion from the terror of what lay ahead of me, I allowed myself to reflect on how we’d made love before arriving at the party.

I hadn’t seen him for two days, and he’d hurried me into the bedroom at Merivale, virtually ripped off my new dress and entered me in one hard, deep thrust that made my eyes water. The feeling of his passion lingered, as always.

My heart was full of Mark, and for a moment, I suspended my growing angst to bask in the warmth of our deep connection, made ever so deeper now that we’d shared our dark secrets.

I took another glass of champagne as I gathered the courage to speak with Declan.

Bethany, who had been unusually quiet in the corner with her rockstar boyfriend, chose that moment to make her presence known by pushing a woman.

I’d just passed Carson on my way to talk to Declan, and Carson looked at me and shook his head. “I better go and see what’s happening.”

At that point, the woman, who could have been a supermodel with her good looks and long, slender frame draped in a designer dress, stumbled and fell to the ground.

Savanah rushed over to us, almost breathless. “Bethany’s just punched Olivia.”

“I saw that,” I said.

“She’s been so quiet and then kapow.”

We watched in horror as Carson dragged Bethany off Olivia.

Pointing into the hapless Olivia’s face, Bethany yelled, “She’s a slut!”

I rolled my eyes. Luckily, the music continued.

Carson took Bethany outside, while her boyfriend Sweeney continued drinking and chatting as though this kind of violent uproar was part and parcel of partying. Maybe in his scene, but had I not been weighed down with my own burdens, I would have taken Bethany aside myself.

After Carson returned, Bethany tried to re-enter, but security blocked her.

“You better have a word with her boy,” I told Carson.

He nodded. “Apparently, Olivia was flirting with him.”

Savanah shook her head. “How clichéd.” She looked around the room, where people continued to party, laughing and dancing, as though nothing had happened. “Have you seen Manon?”

I shook my head. Mark also seemed to be taking a while coming back.

Declan arrived at my side. He rolled his eyes at the uproar. While Bethany continued to rant and rave, Natalia and her suburban girlfriends huddled around Bethany’s rockstar boyfriend.

“It’s descending into a common nightclub,” Declan said, sounding more like me than usual, which made me smile. “Let’s leave them to it, shall we?” He cocked his head.

We entered a smaller reception room away from the crowd.

I sat on the sofa and ran my thumb over my fingernail as nausea danced anew in my belly.

“I met Reynard when I was extremely poor,” I began. “He helped me get through my studies, and I would accompany him to parties where he introduced me to some of London’s elite.”

Declan frowned. “Did he make you sell yourself?”

I shook my head. “I wasn’t forced into doing anything I didn’t want to do.”

He huffed. “I just need to know why he owns you and how we can stop him from extorting our family.”

Sweat slid between my shoulder blades. There was no way out.

While I searched for the right words, a loud, gut-wrenching scream rang in the air.

Declan’s shoulders slumped. “What now?”

---