Page 33 of Billionaire's Fake Plus One

Spent,he collapses into the bed, his breaths coming in great pants and his chest heaving. I crawl over him and place my head on his chest, ignoring my tingling clit and clenching core. His palm settles on the back of my head and holds me to him. After a few minutes, his hands move down my back, gently massaging the muscles with his fingertips as I release a sigh. His cock slowly swells against my thigh, and I immediately feel wetness run between my thighs.

How canhe be aroused again already? “We’re supposed to meet the jet at the hangar in two hours,” I protest weakly, my heart not really in it.

“Then it’sa good thing that I own the jet,” he murmurs as he rolls me onto my back.

25

Rachel, you wanted to know how the wedding went since you’ve never been to a destination wedding before. Well, It didn’t…??

Lucien suggests we spend a few more days in Half Moon Bay. I know the moment we go back to Bainbridge Island, this thing between us stops. And I really don’t want it to. Not yet at least.

I’m sitting on the couch, legs crossed as I dreamily watch him mix the pancake batter. His phone suddenly rings from the bedroom. “I’ll get it for you,” I say jumping to my feet. I hurry into the bedroom and pick up the sleek high tech device from the nightstand, then hurry back into the living area.

“Who is it?” Lucien asks, watching me approach.

“I’m not really sure.” I turn his phone in my hand to check the caller’s ID. “Oh, it’s Malcolm.”

“He probably wants to check in.” Lucien gives me a short kiss as he takes the phone from me. “Malcolm, I was going to call you after…what? When did that happen?” He drops the batter on the dining table, and I watch him in concern as the playful tone in his voice is replaced with a deadly serious one. “You should have called me immediately even if it was in the middle of the night, Malcolm! Huh. Okay, okay. We’re on our way now.”

“What is it? What’s wrong?” I ask as soon as the call ends.

Lucien’s gaze moves to somewhere over my shoulder. “Millie got sick with the flu early yesterday morning, and he rushed her to the hospital. He didn’t call because he knew we had the wedding and didn’t want it to interfere, which is absurd! When he went back home for some of her things, he saw Brittany trying to break into his house to take Maddie.”

“What!?”

“We need to leave. Now. Pack up your things, now!” His voice is a little cool, but I try not to worry about what it means for us. I mean Millie is in the hospital for God’s sake, and Maddie almost got kidnapped by her own mother. My heart aches, nonetheless, at the impromptu end to our sweet interlude.

We don’t talk as we gather our belongings…or during the short drive to the private hangar. Nor do we talk as we settle in. As soon as the plane takes off and reaches altitude, Luien pops up from his seat and starts pacing, clearly agitated.

I bite down on my bottom lip as I watch him, feeling concerned. I’m also worried about the girls, but from what I could tell from the other two calls he made to Malcolm, they seem to be doing fine. Brittany was turned over to the police. Apparently they had a restraining order against her, which she has now violated.

“Lucien, won’t you sit down? You’re making my head spin.” He directs a cold gaze at me, and I swallow, feeling a little hurt from the sudden change in his demeanor toward me. “The girls are fine. Malcolm took care of them.”

“I should have been there with them,” he growls and thankfully takes a seat. “I should have left this fucking Island as soon as the last guest left last night, but instead I–” He grits his teeth, and I flinch at the implication of his words. Instead, he stayed back to have more time with me.

I inhale deeply, telling myself not to be hurt. He’s just worried about his girls, that’s all. I try to reassure myself, but I’m not sure I believe it. I ignore the growing throb in my heart and focus on trying to distract him. “Why don’t you tell me about your past with Brittany. I seem to remember you promising to tell me today.”

His eyes narrow until he’s staring quietly at me through amber slits. I almost think he’s going to refuse. “We met in high school,” he starts, “and dated on and off over the years. We were never exclusive, and our relationship was off more than on. When I was twenty-five, we hooked up again for a few weeks, and she disappeared like she always does. But then she showed up a few months later, pregnant and claiming that I was the father.” He takes a deep, bracing breath, and I lean over to place a comforting hand over his. He glances down at our hands, then looks out the window.

“My career was taking off at this point. I was flying top clients and earning over six figures per month. I wasn’t going to just take her word for it because I always use protection. I knew most women only saw my net worth when they looked at me.” How sad to always believe someone is with you because of your wealth and the things they can gain from you.

“I had a few tests run, and it turned out she wasn’t lying. I immediately married her so I could have access to my kids whenever I wanted and to give them my name.” He continues, “Like I said, my career was peaking, so I was mostly flying and never home. She didn’t mind my absence as long as I kept funding her card. Then the girls came and she realized that she wasn’t cut out to be a mother. She actually tried to drown Maddie.”

No. I gasp in horror. What kind of mother would try to hurt her daughter? “One of my flights got canceled unexpectedly, so I came home. Thank God. I rushed her to the ER, and the doctor said she was very lucky to have survived. I threw Brittany out right then and started divorce proceedings.

“She kept coming back, stalking whichever nanny I had watching the girls, then snatching them up to run away with them. The cops always caught her before she got too far. I finally drafted a contract to pay her to leave us alone. In exchange for the money, she was to basically forget their existence. She accepted it eagerly, and I filed a restraining order as an added safety measure. She hasn’t shown her face near my girls since, and I doubt they’d even recognize her if she did.”

That’s such a horrific story. I’m in absolute shock, unsure what to say. I pegged her correctly as a total bitch when I met her, but I never imagined what a monster she could really be. How could she do that to her own children? And collect money from Lucien, basically selling her rights to the girls. I try to come up with the words to comfort him without sounding mundane, but I come up short.

“Why the hell would she show up? Why now?” After jilting Zane at the altar, which is exactly what that idiot deserves for trying to get with such an evil person. After knowing what Lucien went through with her!

“She probably ran out of money. Now that she no longer has Zane to bankroll her, she must have been especially desperate to take Maddie…breaking not only the clause in the contract she signed before I paid her, but the restraining order as well. She’s going to rot in jail.” Lucien gets a cold glint in his eyes, his lips tilting up, but not out of amusement. I shiver as I watch. I hope he never looks like that when he thinks about me.

We’re silent the rest of the flight home. The plane lands at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport instead of the private hangar we took off from at the edge of Bainbridge Island. I ask Lucien why as we get out of the plane.

“They’re at the Swedish Primary Care in Queen Anne,” he answers shortly. I’m quiet as he opens the door of a sleek sports car and closes it gruffly. I can already feel the distance growing between us like a wide chasm. I buckle my belt as he pulls out of the private garage. I stare out the window throughout the short drive.

A few minutes later, he pulls into the hospital’s parking lot. Malcolm is standing on the curb, waiting for us. Malcolm gives me a polite nod. “She’s feeling better already and has been asking for you. Both of you,” he says, as he leads us into the hospital. The Pediatric center is on the third floor, so we take the elevator and walk down the long hallway to a private ward.

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