A Very Bad Billionaire (BWWM Contemporary Romance Novel) (3 page)

“Court papers?” I asked. “Who’s dragging me into court today?”

“I have no idea about that sir. I’m just a courier who was assigned to bring the envelope to you. Could you sign here please?” she held her clipboard out to me as she clicked her ballpoint pen. I thought it was odd that they still had people signing on paper when all the big delivery companies have you sign a handheld computer.

After signing, she handed me the envelope. I couldn’t help but notice that the only thing on it was my name, not even my address. There was no return address or indication of who had sent the envelope to me.

“Who sent this?”

“I don’t have that information, sir.”

“What do you mean you don’t have that information? You had to pick this envelope up from somewhere. Where did you pick it up from?”

“Sir, the envelope was left at the courier office with a sticky note on where to deliver it and a $50 bill. That’s all I know.”

I found that to be extremely odd but nodded and kept my lips grimaced before I told her how stupid she sounded. Bewildered at who would send me a mystery package, I closed the door and walked into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. I had a bad feeling about the envelope and needed some caffeine before I even thought about dealing with it. I shook it a couple of times as the coffee percolated trying to get a feel for the contents. The thought of anthrax entered my head, but I seriously doubt that I would be the target of a terrorist plot. After I poured myself a cup of coffee and took a few sips, I slowly tore the envelope open, taking care not to rip any papers that might be inside.

No part of me was prepared for what I found when I looked in the package. I’d been going to a secret sex club for years and was assured everything was private and confidential. Almost nobody even knows that the club exists because the building is split into two areas. There’s a regular nightclub right above the underground secret sex club where people drink and party well into the night. Upstairs, where the regular nightclub is, anybody can go there. It’s meant for the average, typical Joe, but the secret sex club downstairs is filled with many powerful people. Whoever took those pictures of me were sending them to me as a message. I thumbed through them and was dumbfounded when trying to come up with who may have taken them. There are very strict no photography policies in the club to protect people like me. If they’d ever catch you with your camera out, security would snatch up your phone before you’d have a chance to use it—that’s how stringent they are.
Could the photos be the result of an inside job?
I doubt it. I’ve known the owners for years and they keep a pretty tight leash on the people who work for them.

Unfortunately, since the club basically doesn’t exist as far as the general public knows and privacy is such a priority, there is no surveillance video of any kind. That was supposed to be a safeguard for situations just like this, but now I couldn’t even look at a video to see who smuggled a camera in. I took the rest of the photos out of the envelope and started looking through them. I tried to get a look at who I was with, but I couldn’t make her out. If I knew when the photo had been taken, I’d have a better idea of who I slept with that night but there was no date or any other marks that could give me a clue.

This is going to drive me crazy! Who would want to send me these pictures? Who had such a serious vendetta against me that they would want to bring my personal life out into the public eye? I sifted through the photos one more time looking for something, anything. That’s when a small, folded sheet of paper slipped out of the stack. I opened it up hoping it would give me more info. Unfortunately, it was quite vague.

Dearest Kaiden,

Do I have your attention yet? Don’t think I’ve forgotten about you. You owe me asshole! I’ll have some demands soon. Don’t make me take these pictures to the press. I know they’ll pay me well for them. I’ll be in touch.

There was no signature on the note—not that I should be surprised—and I didn’t recognize the handwriting. Whoever would take secret pictures of someone in a sex club isn’t likely to out themselves very easily. I knew I couldn’t risk anyone seeing the photos so I took the envelope straight to my office and put them on my desk. To avoid any prying eyes, I put some random papers on top of it. That’s where I planned to leave the pictures until I could take them to the club to show the owners. They needed to know what was going on so they could keep an eye out. Maybe they had even seen something that looked suspicious that would lead me in the right direction.

I had to prepare for what was to come. What else could any of this be about except for money? The note said that I owed the person so I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. If they demanded money to keep the photos away from the public, I’d have no choice but to pay. The problem is trusting that the person would do the right thing and get rid of any incriminating evidence against me—extra photos, back-ups, negatives or whatever they might have. What would stop them from taking my money and publishing the pictures anyway? This person seems greedy and a double payday would be hard to resist.

My business is important to me and my public image is a huge part of who I am. I donate to a lot of charities and things for the community to keep my name out there in a positive light. To the public and the press, I’m a good guy. No one knows a damned thing about my dark side, the side of me that dominates the underground walls of the Phoenix. The side that I don’t want to get out.

Calling Natalia again, I painstakingly listened to the rings until her voice mail eventually picked up. I didn’t leave a follow-up message because I knew that I couldn’t make her listen to me if she didn’t want to. I’ve dealt with enough women and hard-heads to know as much. Instead, I sat down on my office chair with my head in my hand as I tried to decompress the situation. I closed my eyes and started to think. Letting my thoughts drifted from one thing to another, all of my secrets—and lies—began to swirl in my mind like a tornado funnel cloud. I could see that funnel cloud starting to touch the ground just before it was ready to take off, damning my social status and public image.

CHAPTER THREE

Natalia

I couldn’t stay in that house. Not with him and not after what I saw. I didn’t know much about the man I was working for other than the fact that he has a lot of money. If I had known that he was some kind of dirty sex pervert, I might have thought twice about accepting the position. What kind of things was this guy into that he would have sex in a public place? Obviously he had no qualms about doing it in front of an audience since he had photos of his encounter in his office. Maybe he liked to have mementos of the girls he’s banged. They must have been some kind of trophy to remember his conquest by, or maybe voyeurism got his rocks off.

The thought of him keeping souvenirs from sexual encounters made me wonder what other things were inside the house that I didn’t know about. What kind of stuff was this guy into? Did he have a drawer full of panties that women had left behind? Did he have a video library of him screwing every woman he’s ever brought home? I should have been asking myself some questions of my own. Why couldn’t I stop thinking about what I saw in the pictures? The encounter appeared to be very passionate and intense. I imagined myself in the position of the girl and the image inside my head was amazingly hot. Why was I thinking this way? I had just been disgusted by what I had found and then I wanted to take the woman’s place? I wasn’t any better than him. Maybe he wasn’t the only pervert in the house. After all, it was my panties that were soaking wet at the thought of his hard cock impaling me as I envisioned myself in those pictures.

I had to stop thinking that way. It’s natural to become aroused when you see sexual images. That’s human nature. There’s also something about seeing photos that were never meant for your eyes to see that makes it seem a little more…hot. Makes it seem more taboo. I started thinking about my job. I needed it badly. It paid much more than anything else in the area. Not that it mattered because I hadn’t been able to find suitable employment for months. Could I continue to work for a man like Kaiden Melrose knowing what he was into? At what point would I be compromising my own morals and beliefs by staying? Maybe it would be an isolated incident and nothing like that would ever happen again. But what if it did? Or what if I stayed and he tried to exploit me for knowing his dirty secret and held it over my head?

Needing time to think before I decided if I would go back to work or not, I began to take a walk. The background noise of the city helped soothe my thoughts and mellow me out enough so that I could start to think and clear my mind. Manhattan is never quiet, but the noise is so constant that it eventually all fades together and into the background. I had made it several blocks before my cell phone started vibrating in my pocket. Pulling the phone out, I could see that it was coming from Kaiden’s house since the number was stored in my phone from the interview. I figured it must have been Lupita or maybe even Bailey. I almost answered it, but I stopped myself. What would I even say or tell them as for the reason why I left? What if it wasn’t either of them? What if it was actually Kaiden? What would I say to him? More importantly, what would he say to me?

Not ready to deal with anyone from work, I let the phone ring until my voice mail picked up. I was surprised when my voice mail alert sounded off. Who does that anymore? Why not just text me if you have something to say? There is nothing I hate more than having to check messages in my voice mail box. Most of the time, the messages just sit there and only get cleared when I get tired of seeing the little envelope icon on my phone. I guess it annoyed me more than usual considering the mood I was in.

Aggravated, I stuffed the phone back into my pocket. The best thing for me was to ignore whoever it was and only make my next move when I was ready. But who had been calling me? Was Lupita calling me because Kaiden was mad and taking it out on her because she recommended me for the job? Was it Bailey calling to tell me that I no longer allowed in the home because my services would no longer be needed after I ran out like that? I tried to be strong, but I had to know who had called.

As the computerized voice system told me that I had one new message, I suddenly felt myself becoming nervous. My muscles tensed, my stomach knotted up and my hands became sweaty. I cringed when I heard it was Kaiden. He was the last person I wanted to be calling me. While I listened to his message, I was surprised by how calm his demeanor was. He sounded like a man who didn’t have a care in the world. The message made me angrier than it probably should have. Who in the hell did he think he was?

I put my phone into silent mode. If someone else called, I didn’t want to know. I needed a little time to myself to figure things out. I peeked into the small shops that lined the streets and enjoyed the smells from the cafes that appeared on nearly every street corner. The sweet smell of cinnamon bread and coffee made me forget about my troubles, at least momentarily. After about an hour of walking around, I decided that my mind was clear enough to go back to the house. The job was important to me and I wanted to do whatever I had to do in order to keep it. My hope was that Kaiden would actually be embarrassed that I came across the pictures and never bring the situation up again, or better yet, avoid any contact with me at all costs.

Walking back to the mansion was a little more stressful than it should have been. I had no idea what was going on back at work. Would I be able to pick up where I left off like nothing had happened? Who’d seen me run off in the first place? How pissed was Mr. Melrose? All I could do was walk back into the house with my head held high and let the domino’s fall where they may.

When I walked in the door, all of the commotion in the house came to a halt. Everyone’s heads slowly turned to look at me, staring me down. Had I made that big of a scene when I left or was everyone aware of what had happened? I looked around and didn’t see Kaiden anywhere, which was a relief. Maybe he was no longer in the house. Lupita was still there, however, and she rushed up to me.

“Is everything okay? Mr. Melrose was looking for you.”

“He was? What did he want?”

“I don’t know. He just asked me if I knew where you went. He didn’t seem very happy.”

Lupita noticed that Bailey was starting to come out of her office so she went off to make herself look busy before we could finish our conversation. I’m glad we were interrupted because I had no idea what I would have said to her if she questioned what was going on. Frozen, I stood near the stairwell expecting Bailey to say something to me or at least ask me to come into her office. I was relieved when she walked right by me without saying a word. Maybe nobody was aware that anything had happened. For the first time since I saw the pictures, I allowed myself to relax. I told myself that everything was going to be okay. It had to be, right? At least that’s what I told myself.
Whatever gets you through the day.

Looking at the clock, I was surprised by how late in the day it was. With all of the day’s events happening so quickly, the day had seemed to slip by faster than I’d anticipated. It was actually a welcoming relief when I realized that I’d be able to go home soon. I decided to go into the kitchen to check on the cooks and see what they had planned for dinner that evening. As I entered the kitchen and turned the corner, I ran straight into Kaiden. There we were, standing face to face with one another. He was so close to me that I could feel his warm breath on my skin and smell his crisp, masculine cologne as it filled my nostrils. I thought the man was attractive before but with him being so close, he was downright fucking hot.