Read Bancroft and Ford: Alpha Male Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Online
Authors: Kristen Lane
Bancroft and Ford: Alpha Male Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (8 page)
Bonus Book 2
Secrets of
the Rich and Famous
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Maria heard the familiar sound of her apartment’s front buzzer, but still the noise startled her. She certainly wasn’t expecting any company at this time of night and whoever it was wouldn’t lay off the buzzer’s button, ringing it frantically. Maria rushed to the window to see who it could be and to also scold them for almost waking up the baby. By the time she got it open however, the person had gone. It could also just have been the fancy intercom system in her state of the art apartment building on the fritz again; she swore that for an expensive and high tech building it had more problems than the old dilapidated building she used to call home. Nonetheless, it gave Maria a case of the chills. She didn’t have much time to dwell on the phantom bell ringer and cursed under her breath as she could hear her infant daughter begin to fuss and cry in the next room.
She was accustomed to having but one visitor to her apartment, very few people even knew where she lived and she had only recently moved there. Her new digs were courtesy of her love interest, who spared no expense to make sure that Maria had the best of the best. He had forbidden her from talking about him to anyone or even using his real name while they were together, so Maria lovingly gave him the nickname Ritchie Rich. She now rocked her beautiful four month old daughter Rosalina in a state of the art and beautifully decorated nursery, also paid for by Sir Ritchie Rich.
Although she had anything she could ever ask for or need at her fingertips, being a new parent was difficult work and by Rosalina’s last nighttime feeding Maria found herself exhausted and unable to keep her eyelids open any longer. She sprawled out on her brand new king size bed and under her five hundred thread count Egyptian cotton sheets, reflecting on how wonderful her life had become and falling asleep with a broad smile on her face.
Michael Lavine slammed his cell phone down on his kitchen counter, feeling exasperated and tired. It was his fifth and final attempt at phoning the babysitter, who as she did often decided not to show up to work or bother to answer her phone. Michael cursed out loud, angrily tossing his coffee mug in the sink and feeling no better as he watched it shatter into several pieces. It wasn’t until he saw Liam’s small brown eyes, wide with fear and watching him from the hallway that he felt remorse for his outburst. He couldn’t believe how silently that boy could creep around like he was a little mouse. Michael had no idea how Linda had been able to keep track of Liam all the time, in a house that felt too big now with just the two of them.
Just like his father before him, Michael had wanted to be a police officer ever since he was a young boy. It wasn’t long after he graduated from the police academy that Michael’s father died tragically and suddenly from a heart attack. Michael’s mother and Linda alike both blamed the stress of being a cop for his father’s untimely demise. They worried that Michael was doomed to the same fate, but following in his father’s footsteps in the force was all that Michael cared about. He wanted to honor his dad’s memory in a way that he knew would have made him proud.
It was during his days as a naive and hopeful new recruit to the LAPD, that Michael had married his college sweetheart Linda. At the time they were a power couple, both equally as passionate in their careers and their futures together. Linda was a well respected fashion photographer with an astonishing natural gift for her art form. She had landed her dream job working for one of LA’s top fashion magazines and her career only skyrocketed from there. Michael had his sights set on becoming a homicide detective and was already receiving recognition for being an outstanding police officer.
He could remember a simpler time when Linda and him would use up every one of their vacation days at work just to take random road trips together. They would lay sprawled out on the floor of their apartment afterwards, looking through all of the photos that Linda had taken on their trip. She took every last one of their photo albums with her when she left. At some point during the first six years of their marriage, Michael had blurred the lines between passion and obsession in his pursuit of becoming a homicide detective. There were no more road trips, Michael didn’t even take his vacation hours anymore and their marriage had far surpassed the honeymoon phase.
Then one glorious day it happened, Michael finally made detective. He promised Linda that everything was going to get better from then on; they had both achieved their every hope and dream. All there was left to do was repair their marriage, which Michael foolishly thought could be achieved by having a baby. He thought that by getting Linda pregnant it would bring them closer together and solidify their bond as a couple.
The truth of the matter was old habits die hard. Michael couldn’t give up his obsession with his career, which had only become even more demanding with his promotion and now totally consumed him. Becoming detective only made it even more difficult to separate his work life from his home life. The horrors that Michael witnessed on the job tormented him even in his dreams. He over compensated and tried to put yet another band aid on his broken marriage by purchasing a house for the soon to be family of three.
The couple did not grow any closer after the birth of their son as Michael had hoped, and even though they both loved Liam dearly, becoming parents wasn’t enough for them to try and work out their many problems. They fought often, with Michael usually being the main instigator of their brawls. It didn’t take Linda very long to become fed up with her husband’s short temper and broken promises. During one particularly large blow out fight, Linda accused Michael of being jealous of her. She blamed him for sabotaging her career and told Michael that he had always resented her for making more money than he did. Sadly, Michael couldn’t fully deny that it wasn’t true. Especially after he had to ask his wife to borrow several thousand dollars just to put a down payment on the house that was supposed to be his gift to her. Michael had sworn to Linda that the money was only a loan, but that didn’t stop him from feeling like any less of a man for it.
What Linda didn’t understand was that was the exact reason Michael was so determined to be a great detective, so that he could get promotions and raises to help support his family properly. He hadn’t gotten Linda pregnant just to punish her, he had done so because deep down Michael loved her and he had thought Linda wanted a family with him too. What Linda didn’t understand was the immense pressure he was under not to let his family, his bosses, or his father’s memory down, or how hard he was truly trying to make Linda happy. Linda would never be happy however, at least not with him. She took off one day while Michael was working overtime at the precinct yet again, with no note, no message and no explanation of where she had gone. Linda had left Liam with their elderly neighbor, climbed into a cab and never looked back again.
With his skills as a detective it didn’t take Michael long to track his wife’s whereabouts. It turned out that his lack of presence in their marriage hadn’t been the only reason for Linda leaving. Michael discovered that for the past year Linda had been cheating on him with some shmuck she had worked with at the magazine. Linda had left Michael and their two year old son to shack up with a hair stylist; he scoffed that Linda thought he was the one who was just using her for her money. He didn’t expect Linda’s new romance to be long lasting, but she had abandoned her family nonetheless. Five months later and Michael still hadn’t bothered to open the divorce papers that Linda had him served with just after she took off. Michael wasn’t ready to deal with what those papers symbolized, from the death of his marriage, becoming a single parent, to his wife’s deep cutting betrayal.
Chapter 2
oor neighbor to watch Liam when he was in a cinch, it was the same elderly woman his ex-wife had relied on to aid her in leaving him and running off with her hairdresser. That wasn’t the real reason he didn’t like leaving Liam there, although it certainly invoked some bitter memories, but the woman was also ancient and senile. Michael knew that his son probably ran circles around the poor woman, but today especially he had no other choice.
He had received an urgent phone call from his supervisor, who insisted that Michael get down to a recent crime scene right away. The Captain needed to brief all of the officers and detectives before the media frenzy began. Michael wondered what about this case could be so damn special that the media would take note. After all, there were hundreds of murders each week in the gang laden streets of LA. What Michael did know was this meant he would be under the Captain’s direct scrutiny on this case, and whatever it pertained, it would prove to be a huge headache in the days to come.
Michael stepped out of his car and into the barrage of shuttering cameras and reporters shouting questions at him. His day had barely began and already it was off to a terrible start. It only got worse when he entered the crime scene and was greeting by his very anxious and annoyed looking Captain. “What’s the story boss?” Michael asked as he was ushered into the living room of a very luxurious looking apartment. The victim’s high tax bracket might have explained the media attention, but unfortunately the case was even messier than that. The media was not here to report the untimely death of a young woman; they were circling outside like vultures for one reason only, to gossip on the presence of the famed and popular politician and billionaire Timothy Preco.
Police were first called to the scene by the victim’s neighbor and the call had originally come in as a noise complaint. The neighbor’s explained that the young woman’s infant child could be heard wailing loudly all night and well into the morning. This was not typical for the doting mother and normally quiet next door neighbor, so he became concerned as well as fed up with the noise and phoned the police. When the officers arrived no one answered the door and they could hear the child’s screams from inside. Following police protocol they broke down the front door of the apartment to rescue the child and see if everything was alright. What they stumbled upon was a gruesome and bloody scene, which is when Michael was called in.
According to the officers that responded to the emergency call, Timothy Preco just happened by in the midst of things and it didn’t take very long for the media to catch wind. None of the details of the crime scene or story had been leaked as of yet, but the heavy police presence accompanied by that of a somewhat celebrity had piqued their interests. Michael surveyed the scene around him as chaotic as it was, soaking up all the small details in his mind. No matter how many murder scenes he had stepped foot on, it never got easier and he could feel his stomach lurch when he saw how close in proximity the poor child had been laying in it’s crib, crying for her diseased mother to come comfort her.
It was a brutal and gory murder; Michael could tell the victim had tried to fight back by the defensive wounds on her body, but to no avail. Her name was Maria Constantine and according to her neighbors she lived in the apartment alone with her young daughter who was but a few months old. They said she had moved into the swanky building only a short while ago, but she seemed nice and they had never heard so much as a peep from her apartment since she had become a tenant. They described her as a bubbly and friendly young woman, who seemed to devote almost all of her time caring for her daughter. None of which explained to Michael why Timothy Preco had just happened by her apartment that day, but he had a pretty good idea. She was twenty three years old and stunningly beautiful, even in her current state. Typically girls that pretty living in LA were either in the modeling industry, or had an older and usually married man to pay their way. Michael’s gut instincts also told him that the latter was more likely true.
Michael surveyed the body from afar, seeing the young woman sprawled out on the bed wearing only her silk nightgown struck a nerve deep inside of him. The entire scene reminded him of Linda and Liam far too much for his own comfort. He could read about the woman’s injuries and already obvious cause of death in the Medical Examiner’s report later, right now he had much more important tasks at hand. One of which was to speak to Mr. Preco and get the facts of his involvement with Maria, and the other was damage and media control.
It disgusted Michael that his Captain had been so insistent on the LAPD wasting it’s time to protect Mr. Preco’s privacy and the reasoning had nothing to do with containing the details of the case. Timothy Preco lived an active life in both the spotlight and in politics, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to the LAPD and to his precinct. His Captain had been so insistent on discretion, not for the sake of the young victim or her now orphaned child, but to protect his own precinct’s yearly budget instead. Unfortunately for both Timothy Preco and his Captain alike, Michael cared more about justice and being a good cop than he did politics and budget cuts.
Michael marched across the room to where Timothy Preco was seated, with a traumatized look on his face and cradling the infant child in his arms. This confirmed Michael’s suspicions that Maria was indeed Mr. Preco’s lover, and the infant their love child. He would have preferred to question Mr. Preco back at the precinct, something about the intimidating interrogation room always seemed to coax a confession out of his perp, but Michael knew that the Captain would not approve. In Michael’s experience as a detective he had seen things like this hundreds of times before. It was not uncommon for the murderer to return to the scene of a crime under the guise that they wanted to help with the investigation. In truth, the sick bastards just wanted to revel in their crimes and keep tabs on the investigation’s progress first hand. Still, he knew that this was not an open and shut case, especially because of Mr. Preco’s wealth and notoriety. He needed to base his investigation off of solid evidence and facts; otherwise the defense attorneys could find holes in the case and set this murderer free.
“Good afternoon Mr. Preco, I’m Detective Lavine and I’d like to ask you a few questions if that’s alright with you.” Michael motioned for one of the female officers to take the child from Mr. Preco, who resisted at first but as Michael assured him that his questioning would only take a few moments, he complied, gingerly handing over the child as if she were made of glass. “Good show” Michael thought to himself as he led Mr. Preco into the kitchen so that they could talk in privacy. It took only a matter of minutes for Mr. Preco to spill his guts out to Michael, who was slightly taken aback by his openness about his affair. He told the detective everything, careful not to leave out a single detail. From how he had met Maria, to how long their affair had taken place and the birth of their child Anthony. He even told Michael about how he was paying off Maria to keep quiet about their relationship and who the father of her child was. He explained that it was of no financial burden to him, he was after all a billionaire. It all seemed too perfect to Michael, like the man had planned his speech ahead of time and seemingly had an answer or excuse for everything. It was also likely that he was being so cooperative as a means to hide his own guilt, which Michael had also seen occur before.
Michael thanked the man, informing Mr. Preco that he would be in touch shortly, which didn’t seem to worry the billionaire. Maybe Michael had misjudged him; maybe he really didn’t have anything to hide, but only time could tell the truth. The detective finished surveying the scene, grateful that his Captain had seemingly left the premises. Michael knew that didn’t mean that he was off the hook, and wouldn’t be anytime soon until he solved what was now a high profile case thanks to Timothy Preco’s involvement and relation to the victim. He doubted that any amount of money or bribes to the police department would help to keep the case under wraps for very long. The media was hungry for information and Michael knew he would have to solve this case quickly.
