Regency Romance: The Rake's Fake Marriage (Historical Arranged Marriage Romance) (19th Century Victorian Romance) (24 page)

After a couple of
hours,
a nurse came and replaced the drip.

''Is he going to be alright?'' Nicki asked.

''We think so. All his organs are
okay,
and he hasn't suffered any brain damage. He's got a few broken
bones,
and he'll need painkillers for
sometime
, but we're optimistic.'' She looked at Nicki sympathetically. ''Are you his wife?'' She shook her head.

Sometime around eleven pm, he woke up. Nicki was asleep in the chair next to him. When he saw her, he smiled. His mouth
was swollen,
and he couldn't speak very loudly, but Nicki wasn't in a very deep
sleep,
and his whisper was enough to wake her.

''Nicki, I'm sorry.''

''No, it's alright. I'm just glad you're alive.''

''Where are my jeans?''

Why does he want his jeans? Surely they should be the least of his worries. ''I don't know.''

His eyes narrowed slightly. ''Please find them.''

Nicki went to find a nurse and when she came back she opened, the
beside
cabinet and pulled out a plastic bag. When she took out a pair of
jeans,
she heard him give a sigh of relief. ''Here, the nurse said she'd put them in the cupboard.''

''Great,'' he paused and took in another breath. ''Look
inside
the left leg.''

''Andrey, why?'' She put her hand up into the leg and felt around. When she pulled her hand
out,
she was holding a tiny wire with a little box on the end of it. ''What is it?'' she asked.

He didn't answer. ''Now call Mel at the restaurant and tell her
to go
into my apartment. Under the
bed,
there is a black box, the size of a cigarette packet. She should bring it here.'' He coughed and winced. ''Tell her to take my wallet from the bedside cabinet and some of my clothes. She should close the restaurant and come here. Tell her to be quick.''

Nicki dialed the restaurant and
told
Mel what Andrey wanted her to do. While they were waiting
for Mel
to show up, Andrey
took his
opportunity.

''I want
you,
Nicki. I want to be with you and be the father of our child.''

She gasped and fought back the tears. ''Then why didn't you tell me when I came to you? Why did you send me away in such a cruel manner?'' She didn't understand his behavior and she wanted some answers.

''Sokolov. Because of Sokolov. When you told me your were going to try and interview him, I wanted you to know how dangerous it was.'' He gulped some more air before continuing. ''I didn't want him to see you hanging around me. And when you arrived pregnant at the restaurant I had to be cruel and send you away. For your
own
sake. He's a racist and will kill you if he finds out about our child. Forgive me, but I could see no other way at the time.''

''So you cared for me all along?''

''Yes, very much. I have been thinking about you all the time.''

''Then why didn't you give me some indication. Anything.''

''Because I wanted to do something for you first.''

''What?''

''Wait until Mel get's here.''

They sat and held hands as they waited for Mel. Nicki tried to kiss him on the lips, but the pain was too great. She ended up kissing him on the top of the forehead.

When Mel
arrived,
she was carrying a bag
that
was almost bigger than her.

''Did you find the small black box?'' he asked. She nodded and held it up.

''And your wallet and some clothes. Hi Nicki by the way,'' she added.

''Right listen to me, both of you. I've got a house nobody
knows about
. It's in Montana. I want you both to go there and wait for me. When I get out of
here,
I'll come to you. You'll be safe there, and if Nicki does her job properly, we'll soon be safe forever.''

Nicki understood the part about going to Montana,  not the part
about
her doing a proper job.  “What do you mean?'' she asked.

''Take the black box, open it and listen to the tape inside.''

She took the box from Mel and opened the lid. Inside there was a tiny recorder. She pressed the play button and listened.

''Andrey, my boy, have you come to apologize?''

''No I've come to tell you that you are a
two-bit
piece of shit. You're nothing but
a low
life, whore fucker. All you've done with your life is threaten and rob people. You've never done half the things attributed to you. Everyone thinks you're a tough guy. You're a pussy.''

''I've done more with my life than you will ever do. Who do you think you are? I'm
gonna
kill you. Leave this to me.''

''You're just a
show-off
. Leaving everyone to
think
that you killed Judge Hudson but got away with it. Why don't you ever deny it? Everybody knows the jury was right.  You haven't got the balls to kill anybody.''

''I killed Judge Hudson,  just like I'm
gonna
kill you.''

''You didn't, you're a liar and a cheat, I've never met anybody so full of bullshit.''

''I tell you, I killed him with this gun.''

''Bring him over here. Lift him up. Take him and dump him next to the freeway.''

''But how?'' Nicki asked when the tape had stopped.

''That wire in my jeans transmitted the signal to the recorder. I knew if I goaded him, he would give us something. I did it for
you,
Nicki. If you get this story right, your career will take off like you never expected. It's a
very hot
story. Take it and use it. The world will think you are the best journalists alive. The murder weapon is a
Magnum;
he keeps it in a drawer in the sitting room.''

Nicki had no idea what to say.

''Mel give me my wallet.'' He took out a couple of cards. ''Here are two credit cards. Use them to pay for the journey. There is a car in the garage in Montana so you can go and get supplies.
Here's
the address and the number of the housekeeper.'' He handed Nicki a note.

*****

Nicki and Andrey stood outside the church and applauded as Mel and her new husband, a rancher from Great Falls, Montana came out to cheers and lots of confetti. Nicki bent down to Andrey junior and helped him and his toy elephant onto his father's shoulders.

''Well, Journalist of the Year 2015, what do you think to that. Almost as good as our wedding, wasn't it?'' Andrey senior said.

Nicki nodded and kissed him.

*****

Three weeks later.

''Andrey, where do you want me to hang this?'' Nicki shouted

''What is it?'' he asked.

''The article about Sokolov
being sentenced
to
life
in prison.''

''The best place for him is the toilet.”

*****

THE END

The Billionaire’s Secret
Love Child
– Keke’s Story

A BWWM Billionaire Pregnancy Romance

He was taller than anyone else walking down North Market in Dallas. He was also much leaner. As he looked around, what he saw made him nauseous. Fat blubber America he called it. People with no
self-discipline
, filling their faces with all sorts of junk.
Fat
kids munching on fries, and their even
fatter
parents licking ice cream. It'd do them all good to
be sent
to a desert island and left to starve for a few months, he thought.

When he reached Wild Bills Western Store, he stopped and looked at his watch. He was a little early. He liked Wild Bill's. It was a
throw back
to the days when Americans were
tough
. When they wore cowboy boots and
stetsons
and ordered people to do things while holding a gun to their head. Not like the politically correct, soft, I know my rights kind of society that had emerged in the last decade.

He looked at his reflection in the window. He'd been looking at the same face for
fifty-two
years,
and nothing much had changed. It was still
thin,
and his blue eyes had the same steely determination they had always had. Only now he was more careful. When he was
younger,
he'd been
carefree,
and the cops had almost caught him a couple of times. He couldn't recall how many people he'd
killed,
and it didn't matter to him, but he'd learned that eliminating people was a serious business and needed to
be done
with
the
utmost care and precision.

Late, he thought. Tardy bitches, he didn't care for them. If they were slovenly enough to be late to such an
appointment,
they usually had
blabber
mouths. Two minutes and she can go to hell, he decided.

Just as a man and his wife walked out of Wild Bill's with a new pair of boots, he spotted her. He didn't have to
be told
it was her. He knew. They all looked the same. Trophy wives. Same body shape, same
hairdo
and same
pretty
face. Come to that, he thought, they all had the same personalities. None of them had done well at school, none of them had a career or built their
own
identity,
and all of them were
spoiltt
brats who thought the world owed them a living.

''Are you Steve,'' she asked. He detected a tremor in her voice.

''Follow me.''

As she struggled to keep up with him, he laughed to himself. She was just like all the others. If there
were
a quiz show called 'Guess who wants to murder their fiancee,' he'd win it, he thought. They reached a small alleyway
that
ran adjacent to Wild Bill's. He pulled her into it.

She gasped as he held her against the wall. ''Now listen to me. On the
phone,
you told me you want me to do a job for you. I can do that job. But it requires three things of you, all of which must
be strictly adhered to
. If you fail to do so, I will kill you and leave your fiancee alone. Do you understand?'' She nodded. Maybe she'd gotten herself into more than she could handle, she thought.

When he let go of her, she rubbed her upper arm. His grip had been
vice-
like,
and her arm had gone numb. ''Now tell me, slowly, what do you want?''

Britney composed herself as he watched her. All the same, he reminded himself. Brunette, five feet six, brown eyes,
pretty
face, anemic and neurotic. ''As I indicated when we spoke, I want
you to
kill my fiancee, as soon as we have signed the insurance papers. I'll tell you when.''

''Why do you
want
him killed?'' He looked round as a car drove past the end of the alleyway. It wasn't a cop car.

''I don't love him, in
fact,
I hate him, he's an alcoholic.
I'm
virtually forced to marry
him,
and I don't want to. He's rich and well
insured,
so I'll get a nice
payout
and be able to live a life of luxury.''

The same old reason as well, he thought. Greed. The bitch probably never got off his case, nagging and moaning him all the way to the bottle. Not being satisfied with ruining his life on earth, now she wanted the poor sod dead too. Not that he cared, money was money.

''The three things: First, you don't talk to anyone about this. If you tell a single soul, I will shoot you.'' Britney nodded, her eyes wide open and her bladder on the point of exploding in fear. ''Second, fifty grand up front, no negotiation.'' Again she nodded. That was the easy part she thought. ''Third: details, lots of details. Name, address, place of work, the
time
he comes home and the
time
he goes to work. Also a list of
places
he frequents regularly, and a list of his family members, friends and business colleagues.''

Britney hadn't expected him to be so frightening.
A head taller than her and dressed solely in black he cut
a very eerie
figure. When she gave it a bit more thought, she realized he ought to be frightening, he was an assassin.

''Now you have met me, you are bound to continue with the plan. No going back. I told you on the
phone,
if we meet you are bound. Do you understand?'' She nodded again. ''Remember if you don't deliver what I have asked for, it is you who will die.''

*****

Keke Miller looked through the window at the man getting out of the red Ferrari. Not bad, she thought.

''I wouldn't mind a piece of that,'' the waitress said as she poured Keke's coffee. ''We don't often get guys like him around here.''

Keke nodded in agreement as her eyes followed the tall,
well-dressed
man from his car to the door. The waitress walked back to the counter and Keke dropped a lump of sugar into her drink. Jesus, when will I stop doing that, she thought. ''Next time, take the sugar away from the table, Jessie. My ass is fat enough as it is,'' she shouted.

''You've got a complex, there's nothing wrong with your ass,'' the waitress shouted back.

Keke kept her eyes on the man as he walked to the counter, and spoke to the
waitress
. ''Over there,'' the
waitress
said, pointing at Keke. Keke sat upright on the red seat and
curiously
watched as he walked towards her.

''Hi, are you Keke Miller?'' he asked.

Keke looked at him. He wasn't the usual type of man that came to her for advice. ''Yes, that's me.''

''I'm Dan Stephenson, I called into your office a few minutes ago. Your secretary told me you could be found here most
lunchtimes
.''

Darn woman, Keke thought. How often had she told Janice that she wasn't to be disturbed at lunchtime? ''Sure. Well, you've found me. Take a seat and tell me what I can do for you.''

Dan sat down on the other side of the booth and pushed the unused cutlery
to one side
. Beautiful woman, not at all like the stereotypical private detective, he thought. Since when were they young, black and attractive? ''You're not what I was expecting,'' he said.

''Really? And what were you expecting?,'' Keke said, leaning forward.

''I don't know. Most private detectives are white,
middle-aged
and fat. They are in the movies anyhow.''
Then, at least,
he doesn't think I'm fat, Keke thought. ''I need someone to watch my fiancee,'' he continued.

Keke raised her eyebrows and leaned back again. ''Why?''

''
Er..
I...do
n't
really
know I.....''

Keke looked at him and ticked off his features against her wish list. Dazzling green eyes, tall, well built, dark hair well cut, white smile,
beautiful
honest-looking face, no designer stubble and about her
twenty-five
, her age. Perfect. ''Dan, if you don't know why you're asking me to investigate your fiancee, how do you expect me to be able to help you?''

Dan felt embarrassed. The beautiful woman opposite him with the seductive lips and sexy
smile
had pointed out a flaw in his presentation of the problem. Lack of preparation, he usually did a much better job in his business, so why not now?
He
wondered

''Yes.. er ... sorry. Perhaps you'll allow me to be more
specific
?'' He picked up a spoon and threaded it through his fingers as he waited
for Keke
to nod. ''I have been engaged for around three months. My fiancee and I live together. Since we became
engaged
, her behavior has changed dramatically.''

Jesus, this man really can't get to the point, Keke noted. ''Dan, let me help you. You think she's screwing someone else, and you want me to check it out.''

''Maybe,'' Dan said as he looked around the diner. When he saw a picture of a tin of Budweiser, he was sorely tempted, but
he
remembered
all to
well, what Dr. Needham had told him would happen if he had another drink. '' I don't know whether she's having an affair, but I want her checked out before I settle down and marry her. She won't touch me
anymore,
and she spends two or three nights a week at a girlfriends house. She's just behaving
really
weird.''

Keke sighed and looked at her watch. She was anxious not to miss her two o'clock appointment with
Mr.
Sanderson. He could be
really important
for her struggling practice, she thought. If Dan
were
asking her on a date, she'd say yes, without hesitation. But asking her to investigate his woman just because her behavior had suddenly changed, was a much less
interesting
proposition. ''Dan, you'll have to excuse me. I have an appointment
soon,
and I need to go. It was
nice
to meet you.'' Keke nodded to the waitress who brought the check. When she put it on the table, she smiled at Dan and gave him a wink.

''I'm Jessie,'' she said, hopefully.

Dan stood up as Keke left the table and watched her walk towards the door. He'd always been a sucker for a woman in a business suit and black stockings, especially one with such a beautiful behind as hers, he thought. ''My Dad's Ernie Stephenson,'' he shouted after her.

Keke stopped and turned around. ''Ernie Stephenson from ESM, the largest mining company in the world?'' she asked, trying to hide the sudden surge of interest within her.

Dan looked at her and noticed how her breasts fought against the softness of her blouse. ''Er..yes. That's my father.'' Dropping his father's name worked every time, he thought, as Keke began to walk back to him.

''I'm sorry I was a little abrupt,'' she said. ''I
really
do have an appointment at two, but can you hang on until it's finished? It shouldn't take too long.''

''Okay, then let me give you a ride,'' Dan said.

''I usually walk, it's good for me, but I've never been in a Ferrari so why not.''

When Keke got into the
low
seat, her skirt rode up, revealing her soft thighs, a fact that didn't escape him.

*****

Dan pulled up outside the office and took a good look at it. The peeling paintwork around the
windows
and the weeds growing through the surface of the small parking lot led Dan to one conclusion. Keke's business was not flourishing. When she opened the door, he was already round at the passenger side, helping her up. Chivalrous as well as hot, she thought.

''Come with me. It's not much of an office I'm afraid. I've only just started the business. The
office
needs some renovation work doing.'' Inside it was a scruffy as outside, which surprised Dan because Keke was obviously the kind of person who took great care in her personal appearance. Perhaps it was a lack of money, not a lack of will, he thought.

A man in his middle sixties stood up and shook Keke's hand. ''Dan would you mind sitting here for a while?'' Keke picked up some old magazines from the arm chair and put them on the glass coffee table. Why the hell do I employ a secretary, if I have to do everything myself, she thought.

''Janice, make
Mr.
Stephenson some
tea,
please.'' Keke left Dan to the mercy of her secretary and disappeared into the back office with
Mr.
Sanderson.