The Scandalous Billionaires Collection (58 page)

Stepping out into the street Bella couldn't
help but be lifted up by her surroundings. Despite the sense of
doom that had descended on her since the phone call from Steve the
day before, everything here and now was perfect. She had heard of
Favreau, the top Michelin starred French restaurant in midtown but
she had never thought of eating there.

Just normal for a billionaire.
She
supposed, trying not to be overly impressed, but at the same time,
suddenly she could feel her appetite coming back. Even though she
lived a stone's throw away in Brooklyn Heights most of her work had
tended to be in the boroughs and not in Manhattan. It was nice to
be surrounded by all the city lights again.

"I hope you like French food." Harrison said
as they were ushered to their private booth.

"I love it." She said. "Not sure I've ever
eaten it like this before though."

Harrison smiled.

After they had ordered Bella began looking
around the restaurant. Most of the people looked rich and all of
them seemed to be relaxed and having a great time. If this was
going to be her last meal in New York City then maybe she should
try to enjoy it. This could be the closest thing to a going away
party that she would get. When she finished scanning the restaurant
she looked back at her host and saw that, as usual, he had been
staring at her. She felt the same flush of self-consciousness go
through her that had afflicted her in the Demovic home two days
ago. Feeling the heat rise, she reached for her water but knocked
over the glass and flooded the table.

"I'm such a klutz, Harrison, I'm so
sorry."

She scrambled to mop up the mess with a
napkin but when Harrison reached out and took her hand a wave of
calm flowed through her. Their eyes met and the calm was followed
by another rush of excitement.

"It's okay." he said, "they'll take care of
it." As if on cue a waiter arrived and with a lot of good humored
but discrete French gallantry made the mess disappear.

"You're still nervous Bella." Harrison
said.

"That's your fault." She said accusingly.

"I hope to change that. It's the reason I
brought you here tonight. I have something to show you." He reached
into his jacket and drew out an envelope which he put on the table
between them. It did anything but calm her down.

"What is this?" She said, imagining the
worst; a transcript of her prison record or maybe the report his
paid snoops had put together on her background.

"It's some information about me and what I do
when I'm not selling my stupid brothers' software business. I run a
small charity called 2nd Chance here in New York City. Go ahead and
take a look."

This was new and totally unexpected. Bella
knew that Jason was passionate about women's rights and child
welfare, and that Zachary was big into animal rights but she had
heard nothing about Harrison sponsoring any kind of good cause.

"I brought some literature so you can see for
yourself."

She looked at the envelope.

"Why don’t you tell me yourself?" She said
quietly.

"Honestly, I don’t like to talk about it
unless it is specifically to help the organization. I'm a little… a
little…"

Bella was amazed. A Demovic brother stuck for
words? Was this an act to make him seem more human, more
sensitive?

"It's embarrassing to me. My mother always
taught us to help other people without letting the world know about
it and even though I don’t agree, still that stupid idea is in me
somewhere. So come on, don’t embarrass me, just open the envelope
and take a look."

She picked it up and carefully took out the
brochure inside. On the cover was a group of very happy looking
people, clearly a mix of staff and clients, mostly men but some
women too. The header on the brochure read;

2nd Chance

Everyone deserves one.

Help us to help you get a second start in
life.

Reading further it became clear that
Harrison's passion was the rehabilitation of offenders. 2nd chance
was an organization that reached out to people with criminal
records and helped them to overcome the stigma of having done time
in order to get housing, find a job and become productive members
of society again.

She put the brochure back down and then
glared back at Harrison.

"I don’t need your help." She said. The
change in her voice and demeanor were instantly clear to him.

"Everybody needs help." He said. "But I'm not
offering help Bella, I just want you to see that whatever it was
you did and whatever the reasons, it doesn’t matter to me. It's in
the past. Gone. You can make a fresh start with me right now and
forget about your mistakes. Accept your past and move on."

She couldn't understand why but his words
were making her increasingly agitated and angry. All she had wanted
was one night out, one pretend, fairytale evening before running
away forever.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?" She said
standing up.

"Bella--"

"I'm not a pet project for you to work on in
your spare time, or some helpless little damsel in distress who
needs to be saved."

"I know--"

"No. I don’t think you do. Thanks for the
ride Harrison, but I have things to do."

An exquisite amuse bouche treat was on its
way to their table but the waiter did an about face and whisked the
food away. It wasn't the first time a meal had gone south at the
upscale restaurant and staff were trained to react in the most
tactful way.

"Please stay and eat Bella. Don’t be
unreasonable--"

"I'm not being unreasonable, I just don't
want you controlling my life and patronizing me like I'm some
little girl who's ashamed of her past and has something to hide.
I've already accepted my past and I'm…" she wanted to say that she
was proud of who she was but the words wouldn’t come out. A wave of
emotion swelled through her and she realized just how ashamed she
was of herself, of her life, and of everything she was.

Harrison watched her, deciphering,
decoding.

"If you have nothing to hide and you are
truly
proud
of who you are, then I assume you won't mind if
I tell Suzy and Melissa about your past as well."

She had been ready to leave but now she
froze.

"And you run a charity to help people who've
been in prison? Is this what you do? Threaten to reveal their
mistakes to the people they love the most?"

"Please sit down Bella. It's not a threat I'm
making, it's a gift."

Some gift. Some fucking gift.
She
trembled with resentment and anger.

"But you don’t have to accept it now. Right
now all you need to do is be with me. Forget about all this for
just one night and be with a man who wants to get to know you for
who you are, not for who you once were. Now, please, come on, you
need to eat so please just sit down before…"

A waiter had appeared at Bella's side and
offered her a linen handkerchief to dry her incipient tears. The
man looked nervous, as though the mild scene she was causing was
his fault in some way.

"If I walk out of here right now does that
mean my secret is out?" She said accusingly.

"That's right." He said. His voice was steely
but tinged almost with pain. This was Harrison Demovic; he could be
charming and attentive or determined and ruthless.

She looked at the waiter who nodded to her
pleadingly and then she slowly sat down. After all, this mess
wasn't his fault so why get him in trouble?

"This is the problem with secrets Bella. They
give other people power over you."

"Like the power you have over me now?"

"To take that power away all you have to do
is come clean. With all the people around you and all of the people
who love you most. I don’t matter. I don’t need to know exactly
what you did. Sure I know the name of the crime but I'm not looking
for details or excuses. The important people here are Suzy and
Melissa, Zachary and Jason. They all know you far better than I
do."

"So if I don’t tell them, you will? Is that
it?"

The finely crafted amuse bouche arrived back
at the table but the food was ignored by the combative couple.

"Eventually I would have to." Harrison said.
"But I'd much rather that you did. Believe me Bella, I've seen this
scenario dozens of times before and as clichéd as it sounds, the
truth will most definitely set you free."

The emotion welled up in her again and she
gazed at the man in front of her. She desperately wanted to believe
him and she had thought about telling Suzy and thousand times in
the last four years but something had always held her back. Then
the longer the subterfuge continued the harder it became to
contemplate revealing the truth. If she had just told her story the
first time they had met then none of this would be any problem
now.

"You could do it tonight Bella. End this now
and start a fresh chapter in your life right now." He took out his
phone and laid it on the table. "Just call her. Call Suzy and tell
her. I'll leave you alone if you want."

She watched him. Why was he doing this for
her? Was this really just his thing; that he liked to help people
less fortunate than himself. Or was it some kind of billionaire
power trip; the pleasure of exercising complete control over
another human being.

And why did he have to be as hot as all holy
hell to boot? Her body trembled with emotion but underneath it all
Harrison still good enough for her to eat. Why couldn't he be some
beat up old ex-con with a comb over, a beer belly and a heart of
gold instead of a young billionaire with always perfectly tousled
hair and the physique of an Olympic swimmer?

"I'll go." He said quietly. "Take your time.
Make the call. I'll be back soon." He stood up and walked to her
side of the booth, leaned in close to her and placed his hand on
hers again. There was that watch again, that damned stupid
expensive designer watch. She cursed Steve and Stacy silently.
"Trust me," Harrison said, "your whole life can change in a moment.
All you have to do is make the call." He leaned in closer still and
then pressed his lips to her cheek. She felt her whole body cry out
for his and again she burned in shame and confusion. He was trying
to help her. This stranger was trying to be a friend to her and all
she could think about between stealing his watch and bouts of shame
was fucking him senseless.

Is this normal?
She asked herself.
Am I normal?

She watched him walk away, exchange a word
with the maitre d' and then step outside. His phone lay in front of
her with Suzy's contact details ready on the screen. All she had to
do was hit the call button, tell the truth and then wait for
Harrison to return. Steve would be outsmarted, Demovic security
wouldn’t let him get within an inch of her friends. Harrison
Demovic was promising to help her so who knows, maybe she could
come clean and still keep her job if someone as powerful as him
spoke to her boss.

She reached out her hand to the phone and
watched her fingers tremble in the soft romantic light of the
restaurant.

Shit!

Her own phone rang and she jumped with fright
knocking over a second glass of water. She fumbled to bring out her
own phone and recognized the number instantly, even though it had
only rung once before.

It was Steve; the lowlife, the scum who was
taking advantage of her one past mistake.

She hit the button to accept the call and
then hissed into the phone.

"What do you want now?"

There was a short silence from the other end
of the line.

"Are you done?" His harsh, evil voice was so
familiar to her already even though they had only spoken once
before.

"No. I'm not done." She said. "I don't have
anything for you and I won't. Period. Not now, not ever. You can go
to hell. So I'm an ex-con. So fucking what? He already knows and so
does everyone else who I care about so you don't have anything on
me."

"Is that so?"

"Yes it is St--" she almost said his name but
held back. She didn't want to get Stacy into trouble.

"Well how about this Bella. I've got someone
who wants to speak to you right here." There was the sound of a
brief struggle and Bella's heart froze as she heard Stacy's voice,
sobbing as she came to the phone.

"Bella, baby, I'm so sorry honey, he found
out, he found out I tried to help you and--" a terrifying scream
came through the phone line, "please just help me Bella, please,
just do what he says--" the voice was yanked away from the
phone.

"Good to catch up with old friends Bella,
ain't it? Especially old faces from the pen. I heard you and Stacy
was pretty tight on the inside so if you don't want her to wind up
in little pieces you better start getting a whole lot closer to
mister asshole billionaire and come up with a little protection
money fast, like in the next twenty-four hours."

Bella was as white as the pristine linen
table-cloth in front of her.

"I can get you a watch." she said in a hushed
voice.

"Screw you Bella, I already got a watch, you
can do better than that."

"It's got to be worth thousands, tens of
thousands you can fence it or pawn it or sell it, but I guarantee
you'll make thousands. I can get it for you tonight but I want you
to let Stacy go. That's the deal or I'm calling the cops."

"Okay Bella. It'll do. For now. You meet me
tonight. You got 'till midnight. Grand Central. Don't be late or
Stacy can say goodbye to--"

She cut the call. It was enough. What he
would do to her friend she didn't want to hear.

She looked up and saw Harrison approaching,
more handsome than ever in the soft lighting, a cross between a
business tycoon and a movie star, looking as though he could keep
the whole world at bay with those powerful arms.