Alpha Billionaire’s Bride, Part Three (BWWM Romance Serial)
Read Alpha Billionaire’s Bride, Part Three (BWWM Romance Serial) Online
Authors: Mia Caldwell
Alpha Billionaire’s Bride, Part 3
Mia Caldwell
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Copyright
© 2015 Mia Caldwell
All Rights Reserved. This book or any portion thereof may
not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express
permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book
review.
This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons,
living or dead, or places, events or locations is purely coincidental. The
characters are all productions of the author’s imagination.
Please note that this work is intended only for adults over
the age of 18 and all characters represented as 18 or over.
Kindle Edition
Cover photos © 2015 aarrttuurr,
Telemack, lina_s, iconogenic, nadiya under license from Depositphotos
Mia Caldwell has been fantasizing about stories of
“Happily-Ever-After” since she was a little girl, and now that she’s all grown
up her “Happily-Ever-After” stories have taken a steamier turn!
After graduating from college Mia still wasn't quite sure
what she wanted to do with her life. Bored with her day job as an
administrative assistant for a non-profit, she started writing stories on the
side and sharing them with her friends. They gave her the push she needed to
share them with you!
She lives in New York with two rascally cats named Link and
Zelda, eats too much chocolate and Chinese take-out, and goes on way too many
blind dates. She's still waiting for Mr. Right, but in the meantime she'll keep
dreaming up the perfect man!
Mia loves hearing from her fans and you can reach her at:
[email protected]
“I’M SO SORRY,” MARINA SAID, looking at Jada with big dark
eyes begging for forgiveness.
Jada knew the difference between Marina’s exaggerated
remorse and when she was being sincere. This was Marina at her most sincere.
Jada stood up. “Whatever it is, I don’t want to know. Tell
me Tuesday.”
Marina’s mouth fell open, then snapped shut again. “You
can’t be serious.”
“I am. I want to have a great time for the rest of this
weekend. I’ll face whatever terrible thing you’ve done on Tuesday, when the
courthouse opens, and everyone finds out everything anyway.” Jada marched out
of the dressing room and flung open the double doors to the balcony.
She stood in the doorway and inhaled a deep breath of fresh,
country air. It was sweet with the afternoon-heated scents of forest, wild
grasses, and earthy lake. “I’m going to enjoy this while I can. You know what?”
Marina looked at her askance and shook her head.
Jada raised her chin. “I’m going to sleep with Ian, that’s
what.”
“Uh, okay. I wouldn’t—”
“Don’t tell me what you wouldn’t do. Clearly, there’s
nothing you wouldn’t do.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know. And you’re not going to tell me what you actually
have done until Tuesday, after I’ve lived the good life, after I’ve slept with
the sexiest billionaire on the planet at least once (preferably several times),
and after I’ve eaten every pastry Mrs. Best can bake. I’m going to do that
because, hey, it’s all over on Tuesday, isn’t it? All of this. And all of my
old life where I had a career and a future. All over.”
“I understand that you’re mad, but you’re exaggerating.”
Jada glared at her sister. “Oh, forgive me. I’m a little
stressed. Perhaps you could back off and give me a break!”
Marina flinched. “This won’t work. You can’t pretend I
didn’t say anything. However, you should definitely sleep with Ian no matter
what. That’s actually a good plan. The pastries too. I’ll help—with the
pastries, not Ian.”
“Don’t try to be funny. I’m in no mood.” Jada stomped toward
the huge walk-in closet, her hand closing on the doorknob and pulling it
slightly open. “You can leave now. I’m going to be busy picking out the perfect
lingerie to seduce Ian tonight.”
Marina stared at her, hard. “You’ve left me no choice. I’m
saying it.”
“Don’t you say it! Don’t!”
“I have to.” In a rush, Marina blurted, “I’m the one who
leaked the story about you and Ian to CGTV.”
The words skewered through Jada’s chest. She held onto the
doorknob with a vice-like grip, using it to anchor her in place. It couldn’t be
true. Marina hadn’t ... wouldn’t—
“Did you hear me?” Marina asked. “I said I’m the one who
leaked the story about your marriage to CGTV.”
Jada swiveled on her. “I heard, dammit. And now you’ve
ruined everything.”
Marina’s eyes filled with unshed tears. “I know. I’m so
sorry, Jada. I didn’t know—”
Jada cut her off with a chopping motion, and hardly felt her
feet hitting the plush carpet as she stalked to the bedroom door and locked it
with unnecessary force. “The last thing I need right now is someone overhearing
you.” She headed to her favorite wingback chair and dropped into its cushy
depths with the regret that comes from knowing she’d probably never sit in it
again.
“Jada?” Marina asked. “Are you okay?”
“Sure. I’m just wondering how long it will take us to walk
back to Springers Glen. I’m pretty sure Ian won’t be offering us his
helicopter, or even a lift in a car, not after he hears what you’ve done.”
Marina rushed over and sat across from Jada. “You can’t tell
him! Oh God, Jada. You seriously cannot tell Ian about this. Promise me you
won’t.”
“If I don’t tell him now, then I’m a liar, Marina. I think
one liar in this family is enough, don’t you?”
“I didn’t mean to lie to you.”
“Liar.”
“Okay, fine. I did mean to lie to you. But I only did it to
buy myself some time so I could figure this thing out and get all the answers.”
Jada rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, sister.”
“Hear me out. The whole story, not just the part where I
screwed up. Okay?”
“Apparently I can’t stop you, so go ahead and get it over
with.”
“Do you hate me?”
“I don’t know yet.”
Marina smiled tautly. “You’re kidding. And you’re angry. I
get that. Let me explain.”
Jada’s skin felt stretched tight like a balloon with too
much air in it. She supposed she could never actually hate her sister, but at
that moment, Jada wasn’t very fond of her.
“It all started last Thursday morning,” Marina began.
“What? Thursday? This has been going on—”
“Please listen.” Marina’s tone was filled with a supercilious
patience that grated on Jada’s nerves. “Thursday, before noon, I got a call
from Sylvia. You remember Syl. She works at the courthouse.”
Jada nodded.
“She asked me for a favor. She wanted me to leak a tip to
CGTV for her, and said she’d do it herself, but she didn’t know how. I work for
the newspaper so she thought I’d have contacts, or more experience. The idea
was that I would tell CGTV there was some shocking information that affected
the supermodel Sasha in the Springers Glen courthouse records department.”
“Information about Sasha? Not about Ian or me?” Jada asked.
“No. Of course not about you.”
“So ... I don’t understand. Where do I come into this?”
“You don’t. Not yet, anyway.”
Jada couldn’t work out what Marina was telling her. “I
assumed you made this whole thing up about me and Ian and got the press
involved and ... everything. Are you saying you didn’t?”
“Of course not. What are you talking about?”
Jada’s hands relaxed and she realized she’d been digging her
fingers into the cushioned armrests. “I guess I thought you were behind it all,
that you had some stupid idea that you thought would be funny or whatever, and
... well, you know.”
“Damn, Jada! That’s pretty harsh.”
“I’m sorry. I mean, you said it was your fault.”
“I did?”
“I thought so. Didn’t you? Besides, I’d considered you a
suspect already and—”
“What? I was a suspect? Who are you? Sherlock Holmes?”
“I was thinking more like Woodward and Bernstein.”
Marina snorted. “Puh-leeze. I can’t believe you thought I’d
do something like that. It would be awful. No one who cared about you could
deliberately do something like that.”
“That’s what Ian said.”
“You told Ian you suspected me?”
“Don’t look so outraged. We were going over suspects
together and I mentioned that we needed to be careful not to overlook the
people closest to us. You were an example. That’s all.”
Marina leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms. “Well
then, Ms. Investigative Journalist. What was my motive?”
“You didn’t have one. I dismissed you as a suspect because
you had means and opportunity but no motive.”
“It never occurred to me that you suspected me. My whole
understanding of you, me, our relationship as sisters has been shattered. Blown
apart by your—”
“Wait a minute! You’re the guilty one. Don’t try to turn
this on me. Get back to your overdue confession.”
Marina blew out a breath. “Fine. But we have to revisit your
traitor-hood at some point.”
“Traitor-hood isn’t a word.”
“Whatever. Where was I?”
“Sylvia called you Thursday morning.”
“Oh, right. Syl wanted me to leak a story to CGTV about info
in the records department that involved Sasha.”
“What was it?”
“I asked Syl, but she wouldn’t say. She made me promise only
to leak the tip and then step aside because shit was going to hit the fan.”
“Shit was hitting the fan?”
“Not yet. But it would be.”
“I hate that expression. It’s so gross.”
“Stay with me here, Jada,” Marina said. “So you know Syl is
always telling me the latest rumors. Let’s face it, the woman can’t keep her
mouth shut to save her life. I didn’t want to browbeat her for more info
because she’s my best source in town and I owe her a lot of favors.”
“Come on. What stories has she broken for you? Was a
councilman using the courthouse copier to make flyers for his garage sale
again?”
“Don’t scoff. Journalists protect their sources.”
“Sounds like you’re giving yours up right now.”
“Shut up. So, Syl said it was important that CGTV break the
story. I agreed to stay in the background. After I hung up with her, I dug
around on the internet and found a number for the CGTV tip line—”
“CGTV has a tip line?” Jada asked.
“That’s how they get the best gossip.”
“I figured they made it all up.”
Marina shrugged. “Not all of it. So I called the tip line
but I got voice mail. I left a message asking them to call me back. It was
pretty late in the afternoon when they did. I told them what Syl had told me to
tell them, but they didn’t sound interested. The guy said that maybe they’d
look into it, maybe not. That was that.”
“Really? That’s weird.”
“I thought so, too. That night, I decided maybe Sasha wasn’t
a big enough name on her own to get their attention. I felt badly about letting
Syl down, so the next morning, when I didn’t see anything on the celeb shows
about Sasha, I called the CGTV tip line again.”
Jada leaned forward. “Did you talk to Sylvia about all
this?”
“No. She wasn’t at work. Mrs. Nell said Syl stayed home
because one of her kids was sick or something. She wasn’t sure. You know Mrs.
Nell.”
“I can’t believe she still works down there. Isn’t she like
a hundred years old?”
“Close. She drives Syl nuts. She’s half batty and the little
bit of work she does, she does wrong. Mostly, she crochets teapot cozies and
booties all day long. Mrs. Nell aside,” Marina continued, “I called CGTV again
and got someone different. I changed what I told them this time.”
“In what way?”
“I said I was a local journalist and had a huge tip about
billionaire Ian Buckley’s fiancée. I said I didn’t have the resources to get
the info myself, but if CGTV would agree up front to share the info and let me
support the story in print after they broke it, then I would tell them where to
look for the scoop of the year.”
“Nice move. You wanting to share in the glory helped
convince them it was a valuable tip.”
“Exactly,” Marina said.
“And you used Ian’s name in case Sasha’s wasn’t enough.”
“Right. So this guy called me back a few hours later and
agreed to the deal. I told him about the records department and he said someone
would be in Springers Glen that afternoon. We arranged to meet at the coffee
shop on the square and he said they’d share whatever they found with me.”
Jada’s heart began to pound. “So what was the info?”
The corner of Marina’s upper lip quirked in disgust. “I got
stood up. I waited at the coffee shop until six o’clock and they never showed.
I called CGTV over and over but no one returned my calls. I didn’t know if
they’d changed their minds and didn’t come, or if they’d gotten something so
huge that they decided to cut me out.”
“It would have been too late by then for you to go to the
courthouse and find it for yourself. Did you call Syl at home and ask her?”
“I could have, but I didn’t. I was too embarrassed that I
might have been played. I thought I’d wait and see if there were any stories on
TV about Sasha or Ian over the weekend. I fell asleep watching CGTV that night.
When I woke up the next day, the first thing I saw was your house and all the
reporters swarming around it. I couldn’t believe it. I had no idea what had
happened.”
Jada shuddered at the memory.
“It took me a while to figure out what the story was,”
Marina said. “I didn’t make the connection right away. I mean, what did this
crazy story about you marrying Ian Buckley have to do with Sasha? Then that
announcer, Piper, kept going on and on about how devastated Sasha must be about
being jilted and that’s when I clicked to it.”
Jada clicked, too. “That’s how the story impacted Sasha.”
“Exactly. I swear on everything I love, Jada, I would never,
ever have tipped off CGTV if I’d known it involved you in any way. Tell me you
believe me. Please.”
Marina’s plea touched Jada’s heart. “I believe you.”
“And can you forgive me for what I did?”
“I can forgive you for leaking the story since you didn’t
know it involved me, but you should have told me about your involvement right
away.”
“I know. I just kept thinking I’d get it figured out.”
“And have you?”
“No.”
“Are you positive it was your tip that led CGTV to the fake
marriage license?” Jada asked.
“I can’t know for sure, but it has to be, doesn’t it? There
would have been no other reason for them to be in Springers Glen or anywhere
near our records department.”
“You’re probably right,” Jada said. “What about Syl? Did you
ask her about all this, about me?”
“I only spoke to her once, and she didn’t tell me much.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“No. She won’t answer my calls or texts or emails or
anything. I’ve even tried her husband’s cell, and her mother’s. You name it, I’ve
tried everything, including shameless begging. And you know how I feel about
shameless begging.”
“When did you talk to her?” Jada asked.
“Yesterday morning, after I got off the phone with you. I
may have accidentally said some nasty things to her and that may be why she
won’t talk to me now.”
“What kind of ugly things?”
“I told her to turn on the TV and see what she’d done. And
then I may have bitched her out for using me to hurt my own sister. I may have
called her a thing or two. I can’t remember.”
Jada shook her head. “I can’t believe you alienated our only
lead, but I have to admit I’m kind of glad you told her off.”