Alpha Billionaire’s Bride, Part Three (BWWM Romance Serial) (2 page)

“I know! What the hell was that about? She had to know
whatever happened I’d be furious with her.”

“Did you give her a chance to explain?”

“Kind of. She said she didn’t know you were involved and she
only called me because I was the only person she could think of who would know
how to get CGTV’s attention. And then there was one other, very interesting
thing she told me.”

“What? Don’t tease.”

“Well,” Marina lowered her voice as if sharing a secret,
“Syl said she felt badly about everything, and that she wouldn’t have done it
if her husband hadn’t been laid off and if they didn’t need the money so badly
because his unemployment ran out.”

“Money?”

“I know. I asked her about it. All she’d say was that she
was weak, and that ‘the woman’ was kind of intimidating.”

“Hmm. The woman.”

“Right. And then Syl begged me not to tell anyone she was
involved with the tip, and told me that she and her family were out of town and
were staying there until things cooled down. Then she hung up. That’s it.
That’s everything I know.”

Jada and Marina sat in silent speculation for a few moments.
Jada’s mind busily worked through the new information.

She stood up and paced around the room a few times before
stopping in front of the open balcony doors. She looked out over the peaceful,
lush grounds, but didn’t actually note anything.

Someone paid Sylvia to phone in a tip to CGTV which helped
them find Jada’s and Ian’s fake marriage license. A woman. Who? And why?

Jada had a lot to think about.

IAN SAT IN THE ROWBOAT and cast his line into the lake. The
bobber landed with a satisfying plunk.

“This is the life,” Sullivan said after a satisfied sigh.
“Hanging out, drinking beer and the fish aren’t even ruining it by biting and
making us reel them in. Remind me again why we work for a living?”

“Damned if I know,” Ian answered. And though he answered in
a light-hearted way, there was truth in it, too. Why did he keep slugging it
out in the business world when most days it felt meaningless? Had it become
habit?

“So,” Ian said, “tell me how far you’ve gotten with CGTV.”

Sullivan had a satisfied expression on his spray-tanned
face. “Got ‘em running scared.”

“Good, but have they sent over a copy of the marriage
license yet?”

“Nope.”

“I knew it. They invented this whole thing.”

“Don’t be too sure,” Sullivan warned.

“Ugh. No dire warnings, please. You’re not my lawyer today.
You’re my friend.”

“There’s never a time when I’m not your lawyer, pal. But
this isn’t a warning. I simply don’t want you jumping to conclusions. Remember,
it’s a holiday weekend and they’ve got a skeleton crew, so they may not be
lying when they say there’s no one available to help us right now.”

“Wrong,” Ian said with utter confidence. “They had plenty of
staff to create that assassination piece they ran on Jada this morning.”

“True. That doesn’t help their case any.”

Ian pulled a fresh beer out of the cooler, flashing on when
Jada was in this exact same boat with him, daintily drinking a beer, her full
lips pressed against the mouth of the bottle. He fought back the memory. This
was hardly the time for those kinds of thoughts.

“Here’s what I want you to do,” Ian told Sullivan. “When we
get back to the house, have our people double the pressure on CGTV. Threaten
the hell out of them. Tell them we have the power to sic Homeland Security on
them if that’s what it takes. But make one thing very clear.”

Sullivan raised a brow. “And that is?”

Heat rose up Ian’s neck. “Tell CGTV that if they make any
more claims about Jada’s character or her home or her job or anyone remotely
connected to her, I will make it my life’s mission to personally see to it that
no one at that station ever works in television again.”

“If you say so, but as your lawyer, I have to warn you that
threats are never a good idea. Especially if you aren’t certain you can
actually follow through with them.”

“You doubt me?”

“Not me. No. I know you can be like a dog with a bone. I’m
simply suggesting you consider your actions carefully.”

“Dammit, Sullivan, you watched that piece on Jada. It was
the worst kind of yellow journalism. I don’t think I’ve ever seen worse.”

“I don’t know. There was the time the chef blogger posted
that you were an anti-Semite because you didn’t finish your bagel at his
restaurant.”

“Okay. Other than that one.”

“And the time that tabloid ran the story about you having
sex with a female Bigfoot.”

“That was pretty bad.”

Sullivan pulled in a deep breath. “And the time the
celebrity news show said you tried to force the Pussycat Dolls to fly off in a
UFO with you to populate Venus.”

Ian smiled. “I kind of liked that one.” His smile faltered.
“But this stuff with Jada is no joke. She’s a civilian, Sullivan. She’s not
used to this crap like you and me.”

“I know. And I appreciate that you want to protect her.”

“Good. So threaten the hell out of CGTV.”

“I’ll see what can be done,” Sullivan said, eyeing Ian
sideways. “It looks like you and Jada have been getting along.”

“Yes, we have.”

“So you’ve come to think well of her, I presume.”

“Why shouldn’t I? Do you know something I don’t?”

“Of course not. Calm down.” Sullivan laughed. “You actually
looked concerned there for a second. You really do like this woman.”

He met Sullivan’s gaze. “I do. And I’m not sure why,
exactly, except that she’s extremely beautiful.”

“It always helps if they’re beautiful.”

“But it’s not only that,” Ian added quickly. “It’s hard to
explain. She’s a real person, you know, without all the layers people put
between themselves and others. She doesn’t pretend to be anyone other than who
she is. And who she is, is pretty special.”

“For what it’s worth, I’ve dug as deeply into her past as I
can go, and I can’t find any skeletons in her closet. It’s remarkable.”

“Well quit digging,” Ian said. “It seems dishonest to do
that sort of thing now that I know her.”

“No problem. Nowhere left to dig anyway.”

“And don’t mention that you’ve researched her history.”

“She’s a smart lady,” Sullivan said. “She has to know you’d
look into her background. She is your wife, Ian.”

“I’m not kidding. Whether she knows it or not, I don’t want
it thrown in her face. Somehow, I know it’s not something she’d approve of.
That’s all.”

Sullivan grinned. “Aw, you don’t want to disappoint your
sweet little wife, do you?”

“Shut up.”

“The country’s most eligible bachelor, Ian Buckley, is
actually worrying about what his fake wife thinks about him. It’s adorable.”

“Don’t call me adorable. I know how to rock this boat so you
go flying and I stay dry.”

Sullivan shrugged and set down his fishing pole. “I think it
might be worth it. Tell me, do you like Jada this much,” he held out his hands
about a foot apart, “or THIS much?” He stretched his arms as wide as they’d go.
And he smirked.

Ian began to shake the boat from side to side. “It’s a long
swim back to shore, friend.”

Sullivan dropped his arms and clutched the bench. “Then it’s
a good thing I won’t be doing it alone, buddy.” And he began rocking the boat,
too.

Water sloshed up over one side and soaked Ian’s feet. “Stop
it! You don’t know what you’re doing. You’ll drown us both.”

“You stop first.”

“Fine, I’ll be the adult. As usual.” Ian stopped rocking.

Sullivan let go of the bench and gave Ian a cocky wink. “Now
where were we? That’s right, you were telling me all about how you’ve been
trying to impress your wife.”

“You’re a pain in the ass,” Ian said.

“And that’s why you love me.”

He was probably right, Ian thought. But he didn’t tell him,
because the lawyer had a big enough head as it was.

“OH,” JADA EXCLAIMED, STILL STANDING on her balcony and
squinting at the lake. “Someone’s out in one of the rowboats. Wait. It’s
rocking. Fast ... faster. Oh no! It’s going to roll over and sink! Wait. Never
mind. It stopped. I wonder what that was about. Do lakes have undertows?”

Marina had moved over the chaise longue and draped herself
with extreme languor down its length. “Who cares? We need to figure out what our
next move is.”

“We don’t have a next move.” Jada turned away from the
balcony. “Your part in this is done.”

“No way. I’m not stepping out of this now. We’re in it
together, sister.”

“I can’t decide if that’s good or bad.”

“It’s good. We’re going to solve the crime, I tell you.”

Jada wasn’t so sure. “Then let’s go back over the facts.
Sylvia accepted a bribe from an unknown woman to leak info to CGTV about my and
Ian’s fake marriage license.”

“That’s not actually true,” Marina said. “In fact, Sylvia
accepted a bribe to leak info about
Sasha
. That’s how she said it to me.
She said, ‘Tell CGTV there’s shocking information about Sasha the supermodel.’”

“Hmm. I see what you’re getting at. All this time I’ve been
focused on possible enemies who were out to get me or Ian. But I overlooked
someone else who was also hurt in all this ...”

“Exactly. Sasha. Or, she should have been hurt over this,
but actually isn’t, apparently, because she was never engaged to Ian to begin
with.”

“So,” Jada said, “this whole debacle may have had nothing to
do with Ian and me. Whoever was behind the fake license and the bribe was
probably out to get Sasha? I hadn’t even considered that.”

“I’ve gone over and over it, Jada. It’s the likeliest
explanation. KISS. Keep It Simple, Stupid.”

“It makes sense I guess. Wow. I’m kind of blown away. I
should have thought of that angle before.”

“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Marina said, waving a hand
lazily in the air. “You’re not a trained journalist.”

Jada rolled her eyes. “And I wasn’t in possession of all the
facts thanks to my sister lying to me.”

“You don’t have to keep gouging me over it. I’ve apologized
until my throat’s sore.”

“You must have a delicate throat, then. Never mind. I’ve had
a thought. Do you think the woman who bribed Sylvia might also have paid her to
plant the marriage license in the records department?”

“Sylvia’s only admitting that she took a bribe to leak the
tip,” Marina said. “But she sure is running scared right now, and for a big
blabbermouth, she’s suddenly gone tight-lipped. She might be over-reacting
because of possible repercussions if it’s discovered she accepted money in
exchange for tipping off CGTV. Or, what seems more likely, she’s lying about
her level of involvement and is actually up to her eyeballs in the whole
thing.”

“Yeah. I mean, think about it. Why would someone pay Sylvia
to make a tip to a television hotline? Why didn’t they simply do it
themselves?”

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Marina agreed.

“So if Sylvia accepted a bribe to file what she knew was a
fake document ... isn’t that illegal? If that’s what happened, she really must
have been desperate for the money. If she’s found out, she’ll be fired.”

“And then some,” Marina said. “I’d feel bad for her if you
hadn’t been dragged into it.”

“Me too. So, our best guess is that regardless of how deeply
Sylvia is involved in this, Sasha probably has an enemy who wanted to make a
fool out of her or to hurt her. We know it’s a woman.”

“Not necessarily. The woman who met with Syl could have been
the culprit’s agent.”

“An agent? Like Agatha?” Jada asked.

“No, not that kind of agent. I mean the mystery woman could
have been working for the actual culprit. We can’t make assumptions.”

“I’m going to make some anyway. I think the likeliest
scenario is that a woman who hates Sasha did all of this to get revenge on her
for something. We need to get Sylvia to answer her phone and talk to us so we
can get a description of the mystery woman.”

“Duh. I wish. Syl did say that the woman was intimidating.”

“That’s something at least,” Jada said. “I think we should
investigate this angle.”

“Me too. I’m going to grill Sasha about all her enemies. I
know of a couple of models she’s had fights with in the past, according to the
news.”

“The gossip. According to the gossip.”

“Right. Anyway, we need to find out who Sasha’s enemies
are.”

“But not right now,” Jada said. “I need some time to think
about this, make sure I’m not jumping to conclusions. And I need some time to
stop being angry at you for not telling me everything right away.”

Marina pulled herself upright. “Are you still mad about
that?”

“Yeah, I am. And I’m not thrilled that you want me to keep
this from Ian, either. I don’t see why he can’t know. He could help us, a lot.”

Marina jumped up. “No, no, no. Please, Jada. Don’t tell him.
Not yet. Give me one more day.”

“He’s not going to do anything to you. He’s a reasonable
man.”

“Yeah, well, you
think
he’s reasonable. But you’ve
just met him. You said yourself that these rich people can be strange. Who
knows what his reaction might be? Think about it. I used his name to get CGTV
interested.”

Jada blew out a loud breath. “You know how it is with
secrets. The truth always comes out ... always, and then you’re in for it
because you didn’t tell the truth to begin with. Secrets are always a bad idea,
Marina.”

“Not this time. Give me one single day. Until tomorrow
night. I know I can get through to Syl by then, and I can solve the whole Sasha
thing, too. I know it. One day, Jada. Come on. For your little sister?”

“Don’t even. I don’t know how you talk me into this crap.
We’ll never be able to keep this a secret.”

“Why not? I’m not telling anyone. Are you?”

“No.”

“Then it’ll be fine. Trust me. Say it’ll be fine.”

“It won’t be fine,” Jada said, “but I’ll do it anyway.
Though I don’t know why.”

Marina’s smile lit up the room. “You’re the best sister in
the universe. Why don’t I let you have a little alone time now? Take a nap. Get
some rest. Then make yourself beautiful for dinner, for Ian, right?”

“Right.”

“I’ll just grab my dress,” Marina headed to the closet door.
“When Elly comes back, tell her to come to my room, and—hey. Where’s my dress?
I thought she hung it on the door before she left.”