Billionaire Takes All

Billionaire Takes All

Rival Brothers Romance Novel

Jackson Kane

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Copyright © 2016 Jackson Kane

All rights reserved.

Billionaire Takes All is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. They are not to be construed in any way. Resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Cover design
by
Cormar Covers

Edited
by Alice Anne Evans

Special thanks:
Jennifer Cothran, Theresa Esterline, Charlie Weaver, Lindsay Larkin, Danielle Stewart, Tana Wheeler, and Tracy Vincent

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Prologue

Lucas

I just lost my half of five billion dollars.

Five. Billion. Fucking dollars.

I crushed the phone in my hand, but the voicemail chimed in my brain like church bells at midnight. It was probably the same message my brother just got.

“Your father is dying. The inheritance is no longer yours
or
your brother’s. If you want a chance at that money, you’re going to have to play by some… unconventional rules.”

Rules? Fuck that!

I didn’t get this far by following
anyone’s
rules.

“Only one of you can win,” The message said. “The other gets nothing.”

But I did know one thing: if this really was a competition between my brother and I for the whole King fortune,
I was going to win.

That’s probably exactly what Richard is saying right now too. He and I hate each other, we have for years.

With my hand throbbing, I flexed my fingers. The final sentence of that damn message had flipped my life upside down and kicked it down the fucking sidewalk.

“Good luck, Lucas. You’re going to need it.”

One thing’s for sure, our sleepy town of Caldwell Hope is in for a rude awakening.

When the King brothers come back home all hell’s breaking loose.

Chapter 1

Lucas

“Excuse me,” the woman’s voice was as sweet and distant as a pleasant dream.

Grass beneath me, the sounds of cars busily rushing by, the briskly intermittent breeze and the bathing warmth of the sun.

Fuck, I was outside.

I hated waking up outside.

The birds were the worst pressure point on my massive hangover. Their sharp tweets cut through my ears like an ice pick.

“Hello, shirtless man? You can't be here,” said the voice more insistently. Was I still dreaming? It sounded way too familiar to be anything but a dream.

I covered my face, fighting the waking world, determined to go back to sleep. I had no idea what time it was, but I knew that it was way too damn early for me to be coherent.

“Excuse me,” the woman repeated, getting closer. She was trying to hide the bookish timidity from her voice.

That voice was crazy familiar...

“For Christ's sake you're excused.” I grumbled as loudly as I could, shifting my arm to further shield my face the relentless sunlight. “Now let me sleep.”

She scoffed at my bluntness.

The kick in the ribs I received wasn't bookish or sweet.

“Fuck me, that's a rude way to treat a guest.” I recoiled, rolling away onto my stomach. My long, dirty-blond hair cascaded down both sides of my face as I lifted myself from a push up position. Once I got my knees under me I shot a quick glance at her, but my eyes hadn't adjusted fully so I only caught a glimpse before the intensity of the sun forced me to look away.

Her long, layered, brown hair had soft curls and was pulled back into a ponytail. She had a slight, yet athletic frame, and wore a gray dress. Was that the glint of glasses I saw?

Wasn't the girl last night a redhead? I also didn't remember her being this gorgeous...

“Rude?! Guest?!” Her tone screamed
the gall of this man!

That didn't make any sense. I distinctly remember being invited to the party last night by a few fans. They wanted me here. Why was I being yelled at?

My ears were still faintly humming from all the music I had played.

I carelessly rubbed my sore chest and abs to get off the matted grass and dirt. It was a useless effort; all my tattoos made the mess impossible to see, let alone brush off. I desperately needed a shower. I cocked my head to the side, and through my hanging hair caught the pretty brunette gawking.

She could try to hide it, but I could tell that she liked what she saw.
Damn right,
I thought.
I don’t work out five times a week to
not
look good.

“Yeah,
guest
. You invited me.” My long hair blanketed my head like an overturned mop. With the speed and precision of someone who was just hit by a car, I grabbed the wadded fabric in my back pocket and pulled out a purple G-string. “These are yours aren’t they?”

“Eww, no! And this is school property.
No one
invited you to sleep here!”

“What?” I flipped my hair back and took in the surroundings. If they weren't hers, then where the hell was I?

The long rectangular building loomed nearby, obviously some kind of school. I spotted the playground peeking out from the back of the nicely remodeled building.

Oh wonderful. I'm shirtless and reeking of booze in front of an elementary school. Definitely not one of the high points of my life...
Yeah, this won't make it into my autobiography.
I was glad it was Saturday.

At least I hoped it was Saturday...

Either way there were no children around, thankfully. Although, I'd probably make a good example of what not to do when you grow up.

Then it got worse. I spotted the name on the building—Matt Baker Elementary school.
Matt Baker
. That's where I was?

“Oh shit…” I muttered. That's why she looked and sounded so familiar.

“Your eyes... Hazel,” she said in wistful tones, not trusting her own eyes.

My face puckered up and my eyes clamped shut as if bracing for a hit. Stupidity always hurt much more than physical pain. Of all the places I could've drunkenly stumbled last night, why'd I pick here?

I fucked up.
Bad.

“Luke?” Molly Baker gasped; the dream of her past finally becoming real.

Just waking up, being hung over and crashing in an unfamiliar place was a perfect storm for my brain to be a fucking wreck. Still... There was no excuse. I should've known much sooner.

I'd heard that voice every night while I slept for ten long years.

I snapped my eyes open and saw her.
Really saw her
. Suddenly I was as awake as someone who got a shot of adrenaline straight to the vein. My heart began to claw its way into the back of my throat.

It really was her...

She was impossibly prettier than I remembered.

“Molly.” The name tumbled from my lips. I needed a few more
lifetimes
to figure what to say to her. I'm sorry. I didn't know. It wasn't my choice to leave you. Every day I wanted to come back for you.

Every single day.

I knew every inch of Molly's sun-kissed skin and the way her light freckles were only visible in some light. Her lips were glossy pink pillows made of clouds on a perfect afternoon and her eyes were the color of amber at dusk.

I'd always thought about what this moment would be like if it ever happened. I'd planned it a thousand times in a thousand ways. Sometimes she'd be walking by when I'd stop her and tell her how much I missed her. Other times I'd just show up at her door, and ask her out so I could explain everything. Every time I met her in my head it was on my terms and usually with a bouquet of flowers.

So much for best laid plans…

I
at least
thought I'd have more clothes on when we met.

“Molly I—” the crack of her knuckles stole the rest of my sentence and snapped my head back.

“Ow, shit. That hurt!” Molly's arm recoiled. She scowled, shaking the pain out of her hand.

“OK, I deserved that.” I wiped the blood trickling down my nose. It was a good punch, but she didn't break anything. It did however kick my headache into overdrive. Fortunately it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Especially not when there was so much to say.

“Where'd you learn how to punch like that?”

“I picked up a few things in the ten years since you abandoned me.” Molly rubbed her sore knuckles.

“Molly, I'm—”

“Don't you dare.” She balled her fists back up. Was she going to punch me for trying to apologize? “You don't get to do that. You can't just roll into town without a word, say you’re sorry and expect everything to be forgiven.”

“This wasn't the way I was hoping this would go.” I licked the blood off my teeth and wiped my mouth and light beard again. 

“We don't always get what we want, do we?” Her beautiful brown eyes narrowed. “I see you've stayed busy.” Her eyes flicked down at the thong in my fist.

“These aren’t mine.” I sighed.
No shit.
“I mean these aren’t what you think—”

I wish I wasn’t so hung over. This looked much worse than it was. The redhead at the party stuffed them into my pocket and said they were the key to her bedroom. I left shortly after that. I never made it into the house, let alone her bedroom. I definitely never touched her.

“You know what? I don’t even want to know.”

Fuck!

There was no way Molly would believe what really happened. I was a rock star with all the trappings—fans, groupies, the whole nine yards...

Hell,
I
wouldn't believe me.

What no one knew was that getting underwear thrown at me was a surprisingly common occurrence. Sometimes it didn't even happen while I was on stage. There's another side to fame that no one gives a shit about.

The sad, honest truth was that I hadn't had sex with anyone in a long time.

I looked around for a trash can and saw one near where my bike was parked, but I wasn't ready to leave things like this with Molly. I shoved the panties back into my pocket.

What else could I do? I wasn't about to throw them on the lawn of an elementary school, especially not one named after her dead brother.

“The new school looks nice.” I began remembering how I got here. This was my first stop when I came into town last night. I heard the renovations were finally finished and I had to see it with my own eyes.

“Anonymous donation. It turns out there are nice, thoughtful people in the world after all.”

“Yeah… I’m sorry to hear about Matt.”

“Don’t. Just…” Molly took a deep breath and exhaled. “I want you to go, Luke.”

“Molly. Wait a second.” I took a step in and grabbed her arms. Her perfume wafted up between us. She smelled like heaven. Now that she was so close, it was hard to stop myself from hugging her like when we were kids.

If I did that I'd never be able to let her go.

Why couldn't we have that again?

I could see the spark in her eyes and it wasn't just because I was half naked. I knew
those
looks. I saw them all the time from girls that only saw me as a rock star or as a ripped piece of meat.

Molly's was different.

Yeah, I could feel her pulse and breath racing. I knew she was still attracted to me, but there was so much more in those brown eyes. There was pissed off anger and pain. And beyond that there was something else.

There was still a glimmer of the girl I used to know back before it all fell to shit.

And I could never truly give up on that girl.
Ever
.

Her expression softened and her eyes turned up, then closed. She was allowing herself to
just feel
. So much time had passed, but what we had was truly special. You couldn’t just recover from something like that.

It stayed with you for the rest of your life.

“A day hasn’t gone by where I didn’t think about you.” The distance between us evaporated like boiling water. “I’m so sorry I had to leave.”

“This time don't come back.” Molly pulled her arms away at the last moment and turned her back on me. “I've moved on.”

Molly walked away from me.