Greene's Riches (A Billionaire Romance - Vol. 2) (4 page)

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Authors: Ana Vela

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The hotel that the event was held in was made of white marble. Alexis marveled at it as they walked up the steps, arms interloped with one another. Flashes of cameras blinded her as they walked up the steps, the paparazzi shouting out questions but none of them were comprehensible. Richard looked over at her and smiled when the ascended the final step. He brought her into his arms and forcefully pressed his lips to her. He slightly dipper her backwards and forced his tongue into her mouth.

“That was, that was amazing!” Alexis smiled at him. More light flashed from the cameras and the shouts of questions from the paparazzi seemed to grow in size as the couple entered into the hotel. “Seriously, what was that?”

“I wanted to give the tabloids something to talk about. When you’re a world famous billionaire, the tabloids will always run rumors and speculation about you. Sometimes they get it right, and other times they just make up whatever story they want to. This time I gave them something to talk about,” Richard answered, his tone was serious. His eyes focused on the signs leading to the event. “No worries, Darling. No one will know who you are; as a matter of fact you will only rate a mention in the article. Though I don’t know why with how stunning you look.”

Once the shock of his insult wore off, Alexis realized that he was right. Being photographed one time with Richard Greene would not make her the next tabloid target. Alexis knew that the writers would get more fuel out of the story if Richard was photographed with another woman within a few days or if she was photographed with him again. “You truly are incredible, Richard. Is there nothing that you don’t know? It seems as though you are an expert on every subject.”

“Not every subject, but that’s why I have employees and a computer. What did we ever do before the advent of Google? It’s as if the computer has opened us up to all the information that one would ever need, even if someone wanted to emulate
Fifty Shades of Grey
.” Richard winked at her. Alexis felt her cheeks flush with excitement and embarrassment. “No worries though, I would never want to be Christian Grey. He’s much too poor and has control issues.”

“A man threatened by Christian Grey? It’s almost like saying that men have penis envy,” when she seen the stern look on his face, she smiled at him. Softly she touched his arm, trying to reassure him. “It was a joke, don’t be so serious. You have nothing to worry about,”

“Do you really think a place like this is the right place to talk about my genitalia? Alexis, please use discretion. While there is nothing wrong with sex, I certainly don’t want that information spread around in public.”

Alexis bit back a retort by biting her lip. She inhaled sharply and turned away from him. Her eyes were looking for a restroom where she could collect her thoughts and calm her nerves. Richard reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, “Please don’t be upset. I was harsh yes but Darling you understand that I do business with these people. Please don’t be upset with me.”

“Don’t tell me there’s trouble in paradise already,” Janice Williamson drawled as she embraced Richard. After she pulled away from Richard, Janice extended her hand to Alexis. “”I am Janice Williamson, and you must be the latest woman to fall for Richard’s charm. Give him hell for all of us women, honey.”

“I’m Alexis Black. I work for Coast to Coast magazine and just did a profile on you,” Alexis gushed. She winced when she realized how much of a fan girl she sounded like. She squared her shoulders and drew in a deep breath. “I’m sorry I know how weird that sounded. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise, Miss Black. As I said I want you to give this man hell. It is unbelievable how many women he goes through, and yet they all keep lining up to be with him.” Janice walked away after shaking Alexis’s hand again and giving her a smiled, she walked away from them.

Richard looked at her in a way that a father would look at a daughter before launching into a lecture. Alexis decided to head him off at the pass, she had no desire to be lectured by anyone. “Richard, please don’t start. The words slipped out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying. I apologize if I embarrassed you but unlike most of the girls you date, I’m not used to seeing celebrities.”

“Alexis, Darling, please. I thought it was quite charming how you treated Janice like she was a rock star. After everything that she has been through, she needed to know that people respect her.” He pulled her close to him and kissed the top of her head. His hand travelled down her back. “I also apologize for being out of line earlier. I know you meant no harm and frankly I do find it refreshing when you give me a hard time.”

Once again her phone went off. She fished in her purse and pulled out her phone. The caller ID said it was Jacob calling again, so she silenced it and placed it back in the bag. She made a mental note to call him back later. “It’s odd that Jacob keeps calling me. If he does it again, I may have to excuse myself and see what is going on.”

She found herself alone. Her eyes scanned the crowd and landed on Richard talking with another businessman. Briefly she considered calling Jacob back but a woman came up behind her, seemingly reading her thoughts. “If you want to keep Richard Greene, I would advise you to forget about work or anything else that takes the attention away from him. He is not fond of being ignored by the woman he is dating and will find himself someone else to feed his enormous ego.”

“Who are you?” Alexis asked but the woman glided back into the crowd. When she turned to find Richard he too was gone.

****

Alexis allowed the warm water to cleanse her body and shake the memory of the previous evening. After she had caught up with Richard, he had acted distant and irritated with her. When they found a moment alone, he had alluded to the fact that he expected her to be by his side every moment. She argued that she wasn’t his babysitter and would be circulating throughout the crowd.

She understood why he wanted her by his side at all times when Johnny Penn, the gay man she had befriended earlier in her trip, had warned her that there was a tabloid reporter trying to find out who she was. Richard had heard the same thing and asked security to find the perpetrator and escort them out of the event.

Logan had driven her home, but Richard had demurred on joining her for a
night cap. He had said he had an early meeting but Alexis knew that something else was going on. Even though they had made up, he still seemed agitated by something, distracted by more than just the party.

“Hello?” She said into her phone, as she stepped out of the shower. The steam made it difficult to see the caller ID, she hoped that it was Richard. “Hello.”

“Finally I get a hold of you!” Jacob exclaimed into the phone. Her heart was racing, she knew that something was wrong. She could feel it in her bones. “Everyone loved your piece on Janice Williamson but it’s been killed. The higher ups are going to use a Hillary Clinton piece in its place. They are talking about using the Williamson piece for a blog that they want to launch, they may have you rewrite it into more of a profile. They were right, it was more of a profile.”

“What does this mean? Do I have to pay the money back?” Alexis sat down on the toilet seat, panic rising in her. She was low on money and had no idea when she would get more. “Why are they putting my piece on hold? I don’t understand it had everything that a cover story was made of, including hints about the scandal.”

“That’s part of the problem, since you are now involved with Richard Greene, they felt that you couldn’t be objective about the story. Apparently there is more to the cheating scandal than what was first reported and your new boyfriend plays a part in it.”

A knock at the door caused Alexis to hit the end button before saying anything more to Jacob. She opened it and found Richard on the other side, a silly grin on his face. “Hello Darling. I’m sorry about last night but I needed to be on my A-game today for a very important business meeting. It went well but I have a business dinner and need you to come with me.”

“No. I can’t come with you. My career is in shambles. My piece on Janice Williamson was supposed to be the cover story but now it’s being shelved. Well it might end up on a blog but even that’s not likely.”

“That’s horrible, Darling. Why did they shelve your story? I’m sure it was brilliant.”

“They scrapped it because of you. I was informed that you played a part in the Williamson cheating and embezzling scandal. I was also told that because I’m dating you that I was no longer impartial and couldn’t handle the story.”

“I don’t understand, how in the world did I play a part in that? Surely my friendship with Janice could not have been construed as anything but a friendship. I helped her emotionally but that was it, I have no idea where the rest of that is coming from.”

“You have no idea? You have no idea?” Alexis laughed, though there were tears running down her face. “Please Richard; I’m not one of your groupies. I have a brain and two eyes and I see how you work the crowd and make eyes at the female population. How you take advantage of the girls without brains, who have no aspirations outside of being your wife. Is that what you saw in me? Is that why you choose me, because you thought that after we had sex I would give up my career?”

“I have been more than generous with you, Alexis. I understand that you are upset about your story being pulled but I had nothing to do with that. Lashing out at me will do nothing more than upset both of us and I have a business dinner to go to, which I had wanted you to be my date for. Now however I am thinking that you need a night in, some time by yourself.”

“You had nothing to do with this? Are you serious? Really, you think that you are an innocent by-stander in all of this?” Alexis shook her head, incredulously. Her shoulders squared, she looked at Richard in the eyes and unleashed her fury. “Every time I turned around you were coming here, asking me to escort you to a fundraiser or on another date. You never took into consideration that I had work to do, that maybe I needed to work on my career. Are you kidding me?! If anything Richard this is all your fault!”

“You are reaching and being irrational. I need a clear mind, so I am going to go to my meeting and bid you good night. After you think about the things you are saying and how horrible you are being to me, you can call me with your apology. We have something special and I would hate to walk away from it, just because you are upset over some silly story that isn’t being published.”

“Are you kidding me right now? You want me to apologize to you? That is not going to happen, you owe me the apology. Go to your meeting and forget about me! I never want to see you again!” Alexis picked up a vase that sat by the TV in the room. It was heavy and was shaped awkwardly, but Alexis hurled it at Richard who was walking out of the door. “I hate you! You hear me! I never want to see you again!”

Richard closed the door, as the vase crashed against it, breaking. Alexis sobbed loudly and moved over to the door. She turned her back and leaned on it as her knees buckled. She fell onto the shards of vase as more tears fell down her face. With a heavy voice she asked to the empty room, “Why did I say I hate him? I don’t. I love him, I love Richard Greene and now he is gone, now he is out of my life forever.”

To Be Continued

About the Author

Ana Vela is romantic at heart. Living in Brooklyn with her husband, two sons, and a puppy, she finds time to sneak away at night and live out her fantasies by writing them all down and creating these stories for her faithful readers.
To contact Ana, please write to
[email protected]
, and she will answer each and every email personally!