The Scandalous Billionaires Collection (55 page)

"Lacey? It's Harrison. The name is Bella
Wilson. Get me everything you can in 24 hours. She's Suzy Price's
best friend and she's hiding something."

"Affirmative." Was the clipped reply. It was
enough; Lacey knew how little her high profile client valued small
talk. She set to work and within hours was ready to call him back
with what he needed. Harrison took the call immediately.

"What do you have?" Lacey gave him the
details and he nodded his head appreciatively. "Good work." he
said. "That's why I hire you Lacey; you're the best in town."

"That's why I charge the highest prices."

"Yeah. Too damn high. Keep me posted if you
find anything new."

He hung up without ceremony and called
Suzy.

"Harrison? To what do I owe the entirely
unexpected pleasure?"

"I need a favor."

"No kidding. Thanks for bailing from our
little gathering today. So nice of you not to stick around. And
while I've got your attention, what the hell did you to my friend
Bella?"

"Do to Bella? What are you talking
about?"

"Don’t play dumb with me. You left the room
together and then when Bella came back she could hardly string a
sentence together between blushing and obviously lying about what
you two had gotten up to. So help me if you hurt her--"

"Blushing and lying." He smiled to himself.
"I had no idea I'd made such an impression. In fact she's the
reason I'm calling. I asked her out but she turned me down."

"Wow! Harrison, I’ll bet that’s a first.
How's your ego doing there? A little bruised?"

Suzy was genuinely surprised; firstly that
anyone had turned down the totally gorgeous Harrison Demovic and
secondly that Bella of all people had said no. They had lusted over
the three brothers together for months before meeting them and even
though they hadn't spoken about it openly she knew what a big deal
it would be for Bella to finally meet Harrison, the most elusive
and most definitely single of the three smoldering, billionaire,
fantasy males.

"It's like this Suzy, I need your help. I
think Bella might be put off by all the Demovic brother bullshit
the gossip columns spout about me and my two idiot brothers."

"Is it BS Harrison?"

"If I had bad intentions about your little
friend, who you dared to hide from me for this long, would I be
even calling you to convince her to go on a date with me?"

"Harrison, are you okay? Since when do you go
asking for favors like this? Especially for something like a date,
you sound like a twelve year old in love."

"She really made an impression on me Suzy.
Come on, will you do it or won’t you?"

"If you promise to go slow and keep your
hands off her on the first date."

"You have my word."
I'll keep my hands off
her alright.
He thought, imagining all the things he could do
to her without using his hands.

"Okay, I'll call her but I'm not making any
promises."

"You're a sweetheart. My dumbass brother
doesn’t deserve you. Call me back as soon as you have an answer.
I'll be waiting."

He ended the call.

At her end of the line Suzy rolled her eyes.
Demovic brothers just couldn't help bossing people around; it was
in their DNA and it was a big part of what made them so
exciting--especially in the bedroom--at least if Zachary was
anything to go by.

She felt excited for Bella.

If Harrison was really interested in her best
friend then this could turn into the triple romance of the century.
Suzy smiled as she scrolled down to Bella's number in her phone;
the secretive little redhead with the heart of gold that she loved
so much had no idea of the size of the Demovic storm that was about
to land on her tranquil shores.

********************

At home alone in her small apartment in
Queens, Bella was sitting in the dark. Every time she tried to
think about what had happened at the Demovic house she was
confused. Harrison was gorgeous but he was unpredictable and
arrogant. Even if he was really interested in her, once he found
out about her secret it would all be over and that would be even
harder to bear than just saying no to him right now and then just
continuing on with her ordinary little life, in her ordinary little
world.

She jumped like a cat when her phone rang and
blasted the stillness of her living room.

Is it him?
The thought flashed through
her mind.
Don’t be so stupid, you idiot. He doesn't even have
your number for Christ's sake.
She let the phone ring again.
Unless he got it from Suzy?

She looked at the display on the phone, it
was a cell phone and she didn't recognize the number. Who would be
calling her at this time other than her best friend? Could it
really be him after all? Her heart began to race at the craziness
of the idea.

Be strong.
She thought.
Be nice,
but be strong. You have to just say no.
Her hand trembled as
she reached for the phone. She swiped to take the call and then
slowly put the handset to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello Bella." The voice was deep, masculine,
harsh and threatening. This definitely wasn't Harrison. Her heart
sank and the knot of anxiety from earlier in the day returned to
her gut.

"Who is this?"

"A friend."

"What's your name?"

"Don’t worry about my name. I'm here to help
you."

"If this is a joke, it’s not funny. I'm going
to hang up now."

"I hear you have rich friends now."

Bella froze.

"You better tell me what the hell this is all
about right now, or I'm calling the police."

There was grim, sarcastic laughter at the
other end of the line.

"
You?
You
call the police?
That's a good one Bella. Why don't you go ahead and do that. Ask
for officer Malone. Wasn't he the detective who made the
arrest?"

A layer of ice closed around her heart.

"Who is this?" She whispered, barely able to
get the words out. "What do you want?"

"Now we're getting somewhere. I'll tell you
what I want bitch, I want money and if I don’t get what I want all
your little Demovic friends are going to find out exactly who
they've invited into the privacy of their home."

"I don’t have any money, you're wasting your
time."

"I know
you
don’t have any money
Bella. Why do you think I haven’t called you until now? But your
friends do and I'm willing to bet they'll help you out if you ask
them nicely."

"I hardly know the Demovic family, it's my
friend Suzy who's getting married, not me."

"Getting married? That’s new. Thanks Bell, I
think I can smell payday already with information like that. When's
the big day for the happy couple?"

Shit, the engagement is supposed to be
private.

She had screwed up already.

"Please don’t tell anyone."

There was more harsh laughter from the other
end of the line.

"That's a good one, seriously. Stop busting
my balls little girl, I knew you'd play nice once your reputation
was on the line. A girl like you doesn’t think twice when it comes
to taking care of number one, ain't that right?"

"That's not true. I don’t know who you are or
what you think you know about me, but you're wrong."

"Oh I know exactly who you are, don't you
worry about that little girl. Now you're lucky you had something to
give me this time, but you better start thinking bigger than just
gossip. I have needs--expensive ones--and they can't wait. You get
close to those Demovic bastards and you do it now or everyone you
care about will know all there is to know about little Bella
Wilson, and you can say bye-bye to your billionaire bitch's fantasy
world."

"Why are you doing this to me?"

"Real simple. It's nothing personal Bell;
just payday, that's all. But you don’t come through for me and
it'll get personal real soon, I fucking guarantee you that. Do you
understand me bitch?"

Bella couldn't move couldn't speak with
shock.

"I said; 'do you understand me
bitch
?'"

"Yes, yes I do. What do I need to do?"

"That's better kiddo. You just sit tight for
now. Don’t go anywhere and make sure I can reach you. You don’t
answer this phone and I'm liable to get nervous. You understand
me?"

"Sit tight, make sure you can reach me."

"That's good, real good. Okay Bella, it's
bye-bye for now, but I'll be in touch soon. Make sure you have
something for me I can use."

"Something you can use? I don’t
understand?"

The question went unanswered into a dead
telephone line and with it every ray of light in Bella's world.

She sat looking at the glow of the phone in
the twilight of her apartment, struggling to understand what had
just happened to her. When the phone rang again her heart was beat
wildly, but this time it was only Suzy.

She stared at the phone but didn’t move to
answer it.

She desperately wanted to speak to her best
friend but didn't dare take the call. How could she tell her that
she had just leaked her engagement to the gossip press and that she
was being blackmailed into stealing money from the Demovic
family?

She let the phone ring out and go to
voicemail.

Secrets.

They were the bane of her existence and it
looked as though they were set to destroy the world around her as
she knew it.

She picked up her phone and dialed to hear
the message Suzy had left.

'Hey Bella, guess you're in the shower or
something, but this can't wait; I have got the most awesome news
for you. Harrison Demovic wants to ask you out!' Her friend was
practically shrieking with delight. 'Can you believe it? Imagine if
you and him and me an Zach and Melissa and Jason… oh my God. I have
to stop. Look, I don’t know how you feel about this but will you
please, please, please just say yes to him this time?'

This time?
Had he told her about their
'encounter' at the family home?

'Just once, as a favor to me. Please, please,
please, please. I'll do anything for you if you just go out with
him at least once. He's an awesome guy, you know how hot he is and
I have never heard him talk or behave the way he did when he
practically begged me to ask you to go out with him. Call me as
soon as you get this. I'm giving him your number by the way. Hope
that's okay. Love you baby!'

The message ended there.

Bella wanted to call Suzy back and ask her
what the hell she was thinking, giving her number out like that,
but of course she knew the reasons why. When Suzy had been
invalided with kidney failure they had spent hours, days and weeks
together, just passing the time by watching the gossip news when
Suzy had been too weak and tired to do anything else. They had
joked a thousand times about meeting the glamorous people they
watched on TV and laughed out loud about doing anything to meet
them, be with them, get them into the sack and keep them there
while they devoured them alive. It had all been just meaningless,
harmless fun and neither of them had ever expected in a million
years of Sundays to ever cross paths with a real billionaire.

Not, of course, until Harrison's oldest
brother had needed a therapist and somehow picked Melissa, Suzy's
older sister, out of nowhere to be his shrink and confidante.
Suddenly the improbable, the impossible and the downright
incredible had begun to crash its way into their lives and it
seemed that fairytales could come true.

Of course Suzy would hand over her phone
number to a dream guy like Harrison. Bella hadn't ever told her or
anyone else she had met in New York about her prison record. It was
too hard to explain and it didn't make any difference now anyway.
She had paid her so-called 'debt' to society and Melissa and Suzy
had accepted her without question, but for sure the Demovic family,
with so much at wealth and reputation at stake, would never be so
kind, so trusting or so naive.

Harrison's interest in her was bad news.
Very, very bad news indeed.

The phone rang again and fear coursed through
her. Usually Bella was thrilled when the phone rang but tonight she
sat in dread of her light-hearted ringtone. She looked at the
display and didn't recognize it the number for the second time that
evening. Her heart pounded with fear and her palms were moist with
cold sweat.

It had to be him again; the blackmailer,
whoever he was.

She couldn't let them do this to her. She
wouldn't. This was illegal, immoral and worst of all it affected
not just her but her very best and most trusted friends.

She let the phone ring three times before
snatching it from table to take the call.

"You're never going get what you want, I can
tell you that now, so just go to hell."

She waited for the response. Whoever was on
the other end had just got the shock of their lives.

"I want you to come to dinner with me.
Tonight. Is that so terrible that I should go to hell for it?"

Oh my God.

"Bella? Are you still there?"

"Mr. Demovic. Oh my God, I'm--"

"Confused? I can hear that. And what's with
this 'Mr. Demovic' malarkey? I'm not a senior citizen. Not yet
anyway."

The silence at the other end of the line
turned Harrison's demeanor deadly serious. Something wasn't
right.

"We're you expecting someone else?" He asked.
He was sure now that he had heard fear in Bella's voice and he
didn't like it.

"Is someone threatening you Bella?"

"Mr. Demovic, no--"

"If someone has tried to hurt you I need to
know. You're Suzy's best friend and Suzy is family, so that means
you're a part of us now whether you like it or not and whether you
like
me personally
or not. If someone is causing you
problems I need to know."