Page 61 of The Forbidden Billionaire
“Yes. He knows we’re onto him, so he’s cooled his heels.”
“I still don’t think it’s him,” I say slowly. “He’d come to terms with the fact that they’d broken up.”
“Plus he’s a good-looking guy,” Stacy says, “I can’t imagine he’d have any trouble getting girls.”
I ignore that. “He didn’t strike me as an obsessed ex.”
“That’s a fair comment,” Ella replies. “But the fact is that we know he took the photo of Aurelia on the bed when they were together. Someone hadn’t broken into her apartment and taken pictures of her asleep. He’s just a wanker who’s throwing his rattle out of the pram because she broke up with him. Now he’s aware we know he took the photo, he’ll get bored and move on.”
I can’t argue with that, so even though my stomach flips uneasily, I don’t say anything. The change back to green doesn’t alter much for me anyway. It refers mainly to the allocation of the larger security team. The Ashfords still want her to have a CPO, so I’ll still be with her ten to twelve hours a day regardless, and Stacy will watch over her in the evenings until she’s in for the night.
Part of me is glad Aurelia doesn’t know anything about what’s going on behind the scenes, as I think her family is right and it would scare her. But the more I get to know her, the moreI hate keeping secrets from her. She broke up with Dominic because of issues with control, and I can see her deep-rooted frustration with wanting more independence. Her father and brothers have sheltered her for her entire life, and she’s a grown woman now. She deserves more freedom, and instead they’ve forced a bodyguard on her and told her everything she does has to be run through their security team. I’m lucky she doesn’t resent me more.
But I keep my thoughts to myself, and Aurelia has a busy schedule for the rest of the day, which means I’m busy too, driving her from appointment to appointment.
The next day, Thursday, promises to be quieter. She has a couple of internal meetings, so I decide to catch up on my paperwork.
The day goes relatively quietly, and it’s just past three p.m. when Rick suddenly sits up in his chair and says, “Uh oh.”
I look up from where I’m inputting times into a spreadsheet, and Kai and Stacy, who are both in the office, do the same. “What?”
“A story’s broken on Korero,” he states, naming Auckland’s premier news website. He looks over his shoulder at me. “Come and see.”
We get up and walk over to him and bend to look at his screen. The headline says, ‘Billionaire in fake marriage deal.’
“Fuck,” Kai says. There’s a photo of Marcus and Wren on their wedding day. I read on. The article talks about Edward Ashford’s upcoming retirement, and the fact that Tom Rutherford had put in an offer of acquisition.
It mentions the fact that Edward gave his children an ultimatum, telling them that if they don’t get married and produce an heir, he’ll sell the company.
But worst of all, it reveals that Wren asked Caesar for a baby first, and that Marcus counter-offered with marriage.It explains it all in language that makes it sound like a cold, calculating business deal. It doesn’t say anything about the fact that Marcus has been in love with Wren for ten years.
“Jesus,” Stacy says.
“That’s going to put the cat amongst the pigeons,” Rick says. “Fucking press.”
“More importantly,” I reply, “who leaked it?”
He leans back in his chair. “Shit, yeah. It had to be someone close to them.”
Stacy’s eyes widen as she gets to the juicy bit. “Oh my God, Wren asked Caesar to donate first?”
“The public’s going to lap that up,” Kai says.
I feel a deep sense of sadness for Marcus. The article doesn’t explain that Wren approached Caesar because she’d known him for a long time. It makes Marcus sound second best, and it’s humiliating for him.
I look at the TV screen that relates to the camera in the second floor reception area. It shows a flurry of activity: secretaries and PAs scurrying to and fro, Caesar marching down the corridor toward his father’s office. I watch as Aurelia stops at the front desk, then walks away, back to her office. Her head is down. She must be worried.
“Do you think they’ll contact Marcus?” Rick asks.
“Not a great thing to happen on your honeymoon,” Kai says.
I straighten. “I’ll go up and see what’s going on.”
I take the elevator up to the second floor. When I come out, I bump straight into Caesar.
“Shit, sorry,” I say.
He was about to go into the elevator, but he pauses and says, “You heard what’s happened?”
