The Gamble

by Alice Ward

  “It’s all good.” I leaned down and brushed my lips across hers before pulling her in tightly and pressing my face to the side of her neck. “Makes me look more manly. More rugged.”

  “No, it makes you look like someone attacked you.” She pulled back as the door to the house opened and my brother walked out.

  “Hey! I’m looking at a free man, hmm? Ain’t nobody getting you down, right? No sir-re! You’re Zek Kellington. The world can suck it.” Mark patted my back and pulled Alisa into a side hug. “And this kick ass attorney you got here isn’t too bad either.”

  Lizzy walked out and hugged me and shook Alisa’s hand. “I’m so happy for you, Zek, and I’m insanely proud of you, Alisa. You did the firm right, and took care of my family. Thank you.”

  “It was a pleasure.” Alisa nodded to the house. “Now... time to feed the hard-working attorney.”

  “Agreed. The almost criminal is starving too.” I moved in behind Alisa and opened the door wider before following her into the kitchen. Lizzy took over as she always did, and I moved to sit at the breakfast bar with my brother as the two women in my life worked to get something delicious for us to enjoy together.

  I couldn’t have felt more right, more whole. Alisa would be mine eventually. I just had to survive my bad decisions. There was no way I could ask her to wait two to five years for me if I went to prison for the trading charges though. She had too much life in her to ask her to stifle it for that long, and I had started to care far too much about her to even think about taking anything from her.

  My focus was to give her everything she wanted, and anything she needed. That had to start with me being a free man. If I could just figure out a way to circumvent the trial and put in a plea bargain, but what would she think about that? She’d already been pretty clear on the fact that she would feel differently about me if I was, in fact, the criminal the SEC was working to turn me into.

  The scary part was that they wouldn’t have to work too hard at all. I’d done it. Now I was just running from the part where I got caught.

  ***

  Lizzy and Mark left after dinner was done, and I was grateful. I wanted some time alone with Alisa before she ran out on me too. She might be interested in next steps, but she was still holding back a little around me. I understood it, and though I was grateful for her being so responsible, I wanted to beg her to let her hair down just a little.

  I moved in behind her as she washed dishes at the sink, and I slid my hands around her waist. I pressed myself against her and brushed her hair away before pressing my lips to the side of her neck.

  “I want to ask you to stay the night with me, but I know you well enough to know that you won’t. I don’t need the rejection, but know that I want you here.” I kissed her again and pressed my mouth to her throat, sucking softly as she let out a groan.

  “I want to so bad. Maybe I should just let go. Stop being so damn responsible with all of this.” She turned off the water and turned in my arms. “I was miserable this week without you.”

  “Can I ask what happened with Ben after your conversation?” I knew I was pushing a little into her private space, but I needed to know if any part of her still had hope for reconciliation with him.

  “Sure.” She reached over and picked up a hand towel and worked to dry her hands as her eyes moved across my face. “We met that night, talked about our investments. I signed some papers that he had for me, and then I went home. He wanted to talk about us, but I reminded him that there is no us anymore. It’s all good. It’s just been a long week after that.”

  “I should have called.” I slid my hand along her face and rubbed gently at the base of her head. “Forgive me?”

  “Hell, I should have called. You were attacked by some crazy chick, and I wasn’t even here to help.” She pressed her hands to my chest and rubbed softly.

  “If you would have been here, it would have been worse, and I wouldn’t have gotten the chance to record the conversation on my phone that I did. It’s all good. It worked out well, actually. Now the other six days in the week... you were missed.”

  She laughed with me, and I moved back, picking up my beer and nodding toward the living room. “Come on. You don’t have to spend the night if you don’t want, but don’t go just yet. I want some more time with you.”

  “Okay.” She picked up her glass of wine and walked just ahead of me to the living room.

  I sat down and extended my arm to the back of the couch, nodding for her to take the seat next to me. “Come let me feel you up.”

  She smirked and dropped down next to me. “This feels like high school all over again.”

  “Oh yeah? I don’t ever remember me feeling you up while you were still fully dressed. We kept our love affair a secret, remember? Your brother would have killed me in my sleep had he known how badly I wanted to touch your sexy little body.” I leaned over and kissed the side of her face as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

  “I wanted you to touch me.” She pulled her legs up and cuddled against me. “Remember that old game I made you play with me all the time? Do you trust me?”

  I laughed. “Oh shit. I’d almost forgotten about that. You were a devious little thing. Had me hard every time I saw you because of some of the things you told me you wanted us to do when we grew up. Remember that?”

  She laughed as her cheeks turned pink. “I do. I would read dirty magazines at home to get some new ideas to share with you late at night. I wanted you to see me as a woman, not a child. I figured if I knew the latest sexual lingo that you might notice me.”

  I glanced down at her and shook my head. “You didn’t have to do anything to get my attention. You had it — fully. You were beautiful and wild. Fuck, you still are.”

  “I’m not wild anymore. I want to be some days. I want to jump from a plane, ride a motorcycle at full speed, swim with the sharks.” She gave me a wide grin and my heart melted in my chest.

  “Let’s write all that stuff down and after we wrap up the mess I’ve made with my life, we’ll start working through your bucket list. Sound good?” I kissed the tip of her nose.

  “Yes. You have to add things to the list to. What do you want to do?”

  I couldn’t help myself from being completely honest with her. “I want to make love to you until you can’t walk. I want to watch your belly grow with my babies. I want to carry you across the threshold of the house of your dreams.”

  “Zek.” Her eyes filled with tears and she turned, snuggling in tighter to me. “Don’t give me hope just yet. You know it scares me.”

  “I know it does, but it’s all I’ve got to cling to. My life has turned upside down completely. You coming back into it has been a blessing that I couldn’t have prayed hard enough for.” I touched her cheek and let out a long sigh. “It’s all worth it if I end up with you by my side. Do you think that’s a possibility?”

  “I do. I don’t want anyone but you, but we need to see this thing through before we make a million plans. You know I’m still half-scarred over not seeing you for the last eighteen years. Your avoidance techniques worked well.” She tried to let out a laugh, but it fell flat.

  I pulled from her and stood up. “I was an idiot. Forgive me.”

  “I already have.” She sat up. “Where are you going?”

  “To the restroom. You want more wine?” I walked toward the back of the house as she called after me.

  “No. I’m already loopy and you know I like to mess around when I’m drunk.” Her voice was warm and filled with affirmation of her love for me. I had her, I just knew it.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket, but I ignored it until after I’d used the restroom and washed my hands. I checked myself in the mirror as I toweled dried my hands and studied the scar. It was ugly as fuck, but it did make me look more rugged. I didn’t care what Alisa said.

  I pulled up my phone as it buzzed again. It was a message from an unknown number.

  Leaning against the cabinet, I let i
t play. My insides turned to stone as my worst fears became my reality.

  “Mr. Kellington. This is Jackson Burnes with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We have concluded our findings and your trial is currently being set. We will be bringing fraud charges against you as the Chief Executive Officer of Kellington Investments. Please work on obtaining legal representation, and be on the lookout for our subpoena to appear in court. If you have any questions, please—”

  I dropped the call and left the phone in the bathroom as I walked numbly back into the living room. Alisa wasn’t in there, but I could hear her moving around in the kitchen. Why couldn’t I have just a day to believe that things were going to be fine? A week? A month? Why? Was it too much to ask for?

  “Zek?” She turned and walked toward me as concern filled her face. “What’s wrong?”

  “I just got a message from the SEC. They’re pressing charges against me and the firm.” I let out a long sigh and tried to not dive into the dark hole of despair that opened up in front of me as she stepped back.

  “Oh no. Shit.” She pressed her hands to her mouth as her sapphire eyes searched my face. “Well, I’ll be right beside you. We’ll beat this. You didn’t commit the rape, and you didn’t do the insider trading deal. I know you. You would never—”

  “Alisa. I didn’t rape the girl.” I paused as my heart contracted painfully in my chest.

  Don’t. It could change everything. Don’t.

  “I know that. I just said that.” She stopped and took a step back. “Zek. Please tell me that you didn’t get involved with the trading scandal. That’s not like you at all.”

  I could have told her all the reasons why I did it, but it didn’t matter. None of it did. Justice would have her way with me, and I would be behind bars. My time with Alisa would be over, and it would be for the best. She was a good woman and a great lawyer. She deserved the best, which used to be me, but it wasn’t anymore.

  Her voice cracked as she touched my chest. “Tell me you didn’t do this. Your ethics couldn’t have changed that much over the years. I don’t believe that you’re capab—”

  “I did it. I made an error in judgment. I fucking did it, okay?”

  I ran my fingers through my hair as she spoke the words I knew were coming, and yet they hit me like a ton of bricks.

  “Wow. This changes everything.”

  Continue on to read Part 3…

  THE BILLIONAIRE PRISONER

  Part Three

  CHAPTER ONE

  Zek

  Winning the rape case against Melissa Mills should have left me on a high that kept on giving, but I wasn’t that lucky. Not even for a day. The Securities and Exchange Commission had wrapped up their investigations on the insider trading scandal I’d so ignorantly played a part in, and deemed me guilty. My ass was going to trial.

  I didn’t need money, or more stock, or anything, yet I’d made one of the dumbest decisions of my life going after the thing I needed least. In reality, I needed a woman to stand beside me and love me no matter who I was. That one need drove every other part of my life. And I’d had it, for about five minutes. Then, with one phone call and one moment of truth, I was escorting the woman who could give me everything I needed out of the door.

  I’d been pacing ever since.

  The sun came through the kitchen window, and yet I hadn’t stopped moving all night. There had to be a way to beat the odds. Surely I wasn’t the only man in history to make a vital mistake and find some form of mercy to cover it. With the lies that were spewed all over the news about me committing the rape, there should have been an uptick in my Karma, but no. Alisa was upset over me not telling her that I had in fact participated in the trading scandal.

  The need to get in her face and bleed out my emotions was almost overwhelming, but I’d carefully and calmly walked her out. She hadn’t asked if I was guilty. Not once. It was simply because she didn’t want to know.

  “How does someone love you and then pull that warmth back because of a mistake?” I ran my hands through my hair and let out a painful sigh as I talked myself through the emotional turmoil raging through me. “Maybe she didn’t love me after all. Maybe I made that shit up. It’s only been a handful of days that she’s been back in my life. Love isn’t what she was feeling. Remembrance? Infatuation? Loneliness?”

  Anger bubbled up inside of me, but it didn’t belong to the thoughts of her reactions. It was all for my own horrible decisions. I dropped down in the chair closest to me in the kitchen and closed my eyes. The dull ache in the back of my head wasn’t going to go anywhere until I could force myself to sleep. It wasn’t happening anytime soon. I had a week or more to get my shit together and try to figure out how I could talk the SEC into giving me the least time behind bars possible.

  I didn’t care about the company or my need for success. I cared about Alisa. Everything would fall back into place after the debris cleared and my time was served. I was confident in my ability to remake myself, to rebuild my legacy. But love?

  “Fucking love,” I growled and got up, pulling my shirt over my head and walking to the bedroom. I had to get out of the house before I went mad.

  She hadn’t said much when she left the night before. Just another promise that we would get through everything, but the disappointment in her eyes spoke volumes. Why had she come back into my life anyway? To remind me of what I could have had?

  “Bullshit.” I dressed quickly, brushed my hair and checked my haggard reflection in the mirror. I looked about as good as I felt.

  It was a good thing the office was shut down. I didn’t want to run into anyone other than Jeffery, who I owed a confession to. He was a good man, and the last thing I needed on my conscious was knowing that he found out the truth about my dealings from a broadcast and not me. He’d given far too much of himself to my firm to let that happen.

  I locked up and got in my Lexus, rolling down the windows and leaving the radio off. I needed time with my thoughts, and yet having to relive every shitty moment that had brought me to this point was almost agonizing. I punished myself by doing it, but I couldn’t stop. I wanted so damn bad to be the man Alisa needed me to be. If I’d only run into her a week before Dane came to visit, then maybe...

  “Maybe what?” I pulled into the parking garage and swallowed the hot lump of regret in my throat. Jeffery’s car was sitting in its usual spot and intense despair rolled through me. I could go to jail and pay my time, hell, I deserved it, but what about Jeff? What about my brother, Mark? Alisa? All of my employees?

  Closing my eyes, I let my head drop back against the seat and pressed my palms to my eyes as they prickled with the sting of salty tears. Letting myself down was one thing, but all these people? These people who matter so fucking much to me?

  A sob lodged in my throat, and I swallowed it back down. I hadn’t let myself cry since realizing my father wasn’t coming back as a boy. It was one of the worst days of my life, but this was chalking up to be a strong contender.

  Breathing slowly, I finally got a hold of myself and pulled my emotions back. I could lament later in the shower where no one could hear me, and I didn’t have to reign myself in. After wiping my eyes, I got out of the car and walked toward the office building I’d worked so hard to build. Some part of me wanted to lament over losing the fortune and fame I’d created for myself over the years, but it was pointless. Without someone to share everything I’d worked toward with, it was just stuff that collected dust.

  I took the elevator to the top floor and glanced down, wondering why the hell I’d decided to wear a suit. It was pointless to try and look the part of a well-to-do man. I wasn’t one. I was a thief, a liar, a swindler. I was the guy I’d always hated my whole life.

  “One decision. One fucking bad choice.” I got off the elevator and unlocked the door to the darkened office. Nostalgia rolled over me. How badly I wanted to see Celia glance up from her desk and smile at me as the office buzzed with people, but it wasn’t going to happ
en. We were closed down until the investigation and new trial were over. I would survive the trial. I had no delusions there.

  Alisa was an incredible attorney, and I’d been careful to use the proper accounts in transferring funds to Dane, but I’d messed up here and there. The biggest mistake I made was to not report the sale to the SEC after the IPO. Having been caught up in everything, it was a mistake they were sure to use to hold me to the flame. It almost made my guilt crystal clear. Omission of information was almost as bad as twisted truths.

  “Zek?” Jeffery’s voice rose up from down the hall.

  “Yeah. It’s me.” I walked into his office and stopped by the door. “You have time to talk?”

  “You bet. Anything for you.” The tall, lanky guy who’d been my right hand stood and gave me a warm smile. “Things are better at home. Just in case you were wondering.”

  “I’m always wondering how you are.” I walked out of his office and moved down to mine. “I keep thinking that wife of yours is going to stab you in your sleep. She’s a little...” I glanced over my shoulder and smiled as he chuckled.

  “Yep. No need to go there. I’m well aware. I sleep with one eye open. What can I say?” He followed me into the office and sat down in the chair across from my desk as I pulled off my coat.

  “I haven’t slept too well in quite some time, but it is what it is.” I dropped down in my seat and crossed my hands over my stomach as he watched me closely. Did he already know about the SEC? Had they contacted him as part of the investigation? Surely they had. Why hadn’t he mentioned it?

  “I’m thrilled to hear that the case with Miss Mills went so well.” He ran his hand through his hair. “That was some crazy shit. It’s like that old saying, ‘when it rains, it pours’ right? Jeez man. It’s just been nonstop with you lately.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s just getting worse too. I’m glad the truth came out about Melissa. Piss poor judgment on my part, but I was lonely and she was in my face.” I shrugged. “It’s over now, thank God.”