My Blackmail Baby: Billionaire Bad Boy Romance

by Selena Black

  “Why the hell didn’t you tell me that you were planning to invite people?” she hissed and was well aware of the other two people standing watching.

  The man she recognized as Jack’s friend from the recent evening she was at the club. She’d never seen the woman before, but could only assume that it was the man’s girlfriend by they way they were standing so close, with their arms linked together.

  “It was a spur of the moment thing,” Jack replied to try and bluster his way through. “It’s just the other members of the Dandies and a few friends. I didn’t think you would mind.”

  The joviality in his voice seemed forced to her somehow and unlike his normal manner. It brought on her suspicion that he was up to something and she remembered it was what she thought when she first saw him talking to the man in the club. She wanted to tell her boyfriend that she did mind. Considering there were already people turning up at the door there seemed little she could really do to stop things without coming across as a miserable party pooper. She let out a slow breath to try and release some of the irritation at the unwelcome intrusion to her home, but it didn’t really work as she stood aside to let the three people standing on the doorstep walk inside.

  The man gave an amicable smile as he moved past and she was again taken by his boyish good looks and bright blue eyes. The slight quickening of her pulse was unexpected, but it ended quickly when she glanced at the woman. The expression on her face looked less than friendly and her scowl became positively unpleasant. Gloria took it as a warning to stay away from the man although it wasn’t needed considering she was in a relationship and she assumed the woman knew that already. She shrugged off the incident and found herself regularly answering the door over the next forty minutes. It ended with her apartment full of people that were mostly strangers to her.

  It wasn’t exactly her idea of a fun night and each time she went to speak to Jack, she found him in a conversation with the two people he arrived with. The drink was flowing as the party got in full swing and before long the loud sound of jazz music filled the apartment. She was sure the neighbors would go nuts about it, but no one came to the door to complain and the music eventually died down after around fifty minutes.

  People began drifting away afterwards and slowly but surely the number of people in the apartment dwindled. Gloria went to her bedroom to get some peace, but after around twenty minutes or so came out. She went looking for Jack to see how much longer things would go on and her brow furrowed when she caught a glimpse of him walking in the kitchen with the woman he arrived with. Her brow furrowed as she followed and she stopped at the door to look inside. Jack and the woman were facing away from her and leaning over a counter.

  “That’s too much,” she heard her boyfriend say.

  “I know what I’m doing,” the woman snapped in a sharp tone. “I’ve used this stuff before.”

  “Are you sure?” Jack went on.

  The woman lowered her voice and Gloria only caught snatches of what was being said. She heard the words drowsy and out cold and the frown deepened on her forehead as she listened. She caught a flash of the small glass bottle the woman was holding and knew for sure that something wasn’t right. The woman used a finger to stir the drink on the counter then moved to the sink to wash her hands.

  The quiet conversation carried on afterwards and again she only caught bits of it. Jack and the woman seemed to be talking about a camera from what she could gather. She moved out of sight when the discussion ended and waited until she heard the sound of them coming out of the kitchen before stepping forward. A startled expression crossed Jack’s face when he saw her, but he quickly cleared it away. The woman scowled again before walking on, but Gloria ignored it as her boyfriend spoke.

  “Oh hey,” he said and smiled. “We were just getting some more drinks, but we’re running low and I’m going to get some more. Do you want to come with me?”

  “No,” Gloria replied. “I just wanted to tell you I’m calling it a night. How much longer will things go on?”

  “I’ll make sure it doesn’t go on too late,” he said and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek.

  It was his only comment before he moved to get his coat from the stand at the side of the door and he put it on as he left. Gloria turned to walk towards her bedroom and stopped to see the woman handing over a glass to the man. There was definitely something not right. She’d assumed they were a couple when they arrived, but now she wasn’t sure if that was the case. From what she saw in the kitchen there was definitely something more than just alcohol in the man’s glass and she couldn’t just stand by and watch him drink it.

  “Shit,” she let out under her breath as she thought and moved quickly.

  Mark was lifting the glass to take a drink, but his lips barely touched the side of it before she got to him. He dropped his hand and smiled.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Gloria said. “But there’s a call for you.”

  A puzzled expression crossed his face.

  “For me?” he said to show his confusion.

  Gloria ignored the glare of the woman and just nodded her head.

  “For Mark Godfrey?” he went on.

  “Yeah,” she replied. “The phone is through here.”

  “Just give me a minute please,” he said to Candice and followed Gloria when she walked off.

  She took him through to the kitchen and made sure there was no one else there before speaking.

  “Do you know that woman?” Gloria asked.

  “Not really,” Mark replied and his eyes narrowed as he stared at her. “I just met her tonight.”

  “She’s not your girlfriend then?” Gloria went on.

  “What!” he exclaimed then lowered his voice. “No, she’s not my girlfriend. I thought she was Jack’s friend. He introduced her to me at the club.”

  “Fucking prick,” Gloria let out.

  The confused expression became even more obvious on the man’s face.

  “I thought there was a phone call for me,” he said.

  He lifted the glass, but Gloria stopped him before he drank anything.

  “There is no phone call and I’m not sure what is going on to be honest,” Gloria told him. “But you don’t want to drink that and you should stay away from that woman.”

  “Why?” Mark asked.

  “I saw her put something in your glass,” she answered. “I’ve no idea what, but I can’t imagine it’s good and I also heard her talking about a camera to Jack.”

  The hesitation showed on Mark’s face, as if his mind was working overtime and he almost spat out the words when he spoke.

  “Fucking Karen.”

  “Yeah, your friend, or Jack’s friend I should say, doesn’t seem so nice.” Gloria said.

  Mark shook his head as he moved to throw the alcohol down the sink and put the glass down on the counter next to it.

  “That’s not Karen out there,” he went on. “Her name is Candice, as far as I know. Karen is the wife I’m divorcing and she practically vowed she was going to get me at the end of our last meeting.”

  “You think she’s trying to set you up in some way?” Gloria asked.

  “I wouldn’t put it past her,” Mark replied.

  Gloria wasn’t so sure. The fact that she saw Candice putting something in the drink with Jack watching made her suspect that what was going on was something to do with one of his stupid schemes for getting rich. She wasn’t about to say that though.

  “You better go,” she told him.

  Mark considered going out to confront Candice, but suspected that she would deny everything. He decided the advice to go was probably the sensible thing to do.

  “Thanks for what you did,” he said.

  “It seemed like the right thing,” Gloria replied and smiled.

  Their eyes met and there was a connection that started her pulse racing. She was held spellbound for a second or two before it was broken by Mark dropping his gaze. He looked up again quickly and she fo
und herself unable to move as he reached out to put a hand on her arm. The touch made her shiver and she let out a slow breath.

  “Thanks,” Mark repeated then turned to walk to the kitchen door.

  She followed to join him and looked out to check that Candice wasn’t in sight.

  “OK,” she told him and watched when he walked out of the kitchen and made his way along to the front door.

  He stopped to glance over his shoulder and there was a connection again when there eyes met. Gloria’s heartbeat was suddenly running faster as she stared at Mark, but he turned away quickly and walked out.

  “The last time I’ll see him,” she thought and found herself disappointed about that.

  She waited a minute or so before walking towards her bedroom.

  “Where is Mark?”

  Candice’s voice brought Gloria to a dead stop and she tried to keep her voice casual as she turned to look.

  “He said the call was something urgent from work and that he needed to go.”

  “What?” Candice snapped.

  Gloria just shrugged her shoulders.

  “Sorry, but I’m not his keeper,” she replied. “If he has urgent business, I can’t keep him here.”

  She walked away before Candice could say any more and slammed the bedroom door shut when she walked inside. As far as she cared, Jack could clean up the party himself when he returned. She knew when he had because the bedroom door practically crashed open.

  “What the hell is this about a phone call?” he demanded.

  “Shut the door,” she replied in an icy tone.

  He glared at her before turning to do it.

  “Now what the hell ….” Jack started again.

  “Your friend got a phone call and left,” Gloria interrupted him. “Is there some fucking problem with that?”

  “No,” he replied.

  “Then why is it such a big deal?” she asked.

  “It’s not,” he went on. “I just wanted to ….”

  His words came to an end as he tried to figure out how to finish the sentence, but it was eventually Gloria that spoke.

  “You just wanted to what?” she asked him.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he snapped testily, but she knew that it did.

  The words about not fucking up came to him and he grimaced. Alain was going to be thoroughly pissed off that Mark just walked out of the apartment before they got the incriminating footage they needed for their blackmail plot. Jack knew that it would be him that got it in the neck and that things would be a lot worse if Candice mentioned that he wasn’t even there when it happened.

  “Fuck,” he cursed before he could stop himself.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” Gloria asked, but wasn’t expecting a confession.

  “Oh …, nothing,” he said sharply and turned his away from her.

  The door slammed shut when he walked out and Gloria wasn’t about to follow after him. She lay down on the bed and remembered Mr. Reynaud’s words about Jack giving her nothing but problems. The truth of that hit her and she questioned herself again about whether she should break up with him. From what she saw that night, he wasn’t really a man she wanted to be with and she found herself dreading him coming to the bedroom. Thirty minutes later the silence in the apartment made her think that it might not happen. She got up to look around, but there was no one there.

  It seemed her boyfriend had gone out and the relief of that gave the answer to her question about whether she should split up with him.

  Chapter 5

  Gloria saw the van coming to a stop on the street outside her bookstore at just after two in the afternoon. She watched as the driver got out and walked around to open the rear doors. He reached inside to get something and the beautiful bunch of flowers came in view when he stepped back to close the doors. The slip attached to the stems obviously showed the address and he glanced up at the sign above her store before heading for the door. When he came inside, he walked up to the counter.

  “Hi,” she greeted him. “Can I help you?”

  “I’m looking for Gloria Thompson,” he replied.

  “You’ve found her,” she replied.

  “These are for you then,” he went on and held out the flowers.

  She stared at them and couldn’t help wondering if he really did have the right address. It wasn’t as if her boyfriend went out of his way to make romantic gestures.

  “From who?” she asked.

  The man shrugged his shoulders.

  “I’m just the delivery man,” he told her.

  Gloria pursed her lips as she reached out to take the flowers.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  “My pleasure,” the man replied. “Enjoy the rest of your day.”

  He turned to walk away as Gloria brought the flowers to her nose to enjoy the fragrant scent. She saw the small card sitting amongst the blooms afterwards and picked it out. The one word message on it was ‘Thanks’ and she suddenly knew that the beautiful bouquet could only be from one person. She recalled watching Mark Godfrey walk out of her apartment the evening before and thinking it would be the last time she saw him.

  Maybe that wouldn’t be the case after all.

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself,” she let out under her breath, but a smile crossed her face as she stared at the colorful petals.

  At least he was nice enough to send her flowers after she helped him. On the other hand, it might be as far as he went to thank her and while she definitely sensed a connection between them the night before that didn’t mean he did.

  There were no customers in the store and that allowed her to go to the small kitchen at the rear. She didn’t have a vase, so just found the largest plastic tumbler she owned and filled it with water. The display of flowers looked pretty on the serving counter and put her in a good mood as the day wore on. It was the thought of going home that began to dampen her spirits later in the afternoon.

  Seeing Jack wasn’t something she was looking forward to and she delayed closing the store for longer than she normally would. It was already dark outside when she eventually made up her mind to lock up. She went to get her coat and bag from the closet inside the kitchen and was still there when she heard the tinkle of the bell signaling someone coming through the door.

  “One more customer,” she let out under her breath and left her belongings in the closet.

  When she walked out of the kitchen, she saw the man standing at the counter. He was facing away from her, but the way his blonde hair hung over the collar of his linen jacket was familiar and made her pulse quicken. She knew who it was and saw that she was right when Mark turned around. A smile lit up his face when he saw her and that only added to the flicker of anticipation that she was unable to contain.

  “You got the flowers then,” he said to start the conversation.

  “They came earlier this afternoon,” Gloria replied. “They’re beautiful …, but you really didn’t have to.”

  She moved behind the counter to stand directly opposite him and tried to keep calm. A glance in his blue eyes was enough to make that impossible and the urge to brush a stray lock of hair from his forehead popped in her mind. Her palms became clammy as she resisted the impulse to do it and just carried on staring.

  Jack was really her first long-term boyfriend and he, as well as the couple of men she had brief dalliances with before him, were black Creole like her. She always imagined that would be the type of man she would settle down and spend her life with, but a growing infatuation with a blonde, blue-eyed man was already making her question that. It was crazy considering she just met him and knew little more than his name.

  “I wanted to show my appreciation for last night,” Mark went on. “You did me a big favor and I’m really grateful.”

  Gloria was slightly disconcerted by the praise and just shrugged her shoulders.

  “How did you find me?” she asked.

  “It wasn’t too difficult,” he said and smiled. “All
I needed to do was describe the beautiful woman I wanted to find to be pointed in the direction of your shop.”

  Gloria knew he was teasing and found herself embarrassed by the compliment, but at the same time she liked it. She lifted a hand and twisted her dark hair nervously around her finger.