My Blackmail Baby: Billionaire Bad Boy Romance

by Selena Black

  “She’s coming down to see you,” he said.

  “OK,” Jack replied.

  He and Alain turned to look towards the elevator at the other side of the lobby. The pretty woman that appeared a few minutes later certainly looked like a pampered lady of leisure. Her long, dark hair hung over her shoulders and they could see the beautifully painted designs on her manicured nails when she put her hand to her chin. The long, yellow dress almost brushed the floor as she walked and was matched with bright silver jewelry that adorned her neck and hands. The suspicion was all too clear to see on her face and came through in her voice.

  “How can I help you?” she asked to get the conversation started.

  “It’s more how we can help you,” Jack replied.

  “And how would you propose to do that?” Karen went on.

  “We have some information about your husband,” Jack told her.

  A disbelieving expression crossed her face, but she carried on talking.

  “How do you know him?”

  “I’m sure you know he’s a jazz fan,” Jack went on. “I play trumpet at the Reynaud Jazz Club and got to know your husband through that. He used to occasionally come in for a drink.”

  “Just the one?” Karen said sarcastically before going on. “So …, what is it that you want to tell me about him?”

  “We know about his new girlfriend,” Jack told her.

  The suspicion in Karen’s eyes turned to interest at the mention of a girlfriend. She was quiet for a few seconds, as if she was considering what to do.

  “Maybe you should come up for a chat in private,” she eventually said then looked at the concierge. “Could you come and check on me in twenty minutes?”

  “Sure thing Miss Wilson,” he replied.

  It was a clear warning for Jack and Alain that security was in place, but they weren’t particularly bothered about the comments. All they wanted to do was talk and they were sure Karen would be interested in listening to what they were about to say. They followed her inside the elevator and the doors closed when she pressed the button for her floor. Everyone simply faced forward and said nothing, with the silence continuing when they got out and walked along the hallway to a door.

  Karen used a key to open it and they stepped inside. Jack then followed as she led the way to a spacious living room and saw it was just the two of them when he turned around. It was a few seconds before Alain came inside the room.

  “So …, tell me what you know,” Karen said when she sat down on a huge sofa.

  Jack glanced across the room, but a nod of the head from his compatriot showed that he should go on talking.

  “The name of your husband’s new girlfriend is Gloria Thompson,” Jack said.

  “Mark told you this?” Karen asked.

  “He didn’t have to,” Jack went on. “Until around five weeks ago, Gloria was my girlfriend. We’d been going out for around a year.”

  “Mark stole her from you?”

  “Not exactly,” Jack admitted. “I got to know him through his interest in jazz, but the real reason I wanted to know him was because he was a millionaire.”

  “Billionaire,” Karen corrected him. “After six years of marriage I know how much he is worth.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Jack said.

  There was a pause of a few seconds as Karen stared across the room at them, but she eventually went on talking.

  “Were you hoping some of his wealth would fall your way or something?”

  Jack glanced across the room at his compatriot.

  “Should I tell her?” he asked and Alain simply nodded his head. Jack then brought his attention to Karen again and went on. “I came up with a plan to try and persuade him to pass some of his fortune our way.”

  The comment seemed to amuse her and the sound of tinkling laughter filled the room for a second before dying away.

  “You tried to blackmail him?” she asked.

  “Something like that,” Jack said. “Our intention was to get indiscreet footage of him having some dirty fun with a hooker that he wouldn’t want seeing the light of day. The plan was to drug his drink during a party at my apartment and make him compliant. It was all set up and ready to go, but ….”

  “You didn’t get it,” Karen said correctly to end the stalled comment.

  “No, we didn’t” Jack admitted. “Gloria ruined the plan and Mark walked out before we managed to get the footage. That was the way she first met your husband. A couple of days after that she threw me out and I think she’d already slept with him by then.”

  “You know that for sure?” Karen queried.

  “Not at that time,” Jack replied. “She certainly got angry when I taunted her about it, but she didn’t admit anything. I definitely know for sure they’ve made love now though.”

  “How can you be so certain?” Karen asked.

  “Because …,” Jack answered. “She’s having his baby.”

  Karen’s eyes opened wide and her laughter was more raucous now.

  “You’re serious?” she eventually let out. “He got her pregnant.”

  Jack nodded his head.

  “It’s one hundred percent certain,” he said. “I’ve spoken with Gloria and she admitted she’s in a relationship with him and having his baby.”

  “Oh …, this is too delicious,” Karen said in an almost incredulous tone as she got to her feet. “I’ve been hoping for something to use against him in the divorce, and this is just perfect.”

  “We thought you would like it,” Jack said. “That’s why we came to you.” He wasn’t about to admit anything about trying to blackmail Mark for money to keep the information from her or that the attempt failed.

  “Oh I love it,” Karen went on. “I spent enough years with my husband to know how much he wants a family these days and there’s no way he’s going to want his new girlfriend and baby dragged in to the middle of our divorce case.”

  “You’ll blackmail him with the information?” Jack asked.

  “Damn right I’ll blackmail him with it,” Karen replied. “If he doesn’t give me the divorce settlement I want now, I’ll make sure his precious new family suffers the consequences. I’m sure his girlfriend won’t want to spend the nine months of her pregnancy regularly visiting a court room to be trashed by my attorney and having her name and picture splashed on the front pages of tabloid journals.”

  “But that’s what you intend to do?” Jack asked.

  “If my pathetic excuse-for-a-husband doesn’t see things my way, I’ll hound his new fucking family until he comes around to my way of thinking,” Karen replied and rubbed her hands together. “That’s hardly going to be good for a pregnancy is it? It would be terrible if the stress caused problems.”

  Jack wasn’t altogether surprised at the venom that came out considering what he knew about the bitterness of the divorce case, but he was still taken aback by the vicious glee that Karen seemed to be taking at the opportunity to get at her husband. Not that it particularly bothered him. After the way she threw him out, he couldn’t care less if Gloria was derided and humiliated in the full glare of publicity.

  “We want something for giving you the information,” Jack said. “We didn’t just come here out of the goodness of out heart.”

  “Don’t worry,” Karen said. “I was looking to get forty-five percent of Mark’s wealth, but I’ll up that to forty-six and give you the difference to reward you for bringing this news to me.”

  “How much is that?” Jack asked.

  “Well, Mark is a billionaire,” Karen said. “I’d be giving you one percent of his fortune, so you do the math.”

  Jack couldn’t do the math, but was sure the money being talked about was in the millions.

  “Fucking hell,” he said and looked at Alain. “Our blackmail plan is really going to work this time. We’re going to be set up for life in one fell swoop.” He returned his attention to Karen. “How do we go about making this happen?”

 
; She mused on it for only a few seconds before speaking.

  “We set up a meeting. I’ll tell him I want to discuss the divorce settlement in private and we can give him the good news then. I so want to see his face when I tell him. In fact, let’s call him now and arrange it.”

  She leaned down to pick up her phone from the coffee table and searched through the address book to find the number.

  “You two stay quiet,” she warned then listened to the ringing sound as she waited for the call to be picked up. “Mark,” she let out when it finally was. “It’s Karen.”

  “What do you want?” he replied in a sharp tone.

  “Is that any way to greet your wife,” she said and grinned.

  “You won’t be my wife for much longer,” he told her.

  “Which is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about,” she said.

  “The next meeting with the attorneys hasn’t even been set up yet,” Mark replied.

  “It all gets too antagonistic when we’re with them,” Karen went on. “Maybe we just need to get together over a drink and discuss it in relaxed atmosphere.”

  “What brought this on?” Mark asked.

  “I’m getting tired of it all,” Karen lied. “Let’s just meet up and see if we can work things out amicably. We can tell the attorneys our decision afterwards.”

  “I don’t know,” Mark said.

  He knew there could only be one reason that Karen was calling and that was because Jack already went through with the threat to spill the beans. The meeting his wife was now talking about was something he wanted just as much as her, but he stalled so as not to come across as overly eager.

  “Come on.” Karen encouraged him. “What harm can it do? Maybe out of the formal setting of my attorney’s office we might actually work something out that can let us both get on with our lives.”

  Mark let out a feigned sigh of resignation.

  “Maybe,” he said. “Where and when do you want to meet up?”

  “How about the Rosewood Bar at five thirty tomorrow,” she said. “It’s quiet at that time and the booths will give us some privacy. Do you know it?”

  “No, but I can find it,” Mark replied.

  “Great,” Karen went on. “I’ll look forward to seeing you there tomorrow.”

  She hung up the phone and looked across at the two men in her apartment. It was Jack that was doing all the talking and she couldn’t even remember the other man saying a word. Not that it particularly mattered to her. They’d brought her an opportunity and she planned to take full advantage of it.

  “As you heard,” she said. “The meeting is at five thirty tomorrow in the Rosewood Bar. If you come here at around five, we’ll get a taxi to the place.”

  “You want us there,” Jack said.

  “Of course,” she replied. “For all I know he might try to deny everything if it’s just me. If you’ve spoken with his girlfriend and she admitted the pregnancy then he won’t be able to do that if you’re there.”

  “OK,” Jack said. “We’ll be here tomorrow at five.”

  The knock on the door came just as he finished speaking.

  “That will be the concierge checking up on me,” Karen said. She led the way out of the lounge and along the hallway then smiled at the man when she opened the door.

  “Is everything OK?” he asked.

  “Everything is fine,” she replied. “My guests are just leaving.”

  “See you tomorrow,” Jack said when he and Alain walked out the door.

  The elevator ride to the ground floor was completed in silence and the concierge held the doors open for them. They walked to the exit to leave the building and it was Jack that spoke first.

  “This is going to be some meeting tomorrow,” he started. “What do you think …?”

  “I’m not going to it,” Alain replied.

  “What?” Jack exclaimed. “Why not?”

  “Mark Reynolds knows you and Karen,” Alain went on. “But he doesn’t know me and that’s the way I intend to keep it.”

  “What do I tell Karen?” Jack asked.

  “Whatever you fucking want,” Alain replied. “I’ll be around in the bar if I’m needed, but I’m sure the pair of you can handle it, so I don’t plan to sit at the table with you.

  “But ….” Jack started to say.

  Alain rounded on him immediately and the grip on his throat trapped him against the wall.

  “I fucking told you I’ll be around,” Alain said as he pushed his face close. “Don’t fucking give me any shit about this.”

  “OK …, OK,” Jack got out in a strangled gasp as the grip tightened.

  He let out choking coughs when it was released and brought his hand to his throat as he leaned forward to recover. Alain was already walking away when he brought his gaze up from the sidewalk.

  “Fucking prick,” he muttered under his breath and shook his head.

  If Alain didn’t want to be seen at the meeting that was fine by him. All he was interested in now was getting his hands on some serious money and with Karen involved, he was sure the fortune he wanted was coming his way.

  Chapter 13

  Mark was unable to concentrate on work from the moment he set foot in his office at seven in the morning. His mind was on the meeting arranged for that evening and what he needed if he was going to make things work the way he wanted. The urge to get in touch with Candice flashed through his mind, but he ignored it.

  “Wait for the mail,” he cautioned himself.

  That was a part of the plan he set in motion when he asked her to pass on the message and there was no point in him doing anything until the morning mail arrived. It eventually did just after nine, with his personal assistant, Hayley, bringing it through to him as usual.

  “Good morning Mr. Godfrey,” she said and smiled when she entered the room.

  “Morning,” he replied. “What have we got today?”

  “A few letters from clients,” she said and went through what came in. “There’s also a package that was delivered by courier. It’s marked private and confidential for you, so I didn’t open it.”

  “That’s fine,” he said. “Just carry on with what you were doing and I’ll come and see you if there’s anything urgent needed.”

  “Sure,” she agreed when she got to her feet.

  Mark waited until the door was closed before grabbing the package and ripping it open. He held his hand out as he tipped the padded envelope up and what dropped out was exactly what he expected to see. It appeared that things were going his way, but he dampened down his enthusiasm.

  “Check first,” he told himself and when he did, he found out that what he’d received was exactly what he wanted.

  He searched in the package for the other thing he was expecting and found the piece of paper with the bank account number on it. That meant he could send the money to make sure the rest of the plan came together and he phoned his bank to make it happen.

  The meeting couldn’t come around quickly enough for him now, but there was still the matter of the work he needed to do that day. He checked through the mail then wrote out a list of tasks for Hayley. After giving them to her, he tried to get on with his own work, but it proved difficult to concentrate as the upcoming meeting with Karen continued to plague his thoughts. When it got to three in the afternoon, he gave up and packed his bag what he needed for later on

  “I have some personal business to attend to,” he told Hayley when he went to her room. “I’ll be unavailable for the rest of the day, so just tell anyone that gets in touch that I’ll return their call tomorrow.

  “I’ll do that,” Hayley replied.

  Mark nodded then walked off to make his way down to his car. The drive to the Rosewood Bar lasted around twenty minutes and a ten minute search for a parking space meant it was just after three thirty when he walked inside. He stopped just inside the door to look around and saw that the place was almost empty. The one and only customer was propped up at the serv
ing counter and looked like he was a permanent fixture in the place. The glass of beer in front of him was half full and the way he was slumped forward was a good indication that it wasn’t his first drink of the day.

  Mark was in no mood to have a friendly drunk start a conversation with him and walked to the other end of the serving counter to keep some distance between him and the man. He ordered a whisky when the barman came up to him then sat on a stool to just look around some more. The booths that Karen mentioned were stretched along one wall and every one of them was empty. Hopefully it would stay that way and he could have his pick of the one he wanted closer to five thirty.