His Sweet Torment: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance

by Michelle Love

  ‘See you at the end of the aisle, beautiful,’ he murmured, his lips against her mouth.

  ‘I love you.’

  And then he was gone.

  Max was building himself up into a feverish state by the time Theo called to say he was on his way. Seth was trying to calm him down by distracting him but Max couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Was it something he forgot to do? No… it’s Jules. Max knew that today would be the day Jules would try to kill Jess again, maybe Theo too. What better way to get his revenge.

  Paranoid, he told himself. Mike, Theo’s head of security, was on everything – nobody on the island moved without Mike knowing about it. He went to look for him now and found him scanning a computer file.

  ‘Hey dude, everything looking good?’

  Mike looked up and smiled. ‘All good. I’m heading over to Mrs. Storm’s place now.’

  ***

  He didn’t see the truck until it was too late. Theo swore and swerved but the Mercedes slammed into it. Jules had moved it across the exit to the blind bend on the way to Amelia’s house and they didn’t have a chance. The car slid on the road and slipped down the embankment. It hit the tree side on. Theo’s head smashed against the window and he was knocked senseless. The wiper blades kept moving while all else was silent.

  Jules smiled as he stood at the road’s edge looking down at the car. Time to call Jess and ask her once and for all, if she would give up her life for her lover’s.

  Jules was in no doubt of the answer.

  Mike rounded the corner and slammed on the brakes. Theo’s car was burning. ‘Shit,’ Mike leaped from the car and darted as close as he could. He couldn’t see a body in the front seat. Yanking his phone from his pocket, he was about to dial v911 when he heard the tell-tale click of a safety being flicked off. He didn’t have time to turn toward the noise before the bullet tore through his skull and silenced him forever.

  Jess stepped into the dress that Amelia held and stood obediently as her almost-mother-in-law buttoned up the bodice. The dress, although deceptively simple, was light, flowing and of pure white. Jess smirked to herself. Thanks to Theo, she was about as far from a virgin as someone could be.

  Amelia stood back and looked at her, her eyes filling with tears. Jess’s dark hair was soft waves, pulled over one shoulder. The dress itself had sleeves of the most delicate chiffon which belled out delicately at the wrist, the skirt ending just above Jess’s knees. Against her honey skin, the white glowed, highlighting her subtle make-up and large brown eyes. Amelia sighed.

  ‘You look beautiful, Jessie. I’m so proud to call you my daughter.’

  Amelia’s phone rang and she snagged it from the table as Jess turned and admired the dress in the mirror.

  ‘Clem, darling, how lovely… what? Oh, that’s a shame. Well, perhaps we’ll see you at the reception this evening?’

  Jess glanced at Amelia in the mirror. She and Max hadn’t told her about Clem and Caroline and Amelia hadn’t mentioned dating Clem so they decided to leave it. Amelia was smiling now.

  ‘Yes, of course…’ She put her hand over the mic. ‘Clem wants to say congratulations.’ She held the phone out to Jess, who took, a little bemused.

  ‘Hello?’

  ‘Keep smiling, it’s very important you keep smiling. Say hello to me, Jessica.’

  Terror screeched back into every fiber of her being. I knew it. I knew it. Jules.

  ‘Hi, Clem, nice to speak to you.’

  She realized her face was frozen in a false smile. ‘Hello, Clem, nice to speak to you.’

  ‘Good. There’s a gun in my hand and the muzzle is currently against your fiancé’s temple. There are five bullets in it. All five will be in his head very soon unless you go what I say. Tell me you understand.’

  ‘I understand… Clem.’

  ‘Keep smiling. Now, find a way to get out and drive home. If you’re not here in ten minutes, Theo is dead. Then I’ll come for you. It’s entirely up to you whether he dies. Either way, this is the day you are going to die, Jessica. Say thank you, Jessica.’

  ‘Thank you, Clem.’ Her voice quivered just a little but Amelia, tidying the room, didn’t seem to notice.

  ‘Ten minutes, Jessica, and I’ll let you say goodbye before I put my knife into you.’

  The line went dead. Jess stood, holding the phone, frozen. Jules had Theo. She closed her eyes.

  ‘Jess, honey, you okay?’ Amelia sounded concerned. She tried to smile at the older woman.

  ‘I’m fine. Just nerves. I might just get some fresh air.’

  Downstairs she grabbed Amelia’s car keys and ran. Theo, I’m coming… please, hang on…

  She pushed open the door slowly. The house was silent. She moved through the rooms silently, the gun in her hand. Jess was amazed she wasn’t terrified – more like, she was mad. Real mad. This ended today. Jules wouldn’t stop until one of them was dead so she had no doubt in her mind that she could kill him. She wanted to. He’d taken Theo, might have even killed him by now – she pushed that thought away. Her adrenaline coursed through her body.

  ‘Jules?’

  ‘In here.’

  She turned at the sound of his voice and followed it to the main living room. Then all her fight left her as she saw Theo, tied to a chair, blood coursing down from a vicious head wound, his head slumped, his body crumpled. He looked dead.

  Nonononononono…. she realized the frenzied screams were coming from her, and every plan she’d made left her brain in her grief. She started toward him then Jules grabbed her from behind. She felt a stinging pain in her neck and then she was falling….

  Theo opened his eyes, for a second not understanding. Jess was in a chair opposite him, unconscious, her white dress – her wedding dress - cut open down past her navel. Oh god no. She’d come to help him and put herself into Jules’ hands. Theo struggled again the cuffs Jules had used to bind him to the chair.

  ‘I wouldn’t bother.’

  Jules’ amused voice came from behind him and he heard the safety catch on a gun being clicked off, felt the cold metal of gun being pressed to his temple. Jules chuckled.

  ‘When she wakes up for the last time, this all ends. You’ll watch her die, Storm. You’ll watch me stab her over and over until she’s dead. But you won’t have to mourn her for long. You’ll be joining her very soon.’

  The pressure of the gun lifted and Jules pulled up a chair between him and Jess. She stirred and Theo’s heart jumped in fear. The one small hope was this – Jess didn’t seem to be bound but he knew that was another one of Jules’ games. He wanted Jess to allow him to kill her in the hope he’d let Theo go.

  Jules went to check her and as she opened her eyes, he pressed the muzzle of his gun again her bare skin. ‘Hello beauty.’

  Jess’s eyes rolled, dazed; when they found Theo’s desperate ones, their gazes locked and she could see the devastation in them.

  ‘I love you,’ she whispered. Jules growled and cuffed her.

  ‘Shut up, whore.’

  Theo roared, trying to get up from his chair. In one flash, Jules whipped behind Jess, hooking the hand holding the gun around her neck, and with the other, pulling his knife from his pocket. He kissed Jess. ‘Say goodbye, beautiful.’ And he raised the knife.

  Jess bit down on his other hand hard, as hard as she could and Jules roared in pain. Jess pushed back with all her might, knocking Jules over and the gun out of his hand, under the couch. She threw her body on top of Jules, fighting, kicking punching, ripping his shirt. The keys to Theo’s cuffs fell out of his pocket and she grabbed them, throwing them in Theo’s direction as Jules lashed at her with his knife. She ducked and scrambled to her feet as Jules fought to grab her. Jess paused briefly, one second when she met Theo’s eyes.

  He looked at her. Not understanding. Then realization. He shook his head. She winked at him. His face registered absolute horror.

  ‘No, no. Jess, don’t.’

  Her gaze was intense. �
�I love you. I will always love you no matter what.’

  He shook his head violently, never taking his eyes from hers. ‘Please don’t…

  She had tears in her eyes. ‘I’m sorry, Theo. It has to be like this. I love you.’

  Theo broke down. ‘No, please… Jess…’

  Her face was determined as Jules rose up between them. Her eyes alive with anger as she beckoned her killer towards her.

  ‘Come on, Jules. Wanna kill me? Come on then, motherfucker, come get me.’

  ‘No! Jess, please, no!’ Theo was screaming now.

  Jules in his frenzy didn’t hesitate, he lunged for her, slashing the knife, catching her in a blow across her stomach.

  ‘No!’ Theo screamed as blood bloomed across her white dress, her honey skin. Jess ignored the searing pain and took off with Jules in pursuit. Theo, desperate, shuffled over to where Jess had thrown the keys.

  ‘What the fuck are you doing, Jess?’ But he knew. ‘You stupid, stupid, brave, beautiful girl.’ he sobbed as he managed to slide the key into the cuffs. She was leading Jules away from him, giving him time to free himself.

  She was sacrificing herself to save him.

  First, she went to the front door but even from a distance she could see that Jules had dead-bolted it. By the time she could get it open, Jules would be on her. He was close, close enough she could hear his frenzied breathing. She darted up the stairs and nearly made it to the safety of a bedroom before he grabbed her. They tumbled to the floor together, Jess fighting with every ounce of strength she had left. Jules was grinning now, knowing his size and strength would beat her now, despite her struggles.

  ‘I’m going to kill you now, Jess, nothing can stop me.’

  He rammed his forearm against her throat and as she began to choke, he pulled a knife from his pocket. Jess, knowing that this was it, tried one last thing.

  ‘I’m pregnant, Jules. I’m pregnant.’

  He smiled. ‘So I hear. Congratulations. But I don’t care. I’m going to kill you anyway.’

  It was over. Jess struggled but as she felt Jules’s knife begin to slice into her belly, the searing pain nothing to the terror she felt for her unborn child. She could smell blood.

  ‘No, Jess, no!’

  A frenzied cry, close, so close, Theo was dragging Jules from her. Jess rolled onto her stomach, clamping a hand over her wounds, pushing the thought of the baby away. Please, little bean, hang on.

  Theo was pounding on Jules, the two men locked in a death fight. ‘Jess, get away, get out now!’ Theo was screaming at her. Blood-loss was making her light-headed. Not again. She crawled to the stairs and almost tumbled down them. There was something she could do. Something Jules had missed in the fight. Something Theo had forgotten. Slowly, painfully, she crawled her way into the living room.

  Theo, his immense strength almost leaving him when he saw Jules stab Jess – again – grappled with the other man, wanting more than anything to break this monster’s neck, pound him into the dust. Jules, his knife gripped in his hand, swiped at Theo, one, twice before making contact. The knife tore through Theo’s shirt, slicing into the skin of his chest and Theo jerked back, away from the knife. Jules caught him on the temple with the hilt of the knife, making Theo’s already concussed head swirl. Jules took him out by the knees and Theo was on the ground. Vulnerable.

  Jules laughed, raising the knife to plunge it into Theo’s chest… then his head exploded, his eyes bulging with surprise. Jules’ body slumped to the side, blood gushing from the fatal head wound. Theo, still stunned, looked up to see his beautiful Jess, her hand clamped over the bloody wounds on her stomach, holding the gun she’d just used to kill Jules.

  Dropping the gun, Jess stumbled towards Theo and he was up, grabbing her as she slumped into his arms. He scooped her up and went downstairs, cradling her in his arms.

  ‘I’m okay,’ she said weakly, ‘it’s not that deep, I’m okay, I’m okay.’ Theo reached over to grab the phone, called 911.

  In the distance he could hear sirens and almost collapsed with relief.

  Theo and Jess, blood-soaked, exhausted, gazed at each other and started to smile, despite their injuries.

  ‘It’s over, my Jessie. All over.’

  She started to laugh, tears rolling down her face. ‘I know, my darling, I know.’

  Theo grinned, kissing her tears away as the sirens got ever closer and now he could hear shouting. Max. His mom.

  He heard them break down the door in their frenzy to get in.

  ‘In here,’ he hollered then pulled her lips to his again. ‘Jessie….we’re going to get out of here, and get all fixed up , and then it’s just you, me and the Bean. For all time, Jessie.’

  ‘For all time….’

  Epilogue

  Theo Storm gazed at his beautiful wife as she stood on the podium, addressing the graduating class of her alma mater. Her old boss Gerry stood proudly next to him and nudged him as Jess’s speech came to an end.

  ‘From research assistant to the CEO of the biggest charitable art foundation in the world. Girl done good.’

  Theo grinned at him. ‘Yes, she has.’

  His eyes didn’t leave the woman at the front of the gathering. Pregnancy had made her skin glow, the lustrous hair grow longer and healthier, her large brown eyes shining with happiness. The light summer dress she wore skimmed over her swollen belly, swollen with their child.

  Jess finished her speech and flushed scarlet with pleasure as the audience leaped to their feet. Theo knew they had followed everything that had happened to Jess, knew every horror and knew every triumph. They had made it, and finally, she was safe.

  Theo couldn’t imagine being happier and as he went to meet her as she stepped off the stage, he enclosed her in his arms and kissed her tenderly.

  ‘I’m so proud that you chose me to love,’ He said, gazing into her eyes. Jess kissed him, her lips curving up into a smile against his.

  ‘I’m the lucky one, Mr. Storm,’ she replied then glanced down, ‘I’d suggest we go home and celebrate but I think someone else has other ideas…

  She started to laugh as Theo looked panicked. ‘Come on, big guy,’ She took his hand started to lead him back to their car, looking more beautiful than he’d ever seen her, ‘Let’s go meet our daughter…’

  Lily ‘Little Bean’ Storm was born at a quarter after midnight and her mother and father, wilting with exhaustion, couldn’t stop staring at her, her perfect little fingers, her cherubic cheeks, the fine smattering of black hair on her tiny head.

  ‘I can’t get over how beautiful she is,’ whispered Jess, shaking her head. Theo smiled, kissing his exhausted wife’s temple.

  ‘I can. She looks like you. Jessie, you have given me the world.’

  Jess’s eyes filled with tears. ‘You are my world, Theo. You and Bean.’

  ‘Forever.’

  ‘Forever.’ She agreed and they kissed until the sun came up on a new day, the first day, of their new life.

  The End.

  Shattered

  A Billionaire Romance

  By Michelle Love

  A beautiful artist is the victim of a savage attack just two days before her lavish Upper East Side wedding. Lila Tierney is stabbed and left for dead and her handsome billionaire fiancé arrested for her attempted murder. Can Lila recover from her terrible injuries in time to save her betrothed from a life in prison? Lila fights for her life while everything falls apart and she is left wondering who to trust – and who to love…

  Shatter Me Part One

  Now…Upper East Side, Manhattan

  Lila stepped out of the dress, smiling as the assistant gathered the fabric up and stood, her eyes questioning. Lila nodded. ‘It’s perfect, thank you. I’m sorry you had to make those alterations, but Richard’s mother is a lot slimmer than I am.’

  The assistant, Tess – they’d become good friends in the months since they’d met – rolled her eyes. ‘Oh stop. I’d kill for your curves.’

/>   Lila flushed and thanked her as Tess turned to go. Lila looked in the long mirror at her reflection. This was really happening. Lila Tierney, artist, orphan, native of Seattle, Washington was marrying into one of the oldest, wealthiest of New York families. She who had spent many a night sleeping in her car because she couldn’t make rent or making a bag of rice last for a week. Stealing apples from neighbor’s trees with her best friend Charlie when they were kids in the children’s home.

  Eighteen months since Richard’s proposal and she couldn’t quite believe the whirlwind that had overtaken her life. Now here she was, in the most exclusive bridal boutique in Seattle – one that was by invitation only – trying on dresses for their wedding. Thankfully Delphine – Richard’s effortlessly chic mother – had offered her own wedding dress, and although Lila had been skeptical, it was perfect, simple, light, comfortable but classic.

  Lila shook her head. Jeez, what on Earth had happened to her? She wasn’t the type for tradition – or even marriage – but the joy she had seen in Richard’s eyes when she had agreed to marry him…his happiness made her glad. And his family – far from the Upper East Side snobs she’d expected – were welcoming, warm, especially Delphine who had taken the shy Lila under her wing and made her feel a part of their family. Delphine, the mother to five, didn’t play favorites with her children but did with their partners; Lila was her buddy, her pal and Lila was very fond of the older woman.

  Her cell phone beeped. A text from her best friend, Charlie. How’s it going?

  She called him back, her chest warming when she heard his deep, loving voice. ‘Delphine’s dress…it’s perfect, not over the top, but just…me.’