by Ivy Layne
The scandal had been irresistible. The legitimate news, gossip columns, people I’d grown up thinking were my friends—they were all obsessed with the downfall of the Winters family.
Money could insulate you from a lot of problems, but it couldn’t fix everything. Not the stuff that really mattered. By the time I started high school I knew how to keep my guard up, knew how to be cautious. I’d learned the hard way not to trust easily. Threats could hide anywhere. Even in the hazel eyes of a cute boy in class.
So, I’d watched him and I’d let my heart beat too fast when he winked at me, but that was it. I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend. I was just trying to be normal for a while. Normal never lasted long for me.
A few weeks after that first wink, I’d turned around and bumped right into him, almost spilling my coffee all over another one of those faded, well fitting t-shirts.
“Whoah,” he’d said, reaching out to steady my arm. His strong fingers closed over my elbow and my heart fluttered.
“Sorry, sorry, I didn’t see you there,” I babbled.
His fingers firmly gripping my arm, he led me away from the line at the coffee shop. “It’s my fault. I was standing too close. To tell you the truth, I was trying to figure out what perfume you’re wearing.”
Up close, I could see that his hazel eyes were flecked with specks of green and gold. My brain struggling to catch up, I said, “It’s not perfume, it’s lotion.”
“Good to know,” he said, the side of his mouth quirking up in a half smile that made my knees weak. “I’d offer to buy you a coffee but—” he gestured to my coffee with his own. “Looks like you’ve already got that covered. How about a walk?”
“Okay,” I said, my head spinning a little as I let him lead me out of the coffee shop and into the street. We’d fallen into step together, exchanging names, though I only gave my first. I didn’t want to tell him who I was.
Not yet.
I had my own reasons for being gun shy about relationships, reasons that had nothing to do with my family. But I didn’t want to tell Riley who I was until I decided if he’d be worth the trouble.
It didn’t take long to figure out that Riley Flynn was worth the trouble, and I ended up spilling more than I meant to about my personal life by our third date.
I found out that he looked older than the rest of us because he was. He’d taken off after high school and backpacked around the country before settling down for his freshman year. He’d taken the news about my family in stride, seeming disinterested, though he’d shied away from meeting them. I didn’t care.
I was living on campus for my freshman year and I was more than happy to keep Riley all to myself. My oldest cousin, Aiden, was technically head of the family now that his parents were dead, and he’d come home to take the reins of Winters Inc. My oldest brother Gage had taken off and joined the Army the year before, only a few days after our aunt and uncle had been killed.
My twin brother, Vance, was also in his freshman year at Emory and I guessed everyone figured he was keeping an eye on me.
Not exactly.
Vance was keeping an eye on coeds and parties. His sister? Not so much.
That was fine with me. I was tired of living behind gates. I wanted to pretend to be a normal college student, with a normal life. I wanted to get serious about my photography and study art. So far, everything had been working out perfectly. I should have known it wouldn’t last.
I watched Riley sleep in the hospital bed and tried to tell myself that people got into car accidents. It wasn’t good, but it was normal. It happened. It didn’t mean Riley was going to die. If it were that serious, they wouldn’t let me in his room. The nurse would’ve seemed more on edge. Everything was fine.
I must have squeezed Riley’s hand too hard, because his fingers flexed over mine and he let out a low groan. Those thick eyelashes fluttered against his cheeks and his eyes opened, bloodshot and swollen, but the familiar green-flecked hazel soothed my worries. I felt my own eyes flood with tears and Riley smiled weakly.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he said. “I’m okay.”
“You wouldn’t wake up,” I said. Riley squeezed my hand again. He knew me, knew what I was thinking. Knew how I feared more loss. More death.
“I’m awake now, and I’m fine.”
I swiped a tear from my eye and nodded. He squeezed my hand again.
“Lise, look at me,” he ordered. I did. His pupils were uneven and his words were a little slurred, but he was still Riley. “I’m okay,” he said. “Everything is okay. I’m not going to die on you.”
“Promise?” I couldn’t help asking.
“Promise.” His eyes slid shut and he murmured, “Just need to close my eyes.”
I pressed the button to call for the nurse. By the time someone showed up, and I let her know Riley had woken, he was fast asleep again. The nurse was unconcerned, both that he’d woken and that he was back to sleep.
I tried to reassure myself that this was another sign everything was okay. She adjusted something in the IV attached to his arm, murmured to herself, and left the room. I settled back into my chair by his side to wait.
Alarm bells woke me from a light doze. Running footsteps, flashing lights, and I was pulled from his bedside, his hand torn from mine. I knew better than to interrupt. People in hospital scrubs leaned over him, their voices urgent, the words coming fast and unintelligible.
I didn’t know what was happening, I only knew that it was bad.
I did what I always did when things were bad. What all of us did when things were bad. I called Aiden. He was there twenty minutes later, bullying the nurses with his implacable authority, insisting I be allowed to stay by Riley’s side when they were done, demanding to know what was happening.
He shoved a cardboard cup of tea into my hand and made me sit in a chair in the waiting room on Riley’s floor.
“As soon as he’s stabilized, they’ll let you back in, though they’re not happy about it,” he said.
“What happened? He was fine. He was sleeping and then—”
“A mixup with the drugs,” Aiden said, shaking his head. “The nurse misread the dose on his morphine. They don’t know where she is, but they’ll question her as soon as they find her. What’s important is that they caught it in time and he’s going to be okay.”
“They messed up his medicine? How does that happen? I thought he would be safe in the hospital—”
When I heard the alarms, saw the flashing lights and the rushing nurses I’d assumed it was something to do with his concussion. It never occurred to me that they might accidentally kill him.
I wanted to bundle Riley up and take him home to Winters House. Except Winters House had never been particularly safe either. There was nowhere in my life that was safe. Nowhere death couldn’t follow.
“After all this, are you going to bring him home for dinner?” Aidan asked, nudging my shoulder with his. My cheeks flushed. I hadn’t dated a lot in high school. Between my family’s notoriety, my aunt and uncle’s deaths my junior year, and other stuff, I just wasn’t that interested.
Riley was the first boy — man — to catch my eye. What we had was so perfect I hadn’t been willing to bring it into the mess that was the rest of my life. But maybe it was time.
“Is it all right if he comes home to Winters House when they let him out? He has an apartment off campus but—”
Aidan wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into a hug. “Of course it’s okay. Now that I know what’s really going on with you two, I’d rather have him where I can keep an eye on him.”
I made a disgruntled sound low in my throat, and rested my cheek against his chest. Aiden was overprotective. If I thought he was bad with me, I just had to see him with my little cousin Charlie. She was twelve, still shaken from losing her parents, and Aiden hovered over her as much as his responsibilities would allow.
He was only twenty-two, barely two years older than me, but he was the one who held us toget
her. He’d left college after his parents died and came home, finishing school in Atlanta and taking his father’s place at the company and at home.
He read to Charlie at night and made sure Vance and I got our college applications in on time. He’d been the one to insist I live in student housing when I suggested I should stay home and help him with the kids. He’d given up everything so we could have normal lives.
I’d tried to argue, but no one argued with Aiden. He just stared you down and steam-rolled over you.
I hadn’t fought him that hard. Both Vance and I felt guilty about running off and leaving Aiden with the kids, but as much as we’d wanted to help, we’d wanted to get away even more. And it wasn’t like we’d gone far. All the Winters went to Emory, right in Atlanta, so we were close if he needed us. Only Aiden had gone out of state to school, but he’d ended up leaving Harvard and finishing at our father’s alma mater in the end.
We’d gratefully acceded to his demand that we be normal college students. Or as normal as we could be. But now, seeing Riley in a hospital bed, all I wanted was home.
It felt like hours before they let me back in Riley’s room. I imagined he looked paler, more worn. Aiden left to make whatever arrangements he was going to make, after reassuring me that Riley would be released in a day or two.
I took my place beside Riley’s bed, twining my fingers with his, rubbing absently against his callused thumb, and waited patiently for him to wake.
I opened my eyes the next morning to see a nurse enter the room, her face blocked by a huge arrangement of mismatched flowers. My stomach tightened at the sight of the flowers and I asked, “Where did those come from?”
“They were left at the desk,” she said, setting them on the table across the room. “Odd arrangement. I’m not sure I like it much, but I’m sure whoever sent it meant well.”
I was sure they didn’t.
I waited until the nurse left the room after reassuring me that Riley would wake soon. I had a sick feeling that it no longer mattered. Not for me. Trapped in a nightmare I thought I’d escaped, I pulled my fingers from Riley’s and stood.
The few steps across the room seemed to take forever.
The nurse had called the arrangement odd. It was a generous description. The flowers clashed, discordant and ugly together, but the sender hadn’t been going for pretty. The flowers were a message, one he knew I could decode.
My mother had loved flowers, had taught me their language, but experience had forced me to understand what they really meant. The clash of yellow and pink blooms told me exactly what had happened to Riley.
Yellow Hyacinth for jealousy.
Rhododendron for danger.
And most terrifying, the deep pink blooms of Begonia — a warning of future misfortune.
The car crash was no accident. Neither was the overdose that had almost killed Riley.
The flowers were a threat and a warning.
Numb, I picked up the arrangement and carried it from the room. I didn’t look at the card until I was in my car. It had been a year since I’d seen those precise block letters. A year since he’d sent me flowers.
I’d convinced myself it was over. Convinced myself he’d moved on, or forgotten about me, or died. I’d been so sure I was free. Safe. I never would have let myself fall in love with Riley if I thought he was still out there. Still watching.
I turned the card over in my fingers, knowing I had to read it. Knowing that once I did, my path was set. I’d have to write a note of my own to Riley, one that would make him hate me. Hate would keep him far from me. Hate would keep him safe.
A hot tear slid down my cheek as I tugged at the seal of the small white envelope. I’d been arrogant. I wanted Riley so badly I’d convinced myself I could have him. That arrogance had almost gotten Riley killed.
I understood what the flowers were saying; Walk away from Riley, or the next time he’ll be dead.
I didn’t need to read the card.
I opened it anyway, my fingers shaking.
TELL HIM GOODBYE, OR I’LL DO IT FOR YOU
Click Here to Read More!
THANK YOU
Thanks for reading The Billionaire’s Angel
I hope you enjoyed it!
Don’t Miss Out on New Releases, Exclusive Giveaways and More!!
Join Ivy’s Readers Group!
*Reviews are a wonderful way for other readers to find books they’ll like. Click Here to leave a review :)
Also by Ivy Layne
Don’t Miss Out on New Releases, Exclusive Giveaways, and More!!
Join Ivy’s Readers Group!
Scandals of the Bad Boy Billionaires
The Billionaire’s Secret Heart (Novella)
The Billionaire’s Secret Love (Novella)
The Billionaire’s Pet
The Billionaire’s Promise
The Rebel Billionaire
The Billionaire’s Secret Kiss (Novella)
The Billionaire’s Angel
Engaging the Billionaire
Series Extras
The Alpha Billionaire Club
The Wedding Rescue
The Courtship Maneuver
The Temptation Trap
ABOUT IVY LAYNE
Ivy Layne has had her nose stuck in a book since she first learned to decipher the English language. Sometime in her early teens, she stumbled across her first Romance, and the die was cast. Though she pretended to pay attention to her creative writing professors, she dreamed of writing steamy romance instead of literary fiction. These days, she’s neck deep in alpha heroes and the smart, sexy women who love them.
Married to her very own alpha hero (who rubs her back after a long day of typing, but also leaves his socks on the floor). Ivy lives in the mountains of North Carolina where she and her other half are having a blast raising two energetic little boys. Aside from her family, Ivy’s greatest loves are coffee and chocolate, preferably together.
VISIT IVY
Facebook.com/AuthorIvyLayne
Instagram.com/authorivylayne/
www.ivylayne.com
[email protected]
The Billionaire’s Angel
Copyright © 2017 by Ivy Layne
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover by Jacqueline Sweet
Find out more about the author and upcoming books online at www.ivylayne.com