The TROUBLE with BILLIONAIRES: Book 3

by Kristina Blake

  I understood how that could be.

  It didn’t matter though. She was going to be a wonderful mother, and Conrad was as devoted as any new father should be. They were even working together now, running his PR firm, though Conrad insisted that would stop the moment Mellissa gave birth.

  If he was serious, then he didn’t know his wife very well.

  And Annie…she graduated from college last week. Our apartment looked like a warehouse, all the boxes that were stacked up against walls and balanced on overburdened furniture. Rawn and I were practically living together already, mostly at his house, but occasionally at the apartment. Annie was moving to LA. She’d gotten into the Master’s program at Cal State. And, of course, there was Logan.

  I never should have interfered. I should have given my friend the benefit of the doubt. She was stronger than anyone would ever give her credit for. Even after Logan explained his disease to her in graphic detail, making her read books and webpages about the devastating effects, she refused to give up on him. She insisted she didn’t care, that none of it mattered. In the end, he gave in to his own need to have her and to have her love in his life. They’d been happily carrying on a long distance relationship ever since.

  Now that they would be living in the same city, I was afraid no one would ever see either of them again.

  “We’re running late,” Mom said with a quick look at her watch.

  “Rawn’s waiting for his parents. Their flight was delayed.”

  “I should go check and make sure everything’s okay.” She kissed my cheek lightly. “I’m so happy for you, darling.”

  “Thank you, Mom.”

  As soon as she was out the door and the silence descended on us again, I fell onto the couch, my bell skirt whooshing out around me. Annie laughed, pushing at the material that had fallen over her lap.

  “When I get married, it’s going to be a mermaid style, not these poufy things the two of you wore.”

  “Mine was very traditional,” Mellissa said. “Very southern.”

  “I like mine,” I said. “All this lace makes me feel girly.”

  “Yeah, like Belle from Beauty and the Beast.”

  I smiled because I liked the comparison. “Exactly.”

  “I see myself more of a Cinderella, with an Ariel twist.”

  I could see that. “And red.”

  Annie shoved her shoulder into mine, sliding off the couch arm as she did, but then she laughed. “Maybe.”

  “Can you believe how much has happened in the last eight months?”

  “A year ago, you were still hiding behind your books, trying to get your degree as quickly as possible so that you could go to work.”

  I nodded. “And just a couple of months later, I did it. And then I came on to Rawn in the park—”

  “The park? Did I miss this story?” Mellissa asked.

  I glanced at Annie.

  “It’s not one you probably want to hear,” Annie assured her.

  “Well, a year ago, I didn’t know either of you, and I was in witness protection, worried that my grandmother would say something in her growing senility that would give us away.” Mellissa ran her hand over her belly. “Now I have a new career, a new husband, and a baby on the way.”

  “And I’m running away to Hollywood to live with my movie star boyfriend,” Annie announced.

  Of all our stories, hers seemed the most surreal, but it was actually the most probable of the three.

  “Funny how life can throw you these incredible curves.”

  “Let’s just hope it all settles down for a while.”

  “Amen.”

  Then, the room shuttered, debris raining over us as the most deafening sound blew against our eardrums.

  I threw myself over Mellissa, thinking only of protecting that unborn baby from whatever evil was invading our lives now. Annie did the same, diving over me, our bodies tangled and piled on top of one another. It seemed to last forever, the noise, the vibration, the shower of drywall and ceiling tiles.

  The door burst open and my father’s voice called out.

  “Girls? Are you okay?”

  Mellissa was the first to move, twisting out from under my upper body. Annie pulled herself up to her feet, offering a helping hand to aid me to my feet. There was a stream of blood running down the side of Annie’s face, pooling briefly in a thin scar that was left from her car accident. I grabbed the box of tissues still sitting on the dressing table and pressed a handful to her temple.

  She hissed, but otherwise seemed unfazed.

  “Mellissa?”

  “I’m okay.”

  I helped her to her feet, searching face, arms, and hands for any sign of trauma. “The baby?”

  “Kicking like he wants the heck out of there now.”

  “You should probably come out of here, girls,” my father said, stepping back. “Until the fire department gets here and can determine if it’s stable.”

  “Are you okay, daddy?”

  He nodded, rapping the side of his head. “Can’t damage an old noggin’ like mine.”

  Then Rawn, Conrad, and Logan were rushing up behind him, pushing everyone and everything out of their way to get inside. They were unhurt, having been on the front steps of the church waiting for Rawn’s parents to arrive. Thank God for late flights! If they had been on time, the boys would have all been standing at the altar and there’s no telling…

  “What was it?” I asked from the circle of Rawn’s arms.

  “Don’t know.”

  “It sounded like some sort of explosive,” Logan said.

  “A bomb?” I asked.

  Everyone kind of looked at me like I had gone insane. But with the way things had gone in the past, it really wasn’t that farfetched an idea, was it?

  “We need to get out of here,” my father repeated. “We don’t know how secure this is.”

  Rawn agreed, drawing me out of the church in the circle of his arms, careful to direct me over the larger pieces of debris. Logan and Annie followed with Conrad, carrying a protesting Mellissa in his arms, until we were all standing on the lovely lawn in front of the small church. A great number of our guests were there, too, most untouched by the explosion because they were enjoying the quartet we had set up on the lawn, but some covered in dust and debris, their fine suits and dresses ruined with the mess.

  I scanned the crowd, saw my mother and brother, and a number of friends and acquaintances from school and work. It seemed most everyone had managed to get out in time.

  Annie and my mother conspired to keep things on track, directing everyone to the small garden off to the side of the church. The wedding, of course, was called off. But we had the caterer bring her wares early, feeding not only the distraught guests, but the firemen as well.

  It wasn’t until late that evening that we learned exactly what had happened.

  Someone had placed a bomb under the altar that was rigged to go off five minutes into the ceremony. If we hadn’t been running late, the priest, Rawn, and I, and most of our closest friends and family would have died or been seriously injured. Fortunately, there were only five injuries that required hospitalization.

  And one death.

  The CEO of Cepheus had been horrified by the idea that her nephew could cause the chaos and tragedy that hers had done. But she stuck by him, paying his lawyers and working with the court to get him the psychiatric help she insisted he needed. Schizophrenia ran in her family, but it was such a well hidden secret that Russell likely didn’t even know.

  He knew now.

  We never got a real explanation for Russell’s motives. But his hatred of Rawn ran so deep that while on parole awaiting trial, he decided he had nothing left to lose. He decided that he might as well complete what he had started.

  He rigged the bomb. He envisioned killing me and Rawn on our wedding day. Instead, he murdered the only person who still loved him enough to fight for him.

  The CEO of Cepheus Scientific, Jennifer Mientk
iewicz, was the only fatality of the bombing at St. Michael’s Church that day.

  The police found Russell in his apartment the following morning, hanging from an electrical cord in his bedroom, a note that said simply, Sorry, pinned to his chest.

  Ironically, Russell’s actions that day resulted in the complete opposite of what he had wanted. Rawn was made CEO of Cepheus, and he took the company in a new direction, changing everything he had always hated about his career.

  And we got married, a month later, the ceremony slightly more subdued than originally planned. But it couldn’t possibly go off without a little excitement. Mellissa and Conrad welcomed a seven-pound baby boy six hours after Mellissa’s water broke as she stood by my side at the altar.

  They named him Christian.

  It just seemed appropriate.

  ~ END ~