A Billionaire's Game (Ellsworth Brothers #2)

by Cece Baker

  Drake pulled Jill’s body into him, spoon-style, and wrapped his arms tightly around her torso. With a contented sigh they both fell asleep.

  CHAPTER 11

  “No peeking now,” Drake insisted as he held his hands over Jill’s eyes. It was three weeks later as they walked tentatively into her newly remodeled apartment.

  “I can’t see anything,” she complained in response.

  “Okay, ready? Here goes!” Drake removed his hand from her face, and Jill blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light.

  With a gasp she turned, taking in her new surroundings. “Drake. What… I mean… it’s gorgeous! Oh my god, Drake. It’s perfect. How did they know? It’s so me.” She turned and hugged him. Tears appeared in her eyes and she hurriedly wiped them away. “It’s so beautiful. I can’t believe you did all this for me. Thank you so much.”

  With one hand on her chest she looked around the room again. The living room had been completely redone. A new leather sofa in a rich caramel color sat against the far wall with an industrial looking coffee table that gave the room a bit of a modern chic yet homey feel. A sleek entertainment center stood about five feet high and in the center was a brand-new, state-of-the-art flat screen television with a kick-ass sound system.

  “I know you like your music, so I made sure they found the best sound system for your place; and speakers have been wired in every room so no matter where you are, you can always hear what’s playing.”

  “Drake, this is too much. I can’t believe it.”

  “I wanted you to have the best. I know you love your place, and I felt bad because I’m the one who caused the fire, so it’s only natural that I should fix up the place.”

  Jill glanced down and gasped when she saw the new wood flooring and the lush wool rug that created a cozy gathering area in the living room. She gazed into the kitchen and was shocked at the change. “The kitchen too?” she exclaimed.

  “Of course, the kitchen too. Babe. I mean come on.” Drake shrugged his shoulders like it was a no-brainer.

  The floor was tiled in rich reds and browns, with a thread of grey stone running through the pattern. Jill ran her hand over the smooth new countertops, and she couldn’t resist opening the door of her sleek new oven.

  “Oh my gosh. They even gave me new kitchen towels and everything. Drake, I can’t thank you enough.”

  With a huge smile, Drake pulled her into his arms and kissed her passionately. “It was my pleasure. Just seeing the joy on your face makes it worth every penny.”

  Jill kissed him again and pulled him into a tight hug.

  The embrace was interrupted when Drake’s phone rang. He glanced down at the screen and said, “I have to take this, babe.” He put the phone to his ear and answered with a gruff, “Ellsworth.”

  Jill watched the expression on his face turn cloudy and dark. She was used to seeing him get moody while talking on the phone, but this was different. He actually turned away from her and walked into the hallway to finish the call.

  She walked into her bedroom and instantly fell in love with the minor updates they’d done in there too. The new bedding, a muted shade of green suited her taste perfectly. Her old, bulky leather recliner had been replaced with a smaller chair complete with a matching ottoman. Glancing down she realized they’d even installed new carpeting. Shaking her head in disbelief, she walked back into the living room addressing Drake. “Baby, you will not believe what they did in the bedroom…” Jill stopped talking as soon as she saw him. His hands were on his hips, and his face was beet red.

  “Fuck.”

  “Drake, what’s wrong?”

  “Dammit. Shit. I gotta go. Business stuff. This is such bullshit.”

  “What can I do? Drake?” she asked questioningly, but he just ignored her, turned and walked out of her condo and down the stairs to leave the building.

  “What the hell,” she said aloud. She grabbed her coat and purse, locked the door and ran down the stairs after Drake. She was determined to find out what was going on. Obviously, it was bad because she’d never seen him so upset before. As she exited the building she saw his SUV pull away from the curb. Quickly she threw out her hand and shouted for a taxi. With the screech of brakes a cab stopped in front of her. Jill climbed in and told the driver to follow that black SUV. The driver clicked the meter to on and took off with a start.

  CHAPTER 12

  Drake arrived at the warehouse minutes later and exited the SUV as soon as it stopped. “Wait here, Benny. This may take a while, but when I’m done I’ll need to leave pronto.”

  “Got it, boss. I’ll get the car turned around and ready to head out.”

  Walking toward the entrance Drake looked back at his driver, pointed a finger at him and said, “You’re the man, Benny. Couldn’t do this without you.”

  Benny nodded his head and turned the SUV around so it was ready to exit the enclosed parking lot at a moment’s notice. This didn’t happen often, but Benny knew when Mr. Ellsworth told him to do this, he really meant it. His boss was a no-bullshit kind of guy, and the last thing Benny wanted to do was piss him off. He compensated Benny very well for his time and effort. It meant he was basically on call 24-7, but the cash was worth it.

  Drake walked down the dark hallway and took the steps to the second floor two at a time. He was seething. All of his players had lost this week, and they’d lost big.

  Drake employed a team of card sharks to play poker in high stakes games for him. Each player earned a percentage of the winnings as payment; the more senior and trustworthy the player, the larger the compensation.

  The money to play in each game was Drake’s money, though, and so when a player lost, Drake took the hit.

  On rare occasions Drake himself would play if he felt like it, or if the losses started piling up as they had over the last few months. His trust fund was gone and without the winnings from these games or handouts from his dad or brothers, he’d be broke. He hated—no, he despised—going to his family for money, but what the hell. They had more money than they knew what to do with, so why not share in the wealth? He was a part of the family, after all.

  Maybe he didn’t work in the family construction business, but he viewed his role as kind of a P.R./face of the family type thing. He was well known for being a very eligible bachelor, even if he was constantly seen with a different woman. He showed up for family functions. He loved his mom. In fact, she was the only person he really cared about. He also cared about her opinion of him. Losing face in front of his mother would be devastating. Drake felt that his mother was the only one who really saw him as his own person and not just the family fuck-up.

  His dad, well, he could take or leave him. William Ellsworth was a self-righteous prick who only cared about himself and his money. Admittedly, he did love his wife, Caroline, and he took good care of her. Well, he hired lots of good help to care for her.

  Landen, the eldest, was the golden boy, and always had been since the day he was born. He could do no wrong. Drake had been shocked to hear that Landen had gone up against his father when he’d taken over the position of CEO from William Ellsworth. He’d never seen Landen do that, and secretly Drake admired him for it. In fact, he had doubted his brother had the balls to stand up to anyone.

  Westin, the youngest, was easy to get along with, but he’d been brainwashed against Drake just like Landen. All they saw was the bad stuff, such as when he came to them for money or drank heavily. Westin always tried to involve Drake in the family business or make plans to meet for dinner, but Drake just put him off. It wasn’t worth the effort. Westin’s opinion of Drake wasn’t going to change just because they’d share a meal once in awhile.

  Drake approached the group, deeply engrossed in their game, then stood watching with arms crossed over his chest. He could tell right away that his man was sweating big time and that there were a whole lot of chips at stake. Drake gritted his teeth in frustration. When the hand was finally over and the winnings went to the opponent, D
rake walked quickly toward his player and escorted him to the hallway.

  “What the fuck are you doing? What the hell was that? You bluffed with those shitty cards? Do I not pay you to win? Jesus!”

  “I know. I know. I’m just having a bad streak,” the flustered man replied.

  Drake grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the wall. “Listen up and listen good. Losing is no longer an option. Now, because of your incompetence, I have to sit down at the table and play myself because I can’t trust you morons to do what I pay you for. Get out of my sight before I decide to punch you.”

  Gasping for air, the man nodded his assent. As soon as Drake released his hold on the man, he bolted down the hallway and down the stairs to leave the building.

  Shaking his shoulders and regaining his composure Drake sidled into the room.

  “Mr. Cunningham,” Drake greeted him.

  “Mr. Ellsworth, so nice to see you in person. Don’t tell me you’re here to play a round yourself?”

  “I am. I’ve decided it’s a good day to take over the reins and get the job done right.” Drake scratched his head before continuing. “I need a favor.”

  Mr. Cunningham grinned at Drake’s obvious discomfort. “And what favor would that be?”

  “I need a small advance.”

  “How small?”

  “500 large.”

  Tsking, the man responded, “That’s not very small, Mr. Ellsworth. And if I do recall, you still owe me a small payment,” said the man, emphasizing the word small.

  “One game should take care of that payment,” replied Drake haughtily.

  Mr. Cunningham turned to the goon standing to his left. “You heard the man, we’re going to play cards. Let’s start with a brand new deck of cards.” A cellophane-wrapped deck of cards was placed on the table. “Please, Mr. Ellsworth, would you do the honor of opening the deck?”

  Without taking his eyes off of the man sitting opposite him, Drake unwrapped the cards.

  “Please. Feel free to shuffle.”

  Removing the jokers, Drake took the cards in hand and expertly shuffled the deck, the thwack of cards hitting each other filling the room.

  Soon the cards had been dealt, and the first hand was underway. The tension in the room was palpable. Drake chose to get two new cards. In his hand he held a queen of hearts, jack of clubs and ten of clubs. Silently he prayed to the poker gods everywhere. He needed all the help he could get if he was going to win enough money to be able to pay the loan shark sitting across the table. He’d never been in this position before. That is, down money before he even started playing. He told himself to calm down. Showing stress while playing poker made you an easy target. He sucked in a breath and regained his unruffled demeanor.

  His two new cards were a 2 and a 5. Fuck. Not a good way to start the evening.

  Outside, Benny waited patiently, only taking his eyes off of the door to the building every once in awhile. Suddenly a taxi crept forward and abruptly stopped, and a woman exited the vehicle. He recognized her at once. She was the woman Mr. Ellsworth had been spending time with lately. Shit. This couldn’t be good. Mr. Ellsworth never brought his women with him to the card games. He’d have to distract her to keep her from going into the building.

  A knocking on the car window drew his attention. He calmly lowered the window.

  “You’re Benny, right?”

  “Yes. I believe you are Ms. West?”

  “Yes!” she replied, relief in her voice. “You remember me.”

  “Of course I do, miss. I could not forget someone as beautiful as you.”

  Jill blushed at the compliment and then refocused her thoughts. “I’m looking for Mr. Ellsworth. Is he in that building?”

  The cabbie honked his horn and Jill signaled that she’d just be a moment. “He’s in there, isn’t he?” she said, pointing at the warehouse.

  “Ah, miss. No worries. He told me he’d just be a moment and then I was to drive him to the Grand. You should wait for him there.”

  Jill wasn’t convinced. “I don’t know, Benny. He was very upset when he left my condo. I think I should wait for him here.”

  “He would not want you to wait here in the car. It would be much too cold,” replied Benny, wincing when he heard the lame excuse leave his mouth.

  The cabbie honked again and began to turn the car around, headlights sweeping the parking lot, in an effort to leave.

  “Please, just wait one more minute,” Jill pleaded. “Benny, is Mr. Ellsworth in trouble?”

  “Trouble? No, miss, there is no trouble. He just meets his…” Benny paused to think of the correct response, “…his associates here. They like the look of the building and think it has great potential for remodeling as condos.”

  Jill looked skeptically at the man and sighed. “Well, I don’t want to get you in trouble. He’ll probably be really pissed if he finds me waiting for him. I’ll go back to the hotel. Please don’t tell him you saw me.”

  “Right. Got it, miss. No worries.”

  Hastily, Jill ran toward the cab, jumped in the back seat and sped away.

  Benny let out a huge sigh of relief.

  About an hour later Drake burst out of the warehouse, the door slamming loudly behind him. He flung open the door of the SUV and shouted, “Go. Now.”

  Without hesitation Benny started the car and drove speedily out of the lot.

  “Sir, Mr. Ellsworth? I don’t mean to disturb you,” Benny started, his eyes looking at his employer in the rearview mirror, “but I thought you should know that I had a visitor about an hour ago.”

  This caught Drake’s attention immediately. “Was it the cops?”

  “No. No one like that. A woman.”

  Drake grabbed the back of Benny’s seat and leaned forward. “Shit. It was Jill, Ms. West, I mean. Wasn’t it? Fuck.”

  “I can confirm that information, sir. I told her I wouldn’t tell you she was here, but since you guessed the information I don’t want to lie to you.”

  “Good man, Benny, Good man,” Drake said as he sat back in his seat.

  “To the Grand, sir?” inquired the driver.

  Drake nodded his assent, and the car made quick work of the short drive.

  CHAPTER 13

  “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been waiting for over an hour!”

  “Hello to you too, gorgeous,” Drake said, walking over to kiss Jill. She pulled her head off to the side to avoid the contact.

  “What the hell, babe?”

  “What’s going on with you?” she demanded.

  “I was just conducting some business,” he replied, his right hand pulling the sleeve of his linen dress shirt out further from underneath his suit coat. “I told you I was doing business when I left your place.” Drake inched closer to Jill.

  Putting a palm to Drake’s chest she held him at bay. “Who does business at,” she glanced down to check the time on her phone, “11:30 on a Friday night?” The anger in her voice was unmistakable.

  Drake walked confidently to the bar and poured himself a shot of whiskey and quickly tossed the amber liquid down his throat. “Some guys work in an office, some guys work in a factory…”

  “And some guys meet thugs in abandoned warehouses to what, deal drugs?” Jill interrupted.

  “What! No! I don’t deal drugs. That’s ridiculous.”

  The tension in the room was palpable. Jill stood, hands on hips, muscles tense and a deep frown on her face. When she spoke again her words were clipped and terse. “Tell me what you do for money. Your trust fund is gone, isn’t it? Where are you getting the money to pay for this,” throwing her arms in the air to indicate the suite.

  “What’s it to you?” Drake shouted and turned to walk back to the bar.

  “What else is there, Drake? What are you selling? Illegal weapons or are you involved in human trafficking? What?”

  “Jesus, Jill. Is that what you really think of me? Some low-life pimp?”

  “I don’t k
now, Drake. Since you won’t tell me, I’m left with my imagination.”

  “I play cards,” he said quietly facing the window and looking out into the night.

  “You what?”

  Turning he repeated, “I play cards.”

  “Cards? Like poker?”

  “Yes. Is that so bad?”

  “Drake, if it’s so okay,” making finger quotes as she said the word okay, “why didn’t you just come out and tell me? Why not tell your family?”

  “They wouldn’t understand.”

  “Yeah? Well, right now I don’t understand. Tell me more about these card games.”

  “I play cards for money. Okay? Is that what you want to hear?”

  “I just want the truth, Drake,” Jill said softly.

  “Well, now you know. Any other questions, or can we move on from this subject?” Drake refilled his glass and tossed back the second shot of whiskey.

  “Who else plays cards for money? And why were you so upset earlier? Did you lose? Did someone cheat? What, Drake? What is going on?”

  “Yes. I lost. Okay. I’m out of money. I’m broke. That’s the gods-honest truth. Happy now?”

  “You’re broke? Drake, I don’t care about your money. I never did. What I’m worried about is that your life is a sham. You’re playing cards to support this over-the-top, grossly extravagant lifestyle. It’s not right, Drake. What is going to happen to you? I’m worried.”

  “Well, you don’t have to worry about me. Everything has been handled, okay?”

  “I don’t know, Drake. Something isn’t right. What you’re doing isn’t right. I’m sorry. I’m worried about you. You’re like a completely different person than the Drake I’ve gotten to know and like.”

  “Now you see what everyone else sees: the fuck-up. It’s not a pretty picture.”

  “I don’t believe you for a second. This is not who you are. A person doesn’t have to be defined by the balance in their checking account, Drake.”

  “Do you really believe that?”

  “I do. I never cared about the fancy clothes you bought me. Let’s return them all. I can shop at a thrift store just as easily and for a whole lot less money. I never wanted you to remodel my apartment. Our friendship, our relationship, our whatever it is that we’re doing isn’t based on what you can give me monetarily. I like you because you’re kind to Benny and me. You’re funny and smart. But, tonight, this person, the person you are right now. I don’t know who this is. It’s time to face up to what is going on. It’s time for you to grow up, Drake.”