The Billionaire's Wife (A Steamy BWWM Marriage of Convenience Romance Novel)

by Mia Caldwell

  That had been the most incredible fuck of my entire life.

  But he’d been furious the following morning. He knew himself too well – knew that he would never succumb to that without pressure. I didn’t expect him to go so far as to have his blood tested that day – and when the evidence of my little help came up, there was no going back.

  He didn’t fire me. Instead of being absolutely livid, as I had expected, he was incredibly disappointed.

  For some reason, he just blamed himself.

  That stung even more.

  Keeping my job and working for the love of my life, a man whom I’d drugged and raped, and he didn’t destroy me. I couldn’t understand it. Why? Why keep me close after that? What did he see? Surely there were other assistants…other girls he could hire.

  But he didn’t. He kept me.

  And he never trusted me again. Not completely.

  The trips to his penthouse stopped. He began to give me rougher assignments, slowly and gradually cutting me out of the finer points of his life. It was all professional now. But I still held on, hoping that he’d come back around. After all, I’d tasted his come on my tongue. I’d been filled with his seed. Despite my greatest hopes, I didn’t turn up pregnant.

  I felt betrayed, and I wanted to strike out at him.

  Breaking me from my thoughts, Larry Higgins passed in the hall, passing by on his way out with his motorcycle helmet under his arm. He flashed me a smile, wishing me a good night, and I did the same for him.

  I always liked Larry. Not the brightest, but friendly enough.

  My thoughts returned. Coppersmith was the perfect companion. It was clear that he resented Cole for some reason, and I scheduled a private meeting with him under the guise of a one-on-one board review. As soon as I started pushing him the right way, it all started coming out. He hated Cole. He blamed him for so much.

  He’d make an interesting partner. Sure, he was old for my tastes, but the man was easily manipulated. Show a little affection, press him in the right direction… He probably thought he was the one running the show.

  I snuck him access to Cole’s secret files. Proof that he was sick with some sort of disease, although I hadn’t looked into them too deeply. I didn’t realize how severe it was – that it was fatal. That news rocked me completely. I thought he was going to bounce back, but he was dying?

  By then it didn’t matter. Our little alliance was set. Coppersmith had this plan to overthrow Cole. It was a little much for my tastes, but then he promised to make me a board member. At my age? I’d be one of the youngest in the city. It was enough to separate me from my grief that the object of my love was a dead man.

  The lure of power was intoxicating, and I agreed. With Cole’s disease slowly ravaging him, I’d play the part of the dedicated, atoning executive assistant, and he’d never suspect me. Sure, he’d never trust me again, not really, but the distracted billionaire would have never guessed that I had turned to cut him deeper than before.

  And then when Kiona showed up, it seemed so perfect. Coppersmith had brought in his little spy and she was busily weaving her web. I had some trouble keeping up with what Kiona was tasked with accomplishing, but Coppersmith assured me she was critical for my own rise to power. When Cole revealed her deception and destroyed Larry’s attempts at ascension, it looked like things were really going to turn in our favor.

  And then he fucking proposed.

  It had destroyed me. That wasn’t supposed to happen. I knew they were having some lunches together – I thought that was just about infiltration on Coppersmith’s behalf. I didn’t realize that they were going to marry each other. All I could think about was Cole fucking her in that office of his, and it made me furious.

  I didn’t care that he was dying. If I couldn’t have him, nobody could. I’d go to any length and give Coppersmith any weapon I could provide if it meant breaking up their happy little union in Cole’s final hours.

  (Back to Table of Contents)

  Chapter 29

  Kiona

  While I stood in the rooftop garden, leaning against the concrete lip, I swirled my glass and took a deep, relaxing breath. I could hear the dampened voices from inside, and I knew that all of this build-up was finally here. As the sound of the glass door hit my eardrums, I put on my war face and prepared to face the man who had spurred all of this into motion.

  It’s show time.

  He was a stocky, elderly black man, with a youthful vigor in his eyes. This vigor, in a glance, is what convinced me to take the enthusiastic approach.

  “Greetings, Mr. Megami!” I smiled, eagerly but warmly throwing my arms around our guest. “It’s such a pleasure to finally meet you. Cole has told me so much.”

  “Please, call me Alphonse,” he replied, a little caught off-guard by my enthusiasm. “The pleasure is mine.” He turned to my tired Cole, who had followed him outside and closed the door behind them. “I hope your husband has painted me in a somewhat flattering light…”

  “Oh, not really,” I laughed with a wicked smile. “Cole tells me that you’re a total monster.”

  Alphonse blinked a few times, glancing between Cole and me. My billionaire looked mildly horrified, but our guest merely smiled graciously. “You’ve married a little firecracker, Mister Andrews,” he chuckled. “Such a spirit in this one.”

  “Speaking of spirits, can I get you something to drink?” I asked politely, swishing my glass. “Wine, or perhaps champagne? I was thinking of topping off a few minutes ago, actually…”

  Alphonse side-eyed me. “I’ll take some water, thank you. Tell me, do you quite enjoy alcohol, Miss Kiona? I daresay I haven’t met a champagne quite as bubbly as yourself in these few moments I’ve encountered you...”

  “Oh, this?” I asked, gazing at my upheld glass. “This is just orange juice. My father was an alcoholic, so I started off adverse to the stuff…” I smoothed over the down-note with a cheerful smile, aimed back at Cole. “I know you told me to let loose and enjoy myself…but I’m fine. Really. I can manage without it.”

  “Of course,” he replied, immediately playing along. “Whatever makes you happy, sweetheart.”

  “Honeymoon phase,” I rolled my eyes at Alphonse. “It’s all sweetheart and honey now, but give it a few years…”

  The mask slipped for a moment as I realized that a few years wasn’t going to happen. Briefly zoning out, I focused on a window in my line of sight, willing myself back into cheerfulness. I wanted to scream. Just buy the goddamn company, you stupid fool! Why do we have to put on this song and dance for you?

  “Excuse me for a moment, gentlemen,” I hastily added as I snapped back. “Water, was it?”

  “Yes, water will be fine,” Alphonse agreed, his eyebrow curiously rising as he observed me.

  I nodded with a sad grin, breaking away to slip back inside. Biting my lip as I poured him a glass of purified, ice-cold water, I fought back the welling tears.

  Keep it together, Key, I told myself.

  Tonight is everything.

  I almost walked back outside without tending to my own glass. Alphonse seemed overly perceptive – I’d already announced that I was refilling mine too. I quickly topped it off, realizing that he’d consider me absentminded and overly contemplative if I overlooked the detail.

  As I walked back outside, they were standing side by side, talking discreetly with their eyes over the city. I handed Alphonse his glass, and his eyes immediately slipped to mine – verifying for me that he was carefully observing the details.

  Oh, I have GOT to stay on my toes with you.

  “Thank you, Miss Kiona,” Alphonse gratefully accepted the glass. He took a deep drink, releasing an exhalation of satisfaction. “This tastes like one of mine. What’s the brand?”

  “Keystone,” Cole remarked. “You can tell the difference?”

  “Life is about observing the details. One must pay attention and always be grateful for the minutiae, I find. It limits the boastfulness of the bloa
ted ego to always be looking outward, focused on otherwise insignificant things, wouldn’t you agree?”

  The message was loud and clear to me: I am watching both of you. I will see what you really are.

  “Of course,” Cole answered.

  Something snapped in my head. I don’t know if it was the pressure of how perfect this night was, or if I was seeing all the details of this climactic meeting as if for the first time.

  I knew that I should play along. I knew that I should simply nod, steer the topic away. Perhaps I could discuss our beautiful marriage, or how much I enjoyed New Orleans. But, try as I might, I couldn’t.

  This man was seriously pissing me off.

  “I’m not convinced,” I replied.

  Both of them turned to me. Cole was wide-eyed, but Alphonse was merely curious, a vague hint of surprise on his face. He probably didn’t encounter people who disagreed with him to his very face all that often.

  Fine. We go the “challenge” route, then.

  “What makes you say that, Miss Kiona?”

  “Sure, people don’t stop to appreciate the details. That’s a common flaw with everyone these days. It’s too easy to fall into the trap of self-absorption, instead of reflecting on the world and its intricacies…or however you’d rather put it. But the thing is, to get where I am now, I’ve had to live in the here and now. If I stopped to contemplate every little detail that came my way, I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere.”

  “And where is that?”

  “Right here, speaking to you, married to this man!” I threw my arm around Cole’s shoulder and planted a big kiss on his cheek. “My darling idiot.”

  Alphonse chuckled, but I could tell that Cole was horror-stricken. He was cold and stiff as I pulled my face away to smile warmly at our guest, eager to see where my impulsiveness was taking us now.

  “And what makes you think he is an idiot?” Alphonse asked politely. “This man is self-made – he commands more wealth than mostly any other individual on the planet, saving an exceptional few.”

  I could have changed course, but I couldn’t.

  No…I wouldn’t.

  “Because he wants this night to go perfectly,” I replied calmly. “He wants you to buy his company, and he wants me to be the delightful trophy wife, convincing you that we’re really soul mates and all that crap. You know the spiel.”

  Alphonse’s face fell. “Would you care to try that again?” Before I could answer, he turned to my husband. “Are you sure you didn’t slip some alcohol into her drink?”

  “Look,” I said, disentangling myself from Cole. “You came all this way to see if he and I really loved each other, right? I mean, that’s the impression I got. How do you plan on quantifying that?”

  “I don’t…”

  “Exactly. What, you just know?” I continued on, watching Megami’s face as I verbally advanced upon him. “No, that’s not a valid measurement…you see, I like to think that love is based on a certain, healthy trust. Love is something you work on, something you build upon mutual respect. It isn’t some bubbly, fairy tale infatuation. Love is respect. Love is commitment. He and I don’t have the time to build a fire-forged relationship, a textbook example of the perfect, fairy-tale romance. We can’t focus on every tiny detail. Time isn’t on our side.”

  “I am aware,” the businessman growled. It was clear that I was getting to him, but if the idea in my head was going to work…

  “But that’s just it – he told me that he’s dying, but I only found out after we’d married. He didn’t want me to get close…he didn’t want to hurt me. That’s how he showed me that he really cared. Cole wanted to keep this emotionless, just a business arrangement – like the two of you. He also cares so much about all of his employees that he’ll bend over backwards for you, even if it makes him look like an idiot.”

  “Honey,” Cole began, “I think that’s quiet enough–”

  “So, how do you quantify love? This isn’t rhetorical. I want to know. You’re the billionaire love doctor? Surely you have a metric, something tangible.”

  “I…think I’ve heard quite enough,” Alphonse remarked, his face stony and detached.

  “No, you haven’t,” I pressed him. “This night has to go perfectly for you to buy his company. But you made up your mind before you ever stepped foot in New York. Why is that? That’s what I want to know. All of us know that my husband is dying. You wanted to put him through that extra pain – forcing him to magically find love in his dying days… And I can see it on your face as clear as day. You came here to refuse Cole’s offer. You wanted to look him in the eyes when you did it… Didn’t you Megami?”

  I smiled even as he showed cracks in his formerly calm appearance.

  “But here’s the thing – I’m not dying. There’s something innately cruel about all of this. I love this man. I will stand by this man. He’s changed my life. He’s shown me things…he’s shown me what it’s like to live without fear. And now I have to watch this man die before we can share almost any of our lives together, and one of the last nights I have with him…I have to spend on this stupid little song and dance with you?”

  My tears were starting to stream now, but I couldn’t fight it anymore. “Why? Why in God’s name would you do that to me? To him? Why put us through that anguish? If we threw some sham marriage together to appease you, you’d see right through it. And yeah, that was the desperate and stupid plan right from the get-go. I bet you know all about the Swiss bank account, don’t you Mr. Magami? None of that mattered anymore when I found out he was dying. We’re spend these last days bearing our souls to each other. We know things about each other no one else either has or will ever know. But now, thanks to your little games, Cole has to die knowing that he’s leaving me behind, and I have to carry on knowing that you are the man responsible for that.”

  The two men were speechless.

  Cole turned away, pressing his hands down to the concrete wall and gazing hopelessly out to the city. Alphonse, on the other hand, was wide-eyed as he swallowed something in his throat, his eyes flicking from him to me.

  “I am an old man,” he replied, “and I have lived a life without love or happiness. My entire life has been focused on my work, with no time for building a life with someone else…something built on love. I understand the hole it has placed in my heart, and my beliefs bind me to expect a certain…standard in the men that I do business with. I am a traditional man, after all.

  “When Cole tried to appease me, he told me he was a dying man. It only solidified my direction – I needed him to experience love, true love, before he passed away.”

  My eyes grew wild. “And in your great wisdom, Mister Megami, you have only hurt him further,” I told him under no uncertain terms. “And you have hurt me. We passed your test – we fell in love. And now I have to go the rest of my life knowing that I will never, ever meet a man as loving, as capable, as passionate as the broken man you see before you. Everyone else will be lesser.”

  “Do you not think,” he asked quietly, “that it is better to have loved and lost?”

  I looked at this foolish, elderly man, forcing his worldview onto the last gasps of his desperate, dying partner – someone who only wanted to leave the people dependent on him better. My blood began to boil in my veins.

  “Try it,” I told him with thinly veiled anger. “The people who say that? They have no fucking idea of what they’re talking about. Loss is one of the most painful things in this world, and you made us both go through that.”

  He swallowed his mounting fury and lifted his chin.

  “I don’t care that you want to live vicariously through Cole,” I told him, pointing at my husband. “You think he hasn’t loved? He’s loved his employees all along. What use does he have for money now? He’s wants to disperse most of it between them and use the rest to help people the world over! And you, what will you do with the billions his company will eventually earn you? Hire another of your presidents and stack money
even further into the sky? What will your legacy be?”

  “Kiona,” Cole began, still hunched by the wall.

  “You really don’t get it. He’s jumping through your hoops with honorable intentions in his heart,” I continued. “You want to see love? He wants every last person under his care to get their cut. He wants to die knowing that they – and their families – have a chance to end their struggles. Is that a good enough metric for you?”

  The tears were flowing freely now, and I could hear my voice cracking as I went on. “And me – he was going to leave me what was left along with years of work that will require nothing less than my life’s dedication to see accomplished. Do you think that’s what I want? Money? Power? Recognition? That’s not good enough. I want him. I don’t give a damn about the money – how am I supposed to carry on without him? All this time, I’ve been looking for something solid that I could build my life around. I’ve wanted a foundation. I’ve found one. How do I go on knowing that the most perfect man dropped into my life, and that the world is cruel enough to kill him a few weeks later? Do you think stopping to smell the damn roses is going to change that?”