Game of Love: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance

by Lulu Pratt

  “Where are they?” Beatrix asked, suddenly serious.

  “At the apartment,” I said, suddenly scared. “On a USB key.”

  “Bring it around,” she said. “I don’t think it’s likely they will search you… but bring it here.”

  “I’m on my way home, I will bring it tonight,” I said, reaching my bus stop.

  “I will make dinner,” she said, softer now. “And I don’t think Mom and Dad need to know anything more than the fact that Keegan has been arrested and you have given up the fake job, okay?”

  “Yeah,” I agreed, glad to let her make the decision for me.

  There was something quite pathetic about sobbing on the bus on the way home, but one thing was for sure, it guaranteed that nobody sat beside you. I sat alone and looked out at the rain, wishing myself a thousand miles away, and then remembering that Keegan had told me there were three thousand miles between Dublin and Boston.

  Chapter 35

  KEEGAN

  IT STRUCK ME AS I sat in the cold square room that I had never been in an American police station, and it was exactly like it was on TV. Everything was sort of echoey and gray. I’d been in plenty of them back in Ireland, and they were a lot different – smaller, less threatening. As I mused over the differences, my lawyer argued with the police officer. It was the same argument that they had been having over and over for an hour, with each of them stepping out to make phone calls or talk to colleagues and leaving me sitting there. I felt strangely uninvolved in the whole process. Like a child whose parents were arguing over custody. This was a different kind of custody, though. I’d been asked the same questions time and time again, mostly about my financial accounts, and as time went on, I felt a rising sense of panic. I clearly wasn’t giving them the answers they wanted.

  After six hours, I was allowed to leave, and given some ‘advice’ not to leave the state, to remain contactable, and continue to seek legal advice. I nodded, and my lawyer gave me a particularly unsympathetic look as we left. He said he would be in touch, and disappeared. So much for the best that money could buy. I wondered what he knew that I didn’t. I thought back to when they had taken me in for questioning and how Sean had tried to stop them, claiming I had done nothing wrong, patting me on the shoulder as I went, reassuring me he would send the lawyer. I took out my phone and called him.

  “Sean?”

  “Keegan!” he sounded surprised to hear my voice. “Are you out?”

  “For now,” I grimaced. “What the fuck is going on? What happened while I was gone?”

  “They wanted to see your files. They had a warrant, but nobody told me anything. Dad is flying over.”

  “Great,” I said. That was all I needed. “Look, Sean, if you know anything about this, you’ve got to tell me. I have no idea what is going on.”

  “All I know is that they spent a lot of time in your office, and that it has something to do with Effie – or rather, Freya – not being who she said she was,” he said, too casually, like he knew this was going to have an impact.

  “What?” I asked, my heart thumping. “Say that again.”

  “She was a… mole, I think they call it. A phony. Her family owns Dynasty Games. She was here to infiltrate the company. They are accusing us of intellectual property theft, or copyright infringement, or whatever other trumped-up charges they can get to stick,” he said flatly.

  “Nah,” I laughed nervously. “That can’t be true.”

  “Ask her. It was all a scam,” he said. “And either you have been up to no good, or she has set you up, but either way, looks like you are basically fucked, mate.”

  “They are talking about theft of intellectual property, as well as skimming money. I could be in a lot of trouble, Sean, you’ve got to help me out here…” I was desperate, and as much as it hurt my pride to beg him, I had no other option.

  “I don’t know what to say to you, Keegan. I said you were a liability, and look where we are. I have to protect the business. The best thing you can do is put as much distance between yourself and the company. It has got to look like one rogue incident, one bad apple, and the only way we can protect Clover House is to look like we have rooted you out…”

  “I’m not talking about the fucking business!” I burst out angrily. “I’m talking about my life. My actual fucking life, Sean!”

  “I know,” he said. I almost wondered if I could hear him smiling. “I get that, but I don’t know what I can do, except keep things running as smoothly as possible here. My advice to you, is to get out of town. I can manage here.”

  “I’m just so confused…” I said, trying to be calm.

  “I know,” he said soothingly. “If there was anything I could do, I would.”

  “I have to go,” I said, hanging up.

  I got a taxi home and walked around the condo, talking aloud to myself. Repeating what the police had said, what the lawyer had said, what Sean had said, what I had said. Reviewing it all over and over in my mind, anything to avoid thinking about Effie, or rather, Freya. But it was impossible. Her big mystery, the weird way she seemed to be so many people rolled into one, had been solved. She wasn’t who she said she was. It was all a front, a scam, like Sean said. And I had fallen for it. I had promoted her to my assistant – she must have thought it was her lucky day. And then I had given her access to everything. I smacked myself on the head thinking about that. All of my files, all the financial shit, she would have had access to everything. Including my heart.

  After we had parted at the airport, I realized in the car that I missed her, her scent and her taste. My day seemed pointless without her. I was already looking forward to seeing her again, until everything fell apart at the office.

  Who had I fallen for?

  I picked up my phone and called Mick. He had spoken to my father and knew a little of what had happened, but I needed his help now more than ever before. While we spoke, I sent Chris a hurried email and cursed the fact that he was off network and couldn’t be reached by phone.

  Chris,

  Change of plans – I’m going to be free sooner than I thought. Shifting money across as we speak and coming down ASAP. Will explain when I arrive, let me know all is okay at your end.

  Keegan

  When I had finished talking to Mick, reassured that he was the one person who believed in me, I sat on my bed and tipped everything out of the suitcase I had taken to Ireland. I knew that if I didn’t empty my case that it would still be unpacked a week from now. I was going to need a very different wardrobe for where I was going, and began to fill my biggest saddle bag with the basics: jeans, T-shirts, boots. Whatever I could fit in. No shirts, no ties, no suits. I hesitated on whether to even take my laptop, then slipped it into my backpack and hauled everything out to the garage where I loaded up. In different circumstances, I’d have loved this. But all I could think about was getting as far away as possible from Boston, and as far away from Freya, and Sean, and Clover House, as I possibly could. On second thought, I went back up to the condo and quickly scribbled a note for Beverly for when she came on Friday.

  Beverly,

  Well, you always said I’d come to no good! I’m going to be away for a while. Please look after the place for me until you hear from me. I’ll pay you the usual.

  Keegan

  P.S. Don’t worry, I’m okay, and everything will be grand.

  Chapter 36

  FREYA

  I HAD DONE WHAT Beatrix asked, taken the files to her place, eaten dinner and said all the right things. She spoke about Drew, and she had probed a little into why he had suddenly turned silent and been taking days off – not that there was a lot of work for him to do right now – but it wasn’t like him. I told her I didn’t know, but that he wasn’t happy with me being at Clover House and we had argued. It was the truth, after all. But after dinner, when Stan had gone out to take the dogs for a walk and we were sitting together in her cozy living room with her emergency box of chocolates, she leveled with me.


  “I know there is more to all of this than you are saying.”

  “There isn’t,” I said. “Honestly, I don’t know why Keegan has been arrested; I don’t know what they have got on him. I couldn’t find anything. Whatever is happening, it has got nothing to do with me.”

  “But it’s more than that, Freya. I know you too well for you to hide something from me.”

  “I trusted him,” I said, choosing my words carefully. “I believed in him.”

  “And that’s all?” she looked cynical.

  “I liked him, okay?” I said, raising my hands as if to show her I had nothing to hide.

  “You liked him,” she said, raising an eyebrow.

  “Yeah, I really… liked him. And I’m finding it hard to believe he has done whatever it is they think he has done.”

  “And?” Beatrix waited for me to continue.

  “And I haven’t heard from him since we got back,” I added. “So, it looks like… maybe I was wrong.”

  “Sure,” Beatrix shrugged. “But that doesn’t explain why you can’t look me in the eye right now. Unless, of course, you more-than-liked him.”

  “All right!” I said, getting angry with her now. “I more than liked him. But that has nothing to do with Clover House or Dynasty or Drew. And it’s none of your business!”

  “You’re right, it’s none of my business. But that is a bit rich coming from you. You are an idiot,” she said shaking her head, but before I could argue or defend myself she added, “But you aren’t a bad judge of character, and if you trust him, then who am I to argue?”

  “Really?” I said, screwing my face up in disbelief. “Because I have a horrible feeling I got him very, very wrong.”

  “Time will tell,” she said. “The most important thing is that he doesn’t drag you into this with him.”

  We changed the subject, but her words kept going round in my head. Just a few days ago I would have trusted him with my life, and now I was worried he might ruin my life.

  I said goodnight to Beatrix, and on my way home I realized that I hadn’t asked her a single thing about her life, how things were with Stan or how she was coping. I felt like a shitty sister and a selfish friend, and I promised myself I would call her tomorrow.

  Back home, I fell into an exhausted, dreamless sleep, the stress and the time difference catching up with me. When I woke, it was to the sound of knocking on the apartment door. I pulled on some clothes, calling out that I would be there in a minute, and ran to the door. This was it; Keegan would explain everything. I felt a fizz of excitement bubble through me at the prospect of seeing him, of talking it all through and taking him in my arms…

  It was two police officers. They came in and stood awkwardly in the hallway, apologizing for intruding, but they didn’t have a telephone number for me, and they would like me to go in and speak to them about some matters at work. I begged them to just talk to me here in the apartment, but they said I would have to go to the station. I agreed to meet them there in two hours, and then spent most of those two hours pacing the apartment in a complete panic. I didn’t have a lawyer, and I couldn’t expect Dynasty Games to foot the bill for my stupidity. I looked through my phone, considering a call to Beatrix, then Taylor, and even Drew. But this was something I had to do alone.

  “So, your reason for taking the job at Clover House was not an honest one?” the officer asked, taking notes as we sat at a desk.

  “I just wanted to be part of Clover House, to see how it worked and to establish if there was a culture of borrowing ideas from other companies…” I had planned what to say to this, no accusations of theft, no admission of anything they could pin on me. I was playing the silly girl card, and I had no shame in doing so if it got me off the hook.

  “So, you were spying, so to speak,” he pushed.

  “I was doing the job. I never looked at anything I wasn’t allowed to see.”

  “Okay, Ms. Hamilton – and can you tell us your impression of Keegan Callahan? What was he like to work for?”

  “He was fine. He knew what he was doing when it came to numbers,” I said, shrugging. “I mean, he was kind of grumpy, but it was fine.”

  He smiled a patronizing smile. “Sure, and while you were ‘just doing the job’ and not ‘spying,’ did you happen to find any evidence that suggested he might be engaged in anything… unusual?”

  “No,” I said, firmly.

  “And you’re sure about that?” he looked down at his notes.

  “Look, I would remember if he mentioned stealing an idea for a game from my family business…” I said peevishly.

  “It’s not quite that simple, Ms. Hamilton,” he frowned. “What we are looking at here is quite a serious case of embezzlement. Now, the very fact that you were there under false pretenses is the one thing you have going for you. Otherwise we would be asking these questions with a view to working out whether or not you were part of the scheme. However, it is still in your best interest to tell us everything you think you know about the matter.”

  I stared at him, my mouth open. “Embezzlement? You mean this isn’t about the game idea?”

  “Copyright infringement is not exactly a matter for this department,” he scoffed, his voice suddenly lowered. “But the kind of financial irregularities we are looking at are. If money has been moved fraudulently, we will discover it, and anyone who knows about it.”

  “I know absolutely nothing about any kind of financial irregularity,” I said.

  He nodded and left the room, and soon another officer had come to tell me I was free to go and thank me for my time. I felt a weird mixture of relief that I couldn’t possibly be in trouble for something I didn’t know anything about, and the sickening realization that Keegan was in deep. Stepping out onto the sidewalk, I stood for a minute, not sure where to go, or what to do. I began to walk, not really heading anywhere in particular. Just walking, for something to do. I wanted to call Keegan, to ask him once and for all what was going on. But how could I be sure he would give me a straight answer? How could I know what he was thinking? How could I trust him?

  I kept walking, making my way through the park, buying a coffee, then walking around holding it until it got cold. Over and over in my mind I was replaying things he had said to me, searching for some hidden meaning, for some clue I had missed that he was up to something. But nothing. I swung wildly between feeling desperately sorry for him to feeling incredibly angry with him. When I eventually made my way back home, I was physically and mentally exhausted. I trailed up the stairwell and opened my door, pushing it harder than usual to get it open. A yellow envelope lay on the doormat inside the hallway, and I picked it up. It was addressed to me, my name and address sprawled across it in thick, black block capital letters, but it hadn’t been mailed, it had been hand delivered.

  I shivered. It was a little weird, and I closed and locked the door behind me, flicking on the lights even though it was only just beginning to get dark. I took the envelope into the kitchen and used a knife to cut it open where it was wrapped around with tape to secure it. Whoever had left it here certainly didn’t want it to be easy to open. Inside were bundles of paper, and as I pulled them out, I realized they weren’t just paper, they were hundred-dollar bills.

  Chapter 37

  KEEGAN

  I WAS ON THE road when she called. There was only so much I could do back at Chris’ place, and so I had headed off along the coast. Anything to distract me from my own thoughts. I was suddenly unbearably unbusy. No more work, no more schedules, no more itineraries. It was everything I wanted, and I was totally miserable. I realized now that it wasn’t the absence of these things I wanted, it was the freedom to self-determine them. I actually needed to work, and this had proven it. My plans with Chris weren’t fully settled; there were some last things that needed to be put in place, but he had been good enough to put me up while we sorted it, and I kept myself occupied by watching him work and helping out where I could.

  I pulled over whe
n I felt the vibration of the phone, and took the bike along a track leading down to a small bay where it wouldn’t be visible, then I had pulled off my jacket and made my way down to the stony outcrop where the land met the water. It was a beautiful spot, but it reminded me too much of sitting looking out over the Irish sea with Freya in Bray, and I knew that however the conversation I was about to have went, this was not a helpful thought.

  “What do you want?” I asked, and then regretted the hostility in my tone. I had planned to act like her betrayal meant nothing to me, and that meant keeping cool and calm.

  “The police have questioned me,” she said, her voice shaking a little.

  “What did you tell them?” I asked as though I were asking her what the weather was like there.

  “I don’t know… everything I could… which wasn’t much,” she said.

  “Okay, well you’ve done your civic duty then,” I replied. “Well done.”

  “They think I might be involved in whatever you are involved in!” she accused me.

  “You took that risk when you lied about who you were and walked right into my business trying to sabotage things,” I said calmly. I kept reminding myself to be cool, act like none of it mattered, like she was nothing to me. It was hard.

  “Sabotage what?” she burst. “You’re embezzling?”

  “Look, I don’t know what you wanted to do, or why, but you have done it now, so I don’t see what else I can help you with,” I said, almost hanging up as I felt the anger build up inside me.

  “Keegan, Clover House stole Cre8ure from us. I needed to prove it. It was the only way to stop our family business going down the drain,” she said. “I wanted to find out the truth!” She had balls, I had to give her that.

  “You wanted to find out the truth,” I repeated. “And how is that working out for you?”