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THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 158
It took about fifteen minutes, but Connor briefed Sebastian on the entire situation – land deal, solar company, politicians, blackmail, the works.Sebastian sat on a couch opposite us, scrolling through the pictures on the iPad’s cracked screen. “Wonderful impulse control, Connor.”“I was angry,” Connor retorted.“I meant the photos, not the iPad. But now that you mention it, remind me not to make you angry,” Sebastian said as he tossed the tablet to the side. “Well… what do you want to do?”“I want to hire a hitman to take out the lot of them,” Connor growled.Sebastian shrugged. “I can make a couple of calls.”“SEBASTIAN!” I cried out.Connor looked up into the air. “Um, NSA, CIA, FBI? That was a joke. No hitmen are going to be called.”“Well, I could,” Sebastian said, then sneered, “I hate that bitch.”“You keep saying ‘bitch,’ singular, like Miranda’s the only one behind it,” I pointed out.“While I’m sure the other bitch – excuse my language, Connor, I know how much you love and
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 159
We wound up in a suite that wasn’t nearly as palatial as the penthouse, but your ordinary millionaire high roller would have been thrilled to stay there. I suppose for Connor it was merely adequate.Johnny had checked out everything we owned, down to some embarrassing things in my overnight kit. Ever had a man search your emergency tampon stash? No? Not exactly fun.But he found nothing.We were safe to continue the discussion.“What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell me about your plans,” Sebastian sniffed.Connor was pacing back and forth in front of the suite’s picture window – which was considerably smaller than the penthouse’s. “You knew about the solar company. And you knew about the meetings with the politicians, too.”“I thought that was about opening a casino – you didn’t tell me how it all fit together.”“I wanted to play this one close to the vest.”“You told her,” Sebastian said, sounding miffed, like a little boy whose sister had gotten more ice cream than him.“Ye
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“What did you talk about?” Connor asked suspiciously as soon as he was back in the room.“I wanted to find out why Lily’s going through with this,” Sebastian answered.“If we go through with it,” Connor said.Sebastian shrugged. “If we go through with it.”Connor swung his gaze over to me. “And what were your reasons?”“The right ones,” Sebastian interrupted. “Now, we have to talk about a plan of attack – ”“What were your reasons?” Connor repeated, looking at me intensely.“Because it’s the right thing to do,” I said. “Because there are too many people who can benefit from this, and I can’t stand in the way of that.”Connor shook his head. “That’s all very noble, but – ”I hate comparing myself in any way, shape, or form to Miranda, but I now understood why she said This bickering isn’t serving any purpose and then just gave her ultimatum and left.Going around in circles was exhausting. And pointless.“Sebastian asked me to sign an NDA,” I broke in.Connor stopped midsentence, his m
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 161
While Sebastian worked, we ate. Johnny demanded it – and I was actually starved. I hadn’t had anything since my lunch out, and the emotional toll of the day had drained me. I was looking for some comfort food. So we got room service to deliver steaks, amazing vegetables, and an assortment of desserts. Connor, Johnny, and I ate, while Sebastian picked off his plate as he paced and barked into his phones.After an exhausting hour – exhausting for us just to watch; Sebastian, however, looked flushed and energized – the Master of the Hard Sell put down his phones for a minute to brief Connor.“Alright, we’re screwed as far as New York goes. If we got on the Gulfstream in an hour, we’d still have a five-hour flight back home, plus we’d lose three hours due to time zones, so it’s going to have to be LA. I figure we head back to New York tomorrow night and do clean-up with Letterman and the View on Thursday. I have you on Good Morning America first thing – they’re going to patch you in by sa
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 162
Mr. Templeton demanded that everyone sit down and get it over with.“I have better things to do with my time than this,” he grumbled.“What, better than blackmail and destroying people’s lives? Come on, Dad, this is the perfect Tuesday night for you,” Connor joked as he pulled back my chair and pushed it in for me. Then he sat down beside me with Johnny on his left. Javier was on my right, his hands folded in his lap, looking suitably grim behind his sunglasses.Apparently it was working, because occasionally Vincent would give him a nervous glance.Vincent sat opposite Javier, Miranda sat across from me (Oh joy), Mr. Templeton was across from Connor, and Mrs. Templeton sat beside him, across from Johnny. The four bodyguards stood in the background, menacing shapes against the glass window and the Las Vegas skyline.“We wouldn’t have to resort to unpleasant measures if you weren’t such a beastly son,” Mrs. Templeton said haughtily.“I learned from the best, Mother.”“Enough,” Mr. Templ
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 163
We went down to the lobby and out to the valet circle where the Bentley was waiting for us. The valet handed off the keys to Johnny, but before we could get in, Connor turned to Javier.“You’re welcome to come with us,” he said to Javier, then added to Sebastian, “If you want him there for moral support – ”The smaller man smiled. “Thank you, but I must be getting back. I have a shoot in two days, and I know Sebastian will be very busy, so – ”“I’ll make it up to you when this is all over,” Sebastian promised.“You do what you need to do and don’t worry about me.”Connor smiled. “Thanks for the help up there.”“It was very… interesting.”“That’s putting it mildly,” Connor laughed darkly, then turned to Sebastian. “Did you book a flight for him?”“Of course – first class back to LAX, leaves in an hour and a half,” Sebastian said, like he was insulted Connor would dare suggest he didn’t have things in order. “We’d drop you off if we could – ” Connor started, but Javier waved his hand.
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 164
Beneath the website’s scarlet red header and a series of smaller pictures of celebrities was the headline, “Billionaire Bangs Back-Alley Babe For 50K.”And then right beneath that, the top of a photograph. Only my face and the top of Connor’s head were visible until I scrolled down.I shouldn’t have done that, either.It was one of the shots where Connor’s face was in full profile. My mouth was open and I was making an outlandish ‘O’ face. My dress was down near my waist, and my breasts had two tiny red blocks placed strategically over the nipples.My hands started shaking as I scrolled down further.“The rich really ARE different – as in freaky … Connor Templeton, of the world-famous billionaire Templeton family, can be seen here getting nasty with a young woman he allegedly paid $50,000. For what? You be the judge.“TMZ broke the story from an anonymous source … seems Connor, who usually avoids the spotlight, decided he wanted to get it ALL out in the open … on a Las Vegas condo pro
THE BILLIONAIRE'S AFFAIR 165
Connor nudged me awake. “We’re here, Lily.”I lifted my head groggily from Connor’s shoulder. We were still in the airplane, but Johnny and Sebastian were on their feet and milling around.The hum of the engines was gone, as was the vibration of the airplane in flight.We must have landed.Connor helped me to my feet and down the stairs to the tarmac where a stretch limo was waiting. He held the rear car door open for me and then followed me inside. The smell of scotch on his breath was pretty powerful.“How long was I out for?” I asked, rubbing my cheek and hoping I didn’t have any drool on me. Nope. Thank God.“Thirty minutes.”“Wow, that was fast…” I mumbled.Sebastian piled into the limo with Johnny, who shut the door behind them. Since it was a stretch, the limo had two sets of seats facing each other, and Sebastian and Johnny sat directly opposite us.I felt like we were in a gangster movie. Or going to prom.Sebastian looked like a very unhappy gangster/prom date.Then a voice
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