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The Billionaires Prologue
Thump, thump, thump. Fucking hell! Someone take my head out of the drum of this washing machine. The wash cycle continues as my cell phone vibrates against the surface of the bedside table. The sound is like a nail gun going crazy. I unglue my eyes. My lofty, gilded ceiling comes into view. I stretch out my arm, fumble around, locate the blasted thing, hold it over my face, and squint at it. The blue light from the screen blinds me. Screwing my eyes, I hit the green button and put it to my ear. “Boss, I’ve been pushing the bell for some time, and didn't get a response. Are you okay?” Semyon’s alarmed, booming voice tips the washing machine into the spin cycle. “What time is it?” “After seven, Boss.” “So?” “At night, Boss.” “What?” I took four pills and decided to lie down for a few minutes, but I must have been more wiped out than I thought. I should have been at the club by seven. “Bring the car around to the front in fifteen,” I instruct, pulling myself off the bed. My shoe
The Billionaires 1
NIKOLAI Roman and Andrei, both over six foot five, retired Special Forces soldiers, and the most loyal and reliable of my security team, are already waiting outside the entrance of Zigurat. You’re thinking because I’m a Russian billionaire, it’s fancy and probably built in a pseudo pyramid style, aren’t you? Nah. The location is discreet, and it’s sandwiched between some plain, gray offices on a deserted backstreet. There are no bright lights to announce its existence. In fact, the nicest thing you could say about the entrance is it’s nondescript. No cameras, or reporters hanging around. Exactly the way I like it. We neither advertise nor court any attention. One has to be recommended by another member to enter, then there is a rigorous vetting process. Before a punter can step a foot through our door he must understand exactly what’s on offer inside … and the risks … of non-payment. This way there are no, well, let’s call it, misunderstandings. Roman opens my door. I slide out, a
The Billionaires 2
StarQuietly, so I don’t wake Nigel, I slip out of bed. I tie my robe, lift my phone off the bedside table, and go downstairs. In the kitchen I switch on the coffee machine and set the dining table for two before pulling open the heavy curtains.Outside daylight is beginning to appear and I sigh with pleasure. The garden always looks best at this time of the year when the honeysuckle, freesia, sunflowers and roses are all out. I open the French doors and go out into the cool, fresh air. This is my favorite time of the day. When Nigel is asleep upstairs, the air is filled with the sounds of birds, and my mind can plot out my storyline. My phone rings. I take it out of my pocket and look at the screen.“Hi, Nan.”“Good morning, Love,” she greets brightly. Nan is like me. An early bird. Sometimes she’ll get up at five in the morning and start cleaning out the garden shed. It drives my granddad crazy.“You all right?” I ask.“Other than my dodgy knees and your granddad’s dodgy mouth, I’m
The Billionaires 3
STARHis words don’t even register. I shake my head. I can’t have heard right. “What?” “Oh, darling,” he croons. “Don’t look at me like that. You know I can’t take it.”“What are you talking about, Nigel?” I ask slowly. “I’m an addict. I’m addicted to gambling,” he mutters. “Gambling?” I repeat stupidly.He nods, a pained expression on his face. “What? At work?”“No.” He exhales loudly. “In casinos.”I stare at him blankly. Nothing makes sense. We’ve been to a casino once. Two years ago. We sat together at a blackjack table. Nigel refused to play, but I did. He looked on with a slightly disapproving expression as I played three rounds and gleefully collected my winnings. Three hundred pounds. “But you don’t even like gambling!”He runs his fingers through his hair. “I like it too much.” “Since when?”He shrugs. “Recently. It started off as just a little fun, small amounts, letting off some stress. You know the intense stress I’m under in the city.”“Stress?” I echo.“You have no idea
The Billionaires 4
StarHis words don’t make sense. My whole body feels like it is on fire. I’m an ordinary girl. I live an ordinary life. All of this is unbelievable stuff. Stuff of gangster movies.“He wants you,” he repeats glumly. “Me? What do you mean me?”He covers his face. “Fuck, Star. Do I have to spell it out to you? He wants you … your body.” I frown. “My body? Why would the owner of a gambling club want my body?”“You don’t need me to tell you why.”“But he doesn’t know who I am. I could be a frumpy, middle-aged housewife for all he knows.”His brow furrows. “I’m beginning to think that someone is jealous of me. They know that the most important thing in my life is you, and the best way to destroy me is to get to you.”Nigel goes on talking, but I stop hearing him.“He didn’t use the hammer because you agreed to let him have me, didn’t you?” I ask, my body crawling with revulsion.“No,” he denies, looking at me with wide eyes, and shaking his head vigorously.“Oh, my God. You damn coward. Th
The Billionaires 5
STARWhen I get out of the shower Nigel is waiting for me in the bedroom. I walk past him without looking at him and go to my wardrobe.I open my underwear drawer. “Have you called him?” “No.”“I’ve got to pick up Nan now. I’ll be back this afternoon. Please make that call by then.” “We need to talk,” he says.I let my towel drop and pull on my panties. “No, we don’t.” “Our marriage …”“Shame you didn’t think about it while you were happily gambling away everything we have,” I spit. He walks towards me. “Please, Star.”In the mirror, I see him standing behind me. His hand reaches out, and I watch transfixed, as his fingers caress my breast. His hand is a few shades darker than my skin.The image is erotic.I carry on watching him. Surprised at how I feel absolutely nothing. He slides around to the front of me and latches his mouth onto my nipple. I look down at him suckling at my breast. Like a … vampire. He looks up and our eyes meet. The expression in my face makes him freeze. He pu
The Billionaires 6
Star “Wanna do breakfast?” Rosa, my best friend, asks. I’ve know her since we were in primary school, and she’s always taken it upon herself to look out for me. She doesn’t sound quiteawake yet.“Yes,” I say automatically. “What’s up?”“Nothing.” “Bullshit.”“What makes you so sure something’s up?” I ask. “Let’s call it tone.”“I’ll tell you when I see you.” “But you’re all right?”“Yes.”“Sure?” she insists. “Sure.” “Lucianos?” “Okay.”“Can you get there in twenty minutes?” “I can get there in ten,” I tell her.“See you in ten, then.”As I park the car it starts pouring down with rain so I hold my bag over my head and run into the café. As I stand inside the doorway brushing my hands down my light jacket, I spot Rosa. You cannot miss her.She is stick-thin with flaming red hair cut into a smooth bob. She is wearing scarlet lipstick and what looks like a lace
The Billionaires 7
Star I gasp. “That is low. Even for you, Rosa. Nigel is absolutely devastated. You would be shocked if I told you what his original plan to sort out this mess was.” Rosa folds her arms and looks at me steadily. “Be good enough to share his brilliant plan with me.”“He was going to arrange for an accident … for himself so that I could collect on his life insurance money.”Even saying the words is painful to me, but Rosa bursts out laughing. “And you believed him?”The way she laughs makes me feel foolish, but I straighten my spine. Rosa can’t be objective about Nigel. Until this morning, Nigel has always been good to me. “Yes, I did. You should have seen the state he was in this morning.”“I love you, Star, but honestly, when it comes to Nigel you are just unbelievably naive. I mean, if I hadn’t met you before you got entangled with him, I would have written you off as an irredeemable bimbo. You think the su
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