Lovers and Liars: An addictive sexy beach read

by Nigel May

  For the next few minutes Sheridan launched into the story of Nikki’s betrayal and told those gathered how she had been siphoning off money for her own needs. Blair, already knowing the reason behind the need for the cash, simply pulled Nikki towards him as she stared down at the floor, unable to look anyone in the eye as her deceit was revealed. He needed to let her know that he was there for her. Nikki Rivers was unlike any other woman he had ever met and if she had her faults, well, he was happy to adore her for those as well.

  Nikki’s head swam with anger as she listened to what her father was saying. There was no mention of Julian’s role in any of it, apart from the fact that his ‘accounting skills’ and ‘loyalty to Velvet’ had been the reason that her theft had been discovered. It hurt to hear the anger in her father’s voice. He was saying something that he didn’t want to believe, despite knowing that it was true. Julian had shown him the evidence in black and white.

  Nikki had stolen the money but she had a valid reason. She had no wish to serve a long sentence in prison for drunkenly killing a man. Her life would be over and that was a thought she just couldn’t face. Letting her parents think that she had stolen purely for her own financial gain was maybe the punishment she had to pay in order to stay the right side of prison bars.

  Nikki could feel the heat of her mother’s anger alongside her as the story unfurled. Her mother was the last person that she would ever wish to hurt but she couldn’t risk telling her that her eldest daughter was not only a thief, but a murderer too. Especially one who had killed someone in exactly the same way that Sutton’s own mother had died – brutally smashed into by a car. That was an admission that Nikki felt she could never bring herself to make. It would crush Sutton and enough damage was already being done as her father spoke.

  Sutton’s mouth fell open as she heard what Sheridan had to say. She stared at Nikki, as wide-eyed as the surgically stretched skin around her eyes would allow, glancing at Julian as his name was mentioned. He nodded at Sutton as she stared at him, determined to corroborate Sheridan’s story and convince her that her husband was telling the truth.

  Sutton remained silent, gripped with disbelief, before finally speaking. Or more to the point, shouting. Not at anybody in particular, just so that the whole room could hear. She needed to take control of the situation but her emotions were torn between loyalty to her husband and the company that had provided her with a lifetime of riches, her daughter, who was obviously beyond distraught at being found out, and her lover, who had been instrumental in seeing Nikki’s downfall.

  ‘This has got to be bullshit!’ Sheridan fell silent at Sutton’s explosion. ‘Tell me it’s not true, baby, and that Julian has made a mistake. You wouldn’t bite the hand that feeds, you wouldn’t steal from your daddy. You don’t need to, we have enough money for you whenever you need it.’ Her words were becoming increasingly quieter and more searching with every syllable. They tailed off completely as Nikki looked her in the face: she could see the truth written in the sad pools of her eyes. Then she knew her daughter had done exactly what Sheridan was accusing her of. Unable to stop herself, Sutton reached out and placed her hand on Nikki’s cheek, gently stroking it as a tear made its way down her daughter’s face. As a mother she couldn’t help but offer the gesture of emotion and support despite being horrified by what she had heard. She could read her daughter’s pain and sorrow in spite of her anger at what Nikki had done.

  ‘Why, baby, why?’ Sutton felt a tear cascade down her own cheek as she questioned her daughter.

  It was Blair who spoke. ‘There are things you don’t know…’ He wanted to at least hint at the reasons behind Nikki’s actions. Those were not actions borne of malice but he was the only one in the room to know it.

  Nikki, still holding Blair’s hand, shot him a glance and squeezed his hand as firmly as she could, silencing any extra explanation. Without her saying a word, Blair could read in her face that he was not to utter anything further.

  ‘Why doesn’t matter,’ said Sheridan, trying to remain strong despite the upset he felt at chastising the apple of his eye. ‘The fact is she’s done it and she must pay. It’s simple. If it was a business dealing then we’d take her to court and sue her ass for every last cent but I don’t think father versus daughter in court would be particularly good for the business, do you? This is a family matter and we’ll deal with it internally.’

  Nikki now looked into her father’s face, searching for some kind of sympathy. She was looking for the man who had taken her to the fair when she was younger and bought her candyfloss, the man who had cried when she had headed off to her prom night with her tuxedoed beau on her arm, the man who had inspired her all of her life with his love and learning. But all she saw was the cold, hard shell of a man she no longer recognised, camouflaged by the betrayal of his own offspring.

  Sheridan turned to Kassidy and snapped, ‘I trust everything is sorted. You have managed to organise it, haven’t you?’ Kassidy, who had hardly looked at anyone since she had come into the hotel suite, glanced up, nodded and then lowered her head to the ground again, afraid to catch anyone’s eye. Yet again, Sheridan’s words to her were becoming more and more abrupt, doubting her competence. His ability to make her feel vulnerable and worthless was becoming both stronger and more frequent.

  ‘As of now, my will is rewritten, Nikki. You are no longer heiress to the Velvet empire. There will be no more funds coming your way from the business and your services as the face of this company will no longer be paid for. And don’t ask your mother for money, or else I will stop her accounts too. I think we know I have ways.’

  Sheridan stared across at Sutton, raising his eyebrows to make his meaning clear. He was talking about their pre-nup and Sutton knew that he was mad enough to stick to his word and leave both his wife and now his daughter with nothing. Sheridan would consider cutting off Sutton a small price to pay if that meant Nikki suffered more in her moment of betrayal.

  ‘The entire business will be left to Heather in the event of my death and she can decide what happens to it. The will states that if the business is sold on then you are to receive nothing from the proceeds. You can carry on appearing at events for Velvet if you wish, in fact I want you to as I don’t need any bad press for the hotels, but you will not receive any kind of payment and all accommodation must be paid for by yourself. I have instructed all hotels that from now on you are a paying customer.’

  ‘But how will I survive?’ Nikki whispered, immediately thinking of the money she owed her blackmailer, which would doubtless not be his last demand.

  ‘You should have thought of that the moment you started dipping your fingers in the honey pot, shouldn’t you?’

  ‘I’ll pay every cent back,’ pleaded Nikki.

  ‘I know you will,’ said Sheridan. ‘Which is why I will give you a chance. You’re my daughter, after all, and this hurts me, Nikki.’ It was his first sign of vulnerability. ‘The new will is not yet filed. If you pay the money back then I’ll consider changing my will back to how it was. But I need to know that the money you pay back is money you have earned off your own back. I want to see my daughter work again, to make me proud of her work ethic. Not just have some rich man or a family member pay it off for you. I want to know how you earned that money and where it came from. If you can account for every dollar that you pay back then maybe, just maybe, we can survive this. You’ve broken my trust and you’ve broken my heart, Nikki. You need to earn both of those things back. I’m not sure if you can, but because you’re my own flesh and blood then I’m willing to give you a chance. But you need to prove to me that you can regain my trust. I expect deception from those I deal with in business, but not from those closest to me. Not from those I’m supposed to love.’

  Nikki felt the tears erupt at the ambiguity of her father’s last words. Supposed to love? Had she lost him forever? He had thrown her a ray of light yet he was talking about his love for her being in doubt. She had hurt him more than she had e
ver imagined possible when she had first caught Julian sniffing her underwear, when the notion of stealing from the family business had first come to her. Julian. She looked at him standing alongside her father. So smug and arrogant, believing himself to be untouchable, a non-stick coating protecting him from his own wrongdoings. A wave of hatred passed through her. She would not let him beat her; she would find a way.

  ‘The will is with my solicitors and will replace all former copies unless all of the money is paid back by hard work and the kind of grafting that made this business so great in the first place. If you think you deserve to own it, then you have to show me. Prove you’re a chip off the old Rivers block.’ Sheridan had said all he needed to say and turned to leave, Julian and Kassidy ready to follow.

  ‘I’ll double the amount and give it to you now.’ It was Blair who spoke. ‘You know I can afford it. Name the price and it’s done.’ He knew he was taking a risk and nervously fiddled with the cross around his neck as he spoke, the one that had once belonged to Cain. It was a mental talisman that he subconsciously turned to in times of need or frustration.

  Sheridan’s reply was ready to go. ‘Oh yes, you. The shit-hot DJ who seems to be in cahoots with my daughter.’ He stared down at their hands, still entwined in each other’s, the evidence of their union clear. ‘Did you tell her to steal from me? Is the money helping to bankroll your outlandish lifestyle? Do you really think there’s a Velvet hotel in the world that doesn’t report back to me exactly what you get up to? I take an interest in the people on my payroll, Mr Lonergan, and I have tales of your hedonistic ways coming out of my ears. Narcotics and whores don’t come cheap so it wouldn’t surprise me at all if you were the one forcing Nikki’s hand into my bank account.’

  Blair could feel himself wrong-footed but remained as calm as he could. Nikki however leapt to his defence.

  ‘None of this has anything to do with Blair.’

  ‘Your new boyfriend is not holier than an audience with Billy Graham, Nikki, so don’t try and tell me he is. You’d be surprised what’s shown back to me on some of the hidden cameras from Velvet hotels around the world. The amount of so-called celebrities I’ve seen shovelling enough powder up their noses to stun a rhino or being serviced by some underage slut is incredible. And your boyfriend has joined the ranks.’

  ‘You’re a fucking animal!’ said Blair, contemplating whether the tycoon really would have hidden cameras in the hotels. How much of an invasion of privacy would that be? And if he did, then were any of the women that Blair had been with underage? Nobody, no matter how brightly his star shone, could survive an underage-sex case.

  ‘But you’re a businessman, Mr Rivers,’ continued Blair. ‘You thrive on money and I have a lot of that. Let me pay off Nikki’s debts, and I’ll give you one hundred per cent interest.’

  But Sheridan would not be swayed and his reply was dripping with condescension. ‘You save your cash, you’ll need it! As of today, all of your contracts with Velvet hotels are terminated. You won’t be playing at the Hatton Eden fight in Barbados either. And don’t slate me or the company to the press or some of that hidden-camera footage might not stay hidden for long. And if you ever want to even consider playing a Velvet venue again then I suggest you leave my daughter alone from now on.’

  Blair wasn’t sure whether it was an idle threat but the fact that his contract with Velvet hotels had just been verbally terminated, and that he had just lost the biggest gig of his career, slapped him into silence. He was a rich man but well over fifty per cent of his earnings came from his work with Velvet. And the thought of potentially losing Nikki was even more of a blow, one that money couldn’t equate to.

  As Sheridan Rivers walked out of the hotel suite, he was followed not just by Kassidy and Julian, but by a wall of hatred as well. Blair hated him for the news he had just received and for how he had treated Nikki. Nikki hated the fact that her own father might put his business empire before his love for her and her happiness, and also that he had threatened Blair in such a spiteful way. Kassidy hated the fact that the will had not yet been filed, meaning all the small-print changes she had made to it, securing her own future in an ever more uncertain world of vulnerability with Sheridan, were not yet on solid ground. She also hated the damning way that he continued to talk to her. And as for Sutton, her mind was awash with emotions; she felt pity and anger for her daughter, but as a mother the former outweighed the latter. She also felt a deep hatred for how cold and calculating Sheridan had just been to his own flesh and blood. How could he be so cruel to Nikki on so many levels? But then why did that surprise her? He’d been that way with his own wife for decades.

  There were four knives metaphorically embedded in Sheridan’s back as he disappeared out of sight. Each tipped with loathing. But whose knife dug deepest and was the most lethal was not yet clear.

  46

  Sutton Rivers had returned to her own suite at Velvet Toronto, her mind a knot of anger, betrayal, joy and heartache. The thought that her own daughter had been stealing from the family company’s accounts chilled her to the bone, anger stabbing at her soul. But it was a betrayal she knew she could forgive. Her role as a mother guaranteed it. Didn’t everyone do something stupid at some point in their life? And she could see Nikki was paying. Watching her daughter crumble in front of Sheridan, lost in her own treachery, had broken her heart. The remorse that came from Nikki was genuine and, if she wasn’t mistaken, so too was the telltale glint in her eye when she looked at Blair. For a girl who had racked up more than her fair share of suitors over the years, Sutton was pretty sure that her daughter had fallen in love. And as far as she could see, the feeling was mutual.

  Sutton needed to bring her family back together, she needed to sort this. She had seen too much family heartache recently, with Heather’s loss of Max – though that had been something tragically beyond anybody’s control. A horrible accident that life had cruelly thrown into the mix of existence. This was different. While there was still a chance that she could do something about the situation between Nikki and Sheridan, she was determined to try. She knew Sheridan better than anybody. He was pig-headed and belligerent, ready to cut off his own nose to spite his face. Nikki had been beyond stupid to think that she could get away with siphoning money from Sheridan, especially with a financial bloodhound like Julian by his side. That man missed nothing when it came to bankrolling the running of the Velvet empire.

  Momentarily Sutton’s thoughts coloured pink as she let an image of Julian float through her thoughts. He was such a professional. So many times she had tried to catch his eye during the altercation between Nikki and Sheridan, but he had hardly looked at her. She thought that perhaps he daren’t, worried that he might not be able to immediately blur the line between business and pleasure; not be able to control himself. He might be the only man who seemed to show her any interest these days but what a man he was, or at least when he chose to be. And at least in her own mind, which was what mattered the most sometimes. She needed to see him – for her own self-esteem. She had come to Toronto to tell Julian that she wanted to confess her feelings for him to Sheridan. But maybe the timing wasn’t quite right yet. A starter of betrayal from a daughter followed by a main course from both your wife and your best friend would not be the perfect menu to try and soothe the situation between Nikki and Sheridan. That particular nugget would have to wait.

  No, first of all she needed to deal with the black cloud of heartache and family destruction hanging pendulously over the Rivers clan. It was up to her to be the strength, to be the glue that held her loved ones together – but just how to do it was a question to which, as yet, she had no answer.

  Maybe a moment of tenderness in the arms of Julian Bailey would provide the clarity she needed. After checking her reflection in the mirror and running her fingers across a hairline wrinkle that only she could see, she winced a little at her appearance and vacated the suite, shutting the door behind her. Sutton definitely felt the inner heartache s
he was feeling was aging her somewhat. How could it not? She’d have to sort that out, and soon. But for now, that too would have to wait. Thankfully Julian didn’t seem to mind the odd wrinkle.

  If her mother’s mind was a mess then the situation inside the mind of Nikki Rivers could challenge the size and rot of the Pacific trash vortex. It was a fetid mess of emotions. She was shaking with rage and despair as she sat alone on the bed of Blair Lonergan’s Velvet suite. They had both returned there after the run-in with Sheridan. A billow of steam and the sound of the power jets came from the bathroom behind her as she tried to untangle the disarray in her head.

  How could Julian have been so callous? How had he managed to blow the whistle on her financial treachery yet somehow wash his own hands of it in the same sentence? His face had been so smothered with arrogance as he’d stood alongside Sheridan. She could almost see the mental boner he was growing from turning the tables on her. And now he knew that she was with Blair and somehow her new DJ lover had been drawn into the murky mess as well. Julian seemed to be revelling in it. No doubt it was he who had suggested that Sheridan fire Blair. What a prick!

  Julian wasn’t the only person that Nikki needed to worry about though. That face in the crowd in the lobby during the interview, another face of smugness: the New York blackmailer. It was a face that she could never push far from her mind. The way he had pointed his fingers at her and mock shot her. There was an evil intent about him that she had never witnessed before.

  She needed to pay him – one large transaction to get him off her back, hopefully for good. Blair had offered. But Nikki wasn’t sure the offer still stood now that Sheridan had just stemmed his future income so dramatically. He was due to play a set at the hotel nightclub that very evening. Was that now happening? Nikki wasn’t sure and Blair himself didn’t seem to know but he’d told her that he intended to turn up and show the world he was willing to play. If fans were to be disappointed then Blair was determined that they wouldn’t think it was down to him. As far as he was concerned the show was going on and Sheridan Rivers could fuck right off to the backbeat of Blair’s latest chart-topper. Nikki wasn’t religious but she thanked the heavens above that Blair was still on her side after everything she had confessed to him. In this barren desert he was the only oasis of pure calm that existed right now.