Shattered: A Billionaire Romance Series (Contemporary Romance Novels)

by Love, Michelle

  The two boys weren’t shy at all, climbing onto Lila’s lap and studying her closely. They were gorgeous, and she couldn’t help but hug them. The blonde girl grinned merrily at her.

  ‘Hey there, I’m Hayley, these two monsters aunt. Well, actually, technically, I’m their cousin. It’s complicated. It’s nice to see you, Quilla talks about you all the time.’

  Lila relaxed in their company, enjoying the tea and playing with the boys. God, it felt good to do something normal but she had to admit, seeing the two boys playing and enjoying the company of their father and cousin, she ached for little Matty. She had never thought she would be a mother until she’d actually gotten pregnant and now she couldn’t imagine not being one.

  Hayley showed her to the guest room as Lila began to flag and Lila sank gratefully into a dreamless sleep.

  When she woke it was dark and she saw that someone, possibly Hayley, had put a few clothes on the end of the bed, new underwear. In the en-suite bathroom, she found toiletries and a new toothbrush laid out. She smiled; the thoughtfulness and kindness of these people was unlimited; Noah knew how to pick his friends. Her thoughts flashed to Charlie and her stomach clenched. Would they ever get back to how it had been? She hoped so, but a small part of her also considered that life without him, with these friends, with Noah, might not be such a bad thing. Maybe they had been wrapped around each other’s lives long enough.

  Showered and dressed in jeans and a sweater that fit her perfectly, she went downstairs to find Quilla was cooking. Her friend waved a wooden spoon at her in greeting. ‘Hey, how did you sleep?’

  ‘Wonderfully, thank you, and thanks for the clothes and things, it was very kind and much appreciated.’

  Quilla grinned, her lovely face lit up. ‘Noah threw me out, said I should come home and feed you. His dad and step-mom are with him but I think he was hoping for some peace to get some sleep. He did look exhausted when I left but unbelievably good.’

  Lila sat down at the huge kitchen table, watching Quilla cook an enormous pan of chili. Quilla crushed some garlic and put it into the pan with chopped onions. ‘I thought I’d make just a ton of comfort food,’ she said now, ‘I’ve sent Jakob and the boys out to get some ice cream for dessert, so we can girl-talk if we want.’

  ‘The boys are adorable,’ Lila grinned, ‘and I know they’re adopted but they look so much like Jakob.’

  Quilla laughed. ‘I know. When we went to the children’s home to meet all the kids, I took one look at them and said ‘they are our children’. Jakob agreed and that was that. Well, not quite but you know what I mean.’

  Lila smiled. ‘I do. I spent my whole childhood in a home. I would have loved for some people like you and Jakob to come along.’

  ‘We could always adopted you now,’ Quilla joked and Lila liked it that she didn’t say ‘oh poor thing’. Lila had never felt that loneliness….because of Charlie, she thought and she suddenly felt bad for how she had been treating him lately.

  She would call him, she decided, now Noah was out of immediate danger, and try and get their friendship back on track, albeit with new boundaries. Decided, she got to help Quilla prepare the dinner and they chatted easily until Jakob and the boys returned.

  Tinsley and Harry were in his hotel suite, planning their visit to the prison where Lauren Shannon was being held. ‘Do we do good cop/bad cop?’ She asked Harry who grinned.

  ‘No we just offer her the thing she loves the most – money. Money to get the best lawyer possible.’

  ‘Surely her dad would have given her that?’

  Harry shook his head. ‘I did some digging. Daddy Shannon has disowned her; she has to rely on the state.’

  ‘Woah,’ Tinsley’s eyes were wide, ‘that’s cold.’

  Harry shrugged. ‘From what I’ve found out, it’s long overdue. I don’t blame the man; even familial love can only go so far when someone behaves like that.’

  Tinsley nodded. ‘How do we stop her hiring the best lawyers with our money and getting off?’

  Harry grinned wickedly. ‘Easy. By hiring them first ourselves but she doesn’t need to know that does she?’

  ‘Harry…this all takes money and I know how generous you are but really, this isn’t your fight?’

  ‘Isn’t it? Just because Noah Applebaum isn’t my family, all of this leads back to Lila’s stabbing and Richard’s murder. It is my fight. Plus, anyone who tries to hurt you immediately makes my shit list.’

  She smiled and touched his cheek. He covered her hand with his, holding to his skin, his eyes on her. ‘Remind me again how I could have been so dumb as to go back to Australia without you?’

  Tinsley flushed with pleasure. ‘It wasn’t the right time for us.’

  He nodded and they gazed at each other in silence for a long moment. ‘And now?’ He said softly then without waiting for a reply, leaned forward and brushed her lips with his. Tinsley’s hands came up automatically and slid into his short hair. As they kissed, Harry pulled her onto his lap, his mouth hungry on hers, and his hands under her t-shirt, sliding it over her head.

  Soon naked, they tumbled onto the floor and Tinsley moved down his body to take him into her mouth, sweeping her lips over the wide crest of his pulsing cock. The silky skin felt so good on her tongue as she traced the blue veins, and she tasted the salty tang of his pre-cum. Harry moaned as she teased him, and soon he was pulling her upwards so he could thrust inside her. Tinsley straddled him, his hands on her breasts as they moved together, both smiling and loving. This was so different to the dead serious sex that she had Charlie had and even though it was good, this was love-making, not just sex. She and Harry bonded as friends first then lovers and the combination left her feeling complete.

  Afterward they ordered room service and ate it in front of the t.v., chatting idly about Australia. ‘Do you think you’ll go back, ever? Long term, I mean.’ Harry asked her as he scooped some apple pie into his mouth.

  ‘Ask me that a few months ago and I would have said no. But now? I can see.’ She hoped she wasn’t blushing too much but Harry grinned at her.

  ‘That is very good to know, Miss Chang. That is very good to know.’ And he kissed her again and they started where they had left off.

  Noah waited for the doctor – his colleague Doug Halpern – to check him over. Doug was a cardio-god, one of the best in the world. He nodded at Noah now. ‘If all my patients were as in good physical condition as you, Applebaum, my life would be easier. Don’t get me wrong, you have a long way to go yet, but your wounds are healing, your heart trace showed no problems and even with one lung, you’ll be able to function pretty much the same. Maybe not too many marathons anymore, but even that isn’t out of the realms of possibility.’

  Noah grinned. ‘You know me, Doug, I get antsy if I don’t exercise.’

  ‘Yup, he’s weird like that, me, I prefer sloth,’ Lila walked into the room and smiled at them both. She studied Noah. ‘You do look good, baby.’

  She went to kiss his cheek and sit by him. Doug nodded at them.

  ‘Well, just be careful you two. Don’t put too much stress on his heart by being too gorgeous, Lila.’

  ‘Dude, are you hitting on my fiancé?’ Noah was laughing as Lila flushed.

  Doug grinned. ‘Hell yes. Perks of having saved your damn life.’

  Noah nodded. ‘Fair enough.’

  ‘When you two have stopped objectifying me…’ but Lila laughed along with them. It felt so good to be relaxed again, to know that they would be okay after everything. Doug left them alone and Lila snuggled into Noah’s side.

  ‘Hey handsome.’

  ‘You look refreshed,’ he noted, brushing his lips against her. ‘That’s good, I was worried.’

  ‘You were worried about me?’ Lila rolled her eyes. ‘Quilla and Jakob spoiled me. I really do have to commend you on your choice of friends, I adore them, and their kids. So cute.’

  ‘Making you broody?’

  ‘Oh yes but we need to get you
back to fighting fit before we even consider that again.’

  She kissed his jawbone, smoothed the hair at his temples. ‘Thank god you’re okay.’

  ‘Between us we have nine lives, we must have,’ he nodded, twirling a lock of her hair – freshly washed that morning – between his finger and thumb.

  She studied him. ‘Do you have this feeling of what’s next? I mean, we’ve been through the mill these last eighteen months but I still feel, there’s more to come. Am I being pessimistic?’

  Noah considered. ‘No…and I think it’s that we still don’t know for sure who kicked this whole thing off. Who it was who stabbed you – or hired someone to do it. We’ve – you’ve – had no closure on that.’

  ‘I think you’re right but it could be we’ll never know.’ She sighed. ‘Is it wrong I want to lock you away somewhere safe where no-one can touch you?’

  ‘Nope, that’s exactly how I feel about you.’

  ‘It sucks.’

  ‘Yep.’

  She nuzzled closer to him, careful not to tug on any of the tubes and wires which stuck of out him. ‘A day at a time.’

  ‘A day at a time,’ he agreed and held her close.

  Tinsley hadn’t stepped two feet inside the prison when she decided she never, ever wanted to do it again. The sense of hopelessness was palpable. She slipped her hand into Harry’s feeling him squeeze her fingers reassuringly. The Carnegie name had gotten them in to interview Lauren Shannon, had sent their offer of money in advance. As expected, Lauren had jumped at the chance and Tinsley felt no guilt about the way they were fooling her.

  Lauren’s hair was shoved into a greasy ponytail and she barely made eye connect with them both as she was led into the interview room. She flicked her eyes dismissively at Tinsley and Tinsley glared back.

  Harry did all the talking and he got straight to the point. ‘Lauren, did someone tell you, or pay you to shoot Noah Applebaum?’

  Lauren smirked. ‘You don’t think a woman could come up with and execute – so to speak – a plan like that?’

  ‘Oh I do…I just don’t believe it in this case. So, tell me, did someone hire you? Or perhaps a better description would be ‘encourage’?’

  Lauren looked out of the window. ‘I called a lawyer, one of my dad’s friends, told him you were stumping up the money to hire me good representation. He told me no.’

  ‘Not my problem. Answer the question.’

  Lauren smiled. ‘Perhaps. Perhaps someone with a vested interest in seeing Noah dead was…supportive. Perhaps they found the gun for me.’

  Tinsley was getting irritated. ‘Was it Charlie Sherman?’

  Harry cleared his throat – a warning and Tinsley got his meaning – leading the witness.

  Lauren’s eyes were twinkling – she was enjoying the game. ‘He didn’t give me his name.’

  Progress. Harry glanced at Tinsley. ‘Lauren, are you able to describe this man?’

  ‘I never met him. He called me.’

  Tinsley made a disgusted sound. ‘Motherfucker.’

  Lauren laughed softly. ‘So you see…I can’t even use that as a defense. Who’s going to believe that? A man told me to do it.’

  Harry too was frustrated. ‘Is there anything, anything distinguishing about his voice, the way he spoke, accent?’

  She shook her head. ‘I got the impression he was disguising his voice.’

  ‘Fuck,’ Tinsley hissed then looked back at Lauren. ‘Just tell us what he said, his exact words.’

  ‘He asked me if I wanted to get back at Noah at Noah and told me he could help me. He said he’d pay two-hundred grand to shoot Noah but I had to do it in public and in front of his girlfriend.’

  ‘Did the man ask you to shoot Lila as well?’

  Lauren shook her head. ‘No, that was just something I said to the cops when I was arrested. He was very specific – I was only to kill Noah.’

  ‘Did he give a reason for that?’

  ‘Yes.’ She smiled nastily. ‘He told me that he wanted to be the one to kill Lila – said he’d tried before but next time, he would take his time and make sure she was dead.’

  Tinsley felt sick and she felt Harry slip his arm around her waist. ‘Is there anything else you can tell us?’ She asked Lauren, who chuckled darkly.

  ‘Yeah. I wouldn’t want to be Lila Tierney when he gets hold of her.’

  ‘She told us nothing,’ Tinsley groaned as they got back into the car and Harry looked at her in amazement.

  ‘Are you kidding? She told us so much.’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘For one thing….Lila’s attacker is still out there. Another – we know now it can’t have been Riley – which means Riley was probably killed and framed. Another – if the killer was able to manipulate Lauren, what makes us think he won’t have done it to others. There’s one more person I think we have to see before we really double-down on this and go to Lila and Noah.’

  ‘Who?’

  Harry smiled grimly. ‘The one person we know can be manipulated easily – especially as she was in love with the man we suspect. My sister. We’re going to see Cora.’

  The cab stopped outside of the hospital entrance and Lila thanked the driver and tipped him well. ‘Could you come back about ten-thirty?’

  The driver smiled. ‘Of course, Miss, see you then.’

  Lila walked towards the entrance of the hospital. She’d spent the night at home. Getting things ready for Noah’s homecoming. Now he was out of bed and into a chair, the doctors had told him he could be released to rest at home in as few as two weeks. Lila couldn’t quite believe it. She grinned to herself now and her pace quickened.

  ‘Lila.’

  She started violently and whirled around. Charlie smiled at her. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘Charlie…jesus.’ She put a hand on her chest to still her thumping heart. ‘Where have you been? I’ve been trying to call you.’

  ‘I know, honey, I’m sorry, had things I was doing. Found a place.’

  ‘Good. Look I was just going in to see Noah.’

  ‘How is he?’

  She smiled. ‘Doing really well. Come in and say hello.’

  Charlie looked up at the well-lit hospital. ‘I won’t today, I don’t want to intrude. I’ll come back another day.’

  ‘You sure?’

  He nodded. ‘I would like us to sit and talk soon. Very soon. I think we need to get some stuff resolved.’

  Lila nodded. ‘I think we do. Call me tomorrow, okay? And we’ll talk.’

  ‘Promise.’ And he was gone. Lila frowned after him. She wasn’t imagining it, their friendship had change drastically. There was awkwardness there.

  Tomorrow. Tomorrow they would see if they could salvage anything from the mire of recent events and rejuvenate their friendship.

  Tinsley had elected to stay in Seattle while Harry went to see his sister in New York. Harry had understood; whatever she hadn’t done, Cora had still instigated a ferocious attack on Tinsley.

  ‘I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to be in the same room,’ she had told him and he agreed. Nothing good would come of that.

  Harry had told her he would fly straight back to Seattle after speaking to Cora and so Tinsley was holed up at his hotel, mindlessly ordering room service and watching t.v. to take her mind of what they were finding out. It didn’t work and she ended up with a yellow legal pad and pen making charts and flow diagrams and writing everything down. It didn’t take her long to make the connection and now she wondered how they hadn’t seen it months ago. Of course, if she was right, it meant she herself had fucked the killer – unwittingly of course – and that their whole relationship had been a lie. If Charlie was as dangerously obsessed with Lila as they thought…

  ‘He’ll never stop.’ God, she needed to warn Lila now. She would risk Lila not believing her, even if it lodged a tiny suspicion of doubt in her mind, it might protect her. Tinsley considered what to do next. Harry had asked her to stay in the room, keep
safe but if Lila was still in danger…

  She could get a cab straight to the hospital and speak to Lila there; it would safe right? Probably safer than going to her home…

  Mind made up, she grabbed her purse and head out of the door.

  As far as she was concerned, there wasn’t a moment to lose.

  It didn’t take long for Harry to extract a confession from Cora, who broke down in tears. ‘It wasn’t like that, he didn’t ask me to kill her but just said…while she was in the picture, we could never be together.’

  ‘Fucking asshole,’ Harry raged. His mother, Delphine sat on Cora’s other side, looked devastated but resigned.

  ‘Do you think Lila is in danger?’

  Harry nodded. ‘The worst kind – and I don’t think we can wait any longer to tell her. I have to go back to Seattle. Right now.’

  Lila and Noah were laughing together when Tinsley knocked softly at the door. Lila’s eyes widened when she saw her friend and she jumped up and pulled her into a hug.

  ‘Where the hell have you been?’

  Tinsley realized her friend was crying and she hugged her back tightly. ‘I need to talk to you, alone,’ she whispered. ‘Meet me at the bottom of the stairs, the exit is next door.’

  She pulled away from Lila’s curious stare and kissed Noah. ‘I’m so glad you’re looking so well.’

  ‘Thanks Tins…what’s going on?’

  ‘Nothing you should worry about. I’m sorry, I only have a few minutes, I have to go pick Harry up at the airport.’

  ‘Harry…Carnegie?’ Lila was shocked but Tinsley smiled.

  ‘The very one. He would like to come see you if you don’t mind.’

  She stayed for another five minutes then nodded for Lila to follow her out. ‘Give me five minutes then come down.’

  ‘What’s with all the intrigue?’