The Billionaire's Gamble

by Penny Wylder

  There are more people on the top floor when I get off the elevator this time, all men, all dressed in impeccable suits. It takes me only a second to realize that these are the Silver Lions, or at least some of them. As soon as I walk into the room it goes silent, everyone staring at me with contempt. The naked judgment and disapproval in their eyes is shocking and a little hard to bear. An older man separates himself from the crowd, walking towards me. The way he moves is too smooth, too precise, and the way he smiles is too. I shiver, and I realize it’s because he’s looking at me like I’m prey. No wonder they call them Lions.

  “So, you’re Danielle Hathaway.”

  I try to give it my best shot, so I smile. “Yes, that’s me.”

  “No relation to the actress, I assume.”

  “Nope.” I laugh it off. “You’d be surprised—that’s actually the first time I’ve heard that,” I say sarcastically.

  The man’s smile is biting. “Well, the comparison fits. She displays herself the way you do.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “All over the papers. I saw your…kiss. Whatever will we see next?” I feel a bit sick to my stomach, and filthy, like there’s something on my skin from just being around this man. He’s slimy. “Tell me,” he says, taking a step closer, “do you like being put on display?”

  “Sorry I’m late,” Nolan’s voice booms across the room from behind me. “I got caught in the counsel’s office downstairs. I see you all met Dani. Excuse me while I show her out. You can wait in my office.” He places a hand on the small on back, leading me back toward the elevator. “I’m sorry about that,” he whispers when we’re out of earshot. “I didn’t realize you’d be here so soon, I never would have let you meet them alone.”

  “No one spoke to me except for him. Who is that guy?”

  “Frank Baron. CFO of our California operation. He’s been on the board longer than I’ve been alive, and has way more influence over the others than I’d like.” He stops by the elevator.

  I cross my arms. “Well, he’s a creep.”

  “Yeah,” Nolan says, looking uncomfortable. “Well, I hope that I have something that will make up for that.”

  “Nolan, you don’t have to give me a gift every day.”

  He pulls me in by the hips, coming in for a slow, lingering kiss that makes me wish we were entirely alone. “But then what would I do with my time?” he asks.

  “I can think of a few things,” I mutter under my breath, and he chuckles.

  “Tomorrow night,” he says, “we’re going to see I Love you, Eva Grey.”

  My whole body goes into shock. “Are you serious?”

  Nolan is grinning like a cat who finally caught a bird. “Yes, I am. And not only are you and I going to see it, I got three tickets. I’d love for Kelly to come see it with us.”

  Unexpected tears spring to my eyes, and I find myself trying to look away, trying to hide them. “This is amazing. Thank you.”

  “Why are you crying?” He suddenly sounds alarmed.

  “Because it’s awesome,” I say. “Because you’re doing such nice things for me, even though you don’t have to.”

  “I want to. You deserve all the nice things, Dani.” He kisses me again, and I’m glad, because if he hadn’t I’d be crying even more from the sweetness of his words. “I’m sorry. I have to go into the Lion’s den now.”

  I laugh, even though I’m still half-crying. “Please don’t tell me you actually call it that.”

  “Only in my mind. I’ll see you later.”

  “Later.”

  He turns back as he’s walking towards his office. “Don’t forget to call Kelly and tell her to pack.”

  16

  Nolan

  “Hell of a way to introduce yourself, Frank,” I say, entering my office brusquely.

  He sneers at me. “I’m not the one parading your new slut-of-the-week across the front of all the papers.”

  “Watch your mouth,” I say, my voice quiet and even—a trick I learned from my father. People are far scarier when they’re in absolute control rather than when they’re railing at you. “Despite what the paparazzi seem to think, what I do in my personal life is my business. You will not disrespect anyone in my life. Do you understand me?”

  Frank gives me a smile that chills me to the bone. “I don’t have to disrespect them, Nolan, you’ve already done that yourself.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  He opens his briefcase, pulls out a file folder, and slides it across the table. I catch it with my fingertips, suddenly anxious. What does he have in here that he thinks can scare me? I flip open the folder, and my stomach plummets. I try to keep my face as neutral as possible, but I know that I’m failing on that count. “The contract you have as CEO of this company contains a morality clause,” Frank says. “That hardly looks moral to me. I can just see the headlines now.”

  I look around at the other men at the table. This isn’t the full board of directors, but enough of them are here. Some of them at least have the decency to look uncomfortable.

  “What do you want?” I ask through gritted teeth. I know that he’s going to try to take everything, and I’m going to give it to him. I’m going to give him every damn thing.

  “I want you to resign as CEO of Coldwater Bank, I want you to forfeit all your holdings that are under the Coldwater umbrella, and I want you to sign over your shares to the board.”

  I raise an eyebrow at him. “Anything else? My head on a platter maybe?”

  Frank chuckles. “If only. Unfortunately, the by-laws state that the resignation has to be accepted by a two-thirds majority vote of the full board of directors. Since our next meeting is in three days, you have that time to get your affairs in order. If you don’t, I’ll make sure that,” he points to the folder in my hand, “is plastered on every surface from here to Switzerland.”

  “You’ve made yourself very clear,” I say.

  I won’t lose everything—I was smart enough to keep most of my personal holdings separate from Coldwater, but Frank knows what he’s doing. Even if this isn’t exactly what I wanted, he’s taking what’s left of my father from me. He’s taking away the legacy that my father wanted me to have, and if I weren’t painfully aware of the folder in my hand, I’m not sure that I wouldn’t jump across the table and kill him for it.

  “Is that all?” I ask, trying to maintain my even demeanor.

  The bastard looks so smug I want to punch the look off of his face. “Yes, I think that’s all we needed.”

  “Then get the fuck out of my office,” I say, and I mean it. Frank’s eyes widen, and for the first time I see the fear—the fear that’s making him do this. I’m not the same kind of CEO that my father was. I want change, and they’re afraid of it. So the only way they can save themselves is to bring me down, aim for me when I’m weak. Just like a pride of lions.

  They have the sense to scatter, and it’s only a minute before I’m alone in my office.

  Fuck.

  17

  Dani

  I Love You, Eva Grey is simply amazing. It’s warm and heartbreaking and brilliant and I’m almost sure I have no eye make-up left because I cried so much during the show.

  When I called Kelly to tell her the news, she screamed into the phone because she was so excited. She hung up on me and went to go pack. I had to keep calling her phone until she would pick up long enough for me to tell her the details of when Nolan’s plane would to pick her up. We’ve been together all day, and it’s been a good day. Kelly still doesn’t seem as vibrant as her normal self, but being here has made her smile.

  She was blown away by Nolan’s ‘apartment.’ Apartment my ass, the thing is a freaking castle. I showed her all the amazing clothes—and let her pick out a gorgeous outfit for tonight’s performance. It was great to have time just the two of us. It hasn’t been that way for a really long time. I know she’s got something on her mind, but I’m waiting for her to tell me. One thing I’ve learned f
rom growing up with her, pushing Kelly is never a good idea. She goes at her own pace, no matter what. She’ll tell me what’s bothering her when she’s ready.

  Now, walking out of the show, I think she might be ready. We’ve come out onto the dark New York street, the low clouds threatening to rain, and I can’t stop talking about how amazing the musical was. I turn to ask Kelly what she thought about something, and I see her face crumple. Suddenly she’s crying, and it’s not the crying of ‘I just saw a beautiful musical,’ this is a deep, heart-wrenching sob that socks me in the gut.

  I take her by the arm, pulling her away from Nolan and any photographers that might be hanging around, into an alley next to the theatre. Derek takes up his station a little ways away—in sight but out of earshot. “Kelly, what’s going on?”

  She’s crying so hard that she can barely speak. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t apologize, just tell me what’s going on.”

  I put my arms around her, and she holds onto me like she’s drowning. “Jacob took the money.”

  “What?” I go still and quiet. I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t this.

  “He took the money from that company for the house. He sold it without telling me.” She breaks off into a sob, unable to control her voice.

  I’m trying to keep my voice even, trying to keep the fiery rage that’s building inside me from lashing out. “Why would he do that?”

  “Because he can,” she says. “The house is in his name.”

  “But—”

  She pulls back, pulling herself upright, wiping some of the tears that are on her face. “The house is in both our names. Either one of us could have signed those papers. Plus, it gets worse.”

  “How on earth could it get worse?”

  She wraps her arms around herself. “He’s leaving me.” Her voice is so quiet that I barely hear it. “He’s got a place ready to move to, and he’s made it clear that I won’t be going with him. In a month, I’ll be homeless.” She starts to cry again, and I hug her. I don’t know what to say. What do you say when your little sister tells you that her entire life is falling apart?

  “Come on,” I say. “Let’s get back to the penthouse. And don’t worry, as long as I’m alive you’ll never be homeless, understand?”

  She nods, and I lead her back to Derek and Nolan. I put Kelly in the car and Nolan catches my arm. “Is she all right?”

  “No. I’ll explain later.”

  He looks concerned, but doesn’t argue, and soon we’re driving off into the night.

  When Kelly is finally asleep I come down to the living room of the penthouse. It’s a comfortable room in shades of white with some of the most comfortable couches I’ve ever felt, and of course, Nolan’s amazing views. Nolan himself is nursing a glass of whiskey. There’s a fire lit in the fireplace, and he’s staring into it like it contains the answers of the universe. I know it doesn’t. Now that Kelly is taken care of for the moment, the rage that sparked when she told me what happened has now become an inferno. It’s only a matter of time before I explode.

  I sit across from Nolan, and he looks up. “Is she asleep?”

  “Yeah.”

  His face darkens. “What happened?”

  I grit my teeth—I’m so angry at this point that I don’t even know if I can say it. “He sold it.” I manage to force out, and the words break the damn. “Kelly’s jackass of a husband sold their house to that developer—took the money without asking or consulting her. On top of that, he announced that he’s moving away and leaving her. So essentially he just made her homeless.” I get up, feeling the need to pace.

  “She could sue him for sole ownership of the house,” he says. “She might have a case against him if his intent in signing away the house was to damage her.”

  “That will take too long. In the meantime her house is going to be bulldozed.”

  He doesn’t say anything, instead takes a drink of his whiskey.

  “How is it that companies can just come in and destroy neighborhoods like this? Why is that allowed?”

  “It’s legal,” Nolan shrugs. “They’re not stealing the houses from people.”

  “But they’re manipulating them. Forcing them to leave their homes by making them an offer they know that they can’t refuse.”

  “Yes.”

  I’m pacing faster now. “There has to be a way to fight back. There has to be a way to find the company that’s doing this deal and stop them.”

  “You can’t do that—”

  “I can!” I yell at him. “I can and I will. You just watch me do it. They’re going to ruin what’s left of my hometown, and I can’t let it happen.”

  Nolan sighs, getting up off the couch and comes to me, “Dani—”

  “You can help me do this, right? You can help me stop them? You’re the CEO of Coldwater, I don’t doubt that you have a few tricks up your sleeve that could stop a company like this in its tracks.”

  He tries to reach for me and I take a step back. “Dani, it doesn’t work like that.”

  “It has to. You have to know how to do something. Don’t you understand, I have to fix this.” My rage and grief are mixing now, anger at this company and at Jacob, sadness that Angelica—the only town I’ve ever called home, is going to be torn up, and pure, raw, grief that I’m not able to do the one thing an older sister is supposed to—protect her younger one.

  “You can’t,” he says quietly. “You can’t fight this. It’s impossible.”

  He turns and walks away and doesn’t come back. I hear the door to the penthouse open and shut, and the silence in his wake is loud. He was telling me that I can’t do a thing, but why did it feel like he wasn’t talking to me? And why did he leave?

  I go to sleep in Nolan’s bed. He doesn’t come back until the middle of the night, crawling softly under the blankets. He pulls me against him, and I pretend that I’m not awake. I feel the kiss he places against my hair, and there’s a strange glow in my stomach from the way he’s cradling me. But even with this, I feel there’s a distance between us now. Something that wasn’t there before, and it all has to do with why he left.

  18

  Dani

  Nolan is gone before I wake up. There’s no note from him telling me when he’ll be back or if he’s made plans for us today. I send him a text but he doesn’t respond. There’s a cold feeling in my gut, and I’m worried that something is really wrong.

  Kelly comes out of her room around noon, and she looks like death. “Hey,” she says.

  “Hi. How are you feeling?”

  She rolls her eyes. “Super.”

  “Got your attitude back I see.” I give her a teasing smile.

  She ignores me, going to make coffee.

  “Can I ask you something?” Now that the situation has presented itself, I can ask her something I’ve wanted to ask her for years.

  “Sure.”

  “I know that Jacob leaving is hard. But have you really been happy?”

  She leans against the counter in a way that’s so familiar, but it’s odd to see it in Nolan’s kitchen. “Yeah,” she says, “I was happy. Maybe not the happiest, but it’s hard to say that you’re unhappy when you’ve never known anything else.”

  “Well—”

  “I know how you feel about him.” She holds out a hand. “I know that he wasn’t the best husband, and I know we had issues, but we’re married. We’ve been married for seven years. Even if it’s the worst marriage in the world, you don’t end it without some kind of pain. Your life is literally being ripped in two.”

  She hands me a cup of coffee and I accept it. “I understand. But will you promise me something?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Promise me that you’ll try to find what really makes you happy.”

  Kelly gives me a sad smile. “I’ll do my best.” She hands me her phone. “Jacob sent me a copy of the paperwork. I thought it was just to rub it in my face, but I guess since my name is also on the house he wa
nts to cover his legal bases.”

  I take it and tap on the attachment in the email. Immediately my whole body goes cold. “This is who bought the house?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  The paperwork says Platinum Enterprises, but in tiny letters just below that are the words ‘a subsidiary of Coldwater Bank.’ And there in the corner of the page is the curving C logo I’ve become familiar with the past few days. “Nothing,” I say. “I just thought I recognized the name of the company, that’s all.” I feel sick. Did Nolan do this? Did he know? I might throw up.

  She takes a sip of her coffee, and I give her the phone back.

  “Do you think you’ll be okay here for a little while? I told Sage I’d run by the office and have lunch with her.”

  “Sure,” Kelly says. “I’m sure I’ll find something to do.”

  “Thanks,” I say, reaching out and touching her hand. “I’ll be back soon.”

  I’m practically sprinting into the Coldwater Bank building, moving so fast that Derek is having a hard time keeping up. I pound the elevator button, pressing it multiple times even though I know that’s not going to do me any good. The elevator ride to the top floor feels like the longest of my life. I have to know. I have to know if he knew that his company was buying Angelica and said nothing. If he did this, then Nolan Coldwater isn’t the person I thought he was.

  I power walk down the hallway. Sage sees me, and she tells me to stop, tries to get up in time to stop me, but I’m faster. I burst past the doors to Nolan’s office and find myself face to face with the Silver Lions. I look around and Nolan is nowhere to be found. Fine, if he’s not here, I can tell these bastards what I really think about them and the way they’ve preyed on my family. “You all make me sick,” I say. “You think you can just buy anything you want, with no consequences whatsoever? Maybe you can, but that doesn’t mean you’re not total bastards for doing it.”