Shattered Daddy: A Billionaire Suspense Romance

by Charlize Starr

  Then she’d cried herself to sleep last night, which explained the headache. It also explained her appearance when she looked in the mirror. She had puffy, red-rimmed eyes. Her mouth was dry and she stared hard at her stomach for a full minute. There was no way anyone could tell she was pregnant, right?

  Maybe she’d say she got pregnant after, and the baby was just early. That was a plausible lie if Alex believed she’d go out and sleep with anyone after their affair. And he might want to believe whatever excused him from any responsibility.

  Too bad she’d fallen in love with him. She turned on the shower with a sigh. She planned to call in sick today. Alex would know she was home, heartsick, but that couldn’t be helped. She loved a man who didn’t want to be in a relationship about anything but sex. Him saying that so plainly, even if she hadn’t gotten knocked up, made their affair all but over. Kellie couldn’t continue to sleep with him, to spend time with him, to share experiences with him, all the while falling more and more in love when he didn’t feel anything for her.

  It was embarrassing, really. She stepped under the shower and let the steamy hot water sluice over her skin. How many times had they made love here? Or in her bed, on her couch, on the kitchen island, for heaven’s sake?

  Everywhere she turned, she was reminded of Alex. How bossy he was in bed, and how generous he was out of it. She’d once told him she wanted an out of print book and he’d called around the whole country until he found a copy, in Boston, and had it sent to her.

  She started to cry again, but it didn’t matter. She let the water hit her face and wash them away. He was the man she’d waited for, the one who could make her feel things, be alive, forget everything—and she’d never get to be with him because he didn’t love her back.

  ***

  Alex had lost his mind, he decided, parking in David’s driveway. He had to do something to win Kellie back, to prove that she meant more to him than… well, anything. Including his friendship with David. Because once he told his business partner that he’d fallen in love with his daughter, had an affair with her, and wanted to marry her… well, it wouldn’t be pretty.

  He walked up the sidewalk to the door and rang the bell. After a minute, Diane answered. “Oh, Alex. I was hoping it was Kellie.”

  “Are you expecting her?” Hope blossomed inside him at the chance to see her again.

  “Well, no. Just hoping. Are you here to see David?”

  Alex knew David planned to return to work on Monday, so it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that he might need to discuss some work issues with him. If only that were the reason. But, he could do this. He would do this—he’d do anything for Kellie. “Yes. I need to speak with him about some important matters.”

  “Sure. Come on in.” Diane led him deeper into the house. David sat in the living room. It was early, but he and Diane were both dressed and ready for the day. He wondered if he’d caught them getting ready to go out or something. “David, Alex is here to see you.”

  “Hey, old friend.”

  Alex winced at that. They were old friends. David had been there for him when he’d found out about the death of a daughter he’d never known, had helped him out when Alex wanted to do something for her mother. She was Alex’s one and only former girlfriend. He didn’t intend to let Kellie go.

  “Hi. Listen, we need to talk. This isn’t going to be good news for you.”

  Diane gave him a curious half-smile. “I’ll just let you boys get to work, then.”

  “What’s up?” David asked.

  Alex crossed the room and sat down in an easy-chair across from David. “I have to tell you something.”

  “You said,” David smirked at him. “Just get to the point.”

  “I’ve fallen in love with someone. I just want you to know that I love her, I’d do anything for her. I want to marry her.”

  “How is that not good news? I couldn’t be happier for you. I’d offer you a drink but it’s early and the doctors have told me to lay off the alcohol.”

  Alex held up a hand. “Because I’m not finished yet.”

  “Well don’t keep me in suspense. Who is she?”

  Alex let out a slow breath, preparing for hell to break loose. Once David calmed down and realized Alex wanted to marry Kellie, it would be okay. He hoped. “It’s Kellie.”

  “Kellie?”

  “Your daughter, Kellie.”

  Grabbing at his shirt, David ripped open the top button. “You son-of-a-bitch. You’re the one?”

  David jumped up but Alex remained in his seat. He didn’t want to have a fight with David—he wanted his blessing.

  “She told you?”

  “You got her pregnant, left her to face it alone, and then you come here and give me flowery words about how you’ve fallen in love with her? If you loved her, she wouldn’t have had to call her mother to hold her hand yesterday.” David’s voice rose until it cracked. He grabbed at his chest and shouted, “Diane!”

  Alex scanned the room, trying to make sense of what David had said. Kellie was pregnant? Why didn’t she tell him? He knew he was the father. Kellie would never, ever screw around with anyone else.

  He hopped up and went to David. His face was a mottled red, and he was having trouble catching his breath. “Are you all right?”

  Diane came in, took one look at David, and said, “Go start your car. We’ve got to get him to the hospital.”

  “He’s… the one.” David said.

  “The one what?” Diane looked between the two men. Alex hated to say it again, to hurt this family any more than he already had. And he needed to get to Kellie.

  “The one… who got Kellie… pregnant and left her.”

  Diane turned on Alex, her face thunderous, but then she faced David. “We have to get you to the hospital, baby.”

  This was a disaster of epic proportions. How would he tell Kellie he’d caused her father to have another heart attack? What if David didn’t make it? That got him moving. He put a hand on David’s shoulder to lead him to the car, but David shrugged it off.

  Once they got him seated in the back, Alex gunned the engine to life and peeled out. Diane turned to him. “If he doesn’t make it, I will cut off your balls myself, Alex Leblanc.”

  Alex shook his head. He couldn’t even blame them for hating him. He kind of hated himself, for pushing Kellie away so hard she’d thought she’d have to go through this alone.

  ***

  Kellie got the call at 8:36 in the morning that her father was being rushed to the hospital. Her mother called from her cell. “We’re in the car now, sweetie. Meet us at the hospital. Try not to worry, you don’t want to send stress hormones to the baby.”

  Kellie closed her eyes and said a silent prayer. Please let my dad live to be a grandfather to this child. “I’m on my way.”

  “And, Kellie… we know about Alex.”

  “How could you?” She didn’t understand what could’ve happened. She certainly hadn’t told anyone, not even her best friend. Had someone at the office overheard something, the fight between Alex and Chase Valentine, maybe?

  “Alex came by this morning.”

  “And that’s why Daddy’s having another heart attack? Oh, my God. This is all my fault.”

  “No, this is all Alex’s fault.” Her voice was hard as a stone. “We don’t know that he’s having a heart attack. We’re just being safe. Just… get to the hospital.”

  “I will. I’m leaving right now.” Kellie hung up the phone and ran to the bathroom. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt from college, ran a comb through her blonde locks, then pulled them up with a hair tie. In a rush, she brushed her teeth before running out the door. When she realized she’d forgotten her keys and purse, she had to come back.

  She drove quick as possible to the hospital nearest her parents, where her father had gone for his last heart attack. Why would Alex have gone to her father? Some misplaced sense of guilt, a need to ease his conscience for breaking her he
art?

  What if they'd told him about the baby? Surely not—she'd begged them not to tell anyone. She couldn't think about all this right now. She just had to think positive, healing thoughts for her father.

  In the emergency department lobby, Alex sat not far from where she'd sat and waited to find out more about her father just… what? Seven weeks ago. Please, not another heart attack.

  If Alex had told her father, then that would've been quite a shock. Their knocked up daughter had an affair with her dad’s business partner. She stalked up to him. “What did you do?”

  “Me, really? You're fucking pregnant, Kellie. Were you even going to tell me?” Alex stood up, his voice rising.

  She pulled her ponytail over her shoulder, running her fingers through the strands. “No. I don't know. You were pretty clear about not wanting to be trapped.”

  “This is different—you’re different.” He pulled a box from his pocket and flipped it open. A big, clear diamond sparkled at her. “Marry me, Kellie.”

  “Stop it, Alex. People are staring.” Kellie glared at the people looking at them until they turned away, one-by-one. “This is the last thing I want, you marrying me because I’m pregnant.”

  “It’s not because you’re pregnant.” He grasped her by the elbow and tugged her to a corner of the lobby. “I’d planned to do this so different. I was going to have that music we picked out at the bookstore playing and make you dinner with candles.”

  “You’re not making any sense. You couldn’t have known I was pregnant before this morning. I didn’t know myself until yesterday.”

  He took her other arm and pulled her closer, into his embrace. “Think about it, Kellie. Why do you think I went to see your dad today?”

  “I don’t know what you were thinking. I just hope he’s okay.” Tears brimmed her eyes.

  He squeezed her tight. “He will be—he has to be.”

  “Let’s just wait until we hear something about my dad before we talk about anything else. I can’t think while he’s in danger. I can’t—”

  “Shh.” He kissed the top of her head. “You don’t have to.”

  Together, they sat. Alex was perfect. He went to fetch her coffee and made her eat a breakfast sandwich, he held her hand, he asked the nurse for status updates. It was a shame he was only offering to marry her because of the pregnancy because she loved him and he was a good man.

  She sighed, worried she was going to cry again. This was all too much—the pregnancy, her dad, her broken heart. She couldn’t take much more.

  The doors whooshed open and her mom walked out, arms crossed over her middle. She looked shaken but not broken, but what if it was shock?

  Kellie jumped up and ran to Diane. “Mom? Is he okay?”

  Her mother took her hand and nodded. “He’s fine. It wasn’t a heart attack. The stress just… overworked his heart a bit.”

  Diane gave a pointed look in Alex’s direction. He stood a respectable distance away. Far enough that he wasn’t eavesdropping but close enough if Kellie should need him. “Did you work things out yet?” her mother asked her.

  “Mom, these are not the times when a man and woman have to get married because they made a baby. I won’t do that.” The nurse at the reception desk near them jerked her head up, openly listening to their conversation now.

  “But, Kellie… he came this morning to ask your father for his blessing. He wanted to marry you before he found out about the baby.” Diane shrugged. “Do what makes you happy, sweetie. I don’t approve of him getting involved with you, but the man doesn’t want you because you’re pregnant.”

  Her hands flew to her mouth as it all clicked into place. She’d been too upset to realize it earlier, but Alex already had a ring. He couldn’t have gotten one this morning, after he found out. He’d been planning to propose to her when he went to her parents’ house today.

  Kellie flew into Alex’s arms, holding him tight. She’d never let him go again.

  “Kellie? What is it, honey? Is your dad okay?”

  She blinked back tears of happiness this time. “He’s fine. I just… I need to hear what you want.”

  “I want to marry you.” He took her by the shoulders and held her, gazing into her eyes.

  “One question, I need to know one thing. Why? If it’s not the baby, then why?”

  He tucked a finger under her chin and used the other to pull her close. “Because I love you. I’m so in love with you, I can’t bear the thought of being away from you.”

  Releasing her, he got down on one knee and opened the box. “Will you?”

  Kellie looked around. Everyone in the room was actively watching them now. And that was okay because she wanted to remember this moment, when Alex proposed and they became one sweet little family forever. “Yes.”

  *****

  THE END

  Played by the Rock Star

  Description

  I’m a good girl, I don’t like hot, famous rock stars. All I have to do is pretend that I’m dating one...

  Brent Jacobsen is living the life of a rock star.

  Sold out concerts.

  All of the girls that he could ever want.

  Parties and fancy hotel rooms.

  It’s just too bad that he’s broken and self-destructing. After destroying another hotel room, his best friends come up with a brilliant idea on how to deflect the negative press: date their younger sister out in public and feed off of her sweet and clean life. They already know each other, so it will be easy enough.

  It sounds so simple, until it isn’t.

  Riley is beautiful and smart. Brent watched her grow up but now, at twenty-two, she is mature and compassionate in ways that he doesn’t understand. They both agree, but soon know that it is more than just a news story.

  Can Brent find it in himself to give Riley what she deserves? Can he be what she needs?

  Will his friends ever forgive him for what he’s about to do to their sister?

  Will he ever be the same again after he tastes her lips?

  Chapter One

  The sun glared into the room. Brent Jacobson raised his hand to block it and turned onto his stomach in the king sized bed. “What the fuck? It’s so early.”

  “Poor baby. What they hell are you up to, Brent?” the sharp voice of his publicist responded, as his head started to pound. “Nice room. Too bad the rest of it is trashed.”

  “Trashed? What happened?” Brent groaned as the full effects of his hangover started to kick in and make him feel like shit.

  “Jesus fucking Christ. You’re lucky the band is doing well,” McKenzie Adams grumbled, as she stared at the man who was making her life a living nightmare. “A few girls went scrambling out of here when I knocked, since you wouldn’t answer your cell. I got a call from the hotel due to a report of noise sometime this morning and had to catch a flight here from Philadelphia. It was my daughter’s fifth-grade graduation today. Thanks a lot for that, Brent.”

  “Shit, I’m sorry.” She snorted at his apology as she paced the room.

  “The rest of the band doesn’t even want to answer their phones anymore. Do you think there’s a problem?”

  Brent turned in the bed and kept the sheet over his body, even though he knew that Kenzie didn’t care. When she wasn’t babysitting him, she was a happily married mother of two kids. “The gig was great, and we partied afterward. What’s wrong with that?”

  “Nothing, except that you have another bill from another trashed hotel room. It’s in the thousands of dollars, this time, Brent. That TV was quite large. Judging from the mess of bottles, you owe on the mini bar as well.” She looked at him with worried, jade green eyes as she ran a hand through her wavy, chestnut hair. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know, Kenzie. I wanted to have some fun after a show, and the girls were hot.” He looked at her with dull blue eyes that before covering his handsome face with one thick, tattooed arm.

  “You know it’s more than that,” she said, b
efore letting out a sigh. “Are you going to stay calm for a while? I have to do damage control.”

  “I’m fine, Mom.”

  “I am going to call Declan and have him come be here with you.” Her brother was a roadie for Nothing Lost and staying in the same hotel, but she hadn’t made the call yet. She knew how late he’d been up, and this was her job. Technically. Declan just helped her out.

  Brent groaned as he saw her shadow leave the room and pulled the sheets over his head. He had no recollection of last night apart from the girls and the drinks, but Brent was well aware that he could lose control quickly these days. His life was successful, and he was doing well on paper, but inside he was a mess.

  Brent had wanted more for himself at thirty, but things had just happened to bring him down. He rode the high that was being lead singer of one of the most popular bands in 2016 and tried not to think about the rest of it. Brent knew that he was awake for the day and got up to hit the toilet and pull on some shorts before he walked out into the living area of the suite.

  Kenzie was right. It was destroyed. He looked around at the broken and upturned furniture and the shattered television on the floor, not to mention the general mess from the party that he’d thrown at the last minute. He pushed a reddened hand through his dirty blond hair, which was hanging down into his face, and closed his eyes slowly as he heard a knock at the door.

  Brent made his way through the destruction and opened it to find Declan Keller standing there in board shorts and a t-shirt, looking as though he’d partied as well. He just didn’t look or probably feel nearly as bad as Brent did. “Were you here last night?”

  “I did the after party with the opening band. Cool guys.” Declan walked inside and whistled as he looked around. “Is Kenzie pissed off? It was Scarlet’s graduation today and she scheduled hard to be there. She could’ve just called me.”