The Secret (Billionaire Secrets Series, #1)

by Lexy Timms

  The Secret

  Billionaire Secrets Series, Volume 1

  Lexy Timms

  Published by Dark Shadow Publishing, 2018.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  THE SECRET

  First edition. February 7, 2018.

  Copyright © 2018 Lexy Timms.

  Written by Lexy Timms.

  Also by Lexy Timms

  A Chance at Forever Series

  Forever Perfect

  Forever Desired

  Forever Together

  Alpha Bad Boy Motorcycle Club Triology

  Alpha Biker

  Alpha Revenge

  Alpha Outlaw

  Alpha Purpose

  BBW Romance Series

  Capturing Her Beauty

  Pursuing Her Dreams

  Tracing Her Curves

  Beating the Biker Series

  Making Her His

  Making the Break

  Making of Them

  Billionaire Holiday Romance Series

  Driving Home for Christmas

  The Valentine Getaway

  Cruising Love

  Billionaire Secrets Series

  The Secret

  Conquering Warrior Series

  Ruthless

  Diamond in the Rough Anthology

  Billionaire Rock

  Billionaire Rock - part 2

  Dominating PA Series

  Her Personal Assistant - Part 1

  Her Personal Assistant Box Set

  Fake Billionaire Series

  Faking It

  Temporary CEO

  Caught in the Act

  Never Tell A Lie

  Fake Christmas

  Firehouse Romance Series

  Caught in Flames

  Burning With Desire

  Craving the Heat

  Firehouse Romance Complete Collection

  Fortune Riders MC Series

  Billionaire Biker

  Billionaire Ransom

  Billionaire Misery

  Fragile Series

  Fragile Touch

  Fragile Kiss

  Fragile Love

  Hades' Spawn Motorcycle Club

  One You Can't Forget

  One That Got Away

  One That Came Back

  One You Never Leave

  One Christmas Night

  Hades' Spawn MC Complete Series

  Heart of Stone Series

  The Protector

  The Guardian

  The Warrior

  Heart of the Battle Series

  Celtic Viking

  Celtic Rune

  Celtic Mann

  Heart of the Battle Series Box Set

  Heistdom Series

  Master Thief (Coming Soon)

  Just About Series

  About Love

  About Truth

  About Forever

  Love You Series

  Love Life

  Need Love

  My Love

  Managing the Bosses Series

  The Boss

  The Boss Too

  Who's the Boss Now

  Love the Boss

  I Do the Boss

  Wife to the Boss

  Employed by the Boss

  Brother to the Boss

  Senior Advisor to the Boss

  Forever the Boss

  Gift for the Boss - Novella 3.5

  Christmas With the Boss

  Moment in Time

  Highlander's Bride

  Victorian Bride

  Modern Day Bride

  A Royal Bride

  Forever the Bride

  Outside the Octagon

  Submit

  RIP Series

  Track the Ripper

  Hunt the Ripper

  Pursue the Ripper

  R&S Rich and Single Series

  Alex Reid

  Parker

  Saving Forever

  Saving Forever - Part 1

  Saving Forever - Part 2

  Saving Forever - Part 3

  Saving Forever - Part 4

  Saving Forever - Part 5

  Saving Forever - Part 6

  Saving Forever Part 7

  Saving Forever - Part 8

  Saving Forever Boxset Books #1-3

  Southern Romance Series

  Little Love Affair

  Siege of the Heart

  Freedom Forever

  Soldier's Fortune

  Tattooist Series

  Confession of a Tattooist

  Surrender of a Tattooist

  Heart of a Tattooist

  Hopes & Dreams of a Tattooist

  Tennessee Romance

  Whisky Lullaby

  Whisky Melody

  Whisky Harmony

  The Brush Of Love Series

  Every Night

  Every Day

  Every Time

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  Every Touch (Coming Soon)

  The Debt

  The Debt: Part 1 - Damn Horse

  The Debt: Complete Collection

  The University of Gatica Series

  The Recruiting Trip

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  Higher

  Stronger

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  No Rush

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  T.N.T. Series

  Troubled Nate Thomas - Part 1

  Troubled Nate Thomas - Part 2

  Troubled Nate Thomas - Part 3

  Undercover Series

  Perfect For Me

  Perfect For You

  Perfect For Us

  Unknown Identity Series

  Unknown

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  Unknown Identity Box Set: Books #1-3

  Unlucky Series

  Unlucky in Love

  UnWanted

  UnLoved Forever

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  Wash

  Loving Charity

  Summer Lovin'

  Love & College

  Billionaire Heart

  First Love

  Frisky and Fun Romance Box Collection

  Managing the Bosses Box Set #1-3

  Copyright 2018

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to an actual person, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  All rights reserved.

  The Secret

  Billionaire Secrets Series # 1

  Copyright 2018 by Lexy Timms

  Cover by: Book Cover by Desi
gn

  BILLIONAIRE SECRETS SERIES

  The Secret

  Freedom

  Courage

  Trust

  Impulse

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  The Secret Blurb

  USA TODAY BESTSELLING Author, Lexy Timms, brings you a billionaire with a past he pretends didn’t exist and a private life he doesn’t want to share with anyone—except with one girl from his past that doesn’t remember him.

  The SECRET of happiness is FREEDOM. The secret of freedom is COURAGE.

  The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past as better than what is was and the present worse than it actually is.

  Billionaire CEO, SIMON DIESEL, owns one of the largest companies in the U.S. Little is known about him—he keeps his personal life out of the media despite their efforts to try to find out who the single, handsome billionaire is. He graduated out of Stanford with top honors, and while there invested in an online company that turned into a fortune. No one knows he was just a regular kid growing up and got into Stanford on a scholarship. He’s determined to prove to himself that he can do it.

  He never expected that the girl he lost his virginity to would show up in his office, looking for a job. He also never anticipated that she wouldn’t remember him. Now he has to hire her, just to prove he’s the same kid from high school—just a whole lot richer.

  Contents

  BILLIONAIRE SECRETS SERIES

  Find Lexy Timms:

  The Secret Blurb

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Happiness Book #2 Blurb

  Billionaire CEO SERIES

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  Chapter 1

  Simon Diesel had never had to personally fire anyone.

  Until today.

  Five years as the CEO of Technologies, and he’d managed to keep his hands clean. It wasn’t as if anybody on staff had never been fired. They had been. Not many, since he ran a tight ship, but when it did happen someone else did the dirty work.

  Unfortunately, not this time.

  He tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the elevator to get to the right floor. When the elevator finally came to a stop and the doors slid open, he hurried out. Glancing around the open concept office where all the engineers had gathered to start the week, he trained his gaze on one employee in particular.

  “Linda!” he barked.

  His media relations officer, Linda Schaffer, jerked her head around to focus on him. Her eyes widened, her graying hair disheveled. Linda always looked a bit frazzled, but this morning she had an especially exhausted air about her.

  Not that Simon could blame her. Firing someone out of the blue like this wasn’t exactly conducive to the type of cool, calm culture he’d been trying to foster at Dover, Inc. all these years.

  “Simon?” Linda’s voice shook. “I mean, Mr. Diesel?”

  Good. If Linda was nervous this morning, that meant the rest of the staff was liable to fall in line. And he needed them to fall in line. Needed them focused. Because if any of them so much as thought of double-crossing him, Dover’s future, and the future of thousands of people, would be in jeopardy.

  “In my office,” he commanded. “Now.”

  The engineers all trained their eyes to him. Every one of them looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Fine with him. He’d tolerated far too much. That ended today.

  He spun around on his heel and marched into his office.

  His personal assistant, Xander, was already inside, serving coffee to Simon’s lawyer at the table on the far side of his expansive office.

  Xander looked like a wreck. Pale as a ghost. And his hands were trembling as he handed the coffee cup over to the lawyer.

  “Good morning, Xander,” Simon said icily.

  Xander didn’t meet his gaze. Merely nodded and said, “Sir.”

  Simon narrowed his eyes. He was caught somewhere between anger and a strange sense of loss over such a betrayal. Bitterness rose within him. Pushing it all aside, he headed over to the table and took a seat. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to trust anyone ever again.

  Linda appeared, with one of Dover’s senior executives in tow. “Is everyone here?” she asked.

  “Yes.” Simon gestured for her and the executive to sit down.

  Better to get this over with quickly. The press had already called him for a statement. A statement he refused to give until he got this matter settled. Reporters had been calling non-stop all weekend and all this morning. It had gotten so bad the frenzy had forced Simon to do something else he’d never done. Turn his phone off.

  Linda took a seat beside him. Meanwhile, Xander sat down across from him and started typing away on his laptop.

  “Has everybody heard the news this morning?” Simon found it impossible to keep the dangerous edge out of his voice.

  Nobody said a word. Everybody trained their eyes on something other than him. Linda cleared her throat loudly, her discomfort evident.

  Simon arched an eyebrow. “Linda? You expect me to believe you haven’t heard today’s news? Aren’t you my media relations officer?”

  Linda turned bright red. “Of course, I heard. You called me with the news on Saturday.”

  “That’s right,” he muttered. “I did. Do you know why I called you with the news before the story broke, Linda?”

  “No,” Linda replied, her voice a squeak.

  “Because I know you wouldn’t take so much as a paper clip from Dover. Because I still trust you.” He paused for emphasis. “For now.”

  “I’ve been at Dover since day one, and I would never do anything to hurt this company,” Linda said desperately.

  “Since Linda has so vigorously defended herself,” Simon went on, “would the rest of you like to take a stab at today’s news? Any thoughts on the insider trading that’s been going on at Dover?”

  Another uncomfortable silence. He didn’t have time for this. If nobody was going to come out and admit what they had done, he had no choice but to throw them out of his office.

  “Never mind,” he bit out harshly. “You’ve been given a chance to come clean and refused to do so. You’re all dismissed.”

  “But Simon—”

  “I’m not going to repeat myself,” he growled through clenched teeth, cutting Linda off.

  Typically, he had a good relationship with his staff, especially Linda, but now wasn’t the time for sentiment. If he was going to protect the thousands of workers who depended on him, he had to lay down the law. It was the only way to maintain respect and keep control. He was the CEO. The tough decisions were up to him to make.

  They all jumped to their feet and one by one started scurrying out of the office.

  “Except for you, Xander,” Simon said in a menacing tone. “There’s something we need to discuss.”

  The office emptied almost immediately, with him and Xander left behind. Reluctantly, Xander resumed his seat, his eyes darting aro
und the office.

  “I’m not going to beat around the bush here,” Simon said. “I know you did it, Xander.”

  His assistant’s face was the picture of panic. “But, I didn’t—”

  “Hand over your key card, your company ID, and your company-issued phone and leave immediately.” Simon got to his feet. “If you refuse to go quietly, I’ll have security here in less than sixty seconds.”

  Xander sighed heavily. “How’d you figure out that it was me?”

  “You’re joking, right?” Simon glared down at his assistant. “Think about who you’re talking to.”

  It wasn’t arrogance to remind the people around him that he was more than likely smarter than them. Ever since he was a child, he had been the smartest person in the room at any given moment. That had started off as a curse but ended up paying off in high school. Then it had paid off even more through college and after, when he helped Dover Incorporated go from a tiny little start-up to one of the biggest tech companies on earth.

  “I’ll go quietly,” Xander said, holding up his hands.

  “That’s the smart play,” Simon said with a hard nod. “I don’t know why in hell you would hand over private information about my company shares to one of our biggest rivals.”

  Xander crossed his arms. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

  “You know what the rules are,” Simon reminded him. “That kind of information is confidential. Not to mention revealing it to someone you know would act on it is illegal. You deliberately told someone about my private financial information to help them game the system.”

  “We all do what we have to.” Xander stood up, tossed his key card, ID, and phone onto the table and glowered. “I’m looking out for my best interests.”

  “What I don’t understand is why you did it,” Simon said. “Your salary’s far higher than the going rate. Your benefits are incredible. Why put a job like this in jeopardy?”