Billionaire's Black Runaway Love 3

by Ciara Cole

  “You’d say anything to paint Emily in a bad light,” Chace said, his tone dismissive. “But I’m not biting. Whatever you want to tell me, I’m not going to be swayed.”

  “Oh, I won’t be telling you anything, since Emily can do that well enough herself. And here she is.”

  Emily had arrived and seemed to falter as she saw that Chace was present. She, too, must have thought she’d be meeting Jan alone when Jan had called her to suggest the lunch appointment.

  “Chace,” Emily worded, as she slowly advanced and took the available seat on Jan’s other side. With her in between them, there seemed a symbolic shift of focus as she became the one core factor causing tensions to rise between both Chace and Emily.

  “I had no clue Jan set this up, or why,” Chace said to the nervous Emily. “But I’m sure this is just her idea of a fun little caper.”

  “Maybe,” Jan said casually. “That means neither of you have anything to worry about, right?”

  “Oh I’m not worried. Just waiting for the punch line,” Chace returned while arching a brow. “Well? What’s this all about?”

  “Why don’t I let Emily start,” was Jan’s response as she turned to Emily with a sweet smile. “A week ago, you met up with your ex Devan Chandler at least twice. Care to fill us in on the details?”

  Chace shot a glance at Emily and saw her features freeze. He growled, “What does Jan mean, Emily?”

  “Oh, their rendezvous seemed innocent enough,” Jan cut in while Emily just sat like a statue. “But then, those were just two occasions they were actually observed. There could have been other times we don’t know about, where anything could have happened. One can never say with a couple that used to be lovers. Some flames are hard to put out.”

  “Chace, it wasn’t like that,” Emily burst out.

  Chace wasn’t looking at her, but kept his eyes trained on Jan. “How do you know about any of this? Did you have Emily followed?”

  Jan was checking her perfectly manicured nails, thick lashes shielding her expression. “Someone had to be objective in all of this. I mean, what do we really know about this woman you plan on letting into the family? Even your parents were all for it when I suggested I get Emily watched. So I hired some private investigators.”

  Jan’s gaze snapped up to view Chace, whose stormy gray eyes grew darker. “You know how much is running on the enterprise we jointly operate. Not just the billions involved, but the name you’ve built over the years can all go down the drain when you make the wrong match. I told you I’m on your side, Chace, and I meant it. You deserve a whole lot better than someone who keeps secrets – someone who can pull you down with just a snap of her fingers.”

  “Chace, let me explain,” began Emily in a desperate tone as she reached a hand out to grip Chace’s sleeve. He still wouldn’t look at her, which was frustrating, as he kept his focus on Jan, who had that sly smile of triumph on her face.

  “Maybe it’ll be best if you heard the truth from me after all,” Jan murmured. “Because at least you can be sure I have no personal agenda. I know you don’t love me and would never want to be with me. So this isn’t about wanting you for myself. I truly think you need to know what you’re getting into. Emily paid her ex close to a million dollars just last week. You must wonder why. Well, Devan Chandler has a gambling problem and on top of that, he’s got some very menacing loan sharks on his back. Who do you think he came running to for help?”

  Jan’s thin smile widened. “He knew Emily couldn’t stand the thought of him getting in trouble and possibly being maimed or worse by these gangsters. She didn’t think twice about helping him and didn’t even have the decency to tell you about it. I mean this was a guy she dated for almost a year, there’s bound to be a soft spot. She couldn’t well turn her back on the past love of her life, could she? Even if it meant putting your name in jeopardy if the press found out?”

  “Chace, she’s lying. Oh God,” gasped Emily, rearing on Jan. If they weren’t in a public place, Emily didn’t know what she’d have done to that witch. “I can’t believe you’d be such a bare-faced fabricator.”

  “Then tell me you didn’t pay Devan that money. Or that you mentioned to Chace even once that you’d been meeting with your ex.”

  Face twisted in a sneer, Jan unearthed a file and opened it in front of Chace. “You’ll find proof of Devan’s massive gambling debts. He’s a problem that just might not go away. What if he needs more money next time? And what if he gets into more trouble and the tabloids get wind of the connection between Emily and Devan? About how your ex-wife has ties to a compulsive gambler? Your name will get dragged through the mud again and again. Your family and company will suffer. What do you think will happen to your relationship in the process?”

  Emily was so dazed, she was running her gaze over the papers in disbelief. Had Devan lied to her? Was it possible that he was actually a gambler and hadn’t been deceived by his ex into running a huge debt just to keep her?

  Jan was directing her next words to the dumbstruck Emily. “This time your ex wanted money. Goodness knows what he’ll demand from you next, just for old time’s sake.” Jan swept her eyes meaningfully and disdainfully over Emily’s rigid body. “For all we know, things were never really over between you and Devan. How long did you think you could get away with it, hmm?”

  Scornful and victorious did not begin to describe Jan’s expression right then. Emily just wanted to fling her glass of wine in that smug face, so that was what she did.

  “That’s what I think of your concocted trash story,” Emily said calmly as Jan gasped in shock, staring at the spreading droplets showing red against her gray dress.

  Unable to even glance Chace’s way to see his reaction Emily jumped to her feet. Almost blinded by her sudden tears and choking with emotions, she marched quickly out of the now silent restaurant.

  Chapter 5

  Devan stumbled back in alarm when he opened his front door and Emily barged in. “Em! What…what’s going on? Why are you here?”

  Emily looked around at the apartment. “Where is she? Your girlfriend Alice?” Her voice was cold as ice.

  Devan’s guilty expression wasn’t lost on Emily. “What makes you think she’s living with me?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. You gave me the impression you both were ride or die or something,” Emily said. She spun to face Devan who gave an involuntary start.

  “Look, Emily, I’m not sure what this is about. I appreciate what you did for me with the money, but that doesn’t give you the right to charge in here acting all crazy. Why don’t I get us a drink, okay?”

  Emily was standing in the middle of the room fuming when Devan reappeared and set two bottles of craft beer before them. “Now, tell me what’s going on. What’s got you all worked up?”

  “So…those loan sharks got the money, huh?” Emily asked.

  Devan’s eyes darted. “Sure they did. I handed it to them just yesterday, and damn, was it a huge load off my chest. Why?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. They just seemed so easily appeased. And come to think of it, you never did look like someone who really feared for his life or safety.”

  “What did you want me to do, Emily? I almost had a nervous breakdown, but held it together,” Devan said feelingly. He took a drag from his beer. “Now I feel like I can breathe, you know? And I’ve got you to thank for that.”

  “So none of this was about you fixing your gambling debts? That’s what you really needed the money for, wasn’t it?”

  The sudden look that crossed Devan’s face told Emily what she needed to know. Her lips pursed into a thin line. Devan’s throat worked nervously as he set down his empty beer bottle.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Look, if there’s nothing else you need, I have to head out soon, so why don’t I see you to the door?”

  Emily’s answer was to grab the beer bottle by the neck and calmly smash the base on the edge of the table.

  Devan jumped and b
acked against the wall, as Emily idly waved the jagged-edged bottle she now held. “Now this is just the kind of crazy bitch I can be,” she said almost conversationally.

  Emily knew that for all his manly aura, Devan hated aggressive behavior and avoided confrontation. He definitely didn’t like the sight of blood and any threat of harm could send him scurrying. This time, he had no means of escape, trapped behind the bar as Emily slowly advanced.

  She stopped a few paces away and smirked as he cringed even more against the wall. “What the hell, Em!” he breathed, eyes widening in horror.

  “I just want the truth,” she said. “So you have to come clean with me. Something tells me there’s no loan shark and I can bet there’s no Alice, either. I know you, Devan. Your life is one big con. You dress good, have the looks and swag, and people just think you’ve got it together. I should have seen right through you from the start, but I was too damn needy. But you’ve played on my emotions for the last time.”

  She arched her brow at him, waiting patiently for him to start talking. When he let out a shaky sigh and put on that look of remorse she could read so well, she knew he would tell her everything she needed to know.

  Chapter 6

  Emily didn’t really expect Chace to be home when she got back. She’d had the image of him somewhere else, being comforted by the ever supportive Jan. Maybe it would be him doing the comforting, as he reassured the dripping Jan that Emily didn’t really mean to douse her in wine.

  Emily hadn’t regretted that action, childish though it was. And yet she’d hated for Chace to see that side of her. He’d probably believe she was every bit as devious and unpredictable as Jan had painted her to be.

  After leaving Devan’s place, she’d driven around for two hours, just feeling mad at herself and stupid. Most of all, she felt shameful that she’d let things get to this point. How blind she’d been not to see any of this coming. To not see right through Devan and also not realizing Jan was really a low-down sneak.

  Most of all, she hated the thought of Chace feeling differently about her. To ever see the distrust and reproach in his face and thinking how she must have humiliated him by coming in contact with her ex behind his back.

  The house was spookily silent, but somehow, she sensed Chace’s presence. Suddenly, her knees felt shaky as she made her way to the bedroom.

  There he was standing by the window, arms folded and with him in profile. His lean, athletic frame was still dressed, though in just his white shirt rolled up at the sleeves and his dark pants.

  Emily couldn’t read his expression, even when he turned to her. She thought she saw a flash of relief in his gaze, but it was gone in an instant.

  Those icy gray eyes had never seemed more inaccessible than now.

  “Where have you been?” Chace asked. “No, let me guess. Of course, since he runs to you when he’s in trouble, it only makes sense you’d run straight to him in times like this. So why did you come back?”

  Emily gasped and shot her eyes up to meet Chace’s. It was then she saw the hurt and betrayal beneath his cold mask and her heart shattered.

  “It’s not that way at all. I had to go see Devan and find out the truth for myself. He really did make me believe he was in trouble with some gangsters over money and that they would somehow use our past connection against you.”

  Chace huffed, and she could see his muscles flex beneath his shirt as he folded his arms once more over his chest. “Tell me one thing honestly. Are you still in love with him?”

  “What? No!” she said, aghast. “How could you even think that? Yes, I was stupid enough to feel some obligation to him, but there’s no emotional attachment there. At all. Please believe me, Chace.”

  She stepped forward, hand outstretched. But she stopped short when she became conscious of his raw, vivid tension that made his whole frame seem under restraint and just seconds from unleashing fiercely.

  “Chace, first I need you to forget everything that Jan made you believe,” she said quietly after a few moments of hard silence passed.

  “Give me a reason why. Damn you, Emily, give me anything,” Chace barked.

  Emily quaked and had to take in deep breaths before she could continue. She’d never felt so powerless and fearful. Not of any violence from Chace, but just with that trapped sensation that told her everything was slipping away from her in this moment if she didn’t do something.

  As clearly as she could, she told Chace all she knew.

  Minutes later, Emily was rounding up. “It was mostly just a set up. Devan came to me with a story he cooked up, about running up debts to please his girlfriend Alice. But I found from him just now that Alice doesn’t exist. The picture he showed me was simply manufactured – that was just some girl he got to make herself look like she’d been battered. And those loan sharks he claimed to be worried about, the ones he said might come after me or even you…that was a lie, too. The truth is, he’s got a gambling addiction and does owe huge debts, and that’s what he really needed the money for.”

  “So Jan was right,” was Chace’s grim observation.

  “No!” Emily cried, stepping forward and gripping Chace’s arm before she could stop herself. “What she did was try to make it look like I helped Devan because we still had something going on. We don’t. I hadn’t even seen or heard from him for months until a few days ago. My only thought was to safeguard you from any shady elements.”

  Chace’s humorless chuckle reached Emily’s ears. “Only two nights ago you asked me to protect you. But you never really believed I could, did you? That’s why you chose to handle it all on your own.”

  Emily’s heart broke even more. “Chace, I’m sorry. For being over-confident, for thinking I knew everything. I just…I felt I’d never done anything for you, and with this I could somehow show some purpose without having to trouble you. You had so much going on. The billion-dollar acquisition, for one…”

  As Emily spoke, her hands rested on Chace’s chest, but he gripped her wrists and held them up away from his body. Emily gasped and stared into the fury etched on his face.

  “Do you think any of that would matter if something happened to you?”

  Emily shivered at the cold ferocity in his voice. “Chace.”

  “You were always going on about me being straight with you. But you couldn’t do the same with me. What would it have cost to simply tell me the truth?”

  “I was scared,” Emily breathed. “I’m scared now. Of what you would do if you found out Devan and those gangsters were trying to be a threat. Even now, you’re so mad at me it’s making me shake. Just like back at the restaurant when you wouldn’t look at me when I tried to explain.”

  Chace let go of her wrists slowly, the force of anger seeming to drain out of him. Emily hugged her hands to her stomach as he pushed his fingers through his hair.

  “You drive me insane,” he growled. “That’s why I couldn’t look at you when Jan started spewing those things. Because I knew that if I saw your face, I’d be crazy enough to believe anything you told me, even if they were lies. Jan was right about one thing, at least – I can never be objective about you, Emily.”

  Chace suddenly grabbed her face in his hands, swooping down to crush his lips roughly over hers.

  Emily moaned into his mouth, her fingers clutching his arms. His torment mirrored hers, adding a fine edge to their hunger. He started taking off her clothes, really fast, almost ripping them to pieces.

  “Chace, baby…”

  He seized up her mouth again, hushing her plea. Emily clung to him with tears spilling as she felt his urgency like an ache. She loved and needed him so much. Yes, even his anger and his hurt. They both seemed shaken, as if realizing this was their first real trial. There seemed to be that effect of total shock when they’d both thought they could lose each other. Chace because he’d thought she’d betrayed him, and Emily because she had suddenly realized her huge mistake in risking Chace’s distrust.

  Emily kissed him bac
k, giving him her tongue, and heard him groan. Her fingers reached up and knotted in his hair, tugging hard. His deep, harshly-drawn breath filled her ears, and Emily couldn’t control the riot of sensations inside her. So much so that when Chace suddenly let her go, she almost stumbled.

  He broke the kiss and backed away, while she sought the support of the near wall as she dragged in much needed air. Chace was panting, as if it was an uphill climb trying to find some balance again. Emily was far from stable herself, feeling her desire and fear as a potent mix. Was he going to send her away? Tell her this was over? She couldn’t breathe, hell, couldn’t think.

  “You…you make me want to find Devan and break every bone in his body. Then kill him.”

  “Chace,” Emily began, while trying to gather her tattered clothing around her.

  “If you don’t want that, then don’t ever see him or talk to him again. Not without telling me first.”

  Emily nodded, feeling his violent anger from across the room where he’d put distance between them. She braved meeting his gaze and sure enough, those gray eyes were gleaming with the same lust that cramped her whole body. She would have made her way to him, but his next words stopped her.

  “Don’t.” His voice was like the crack of a whip. “I can’t touch you when I’m like this. I don’t know if I can hold back. I’m too crazy right now.”

  Did he mean he might get physical with her? For a second, that was what it seemed – that for the first time, he might hurt her? Then Emily shook that thought aside. Chace would never raise a hand to her or deliberately cause her injury.

  Licking her parched lips, Emily took courage and closed the gap between them. “I don’t mind if you get a little rough. I like it,” she whispered, her palm cupping his jaw.

  “No.” Chace grabbed her wrist again and abruptly released it. “I want to brand myself inside you till your mind and body conform to mine and only mine. But you pushed me to the extreme and no one’s ever done that. I’m still trying to decide if I should let you.”