Captivating You (How to Marry a Billionaire #2)

Episode 71

EPISODE 71

SHADOWS AND STRANGERS

River

Twenty Years Earlier

The moon hangs high above me in the vast Montana sky, casting its silvery light over the sprawling ranch. I almost feel like it’s watching me, its luminous gaze piercing through the darkness of the night. A stillness fills the night air, a silence so deep that even the rustling of the grass seems to hush in reverence.

Brett left for home after polishing off his third beer, but I keep considering his words. He spoke them with unbridled certainty, as if they were a premonition rather than a simple statement.

One day I’m going to be so rich, this thing we’re about to do will be a distant memory. Something like a dream within a dream. One day, I won’t have to think about other people’s money, because I’m going to have so much of my own that I’ll never be able to spend it all in five lifetimes. And, Riv, I don’t care what I have to do to get it.

I have no doubt Brett will make his success happen. He’s the smartest guy I know, and his determination is unequaled. But his words have an almost frightening impact on me, as if somewhere within them is something dark, possibly even sinister.

Brett seems concerned about Jake, but not enough to call the whole thing off. In a strange way, I’m glad because I think Jake needs his share of whatever we get from Old Man Larson. He’s got a kid on the way, and his mother isn’t working. So much I still don’t know about that.

I breathe in as I walk off the porch and look upward.

The moon’s light bathes the world in a ghostly glow, casting long, haunting shadows that stretch across the land. The shadows feel like silent accusations, as if the moon itself is judging me, taking the place of my father who’d be so disappointed if he knew what the guys and I are about to do.

I’m almost thankful for my father’s incapacitation, though I’d give anything to have him back as he was.

Still, this will happen. It needs to happen. We all need it...especially Jake.

Present Day

Seriously? I come out here to try to relax in the damned hot tub after my run-in with Seb, and I find my best friend and?—

Fuck.

The thought that went through my head was “my woman.”

She made it damned clear that a life on a ranch was no life for her. Just days ago I was unraveling what, if anything, I might be feeling for Rachel. Emily is not my woman.

Still, the words erupt out of my mouth.

“What the hell’s going on here?”

Emily jerks toward my voice, her blue eyes wide.

There’s no mistaking the look on her face. I saw it many times over the last twelve hours. Her eyes may be wide instead of heavy-lidded, but her cheeks are flushed, and her lips are parted.

She’s in the afterglow of a climax.

And who’s sitting next to her in the tub? None other than my best friend in the universe who claims to have never loved anyone since we were fifteen years old.

Despite his professed love for Jake, Brett will fuck anything with a pulse, and Emily Kensington is so much more than just a pulse. She’s beautiful and classy and intelligent and has a killer sense of humor.

“Hey, Riv,” Brett drawls. “Just having some morning fun. What are you doing here?”

My jaw is rigid. “I thought I’d take a quick dip before I get the fuck off this island.”

Emily gasps. “You’re leaving?”

“Hell, yeah. Ask Brett why.”

She turns to Brett. “Why is he leaving?”

Brett scoffs. “He’s not.”

“You want me to stay? You know who has to go.” I pull off my T-shirt. I’m now wearing only black trunks.

Emily gazes at my chest and swallows audibly.

Good.

Gaze away. I’ll be gone as soon as the ferry gets here for Sienna. If Emily wants more of me...too damned bad. Brett will be happy to keep her satisfied.

If Misty isn’t out of here, I am. It’s that simple. Brett claimed last night that he wants to get to know Misty. That she’s our last link to Jake, whom he loved unbeknownst to all of us. Yet here he is in the hot tub getting it on with Emily.

Jealousy spears through me, and that really pisses me off. I went to Emily last night when I needed a release. That’s all that was.

Except...that’s not all she is now.

But apparently that’s all I was— am —to her.

Good to know.

I just wish it didn’t feel like a dull knife to my heart.

And what about Brett? Seems if he can’t get to know Misty better right away, any port in a storm will do.

The word storm isn’t lost on me either. This whole fucking thing is like a hurricane with no end in sight.

“You’re not leaving,” Brett says again, this time with an almost defiant tone.

“Think again.” I step into the tub across from Brett and Emily. “I’ll be on that ferry to escort Sienna home, and?—”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Emily interrupts. “Sienna is going home ?”

“Some kind of family emergency,” I say, “but she’ll be back.”

“Or she won’t be,” Brett says.

I raise my eyebrows at him. “Do you know something I don’t?”

He shakes his head.

Fine. When Brett doesn’t feel like talking, he doesn’t talk. Or he changes the subject.

“Sebastian told Evangeline we should take the morning off,” he says.

Yup. Subject change.

Fine. I’ll play it his way.

“Doesn’t matter to me. I’ll be out of here either way.” I stretch my arms out on the edges of the tub as the warm water soothes my body. I’m a little sore. After all, I fucked Emily in every position imaginable mere hours ago.

Not that it seems to matter to her.

She made a big deal of how she was done being a distraction, yet here she is, distracting Brett after interrogating me about Rachel.

God, Rachel. I hope she’s okay. I plan to look in on her while I’m in Jamaica, once I see Sienna safely on a plane home. She was the woman I gravitated toward the first night, but after last night with Emily...

Hell, this is so fucked up. How did I ever let Brett talk me into this? How have I ever let Brett talk me into anything?

If only we hadn’t...

“Which of you blokes is going to answer me about Sienna?” Emily demands, successfully dislodging my troubling thoughts.

“All I know is there’s a family issue,” I say again. “If you want more than that, I suggest you ask Brett. He seems to know more than he’s letting on.”

Brett stays eerily silent.

“Fine, then.” Emily rises and steps out of the tub, rivulets of water forging a path along the perfect curves of her lithe body. She grabs a towel and wraps it around herself. “I had a great time with both of you, but I’m wondering if this is all worth it.”

I don’t have time to consider what she might mean, because once she’s gone, Brett turns to me.

“Jesus fuck, Riv. Now we may lose another one. What’d you do to piss her off?”

“I fucked her brains out last night,” I say bluntly.

Brett’s eyebrows nearly fly off his forehead. “What?”

“You heard me. I was pissed as hell after the debacle with Misty, and Emily was there.”

“So you used her.”

I hate his words. Maybe it began that way—for both of us—but it didn’t end that way. At least not for me.

“I don’t use people, Brett.”

“Are you insinuating that I do?”

I scoff. “How can I insinuate anything about you? I don’t even know you anymore. Of everyone I know who’s still living, you’re the person I’ve known the longest. The person I thought I knew the best. Turns out I was all kinds of wrong. It’s like you’re a stranger to me.”

“Just because I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve like the rest of you?—”

“That’s not even it, and you know it.” I shake my head. “I totally get why you kept your feelings for Jake a secret. I might have done the same thing in your shoes. What I don’t get is this sudden fascination with Misty. And don’t say it’s because she’s Jake’s sister—which we’re not even sure is true—because siblings can be different as night and day. Whether she shares his blood or not, Misty is not Jake. Not even close. You must see that.”

Brett leans back, closes his eyes, and draws in a deep breath.

He’s done talking. Case closed. His mind is made up. Misty stays.

Which means I go.

Simple enough.

I soak for a few more minutes and then stand and wrap a towel around my waist.

Time to get back to my suite, shower, and dress for the ferry ride.

I’m so out of here.