Enticing You (How to Marry a Billionaire #1)

Episode 41

EPISODE 41

RIVER AND MISTY'S DATE, PART TWO—SECRETS

While Misty heads to the changing area to deal with the cocktail sauce spill, I take another sip of the smooth bourbon.

Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?

That question caused her to drop the shrimp into her lap.

I’m on the right track.

Now…to get her to talk while making her think I know everything.

What does Evangeline owe Misty?

Why does Misty want me?

Did she have something to do with Rachel’s near drowning earlier?

Three questions I need answers to, as well as to find out exactly what Misty claims to know about my secrets.

She returns a few minutes later wearing a short satin robe rather than one of the sundresses I know are in her closet.

She’s coming on strong, and I want to know why.

She takes a seat and smiles sweetly. “I’d love another glass of that Dom, River.”

“Of course.” I take the bottle from the ice bucket and pour some into her flute.

She takes a sip but says nothing.

“Ready to talk?” I ask.

“I’m ready to do a lot more than talk.” Her tone says she’s trying for sultry, but to me it’s simply annoying.

I’ll fuck her if I have to, but first I’m going to try to find out exactly what she knows about me. And what her secrets are.

“You say you know my secrets.” I take another drink of bourbon.

“Some of them, I said.”

“Yes. Some of them. I know all of yours.”

Her cheeks redden as she sips her champagne.

“You see, Misty, the guys and I entered into this situation with full knowledge of all of the women we invited here.”

She swallows. I actually see her throat move.

“So rather than play coy with me,” I say, “I think you should just tell me everything. That way, it’s all on the table. When there are no secrets between us, we can truly get to know each other.”

Another sip of the Pappy Van Winkle’s helps soothe my throat from the lies.

“Tell me what you know,” she finally says, shaking her shoulders so her robe slides over them, baring her breasts.

“Oh, no.” I try for the swoony Seb vibe again, eyeing her chest. “Ladies first.”

She twists the stem of her champagne flute between her fingers. Her knuckles are white and tense, and for a moment I worry the crystal is going to shatter from the pressure.

“I suppose I should have known that you four wouldn’t go into this blindly.”

I nod.

“My family has kept it a secret, but four billionaires can find out anything.”

“Yes, we can.”

Come on. Don’t keep me in suspense.

She nibbles on her lower lip. “It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that I was adopted.”

Adopted? That’s her big secret? Fuck. But I show no disappointment.

“My parents never told me. I stumbled across some papers in one of my father’s desks.”

“What were you doing in your father’s desk?”

“Looking for the combination to his safe. I wanted to wear my grandmother’s diamond necklace to a social event, and only my father knows the combination. He’s old-school and keeps everything written down.”

“Why not just ask your mother or father for the necklace?”

She looks down. Of course. They wouldn’t have let her wear it. Spoiled to a fault. Doesn’t know the meaning of the word “no.”

“They still don’t know that I know,” she continues. “I couldn’t tell them because…”

“Because then they’d know you were snooping.” Time to redirect. “I don’t care how you found out, Misty. I only want to know what you found out.”

She lets out a nervous laugh. “Right.”

“Tell me all your secrets, Misty.” I lick my lower lip, hoping it looks sexy.

“You must already know that my biological mother was a woman named Lisa Patterson. She died nearly twenty years ago. Or I'm assuming she did. She seemed to disappear off the earth, but I couldn't find a death certificate.”

My heart drops to my stomach, but I take care to keep my expression blank.

Lisa Patterson.

A name from my past.

Lisa Patterson was the mother of Jake Patterson.

The fifth of our group.

The one who…

Fuck…

Misty may know something after all…

I rack my brain while taking another sip and never letting my gaze stray from Misty’s. Jake’s father died shortly after he was born. Did Lisa have another child? If she did, Misty would be Jake’s half-sister. But Jake and Lisa lived in our small town since Jake was a toddler. I don’t recall Lisa being pregnant…

Misty is twenty-eight, so Lisa would have had her when Jake—and the rest of us—were seven.

Then again…Lisa Patterson isn’t an uncommon name. This could all mean nothing.

Except I’m lying to myself.

This means something for sure…and Misty knows it.

“Yes,” I say calmly. “Lisa Patterson. Why don’t you tell me how that all came about.”

“How I was adopted?”

“Yes. About how Lisa’s child came to be the daughter of a hotel magnate.”

And why Lisa and Jake lived in squalor while her other child was brought up in riches.

She sighs. “I honestly don’t know the whole story. I guess my parents tried and just couldn’t get pregnant. That’s pure conjecture. I couldn’t ask them. They’ve kept it from me—and everyone else—all this time.”

I nod slowly. “Go on.”

“I was adopted as an infant, and apparently they paid my birth mother for me.”

Yeah, something’s off here.

“How much?”

“Twenty thousand dollars.” She huffs. “I know that sounds like nothing to you and me.”

Maybe now. But back then? Twenty thousand dollars would have been a godsend to any one of us. Especially to Lisa and Jake.

Hell, money’s the whole reason…

Fuck. I can’t go there. I’ve got to keep my head.

“Anyway,” she continues, “I did some research into my birth mother. Where she lived. What happened to her.” She grabs another shrimp, swirls it in the vinaigrette this time, and then slithers her tongue around it before popping it into her mouth, chewing, and swallowing. “And that’s how I found out your secrets.”

Twenty Years Earlier

“Here’s how it goes.” Brett’s voice is low as the five of us gather in the old shed on the far end of my family’s small ranch. “It’s buried outside Old Man Larson’s barn.”

“You sure?” Seb asks.

“I told you. I saw him put it there myself when I was taking a shortcut going over to River’s.”

“You sure he didn’t see you?” Seb again.

“Hell, no. If he had, he’d probably have pulled his shotgun on me. It was lying right next to him.”

“Why would he bury it?” Alex asks.

“He doesn’t trust banks,” Seb says. “I heard him tell Larry over at the hardware store one time when I was in there.”

“What is he? From the fucking eighteenth century?” Jake pushes his shock of blond hair out of his eyes.

“Whatever, man.” Brett shoves his hands in his jeans pockets. “His distrust is our gain. What’s the old motherfucker going to do with it all anyway? He’s got no relatives to leave it to, and he hates everyone anyway. It’ll rot underground if somebody doesn’t use it. And man, we could all sure use it.”

I hate the idea, always have, but I’ll never forgive Larson for what he tried to do to Ernie. And money like what Brett’s talking about could erase the dark circles from under Jake’s eyes… I might never have the guts to steal just for myself. But for him? Jake’s looking at being a father at fifteen.

Part of me wishes Brett had never seen it, though. Then we wouldn’t all want it so much. We wouldn’t be thinking about how we need it and how Larson doesn’t.

I take a gander at Jake, who usually would be putting up a big fuss about something like this. But he’s all in, and I know why. He hasn’t told the others about Marnie being pregnant yet, and on top of that, his mother lost yet another job—the third this year. But there’s more—things Jake wouldn’t—or couldn’t —tell me.

Whatever else is going on at home with his mom, it’s got him spooked enough to turn to the dark side and steal from an old bastard.

“So we do it tomorrow night,” Brett says. “Everyone understand their jobs?”

One by one, we nod as Brett makes eye contact.

Tomorrow…

Tomorrow we sell our souls to the devil.

Present Day

I need to understand how a hotel magnate and his wife bought a baby from Lisa fucking Patterson. None of it makes sense, and this is my one chance to learn as much as Misty knows.

“Misty,” I say, “tell me about your birth father.”

“You already know. You probably know more than I do.” She reaches forward and grabs my hand. “Why is this so important to you?”

“Because you’re important to me, Misty.”

Her lips tremble again. “The adoption papers didn’t say who the father was. I hired a private investigator to look into it, but he couldn’t find anything. I don’t know.” She gasps. “Do you ?”

A puzzle piece lies before me, and I take it in my mind, slide the interlocking edges into place. “Yes,” I lie as I pick up her hand and brush my lips over it.

“Oh my God! Who is he?”

I narrow my eyes, take the last sip of my bourbon, and let the liquid courage coat my throat with its caramel smokiness. “I’ll tell you. But not before you tell me everything.”

CONTINUE THE ADVENTURES IN CAPTIVATING YOU …