The Duke’s Surprise Heir (The Billionaire’s Club #9)

Prologue

She could see the orange and neon yellow flames from over a mile away. The horrific, macabre scene was topped by thick, billowing black smoke, lit up by the flames, which then disappeared into the dark, inky night sky. And the noise! Goodness, she could hear the flames! Or maybe she was simply imagining the sounds of her entire life, everything she owned, being burned to the ground.

In a panic, Macie lifted her phone, about to dial nine-one-one for help. But out of her peripheral vision, she spotted movement. Flashing lights! Blue lights? Were the police already on the way? Had one of her neighbors spotted the flames and called emergency services?

A moment later, the emergency lights were gone.

No, not gone, Macie realized as the tension in her shoulders increased. The flashing lights of two police cruisers had just been turned off.

Normally, that wouldn’t make sense. However, this wasn’t the first incident over the past two weeks that warned Macie that she’d fallen into something dangerous.

With gut-churning understanding, Macie realized that she’d ignored the dire warnings; the slashed tires, her garbage can set ablaze, a window in the back of her inherited home had been smashed, shards of glass scattered all over the old wooden floor.

And yet, she’d kept digging into the strange numbers. She’d kept trying to figure out what was causing the shipments totals to be different from the original calculations.

This was her punishment for ignoring the warnings. Her life was literally in flames.

No, not everything had gone up in flames, she thought as she turned and gazed at the most amazing man in her life. Correction, the only man in her life. Kyle, her three month old son, was now asleep, happily oblivious to the carnage happening less than half a mile away. The poor fellow had finally fallen asleep after hours of colicky wails of misery.

Kyle was her life. The remnants of whatever was in that fire were only peripheral objects that were meaningless. Kyle was the only thing that was important. And Kyle was safe.

For now.

As Macie sat in her car, watching the flames eat the home she’d inherited less than a year ago, she worked out a plan to keep her precious son safe. If it meant humbling herself and asking for help from the one man she’d vowed never to see again, then she’d do it.

For Kyle.