Filthy Rich Redemption (Filthy Rich Billionaires #2)

Chapter 1

AXEL BLACK

Christmas Present…

Family.

It’s a foreign concept.

Never had a real one.

Not the picture-perfect version the world loves to sell.

I’ve got Theo and Taylor. Twenty-five years deep. My ride-or-dies. The only people I’ve ever trusted to stick. That’s as close to family as I’ll ever get.

Which is why I’m here on Christmas Day, trapped in Theo’s disgustingly serene beach house, a beer in one hand, a fist in the other. This place is too damn bright.

Bleached wood. Dainty fabrics. Coastal colours. Too much glass. You get the picture.

And now it’s decked out to the eyeballs in peace, joy, and goodwill to all: the kind of stuff I’ve never tasted, let alone felt.

My soul’s made of darker stuff. Black by name. Black by nature.

Broken beyond redemption.

And right now, it’s taking an extra beating as I sit wedged onto Theo’s oversized, overpriced sofa with half a dozen people I share no blood with, drowning in more goddamn tinsel than any man should ever have to face.

While Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ blares like it’s got a personal grudge, and everyone across the room laps it up.

Theo’s mum – known to all these days as Granny Anna – coos over Lottie, Taylor’s three-year-old niece, like the kid just parted the rolling sea beyond the glass.

Sadie – Theo’s girlfriend, Taylor’s sister, Lottie’s mum, keeping up? – is in full turbo-elf mode, waist-deep in the tree that ate the living room, digging through branches for gifts, while Theo tries (and fails) to talk her down from her present-slinging high.

And Taylor…

Christ. Taylor.

She’s behind Lottie on the sofa, reindeer headband sliding sideways in that glossy dark mane of hers, laughing.

And not her usual sharp, sarcastic bark she throws at me and Theo on the regular.

A soft laugh. One that punches out the gold in her hazel eyes and tugs at her mouth like it’s happening without her knowledge.

She leans forward, the draping neckline of her festive red dress dipping open… Yeah, I notice. My mind launches straight to the top of Santa’s naughty list – not that I’ve ever been anywhere near the nice one.

But then she kisses Lottie’s blonde curls, her palm settling on the kid’s back: warm, instinctive, gentle. No performance. Just love.

And the sight cuts deeper than the dress ever could.

It stirs something low in my chest.

Something I don’t like.

Not because it hurts.

But because it feels right.

Seeing her like this. Soft. Unguarded. Quietly maternal. Like this side of her has always existed, just beneath the steel-and-suit exterior. The career-driven, don’t-get-close, keep-it-cool front she’s always worn.

And it scares the hell out of me.

Because like this, she’s not just the woman you fantasise about in the dark. She’s the kind you imagine a future with.

A life with a wife, a kid, a home…

Stuff I’ll never know. Stuff I never thought she wanted either… until now.

I take a long pull of my beer, trying to drown it all. Because the idea of her wanting that – wanting it and finding it – is a whole new level of torment.

But if I have to sit back and watch her build that life with someone else, I will.

Because it can’t be me.

She’s my best friend. The only woman who’s ever seen all the ugly and stayed. And I’ll protect that – protect her – if it’s the last thing I do.

‘Sadie baby.’ Theo’s voice yanks me out of my head, his tone snapping the entire room to attention. ‘Will you get out of the tree for a moment and look at me?’

Lottie’s caught mid coin heist, trying to cram a giant chocolate piece into her mouth in one. Her cheeks balloon as she slaps a pudgy hand over her gooey grin, eyes bugging out.

Granny Anna folds her hands in her lap, green eyes already misting with what is to come.

And Taylor…

Taylor pulls Lottie into her lap and sits up straight, lips pressed tight in anticipation. She doesn’t take her eyes off Theo as he helps her sister out of the tree.

‘What is it?’ Sadie asks, big, blue eyes blinking up at him, elf hat jingling as she bobs up and down.

‘Finally,’ he chuckles, pushing his specs up his nose, ‘I’ve got your attention.’

She nips her lip. ‘Was I getting carried away?’

‘A little.’ He plucks stray tinsel from her blonde hair with a smile that could warm the coldest of hearts. ‘Not that I’m complaining.’

No one would dare.

It’s probably her first real Christmas in too many years to count – maybe ever. Lottie’s too. She gets to be giddy.

Hell, she’s even had me cracking the occasional grin today.

And I hate Christmas.

Almost as much as I hate fairy tales.

‘But I do think it’s time the elf got a gift.’

Then he drops to one knee, and Sadie gasps, hands flying to her mouth as she takes in the ring he’s offering up.

Even the kid gets the significance, her shriek drowning out Granny Anna’s sigh.

Me and Taylor?

We stay still. Watching.

Because this, right here, is what Theo was made for. Love. Commitment. The whole damn happy ever after.

And I get it. I get how long he’s loved her. How long he kept it buried, denying himself, torturing himself… I live it every day. Stuck in my own private hell. Yearning, wanting, loving someone I will never let myself have.

The only difference is, Theo deserves Sadie.

He deserves this.

‘Yes!’ Sadie’s crying, laughing, nodding. ‘Of course, yes!’

Theo slides the ring on and pulls her into his arms. They kiss like the world doesn’t exist, only everyone’s watching.

Me included. Ugh. I turn away, shifting in my seat.

‘All right, all right, keep it PG,’ I mutter into my beer.

Theo breaks away to shoot me a smug-arse grin, arms still locked around his woman.

‘All right Grinch, quit the scowling and tell me: you’ll be my best man, right?’

I roll my eyes, but my chest tightens anyway.

‘Yeah,’ I say. ‘Who else’s gonna keep your rings safe, right?’

Sadie, still crying, turns to Taylor. ‘And you’ll be my maid of honour, sis?’

Taylor smiles wide, eyes glistening as she sets Lottie down and rises, her dress settling against the curves I know too well. Every inch killing me softly with all that I can’t have.

‘I’d be honoured.’ She pulls them into a warm embrace. ‘I’m so happy for you both.’

And just like that, it’s happening.

Another family forming. Like it’s easy. Like it’s normal. And not the happy miracle I’ll never get to touch.

‘Just no funny business between you two,’ Theo jokes, pointing between me and Tay and I choke on my beer. ‘Best man and maid of honour cliché? Not happening on my watch.’

Taylor snorts. ‘Please. I’d rather make out with the cake.’

I manage a smirk. ‘Good. Because I’d rather make out with the caterer.’

Lies. Every damn word.

Because even as they laugh and slip back into celebration, my eyes find hers again: vibrant, shining, still lit from the moment.

And the truth presses down, heavy as stone.

She’s it.

The only woman I’ve ever truly wanted – and the one woman I’ll never let myself have.

Not in this lifetime.

Not even close.

I tear my gaze away and head to the kitchen. Desperate for a breath that ain’t saturated with her and this… this crazy feeling crushing me from the inside.

But I don’t make it there alone; Taylor sidles up to me, all sickening sparkle and—

Oh, God.

‘You look far too grumpy for a man who’s just been asked to be best man,’ she purrs, reaching up and planting the reindeer antlers square on my head. ‘There. You’re festive now. Can’t have the Grinch ruining the mood.’

I raise one brow. ‘You do realise the Grinch tried to steal Christmas?’

‘Mm-hmm.’ She leans in, close enough that her breath disturbs my beard, her perfume feeding my pulse. ‘But in the end, his heart grew three sizes… and he gave it all back.’

The words hang between us like a dare, her eyes softly probing…

One beat. Two.

Fuck.

Then she smiles and pulls away, all innocence laced with triumph.

‘Maybe there’s hope for you yet,’ she murmurs, her hand soft on my chest before she turns to rejoin the others.

I watch her go, every step a slow twist of the knife she doesn’t even know she’s holding.

As for hope…

Hope’s for fools and that ain’t me.