All Chapters of BROKEN BILLIONAIRES: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

ADRIAN The words were delivered so calmly. So matter-of-factly. Like he was turning down a lunch invitation instead of condemning my father to death. “You’re joking.” “I assure you I’m not.” He picked up his pen again and went back to his paperwork. “Mabel wants to marry into your family. You want to save your father’s life. It seems like a mutually beneficial arrangement to me.” “Mabel is—” I stopped myself. Tried to find words that wouldn’t make this worse. “She’s not someone I could ever marry.” “Why not? She’s beautiful. Well-educated. From a good family.” “She’s cruel.” The word came out hard. “She treats Lolette like garbage. Goes out of her way to make her miserable.” Something shifted in Theodore’s expression. “Ah yes. Lolette. My charitable project.” The way he said her name made my skin crawl. “She’s not a project. She’s a person.” “She’s an orphan I took in out of the goodness of my heart.” He set down his pen again and looked at me directly. “A troubled girl

LOLETTE.The tequila burned its way down my throat.We ordered two more shots after that.Then two more after those.Evlor tried her best to keep the conversation light and away from dangerous territory. She told me about her job at the gallery and about some artist who'd apparently thrown a complete tantrum over the lighting setup at his opening last week. She told me about her roommate's terrible boyfriend who kept leaving the toilet seat up and his dirty dishes in the sink.I laughed in what I hoped were the right places. I nodded when it seemed appropriate. I let her words wash over me like background noise that kept my brain from going to the dark places it wanted to go.The alcohol was helping. It made everything feel further away from me somehow. Softer around the edges. Less sharp and cutting.We switched from shots back to wine. Then back to shots again. Then wine one more time. At some point I lost track of what we were drinking and how much of it we'd already had.Evlor's v

ADRIAN.She took my arm.Her fingers wrapped around my forearm and she leaned her weight against me like her legs might give out any second.The smell of tequila and wine came off her in waves.I should have seen this coming. I should have known she'd hit a breaking point eventually. The phone hack revelation had been the final straw and I'd just let her walk out and go drink herself into oblivion because I didn't know what else to do."Come on," I said quietly. "Let's get you upstairs."She nodded without looking at me. Her eyes were unfocused and glassy in a way that made my chest tighten with worry.I guided her toward the elevators, keeping my pace slow and steady so she could match it. She stumbled once and I caught her immediately, my other hand coming up to steady her waist."Sorry," she mumbled."Don't apologize. I've got you."The elevator doors opened and I helped her inside. She immediately slumped against the back wall, her head falling back against the mirrored surface w

LOLETTE.My head felt like someone had spent the entire night taking a sledgehammer to it.The pounding behind my temples registered first when consciousness started dragging me back toward the surface.My mouth tasted like something had crawled inside and died there. Nausea rolled through my stomach in slow, sickening waves.I kept my eyes shut tight and tried to piece together what had happened last night.The bar. Evlor sitting across from me. Tequila shots that had somehow turned into wine that had somehow turned into more shots after that.Everything that came after existed only as a blur in my memory.I shifted slightly against the mattress and heard the hotel sheets rustle against my skin. Right. I was still at the hotel where Adrian's team had put me up.But something felt wrong about this.The bed felt too warm underneath me. Heat seemed to be radiating from somewhere close by.My eyes snapped open.Adrian's jacket lay sprawled across the foot of the bed. The black fabric loo

LOLETTE.The seatbelt had barely clicked into place before Adrian pulled the car away from the curb.He drove like the entire city was trying to stop us from getting there. His hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles had turned completely white against the leather."Richard's team spotted the vehicle about twenty minutes ago on the Van Wyck," he said without looking at me. "It's heading toward JFK Terminal 4 right now. Two blonde children were sitting in the back seat. They match the twins' age and description."My heart slammed against my ribs hard enough to hurt."The SUV is black with tinted windows. New Jersey plates but the team couldn't get the full number yet." Adrian changed lanes without signaling and cut off a taxi that honked angrily somewhere behind us. "We've got maybe forty minutes before it reaches the terminal. Probably less than that.""Did they manage to lock down the airport?""Richard's still working on it. Port Authority won't authorize anyth