Beauty and the Billionaire

“Hey now. This isn't about making anything up. We’re friends. To be honest, I think you’re the one true friend I have, and as friends we’re both going to go through things, and we’ll help each other through it during that time. That's what best friends do.”

Her words make me cry harder. “I love you,” I tell her, and she starts crying with me.

“You girls okay? I swear the food will be out any second,” Jill teases us as she puts our sodas down on the table.

“It’s the baby hormones,” Fawn explains as she stands to go back to her side of the table. She pauses for a moment, looking toward the door. “I’m fine. You better not have told Roman I was crying. They’re happy tears.” She huffs at her security.

They give her a sheepish look, but one pulls out his phone, I’m sure to call Roman and let him know everything is okay. It wouldn’t surprise me if he were already on his way down here to check on Fawn himself.

It’s hard to not be jealous of what the two of them have. They are so in love with each other. Roman hangs on Fawn’s every word and treats her like she’s made of spun glass. It makes my heart ache for a love like that. It’s possible I did have it and I don’t remember.

Maybe he is out there looking for me? Or maybe he's the one that left me for dead…

2

DANE

“Tell me you have something for me today,” I say to Andrew as he enters my office. He’s been combing through all of the family’s accounts, tracking every dollar that has been spent for the last year. If they had anything to do with the disappearance of Kennedy, he’ll find it eventually.

“I can’t find it.” I drop my head down, sucking in a deep breath. At each turn I come up empty handed. “That doesn't mean that it didn’t happen, Oz. A hundred thousand is nothing to your mother. She could’ve had that in cash in a safe at home. If that’s the case, we’ll never be able to track it.”

I shake my head. “I knew she was full of shit.” I grit my teeth.

“Then why did you have me looking to see if Kennedy took the money your mother offered her?”

“Honestly. At this point I’d almost be thankful if she did. At least I’d be able to track her little ass down.” I’ve been searching for Kennedy for months now.

The last time I spoke to her, she sounded nervous about something. Said we needed to talk. That’s never a good fucking sign. When I got back home after my meeting, she was nowhere to be found. All of her stuff had been cleared out from her room. The only trace of her was some of the items she’d left in my room.

Panic had formed in me immediately when I realized she was gone. I’ve been searching for her ever since. But every time I think I might be getting somewhere, it turns out to be a dead end. For as long as I’m living and breathing, I’ll never give up searching for her.

“Sir, Mr. Bowen is here to see you.” My assistant, Eve, breaks me from my thoughts.

“I said no meetings,” I bark at her. “What is so hard about that to fucking understand?”

“But…”

I shoot her a look that has her closing her mouth and leaving the doorway of my office.

“You’ve turned into an asshole,” Andrew says.

“I thought I was already an asshole.” I walk over to the small bar and pour myself a drink.

“Okay. A bigger asshole then,” Andrew replies. I shoot the whiskey back. No burn in my throat or chest hits me. My ability to feel anything other than loss is gone.

“It’s ten in the morning.” Andrew shakes his head at me.

“If you have nothing for me, get out of my office.” I pour myself another drink.

“You can’t keep this up. As your financial advisor, I have to let you know you’ve lost millions of dollars. You totally fucked the Carter merger. That deal was easy money.”

“I don’t give a shit.” I find it hard to care about anything lately. The only thing I feel generally is rage. It wasn't until last week that my mother broke and said she offered Kennedy money to leave. In all my life I’ve never wanted to hit a woman, especially my own mother until that moment. She’d gone too fucking far this time. She forgets that it’s me that pulls her purse strings.

The Osborne legacy was circling the drain until I stepped in. Everything had been a damn mess. I lived and breathed this place to pull it back to life. Busted my ass for all of us. Then the one thing that I actually wanted they took from me. I won’t let myself believe that she ran from me. Not that it matters. When I get my hands on her again, they will never leave her.