Alpha Billionaire's Bride - Part 3

Chapter One

“I’M SO SORRY,” MARINA SAID, looking at Jada with big dark eyes begging for forgiveness.

Jada knew the difference between Marina’s exaggerated remorse and when she was being sincere. This was Marina at her most sincere.

Jada stood up. “Whatever it is, I don’t want to know. Tell me Tuesday.”

Marina’s mouth fell open, then snapped shut again. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am. I want to have a great time for the rest of this weekend. I’ll face whatever terrible thing you’ve done on Tuesday, when the courthouse opens, and everyone finds out everything anyway.” Jada marched out of the dressing room and flung open the double doors to the balcony.

She stood in the doorway and inhaled a deep breath of fresh, country air. It was sweet with the afternoon-heated scents of forest, wild grasses, and earthy lake. “I’m going to enjoy this while I can. You know what?”

Marina looked at her askance and shook her head.

Jada raised her chin. “I’m going to sleep with Ian, that’s what.”

“Uh, okay. I wouldn’t—”

“Don’t tell me what you wouldn’t do. Clearly, there’s nothing you wouldn’t do.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know. And you’re not going to tell me what you actually have done until Tuesday, after I’ve lived the good life, after I’ve slept with the sexiest billionaire on the planet at least once (preferably several times), and after I’ve eaten every pastry Mrs. Best can bake. I’m going to do that because, hey, it’s all over on Tuesday, isn’t it? All of this. And all of my old life where I had a career and a future. All over.”

“I understand that you’re mad, but you’re exaggerating.”

Jada glared at her sister. “Oh, forgive me. I’m a little stressed. Perhaps you could back off and give me a break!”

Marina flinched. “This won’t work. You can’t pretend I didn’t say anything. However, you should definitely sleep with Ian no matter what. That’s actually a good plan. The pastries too. I’ll help—with the pastries, not Ian.”

“Don’t try to be funny. I’m in no mood.” Jada stomped toward the huge walk-in closet, her hand closing on the doorknob and pulling it slightly open. “You can leave now. I’m going to be busy picking out the perfect lingerie to seduce Ian tonight.”

Marina stared at her, hard. “You’ve left me no choice. I’m saying it.”

“Don’t you say it! Don’t!”

“I have to.” In a rush, Marina blurted, “I’m the one who leaked the story about you and Ian to CGTV.”

The words skewered through Jada’s chest. She held onto the doorknob with a vice-like grip, using it to anchor her in place. It couldn’t be true. Marina hadn’t ... wouldn’t—

“Did you hear me?” Marina asked. “I said I’m the one who leaked the story about your marriage to CGTV.”

Jada swiveled on her. “I heard, dammit. And now you’ve ruined everything.”

Marina’s eyes filled with unshed tears. “I know. I’m so sorry, Jada. I didn’t know—”

Jada cut her off with a chopping motion, and hardly felt her feet hitting the plush carpet as she stalked to the bedroom door and locked it with unnecessary force. “The last thing I need right now is someone overhearing you.” She headed to her favorite wingback chair and dropped into its cushy depths with the regret that comes from knowing she’d probably never sit in it again.

“Jada?” Marina asked. “Are you okay?”

“Sure. I’m just wondering how long it will take us to walk back to Springers Glen. I’m pretty sure Ian won’t be offering us his helicopter, or even a lift in a car, not after he hears what you’ve done.”

Marina rushed over and sat across from Jada. “You can’t tell him! Oh God, Jada. You seriously cannot tell Ian about this. Promise me you won’t.”

“If I don’t tell him now, then I’m a liar, Marina. I think one liar in this family is enough, don’t you?”

“I didn’t mean to lie to you.”

“Liar.”

“Okay, fine. I did mean to lie to you. But I only did it to buy myself some time so I could figure this thing out and get all the answers.”

Jada rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, sister.”

“Hear me out. The whole story, not just the part where I screwed up. Okay?”

“Apparently I can’t stop you, so go ahead and get it over with.”

“Do you hate me?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Marina smiled tautly. “You’re kidding. And you’re angry. I get that. Let me explain.”

Jada’s skin felt stretched tight like a balloon with too much air in it. She supposed she could never actually hate her sister, but at that moment, Jada wasn’t very fond of her.

“It all started last Thursday morning,” Marina began.

“What? Thursday? This has been going on—”

“Please listen.” Marina’s tone was filled with a supercilious patience that grated on Jada’s nerves. “Thursday, before noon, I got a call from Sylvia. You remember Syl. She works at the courthouse.”

Jada nodded.

“She asked me for a favor. She wanted me to leak a tip to CGTV for her, and said she’d do it herself, but she didn’t know how. I work for the newspaper so she thought I’d have contacts, or more experience. The idea was that I would tell CGTV there was some shocking information that affected the supermodel Sasha in the Spring

ers Glen courthouse records department.”

“Information about Sasha? Not about Ian or me?” Jada asked.

“No. Of course not about you.”

“So ... I don’t understand. Where do I come into this?”

“You don’t. Not yet, anyway.”

Jada couldn’t work out what Marina was telling her. “I assumed you made this whole thing up about me and Ian and got the press involved and ... everything. Are you saying you didn’t?”

“Of course not. What are you talking about?”

Jada’s hands relaxed and she realized she’d been digging her fingers into the cushioned armrests. “I guess I thought you were behind it all, that you had some stupid idea that you thought would be funny or whatever, and ... well, you know.”

“Damn, Jada! That’s pretty harsh.”

“I’m sorry. I mean, you said it was your fault.”

“I did?”

“I thought so. Didn’t you? Besides, I’d considered you a suspect already and—”

“What? I was a suspect? Who are you? Sherlock Holmes?”

“I was thinking more like Woodward and Bernstein.”

Marina snorted. “Puh-leeze. I can’t believe you thought I’d do something like that. It would be awful. No one who cared about you could deliberately do something like that.”

“That’s what Ian said.”

“You told Ian you suspected me?”

“Don’t look so outraged. We were going over suspects together and I mentioned that we needed to be careful not to overlook the people closest to us. You were an example. That’s all.”

Marina leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms. “Well then, Ms. Investigative Journalist. What was my motive?”

“You didn’t have one. I dismissed you as a suspect because you had means and opportunity but no motive.”

“It never occurred to me that you suspected me. My whole understanding of you, me, our relationship as sisters has been shattered. Blown apart by your—”

“Wait a minute! You’re the guilty one. Don’t try to turn this on me. Get back to your overdue confession.”

Marina blew out a breath. “Fine. But we have to revisit your traitor-hood at some point.”

“Traitor-hood isn’t a word.”

“Whatever. Where was I?”

“Sylvia called you Thursday morning.”

“Oh, right. Syl wanted me to leak a story to CGTV about info in the records department that involved Sasha.”

“What was it?”

“I asked Syl, but she wouldn’t say. She made me promise only to leak the tip and then step aside because shit was going to hit the fan.”

“Shit was hitting the fan?”

“Not yet. But it would be.”

“I hate that expression. It’s so gross.”

“Stay with me here, Jada,” Marina said. “So you know Syl is always telling me the latest rumors. Let’s face it, the woman can’t keep her mouth shut to save her life. I didn’t want to browbeat her for more info because she’s my best source in town and I owe her a lot of favors.”

“Come on. What stories has she broken for you? Was a councilman using the courthouse copier to make flyers for his garage sale again?”

“Don’t scoff. Journalists protect their sources.”

“Sounds like you’re giving yours up right now.”

“Shut up. So, Syl said it was important that CGTV break the story. I agreed to stay in the background. After I hung up with her, I dug around on the internet and found a number for the CGTV tip line—”

“CGTV has a tip line?” Jada asked.

“That’s how they get the best gossip.”

“I figured they made it all up.”

Marina shrugged. “Not all of it. So I called the tip line but I got voice mail. I left a message asking them to call me back. It was pretty late in the afternoon when they did. I told them what Syl had told me to tell them, but they didn’t sound interested. The guy said that maybe they’d look into it, maybe not. That was that.”

“Really? That’s weird.”

“I thought so, too. That night, I decided maybe Sasha wasn’t a big enough name on her own to get their attention. I felt badly about letting Syl down, so the next morning, when I didn’t see anything on the celeb shows about Sasha, I called the CGTV tip line again.”

Jada leaned forward. “Did you talk to Sylvia about all this?”

“No. She wasn’t at work. Mrs. Nell said Syl stayed home because one of her kids was sick or something. She wasn’t sure. You know Mrs. Nell.”

“I can’t believe she still works down there. Isn’t she like a hundred years old?”

“Close. She drives Syl nuts. She’s half batty and the little bit of work she does, she does wrong. Mostly, she crochets teapot cozies and booties all day long. Mrs. Nell aside,” Marina continued, “I called CGTV again and got someone different. I changed what I told them this time.”

“In what way?”

“I said I was a local journalist and had a huge tip about billionaire Ian Buckley’s fiancée. I said I didn’t have the resources to get the info myself, but if CGTV would agree up front to share the info and let me support the story in print after they broke it, then I would tell them where to look for the scoop of the year.”

“Nice move. You wanting to share in the glory helped convince them it was a valuable tip.”

“Exactly,” Marina said.

“And you used Ian’s name in case Sasha’s wasn’t enough.”

“Right. So this guy called me back a few hours later and agreed to the deal. I told him about the records department and he said someone would be in Springers Glen that afternoon. We arranged to meet at the coffee shop on the square and he said they’d share whatever they found with me.”

Jada’s heart began to pound. “So what was the info?”

The corner of Marina’s upper lip quirked in disgust. “I got stood up. I waited at the coffee shop until six o’clock and they never showed. I called CGTV over and over but no one returned my calls. I didn’t know if they’d changed their minds and didn’t come, or if they’d gotten something so huge that they decided to cut me out.”

“It would have been too late by then for you to go to the courthouse and find it for yourself. Did you call Syl at home and ask her?”

“I could have, but I didn’t. I was too embarrassed that I might have been played. I thought I’d wait and see if there were any stories on TV about Sasha or Ian over the weekend. I fell asleep watching CGTV that night. When I woke up the next day, the first thing I saw was your house and all the reporters swarming around it. I couldn’t believe it. I had no idea what had happened.”

Jada shuddered at the memory.

“It took me a while to figure out what the story was,” Marina said. “I didn’t make the connection right away. I mean, what did this crazy story about you marrying Ian Buckley have to do with Sasha? Then that announcer, Piper, kept going on and on about how devastated Sasha must be about being jilted and that’s when I clicked to it.”

Jada clicked, too. “That’s how the story impacted Sasha.”

“Exactly. I swear on everything I love, Jada, I would never, ever have tipped off CGTV if I’d known it involved you in any way. Tell me you believe me. Please.”

Marina’s plea touched Jada’s heart. “I believe you.”

“And can you forgive me for what I did?”

“I can forgive you for leaking the story since you didn’t know it involved me, but you should have told me about your involvement right away.”

“I know. I just kept thinking I’d get it figured out.”

“And have you?”

“No.”

“Are you positive it was your tip that led CGTV to the fake marriage license?” Jada asked.

“I can’t know for sure, but it has to be, doesn’t it? There would have been no other reason for them to be in Springers Glen or anywhere near our records department.”

“Y

ou’re probably right,” Jada said. “What about Syl? Did you ask her about all this, about me?”

“I only spoke to her once, and she didn’t tell me much.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“No. She won’t answer my calls or texts or emails or anything. I’ve even tried her husband’s cell, and her mother’s. You name it, I’ve tried everything, including shameless begging. And you know how I feel about shameless begging.”

“When did you talk to her?” Jada asked.

“Yesterday morning, after I got off the phone with you. I may have accidentally said some nasty things to her and that may be why she won’t talk to me now.”

“What kind of ugly things?”

“I told her to turn on the TV and see what she’d done. And then I may have bitched her out for using me to hurt my own sister. I may have called her a thing or two. I can’t remember.”

Jada shook her head. “I can’t believe you alienated our only lead, but I have to admit I’m kind of glad you told her off.”

“I know! What the hell was that about? She had to know whatever happened I’d be furious with her.”

“Did you give her a chance to explain?”

“Kind of. She said she didn’t know you were involved and she only called me because I was the only person she could think of who would know how to get CGTV’s attention. And then there was one other, very interesting thing she told me.”

“What? Don’t tease.”

“Well,” Marina lowered her voice as if sharing a secret, “Syl said she felt badly about everything, and that she wouldn’t have done it if her husband hadn’t been laid off and if they didn’t need the money so badly because his unemployment ran out.”

“Money?”

“I know. I asked her about it. All she’d say was that she was weak, and that ‘the woman’ was kind of intimidating.”

“Hmm. The woman.”

“Right. And then Syl begged me not to tell anyone she was involved with the tip, and told me that she and her family were out of town and were staying there until things cooled down. Then she hung up. That’s it. That’s everything I know.”