Illusion (Billionaire in Disguise 2)

“What a waste.”

“Seriously?” I asked.

“Yeah. I had this nice outing planned for us. Romantic. Filled with fireworks. I proposed a new job to you that would set you up for life. You know, the usual that comes with me. Then, my yacht has to go and sink.”

I furrowed my brow as I turned toward him and took in the annoyance written all over his face. He wasn’t upset. He was scared. He wasn’t even the least bit worried.

The man was annoyed.

“You’re annoyed.”

“Of course, I’m annoyed,” he said. “A sinking ship wasn’t really in my plans for the evening.”

I laughed, shaking my head before a bombastic cracking sound rang out. I whipped my head around, watching as the ship split into two and upended in the middle of the ocean. More of the hull was exposed, and it gave me enough of a view to see the flames spewing out from the massive holes in the side of the ship.

Holes that had the carnage hanging on the outside. Exposed to the elements and the waters.

That was what happened.

Someone had set an explosion to go off from the inside of the ship.

“Holy fuck,” I said breathlessly.

I could hear the chef beginning to cry as Derek’s voice wafted against my ears.

“It’s going to be okay. The Coast Guard is only a few minutes out, and you’re safe with us. And trust me, all of you are getting a very big bonus for putting up with all this. A glowing recommendation, too, to wherever you want.”

I smiled at his kind words as I turned around and looked at him. He was shaking with fear like the guard between my legs. He wasn’t crying like the chef whose hand he was holding. He was stable and kind. Compassionate and loving. Exactly the type of man who differentiated himself from the world of business. Exactly the type of man needed to garner the success he had in his life.

I felt a pinch of guilt surge through my body, however. Before I’d met him, his ship going up in flames would’ve rattled him. It would’ve scared him and panicked him. He would’ve kept asking me all sorts of asinine questions, and I would’ve been the one to try and calm his mind.

But he was perfectly calm, strong and independent of needing me to comfort him. That only happened when someone got used to the dark and got used to the black cloud looming over their heads.

It hurt my heart to see how used to this he had become.

“This wasn’t an accident, was it?”

I panned my gaze over to Derek, whose arm was around the trembling chef.

“No,” I said. “It wasn’t.”

“What did you see down there?” he asked.

“None of the gas stove knobs were turned up all the way, and none of the stoves were spewing fire. I couldn’t get all the way to the front of the undercarriage of the ship because of all the thick smoke, but the security guard I found was stuffed in a closet. And judging by the knock on the back of his head that’s bleeding, I’d say someone ambushed him and knocked him out.”

“Just like they did Jacob,” he said.

“Looks about the same. We won’t know until he gets checked out, but I’m eager to compare his wound to the files on Jacob’s.”

I saw the anger growing in Derek’s face. As his eyes gazed out over his burning ship, helicopters started whirring above our heads. The Coast Guard was here, ready to rescue us one by one from the middle of the damn ocean as fireworks continued to crack above our heads. The colors were ironically beautiful for such a damning night, and I took a moment to drink it all in before I sighed.

“Why

the fuck would Jacob come after and endanger innocent people?” Derek asked.

“We don’t know it was Jacob,” I said.

“He could’ve paid someone! You said it yourself that he must’ve had resources.”