The Billionaire's Forgiveness (A Winters Love 3)

“I’ve already given you a lot of money.”

“Oh I don’t know, I was thinking I should have asked for more. Your boyfriend is a billionaire. He shouldn’t be so greedy that he won’t give you a little bit of money to keep me from spilling the beans about your past to the press.”

“He gave me seventy-five thousand dollars already and now...”

“Fifty,” he said, licking his lips. “Don’t worry; the seventy-five thousand you already gave me was put to good use. This fifty will be put to even better use. Now, may I have my money?”

“I don’t think so.” Aaron was sitting right behind him. I was shocked. I have no idea how he came in and did that without us seeing him. I looked past him then and saw the kitchen. There must be a door back there. Igor was glaring at him. He turned to glare at me then as well. “I thought since you were stealing my money, we should meet, face to face.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Igor said.

“Really? So Robyn’s not married to you and you’re not using that information to blackmail her? You’re not planning to sell the story to the media to ruin my reputation?”

He narrowed his eyes and stood up so that he was toe to toe with Aaron. Aaron was a lot taller than him, but Igor was beefier. “Yeah, I got your money and I’ll keep taking it unless you want her name and yours smeared all over the tabloids.”

“Igor Reznisky?” Igor turned towards the voice. It was two men, dressed in black shirts and jeans.

“Who the hell are you?”

One of them held open his wallet with his badge and I.D. inside and said, “I.N.S.”

“So, I’m a U.S. Citizen,” he said.

“So you told them when you filed for your citizenship, but there seems to be a problem.”

“What problem?”

“There’s just no record of this so-called marriage you listed… anywhere.”

“What the…?” He looked at Aaron then who was smiling. “You rich, arrogant, smug son of a bitch!” One of the INS agents was cuffing his hands behind his back. “What are you doing?”

“You’ll have to be sent home until we can sort this all out,” the agent told him.

“Igor Razinsky?”

“Who the fuck are you now?” Igor said to the new man that approached him.

That man showed him his I.D. and badge as well and said, “Detective Brady, NYPD. You’re under arrest for the crime of blackmail for monetary gain and grand larceny for the monies you’ve already received.” Igor looked livid, but he wasn’t a stupid man.

He looked at the INS agents and said, “Don’t you have first jurisdiction over me?”

One of them shrugged and said, “Well, we would but this marriage business might take a while to check out…”

“I’m not married,” he said. “It was a sham, okay. Send me home.”

Aaron and I watched all of this play out with fascination. Right up to the last minute Igor had gone for self-preservation and personal gain. Aaron had his arm around me and we watched as he was led out to the waiting police car. He wrapped me in a hug and I realized then that all of the other patrons in the diner had been cops.

“You cleaned out the diner?”

“The police did,” he said. Then he grinned and said, “I just bought a couple

hours of their time.”

“Thank you, for everything. I love you.”

He brought his sexy lips down and kissed mine with them. Then he said, “You want to go for a walk?”

“I’d love to,” I said.

As we walked along I asked him about the police and the INS and what would really happen to Igor.

“Well, the police and the D.A. are not going to want the headache of trying to prosecute him on the blackmail charges. Now that there is no trace of a marriage certificate he is no longer allowed to be here. INS will more than likely deport him before the police draw a case together. I also have the assurances of their Captains that not a word of this will be leaked. Everyone from the diner was sent home before he showed up. The people there were all cops, so there are no bystanders to report it. Igor will likely go home to Russia and thrive there in the mob. I can tell by his tattoos that he’s a part of it.”

“Wow, I married a mobster. I really am stupid.”

“You are not. I will be the first to admit that you made some stupid decisions, but who doesn’t when they’re feeling desperate. Just know that he is out of your life for good. He won’t be back and he has nothing to use against us now anyways.”

I hugged him again and said, “Thank you so much, for everything, but mostly for forgiving me for the deceit.”

“I do forgive you, but remember, no more secrets between us, okay?”

“No more,” I told him.

We walked along the sidewalk hand in hand and as I enjoyed his company I reveled in the fact that there were no more secrets between us, nothing but love and a bright future to look forward to. I suddenly saw a beautiful colored fountain in the middle of one of the squares where people sat around talking and playing music. I looked into it and saw that people had been using it as a wishing well, throwing in quarters or pennies. An idea struck and I reached into my jacket pocket pulling out Igor’s ring. I’d managed to forget that the offending item had lurked there since our previous fateful meeting in the diner. I closed my eyes and wished that I’d never be stupid enough again to let anyone convince me to lie to Aaron about anything. Beyond that, I had everything I wanted, all of my wishes and prayers had been answered.