The Russian Billionaire: A Romantic Suspense Novel by Georgia Carre (readict .TXT) 📕

“What’s wrong?”

“Let’s walk,” he says.

We walk in silence until we get to a small playground. He turns towards me.

“Vasilly is dead.”

My jaw drops with shock. “The Russian hacker?”

There is absolutely no emotion in his face. “Yes.”

“How?”

“Murdered last night in his room.”

“How can that be? You met him last…” Suddenly it dawns on me. “He was murdered after you left him.”

“No one else knew about my trip, about my meeting, except you.”

I take a step back in shock. “What? You don’t think I had anything to do with it. How could—” I stop suddenly. I can feel the blood draining from my face.

“Who did you tell?” he asks, taking a step forward. I can see hope in his face. He thinks I’m going to give him a name. He thinks I’m innocent. He wants me to be innocent.

I can no longer hide what I have done. “I didn’t tell anyone about the trip I swear, but I’m not innocent.”

The light in his eyes dies. They stare at me listlessly. “Tell me what happened.”

I freeze. This was not the way I intended to tell Konstantin of my secret, but here this was it. The moment of truth was here.

“I wasn’t at the auction by chance. I was paid $50,000 by a woman on behalf of her client to be there. All of the girls you saw that night were paid by her. We were paid to be there and if we were picked by you we had to switch one of the paintings in your office. I was told that the painting had sentimental value to someone important and you had stolen it and he wanted it back. I know it sounds like complete nonsense to you, and it does to me too now, but at that time I was desperate for money. I would have done almost anything to get the money to save Maddy and it seemed like such an innocent simple thing to do. What harm could it do? You have to understand, Konstantin, I didn’t know anything about your secret project or the kind of man you were. I just thought you were another selfish billionaire. I was stupid.”

“So you switched the painting?” he asks icily.

“Yes, I switched it. I had no choice. I understood by the time we came back from London that I had been completely duped. I tried to give them the money back and refused to do the job, but when I told them they threatened to hurt Maddy and Mom if I did not complete the deal. I guessed the painting was most probably a listening device, so I devised a plan to do the job without actually doing it. I hung the picture up and I took it away the very next day by pretending to redecorate your office. I thought that I had solved the problem by putting it away in one of your spare rooms, but apparently, I hadn’t.”

Something flashes in his eyes, but it is gone as quickly as it had come. “Is it still in the spare room?”

“No, I didn’t even trust it to be there so I threw it away.”

“But it was too late. I made my travel arrangements known to them that morning before you got into decorate the room.”

I reach out a hand towards him. “I’m sorry, I’m so, so, so sorry, Konstantin.”

He takes a step back from me. “You betrayed me. You had so many chances to tell me and you didn’t.”

I just stand there staring at him, pleading with my eyes, but he doesn’t soften. He looks at me with disgust. He doesn’t understand. I had no choice. They were going to hurt innocent little Maddy. I did my best in the circumstances.

“I never want to see you again,” he says, his voice hard. It hits me like a bullet to my heart.

I actually sway with horror. “I never knew what was at stake. I didn’t know my actions would get a man murdered.”

For a split second I see something in his eyes. A torment. A terrible sadness. I see him swallow hard. “You didn’t get him murdered. He was a dead man walking. All you did was help them set the bear trap I walked into.”

“How?”

“They are trying to frame me for his murder.”

“But you didn’t do it. I will testify that you were with me the whole night.”

He shakes his head. “No, you won’t.”

“Yes, I will,” I cry desperately.

“You have no idea what you have got yourself into.”

“What are you talking about?”

“There will be no more money for Maddy’s treatment so you will sell yourself to the highest bidder again.”

I stare at him aghast. “You’re not going to pay for Maddy anymore?”

“Should I?”

I stare at him in disbelief. Everything, everything has been shattered into a million pieces.

He takes one last look at me, then he grits his teeth and walks away. I watch him, his long legs striding further and further away from me.

The dream is over.

The nightmare has begun. For Konstantin. For me. For Mom. And for poor, little Maddy.

Raine

Mom calls me to ask where I am. I’m too choked to talk about it so I tell her I’m running an errand and I’ll be back home soon. I walk to a bench and sit down. There is a little girl in a pair of brown dungarees. She pushes herself higher on the swing than any of the other children. I watch her mindlessly.

How happy and carefree she seems to be.

I can’t remember the last time I was like that. Maybe when we were still living on the farm. Her mother calls to her and she doesn’t wait for the swing to come to a stop before she flies off it. I watch as they walk away from the playground. Then I stand and start to walk home.

Maddy is in the bath and my mom is getting ready to