A billionaire’s kiss

“How’s your mom doing?” I asked Audrey as we sat down at a window table in the restaurant.

“She’s watching Netflix 24/7”

“Wow really? That’s the last thing I expected her to do”

Audrey chuckled. “I know right. I’m even surprised”

A waitress came and took our orders for lunch. I watched her walk away before speaking again.

“So what did you want to tell me?”

Audrey cleared her throat and leaned back in her seat. “Well I discovered several things about Nathan Kingston’s case by going through the case files over and over again. They aren’t big clues but could help”

Audrey glanced at me and I waited for her to continue.

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “Tell me Hailey, what was the first evidence that showed Nathan Kingston cheated on his wife?”

I blinked. “Umm why are you asking me that?”

“Because explaining it through questions is easier”

“Oh okay” I cleared my throat. “Well the first evidence is Nathan and Lauren coming out of a hotel room together”

“Find anything odd in that?”

I raised a brow. “What’s odd in that?”

“Just think. Repeat the sentence over and over in your head”

Nathan and Lauren coming out of a hotel room together, Nathan and Lauren coming out of a hotel room together. There’s nothing odd- “Coming out” I blurted.

Audrey clapped her hands. “Exactly. It’s always coming out and never going in or spending a night at a hotel”

“B-but that’s because the only footage the media obtained was them coming out” As I said it I realised how odd it sounds.

My brows furrowed. “That’s weird. If the media was able to get the footage of them coming out then they should also have been able to get the one going in”

Audrey nodded with a smile as if she was feeling a proud mama moment at my realisation.

“Why didn’t they get it?”

“Because there was never a footage”

“What? How is that possible?”

“Because it was all erased”

I gasped. “Why would anyone do that?”

“Because there was something that needed to be hidden”

I sucked in my breath. “You have any guesses what that could be?”

“Not exactly. But one could be that this footage proves Nathan and Lauren never went in together”

“That’s…kind of normal because he was cheating and didn’t want to get caught”

“Then why bother coming out together?”

I nodded. “Good point”

“From this we can assume that Nathan didn’t come to the hotel to mingle with Lauren but he nevertheless got framed into a cheating scandal”

I quirked a brow. “You think he was framed?”

She shrugged. “Why not? If he was cheating he’d be secretive. He wouldn’t drag his ex out for everyone to see. He clearly wasn’t expecting to get caught in a scandal”

I pondered on the thought. “But even if he was cheating and came to the hotel to meet his ex the hotel staff would’t go around telling it to others. They are not stupid enough to expose the private lives of their VIP guests”

Audrey’s lips tugged up. “But somehow it got out right? Directly to SBS”

My forehead creased. “What are you saying-”

“The hotel staff would’t have given info to the media, they wouldn’t have risked their own jobs. So who told SBS?”

“Umm other guests?”

“Highly unlikely because SBS released the footage before Nathan could’ve even gone home. No one can act that quick unless-”

She waited for me to continue and the rest of the words were already spinning in my mind. “Unless SBS already knew they would be there” Sharp truth hit me. Nathan could’ve really been framed.

Audrey nodded. “Mmm. Well this led me to search more about SBS. As you already know we are know for revealing dirty secrets of big shots. Specially business tycoons and our director earned a lot from it. So I looked through the articles SBS published about ATC. And you would be surprised” She took her phone out and opened some app, showing it to me. “These articles were published before Nathan became the CEO. See anything odd in here?”

I scrolled through the articles, my brows creasing with each article I read. “They only wrote good things”

“Exactly. Before Nathan, SBS only wrote good things about ATC but they did write many things that made other companies go bankrupt. To be more exact, they destroyed rivals of ATC”

“But when Nathan Kingston became the CEO they started writing things against him. They wrote articles that made the business world question him. And that last cheating footage was the bomb. It turned the public against him. But then it all went away when your fiance became the CEO”

I looked up. “Are you implying Ian has something to do with this?” I asked a bit accusingly.

“Oh my god no no no” Audrey raised her hands up in surrender. “His name is not even in my mind. I’m just saying whoever did this has something only against Nathan because after your fiance became the CEO, SBS went back to playing angel”

I took a deep breath, trying to grasp everything I just heard. “So what are you gonna do now?”

“Today I’m going to the police station to find more clues. Anyone can be bought so there might have been stuff that the police didn’t reveal”

“If they hid something how are you gonna get it?”

“I have a good friend who recently joined there. I’m gonna try asking him. Then I’m gonna sneak into our director’s house”

“WHAT?” I said so loud that heads turned in our direction. I apologised and quickly turned back to Audrey. “What do you mean you’re going to sneak in?” I hissed.

She shrugged. “I’m good at that. Gonna try it”

I gaped and Audrey explained further. “I once overhead a phone call of our director. He said it’s still in my computer at home. Don’t know whether it’s related to this or not but my gut says I should go and search it”

“You’re crazy” I breathed. “When are you going to do it?”

“The auction day”

I frowned. “You mean the auction at the chairman’s house?”

“Yep. Our director and his whole family will be there. That’s my day” She looked at me. “You going there too right?”

“I don’t know. Ian’s still thinking”

“Well convince him to go because you might be able to find more clues there. After all there’s this matter with the bank transactions between your chairman and our director. I feel like it’s the last piece to this puzzle”

I sighed and leaned back on my seat. “Everything is so confusing. I think my brain is going to explode”

“Can relate”

…

“Bye. Take care. See you soon” Audrey waved her goodbyes and I smiled, waving back. I checked the time on my watch and the lunch break was nearly over. I had to get to office soon before Lauren decides to unleash hell on me.

I looked to the road to see if any taxi was passing by but there were none. The road was almost deserted at this time of the day. I let out a sigh. I might have to walk a bit to find one. I took a step forward but suddenly I felt a lingering chill on my back, one I felt several times before, as if someone was watching me.

My gaze went over all the alleys and stores cautiously but finding nothing suspicious I continued to walk, gripping my handbag strap tightly.

As I was walking a yellow Lamborghini came to a halt next to. The window rolled down and Isaac sticked his head out. “Want a ride?”

“No thank you” I grumbled and started walking but the car followed me. “Get in Hailey”

I snapped. “I said No”

Isaac pulled the car to a stop and got out. “You’re not really the listening type are you”

I scoffed. “I’m sorry but I have no time to argue with you”

I tried waking away but Isaac grabbed my arm, turning me to him.

“What is wrong with you?” I yanked his hand away.

Isaac smirked. “I just wanted to see you darling”

“Well I clearly do not” I turned away to walk again but Isaac grabbed my arm again.

“Stop touching me!” I yelled, anger sweeping up my veins.

His eyes darkened. “Watch your tone darling”

My nostrils flared in anger. “Or what?”

A devious smirk curled in his lips and he leaned in. “First I debated whether I should do this or not. But now-” He smiled maliciously. “You clearly deserve it”

Then he crashed his lips on mine. My eyes widened in horror and I tried to push him away but he tightened his grip on my arm and pulled me closer. His other hand came up and squeezed my breast and a scream escaped my lips but he drowned it with his kissing.

Anger boiled inside me and I harshly bit his lip. Blood swept out and Isaac jerked back. “You bitch!”

“I’m gonna fucking kill you!” I snarled and grabbed a traffic cone from the side of the road to hit him with it but Isaac quickly got into his car and drove away, sticking out his middle finger from the door.

I screamed and threw the cone at him but it bounced off the back of the car. “Fuck!”

I wiped his blood from my mouth and felt disgust consume me as I recalled his lips on me. I quickly stormed into a toilet of a store and washed my lips till I felt like the skin would peel off.

I redid my make up and adjusted my clothes before taking an Uber back to the company.

As I walked through the entrance I slowly came to a halt as I felt everyone’s eyes on me. They were whispering behind their hands, some were pointing to something in their phone.

Frowning, I took my own phone out to check what they were looking at.

Lexi has sent me some online article of SBS and I opened it.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

The headlines read, Ian Kingston’s fiance is a cheater.

Below it were pictures of Isaac kissing me, touching me.

Dread twisted in my guts.

No no no this couldn’t be happening.

My throat constricted and I staggered back.

Slowly I glanced up and saw Ian standing a few meters away with an unreadable expression on his face.

No no no

My heart sank.

This couldn’t be happening.

Tears clouded my vision.

Agony burned in me.

And I did the only thing I could do.

I turned around and fled.