WIFE WANTED (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) (22 page)

Diane huffed, her face red—whether from anger or her latest exertions, Mitch wasn’t sure. “It was just a fleeting thing. They didn’t have anything real.”

“If you’re willing to take that risk then by all means, I’ll leave right now.”

He turned towards the door and was about to pull it open when Diane cursed. “Wait, just wait a Goddamned minute.”

She ran a hand through her messed up hair as Mitch waited patiently, watching her make up her mind. It didn’t take long before she turned back to Yancey and yelled at him to give Mitch the cash before they lost their distraction.

“You made the right choice,” Mitch said, as he tucked the envelope in his jacket pocket.

“I expect to be kept apprised of the situation,” Yancey said. “Until this can be taken care of.”

“You mean until Riley is dumb enough to marry that witch.”

“Why you—”

Mitch caught the hand she tried to slap him with. “Don’t ever try to touch me again.”

Yancey didn’t even move as Diane’s gaze flashed from Mitch’s face to his, waiting for him to intervene. The coward of a man did nothing but stand there, hands shaking. Mitch smirked and dropped her hand as he reached for the door. “I’ll be in touch, and next time, I expect my money on time, Yancey, or you’ll regret it.”

Mitch headed out the door and Diane turned around, glaring at Yancey. “You just stood there! What the hell is your problem?”

“Maybe you shouldn’t try to hit hired guns in the face,” he replied.

“He deserved it.”

“Mitch Harper deserves a lot of things, but you will not be the one to deliver them,” he said. “Once this business of taking over Cyber Vault, Inc. is over, we’ll tie up loose ends. Mitch will be one of them, don’t worry about that. I want my damn money back.”
Diane rolled her eyes as she poured herself a shot of vodka and tossed it back. “Of course you do.”

“Why do you look worried? You said it yourself, Riley will get desperate. He’ll do whatever it takes to keep his company.”

“I know…it’s just that woman—”

“If you’re that worried about it, go and take care of it. She’s downstairs, working.”

“You want me to fire her?”

Yancey shook his head. “But what else are you good at doing?”

Diane leered as she grabbed her purse from the floor, slipped her heels back on, then leaned down to kiss Yancey passionately, making sure her cleavage was visible as his hands wrapped around her rear and squeezed.

“When this is all over, remind me to do something special for you.”

“When this is all over, you’ll be the grieving widow and I will be the one to swoop in and save you.” He laughed. “Now, I have to make some calls. Go do what you have to.”

***

It was almost time to leave for the day. Phoebe glanced at the door, praying Diane didn’t show up. So close, just a few more minutes…then the door slammed open and she sighed, slouching in her chair as she continued to type.

“Ah, Ms. Baron, still hard at work as always,” she said cheerfully as she click-clacked into the room.

“Not off ‘til five, last time I checked,” Phoebe said quietly, not bothering to look up.

“Of course, of course. Listen, I just wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings.”

Phoebe saved the document she was working on and started to shut down her workstation. “About what exactly? You threatening me?”

“You have to understand, I thought what you had with Riley was serious.” She laughed as she waved her hand, as if waving away what Phoebe had shared with Riley. Phoebe stiffened, feeling her heart twist, but didn’t say anything. “All water under the bridge, yes?”

She pushed her chair back and grabbed her purse and jacket. “Yep, he’s all yours. I’m sure you two will be a perfect fit for each other.” She headed for the door, keeping her eyes averted so her pain wouldn’t show when shiny red heels appeared in front of her. “Move, please. I would like to get home sometime today.”

Diane tapped her toe until Phoebe rolled her eyes and finally met the other woman’s gaze.

“You could never have been with him. He is way out of your league, you understand me? He never would’ve stayed with you. Besides, he’s already with me. We spent the weekend together.”

Phoebe’s hand gripped her purse hard enough to hurt.

“Yes, it was a wonderful weekend. He told me all about you, his little virgin girl. Ah, it was a great laugh.”
Cheeks burning, Phoebe shoved past Diane, but the woman blocked her path again. She opened her mouth to yell when something caught her eye. Diane had walked in with her purse and a bag, a laptop bag. Sticking out of it was a sleek black machine. Phoebe recognized it as a top model, expensive, and only for those who had real computer skills. So why the hell did Diane Chandler have it? Hadn’t Riley said something about a laptop?

“What are you staring at?” Diane snapped.

Phoebe glanced away from the bag and narrowed her eyes. “Nothing. Now get out of my way or my real boyfriend will come in here and deal with you.”

“Oh? And who is that?”

“Mitch Harper.” Phoebe’s lips curled into a smile when she saw the slight shadow of fear appear in Diane’s eyes. So Mitch
was
a big deal in this world. Phoebe had a feeling it had nothing to do with the job he said he did. “I’m leaving. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Diane didn’t say another word, and Phoebe wondered who the hell she was dating now.

Chapter 22

A couple weeks passed, and Riley felt the wedding deadline looming ever nearer. He was no closer to figuring out what to do than he was to stopping Yancey from getting his hands on more files. So far, he’d lost two clients and was close to losing the military contract if they didn’t figure out who was behind the file hacking soon. He spun slowly around in his chair, mind reeling as he tried to think of who could possibly be behind it, even as a voice nagged him loudly that maybe Phoebe Baron had nothing to do with any of this.

It had all been someone else. But who?

It had to be someone close to him, who knew him. There was no way it was Ben. Never in a million years would he see his friend turn on him. But who else was there?

His eyes landed on the stack of papers on his desk, files that needed sorting, calls that needed to be made. But as he reached for his cell, the first name that came up was Anna. Well, Phoebe’s number really, but he’d never taken her out of his contacts. His thumb hovered over the delete button. He should just get rid of it. No point trying to talk to her again. No matter what, she had lied to him, and as far as he knew, was connected to all of this somehow. Was involved with Mitch Harper.

The rumors had spread from the CEO circle and the local gatherings that Mitch Harper was dating someone. A beautiful woman with green eyes. Riley knew exactly who it was and still couldn’t believe it. He glanced at the door to make sure he was still alone, then changed Annie’s name to Phoebe before tucking his cell away and pressing the intercom button.

“Linda. Linda, are you at your desk?”

He waited a few seconds, then called for her again. She usually told him if she had to step away for something. He got up and opened his office door to find her desk empty.

“Anyone seen Linda?” he asked the room at large.

“Saw her head towards the stairs a while ago,” Bill said from his cubicle right across the aisle.

“Hmm, thanks.” He went behind her desk and sat down, looking for some paper to leave her a note. He bumped her mouse and her screen popped back up. The picture she had as her desktop made him laugh. New Year’s Eve, Ben and she kissing as champagne exploded around them. It was a great night… Riley’s eyes narrowed. “Locked file? What is that?”

She never had locked files on her desktop. There was no need. She rarely, if ever, handled sensitive files for Riley. So why was it locked? He looked up, but she was nowhere in sight yet, so he clicked on it. A window asking for credentials popped up and he entered his own. They were denied.

“What? Seriously?”

He was about to try again when he heard a door open and someone said hello to Linda. He quickly exited out of the box and scrounged around for paper and pen. He was just finishing his note when she appeared at her desk.

“Riley? What are you doing,” she asked, sounding a bit more snappish than usual.

“Sorry, wanted to leave you a note. Not a problem, is it?”

“What—no,” she said as he caught her eyes darting to her desktop. “You could’ve just e-mailed me like usual.”

“Well, I wanted to make sure you saw this one when you got back.” He finished the note and set it on her desk. “There, all done. Is everything okay?” he asked as he stood and pointed towards the cell in her hand.

“Uh? Oh, yeah, just…family. You know how that drama goes.”

“Not really, but I’ll take your word for it.” He headed back to his office. When he reached the doorway, he looked back and watched her read the note, then immediately get on the computer and start opening files. Her monitor was angled just enough that he could see her checking that locked file. “What are you up to?” He muttered the question, suspicion gnawing uncomfortably in his gut.

Ben was out of the office at a client meeting. He’d have to talk to his friend the second he got back about what his girlfriend had been up to as of late. Riley didn’t want to think Linda would be involved. She started the same time Ben did. Maybe the whole situation was just making him paranoid. Yeah, that was it. He would forget about what he saw. For all he knew, Linda just wanted to make sure the files on her computer were secure in case someone like Diane came poking around again.

Riley closed his office door and went back to spinning in circles, closing his eyes, and seeing nothing but green ones staring back at him.

***

It was nearly time to leave when Ben made an appearance in Riley’s office. His face was drawn and his hands shook as he sat down in front of his friend’s desk. “I have some news for you.”

“Are you okay?”

Ben shrugged. “Linda and I have been fighting lately. She’s acting weird.”

Riley thought about the locked file he’d seen on her desktop. “Like secretive weird?”

“Yeah, why? Did she say something to you?”

“No, but I saw something on her computer. She wasn’t too happy to find me sitting at her desk.”

“What was the file?”

“No idea. It was locked,” Riley said, leaning back in his chair. “Things just aren’t adding up.”

Ben waved the files in his hands at Riley before he tossed them on his desk. “Speaking of which, some things didn’t add up about Phoebe, so I did some digging.”

Riley flinched to hear her name. “What…why?”

“Because since your fight with her, you’ve barely slept, you drink every night, and you’re not getting anything done. You miss her,” Ben said. “I wanted to see what was really going on. Maybe there was a reason for what she did.”

“And? What did you find?” Riley asked, trying not to sound bitter.

“Her mom is actually in the hospital, most likely dying,” he said. “And you yelled at her that she was lying.”

“I thought…no, is she?” Riley ripped open the file and glanced at the medical paperwork. “How did you even get your hands on these?”

“That’s not the point, and you know it.”

Riley ignored him and flipped over a few more pages. Her mom was in a serious state, needing brain surgery right away on a tumor. She didn’t have much time left, it seemed, and he’d thrown it back in her face that she lied about it. Riley suddenly felt sick, and that feeling only grew when he flipped over the next page. “Wait, this is an online profile for Anna.”

“Check out the website.”
Riley stared at the bottom of the page. “This is the dating website you put me on. Why is she on this?”

“I think you know why.”’

“No, she found me on purpose, to steal my files for Yancey.”

“Dude, seriously? You’re starting to get on my nerves,” Ben snapped. “Look at that profile, look at the records behind it. She is broke, flat out broke. Her mom needs surgery if she has a hope to live. You’re on that website so you can find a wife, and she obviously needs money.”

Could it really be that simple? But why not just tell him the truth…he closed the file as he realized it was probably for the same reasons he didn’t tell her who he really was. Riley shoved the files aside and rubbed his forehead. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’t matter. You really still think she’s behind this?”

“All I know is that she works for Yancey’s company and is associated with Diane Chandler. I can’t trust her, Ben. I don’t understand why you can’t see that.”

“And I don’t understand why you can’t see what’s right in front of you! You only spent three days with this woman, yet she did something for you that I haven’t seen since Meredith was alive,” Ben yelled.

“Don’t talk about Meredith.”

“She’s dead, Riley,” Ben said, lowering his voice sadly. “She’s dead, and we all miss her, but shoving Phoebe aside because of something that’s out of her control…it’s not fair to either of you. Especially when I can see that look in your eyes.”