Page 99 of The Thing About My Secret Billionaire
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I snap at our unwanted visitor.
I’m about to actually go get my phone and call the cops, when Miller raises his voice.
“Look, Skinner, just fuck off.” His hands ball into fists at his sides. “Nothing here is any of your business.”
His voice is filled with pure, unadulterated rage and, while I’d like to never see Wade Skinner again in my life, I’m a bit nervous that Miller might be about to slug him in the face and then it might be Skinner who’s calling the cops and that’s really not something I want to have to deal with.
I try to catch Miller’s bare arm to pull him back. But before I make contact, he strides out of my reach and up to Skinner, not missing a beat as his bare feet move from the concrete step to the gravel path, making me wince on his behalf.
“She’s not selling to you. Not now. Not ever. She’s been clear. And I’m being clearer. Just go crawl back under whatever rock it is you and the other cockroaches live under.”
“You thinkI’mthe piece of shit here, Malone?” Skinner leans his face right into Miller’s.
Miller reaches for Skinner’s lapels.
“Enough.” The sharpness in my voice shocks Miller into dropping his hands, and I stride forward, fully prepared to step between the twomen if I have to.
“But,” Skinner jabs his finger toward Miller’s nose, “I’d never stoop so low as to sleep with her to get her to sell to me.”
His words are like a brick to my head. The tornado ofwhat-the-fuck-is-going-on?inside my brain freezes mid-swirl like it’s a movie on pause. A ghostly chill washes over me. The only part of my body that’s functioning is my heart, and it’s in serious overdrive.
“What?”I’m not sure if I actually yell that loud enough for everyone in the next county to hear, but it sure as hell feels like it.
“Let me guess.” Skinner gives me his slimiest smile yet, and that is truly saying something. “That second offer you got. Is it, by any chance, from Maverick Developments?”
“Wha…” I start again but can’t get out the whole word. Is he saying what I think he’s saying?
“That’s his company.” Skinner finishes my thought.
His smile turns from slimy to smug as he removes any doubt as to who he’s talking about by jerking his thumb toward Miller.
“Search ‘Boston Condo King.’” His voice oozes with unpleasant self-satisfaction. “You’ll find everything you need to know.”
Every drop of my freezing blood sinks to my feet, along with my heart and my stomach.
I step back, my eyes flitting between the two men, everything a blur.
I’m suddenly aware that the back of my hand is on my forehead as if to try to contain the thought that Miller could possibly be the owner of the company that made the second offer. That he’s been lying to me all along. That all of this, everything that’s happened between us, everythingwe did last night, was just about him trying to get me to sell the land to him, not Skinner.
It’s like a giant ice-cream scoop has swung down out of the sky and gouged out my insides.
“What I actually came here for?—”
“Fuck me,” Miller snarls at Skinner. “Are you really still talking?”
Their words slide over me, my mind still fumbling with this new information. Skinner must be making this up. It would certainly track with his previous behavior.
But Miller isn’t denying it.
My legs wobble and threaten to buckle, so I reach back to grip the edge of the door. Before I know what’s happening, Miller’s dashed to my side. He grabs my arm with one hand and places the other on the small of my back to catch me.
I snatch myself out of his grip. There’s no way in hell I am allowing either of these men to see me crumble. Never.
And there’s no way I’m allowing Miller to hold me up if he’s a scheming, manipulative asshole.
I blink hard to refocus my eyes and cling to the door, which feels like the only thing I can trust right now. My breath shakes as I inhale, and my chest is so tight I can only fill a corner of my lungs.
“Miss Channing,” Skinner says in a tone usually heard from someone stirring a cauldron full of evil potions. “The actual reason I’m here is to let you know that it turns out your grandparents never applied for the correct certification to run an animal rescue.”
