Page 1 of Stranded with the Billionaire
Chapter One
She was really going to do this.
Sterling handed over all the cash in her purse. It was a considerable amount. The bank teller had eyed her with surprise when she’d requested to withdraw it. Now the entire amount was going to be an investment for the biggest story of her life. In return the flight attendant held out a uniform.
“There’s no name badge. You’ll have to say you misplaced it,” the woman pursed her lips and watched Sterling with skepticism. “You read the manual I sent you?”
“I read it,” she lied. She’d skimmed it. It really wasn’t that complicated. Sterling grabbed the bundle of clothes and went into a stall. They were in the bathroom at the airport. She quickly began to strip. Besides, if he figured out she was an imposter it wasn’t like he could just land the plane and kick her out. He needed to get back to the city asap.
“I hope you studied it. I could lose my job over this,” she huffed. “If anything happens, you need to know all the protocols.”
“You said yourself that it’s unlikely anything will go wrong,” Sterling rolled her eyes. “It’s perfect weather out. The pilot is experienced. I just serve the passenger a couple of drinks, smile pretty, and snap some photos. No big deal. Besides, all you did was call in sick. You had no idea who would replace you.”
The flight attendant sighed. “I’m going to bitterly regret this.”
“Think of that vacation you’ve been looking forward to,” Sterling slipped on the skirt. It was such a sexist outfit. Why she had to wear a knee length skirt and pumps while handing out drinks on a plane and reminding people when to put on their seatbelts was beyond her. As it was, the pumps were going to kill her feet. Sterling was a sneakers kind of girl. Much easier to chase down her quarry with.
Now she was going to be chasing down Jake Ramesly, the ever-elusive bachelor who was even harder to get a picture of than Michael Ramesly, and Michael valued his privacy to the extreme. There were only two public photos of Jake, one in an old GQ magazine where the entire business conglomerate family had been present, and one file photo for Ramesly Insurance. Now Sterling was going to have him all to herself for a six hour private flight. Her mouth practically watered at the thought.
She was going to do a lot more than snap photos. Not that Sterling was going to tell the flight attendant who had so thoughtfully provided her with the uniform. She’d handed over a month’s worth of wages for this opportunity and Sterling intended to have an exclusive that would catapult her career. The bonus would more than make up for her investment.
Rumor had it Jake was on his way to help the Ramesly family deal with the latest disaster. His father Robert and uncle David had been arrested by the FBI for smuggling drugs into the country on a staggering scale over decades. David had been released recently and his son Michael would now be in FBI custody, charged with the same crimes. Not that the general public knew that yet. Sterling’s article would hit the stands tomorrow morning, enlightening everyone to the latest in the Ramesly family drama.
Sterling would never have believed it. Michael did not seem the type. Yet the FBI must have something if they were arresting him. Her source had been adamant that he would be arrested tonight so Sterling had made up the article and submitted it to her boss Ray Grange.
She would continue to press her contacts. If Sterling could keep ahead of the regular papers with the breaking news regarding her favourite source of income, Ramesly drama, then she would be earning more money than anyone could dream of.
She might even be able to make a book out of it afterward.
Sterling tugged on the jacket to get it to sit right. It was too tight.
“Are you ready yet?” the flight attendant asked impatiently. “I need to check you over. You’ll have to look the part or the pilot won’t believe it.”
Sterling opened the door. “Help me with the silly little hat. Do you really wear it?”
Two minutes later, Sterling was pronounced good enough to pass inspection.
“Remember, the pilot’s name is Richard Merriweather. There is no one else on the flight besides the three of you. Don’t screw this up,” the flight attendant gave Sterling a critical once over.
“Stop worrying. No one will know that you were involved in this unless you tell them,” Sterling grabbed her purse. She set a thick layer of red lipstick on her lips. “There. I’m all set.”
Sterling shot the flight attendant a triumphant smile and quickly exited the ladies’ room before the flight attendant could get any ideas about raising her price or having any remorse. Sterling needed this to work. It had been a bit of a long shot, trying to set up this little operation and managing to fly out of here on time to get on Jake Ramesly’s personal plane. The timing had been tricky. The fact that it was all coming together was like a shot of adrenaline for her.
Sterling made her way to the correct gate, showing her ID and “borrowed” pass to a security guard.
“New here?” the guard barely looked at Sterling’s fake credentials. She had spent hours with a backstreet fake ID specialist to make sure the airport employee card was perfect.
“Yes,” Sterling smiled as she took back the card. She didn’t volunteer any other information. That was where most other reporters got in trouble when they were trying to scope out information. The more a person lied, the more likely they were to be found out. Sterling told the truth where ever possible. Sometimes she just embellished it a little. Only a little.
Not that Sterling was a real reporter. She worked for a tabloid. That meant she was the scum of the reporting world. Even if she had out-scooped some of the biggest newspaper competitors in the city.
“Have a nice flight,” the guard motioned her through.
He was as lax as the flight attendant had mentioned. Perfect. Sterling gripped the handle of her small luggage case and purposefully walked down the corridor. She passed through some automatic doors and walked across the tarmac to the plane. Everything was going well.
Sterling climbed the steps and entered the plane. It was small compared to the large commercial flights she was used to. Then again, it was a private plane, beautifully detailed inside with leather seats and nice décor. Jake had hired the plane since the Ramesly corporations didn’t own one. Sterling wondered why he hadn’t just flown on a commercial flight like everyone else did. Then again, he was a Ramesly.
It wasn’t that she had anything against the family. They were her bread and butter most days. If she had the money, she’d travel like this all the time too.
