Page 5 of Stranded with the Billionaire
Boat seized, house ransacked, pregnant wife Ann in tears after Michael Ramesly was arrested last night by the FBI in a drug smuggling investigation. Rumors that father David will turn against son, set to testify against Michael, Robert Ramesly and family friend Ted Searson in return for immunity. Searson is accused of attempting to murder his own daughter Bethany who is rumored to have moved in with Detective Andrew Colborne-Ramesly, illegitimate son of David.
What a soap opera! Can the Ramesly’s withstand the drama as stocks of the family companies take a dramatic dip? Or will this be the ruin of a once powerful and wealthy clan?
Sure, it was a little dramatic, but everything was factual. She’d written far more inflammatory articles.
“I’m sure she has sources somewhere,” Sterling offered.
“She’s a menace to society,” Jake growled. “Feeding off of other people’s pain.”
Really? Were they really in pain? They had billions of dollars, the best legal team that money could purchase, and would probably be able to buy their way out of any conviction. If the FBI thought that they were guilty, there was a very strong probability that they were. Well, David, Robert and Ted were guilty. Sterling didn’t believe that Michael was anything but a fall guy. Then again, it wasn’t like she’d looked at all the evidence. No one would except a jury.
“I think she’s entertaining,” Sterling ventured.
“She ought to go to jail for libel,” Jake snorted. He switched the screen to some boring data analysis reports.
She would never go to jail for libel. Sterling asked the lawyers downstairs all the time how much she could push the envelope before getting sued. Rolling her eyes, she headed for the front of the plane when a scene outside the window caught her eye.
There were mountains with trees. Lots of trees. Rather close to the plane.
Sterling frowned. Getting closer to the window, she peered out.
“What’s wrong?” Jake asked, alerted by her behavior that something was amiss.
“I think you should put on your seatbelt,” Sterling said with some trepidation. Those trees were blurs as they whipped past. They were definitely getting closer. She pushed away from the window and tried to push down the panic growing inside her.
“Excuse me?” Jake looked out the window. He gasped in disbelief. “We were supposed to be past the mountains hours ago. What is going on?”
“Put on your seatbelt,” Sterling repeated over her shoulder as she opened the cockpit door. “Richard?”
Richard was slumped over the controls. His fingers spasmodically clicking buttons. An odd sound escaped him.
A shriek escaped Sterling. She grabbed the pilot, yanking him upright in his seat, holding onto his heavy frame as his eyes rolled up in his head and he slumped limply against her. The weight of Richard’s body caused Sterling to stumble and she grabbed him firmly. The plane began to dive.
Pushing Richard back into the seat, she sat on his lap and grabbed the thing that looked a little like a cross between a joystick and steering wheel, pulling back on it ever so gently. Sterling took quick little breaths, scared out of her wits.
“What are you two doing?” Jake glowered in the doorway. “This is not the time for kinky stuff.”
“I think he’s having a heart attack or something!” she practically yelled at him. How he headed half of a huge American corporation when he couldn’t see what was happening right now or follow simple directions like putting on a seatbelt and staying seated, she didn’t know. “There’s no one flying the plane.”
“You’re flying the plane,” Jake frowned at her.
“I’m not a pilot!” Sterling growled. “Now slap him around some so that he will wake up and do his job.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” Jake looked at Richard. “He’s turning blue. Don’t you know first aid?”
Which meant Jake didn’t know first aid. Sterling took a deep breath and tried to remember back to the single course she took back in high school. “Can you fly the plane?”
“What? No!” Jake looked at her like she had an alien growing out of her head.
“Just grab the stick thingie and hold it steady,” Sterling pointed. “Easy.”
“And when we want to land? Or turn?” Jake reached out and held the steering mechanism.
Sterling squeezed between Jake and Richard. “We’ll radio air traffic control and I’m sure they can walk us through it.”
At least she hoped so. That was, if she could figure out what the radio was.
“Haven’t you put in a mayday?” Jake asked a little desperately as the plane swooped a little. He tried to hold the stick steadier.
