Bad Boy Brit (A British Bad Boy Romance) (32 page)

“No,” I said. “No more work stuff right now. It’s obvious that something has been troubling you for a while, so can we just put everything else aside for a moment and be Kaiden and Riley, like we used to be? I know we drifted apart, but we used to be friends, and we used to listen and help each other out. We can be that again. This doesn’t all have to be about work.”

She glanced up at me, as if she wasn’t quite sure if she could believe me or not. I nodded encouragingly, and eventually she must have decided that she could trust me because she finally started talking.

“My appointment was with a doctor.”

These words were like daggers to my heart. If she was crying over something her doctor said, it had to be health-related. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but this wasn’t it.

“Are you sick?”

She shook her head. “No. A few years back, my Mom died of breast cancer, and my aunt has the same thing right now. I got tested for the BRCA gene mutations because it’s genetic and seems to run in my family, and it turns out that I have one of them. BRCA-1.”

It was unbelievable to me that Riley’s lovely mother had died, but in that moment, my brain was fixated on the possibility of losing Riley. I’d only just gotten her back. I couldn’t lose her again.

She brushed the tears away from her eyes as she continued. “So I don’t have cancer yet, but the chances that I’ll develop it at some stage are very high.”

“Is there anything you can do?” I asked, my mind whirling. Times were changing, and modern medicine could practically perform miracles these days. Surely there was something that could be done.

“Well, the gene causes a high risk for breast and ovarian cancers, and also uterine cancer in my family’s case. So I’d eventually have to have surgery to remove my breasts, uterus and ovaries, and the sooner I do that, the better. I won’t be able to have children after that, though.”

My heart seemed to drop into a pit in my stomach. All my recent issues centered on me becoming a father with a woman I couldn’t stand, and guilt washed over me in waves. How stupid and selfish I’d been. This entire time, Riley had known that her chances at natural motherhood were very slim, even if she tried her hardest, and here I was, soon to be a father to a baby which had resulted from a pure accident.

The fact that my baby had been unplanned didn’t make me care about it any less, though. I’d always love and care for my kids; I just felt like an insensitive prick now that I knew of Riley’s struggle.

My mind desperately wanted to find a solution for her, to make up for my shitty timing with my problem, but I was coming up with nothing, and she put her head in her hands, finally letting the sobs consume her.

“I’ll probably never have kids of my own,” she said, shattering my heart into a million pieces. Riley had always wanted a family—even more than me—and I hated to see that dream stripped from her. “I don’t want to freeze my eggs, I have this whole PR career getting in the way, and I don’t even have a boyfriend! It’s just never gonna happen for me.”

She was almost hysterical now, as if she was letting it all out for the very first time. “I either have to have a baby now and get the operation afterwards, or my child has to be created in a lab and implanted in a surrogate,” she continued, her voice trembling as she tried to calm herself.

“Well, that’s not so bad,” I said in a soothing tone, trying to calm her down. Deep down I knew that I had no leg to stand on, because my baby had been made the natural way. Okay, there’d been no love involved, but that made no difference.

She didn’t reply, so I went on. “There must be something I could do to help. I know some great doctors, and I’m sure they could refer you to some fertility special— “

“No,” she said, not even waiting to hear what I had to say. “You have a baby on the way, and you should make the most of that. You don’t need to concern yourself with all my problems.”

“You didn’t need to concern yourself with me when my Dad was beating the shit outta me as a kid, but you helped me anyway. Now let me help you,” I said quietly.

“No. This can’t be helped, trust me.”

“But…”

“I’m sorry, I have to go,” she muttered, grabbing her handbag. “I need to get home.”

“No, wait. Just stay and—”

“No, I really can’t.”

With that, she dashed out of the room, and despite the fact that she was a mess—upset and angry all at once—I let her go. She was upset and clearly needed time alone, and my presence was only making things worse for her.

I stood there staring into space for a long time afterwards, knowing that I’d somehow fucked up in my attempt to calm Riley down, but still unsure of what I should’ve done under the circumstances.

The only thing I knew for sure was how much I cared about her, and as I thought about it, I realized that I might’ve been wrong earlier when I’d thought it was impossible to love her already.

Maybe I could love her…and maybe I already did.

Chapter 11

Riley

My mind was in a slightly better place the next morning, but only because it had to be. I needed to drag myself out of Kaiden’s mess, and out of my own as well, because I had a meeting with another prospective client to deal with. Eric was originally going to go—he liked to deal with new business—but he’d gotten called into an emergency shareholder meeting, so I’d been selected to go in his place.

I was about to have a lunch meeting with Mr. Halk—CEO of a major financial firm—to try and woo him into giving Wenden and Brown his business. It seemed like it was going to be an easy task, for which I was grateful. As I’d looked through all the previous communications, it seemed like this was practically a done deal already.

A nice simple job, just what I needed.

As I walked into the fancy restaurant where we were having the meeting, I allowed the confidence that I normally felt whilst doing my job to flow through me. Even though I wasn’t always the most naturally confident girl, I was damn good at faking it, and that attitude had secured me more than one account. Eric was always saying that I was one of his best employees, and I felt like I’d proven that more than once. It was only this messy situation with my health—combined with the confusing feelings that Kaiden had brought with him—that was making me feel on edge.

“Hello. Is there a reservation under Mr. Halk?” I asked the restaurant host.

“Let me see…ah, yes,” he replied, marking off something on a page in front of him. “You’re the first of your party to arrive. Would you like to take a seat, or would you prefer to wait at the bar?”

“My seat, please,” I said with a smile. I was glad to be the first one to arrive—I always preferred to be early—and I knew it would look a lot better if I waited at the table. Alcohol consumption at a bar before a business meeting never looked good.

“Sure. Follow me.”

I allowed my eyes to flicker over the other diners as I walked. I liked to check out the people who ate at these posh restaurants for leisure, and I always tried to imagine their lives and make up backstories for them, because I loved creating characters in my mind. As I tried it this time, I was stunned to find myself looking at a face I recognized well—one that I could’ve done without seeing.

Serra Silver.

“Here’s your table, madam.” The host indicated towards a seat which faced the exclusive booth table where Serra was sitting, allowing me to spy on her if I chose to do so. I wasn’t sure why I was so curious what she was up to; all I knew was that I still didn’t trust her at all. Sure, she’d proven that she’d been telling the truth about her pregnancy, but that didn’t make her an honest person, and we’d only find out if the baby was definitely Kaiden’s once DNA tests were done. There was something incredibly suspicious about her, and I couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling she gave me.

I hid my face behind my menu, peering over it every minute or so to see what she was doing. There was a man sitting next to her, but I couldn’t see his face. The whole setup looked suspiciously like a date, which was odd, because she had made it out like she desperately wanted to make a real family with Kaiden. A part of me had assumed that was what they were going to do, and the idea made my insides twitch with irrational jealousy.

I watched Serra closely as she leaned towards the man. She began to passionately kiss him as if there was no one else in the room, and my eyes widened with surprise. They were making out like horny teenagers, to the point where it was embarrassing to watch, and I finally turned my head away as my mind whirled. What the hell was she up to? Why was she acting like she wanted to be with Kaiden when she was clearly dating someone else? The whole thing was just so weird.

And then they pulled apart, and I realized just why it was so damn weird. The person she was kissing was Dr. Banks, the man who had performed her ultrasound the other day…and this time, he didn’t look so shy. What the hell?

I dropped the menu in stunned shock, my eyes widening even more, and luckily, Serra was too busy cramming her tongue down the doctor’s throat to even notice me sitting there. I narrowed my eyes and surreptitiously pulled out my cell phone before snapping a quick picture to show to Kaiden later, if necessary. Something seedy was definitely going on, and we needed to find out what.

“Hello, Miss Solis.”

Mr. Halk’s friendly voice broke through my shocked reverie a few seconds later, forcing me to return to the present moment.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Halk,” I said, gulping all my emotions down and throwing on my professional mask.

One thing at a time…

***

It wasn’t until I got back to the office much later that afternoon that I was given the chance to dig around. I’d played my part well in the meeting and ensured that the deal was secured, but my mind had been elsewhere the entire time, trying to figure that conniving bitch out.

Serra and Dr. Banks hadn’t stayed in the restaurant for very long, and luckily they hadn’t spotted me as they left, but from what I’d seen of their apparent relationship, there was definitely something very strange happening.

I had no qualms with doing this research on my work computer, because it affected Kaiden—my biggest client. Helping out with his public image was a massive part of my job, after all, so whatever Serra was up to, I wasn’t going to let it get past me…and I’d be damned if I let her hurt Kaiden either.

Dr. Greg Banks
, I typed into the search engine. Of course, thousands of results came back; it wasn’t like he had a particularly uncommon name. I remembered that he’d had some kind of British accent, so I tried
Dr. Greg Banks, Britain
next, but there were still too many results. I sighed and thought for a moment before typing in something else. If he was a dodgy guy, then surely there’d be some evidence of that online.
Dr. Greg Banks, Britain, fraud cases, legal issues.

Fortunately this gave me everything I needed, and I found the man I was looking for right away. There wasn’t too much about him online, but I did find a selection of articles that told me all that I needed to know.

“Oh my god,” I muttered to myself, shocked by what I was reading.

I picked up my phone and dialed my friend Alexa’s number.

“Hello?” she said.

“Alexa, hey! Are you back from Italy?”

Alexa had become one of my closest friends in recent years. She’d started off working at the same firm as me before realizing that PR just wasn’t for her, upon which she’d made the snap decision to become an air hostess, and she hadn’t looked back since. It was amazing that she’d decided on her dream and just made it happen, and I wished I could do the same with my own dreams.

She loved jetting all over the world and regaling me with her tales on her return; tales which included her hooking up with a different man in each country. Even though one night stands weren’t my kind of thing, it was all very exciting for her, and I was happy for her…and also a little envious, to be honest.

Despite the fact that I barely got a chance to see her these days because she was jet-setting all over the place, we’d maintained a solid friendship. We hadn’t worked together for long, but something had just clicked between us, and we kept our friendship going through emails, calls, and Facebook.

“Yep. Oh, Riles, it was amazing,” she replied in a dreamy voice.

“You’ll have to come and tell me all about it over a bottle of wine on the weekend,” I said, jumping in quickly before she started on her stories. I loved hearing them, but right now I needed her for something else.

“Okay, but only if you tell me all about the sexy Kaiden Cross,” she said with a giggle.

I’d just managed to slip my new client into a conversation before she’d left on her last work trip, and it seemed that she’d already spotted that there was more to it than met the eye.

“Yeah, sure,” I said in the most casual tone I could muster up. “But before I tell you about him, I was wondering—where exactly do they film Meadowlands?”

I knew she’d know, because it was the one TV show she always kept up with, so if anyone knew how to find Serra at work, it would be Alexa.

“The studio’s on the Lansbury Business Estate, why?”

She was genuinely curious now, knowing I had no interest in soap operas.

“It’s a long story,” I said. “So why don’t you come over tonight and I’ll tell you everything then?”

“Ooh, sounds juicy! Okay, I will. Eight-ish? And you’ll also have to tell me all about Kaiden.”

“Sure. Sounds great, see you then!”

I hung up the phone and gathered up my things, including the article that I’d just printed off, and then I put on my game face and stopped by Eric’s office on my way out.

“Eric, I’ve got to go out on a job, but I have my cell phone with me.”

“Sure,” he replied, looking as if he was in the middle of tearing his hair out. Clearly the shareholder meeting hadn’t gone exactly as he’d planned.

I drove much quicker than I normally would, but I had a score to settle and I couldn’t rest until it was done. Adrenaline was bursting around my body, my heart was thumping away crazily, and my brain was entirely focused on what was about to come.

I wasn’t a confrontational person, but I was about to make an exception for Serra Silver.

I arrived at the studio half an hour later, before I’d even planned what I was going to say. I wasn’t normally the sort of person to wing a conversation as important as this, but it seemed like I was determined to break all of my rules today.

I stalked inside, surprised at the lack of security on the set. Maybe people didn’t normally sneak onto the sets of TV soaps? Although, you’d think that would be happening quite often, considering the amount of obsessive fans that surely existed. I was also stunned at how unglamorous it all was. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting, but it was certainly more than this. The place was small and a little grimy.

I found myself standing outside what seemed to be the main part of the set, and I could see Serra filming a scene. A part of me wanted to burst in and start screaming and yelling, but I hadn’t quite changed that much. No, I needed to do this in a more dignified manner.

I managed to blend in with the crew for a while, just waiting for her to finish. My professionalism prevented me from making a scene, but the lengthy wait gave my emotions more time to stew, and the more I thought about things, the angrier I became. I still wasn’t one-hundred percent certain of what she’d done, but I was sure she’d done
something
dodgy with Dr. Banks; sure enough to come all the way down here.

Then, as if by magic, she was in front of me, the filming already done for the day.

“Hey, you,” she snapped, as if she didn’t even recognize me. “Where’s my kale juice? And where the
hell
is my pink Chanel nail polish?”

Jeez, she was so stuck up that even the bags under her eyes were probably designed by Balenciaga.

“Serra, I’m not an assistant here. I work with Kaiden. We met the other day,” I replied, trying to keep as calm as possible. My blood was boiling, my veins bursting with rage.

She shrugged dismissively, as if I were speaking another language to her. “Huh? So what?”

“Can we speak in private?” I asked. I wanted to keep this between just us, at least for now.

“Um, no? Why would I want to go anywhere with
you
? Do you even know who I am?” she replied in her lilting valley-girl accent, sneering and looking me up and down as if I were nothing more than a piece of gum she’d found on the bottom of her shoe.

“I really think you’ll want to talk about this away from everyone else,” I said in a warning tone. She took absolutely no notice, turning to look at herself in a nearby mirror instead.

As she inspected her eyelashes, I rolled my eyes. “Okay, I’ll just show you this instead,” I added.

With that, I presented the printed article I’d found online, showing her exactly what I’d discovered about Dr. Banks. He’d been a doctor in London until 2011, but he’d had his English medical license revoked because of fraud, in a very similar case to what we were dealing with here—a conniving woman, a fake pregnancy and a man she’d wanted to extract large amounts of money from.

Dr. Banks had faked the relevant test results paperwork and played a pre-recorded ultrasound video while pretending to perform an ultrasound on the patient, so that the alleged father had believed she was really pregnant. Once the man had married the woman out of a sense of duty—with no prenuptial agreement, seeing as he’d thought they were having a child together and would be linked forever—the woman had faked a miscarriage and then tried to take off with half his fortune. The ruse had been discovered eventually, and Dr. Banks had been tried in court, sued for damages, and had his license taken away. He’d been lucky he wasn’t jailed.

I watched Serra’s face in the mirror as it went from cocky and confident to pale and fearful.

“So, do you want to speak to me alone now?” I said, knowing that I had her exactly where I wanted her.

She grabbed my hand and yanked me violently towards a small dressing room. When we were safely inside, she started her tirade. “What the fuck is this?” she said, throwing the article back at me. “Where the fuck did you get it?”