kobo risk

RISK (The
Billionaire’s Rules, Book 10)

By Kelly Favor

© 2015 All Rights Reserved

After everyone had departed from the
scene, Ivy was alone in front of Cullen’s home, shell-shocked and defeated.

She’d refused to so much as speak to her
mother, and after a few minutes of being studiously ignored, the older woman
had left, along with the police and the bystanders that had gathered
temporarily to watch Cullen being arrested.

Now that the initial shock was wearing
off, Ivy was standing there with the dawning realization that she had to do
something.
 

Someone had to help Cullen get free from
this mess once again.

And then, Ivy remembered Cullen’s
brilliant attorney, whom she’d met briefly at the precinct.

She found him through a quick Google
search on her phone.

Drake Bennett, Criminal Defense Attorney.

Immediately, Ivy dialed the number and
prayed he would be in the office.

A secretary answered and informed Ivy
that Drake was not currently available, but asked if she could take a message.

Ivy said that it was an emergency, and that
Cullen Sharpe was involved.
 
“I’m
Cullen Sharpe’s wife and I promise you, this is important. I’m quite sure
Mister Bennett will want to hear this right away,” Ivy said.

“Hold please,” the secretary replied.

Just moments later, the attorney came on
the line, and he sounded concerned.
 
“Ivy Spellman?” Drake asked.
 
“I understand there’s been some kind of emergency?”

Immediately, Ivy explained to him that
Cullen had been arrested again.
 
When she was done explaining, Drake Bennett fell silent for a long time.

When he spoke again, his tone of voice
was not optimistic.

“This is not good,” he sighed.
 
“To be arrested a second time—it’s
worst case scenario.”

 
“So what now?” Ivy said.
 
“I mean
,
there
must be something you can do.”

“Cullen’s developing a very bad
reputation, Miss Spellman,” Drake continued.
 
“And I’m afraid he has plenty of enemies
ready to capitalize on that reputation.”

“But he’s innocent,” Ivy said.
 
“Cullen didn’t hurt me at all and I told
the police as much.”

“Obviously, the police aren’t in
agreement with your version of things,” Drake said.
 
“And I can’t just get Cullen out of jail
with the snap of my fingers.
 
I
pulled a few strings to get him a video arraignment last time.
 
That’s not going to fly again.
 
He’s going to sit in jail for at least
twenty-four hours and then we’ll have to hope they set bail.”

“I don’t understand,” Ivy said.
 
“You think they won’t set bail?
 
What does that even mean?”

“It means, the government of the United
States is very angry with your husband, and so are some other powerful
people.
 
He could be considered a
flight risk, given his father’s history and their perceived involvement with
one another.
 
Now, do I think the
court will deny him bail?
 
Anything’s
possible.”

“We have to do something, though,” Ivy
said.
  

“Unless you have connections with the
federal government or the chief of police, I don’t think there’s much to be
done right now except to wait and hope he gets lucky with the judge.”

Ivy felt defeated and frightened by the
somber tone of Cullen’s lawyer.
 
He
was supposed to be the best, and he painted a very bleak picture of Cullen’s
situation.

After she’d gotten off the phone with
him, she sat on the front steps of Cullen’s home and had a good, long cry.

It was only as she was drying her tears
that she looked up and saw a blurry figure in front of her.

“Please just go away,” she murmured,
sniffling.
 
When she dried her eyes
and could see better, she realized who it was that had shown up.

Unsurprisingly, Peg Woodhouse standing
there.
 
The woman was like a ghost
it seemed, always skulking near Cullen’s home, waiting to ambush anyone who
would listen.

She was smoking a cigarette and looking worn
and haggard, but
her eyes were covered by dark sunglasses
.
 
She raised an eyebrow and blew a cloud
of smoke from her nostrils.
 
“Is he
hiding inside the house again?” Peg asked Ivy.

Ivy shook her head but didn’t
answer.
 
 

“Hello?” Peg waved at her, smoke trailing
from the long cigarette.
 

Ivy startled, finally looking at the
woman again.
 
“I don’t have anything
to say to you,” she replied.
 
And
then she stood up and began trying to leave.
  

Peg reached out and grabbed for her
arm.
 
“Don’t go,” she pleaded.

“Don’t touch me.”

“I’m sorry,” Peg said.
 
“I’m just desperate.”

Join
the club
, Ivy thought.
 
“Cullen’s not home right now.
 
And he’s not coming back anytime soon…”

“Sorry if I’ve inconvenienced you,” Peg
said, pulling her glasses off and revealing two weary eyes with dark bags under
them.
 
The woman looked as though
she hadn’t slept a wink in weeks.
 
“But you have to listen to me.
 
My sister needs his help.”

“You need to stop harassing him,” Ivy
told her.
 
“And besides, he’s not
here—“

“I’ll wait until he returns.”

“Why can’t you go and bother some other
doctor?” Ivy said, her voice rising.
 
“And good luck waiting for him to come back.
 
You’ll be waiting a long time—“
 

She caught herself and stopped talking
immediately.

“Look, I know you have no idea who I
am.
 
I’m a total stranger,” Peg
continued, smiling and taking quick drag from her cigarette.
 
“But maybe, just maybe—if you gave
me a chance, I could help you.”

“Help me?” Ivy said, frowning
skeptically.
 
“How could you help
me?”

“It’s obvious that you’re in distress,”
the woman said.
 
“I’m in the same
club.
 
It’s easy to recognize a
fellow sufferer.
 
You’re terrified
and you don’t know what to do.”

Ivy was surprised.
 
“Well, even if you’re correct about
me…you have no way of helping anything.”

“Try me.
 
What do you have to lose?”

Ivy shook her head.
 
“Anything you do for me is only to get
Cullen to help with your sister’s surgery.”

“So what?” Peg shouted.
 
“That’s how things work.
 
People scratch each other’s backs.
 
Now if I can help your situation, then
all I ask is that you try your best to put in a good word for me.”

“You can’t help.
 
The mere thought of it is ridiculous.”

“You might be surprised,” Peg said,
folding her arms.
 
“Why don’t you
tell me why I came here and found you crying on Cullen Sharpe’s front steps?”

Ivy sighed.
 
She thought about it.
 
What did she really have to lose by telling
this woman what had happened to Cullen?
 
His arrest would soon be public knowledge in any event, so there was no
reason to be coy.

“Cullen’s been arrested,” Ivy said.

“Arrested,” Peg Woodhouse said
thoughtfully, and began pacing in a small circle in front of his home.
 
“Arrested for something serious?
 
DUI?
 
Disorderly conduct?
 
What?”

“It’s complicated,” Ivy said.
 
“I can’t get into details.
 
Let’s just say, it’s serious enough that
I can’t say when he’ll be released, or even
if
he’ll be released.”

“Of course he’ll be released.
 
And I’m fairly certain Cullen Sharpe can
afford all the lawyers he needs,” Peg told her.

“They might not even set bail.
 
He could be considered a flight
risk.”
 
Ivy took a deep breath and
closed her eyes.
 
“I can’t tell you any
more and I shouldn’t have even said that much.”
 
She opened her eyes.
 
“I’m so sorry about your sister, and
believe me—I wish I could help.
 
But I can’t.”

She turned and started to walk away,
planning to call her mother and see if she couldn’t throw herself on her
mercy.
 

I
could promise to come home and live in her house and never speak to Cullen
again if she’ll just agree to go and tell the police she lied to them…

Ivy was already planning her new
strategy, when Peg called after her.

“I think I can help you!” Peg yelled out.

Ivy stopped in her tracks.
 
She knew the other woman was completely
lying, probably because she was trying to save her sister.
 
But still.
 
The sound in her voice was very
convincing.
 

Ivy turned and looked at her.
 
“If you’re lying because you think it’s
going to get you somewhere…”

“I’m not lying,” Peg said, a small smile
playing on her lips.
 
“I told you to
give me a chance, didn’t I?”

“Tell me,” Ivy responded, striding
quickly back to her.
 
“Tell me how
you can help.”

Peg put her sunglasses on again and took
another puff from her cigarette.
 
“My father just so happens to be childhood friends with the district attorney,”
she said.
 
The small smile
widened.
 
“You’d be very surprised
how far that sort of thing goes in this world.”

“I don’t believe you,” Ivy said, as her
heart beat faster.

“You don’t have to.
 
Let me prove it to you.
 
If I call my father and tell him that in
exchange for making one phone call, he can save his daughter’s life…
.I
think he’ll probably make that call.
 
Don’t you?”

“I suppose,” Ivy said, cautiously.
 
She refused to believe that Peg
Woodhouse could do anything she was insinuating.
 

The woman pulled out her cell phone and
made a call, putting the phone to her ear.
 
“Daddy, hi.
 
It’s me.”
 
She blew smoke from her mouth,
nodding.
 
“Daddy, it’s
important.
 
I need you to make a
call to Tony.
 
Tony Vance,” she
continued.

As she spoke, Ivy began searching the
name on her phone and found that Anthony Vance
Jr,
was
in fact the county district attorney.
  
Ivy’s heart began racing
faster.
 
If Peg Woodhouse was
telling the truth, than this was an important moment that Ivy couldn’t afford
to screw up.

The question was
,
what would Cullen want Ivy to do in this situation?

Would he want her to negotiate on his
behalf and help him get free from jail?
 
Or would he merely be enraged that she was meddling in his affairs and
possibly putting him in a position to fulfill a debt that he couldn’t pay?

She wasn’t certain of the right answer,
and it was eating her up inside, as she heard Peg telling her father that he
needed to call and find out if his childhood buddy, the district attorney,
could arrange to get Cullen Sharpe out of jail.

“He’s the best neurosurgeon on the
planet, Daddy,” Peg whispered.
 
“And
Becca is going to die unless we get her the very best surgeon possible to do
the operation.
 
You know that.
 
You know how hard I’ve been trying to
catch a break here….
”
 
Peg shook her head as she listened to her father.
 
“I know he can, that’s how.
 
You have to trust me, Daddy.
 
Just make the call.
 
Okay?”

Ivy shuddered as she heard Peg begging
her father to do this favor, knowing that she was making promises on Cullen’s
behalf—and he might very well refuse to help them at all.

After another minute or two, the
conversation came to an end, with Peg thanking her father and hanging up.
 
The woman pulled her sunglasses off and
wiped at her eyes.
 
“He’s going to
try,” she muttered.
 
“I did my best.
 
It’s all I can do.”
 
And then the woman began to cry, and Ivy
did the only thing she knew to do.