Found (Not Quite a Billionaire Book 3) (36 page)

When she pulled back at last and started wiping at her face, I said, “Listen to me. Listen hard, now. You’re a beautiful girl with spirit and fire and strength that any man would want. Any
man.
Not any entitled boy who thinks he’s doing a girl a favor. What I told you on the jet—that’s the truth, and you need to remember it, no matter what your body’s telling you. If he cares about you, he’s not going to push you, and if he pushes you, he doesn’t care about you. Something else, too. Nothing about having sex or not having it makes you any more or less of a woman, so there’s no point in doing it until you’re sure you’re having it with somebody who cares more about you than he does about himself. And if he’s talking about you performing on him in his car,” I finished grimly, “he doesn’t care a bit, and the only answer is to slap his face.”

“Did anybody ever slap yours? Any girl?” She was still sniffling, but she didn’t sound broken anymore.

“One woman. Your sister.”

“Oh. Wow. But I mean . . . I don’t have to say no, do I? For a guy to respect me? Why? Why
shouldn’t
a woman say yes?”

“She should. When she can’t stand
not
to have sex with that man, and she knows for sure that he’s a man she wants to have it with. When it’s her choice.”

“Because that virgin thing
is
dumb,” she said. “And wrong, and . . . and sexist, and
everything.
I still think so.”

“You can think so and still not have sex with any Noahs. That, I know. You wait. And any time you wonder if he’s the right one, you ask me.”

“Or invite him to dinner.” I thought she might be smiling a little now, even through the remains of her tears. “So you can tell me. He was kind of a jerk that night. I just didn’t want to admit that you and Hope were right.”

“No ‘kind of’ about it,” I said. “He was a jerk, full stop. You can do better, and you will. You concentrate on being awesome, and on finding somebody as awesome as you that you don’t have to make excuses for. You concentrate on making
your
choice.”

“Like Hope did.”

“Yeh. Exactly like Hope did.”

Silence for another moment, and then the night was split by the blast of a horn, light flooded the car, I leaped in my seat, and Karen shrieked.

I pulled out of the bus zone, ignoring the angry final hoot behind me, and Karen said, “Wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you doing anything, you know, awkward.”

“Because you’re seeing me now that I’m not sixteen anymore,” I told her. “You wait. You’re going to make all kinds of right choices. You’ve already started. You’re going to have poise. You’re going to have confidence. You’re going to be a woman to reckon with. It’s going to take a strong man to match you, and you’re going to find him. You’ll see.”

Hope

On a rainy Friday afternoon more than a week after Hemi had left, I finished drying off in a shower stall at the Katikati pool, grabbed my things, and headed to my locker.

The midwife had said that I’d find myself slowing down when I reached the third trimester, but that gave me ten weeks more to feel great, and that was how I felt. I’d swum thirty laps today, in fact, which was a new record.

Swimming in the rain was exciting, too. An adventure, and for the first time in my life, adventures didn’t scare me. Maybe because I wasn’t out on the edge anymore, knowing that one push or one wrong step could send both Karen and me into the abyss. I had the luxury of enjoying a challenge. Like today. I’d be walking up the hill in the rain, but I could cope with that. And in one more week, I was going home.

I’d had a thought out there doing those laps, too. A
work
thought, which meant I was moving out of the now-zone and into the future-zone, and, boy, was
that
exciting. I could ask—

The thought left my head just like that. There was somebody sitting on a bench right smack in the middle of the room, as if she owned it. Her elegant legs were crossed at the knee, and she didn’t look dressed to swim.

Anika didn’t say anything. She just sat there with her beautiful face, her shiny hair, and her glorious figure and smiled at me. It wasn’t a sad smile like before. Or a nice one.

I made my feet move again, and I kept my voice level. “What a surprise.” I headed for my locker. She thought she could come here and intimidate me? She could think again. “Well, I guess it’s a free country.”

I nodded to Gemma and Roberta, two older ladies who often swam around the same time I did. Unfortunately, they were heading out, leaving only their curious glances behind. And leaving me alone with Viper Woman.

Deal with it.
I channeled Hemi, spun the dial of my combination lock, and opened my locker. I didn’t bother to cover up with my towel, either. This woman wasn’t Hemi’s wife anymore, she had no power over me, and I wasn’t ashamed of how I looked. She had a killer body, but I had her man.

I know what you’re thinking. That’s a lovely evolved thought. No, it isn’t, but too bad. I ignored her, stuck my head into my locker, and rummaged through my bag.

I heard her voice from behind me, rich with amusement. “All this time, I’ve been wondering what on earth Hemi could see in you. Insipid little blondes aren’t much in his line, especially not when they’ve got a bit of pudge. Hemi’s never settled for less than a ten. What was he doing with a six? It was a puzzle.”

I turned around and began smoothing lotion into my skin, controlling my breathing with a pretty heroic effort. “Well, I don’t know. I guess people change, because here this six is with a three-carat rock on her finger. How’s
your
life going?” I could play in the Bitch Wars, too.

“But then,” Anika said, totally ignoring what I’d said, “until Ana told me, I didn’t realize you were pregnant. Oldest trick in the world, but still effective, eh. If you can find a susceptible man, that is. And there Hemi is, aching to be somebody’s hero, dying to be told he’s lovable after Mummy didn’t want him, and neither did I. Ana said none of them were impressed by you, but I don’t know that I agree. You may be more clever than they realize. If you call getting pregnant and playing the helpless card ‘clever,’ that is.”

“I don’t know how Ana would know, seeing as I’ve never met her.” I shoved back my emotion at the rest of it. Throwing a man’s vulnerability back in his face? Using his family against him?

“Oh, she’s heard reports. Let’s say I’m not the only one surprised at his choice.”

I pulled on my underwear, keeping my movements as smooth as I could manage. Hemi had told me, in one of his coaching moments, “The winner is the one who needs it less.” Well, Anika sure needed to talk to me more than I needed to talk to her, because I wouldn’t have crossed the street to have this conversation.

I let her wait, then sat on the bench, began to put on my pants, and finally said, “So you’re surprised. So what? If Hemi likes me enough to marry me, what do I care what you or his sister think?”

Another smile. “You shouldn’t. But you should care about what I can do to him. And what I can do to you, although of course”—the smile turned mocking—“you care more about Hemi than about yourself. Or should I say—you care about his money more?”

“I think you’re mixing me up with you,” I said sweetly. “And if that’s the best you’ve got, I can’t imagine why you bothered to come all this way.”

She smiled, faint and contemptuous, and I told myself,
No hitting,
and went back into my locker for my bra and top.

“I came because I have a present for you,” she said.

“Let me guess. An acid bath. Oh, wait. You already gave us that.” Hey. That had been
good.

“Oh, darling, I’ve hardly got started.” With that, she reached into her slouchy black bag, and I froze for a second, then whirled.

My baby.
That was the only thought making it through.
Run.

I’d barely taken two steps when she said, her dark voice full of amusement, “Don’t be a fool. I’m more subtle than that. Besides, if you go out there topless, Katikati will be talking for weeks, and you wouldn’t want that.”

She wasn’t holding a gun, or a knife, or whatever I could have imagined. She was holding her phone, pressing and clicking, and I heard Hemi’s voice. His bedroom voice.

“Touch yourself. Because I’m touching you. Tying your ankles now, putting a pillow under your hips so you’re all the way open for me. All the way helpless. Ready for anything I want to do to you.”

My voice, then. A whimper, a moan. I stood there, halfway dressed, halfway to the door, listening to Hemi. And to me. And burning.

“Nice,” Anika said. “But too tame. Now, let’s see . . .” She clicked around a bit and said, “This one’s a bit better. See what you think.”

Hemi again.
“I’m going to turn you over, tie you down on your stomach. Wrists and ankles, so you’re spread-eagled on the bed, and you’re already begging me to stop. Going to shove a wedge up under you, get you ready for me. And now I’m shoving that vibrator up your pretty little arse, stretching you wider and wider while you squirm and beg. Until you start to howl. Because tonight’s the night you’re going to give it to me, and I’m going to fuck it hard. I’m going to fuck it till you scream.”

My breath was coming fast. I was half-naked and vulnerable. Helpless. And Anika kept playing that . . . tape?

“How . . .” I found myself saying despite my best intentions.

Another smile, and Hemi’s voice mercifully stopped. “Did you and Hemi really think I flew all the way to New York to beg? Without a backup plan? That’s why he’ll never get as far as he thinks. He assumes everybody’s as soft as he is. He doesn’t think outside the box. Or maybe he doesn’t think outside
yours.
You’ve cost him his edge, and that’s just sad. He wants to live in a kinder, gentler world, but he should know better. It doesn’t exist. Getting soft means getting screwed. But then, you know all about that, don’t you? That’s your specialty.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I wasn’t horrified anymore. I was back at my locker, pulling out the rest of my clothes, dressing myself. Arming myself. “What you’re doing doesn’t have a thing to do with Hemi’s character, or with mine. It’s all about you, and it’s all about money. You planted something on him somehow, or you hacked into his computer so you could hear our calls. Whatever it was, you eavesdropped on our private conversations, and that’s illegal.”

“Not that private, were they, if one little bug in the bedroom could pick them all up, and I heard them that many times? Sorry, darling, but he recorded everything he said to you, and everything you said, too. You’re a noisy girl, aren’t you? Oh, I’ll bet he loves that. Think how much everybody else will.”

The light was dawning. “No,” I said, and put every bit of horror I could muster into it. “He wouldn’t.”

She sighed. “Hemi didn’t tell you that he likes to share, did he? I told you that you were in over your head. And now you’ll be shared even more. Hemi gets to share you with the whole wide world. Isn’t that nice? A little leak, but that’s all right, because you have a sharing fantasy of your own, don’t you? I know all about it. You really shouldn’t talk so much.”

“What do you want?” I asked, not trying to hide my fear anymore.

“Oh, darling,” she said reproachfully. “I’m disappointed. I thought you were smarter than that. What I’ve wanted all along. Money. We can make all of this go away. I’m not greedy. Ten million dollars. It has a lovely ring to it, doesn’t it? U.S., of course. Hemi can raise that without breaking a sweat. No lawyers, no courts, and the happy couple gets married and has their pretty little baby, and nobody ever, ever has to know what kinds of dirty things they get up to when they’re alone. Nobody has to hear their nasty secrets. That would be so . . . ugly, wouldn’t it? If Hemi couldn’t protect his little girl?
Either
of his little girls?”

I sank down onto the bench. “Why are you telling me? Why aren’t you taking this to him? You’re right. He
does
want to protect me. But why tell me? I don’t have any money. I can’t make it happen.”

“You really aren’t a very clever girl, are you? Come on, little Hope. Use that blonde brain of yours a teensy bit.”