The Scandalous Billionaires Collection (21 page)

Melissa looked down at herself; her tightly
wound hair had come undone, she was pushed back against the wall as
though she had been cornered by an angry mob and her business skirt
had risen up along her smooth thighs to reveal the top of her sexy
silk stockings. She looked like a woman who had just pulled out all
the stops to seduce a rich man, only to be prevented at the last
minute by the interruption of an urgent phone call and an officious
assistant.

She looked around the sumptuous bedroom but
made no effort to move from her spot against the wall.

Until she saw the briefcase on the bed,
unlocked.

You've already read his text messages,
listened to his voicemail, begged him to make love to you while
drunk and attempted to seduce during therapy while sober…

She pushed herself from the floor and walked
over to the bed, hesitating for just a moment before opening the
lid. Jason had snooped on her computer as soon as he had gotten the
chance. He had used his money and power to learn things about her
that had nothing to do with their relationship as therapist and
client. He had extracted information from someone about the details
of her upcoming hearing with the ethics committee.

And all she had ever wanted to do was help
him. Information was power; the power to harm as well as the power
to heal.

"Screw you Demovic." She hissed and then
picked up the notebook that lay inside. "I'll fix you whether
you're ready for it or not."

Flipping the book open it was immediately
apparent that this was a hand written personal diary. It made
perfect sense. The computer software billionaire who would never
trust his personal data to a computer, data-encrypted or not.
Security turns out to be better the old fashioned way. One copy
only, pen to paper, kept nearby in an ordinary, inconspicuous
locked briefcase.

She opened the journal and trembled as she
read the first words on the first page. The entry was dated the day
they had first met earlier in the week just a few short but
eternally long days ago.

"This new therapist," it read, "isn't like
the others. She's good. She's really good. In fact she's too good.
Somehow she knows how to read me and I don't like that. No-one gets
inside my head that easily. No-one has ever come near me since that
woman--since Tracy, and no-one ever will. But hell it kind of
excites me too. Like nothing has since then, since that night
before the prom or fuck it, that night at the re-union. I've never
felt so… Jesus, so at risk, so threatened just being near to a
woman. It's as though she could take me at any time, break me the
moment she feels like it, just with her look, her words, her touch.
But in one way she's no different than any of the others."

The shaking in her hands worsened as she
continued reading.

"She wants me and I'm going to make her want
me too. So much that when the time comes it's her who'll be broken,
not me. I'll drive this girl so crazy out of control that when she
makes her move I can snap her in half, just like all the others.
She's no different to any other woman chasing after 'Jason Demovic
the billionaire' whoever that is. She wants me but she's afraid to
admit it to herself because I'm her client. She wouldn't take the
deal I offered her so it's time to play hardball. If she won't do
what I want for money, let's see if she'll do it for love."

"I'm done with her." Jason sounded very serious. He
was talking to his brother while being strapped in to his skydiving
uniform. His brother was relaxing in a pool surrounded by movie
starlet beauties somewhere in the Hollywood Hills.

"God damn it, don't you dare tell me that you
already did her. I swear I'll--"

"Calm down little brother, I didn't touch
her. Well, not much anyway and certainly not enough for you to lose
your pants over."

Zach looked down at his legs in the pool.

"Then what do you mean you're finished with
her?"

"I mean I need to wait until she's done with
her hearing, just like you said. We had an intense session
yesterday. I have no idea how she does it, but this woman sees into
my head and makes me talk about things that I didn't even know
existed inside me. Frankly, I'm exhausted after every meeting with
her and that's without even having taken her to bed."

"She sounds amazing." Zach turned away from
the pretty blonde who was fawning on him. "Does she have any
friends? Twin sister maybe?"

"Stay focused here Zach. I'm doing what you
asked me to do. Have you lived up to your end of the bargain?"

"Are you sure you wanted me to?"

Jason took a deep breath. He had called his
brother after the flight back from Paris with information received
from his PI and asked him to squeeze William Kingsley.

"Sure. Did you get the little weasel to back
down?"

"He won't be a problem. Your doctor is in no
danger of losing her job. But that still doesn't means you can
cross the line with her. Unless you break off your therapy
sessions. I've got been getting some expert advice on this. The
recommendation is for at least three years of separation before a
therapist and an ex-client begin a relationship with each other.
So--"

"I don't want her to lose her license.
Period. And I want to continue working with her. Period. And I want
her. Period. I'll do what it takes. Whatever it takes. I always
have done and I always will."

"Jesus. Just listen to you. What a freaking
cliché you are. Look, I've done my part, now just keep the damn
snake in the cage--"

"Whatever. I need to go. Thanks for your
help. I'll keep you posted."

His skydive coach signaled for him to get
aboard and Jason ended the call. Immediately Melissa's number came
through and he swiped to accept it.

"Where's my journal?" He said.

"It's with your phone." She answered.

"God damn it. You have that too."

"Of course I do. Did you think I could leave
that with you? Me, fawning all over you? Drunk, begging for sex on
the streets of Paris?"

"I was going to delete it."

"Then you won't mind the fact that I deleted
it from your phone and also the copy you saved to your cloud
storage."

"My phone automatically backs up everything,
I didn't put it there intentionally."

"Of course not."

"So can I please have my journal back?"

"Of course you can. Just not yet."

Jason ground his teeth in silence while
Melissa waited. Even though she knew she held a trump card her
heart was racing with excitement and fear.

"Do you know who you're dealing with?" he
said. "I can take it back from you any time I want but I'm giving
you a chance to do the right thing. Now when is a good time for you
to return my property to me? I can send someone around right
away."

"I'll give it to you in person during our
next therapy session."

"I'll come over right now."

"Now's not a good time and besides, I don't
have it here in the house."

"Where the hell is it?" He said losing
patience.

"The original is in a safe place. All I have
here is a copy."

"God damn it Dr. Price, why the hell are you
doing this?"

"Why do you care so much about a simple
diary? You sound like a teenager who's mom has found their
journal."

"Those are my personal thoughts. I run a
multi-billion dollar corporation and if this gets into the wrong
hands we could be talking about a loss in revenue of… God, who
knows how many millions or even more."

"If the world finds out that Jason Demovic
conspired to ruin the career of a female therapist in order to
avoid facing up to his personal problems?"

"It's not like that at all. Didn't you even
read it?"

"Of course I did. What do you think I did all
last night after your driver left me home? I was waiting for one of
your guys to come banging on my door any minute to--"

"I didn't know it was gone until this morning
but you refused to take my calls."

"I was busy."

"Making photocopies?"

"Are you going to come to therapy or
not?"

"Okay. I will. Wednesday morning--"

"Monday. 9am."

"No way. Not a chance."

"It has to be before Tuesday, you know
that."

"It has to be after Tuesday."

"I won't be a therapist after Tuesday."

"Yes you will, don't worry about it, I keep
telling you."

"Shut up Jason. Just once in your arrogant
life, shut up."

"Melissa--"

"You don't have to always control everything
and you are not in control of
this
situation. Not any more,
now just shut up and listen."

He cursed under his breath and waved the
skydive coach impatiently away from him.

"Go on." He said.

"Good." Melissa said. "Now I want to read you
something. They're your own words."

"Is this really necessary?"

"Shut up and listen."

He pushed the phone to his ear and sat down
on the steps of the small aircraft.

"Do it." He said.

Melissa picked up the Xeroxed copy of his
diary and flipped open at a point she had marked with a bright
yellow sticky. She began reading.

"I've never met anyone like her." She paused
to steady herself. This was crazy. Unorthodox. Immoral even. But
nothing to do with Jason Demovic was ever normal.

She continued reading.

"I want to spend the rest of my life with
her. When I see her I want to hold her, undress her, make love to
her in a way that will make her scream for more and then do it all
again and again until we're both exhausted. No-one else has come
even close to knowing me like her and if I can just be with her
then I know everything else will become clear. They talk about the
abuse of power when a therapist is with a client. What a joke! I've
controlled every moment of our time together except when she reads
my freaking mind of course! I watch her sitting there, reading me,
looking into my soul, healing me, looking so business like, all
bound up and wound up, so uptight and proper and I know I'll do
anything she asks me to if I let down my guard even for a second.
But the only place she has this effect on me is in therapy. If she
loses her license then I'm lost. The balance of power is gone. I'm
the billionaire, the predator, the manipulator, the one who gets
whatever he wants whenever he wants. She has to stand up to me if
this is going to work and my God how she's don that already, like
no-one ever before. If it wasn't for this damn promise to Zach we'd
be together already. I would have held that pretty head in my hands
while I lay on top of her, going deeper--"

"God damn it Melissa, isn't this enough? What
are you trying to do? Break me into a million little pieces? Shame
me? Humiliate me?"

He was beginning to use her name for the
first time. The change wasn't lost on Melissa. Were the walls
finally coming down at last?

"You know that's not true." She said. "All I
want to do is help you and protect myself at the same time."

"Protect yourself? From who?"

"From you of course. I read all about those
other women. Colleagues of mine--"

"Colleague, Melissa. Singular. One. I swear
to you. You have nothing to fear from me."

"And you have nothing to fear from me. Just
as long as you show up for therapy tomorrow, 9am sharp, my office;
then there's no reason for Chauncey Tales and Fame TV to ever get a
copy of any of this material."

"This is blackmail Melissa. It's illegal.
Coercing a client into therapy? You'd lose your--"

"What? My license to practice?"

"I keep telling you--"

"I know. And I'll believe that when it
happens. You think you've taken care of this but you can't. It's
beyond your power, even with all your money and all your people,
and now you have no choice but to come to me and be with me in my
office tomorrow morning or your personal life and thoughts will be
all over the gossip blogs, websites and news channels by next
broadcast."

"I told Zach I wouldn't go near you until
after your hearing. I can't back out of that."

"Did you promise him you wouldn't do therapy
with me?"

"I told him--"

"Did you tell him that your intimate thoughts
about your therapist would be on TV later today?"

"Tomorrow. 9am." He said and then ended the
call.

Melissa put her phone away and hoped the
tremors in her hands would subside soon. She was shaking all over.
Playing hardball with a ruthless billionaire was very far outside
of her comfort zone. She put her hand down between her legs and
then drew back again. Against all of her better instincts she had
become incredibly aroused. Every word from Jason Demovic's
cornered, angry, frustrated voice had sent surges of willful desire
through her.

What she was doing as a therapist and as a
woman was scandalous. But what she had planned for their therapy
session tomorrow was going to take the term scandalous to a whole
new level.

Jason stepped out of his car and told his driver to
go and park around the block. He could have taken one of his many
luxury vehicles to Melissa's office but something told him he
wouldn't be in a fit state to drive after their session today.

He had addressed world heads of state, gone
nose to nose with some of the most hard bitten business leaders in
the game and never broken a sweat, but this morning his heart was
pounding.

What the hell will she make me do
today?
He thought.

As far as she was concerned she only had one
more day to fix a problem he had been facing since high school. She
was clearly an unorthodox thinker, willing to push boundaries, and
she had managed to gain some leverage over him by stealing his
journal. However intense their sessions together had been before,
today was threatening to be something mild altering, life changing,
soul destroying.