The Billionaire's Secret Read online

  The Billionaire’s Secret

  Nana Malone

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peak of CHEEKY ROYAL

  Nana Malone Reading List

  About Nana Malone

  1

  Zia…

  Derrick? Theo?

  Whoever he was had bruises and contusions around his neck and collarbone. Had he been beaten? Jesus Christ. I glanced out on the water. It was pitch black except for a sliver of moonlight beaming on the water. I couldn't see anything. Where had he come from? Where had he been? What game were he and Theo playing?

  That was the true question.

  As we pulled him from the beach, Tamsin looked not at all thrilled. I didn't have time to argue with her though, because Jax and Trace had shown up for backup. They took one look at the figure we were dragging and one look at Theo, and Jax muttered a string of curses under his breath that sounded like unintelligible English. Trace just kept to, “Fuck. Fuck me. Fuck this. What the fuck?” Jax was far more inventive.

  We loaded Derrick and Theo into the van, and Tamsin was nearly silent as she peeled out of that parking lot like her hair was on fire. Trace rode with us and watched our rear while Jax tailed us in the follow car.

  I glanced in the rearview mirror. I knew my life was never going to be the same. The man I was falling for didn't exist. He was an impostor. And once again, I'd been betrayed by my own foolish heart.

  2

  Zia…

  Liar.

  Conman.

  Duplicitous fuck.

  As I leaned against the wall of the makeshift medical room we’d set up in the penthouse, I thought about the two versions of the man I had started to fall for.

  Two versions of one of the richest men in the world. One of them was a billionaire, Derrick Arlington. And the other was someone I didn’t know.

  And currently, one of them was bleeding all over what looked like a massage table.

  I’d fallen in love with a mirage. None of what I’d felt had been real.

  As the doctor Royal Elite had on call worked to patch up Derrick, I watched them both. The resemblance was beyond uncanny. They were freaking identical.

  No. You can tell them apart.

  At the moment, I could. But without the scruff and long hair, would I be able to?

  I forced myself to take a closer look. To focus on what was different, what stood out.

  For starters, Theo, or whoever the hell he was, had broken his nose. There was a slight bump in the ridge. It was barely noticeable, but it distinguished them. That and the eyes, that stormy gray, surrounded by thick lashes. They were the same shape and color, but Arlington's were a little closer together. Or maybe a little wider. It was hard to tell now as he had a cut above one and it was nearly swollen shut.

  Heightwise, they looked about the same, but I couldn’t be sure. They weighed about the same. And I only knew that because I’d helped drag Arlington off the beach with Theo, who had mumbled some bullshit about me not finding out that way. And sorry, sorry blah blah blah. If I was being honest, the shock had rendered me deaf and dumb right then.

  But once the crisis was over, my voice was back, and I had a shit ton to say. Starting with Liar. Conman. Duplicitous fuck.

  It didn’t matter what form of explanation came out of his mouth. As far as I was concerned, he was full of shit.

  On the beach, I'd been so numb I couldn't even think. All I could do was help him drag the body to the car. Tamsin had done a double take but hadn't asked a single question. But that was Tamsin. She had this ability to focus on the task at hand and pack away the emotions until later.

  All the way back to the penthouse, Arlington had insisted that we call for a doctor instead of going to the hospital or Royal Elite.

  Theo, or whoever the fuck he was, had argued with that plan and insisted on the hospital. I’d failed at my job then. Instead of focusing on protecting Theo… or Derrick… or whoever I was supposed to be protecting, I’d been too wrapped up in my emotions or lack thereof. Just completely unable to process anything. Thankfully, Tamsin had been there to make the final call.

  While she had done the job she’d been assigned, my ever-helpful brain had been wallowing in the spiral of lies and confusion. The prominent emotion being a sense of betrayal.

  He was just like Garrett. I had spent all this time with someone I didn't even know, all along knowing something was wrong and ignoring that feeling. Jesus Christ, was any of what I felt even real?

  From what I’d been able to cobble together so far, Derrick knew about Theo standing in for him. Was it some kind of job? It wasn’t unheard of for prominent people to employ doubles, but their resemblance was uncanny.

  There were too many questions.

  If this was all a job for Theo, how could the job be to pretend to fall in love? It didn't make any sense.

  And why not tell me the truth? I was hired to guard him. Was this what he was hiding all along?

  Do you really expect a bigger secret than this?

  I shook my head, trying to clear it. I wouldn't get any answers immediately. Not with Theo staring down at Arlington like he was equal parts messiah and demon. Not with Arlington biting out moans and groans and generally looking like he was on the verge of dying.

  At one point as the doctor stitched up the cut over his eye, Derrick trained the good one on me. "Who is she?"

  I blinked in surprise as Theo's gaze snapped at me and back to Arlington. His lips pressed into a firm line. “Not important right now.”

  Not important? The hell I wasn’t. I stepped forward. "Mr. Arlington, my name is Lady Zia Barnes. I'm a King's Knight. Your cousin, King Sebastian, assigned me to protect whoever the hell your imposter is."

  Arlington groaned as the doctor gently forced his head back to resume stitching. "I seem to recall specifically telling you to stay away from the royal family."

  Theo's words were quiet but clearly annoyed, and they held a hint of a growl. "Well, I also seem to recall you telling me this was an easy gig. Thirty days and no one would be the wiser. But left and right, people tried to kidnap or kill me, so I think our rules of engagement are moot at this point."

  My gut curled into a tight ball of nerves and resentment and disgust. I'd known something was off. I had felt it. But I’d ignored it. Again. All because a beautiful man had said he wanted to take care of me. What the hell was wrong with me?

  You’re easily duped.

  But there was another, smaller part of me that called out, Cut yourself some slack. He looked exactly like the real thing.

  I ignored both of them. I knew to follow my instincts, but I hadn't because I was desperate for love.

  "Regardless of whatever arrangement you have, the royal family is involved. You need to explain what the hell is going on. If not to me, then certainly to my boss, Ariel." I couldn’t bear to look at Theo as I pushed away from the wall.

  Arlington tried to raise his head again. "Where are you going? I wa
s enjoying the view."

  I stilled and slid my gaze over to him. "You're bleeding. You have a head wound. You’ve got lacerations all over your body, and you're taking the time to flirt with me?"

  He gave me a sloppy grin. "Absolutely. I’ve got to get it where I can."

  Now that was what I’d heard about Derrick Arlington. That he was brash, rude, and a total dick.

  And it jived.

  Then it occurred to me that while Theo had been difficult at times, he was never like that. There might have been yelling, but it was more around wanting to do the job for the company and not about just being a dick for shits and giggles.

  I'd been wrong about that. But then I’d been wrong about a lot of things. Maybe if I had known Arlington before, there's no way I would have assumed that Theo was Arlington. No wonder everyone thought he’d had a personality transplant.

  As I stalked out of the room, Theo followed me. "Zia, wait."

  I whipped around. "You don't get to call my name. You don't get to follow me. You don't get to do anything."

  Despite my obvious rage, he still reached for me. "I couldn't tell you. I was contractually obligated to not say a word."

  I put a hand up to warn him off, because if he touched me, I wasn’t sure I’d be strong enough to push him away. "Stop. You slept with me. Was that part of the job?"

  His gaze searched mine. "I slept with you because I was fucking falling for you."

  "Yeah, sure you were."

  His brows dropped down, and he shook his head. "I know you're pissed, and you have every right to be. This is why I didn't want you near me. This is why I didn't want a bodyguard."

  I frowned at that because he was right. He had tried. He’d told me he didn't want me near. At the wedding, he’d tried to make me go away. The only reason he had taken on a bodyguard was because Sebastian had forced him. What was that Arlington had said in there? 'I told you to stay away from the royal family.'

  Literally, a whole fucking mess.

  "I don't—I can’t—trust you."

  He took another step toward me, and I deliberately took one back. "Zia, I'm not him. I'm not. And this lie, I know it's bad. I get that. I didn't want to do this to you."

  Despite my fury, I could still feel myself being pulled into his orbit. I fought to shake it off, but I was going to lose that battle eventually. "Tell me one thing."

  His voice was soft when he said, "Anything."

  "What's your real fucking name?"

  His jaw snapped shut.

  I narrowed my gaze at him, daring him to feed me more bullshit. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

  As I rounded the corner, I stopped short. Elena was there carrying a tray with some mugs of what looked like tea. "Oh, Jesus Christ, Elena."

  "Zia. I knew you weren't any random run-of-the-mill girlfriend. You didn't make demands."

  I flushed. "I'm sorry about all of this."

  She nodded. "I understand. I'm not angry about the deception. I think our conversations were still genuine regardless."

  I nodded slowly. "They were. I just—"

  Her gaze flickered behind me toward where Theo and Derrick were. "Maybe our Theo was caught in the same kind of bind?"

  I vehemently shook my head. The tears threatened, but I battled them back. I had to stop myself, goddamn it.

  "It's not the same. I didn't deliberately set out to hurt you."

  She shrugged. "You know, I'm pretty sure Theo didn't deliberately set out to hurt you either. The boy just fell in love."

  As she moved past me, I frowned. "Theo… You knew he wasn't Arlington?"

  She chuckled and smiled at me. "Oh, I knew. I knew exactly who he was from the moment they made their switch. They'd been testing out a switch for about a week. And then it was all Theo all the time."

  "Who is Theo?"

  "With that kind of resemblance between them, I have my suspicions, but I don't actually know who he is. I don't have any proof. All I know is that he was the kind of son I would have raised."

  "You're not angry?"

  She shook her head. "I love Derrick. He might as well be my child. But there has always been something about him that... well, I know the boy I raised. I knew Theo wasn't him. That man was nothing but compassion and love from the moment he switched places. I told you he’d had a personality transplant. Derrick can be difficult a lot of times. Besides, how could I not know? The man cooked for me."

  As I watched her, I knew she had a point. But that didn't matter because this whole tangled web of deceit and lies had to be unraveled. And to do that, I'd need a little help. I pulled out my phone and made the call. Ariel answered in one ring. "What the hell is going on?"

  I sighed. "Body doubles. A kidnapped billionaire. It's a whole thing. I need you here."

  Ariel cursed under her breath. "I'm on my way."

  At the countertop, I stopped, gripped the edge, and inhaled deeply. I heard footsteps behind me, and the tension rolled back into my shoulders, pinching that nerve between my shoulder blades.

  "Jesus Christ, Theo, I cannot do this right now."

  "I'm sorry you can't do this, but we're going to."

  Not Theo… Tamsin. I turned to find her leaning against the doorway. "Tams, I’m sorry. I thought you were Theo, and I just... I can't talk to him right now."

  Tamsin nodded slowly. "Yeah, I get that. How about me? Can you talk to me?"

  I lifted my brows. "Yeah, of course. Thanks for helping me tonight."

  "Oh, you call that help?"

  My brows dropped. "What do you mean?"

  "Honey, you needed my help, so sure, I came running. But for the love of Christ, you went running into an unknown scenario and left me holding my dick in my hand."

  I frowned. "I can't believe you're mad about this."

  "Can't you? You're my best friend, and tonight, my partner. You cannot do that."

  “What did you want me to do? He was in trouble."

  "I don't know, Zia, maybe wait for backup? You didn't know what you were walking into."

  "I could see him. He was right on the beach."

  "Yeah, that's the thing, Zia. You didn’t stop to think about what or who else could have been on that beach. Sure, Theo was leaning over a body. What if someone intended to make him the next body? What if there’d been a sniper in position? You never considered all the things that could have happened."

  My stomach roiled. She had a point. But still, it's not like I could have walked away.

  "Tamsin, I'm sorry, okay? It won't happen again."

  Tamsin shook her head. "No, that’s not good enough. Look, I get that you're in love, okay? Great. I'm happy for you. Me, of all people. I am thrilled for you. I want you to be happy. I also want you to not be dead."

  "You're seriously giving me a lecture right now?"

  She folded her arms. "Well, someone needs to. Love or no love, you don't take off and leave your partner behind. You know the rules. We assess before we go in. That's how Ariel trained us."

  "Well, there wasn't time, okay?"

  "No, not okay. Zia, you have to understand. Because what you did, it was classic Deedee."

  My head jerked back as if she'd physically slapped me. "What?"

  "Yeah, you heard me. Diving in without so much as a thought and expecting someone else to be there to pick up the slack. God forbid there was something dangerous going on. And look, I will always have your back. Always and forever. I don't care. But you don't do that to your partners. You don't do that to your friends. I had to stand there and watch you go after him. And I get it, we're in charge of protecting him. But goddamn it, act like you have people who care about you. You can't go rushing in like that."

  A wash of shame flooded my veins. "I'm sorry, I didn't think. I just knew that he needed me."

  "Yeah, well, I need you too. So does Deedee. You just took too much of a risk and you can't keep doing that. Not for him. Not for anyone."

  "I hear you."

  She expelled a breath. "Look,
I'm glad it turned out okay. And I'm even gladder we found Arlington, or whoever. But you are the one I worry about, okay?"

  I nodded. "Yeah, I hear you. And you're right. That was dumb. I should never have gone running in like that."

  "You're in love with him?"

  I nodded slowly. "Well, at least I was in love with whoever the hell I thought he was. I have no idea now."

  "There are two of them."

  "Yeah, I know. Crazy, right?"

  "Seriously? What the fuck are we going to do?"

  "Not a clue. Right now, Ariel is on her way. I'll deal with the issue in front of me and try to sort out the rest of it later."

  "Are you two going to be..." her voice trailed.

  I shrugged. " I don't know. Right now, I can't even feel any pain. I'm just empty. Completely, totally empty. I feel like an idiot for being lied to. I feel like I did this to myself. All of it. I feel like I'm done."

  For a long moment, she studied me. And then she strode over and wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me tight. "We'll figure it out, okay? Together. No more running off on your own. You scared me."

  I squeezed back. "I'm sorry. I can't do my job if I'm not thinking."

  I could feel her head moving up and down against the side of my face. "You do something bullshit like that again, and I'll kill you myself."

  "Yeah, I hear you."

  "I'm not kidding. Not even a little."

  "Okay."

  She backed away, blinking rapidly. "Well, that's enough of that mushy shit. Now, what the hell are you going to do with two billionaires?"

  "Correction, one billionaire and one person I have no idea who he is."