Between Desire and Denial: A Fake Dating Romance (Hardy Billionaires)

I pushed Lucille’s lawn mower over as an excuse. I mean, it was midnight. I didn’t really need one. They knew I was being nosy, but I waved at them both and shoved the mower hard toward her garage just as Jameson tried to step into my way.

“What the fuck are you doing outside?”

“I could ask you the same,” I whisper-yelled as I peered around at Lucille who was shaking her head at me with wide eyes.

“You need to go back into your house and act like you never—”

“Is Earl in that car?” I took a deep breath. “Dead?”

“Oh, Jesus,” Lucille said as Jameson slammed the car door shut.

Jameson glared at me. “What the hell would make you think that?”

“Earl started all this—”

“He was always disloyal.” Lucille harrumphed and crossed her arms. “And violent, Olive. Don’t forget.” Lucille didn’t look remorseful at all.

“We’re helping Lucille with a few things. Earl has been out of town.”

“Knox was in the hospital because of my father, because of them. You get that right?”

Jameson pinched the bridge of his nose. “Let’s talk in the morning, okay?” he whispered.

I knew he was asking me to trust him and the syndicate right then. So I took a deep breath, thinking of Knox, thinking of what could be with Dimitri. I stepped back but not before I said, “You need to make sure you’re righting the wrongs, Jameson. Otherwise, there’s no hope for Paradise Grove.”

I spun on a heel and went back inside where I was met with Dimitri rushing down the stairs. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I … felt like a walk.”

He frowned and glanced outside, his jaw going up and down, up and down. “Since I just saw the headlights of the car, why don’t you try again?”

I sighed and closed my eyes. “All I know is that maybe Earl hasn’t been out of town, Dimitri. I happen to think he’s gone.”

“Gone how?”

I chewed on my cheek. “They put something very large in that car,” I whispered.

“You’re kidding me?” His eyes widened. “And they saw you watching?”

“I … Well, Jameson said we would talk in the morning.”

That’s when Dimitri really started moving. “Wake your brother up and tell him to watch the house. We’re leaving.”

“Leaving for where?” I shrieked. “I am not leaving.”

“Oh. You are,” he grumbled as he stomped up the stairs. “Pack a suitcase or you’ll be on vacation with nothing but the clothes on your back.”

“This is silly, Dimitri.”

He whipped around. “I’m trying to protect you, Olive.”

“I don’t want protection,” I told him. “We need to know what was going on.”

“You need to stop putting yourself in harm’s way.”

“That’s what you wanted. That’s how all this started,” I screamed. “You wanted information on Paradise Grove.”

He punched his fist into the wall. “Not at the expense of you,” he bellowed. And then he looked at me with true fear in his eyes. “Never at the expense of you.”

“Let’s just go to bed and we can discuss it in the morning.”

Morning came though and Dimitri was still adamant. Agreeing to a vacation for a few days after Knox sided with him was really all I could do to smooth the waters.

Dimitri even called Jameson and put him on speaker phone to let him know. “My brothers and I are pulling out of the investment here. We can’t endanger ourselves with the Irish.”

Jameson responded, “The Diamond Syndicate is still going to vote for the offices. We’re going to establish a line in the sand that we won’t work with the Irish.”

“We’re establishing our line too. We’re not working with any of you. My family doesn’t like it.”

“You’ll take a huge hit monetarily, but I understand. Still best for you to get out of harm’s way with Knox and Olive. Their father wronged the Irish. They’ll be looking to make an example.”

Dimitri gave me a look, and I finally sighed and nodded toward his phone.

I agreed to leave for a week and Dimitri wasted no time getting me packed and getting us to the airport. Yet, as I was walking through the airport, I got a text.

Unknown: Go to the bathroom. Make it believable if you want everyone to be safe.

I glanced up, heart thumping as I looked around fast. I told Dimitri I was running to the bathroom before our flight. I had a few minutes to spare and wanted to take a few deep breaths to settle my nerves about leaving.

In the bathroom, I took a deep breath as I stared at myself in the mirror, then threw some water on my face.

“We got this.” I rubbed my belly just as a woman I never expected to see there walked in.

Lucille with her pretty pink lipstick and her proper woven pant suit stood before me. Then, she leaned over the sink and grabbed a lip gloss from her black bag. “Who’s we? Are you …” She glanced down at my belly. “Are you already pregnant?”

“What are you doing here?” I whispered.

“Well, the pregnancy complicates things a bit,” she murmured to herself. “Although, Olive, I’m so happy for you! You’re going to be so happy.”

“What’s going on, Lucille?”

“Well, I’m quite positive your mother would want you to reconsider what you’re about to do. Going on vacation when you could make history by merging the Diamond Syndicate with the HEAT empire is a great opportunity, right?”

“What?” I whispered as my heart dropped. She stood between me and the door, but I felt the sudden rush to run, the blood pumping fast in my veins with the adrenaline screaming at me to move.

“Don’t run. I don’t want to have to bring someone in to fight you. I have men on the other side of that employee door though. Jameson and I believe you want this. Right? I was scared at first, too, of doing something so drastic.”

“What did you do exactly, Lucille?” I whispered as I glanced to my right and left. To my dismay, there was nothing to use as a weapon should I need to defend myself if she brought in those men. Hand towels. That’s all I had going for me.

“Look, we’ve got men surrounding Dimitri, and he’s big, but I think he’d only be able to bring down three of them, maybe four. I made sure to have five on him though. Plus, then the cops will get involved, and it just gets messy. We’re all going to have a nice chat, but we can’t afford to have you flying out of state. We want this to ultimately be your decision today anyway.” She glanced at her HEAT watch and read a text that must have come through. “There’s a back door for employees we can take so we can talk with the women before the guys arrive. We’re the only logical ones at this point. Come with me?”

“You didn’t answer me, Lucille. What did you do?”

“Well, I did kill my husband, if that’s what you’re asking.” My gut twisted with her confession even though I’d already known it to be true. “He deserved it.” She said it almost exactly in the same tone she used when I’d fought Melly.

“Lucille,” I murmured softly.

“Oh, don’t act surprised. You knew it when you came out to return my lawnmower in the middle of the damn night while Jameson helped me dispose of the body.”

“I couldn’t be sure.” I felt the vomit coming, the shock of her confession making me weak and queasy on my feet.

“Well, anyway, Jameson is such a gentleman. He told me he was going to do it after he’d found out what Earl was doing with his father and your father. They’d involved children. Knox was the last straw. They had him drive around neighborhoods noting the optimal students to target, the ideal schools to sell drugs into. Knox wanted to please your stepmom and dad so much, and Earl encouraged it. Had I known …” She shook her head in disgust. Then she looked at me. “Your momma told me to take care of you two once she was gone. I got overwhelmed with Earl being so controlling most days. That was until Jameson told me. Once I found out, I was done with him.”

“So you killed him?”

“He hit me one night quite hard, Olive Bee. It was self-defense.” She fluttered her eyelashes. “Anyway, the disposal took much longer than we anticipated, and I’ve had to navigate those Irish men coming to my house asking for Earl and reminding me that blocking Dimitri’s office requests was best. I didn’t realize they didn’t want the Armanellis around nor did they want more security in our town to tip off residents. Earl thought he was so smart.”

I shook my head, not believing all of it.

“It’s why they supplied Knox with more drugs, got him more addicted. They wanted to be able to pay off more people in town before the next board meeting. They knew I was working on turning the tide, and then you came back and, well, they’re going to make moves if we don’t make them first.”

That’s when the vomit came. I bent forward over the trash can and let it out while Lucille patted my back the whole time.

“I want you to know, Olive Bee, I’ve always been an ally of your mother’s. Of the Diamond Syndicate. Of most everyone you know and have ties with, except your father. You’re like a granddaughter to me, I hope you know that.”

And I did know that. I knew she wouldn’t lie to me either. “What do you need me to do?” I asked softly.

“I need you to make that clear to Dimitri and his HEAT empire. I’d rather Paradise be safe under them than the Irish Mob.” I took a step back. “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to protect your father. He and your stepmom will most likely be going to jail after we’re through with them. They are being brought in though. That will be your decision. I hope you know that. But you need to convince Dimitri to trust us. We want to align with HEAT, and their wives agree. It’s a good partnership but he won’t if he thinks you’re in some type of danger.”

“But—”

“We’ll discuss on the way.” She held up her hand and motioned toward the employee exit. “Please?”

With that, I took one step toward the back door. And then another. And another.

Not because of curiosity. But because I had a mother who had trusted her, a brother who needed me, and a baby I planned to raise in Paradise Grove.

I wouldn’t let them down. Not again.