The Billionaire Boyfriend Trap Read Online Free PDF Page B

breath, unsure whether to be relieved that I didn't have to see
his mocking smile again, or frustrated that I'd blown my chance of
working with my target. There was also another emotion, simmering
just below the others. One that I didn't want to acknowledge.
Disappointment that I would never see him again, never have a
chance to get as close to him as I had in the storeroom.
    "I can't believe she brought him," said
Cassie. She was speaking to Becky and a few other students as they
worked to remove paintings from display. "Ally knows our history
and what he's going to do, and yet she still brought him
along."
    "Who is she?" Becky asked.
    "We went to school together. We used to be
close but grew apart in our senior year." She shook her head and
her red curls bounced. "Getting the hottest guy to like her became
more important than her friendships."
    "So why did you invite her?"
    "She asked me for an invitation. I hadn't
seen her for a year or more then she contacted me through the
studio's email address and asked if she could attend with a date.
She told me she wanted to catch up, get reacquainted with her old
friends." Her shoulders slumped a little and her lips flattened. "I
should have known it was all bullshit."
    "Maybe Reece encouraged her," I chimed in.
Cassie looked at me, a small frown connecting her brows. "She works
for him," I said. "Maybe he discovered her connection to you and
forced her to get an invitation."
    "Maybe," Cassie said. "I wasn't going to give him an invitation if he asked."
    I squeezed her arm. "I'd say he's in for
quite a fight. He's picked the wrong woman to go up against."
    Cassie gave me a weak smile. "Thank you. But
I'm not sure I can win. I can't afford a good lawyer. I can't even
afford a bad one."
    "Is there someone who might help you?" I was
thinking of the mysterious client. Someone had employed Ellen to
stop Reece from pulling down Cassie's house. While it could simply
be a case of a business rival wanting to sabotage RK Financial
Group, it could also be a friend who wanted to remain
anonymous.
    "No," Cassie said emphatically. She turned
away, only to be slammed with a hug from Becky.
    "What if you don't win?" Becky asked, her
huge eyes filled with tears. "Is this the end for the studio?"
    "Are you really going to leave?" one of the
other students chimed in.
    Cassie patted Becky's back then drew away
from her. She held my sister at arm's length. "Let's not discuss
the future until we know if we can stop Kavanagh. I'm not leaving
without a fight."
    She hadn't said it, but we all heard the
'but' in her voice.
    But if I fail, I will go.
    ***
    Becky ranted and raved about how heartless
Reece Kavanagh was all the way home and was still going the
following morning. After venting to me over breakfast, she
retreated to her room and poured out her emotions on canvas in
dark, angry colors. I escaped outside to the garden to call
Ellen.
    We lived in the same three-bedroom house we'd
inherited from our parents. It was a middle-class cream brick home
in a middle-class suburb. Our neighbors were mostly empty nesters
over fifty with houses that looked the same as ours and gardens
filled with roses, azaleas and camellias. I liked it. It was home
to me and always had been. Becky found it boring and wanted to move
closer to the inner city or bayside suburbs where her friends met
at cafes or jogged along the foreshore. But we couldn't afford to
move into something big enough for the both of us. Besides, I
couldn't bear to leave the house I'd grown up in. Not yet.
    I made sure the back door was closed and
settled on the stone bench Dad had placed under a large tree at the
bottom of the garden. A gardenia flowered its little butt off
nearby, its heady scent a soothing reminder of my mother's green
thumb. I dialed Ellen's number on my cell. She picked up on the
first ring.
    "How'd it go?" she asked. No 'How are you,
Cleo?' or 'Isn't it hot today?' Straight to business.
    "It was a disaster. You told me he