Alpha Billionaire Series

NICK

A stern woman opened the door.

Iran my hand through my hair. If this was Kayla's mother, I could only imagine what she thought of me after seeing those pictures. After a long flight, I almost didn’t care what she thought. I just wanted to see Kayla.

Hours earlier, I left the press conference not feeling like anything had been accomplished. I was angry and not afraid to let people know. I was making threats and ready to follow up with action. But there was no action for me to take.

It wasn't until about halfway through the flight that I got some form of good news. I kept checking my phone. Isaac was supposed to notify me as soon as he heard anything.

I hated the no news is good news situation I was currently stuck in. I wanted answers. I had money to throw at whoever coul fix this situation, only no one seemed to know what to do.

My phone pinged and I picked it up again. I had a text message from Steve from the show.

“Jeff is not pleased with May's behavior. She'll be off the set by the time you return”

I smiled. That was one issue handled. “Thanks for the update.” I texted back.

“She's imploding on Twitter. I'd avoid it at all costs.”

“Thanks for the heads up, I will avoid it”

I didn't need to follow May on Twitter or witness her breakdown. And I really didn't need to see what she had posted in response to my situation that apparently had kicked off her tantrum. Isaac would follow everything for me. If I really needed to know the details, he would have them for me.

I tried to relax after that. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't like I could do anything about any of it. The news about May really had been the least of my worries. But it had been on the list.

I texted Isaac. “Anything?”

“Nothing. Do you have Kayla yet?”

“We land in about two more hours. Soon. The second you hear anything”

“I will let you know.”

It wasn't Isaac who contacted me with some very interesting information about an hour later.

The plane landed and I called an Uber to take me to Kayla's house. I had been to her place once before, when I picked her u before Christmas. It had been outlined in Christmas lights and had a wreath on the door. Now it looked like every other house on the block, ready for winter to be over, with mounds of dirty snow piled at the corners of the driveway. Brown dead lawn showed through patches where the snow had melted.

I swallowed and walked up to the stoop. I rang the bell and waited until Kayla's mother opened the door.

“Hi, um, is Kayla home?” I felt like a kid picking up a date.

“Who are you?” The woman scanned her gaze over me. Maybe she didn't recognize me from the photos, after all, my own fan couldn't recognize me in costume.

“I'm Nick—"

The door was closed in my face before I could even say my last name.

I turned and made eye contact with the driver who was sitting in the driveway. I had asked him to wait until I went inside. I would call for another car when it was time to leave. We shrugged at each other. I turned and rang the doorbell again. leaned in close to the door, I could hear voices, yelling, but I couldn't make out the words. I straightened up as I heard pounding footsteps.

“Nick!” The door flew open, and Kayla stood there looking at me.

She was bedraggled with messy hair and dark circles under her eyes. I took half a step toward her, and suddenly she was in my arms. I bundled her in close and rested my cheek on the top of her head. She felt so good to hold. She was shaking, but I didn't let go.

She fisted my hoodie in her hands, and the shaking was now recognizable as sobbing.

“sh, babe, I'm here. 'm here now. We'll be okay.”

A light mist of rain started. It was too cold to be standing outside, even with her hot body pressed to mine. I stepped in through the open door and closed it behind us. I continued to hold her and breathe her in until she pushed back out of my tight embrace.

I didn't let my arms drop from around her. I didn't want to let her go. I loosened my hold, and she moved back enough so we could look into each other's eyes.

“'m sorry Nick, I tried to stop them. They sent me those horrible pictures, and... and...” She started sobbing again.

The stern woman hovered just past Kayla's shoulder. She stood with her arms crossed and a look of severe disappointment across her face. “How do you think you can make anything better?”

I nodded. I understood. We were in the middle of a proverbial storm, and they didn’t know that I had shelter.

“Can I come in, and talk?”

“Kayla is refusing to speak about this with anybody.” she said.

“Mom, I said I didn't want to talk to you or Jessie. I'm sorry. Nick, this is my mom. Come in." She took my hand and led me into a well-lit kitchen.

I looked around. It was large, and clearly the heart of this home. No wonder Kayla had wanted a decent kitchen, she had grown up with one. She let go of my hand and began making a pot of coffee. I didn't sit down until she did. When she finally sat down, I pulled my chair next to hers, so that I could touch her, wrap my arm over her shoulder. I wanted to be as close to her as possible. Her mother sat in a chair across from us. It looked like we would have a chaperone.

“We have a lot to talk about, don't we?” Kayla asked.

I nodded. “Before we start, I need to clear something up. I think I know why you ran; you were hurt and embarrassed. You di it before, back when we first met.”

She nodded, her eyes down cast.

I lifted her chin so I could look into her eyes. “There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Those pictures of me and that othe, woman, they're why you left me, aren't they?”

She nodded again and looked away.

“The images you saw of me, and May Rogers were taken from the production of the show. It was a closed set, so I don't know who took them, or how they got leaked. I was not with her like that”

“You were acting?" her lower lip quivered with pent up emotion.

“Yes. A lot of acting. Those pictures didn't show you the entire crew, lights, cameras, all of that. There were lights on the side of the tent shining in on us, that's why we were visible in the dark”

“Is it all part of the show? Did I meet May on set?”

I'shook my head. “You wouldn't have liked her”

“Don’t make judgements for my daughter. She is a very personable young lady,” her mother cut in. “She can decide who she likes without being told."

I chuckled at her fierce defense of Kayla. “Kayla is very personable and sweet; however, May Rogers is not. And she would have been rude at the very least. Do you remember Steve? He said you are welcome back on set at any time. He likes you.” “Why would I go back?” Kayla asked.

I knew she was remembering how she had been treated when I had her with me when filming started.Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.

“Because I don't think I can let you out of my sight after this. I don’t want to risk losing you again.”

“Butif that other woman is so objectionable, why expose Kayla to her?” her mother asked.

“May won't be there much longer. I got confirmation that after this morning's events they are going to go forward with killing her character off. I won't be there much longer either. They are finally killing my character off”

I twined my fingers in with Kayla's.

She took in a shuddering breath. Tears rimmed her eyes with red.

“How did you find the pictures? How did you know?"

I let out a long slow breath. “When you didn't return my texts or calls, I came home and you were gone. I stepped on a freereg’— Kayla's mother made a disapproving noise. I ignored her— “envelope. I opened it”

This time it was Kayla who made a noise.

“It had the pictures in it. The ones from the set, and the ones that were sold and released this morning. I saw everything, Kayla, including a note.”

She looked at me with terrified, wide eyes. “I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

“Babe, no. You have nothing to be sorry about”

“I tried... I tried, I gave them all of my money, but it didn’t matter”

I brushed a tear from her cheek. “It was never going to matter how much you paid them. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I couldn't. It wasn’t your fault”

“Kayla, it wasn't your fault.” I cupped her face in my hands. “Look at me, look at me. None of this was your fault. None of it. I is one hundred percent their fault. You never would have paid them enough money, the pictures would have gotten out eventually. You could have told me.”

She bit her lip and sniffed. “They wanted me to. They wanted me to get the money from you."

“But you never asked me for anything”

“It was my problem to deal with. I was handling it"

She started crying again. I pulled her into my lap.

“It's my turn to handle it now, okay. I hired an investigator, a very good one.”