Alpha Billionaire’s Bride, Part Four (BWWM Romance Serial) by Mia Caldwell Page B

his people would have CGTV and the other
gossip outlets racing to retract today’s story. He’d tell Sasha and Agatha to
leave tomorrow, too, because they could only be thorns in Jada’s side. And Mrs.
Best. He’d ask her to make her famous eggs benedict and deliver them to Jada in
bed. A meal like that couldn’t fail to start Jada’s day off the right way.
    Tomorrow. Everything would come together then.
    He was so convinced of it, that he didn’t mind when Jada
didn’t join everyone for dinner. And he didn’t mind when she didn’t leave her
room at all that evening. Thanks to the day’s revelations, everyone’s mood was
subdued. No one spoke much, not even Agatha. It was a quiet night in the lake
house.
    The next morning, however, everyone was bustling, staff and
guests alike. As expected, the press was backpedaling on the Ian-Jada-Sasha
triangle and already moving on to greener gossip pastures. Mrs. Best said Jada
loved the eggs benedict. And Sasha and Agatha didn’t even need to be prodded to
leave. They were packed and gone by nine a.m., Trey not far behind them in his
growling Bugatti.
    Everything was going according to plan. Except for one
thing. And Ian couldn’t figure out how it happened.
    The one thing that really mattered that morning hadn’t gone
right at all. If it had, he wouldn’t be standing in his driveway watching his
helicopter take off from the landing pad, thunderstruck as it turned and flew
away. Gone.
    If everything had come together according to plan, Jada
would never have told him she hadn’t changed her mind. She’d never have gotten
on that helicopter five minutes ago and left him.
    Forever.
    It wasn’t supposed to happen. But there was nothing he could
do to stop it.
    Nothing at all.
     
     

Chapter Eight
     
    JADA THOUGHT SHE’D NEVER GET used to how loud the
helicopter was, even when wearing big, noise-cancelling headphones. It didn’t
matter, though. After this day, she wasn’t likely to ride in another helicopter
for long time, if ever.
    The kitty carrier shifted on her lap. Poor Ms. Kitty was
stressed. She didn’t like the roar of the copter any more than Jada did.
    Beneath the roar, Marina and Sullivan chatted through the
headsets. Sullivan was traveling on into the city after Raul dropped Jada and
Marina at the armory field in Springers Glen.
    Marina had been grilling him the whole trip for details
about what had been done already and what would be done in the future to set
the marriage license problem to rights.
    Jada listened in, curious herself. One of Marina’s questions
about Sasha particularly drew her attention.
    “What’s going to happen to Sasha now?” Marina asked.
    “Some of it will depend on what Jada wants to do,” Sullivan
said, sending Jada a significant glance. “It also will depend on the Springers
Glen district attorney. Ian thinks there’s room for leverage because of the
involvement of the DA’s grandmother.”
    “Sasha needs to be punished for what she did,” Marina said.
“It’s crap if she gets away with it because she’s got friends in high places.”
    “I don’t think Ian’s interested in letting her completely
off the hook, but I don’t think he wants to see her in jail either. I don’t. Do
you?”
    “I don’t know,” Marina answered. “Kind of.”
    Jada turned her headset down. She didn’t want to listen to
any more. She didn’t much care what happened to Sasha, after all. Maybe she’d
care later, but right now, not so much.
    Sasha had knocked on Jada’s door right before dawn that
morning. She’d walked in, not slouched the way she usually did, and actually
apologized for “not thinking things through” and for “not being honest about
much of anything until it was too late.” That was how she put it.
    When Jada accepted her apology, Sasha looked genuinely
relieved, and it was nice to see that the supermodel could care about
something.
    She’d scratched Ms. Kitty’s under the chin and said, “See
you