Billionaire On Fire: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Romance) by Claire Adams

it would have taken dynamite
to uncover it."
    "Obviously Metzler has
the necessary explosives," I said bitterly. "Dammit, Leo. I never
wanted to go down this road!"
    "I know, I know,"
he said as he dug through a stack of papers and pulled out one sheet. He handed
to me saying, "Look, we can make this work. We can just choose to work
with Metzler. The contract is unbelievably generous, and it'll get our name out
there for future business."
    "What if I don't want to
do this, Leo?" I asked. "What happens if I say no?"
    "Metzler releases the
financials and exposes us in the media," Leo said quietly. "I'm
sorry, Cam."
    "This is fucked up, and
you know it," I said looking down at the sheet detailing the proposed
contract with Metzler's campaign. The amount of money they were willing to pay
us for security services bordered on obscene. I looked at Leo, "What in
the hell? This figure is more than we would have made from all four
campaigns."
    "I know," he nodded.
"Can't we just take it and run with it, Cam?"
    "What? And then be
another one of the companies that Richard Metzler bought off on his way up the
political ladder?" I asked. "Hell no!"
    "Cam, we don't have a
choice," Leo pleaded. "We have to take the offer or we'll be
exposed."
    "No, you've got it all
wrong, my friend," I said shaking my head. "We won't be exposed, I
will. And that makes all the difference in the world."
    "Cam, I didn't do this
on purpose!" Leo yelled. "I really did think that making the move
into campaign security was a profitable decision!"
    "But you didn't think it
all the way through and anticipate every possible outcome!" I shouted.
"You didn't think about my life at all!"
    "No, I didn't!" Leo
yelled then backing down a bit he collapsed into his chair and rubbed his eyes
before looking up. When he did, I could see the anguish, "I didn't think
of you this time, Cam. That's true. But it's because for the past decade I've
thought of nothing but you. All day, every day. I think about how every
decision will affect you. How ever deal will affect you. What about me? When is
it my turn to think about me, Cam?"
    "Leo, you knew the deal
when you took the job," I protested.
    "I did, indeed," he
nodded. "But it's been ten years, Cam. At what point are you going to let
go of the memory and start living? Because until you start living in the world
again, I can't."
    "Leo..." I said not
knowing how to respond to his raw honesty. He was right on some level. I had
been living a life closed off from the rest of the world as I tried to absorb
the enormous loss, but now I wondered if it wasn't time to open up a bit and
pull down some of the protective walls I'd built. I sank down into one of the
soft chairs that faced his desk and dropped my face into my hands.
    "Cam, look, I've done
everything you've ever asked me to," Leo said quietly. "And I've
never complained, but now..."
    Leo got up out of his chair,
walked around the desk and perched on the edge of it. He leaned forward and
rested his hand on my shoulder.
    "But now it's time to
come out of the shell and start living again, my friend," he said. There
was sadness in his voice, but it was mixed with a bit of hope around the edges.
It was as if he thought that he could shock me out of my years of sadness, and
maybe he could.
    "How am I going to
handle this?" I asked as I shrugged off his hand and rubbed my head until
my hair was a tangled mess. "We need a plan, Leo. Victor Vangel is going
to try to ruin me just out of spite if we don't have a plan."
    "Then let's sit down and
draw one up and release the information," he said with a hopeful smile.
"On our terms, in our own way."
    "This is gonna suck,
Leo," I said as I sat up and looked at him shaking my head as I played out
the scenario. "The guys at the station are gonna be pissed that I kept
this a secret and the news media is going to turn it into a circus. I can't do
this."
    "You can do it,
Cam," Leo said. "You can and you will. And once you do it you'll be
free from it