I Married a Billionaire: Lost and Found(43)

Hastily, I typed his name into a search and began scrolling through the results. He did indeed have many credits on his byline; a lot of the ridiculous tabloid stuff I expected, as well as some more mainstream articles. Interesting.

I found myself wondering about his seemingly insider knowledge. Kelly had her ways. But if the information were easily accessible to anyone who was curious, why wasn’t every paper headlining with this story? DISGRACED BILLIONAIRE DANIEL THORNE: A HISTORY OF THEFT?

Obviously, Ryan Brewer knew something I didn’t. And I wanted to find out what it was.

I knew Kelly wouldn’t be too happy with me launching my own investigation, but hell - I was paying her, not the other way around. If she didn’t like it, too bad. Daniel was my husband. I had a right to find out a thing or two on my own.

It didn’t take long to find the anonymous email address that Ryan used as his "tip line." I shot off a quick note from a similarly throwaway account.








Mr. Brewer -





I have some exclusive information on the Daniel Thorne case that I think you might be interested in. I’d like to meet. I’m in NYC. Will you be in town any time soon?





I got an answer within minutes.





Very interested to hear what you have to say. I’m flying in next week for a conference. Can meet Mon-Sat any time after 6pm, Manhattan area is best. Name the time and place. Looking forward to meeting you.





- Ryan





I couldn’t stop smiling to myself as I composed a reply, naming a cafe that I vaguely knew on Tuesday evening. I knew Daniel would be out late, at one of the meetings he was still conducting with his creative team, even with the company frozen. Not that he’d be likely to ask questions, but I preferred to hedge my bets.

The whole thing had me unreasonably excited. I barely slept for the next few days, planning out my strategy for the meeting. I needed to find out what he knew and why. If he was like any other human being on the planet, he’d be more than willing to tell me what I needed to know in exchange for some cash. There was, of course, the question of whether he’d try to lie or obfuscate, but I figured he probably wouldn’t have much motive to do so. I didn’t get the sense he had a lot of loyalties, when there was a paycheck involved.

Then again, that could describe a lot of people.

I shook my head, trying not to think about the possibility that the allegations were true. That the case against Daniel had been justified. I didn’t want to, as if avoiding the topic would somehow make it less likely to be true. But I couldn’t confront that now. I had too much to think about as it was; my mind was spinning, jumping in a thousand different directions at once. I couldn’t think about what it meant - for me - for us.

I just had to keep taking it one day at a time.





CHAPTER THIRTEEN





When I went to meet Ryan Brewer, I had a knot the size of a fist in my stomach. I still didn’t know what I was going to say to him. There was a small chance he’d just turn tail and run as soon as he recognized me, but there was another chance he’d be deathly curious and stay to hear me out. And from that point on, I was going to let my money do the talking.

We were meeting in a coffee shop in the busiest part of midtown, which was either a brilliant move on my part, or completely insane. Despite my recent media coverage, I was still more or less able to make my way around without getting that "do I know her?" second glance - most of the time. But the bigger a crowd I allowed myself to be in, the greater my chances of being recognized.

So far, so good, and I was able to jostle my way through the door of the shop without too much hassle. As the bell dinged above my head, a few people looked up; Ryan was one of them. He was seated in a quiet far corner of the shop, well isolated from the rest of the customers.

I recognized him immediately. He was wearing a Yankees hat and was much less tan than the last time I’d seen him, but I remembered his face very clearly. As I walked towards him, he went even paler, his eyes widening until I thought for sure they would jump out of his head.

"Madeline," he said, standing up and extending his hand for me to shake. I ignored it, and sat down primly.

"Hello, Ryan," I said. "Don’t get too excited. I’m here to get information from you - not the other way around."

"I wouldn’t presume…" Ryan frowned a little, sitting back down in his chair. "You know, whatever you might think of me, I do take my professional courtesy very seriously. I protect my sources. If you want to know something about…" I was pulling out my wallet, and his eyes widened again.

"Go on," I said, fanning a few bills. "What were you saying about professional courtesy?"

He took a deep breath and reached for his water glass, but his eyes never left the money in my hand. "On the other hand, it might be possible to make arrangements."

"Good," I said. "I want to know how you found out about the lawsuit."

He just looked at me for a moment, then leaned forward, lowering his voice. "You mean…the prototype lawsuit? From when Thorne was in college?"

"That’d be it." I smiled, humorlessly. "Nobody else seems to know about it, so I’m curious. How’d you stumble on that little gem? And more importantly, why haven’t you done a story about it yet? This would be the time."