I Married a Billionaire: Lost and Found(44)

Ryan drummed his fingers on the table, his eyes darting from me to the door, and to the other patrons in the shop. And then, of course, to the money.

"I can’t," he said, finally, with a massive sigh. "I really…look, I’m not going to lie, I could use the money, and if it were anything else, but this…I can’t. They made it very clear to me that if I breathed another word about the lawsuit…"

"They?" I repeated. "You mean, the plaintiffs?"

He looked at me, slightly pained. "I can’t say."

"Come on. You really think they’re ever going to find out about this?"

Ryan scoffed. "Of course they will. You expect me to believe your husband wouldn’t take any excuse, any opportunity to go after them?"

I set my wallet down between my elbows on the table and interlaced my fingers. "So they’ve done something worth ‘going after,’ then?"

He was gnawing on his bottom lip.

"Look," I said. "If you don’t give me something, something real - I mean, actual words coming out of your mouth - you’re not getting paid. I’m not interested in hand gestures and meaningful looks."

He lowered his voice to just above a whisper. "All right," he said, leaning further across the table. "Here’s the thing. Everything you’ve said is true, but I’m guessing you already knew that. I heard about the lawsuit at first from an old high school friend. I guess he used to room with one of the guys, and he actually saw the whole thing unfold. He’s one of the few people who really knows much about it, on account of all the secrecy and NDAs. I’ve been sitting on the story for months, waiting for the right opportunity. Right about the time Thorne was at the height of his popularity, a real media darling - I figured that would be perfect. So I tailed you guys to St. Lucia, I figured he’d be in a better mood-" he raised his hands in supplication. "Obviously that didn’t work out, so I shelved the idea for a while longer. I wanted to break the story, sure, but I wanted to do it proper justice. I couldn’t just throw it out there, unsubstantiated, from an ‘unknown source.’ My buddy’s a respected businessman, you know, he doesn’t want his name tied to this shit."

"Who would?" I agreed, flatly. Ryan, to his credit, looked just the slightest bit ashamed.

"And then," he went on, "then, of course, all this happened." He waved his hands, vaguely. "And that would be an even better time to break a story like this, but I still had nothing to back it up. Until my buddy got in touch with me again - and this time, he had something really good." Ryan paused, dramatically. "Turns out, his old college friend - one of the plaintiffs from the Thorne lawsuit - had been in touch with him again recently, asking if he had any connections at Byte Magazine. Apparently, he desperately wanted to get in touch with the writer of the ‘Daniel in the Lion’s Den’ article. I’m sure you remember it."

I nodded. How could I forget?

"In particular, he wanted to find out the identity of the anonymous source named in the article. Thorne’s ex-girlfriend. Now, she spoke on conditions of anonymity, but I have connections. I was able to put them in touch with her, and they paid me pretty well for it."

"Flo," I said, grimly.

"So you’ve met." Ryan stared at the untouched chocolate chip muffin in front of him, then reached out and picked at it halfheartedly. "Charming woman."

My head was swimming. I never would have guessed there could be a connection between Flo and the lawsuit. My heart immediately leapt into my throat when I considered the possibility that she’d told them about our sham marriage. I could only hope that the fact that we’d already been vetted by the INS, and were still together, would hold more weight than another accusation of fakery.

But if they hadn’t contacted Flo to try and dig up more dirt on Daniel, what business could they possibly have with her?

"All right," I said, pulling out some bills and laying them down next to his coffee cup. "Thanks for your help. It’s been a pleasure."





***

Kelly called me a few days later, sounding triumphant. Daniel and Lindsay both looked up as I answered the phone, but I just gave them a polite smile and held up my finger, retreating into my studio.

"What’s going on?" I asked, as I shut the door.

"I’ve got them," Kelly announced. "I have pictures. Full face. I’m sending you one right now. Take a look, see what you think."

My phone buzzed, and I pulled it away from my ear to look at the picture. This time, there was no mistaking the face.

"That’s her," I said, lifting the phone to my face again. "That’s definitely her."

"Beautiful." Kelly sounded very proud of herself. "Did you want me to keep an eye on her? Try to get a recording? Anything?"




"Sure, yes," I said. "All three. Thank you, Kelly."

"My pleasure." She sounded like she meant it.

As tempting as it was to throw the picture in Daniel’s face and say I told you so, I just sat in my studio for a while longer and pondered my next move. The investigation was going well without him. And, if I was being perfectly honest with myself, I was enjoying it. Having something just to myself. Something sort of - thrilling.