The Russian Billionaire’s Secret(4)

Apparently, her sister had been a call girl. As Alexei had suspected, her parents hadn’t really been in the picture. Ashley had lived with her sister Lana most of her life. By all accounts, Lana was a good person dealt a bad lot in life. She had made a pretty good living mooching off of sugar daddies. She hated it, but she was good at it.

Lana made enough to rent them an apartment and put food on the table. She even helped to put Ashley though college. It was her hope that Ashley find herself a career they could both be proud of.

Then Lana had met Douglas.

Douglas had seemed all right at first. They met when she was on a date with another guy. Douglas had turned on the charm and expressed an interest. Lana wasn’t in it for romance, so when he flashed the big bucks, Lana couldn’t refuse him.

Things were fine for a while. The money was good. Very good. Douglas had other girls on the side, but who cared? Lana certainly hadn’t. She saw other guys on the side, too.

Apparently, Douglas was a fickle guy, though. For a while, it was all right that they weren’t exclusive. Then, one day, it just wasn’t.

Lana turned up dead.

It came as a shock to Ashley. The official story was that she had been intoxicated and taken a tumble down a flight of stairs. Douglas sent his condolences by way of a note in a flower arrangement. If there was anything he could do, the note said, just let him know. His other girlfriends told a different story, though.

There was an argument and Douglas got too rough. Something similar had happened, at least, twice in the past. Douglas had a history of partying too hard. When escorts were the victims, it was easy enough to sweep under the rug.

Ashley couldn’t accept that. “I picked a major after that,” she explained to Alexei. “I went into accounting. I couldn’t let it go. The plan was to get close to Douglas.”

“To steal his money?” asked Alexei.

“To kill him,” said Ashley. She frowned. “But, I realized pretty quick I didn’t have the stomach to kill anyone. I decided to just steal his money instead.”

“What were you going to do with it?” asked Alexei.

Ashley shrugged. “I get away and live off the money. He stays behind and takes the fall. That was the plan in theory.” In practice, things weren’t quite that cut and dry. “Everything seems a lot easier on paper.”

“You did all right,” Alexei offered. “You certainly annoyed him.”

“I wanted to ruin him!” Ashley groaned and slumped over on the bench. “I’m an idiot. I got too impatient. I just couldn’t stand spending one more night with that *.”

“I know that feeling.” Alexei stood. “Let’s head back, shall we?”

Ashley didn’t stand just yet. “And then what?” she asked, concerned about her fate for good reason.

“No need to decide that yet,” said Alexei. He couldn’t bring himself to scare her any more than necessary, though. “I promise, nothing back will happen to you.”

Alexei had a habit of keeping all his promises. He had a feeling he would regret this particular one. Maybe he was getting soft, but he liked Ashley rather a lot more than he did Douglas.

“I’ll keep you safe, but we have to decide what we’re going to do about this.”

Ashley stared at him for several long moments. Finally, she nodded. “All right. I trust you. I don’t have any other choice.”

Chapter 4
The Trick

Alexei had a hotel room back in the city. That’s where he took Ashley. She expressed some concern on the way. Maybe she was afraid Alexei’s intentions were less than pure… Which was fair enough. He had ulterior motives for helping her, but he wasn’t the sort to force himself on women. That would be despicable.

Thankfully, Ashley fears subsided when they actually arrived at the hotel. It was a four star establishment, and Alexei had a sweet booked.

“This looks like the sort of place Douglas usually stays at,” Ashley commented once they were in the elevator.

“Well, I assure you Douglas isn’t here,” Alexei said, just in case she had her doubts. “I just like to travel in style.”

Ashley raised her eyebrows. “Your boss must like you a lot.”

Alexei laughed at that. “I should hope so. I’m his son.”

“The son of a Russian mafioso.” Ashley gave a low whistle. “Does he usually send you out on business like this?”

The elevator doors opened. Alexei walked to his room, opening the door for Ashley. “Sometimes he does. When it’s a business deal this big, he sends me. I’m good with people, and he knows he can trust me.”

“So this was a big deal? This money I stole?” Ashley groaned. “I couldn’t have f*cked up worse, huh?”

“Oh, no,” Alexei assured her. “This could be much worse. Lucky for you, you’re cute and I’m the forgiving type.”

“I’m cute,” Ashley repeated, like she was tasting the phrase. “Were Tiffany and Heather cute, too?”

“Who?”

“God,” said Ashley with a laugh. “Douglas’ girls. You slept with them. Remember?”

“Of course I remember.” Alexei went to the mini bar and made himself a drink. “I just didn’t remember their names.”