The Billionaire’s Bargain Bride

Trust Your Instinct

CENRIC

“What the fuck is going on?”

“Just come home if someone could cover you.” Linden’s voice over the phone sounded urgent, and he wouldn’t call unless there was a life-and-death situation. So I had to make my trip short?

“Yeah. Cas can do that. Why?”

Cas looked at me as he heard his name. “What’s wrong?”

“About to find out. I need to take the jet home. You okay to charter or fly commercial?”

“I’m not the billionaire, of course.” He shrugged. “But the people who are excited to see you will be damn disappointed.”

“Sorry, bro. You know what to do, and you’re charming than me.”

“They still want to meet the hero turned billionaire, but sure. Just give me an update of whatever is going on back home.”

“I will, and you too. Call me as soon as it’s over.”

“Will do. Take care.”

***

Beck already informed the pilot of the change of flight. “Lucky day. You’re going back home. Linden didn’t give many details, but what’s really going on?”

“Someone’s sending pictures of Sadie to his brother.” The news alone made me on edge. I wanted to break someone’s face right this instant, especially Jasper’s. “That’s why he knew exactly where my wife was when she was not at home.”

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“That’s what I’m going to find out. Someone was also feeding him info aside from those pictures.” My knuckles turned white as I looked outside the window of the jet.

I could feel Beck was staring at me, reading what was on my head.

“Just say it.”

“You have a suspect, but you don’t want it to be true.”

“I don’t wanna be right, Beck.”

He sighed. “Hmm. Let me take care of it.”

I tried to get a nap before we landed. Every time I closed my eyes, the face of my terrified wife visited me. I wanted to call her, but I informed Linden not to tell her until I arrived. It was better to keep her in the dark until I knew who the culprit was.

It twisted my gut to keep a secret from her, but she’d been through a rough patch. She just started to have a life peacefully. She was even thrilled to begin working, and I was sure this would ruin her excitement.

I barely slept when Beck knocked on the door, reminding me that we were landing very soon.

We landed just right in time. Linden was already waiting for us at the airport. I called my wife ahead of time to tell her that there were some changes in plans. As much as I wanted to surprise her with my arrival and make love to her, I had another more pressing matter I had to attend to. I had a lot of things to figure out before I broke the news to her.

We arrived home, and she instantly saw me.

“Cenric!” Her excitement alone eased the tension in my shoulders, and at the same time, shit tons of guilt twisted painfully in my guts.

I pulled Sadie in my arms, lifted her, and she instantly snaked her arms around my neck and wrapped her legs around my waist. “I missed you so much.”

“I missed you too, but you’re here now.” She kissed me from my forehead, my eyes, to my nose, and my lips.”

“I should travel more often if I get to see this excitement all the time.” I let her on her feet.

Her arms still looped around my neck. “Then you will meet a beautiful girl and forget me.” She pouted, pretending to be disappointed.

“I already have a beautiful girl, and she’s enough.”

“Unless she’s Kimia.”

I chuckled. “Yeah. You don’t mind, do you?”

“I’ll think about it.” Even mentioning Kimia, the character I created, couldn’t hide my perturbing voice.

“What’s going on?” Her beautiful face had a quizzical expression.

Fuck. She just saw Beck and Linden grabbing Devin. Her eyes widened in shock. “Cenric, what’s going on? Why are they grabbing Devin as if he stole something from you.”

“We’ll just talk,” I said calmly.

“That’s not how talking looks like Cenric. What did he do?” She had my arm under her grip.

“It’s what he might have done to you, but if he didn’t, and he’s proven himself that he didn’t do anything wrong, then everything is all right.”

“I don’t believe you.” Her tone was accusatory. She raised his chin. “Is that why you came home early? I trust him with my life, and he’s not capable of doing whatever you think he did.”

“Then there’s only one way to prove he’s innocent.”

“Are you also going to interrogate your friends?”

“I trust them with life.”

“Then so do I. Devin didn’t do it,” she said firmly.

“You don’t know what he did, and stay out of this, Sadie. Let me handle this, okay?”

“I can’t just accept that it’s okay when you’re interrogating my bodyguard. And when you say handle, are you going to beat the hell out of him?” Her eyes started to water while she followed her gaze to my friends and Linden outside the house.

“Why are you protecting him?”

“Because he protected me.”

“It’s his job,” I pointed out.

“When no one cared, he did. That’s why I trusted him that he would never hurt me.”

“You don’t know that.”

“So do you!”

“Do you like him?”

“Of course, I do.” Her words stopped me. “He treated me like a person when nobody did!”

“Should I be worried?” My jealousy seared me inside out.

“Of what? Are you kidding me? That’s ridiculous!” She cast me a disgusting look. “I like him because he’s kind. I like him like the good brother I never had.”

“I’m hiring another bodyguard for you. Your closeness and your emotion are clouding your judgment, Sadie.”

“That’s unfair!”

“Call it whatever you want, but he’s fired.”

“Then just let him prove to you that he had nothing to do with whatever is going on. And I’m coming with you with your little interrogation.” She was already sprinting towards Devin’s room.

“Sadie, don’t do it!” I followed her as she crossed the paths toward the guardhouse.

“Sadie!” She pretended not to hear me as she just banged the door. When it opened, she was already inside before Linden could stop her.

“Oh, my God! Stop it!” I watched how she blocked Beck. She used herself to shield Devin. “He didn’t do it!”

“You don’t know that. Please, Mrs. Wollf. Let me do my job,” Beck said.

“Sadie, get the hell away from him.” I stepped closer to her, but she warned me as she stepped back.

“You’ll regret this, Cenric. All of you. And you, Beck, this is not the job you are hired for. What you are doing right now is physical assault.”

She looked at busted face Devin and then tears fell from her eyes. Linden turned away, facing the window.

“You don’t have to protect me, Mrs. Wollf. I already told them I didn’t do anything wrong. I would die for you. That’s the job I have sworn to—to protect you.”

“You little mutt. We didn’t tell you you’re allowed to talk.”

“Let him talk!” my wife yelled at Linden.

“You’re getting closer to my wife, Devin. You earned her trust to betray her.”

“I would never betray her. Nobody trusted me except her, and I would never do something to break it.”

“Do you have feelings for my wife?” I didn’t like my question as I wasn’t ready to hear his answer.

“That’s absurd, Cenric.”

“Of course I do.” He snickered He spat the blood out of his busted lips. I could see the admiration brewing in those eyes, and jealousy scorched inside me. This time, I wanted to take the interrogation into my own hands.

“Fucking bastard.” Beck groaned.

“She’s like my sister that I failed to protect.”

I clenched my jaw hard enough my teeth would crack. I listened if I already knew his story, and the background check did prove he was telling the truth.

“My father was a fucking son of a bitch, using my sister and me as his punching bag when he was drunk. When he was sober, he couldn’t remember doing anything and acted as if nothing had happened. It became cycles. When I turned eighteen, we ran away and never heard anything from him again. She went into foster and left when she became an adult. I focused on MMA. Then I got a job and sent her to college. I was fucking fortunate when you hired me. Got the best employer, the best job in the world even if I didn’t have qualifications, and got the best woman to protect.”

The room went silent. My wife kept wiping her face. Linden looked guilty, so did Beck, shaking off his bloody knuckles.

“What did they suspect you with, Devin?” my wife asked.

“That my loyalty remains to your brother. That I was sending info of your whereabouts, stealing shots, and sending them to Jasper.”

“Did you do it?”

“Not in my fucking life, ma’am.”

“Language,” I growled.

“I’m sure I’m fired. I might end up floating in the river somewhere, but I would die happy by telling you the truth right now. I did not do it.”

“We found pictures in your phone. And the pictures were taken when you were off duty. Twice. Do you think the timing was just a coincidence?”

“When he said he didn’t do, then he did not.” I couldn’t believe my wife was still defending him. I admired her tenacity.

“Doesn’t mean I did it. I never took those pictures. And don’t you think that the person responsible for this was trying to frame me?”

“You have a camera in your room.”

“Because I enjoy photography doesn’t mean I’m guilty. And it’s not a crime to follow your passion.”

“Just fucking tell the truth, Devin. My patience is running thin, and you’ve wasted so much of my time. I was supposed to be in LA right now, but because of what you did, I am here, trying to give myself a reason not to break your skull.”

“Break me, punch me—”

“Devin, stop it! Don’t provoke them. Why would you let them beat you if you’re not guilty?”

“I broke their trust, which I can guess they didn’t even trust me in the first place. Considering my past employer, they are just waiting for the right time to shove it to my face that my loyalty remains to Jasper.”

“I trust you. I still do,” my wife added. I admired her loyalty, even if she put it to the wrong person.

“My brother trusted you,” I told him.

“What do you mean?” Sadie turned her attention to me.

“It’s a long story.”

“My phone is fingerprint protected. You owned giant crypto with Fort Knox security. Figure that out.”

“I try to slide your sarcasm slide, Reece.”

My wife just squeezed her eyes shut as if she had just figured something out before she said, “Damn it.”