The Billionaire's Ruthless Affair. Miranda Lee
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time that morning. Thinking of Sergio always brought a smile to his face. Jeremy, too. Yet those two were as different as chalk and cheese. Sergio was inclined to take life way too seriously at times, whereas Jeremy... Lord, where did one start with Jeremy? Though some people might describe him as a playboy, Alex knew Jeremy was a decent man at heart, generous and loyal, though with way too much charm and money for his own good. And he’d have even more money now, the recent sale of their wine bar franchise having made them all billionaires.
Alex’s smile faded somewhat as he realised that the sale of their franchise had now severed the main connection between the three men. Whilst he didn’t doubt they would always remain friends, it would not be the same as when they’d gathered together in London on a regular basis. Sergio had now returned to Milan to take up the reins of his family’s ailing manufacturing business, whilst he himself would have no reason to return to England.
Still, that was life, Alex supposed. Nothing stayed the same. Time and tide waited for no man, he knew, a quick glance at his watch showing that it was almost eight.
He was going to be late for work, which was a rarity.
Harry would be wondering where he was. Alex hoped she wasn’t upset over the way he’d spoken to her yesterday. Not that she’d seemed offended. Though relatively young, she was without doubt the best, most sensible PA he’d ever had.
Gulping down the rest of his coffee, he hurried back inside, stashed his mug in the dishwasher, snatched up his phone and keys, then headed for the lift. Just as the lift doors opened, his phone rang. A wry smile lit up Alex’s face when he saw that it was Jeremy.
Speak of the devil!
‘Jeremy...mate...I was just thinking about you.’ Alex strode into the lift and pressed the button for the basement car park.
‘That’s a worry,’ Jeremy replied in that deeply masculine voice which always surprised people. ‘Haven’t you got anything better to do with your life? You should be out there making more millions. Though, perhaps not. You’d only give the lot away.’
Alex grinned. ‘You’ve been drinking, haven’t you?’ It would be late evening in London.
‘You could say that. I’m at a party. An engagement party.’
Alex suppressed a groan at the thought that another one of Jeremy’s brothers—perhaps even his mother or father—were on their way to the altar again. You didn’t have to look far to understand Jeremy’s negative attitude towards love and marriage. Clearly, he didn’t trust either to last.
Alex wasn’t into love and marriage himself, either, but not for reasons of scepticism and cynicism. He knew full well that true love existed and lasted, if you found the right person. Alex just wasn’t interested in finding his soul mate. He had personal reasons for staying a bachelor, the main one being the promise he’d made to his mother on her deathbed.
‘God made you extra smart for a purpose, son,’ she’d told him with her last breath. ‘Promise me you won’t waste your talents. Use them for good. Make a difference.’
Alex had done just that. But being a dedicated philanthropist took a lot of time and energy. He simply didn’t have enough left over for a wife and family. Though, if he was strictly honest, Alex liked being a bachelor. Liked living by himself. Liked being free of emotional entanglements.
The lift doors opened at the basement and Alex headed for his nearby SUV at a clip.
‘So who’s getting hitched this time?’ he asked Jeremy. ‘Not your mother, I hope.’ Jeremy’s mother had divorced her third husband last year after she’d discovered he was sleeping with his personal trainer.
‘No, thank God. No, this is someone far more surprising.’
‘Really?’ The mind boggled. ‘Look, hold it a sec. Have to get in my car. I’m on my way to work.’ Alex jumped in behind the wheel and swiftly connected his phone to Bluetooth. ‘Right. All systems go,’ he said as he backed out of his spot.
‘Do you ever do anything except work?’ Jeremy said drily.
‘Sure I do. I eat out, work out and have lots of great sex. A bit like you, dear friend.’
‘Are you still dating that Lisa chick, the girl you told me about with the grating giggle? Or did you break up with her as you said you were going to as soon as you got back to Sydney?’
‘Yeah, she’s gone,’ Alex said with a scowl on his face. Lisa was still a sore point with him. He’d been going to tell her tactfully this last weekend that it was over between them when she’d actually had the hide to break up with him first, informing him that she’d taken a job on a cruise ship that was setting sail for Asia that very week.
He should have been relieved. Instead, he’d felt decidedly disgruntled. ‘I don’t want to talk about Lisa,’ Alex ground out. ‘I want to know which surprising person is getting married.’
‘Trust me when I say that you’re going to be more than surprised. It’s Sergio. He’s the one getting married.’
Though slightly taken aback, Alex was not exactly shocked. ‘What’s so surprising about that? He said he was going to find himself a wife when he got back to Italy. It is a bit quick, though.’
Jeremy laughed. ‘You don’t know the half of it. The wedding’s set for just over two weeks’ time.’
‘Good grief! Why all the hurry? The bride-to-be can’t possibly be pregnant. He’s only been back in Italy a little over a fortnight.’
‘As far as I know, Bella’s not pregnant.’
Alex’s foot slammed on the brake, bringing an angry hoot of the horn from the car behind him. He was on the car park exit ramp at the time. Gathering himself, he drove on, trying to stay calm and not cause an accident.
‘You shouldn’t tell me something like that when I’m driving,’ he said a lot more calmly than he was feeling. For Bella was the Bella, the darling of Broadway and Sergio’s one-time stepsister. Sergio had confessed to his friends a couple of years back that he’d always had the hots for her. Naturally, they’d both urged him to move on and forget her.
Clearly, he hadn’t taken their advice.
‘Trust me, I’m just as shocked as you are,’ Jeremy said in droll tones. ‘Even worse, I’ve had to witness Sergio’s crazed obsession first-hand.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I knew Sergio was staying at his villa on Lake Como, so I decided to fly over yesterday and surprise him for his birthday.’
‘Oh, God, his birthday. I forgot, as usual.’
‘You always forget birthdays. Anyway, back to my story. Naturally, I thought Sergio would be alone. He’d said he wanted a holiday before tackling the family business. Apparently, I’d got that wrong. Because when I arrived, he was in Milan, with Bella installed at the villa. She claimed she was suffering from burnout and had tried to rent the villa from Sergio, but he’d invited her to stay as his guest instead.’
Alex’s teeth clenched down hard in his jaw. ‘So the upshot is she wangled her way back into Sergio’s life and then seduced him.’
‘That’s not how Sergio tells it. He says he seduced her.’
‘That doesn’t sound like Sergio.’
‘I agree, but apparently he did. And then the poor bastard fell in love with her.’
‘Yes, but did she fall in love with him back, or is this a case of like mother like daughter?’ Bella’s mother was a cold-blooded, ambitious woman who’d married Sergio’s widowed father to finance her daughter’s singing and dancing career, then divorced him once Bella’s career had taken off. ‘Does Bella know he’s a billionaire now?’
‘Don’t know. It’s been a madhouse here.’
Alex