The Billionaire Baby Bombshell Read Free Page B

unrelenting police interrogation and the intense press scrutiny paled in comparison to discovering Carlos’s true colors.
    He muttered a foul oath, the blade of betrayal still sharp. Carlos had been a casual acquaintance from university, one who’d mixed in the same elite social circles. On a whim he’d considered Carlos’s business proposal, encouraged by the prospect of escaping from the shadow of Australia’s favorite son, William Rush.
    Two short years later and he and Carlos had set up a partnership, developing a handful of franchised travel agencies under the name of Sprint Travel.
    He wasn’t so blind to ignore the fact that Yelena’s approval had played a part in his decision. Hell, he could still hear her glowing endorsement of her brother as partner material.
    That woman could tempt the Lord himself…even if she were sister to the Devil.
    He dragged a hand over his jaw and absently rubbed the whisper of stubble, its familiar rasp an empty echo in the cabin.
    You were an idiot. A stupid, bloody idiot, thinking with your libido, not your head .
    All his life he’d had this unnerving ability to know when people weren’t telling the whole truth—his father had crudely dubbed it “Alex’s crap detector” with a certain amount of pride. But with Carlos he hadn’t seen it coming…and yeah, he thought grudgingly, not wanted to see it because the brother of Gabriela and Yelena Valero couldn’t possibly be a lying snake…right?
    He snorted. Wrong on all counts. A week after he’d been cleared of his father’s death, he’d been served with the breach of contract documents. He’d read them through, choking back his shock at the neatly typed legalese. If the courts sided with Carlos and the partnership was dissolved, all Alex’s shares would go to Carlos. Technically it was legal, but morally?
    Before he had time to wrap his head around that, the next blow fell. A loyal agency manager with friends at the Federal Police and the Canberra Times had voiced concerns about Carlos’s creative accountancy practices.
    And that’s when things had turned ugly.
    The betrayal wounded him deep, much deeper than any financial loss. With fury in his blood, fueling every waking hour, he’d dug for the truth. And as the articles about his family steadily grew worse, so, too, did his desire for vengeance. He’d used every contact, every favor at his disposal to uncover something, anything solid to wield as his sword of justice, but until recently Carlos had been clever. No paper trail and no one willing to go on record.
    And then, suddenly, two breakthroughs. Last week he’d contacted three potential victims of Carlos’s rip-off schemeswho hadn’t automatically slammed the door in his face. And, more importantly, Alex had discovered Carlos was the one who’d been feeding infidelity stories of his dead father to the press since March.
    Everything had clicked into horrible focus. Yelena was the only person who could’ve overheard that shameful, ugly confrontation with his father in his office. The only one who could’ve blabbed to Carlos about it.
    It wasn’t about business anymore. This was personal.
    Damn them. Damn her.
    His fist tightened on his pen until a tiny cracking noise forced him to release it with a hollow clatter. The marks across his palm rose quickly.
    Soon they would be on their way to Diamond Bay, where he’d have Yelena completely to himself. He’d make sure Carlos Valero knew his perfect, respectable sister had willingly fallen into his bed then he’d hand all his evidence about Carlos’s wrongdoing over to the authorities. Only complete and utter humiliation would vindicate him.
    Wasn’t one sister enough for you? Keep your hands off Yelena or God help you, I’ll bring you down. His mouth slashed into a grim smile as he remembered Carlos’s hollow phone threat, now securely saved on his message bank.
    Anger meant mistakes and Alex was counting on Carlos to make one.
    Alex glanced at his