Page 236 of The Morally Grey Billionaires Boxset

Solene

"You broke up with him?" Penny’s fingers fly over the screen of her phone.

We’re in my hotel room in London.

When the flashbulb went off, Declan and I turned in the direction of the window from where it had come. And there, hovering outside the pane, still taking pictures of us, was a drone.

"Motherfucking paps!" Declan stalked toward a chair, grabbed it, and flung it at the window. The glass broke, and with it, whatever last threads of connection that had linked me to him. I ran out of the bathroom.

"Solene, stop.” He yelled after me, but I ignored him. I heard him swear, heard more breaking glass—guess there was more than one drone taking pictures. For once, I was grateful that the paps had intervened.

I ran down the steps, and straight into Penny and Mira.

Penny took one look at me and thrust my bag into my hands, hustling me out through the front door into her little Mini Cooper.

Rick chose that moment to come racing up to the car.

I told him I was leaving. He took one look at my face, muttered something under his breath that sounded like, "dumb bastard," and simply nodded. He didn’t ask a single question. He reassured me he’d follow me in his car and keep the paps from giving chase.

He made good on his word and bought me enough time so I could use my phone to call my team and arrange for a hotel room.

A boutique hotel—chosen for the fact that it's not as well-known as any of the other five-star hotels in the city and because it's so discreet, it doesn’t even have a website.

Word of mouth only, and only in select circles—which I might not belong to for much longer, considering who I just broke up with.

As expected, Rick tracked me down via my phone.

When he arrived at the hotel, I told him I’d broken up with Declan.

He seemed unsurprised, but angry—and not with me.

He told me he’d been assigned to me, so he’d follow my orders—for now.

However, he's on Declan’s payroll, and he's Declan’s friend, so I know it's only a matter of time before I lose him, too.

Thank god I have Penny and Mira. If it weren’t for them, I’m not sure what I’d be doing today. I met both of them through Abby, and after she started seeing Cade, it was natural for me, Mira and Penny to gravitate toward each other.

Now, Penny looks up from her phone. "You released a statement on your social media platform?"

Guess she’s seen my post. Over the past few months, I’ve been posting steadily on my feed and amassed five million followers.

Every time photos of Declan and me appeared, the #Declene fans went crazy, and the number of my followers swelled.

I depended on them to get the word out for my tour.

I’ve come to think of them as my crew, so it seemed only right to be the first to tell them about my break-up with Declan.

"Your followers aren’t happy about it." Penny tucks her feet under her. She’s on the settee pushed up opposite the bed where Mira and I are sprawled out.

I hunch my shoulders. "They’ll get over it."

My phone vibrates and continues to vibrate.

I already blocked Declan’s number and told Rick in no uncertain terms that he has to keep that stronzo away from me.

So far, he seems to be complying with my wishes.

Though, considering how well he knows Declan, I’m not sure how long that will last. The buzzing stops, then starts again.

I stare at my phone that I placed screen-down on the nightstand.

“Are you going to get it?” Mira asks

“You don’t have to.” Penny glances up from her phone.

And how long am I gonna hide out? I’m a successful popstar. So what, if the man I thought I loved is a stronzo? I still have my career—barely, but I still have it—and it’s time I prioritize it.

Which means, I better get my phone and see who it is.

Not that I’m going to answer anyone at the moment, but maybe I should, at least, see who’s calling?

Tears prick my eyes again and I blink them away.

I’m not going to cry over that pezzo di merda.

I’m strong. I’m not going to hide. I’m going to face this. ..head on.

I reach over and slide my phone across the nightstand, then pick it up so I can see the screen. Twenty missed calls. Most are from Harry and Giorgina. Two from Olivia. I do need to call my sister back, but I don’t have the strength to do that yet.

As for Harry and Giorgina? Ugh. I’m sure they’re upset at my post. Even though Giorgina is Declan’s PR lead, she and I have struck up a working relationship.

We had to, considering being seen together—for me and Declan—was an important way for us to maintain our profiles.

Especially as the distance had grown between us, we’d been communicating more and more through Harry and Giorgina.

I scroll over to my social media feed and blink. "Wow, this post is doing better than any I’ve put up in the past few weeks."

"Well, it’s big news. You’re the hottest upcoming singer, and you’ve announced you’re breaking up with Hollywood’s number one heartthrob. Of course it’s going to do well." Penny throws her phone on the bed, then asks, “You going to tell us what really happened?”

I raise a shoulder. "I saw him with a woman in our— I mean, his house."

Penny looks at Mira, and a look passes between them. Then she turns to me. "What were they doing, exactly?"

"She was looking up at him with a serious look on her face. I was too far to hear the conversation. But then she started crying and threw herself into his arms.” I swallow.

"And then—?"

"Then I was so upset, I ran out of there." I toss the phone face down on the nightstand.

"So, you didn’t confront them?" Mira asks slowly.

"No, I was too upset. I’d seen enough."

"And that was a few weeks ago?"

I nod.

"And you haven’t seen him since? Or spoken to him, or messaged him?"

“Not until I saw him at Abby and Cade’s wedding earlier today.” I reach for the miniature bottle of tequila I’d snatched from the minibar and twist open the cap. “Turns out, he’s engaged to her.”

“What?” Penny jackknives up into sitting position. “He’s engaged to her?”

“Yep. He told me she's his fiancée and he never had feelings for me, so—” I take a sip of the tequila and promptly cough. Ugh! I’ve just been dumped, the least I can do is drink alcohol properly. Isn’t that supposed to be a rite of passage or something?

Mira lowers her chin. “That doesn’t sound like Declan. He might be an egotistical asshole—”

“Alphahole,” I say bitterly.

“Alphahole,” she corrects herself. “But he doesn’t strike me as a someone who’d do that to you.”

I scoff, “He’s a good actor. He had us all fooled.” Certainly had me taken in completely. I looked at him and thought he was the one. I can imagine how he’d be laughing right now to see me and know how easily he fooled me.

“That bastard.” Penny glowers. “Did he tell you who she is?”

“Nope, we never got around to that. I slapped him—again—and the stupid paps intruded with their stupid drones hovering outside the stupid bathroom window where they probably got another shot of us.”

“They did.” Penny reaches for her phone and resumes her scrolling. “There are pictures of you slapping him all over the internet.”

I flex my fingers. It should have made me feel good to get that second slap in, but strangely, the tortured expression on his face too closely resembled what I was feeling.

“Speculation is that one or both of you is having an affair.” She peers up at me, a worried look in her eyes.

"I guess they're right. For a change," I grumble.

“Every time I saw the two of you together, you both seemed so much in love.” Mira shakes her head. "I’m finding it very difficult to understand why he’d do this.”

“He did it because he wanted revenge.” I slump back into the pillows.

Maybe I can pull the cover over my head and never surface.

Maybe I can pretend Declan and I never had that conversation.

Maybe I can get on the next flight back to Naples and— I blow out a breath.

Nope, I'm not going to do that. There's no way I'm going back. I have to move past this. Somehow.

“Revenge?” Penny blinks.

“Revenge?” Mira scowls at the same time. “What do you mean, revenge? For what?”

I look between my friends. “I first met Declan when I was seventeen.”

“Seventeen?” Penny and Mira chorus, twin expressions of surprise on their faces.

I nod. “He was on a shoot in my hometown and saved me from some thugs on a beach. I fainted; he took me to his home. When I woke up, I saw him and thought he was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. Of course I fell for him.”

“Oh my.” Mira blinks rapidly. I think she has tiny heart-shaped symbols in her eyes.

“Yeah, I know. So romantic, eh?” I say in a self-deprecating voice.

“And how old was he?” Penny tilts her head.

“He was twenty-one. He assumed I was eighteen. Of course, he was horrified when he found out how young I was. He hustled me home, and I thought I’d never see him again—”

“—but you did.” Penny walks over to sit on the bed.

“He sneaked into my room to say goodbye. I seduced him into kissing me—"

“He kissed you when you were seventeen?” Mira yelps.

“Actually, I kissed him. And after a few seconds, he kissed me back. Only, my brother walked in on us.”

“Oh no.” She groans, then jumps up to her feet, "Wait, don’t utter another word until I obtain more liquid refreshments to lend a suitable rosy glow to the proceedings.”

Penny blinks. "Do you always talk like a nerd?"

Mira tosses her hair over her shoulder. “Don't you mean, a smutty nerd? People always assume I'm studious because I’m never without my Kindle. If they only took a peek inside the device…" She snickers, then walks over to the minibar in the corner and pulls out a selection of bottles.

She walks over to the bed, drops them in the center, then chooses one and holds it out to me. "You need more alcohol to lubricate your proceedings, which, girl, sound straight out of a romance novel."