The Alpha Dating Game(26)

So he was Kyle Atreides. There were a dozen different possibilities as to why a billionaire’s son would lie about his name, of course. He probably did not want fortune hunters after him until he was very sure of them. He met her on a website and he probably wanted to see how genuine she was until such time he would reveal his true self.

Yes, that had to be it.

And she would prove to him how genuine she was. To be honest, the money was just icing on the cake. She would have loved Kyle even if he were a penniless scholarship student like herself.

Love.

She was using the word confidently now. She did love Kyle, honest be to truth.

‘Kyle Atreides’ appeared in more websites and blogs, such as that of his Princeton alumni. His photos were all handsome and smiling – the very picture of a young man who had the world at his feet. Jessica’s heart swelled every time she saw his photo. He was hers. He had made love to her.

Then a Google news item from a few years back caught her eye.

It said:





BILLIONAIRE QUESTIONED IN GIRL’S DISAPPEARANCE





Jessica saw the bolded words JERICHO ATREIDES under the description. Her curiosity piqued, she clicked on the link. A webpage loaded, and the photo inset was that of Jericho Atreides.





‘Emily Watson, 18, went missing on the night of ________ . She had gone to the prom with her best friend, Katie Greer, 18.’





Emily Watson’s photo came next. She was an obese teenager. Pretty, with a chubby face and dimpled cheeks. But huge. Bigger than Jessica ever had been. She wore a lapis lazuli necklace in three colors, which Jessica thought did not fit her well because it emphasized her rather fat neck.





‘Katie said, “She got a call midway into the prom. She had been all excited like about this new guy she met over some website. She wouldn’t tell me about him until they, you know, gelled some more. Then she was gone.

“I didn’t know she was missing until her mother called me the next morning and asked if Emily had gone home with me.”

An anonymous source tipped the police off. Emily Watson had allegedly been seen going into Jericho Atreides’s car, a distinctive black Jaguar.

Upon questioning by the police, Jericho Atreides said, “I have never seen this girl in my entire life. I find it irresponsible of the police to blindly follow any anonymous lead presented to them without any evidence. I have plenty of enemies in the business world who would like to see me toppled and my company’s stock prices to fall. I urge the police to be more responsible in their line of investigation.”





Jessica sank back into her chair. Although there was no investigative trail to suggest Jericho Atreides had been involved, something struck her about the contents of the article.

Emily Watson was a big, beautiful woman. She was meeting a man in connection with a dating website.

Uncanny coincidence?

A pickle of unease slid down her backbone.

Kyle was wonderful, but she hadn’t yet met his father. His father was a billionaire entrepreneur. He couldn’t have been involved in something as horrible as the disappearance of a high school girl, could he?

Her cellphone suddenly came alive.

Brrrrrrr.

It vibrated hard enough to make it almost slide off the desk. She had put it on silent mode throughout her date with Kyle. She snatched it up and noticed the display.

Kyle!

Shakily, she picked it up.

“Hello? Kyle?”

“Hi, Jessica.” His voice was warm. “I’m missing you already.”

She could sense the genuineness of his remark. Her heart fluttered and she tried to quell her misgivings about his father. He’s Kyle Smith, remember, she admonished herself. You know nothing about his real name until such time he chooses to reveal himself.

“I miss you too,” she said.

“Guess what? My Dad is hosting a dinner at his place tomorrow and he wants to meet you.”

Her heart skipped several beats. “Wh-what?”

“My Dad is inviting us both for dinner at his place tomorrow,” he said patiently. “I’ve been, uh, sort of telling him about you . . . and he really wants to meet you.” He paused, and the silence was pregnant with hope. “Will you please come?”

Meet his father? Meet Jericho Atreides, the billionaire who had been questioned about the disappearance of a girl not much younger than she was?

Now you’re being irrational, she scolded herself. Jericho Atreides had nothing to do with it. There was something bigger at stake. She was being asked to meet the parents, or in this case, his one surviving parent. This was a huge moment in their relationship, and it was all happening so fast!

“Yes, I’d love to go,” she said, hoping the anxiety wouldn’t show in her voice.