Wife Wanted (A Billionaire Bad Boy Romance)(47)

 

“Why? ‘Cause of Mitch? Oh, please, Phoebe, you can dump him.”

 

“Yeah, I can, but what happens when Mom wakes up? I need the money. You heard Doctor Chambers. She’s going to need it the second she’s cleared for surgery, otherwise…I’ll be burying another parent, and I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”

 

Charlotte laid her hand over her friend’s on the counter and held it tight as tears started to slip from Phoebe’s eyes. She didn’t wipe them away. Couldn’t bear to raise a hand to do it. They were a harsh reminder of what she had to do soon. What her life was about to become, all because of the love she had for her mother. Besides, there was the issue at work now, too. Files that she needed to explore to see what the hell Yancey was up to and to save her ass from whatever he was about to do.

 

***

 

Riley unlocked his penthouse door, still smiling as he tossed his suit jacket and the files on the nearby couch. Clapping sounded and he glanced up to find Ben and Linda sitting in his kitchen, eating takeout Chinese. “Seriously? I’m going to take away your key.”

 

“What? We wanted to be here to congratulate you on your victory.”

 

Linda smacked Ben on the shoulder as Riley headed over and picked up a container of fried rice. “It was a pretty great weekend.”

 

“Yeah, and you even got some dirt on Yancey.”

 

“Did we? All I have are those files Anna gave me. They’re over there with my jacket.”

 

“She just gave them to you?”

 

Riley dug around in the container and didn’t answer. He wasn’t sure what Anna had intended with the files, but he needed them to figure out what the hell Yancey was doing, poking around his company research and trying to pass it off as belonging to Yancey Securities.

 

“You didn’t just take them, did you?” Linda scolded. “Riley, she’s going to be pissed when she finds out!”

 

“If she finds out, you mean.”

 

Linda glanced between him and Ben, who was currently laughing into his own container of rice. “As much time as you spend around women, you really don’t understand us, do you?” She muttered something else under her breath, but Riley chose to ignore it.

 

“Did you get a chance to find anything on those files yet?”

 

Ben shrugged. “Yes and no. I can tell you that the originals are still with us. However, there are records of several copies being made and sent to an outside source. Tried to trace them but couldn’t get it, so tech’s working to see what they can dig up.”

 

“At least Yancey can’t fully claim the research is his, then.”

 

“Yes and no,” Ben said. “It’s a bit of a grey area. We’re going to have to tread lightly. You might have the upper hand, but we still don’t know what Yancey’s end game is. Whatever he’s planning with Chandler, we’re going to have to get on top of it.”

 

“The only way to shut this down completely is for me to marry and be done with it.”

 

Linda grinned as she leaned across the counter. “Then what are you waiting for?”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“You just spent the entire weekend with Anna. You obviously feel pretty damn close to her, more so than any other woman since Meredith died. Ask her and get it over with!”

 

Riley choked on his rice and pounded his chest to clear his throat. “I can’t just ask her to marry me! You remember how long it took me to ask Meredith? And then we never even got the chance…” He trailed off, remembering how he’d only proposed to her a few weeks before the accident. His heart sank in his chest, and suddenly, he wasn’t hungry any more. He set the container down and told them he was going to shower and change. They could talk more about what to do with Yancey when he was done.

 

He heard Linda telling Ben she should go apologize and him telling her to just give Riley a minute. He’d be fine. But would he? Riley wasn’t even sure himself. The weekend had been great and Anna was incredible, but was he really ready to take the next step this fast? Four years was a long time, but there were days he still talked to Meredith when no one else was around. When he felt her beside him as he slept. She had been his world, and she’d been ripped away from him.

 

Riley picked up the picture on his dresser of the two of them together. They’d been laughing about something when the picture was taken. He couldn’t even remember what it was anymore. His fingers brushed the glass over her face, and he felt a single tear slip down his cheek.