Free Bad Boy Billionaire (A Standalone Romance) by Cara Cruz Page B

stared into space.
    After a couple minutes playing with sugar packets, a shadow appeared on her table. Johnny stood over her looking as unfriendly as ever.
    “Two coffees,” he yelled back toward the counter some distance away.
    “Keep it down, would ya?” Maria hissed.
    “Why? Ashamed to be seen with me?”
    She rolled her eyes. “It’s not exactly a wise move, is it?”
    “Maybe not for you. But I don’t give a fuck about that.”
    “You wouldn’t, would you,” she sighed.
    Johnny leaned forward. “Enough chit-chat. What have you got for me?”
    She shrugged. “Not a lot. He mentioned Keton yesterday before a meeting.”
    His eyes widened. “And?”
    “And nothing. I attended the meeting. They mentioned nothing out of the ordinary.”
    “What did they talk about?”
    “The new office in Orlando.”
    Johnny drummed his fingers against his lips. Without warning, he reached across the table and grabbed her wrist roughly.
    “Did you tip him off?” he hissed.
    She shook her hand free. “No of course not. How stupid do you think I am?”
    He sat back against his seat as the waitress approached with their coffees. “I can tell you now. Keton’s got nothing to do with some office block in Orlando.”
    Maria rubbed her face with her hands, suddenly exhausted. “Well can you tell me what it is to do with? Because I’m running around in circles here. I can’t help you if I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
    He gritted his teeth. “And I’ve told you . That’s sensitive information.”
    Maria sat back against the booth. “If my sister is jailed for life, do you know what I’m gonna do?” she said finally.
    “What?”
    She leaned forward. “I’m going to find every last one of the people you work for. And I’m going to destroy you. I don’t care what it takes.”
    He smirked. “Sweetheart, do you have any idea who you’re dealing with?”
    “Johnny, I don’t think you know who you’re dealing with. Janey’s the only person I’ve got left. Mess with her and you’ve got an enemy for life. Now you’ve fucked me around enough. Tell me everything you know. Or else watch your back. Forever.”
    Under the table, Maria drove her nails into her palm. Hard. She was taking a risk here; a huge one. She hoped she’d judged Johnny correctly. She got the impression he was only motivated by violence or the threat of it. It wasn’t that she was unprepared to follow through with her threat. It was just that there was a very high risk that they’d get to her first.
    But she had to take it. She was quickly running out of other options.
    “Johnny,” she said, calmer this time. “I didn’t come here to fight. But just think of it like this. Imagine your boss sent you to collect a payment from somebody. A store owner. Somebody who hadn’t paid up.”
    Johnny shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. But okay, whatever.”
    “Okay, now suppose he did that without telling you where to go. You know you need to collect the cash from someone. You know you can do it - no one’s gonna mess with you. But you don’t know who the damn person is. You follow?”
    He nodded slowly.
    “Johnny, it’s the same thing. Help me to help you. I won’t tell anyone you told me. I promise. Think how good you’re gonna look when you go back to your bosses with the information I was able to get.”
    He looked uncertain.
    “Imagine the shit that’s gonna fly if you fail,” she laughed. “Seriously.”
    He rolled his eyes. “Okay. Fine. But you have to promise not to tell anybody.”
    Maria fought to resist the urge to jump out of her chair. It was far from a victory, she reminded herself. She still had to betray the guy she was rapidly falling for. But she had to do it for Janey – she was innocent too. Chase was a rich guy – a little intellectual property theft wouldn’t hold him back for long. They’d all come out of it unscathed; she’d just need to get over the fact that he’d never trust