Free Bossing the Billionaire: Billionaire Brothers Kent - Ryder's Story (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series) by Judy Angelo Page A

pleasure.” Teeth clenched, she could hardly get the
words out, she was so enraged. “I never had any intention of setting foot in
this place ever again, not after what you did to me. I thought you’d done your
worst but I was wrong. I would never have believed anyone would sink so low,
not even you.”
    Jerome chuckled and shook his head, making strands of his blond hair
fall across his forehead. It gave him a boyish look, that same damned look that
had been her downfall. That innocent image, it was the ruse he used to draw
women in. She knew that only too well. “Blake, Blake, Blake.” He said her name
with every shake of his head. “Why so harsh? I was only telling the truth.”
    “The truth? You go to the press with a story that I stole from the
company and you call that the truth? You piece of slime, it’s a stinking lie
and you know it.”
    Instead of wilting in shame, Jerome’s smile grew even wider. “Stole
from the company? But I didn’t say that at all.”
    “No, but you implied it. You knew exactly what you were doing when
you said those things about me,” she grated, her fists clenched at her sides.
He didn’t know how close she was to slapping that self-satisfied grin off his
face. “You made sure you made statements too vague for me to quote you and haul
you off to court but you did your damage all the same.” She gave a snort of
disgust. “So you didn’t think you hurt me enough? You weaseled your way into my
life and then you betrayed me. You used me for your own ends. I walked away. I
let you have it all. Wasn’t that enough?”
    There was an almost imperceptible change in the smug look in his
eyes, making Blake wonder if she’d finally gotten through to his conscience but
then it disappeared and his lips tightened. “You ran away from me, Blake. I
asked you to marry me and as soon as we got to a slight bump in the road you
dropped me like a piece of hot coal and skipped town.”
    “A slight bump in the road? Is that what you call it?” Blake stared
at Jerome, not believing what he was saying. “I took you on as a business
partner and you stole from me. You betrayed my trust. Did you honestly think I
would go through with the wedding?”
    “I didn’t steal the money. I just borrowed it. I would have told
you.”
    “Yeah, right. I may have been stupid enough to accept your marriage
proposal but I’m not so stupid that I’d believe that or anything else you have
to say.”
    His blue eyes flashing with something akin to anger, Jerome dropped
his feet to the floor and sat forward in his chair. “I told you I loved you,
Blake, and I meant it. But what did you do? For no good reason at all you
ditched me at the last minute and embarrassed me in front of my friends and my
family. How do you think I felt when I was left to tell everybody that the wedding
was off?”
    “I don’t care how you felt. You should have thought of that when you
embezzled my money.” Fighting hard to stay in control of her emotions, she
folded her arms across her chest. It was either that or strangle him.
    “Our money. The money I took was part mine.”
    Blake drew in her breath then let it out and as she did she was
shaking her head. “You don’t get it, do you? You took the money without
permission. Without my knowledge. Do you know what that’s called?”
    “All right, all right, so I took the money. So what? All we had to
do was talk about it. I would have explained everything to you but you never
gave me a chance. You hightailed it out of here so fast and you made sure I
wouldn’t know where to find you. Your mother kept her mouth shut, tight as a
trap.” Then he chuckled. “But I came up with the perfect plan. I got you to
come back to Dallas, didn’t I?”
    Blake sucked in her breath, her hands falling to her sides as she
took an involuntary step forward. “You…you planned this? That news story was bait?”
    “Ah, now you’re learning, my sweet. Old Jerome isn’t quite the fool
you thought