Free Billionaire's Blackmail Bride: Billionaire Brothers Kent - Ridge's Story (The BAD BOY BILLIONAIRES Series) by Judy Angelo Page A

his salt he was going to have to push
his personal problems to the distant corners of his mind and deal with the
issues at hand.
    It was a long four hours but Ridge made it to the end of the
meeting. Unfortunately, it was not before he’d nearly chewed off the head of
his CEO for making a costly blunder. For the most part he’d kept his anger
under control but this wasn’t one of those days when he was going to play nice.
    When the meeting finally ended and he got up to go he could see the
flash of relief that crossed the face of his second-in-command. Suddenly
feeling guilty that he’d been so harsh, Ridge gave Jeff Bentley a curt nod.
“We’ll talk about this tomorrow,” he said, his voice calm, the very opposite of
what he’d been just minutes before. “We’ll find a solution to this.” With those
words of reassurance he left the conference room and, not stopping, he left the
office building and went straight to his Jaguar in his reserved parking spot.
He was going home. There was something he needed to do and the sooner, the
better.
    Ridge was on his way to the house when he called Lani from his cell
phone. Like he could have guessed, she was still at the lab, hard at work.
    “Do you have a minute?” he asked. “Can you talk?”
    There was a brief pause and when she spoke her voice was hesitant.
After what she’d done to him she was probably expecting a shouting match. She
would have a long wait for that one. “I’m sort of busy right now,” she said. “I
can only give you a couple of minutes.”
    “That’s all I need,” he said. “You got what you wanted. You won’t
have me around to bother you anymore.”
    He heard a soft gasp. “What are you talking about?” she asked.
    “When you get home I won’t be there,” he said brusquely. “I’m moving
out.”
     
    CHAPTER SEVEN
     
     
    “Where’s the flippin’ travel pouch?”
    Ridge was muttering to himself as he threw shirts, socks, underwear
and trousers into his suitcase. By the time Lani got home from work he would be
long gone and he couldn’t have made a better decision. He would be far away
from the little witch and he’d finally have peace.
    After a few more frustrating minutes of searching he finally found
the pouch he’d been looking for, tucked way to the back of the shelf in his closet.
How that had gotten all the way back there, he couldn’t tell. He’d probably
been in one of his mad moods when he’d thrown it on top of the shelf. Now, with
it plopped on top of his clothes, he could close his suitcase.
    But just before he did there was one quick thing he wanted to do.
He’d been wound so tight he’d been sweating buckets all day. He felt too sticky
to go out like this. He glanced at the clock, checking to make sure he had
enough time for a quick shower. He didn’t want to be there when Lani got home
but, knowing her, she wouldn’t leave the lab until the sun had gone down.
    Ridge had just shrugged out of his suit jacket and was reaching for
his tie when he heard tires screeching down below. Frowning, he went over to
the window. Shit. It was Lani. How had she gotten home so fast?
    Looking like an angry swan with her white lab coat sailing behind
her, the little woman hopped out of her car and tore up the driveway toward the
front porch. Ridge heard when she flung the front door open and then her
footsteps sounded on the stairs.
    He shook his head. Why the heck had she bothered to come home? There
was nothing she could say that would stop him from leaving.
    He’d turned away from the window and was heading toward the bathroom
as planned when his bedroom door burst open and Lani stood there, panting from
her run. Her brows fell in a frown. “Where do you think you’re going?” Then,
like one of those wrestlers getting ready to rumble, she stood in the doorway,
feet planted firmly apart, and folded her arms across her chest.
    If Ridge weren’t so dang tired of Lani and her games he would have
laughed. Did she really