Read Online The Billionaire Game by Lila Monroe - Free Book Online

advice?” Brian
asked. “Actual advice, really. Or did he see your silly little
lingerie line and offer you ‘business advice?’ The kind
that comes with a bottle of red wine and an invitation to his
penthouse suite?”
    That stung, mostly because it was true.
    “I’ll have you know,”
I began in a hot rage, “that some people actually think I show
some promise!”
    I didn’t care about the truth
anymore, I just cared about wiping that smug little smirk off my
asshole brother’s face, and wiping the matching looks of pity
and disappointment off the faces of my parents.
    “Asher offered to invest a half
million in my ‘silly little lingerie line!’ He thinks I
can be in stores within a month, and making a profit within another
month! We’re having a meeting this week to see if our goals
line up and to work out stock options, so you can take your
condescending attitude and shove it so far up your ass it comes out
your nose when you blow it!”
    My family’s eyes had been getting
wider and wider as I delivered this stirring speech; I assumed
because of the combination of wild claims I was pitching out like
baseballs and my increasingly unladylike language. But then—
    “Speaking of that meeting, Kate,
I’m going to have to reschedule.”
    Asher’s voice, coming directly
from behind my shoulder.
    I felt all the blood in my body drain
into my feet.
    Shit. Shit. Shit. I’m so
screwed. I am more screwed than a cheerleader on prom night.
    There was a scraping sound as Asher
pulled up a chair next to me. “Yes, silly me, it turns out that
the annual wine-tasting for charity is this Thursday, and I do hate
to disappoint Grant, he’s been going on about it for ages. I
don’t suppose you could do tomorrow instead?”
    “Tomorrow?” I echoed
blankly.
    “Yes, if it’s not too
inconvenient. I suppose I could reschedule for the week after, but
I’m just so excited about this venture; I don’t want to
wait longer than I really have to. After all, if I do, you might find
another investor!”
    I felt him kick me under the table, and
then he turned to my parents, felling my mother instantly with a
megawatt smile as he brushed his dark locks out of his eyes.
    “Have you seen Kate’s work?
She’s a real artist.”
    Wait, was he…playing along with
this?
    “I—ah—I, yes, I
suppose Kate has always been artistic,” my mother said, really
flustered for the first time that I could ever remember. The words
came out slowly, as if she was having to carefully piece together a
new worldview, one in which I was not a complete fuck-up, and it was
coming hard. “She is always drawing…”
    “I think she could be a major
player on the world fashion scene,” Asher said, simultaneously
taking the wine bottle and refilling Brian’s glass, thus making
Brian close his mouth before he could interrupt and sip the wine
instead to be polite. “She has real vision.”
    “Vision doesn’t pay the
bills, though,” my father harrumphed. “I still don’t
see how frilly little fripperies are enough for a business.”
    “Often in these cases all that’s
needed is sufficient capital to get the ball rolling,” Asher
said smoothly. “Once Kate and I have established her brand, its
reputation will keep it in demand without new infusions of capital
needed. Thankfully, Kate has in many ways already set up the
framework for what needs to be done. I’m sure you agree,
setting up the framework is vital?” he added, turning to Brian.
    Brian was staring at Asher like he had
flown down from the heavens on the back of a pure white horse with
wings. “Yeah,” he said. “Totally. I agree. Can I
just say how much I admire the work you did with Louise Alexovich and
her digitization technique?”
    “Thank you,” Asher said,
clapping Brian on the shoulder as he stood. “I’ll be
doing much the same thing with Kate and her company, so I’m
glad you understand how these things go. It’s can be a bit
dicey at first, which is why the