Read Online The King by Rick Soper - Free Book Online Page B

watching the sun that shined brightly through the twelve-foot high, glass windows of Billy’s bedroom, overlooking the San Francisco Bay. Cars made their way across the Golden Gate Bridge, seagulls flew through the air, and boats sailed across the bay. Everything looked perfect and peaceful, and if she had to describe what she was feeling, the word she would have used was joy. She reached over to put her arm around Billy, but he was gone.
    He’d been there when they’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms, but as she pulled herself up in the bed and looked around the room, she didn’t see any sign of him. She got up, threw a robe on and started walking through the massive apartment, looking for him. She went into his upstairs office, the theatre, the exercise room, and glanced into the two extra bedrooms before she finally walked downstairs where she found Tom Francis. She’d met him before – with Billy – at a charity event a few nights before. Now he was standing at the big crystal dining table in front of the twenty-foot high wall of windows that looked out onto the Bay.
    She self-consciously wrapped the robe around her a little tighter, wishing she’d put something on under it. “Hi Mr. Francis,” she said, “are you meeting Billy?”
    “No, Miss Scott,” Francis said, “he’s not here. I’ve been waiting to talk to you.”
    “Me?” She didn’t like the flat, humorless sound of his voice or the dry look on his face. “Why me?”
    “It’s time for you to move on, Miss Scott,” Francis said, pointing at the seat next to him.
    London’s stomach sank, and her knees practically gave out as she dropped down into the chair. She felt as if she had just been punched in the gut. “Wh...what do you mean?” She tried to keep her lips from trembling, but she couldn’t stop the tears. 
    Francis waved a finger in front of her eyes. “Now, don’t start all of that. You had to know that this wasn’t going to last.” He threw a stack of pictures on the table, pictures of Billy with other women. “You had to know about Billy’s reputation.”
    “No, I…” She looked at the pictures of Billy, seeing them, but not comprehending. “Where’s Billy?”
    “He’s back at work, where he should have been the whole time. He’s done playing with you.”
    “Playing?” She felt her entire sense of self, unraveling.
    “A girl like you doesn’t get involved with a man like Billy unless she wants something,” Francis said, taking a check out of his pocket. “So here you go.” 
    Through the tears, she saw that the check was from The Agency and was made out to her...for one million dollars. The memo in the box said FOR SERVICES RENDERED.
    “What...what is this?”
    “Like it says,” Francis said dryly, as if he’d done this a hundred times before. “For services rendered.”
    She knew what he was implying, but she just couldn’t believe it. “What the hell does that mean?”
    “You presented a good idea. PushThrough is going to use it, and Billy said he’d pay you for it, so before you go to a lawyer claiming that he made a verbal commitment to you... which he did... we’re giving you that check.” Francis pulled out a second piece of paper, a document. “Sign this, releasing the idea to PushThrough, and we’ll call it a day.”
    The idea of taking any money from Billy sickened her. “I don’t want your money, I want to talk to Billy.” Her head fell into her hands and the tears came streaming out.
    Francis shook his head and waved dismissively towards the door. Blake Fitzpatrick from Black Hawk Security stepped forward with one of his men. “Don’t you get it?” Francis said.
    She looked from Fitzpatrick to Francis. “Get what?”
    Francis smiled. “I wouldn’t be here unless Billy wanted me to get you out of his house. Just sign your paper, take your check, and move on. You should be happy.”
    London’s mouth fell open. She couldn’t breathe. Her heart felt like it was being torn