Love Unbound (A Steamy Billionaire Romance) Read online

  I try to hold her. I want to her to understand about Yvonne, but she wrenches herself away. “Don't you fucking touch me. I'll come back for the rest of my stuff when you're not here. Don't worry I won't take anything else. I want nothing of yours.”

  And she's gone.

  CHAPTER 38

  Victoria

  Somehow I get to my old apartment. I know I look a fright on the bus. People are staring. One woman asks me if I am okay and I tell her I'll be fine though I'm not sure that's true or if it will ever be true. I hope Jessie is there. I still have my key but I don't want to use it until she knows I'm back. I don't want to give her a fright. At first I think she's out, but then she answers the door and I'm relieved. She's in her robe. She must have been getting changed after her coffee shop shift.

  “Oh Jess,” I say and burst into a fresh round of tears.

  She hesitates then pulls me inside and gives me a hug. “What's wrong? Is it not working out with your new job and everything?”

  I can hardly speak for crying. She nudges me into the lounge and makes me sit down. “I'll make you a drink. It looks like you could use one. I'll be right back.” But she makes for her bedroom rather than the kitchen and suddenly I understand her hesitation, the shifty look. She has Dirk there. Of course! She'd expect the place to herself and she has a few hours before she has to be at the Tempest. I've interrupted them and I feel worse than ever getting in her way.

  “Sorry, I didn't know you had company, Jess.”

  And then her guy comes out of the bedroom to find her, nothing but a towel around his waist but it's not Dirk.

  “Who the fuck is that? Oh you!” he says. It's Jimmy. “If it isn't little Miss runaway leave me in the fucking lurch Bronson.”

  My mouth opens but nothing comes out. I look at Jessie and back to Jimmy. How could she?

  Jessie just shrugs. She's never been that particular about who she sleeps with. I was surprised Dirk lasted as long as he did. Maybe she's still going out with him anyway and Jimmy is just a fling. I don't know what's going on but it's clear, I can't stay here.

  I get up hoping my legs will get me out of there. “I'll catch up with you another time, Jessie,” I manage.

  “No need to go.” Jimmy leers. “We were just getting started. Why not join us...?” He drops the towel.

  I flee without looking at either of them.

  CHAPTER 39

  Ash

  I shouldn't have let her just run off without an explanation. It hurts to think of the way she wrenched herself from my touch as if I was some kind of venomous snake. And there was no way she would have listened to me in the state she was in.

  I text her right away “This is not how it looks” but she doesn't respond. I call her but she doesn't answer. I leave voice mails saying I have to talk to her but it doesn't help. I wait for two hours in the apartment despite endless frantic calls from Sofia. I want to take up residence so I'll be there when Victoria comes back for her things but maybe she won't come back any time soon. I don't know. And it kills me to look at the turmoil, the evidence of how upset she was in a place where we were so happy just days ago. I call Miller for the car. He doesn't say a word. He knows not to speak to me when I'm in this mood.

  That night, I have Miller take me to the club but there's no sign of Victoria or gorilla man Jimmy. Did she go back to him? I can't bear it if she did. Her friend Jessie is dancing. I wait until she leaves from the side door and ask her if she knows where Victoria is.

  “I've no idea where she's gone.” She doesn't look me in the eye. She knows something.

  “You saw her?”

  “She came to see me then she ran off.”

  “Why did she run off?”

  “Search me.” What happened? What does Jessie know? “She's always uptight. Don't worry she'll come back once she realizes she needs help.”

  I don't want that. I want her coming back because she wants to not because she needs help or because she knows what I can do for her career.

  “She can have my help whether she comes back or not,” I say.

  Jessie shrugs. What is she not telling me?

  “Was she upset when she ran off?” I ask.

  “Yes, someone upset her. I'm sure you know why. Why do you think that would be then?”

  I ignore her question. “Let me know if you see her. Please.” I leave her my card. “Call me any time.”

  “I don't think she wants to see you,” she says. “Why would I call you?”

  “Because she needs to hear what I have to say.”

  “They all say that,” Jessie says.

  I don't think she'll call even if Victoria gets in touch.

  There's only one place where I think I might see her.

  CHAPTER 40

  Victoria

  I should have known what happened with Ash was too good to be true. People don't get discovered dancing in bars. They get preyed upon by men up to no good. They don't get whisked to France because someone likes them, they get to go there because someone wants something from them. Women don't get set up in luxury apartments for their own good but to make them easily accessible. But for a moment it felt so real with Ash—the way he talked of nurturing my career, the way he had me learn a few lines from the movie, even the way he looked at me.

  Then I remember his excitement when he tied me up, the cool way he went about tying those ropes, taking total control of my life, of my body, of me. He can afford to pay women ten thousand pounds a time to satisfy him. He can buy champagne and expensive dinners without blinking, even a closet full of clothes. A plane ticket is pocket change to him. He thinks he can buy and control women—well he can forget about controlling me.

  I'll get a job waiting tables or something, a hostel place, start again. Maybe somewhere far from London. There's nothing for me here.

  I call my mother. “What now Victoria?” she says. “For goodness sake, I'm on my honeymoon.”

  “I know, but I've lost my job. Can you lend me some cash? I just need a bit to tide me over. I'll pay you back.”

  “Honestly Victoria, you can't expect me to bankroll you every time you get short of funds. But I can let you have a few hundred. I'll transfer some over when the banks open tomorrow.”

  “Thank you.” The sound sticks in my throat. I have never asked her for money and wouldn't ask her now if I wasn't so desperate. But I can't use the advance from Ash any more. And I'll have to pay back the amount of money I've spent for rent with Jessie as soon as I can, along with the rest. I need to get a job.

  I make a few calls to venues where I've had guest appearances and get a couple of dancing jobs for future dates. It's a start but it's not nearly enough to cover living in London. I go through the motions of finding a hostel place for the night.

  Surrounded by people backpacking through Europe having the time of their lives, I've never been more miserable in my life. They leave me be. I'm sure they can see I am not one of them.

  I'm so disappointed. Not just with Ash. I probably knew at the back of my mind that fairytale was too good to be true. I never felt secure about him. It was too new. I didn't really know him and he warned me off right in the beginning. I just didn't listen, didn't want to listen.

  But now that it's not happening I realize how much I wanted to do the audition, how much the possibility of a real career meant to me. Was he joking about my chances? Did he even mean me to do the audition? I think he did, whatever else he had in mind for me. Maybe he didn't think I'd get the major part but he might have intended to make sure I got a minor role, a walk on part or other work to keep me sweet and make me biddable for whatever he wanted.

  Windsor and the Applewood Studios are not far away.

  CHAPTER 41

  Ash

  I watch from the side of the stage while Victoria aces the audition as I knew she would. She speaks the lines like a true professional as I coached her to do but she must have been practicing. She is better than even I expected. She looks and sounds perfect f
or the part as I thought but she has put something extra in there, something of herself.

  I'm proud of her. It's a great chance for her if she doesn't mess it up. And she didn't mess up. Not one little bit.

  But no matter how much I try to tell myself I want her to succeed as her agent. I'm not there because she is a new signing with my agency. I want her to be a success but it is much more than that. If she succeeds and gets the part, I have a lot to celebrate. It means I was right again about a bright new star. But I don't want just to be right. I want Victoria. I'm just waiting until it's over to make myself known to her. I don't want to put her off.

  “Please take a seat, Ms. Bronson,” the director says, “while we have a chat among ourselves.”

  There's no heated debate. The director and producer merely nod at each other, smiling and talk quietly.

  “We think you'll do very well,” the producer says. “We'll talk to your agent and he'll get back to you.”

  I can see she is startled by that. Of course, I'm still representing her. I wonder if she'll dare say I'm not her agent given I did the introductions and sold her so well for the part. But she remains silent.

  I want to rush over and hug her to congratulate her but I don't want to embarrass her or me and I fear there will be an inevitable scene with many interested onlookers—not the best start to her acting career. The professional in me beats the imprudent part of me—the one that doesn't care how it looks and needs to know what is going on in her mind, the part of me that needs to tell her how much I care for her. I have never been as happy as I was with Victoria. I didn't even know how gray and cynical my life had become before she brightened it up.

  I slip out ready to find Victoria to try and speak with her where there are no ears listening but as I turn around I bump into the director.

  “Hey I didn't know you were here,” he says. “Are you keeping an eye on your new signing? I don't blame you.”

  He waxes lyrical about Victoria. I'm impatient. I want to tell him, “I know. Let me go to her,” but I don't want to annoy him by cutting him off. I want to keep him keen for Victoria's sake. Nothing is signed and sealed yet and I don't want to mess anything up.

  By the time I've agreed to speak to the director later, Victoria has gone and I don't know where to find her. I have Miller drive around but we don't see her. She could be anywhere. She's not at the station. Did she get a bus? Get a lift? Who from? It's hopeless.

  Miller takes me back to the London apartment but her things are gone. My flowers lie dried up and abandoned on the counter and there's a check beside them—all of her advance with a note, “For the next one.”

  It cuts me up that she thinks that's all she means to me. But how can I tell her different and make her see that when I can't talk to her.

  I try Jessie again at the club but she says Victoria hasn't contacted her. Surely Victoria would tell her friend she got the part? But this time, for some reason, I believe Jessie. I don't think she's hiding anything.

  I even swallow my pride and find Jimmy in the bar.

  “You've got a fucking nerve,” he says. “I should sue you or take you outside and give you a good kicking.”

  “I don't want trouble,” I say. “I just want to find her.”

  “I can't see what you see in her,” he says. “Frigid if you ask me.”

  I go for him again. He's asking for it. But his bouncers “escort” me outside. Fuck! Has it really come to this? I'm a mess and I know it.

  And then the pictures arrive.

  CHAPTER 42

  Victoria

  I have the part! I have the part and a couple of dancing jobs that will get me out of the contract with Ash. I've posted pictures to the agency—let him see I've broken my contract and he'll drop me like a hot potato, though maybe he'll still want his cut from the movie. I don't care. He can have it as long as I don't have to deal with him ever again.

  And so I'm dancing again for now but I'm not happy. It doesn't matter that it's only temporary until filming starts in a few weeks. Twirling my ribbons should feel good. I used to love it but every time I use them now I think about how Ash tied me to the bed at his apartment with them and how he might be using that apartment for another woman by now. Some new girl he'll use and abuse and treat like a princess while it lasts.

  In the end my mother sent me a thousand pounds. She must have felt guilty, knowing she was being unfair, but even with her help, it’s only just enough to scrape by. I paid Ash off. I wanted nothing to do with his dirty money and now I need every penny for rent and food until I get money from the movie. I'll replace the ribbons once I get paid by the bar and put this lot in the trash where they belong.

  I should be happy about the movie and I am, at least most of me is. There's a small part of me that isn't happy at all. That part is miserable about the way I got the role. Ash must have had a good idea he could get me the part. He was being honest about that but would he have put me forward if I hadn't slept with him? Isn't that what the casting couch is all about? I feel like the lowest of the low as if I slept with him for money. Does everyone think I slept with him to get the part? It's just like my mother told me at fifteen. But I didn't believe her.

  CHAPTER 43

  Ash

  I try Jessie again. I find her at her apartment this time and take the pictures.

  “You again.” She scowls at me.

  “Me again. Any sign of Victoria?”

  “No”

  “She's dancing again.”

  “You don't say. She's a dancer. What do you expect?”

  “Where is she dancing?”

  “How would I know? I haven't seen her.”

  I look at her like I don't believe it.

  “That's no lie. I don't know. Do you have any openings for me? Any acting jobs?”

  “Not a one.”

  “You amaze me,” she says. “You being in the business and all. I thought you'd be good at finding them.”

  “Very funny. Do you know where this is?” I show her the first of the pictures.

  “No idea—that's Vix though.”

  “You don't say.” She looks at me archly and I show her the other picture.

  “That's the Foxy club,” she says. “Vix has performed there before. Both of us have.”

  “Thank you,” I say. “I might have some work for you.”

  “You said you had nothing.”

  “I lied.”

  “That was probably the trouble. You should try being truthful for once.”

  I never lied to Victoria. I just didn't tell her the things I should have told her. I don't take the time to explain to Jessie I have someone else I need to explain to.

  ***

  The Foxy club is even more of a dive than the Tempest if that's even possible. The floor is tackier, the selection of whisky less extensive and the glasses less classy. I checked and Victoria is dancing tonight. When I leave a note for her, she doesn't come out at first, but then she does. Maybe she thought I might make a scene and thought better of it.

  “I'm getting ready for my act,” she says.

  “You're under contract. You shouldn't be doing that.”

  “Oh dear I'm breaking my terms. How silly of me. You'd better drop me then and I'll find another agent.”

  “That won't be necessary.”

  Why am I treating her like a recalcitrant star? She means so much more to me than that.

  “I want to explain,” I say.

  She looks exasperated. “Explain away. It will make no difference whatever story you've managed to dream up.”

  “It's the truth. I don't have to make anything up.” I hope she'll let me get to the end of this.

  She looks as if she'd rather suck lemons than hear me out.

  “You need to understand about Yvonne. It's nothing like it seems. I met her at a party and dated her for six months when the business was just starting to be successful. She wasn't one of my signings but she was bright, and pretty then and I thought I loved
her. I thought she loved me. But I'm not sure I knew what love was.”

  Victoria scowls, and makes to leave.

  “Please hear me out.” I touch her arm and she pulls it back as if burned, but she doesn't go. “I was busy with the business, always on call, going here, there and everywhere. I couldn't always be there for her and however much I saw her it wasn't enough for her. She always wanted more attention, more gifts, more time. And she found a way to get them and get back at me. One day I came home and found her in bed with my brother, Ray. They were both off their heads on coke.”

  I can see that has shocked Victoria. At least she's listening now. She must see there's more to tell her.

  “I don't think it was the first time. Yvonne said you shouldn't leave me alone so much and I wouldn't misbehave. She told me to punish her. She thought that would make it alright and she could be forgiven for me finding her with my brother—but there was no way I would ever forgive that kind of betrayal. My brother still had money at that time so she stayed with him but it soon went. On coke. On gifts for her. On cars he wrecked despite what happened to our parents.”

  “Yvonne said you had singular needs and implied you paid her to satisfy them.”

  “The bitch. I can't deny what I like but she knows nothing of that other than how interested I was in the book I found in the art gallery. I never did anything like that with her and I've never hid any of that from you. You've seen everything. That's as far as it goes. I’ve never touched Yvonne since the day I saw her with Ray or paid anyone for anything like that. You have to believe me.”

  Victoria nods. And it's like a weight off my shoulders that I'm getting a chance to explain. It has to make a difference. It just has to.

  “As far as I was concerned, they deserved each other,” I continue. “Yvonne had Ray's baby last year and cleaned up her act a bit but not entirely. Her grandmother looks after the baby and I send money directly to her to make sure the child is okay. I have to keep checking to make sure they haven't taken him back to live with them. It's no situation for a child. Ray is totally off his face most of the time. Yvonne feeds his habit when they get any money. I've been paying her a few hundred here and there to keep them out of trouble but it's not working. I know where the money goes. The other day I gave her a large check and told her it was the last one. She had to finally get her act together. There was no more coming. That was probably the check you saw.”