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    Valentine's Vengeance: Big City Billionaires
    Valentine's Vengeance: Big City Billionaires
    Valentine's Vengeance: Big City Billionaires
    Ebook121 pages1 hour

    Valentine's Vengeance: Big City Billionaires

    By Michele de Winton

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    What's love got to do with it? Nothing as far as billionaire Joe Diaz is concerned. Bitter hearts and sweet revenge are a Valentine's recipe that is best served cold. 

    "Humor balanced with bruised feelings and miscommunication reign supreme in this fast moving and lively novella. Between the witty dialog and the steamy encounters this writer superbly orchestrated this fun work." - Jenerated Reviews.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMichele de Winton
    Release dateMar 26, 2017
    ISBN9781386367796
    Valentine's Vengeance: Big City Billionaires
    Author

    Michele de Winton

    Michele loves sunshine, chardonnay, (preferably together), chocolate, beaches, trees, great vegetarian food, steamy writing and happy endings. She’s been known to be an all-round arty type, dancing and producing theatre around the globe so it's no wonder that her first romance had a little sparkle of the stage tucked into its pages.  Being a writer was not was she was supposed to be when she ‘grew up' but then neither was being a dancer. Her poor parents. They thought that when she toddled off to law school they'd bred a responsible, useful adult and instead they got a performer and word junkie. Sometimes her performing past jumps into the dress up box and requires attention. But most of the time she’s content to stay in her PJs. All day. She writes surrounded by the whisper of trees from her home in New Zealand and with only intermittent interruptions from her two young sons and husband. (Okay more like regular interruptions, but dreaming is free.) You can check out her other work or get in touch at www.micheledewinton.com Thanks so much for reading! Luck Stuck the next book from the Big City Billionaires Series is coming September 2017. To find out about this, and other work ranging from Motorcycle Gangs to Dream Destination Romantic Comedy, follow Michele on Facebook or twitter or sign up to her newsletter for updates, giveaways and bonus reads.

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    Reviews for Valentine's Vengeance

    4.5/5

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    • 4/5
      We have a girl unjustly accused by her boyfriend for something done by a close family member. She protects them by not telling but it doesn't really matter has he doesn't give her a chance to say anything just angrily says it could only be her. She runs out hurt and in tears and doesn't see him again for sometime. She's doing good at her job and then learns that it been bought by him. Will he keep her on, will she have to prove her loyalty. She never stopped caring for him but still feels the pain caused by her family member and his complete distrust in her. This story will tell you what she does to prove to him that she knows what she is doing in, but he already believes she is using the company for her own gains. What will she have to do go through to show him he's wrong and will he be able to forget how she betrayed him. Will the truth come out? Who will be hurt? It reads like I've given you a lot of spoilers, but you'd be wrong, this is just the gist of the story, to find out how she proves he's wrong you'll have to read it. I recommend this story to anyone who loves a good contemporary romance and now on to another of the 20 stories; I let you know which and what I thought of it.
    • 5/5
      Love, love , love this short little read. Cara is such a strong woman you can't help but love her but in the face of her former lover she is putty. This second chance romance is full of humor, hard truths and misguidence. The characters are well developed for such a short read and you really get a sense of completion when it's all over.

    Book preview

    Valentine's Vengeance - Michele de Winton

    1.

    Tie me down and call me dinner, it can’t be him. Cara Reynolds pulled a menu up to cover her face and then risked another look. No. Way. Stupid making broad shoulders, check. Sleek dark hair that saw the barber’s scissors fortnightly (but never an electric razor), check. Tailored suit that cost more than her rent, check. Still. No way. There was no way Joe Diaz would be standing like that, in Austin, talking, and not trying to stab her mother, Anna Brooks, in the eye with a hypodermic needle. Surely. Yet from behind, the man standing with her mother looked exactly like her ex, Joe Diaz. The ex she’d run from when he accused her of trying to take down his company. The ex who had a voice like someone had stirred straight bourbon with an unlit cigar and then smoked it. Joe Diaz was dark and smoldering, period, and when they’d been together, Cara had had trouble not letting him turn her insides into liquid.

    But Joe and her mother were competitors and when Anna Brooks and her company Brooks Pharma, had won a take-over bid five years ago, Joe hadn’t taken it well. So what the hell were they doing…talking?

    Oh shit. As they started walking over, Cara ducked under the table. Thank all that was good in the world that the table cloths were long and all she had to see of him was his impossibly shiny shoes.

    When she’d started ruffling feathers, Anna Brooks had taken great pains to make sure that Cara could live a life free from attention and nobody – not even Joe – knew she was Cara’s mother. Living in different cities and having different last names helped but the last thing Cara needed was for someone like Joe Diaz to see them together.

    You won the Kings take-over fair and square, but don’t expect me to ask you to lunch. Cara’s mother’s voice was calm, but there was an undercurrent of hardened cement Cara knew would be accompanied by a flint-like stare in Anna Brooks’ gray eyes.

    You’re right. I did win it fair and square, unlike the HoganTech take-over five years ago. His voice was the same; rich and dark and set on grabbing Cara and doing dirty things to her up against the wall of some hotel room. Joe Diaz got under her skin like no-one else had, before or after she ran out on him.

    It was dusty under the table and Cara felt her nose starting to twitch with a sneeze. Ohmigawdohmigawd no no no. She held her nose with one hand and pinned her lips together with the other.

    Five years is a long time. When are you going to let that go? Anna said as Cara struggled with her sneeze.

    His laugh was without mirth. When I find the truth and crush you with it.

    You should move on Joe. Making threats like that is bad for your health.

    Oh it’s not a threat, it’s a promise. And with that Joe Diaz’s shiny shoe spun on its toe and stalked out of the restaurant. Cara let go of her nose and the sneeze dissipated.

    Darling. Have you ordered yet? Anna asked.

    Shushhhh. Cara poked her mother’s shoe and hissed. Is he gone, gone?

    Yes. He’s gone.

    Struggling up from under the table and ignoring the raised eyebrows around the restaurant, Cara slumped into her chair. In contrast, Anna Brooks wafted into her seat and Cara closed her eyes a moment. Her mother always wafted. Unless she was swanning of course, and Cara found it unbearable. She did get it: her mother was a leader in an industry dominated by men and she had to be hard as nails-in-concrete if she was going to stay at the top. The wafting, perfectly coiffed hair and brightly colored neck scarves Anna Brooks wore were a finely tuned Fuck You to anyone who wanted to say she’d lost her femininity. But Cara wanted more than that for her mother. She wanted her mother to be able to celebrate being a woman with a lighter touch. Maybe starting with eating something that didn’t start and end with steak. What the hell were you doing talking to Joe Diaz? And letting him walk over here?

    I didn’t invite him over, he followed me. You didn’t answer, have you ordered?

    No I haven’t ordered, obviously. Cara held up the menu which was basically an ode to meat in every meal. A nicely crafted ode sure, but not something she wanted her stomach to recite. Don’t change the subject.

    So you’re still vegetarian then? Shame. I’ll get the Chef to make you up a salad. Grated carrots with lettuce or something, right?

    Cara raised an eyebrow. "Nice try, Mother. I know you know I’m still vegetarian, and as nicely played as your little barb was, there’s no chance you weren’t expecting me to call you on it. She tipped her head to the side. There it is. You always twitch the left side of your eye when you’re hoping to get a rise out of someone. You’re a shit poker player, you know that right? I have no idea how no one has worked that out yet."

    No one knows me like you do darling. And you can’t blame me for playing. You think I’m easy to read, you’re practically see through. Anna wrinkled her nose cutely. It’s okay, I told them you were coming and they’ve already got some mushroom roast thingy ready for you.

    You need to do this every time Mom?

    "I know. Don’t hate me, I just love to see how your face twists when you think I’m still trying to save you from being a vegetarian. I get it sweetheart. It’s been ten years. I give up. And I love that you put up with me without once telling me where to put my sausage."

    Mom! The smile felt good on Cara’s face. This was how it always was with them. And that was why she’d do almost anything for her mother, including taking the fall for her five years ago. Don’t avoid the subject.

    Of Joe Diaz? Why ever not? Horrible man. Sorry things didn’t work out the way we hoped with Kings.

    Suddenly the context of what her mother and Joe had been talking about hit Cara like a cake in the face. "Hang on, he was bidding for Kings? He’s taken over the company I work for?"

    Yes, shame you had to hear it like that, but that’s life. He’s your new boss.

    If she hadn’t already been sitting, Cara might have needed to find a solid something to grab on to. My what now?

    Sorry darling. I tried. But he came back all guns blazing from that last take-over. He’s even moved down here.

    Moved to Austin? The world shrank to a bright pinprick of color, swirling around her mother’s head before Cara blinked and the rest of the room swam back into vision. I can’t believe you were even talking to him.

    "The meeting was next door, that’s why I suggested we eat here. He followed me in but I saw you duck under the table and he didn’t spot you, don’t worry. Nice place though don’t you think?"

    "Seeing Joe Diaz is not what I’d call nice. And finding out he’s my new boss…"

    It won’t be like you’ll see him though. I hardly ever get on the shop floor with my subsidiary companies. That’s what company managers are for. I’m sure it’ll be fine.

    It’ll be fine. Cara hung on to those words like a rock climber on a rope because when she’d stalked out on Joe, it had felt like the world had gone slippery smooth and she’d run out of places to put her feet.

    Darling? I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but like I say, I’m sure it will be fine.

    Their meals came and Cara tried to eat the mushroom stack with the attention it deserved. Piled with blue cheese and sitting pretty in a bed of rocket, the mushrooms were delicate and delicious. But looking at them only reminded Cara of the last time she’d been with Joe. I’m sorry mom, but I have to go. I hope you have a lovely lunch. Almost running out of the restaurant, Cara somehow made it onto her bus before she let herself stop. Then with the soothing rhythm of the vehicle, she let herself fall back into the memory of five years ago.

    Standing at the stove in his black marble kitchen, Joe had had his back to her. He never cooked, his private chef was Michelin starred, but the night before he’d told her he’d make her mushrooms, her favorite. At the stove though he was tense, his back too straight, and when she’d arrived at his penthouse apartment he’d been curt and hadn’t met her eyes. When he’d tipped the food onto her plate, the mushrooms were so burnt they were practically ready to spark into flames. Black and twisted, they were a perfect mirror to the vicious anger in his eyes when she looked up, and her heart had shrunk as if to protect itself.

    How could you? Those three words were as dark as the carbon on the food, and they stabbed into Cara’s heart. "I trusted you. Thought we were building something together. And then I find out you do this? What was it for? Money? A

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