Husband For Hire (A Billionaire Fake Marriage Romance) Read online

  Blake stood up. “I’ll come. You aren’t going anywhere alone, Indi.”

  I nodded, feeling a little jolt of warmth inside me at the strong conviction in his voice. It made me feel safe and protected, despite all the shit happening around us. “I know,” I said. I held out my hand. “Let’s go.”

  ***

  As we approached our door five minutes later, the sound of footsteps behind us made Blake and I both whirl around at the same time. It was another cameraman with a handheld camera, and it looked like he’d been following us to our room. “Hey, fuck off!” Blake said.

  “Ed asked me to get all the couples alone at some point for interviews. I just have to ask a couple of questions.”

  “I already told the other guy. No.” Blake turned around and unlocked our door, his jaw set with anger.

  “I’m just trying to—”

  “Yeah, yeah. Just trying to do your job,” Blake said, turning back around with his eyes narrowed. “Your job is bullshit, and your boss is a fucking parasite. Go and tell Ed I said that. Better yet, tell him to come here and ask me for an interview himself. I’m inclined to punch him in the fucking face for this shit. Trying to keep the show going after what happened to Yuri and Elise is absolutely sickening. So go on. Go to him.”

  “I can’t. He’s not here. He’s at the police station talking with the sheriff.”

  Blake rolled his eyes and opened the door, letting me go in first. “Just go to the bathroom and have your shower,” he muttered. “I’ll get rid of this guy.”

  I nodded and mouthed ‘thanks’ before stepping into the bathroom. I was about to grab a new bottle of shower gel from the cupboard when something on the mirror nearly made my heart stop.

  “Blake!” I shrieked.

  He came dashing in immediately. “What is it?”

  With a shaky hand, I pointed to the mirror. Written on it in red lipstick were the words ‘YOU’RE NEXT’.

  “Shit,” Blake muttered, immediately sliding his arms around me in a protective gesture.

  I collapsed against him, my chest racked with terrified, heaving breaths. “When is this going to stop?” I said, almost hyperventilating. “We need to get off this island!”

  “I know. I know,” Blake said soothingly. “Hey! I thought I told you to fuck off!”

  I looked up to see the cameraman pointing the handheld at us again. He’d obviously followed Blake as soon as he heard me scream from the bathroom. When he saw Blake’s expression, he mumbled an apology and fled.

  “Fucking reality show bastards,” Blake said. “They’ll do anything for drama. Anything.”

  “But this isn’t drama,” I replied, trying to calm my racing heart. “This is real! Yuri is dead, and Elise is in the hospital!”

  “I know. That’s why it’s so sick that Ed is still making them film us. I bet he got one of them to break in and write this shit on the mirror.”

  I frowned and looked up. “What? You don’t think it was the killer who wrote it?”

  He shook his head. “No. Whoever murdered Yuri and attacked Elise didn’t play games or leave messages like this. He or she just went for them with an ax. So I’m willing to bet that Ed told one of the crew guys to play upon the tragedy and sneak in here to do this. Also, there were no signs of a break-in, right?”

  “No.”

  “Well, the killer probably isn’t gonna have a key to our room… but the producers could’ve easily had the inn give them duplicate keys for all the rooms before the show started, in case they wanted to pull dick moves on the contestants like this.” He gestured toward the mirror. “It’s fucked up. Ed knows we’re all scared, and the crew are probably all scared too, given there’s a killer on the loose, but he and the network heads are still trying to squeeze ratings out of us. That’s why that cameraman followed us in here. He said Ed wanted an interview from the two of us, but they probably just wanted him to capture your reaction to seeing the threat on the mirror, because it’s drama. The killer didn’t write this; I’m willing to bet a million bucks on that.”

  I nodded, only feeling slightly better now. “I guess that makes sense in a really sick way,” I said with a heavy sigh. “God, I just want to leave. Or at the very least, I want to know for sure that the sheriff has this psycho killer locked up.”

  Blake nodded grimly. “The cops on this island seem pretty damn useless so far.” He paused and frowned. “Hey, I have an idea. It’s only the Tildens who’ve been attacked so far. Does that seem random to you?”

  I shook my head. I hadn’t even thought about that till now, but Blake had a good point. “No. It’s like someone was specifically after them.”

  “Maybe someone knew they’d be on the show. Maybe they had some sort of reason to try and hurt them.”

  “So you think a crew member or one of the other contestants did it? Came all the way onto this show just to try to kill them?”

  He shrugged. “I dunno. But it seems like it could be the case. And the incompetent asshole island police don’t seem to be remotely close to finding a lead. So let’s do it ourselves.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked curiously.

  He walked out of the bathroom and headed over to the walk-in closet. I followed him, forehead wrinkled with confusion, watching as he rummaged through his suitcase. He stepped out a moment later, holding something up with a flourish. “Remember this?”

  He was holding the iPad he’d sneaked onto the show. My brows shot up. “Oh. I forgot all about that. You think we should try and do some research on all the crew and contestants?”

  “Yep. See if anyone could have a possible connection to the Tildens. If the cops aren’t gonna do it, then we need to.”

  “Guess it’s worth a shot. But how do you know the police aren’t already looking at this angle? Maybe they’re just slow. They have limited resources here on the island, after all.”

  Blake arched a brow. “Well, do you really wanna sit around and wait?”

  I sighed. He had a point. “No. Let’s do it.”

  Blake could still remember the Wi-Fi password he got on our first night here, and as soon as he was connected, he handed the tablet to me. “You’ve got a better memory than me. Open up a note and write down all the names we can remember. Crew, contestants….everyone.”

  I nodded and did as he said. Ten minutes later, I held up the tablet. “Okay, it was easy for me to remember all the contestant’s full names, but not the crew. I mostly only know their first names.”

  “Then let’s start with the contestants. We can find out the crew details later on.”

  “Okay. What should I do first?”

  “Look them up on social media. Find out where everyone’s from. I remember the Tildens saying they’re from Vermont. So maybe someone else is from there, too. Could be a connection there somehow.”

  I nodded and started typing names into Facebook. “I already know the Ramirezs are from Arizona,” I said. “And the Connellys are from New York. I remember them saying at the first dinner party. But I’ll check the rest.”

  Five minutes later, I had a list of locations for everyone on the show, courtesy of Facebook, my favorite stalking app. I read it out to Blake. “Donna and Keenan are from Maine, although Keenan’s profile says he’s originally from Oregon. Amy and Dean are from South Dakota. Vanessa and Jay are from California. Mike and Meredith are from North Carolina. So are the Ashworths.”

  “And the Holbrooks got voted out and left the island ages ago, so it obviously wasn’t them,” Blake mused, rubbing his jawline. “Shit, so no one else is from Vermont.”

  “Yeah, so there goes that theory…” My voice suddenly trailed off as something awful occurred to me. “Oh my god, Blake!”

  “What?”

  “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before now! Remember how that local guy told me on our first night that there was a massacre here fifteen years ago?”

  “Yeah.”

  “The guy’s name was Tom Howieson! And he killed peo
ple with an ax…”

  He furrowed his brows. “So?”

  “So Donna and Keenan’s last name is Howieson! And someone is attacking people with an ax,” I said. “Oh my god, what if…”

  I didn’t want to finish my sentence. Donna and Keenan were our friends. I didn’t want to think anything awful about them, but it did seem strange that they happened to have the same last name.

  “It could just be a coincidence,” Blake said. “But it might not be. Maybe Tom Howieson had an estranged son out there sometime before he committed the massacre. Maybe that son was Keenan?”

  I nodded slowly. “Maybe he decided to get some sort of revenge on the island one day, after he found out what happened to his father. Starting another murder spree could be part of that. The Tildens could’ve just been the unlucky first victims.”

  I jumped up from where I was sitting. “Or maybe Tom didn’t even die after he got shot and fell in the water! Maybe he washed up somewhere after what happened and eventually tracked his son down. Maybe they planned this together.”

  Blake held his hands up. “Okay, calm down. This all sounds like the plot to a B-grade horror movie,” he said. “So let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s at least research Keenan a bit. Do you know anything about his background?”

  “No. Only Donna. I’m close to her, but I actually haven’t spoken to Keenan all that much.”

  Blake frowned and typed his name into Google on the iPad. Then he let out a low whistle. “Holy shit.”

  My heart began to race. “What?”

  “One of the first results that comes up is this,” he said, holding up the tablet. “I dunno how he even got on the show with this on his record…”

  I squinted and read the screen. Holy shit. It was an arrest record for Keenan, dating back to seven years ago. There was a mugshot accompanying the text, so it was definitely him.

  He’d been arrested on suspicion of murder.

  More specifically… an ax murder.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Blake

  I stood up, letting the iPad fall to the bed. “I’m going to go talk to Donna and Keenan. Ask them to explain this.”

  Indi frowned. “Shouldn’t we go straight to the cops?”

  “Not yet. There could be a decent explanation for what we found. We don’t want everyone jumping to conclusions, Indi, and that’s exactly what will happen if we tell the cops about this right now. I think I should give him a chance to explain.”

  “Okay. Well, I’m coming,” Indi said.

  I shook my head. “No. If it is actually Keenan behind all this murder shit, then I don’t want you there when I go and ask him about his record. It’s not safe. I don’t want to leave you alone, but I don’t want to risk you getting hurt by him, either.”

  Indi sighed. “Fair enough. But what about you? Why would it be any safer for you by yourself?”

  “I’ll be fine. I’m stronger and bigger than him, and if shit gets out of hand, I’ll run and get that deputy the sheriff posted up outside. He’s got a gun.” I held out my hand. “I’ll walk you to Amy and Dean’s room for now. You’ll be safe with them.”

  She shook her head. “I’ll just lock myself in the walk-in closet till you come back. You won’t be long, right?”

  “No. I’ll be as quick as possible. But I really think I should take you to Amy and Dean’s room. I need to know you’re safe, Indi. And someone—whether it was just the show producers or not—got in here earlier to write that shit on the mirror to scare you. Obviously the locks on these doors aren’t all that great.”

  She chewed her lower lip, then nodded. “You’re right. I’ll go. But I’m taking the iPad with me. If it’s not Keenan, then I want to do more research while I wait for you.”

  “That’s fair. I doubt Amy and Dean will care that we broke the rules and have it at this point.”

  I escorted her down the hall to our friends’ room. Amy answered the door, her face pale and fearful. “Oh, hi guys. I thought you were Dean.” She sighed and looked at her feet.

  “He’s not here?”

  She shook her head. “He went to talk to some of the crew to ask them to stop filming us. He’s been gone for ages. I’m sure he’ll be back soon, though.”

  “Well, I need to go talk to someone as well,” I said. “Can I leave Indi here with you?”

  Amy nodded and grabbed Indi’s hand. “Of course. I hate being alone right now with everything that’s going on.”

  I left them to it and strode in the opposite direction down the hall. When I reached the Howiesons’ door, I rapped it on sharply. Donna answered. “Hey, Blake. Everything okay? Please don’t tell me that prick Ed is trying to make us film more stuff today....”

  I shook my head. “No. I actually want to talk to Keenan.”

  She lifted her brows in a puzzled expression. “Oh. Sure.” She turned her head over her shoulder. “Honey, Blake’s here! He wants to talk to you.”

  She stood aside to let me in, but I stayed firmly in the doorway instead, making sure they couldn’t close the door or try to stop me from leaving in case something happened. If anything did, I was gonna bolt down the hall as fast as possible to alert the deputy out the front.

  Keenan came over to me. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “I managed to get access to a computer,” I said. “I guess Indi and I wanted to take things into our own hands, do a bit of detective work. We started looking up everyone on the show.”

  Keenan groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “Oh, shit. You found it, didn’t you?” he said. “My arrest record.”

  I was surprised that he owned up to it so fast. “Yeah.”

  He sighed. “And now you think it could be me who’s going around attacking people with an ax. Makes sense. I’d probably think the same if I were in your shoes,” he said glumly, sitting on the end of the bed.

  Donna didn’t seem surprised by any of this. She simply stood there staring at her husband with a pitying expression on her face.

  “I just wanted to come and give you a chance to explain it,” I said. “I figured there could easily be some sort of reason behind it.”

  “There is!” Donna said indignantly. “It’s all that bitch Alex’s fault!”

  I raised my brows. “Alex? Who’s Alex?”

  Donna sniffed. “Keenan’s ex-girlfriend. She’s psychotic. Before I met Keenan, she was already making his life hell, and when she eventually heard he was engaged to someone else—me—she doubled down.”

  “What did she do?”

  “Have you heard of the mugshot publishing industry? It’s basically an extortion racket.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “No.”

  “They basically dig up people’s pasts, including criminal records. Then they force people to pay them money to remove their mugshots and stuff like that from the internet. Alex’s father happens to own one of these piece of shit businesses.”

  Keenan nodded. “Someone got ax-murdered near my workplace a few years back. I happened to be in the area, and I was wearing a similar hat to the actual killer, who they managed to catch on a CCTV image. So the cops brought me in on suspicion, thinking I did it. But then they caught the guy who really did it and realized I was innocent. The other guy even confessed and everything, and his DNA and prints matched the crime scene. So they let me go.”

  “But the arrest record was still out there,” Donna said. “And ever since then, Alex keeps getting it plastered all over the internet, just to be a bitch.”

  “You have no idea how many jobs I’ve lost because someone decided to Google me,” Keenan said with a sigh. “And we can’t afford to keep paying the stupid fucking extortion site to take it down. Especially seeing as Alex will make sure the stuff goes back up within a few weeks anyway, even if we do pay.”

  I frowned. “Jesus, man. I’m sorry. I had no idea that could even happen. There must be some way to get your record completely expunged, though.”

  “Yes, there is, but that costs
money as well. For legal fees and so on,” Donna said. “That’s actually one of the things we wanted to spend the show prize money on if we won. So Alex won’t be able to torture us anymore.”

  I nodded. “I see,” I said slowly, my mind ticking over. “Er… Keenan, you aren’t related to anyone called Tom, are you?”

  I watched his face carefully. I’d know if he was lying just by a mere flicker in his eyes. It was a talent you picked up when you were the boss of thousands of people. But there was nothing in Keenan’s expression other than pure confusion. “No. Why?”

  “It’s just that the guy who killed a bunch of people here fifteen years ago happens to share the last name as you. Kinda made us think of a whole lot of wild theories.”

  Keenan rolled his eyes. “Great. Yet another thing that makes me look bad,” he said, throwing his hands up. “Trust me, man, I’ve got nothing to do with any of this. I can prove it, too. When Yuri was attacked, I was with three other people in the bar. They can all confirm that, and they already did when the sheriff interviewed us a couple of days ago.”

  “Right. Of course,” I said, feeling more than a little stupid now. “Hey, look, I’m sorry for coming here like this. I didn’t mean to accuse you, it’s just that—”

  Keenan held his hand up. “It’s fine, man. I get it. Really. This isn’t the first time this has happened. I’m almost used to it at this point.”

  I nodded slowly. “I know some pretty decent lawyers who owe me favors,” I said. “When we get off this fucking island, I’ll give them your details and we’ll see about expunging your record, okay? For free.”

  Donna gave me a grateful smile. “Thanks, Blake.”

  “No hard feelings?”

  “Sure.” The two of them answered in unison.

  I stepped out, still feeling guilty as hell over the false accusation. At least I hadn’t gone straight to the cops with my wild theory, though. Things could’ve been a lot worse for Keenan then, and he was clearly innocent.

  Perhaps Indi was right earlier. Maybe we should just leave all this investigative stuff to the cops. Still, it was hard to stop feeling like we had to do something when they were taking things so slow, and we were all trapped on a remote island like rats in a cage with a fucking killer on the loose. Even with the deputy on guard, the crazy bastard still managed to attack Elise, and any one of us could be the next target.