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A sour feeling spread in my stomach. I clicked on the headline and was greeted with a giant photo of Isabella working at a dive bar. She wore hot pants, a tiny crop top, and a big smile as she leaned over the counter. Several frat boy types ogled her cleavage.

I couldn’t see their full faces, but I had the sudden, visceral urge to hunt them down and gouge their eyes out.

I swallowed my anger and scrolled to the actual article.

Bartender, plaything, and…millionaire heiress? You read that right! Kai Young’s latest fling is no innocent employee caught in the web of a predatory employer. [Read our article on how the seemingly “nice” billionaire heir abused his power at the exclusive Valhalla Club to coerce the younger woman into a relationship].

We did a little digging into the poor girl’s past and discovered Isabella Valencia is not so poor after all. In fact, she’s the only daughter of Perlah Ramos, the founder and CEO of the Hiraya boutique hotel chain. The wily matriarch kept her maiden name while her children took her husband’s last name...

Shock splashed ice down my spine. Hiraya Hotels? I was drinking in one of their properties right this second.

The Valencia brood boasts several talented children, including Ramos’s eldest son and Hiraya COO Gabriel, an award-winning engineer, a tenured professor at UC Berkeley, and celebrated artist Oscar (né Felix Valencia). No wonder their youngest child—and only daughter—kept her real identity under wraps! Other than a string of short-lived bartending stints and even shorter-lived odd jobs, she has embarrassingly few accomplishments to her name. It must be hard, getting outshone that much by her siblings.

Except for Oscar, the Ramos/Valencia family is notoriously press-shy. Perlah Ramos hasn’t given an interview in more than eight years. That explains why no one made the connection to Isabella earlier, but that doesn’t explain why the snobbish Kai Young stooped to messing around with the help. Heiress or not, she’s far from his usual Ivy League-educated type.

We’re guessing the youngest Valencia is quite talented in other ways that don’t involve her brain...

I’d read enough.

Fury outpaced shock in a heartbeat. Crimson splashed across my vision while a swift, white heat burned through my veins.

Fuck California and DigiStream. I was going to sue theNational Starinto oblivion and dismantle Black’s media company, piece by piece, until even vultures wouldn’t touch its rotting carcass. Then I was going to track Victor Black himself down and murder him.

“Kai Young?”

An unfamiliar voice interrupted my increasingly and alarmingly violent thoughts.

I looked up. A man around my age stood next to me, his suit and tie as neatly pressed as the ones lining my closet.

Recognition doused the rising flames of my anger.

I didn’t have to ask who the newcomer was. They had the same dark eyes, full lips, and olive skin. She burst with life and color while he looked like he’d been sucking on a rotting lemon since he escaped from the womb, but the similarities were undeniable.

“Gabriel Valencia, COO of Hiraya Hotels.” Isabella’s brother gave me a thin smile. “We need to talk.”

Fifteen minutes later, I settled into a chair in Gabriel’s office.

Hiraya Hotels was headquartered in Los Angeles, but it operated hotels throughout the state. As COO, Gabriel must have an office in most, if not all, of them.

We eyed each other warily across his desk.

It wasn’t how I’d pictured meeting Isabella’s family, but at least he’d interrupted me before I committed several felonies and a murder.

“First, I must apologize for the unorthodox manner in which I approached you,” Gabriel said stiffly. “We place utmost value on our guests’ privacy. However, I’m notified whenever a VIP checks into any of our hotels. Given the circumstances, you must understand why I sought you out when I saw your name.”

“By circumstances, I assume you mean theNational Starhit pieces?” I refused to call them articles. Articles required a modicum of objectivity; the most recent publication was libel. Once my lawyers were through with them, there wouldn’t be much of theStarleft. I’d make sure of it.

Victor got his short-term victory, but he’d made a crucial long-term mistake.

Gabriel’s mouth flattened further into a granite line. “Because of you, photos of my sister are splashed all over that rag. They’re dragging my family’s name through the mud and hounding our hotels, our corporate offices, our personal lines.” As if on cue, his office phone rang with a shrill noise. He ignored it. “The article just went live, and it’s already started.”

“I’m sorry you’re dealing with harassment, but that’s aNational Starissue,” I said calmly. “I didn’t leak those photos to them, nor did I have anything to do with their most recent publication.”

The one where they revealed that Isabella was an heiress to the Hiraya Hotels fortune.

I’d been so incandescent over the disgusting lies that I’d overlooked the bombshell. Now, the realization over Isabella’s identity sank in with diamond clarity.

Why had she kept it a secret? Did her friends know the truth, and I was the only one in the dark?

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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