I Married a Billionaire: Lost and Found (Contemporary Romance) by Melanie Marchande Read Free Book Online Page A

wrapped my arms around him, pulling him close and just listening to the sound of his heartbeat. It took a long time, but he finally embraced me back, squeezing my ribcage so hard it almost hurt.
    I don't know how long we stood there, but by the time we broke apart, the sunrise was cutting sharply through the window above the sink. I squinted against it, turning away and walking back up to the bedroom with no clear idea of why I was going there. Maybe, if I just climbed back in bed and curled up under the covers, it would be like none of this ever happened.
    Not likely.
    ***
    It felt like an eternity before the judge's offices opened and Daniel was able to start putting in phone calls. Of course it was a labyrinthine process with voicemails and extensions and leaving messages with five different people, but eventually he did get a call back, which he took alone in the bedroom, with the door shut. I wasn't sure if he was trying to protect me from it, or if he just couldn't handle the added stress of being around another person. Either way, I wasn't really offended. I couldn't imagine what he must be going through, although it was no walk in the park for me, either.  
    I managed to eat some leftover pot roast by the time lunch rolled around, but Daniel was still subsisting off of juice and water until dinnertime, when he ate a few handfuls of almonds from the cupboard and then went back to call his broker again.
    When he finally talked to me, I learned that his broker had located the trade in his transaction history, but could not account for it. The firm's security specialists were already working on it, but they apparently didn't have high hopes of finding any answers soon. Whoever had originated the trade had successfully covered his tracks - well enough that they had to launch something that they called a "forensics" investigation. I had absolutely no idea what that meant in this context, but I suspected it didn’t actually involve the scalpels and bone saws that I was picturing.
    He'd also put in several calls with the owner of the company whose stock he'd allegedly sold. The whole thing had to do with a merger or an acquisition or something that he explained in such a scattered way I gave up trying to understand - but he insisted that he knew nothing about it, that in fact he could present cell phone records to the judge showing he'd had no contact with the man in weeks.  
    The company owner in question was in the middle of his once-yearly vacation in which he went completely offline. His very capable assistant who managed his affairs in absentia could shed absolutely no light on the situation, but she promised to send word to her boss's emergency contact number and he'd get back to Daniel as soon as he possibly could.  
    By the end of our conversation, my head was spinning and I felt like I understood even less than I had before. Hell - I was married to the man, but even I couldn't see how he was going to convince a judge of his innocence. How could he prove that he and his friend had no contact? They might have talked on pay phones, or burners, or…
    I shook my head, as if I could physically knock the thoughts out that way. It was ridiculous that I was even considering the possibility of Daniel's guilt. But I was just trying to be realistic. How would the courts see it? They certainly wouldn't be sympathetic towards a man like him. Then again, with his money, he could hire one of those lawyers that everyone hates.
    Then again, he didn’t actually have any of his money just at the moment.
    Daniel finally called Lindsey in the late afternoon, and after she'd finished berating him for not calling her immediately, she got a ticket on the next plane out. I felt a tremendous sense of relief knowing she'd be here. I didn't get to spend as much time with my sister in law as I would have liked to, but everything I knew of her indicated that she wasn't easily shaken. She was the perfect person to have around in a crisis. And