The Billionaire's Alibi: The Proposition by Maddy Raven Read Free Book Online Page A

Grace was murdered . That had nothing to do with what happened between us.”
    Will didn’t want to think about what had happened between them—one mistake, one time. It had been so, so stupid of him.
    Vivian’s lips murmured against his own, “She would want us to be happy.”
    “No.” He pulled away from her. Grace had been right—he was a terrible boyfriend. He hadn’t deserved her, and she didn’t deserve what happened to her. He rolled onto his side, tucking an arm beneath the pillow. “We can’t let this happen again.”
    Behind him, Vivian began to cry—the second girl to lose it in front of him that night—but she didn’t come on to him again. At least he didn’t think she did—when he woke up, he was still in the hotel, but Vivian was nowhere to be found.
    He tried to sit up, futilely grasping at a full glass of water that rested on the nightstand next to him. He blinked sleepily as he looked around the room, his confusion growing deeper when he noticed the second bed beside him. He could have sworn that Vivian’s room had a king-sized bed. He glanced under the sheets. Still naked, but though his memory was foggy, he was certain that this wasn’t the hotel room he had fallen asleep in.
    He picked up the glass of water and chugged it; underneath, someone had left a note.
     
    Found you passed out and naked in the hallway, so I dragged you to my room to sleep it off. Stay as long as you want. You paid for it anyway.
     
    Alexa
     
    He held the side of his head and grimaced, wondering if he had drunk more than he had realized. He stood unsteadily, looking around for his clothes, but only found his cell phone sitting across the room, vibrating against the dresser with unanswered texts.
    There were dozens, and every few seconds, the phone buzzed again. He scrolled through and clicked on the first one.
    “Vivian Palmerson was murdered. You were the last to see her. Can your DNA be traced back to the scene?”
    The next one was even more urgent. “Where are you? Team is at the house. Come ASAP.”
    He stared at the texts, barely breathing, his mind unable to comprehend the words he was reading over and over again. Vivian couldn’t be dead—that was impossible. He had fallen asleep right next to her in her room.
    Another text dinged urgently, lighting up his screen, pulling him out of his shock. He searched through the closet for the hotel’s complementary robes and wrapped one around himself, stuffing his cell phone in the pocket, before rushing out the door.
     

 
    ALEXA
    ALEXA needed to set her pride aside. That’s what she decided when she awoke early the next morning. She had the cash that Will had given her in hand, and though she felt guilty about spending it, she needed the money, and she needed it now. In the back of her mind, she told herself that when she got back on her feet, she would pay him back—but then again, that was always what she told herself. It made her feel better about taking the money in the short term, but at the end of the day, she knew how unlikely it was that he would ever see it again.
    Her first stop was to Target to buy a hoodie that she could wear over her black cocktail dress. She considered buying jeans as well, but she didn’t—fifteen hundred dollars wouldn’t last long, and if she was going to take the money at all, it had to go to her expenses, not her wardrobe. Next came a trip to her bank’s nearest ATM, where she deposited the rest of the money. Finally, she place a call to Visa to make the minimum payment on her credit card in the hopes that they wouldn’t cancel it.
    The remainder wasn’t nearly enough to pay Chase back, but she could use it to put a deposit on a new place to live. She would have to find something small, a studio—somewhere the landlord wouldn’t check or care about her credit. She could always lie about her employer, seeing as she had only lost her job the day before, but a place that wasn't checking employment either would be