Page 1 of The Rebel Billionaire

CHAPTER 1

HARPER

Iblink, my eyes locking on the brown envelope sliding across the table.

Focus, Harper!

I stare at the mouth of the woman opposite me. My thundering heartbeat smothers all other sounds, making it impossible to decipher what she’s saying.

A hand grips my arm. The sensation grounds me, and the sound of the plane rushes back in. I turn my head. Kristophe.

He hands me a bottle of ice-cold water.

“Drink,” he says.

I do as I’m told.

I close my eyes as the frigid liquid forces me into the present.

You’re Harper Brooke Frazer. Get a grip.

Opening them, I sit up straighter and meet the woman’s steely stare. Her piercing gaze seems to sink into my soul.

“Who are you again?” I ask.

“I’m The Seamstress, but who I am doesn’t matter. It’s why I’m here that does.”

She sits back, apparently satisfied that she has my attention.

My eyes meet Kris’s. He doesn’t look fazed.

Does he know her?

Did he know I was going to be ambushed?

I take another long swig of the water and gather my thoughts.

Pen told me I can trust him, and I trust her. She’s like a second sister. Someone who would never hurt Elijah or me. She organised my grand escape and enabled me to make a run for it.

The woman opposite leans forward and taps the envelope.

A memory surfaces.

“You knew my father,” I say.

She ignores me, but her shoulders tense.

“This contains your new identity,” she says. “Open it. Memorise it.”

The woman I remember was younger, but it’s definitely her. I’m good with faces.

I incline my head.

Gone is the glamour. Now she looks like a middle-aged schoolteacher. A strict one. The kind I loved proving myself to.

My stomach churns.

“I don’t understand,” I say, refocusing. “I thought the plan was for me to lie low for a couple of months. Stay with a friend of my mother’s until things calmed down. Are you telling me that’s changed?”