Page 4 of The Rebel Billionaire

For a second, I had a flash of another me superimposed over the view of my charcoal suit and sensible heels. Me at fifteen, a little plump, wearing a Misfits t-shirt and a paint splattered pair of Converse, a blue streak in mylonghair.

Before my life changed for the second time. Before Elizabeth moved in. It was the last time I remembered being me. Really, truly me. But I couldn't go back. No onecould.

If I didn't have Winters Incorporated, I had no idea how to goforward.

I stripped off the suit and pulled on jeans and a short-sleeved cotton sweater. No reason to be dressed up if I was unemployed. Especially if I was going to my house. I loved every decrepit inch, but the place wasamess.

Stuffing clothes and toiletries in a bag, I called Maggie. Magnolia Henry was my cousin's fiancée and my best friend. Noanswer.

Just before I could leave a message, I remembered she and Vance were out of town with Rosie, Vance's infant daughter. They'd said it was a business trip, but they'd brought along their new nanny and I'd teased Maggie that it was more a pre-honeymoon than abusinesstrip.

She'd blushed so pink I'd known I'd been right. If she had any idea what had happened, she'd rush home in a second. I wasn't going to ruin their mini-vacation. I'd just have to handle this onmyown.

I slung the bag over my shoulder and stomped down the stairs, taking a perverse satisfaction in letting my temper out. No need to be professional now. What the hell did I care what anyone thought? It wasn't like I had a job. I didn't even have the prospectofone.

Aiden hadblackballedme.

My knees wobbled at the wave of fury. I couldn't seem to get my head around how thoroughly he'd destroyed my career. He knew I wouldn't leaveAtlanta.

I love my city. Gage and Annalise aside, my family was here. My friends were here. I could probably find something if I were willing to move, but I wasn't going to flee Atlanta because Aiden was a controllingasshole.

I ground to a halt at the door to his home office. I wasn't above a little petty revenge. Not in my current mood. But what I had in mind wasn't petty. On the shelf behind his desk sat a crystal decanter filled with brown liquid. Aiden's pride and joy. He wasn't much of a drinker, but he did like hiswhiskey.

I'd never seen him drunk, but I often joined him in his office for a glass after a long day. We drank whiskey together, but not what was in that decanter. I'd never seen him touch the contents aside from a single glass the day it hadarrived.

Carefully, I picked up the decanter and one glass, taking them both with me. He'd be furious. Maybe as furious as I was at being fired. Served himright.

I didn't stop to think until I was pulling into the cracked and overgrown driveway at my house in the Highlands. I unloaded my bags, locked my car, and took the crystal decanter and glass to the back porch. The covered porch circled the house, and most of it was rotted and unstable. The section outside the back door was safe enough, Ithought.

I liked to sit out there, admiring my tangle of a yard and imagining what the house would look like when I was finished with it. I'd barely gotten started. Too many hours working and not enoughfreetime.

I didn't have thatproblemnow.

My stomach did an uneasy flip at the reminder that I was unemployed. It wasn't the money. Even accounting for the cost of the house, I had money. I'd been working for Winters Incorporated since my freshman year in college and I'd kept expenses to aminimum.

Hard to spend money when all I did was work. I still drove Aiden's car, the one he'd given me when I turned sixteen. I'd lived at home, so no rent, mortgage, orutilities.

He didn't even let me pay for groceries. I never went on vacation and I rarely shopped except for work clothes. Since buying suits wasn't my idea of fun, I kept that to aminimumtoo.

I was twenty-four years old with a flush bank account, but no job and no life. A tiny voice whispered that maybe Aiden had apoint.

Screwthat.

It would be a long time before I'd be willing to talk to Aiden, much less admit he might have done the rightthing.

This wasmylife. I knew he could be controlling, but firing me was beyondinsane.

Gritting my teeth, I poured myself a generous portion of whiskey into the crystal glass I'd stolen. At the familiar burn of the liquor, I smiled for the first time since I'd walked into Aiden's office a few hoursbefore.

The whiskey was the best I'd ever had. At fifteen thousand dollars a bottle, it should be. Aiden had bought the Macallan Select Reserve Single Malt at an auction a few years before. He wasn't generally extravagant, but he loved thiswhiskey.

I took another sip and grinned, remembering the first time I'd stolen Aiden's whiskey. I'd been thirteen and gotten my backside tanned. Back then, the punishment had been worth it, though I'd thought the whiskey was disgusting. How things hadchanged.

Now I welcomed the smooth burn of the Macallan. Aiden had already delivered his punishment, sowhynot?

If he could yank my entire life out from under me, I could drink his ridiculously expensive whiskey. Even the crystal decanter was valuable. A special anniversary edition, it was worth almost as much as thecontents.

Now, all he had of the set was a single glass. I drained every drop of whiskey from the one I'd stolen and refilled it. I was going to get drunk on obscenely expensive whiskey and figure out the rest of my lifelater.