Longing For The Beach Billionaire Daddy
Chapter 91

*Michael*

I stared at the website in front of me as Shelby waited on the phone for my response. The heading of the article stared back at me in bright red lettering.

“Billionaire Playboy Turns into Billionaire Bad Boy: Michael Astor is an Abusive Boyfriend.”

My stomach sank at the picture taking up the entire computer screen after the title of the article. It was a poorly timed photo of me pushing the woman away from me in the bar after she felt up my family jewels.

The photo made it seem as though I was holding this woman’s wrists, pushing her across the room. Her face was conveniently turned toward the camera, and there was fear etched in each of her features. I looked at my own face and saw the anger flowing from my eyes. If I was Shelby, I’d be worried if I saw this picture too. It looked bad, really bad.

“Michael? I need you to explain what’s going on in that picture,” Shelby said, her voice shaking with emotion on the other end of the phone.

“Dammit, this looks really bad, but I promise you nothing happened,” I said desperately.

“Then explain what happened because you’re right. This looks really, really bad,” Shelby responded.

“I went to a bar shortly after I texted you to meet up with Stewart Hastings. He didn’t show up on time, so I ordered a drink while I waited. That woman in the photo came up to me and told me I looked like I needed company. I explained I was waiting for someone else. She kept coming on to me even when I tried to stop her advances.

“She put her hand on my knee and slid it up my thigh. I was pulling her off of me when that photo was taken. That’s why I was holding onto her wrists. After that, I told her I had a fiancee and that I wasn’t interested. I walked straight out of the bar and came home,” I said, slightly out of breath from my words tumbling over each other.

There was a long pause on the other end of the phone, and I prayed that Shelby believed me. I had just gotten her back, and I didn’t know if I could handle losing her again.

“I believe you,” Shelby said softly.

I let out a sigh of relief, “Oh, thank God, Shelby. I swear I would never do anything like that.”

“I know that. I know you, Michael. But, you need to read the rest of that article,” she said.

“Why? What does it say?” I said, feeling the relief immediately being replaced with anxiety.

“Just read it and call me back,” Shelby answered.

I hung up the phone and started scrolling through the article that painted me as a playboy for years, using my money as a way to pick up women. Then the article switched to an interview with the woman from the bar. Dia claimed to be my long-time secret girlfriend, who I was hiding from the press so I could still mess around on the side.

She painted a horrible picture of me as an abusive boyfriend who was finally caught on camera. The article ended with one sickening line by Dia, ‘If you think that picture looks bad, you won’t believe what he’s like at home.’

My head was pounding by the time I finished the article. I threw my laptop across the room and it crashed into the wall. It fell to the floor with an unmistakable cracking sound. I immediately pulled out my phone and called for help.

“Hello, sir?” Reggie answered.

“Reggie, we have a huge problem. I need you, my lawyers, and my PR agent to get on this story before it blows up,” I said, standing up to pace the room, stepping over broken laptop pieces.

“What story?” Reggie sounded confused.

“Just look up my name online,” I said, trying to get my temper under control.

I waited with bated breath as Reggie looked for the article. Within seconds he found it.

“Holy…” Reggie trailed off.

“The word you are looking for is f*ck. Holy f*ck!” I yelled before gritting my teeth.

“But none of this is true. How would they even get a picture like this?” Reggie said, ignoring my outburst.

I took a long breath to get myself under control before explaining the entire situation to Reggie. I heard him through the phone, scratching away on a notepad, taking down my entire side of the story. I silently praised him for all of his hard work, but I’d have to wait to tell him another day; there was too much at stake here. It was hard to ruin a billionaire’s reputation, but not impossible.

“I’ll get in contact with your PR agent and your lawyers right away. We’ll get this worked out as soon as possible, Mr. Astor,” Reggie said as I wrapped up my recollection of the previous night’s events.

“Thank you, Reggie. I’m counting on you,” I said, hanging up the phone.

***

*Shelby*

After getting off the phone with Michael, I felt relieved to replace out the truth, but that didn’t take away the sick feeling in my stomach. I knew that Blaine was behind this; it was the only explanation as to how that picture was taken. The whole thing must’ve been staged.

I started pacing back and forth across my room while biting my nails. It was a horrible habit that I’d broken in middle school. I was surprised to see it come back now. However, I was too stressed to make myself stop.

“Shelby, is everything okay?” Lin asked.

Her bag was slung over her shoulder. She was obviously coming to get me to walk to class. I nodded my head silently, grabbed my bag off my bed, and headed downstairs.

“Shelb, you’re not okay,” Lin said to me, rushing to keep up with my frantic pace.

“Here, just read this,” I pulled my phone out and handed it to her with the article about Michael pulled up.

Lin slowed her pace to read, and it felt like torture to match my pace to hers. I wanted to run. Maybe if I walked fast enough, I could escape the anxiety this situation was causing me. Lin finished the article a few blocks away from campus and handed back my phone.

“There’s no way any of that’s true. It has to be someone making up a fake story to make money,” Lin said, staring at me.

The fact that Lin knew this couldn’t be true helped to calm my nerves a bit. Anyone who really knew Michael would know that the accusations were fake. The only problem was the rest of the world would think whatever the media told them to.

“I know that it isn’t true. I talked to him this morning. That woman came onto him in the bar, and after she wouldn’t stop touching him, he moved her away. It was a setup,” I said, breathless from walking so fast.

“He has a ton of lawyers and a public relations team. They’ll get everything worked out,” Lin said calmly.

I nodded, realizing that he had a lot of people on his team to right this situation. I tried my best to calm my nerves as Lin and I walked into the lecture hall. We weren’t early enough to get seats in the front row, so we settled ourselves a few aisles up. Once we sat down, I noticed Lauren sitting directly in front of us.

She was texting a very long message to someone, and the way she was tapping away at her screen made me curious as to who was making her write a novel-length text. I shifted slightly in my seat, but the only thing I could make out on her screen was the contact name at the top. I squinted, straining my eyes to get a better look. It was someone with the initials BHB.

The professor chose that time to start the lecture, causing Lauren to shove her phone under her desk. This made it impossible for me to snoop on her message, but she continued furiously tapping away at her screen, hidden from the professor’s view.

***

“Can you slow down?” Lin asked as we walked back home.

“No, I only have a few hours before the car Michael’s sending will be here,” I answered to Lin, who was falling behind.

Our bodyguards trailed just behind Lin, looking concerned at my fast pace. I knew I was making them nervous too, but I needed to get to New York and see Michael. I left the gate open for Lin as I stormed in the front door and headed up the stairs, skipping every other one.

I pulled my suitcase out of my new walk-in closet and carefully started selecting outfits. I had enough outfits laid out on my bed when I realized something. I knew that Blaine was likely responsible for the picture and fake interview, essentially ruining Michael’s reputation.

It was possible that he didn’t do this on his own. Lauren was furious with her father for not helping her buy her way into Harvard. Would she stoop so low as to get back at her father like this?

My mind wandered back to Lauren’s phone today in class. The initials BHB could stand for Blaine Blake. Was Lauren working with the man that was trying to ruin her father’s life?

I put two of my outfits back in the closet. I wouldn’t be spending the entire weekend in New York with Michael. I’d come back early to make sure I was there for Lauren’s party.

I was going to replace out what she was up to.