The Billionaire's Deal: The Complete Story: An Alpha Billionaire Romance by Crystal Kaswell

the accident, I would spend weekends exploring the city with my friends. It was exciting just to get out of Brooklyn.
    It felt like there was an adventure waiting around every corner. The last three years, I've been sorely lacking adventure. I work, I read, I play video games with Lizzy. Whatever happened to what I wanted to do? When I was seventeen, my life was wide open with possibilities. Art school to turn my doodling hobby into a career. A state university to study something practical. English or business, maybe. My best friend, Belle, asked me to take a gap year to travel Europe with her.
    It was such an exciting thought. The two of us zipping around Europe, taking in the sights, flirting with different guys in every country. After the accident, all that went out the window. Everything I wanted or needed went out the window. Taking care of Lizzy and keeping us afloat came first.
    What the hell am I going to do with myself now that I'm not giving all my attention to paying the bills? A chill passes over me, and I pull my coat a little tighter. I've ignored my hobbies, my friends, everything. There might be nothing left. When you strip away the girl desperate to get by, there might not be a Kat.
    There might not be anything to me, not really.
    I close my eyes and try my best to recall a typical week before the accident. School. Homework. I ran cross-country in the fall. I loved losing myself in a long run as the city whizzed by me.
    I haven't gone for a run in three years. No reason. It feels like I'm running all the time, only I'm not going anywhere or racing against anything.
    I used to draw. Not the way I do now—I used to draw every night for hours. I loved it. I annoyed the hell out of my friends asking them to pose as my models. In high school, I took every art elective I could. I was utterly indiscriminate. My parents discouraged art school. Wouldn't pay the bills. But the bills won't need paying soon. I can go to school, get a master’s, take a job I love that pays crap. I can ask Belle to give me another chance and pay for a year in Europe.
    This money is options.
    This money is freedom.
    This money is security.
    However hard this is, I have to deal with it. Not just for me, but for Lizzy. We've lost too much to lose this opportunity.
    I spend the rest of the afternoon loading up on art books and supplies. The smell of sharpened pencils recalls so many nights spent drawing. I buy one of everything in every color. Markers, ink pens, pastels, watercolors, graphite pencils, acrylics, oils, canvases. Being in the store makes me dizzy. Something about it feels so right.
    A call from Blake interrupts my bliss. When I answer, he's all business.
    "We're meeting my family tomorrow. I'll send a car to your apartment at four-thirty," he says.
    A surge of irritation passes through me. He could ask. He could pretend like he cares that I have my own priorities.
    "You're supposed to meet my sister," I say.
    "Don't subject her to mine."
    Deep breath. I have to push back to get what I want from Blake. "Then meet her tonight. Come over for dinner."
    "I'm entertaining a friend."
    Since when does Blake have friends? I bite my lip. No backing down now. "Bring him."
    "I'll make reservations for four. Eight o'clock. I'll send a car to pick you up at seven-thirty."
    His voice softens "Fine."
    "I'll see you then." I hang up the phone without a proper goodbye.
    Blake make think he owns my time, but he doesn't. It's still mine.
    I push my irritation aside. I'm going to have a life again. Whatever that costs, it's worth it.
    ***
    Lizzy is not impressed by the car service. She sits with her arms folded over her chest, her eyes on the window.
    "I wanted to go out with Sarah after dinner," she says.
    "You still can."
    She looks at me as if to say yeah right . "This is going to take hours."
    "It will be better than anything I can cook."
    Lizzy smirks. "True."
    The car stops in front of the restaurant, and the driver helps us out. Lizzy doesn't