The Billionaire’s Creed

ADLEY

I couldn’t sleep. I was wide awake all night, trying to think how I could help Mykel, and as his partner in crime, I was terrible at giving emotional support.

I got up from bed at four in the morning. I did yoga for a couple of minutes and then hit the shower.

I was always a planner, but Mykel helped me loosen up. I was in the study, scrolling through my contacts when an idea popped into my head. I created a group and added who I considered family.

I realized who could give more emotional support better than the people who cared about us, who would be there when things got tough, and who would help us without expecting reciprocity than family.

I typed a message.

ADLEY: Mykel needs us. Come to this address. Thanks.

I sent it to the group and went to Sax and Kye at the guest house.

Kye looked already up for a couple of hours. “Is everything okay?”

“Good morning, Kye.”

“Sorry, Mrs. C. Good morning. How may I help you? Wanna come in?”

I entered the guest house with two rooms, a living room with a pool table, baths, and a kitchenette. “Did Mykel brief you with something?”

Kye turned to Sax before he nodded. “I believe my boss is innocent. He would not throw away his life for a woman-” He stopped. “Not like you, ma’am.”

“I understand. What did he ask you both to do?”

“Do our job and be vigilant.”

I raised a brow. “That’s all?”

“That’s what the boss wanted, ma’am.”

“Romare isn’t briefed?”

“Not necessary.”

I nodded. “So in your line of work, the security company you worked with, is it illegal to follow someone?”

They exchanged looks again before Sax joined in. “What do you have in mind, Mrs. C?”

“Adley isn’t a mouthful.”

“My boss wouldn’t be so thrilled to hear us calling you by your name, Mrs. C, but I gotta take that under advisement.”

“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, I want you to hire someone who can run full surveillance twenty-four seven. I don’t care how much it costs.”

“Let me get this straight. You want us to hire one of our men to spy on this woman? Does the boss know about this?”

I propped my hands on my hips. “Look, if you can’t help me, just say so. You’re not the only private security that is capable. I might hire my grandfather’s private investigator instead.”

I turned in my heels.

“Wait.”

I literally grinned. I turned around with an angry face. “What?”

“We want to help our boss. I’ll make some contacts,” Sax said, pulling out his phone.

“Good. And I’m giving him a bonus if he can provide the best information. Make sure that that bitch can’t connect the dots to Mykel and me.”

“We’re good at what we do, Mrs. C,” Kye proudly said.

“Good. I want it within a day or two.”

I went up and changed to jeans and a shirt. Within two hours, our family arrived. After our pleasantries, we gathered in the main living room.

“We’re surprised to receive a message from you. Is Mykel okay?” Dru asked as he settled beside Lyra.

Elise and Blaze walked in, sandwiching me into a tight hug.

“It’s gonna be okay,” Blaze whispered.

“Sorry about yesterday,” I said to Elise.

“No biggies.” They settled on the chair-Blaze on the armrest.

“What’s going, honey?” Grandpa asked.

“I shouldn’t have asked you to be here, but I need you. We need you right now, Grandpa.”

“You made the right decision, Adley.”

“Am I late?” Knox walked in. “When someone like me is not used to being in this neighborhood, your house is hard to find even with the GPS.” He kissed me on the cheek. “Where’s the man of the hour? Are his ventures finally getting back and biting him in his ugly ass?”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

My chest tightly squeezed as I looked at Knox.

“That was insensitive. I’m sorry. Terrible joke.”

I sighed. “It’s okay. I know it’s a lie. Some low life just wanted to ruin him.”

“I believe you. I’m here to help.”

“Thanks for coming,” I said when everyone was around. “I don’t know if Mykel would appreciate why I called you here, but I don’t think I can do this alone. As our family, we need you guys so bad. I felt his struggle even if he tried his best to hide it from me, and even if he pretended that everything was okay, deep in his heart, he knew it was not.”

“What’s going on? Is my son not feeling well?”

“Thankfully, nothing like that.” I smiled sadly at Dru. He just got his son back. I knew this would be hard for him, too.

“Whatever you heard from here, I want to keep this in this family circle alone. I trust you. We trust you.” Then there went the hard part. “As you know, before Mykel and I met, he was a-”

“Don Juan, lothario, playboy, manwhore.” My grandfather cut me off.

“Yeah. Yesterday a woman came to his office, threatening him with a sexual assault charge.”

“What the actual fuck?” Knox let out his outburst. “Would someone actually believe her?”

“She said she has incriminating evidence that would bring Mykel to court. I know in my heart that it’s not true. I’m the living proof that Mykel would never hurt a woman. It’s absurd that he hurt women while supporting women against sexual violence.”

“The fact that this just came out now. How about those women he slept with in the past.” Lyra looked at me. “I’m sorry this is hurting you. Why does nobody come out and complain? Did his lawyers encounter this before? I mean, considering how rich and powerful he is, did he consider that maybe someone or groups hate him and wanted to bring him down?”

“That’s a good theory,” Lex agreed with Lyra. “Who’s this woman?”

I told them the details that so far I knew about.

“She lives next door? What the fuck? From the start, I didn’t like that woman!”

“As much as I wanted to punch Mykel in the face for putting you in this position, I believe he’s innocent, and this accusation is deliberate.” Blaze threw his hand in the air.

“Doesn’t he have a plan to counter-sue?”

“He does, Dru. And his lawyers are just waiting for her side to make a move.”

“Can’t wait to see the look on her face.” Knox snorted.

We had breakfast, and Mykel finally came down with a deep frown on his forehead. He looked like he had trouble sleeping as well.

***

In the conference room, he was still confused. He went to the front and looked at me.

“I can’t believe you, my wife, dragged them into this, especially Lex and Dru.” He stared at me. “Do you know the meaning of Non-disclosure, baby?”

I raised my hand. “I did not sign, and these people are here to be our moral support. No offense, but we’re terrible with that, me in particular, but that’s why we have them. And what I shared with them is not a secret, and no case has been filed yet. None of us believe you hurt anybody.”

Mykel shook his head in amusement. “I’m overwhelmed with the outpouring of support, baby. So what are we doing here? Isn’t this a little bit overkill?”

Sax connected the call to their security team. “That’s our CSO, Gabe Linden, and his partner, Jasper Greer. With me is our client, you know him, Mykel Creed and his wife Adley Creed, sir.”

“I received a call from Ryder, Mr. Creed. I’m glad he reached out to us.”

“Thank you for your quick response. I believe my wife reached out to these guys.”

“Guilty.” I couldn’t help but hide my smile.

“Our job is not only to protect your life. It covers everything, including keeping you away from scandals that could ruin your image. It’s not a surprise that someone wanna destroy you, the people you cared about, and something that you don’t wanna lose,” Gabe explained.

“How can you help me with this?” Mykel asked.

“I have the name of the woman who wanna come after you. How far would you wanna find out? I already assigned two of my best men to dig deeper into it, from her family to the last person she contacted and mingled with.”

“I wanna know if she has an accomplice.” This reminded me of the case against Gary. It didn’t stick because we didn’t have enough evidence that I was physically assaulted. “I want names and anything you can dig that can be used against me.” The frown on Mykel’s forehead was still deep as he focused on the screen.

“Consider it done.”

He sighed deeply after the conference call. “I wanted to spank your pretty ass for calling the cavalry, but somehow it helped me a lot, knowing there are people who don’t only love to dig in my pockets.”

“Those people waiting for us are family and including these two.” I pointed at Sax and Kye.”

“Thank you.” He smiled. This time was genuine. Even if nothing was filed yet, he felt relieved.

We returned to the living room, but everyone was not there until we heard loud laughter from the patio.

“Okay, my turn.” Blaze stood in front and started gesturing for signs.

“Refrigerator?” Mykel answered as we joined them.

“Seriously?” Blaze was disappointed that Mykel guessed it in a second.

“Well, your gestures were obvious. You opened the door and searched for something cold.” He practically rolled my eyes.

“Your turn.” Blaze pointed at me.

“Go ahead, honey.” Grandpa encouraged me because he knew I didn’t like this game. I was terrible at this.

Mykel was already laughing.

“No coaching,” Elise booed him.

“I’m just laughing.” Mykel was quick to my defense.

I picked up the phone and pressed the button. I instantly cringed and thought for a moment before I put it down. “It’s an animal.”

“Snake,” Mykel answered, even if I was just about to start.

I narrowed at him. “How did you know?”

“You cringed, and I know you hate snakes, baby.” He shrugged with a confident smile.

“Guys, Mykel is out in this game!”