His Strict Requirement: Billionaire Secrets - Book Five by Drew Sinclair

this story until at least after you've spent an evening with me. If you want to go ahead and… and… shoot yourself in the damn foot tangling with Hargrave and Mayweather Incs after that, then you can be my guest."
    His eyes looked as frantic as hers for just a micro second and then sank back to impenetrable black and brown.
    "But don’t expect me to come running to pick up the pieces for you if you're really that stupid." He added.
    "You heard my boss, he wants this story by today . Is this you're last resort to keep a lid on it? Charm the silly little girl reporter out of doing her job?" She laughed. "It'll add a little texture to the story at least. The billionaire's last ditch attempt to wine and dine the journalist in a futile bid to prevent the truth from being revealed. Good one Hargrave, nice human touch."
    "You really have no idea what you're getting into Ms. Day, do you?" He sounded completely calm now, his total self-confidence returned. It would have been enough to put serious doubts in most people's minds but not Lindsay. This was his shtick, his corporate poker face - he was bluffing now, she was sure of it.
    "So you're doing me a favor Hargrave, is that it? You're saving me from my own foolishness in trying to publish this story."
    "You could put it like that. I wouldn't, but you're a reporter so I'm sure you're very expert in twisting people's words against them."
    "Nice. Insult my profession again."
    "You could also say that I'm an interested single guy asking a very attractive woman out on a date."
    Don’t Lindsay, don't…
    He sounded so sincere, he looked so hot - just ready to eat - the little touch of vulnerability mixed with untouchable self-confidence and power.
    She sighed and looked up at him. Maybe he was on the level but she just couldn't take that risk and no matter what he said, he was still the story and that was her highest commitment as a journalist.
    Not to mention keeping her job and paying her rent.
    "Look, Dale," she said, softening her tone and putting her hand to his arm. "You're a nice guy, at least I think you are, but don’t flatter yourself that you're doing me any favors here. You have no idea who I am and the reality is that it's me who's doing you a favor here. If we got involved, who do you think really stands to lose out more? I don't have a multi-billion dollar company to send down the tubes."
    He looked down at her hand and she drew it away.
    "Trust me." He said. "I'll be alright. It's pretty hard to lose twenty billion dollars, give or take a billion here or there. But believe me Lindsay, if you release this story it won’t be me you have to worry about and even I may not be able to protect you. Ruben Mayweather and my brother Clayton will make you and your little mom and pop news website wish you'd never heard of them." He shook his head with every appearance of genuine sympathy. "Our lawyers deal with shit like this every day of the week and your little fart of a boss Marco won't have a chance in hell of making anything stick. They'll dig up plenty about him though, they always do." He looked at her, willing her to believe that there was no malice in what he was saying. "If that happens and I can't stop it, then where exactly do you think that leaves you and Nena?"
    His words chilled her. He was so cocksure. Was this the reality? Could the truth be crushed that easily by whoever had the biggest bank account, the sharpest lawyers?
    No way. No fucking way. She stared back at him with grim determination. That wasn’t what she was raised to believe. Presidents and giant corporations have been brought down in the past by individual reporters working on a shoestring, people just barely getting by. The whole Hargrave empire, no matter how inviolable it appeared now could come crashing down if she could get the witnesses and evidence she needed. Dale, Clay and their sociopathic buddy Mayweather would end up behind bars the same way as any other criminal in the United States