The Billionaire's Rock Star - Lori Ryan Page 0,2

seat. The precautions she’d taken with the journal should have been enough. She’d never kept her journal on paper, never kept it on her computer or stored it in a cloud drive. It didn’t take a genius to know that would have left her open to someone stealing it.

Privacy wasn’t something that existed in her world, and she knew the chances of someone finding her journal if she kept it online or on her laptop were too great. But, she never thought anyone would actually find the hidden drive.

Even if someone spotted it, they would have thought it was an old lipstick, and she’d never told anyone it was there.

She’d gotten used to keeping the journal in rehab and had never given up the habit. It was her respite, her outlet for things that couldn’t even go into her songs. Things she couldn’t tell anyone. And, now it was out there.

She tried not to panic as she thought about all that was in the journal, all of the private details that whoever had taken it would be able to sell. Lord knows, they’d probably made a ton selling the entries about Kurt to JMZ’s Celebrity News, the station that seemed to be the originating point for the Kurt Tolleson interview tonight.

How much would they get for selling it? And, did she have any hope of getting it back before they did?

PJ swiped at the rest of her tears, hoping her mascara wasn’t running down her cheeks. She gazed out the window at the traffic that kept the town car moving at a crawl as it made its way to her hotel. She’d have to call soon. It was time to warn her Aunt Susie and Uncle Brian about what might be released. They would need to be prepared.

Chapter 2

Gabe Sawyer was in as foul a mood as he’d ever been. He stared out the floor-to-ceiling windows that lined one wall of his hotel suite, providing a view of the New York City skyline that was just one of the things that made his hotels famous.

The opulence that surrounded him was nothing but the best—furnishings with rich fabrics and textures that screamed lavish and wrapped visitors in luxury and comfort. The off-white tones with deep garnet and orange accents added to the beauty of the room and matched the flowers that graced vases strategically placed throughout the suite.

His cell phone rang, drawing his attention away from the ice cubes melting in the glass of whiskey on the glass end table beside him.

Caller ID showed Jack Sutton was calling….

Gabe and Jack had been friends for years, and he was one of the few people Gabe talked to when he was in the kind of mood he was in tonight. They’d talked a lot lately, trying to figure out the next direction Gabe should take with his Grand Hotels line.

He’d built his luxury line of hotels eighteen years ago, with a large chunk of the start-up money coming from Sutton Capital, Jack’s company.

Grand Towers was his most elite line of five-star hotels with locations across the country and around the globe. Each hotel had dual towers with luxury penthouse suites in the ten-thousand-dollar per night range. He stood in one now and watched the New York skyline through his window.

After he’d made his name with the Towers, he'd ventured into executive suites for long-term stays, creating Grand Garden Suites. This was followed shortly after with Family Grand Hotels—a chain targeting families with budget-friendly pricing and family-focused destinations.

And now, he was bored. Bored and—though he hated to admit it—done. He’d set out to do what he planned with his hotel chains: bury himself in work to forget that his family was falling apart and to create the largest chain of hotels across the country. But what now?

Where did you go when you realized your entire life had been focused on work and business? What did he do now that it just wasn’t enough? He’d even asked his friend.

Jack hadn’t had any answers for him, other than to tell him he’d help find buyers if Gabe wanted out. Well, that and to encourage Gabe to find the right girl, settle down and have kids like Jack—but Gabe had a feeling that wasn’t exactly in the cards for him.

Then again, a few years ago, who would have thought it would be for Jack?

“Hey, Jack,” he said into the phone.

“You sound like shit, Gabe.”

This brought a bark of laughter from Gabe. “Thanks, man. So nice of you