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Chapter Forty-two
Last Updated:
2023-09-01 14:48:49
AUTHOR_DANNYHello! This is a spin off of the first book. The characters remain the same but a different storyline. I am merging them together because both books are too short to stand alone. Thank you for reading. Please take both books as two separate books. Enjoy.
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Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Forty-three
She shivered at the sound of her name on his lips. It didn’t seem right that he could be here, in her family’s living room, surrounded by friends and family eating potluck.At thirty-eight, Xavier Regulus owned a vast international conglomerate that bought and shipped steel and timber across the world. His life was filled with one passionate, single-minded pursuit after another. Business. Adrenaline-tinged sports. Beautiful women. Sylvia’s lips turned downward. Beautiful women most of all.So what was he doing here? What could he possibly have come for unless…unless…Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother disappearing down the hall with her baby.Trying to stop her hands from shaking, Sylvia folded her arms around the waist of her hand-sewn bridesmaid’s dress. So Xavier had come to Greenhill Farm. It didn’t exactly require a crack team unit to find her here. Brownes had lived here for two hundred years. It didn’t mean he knew about Robby. It didn’t. He couldn’t.Could he?Xav
Last Updated : 2023-09-01Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Forty-four
He looked around the room again, at the paper plates with the potluck dinner, at her homemade gown, clearly not believing her. He set his jaw. ‘I’m just surprised your father couldn’t do better for Becky. Even if money is tight.’Sylvia folded her arms, feeling ice in her heart. ‘He couldn’t,’ she whispered. ‘My father died four months ago.’She heard Xavier’s intake of breath. ‘What?’‘He had a heart attack during harvest. We didn’t find him on his tractor until later. When he didn’t come home for dinner.’‘Oh, Sylvia.’ Xavier took her hand in his own. ‘I’m sorry.’She felt his sympathy, felt his concern. And she felt the rough warmth of his palm against her own—the touch she’d craved for the past year and all the five years before. Her fingers curled over his as longing blistered her soul.With an intake of breath she ripped her hand away.‘Thank you,’ she said, blinking back tears. She’d thought she was done grieving for her father, but she’d spent most of the day with a lump in he
Last Updated : 2023-09-01Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Forty-five
His dark eyes glittered in the flickering firelight. ‘Every other woman has been a pale shadow of you in every way.’If her heart had been fluttering before, now it was frantically rattling against her ribs. Had she been wrong to leave him, fifteen months ago? Had she been wrong to keep Robby a secret? What if Xavier’s feelings had changed, and all this time he’d cared for her? What if—He leaned forward as his lips curved into a smile. ‘I need you to come work for me.’Sylvia’s heart stopped, then resumed a slow, sickly beat.Of course. Of course that was all he would want. He’d likely forgotten their one-night affair long ago, while she would remember it forever—in her passionate dreams, in the eyes of their son. Sylvia stared up at Xavier’s dark, brutally handsome face. She saw the tension of his jawline, the taut muscles of his folded arms beneath his suit jacket.‘You must want it badly,’ she said slowly.He gave her a tight smile. ‘I do.’Out of the corner of her eye, she saw he
Last Updated : 2023-09-01Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Forty-six
Adriana da Costa.Sylvia could still see those cold, reptilian eyes, that skinny, lanky body. Xavier had dated the Brazilian supermodel briefly in New York several years ago, while Sylvia was his live-in personal assistant. She could still hear Adriana’s pouting voice. Why do you keep calling here? Stop calling.Find the whiskey, you stupid cow. Xavier always gets thirsty after sex.Sylvia cleared her throat. ‘Adriana da Costa, the bikini model.’‘Yes.’‘The one Celebrity Star magazine just called the sexiest woman alive.’‘She’s a selfish narcissist,’ he said sharply. ‘And for the short time we were together, she was always insecure. Only one woman has ever made her feel so threatened. You.’‘Me?’ Sylvia gasped. ‘You’re out of your mind! She would never feel threatened by me!’Xavier’s dark eyes gleamed. ‘She complained to me constantly. Why did I always take your calls, but not hers? Why did I always have time for you, day or night? Why would I leave her bed at 2:00 A.M. in order to
Last Updated : 2023-09-01Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Forty-seven
As her mother turned to place Robby into her arms, Sylvia’s heart fell to the snowy, frozen ground. The six-month-old’s whine faded, turning to hiccups as he clung to Sylvia. Ruth leaned forward to hug her.‘Take the job,’ her mother whispered in her ear, then turned to Xavier and said brightly, ‘I hope to see you again soon, Mr. Regulus!’Sylvia heard the dull thunk of the door as her mother went back inside. Then she was alone with Xavier; their baby in her arms.Xavier’s dark eyes went to the child, then back to her. The sound of his tightly coiled voice reverberated in the cold air. ‘This is your son?’She held her baby close, loving the solid, chubby feel of him in her arms. Tears stung her eyes as she looked down at Robby. ‘Yes.’‘How old is he?’‘Six months,’ she said in a small voice.Xavier’s eyes narrowed. ‘So tell me.’ His voice was deadly and still as a winter’s night. ‘Who is the father of your baby?’She’d wished so many times to be able to tell Xavier the truth, dreamed
Last Updated : 2023-09-24Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Forty-eight
Inside the cabin, Xavier sat down in the white leather seat. A flight attendant offered him a glass of champagne, which he accepted. It had been harder than he’d expected to convince Sylvia to come. She sat across from him, suddenly glaring at him beneath her dark lashes.Was she angry at him for some reason? God knew why. He was the one who should be angry. She’d left him in the lurch a year ago. In an act of pure charity, he’d allowed her to quit her job. It had been the act of a saint. He’d barely managed to patch up the hole she’d left in his office.‘You’d better have a very trustworthy babysitter in Rio,’ she growled, refusing the offer of champagne.He finished off the crystal flute. ‘Maria Silva.’She blinked. ‘Your housekeeper?’‘She was my nanny when I was young.’‘You were young?’ Sylvia said sardonically.Xavier’s throat closed. Against his will, memories of his happy childhood washed over him, of playing with his older brother, of the wrestling and fighting, of his nanny’s
Last Updated : 2023-09-24Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Forty-nine
As they descended through the clouds toward Rio de Janeiro, Sylvia stared out the porthole window at the city shining like a jewel on the sea. She folded her arms with a huff of breath, still furious.You belong to me.Her hands gripped her seat belt. Looking past Robby’s baby seat, where he was thankfully sleeping again after a fairly rough night, Sylvia glanced at Xavier on the opposite side of the jet. She allowed herself a grim smile.Poor Robby had been crying half the flight. Xavier must have been gnashing his teeth to be trapped in his private jet with a baby. Karma, she thought with a degree of satisfaction. Folding her arms, she turned back to the window to see the beautiful, exotic city as they descended through the clouds.It had been difficult for her to leave her mother and sisters in the middle of Becky’s reception. But instead of being angry, her mother and sisters had seemed pleased. They’d hugged her goodbye for the quick weekend trip. ‘You were so happy working for h
Last Updated : 2023-09-24Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Fifty
Ten minutes later, Xavier paced beneath the hot sun across his rooftop terrace. He stopped, staring down at Ipanema Beach across the Avenida Vieira Souto. He could hear the loud music from the crowds celebrating below. Lifting his eyes, he looked past the throngs of people, past the yellow umbrellas and food vendors to the shining waves of the surf, trying to calm his pounding heart.Now Sylvia was here, everything would soon be sorted out. Oliveira and Adriana would both believe that they were in love. They had to believe. Otherwise….No, he wouldn’t let himself think about failure, not even for an instant. He couldn’t lose his father’s company, not now that it was finally within his grasp. He gripped the railing, glaring at the bright horizon of blue ocean. All along the coastline, tall buildings vied with the sharp green mountains for domination of the sky.He’d changed into khaki shorts and an open, button-down shirt over a tank top, with flip-flops on his feet, Carioca-style. He
Last Updated : 2023-09-24
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Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Sixty-one
Sylvia hesitated outside the closed doors of the huge, flower-strewn library, frightened out of her mind.She could hear the rumble on the other side of door, the mutters and whispers. The wedding had been scheduled to start thirty minutes ago, and everyone was obviously starting to assume the worst.But there was no way around it. She had to get through it. With a deep breath, she pushed the doors open.The enormous two-story library had been modeled after an old English abbey with walls of gray stone. It was now festooned with white roses and candles, with hundreds of chairs set up to create an aisle down the middle.At the sight of the bride standing at the end of the aisle, musicians hastily began to play ‘Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring’ on guitars and violins. Sylvia stopped the music with a chopping gesture across her neck.Silence fell. She could have heard a pin drop as three hundred pairs of eyes turned to her.She trembled, passing a hand over her eyes. Then she heard her baby
Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Sixty
Xavier had to hurry. Every second he wasted with Sylvia was like a grain of sand falling through a fatal hourglass. He had to leave at once.And yet he couldn’t.Leaving her felt like a death. He took a deep, shuddering breath. ‘This isn’t over,’ he said hoarsely. ‘I’ll be back after I close the deal in Rio.’‘Of course.’ Sylvia’s shoulders straightened, even as her lower lip trembled. ‘I will never stop you from seeing Robby. I hope…I hope you’ll see him often. He needs his father.’Xavier heard the music start to play downstairs and thought of the guests surrounded by white roses and candlelight, waiting for the wedding ceremony to begin. He clenched his hands, feeling that same strange spinning, sinking feeling in the region of his chest.‘Remember,’ he said tersely, looking at her. ‘This was your choice. I wanted to marry you.’She swallowed as tears streamed unchecked down her pale cheeks. ‘I’ll never forget that.’No, he thought suddenly. It couldn’t end like this. Not like this!
Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Fifty-nine
Two weeks later, Sylvia stared at herself blankly in the mirror.An elegantly dressed bride in a long, white lace veil and satin sheath gown stared back at her. It still didn’t feel right. She picked up her neatly bundled bouquet of white roses and looked back in the mirror.It was the morning of her wedding. In less than an hour she would have everything she’d barely dared to dream of—she’d be Mrs. Xavier Regulus. Robby would have his father.So where was the joy? She should have been ecstatic with bliss and hope. So why, looking at herself in this beautiful dress, standing in a suite of this beautiful rented mansion outside her village, did she feel so…empty?Xavier had wanted to marry her immediately, in Rio, but he’d quickly given in to Sylvia’s begging when she’d asked to have their wedding in New Hampshire, so her family could attend.‘We can get married in New Hampshire, of course we can, if that’s your wish,’ he’d told her. ‘But after the ceremony, we must live in Rio. Do you
Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Fifty-eight
Sylvia woke up with a start to see the soft curl of a pink sunrise through the windows. She sat up in bed abruptly, the blanket falling from her naked chest. Had she heard her baby next door?She listened, and heard nothing except Xavier’s even, steady breathing beside her in the shadowy bedroom. Then she heard Robby’s voice again.‘Ma…ma…ma!’Quietly Sylvia rose from the bed and pulled a robe off the bathroom door hook. Leaving Xavier’s room, she went down the hall to her own, where she found her baby son sitting up in his crib. Whispering soft words of love, Sylvia took him in her arms. Holding him tenderly, she fed him, rocking him in the rocking chair. The baby, now yawning with a full belly, swiftly fell back to sleep.But Sylvia knew she would not.Putting him back in his crib, she went to the en-suite bathroom, closing the door silently behind her. She turned on the shower and dropped the robe to the floor. As the steam enveloped her body, she climbed into the marble shower. Sh
Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Fifty-seven
By the time they arrived back in Rio two hours later, one thought kept repeating in Xavier’s mind. One thought over and over.‘Here,’ he said to her, covering her shoulders with his tuxedo jacket as they entered the lobby of his building. She threw him a grateful glance. Her red designer gown now hung askew on her body, the zipper broken from when he’d ripped the dress off her earlier.As they passed the security guards, Xavier glanced at them out of the corner of his eye. His white shirt was rumpled, the cuffs hanging open, his tie crumpled in the pocket of his trousers. Sylvia was looking at him breathlessly, her eyes luminescent, her makeup hopelessly smudged and her lips full and bruised.He saw the security guards nudge each other with a smirk, and he knew he and Sylvia had fooled no one. There could be no doubt what they had been doing.Normally he wouldn’t care if people knew he’d taken a woman as his lover. But this was different. This was Sylvia. And one thought kept going th
Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Fifty-six
Trembling, Sylvia folded her arms.‘Ah,’ Felipe Oliveira said, stroking his chin with satisfaction as he looked from her to Xavier with canny eyes. ‘Now I understand.’‘No!’ Adriana gasped. ‘It can’t be true!’Sylvia’s gaze rested anxiously on Xavier. His dark eyes were deep as the night sky. She saw him take a deep breath. Then slowly, very slowly, he came toward her. Never looking away from her face, he took her in his arms. Biting her lip in apprehension, Sylvia waited for his jaw to clench with fury and resentment. Waited for him to say something biting and cruel.Instead, he gently kissed her cheek, then turned to face Oliveira and Adriana.‘We weren’t going to tell anyone yet. But yes, Robby is my son. I wanted to wait until after our wedding to make it public. It seemed more proper.’‘Proper?’ Adriana sneered. ‘When have you ever cared about proper?’Xavier stiffened, glaring at her. ‘I have always cared about doing what is right,’ he said in a low voice. ‘I would never leave m
Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Fifty-fiv e
The Fantasia gala ball was the single most sought-after invitation of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnaval. Sylvia had read about it in celebrity gossip magazines in the United States. The glamorous event, held in a colonial palace on the Costa Verde south of Rio, attracted beautiful, rich and notorious guests from all around the world. And tonight, Sylvia would be one of them. Tonight, she would be Xavier Regulus’s beloved mistress. His pretend mistress, she corrected herself fiercely.The door of the black Rolls-Royce sedan opened, and she and Xavier stepped out onto the red carpet that led inside the palace, which had once been owned by the Brazilian royal family.Xavier looked brutally dashing in his black tuxedo. Sylvia felt his hungry gaze on her as he took her arm. She tried to ignore it, tried to smile for the benefit of the paparazzi flashing cameras around them, but her body shook beneath the palpable force of his desire.I want you, Sylvia. And I will have you.Liveried doormen in wig
Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Fifty-four
With a gasp, Sylvia pulled back her hand and slapped his face.‘How dare you!’ she cried.The sound of the slap echoed in the bedroom. He stared at her incredulously, his hand on his cheek. Then his eyes narrowed. ‘Why are you pretending it’s not exactly what you want?’Sylvia sucked in her breath, feeling overwhelmed by need for what she could not—could not—allow herself to have. ‘Even if I want you, Xavier, I know you’re no good for me. It nearly killed me last year after our night together when you kicked me out of your life—’‘Kicked you out of my life?’ he demanded. ‘You’re the one who left!’‘You didn’t try to talk me out of it. You didn’t even ask me to stay!’‘I was trying to do what was best for you,’ he said. ‘I knew you wanted a husband, children. You needed a boss who didn’t demand your life and soul. You needed a man who could love you as I cannot. So I gave you up, when it was the last thing I wanted! And what did you do?’ He glowered. ‘You let yourself get pregnant by s
Abducted By The Billionaire Prince Chapter Fifty-three
It's only an act. Only an act!But in spite of the constant repetition of those words, Sylvia’s heart still didn’t believe it as she looked up into Xavier’s dark eyes.‘Really,’ the other man drawled in accented English. His eyes traced over Sylvia. ‘She’s certainly beautiful. But this is all too convenient.’ He folded his arms over his belly. ‘You’ve fabricated this affair, so I’ll still sell you Açoazul.’Sylvia’s pulse hammered in her chest. Convinced that their plan had failed before it had half started, she pulled away from Xavier. But he held her tight in his powerful arms, even as he never looked away from the other man.‘Why would I do that?’ Xavier said coolly.The man looked at Adriana’s tall beauty, then back at Xavier with a scowl. ‘You know why.’‘You’d be a fool not to sell me Açoazul,’ Xavier said sharply. ‘No other competitor has offered you a fraction of the price. Théo St. Raphaël certainly won’t. Don’t lose a fortune based on some unfounded fear!’The older man stif
