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Best Friend's Daddy, Billionaire Devil 39
GIANNIIt’s nothing but a house, though it’s not the house that’s the problem.It’s that she would rather live in that tiny dump of a house than with me. She’d rather return to the one place she swore she didn’t want to be, with a father who suffocates her. All because the idea of living with me is too disgusting for her to consider. The blood in my veins is boiling.The place is dark except for the light over the front door, illuminating a rundown porch. They’ve been gone for half an hour, she and her dad. Roger witnessed it—I didn’t want to be here in case she recognized me on her way out.She or Charles. That prick. The man’s had it out for me long before our daughters ever met. Even if she didn’t notice me parked halfway down the block, he would have. He’s got a sixth sense when it comes to me.All the more reason to get the hell out of here before they return.“What is taking so goddamn long?” I growl into my phone, staring at the upstairs window I know looks into her bedroom. Th
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“Did you ever think that keeping it quiet makes it look like a bigger deal than it is?”My anger rises. “Just do your job.”Either he forgets I can see him, or he doesn't care. He shakes his head and rolls his eyes in plain sight. “I'm done. On my way out now.”“Wait,” I whisper when a familiar car pulls up from the other direction. “I think she's coming.”“Son of a bitch.” Just like that, he disappears, the bedroom door opening and closing. The phone goes dead, too, leaving me with no idea whether he’s escaping. I guess I’ll know soon enough.My gaze darts back and forth between the footage on the tablet of the bedroom and the Corolla, whose headlights shut off a moment before the driver's door opens. At that moment, everything else ceases to exist. I don't care that Roger has to sneak out of the house while Caterina and Charles unload groceries at the curb.I don't care that a detective would probably have a nose like a bloodhound and would be able to sniff out a stranger's presence
Best Friend's Daddy, Billionaire Devil 40
CATERINA“It’s nice of you to stick around to make sure your old man’s taking care of himself.” Dad finishes unloading the cold stuff into the fridge before standing up straight. He eyes me warily, as if he’s trying to figure me out. “However, you don’t need to take another day off work to look after me. I’m fine, and you can’t afford to lose your job.”“I know.” I turn my back to him before filling a pot with water at the sink. It’s a relief to be able to loosen my face up a little—it’s been more than an hour since we went out for groceries, and I spent the entire time straining to keep my expression neutral. I’m exhausted, and my cheeks ache already. And it’s all because I can’t let him know what’s going on in my head.“Honey? Did you hear what I said?”“Hmm?” Turning off the faucet, I set the pot on the stove. “Sorry. I couldn’t hear you over the water.”“We’ll both head to work tomorrow, and when you get home, I’ll have dinner ready for you.” He pulls out a pitcher to mix up iced
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It should shock me to know Dad and Gianni had it out for each other, but I always assumed it had to do more with the illegal wrongdoings that Gianni got away with and my father’s deep moral compass of taking down corruption. This is much more than I could’ve bargained for. “He knew? You’re sure about that?”“I wasn’t exactly discreet,” he snorts. “He knew damn well I’ve made it my mission to take him down.”I’m starting to see it. I don’t want to. I want to close my eyes and pretend it isn’t so sharp.“He put a bullet in your mother’s brain as a warning to me,” Dad concludes in a grim voice. “I know it must be painful to hear that. I’ve told myself for years that Tatiana is not her father, but it’s inevitable that she’ll start taking after him as she ages. No matter how good of a person or how different she tries to be from her father, his blood still runs in her veins.” His forehead smooths, and he smiles. “Now that I have what I’ve been looking for, I can finally put all of this to
Best Friend's Daddy, Billionaire Devil 41
GIANNI“I wouldn’t mind going through the motions, if I didn’t know it’s a waste of time,” I grumble on my way through the large glass doors of the lawyer's office. It's no surprise to find so many associates working at this hour of the night, chugging lattes and energy drinks at nearly nine o’clock. Roger and I wait at the front desk while he texts Bob to let him know we’re here. The receptionist has gone home, I assume.“Do you think she's here yet?” Roger mutters, now changed from the dark clothes he wore only an hour ago into a suit that’s slightly more in line with a visit of this nature. Nobody would ever know he’s fresh off a home invasion.Another reason to hate my ex with all of me: I want to be home, watching the feed from Caterina's room, not arriving at my lawyer's office for a late-night meeting I’m sure will get us absolutely nowhere.“Of course she isn't,” I mutter in reply, lifting a hand when I see Bob striding our way past a row of offices. “It was her great idea to
Best Friend's Daddy, Billionaire Devil 42
My jaw aches; I'm clenching it so hard. I want to tell her she doesn’t know me. Doesn’t have the first clue, but even so nothing I say to her will matter.Bob lets out a bubble of laughter, yet he's a lot gentler about it than I would be. “If you consider the millions Mr. Rossetti has offered you as an example of stinginess, it's clear we'll never come to a final agreement. Mrs. Rossetti, I've been handling marital disputes and divorce agreements for thirty years, and I've never had a client willingly offer such a generous percentage of their net worth. Mr. Rossetti has not once threatened to reduce his original offer. He only refuses to increase it. I’m not your lawyer, but if I could give you a piece of advice, it would be to take the offer.”“So I won't get another red penny.” She folds her arms over her chest, arching an eyebrow. “Not a single cent?” She tilts her head to the side, examining me. ”I thought you were motivated now?” Laughter dances behind her otherwise empty eyes, a
Best Friend's Daddy, Billionaire Devil 43
CATERINAThe porch light makes Tatiana’s golden hair gleam as she stands on tiptoes, peering over Dad's shoulder to see me. “Hey,” she exhales, and there's a world of relief in that single syllable. The worry lines etched on her forehead and between her brows loosen.“See, she’s fine. You've seen her with your own eyes,” Dad snarls. “Now, it's time to go.”“Dad,” I groan in dismay. She didn't do anything to him, to either of us. I'm sure his sudden change in attitude hurts her. He's never been anything but warm and friendly with her until now, and while he’s angry at Gianni, he needs to realize that Tatiana isn’t her father.“This is my house,” he reminds me, looking at me over his shoulder grimly. “I think I still have a say in who does and doesn't step over my threshold. No matter how she puffs out her chest and throws threats around.”I hope she understands how sorry I am when I wrap a hand around his wrist and tug him back away from the door. “Dad, she’s my friend. You’ve never ha
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I mean, he thinks he finally found the evidence he needed to pin my mother’s murder on your dad. Sure, why not? I'll just hammer the final nail into the coffin and completely ruin everybody's life. One confession and I’ll destroy her relationship with her father, my relationship with mine, and any hope of a future with Gianni. I bite my tongue. I don't know how much longer I will be able to keep all of this to myself. The truth is eating me up inside.“Between you and me, he's been drinking.” Her face crumbles a little like she's genuinely sorry to hear it. I know it's disloyal to him, but it's better for her to take his attitude as some kind of drunken rage than to know the truth. If she ever thought Gianni did what Dad swears he did, it would break her heart. She's already been through too much. Plus, she already has one parent who has done nothing but disappoint, neglect, and hurt her. I can't take away the one good parent she has left.“Ugh. How long has it been going on?”“I have
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Best Friend's Daddy, Billionaire Devil 98
When I try to send a text in response, it goes undelivered. The number comes up as ID Blocked. No surprise.“I'm wondering if we should have brought more men,” he grunts, swerving around a slow-moving minivan. A glimpse at the passenger side mirror reveals the car behind us, matching our speed, following Roger's every move.“Between the five of us, if we can't handle it, then we have bigger problems.”“What if this is all a way of drawing us out? Whoever is behind this would know I'd come on the run.”“Do you want to take that chance?” He glances away from the road to stare at me for a moment. “We can always call for more backup.”“By the time they get there, what point would it make?” We're already halfway there as it is. “I don't want to wait for them.”Besides, this doesn't feel like an attack is imminent. It feels more like the attack has already taken place, I'm afraid. I don’t want to think about what we might discover when we arrive. Don't let it be Caterina. Don't let it be Ta
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GIANNI“You can tell summer's winding down.”I look up from the spreadsheet Roger insisted we compile—always organized, which I suppose I should be grateful for even if a Friday evening spent poring over spreadsheets isn’t my idea of a good time. “What do you mean?”“It's already starting to get dark, and it's barely past seven o'clock.”Sure enough, a look out the window confirms this. “I wonder how long the girls will be out.”“You know how it gets sometimes. Crack open a bottle of wine or two, and time melts.”“I don't think they'll be doing that tonight.” When he lifts an eyebrow, I break the news I've been waiting all week to share. “This stays between us, but Caterina is pregnant.”Now both brows lift. “Oh. I... congratulations?”I can't help but grin. “Yes, congratulations are in order.”“And she's happy about it?”“You know. Things are still complicated.” I'm trying to be kind toward Charles for her sake, but I can't pretend his bias against me isn't a real pain in the ass at
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Something snaps inside my head. No, no, this isn’t happening. Not to me. Not to my baby.Every self-defense lesson Dad ever taught me comes rushing back. I can’t breathe in if I want to stay conscious, so I hold my breath while stomping a foot against his instep with all my might. He grunts in pain but doesn’t release me. In my frenzy, I reach out, sinking my nails into any flesh I can touch, then I drive an elbow into his ribs.“You bitch,” he growls before slamming me headfirst into the trunk of my car. Everything goes dark and foggy. My body slumps when I lose control of it, and I can’t help but breathe in.My baby. My baby…I don’t lose consciousness, though. Not completely. It’s more like being sedated; my brain still works. I hear everything, but I can’t make my body move. I’m floating in a dream-like state, but this is all very real. A living nightmare.“Get moving,” one of the men snarls, shoving me into the car. I can’t open my eyes. My head is pounding.Tatiana’s body slumps
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CATERINA“Hey, what are you looking at?”My heart just about jumps out of my chest as I quickly close my browser before turning in my chair to find Stephanie standing at the entrance of my cubicle. The way she lifts an eyebrow while folding her arms reminds me too much of my best friend—it hurts, since we haven’t spoken all week.I touch a hand to my chest, laughing. “You're like a ghost, I swear. How are you so quiet?”“Maybe you were too busy looking at naughty things to notice me coming up behind you.”“Naughty things?” The idea makes me giggle, because she couldn't be further from the truth. It was dirty things that got me pregnant in the first place. Now, I am reading advice columns and googling baby names when I should be working.“Nobody closes their browser that fast if they aren’t looking at something they shouldn't be.”“Sorry to disappoint you, but I was reading junk on Reddit.” At least it's a believable lie. “I don't want to get caught screwing around.”“Who cares?” she s
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The look of heartbreak on Caterina’s face makes me want to order a hit on Amalia at this very moment. “That you’d want me to get an abortion if you found out because you didn’t want any more children. That the last thing you wanted was to be tied down again.” The anguish in her voice slices me down to the bone.I’ll kill her. It’s as simple as that.How long have I told myself I must spare her pathetic life because she’s Tatiana’s mother? She’s never been a mother to her, anyway. I could have done Tatiana and the world a favor by getting rid of her, but I didn’t. Now it doesn’t seem to matter if she’s alive or dead.“For one thing,” I speak carefully so I don’t spook her, “Amalia does not have the first clue on how I would feel about anything. She doesn’t know me. You should know by now that she wants me to be miserable, which means making everyone around me miserable by association. Plus, she’s herself, so I’m sure it must make her jealous, knowing you’re going to have my child—a chi
Best Friend's Daddy, Billionaire Devil 93
GIANNI“Patience,” Roger advises, his eyes constantly moving as he scans the area around us while we stand beneath the covered stoop in front of his cottage. “Just because I haven't found anything yet doesn't mean I won't.”“It isn't you I'm frustrated with,” I grunt, trying not to appear suspicious. There are no fewer than five guards within my line of sight, and I can't help but wonder if it's one of them.The traitor.“It's barely been two days since I installed the software,” he reminds me. “Give it some time.”“I get it, but until then, I have to pretend I trust everyone equally, and that’s frustrating as hell when you know one of your men is sharing information he shouldn’t be.”“There is another solution. It’s faster, if that’s what you’re looking for. You could just fire everybody and start over.”He recoils under the sharp glare I shoot at him. I know he wasn’t serious, but I’m not in a joking mood. “I can't afford to lose my entire team at a time like this. Not with a new de
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“Not really.” Tatiana looks me up and down. “Are you feeling okay? You look a little green.”Once we move closer to the register, the feeling gets worse. Only once the girl behind the counter reaches for Tatiana’s clothes do I realize it’s Tatiana’s perfume that sets me off. The stronger the smell, the sweatier and more nauseated I get.“I’ll meet you outside.” Nothing in the world matters more than getting out of this store. The glass doors are my sole goal, and I walk toward them as calmly as possible, even as my insides start churning. Stupid me, thinking if I never got sick like this before now, I’d be one of the lucky ones who never had to go through it.I burst through the double doors to the outside, sucking deep breaths into my lungs. The sunshine is so bright, glaring off the concrete, but there’s an awning over the wide front window, and I take shelter beneath it. A few minutes pass, and the nausea seems to pass with every breath I take. Shit. Suddenly it occurs to me that I
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CATERINA“How come you're not trying on any clothes?”Damn it. I was hoping I’d get away with it.We’ve been shopping for the past half hour, and only now has she thought to ask why I haven’t picked out anything. I was kind of hoping she wouldn't pay attention. She's having a good time trying on skirts and dresses and jeans. Now she’s frowning at me from the three-way mirror outside her dressing room stall. “Why aren’t you shopping, too?”I’m sure the response: I don't know how much longer I'll fit into anything. It would be a waste of money to buy anything in my size when I don’t have the first idea of how pregnancy will affect my body... wouldn’t go over well.“I feel bloated,” I groan, rubbing my stomach. “It's just not a good day.”“I'm sorry. Would you prefer we go back home?”I like that she thinks of it as home for both of us. “No, I’m fine. I just know I would hate myself in everything I tried on.”“You always look great, if that helps.”“Thanks. And you look hot in that dress
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“There he is, going around with all these suspicions without solid proof. I'm finally starting to understand how he must feel.” That, and how Caterina seems determined to look after me—the way she does with him.“Speaking of which, have you reviewed the list of names I compiled?”If my head doesn't fucking explode, it will be a miracle. I walked into this room feeling good, energized, confident. All it takes is a catch-up session to remember how overwhelming the past few weeks have been. Caterina or no Caterina, I've got enough on my plate to make any man want to throw in the towel.I made her a promise. I’m going to find out who killed her mother. I only hope she isn’t in a hurry, since at least a dozen possible culprits could’ve had reason to send a message to Charles.“I scanned the names,” I confirm. “And I'd like to set up meetings. Only this is touchy, so we can't make too much noise, or word might spread that I'm digging.”“You realize one of those names was Salvatore Costello.
