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Best Friend's Daddy, Billionaire Devil 55
CATERINA“You know, we haven’t been out for another happy hour since that first one, where you bailed on us.”It isn't until I realize everybody's staring at me that I tune back into the conversation in the break room. It seems I’ve developed a bad habit of tuning out things that bore me, and nothing bores me more than small talk being exchanged around the coffeemaker. It’s either grin and bear it or not get a refill of coffee, and I need all the caffeine I can get my hands on today.“Are you talking to me?” I ask on a nervous laugh.Todd rolls his eyes. “No, I'm talking to the other coworker who bailed in the middle of a happy hour the first time she ever came out with us.”“You honestly need to let this go,” Stephanie sighs while I sputter in confusion. “I swear, you are worse than a dog with a bone when you make up your mind to be pissed off about something.”Todd snorts. “I'm not pissed. I'm just saying we were all worried.”You didn't come off so worried about me.Sometimes I wis
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I can hear the way Dad used to tease her whenever she was behind the wheel. He hated riding as a passenger when she drove since she drove so much slower than he did. “I have precious cargo onboard.” She’d wink at me in the mirror as she’d say it.Mom would’ve been driving slower, especially if it was raining hard, though somehow she was moving fast enough to crush the front of the car on impact.My hands start to tremble, and I can barely minimize my browser window. I can’t have it sitting right out in the open in case somebody walks past—even more I can’t sit and stare at the car any longer. It makes my head spin and my heart race as a cold sweat clings to the back of my neck.Why would she be driving that fast in the rain? Cars used to fly past her on the highway—I recall hearing horns blaring so many times, where every so often, somebody would flip her the bird as they passed by. I learned a few filthy words during those car rides, mainly from the frustrated drivers as they passed.
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Once again, she leaves me wondering what the hell I ever saw in her. I'm starting to think there won't ever be any hope of getting rid of her, but I have to try. Particularly if I ever want to have anything meaningful with Caterina.Sebastian Costello is young—he turned twenty-five a month ago. He comes off as cocky, but I see it as more of a front. A way for him to convince you he knows what the hell he’s doing before trapping you. His usual expression would appear to be a smirk since that’s most of what I’ve seen from him since he entered my office, taking the leather chair across from me. Roger, as always, lingers near the window. Holding his tongue as expected, all the while watching closely with his keen, experienced eyes.Sebastian shakes his head when offered a drink. “I prefer a clear head when discussing business.” This little shit, posturing in front of his elders. I wasn’t much better at his age. In comparison, he's got an advantage over me; he was raised in this dark world
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CATERINAThere's meatloaf in the oven and mashed potatoes being kept warm on the stove. I even bought Dad’s favorite ice cream on the way home. It's pretty lame, except it's all I have. It’s the only weapon at my disposal to bring my father around for an actual conversation with him about Mom. The promise of a good meal, something it seems like he misses out on when I’m not around. He's been a stranger the past few days, coming home late and leaving the house early.The only evidence I have of him being here is the dishes in the sink every morning and a damp towel on the bathroom floor. He's been treating this place like a hotel, and me the housekeeper. I think the worst part of all is that I don’t mind. The least I can do is take care of him, since he's doing me a favor by letting me stay. I won’t be here forever. I have every intention of leaving. I'll have to either piss or get off the pot soon regarding that lease, but I will sign it. I only asked for a few days to work on a few t
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“All these late nights and early mornings. You’ve been so scarce lately–of course, I’m going to worry about you.” I set down the pan and remove the potholders from my trembling hands. “Are you sure you're not overdoing it with your investigation?”“I knew there had to be a reason for you to do this.” He waves a hand over the table I so carefully set. “What's this, an intervention? Do you think I'm taking this too far, too?”Too? It makes the skin on the back of my neck prickle, that word. “Why? Am I not the only one who knows?”He steps beside me, his eyes stern, and now I can smell the liquor on his breath. Jesus Christ. It's six-thirty, and he's been drinking already. “You will not do this. You don't get to ambush me in my own home. Did you think making me dinner would change things?”I set the meatloaf down in the center of the table before turning to him, hands on my hips. “What is with all the anger? What did I do to you? All I care about is you, and whether you're taking care of
Best Friend's Daddy, Billionaire Devil 60
GIANNIAnyone watching me as I sit behind my desk, scanning emails, would imagine I’m present. Working, focused, and managing my empire. In other words, they would never think I’m fantasizing about a particular young woman who owns my every thought, dream, and breath.There are times when my thoughts of Caterina are so vivid I would swear she was here in the room with me. I can smell her perfume, as if she’s walking past me. Light and fresh, so powerful I can almost believe I can be young and fresh, too. Like she has the power to wipe away the ugliness and darkness surrounding me.I shouldn’t have touched her, tasted her while she was here, on my desk. For now I can't get the image out of my head. All I can see is the arousal that gushed from her, pooling beneath her ass, her writhing and moaning. She was helpless to my touch.My dick is so hard it aches. So fuckin hard, I have no choice but to run my hand over the straining bulge and consider taking it out to elevate the pain. I rare
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“Listen.” I hold my hands up, palms facing outward, as I work to remind myself who I’m looking at. This is her father. She loves him. She wouldn't want this. “I have nothing against you personally. Even when I knew you were knocking yourself out trying to pin a charge on me, I said, I get it. The man has a job to do. I even respect it. And the only reason I could, was because I knew you'd never be able to make a charge stick. I'm too fucking smart for that. Still, I didn't rub it in your face. Nevertheless, here you are, driving up to my house, writing checks you can’t hope to cash. Are you sure this is how you want it to be?”A tear escapes his eye and rolls down his cheek, sparkling in the sunshine. “You ruined my daughter!” he bellows.Ruined her? “If she wants to be with me, she can be. She's a grown woman who can make her own goddamn decisions. She doesn't need her daddy telling her what to do anymore.”When his face falls, and he takes a staggering step back as if I’ve hit him,
Best Friend's Daddy, Billionaire Devil 62
CATERINAI force a smile as I step up to the desk in the lobby of the police station. How long has it been since I stood right here in this very spot? Thinking back to the last time I was here, I think I was twelve or thirteen and so excited and thrilled about visiting my dad at work.Back then, he was important, a higher-up. Funny, I never would have guessed that everything would change less than ten years later. Excitement would become embarrassment; a sadness encompassing me as soon as I walked through the double doors. Being here now, everything is different. I’m here to help my father, not to visit him. He’s no longer the hero I worshiped as a little girl. Not anymore.I wrinkle my nose upon my first deep breath into my nose. The place reeks of stale coffee. The tiled floor could use replacing, and the fluorescent lights… well, fluorescent lights never do anyone any favors. It makes us all look washed out and gaunt. I try to ignore the lingering stares as I stand waiting. A handf
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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
Best Friend's Daddy, Billionaire Devil 95
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
Best Friend's Daddy, Billionaire Devil 92
“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
Best Friend's Daddy, Billionaire Devil 91
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.
