The Billionaire's Second-Chance Bride (The Romero Brothers, #1) (15 page)

Lucy felt the blood drain from her face.

“What?” she cried out. She shot up from her chair, almost toppling it.

“He suffered a big one, he’s at the General in the ICU. Intensive Care Unit.”

“Oh, God! I...I hope he’s alright. We have to go.”

“I don’t think they’ll let us in. Not in the ICU. Only close family are allowed in,” Darla explained apologetically.

Lucy paced her office frantically. “Antonio. Oh, God! He must be going through hell." She picked up her cell phone to call him and realized she didn’t have his private number. She didn’t want to call the office.

“Listen,” Lucy sighed, “since Shelly called us, we’ll go to lend our support.”

Lucy’s stomach sank to her knees. So Antonio had been right about not letting his grandfather get involved with a high-risk wedding ceremony. Oh, God! What had she done? Why hadn’t she listened to Antonio in the first place and cancelled the whole darn thing in the beginning?

When Lucy and Maxine arrived at the hospital on the fourth floor, they were seated outside in the visitor lounge. Shelly had already brought them up-to-date with the events of the morning. Lucy could not believe how quickly things could change in a heartbeat. Literally. She had spoken to Toni and Shelly early that morning to confirm details of the placemats for their upcoming nuptials and now this.

Antonio was in the ICU with his grandfather. Lucy could see through the glass how broken and crushed he appeared. Guilt tore through Lucy.

Oh, Antonio. I’m so sorry for not listening to you. Please forgive me.

Tears stung her swollen eyes as she sat there, trembling under the air-conditioned area. It was the end of September yet the chill of early fall had already touched them.

Oh, why didn’t I listen to you, Antonio? Maybe he would have been resting in bed instead of dealing with last minute details of his weird wedding adventure. Maybe the thought of being up in a human slingshot got to him.

Lucy hugged herself while she gazed through the glass partition of the ICU. Hoping, wishing, praying that Toni would pull through.

“You know, he told me he still wants us to get married,” Shelly cried into her tissues. “I told him that I will always love him and it doesn’t matter about a piece of paper.” Shelly continued to sob as Lucy wrapped her arm around her.

“It’s okay. It’ll be alright,” Lucy consoled.

Just then, the temperature of the visitor lounge dropped significantly again when Mariam walked in. She eyed Lucy with such contempt she could have frozen under the icy gaze.

Mariam said nothing but spoke to the nurse who came in and was later escorted into the ICU after gowning up. Lucy remembered Antonio mentioning that Mariam had been a faithful assistant to his father and in the family for decades. Perhaps that was why she had the right to go into the ICU as a family member.

“Wow, she’s really nice,” Maxine commented.

“Maxine, shh!” Lucy shot back. “She’s probably upset about the whole situation.”

“So upset that she could not say hi? Is she blaming us?”

“Maxine!”

“Sorry.” Maxine shrugged her shoulders and reached over to console Shelly.

Then Maxine’s words dawned on Lucy. Having a high-energy wedding ceremony planned would be a lot of excitement for an old man. Was Mariam really blaming Lucy for what happened to Toni?

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

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T
he next few weeks were a blur...

Lucy saw Antonio quite a bit during that time period and they had time to date and get caught up with Toni’s progress as he moved from the ICU to the Coronary Care Unit then to the Medical ward where Antonio footed the bill for the best private care for his grandfather. Lucy had been as good as support as she could be while running her business.

She also had the opportunity to speak with Toni.

“I still want to do this, Lucy. Please help us make this happen. I want to marry Shelly. She’s truly amazing,” Toni pleaded. He was frail but his spirit was soaring through any weakness.

Lucy swallowed hard when Toni told her that from the hospital bedside. Antonio was standing close by leaning against the wall, his hands shoved into his pockets and his chin tilted upwards. Did he even care about his grandfather’s wishes? Even if it might be his
last
wish?

“Grandfather, you need to get some rest” was all Antonio uttered during that conversation. Ignoring anything else that was said.

Later, his grandfather became slightly more confused as the hospital staff tried a different type of medication for his nerve pain.

“Well, that settles it,” Antonio declared.

“That settles what?” Lucy was confused.

“My grandfather is not in the right frame of mind to make any decisions. And I’m officially his POA.”

“POA?”

“His power of attorney, dear. Do you not know what that means in this province?” Mariam’s wicked smirk grinded at Lucy’s nerves.“That means that all decisions pertaining to finance and living declarations are to be made by Antonio. Period.”

“Okay, so?” Lucy challenged.

“The wedding is off,” Antonio announced so coldly that Lucy felt an icicle stab right through her heart.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

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E
vents the next day rendered Lucy gasping for air. She fixated on the email in front of her.

Lucy,

My apologies for communicating via electronic mail but please understand. I think it is for the best. We should no longer see each other. I thank you for all that you were trying to do for my grandfather but the matter has been settled. I also appreciate the time we had together. Please do not try to communicate with me after this.

Respectfully,

Antonio Romero, III

Romero Realty Corp.

Respectfully?
WTF? Lucy was fuming. She was boiling up to a dangerously hot level. She could feel her blood sizzle in her veins.

I hate Antonio!

What was he thinking? Who was he to blindside me like that? What a creep!

Lucy could feel her breath getting short as she hyperventilated. Oh, God! She was going to lose control. Of her mind. Of her faculties.

So she would not be getting a second chance at love as she had foolishly thought.

Antonio used me!

I will never, ever, ever trust another man again!

Lucy poured herself a glass of wine and flumped on her couch in her living area of her bachelor apartment. Drowning her sorrows. She closed her eyes.
I’m so through with the male species!

Four weeks later...

Lucy hadn’t heard from Antonio, not that she was really expecting an apology for breaking up with her via “electronic mail.” Heck, who spoke like that?
It’s email, stupid!

She sat in her office typing up her latest contract and perhaps her last. She was going to train Maxine to take over her aunt’s business in the near future. She really didn’t want to have anything to do with arranging asinine weddings for people too-stupid-in-love to see that love didn’t work one iota!

She had already given Maxine the reins to guide the ambiguous wedding of their clients Crystal and Randy.

“Well, this is it!” Maxine bubbled as they drove up to the garden wedding party that they helped planned. Or that Maxine helped arrange. All on her own. Lucy had no part of it.

Everything seemed pleasing upon inspection. They both carried a clipboard to ensure that the flowers were properly displayed and all the decorations were up to standards and the waiters were present to serve the guests. The reception would also be in the garden.

“I heard one of the guests is planning to get his vid up on YouTube. Think of the publicity,” Maxine beamed.

“Yeah, it would be great.” Lucy tried to sound as enthusiastic as Maxine felt. But it was no use.

Antonio Romero.

It had been over two months since they’d been seeing each other and four weeks since that god-awful email he slapped her with. Emotionally slapped her in the face with.

Lucy caved under Maxine’s badgering and spilled to her what had happened between them, not to mention that infamous email.

Maxine truly provided the support Lucy desperately needed at the time and for that she would always be grateful. It wasn’t as if she had many friends. Heck, her friends tended to be the ones she spent the most time with like her colleagues. The nice ones, of course.

“So what is this theme?” Lucy said glancing at her clipboard. “It doesn’t say.”

“Oh, it’s a dance theme. It should be fun.”

“Oh, okay, cool!” Lucy said in a low voice. They were both dressed in wedding guest attire so they would at least fit in and blend in with the crowd as they surveyed the scene to ensure everything ran smoothly. They stood over to the side in front of rows of white chairs and the altar nearby decorated in white roses. The sky was blue and the sun shone, though there was a slight chill in the autumn air.

Lucy knew then that this would be the closest she would ever get to being in a wedding. She felt she would never become a bride. Ever. The feeling tore at her inside. Still, she was happy for Crystal and Randy since this was what they wanted.

Lucy grabbed a glass of wine from the waiter walking by as the guests filled up the wedding area.

The groom, Randy, walked down the aisle with his brother as soft music played. So far, so good.

Then the bridesmaids started in and the music changed to some dance-hall sort of heavy-beat song. It seemed so inappropriate but Lucy shrugged her shoulders as she watched from the sidelines.

Six bridesmaids with knee-length dresses glided down the aisle calmly at first then they broke out into a gymnastic-like dance. Lucy’s eyes widened. One of the older guests started fanning herself looking as if she would pass out at any moment.

But then it all went downhill.

The bridesmaid, in tune with the heavy beats, started doing this phenomenon known as “twerking” and Lucy almost choked on her drink and spurted out the wine that was in her mouth, coughing so hard that a waiter had to come by and attend to her.

She saw another older guest cover the eyes of a young attendee. The older woman who was fanning herself fainted while the elder gentleman beside her put on his glasses and started dancing too. He, at least, seemed to be enjoying the show.

A commotion soon broke out as the bride in question came dancing down the aisle, but then she tripped over one of the twerking bridesmaids.

I’m dead.

I’m so dead.

Maxine is dead.

She is so dead.

It was a PR disaster, but since it was modern times dominated by social media, disasters could turn out to be a good thing. The next day, the video captured on the cellphone of a guest garnered 50,000 views and 3,000 thumbs-up, 400 thumbs-down.

“Well, at least we got the publicity we needed.” Maxine boasted the next day.

“We don’t need that kind of publicity, Maxine. Not like that.” Was Lucy a fool to leave the agency to Maxine? But who else was enthusiastic about continuing her aunt's dream?

“Okay, you can plan the next one,” Maxine chimed in. “It’s Mr. and future Mrs. Smithson. And they want a simple garden wedding. Nothing fancy. Just beautiful. Paradisiacal.”

“Okay, good. When are they getting married?” Lucy took her notepad and grabbed her pen as they sat in her office.

“This one’s a rush job. Two weeks time.”

“Fine. I’ll be in charge. No one else.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

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T
hank God this will be the last wedding I will have to plan
, Lucy thought.

She was all too grateful for this day to come. The sun shone bright in the blue sky. It was much warmer than previous fall days. She was glad for that. Mr. and Mrs. Smithson would be so happy. She had met them last week for the first time since Maxine originally managed them and they seemed so sweet and appreciative.

Right. The checklist.

Lucy glanced down at her notepad and clipboard in her hand. She’d already spent the morning and last two days obsessively checking the wedding day forecast. It was forecast to be a cloudless fall day. An unseasonably warm day, at that!

Lucky for the Smithsons.

I wish it were me getting married.

A longing so sharp and painful settled inside Lucy’s heart but she tried to squash the thought. It was a good thing this
would
be her last planned wedding.

She confirmed securing necessary permits, as well as a backup for the wedding ceremony and reception in case it rained unexpectedly. Catering was organized. Easy access to bathroom facilities was checked and so was access to parking. The sound system was checked by the DJ and they had a hard surface for the dance so that lady guests would not get their heels stuck in the grass. Not like that last “twerking” wedding disaster weeks ago.

Lucy drew in a deep breath. She glanced around her surroundings. It was breathtaking. A gorgeous Edenic garden nestled near a wooded area outside of Toronto belonging to a rich owner who was generous enough to allow them to use the facilities. Maxine located the venue when the Smithsons requested a specific setting. The trees looked angelic decorated with warm fairy lights that created an inviting ambiance. So romantic. So soothing to the senses. Flowers of every kind decorated the area and lined the aisle leading up to the makeshift altar. Lace curtains were also present. It was spectacular. Lucy spun around and froze.

She caught the silhouette of a tall, well-built man in a suit near one of the trees.

Antonio Romero?

No. It couldn’t be. What was he doing there? If this was his property, she would be leaving like right now.

She started to walk away.

Perhaps it was her imagination. She’d been working so hard these past few days, training Maxine to take over while planning this wedding, amongst other things.

“Lucy,” Antonio’s deep, rich silky voice called out to her from afar and she stopped. Her breath was labored, her heart pounded hard, fast, erratically in her chest. She thought it would explode.

She spun around on her heels. The look of disdain evident on her face.