The Playboy Billionaire (The Romero Brothers, Book 3) (11 page)

She groaned. Thankfully, Blue was no longer
in that awful line of work and didn’t have to come up with sensational storylines
to sell copies of a newspaper or score viewers for her network.

There was a more pressing thought on her
mind, as much as she didn’t want to admit it to Zack. She desperately needed to
know. Who the hell tried to have her running scared? Zack was right. Courtney
had to be protected at all costs. She really didn’t know who could have done
this to her. Was it some drive by crazy who randomly chose to drive her off the
road? Was it Elliot or his guys? Elliot always hung with gangsters outside of
his duties at work. Was it the ex-Senator Aitkin? She squeezed her eyes shut,
momentarily, and sucked in a deep breath as the vehicle traversed the main road
to her home.

She glanced in Zack’s direction. He seemed
lost in thought as he sat in the seat beside her. She could see raw hurt in his
sexy, dark eyes. What was on his mind? He was miles away.

“We’re going to pick up your sister. You’ll
get a chance to gather your things.”

“What?” Blue’s heart pounded hard and fast
in her chest. “What are you talking about?” she queried. She did not like the
finality in his tone.

“You don’t think I’m going to let either of
you stay at your apartment after this, do you?”

“Well, where else would we stay?”

“In one of my apartments in the city, if
you wish. Or you could stay in Mayberry.” His tone, it was hard, authoritative.
Commanding.

Blue was speechless. Her mouth hung open
for what seemed like forever. “You’re not serious.”

“I’ve never been more serious, Miss Monroe.
You are currently in my employ. The incident happened close to the estate.
You’re my responsibility. Until we find out who did this and get to the bottom
of this…” He seemed to be giving her an order like a soldier under command of
his
higher ranking
officer. However, she was not a
soldier and he was not her commanding officer.

The memory of Elliot bossing her around,
bullying her to do whatever he wanted her to do came crashing down on her mind
like a violent tornado whirling her thoughts and emotions all over the place.
So Zack was rich and powerful. Did that make him the boss of her life? Hell,
no. Was she some cheap, mindless being who when told to jump would ask how
high? This was her life he was talking about.

“But you can’t just tell me what to do!”
Blue’s ears burned. She could not believe what she was hearing. “You didn’t
even consult
me
about it first. My
sister goes to summer school and I…I’ll be fine at home, thank you.”

“I’ll decide that.” Ooh, his tone was
clipped and curt.

The
hell you will.
“Is this how you treat everyone in
your life? You just order them around and they do as they’re told without
question? Well, I’m not one of your pawns. You seriously have control issues,
Mr. Romero.”

“Ouch. Remind me to send you the bill from my
therapist.”

Despite herself, Blue giggled. Was this guy
for real? Okay, he was hot and sexy and oh, so charming. It was damned hard to
stay mad at a guy like that. Okay, maybe she was being a bit harsh.

“I’m sorry, I…I’m not usually this rude.”

“Oh, here I thought it was the impact of
the accident.”

“That’s not funny.”

“I know. I apologize. And I did not mean to
be overbearing, Miss Monroe. It’s a very serious thing that happened. Would you
and your sister like to stay in a more secure housing complex like the Romero
Towers at the waterfront, or at the estate?”

Ooh, now that sounds like an enticing
proposition. What could she say to that? “I…I don’t know how my sister will
feel about that, Zack. I…thank you.”

*
  
*
  
*

“Who the hell are you?” Elliot asked the towering,
muscular man in the black suit. He looked like a mob hit man but he couldn’t be
sure.

“My boss sent me,” the man said, closing in
on him. “Where were you this evening?”

“What do you mean? I was here. At home.”
Elliot loosened the tie around his neck. He’d just gotten home from work at the
station and turned on the game. He hadn’t even changed out of his suit. Who was
this monster of a man working for? He’d slept with that model from the club and
never called her back. Could she have been a call girl or something? Heck,
there were a lot of women who he couldn’t care less about calling in the
morning once he got what he wanted. They would get over it. He racked his brain
trying to figure out which broad he had screwed and couldn’t subsequently handle
the fact he did not dedicate his life to her. Bitches. They were all bitches.

When he reached his apartment earlier, he’d
heard a knock at the door and when he opened it thinking it was the pizza
delivery guy, the thug of a bodybuilder barged through the door.

“Never mind that,” the man hissed in a
dangerously low voice, void of emotions.

“Look, man, what’s this about?” Elliot felt
his blood pressure climb. Sweat beaded his forehead. He’d run some numbers
before, hadn’t he? Shit! His past was catching up with him. Was it the money
he’d taken from his ex-friend’s loan shark business? Shit. What had he done?
Who was this man?

“A nice lady named Blue.”

“Blue?” Elliot’s mind went numb. Blue was
probably only the sanest chick he’d been with.
As much as she
didn’t want him.
“I got rid…she and I are no longer together.”

“You are to stay away from her. Capisce?”

Elliot loosened the tie around his neck,
yet again. His throat was expanding with blood pumping hard through his neck.
Sweat started to drip from his face. “Understood.”
Whatever
.

“Look, man. I don’t know what this is about
but I don’t have anything do with her anymore. I don’t even see her since…” he
paused. He decided he’d said enough.

Shit! He thought Blue was some kind of
loser loner girl. She didn’t even have much family or parents, did she? Where
the hell did she know this guy or his
boss from?
And
who
the hell was this man working for? He certainly wasn’t
someone Elliot wanted to even deal with. The fact that he had timed his arrival
at home and knew
who
the hell he was and where he
lived was terrifying.

Very terrifying.

“You have my word on it. I won’t go
anywhere near her.”

Courtney looked around the enormous room as
if they had won their very own dream home. Her backpack was slung over her
shoulder and her jaw dropped. Zack had just escorted Blue and her younger
sister to the west wing of the grand Romero Manor and into one of the rooms where
they would take up temporary residence.

Romero Manor was a 22-bedroom luxury
mansion that had its own sprawling acreage of land and parks in addition to the
16,000-square-foot winery and estate.

Each wing was basically a self-contained home
of its own with its own massive granite-top kitchen, games room, in-home
theatre, den and living area that was joined by an incredibly huge ballroom and
grand foyer that rivaled Buckingham Palace.

It
must have cost a fortune to build this place
, Blue
thought to herself with delight. How marvellous the design was! She felt as if
she were in an art gallery rather than a home with its collection of superb paintings
on cream-colored walls and the breathtaking views to the gardens and hills in
the tall ceiling-to-floor windows that brought in ample sunlight during the day.
It was like a North American castle. The vaulted ceilings had Italian-inspired moulding
and beautiful paintings above. The ceiling seemed to go on forever.

The floors were marble, exquisite and
expensive. A warm golden
hue
. Zack seemed so hot yet
down-to-earth, approachable. As wealthy and affluent as he was, she would never
think he was so approachable seeing that he lived like a crown prince.

Blue was enthralled by the whole place.
Intimidated. Yet she tried to act more composed. She’d seen many places while
working as a reporter. But none like this up close. It was more like a palace.
Blue was sure she would get lost trying to find her way around. It was a good
thing the estate was equipped with several kitchens and living areas in each
quarter so it would be easy to stick to one area of the mansion.

“You really didn’t have to do this, Zack,”
Blue turned to her boss, while Courtney delighted in walking in and out of the
huge walk-in closets "wowing" and saying “awesome!” and “cool” as she
made her way around. Their suitcases were left in the room for them to sort
themselves out later.

So this was how the other half lived.

“It’s the least I can do until we get
things sorted out,” Zack said in a low tone, rubbing the stubble on his face.
He appeared distracted as if he had the world on his shoulders. The least thing
she wanted to do was to add to his troubles. Great. Blue was already becoming a
burden to him and she’d only been on the job for a few weeks.

Well, on the plus side, perhaps she could
dig into her research while she was there about the winery and estate and gather
more background information. After all, she was now officially at work.

“Thank you, Zack. You have no idea what
this means to me,” Blue said, stepping outside the room and leaving Courtney to
get unpacked. “But how long…how long can we stay here?” she said, her brow
raised
. It wasn’t really a question. It was more like a
statement. How long did he think he could really keep Blue and her sister
living in this sheltered palace?

“As long as you need to be here, Blue.” His
voice was
more curt
. Rough. Did he really mean it? Goodness,
it was difficult as hell to read this fascinating man. Perhaps that was all
part of his allure. He didn’t wear his emotions on his tailored sleeves.

“Well…I…thank you, again. I don’t know how
I will ever repay you,” she said, almost breathless.

Zack’s dark, sexy gaze caught hers and she
thought her breath was stolen away. Her belly caved in with the massive
butterflies flapping about inside her. Was he always this irresistible? She had
to get hold of herself. Her life was in danger. That was the bottom line.

Her breathing shallowed. His cell phone
vibrated in his pocket. Without taking his gaze off Blue, Zack reached into his
pocket so smoothly and answered it with a deep, low “yes” to the person on the
other end. Whoever it was.

“Good. Keep me posted,” Zack said after a
moment. He ended the call and replaced the phone in his pocket. He breathed
deeply.

“Dinner will be ready at eight. Our chef is
preparing seafood tonight. We’ll be eating in the east wing. This will give you
a chance to meet the rest of the family.”

“Oh?” This caught Blue off guard. Family?
Dinner?
At eight?
“I…I don’t know what to say.”

“You and your sister must be hungry. I’ll
leave you to change.”

Blue realized that she was a guest in his
home at the end of the day and she bit down on her lip, trying not to sound
ungrateful. After all, this gorgeous businessman who probably had an incredibly
full agenda made time for her and her sister on such short notice. He must have
shifted plans for them. She was thankful to that at least.

And oh, God! Her stomach squeezed
mercilessly. She could still see that blue SUV speeding up behind her and
slamming into her bumper. She squeezed her eyes shut trying to block out the
gut-wrenching feeling of virtually seeing her life flash before her eyes. If
anything had happened to her, what in God’s name would happen to Courtney? Her
sister was eighteen and at the age of majority but in Blue’s eyes, she was
still a kid and that would make her an orphan with no family.

Blue snapped back to reality and tried to
think positive and worry about the present time. At the moment she was not in any
peril. That was what mattered, right? Worrying never solved anything. Most of
the time the things one worried about almost never happened. Her father had
told her that once, when she was in college.

*
  
*
  
*
  

Blue’s heart hammered against her ribs. She
thought she was going to pass out. It was a good thing Courtney was with her
walking towards the dining area of the east wing. She was with Louise, the
housekeeping staff member. She couldn’t call her a maid exactly. She didn’t
seem as formal though she was dressed in a black flowing skirt and a white
shirt wearing a silver necklace with a blue pendant.

“There’s nothing to be nervous about. The
Romeros are very friendly,”
Louise
said to Blue as if
she noticed her silence.

“This is really cool,” Courtney said,
gaping at the artwork in the corridor as they walked towards the main foyer. “I
can’t believe you guys live here like this. It’s like royalty or something.”

Louise laughed heartily. She was an older
woman with a very round and friendly face. Her hair had turned silky silver and
was tied back neatly in a bun. Blue was grateful to have her escort them to the
dining area. She wondered why Zack hadn’t suggested that they have something
delivered to their rooms. It was more like a grand hotel than a mansion in any
case.