by Fiona Murphy
His Dirty Promises
Dirty Billionaires, Volume 2
Fiona Murphy
Published by Fiona Murphy, 2019.
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
HIS DIRTY PROMISES
First edition. May 17, 2019.
Copyright © 2019 Fiona Murphy.
ISBN: 978-1393643807
Written by Fiona Murphy.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
His Dirty Promises (Dirty Billionaires, #2)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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20
Dante Sabatini. Billionaire, manwhore extraordinaire—and my new next-door neighbor. Two years ago, my sister married his brother. Over the years I’ve heard all about him and seen his pictures everywhere, yet between me away in school and Dante’s hectic... ahem, “social life,” we keep missing each other. Until the day I move in across the hall from him. Nothing could have prepared me for Dante Sabatini in person. He’s more gorgeous than a photo could do justice—and more of an a$$hole than I thought was humanly possible.
Oh yeah, and he wants me. Me? Plus size, virgin, twenty-four to his thirty-five, nobody to the models and actresses he’s been with. Seriously? Only the jerk refuses to take me up on my begging to learn everything I can under his expert tutelage. We’re family now, and there’s too much at stake when we crash and burn he insists.
This guy is giving me whiplash and driving me crazy. We’re only five hundred feet from each other, but we’re separated by so much more. All I want is some fun, no promises or hand-holding necessary. Once I get what I want, will we be able to survive everything that comes our way... or will we crash and burn, hurting the people we love the most as we do?
1
Bethany
I fling open the door and before I can even open my mouth, I’m seized in a hug that has me gasping for air. Alicia is five eight to my five four, which means my feet are dangling as she picks me up and swings me around.
“Missed you too,” I wheeze.
“I can’t believe it, it’s finally happening. You’re done. Finally! When you come home to Chicago, you get to stay.” Her squeal in my ear leaves my head ringing. I hear a crack, broken rib, broken rib.
“I can’t breathe, you broke a rib and punctured my lung. Call 911.”
With a huff she lets me go. “You are so dramatic. You should have been an actress instead of becoming a physician assistant.”
“Whatever.” A hand running over my middle reassures me my ribs are intact. “My ribs are bruised, thank you very much. I’m sure my unborn niece is unhappy with you too.” I pat her barely swollen tummy. “Where’s Cesare? And my nephew? Where the heck is Matteo?”
“Cesare got caught up with a client—he is massively sorry. I was never going to bring Matteo, I told you. He’s home with the nanny. The kid is a freaking tornado. He can’t sit still for five minutes, never mind an hour-long graduation ceremony. You’re coming home with me, anyway. You can spend the night or however long you want and get your fill of him. Although Cesare is betting you’ll run for the door after a few hours.”
I’m not really surprised Cesare isn’t here. He’s giving Alicia and me our space, being considerate of how close we are. While I would in no way have resented having him here, I’m grateful he understands. As far as me not being able to handle Matteo, whatever. Cesare thinks he’s knows everything. Okay, he usually does, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying. “Rude. How much is the bet for?”
“Nothing you can get in on.” Alicia smiles wide.
“Ew, thank you for the imagery.” I notice the elderly man who drives my sister around the city. “Hi, Henry. You get the fun job of driving my car home for three and a half hours? I’m sorry. I would have been happy to do it myself.”
“No problem at all, young lady. I have an audiobook to keep me company, been looking forward to it all week.” I hand him the keys.
“It’s packed and the gas tank is full. You remember it’s the little red Corolla, right?”
“Yes, ma’am. Your sister pointed it out on our way in. Congratulations on your graduation.”
“Thanks, Henry. See you soon.”
“Be careful, Henry. Your cell is on and charged?”
Henry smiles. “Yes, ma’am, like you asked before we got on the plane and before we got off the plane.”
“Laugh at me because I worry. You have the tracking mode on, right?”
“Yes, I do.” With another smile he nods, then leaves.
“It’s three hours on a busy interstate highway.” Alicia mutters.
“Yeah, totally not a busy highway. It’s one long boring stretch of gray. I’m more worried he’ll fall asleep.”
“Me too, I just didn’t want to say it. Wow, this place is so insanely clean you might even get your deposit back.”
“All thanks to Jessica.” Jessica was hired by Cesare for me as a housekeeper. I resented it for maybe five minutes until she not only made my life easier but ten times better. “I’m going to miss her. She even packed my bags for me.” I nod to my two suitcases. I’m not sure how long I want to stay with Alicia and Cesare in their ginormous mansion. I already have the keys to the condo they once lived in and still own. Their invitation for me to live there for as long as I want is an amazing gift. Alicia even mentioned getting an interior designer in to change the place up. While I appreciate it, I can’t see myself staying there for long. I’m already excited to find a place in the Wrigleyville area I used to live in with Alicia before I left for school.
Alicia’s smile flashes for only a second before lines appear in her forehead. My stomach drops. “What’s the matter?”
She shakes her head, not meeting my eyes. “We’ll talk on the plane. Let’s get to your graduation.”
Seriously? Is she trying to make me crazy? “Nope, I can’t sit there for an hour while I wonder what you want to talk about. Spit it out.”
“This is the last month Cesare is giving you an allowance. It makes sense, right? I’ve been keeping an eye on your accounts—you did great saving money. It’s why I think the allowance is no longer necessary, not just because you’ve graduated and it’s time to stand on your own. You have more than enough money to pay your own bills. You can do it, I have faith in you even though I’m not happy you aren’t getting licensed right away. While I understand wanting time off after school, you should have taken the test and gotten it over with. Now you have to wait until the next testing session opens in another three weeks. It’s... it’s time for you to be responsible for you.”
This isn’t a surprise. She’s right, it makes sense. It’s not as though she’s kicking me out into the harsh world. I’m not paying rent and she’s right, my savings could last me a year easily. A savings account I owe entirely to Cesare. He upped my allowance from fifteen hundred to five thousand a month almost two years ago while at the same time having Jessica paying my bills from a card Cesare gave her that he also took care of. It’s silly for him to continue giving me an allowance. I’m graduating today. This is my big girl moment, so why does it feel like a slap in the face? “Yeah, okay. Fine. Let’s go.”
“Bethany.” She grabs my arm as I turn, not willing to let her see the pain and confusion churning through me.
I shrug it off. “I don’t want to be late, let’s go.” I gra
b my keys. She doesn’t move. “It’s fine. I need to leave now or I’ll be late.”
I follow Alicia to the car, where a driver is waiting with country music turned all the way up. I won’t miss this about Iowa.
The next hour passes in a blur. Shaking the hand of the university president, I find Alicia in the crowd. She’s clapping with her whole body, tears falling without any embarrassment, only pride. Great, now I’m crying.
This moment wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Alicia. Not just because she paid my way through school, but because she supported me every step of the way. There were more times than I can count when I wondered if I could do it, but I didn’t give in or up because of her. She’s right, it’s time, it makes sense. I shouldn’t receive an allowance anymore. Allowances are for kids, and I’m not a kid anymore. I’m a twenty-four-year-old woman graduating today with her physician assistant degree. I’ll be responsible for people’s medical care; it doesn’t get any more grown-up. It’s just... sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever feel like an adult. The last time I checked, it was supposed to be when I finished this master’s program from hell. I finished a week ago... any day now would be good.
***
Dante
“What do you mean you aren’t coming over tonight? This is a family celebration. Bethany graduated, it’s a major accomplishment. It’s also long past time you met your little sister.” Che’s eyes narrow.
“Good for her. I’m not in the mood to celebrate. And I don’t want a little sister. She sounds like a pain in the ass.”
Dark eyes bore into me until I’m fighting to keep my mouth closed. Ever since I can remember, even before my father destroyed my world by shooting and killing our mother then killing himself and forcing Che into dad mode, I couldn’t hide a thing from my brother when he stared me down. Only lately the stare hasn’t worked. I’m not sure if I’ve gotten better at keeping my mouth closed, or if he’s not so scary since he fell in love with Alicia and she made him less miserable.
He gets up and pours himself a scotch, even though it’s only one in the afternoon and one of our biggest clients is coming into the office soon. His sip is measured as he savors the fine liquor. I’m jealous. I gave up drinking for Lent. Not really; I gave up drinking because I was becoming a drunk, and sloppy. A Sabatini may be a lot of things, an asshole, rude, ruthless, even a killer, but one thing we never are is sloppy, not with our money, not with our business, and especially not with our bodies.
After another bender in a long line of them in which I slept through my alarm clock and didn’t wake up until noon, I stumbled into the bathroom, took one look in the mirror and flinched. Deep lines were forming in puffy skin; that skin, once glowing, was sallow, mottled, with circles under my eyes so dark they were almost black. Closing my eyes against the sight, I called Gretchen, then my assistant for all of a week, and told her I wouldn’t be in. Her tone of boredom, her assurance she’d already cancelled my day and not to worry, pissed me off. Not at her, at myself.
I went through my place and dumped all my liquor, then I went across the hall to Che’s condo and did the same thing there. Now almost two months later, the lines are thinner, as is my face and body. I dropped the softness I was forming through better eating and spending time in my home gym. My color is back and while I’m no longer plagued with fuzzy thoughts or a poor memory, I’m still numb to... everything.
“Cosa C’e?”
I shrug. What’s wrong? Everything, nothing. Saying it out loud, it’s absurd. I’m not happy with my life. Who the hell wouldn’t be happy with my life? I’m a thirty-five-year-old billionaire at the top of the fucking heap in a city where only the strongest survive.
Yeah, Cesare laid the foundation. But I was there every step of the way, at properties we flipped, laying tile until midnight even though I had school the next day. All the way from high school, to college and even while I was getting my master’s from the Kellogg School at Northwestern. Finishing school, I went right into working seventy hours a week, courting the buyers with the deepest pockets and the sellers with the best properties. Cesare started us at millions; I helped take us to billions. As a billionaire the world is at my fingertips, so why am I bored out of my mind? Where did the pride and joy I once had in my life go? I don’t fucking know anymore.
“Are you still in on the foundation?” His question is the last one I expect.
I’m not sure if I’m relieved or hurt he doesn’t press me. “Yeah, of course. Say the word, I’ll have the money transferred.”
“Gretchen will clear your schedule for the next two weeks. Get the foundation up and running. We’ll do the ten million each, from me, you, Enzo and then twenty million from our company and ten million from Enzo’s company. Hannah will get you our current donations we have running to move to the foundation. I want you to work with Alicia. Once it’s up she will run it.”
He hands me a manila folder from under the file open on his desk. “This is a grant proposal from a doctor who wants to start a mobile medical office on the south side of the city. Two doctors or a doctor and a few nurses who can go in daily. He also wants another doctor and nurse who are willing to go into a person’s home for those who are not ambulatory to get to the office. Look into it, see how we can make it work while still keeping the other things we are funding.”
The numbers are almost overwhelming on how great the need is for the office but I know they aren’t why Che is considering it. “This is for our new little sister, isn’t it?”
Che smiles, no hint of apology. “Of course. And she’s not so new. You’ve just been busy. You don’t want to come tonight, fine. I’ll pass along your apologies. Bethany won’t be able to sit for her certification for a few weeks anyway. I’m not willing to sacrifice the things we are funding at the altar of giving Bethany a clinic to practice in, if it’s not viable to fund this, let it go.”
“Is this payback for not going tonight?”
He leans back—he’s doing the staring thing again. “No. This is you not having your head in the game right now for me to trust you with business. Instead of you calling one of our biggest clients Linda instead of Lesley twice during a meeting, you’re taking time away to focus on this. Maybe it’s also a way to remind you of how much all three of us have accomplished and everything we have to be thankful for.”
His phone beeps a second before Hannah comes through, letting him know Lesley Carlisle is in the lobby on her way up. He nods toward his door. “Go. I don’t want Lesley reminded of last time she saw you. Your pretty face only gets you out of so many fuckups.”
I don’t argue. He’s right. I used to love working with clients, figuring out what they wanted and their usually hidden needs. Then once I got it right, their happiness at finding their new home gave me a high for days. Now they get on my nerves with their demands while bitching about easily changed things. One of the things I liked the most, spending the days out of the office walking the streets of Chicago, can’t even compensate for dealing with clients.
Up until our last meeting, Lesley made it more than clear every time we met she’d love to mix business with pleasure. Even though it was never going to happen we enjoyed a relaxed relationship as we worked together. I’m not stupid enough to mix business with anything, not to mention the woman is married. Employees, and women in relationships, are strictly off limits for me and my brothers. At least they were supposed to be, then Cesare went and fell in love with my assistant two years ago. After the second time I called her by the wrong name, Lesley began staring daggers at me. When the meeting ended she wouldn’t look at me. I hadn’t even been drunk, just tired after another long night of working out until every muscle in my body hurt as a way of hiding from the bullshit in my head.
My email pings—it’s Cesare instructing Gretchen to clear my calendar. Cesare put his foot down two months ago when Alicia’s low energy couldn’t be ignored. Between Matteo and finding out she was expecting again, Che talked her into quitting. However, Alicia
told him she needed more than to become a full-time mom.
Her running the foundation is a win-win: part-time work for Alicia, and Che will have someone he can trust running it. Alicia stealing then returning money from our company aside. I remember his face when I reminded him of the theft. Whatever, even when I got the call from our accountant telling me, I knew there was something more going on than a straight theft. After all, she returned it. I’m more than happy for Alicia to run the foundation. I’ve always trusted her.
I pull out the paperwork the three of us drafted years ago but never got to filing. This is going to be a ton of work to get up and going. When Cesare brought up the foundation again two months, he suggested one of our employees Theresa Kent for the personal assistant to the director. After having her first child, Theresa wanted to go either part-time or work from home. Cesare had worked with her supervisor to shift her to working from home two days out of the week. Since Alicia will also be working from home, Theresa is a good fit. I email her an offer for the position. After I hit send I find an email from ever-efficient Hannah, Che’s assistant, listing our current donations. Motherfucker, there’s over a hundred and twenty. This is going to be a time-consuming pain in the ass.
2
Bethany
We’re on Cesare’s private plane, a freaking G6, on the way home to Chicago when Alicia swears long and loud.
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s Dante, he’s not coming tonight. He’s not in the mood.” Alicia air quotes “not in the mood.” “I swear I don’t know what’s going on with him anymore. He isn’t bad with me, and he adores Matteo. I think the only time I’ve heard him laugh lately is when he’s playing with Matteo. But he’s snappish with Cesare and Enzo. He’s also spending a lot of time alone. And I do mean alone. Enzo says he doesn’t think Dante’s been with anyone since the gold-digging slut.”
