Shattered: A Billionaire Romance Series (Contemporary Romance Novels)

by Love, Michelle

  It’s Sandy and the chick from the bar who I knocked out!

  I stop shaking as I grow furious. Walking in between them I look them over as they lie there. Both have quite a few red and swollen places on their faces.

  “I don’t know how I managed to do that much damage. But I’m glad I did.” I squat down next to Sandy and pull her back by her hair so she has to look at me.

  “Fuck you, bitch,” she says then attempts to spit at me but I hold my hand over her mouth before she can.

  “No, mam.” I press her mouth hard with my hand. “Now you listen to me. We’re pressing full charges on you both. Attempted murder is what you’ll be charged with amongst other things. You see, you dumbass, you broke into a house full of lawyers. Not just any lawyers either. The lawyers of the prestigious New York law firm, The Worthington Law Firm. So you can expect to be sent away for a very long time.”

  I remove my hand to give her a chance to speak but she chooses the wrong words as she says, “Fuck you!”

  “No, fuck you, Sandy. Now I need you to tell Gage the truth about things. Tell him how you are the one who ran him off the road that day,” I say and yank her head around so she has to look at Gage.

  Her eyes go wild as she asks, “How did you know about that?”

  I laugh and so does Benny. Then he answers her, “She didn’t. You just confirmed her suspicions.”

  “Fuck,” she mumbles.

  I look up at Benny as I drop her head and she face plants into the carpet. “So there’s two counts of attempted murder then.”

  He smiles and takes my hand as the first set of police officers comes to our bedroom door with their firearms drawn. “Everyone okay in here?” the taller one asks.

  The three of us nod then I see Benny’s parents, my grandmother with his grandfather, and the two drivers looming in the hallway behind the cops. “Maybe I should let them in on what happened,” I say and leave Benny and Gage to explain things to the officers.

  One of the officers takes me by the arm and asks, “Are you okay, mam?”

  I nod. “A little shaken up. It takes more than a couple of dumb tramps to take me out.”

  He nods and touches the place underneath my eye. “When the paramedics get here, have them look that over, will you?”

  “I guess so.” I walk away to talk to the people who I hope one day will be my family.

  My grandmother hugs me as she whispers, “What happened?”

  “Those women tried to kill me. No big deal, let’s all go downstairs. I need something to drink. A lot of something to drink.” I lead the way down to the kitchen and pull out a bottle of Jack Daniels from the cabinet Benny keeps it in and drink straight out of the bottle.

  It burns going down but stops my body from the internal shaking it’s been doing for far too long now. Everyone takes seats at the bar and stares at me. I don’t know what to say or where to start so I just look back at them.

  Finally, Benny’s grandfather asks, “Did you take both of those women on alone, Angel?”

  I nod and take another drink then say, “I did. I had to. They were going to throw me into a tub of scalding hot water and drown me. Plus, I was handcuffed and blindfolded.”

  My grandmother’s hand goes to her chest. “They cuffed and blindfolded you?”

  I scratch my head and wonder if I should tell them. Then it dawns on me that I’ll have to tell the cops that too and possibly tell a judge and jury that as well. So I weigh my words before I say, “Not them.”

  Benny’s grandfather rolls his eyes and his mother looks confused as she asks, “Then who did cuff and blindfold you, Dear?”

  I take another long drink and the whiskey is finally beginning to work as I answer her, “Your son.”

  She kind of looks like she might faint and her husband wraps his arm around her and frowns as he looks at her and says, “That sort of stuff has to come from your side of the family.”

  I laugh and shake my head then say, “What a night!”

  Chapter 3

  BLAZE

  The Manhattan fall air is crisp in the open air section of the church my family attends. I wait at the altar with my grandfather. I never pictured this day would come, or that I’d be the one standing next to him.

  The music wells up into the air, surrounding us all with the sounds of a harp and piano as an old song is played. It’s what she wanted and since my grandfather met her, she has always gotten what she wants.

  On this day my grandfather is making Angel’s grandmother his wife. Seems the two were smitten with each other from the first time they saw one another. Kind of like me and Angel were.

  My grandfather moved a hell of a lot faster than I have, though. He asked Rebecca to marry him after only a week. She left her home and went back home with my grandfather.

  Gage moved into her house and is taking care of her many animals. She told him he could have the small farm house and the animals. The man is in hog-heaven with them all.

  We didn’t give him Cuddles but Rebecca had an old bloodhound and Gage loves the thing. They’re like best friends.

  We go check on him once a week and hang out with him. I’m paying for him to get physical and mental therapy to help him make what all hope will be a complete recovery.

  He’s making a living selling the fresh eggs the chickens lay and milk from the three dairy cows she had. I pay the bills for the house so any money he makes is all his.

  He seems pretty happy since he has his truck and now Angel’s old motorcycle she gave him, since she rides with me on my bike or in her new truck I bought her. I look for things to go fine for the guy. And having somebody to take over her little farm has made Rebecca happy as well.

  Rebecca’s presence in my grandfather’s life has certainly softened the old snooty fart. It’s made life with him a lot easier. And business too for that matter.

  With Rebecca’s gentle influence, Grandfather finally saw the wrong in helping that asshole, Bain, with his endeavor to keep the AIDs drug at the high price he set. The government was able to make him lower it so that problem is history.

  I stand by his side, holding the wedding ring he’s going to place on her finger and watch as Angel walks down the aisle. She’s her grandmother’s maid of honor and I’m my grandfather’s best man.

  I thought for sure he’d pick my brown-nosing brother to be his best man, but he shocked us both by asking me. I had to accept. At least that’s what Angel told me I had to do.

  She’s helped me to see how much of a chip on my shoulder I really had. It’s made it a lot easier to do the things I want to without thinking I need to stick it to my family at the same time.

  So we still ride motorcycles. I’m still in the biker club and Angel and I still like to get rough with each other. But I don’t make any of it about showing my family that I can be who I want to be. I just am who I want to be.

  Seems they have no problem accepting that now. I think Angel and her grandmother are the reasons why. They have an air about them that makes people comfortable.

  It’s odd but a great odd.

  Angel has on a peach colored dress her grandmother picked out. Her long dark hair is put into a fancy up do, strung with tiny burgundy roses. She looks delicious and I can’t wait for this to be over so I can eat her up.

  She gives me a nod when she makes it to her place then the music picks up as her grandmother walks down the aisle. I watch my grandfather’s lips curve into a smile. A thing I’ve seen more of since he met Rebecca than I have in my entire life.

  Angel was more than surprised when her grandmother found my grandfather just as compatible with her as her first husband was. She’d thought her first husband was the only man who could make her feel so special.

  Seems my grandfather can too!

  The only thing bad about that is now Angel thinks we should take more time and see other people to find out if what we have is real. She’s making me nuts with her idea and I’ve yet to come up with the right words to make he
r stop being crazy.

  She’s told me after today, she’s moving into her own place again and giving what we have a break. But there’s no way I’m letting that happen. Not ever!

  I have two rings in my pockets. The right pocket holds my grandfather’s ring, and the left holds the one I’m giving Angel after this is over.

  I’m not only going to make the engagement official but also extremely short.

  ANGEL

  As my grandmother gets to me, she hands me her bouquet and I take it and hand it back to my younger sister who’s gotten up to take it from me. She’s very pregnant with her third baby and has already been hounding me that her kids need some cousins.

  But I think I’m going to put things like that off for a while. My grandmother thought there was only one man in the world for her and boy was I surprised when she told me she felt the same magic she’d felt with my grandfather when Benny’s grandfather touched her.

  So there is more than one person for us after all it seems. What if I marry Benny and the other man for me shows up after that? Then what would I do?

  As I turn back around Benny’s eyes catch mine, and he mouths the words, ‘I love you,’ to me.

  I do love him so I mouth the same words back to him.

  It’s not that I don’t love him. It’s not like I don’t think I’d be happy forever with him. It’s just the new knowledge that there could be more than him who’s out there for me has me confused.

  Everything is so confusing!

  Benny’s trimmed his beard down to a very nice manicured look. He still has those whiskers but they’ve been tamed and his tassel of waves at the top of his head has been trimmed and tamed too.

  He’s really a sight to see. Tall, handsome, and all decked out in a gorgeous black tux. Last night at the rehearsal dinner I was the envy of all the New York and Manhattan females who’ve long held torches for the man who loves me.

  He winks at me and purses his lips then licks them slowly as he looks into my eyes. My body goes hot and my little, white, silk panties get wet.

  What he does to me is amazing!

  So why do I feel like I need to move out and give what we have a break?

  Sometimes I think maybe I have something wrong with me. Like I can’t believe things can go right for any real period of time. Always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  Like almost getting killed by those two broads. Their trials are coming up soon and it looks like they’ll both get what they deserve. Sandy a bit more than the other girl who ended up being her cousin.

  Things like that have me thinking that what Benny and I have could end. The other man in this world who is also meant for me could show up and ruin everything. Or worse, the other woman in this world meant for my Benny could show up and ruin everything!

  Life might well be spent alone rather than waiting for that shit to happen and blow my perfect world to smithereens.

  I feel a tug at my dress and turn back to see my three-year-old niece holding her arms up to me. So even though this is not how rehearsal went, I pick her up so she can get a better look at her great-grandmother getting hitched again.

  A bunch or people make that aww sound people make when things are cute. My niece looks a lot like me and when she runs her arms around my neck and hugs me, then lays her little head on my shoulder, I kind of go all melty inside.

  I find Benny looking at me and he mouths, ‘That looks good on you, Baby.’

  The urge to shoot the finger comes over me but all the people watching us has me not going through with that.

  Benny has made no secret one day he wants to marry me. One day!

  Well, I think a girl should get a bit more than that. I mean, sure he bought a house and my name is on it too. And that should be better than any engagement ring. But the fact is, it’s not.

  The snooty bitches here have very rudely pointed that fact out too many times to count. I’ve been introduced as Benjamin’s girlfriend and nothing more than that.

  I’ve spotted a few of the women talking in hushed tones about me being far too average for a man of Benny’s social stature. And that’s true. If he was all about his social place in New York circles, then he wouldn’t ever be happy with me.

  That’s not my cup of tea so to speak.

  But Benny isn’t about that life. He’s about freedom. The outdoors. The open road. That kind of stuff.

  Not sitting around a country club, gossiping about what the wanderers did on their European trip that cost them gazillions of dollars.

  No, my Benny is a man who likes the smell of an open fire and to sit underneath a blanket of stars in a desolate part of the country. Listening to the sounds the night creatures make and holding me in his arms as he sings a song to me.

  That’s my Benny!

  I sway with my niece back and forth and find myself gazing at the man who stands across the aisle from me and he looks back at me.

  He makes me smile as he runs his hand over his stomach then makes a gesture of it all rounded out and nods at me. I shake my head at him and he smiles at me with those pearly whites of his.

  Suddenly, I realize we’re at the part where I need to hand my grandmother the ring she’ll slip onto her new husband’s finger and I have to maneuver my now sleeping niece so I can pull it from the little pouch that’s hanging from my right wrist.

  I manage to get it out and place it in my waiting grandmother’s palm as she smiles at me with infinite patience only the elderly have.

  My attention goes to her and my new grandpa as they seal the deal with the rings and then they kiss. It’s a long and very smoochy kiss for such old people.

  It makes my heart skip a beat as I think about loving someone so completely at that age.

  I wonder if I’ll still love Benny when I’m as old as she is?

  They end their kiss as their guests clap and my side of the family cheers like a bunch of second-class citizens. But Benny’s grandfather smiles, and it seems to make him happy.

  I don’t know how Benny grew up with these people and didn’t see this side of them at all. He always talked about how stuffy and snobby they all are. But they’re nice.

  Do they have little eccentric ways?

  Well, yeah. But who doesn’t have little idiosyncrasies?

  My gran and new gramps walk down the aisle hand in hand then I feel Benny’s hand slip over mine as he leads us down the aisle behind them. His lips press my neck near my ear. “I love you, Princess.”

  I’m pretty sure I’m blushing as heat fills my cheeks and I whisper, “I love you too, Benny.”

  My sister’s husband catches up to us and takes his sleeping oldest daughter out of my arms, thankfully as she was getting very heavy. Then Benny spirits me away to a small room off the main church.

  “Benny, what are you doing? They’re about to get in the car and leave,” I say as he drags me inside the little room and closes the door behind us.

  He presses me against the door and kisses me. It takes my mind off my leaving grandmother and all I can think about is running my arms around him and pulling him closer to me.

  When he ends the kiss, I’m light headed and when he gets on one knee, I’m close to fainting. “What are you doing, Benny?”

  “Shh,” he says as he pulls a shiny thing out of his pocket. He takes my shaking hand and looks up at me. “Angel Jennings, my life began when I laid eyes on your beautiful face. I didn’t even realize I was living life as a zombie until I met you. You helped me integrate my two sides and I’ve never felt more whole. Only I’m not complete yet. Without you, I’m not the whole enchilada I can be.”

  I giggle a little with his words and then stop as it all gets very real when a tear falls over his cheek. My heart stops and I want nothing more than to kiss it away. “Oh, Benny.”

  “Shh,” he says to me again. “Let me finish this. My life will never be complete until you become my wife. So I’m asking you, Angel Jennings, if you will do me the great honor of becoming Mrs. Benjamin Fra
nklin Worthington later on this evening in Las Vegas?”

  “Today?” I ask in complete surprise.

  He nods. “What do you say, Baby?”

  My knees get weak and I go down on them to get on the same level he is. “I say yes, Benny. Yes, I’ll marry you tonight in Vegas.”

  He slips the ring on my shaking finger then pulls me into his arms and kisses me in a way he’s never done before. Soft and sweet yet hard and permanent.

  This is all about to be permanent and here I was only a few minutes ago preparing myself for moving out of our house tomorrow.

  Things can change so quickly!

  Chapter 4

  BLAZE

  Little feet pound the pavement as a horde of small children run past us and jump all at once into the swimming pool of the Vegas hotel.

  “My God!” Angel says under her breath as the parents of the little munchkins come up behind us. “It’s past midnight!”

  One of the mothers walks up next to her and says, “I know. That’s why we’re letting them swim off some of their inexhaustible energy. We all have husbands we’d like to spend a few moments of time with on this vacation.”

  Angel looks suitably embarrassed by getting caught and apologizes, “Sorry, it’s just that I’m beyond exhausted. My grandmother got married this afternoon, and I was her maid of honor then this guy here asked me to marry him and we just got done with that and now we’re going up to our hotel suite and I’m kind of crabby.”

  The woman frowns at Angel then looks at me. “Don’t worry. That’s how most wedding nights end up, anyway. Both people falling asleep without even touching each other. It’s to be expected after such a long day and it sounds like she’s had a hell of a long day.”

  Angel nods. “And I’m so damn hungry for some reason. I’ve been snacking like non-stop all day and I’m still hungry. My stomach has been so weird feeling. I was thinking it was because of being in my grandmother’s wedding but now I’m thinking it might be a virus. A really weird one that makes you hungry.”

  Another one of the mothers walks up and says, “You know I was that way through my entire first pregnancy. Hungry all the time. Never could get enough to eat.”