Billionaire Swirl Bundle (A Box Set of THREE BWWM Romance Novels)

by Ward, Vivian

  “No, Jeff, I don’t want you to do that.”

  “Judy, I want you and Natalie to be safe. Who knows what this person, or people, are capable of. Your safety is more important than the almighty dollar.”

  “But Jeff, the eminent domain is supposed to go through next week. I don’t know how long we’ll have once it passes to live here. I’d hate to waste your money.”

  “Judy,” he paused for a minute. “Hold on, I’m getting another call.”

  I sat in silence as he switched over to the other line. When he comes back on the line, I’m going to ask him how long we can actually live here. While I didn’t want him going out of his way to set up a surveillance camera, it would be nice.

  “I’m back. Are you there?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I’m still here.”

  “That was Mayor Goodwin. He needs me to come down to city hall to sign off on some papers. I’ve got to go, and we’ll talk more about this tonight.”

  “Okay, have a good day,” I said as he rushed off the phone.

  Needing to vent my anger, fear and frustration, I called my friend Ann from church. She was usually pretty good at calming me down and I knew that I could count on her to keep things to herself.

  “Hello?” her husband answered the phone.

  “Hi, this is Judy. Can I talk to Ann, please?”

  “Well hello, Judy. I’ll call her to the phone. Give me a second,” I heard him call her name.

  “Hello?” she answered.

  “Ann, it’s Judy. Do you have a minute?”

  “I sure do. What’s going on? You sound upset.”

  “I’ve got to tell someone this,” I started. “What I’m about to tell you cannot leave this conversation. I don’t want anyone to know what’s going on.”

  “This sounds pretty serious, and you know I don’t have loose lips.”

  “I know, but this is something that could….well, I don’t know. Let me start by giving you the backstory.”

  “I’m listening,” she encouraged me to continue.

  I began by reminding her about the eminent domain and the sale of my property, and then explained how Jeff had been trying to buy us out before Thomas died. Once she was up to speed on all that, I started telling her about the vandalism and how it’s progressed.

  “But I don’t understand. Why would anyone want to dump trash all over your hard and TP your house and yard?”

  “I think they did those things only to be ignorant, but then it got much worse. Next, they spray painted the n-word on my house and today, they keyed my car.”

  “That’s terrible, Judy. I’m so sorry you’re going through all of this. Do you have any idea who’s doing all of this?”

  “No, and that’s why I need you to keep this quiet. The only other person I’ve told is Jeff, and he had some solid advice to keep things on the down-low. He said that if word got out about what’s been going on, it might give others the idea to chime in and do the same thing. He’s also been caught in the crossfire.”

  “Really?” she sounded surprised. “What’s been going on with him?”

  “He received a nasty phone call from a man telling him to stick to his own race. You know, the typical threats.”

  “Girl, that’s crazy. He has a good point about keeping everything quiet. You know how them copy cats can be. So what are you doing to keep safe? Has he been staying with you?”

  “The first thing he did was get a contractor over here to paint the graffiti on the house. While the man was here, I had him fix my outside light that blew out so now I can at least see someone in the yard. Jeff mentioned putting in a surveillance system, but I don’t know if I want to do all that.”

  “Why not? You’d be crazy not to. Judy, it’s not just you who’s in danger. You have to think of Nat, and she’s much more vulnerable since she’s deaf. She’d never hear an intruder coming into her room.”

  “I’m pretty good at getting up and going into her room to check on her at night, so I’m not too worried about that. And I’m not telling you all of this because I want to scare you. I just needed to vent. I called Jeff but he can’t come over until later. He said he has to meet with the mayor to sign off on some papers or something.”

  “You know you can always call me to talk, no matter what time of day or night. We go way back, Judy. I think of you as a sister. Is there anything we can do to help you right now?”

  “I don’t think so. And like I said, I don’t want anyone to know what’s going on. It’s best that I deal with this alone so word doesn’t get out.”

  “I have an idea! Why don’t you stay with someone from the church? Or even at the church? If you’d like, we have plenty of room for you and Nat to come stay here.”

  “Oh, I couldn’t put you out like that Ann. Besides, I don’t want this creep to know that he scares me. It’s better if I stay put,” a thought popped into my mind. “God, could you imagine if I left the house and they burned it down knowing that it was vacant?”

  “Or what if they burned it down anyway? Judy, I’m worried about you two. You can’t stay there. It’s not safe.”

  “We’ll figure something out. Jeff’s supposed to come over in a bit to look at my car and we’ll come up with something then.”

  “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call,” she reassured me.

  “Will do, but I better get off here. I’ve got a lot of chores to get finished before Jeff gets here later this afternoon.”

  I didn’t feel much better after hanging up with Ann like I’d hoped I would. She made plenty of valid points, but I couldn’t walk away from our home. Now she had me paranoid the creep would come back and try to burn the house down while we were sleeping or something. If Thomas were here, he’d sit up a post in the front yard with a six pack and a shotgun. But I wasn’t brave enough to do that, nor did I have the energy. It was difficult taking care of Nat by myself while handling all the chores and finances.

  “Can we go now?” Nat signed as she popped into the kitchen.

  “No,” I stayed in the chair as I pretended to rub my toe. “It hurts pretty badly. I think I might have broken it. I’m sorry baby, but I think we’ll have to stay home today.”

  “Can’t you drive with the other foot?” she asked.

  Laughing, I replied, “No, I can’t. You have to drive with your right foot. It’s against the law to drive with the left one.”

  “Fine, I’m going back to drawing,” she pouted.

  I felt horrible for lying to her, but what else could I do?

  Chapter 9

  I thought long and hard all day about all the events that had been taking place and what steps I should take. Pacing the house, I anxiously waited for Jeff to come over when he was finished signing papers with the mayor. My hands were sore from twisting and ringing them all day as I thought about what I needed to do. I couldn’t let this continue to go on; not with the way things were escalating. Jeff’s car door slamming shut startled me, causing me to jump as I stood near the couch. I watched him from the living room window as he surveyed the damage to my car.

  “That looks very…disturbing,” he said as he walked onto the porch.

  “Tell me about it. Jeff, I can’t drive the car like that, and I…”

  “Slow down,” he stopped me as I started babbling. “We’ll have it sanded and painted, it’s not a big deal. I’m just glad you two are okay.”

  “That’s not the point. I’ve been driving myself crazy with this all day. It started off with small things like trash being scattered on the lawn, toilet paper covering my house but then my house was vandalized with spray paint, I got that disturbing call and now this. I called a friend from church and was telling her about everything, and she suggested I stay with her or someone from the church until things settle down.”

  He reached out, taking my hand in his. I could feel my heart; it felt like it was going to come right out of my chest, and my pulse pounded against my ear drums.

  “Judy, we’re go
ing to get through this together,” he tried reassuring me.

  “Now, I’ve put a lot of thought into this. As much as I hate to do it, I’ll accept the offer for the house. But I was wondering if you could do something for me.”

  “Name it,” he said, finally taking me seriously.

  “I want to keep it secret. I don’t want anyone knowing that I’ve accepted the offer on the house until the absolute last minute. I’d like us to stay here for as long as possible until I can find a new home that’s suitable for us.”

  “I can do that. I’ll have my secretary draft the papers and ask my attorney to notarize them. That way we have proof that you accepted the offer before the development officially passes. You’re really shaken by this, aren’t you?”

  “Nat is the most important person in my life, and I have to do what I can to protect her. But I need you to help protect us.”

  “I’ll always protect you two,” he kissed my cheek. “I know you were against surveillance cameras, but what about a dog? You could keep it outside so if someone came to the house, it could bark to alert you and attack whoever it is. If the dog gets the person, it might be the only way we can catch who’s doing this.”

  “We’ve never allowed Natalie to have a dog. It was a rule that Thomas had,” I bit my lip as I thought about it. He did have a point. It could be a pet as well as protection. “What kind did you have in mind?”

  “A German shepherd, or something similar. They’re very loyal and protective…plus I know a guy who raises them and trains them. He’s got a few ready if you and Natalie want to go take a look at them.”

  “Okay. When can we go?”

  “Today if you’d like. I called him after I spoke to you, and he said he has two males and one female ready to go.”

  “Let me get her and then we can go. I’m sure she’ll be excited.”

  I’d never seen my daughter get dressed faster than she did when I told her we were going to go get a dog. Jeff pulled my car out of the driveway and backed it in so the words wouldn’t be visible from Nat’s view when she came outside. The man with the dogs was about an hour away, giving us ample opportunity to talk in the car.

  “What’s wrong?” Jeff asked as we drove down the highway. “I can tell something’s bothering you.”

  “It’s stupid, you don’t want to know.”

  “Actually, I do; that’s why I asked.”

  “I’m afraid that once we sign off on this deal, our relationship will be over. We’ve become very attached to you,” I admitted.

  “What?” he laughed. “Judy, you may not know this, but I’m in this for the long haul. I never want things to end between us,” he smiled his gorgeous smile at me. The one that could make my heart melt.

  “I have a confession to make,” I took a deep breath as he looked over at me. I exhaled slowly. “I think I’m falling in love with you, Jeffrey Pincetti.”

  His smile never faded. He looked into my eyes with his warm blue eyes and said, “Judy Clay, I love you, too.” He grabbed my hand and kissed it. The rest of the ride was silent as we held hands driving down the highway.

  Natalie jumped out of the car as soon as we were at the man’s house with the dogs. He lived on a large piece of land where the dogs had plenty of room to run. It looked as though he had an obstacle course set up for training the dogs; it was quite impressive. The older gentleman walked out on his porch wearing a weathered pair of blue jeans, a plaid shirt, cowboy boots and a straw hat. As I walked closer to him, I also noticed the black suspenders he wore to keep his pants up.

  “Afternoon Mr. Pincetti,” the man tipped his hat, “and ma’am.”

  “How are you?” I asked as I shook his hand.

  “Fine, just fine. Mr. Pincetti said that you’re lookin’ to buy a dog?”

  “Yes, that’s correct. Could we see them please?”

  “Yep. How are you little girl?” he bent over, eye level with Natalie as he spoke to her. He stood in her face for a few seconds and said, “What’s wrong with her? She ain’t much for talkin’?”

  “She’s deaf, Mr. Norman,” Jeff came to her defense before I could speak a word.

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” he smiled at Nat and patted her on the back. “Well, come on. I’ve got them in their pens out back.”

  We followed the old man behind his house. The dogs started barking and growling the second they saw us.

  “Ruhig!” he snapped at the dogs. They instantly sat and became silent. “Bleip,” he said to the dogs. “So ist brave.”

  We watched in amazement as their behavior changed.

  “Go on, you can pet them. I told them to settle down.” We looked at him in confusion. “They only know German commands. This one’s name is Heidi,” he pointed at the female. “And this is Rocky and over there is Ninja.”

  The dogs were all so well behaved. Natalie was leery of petting them at first, but when she saw Jeff reach out to pet the dogs, she followed his lead. After taking each dog out of their pen and interacting with it, Nat had her heart set on Rocky.

  “You’ll need to learn the German commands. That’s what they know. If you try to tell them to ‘sit’, they won’t do it because they won’t recognize that word. You’ll have to say ‘sitz’, which is what they know.” No sooner than he said it, the dog sat on command.

  “They’re very obedient,” I complimented the man. It was obvious that he took great pride in training these dogs. “Hold on a minute, I’ll go get something for you so you can communicate with him.”

  The man disappeared inside the house and came out with a sheet of paper.

  “Here, these are the words they know and what they mean. Over here to the side,” he pointed, “is how to pronounce them.”

  “Thank you! I’m sure that’ll come in very handy. We’ll have to study this,” I said to Jeff. “Mr. Norman, thank you so much for letting us have this beautiful dog. I’m sure he’ll like his new home.”

  We took our new German shepherd out to the car as Jeff paid the man. On our way out to the car, I explained to Natalie that I would have to be the one to command the dog since she couldn’t speak and he didn’t know sign language. As they climbed into the backseat, I told the dog, “Platz.” It was the German word for ‘down’. He laid across the back seat, resting his head on Nat’s lap. A grin from ear to ear told me that she was happy.

  “You know, it’s a shame she’s going to be gone all next week. She’ll have to bond with our new guard dog after she comes back.”

  “Where’s she going?”

  “The church is having a camp next week. She’ll leave on Sunday and come back the following Saturday.”

  “You hadn’t mentioned it before. Does she normally go to them?”

  “Oh, yes! She loves them and does nothing but talk about them for at least a month after she comes home.”

  “I guess it’ll give you some time to get acquainted with the German commands and give us some time alone,” he winked at me.

  “That reminds me,” I started. “I know that you have the internet at your house. Would it be possible for me to come over there to look for a new house? The cable company refuses to run their fiber optic lines out in the country. They say it wouldn’t be profitable because they wouldn’t have enough customers.”

  “Judy, you don’t have to explain anything to me. You’re more than welcome to come over to use the computer.”

  “Great, and one more thing,” I smiled at him. “Could you teach me how to use it?”

  We both got a good laugh out of that. “Yes, I’ll show you. It’s real easy.”

  §

  As usual, I was right. Nat was sad to leave for camp that following Sunday; she wanted to spend more time getting to know Rocky. I assured her that I’d give him extra love from her before she climbed into the church van to head out into the wilderness for the week. Jeff and I had plans to get together at his place later that evening so he could give me a crash course on the internet. I had called him before I left to let hi
m know that I was on my way.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “You have no idea! I’m starving. After lunch, Nat and I rushed around getting her things packed and then I spent a couple of hours hanging out at the church, talking to some of the other women.”

  “Chinese food sound good to you?”

  “Yes, it sounds delicious! I should be there in about twenty minutes. Do you want me to pick it up?”

  “I’ll order it for delivery.”

  I was so glad that Jeff had my car repainted. It was embarrassing just having it sit in the driveway. There was no way I would ever drive it around town with the words that had been written on it. Before I headed to Jeff’s, I went out to the backyard to give Rocky fresh food and water.