The Billionaire's Baby (The Romero Brothers, Book 5)

by Shadonna Richards

  Amber. From the second he got into the office, his mind ran on her a dozen times in between meetings and business correspondence. He could not get enough of his wife.

  “What have you got for me, Brenda?” Jules said, leaning back in his chair while Dion acknowledged her before getting back to reading his magazine.

  “Oh, some good news, sir.”

  “Good, I can never get enough of that.”

  “Well, you know the Spring Magazine often nominates a few model families to be Family of the Year; it’s sort of a monthly thing to inspire and encourage other families.”

  “Yeah, I’m familiar with Spring Magazine,” Jules responded cautiously. What was Brenda getting at? She seemed to have a wicked grin on her face.

  “Well, news got around with your um…labor vows and how devoted you two were in having your baby and well, determined to get married and well…” Brenda hesitated, something she rarely did.

  “Spill it, Brenda,” Jules said quietly with a grin on his face and a puzzled expression.

  “Well, they’ve sort of nominated you, Amber and Crystal—after I submitted your name,” she added looking sheepish. “I have a friend who works in their art department. He told me the good news this morning. They’re getting ready to send you the forms.”

  “Oh, no.”

  “Oh, yes.”

  “No, Brenda. I’m on the board of the Family Center.”

  “And that’s okay. It’s not like that magazine has anything to do with us. The point is, boss, your wedding vows in the labor room thing was so hot when it hit the local news that day.”

  Jules frowned. But that news story had been carefully edited to not include the identity of said parents—meaning Jules and Amber. The reporter, who happened to be a friend of his sister-in-law, Blue, a former reporter herself, had respected their privacy.

  “I’ll need to get your answer,” Brenda added, “like, in an hour.”

  “An hour? Why so soon?”

  “Well, they’re running behind schedule. And…um…they told me that the couple they had slated for this month had just…um…filed for divorce.”

  “They did?” Jules looked incredulous then sighed heavily. “Well, they might not be the only ones. Amber might want to divorce me, too, if she thinks I’m pushing her into the limelight.”

  Brenda grinned and shook her head. She seemed amused by her boss’s wry sense of humor.

  “I’m not sure if Amber will go for it,” Jules continued. “Besides, what would be involved?”

  “Oh, nothing too inconvenient. Just posing for a family portrait.” Brenda unrolled some sample posters, with Dion’s assistance on the desk, and showed Jules.

  “You see here. Look at all these wonderful hall of fame like portraits. We’ve had people at the center participate as well. Each one so different and beautiful.”

  “I see,” Jules said, looking at the various family pictures. “Okay, I’ll talk with Amber about it, and if she’s good with it, it’s a go.”

  Brenda beamed. “Awesome! I’ll talk to their PR department to get this set up. It will be just in time for our own Annual Family Center BBQ.”

  “That’s coming up soon, isn’t it? Doesn’t leave us much time, does it?” Jules said. “Fine,” he agreed. “Let me confirm with Amber.”

  “Great. You won’t be sorry.” Brenda gathered the material from his desk and whisked out of the office as quickly as she came in.

  “Well, seems like you’ll be having your hands full, bro,” Dion commented with a grin.

  “Yeah. Let me call Amber. And keep me posted on those developments.”

  “Sure thing.”

  Jules immediately called Amber after Dion left the office. Amber actually sounded pleased about the Family of the Month nod to her little household.

  Over the phone, Amber told him it would be wonderful and that Crystal would have this to look back on. She couldn’t wait to break the news to her aunt, who was sitting close beside her at the café. Amber appeared to be in good spirits. That made Jules feel settled inside.

  Well, as long as Amber was good with the Family of the Month recognition, Jules was good with it as well.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The following day, Amber was seated opposite her therapist.

  “You’re doing very well, Amber,” Dr. Danye said, beaming. “Keep up the great work.”

  “Thanks, doc. But I couldn’t have done it without your help.” Amber prepared to get up from her seat. She was finished with her session.

  “Well, you’ve been doing all the work, Amber. I’m very proud of you.”

  “The authorities wanted to see if I could give them a little more information to coincide with some new evidence. At least I’m remembering a little bit more now. It’s still hard for me, but the police were talking about using a hypnotherapist. I told them I was seeing you for my regular therapy, but I know that’s not your area of expertise.”

  “Well, just go with your gut. You know how I feel about those sorts of things,” he said, adjusting his glasses on his nose. He got up again, grabbing his walking cane. “And don’t forget to bring your little one the next time you visit.”

  “I will. Oh, and before I forget,” Amber said, reaching into her Coach tote bag. “Here’s a copy of a brochure my husband has been working on. I thought you might like to put it in the reception area for some of your patients. We’re having a barbecue at the family center. Of course, you don’t have to tell them it’s from one of your patients.” Amber winked.

  Dr. Danye grinned. “I’ll put this up.”

  Dr. Danye often displayed colorful family-friendly brochures and other freebies in his waiting area for people to peruse.

  “Imagine that,” she said almost at a whisper. “Years ago when you first treated me, I didn’t have a family,” she continued, hot tears stinging her eyes. Her voice broke off with choking emotion. She was feeling overwhelmed again. But not in a bad way. She just couldn’t describe the miracle that captured her life after such horrible tragedy and rejection. Her appreciation to the universe was sincere and humbling. She never thought she would ever be “normal” again. She’d been rejected as an illegitimate kid, then orphaned, scarred for life emotionally and physically, feeling worthless, trying to compensate. And now…it would seem that she’d been given a second chance.

  “Well, you deserve happiness, Amber. You really do.”

  “Thanks, doc.” Amber glanced at her watch. “Oh, no. I better get going. I have an appointment at the hairdresser and then I have to pick up Crystal from my in-laws.”

  “Well, I don’t want to keep you.” Dr. Danye smiled warmly. “Best of luck, Amber.”

  “Thank you.”

  Amber grabbed her tote bag and headed out the door, glancing around in the reception area as she walked out. There was no man in disguise. No one following her. Yet, an odd feeling crept into her stomach. It was just a bunch of nerves. Wasn’t that what the doc told her? She washed the doubt from her mind. She was going to focus on making Jules proud at the family barbecue. She felt like the First Lady of the Family Center! Image was everything. Her husband was, after all, the new owner.

  * * *

  Jules sat in his office at the Family Center tapping away on his laptop when someone knocked on the door. “Enter,” he said, not looking up from the screen.

  Brenda, his assistant, appeared anxious.

  “What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he noted. “Scrap that. You look like a ghost, the color has drained from you face. What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, Jules. I…I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault. I hope Amber doesn’t see it. I’m trying to speak to the magazine’s IT department to do something about it.”

  “About what?” Jules felt his blood pump hard. Why did he have the sinking his wife may be in danger?

  “I…well, have you seen the Spring Magazine’s home page?”

  Jules quickly switched over to the company’s home screen page. There was the
image of the month of Jules, Amber and little Crystal in that PR pose for Family of the Month. “What the…?”

  Brenda bowed her head in shame.

  Below the picture there were rude comments he’d rather not take in. But he couldn’t help but scan the screen. One comment in particular, grated on his nerves:

  “Some family of the month. He’s not even the baby’s daddy--LOL!”-K.P.

  Who the heck was KP?

  There were mostly congratulatory comments but the one caustic comment seemed to stand out and Jules’s gut clenched. Anger seethed through his blood. He felt his temperature boil to the point where he felt as if he was in an inferno.

  “Damn!”

  “I’m sorry this happened, Jules.”

  “So am I.” Jules’s tone of voice was razor sharp and pointed. “Get their team on the phone. The last thing I need is for the local press to get wind of this. They’d distort things and that would really piss me off.” He then asked Brenda to call his family’s press secretary, Pamela, to prepare some damage control statements just in case it was necessary.

  The last thing he’d want was for the media to go buzzing about who the biological father of Amber’s child was. Damn it! He didn’t even know the answer to that question.

  * * *

  Amber sat at the salon, trying to enjoy her treatment. Her mind was on little Crystal. She really needed the break but she was always wondering how her baby was doing. She knew Crystal was in good hands at the Romero residence with her grandparents so she tried to squash any worries.

  “Honey, what’s this?” Luckella, the hairdresser, said to Amber after she’d finished with her conditioner treatment.

  “What’s what?” Amber’s curiosity was piqued. She had given Luckella a copy of the brochure, inviting her to the community barbecue and had told her about her upcoming photo shoot at Spring Magazine.

  Luckella had, of course, gone online to see the photo op on the Spring Magazine website from her smartphone. She then showed the display of her phone to Amber. “Why haters gotta hate like that?” Luckella commented.

  Amber felt sick to her stomach. A wave of nausea slammed into her gut. “What?” she said, her hair still dripping. She squeezed her eyes shut then re-opened them.

  “You want me to reply to that asshole?” Luckella got her phone ready to rip him (or her) apart.

  “No. N-no.” Amber couldn’t think. She was disgraced. Horrified. Who would have written such a nasty remark?

  * * *

  An hour later, Jules had his shirtsleeves rolled up. Spring Magazine was on the phone with him apologizing. They knew how generous and influential the Romero family was. It was a small community magazine and often featured locals in the area but had never had this happen on the website before.

  The IT team from the magazine traced the IP address from the so-called anonymous commenter.

  “Well, you know we have the person’s information if you’re interested.”

  “I am,” he said, anger curdling his blood. If he ever got his hands on the lowlife who did this.

  “Do you know a Mavis Murray?”

  Jules almost wasn’t surprised but the confirmation still came as a rude awakening. He grabbed his jacket off the counter and told Dion to meet him at the café.

  * * *

  “Did you have anything to do with Amber’s parents’ deaths?” Jules challenged Mavis later at the Murray Café. Mavis stood by the window of her office, her chin up, her arms secured across her chest.

  “I admit I made a mistake and wrote that…comment. But I…,” Mavis appeared shaken and sat down in the chair beside her in her back office at the Murray Café. “But I swear to you, I wasn’t the driver of the car who killed my sister and her husband. I…I wasn’t.” she stammered. Her eyes barely met with Jules.

  “Well, you certainly went out of your way to make Amber’s life miserable. Why?”

  “It’s not what it appears. I’m so sorry. You won’t tell Amber, will you?”

  Jules exchanged an incredulous glance with his brother who stood in the corner like a bad cop while Jules continued to interrogate Mavis.

  Dion slid his hand in his pocket and extracted an old newspaper clipping to Jules. Jules took the paper and showed it to Mavis.

  Her eyes widened. “H-how did you find this?”

  “It wasn’t hard, Mavis.” Jules’s voice softened a fraction but he was still riled up. “I understand your…disappointment in your fiancé.”

  Mavis snapped the picture from him and glared at it. It was an engagement announcement in the Mayberry Hill Times, over thirty years ago. A picture of Amber’s stepfather and a young woman—Mavis.

  Mavis swallowed hard and threw the picture on the table. Her lips were thinned but trembling. “Yes, we were supposed to get married. But…” she paused, drawing in a deep breath. “My sister decided my fiancé was good enough for her so she took him instead. How do you think it makes me feel looking at…Amber year in and year out? She was a reminder.”

  “She was an innocent party to this. She’s not even the product of their marriage. You know that.”

  “I know, but she still looks just like her. My sister. I despise looking at her, okay? It hurts me to look at her every day. And then when her parents got killed, I was forced to look after her.”

  “You really need to get help, Mavis,” Jules said as sincerely as he could.

  “I’m not the one with the memory issues. She can’t even remember anything that happened that night.”

  Jules shot Mavis a scorching glance. His patience was stretched to the limit. No more mister nice guy. “You need to get help,” he repeated in a controlled voice. “Then you need to stay far away from my wife from now on. Find another job, too. Do you hear me?”

  Mavis responded to Jules by glaring at him.

  Jules was about to walk away when something in his gut pulled him in a different direction. It was something Mavis said. Mavis had mentioned she wasn’t the one driving the car in the crash that killed her sister and her sister’s family. What did she mean by that? Something else Amber told Jules was also making things fit into place.

  “How old was Amber when she started her therapy?” he asked Mavis. He had his smartphone out of his pocket ready to call JoJo from the agency. Something really wasn’t adding up. He didn’t like the sinking feeling he was getting at all. But his gut was telling him that Mavis was telling the truth. She was not the one driving the car but she sure as hell could have been in the elusive car.

  Just then, his cell phone rang and he answered it. “Yeah?”

  “I’ve got some strong leads. We managed to track down that mystery witness that came forth recently but then backed out of telling the cops everything,” his source reported to him over the phone. “The guy was some storm watcher who took snapshots at the time of the accident. Saw the whole thing before he came down with a sudden case of amnesia. It’s not good news, Jules.”

  “I’ll be right there,” Jules confirmed with his source before finishing his call. “Better let the boys down at the division know what’s going on,” Jules then said to his brother, Dion.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  An hour later, after her session at the beauty parlor, Amber felt anything but beautiful. The ugliness of the day clawed its way in. That awful remark. And Jules. Poor Jules. It had to be someone in the family circle who knew about Crystal’s real father.

  She received a text from her aunt Mavis to meet her at the apartment above the café so she decided to go straight there.

  Amber walked up the steps, feeling dreary. Was Aunt Mavis behind the comments? Was she going to apologize? She saw a missed called from Jules but decided she would call him right after she found out what her aunt had to say.

  Amber knew she would burst into tears if she spoke to Jules. She should have been upfront about Amber’s real father. Was Jules disappointed in her?

  She finally reached her old unit and was surprised to see the door ajar. “Aunt Mavi
s?” Amber continued inside.

  She turned around feeling something was a bit off; the place seemed eerily abandoned. But it was too late to act, the door slammed shut behind her.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “You sure you’ve got this all figured out?” Dion turned to Jules as Jules pushed on the gas pedal of his SUV hoping to reach Amber’s old apartment in time. He tried her cell phone again. No answer. That just wasn’t like her.

  “Yeah,” Jules said, distracted. His gaze blazed into the busy road as he weaved through traffic. He’d already called the cops to check out the address at her apartment.

  “It all makes sense,” Jules said, “Mavis was having an affair with a married man. They were driving from their cottage around the same time Amber and her family were. If they’d done the right thing and stayed at the scene, dude’s wife would have taken him to the cleaners with evidence of his unfaithfulness. He and his mistress are in a crash so late into the early hours of the night from his secluded cottage.”

  “I hear you. But hospital records didn’t report anyone coming in around that time with injuries consistent with a car accident.”

  “Yeah, but he was injured all right.”

  “Good thing we got the goods on that storm watcher. The vehicle was a white BMW.”