Let it be over, just please, let it be over.
I don’t know how long it was. It felt like years and years, like my whole life had existed in that one moment. Boots crunched against the gravel towards me, but still I didn’t look up.
“Hey, Elizabeth. It’s alright. Come on. It’s all over.”
I peeked up to see Nero looking down at me. I sighed, the sound of relief coming out of me easily. I practically launched myself at him, wrapping my arms around him. I didn’t even pay attention to the now-dead body of Alec Lorenzo, bleeding out on the ground beside me.
“I thought the worst. I thought he was going to shoot me, or kill you. I thought –”
My words were silenced as Nero kissed me, sweeter than anything he’d ever given me since I’d come to him. I melted into it easily, clinging to him. The realization that I was alive, and he was alive, that we were free of Alec Lorenzo’s influence and yet still he poured such emotion into his kiss…
I nuzzled my nose against his when he pulled away.
“I’m glad you’re alright,” I said to him.
“Me too,” he said. “I don’t know what I’d have done without you.
After that, word spread quickly of Alec Lorenzo’s death. Most of his men either ransacked his place for valuables, or left town in fear of being next. There was no such retaliation, at least not on Nero’s part; he was done with all of that business; he’d only been trying to keep himself alive. We retrieved my father, who’d been kept at a Lorenzo safe house. Slowly, steadily, the pieces began to fall together.
It was a month after the death of Alec Lorenzo that Nero and I really had time alone. I had gone to Ray’s, deciding to speak with him in the back. He seemed prepared for me, though a bit nervous. To be fair, I was nervous, too.
I sat across from him, like I had all that time ago. I folded my hands in my lap.
“Nero—”
“Stay with me,” he blurted out. I looked at him, puzzled.
“What?”
“Whatever your’ about to say, forget it. I don’t care how we met, or what happened during, or what you were supposed to come to me for. Stay with me. You’re more to me than what this started out as. I know I’m not the idea man you’d have chosen. But Alec is dead. I don’t have to look over my shoulder anymore. You don’t have to pay your father’s debts. All I want in life now is for you to stay with me. I don’t need the bar. I don’t even need the women; I haven’t had another one since I realized I wanted you. So please. Stay with me.”
I smiled.
“Okay.”
Five is a Good Number
Nero
The sound of small feet running on wood had become routine. Fresh-cooked breakfast first thing in the morning, coffee brewing and tea steeping. Things I had only ever thought I would be able to have in my dreams, were reality.
We moved not too long after we got together, officially, Elizabeth and I. I gave run of the bar and the boy for Adrien; he liked all that excitement more than I did, anyway. They were sad to see me go, but I had more important things to think about, and the prospect of a new life ahead of me to look forward to.
It was unconventional, what Elizabeth and I had. But really, when had anything in my life ever been conventional? From my childhood to my adulthood, to meeting Elizabeth. I had lost my way… lost sight of what I knew I wanted in my life, forced to live what my father had left behind. Elizabeth changed that.
We sat on our front porch together. We had a huge front yard, big enough for the kids to play. Kaya, the oldest, Jay, the middle, and Emery the youngest – at least for now. They all ran around the yard, Kaya with her pigtails flowing wildly behind her as the younger two chased her. They were the cops, and she the robber, apparently. It was their favorite iteration of tag and neither Elizabeth or I were inclined to make them stop.
“They’re getting so big,” she said beside me. For a moment I thought she was just referring to the three out in the yard, yelling and playing like the world was theirs. I looked over to her, seeing her hands rested on her swollen stomach. Oh. She meant those ones. I smiled.
I reached over, placing my hand over hers as they rested over our growing children in her womb. Twins, this time, and I had said to her wryly that I had always known that five would be my number – hadn’t mattered how the five had come about. They often left her worn out, and tired, but oh so happy as she thought about bringing another set of our children into the world.
It couldn’t have made me happier, either.
“It’s just a few months now, isn’t it?”
“Thank God. I feel like I’m already ready to burst. They kick like they’re trying to punt a football, only I’m the only thing they’re managing to hit.” I couldn’t help but laugh at that.
“Remember how bad Kaya was when she started to kick? You swore it was the worst.”
“Because she always managed to get me while I was trying to sleep, and she was an unrelenting baby.”
We sat, we reminisced. There wasn’t the bustle of the city or the smog of bar smoke. There wasn’t the threat of debts of mafia leaders out to kill. We had what we had always wanted – a family, a simply life, and someone to love deeply.
Twisted Games
~Bonus Story~
A Dark Billionaire Romance
Book One
Sophia Borden is a strong, independent business woman on the verge of realizing the fruits of all of her dreams and hard work.
There is just one problem—Brad Thorpe.
Brad is sexy, suave, rich, and perhaps the most cocky and narcissistic man she has ever met. He is part of The Wrecking Crew investors and for some reason he has set his sights on making Sophia’s life a living hell.
Even though The Wrecking Crew has agreed to invest in Sophia’s company, Brad seems to have taken a special interest in Sophia, but she can’t figure out what his game is. One minute he will be ruthless and do everything in his power to make sure she fails, often wrecking meetings and making her look like a fool in front of the other investors.
But then he will turn around and be sweet and even charming. Sophia finds him sexy and she can’t help that his handsome face keeps invading her thoughts; all the while she loathes the horrible things he does.
Will she be able to uncover the truth about who Brad Thorpe really is? Will she be able to figure him out? Or will she give in to defeat?
Sophia is about to make the Power Play of her life…
* * *
Sophia Borden tried not to grit her teeth as she struggled to hide the rage welling up inside of her.
She was standing in front of six of the biggest investors in the city and she was so nervous that she was almost shaking. Why did this have to happen to her? Why now?
Everything had been going well and she had actually felt like she was getting somewhere with Max Dowell—the most respected member of the group-- when Brad Thorpe decided to mess with her.
Brad was the hot shot of the group. He was the youngest member of the investors, whom had become known as The Wrecking Crew, because they were able to wreck your dreams by just a few carefully selected words. If they passed on your start up then it was almost impossible to get any other investors worth their salt to take a chance on you. Even the low level investors would not touch you. It was a rite of passage and a huge honor for a brand new business startup owner to be backed by one of The Crew.
Most of them were pretty reasonable and would tell you exactly why they thought you should or should not be in business. But then there was Brad. He had become a millionaire at a very young age in the real estate game and had branched out to invest in a lot of other businesses since then. He had his hands in everything from kitchen gadgets to game systems. The man was everywhere.
He was also the most arrogant jerk that Sophia had ever seen. She had been warned about him, but what she had been told was an understatement to his true evil ways.
Sophia was trying to get capital investment for her clothing com
pany. She thought that there were not enough good designer quality clothes for the full figured woman to wear in the professional world. It was severely lacking and what was out there was boring and overpriced. Sophia wanted to change that.
“What is the marketing strategy? How many units have you sold so far?” Brad had asked basically cutting Max off. Max and Sophia had been discussing the reasons why this was such an important niche to fill in the world when Brad had roared over top of everything with his overbearing ways.
“Well, the marketing strategy is to invest in a few commercials, set up ads in magazines and websites that cater to the plus sized woman, and also by word of mouth. As far as the units sold, with the earliest stages of production in our test markets we have sold ten thousand units this year and cleared a profit of almost thirty thousand.”
“Wow, that is not a great return on investment, now is it?” Brad asked. He smiled as he looked at everyone else’s reactions. Most did not pay him much attention, but they did seem interested in the points he was making.
Sophia felt her face growing redder with anger every second. She wanted to destroy this asshole.
“It is not bad when you look at our startup and production costs so far,” Sophia said. “That is one of the reasons why my company needs more capital. With more capital we can manufacture in greater bulk and thus reduce the cost of manufacturing and the cost of the product as well which will yield greater profits.”
Brad laughed. “What made you want to get into this market? Were you once fat or something?” Brad could hardly contain his laughter as he said it.
Sophia wanted to strangle the man so badly. He was the most conceited piece of shit she had ever laid eyes on. And it was a shame because he would have been gorgeous if he had never learned to speak.
“That does not have a thing to do with why I started this business,” Sophia said. “I have several friends who have always complained about the fact that they can’t find good, reasonably priced, business attire that looks decent.”
“I think it is a great niche,” Warren Rogers said. The old man had been silent for most of the meeting, but when he finally spoke it was like a breath of fresh air. Sophia felt the rage that she had been aiming at Brad lessening just a little bit.
“Thank you,” Sophia said, surprising herself with a smile.
The group told her that they would think it over and if any of them wanted to make an offer to invest with her then they would call her within forty-eight hours. Sophia thanked them kindly, but inside she was a nervous wreck. Forty-eight hours? Why did it take so long to let someone know that you were going to crush their dreams?
Sophia packed up her presentation materials and began to exit the board room. She was feeling a migraine coming on and she felt like a Netflix binge and a box of chocolates were just the thing to take away the stress of the day.
She left the office reeling with anger and confusion.
*****
The next evening she was thrilled to be invited to a funding meeting. This was basically a meeting to celebrate some of the new investments that The Wrecking Crew was giving the green light to. They had one of these dinner parties every three months to celebrate and congratulate the winners who had been chosen to go into business with the investors.
Sophia had received the phone call about being chosen and then she was invited to the dinner during the same phone call. She was flabbergasted and so thrilled that she almost dropped the phone, but she was able to control herself and thank the secretary who made the call. Then she screamed and jumped up and down for a few minutes. She could not believe that she had been chosen.
The rest of the day had been filled with thoughts of unparalleled success and riches that were soon going to be hers. She thought that Brad might have blown it with his asshole ways, but luckily she had been able to hang in there and give it her best shot without his stupid distractions. The others were probably used to it and she knew that if he was not so good at what he did they would have tossed him out on his keyster a long time ago. She was hoping she might get to see that yet.
Why was she even thinking about the jerk? For some reason his face had been popping into her head at random times since the meeting. Was it because she was still so pissed off about what he had done? Was it because every time she thought about it she wanted to strangle the bastard?
She had to get over it. She knew that. Like it or not she was going to be sort of working with him now since he was part of the team that was financing her business now. That meant that she had to find a way to at least tolerate the prick. That was a tall order, but Sophia had never been the type to shy away from a fight. If he wanted to mess with her then she would mess with him right back. That was for sure.
*****
The dinner party was amazing and Sophia found that she was having a great time getting to know the other business owners there. She had not had much time to speak one on one with any member of The Crew, but she was not sure if that was necessarily a bad thing. She did not want to crowd them and bug the hell out of them like some of the others were doing. It made them seem desperate and obvious, as if they were terrified that something was going to go wrong and The Crew was going to back out.
This thought had crossed Sophia’s mind as well, but she knew that she had to act like she belonged. She was in business with these people; she was not their employee. She was equal to them and she did not need their approval. That was the image she felt she had projected in the meeting and that was the image she intended to keep in their presence. They were helping her just as much as she was helping them. If they didn’t have a business to invest in then they had no way to grow their money. It was a win-win situation for all involved and the more she thought about it the happier she became.
She was enjoying talking to a guy named Troy Johnson when she saw Brad walking towards her. He had a weird smirk on his face and she was not sure how to take his approach. The look in his eyes was almost predatory while the smile on his face said that he knew a secret that no one else did. She did not want him to say anything to put Troy off. He was a handsome, sweet guy who had started chatting her up while she was refilling her glass of punch. The party had been going great until now. Every time she saw Brad’s face she wanted to claw his eyes out and she had thought she was going to be able to resist the impulse when she had first entered the party and saw him glancing her way. She just knew that she had to keep him away from her. But now he was standing right in front of her and she was having trouble getting her vocal chords to work properly.
“Would you excuse us?” Brad said as he stepped between Troy and Sophia, turning his back to Troy effectively cutting him out of the conversation. Troy let out a frustrated sigh as he walked off. Brad did not even look behind him to smirk at what he had just done to Troy.
“What the hell?” Sophia asked. “We were having a conversation.”
“I could tell it wasn’t important. You are welcome,” Brad replied.
“Welcome for what?”
“Well, I just saved you from having to listen to hours of boring conversation with that drip.”
“That is not for you to decide. Besides, if he is such a drip then why is he here?”
“I’ll let you in on a little secret; The Crew doesn’t always follow through with everybody they choose. Sometimes they have a few impulse buys and then they kick the person to the curb. I know it sounds cold, but it is the price of doing business. In this world there are no sure things.”
Brad took a few swigs of his beer as he looked over the crowd of people. Many at the party were getting tipsy and having a lot of fun dancing and being stupid. Sophia had to hide her laughter, but she could see how some of these people might not have been the kind of people that The Crew wanted to sink their money into.
“Well, thanks for the heads up,” Sophia said as she started to walk away.
“You going to leave me hanging here?” Brad said.
Sophia stopped and glared at him. �
��I need to find some fun people to talk to,” she said as she turned away. She felt that she probably should not have insulted a member of the team, but since it was Brad she did not feel the least bit bad about it. He was an ass and they all knew it. Brad even knew it, but something told her that he was just too lost in himself to really care. The man was so self-absorbed that it was sickening.
But still she could not help turning her head to look at him one last time as she walked away. He was so damn fine looking. God, if he was not such a damn asshole.
*****
Sophia walked into her apartment ready to kick off her shoes and hit the sack. The party had been fun, but it had felt like work too. But she had finally found the opportunity to speak with a few members of The Crew and get to know them better. She tried to steer the conversation away from work and tried to ask them about their real lives, but she was starting to feel that these people did not really have much of a real life. They ate, breathed, and slept the business and making money. It was almost a sickness with them and she felt bad for envying them at times.
But she supposed if you loved what you did enough then it was understandable that you wanted to spend as much time doing it as you could. She was one of the hardest working people she knew, but she was not above letting her hair down to have a little bit of fun.
She had tried to track down Troy after Brad had given him the brush off, but Troy seemed to be avoiding her altogether the rest of the evening. She felt sad about that because she knew that if she had hung with Troy longer then he would have asked her out. It had been a while before she had found a guy she liked well enough to consider dating. The thought suddenly occurred to her that she might be a bit like the stuffy members of The Crew at times where she put her work above other things that might be more fun. The only difference was that she justified all of this by saying that she did not want to be with particular company.
Sold To The Dragon Princes: The Novel Page 107
