The Surgeon’s Secrets: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance

by Michelle Love

  She merely nods and I know my father is having an affair with the woman. She’s young, maybe thirty. She’s pretty too. Dark hair falls to her shoulders in a straight, glossy sheet. Her brown eyes look kind and nurturing.

  Mom has blue eyes and blonde hair, like myself. Mom is a distant type of woman with little going on in her life. She’s never worked a day in her life. She tends to her flower beds she has all around the house. The house she and my father have lived in since I was four years old.

  My father’s job was often the excuse for him barely being around. I understood he was a very busy man. It was also a thing that was ingrained in me that my father’s job was extremely dangerous and he didn’t like to talk about his work, so I was not to ask where he’d been at all. Neither did Mom.

  And as I watch the woman who sits in front of me, not looking at me, instead she’s staring at the floor, I get the reality into my brain. My father uses women. He has high expectations for any man who is to be in my life but he, himself, treats women poorly.

  Perhaps he has no idea what real love feels like. Maybe that’s why he acted like I was a little idiot when I cried and begged him not to take me away from Nic. He must think there is no such thing as love. Just like Nic used to think.

  I move my eyes off the poor woman who must be feeling shame. “I’ll never judge you,” I say as we level off and the pilot comes on, telling us we’re free to move about the plane.

  She takes her seat belt off and my father walks through the door. “I need a drink,” she tells him as she leaves the room.

  His eyes stay focused on me. He’s very good at pretending nothing is going on between them. Moving to the edge of the bed, he takes a seat on it and rests his hand on my blanket-covered leg. “I want to talk to you about when we get back home.”

  “What?” I ask as I think he might be about to tell me he and Mom are separated or something like that.

  “I want you to know, I will have the house phone bugged. If you call that man’s cell or office, the FBI will know immediately and I will take action against the man. I don’t want to cause him harm but I will, to protect you.”

  “I lied,” I say, suddenly.

  “About what?” he says as he looks confused.

  “About Paul,” I tell him, coming clean for the first time about what happened when I was a teenager.

  “Don’t utter that piece of shit’s name, Tasha,” he says between gritted teeth.

  “He was not a piece of shit. I was,” I tell him and watch the color leave his face.

  “Don’t say that,” he says with a frown. His forehead creases and he looks as if he’s devastated.

  I have to get the truth out. I can’t allow it to fester inside of me any longer. “Here’s the truth, Dad. I watched Paul and Sandy’s kids for them. That part you know. What you don’t know is that I saw Sandy treat her husband, Paul, like dog shit on a daily basis. I saw her taking off with other men while her husband was at work. I saw it all and I saw a man who was in the lowest spot in his life.”

  “Don’t,” my father says as he looks at the blanket and nervously picks at a loose thread on it.

  “It was me who seduced him. It was me who made all the first moves on the man. I put his hand on my breast. I pulled his dick out of his pants and I put my mouth on it. I did that all on my own.”

  My father stands up as he shakes his head. “No! He made you do that! He made you, Tasha! You’re looking back and you’re blaming yourself, but it was him who did that! You were only sixteen. He deserved what I did to him! He did!”

  “He was a broken man and I took advantage of him and what’s worse is I knew exactly what I was doing. And then you came to pick me up and caught the first time I put my mouth on him and you nearly beat him to death,” I level my eyes on him as he seems to be coming undone.

  “No!” he shouts. “Tasha, no! He made you do that to him. And that fucker Grimm made you do those awful things with him. You didn’t want to and you know it!”

  I shake my head. “I did want it. I watched an awesome show with a woman and a man and it was beyond amazing. I want it. I want that man and I want that excitement in my life. I want to feel it all, Dad. Understand it or don’t. I don’t care.”

  “Natasha Greenwell, I did not raise you to be this way. I did not raise a sexual deviant,” he shouts at me.

  “Am I deviant, Dad?” I ask as I watch his color come and go. He may throw up and I wouldn’t blame him. He’s the one who’s insinuated himself into my sex life and I can’t feel sorry for how he’s taking the reality that is me.

  He gets off my bed and sits in the chair as he breathes hard. “You’ve really been down a hard road. You need help, baby girl.”

  “Dad, all I need is Nic. He is really all I need. It’s been thirteen months and he’s still all I can think about. That has to be because we have something real. I don’t expect you to understand but I do expect you to back the fuck off us. Actually, I demand you do that.”

  His face is pale as he looks at me. “You are demanding me to let that son of a bitch do to you anything he wants?”

  “He does nothing to me I don’t want.”

  With a nod, he gets up. “No,” he simply says.

  So, I pull out my big gun. “You sure about that? Because I’m pretty positive that woman who you are calling a doctor is your lover.”

  Quickly, his eyes go narrow as he finally looks at me. “Did she tell you that? She’s a liar!”

  “No, she didn’t tell me that. I just found it odd that you found an American woman in Greece to treat my drug addiction, an addiction you caused. Two and two came together. It’s much easier now that my mind is clearing,” I tell him and by the way his body is shaking, I know I’m right.

  “You know nothing, Tasha,” he says as spit drips off his frothing mouth.

  “I know this. Your reign over me is over. Better to accept it, Dad. Fighting me will be a losing battle.”

  The door slams against the wall as he throws it open and leaves me alone. My steady heartbeat is confirmation to my brain. His rule is over and my conscience is finally clear about Paul.

  The truth feels good!

  NICHOLAI

  As we get to the dark castle, the first man to get to the door throws it open and shines his flashlight into the darkness. “We're here for the princess!” he calls out.

  There is no answer and Nic and I exchange a look. “Where are the people you said guard this place?” I ask him.

  “I have no idea. I swear to you there are always three men who guard this door,” he says as we move forward with the large group of people, armed with flashlights.

  We go inside the castle to find it empty. Not a thing in the whole place tells me anyone was ever there. There is no bed in the room he said she was in. There isn’t even a lock on the door as he said there was.

  “Nic, how could you do this?” I ask him as his relatives and townspeople look on.

  “I swear, Nicholai. She was here before I left to come get you.” He falls to his knees. “I swear it to you!”

  “Well, where is she now?” I ask as my hand twitches to knock the shit out of the liar.

  “I do not know,” is his stupid reply.

  “What am I to do with you, Nic?” I ask as my mind goes into a fevered state with being fooled by the man.

  This will not end well for him, I expect.

  The Beast: Part Six

  NICHOLAI

  The steady sound of the plane’s engine soothes me as I ride back to America on the first commercial flight I could get out of Greece. I managed to rein in my rage at the young man I thought at first had duped me into believing I would find my Natasha.

  One of his brothers got between us before I could lay a hand on the man and we went to get a drink at the nearest bar. I settled down quickly and knew I should get back home to New York.

  With the knowledge Natasha is no longer in Greece, my hopes for finding her are falling away, a bit at a time. I think her
father will make sure to keep her on the move so I will never be able to catch up to her.

  I also think the shrink I saw might be right. How long am I to wait? Forever?

  I shake my head and sip on the Scotch I had the stewardess bring me. She’s been eyeing me and I know I could take her in the bathroom and have my way with her. But every time I look her way, I see my Natasha, standing behind her.

  Her ghost seems to follow me wherever I go. She’s a part of me and even as I think about how I should move on, I simply can’t. The hope I felt about finally finding her has fallen inside of me. Like a vacuum, it sucks up my emotions. I feel as if I’m perpetually falling and there is no end in sight.

  Pulling out my phone, I look at a picture she took of us that morning, the morning after our first night together. After we’d gotten ready to go to work. She labeled it, the first day of our new life together. “Who’s she?” a woman’s voice comes from behind me.

  I turn to find an older woman leaning up in her seat. “She’s a woman I’m searching for. She was taken from me about thirteen months ago.”

  “She’s gorgeous. You two look great together. Was she kidnapped?” she asks as she looks a little harder at the picture.

  I nod. “By her father. He’s an FBI agent. He’s managed to keep her just out of my reach.”

  “An FBI agent?” she asks then seems to be thinking.

  “Yes, he was investigating my company. My family owns a weapons company. He didn’t want her involved with me.” I put my phone away.

  “A weapons company?” she asks then her eyes go narrow. “His name doesn’t happen to be Norman Greenwell, does it?”

  “Norman Greenwell is his name,” I answer her with more than a bit of surprise. “You know him?”

  “I know of him. Personally, we’ve never met. I’d love to meet the man, though. I have an earful I’d like to give him. He’s stringing my daughter along. He has been for the last couple of years. He keeps telling her he’s on the verge of leaving his wife for her. My brother is also in the FBI, that’s how Greenwell met my daughter,” she tells me, making the wheels spin in my head.

  “The man cheats on his wife and has the nerve to judge me?” I ask myself out loud.

  “He’s a piece of work, that man,” she says. “I came all the way to Greece to finally confront him as my brother told me he was going there to deal with something and he had my daughter with him when he left New York. I hopped on the first flight out but he and she were gone when I got there.”

  “I came for his daughter. And now I suppose what the young man who came for me told me, was true. Only I got there just a little too late to get to her. Did your brother tell you where they were going to go after Greece?” I ask and find myself crossing my fingers as I wait for her answer.

  “As a matter of fact, I do know right where they’re going. Nantucket,” she tells me, sending sparks of hope shooting all through me again.

  “To where his wife lives?” I ask.

  “My brother told me, he’d talked to Norman and that he had some personal business to see to in Nantucket then he’d be back in New York. I have to find my daughter and open her eyes to the man. You see, I’ve found two more women he’s been messing with. My daughter thinks she’s the only one. She’s blocked my calls as she wants me to leave them alone. But I’m not about to do that.”

  “Tenacious, aren’t you?” I ask as I think about going right up to their house and knocking on their door once I get back.

  “I am. You see, my daughter stands to inherit quite a chunk of money when her paternal grandfather passes away. I think that man is using her for the money she will have one day. Loretta is a doctor and has put that aside to be at that man’s beck and call. A thing I never saw coming from her. She’s too smart to be dealing with a man like that. Once I show her the pictures of him with other women, I hope she’ll see reason and come back home with me.”

  “Where does she live now?” I ask as I can surely find the man there if I don’t find Natasha at his home with his wife.

  “He keeps her in various hotels. She has no real place to live. Her life is completely uprooted by the man. I have to say, I’ve never hated anyone but I hate that man,” she says.

  “Maybe you and I could work together. Your name is?” I ask as I take a pen and paper from the back of the seat in front of me.

  “I’m Stacy Holland. And I’d love to help you if you could help me,” she says. “And you are?”

  “I am Nicholai Grimm.” I watch her face go pale and wonder why that is.

  “Grimm?” she looks at me and reaches out to touch my face. “Are you related to Nicholas Grimm?”

  “I’m his son,” I say as I find it even more surprising that she knows my father.

  “I went to school with your father. He and I were high school sweethearts. My father was in the military and when he was sent to Germany, we all had to move with him. I lost touch with Nicholas as my letters to him started getting returned to me. I had no idea why that was. It broke my heart as he and I had planned on me coming back to New York when I turned eighteen. It was merely three years from the time I left. Only he must’ve moved on. We were just kids but that felt like real love. To me at least. I suppose he’s doing well now.”

  “Not really. He is married to my mother. It’s a shell of a marriage, though. He’s not what you’d expect, I’m afraid. But it’s interesting that you say you two were sweethearts. Did the man ever tell you that he loved you?” I ask.

  She nods. “We’d say it all the time to one another. That’s why it hurt so much when my letters were returned, unopened.”

  “He’s never uttered those words to me. My father is harsh and cruel at times. And he doesn’t believe in love. He too is against me and Natasha. If I ever do find her, we have a battle with both of our fathers that is sure to erupt.”

  “He’s never told you, his own son, that he loves you?” she asks and shakes her head. “He is most definitely not the same person he was all those years ago.”

  “Not at all, it seems. I’d bring you to see him, only I wouldn’t want you to deal with the man he’s become, Stacy,” I tell her and watch as she nods, sadly.

  “No, I’d rather have my memory of him when we were young and in love. So, let’s put that little discussion away and make a plan of how the hell we can help each other accomplish these goals we have. Seems we’re both chasing after the same man.”

  It seems we are and it seems this woman has knowledge, I desperately need!

  NATASHA

  The fluids and vitamins have helped me tremendously and I can walk on my own up to my parents’ home in Nantucket. I’ve yet to get anywhere near a phone so I can call Nic but I think it’s about to happen for me.

  My father is eerily quiet as we approach his home. Another car came and took the doctor, who came back from Greece with us, away. I asked him several questions about her that he never bothered answering.

  His hand touches my arm just before we get to the door. “Promise me you won’t hurt your mother with your stupid notion about that woman, Tasha.”

  And just like that, I see I have more leverage than I realized I had. “Sure, Dad. And you butt out of my personal life too.”

  He shakes his head and I shake mine. Then his eyes go narrow as he says, “Tasha, I can make shit happen. Don’t fuck with me.”

  And just like that, I realize my father has more reach than I do. So, I give in but only a bit as I say, “I’ll keep my mouth shut. No reason to hurt Mom.”

  “No, there’s not. Your perceptions are unfounded, anyway. I love your mother,” he says as he unlocks the door.

  It’s early in the morning and by how quiet the house is, I think Mom’s still asleep. Dad pushes a code into the alarm system then closes the door and reactivates it. “You seem to be locking us in, Dad.”

  “I am. I need rest and I need to know you’re going nowhere. I’ve changed the code to the alarm. The one you knew is no longer. If the wrong co
de is entered, the alarm will go off. If any window is opened, the alarm will go off. So, don’t even try it, Tasha.” He smiles as he walks away from me. “Go to your old room and get some rest.”

  I don’t need to go anywhere, anyway. I just need to get to the phone. He told me he bugged the phone and would intercept any call to Nic’s office and cell phone. But he doesn’t know the home phone at Nic’s house. Technically, neither do I. But I do know how to call information and get that number. All I have to do is let someone in Nic’s staff know where I am and he will come for me.

  Making my way to my old bedroom, I go inside and find it neat and tidy. Mom’s been keeping it clean for me, it seems. When I open the closet, I find my clothes that were in the dorm room. Dad must’ve gotten all my things. At least they weren’t thrown away.

  I search through the things in the room and find the naughty negligees and masks Nic sent to me are not here. That’s an expected move on my father’s part.

  My ears prick at the sound of my mother and father talking as they come down the hallway. “Is she okay?” I hear her ask.

  My door opens and Mom pulls me into a big hug. “Hi, Mom.”

  “Oh, baby,” she says as she squeezes me. “You’ve lost weight.” She holds me back and looks me over then frowns at my father.

  He looks a little sheepish then his cell phone rings and he leaves my bedroom to answer it. I look at my mother and want to cry and beg her to help me. “Mom, I need your help.”

  One finger goes to her lips and she gives me a wink. “I’m already on it, baby girl.”

  My heart pounds as I’ve finally found the one person who can help me. Mom hasn’t always been proactive in my raising. She’s always maintained that my father is head of the household and his word is the final one. But this time things seem different.

  Maybe she’s had some concerns about his faithfulness and is now looking at leaving him. I’d never blame her for doing that.

  We hear Dad go into his office as that door slams on the other side of the house. “Wonder what has him so mad,” I say as Mom closes my door.