Billionaire's Tragedy (Standalone Book) (Billionaire Bad Boy Romance) (52 page)

CHAPTER
SIXTY-SEVEN

Dax

As
I came up out of the drug-induced sleep I’d been under, I looked around, trying
to figure out where I was. I was groggy and my mouth was as dry as the desert.
I tried to lift my head and ask for some water, but I couldn’t move.

I
turned my head to see exactly where I was. When I looked to my left, I smiled
as I saw Brooke curled up fast asleep in a large lounge chair that she’d
dragged over from the other side of the room. Her hair spilled down around her
shoulders and her mouth was slightly open as she slept. She looked beautiful.

“Mmmm,”
I said as I tried to get her attention.

“Huh?
What?” She shook her head as she tried to orient herself as she woke. She quickly
looked over at me and when she saw that I was awake, too, a smiled spread
across her lips, reaching her beautiful blue eyes.

“Hey,
you,” she said softly as she stood up and moved over so she could sit on the
edge of my bed. “I was waiting for your lazy butt to wake up.”

“Mmm
mmm,” I grunted through dry lips that refused to open enough to make sounds
that normal people would understand.

“Water,
you need water,” she said as she got up and went out to the nurse’s station to
ask if I could have it. She returned with a big pitcher and a glass with a
straw sticking out of it. “They said you could have little sips of water, and
they trusted me to make sure they are little sips, Mr. Malone. So don’t get me
into trouble!”

I
smiled as best I could and waited for her to bring me a drink. She sat on the
edge of the bed and held the cup parallel to my chin as she bent the straw and
slid it in my mouth. I took a quick sip and let the cool liquid spread out
across my parched mouth. She held it there until I took another sip, and by the
third one, I could open my mouth and speak.

“Are
you okay?” I asked.

“Who,
me? I’m fine,” she laughed. “You were the one who took one for the team,
mister!”

“I’m
fine. What about Riza?” I asked.

“I’m
not going to lie, she’s got a long road ahead of her,” she said. “She killed
Lydia, and she tried to kidnap Roger and me. And while we’re willing to not
press charges, she’s going to have a tough time with the murder charge.”

“Can
you help her?” I asked before I bent my head forward to take another sip of
water.

“Roger
is going to help her get expert witnesses from the military to talk about PTSD
and its effects, but she might very well have to do some time for Lydia’s
murder,” she said. “I know it’s hard, but she needs help.”

“I
know. I just wish I would have understood that before it got to this point,” I
said as I looked away and tried not to think about my best friend in prison.

“Dax,
it’s not your fault,” Brooke told me as she set the cup down and then very
carefully lay down next to me so that her body was stretched out next to me. I
could feel her warmth through the thin hospital blanket. She lightly rested her
hand on my chest, and I lifted my other arm so I could lay mine over the top of
hers. We lay there like that until the night nurse came in and told Brooke that
visiting hours were over.

“Brooke?”
I said as she gathered her things to prepare to go home for the night.

“Yes?”
she turned and focused her bright blue eyes on me. I felt my heart expanding so
fast that it felt painful in my chest. I winced a bit, and she rushed over.
“Are you okay? Do you need the nurse?”

“No,”
I whispered as I reached up and ran my fingers through her hair as I studied
her face. “Brooke…I love you.”

She
tipped her head and smiled warmly as she reached out and stroked my cheek.
Then, she leaned down and lightly kissed my lips before
she
whispered, “I love you, too, Mr. Malone.”

CHAPTER
SIXTY-EIGHT

Brooke

I
stopped by my parents after I left the hospital and checked in to see what Pop
had heard in the newsroom.

“Well,
if it isn’t my big fancy lawyer daughter,” he laughed as he crossed the kitchen
to meet me at the front door.

“TONY
RAINES!” my mother yelled at the top of her lungs. “How many times do I have to
threaten to kill you before you stop walking on my freshly cleaned kitchen
floor?”

“Apparently
more than you already have,” my father said as he wrapped his arms around me
and hugged me tightly. “I needed to hug my daughter!”

“Well,
fine then,” my mother grudgingly agreed as she, too, crossed the kitchen and
pulled me into her arms. “I’m so glad you’re okay. If anything had happened to
you…”

“Yeah,
well, it didn’t, now did it?” I said as I pulled away and looked toward the
kitchen. “What’s for dinner?”

“Tony
and Gina are bringing dinner over, didn’t I tell you?” my mother said as she
returned to her mop and gave the floor one more swipe to clean up the prints my
father had made.

“Nope,
you sure didn’t!” I said as I sunk down in the comfy chair near the door and
looked over at my father who had take up his position in the recliner. He
looked up at me over the edge of his glasses and said, “You sure you’re okay,
kiddo?”

“Yeah
Pop. I’m fine, I promise,” I said raising my hand in a swearing in position.

“What’s
happening at the firm?” he asked.

“Well,
Roger is helping with Riza’s case. We think we can get her sentence reduced on
the grounds that she was suffering from severe PTSD,” I said. “Jordie and I are
handling all the other cases that are streaming in as the result of this
exposure. I think we’re going to have to hire more help in the front of the
office. Alma can’t keep up with all the calls and everything else!”

“That’s
a good thing! Get her to organize the place and keep you all on track,” he
laughed. My father had had several run-ins with Alma and come away from them
re-thinking his entire office organizational policy. I thought he was nuts, but
my mother said it had been a lifelong affliction.

“Where’s
Beck?” my mother called from the kitchen. “He knows he’s welcome here anytime,
right?”

“Mom,
Beck doesn’t even know us,” I said. I had tried to remind my mother that she
couldn’t just adopt everyone who came into my life. “Besides, I took him back
to the rehab facility so he could finish his treatment. He wanted to be sober
when Dax got out of the hospital.”

“When
do they think that will be?” my father asked.

“Probably
next week,” I replied. “They want to make sure the wound is healing properly
and that there’s no infection.”

“He’s
doing okay otherwise?” he asked as he looked at me pointedly.

“He’s
fine,
Pop
. Why are you so nosy?” I laughed.

“I’m
a reporter, it’s my job,” he said with a flourish of his hand. “Besides, it
seems like you might like this guy or something.”

“Pop…”
I warned.

“I
know, I know, I’m not supposed to say anything about it,” he said waving me
off. “Got it.”

“I
should never have trusted you with that information. I thought as a reporter,
you’d be safe!” I sighed. “I should have known better.”

My
father pulled he paper down just enough so that I could see the twinkle in his
eye as he smiled at me. He was happy that I’d met someone who loved me in all
the ways that his difficult daughter needed.

“Hey,
hey, hey!
Whose
hungry?” Teddy called as he pushed
open the front door and walked through with a huge pot full of something that
smelled like heaven. He looked at my father and me and quietly asked, “Mom
mopping the floor again?”

We
nodded as my mother yelled, “I heard that! Just don’t get my clean floor
dirty!”

We
all burst out laughing as Gina entered, carrying several full bags. I jumped up
off the chair to help her as my father followed Teddy into the kitchen and
lifted the lid on the pot.

I
set the bags down and looked around at my family, marveling at how warm and
welcoming they were and feeling excited about introducing Dax to them all.

CHAPTER
SIXTY-NINE

Epilogue
– Brooke

“Pop,
what are you doing?” I cried as I looked at my father over my shoulder.

“Nothing,
just checking something,” he said as he bent down and pulled something out of
his shoe. He handed me a penny that had obviously been smashed by something
enormous and said, “Here you go, kiddo. I’ve been saving this for this day.”

“Pop,
what is this?” I asked as I turned it over and felt the smooth copper in my
hand.

“It’s
my lucky penny. I’ve had it since I was eight,” he smiled. I put it in all my
shoes for good luck. I wanted you to have it today.

“Pop,
where am I going to put this?” I asked as I looked down at my outfit and tried
to think of where I could tuck the good luck charm.

“Oh,
I didn’t really think about that,” he said as he looked me over and then kissed
my cheek. “You really look beautiful, Brookie.”

“Oh,
Pop, stop it,” I said as I tried not to let the tears well up and ruin my
makeup.

“You
ready to do this, kiddo?” my father asked as he held out his arm and smiled
warmly.

“Ready
as I’ll ever be,” I smiled and took his arm just as the music started.

We
walked through the kitchen to the backdoor where we stopped and looked at each
other and laughed because we knew we were both waiting for my mother to yell at
us.

“Stop
dawdling and start walking,” she called from her seat out in the yard. The
whole crowd burst out laughing because they, too, knew about my mother and her
floors.

The
music started as my father took a step forward, and I followed down the stairs
and across the lawn. The backyard had been landscaped especially for this
occasion, and it looked like a botanical garden with all the trees and
flowering bushes. I smiled as we started up the center aisle, lined with flower
petals that led all the way to the handsome man waiting for me at the end of
it.

I
held his gaze the whole walk to him. And when I reached his side, my father
took both of our hands and joined them before he said, “Be kind to one another.
Always.” He turned to go join my mother, but before he reached her, he looked
back at us and added, “And, stay off your mother’s floors.”

The
crowd erupted into a fit of laughter and
the officiate
began, “We are gathered here today to join this man and this woman in the bonds
of holy matrimony…”

When
we got to the vows, I looked up at the handsome man in front of me and in a
confident voice I said, “Mr. Malone, I promise you a lifetime of love, joy,
laughter, and warmth. I promise that I will cherish and respect you. I promise
that I will listen to you and talk with you. But most of all, I promise that
our home will always be a place where you will want to return to after you’ve
been out in the world. I promise to be your partner, your friend, your lover,
and your biggest supporter. As long as I’m with you, I will always be at home.”

Dax
smiled warmly as he looked into my eyes and said his vows, “Brooke, you had my
heart from the moment I met you. And every day I’ve spent with you has simply
served to confirm that I’ve found a home for my heart. I promise that I will
protect, respect, and love you. I will support you and listen to you, and I
will strive to make a home for your big, beautiful heart as we spend our lives
living and loving together.”

There
was not a dry eye in the house as he slipped the ring on my finger and
the officiate
pronounced us man and wife. Dax lifted one
hand to brush the stray hairs from my cheek before he bent down and wrapped his
arms around me. He looked deep into my eyes as he mouthed, “I love you,” before
he bent and kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and returned the kiss
as he lifted me off of my feet and raised one arm in victory.

“Hey,
don’t drop me, Malone!” I cried as I felt myself slipping out of his grasp.
“This dress cost a fortune, buddy!”

“Don’t
get sassy with me, Mrs. Malone,” he said as he kissed me again and gently
lowered me to the floor. We joined hands and as the crowd of friends and family
clapped and cheered, Dax and I walked down the aisle into the next chapter of
our lives.