His Paris Affair (The Albury Affairs) (22 page)

Ruiz laughed alongside his brother. “A month. That isn’t
much time but I’ll get the hotel up and running by then, but I don’t know
anything about planning a gala.”

“Melody does. Get it done, for your daughter’s sake,” he
said before the line went dead.

Ruiz stared at his phone for a long while before he put it
back in his pants pocket.

“So, he gave you a month to get the hotel on track?”

“And my marriage. See you tomorrow Jon Luc. I’ve got a
hankering to hold my daughter,” he said with a smile as he walked to the door.

Jon Luc cheered. “Take the day off tomorrow as well and kiss
that
belle ange
for me.”

As he reached for the door it flew open and he jumped back
just in time to miss getting hit. And just like that, his new good mood went to
shit.

“Mother, what are you doing here?”

She approached him, face red and breathing like an enraged
bull. “That little twit you call a wife kicked me out! Apparently you told her
to do so.”

Ruiz nodded. “Yes, I did.”

“
Que?
” she
shrilled sending a ringing in his ear.

“Mother, you are only here for one thing, to cause trouble
and I’m already drowning in enough of that. I don’t need your kind of trouble.”
He tried to walk around her but she dug her claws into his arm holding him
back.

“You owe me!” she hissed.

“No mother,
you
owe
me
. You owe me all that you
denied me growing up but I’m not interested in collecting. I just want to live
my life with my family in peace.” He winced as he pulled her hand, nails and
all off his arm.

“I’m your family, your only family!” she yelled.

Ruiz shook his head. “I have a wife and a daughter. And a
brother and sister, who’ve both shown me more concern on the day we met than
you ever, have in my entire life. I have nephews and a niece and hopefully
another niece in five months. I have in-laws and friends that love me for me
and not where I came from, what I did and who sired me. They are my family, not
you.” Ruiz clenched his teeth as he forced the words that were long overdue out
of his mouth. “I love you mother, but I can’t have you in my family. You’re
toxic and I’m very sure right before Melody kicked you out, you tried to turn
her against me.”

She laughed wickedly. “I said nothing that wasn’t true. And
this new wonderful family you have acquired, what do you think they’ll say when
they find out the truth about you. The whole truth and not just the colorful
one that had you looking like a victim.”

Ruiz blanched and he knew his mother caught his reaction by
the way she smiled. She leaned closer and spoke in a fake whisper. “I wonder
what they’ll say when they find out you are the monster they hire hundreds of
bodyguards to keep away. Oh yes, I’ve done my homework on your new family. I
found the story on
your sister-in-law’s
ordeal with her bodyguard quite entertaining. I wonder what they would do when
they know they’ve let a monster worse than Jeb into their inner circle.”

She grabbed his chin and pulled him down and pressed her
lips to his cheek in tender kiss that a stranger would mistake as a mother’s
loving kiss. It was actually her victory stamp just to say that she had him by
the balls.

“We’ll speak soon dear son.” Her cackle echoed in the room
long after she was gone.

“Ruiz—”

He looked up to see Jon Luc stare at him with pity. He’d
witnessed the entire thing and now he pitied Ruiz.

Ruiz wasn’t sure what burned worse, embarrassment or the
pity, but what annoyed him most was that for a moment, he had began to hope
again and his mother, the woman who bore him happily crushed it under her Prada
heels.

God his life sucked!

* * * *

Melody was up late the second night in a row, waiting for
Ruiz to get home, but this time she was ten times more worried. Jon Luc had
stopped by and told her what had happened with Clarissa. He didn’t give her any
details, just that it was urgent she spoke to Ruiz. Melody wondered what his
mother could have said to him that made him want to escape.

The door beeped open and Melody jumped to her feet ready to
carry him to his room if need be, but Ruiz was steady on his feet—he moved
slowly, but he was steady. He closed the door and leaned his head against it.

“Ruiz,” Melody began, cautiously moving to stand a few feet
behind him.

He turned to face her and the look in his eyes punched her
in the chest. He looked so sad, so defeated. She took another step towards him.
“Ruiz…”

“Don’t worry, I’m not drunk.”

“I can see that.” She smiled weakly at him. “Tell me what
happened?”

He leaned his head against the door, closing his eyes. “With
what?”

She knew he might not react well to this but she still said
it. “Jon Luc told me what happened with your mother.”

He vaulted from the door, his eyes blazing with anger and
his lips curled in a sneer that she jumped back in fright.

“He did what?” he hissed.

Melody held her hands together to hide their trembling. “He
didn’t say much. Just that your mother cut you down with her words. What did
she say?”

He stomped away from her. “None of your business!”

She rushed into his room, ducking under his arm before he
had time to bang it shut. “You are not going to shut me out anymore! Not if we
have a shot in hell to make this work. I’m your wife and you’re my husband—my
only husband—and we have a daughter I’m hoping we’ll be able to raise together.
For all our sakes, please talk to me.”

 
He stared at her
long and hard before he turned away from her, taking his jacket and shirt off
in jerking movements. “There is nothing to talk about.”

She chased after him when he went into the bathroom. “That’s
where you are wrong. There is a lot to talk about. Jon Luc said you were happy
coming up to see your daughter before Clarissa happened. She said something to
you that made you run, that’s keeping you from Esme.”

He forcefully tossed his shirt and jacket into the laundry
basket before he spun around making her jump back again at how fast he moved.

“That’s none of your business!” he yelled, sidestepping her
and moving back into the room.

“It is my business when someone comes between my daughter
and her father!” she yelled back chasing after him.

He turned on her again, but this time she didn’t jump. As he
yanked the belt out of his jeans and kicked off his boots he asked, “How do I
even know she’s mine?”

She knew he was trying to offend her, hurt her enough to
make her run and leave him be, but she’d been preparing herself for questions
like this the entire day before Jon Luc stopped by.

“If you would hold her, look at her, you would know. You
would feel it in your heart—a cord wrapped around it with the other end firmly
around hers. You’ll feel her yank on it when you hold her. Hell, I see her
across the room and my heart wants to leap out of my body with love.”

He averted his eyes as he sat down on the bed and Melody
knew he already felt it.

“You’ve already felt it, haven’t you?”

He busied himself unclasping his watch refusing to answer or
to look at him.

Melody knelt down beside him. “Ruiz answer me!”

“What does it matter?” His glare turning pained before it
changed back to a glare. “What the hell does any of this matter anyway?” He
yanked of his socks and threw them across the room.

Melody moved to kneel between his knees, cupping his face in
her hands and forcing him to look at her. “Everything concerning our daughter
matters. We can’t be selfish anymore or she’ll be the one to suffer for it.”

He stared hard at her, his eyes shuttered so that she could
see what he felt, what he was thinking.

“Ruiz—”

“Shut up,” he growled.

 
With one swoop
he got her off the floor and dumped her on the bed. In a second he was on top
of her, kissing her, touching her, muddling her mind until her concerns were a
distant memory and all she could think about was how bad she wanted him inside
her. He freed his hands and moved them to his hips and Melody only got a
glimpse of his hands unfastening his pants before he caught her lips in another
punishing kiss. She too freed her hands long enough to pull her underwear down
her legs. She felt his hands push hers away and he quickly ripped the
restricting thing off her. When he pulled away he was panting over her, his
eyes searing into hers. She touched his face, his shoulders his chest, every
part her hands could reach wondering how the hell she got so lucky to land a
specimen like him and how stupid she was to have let him go.

Then something in his eyes changed and he sprung away from
her moving to the other side of the room. “Get out.”

She pushed herself up on her elbows and watched him as he
heaved for breath, his eyes closed tight and his fists clenched at his sides,
his pants hanging open and low on his hips.

“Ruiz, what’s wrong?”

His eyes opened and his hard gaze leveled on her, “I can’t
take you, not now, not with all this anger boiling inside me. I’ll hurt you and
you’ll hate me for it.”

She got off the bed and approached him but he only moved
away from her. “Ruiz—”

“Now, Mel!”

She would have said no if Esme hadn’t began to cry at that
moment. She looked at the door then turned to him. He still stared at her with
that hard gaze, his body wound tighter than a bow string his fists clenched at
his side.

“I’m not giving up on you—on us—so you better get used to
it. Tomorrow is a new day and a new start for this family,” she declared then
with her head held high she marched out of the room, pulling the door closed
behind her.

Chapter Ten

Ruiz felt a rush of cold air that startled him awake. “What
the hell?” He opened his eyes to Melody’s beaming smile and sunny disposition.
He groaned covering his head with his pillow. “Leave me alone Mel.”

“Wakey wakey sleepy head. Time to get up! We have places to
be, things to do.” Her chirper tone grated at him.

“
You
maybe, but
we
have nothing to do.
I’m
staying right here.” And just as he
finished speaking the pillow was ripped away from his head and Melody fell onto
his back. He grunted under her weight but stayed as he was. He liked her weight
on him, but her wet finger in his ear was irritation.

Ruiz slapped her hand away. “Quit that! What are you, two?”

“Yep.” She put her hand in his hair and pulled, hard. “And
I’m about to throw one hell of a tantrum if you don’t get out of bed.”

Ruiz granted slapping her hand away again before he put his
arm over his head. “Go away Mel—fuck!” He jumped at her shrilly scream in his
ear, tossing her off him then quickly rolling on top of her. “What the hell!”

She grinned up at him, her eyes sparkling with amusement.
“Are you up yet? Can we go now?”

Ruiz shook his head astound. “If this is you at twenty-five,
I’m glad I never grew up with you.”

“Consider it practice for your daughter when she reaches her
terrible twos then her teens,” she chuckled, shaking her head. “I’ll tell you
now, she’ll be our worst nightmare when she hits her teens and discovers boys.”

The moment she mentioned Esme, he ran hot and cold. He was
excited to finally get to hold his daughter, to cuddle her and tell her how
much he loved her, to be apart of her future. But he was also scared out of his
mind of tainting her, of staining her innocence with his darkness. His mother
was right, he was a monster and he was frightened that in the long run he
wasn’t good for her—for Esme or Melody. Maybe he should just cut all ties now
before things got more complicated, distance himself before his past caught up
with him and destroyed his family. He could feel it, everything good in his
life since he walked into Reno’s resort was about to come to an end, all at the
hand of his mother. He knew she was up to something, he just hoped he’d have
time to prepare himself for the attack before it happened.

His own mother was about to bring his new world crushing
down around him. If he had a choice, he would have happily chosen Cora as his
mother. It may sound mean, but there are just some women in the world that
shouldn’t be allowed to procreate.

Ruiz climbed off Melody and off the bed and silently walked
to the bathroom.

“Ruiz, do you even want to meet her?”

Keeping his back to her he said, “I already have.”

He heard the rustling of the bed covers and suspected Melody
was climbing off the bed. He couldn’t hear her footsteps because of the thick
carpeting, but he was sure at that moment she was standing right behind him,
debating whether or not to touch him. He had become unapproachable, his biggest
defense tactic when he felt he was getting too emotional about something. And
right then, he needed to protect his heart from Melody. He was a firm believer
of the ‘once bitten twice shy’ saying. He didn’t believe in second chances. It
was just giving someone a second try to hurt him only this time it would be
worse than the first time he or she took a swing at him. He’d learnt that well
from his mother and her line of husbands.

Dreamers got hurt and it was time he stopped dreaming and
started living in the real world.

“Okay, let me rephrase that. Do you even want to hold her?”

Of course I do
, he
wanted to shout,
I think of nothing more
than finally having my baby in my arms!
But he couldn’t taint the one good
thing he’d done in his life, he just wouldn’t. So he said nothing, keeping his
back to her.

“Get ready, we’re going out.” He heard the hurt in her voice
and Ruiz cursed at himself.