Miami Hot: #1 (Miami Heat Series) (28 page)

“De Marco. I swear to God, if you touched her, I will break you limb by limb,” he threatened walking angrily to his desk.

“King, we meet again. Sam, hi. Good to see you again,” he offered a handshake to Sam.

“I’m not sure I want to shake a man’s hand who lied to my face about my sister,” he said and ignored his hand.

Antonio sighed. “I knew this would happen. And te
chnically I didn’t lie to you. At the time we talked, she wasn’t in Italy yet. Why don’t we take a seat and I’ll explain,” he told them.

Mitch and his men said they would wait outside, while
Conrad and Sam took seats on the sofa’s Antonio indicated.

They both looked at him with hostile faces. “Look, I’m not the enemy here. I may look like it, but I did you both a favor by keeping her with me. If I had denied her, who knows where she would have ended up. She was a mess when she first got here. And I beli
eve you both had a part to play,” he said and was rewarded with two guilty faces.

“You
could have at least told me she was here. We have been going nuts looking for her. She hasn’t called since that one time. Her phone has never been switched on since she left,” Sam barked.

“I
couldn’t tell you. I had promised her. But she knew that had you called after she had arrived, I would have had to tell you the truth. We both knew it and she was glad when you never called back. Your not calling again, was a blessing in disguise. She would have simply run away again.” Antonio looked at Sam and they exchanged a look. “And we both know, she had the means to do that,” he added as if verbalizing the look.

“What the fuck are you talking about? You two knowing something I don’t?”
Conrad asked.

“Yes. Why don’t we start by when and how I first met Sam and
Moira. Sam can’t tell you because he signed a non disclosure agreement. And since it’s a long story, I’ll have my assistant bring us lunch,” Antonio said and stood going to his desk. “We have a great kitchen in the building.”

He called his assist
ant and asked her to bring three orders of the chef’s special and make sure the gentlemen outside his office were fed too.

He came back to take his seat. “Ah! So the beginning. Almost three years ago,
Moira had just turned twenty one, and both Sam and Moira had just lost their fathers the previous year.” He looked at Conrad. “I’m sure you know they both died in a fire?” he raised his eyebrow in question.

“Yes, she told me.”

“It had been a while since I had been back to the states. I had taken over the company business a couple years prior and hadn’t had much time to travel. Family feud over the business. Anyway, it had taken me that long to put things in order to keep the business from collapsing due to some irrational family member.” Antonio stood up and took three tumblers and poured a little brandy in each. He handed each man a glass, then swallowed his in one gulp. “Fast forward, I finally get the chance to do a little business outside of Europe, and so I tied it with a vacation. I am in Miami and I decide I need to get out and live a little. I hired a nice sports car, hoping to catch some ladies too,” he laughed at the memory.

Sam smiled at the memory too. “I remember that car. A pity it was wasted,” he said.

“Yeah,” he said and shook his head. “Anyway, so I am out at night driving to some place I heard throws great parties. I stop at the lights and Sam and Moira stop beside me. They are looking at my car giving appreciative glances. I smile back and when the light turns green, I take off. Except that I crash into a truck that was lying in wait. The whole driver’s side was smashed in and the door wouldn’t open. That fact is what saved me from the family member I was talking about. A greedy and foolish cousin of mine who was trying to take over the reigns of the business.”

They moved over to the adjoining conference room where the food had been laid out. Each man took his seat and Antonio continued his story.

“I passed out, and the next thing I remember is waking up in the hospital and there is this gorgeous angel leaning over me. She smiles at me and I think ‘Oh God, I hav died and gone to heaven’, and I pass out again. The next time I wake up, my family is there and Sam and Moira are hovering around talking to the police. That’s when everything comes back and I remember them from the traffic light stop. I’ll have Sam tell you want happened when I crashed.”

Sam took up the story. The
memories of that night were still as clear as if it had just happened. “Antonio crushes and in a second I realize it was a set up. And I’m busy wondering why someone went to that trouble on such a nice guy, except I don’t know him from Jack. But instinct kicks in and I tell Moira to call the cops. Two guys are getting out of the truck and coming towards the car. They try his door and it won’t open. Same with the passenger for a short while, then suddenly it opens and they try to drag Antonio out of the car. Fortunately for him, one of his feet was stuck, and it seemed they needed to take him alive, so they started fighting with the driver’s door again. By now I am close to them and I’m not sure how to approach them because I see they are armed and I don’t have anything besides a wrench I had taken from the trunk in case I needed to break glass or something.”

“Please tell me
Moira followed instructions for once in her life,” Conrad said.

“Suddenly there is the wail of sirens, faintly at first and then they are getting louder and louder. That was
Moira. She had taken my phone to call the 911 and was activating an app on her phone that sounded like police sirens.”

“Are you kidding me? There’s an app for that?”
Conrad asked.

Sam nodded.
“Those days Moira was into all these weird apps and sometimes would download stuff on my phone and I would have to go back and delete them. Believe me, after that, I didn’t,” he explained to Conrad. “Anyway, the guys panicked and then they took off. For a while they were screaming at each other, didn’t seem to know which direction to take because no one could see in which direction the lights were coming from. They finally take off, and by now I am already at Antonio’s car were I assess that not only is the door stuck but his foot as well. The only thing that helped me calm down was that there was no smell of gas. A few minutes later, help arrives and Moira insists on going with him. I follow in my car and by the time I get there, Moira has accepted Antonio’s personal belongings. She goes through the wallet and finds a strip of condoms and smirks at me as if to say, me and Antonio were of the same mind. A man’s life is hanging in the balance and she is tells me, “Oh, at least he intended in having safe sex.”

All three laugh. Then seem to remember why
Moira was in this predicament. She hadn’t practised safe sex.

“Anyway, we go through the wallet and find nothing. Fortunately the phone doesn’t have a password so we go through the contact list and find
what we think could be the numbers for his parents. We think it’s probably easier to try the dad first and we get lucky. When a whole entourage of people come through the hospital doors, it hits us that this is some rich high society person. The police had let me go from the scene of the crime, and now they are at the hospital where they question me again, then question Moira, and when Antonio wakes up, he collaborates part of our story.”

“Fortunately I don’t have any injuries besides my foot. Nothing major. I get crutches and am discharged the next morning. The police have some information and we find out that my cousin was behind it all. So we don’t press charges trying to keep it within the family
,” Antonio said. “My cousin’s dad who has since passed, was seriously ill at the time. So we didn’t think he could handle the news of what his son had just tried to do. Unfortunately, over the years, he has continued to be a pain in my side, but fortunately nothing as serious as that day.”

They were quiet as their plates were removed and dessert was brought it.

“Once I was discharged we go to find Sam and Moira. My mother doesn’t know how to express her gratitude for her only son. And when she finds out that they were now on their own, she practically adopts them. She sets up ten million dollar trust funds for them, flies them here for about a week and makes them promise to keep in touch. And since then we talk from time to time, everytime I come to Miami, we hang out. They are like the brother and sister I never had, so to answer your question Sam, yes, I may have misled you.” he pushed his plate away, then continued, “I was protecting my little sister. Not necessarily from you, but from King over there.” He sighed. “But at the time you called, I told you she wasn’t in Rome. At the time she was still in the air. Had you called after she had arrived, I would have told you she was here,” Antonio told him.

“I appreciate you looking out for her. Although a hint would have been nice.”

“Would you have been able to keep King in the dark?” Antonio asked.

“Probably not for long. I for one wasn’t keen on their relationship from the get go. I almost had a heart attack when she told me. It helped that I had some time to think about it before I confronted him. I knew if I said anything negative they would just meet behind my back. And besides when I saw how far gone
Conrad was, I knew I would at least get the satisfaction of seeing him chase his tail. And until she ran away, it’s been pretty fun seeing Mr. CEO here be whipped into shape by little Moira,” he said laughing at Conrad.

“I would have paid to see that,” Antonio replied grinning in
Conrad’s direction.

“Back then I would have denied everything, but not now. She is the one for me, and I have come for her. I really would like to see her now, if you are both done with laughing at my expense.”

“Actually she had made plans to return on Friday. But we can go home to see her, although I will need to prepare her for your arrival. No, that part is not negotiable. And you can rest assured she won’t run away.” Antonio stood and they followed. “You can follow me, and I will need at least thirty minutes with her. Hopefully less. Gentlemen, if you are opposed you can forget it. You may as well wait until she is back in Miami,” he said forcefully.

“As much as it galls me to say it, I agree,”
Conrad hissed.

“Oh come on King, we are family now. You and me at family gatherings, what can be more fun?” he asked with mischief in his eyes.

“After today, I hope to never set eyes on you,” Conrad replied.

Antonio laughed with glee.
“Even if I don’t see you after you return, you can bet on the land you stole from me that come November I will be front and center in your face.”

“November? Ah! You can forget about being there for the birth of my child. I’ll slap you with a restraining order so fast your pretty Italian face will set into a freeze.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“
Guys, I hope this is not how you are going to behave in front of Moira,” Sam stepped in trying to bring some sense into the two who were acting like kindergartens.

“
Moira already knows what a scumbag King is. Why do you think she didn’t want to marry him?”

“De Marco, I swear the only thing keeping you alive and in one piece right now is that I need to get to
Moira. Once I do, all bets are off. So why don’t you be a good little prince and take me to her.”

“All in good time baby daddy.”
Conrad swung and hit Antonio in the jaw. He saw the blow coming but reacted a little to slowly. It hurt like a bitch but fortunately he had swerved so didn’t get the full force of the blow.

Sam grabbed
Conrad off Antonio before it became a full fledged fight. “You two can beat each other to a pulp for all I care, but at least tell your security to let me in so I can see my sister,” he shouted at them.

“Fine. I’ll call her.” He pulled his cell from his pocket and dialled. When
Moira was located and came on the line they only heard his side of the conversation. “Bella! I’m on my way home. How about some tea when I get there.”

He listened while
Moira responded.

“In our secret place. I have some good and bad news.”

He laughed at whatever she said to him.

“I’ll be right there. And if you like the news, we
could celebrate. Ciao bella.”

Then he turned to face
them. Conrad was rediating with rage. “You have a secret place with Moira? What the fuck have you been doing to her? I swear if you touched her, that death I promised you, will be slow and painful.”

“Ha! Ha! I am shaking in my Italian loafers,” he replied.

“Time out. Can we go now?” Sam intervened thinking they were both lucky to have been single children. They might have killed their siblings.

Antonio smirked at
Conrad then led the way out. When they got on the road, their convoy was ridiculously long. As if a dignitary was coming through. Traffic was light and they seemed to have taken a short cut back to the Castle. They were shown to some room while Antonio left in a different direction. It was torture waiting while knowing Moira was just a few steps away.

π

Moira was surprised when she got the call from Antonio saying he was coming home early. She wondered what news he had, but something about him was a little off. And for the life of her she couldn’t understand what he had meant by referring to their secret place. So she just decided it would be safer if she waited in her bedroom. These were her last few days. She dressed up not because it was expected of her, but it was fun playing dress up. When she opened her door to greet Antonio, she swore that even after hours at the office, not a hair was out of place. She had teased him about it the first few days. And now he was cutting his hours at the office short. Should she get worried?