The Playboy's Fugitive Bride (37 page)

The first thing Massimo had done on his return was fire Maurice, ninety percent of the employees, and the entire board of directors.  He’d replaced them with people he could trust.  He’d been called ruthless and heartless for closing his companies and putting so many people out of work, but rather than waste time defending himself, he’d taken the blame and exerted his energies to rebuilding Andretti Industries, and carving out his own niche—Bianchi Incorporated—and regaining his reputation in the business world.  

Leaning forward, Massimo picked up his phone and opened his camera app.  His heart thundered in his ears, and a tightness settled in his belly as he slowly clicked through the images of Nia he’d taken on Sunday.

Nia had called him from her hotel.  She said she missed him.  She didn’t say what she would be doing in the city, and he never asked because he didn’t want her to lie.  There were enough lies and distrust between them already, and for that reason, he’d halted all surveillance on her once he knew she’d made Eddie’s drop and Aaron was back in New York.

Massimo sighed.  He couldn’t wait to get back home, hold her in his arms, gaze into her beautiful brown eyes, hear her sweet voice calling his name, tell her that he loved her, and then tell her everything else.  He hoped they would finally be able to begin a life—free of lies, secrets, deceptions, and misconceptions.

* * *

Nia took a deep breath and told herself to remain calm and dignified.  She was a married woman now—a very rich and powerful one—and she had to maintain a certain decorum when in the presence of others, like the bellman who was accompanying Aaron up to the suite.

But when Nia opened the door and saw the muscular, six-foot, one-inch frame of her seventeen-year-old baby brother standing on the other side, her reserves went flying down the hall.  She shrieked like a hyena, threw herself into his arms, and burst into tears.  Happy tears.

“Hey, big little sister.” Laughing, Aaron, wrapped his arms about her and, picking her up off the floor, he spun her around and around.

Nia felt like she was a little girl again when she and Aaron used to lurk near the door and pounce on their father when he came home from work.  He would pick them up and dance them into the kitchen, or the living room, or wherever their mother was busy doing whatever mothers did. 
Such sweet memories
. 

“Ahem.”

At the sound of a throat being cleared, Nia opened her eyes to stare at the bellman.  He still had Aaron’s two duffle bags draped around each of his shoulders.  “Put me down,” she told Aaron.

He immediately placed her on her feet.  She swooned a little from the excitement and from being spun around, and grabbed on to his arm for a few more seconds.  “I’m sorry.  I’m just so excited to see him,” she said to the bellman.

“I understand.  I have a little sister,” he replied with a smile and a nod.  “Where would you like the bags, Mrs. A—”

“Just right here.”  She hastily cut him off.  Now was not the time to drop the Andretti name, especially with a
Mrs.
attached to it while addressing her.  “You can leave them here.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”  He placed the bags on the floor.

“Allow me,” Aaron said, stopping her when she reached into the pocket of her jeans to retrieve the tip she’d stashed there earlier.  He reached for his wallet, counted off some bills, and pressed them into the man’s hands.  “Thank you,” he said, giving him a big smile.

“Thank you, Mr. Sylk, and please let us know if we can be of further assistance to you.  Enjoy your stay.”  He bowed and left, closing the door behind him.

“Where’d you get all those bills in your wallet?” Nia asked, linking her arms about his waist and leading him over to the sofa.  She loved his new scent—sunshine, ocean, sand, and tropical nectar.

“I was working on Dulcina.”

“What kind of work were you doing to make that kind of money?”  She pushed him down on sofa and dropped down beside him.

“I used to go fishing with one of Josie’s uncles.  Uncle Luther.”

“You, fishing?  In the ocean?”

“Mm hmm.  I went out with Uncle Luther on his boat four days a week.  He even gave me my own traps and nets.  He said that whatever I caught, I could sell and keep the money.  I made around five thousand dollars.  U.S.”

“Wow, that’s a lot in such a short time.  I never even made that in a month.”

“I was doing it for you, for us, Nia.”  His soft gray eyes that he’d inherited from their mother shone with pride.  “Since Dad died, you’ve worked so hard to take care of me.  You’ve sacrificed so much to raise me.  I know I can never pay you back, but I wanted to try.  I wanted to make things easier for you, especially after you called me last week and told me you were moving to Dulcina—which isn’t a bad place to live,” he added.  “But then yesterday when you called to tell me I was coming home, the first-class ticket, private limousine, and now this…” His voice trailed off as he glanced around at the grandeur.  “What’s going on, Nia?  Did you win the lottery or something?”

Something.
  Nia swallowed as she gazed at her baby brother.  He’d grown up so much in a few weeks.  He’d left New York a boy, and returned a man, a man who’d earned five thousand dollars working with his hands.  She would respect him and treat him like a man.  There was no need to protect him, keep things from him anymore.  Soon he’d be going off to college and finding his place in the world.  She took his hands in hers, hands that were calloused, dry, and sunburnt, hands she didn’t recognize.

“I have something to tell you Aaron, something that might upset you.”  She looked away for a second.  “It will upset you, but you have to trust me.  You have to believe me when I say it was the only way to keep us safe and alive.”

He was taken aback.  “Keep us safe from what?  From who?  I’m too old for Maine’s child welfare services to put me back into foster care.”

Nia wished that that had been her only fear all these years.  She released Aaron’s hands and reached toward the coffee table.  She picked up a magazine to reveal her wedding and engagement rings sitting underneath it.

Aaron’s eyes bulged.  “Holy crap!  Those stones are huge.  Are they real?”  He leaned forward, blinking as the diamonds shot blinding sparks into the air.

Nia picked them up and placed them on the appropriate finger of her left hand.  “As real as the man I married.”

“You’re married?”  He slapped his hand against his forehead.  “The bellman started to call you Mrs. Something, but I thought he had you mixed up with another guest.  When I left New York, I didn’t even know you were involved with anyone.  I’ve never seen you with a guy.  Ever.  I don’t think you ever went out on a date.  Did you?”

“I didn’t have time for guys.” 
Thankfully
.  She was created for Massimo.  Born to love him.

“I feel bad about that,” Aaron said.  “You were so busy taking care of me that you didn’t have time to take care of you.  Is this guy rich?”  He cast his eyes around again.

Nia nodded.  “He’s a billionaire.”

Aaron’s mouth dropped open for a few seconds, then he squinted at her.  “Is it a marriage of convenience?  You could not have met, fallen in love, and married a stranger in three weeks time, Nia.  What do you know about this man?  He could be a dangerous criminal.”

He is dangerous
.  “He isn’t a stranger, Aaron.  Not in the real sense.  I’d met—I’d seen him once before—before Daddy died.  Our paths crossed again last Wednesday and we got married on Friday.”

“That was lightning fast.  Do I know him?”

Nia held her breath and his gaze.  “You don’t
know
him.  You’ve never met him, but you know
of
him.  You’ve heard his name and seen his picture in magazines and on TV many times over the years.”

“Is he some kind of Hollywood celebrity, professional athlete?  They’re the only billionaires whose names I might know.”

“No, Aaron.  He’s not a Hollywood celebrity or a professional athlete.  He’s in business.  Textiles.  He owns Andre—”

Aaron jumped to his feet and glared down at her.  “Don’t you dare say that name, Nia!  Don’t you dare tell me that you married that—”  He balled his fists and growled.

“Massimo Andretti.  I married Massimo Andretti, Aaron.  He’s my husband.  I’m his wife.”

Nia watched the life, the excitement, and the pride she’d seen when he walked through the door drain from her brother’s face.  The youthful façade of a teenage boy had instantly hardened into the vicious image of a man.  His body had become a hard mass of anger.  Murderous anger.  She didn’t like the picture she was seeing.  Her stomach was in knots.  She wrapped her hands around her middle.

“How could you?”  Aaron found his voice and it was laced with disgust.  “How could you marry the man who’s responsible for our father’s death, Shaina?  How could you betray his memory like that?”  His eyes were filled with disdain.  “Have you slept with him?  Please tell me you haven’t.”

Nia dropped her gaze against the humiliation she was suddenly feeling.  For the first time, she felt dirty for making love with Massimo.  A medley of erotic images of them together flashed across her mind and she had to fight hard to hold back the bile that threatened to rise to her throat.

“Oh God!” Aaron exclaimed.  He took a step back from her as if he’d suddenly discovered she was carrying some kind of infectious disease.  “How could you sleep with that jerk? How could you let him touch you?  Don’t you have any pride?”

Those were questions she’d asked herself, mental obstacles she’d had to overcome.

Aaron growled.  “You think because you’re his wife, you’re better than all the other women he’s had?  You’re just a trophy wife, Nia.  Nothing more, and when he’s done with you, he’ll toss you aside like the others.  I thought you were smarter than that.”

Nia’s chest rose and fell on some harsh gasps as she tried to cope with Aaron’s reaction to the news of her marriage to Massimo.  She understood his disappointment, even his disgust, but she’d be damned if she was going to sit here and let him talk to her like that.  Who the hell did he think he was?  Her father?  He was just a kid.  A kid she’d sacrificed her entire life for.  A kid she’d raised and protected and watched grow into a man she loved and was currently proud of.  Of course she had the same fears about Massimo, but no way in hell was she going to sit quietly and let her little brother insult her like that, make her feel shamed about the choices she’d made.  As if she had any choice at all.

It was time little Aaron knew exactly what she had to do to protect him.  She was telling him everything, each dirty little detail.  “Sit down, Aaron,” she said to him.

He turned and headed toward the door.  “Dad must be turning over in his grave.  I want no part of this.  I’m not staying here—”

“I said, sit down, Aaron!”  Nia didn’t even bother to get up.  She was still the boss of him for a few more months and she was exercising her authority.  “Cameron Norwood, get your oversized, seventeen-year-old ass over here and sit down, or I swear to God, I’ll—”

“What?  What you gonna do, big little
Sista
?”

Nia clenched her teeth.  “You’re gonna hear me out.  It’s time you know exactly what I had to do to keep your bigheaded, stubborn butt safe and alive.  Why you’ll never become fish food in the Hudson.”

He stopped and turned to look at her, shock, confusion, and fear replacing the anger and disgust in his eyes.

“If you still want to leave after you hear it all, I won’t stop you.  You can take your five thousand dollars and go live your life however you want to live it.  But you’re hearing me out.  You owe me that much.”

He dropped his head and slouched his shoulders as he walked slowly back towards her.  He sat down on the other end of the sofa, far away from her.  He didn’t look at her, but kept his gaze straight ahead out the window as dusk began to descend upon them.

Nia pulled her feet up under her and leaned back against the arm of the sofa.  She took a deep breath and kept her eyes on her brother’s rigid frame as she began to talk.  She started at the beginning, the first time she’d seen Massimo when she was the same age Aaron was now, and how she’d felt about him.  She told him about the promise she’d made their father to take care of him and to leave Maine.  She told him about the detective who’d been asking questions about them in Philadelphia—the reason she’d fled to New York and changed their names.

He flinched when she spoke about the first letter she’d received from Eddie.  He turned and looked at her while she spoke about the second letter with the threats.  He was shaking when she told him about her proposal to Massimo, and by the time she got to the part where Massimo had her thrown in jail and forced her to marry him, tears were streaming down his face.

“Shaina.”  He was kneeling on the floor in front of her, holding her as they cried together.  “I’m so sorry.  I’m so sorry.  Why did you keep all this from me?”  Why didn’t you tell me about this Eddie guy?  Where is he?  I’m gonna beat the crap out of him.”

Nia smiled.  “That’s why I didn’t tell you, Aaron.  I knew you would think it your duty to go after him to protect me.  The best way I knew to protect you was to send you away.  And the only way to save us both was to proposition Massimo.  As sick as it may sound, I’d happy he took me up on my offer.”

He stared at her.  “Did—um—your husband pay him off?”

She shook her head, understanding that he wasn’t ready to speak Massimo’s name.  “No.  Massimo doesn’t know anything about Eddie.  But since he let me keep the two million dollars, I gave Eddie his one million this morning.”  She’d also discovered that Massimo had paid off all her credit card balances and her school loans.  She had no debt, except the one owed to her husband.

“How can you be sure Eddie will leave us alone now?” Aaron asked.  “You came up with a million dollars in less than a week.  He might see you as an easy ride to more.”

Nia pulled away from him and went over to a desk.  She brought back the letter she’d received from Eddie that morning and handed it to Aaron who sat on the floor with his back propped against the sofa while he read it.