Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 95049 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95049 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Lorenzo chuckles. “It definitely is.” He makes a show of throwing the plastic clip into the other room. “Fuck that shit. We prefer the monkey clip.”
His playful gaze meets mine, and my stomach does some weird somersault that has me chanting to myself, Do not fall for the grumpy single dad. It will not end well.
12
Lorenzo
“Good afternoon,” Ronald says. “Your guest has a visitor. Mrs. Vanderbilt is here to see Vanessa Baker.”
“My mom’s here?” Vanessa hisses, appearing in the doorway.
She glances at Leo, who’s munching on his fruit puffs and babbling at her.
“I’ll go down there,” she says. “I don’t want her anywhere near Leo.”
Before I can respond to her comment, she disappears down the hall, and a moment later, the front door slams closed.
It shouldn’t shock me that the woman who’s only been in our lives for a short time is determined to protect my son, but every time I watch her with him, I can’t help but be surprised by how quickly they’ve bonded. Every smile, every laugh, every sweet word she speaks to him has him—and me, not that I’d ever admit that out loud—falling under her spell.
When she leaves, life will go on, but I can’t help but wonder if Leo will miss her. Will he wonder where she went? Feel abandoned? He didn’t even notice when Hillary disappeared, but Vanessa’s spent more time with him during her stay here than I ever saw Hillary interact with him.
“Ronald, Ms. Baker is on her way down,” I tell the doorman who’s still on the phone. “There should be a guard with her. If there’s not, don’t let her go anywhere near her mother.”
“You got it, sir.”
There’s a screeching sound, and Ronald sighs. “Ma’am—”
“I want to see that selfish bitch right now!” a woman, who clearly isn’t Vanessa, yells, making my hackles rise.
Grabbing Leo from the floor, I ignore the pain radiating down my arm and head straight for the front door, finding Vince—one of Matteo’s men—standing by the door.
“Is someone with Vanessa?”
He shakes his head. “Matteo told me not to leave the door.”
“Shit.” I can still hear Vanessa’s mom screaming over the line. “I’ll handle it.” I hand Leo to Vince. “Go inside with him, please, and don’t let him out of your sight.”
He nods in understanding, and I rush to the elevator, jabbing the button.
The call cuts off once I enter the elevator, and when I step out, I find who I assume is Vanessa’s mom—based on the fact that she looks like an older version of her daughter, only with a shit ton of work done.
She grabs her daughter’s wrist, yanking her toward her, and Vanessa yelps out in pain.
“Get your fucking hands off her,” I bark, making both women look my way.
“You need to mind your own business,” her mom sneers. “This is a family matter.”
“Well, since I’m her husband, I guess that makes me family,” I say dryly, refusing to think too hard about the fact that I’m not only defending the woman who seduced and drugged me, but I’m outwardly admitting to us being married.
“Are you serious, Mom?” Vanessa hisses, pulling her wrist out of her mom’s hold. “How stupid do you think I am? I know what your husband is trying to do. I overheard him on the phone, offering to sell me to pay off his debt!”
Mrs. Vanderbilt doesn’t even appear to look shocked at what her daughter just said.
“He’s not going to let anything happen to you,” Mrs. Vanderbilt insists. “It’s the only way to find this Santiago guy. And once he does, he has men who will handle him, and we’ll bring you home.”
I bark out a laugh. “She’s not going anywhere with you. If you want to use someone as bait, use yourself.” I pull Vanessa behind me. “And if you come anywhere near this building again, I’m going to take it as a threat and have you handled.”
Mrs. Vanderbilt flinches but quickly bounces back, straightening her shoulders and jutting her chin out. “This is not over.” She turns on her heel and saunters toward the lobby door.
“You’d better hope for your sake that it is,” I call out just before she exits.
“Add her to the list of people not allowed in here,” I tell Ronald, reaching into my pocket and pulling out a couple of hundred-dollar bills, handing them over to him.
“Yes, sir,” he says, pocketing the money.
“I hate this town,” Vanessa utters, walking back toward the elevator.
The doors open before I can get a look at her reflection, but once we step inside, she can’t hide from me. Her eyes are filled with unshed tears, and her nose and cheeks are red.
“Hey,” I say, turning her around to look at me. “Take a deep breath.” The last thing we need is her having a panic attack in the elevator. “Nothing’s going to happen to you.”