A Bride for the Billionaire Bad Boy (The Romero Brothers, Book 2) (2 page)

Toni scoffed. Those words didn’t seem to ease his
anger. It was the last thing he wanted to hear. “I’m going to settle this once
and for all,” he murmured under his breath.

“And just how will you do that?” Shelly looked taken
aback.

Toni said nothing more as the passenger door to the
SUV opened and the noise from the cameras clicking and the reporters all shouting
questions besieged his ears at the same time. “Mr. Romero, do you have any
comments on the latest allegation regarding your grandson, Lucas?” one reporter
shouted.

“No comment,” Toni replied firmly and as politely as
he could while he hobbled out of the vehicle with his cane at his side. He then
walked up the steps, trying to ignore the commotion surrounding him. His chin
was raised proudly. If there was one thing about a Romero, it was that they
were a proud and confident family. Even in the midst of adversity or scandal. Shelly
held on tightly to his arm as they walked inside the foyer of their home.

Shelly and Toni had just returned from a weekend
excursion to Niagara Falls when the news broke about the latest scandal
surrounding his grandson. He’d summoned his entire family to the estate, those
who could make it, to conduct an emergency family meeting. Jack, his son, was
still in hiding somewhere in Paris and hadn’t stepped foot in the country the
past few years. Jack was the father of Lucas, as well as his brothers, Zack,
Jules, Troy and Carl. All in their late twenties and early thirties. Toni’s eldest
son, Antonio Romero II, died at the age of fifty-five, but his grandson Antonio
III and his new wife Lucy
Shillerton
-Romero would be
present.
 

Toni was so proud of his enterprising family; they’d
inherited his good business smarts and established their own names in the
community, but of course, scandal and controversy seemed to follow them
everywhere they went.

A long running feud with the Romero and the Bronson families
didn’t help either. His old rival, Larry Bronson, was the former mayor of Mayberry
Hill and also the patriarch of the Bronson Media Corp.

Surprise. Surprise. The Bronson family owned most of
the newspapers in town. Larry made his dislike for the Romero family very clear
from the early days—since the Romero family won claim to a piece of land
that the Bronson family had insisted was theirs.

But Toni was not about to entertain that idea right
now. He had other more important things to tend to. Like, once again, clearing
his family’s name. He ignored the scores of reporters, knowing full well who
owned the papers and TV channel they were reporting for. Talk about media bias.

But somehow his ears zoomed in on a raspy voice of one
TV reporter. “So there you have it…Toni Romero will not be making any statements
about his grandson Lucas Romero over the latest allegation. I’m Blue Monroe
reporting for Channel 31 News.”

He’d seen that reporter many times before camped out
at his functions. He shrugged and moved up the steps carefully as his wife, who
happened to be his former nurse, assisted him.

Shelly whispered in his ear. “You still didn’t answer
my question, Toni. Are you planning on telling me what you’re planning to do to
settle this problem with Lucas?”

Toni wouldn’t dare admit it, but he’d always had his
eye on Maxine Summers who, along his other grandson, Antonio’s new wife, Lucy,
made glorious arrangements for Toni and Shelly’s wedding to happen through
their Dream Weddings, Inc. agency. Maxine seemed like a stable, well-adjusted
young woman. He had already had her checked out through his contacts. And as if
fate couldn’t have done a better job, Maxine caught the bouquet from Antonio’s
wedding while Lucas, of all men, caught the garter. Well, that could only mean
one thing.
Two birds with one stone.
He didn’t know
how he was going to pull it off, but he was going to do something about getting
Maxine and Lucas together as fate had intended.
Yes, he
hated to meddle, but for the good of the family, sometimes it was necessary.
That
would help Lucas’s wild-partying image and also provide some stability in his
life. Maxine didn’t know it yet but Toni already considered her part of the
inner circle. Trustworthy.

“You’ll see,” he whispered back, and he raised a brow.

CHAPTER TWO

Somebody
is stalking me.

Maxine Summers sat dazed in her office at Dream
Weddings, Inc. Heat shot through her veins and boiled her blood. It hadn’t been
six months since she’d taken over the position of CEO of the company from Lucy
Shillerton
and, ever since, she’d been plagued by a series
of hate mail in her inbox.

Trouble was—she didn’t know she even had
enemies!

“Well, this one’s new,”
Maxine
whispered looking at the screen of her laptop on her desk.

“What does it say?” Betty, the new receptionist who
took over for the previous secretary, Darla, seemed as anxious as Maxine.

Maxine read the message out loud. “I know where you
live. Your apartment is 11C at the Westwood.”

“Wow! That’s crazy! Maxine! You have to call the cops.
You will call them, won’t you?” Betty asked; her mouth fell open as she glared
at the screen behind Maxine’s desk. There was more to the message Maxine hadn’t
read aloud. Much more. And it was explicit to say the least.

“I'd say I have no choice.” The previous emails seemed
like pestering and more of a nuisance, so Maxine was hesitant to call the
police for what could have been simply spam or a hoax. But now these creepy
people, whoever they were, had her personal information. Heck, they had her
home address!

How on earth did they manage to track her down like
that? She was
a nobody
. She wasn’t famous or even
widely known.

Not like the Romero family!

And thank goodness for that! She’d read the latest
scandal surrounding Lucas Romero, whom
she’d
met at
Lucy’s wedding. Lucy was the previous owner of Dream Weddings, Inc. and Maxine's
good friend since she worked for Lucy before taking over. Lucas was hot but
thank goodness she’d stayed clear away from him! How awful to be in his shoes.
She pitied the girl who would be his next arm candy.

Maxine wasn’t a politician, a reality star or an
entertainer. Not that those people deserved to be stalked. But who on earth
would have that kind of interest in her? Heck, she was barely making ends meet at
the moment, so blackmail was out of the question. It was June, the so-called
high season month for weddings and yet—business was unusually slow.

Sure, she was the CEO of the small business owned by
Annie, the eclectic woman who’d started the Dream Weddings, Inc. agency to
grant the most unusual weddings to deserving couples. Only trouble was that
most people were scaling down expenses during this period of economic uncertainty.

“Girl, you look exhausted,” Betty commented.

“I am,” Maxine murmured. She was drained. Exhausted,
really. This was the last thing she needed. “I was at the nursing home late
last night.”

“Oh, no. What happened? Is your mother all right?”

Maxine sighed. “She’d fallen off the bed.”

“But how? Don’t they have rails?”

“She’s confused again. You know how it is with short
staffing.”

“Right. I see.”

“Well, sometimes it’s better for family to be there to
make sure things are done. I always try to make sure I’m there at meal times to
assure she’s fed. Sometimes her meal tray is left untouched. I try to read to
her while I’m there, too. When she’s having her good days.”

“Doesn’t it bother you that she doesn’t know who you
are?”

“Yeah, but I know who
she
is and every day I’m going in to be with her. She took care of
me since she adopted me when I was a toddler. She’s the only family I
have.”
 
The words scorched a hole in
her heart. Maxine didn’t want to see anything happen to her mom. She just
couldn’t bear it.

And that was why Maxine needed this job like crazy.
How else could she afford to keep her mother in the nursing home—as
imperfect as it was, if she didn’t have a decent salary? If business ran downhill,
where would she be? What would happen to her mother?

That’s why this latest stupid hoax letter didn’t help
matters. Could things get any worse?

“Just try to avoid caregiver burnout, Maxine,” Betty
offered while scrolling down the screen on her
iPad
with her finger.

“Oh, I will,” she sighed wearily. “Now I’ve just got
to try to figure out who the hell would want to send me these nasty letters!”
 
 
 

Maxine thought for a moment. There was that twelve
million dollar lawsuit from the couple suing the agency after their bungee
jumping nuptials took a nosedive. Maxine squeezed her eyes shut and re-opened
them. But it could not have been them—could it? The matter was in the hands
of the court system and
they were warned beforehand by the
previous CEO of Dream Weddings, Inc. of the risks involved and not to take on
such a crazy stunt
but they wouldn’t listen. Maxine racked her brain
again. What? What? What?

 
Was it her
ex,
Jiles
? He was a former co-worker whom she found
out had real issues prior to dating him.
Her first real
boyfriend.
But then when she ended it with him as gently as she could, he
couldn't let things rest. He was emotionally abusive towards her and would
often cause her to doubt herself. That was until she broke away from his hold.
Really weird.
But somehow, Maxine didn’t think it could be him.
Or, could it?

This was no time to play Russian roulette with her
life. She was not about to take any more chances.

She picked up the phone and dialed the local police
station after
Googling
the information.

“Eighty-fourth division. How may I direct your call?”
the operator sounded on the other end of the phone line.

“Yes, hi, I need to speak with a detective. Right
away.”

***

While waiting inside the Romero mansion for his
grandfather to return from his trip, Lucas Romero finished pumping weights in
the gym with his brother Zack by his side. The fitness facility was situated on
the Romero estate.

He pressed the towel to his moist skin and pondered
the latest allegation. He felt a vein throb in his temple. The more he dwelled
on the ridiculous accusations, the more the heat of contempt scorched his blood.

The
nerve of that woman! Trying to trap me like that. Extort money from me. Well,
she’s got another thing coming and it won’t be cashable.
 

His biceps were more pumped than before and the
adrenaline was still shooting up. He wasn’t a man who did the commitment thing
unless you counted committing to working out at one of the many gyms owned by
his family, or to dedicating all sorts of hours to help run Romero Realty
Enterprise and Romero Foundation, the multi-national organizations founded and
built from the ground up by his seventy-six- year-old grandfather when he was
Lucas’s age of twenty-eight.

He was serious about his workout regime, especially
since his motor vehicle accident some years back. He’d almost lost his life and
his limbs. He was driving a friend to the hospital after she’d experienced
dizzy spells. Out of nowhere
they were struck by an
intoxicated driver
. Luckily, they survived. Lucas was given a second
chance and thereafter he took nothing for granted. Yeah, he played around a lot
but he made it clear up front to the women he dated.

He wanted a no-strings-attached good time. Period.
Take it or leave it. He was happy for his cousin Antonio who got hitched six
months earlier to that CEO of Dream Weddings, Inc. and he was happy his
grandfather found love with his much younger nurse but marriage was not
something he was going to touch with a long pitchfork any time soon. He had a
brief engagement right out of college but it didn’t work out. Said
"fiancée" was using the young Mr. Romero for his name.
So much for finding someone who cared about you for who you were.

And now?

This crazy scheme from a woman he’d never even dated
who claimed he was the father of her child? Yeah, right. Lucas was a lot of
things but a deadbeat dad wasn’t one of them. No way in hell would he not claim
a child who was his. But no way in hell would he sleep with a woman without
protection. He took a hell of a lot of risks.
Mostly with
business but never with his health.

He loved sex. He loved bringing his women to all kinds
of sexual heights. What man with a pulse didn’t? But the safer the sex, the
better!

 
Lucas,
like his brother Zack, loved the adrenaline rush that also came with fast cars
and living in the fast lane but figured getting adrenaline from working out was
best at the moment.