His Wild Attraction: A Billionaire Romance Novel (Wild Billionaire Romance Book 4)

Chapter Four Andres

St. Elizabeth’s offsite housing was actually an old Victorian remodeled to offer five smallish apartments, if you counted the basement apartment where Mrs. Stevens, the caretaker, stayed.

Each one was big enough for two people to share. In Ellie’s case that meant her and Sammy.

There was nothing wrong with the house. It was fine. But my hackles went up every time I thought about her living there.

It was boorish of me, I knew that. But I couldn’t help it. Ellie deserved better. She deserved the best. She deserved me.

It wasn’t conceit that had me calling myself the best. It was fact. No one else could possibly feel about that woman the way I did.

She was all I thought about. Everything I saw, heard, smelled, felt.

It was all her.

All Ellie.

And. She. Was. Everything. To. Me.

Yeah, I was sick. Borderline fucking psycho. But what could I say?

Ellie and me, we were simply meant to be. I believed that with every fiber of my being.

I lifted my fist and knocked quietly. Half a second later, she pulled the door open, and my mouth went dry.

She was wearing a pair of Halloween-themed flannel pants and a simple cotton tank top. Nothing fancy or sexy.

But the swell of her breasts and the hard nubs of her nipples pressing against her top still made my mouth fucking water.

She’s perfect.

Her hair was tousled, and her face looked like she’d just scrubbed it clean.

She smelled good. Fresh and clean like soap and body lotion.

There was nothing obviously seductive about what she had on or how she looked.

But I was captivated.

Completely and totally.

That invisible magnetic pull I’d felt towards her since the first time I ever laid eyes on Ellie was in full force. I couldn’t look away if I tried.

My cock began to stir, and it was only through sheer will alone I managed to stand there and not reach for her.

“Come in,” she said, her voice low and scratchy like she was nervous, and her mouth had gone dry.

Concern had me furrowing my brows, but I bit my tongue, waiting for her to get the ball rolling.

“Can I get you something to drink or a snack?” she asked, and I shook my head.

I followed her deeper inside the room, ignoring the wall and the couch where we’d gone at each other like a couple of hormone-crazed teenagers.

“I guess I should start by explaining why I called you,” she began.

“I thought that was to propose?” I said, my lips quirked up in a half smile I hoped was charming and not psychotic.

I exhaled a sigh of relief when she responded with a mock-dirty look and rolled her pretty hazel eyes, gesturing for me to take a seat at the small card table where I imagined she and Sammy shared meals.

“Yeah, about that. First, I should explain,” she began, but was interrupted by a lightning fast ball of chocolate colored fur.

Ellie jumped, covering her nose, when the small cat jumped into my lap.

“Who’s this?” I asked, charmed by the animal.

“That’s Rocky, Sammy’s new kitten,” she said, still covering her nose.

She sat with her legs tightly crossed, and I frowned, petting the kitten and placing him gently on the floor.

“He’s cute. But, um, are you okay?”

“Me?” she said, her voice muffled by her hands. She dropped them, wiping her mouth and tucking her hair behind her ears.

So fucking cute.

“Yeah, um, allergies.”

She said, and I frowned, making a mental note to research cat allergies.

“So, anyway, I don’t know how much you know about my past,” she started again.

I sat across from Ellie, my attention on her as she explained what I already knew from my clandestine research.

She was newly divorced after fleeing her abusive ex with her only son.

I listened quietly, allowing her to finish, and pretending that I hadn’t already read every bit of information I could find on Ellie Maxwell and Gary Peters.

It wasn’t like I could interrupt her. Besides, it was probably cathartic.

Ellie was a survivor. A goddamn warrior. And I was so fucking proud of her.

But I wouldn’t tell her I knew all about it.

I mean, how would I even begin to explain the lines I’d crossed?

I couldn’t.

So I didn’t even try.

“My father was an important businessman. But he was old-fashioned, and he was a lot older by the time I was born. His ideas of what was appropriate for a female were seriously outdated, but I didn’t know any better, and really, my interests were always a bit different,” she said, and I leaned closer.

Maybe she was right.

I never heard her talk about what she liked and disliked before. Those were secret things. Things I longed for her to share with me because she wanted to.

“I didn’t really push to finish college. I had my own reading preferences, and I enjoyed cooking, baking, and crafts. I know I seem simple and maybe even dumb, but it was what I liked?—”

“Hey, don’t call yourself that. But liked? As in past tense?” I couldn’t help but interrupt.

“Oh, well, I don’t know. I mean, I still like cooking. But, well, it’s been a long time since I thought about what I liked,” she mumbled, frowning.

I wanted to reach across the distance between us and smooth out the lines on her forehead.

Ellie should never frown. She should only smile.

I could learn what makes her smile.

“Um, the point I was making is maybe some of the fault for my failed marriage is on me?—”

“No,” I said, suddenly furious. “Don’t you dare blame yourself for anything that happened between you and that pitiful fucking excuse for a human being.”

“I-I just meant that maybe Gary was expecting someone with more sophisticated tastes and business understanding. Not to mention a better inheritance. But my father never intended for me to run the company. Gary assumed marrying me would make him a shoo-in. But it didn’t, and he hated me for it,” she stated.

“Ellie, I think I should probably interrupt you here and explain that I know all about your father’s will and the state of the company. Josef already asked me to dig into Maxwell Mining.”

“He did?”

“Yes. I hope that is okay with you. It’s sort of what I do for Volkov Industries. Acquire businesses in trouble. Root out the problems. Make them better. Make them earn. Sorry, um, please continue,” I said.

“Right,” she began, “so, I don’t know if his intentions towards me were anything other than mercenary, and I feel stupid for not knowing. Leaving him was necessary. He, uh, he,” she paused.

“Ellie, it’s okay,” I whispered her name.

I was caught between wanting her to continue and not wanting it. I couldn’t just sit there and listen to her tell me how this man hurt her.

Not without wanting to kill him.

But Ellie needed me to listen. She needed someone to lean on, and I could do that. For her, I would do that.

So, I forced myself to be still and silent while she had her say.

I watched her, helpless to do anything else, while she wrung her hands together and shrugged. She lifted her tear filled golden green eyes to mine, and my heart damn near broke.

Rage turned my vision red, but it wasn’t directed at her.

Never that.

I was going to destroy her ex. His fate was sealed the moment he touched her. Gary Peters was living on borrowed time. He just didn’t know it yet.

And that was what made it fun.

I’d already used my computer skills to check up on the bastard. He’d been double dealing at work, cheating in his business, and on his now ex-wife, and squirreling away Ellie’s money for years.

She didn’t act like it, but the woman was worth half a billion dollars easily. And after I finished fucking up his plans to mess with Maxwell Mining and her inheritance, my sweet Lupina would be worth double that.

I was already going to fix that for her, whether or not she was interested in me. That she proposed tonight just solidified my tentative plans.

It was the push I needed to go forward. The gunshot at the start of what was going to be a very long and intense race.

“Gary is seeking visitation rights with Sammy,” she whispered, as if saying the thing aloud might make it true. “H-his lawyers informed me that’s just the first step. He is planning to sue for full custody claiming I am an unfit mother. With my inheritance tied up, I can’t fight him. I don’t have the means?—”

“Do you need money, Ellie?” I said, hating myself for making the offer.

“I won’t lie. Yes, I need money. But, you see, part of his claim is that I am a liar. A liar, unreliable, flippant, he used all sorts of words to describe me, claiming I was never there for Sammy. But it’s not true,” she said, her eyes blazing with anger.

Good. I could take her anger. It was her sadness and fear that were knives in my gut.

“I know you’re a good mother, Ellie. Anyone who knows you can see that.”

“That’s the thing. I didn’t notice at first, but over the last few years Gary managed to separate me from anyone who might have been on my side. I never had close girlfriends, but even so, I haven’t seen or talked to anyone who knew me before I married him in years,” she explained.

Fuck.

That bastard had isolated Ellie. Making her dependent on him, not just for money, but for companionship.

Goddamn it.

He’d done what classic narcissists and abusers did. He made her feel beholden to him for even the tiniest crumb of attention.

He was going to fucking pay for that.

It made me glad I’d already started bleeding his offshore accounts. Slowly, of course, so no one would notice.

I wondered how Gary would feel to know his stolen cash was going to help homeless women and children across the globe. Maybe I would tell him before I killed him.

Rat fucking bastard.

Ellie sniffed, and I refocused on her. The kitten was back, rubbing against my ankles, but I left him alone. I needed her to keep talking to me.

“His lawyer is claiming I’m histrionic, that I made everything up. He said Gary never hit me or threatened my son. That I threw myself down some stairs and gave myself a broken arm and bruises. I never filed a police report,” she confessed.

I already knew that. So I said nothing. But Ellie misread my silence as judgment.

“Look, at the time I didn’t care about Gary getting into trouble. I just cared about getting Sammy to safety,” she defended herself.

“You did what you had to, Ellie. I’m so damn proud of you. Now explain how I can help,” I said, not giving her a chance to respond to my praise.

“Gary’s lawyer is saying I can’t offer Sammy a stable home. Apparently, Gary is engaged to his former secretary, and he can. He has money. He still has a job with Maxwell Mining until the company is sold. He has a home, and in a week, he will have a new wife, and a prospective mother for my son.”

“I understand,” I said, and I did.

“Andres, I’m sorry. What I am asking you for isn’t fair?—”

I couldn’t let her finish that sentence, so instead, I reached out across the table and grabbed her hand.

“When do you want to get married?”

“What?”

“We can fly to Vegas. Or we can have a small ceremony right here with just a few people. I have friends at city hall. We can have all the paperwork and the wedding license signed in time for the weekend.”

“You would do that?” she asked.

I nodded.

Fuck. Yes.

I would do that for her. That and so much more.

It was probably a good thing Ellie had no idea what I was willing to do to secure her as mine.

“Before you agree, I have to ask you something,” I said, and she nodded. “Is this the way you want to do it, or do you just want me to make him stop?”

“W-what do you mean?”

Her voice wasn’t more than a whisper, and I could practically hear her heart pounding.

I shouldn’t have asked that. Shouldn’t have given her a way out. But it was too late now.

So, I continued.

“You know what I mean, Ellie. Do you want me to make your ex stop?”

Thunder pounded in my brain as I waited for her to respond.

The woman of my dreams had just asked me to marry her, and like an asshole I offered her another option.

I guess what they said was true, love was blind, deaf, and dumb.

So fucking dumb.