Forbidden Billionaires, Vol. 5

Elite - Chapter 1

Thursday

No.

Never.

Nunca.

The words rolled around in my head as I stared at Isabella’s father. My father. This isn’t happening.

I turned in my seat and watched Mrs. Alcaraz and Matt getting smaller and smaller through the back window of the car.

There was no way in hell I was going anywhere with this man.

Whether he was blood or not, he’d never be my father.

I’d never be a Pruitt. And this was kidnapping.

I grabbed the door handle and pulled, but the door didn’t budge.

“Calm down and put your seatbelt on,” Mr. Pruitt said.

Screw you. “Let me out.” My voice came out shakier than I hoped it would.

He ignored me.

I tried the handle again and then banged on the glass. “Let me out!” I couldn’t even see Mrs. Alcaraz and Matt now. Let me out of here. I slammed my palms against the glass.

Mr. Pruitt put his phone down. But instead of saying anything, he just stared at me. His eyes felt like ice on my skin. The trail they made down my body made me shiver. “You look like her.”

I swallowed hard. “My mom?” For just a second, I didn’t want to flee. I wanted to ask him a million questions about my mom.

He frowned. “But you don’t look at all like me.

” He squinted his eyes. “There’s a doctor waiting at the apartment.

He’ll run a paternity test just to make sure.

And other tests to ensure that you’re…clean.

” He said clean the same way he’d said ethnic when referring to Mrs. Alcaraz being my guardian.

I didn’t even want to know what he meant by that.

And it didn’t matter. I’d refuse any tests he wanted to perform.

Mrs. Alcaraz was my legal guardian, not him.

“What apartment?” I asked. Would Matt know where he was taking me?

Matt knew the Pruitts. He could help sort this out. He would come get me. I hope.

Mr. Pruitt ignored my question, his eyes still scanning my face like I was a puzzle he couldn’t solve.

“Where you live?” I asked. It was a stupid question.

Of course he was referring to his home. Some people in New York referred to their homes as apartments.

Which didn’t sound at all homey to me. Despite the fact that it was a stupid question, I asked another equally stupid one.

“With…Isabella?” Something constricted in my throat.

This couldn’t be real. I couldn’t be related to her.

Did he have a wife that was just as hateful as his daughter?

Were there any more demon siblings I didn’t know about?

He eyed me coolly.

No, his home would most definitely not be homey.

It couldn’t possibly be if someone who lived there had such a cold, hard stare.

And he already had a perfectly hateful daughter to go home to, so he didn’t need me.

“Look, I’m glad that you decided you wanted to get to know me,” I lied.

He was sixteen years too late. “But…this isn’t the best time.

It’s actually the worst possible time.” Mr. Pruitt knew that already.

He’d taken me from my uncle’s funeral and didn’t seem to feel any remorse.

I blinked away the tears threatening to escape my eyes.

“I’d appreciate it if you’d let me out.”

He looked back down at his phone like the conversation was over. But then added, “My family doesn’t know about you. I need time to sort out this mess. So you’ll stay put until I say otherwise.”

So that’s what I was to him? A mess? That was fine, I didn’t want to be his anything.

But if that was the case, why the hell wasn’t he letting me go?

There was really only one logical reason.

“I’ll save you the trouble,” I said. “I don’t want anything from you.

I don’t need your money. Or your help. I swear I won’t even tell anyone that you’re my father, if that’s what you’re worried about.

I just want to go home.” I tried to think of something else I could add so he’d get the point.

“Home to that dingy apartment with a woman who barely speaks English? I’m saving you.”

“I don’t need you to save me.”

The car pulled to a stop in front of a high rise that looked like any other newer building in the city. Tons of glass. Cold hard lines. If that was where Isabella lived, I didn’t want to touch it with a ten-foot pole, let alone go inside. He couldn’t make me. He couldn’t do this.

“Your mother is dead,” Mr. Pruitt said. “So is your uncle. You have no money. No prospects. Nothing. You’ll thank me later. And in the meantime, you’ll stay here. I’ll be in touch shortly.”

One of the bodyguards opened my door.

I looked back at Mr. Pruitt who was focused on his phone again. “You’re not coming with me?” The thought of entering Isabella’s apartment without her father was more terrifying than entering it with him.

He ignored me as the bodyguard gripped my arm.

“You can’t just leave me here,” I said.

Before Mr. Pruitt could respond, the bodyguard hauled me out of the car. He slammed the door shut and the town car pulled back onto the busy city street.

I tried to yank my arm away from the bodyguard, but his grip tightened on my bicep.

“Let me go or I’ll scream at the top of my lungs,” I said.

He pulled me toward the building.

“Help!” I yelled.

A few passersby looked my way but then kept going.

Are you serious? I was being kidnapped and people were just looking the other way? What the hell was wrong with New Yorkers? If screaming didn’t work, maybe pleading with the enemy would. “Please, just take me back to the church. It’s my uncle’s funeral.”

No emotion crossed the bodyguard’s face at all. I might as well have been talking to a brick wall.

“There’s still a reception being held in the hall. I need to go back.”

He looked over his shoulder where Mr. Pruitt’s car had just disappeared. “I’m sorry about the funeral. But I can’t take you back.”

“Please.” I felt myself breaking again. I couldn’t handle this right now. I needed to be back at the church. I needed to say goodbye to my uncle. I needed to put the yellow rose down on his coffin, just like I had with my mother’s. I needed to be there. I had to be there.

“One thing you should learn fast. The Pruitts get whatever they want. So if you don’t willingly go inside right now, I’m going to have to force you to go in. I don’t want to have to do that. I don’t think you do either.”

I didn’t move.

“Look at it this way, kid. The sooner you come with me, the sooner this will all be over.”

That finally sounded like something I could get behind.

And him calling me kid reminded me of my uncle calling me kiddo.

Maybe the testing wouldn’t take that long.

Maybe I could get back in time for the burial.

Maybe, maybe, maybe. But the longer I waited, the longer it would take.

I let the bodyguard guide me into the building.

A chill ran down my back as I stepped onto the shiny marble floors.

The air was colder inside than it was outside.

But I didn’t think it had anything to do with the temperature. I was in Isabella’s territory now.

The Pruitts get whatever they want. I was hoping this bodyguard was right.

Because there was no way in hell Isabella wanted me as a sister.

As soon as she knew I was in her home, she’d demand that I leave.

It wouldn’t take long at all. I could already picture the scene in my head.

She’d scream and throw a fit. Probably make fun of my outfit and threaten to make me disappear.

And then I’d be able to go home to the Alcaraz’s. Everything would go back to normal.

I ignored the tears pooling in the corners of my eyes. Normal? Normal would be back in Delaware with my mom. Normal would be watching a movie with my uncle. There was no more normal.

The bodyguard escorted me through the lobby.

The man at the concierge desk smiled at us like it was normal for a huge man to be pulling a teenager through the building.

It was tempting to tell him I was being kidnapped.

But his smile and general air of not caring about my obvious kidnapping weren’t leaning in my favor.

I just needed to get into Isabella’s apartment and make sure she knew I was there. It would all be over soon.

The elevator doors dinged open. I stepped on and tried to ignore the feeling that I was entering the gates of hell.