Never Ending Nightmare.
Never Ending Nightmare
Cruz was pacing the hotel room aware he was on the cusp of losing everything.
His PR manager was on the phone and her silence was telling.
“What did we lose?”
“Nothing yet, Cruz. Our team is on it but the paparazzi, which the hotel was doing so well to keep out of the resort managed to get multiple shots of Ms. Brookmore getting into a vehicle with Mr. Bartoli. There are pictures of them getting out of the vehicle to have breakfast together and his hand is on her low back. It
looks intimate.”
“f**k,” he mumbled.
“We can pass it off as a business breakfast but what kind of business your fiancée, a bestselling author, is doing with a man who runs casinos all over the world as a front for his mob activities is going to take some creativity to spin.”
burn won ins
“This is a nightmare.” He knew in his gut it was Bartoli who got the photographer on site. It was to remind him Liborio held all the cards, and he was nothing in the grand scheme of things. Cruz made his billion by investing in medical science which was revolutionizing the world and connecting with influential medical technologists with some of the deepest pockets. Government grants and scientific bursaries paved the way, but it was his connections to other very wealthy men which helped him get where he was.
While on paper, his businesses and his innovations being on the cutting edge put him in the billion–dollar category of wealth, it wasn’t anything which compared to the wealth Liborio Bartoli held. The man, based on what Gavin told him this morning, because he’d done his research while Cruz was in panic mode, ran casinos but he also ran guns, drugs, a racketeering scheme straight across all of Canada and had more friends in government offices than could be counted. Overall, the man took his family’s business and made it into something extraordinary. According to Gavin, the other man was on track to be the first trillionaire on the planet and he didn’t care who was in his path to’get there.
His PR manager spoke, and he shook his head, “say that again, I missed it.”
“It might not be too late for us to swing it another way. The deal which fell through at the beginning of all this, “her voice was reluctant, “they’ve reached out again to have another discussion but again, they want the daughter as part of the discussion. We could make it like you and Presley there is coincidence and we can fly
her out.”
“I’m not f*****g my way into a contract. Presley was right and if I have to use my d**k to do business, I’m not much of a businessman am I?”
“I know it feels distasteful.”
“Because it is distasteful. Besides, I love Presley. We’re going to figure this out.”
“She was literally seen on camera getting into a car with a mobster.”
“Her brother borrowed money from him. Find a way to make sure the world knows Odin Brookmore borrowed money from Bartoli.”
“You want us to piss off the mob.”
Never Ending Nightmare
“My business is going to tank one way or the other. At least I’m going to go out swinging Make It on little line, somewhere. Odin Brookmore borrowed money from the mob and tried to come here to convince me and Presley to help him. Liborio showed up. Presley is negotiating with him.”
“Jesus, Cruz, you’re going to get yourself killed.”
“None of it is a lie. It’s all the truth. Let’s put it out there but maybe leak it off the record and let someone run
with the story.”
“It’s your grave,” the woman groaned and hung up the phone.
He was still pacing and only when the door opened, and Presley came in did he stop.
“Where the hell have you been?”
“Breakfast where I could eat without my family and boyfriend making me feel like I was a child.”
“Maybe if you stopped acting like a f*****g child, we wouldn’t treat you like one. You can’t go around thinking pranking a mafia boss is a smart idea.” His temper was flaring again. A sudden wish to be in the middle of a scrum fighting rose up in him. Getting punched and kicked would somehow feel much better than this roller coaster of emotions he couldn’t escape.
“You did not just call me a child.”
“If the teeny tiny shoe fits,” he snarked back unable to stop himself. His world was spinning, careening out of control and for the first time in his life he didn’t know how to fix it. Instead of being smart though, as the anger and words poured out of him, he knew he was lashing out at the wrong person but was unable to stop himself. He was blindingly angry with no outlet.
“What is your problem?”
“Oh, I don’t know. My childhood best friend managed to get us all caught up in mobster s**t. My fiancée is leaving me for a mob boss who wants her to have his kids. His kids! Your first children are going to be his. It won’t be watching your belly grow with our babies. It won’t be me holding your hand while you deliver our son or our daughter. I’m supposed to what, sit back and watch as he rips them away from your arms and the child or children you’ve carried under your heartbeat for ten months never gets to experience you as a mom? I’m f*****g frustrated Presley and I’m scared and I’m hurting, and I don’t f*****g know how to fix any of this.”
“Cruz.”
He ignored her interjection, “yet you go around here prancing like it’s all a big f*****g game. Let’s paint my n*****s black. Let’s make him think I have an infection. Oh, don’t let me forget Anderson got wind of you telling the girls to f**k with my medical records and give me herpes. It’s not a f*****g game! It’s our lives you’re treating like a joke, and I’m pissed off.”
“You were the one who said we could find a way out of it.”
“Yes, by thinking rationally and clearly like grown–ups. Not coming up with pranks to play against a man who kills people for shits and giggles.”
“I didn’t see you coming up with any great ideas!”
“Who the hell has time to think when you’re throwing out gems like oatmeal in the panties and flatulence!”
“Why are you yelling at me?” she blinked back tears.
2/4
Never Ending Nightmare
“Because I don’t know how else to get through your head, Presley. Right before you came in here, I got a call from my PR team telling me your photo with Liborio going to breakfast is all over the Internet and it looks intimate.”
“So, this is why you’re angry? Your little ruse to fix your PR problems back home is messed up and my life is in your way.”
“No, I’m angry because you aren’t using the brain I know is in your head.”
“Well, I hope you didn’t do anything stupid with your PR team to get back at Liborio because all of our rooms are bugged. He confirmed it for me this morning.”
“You’re kidding me,” he scrubbed his hand down his face before he looked around the room wildly. “This is f*****g bullshit.”
Presley lifted her chin, “I get you are angry with me.”
He looked at her and could see the cogs turning in her brain and prepared himself for whatever insanity was about to spew from her lips. “Honey, I love you. I love you and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of our lives loving each other but whatever is spinning in your brain right now, I want you to stop, think on it really hard and then ask if it’s something one of the characters in your novels would do. If it is a resounding yes, they would do it, I want you to file it away for a story and remember real life and your imagination are not usually conducive to a happy ending.”
“That’s rude.”
“That’s fact. If it’s fit for a heroine in your book, it’s not fit for reality.” He looked around the room, “think on, Ladybird. This is a man who has bugs in our rooms. He listened to us f**k. Think on it, if the bugs are here, he heard us having s*x. He is monitoring your every single step. He knows what you’re thinking before you’re thinking about it. Liborio Bartoli isn’t one for you to try to play pranks on. We need a better attack plan which does not involve you leaving oatmeal stains on his lap.”
“Dad said I should do it.”
“Well, your father and I will need to agree to disagree.” Cruz grumbled. “Your father is thinking the only way to keep you alive is for you to put your legs in stirrups and let Liborio implant embryos into you. I’m not on the same page as your father.” He swallowed the large lump in his throat as he fought tears, he thought he’d gotten under control with his run, “I do not want to lose you, Presley. It took me too long to find my way back to you. I’m terrified of what he is going to do to you. He will ruin you. He’ll destroy you. Your heart will be shattered because he’s going to ask the unaskable of you.”
“What if I can do it though? What if I can walk away and tell myself I’m only a surrogate?”
“Honey,” he put his hands on her shoulders, “as if. You still love Odin despite him being a horrible piece of s**t and you think you can walk away from your own flesh and blood? No, Presley, I can’t let you go through with any of this, but you need to let me come up with a plan which doesn’t involve pranking a man who would shoot you in the head for nothing.”
“He might shoot me in the head anyway,” she made a face.
“What did you do?” He almost pounded the floor in fury at the chagrined expression on her face.
“Yelled at him and ditched him at a bistro after Algernon and his admin assistant did the same thing.”
“Algernon has an admin assistant. He doesn’t seem the type to need one.”
3/4
< Never Ending Nightmare
“Cruz, the suit the man was wearing was probably worth last year’s book sales,” she shook her head incredulously. “He looked really dapper. Also, I think he and Sloane are going to hook up.”
Cruz’s lips pulled so far back he was sure his wisdom teeth were on display. “What?”
“Sloane found him sexy or something and I told Algernon, and he revealed he brought his admin assistant here to get his signature on his divorce papers. His wife f****d the hot bartender. Anyway, Sloane wants Algernon. He wants her. He’s a lot wealthier than I thought he was originally, and his admin assistant is sweet. She’s so sweet. I thought for a minute Liborio was going to cream his shorts with his own little oatmeal display but then he was rude to her like the jackoff he is, and she splashed coffee on him.”
“There is so much to unpack there,” Cruz stared at Presley who was talking a mile a minute. “Anyway, I made up my mind, Cruz. I’m going to do it. I’m going to have Liborio Bartoli’s babies. I won’t ask you to wait for me because you’re right and I don’t know if I can walk away from them. I love you and I love my family and if this is the only way to make sure you all stay alive and live happy lives, then I’m going to do
it.”
With her words, Cruz staggered back and closed his eyes, wishing desperately this was another one of her pranks.
13
