Lonzo: Book 2 (Tycoon Series Book 2) (11 page)

She gave everything for her child but she never felt an ounce of regret.

She remembered her last catwalk appearance at the VS show. She escaped the aftershow party and was relieved when no one noticed her departure. She hailed a cab to take her to her house.

There was no bothersome paparazzi waiting for her. Instead, she found Leandro’s Mercedes roadster parked on the street.

She dreaded meeting him like this but it was now or never. She had to come clean with him. She owed him that, at least.

After paying her cab fare, she saw Leandro walking to meet her.

“Leandro—”

Her friend regarded her.

“I called your publicist at the show. Seemed you pulled out your ninja tricks and she can’t find you anywhere. I had a hunch you’d be here.”

“You know me too well.”

“Why were you avoiding me?”

She sighed as she took her keys out of her satchel and opened her apartment.

“I’d rather not discuss it here.”

She signaled him to come inside.

Leandro followed. As soon as she switched the lights on, he saw her haunted appearance. He knew who caused her distress.

He embraced her tightly.

“It’s Vitale, isn’t it? He did this to you.”

Her throat tightened, her eyes stung from the unshed tears. Her emotions finally gave way.

Leandro represented comfort and security. And that day she needed friendly, comforting arms around her. He was her safe haven.

She nodded, sobbing her pain on his shoulder.

“That fucking sonofabitch! He blackmailed you, did he?!” he roared.

She nodded.

“You were scammed by Maddoff. Lonzo knew this, knew you were vulnerable…that you have liquidity problems. With the credit crunch, banks were tightfisted with money. He was convinced I sold the pictures to the press. He wanted to get even—”

“By blackmailing you to be his—”

She blushed at his frankness. “I was never his mistress. But—”

“The sonofabitch lusted after you,” he finished for her. “He blackmailed you and threatened he would ruin me. Am I right?”

She nodded again. She’d never seen him this angry before.

“I knew it! I should have trusted my instincts when a ‘white knight’ investor came from nowhere and offered me money! I should have smelled something was amiss, especially when the company gave me a sweet deal for nothing in return!”

She bit her lower lip.

Leandro swung at her, guilt and frustration in his face. “You should have told me from the very start, Dana. You didn’t have to…”

“And see you in jail? Or bankruptcy court? No, Leandro…being with him was a small price to pay.”

He held her shoulders before he tipped her chin up with a hand.

“It wasn’t your responsibility to protect me. I have other assets that I can liquidate. I had mining rights in Australia which could cover the losses.”

“Oh.”

“I should have protected you from that Italian slime.”

“I am a grown woman, Leandro. You can’t coddle me forever,” she told him.”I take responsibility for my actions.”

She couldn’t tell him about the baby. Not yet. She feared that may push him to do something drastic to defend her honor.

“I failed you. It was my responsibility to protect you and I didn’t.”

“Leandro—”

“You’re my sister,” he blurted. “Brothers take care of their sisters. Not the other way around.”

She smiled through her tears. “I know. Thank you for treating me like your own all these years.”

“No, Dana. You don’t understand…you’re really my blood sister. I’m your brother,” he said, his eyes very serious. “We’re siblings.”

She was dumbfounded at his revelation. “What?! You’re joking, right?”

He dropped his hands from her, tucking his hands at the pockets of his woolen slacks.

“It’s the truth. We share the same father. Though I only found out when I met you at the orphanage.”

“I don’t understand…how?!” she said in disbelief.

“I was born out of wedlock. My mother died before she was able to get hold of…our father. Her relatives gave me away at the orphanage after she had me because they were ashamed of her indiscretion. She was the daughter of a Sao Paolo politician. My birth have besmirched their clean name.” He said the last words with a sneer.

“Leandro—”

“I already knew who sired me before you came to the Casa…I planned to seek our father out when I came of age.”

She looked at him with sad eyes. “I’m glad you didn’t. He became a shell after my mother went off with another man. All he did was drink and rage how life was so unfair to him—”

“I know, kiddo. Otherwise, I could’ve killed him after learning what he did to you. When I first saw you at the orphanage, being escorted by the welfare workers, I felt drawn to you…I can’t explain it.”

“How did you find out our connection?”

“I overheard the caseworkers mention our father’s name. I also broke into the records section to read your file.”

Leandro embraced her tightly then, and she held on to him. It was so natural, the feeling of acceptance that engulfed her entire being. Deep inside, she knew the truth before he voiced it. He was her security blanket, her defender growing up. It all made sense.

“But why did you wait until now to tell me?” she asked in afterthought.

He stilled. “I really don’t know. Maybe, it was irrational fear. That you’d hate me for being the spawn of the man who abused you.”

“I can never hate you, Leandro. You’ve always been my brother,” she said as she found herself crying again. “I’m glad you really are. Now I have someone. We have each other.”

After she had calmed down, he informed her that he can come up with the money to pay Lonzo back. A big portion of his environmentally-designed homes took off, especially in hurricane-prone areas. Thanks mainly to a well-publicized project with Brad Pitt’s foundation, his well-designed, green projects caught the interest of an untapped segment of the real estate market that demanded eco-friendly dwellings. The best part was, people were willing to pay extra.

“With the initial investments alone, we had enough to cover for the amount that was swindled by Maddoff and enough money to finish the new projects. I can write a check for the amount given by Vitale plus interest.”

Leandro took out his checkbook, scribbled the amount and tried to give it to her. “You can tell him to shove it in his ass. He’d better stay away from you from now on.”

She shook her head. “Leandro—”

“Take it, Dana. If he as much as look at you, I’ll bury him. Do it for me…please?”

Jordana gave her brother a big hug. “Pay him through your lawyers, if you must. I don’t want to see him.”

“You’re right. I just want to take care of you. You’re my baby sister. My only family.”

She nodded in agreement. She felt the same. She wasn’t alone anymore. She had a big brother. A family to call her own. And with the baby coming…

“I need to leave,” she said.

He didn’t reply but gave her a quizzing look.

She explained her plan to retire. She reasoned she got burned up—physically and emotionally.

“I want to find myself. Travel the world like Julia Roberts in
Eat, Pray, Love.
”

“You’re not planning on becoming a female Buddhist monk, aren’t you?”

She smiled. ‘Of course not, silly!”

He gave an exaggerated sigh of relief.

“But I’m thinking of the legal implications—” she voiced out.

“I’ll take care of the negotiations with the agency. I’ll buy out your contract if the need arises. But I don’t think it will come to that because it’s up for renewal, anyway.”

Hearing that eased her anxiety.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

“I have no idea yet”.

That made him frown.

“But—” he immediately became worried.

“I’ll be okay, I can handle this. Just promise me one thing…”

“What, kiddo?”

“Don’t let him find me.”

His expression became grim. “You can bet on it,” he swore.

Up to now, Leandro had been true to his word.

But as her delivery date drew nearer, she knew she must tell her brother the truth.

She dreaded to see the disappointment in his eyes, though.

She took another bite of eclair as she thought of ways to break the news of her pregnancy to her ultra-protective sibling.

Chapter Six

“You look like shit,” Rocco said. Clearly, the man had no filter.

He raised his head from the documents he was perusing to give his friend a dark scowl.

“And you look like a hen-pecked twit,” he drawled as he watched Rocco settle his useless ass on one of the visitors chairs. “I have a lot on my plate right now,
cazzo
. So state your business and get the fuck out of my office.”

His insults went like water off a duck’s back.

Rocco smirked and gave him a thoughtful once-over.

“I had to come here and see it for myself.”

“See what?”

“If there’s any truth to what Mama and Thio Fredo have been saying. Those two love to gossip about you.”

He gave an impatient snort. “I’m sure.”

“I see they’re right. You’re definitely into her.”

He gave his friend a sharp look before switching his gaze back to the papers on his desk.

“Drop it,” he warned. He didn’t want to think, much less talk about the woman.

“So…?”

“So what?”

His friend had a death wish. Maybe he’d make Mel a widow.

“What’s your plan?”

“What plan?” he blurted.

“Have you tried to call her? Talk to her?” Rocco drilled.

He gave up the pretense of working. He won’t be able to work with this devil around poking his nose into his affairs. “Haven’t you heard? She’s retired.”

“I know that. Duh.”

“So get the fuck off my back and leave it alone!”

“Oh. Someone’s grouchy! Not getting laid lately, aren’t you?”

“You’re really getting on my nerves.”

“What happened to you, Vitale? Huh? You used to be fun...so poker-faced! Now you’re so defensive, I can read you like an open book!”

“Vattene!”

Rocco laughed, unperturbed by his bad mood. “Still having problems with Gruppo Milanese?” he asked, changing topics.

He grunted. “I can handle Lucca Agnelli. Thank you for the concern, I’m certainly touched.”

“I can see that. GM’s stock rebounded these past months. I held on to a huge chunk of stocks I bought really low when you came on board. I knew the price dip was temporary, after that failed buy-back that Agnelli attempted to machinate. You, my dear
paisan
, made me a richer man.”

“I didn’t intervene when the share price fell,” he let out. “It made Agnelli and his cronies shit in their pants. In the end, they got jittery and sold to cut their losses. I bought the shares at a bargain. Fucking
stronzos.
”

“Poor farts didn’t know what hit them,” Rocco said, amused. “You’re too good, my friend. Shit, I’d hate to be your enemy.”

He shrugged. “It started as purely business, nothing more. Agnelli just made it personal.”

“And what about Jordana? Is she personal?” his friend segued back to their original topic.

He threw his arms up in frustration. “It’s none of your fucking business, you
stronzetto
!”

Rocco eyed him speculatively. “I won’t leave until you tell me. Mama and Mel went shopping. I have all the time in the world to bond with my dearest, oldest friend.”

He sighed.

“Of course I tried. Her number’s disconnected.”

“What about her business manager…the one who went to my wedding?”

“Yes, I called up Bastian.”

“And? Can you try answering instead of grunting answers?”

He flipped his friend in irritation. Rocco laughed.

“The guy went ballistic. He told me I’ll die a slow, painful death if I approached her.”

“Harsh. You think they’re involved?”

He shrugged.

“I had no idea. I can’t bloody ask her now, can I?. Even Blackwell couldn’t track her,” he confessed.

Six months had passed since she ran off with his money. The check went stale without being encashed. Still no sign of her. He suspected Bastian must be hiding her somewhere. A nuclear bunker? Who knows. He was about to tighten the noose on her business manager…until he learned that the loan package he extended had already been paid months ago. He lost his only leverage.