Serving HIM Vol. 6: Alpha Billionaire Romance (13 page)

I guess he knew the same thing I did—if he kept staring up at the massive banner, he wouldn’t be able to wait, so he stayed in the office as I slipped out, leaving him to sip on his scotch and stare at the food neither of us had been able to eat.

As I made my way into the main lobby, I mentally prepared myself for what I might say and how I could make this happen. If positions were reversed, and somebody was trying to get to Dominic. How would they make that happen? Through me, I realized. That meant I needed to find Cecily Cole’s people. Her assistant, secretary, PA, whatever term she used, whomever she had with her.

Plan of action set, I scanned the crowd. One of the gala organizers caught sight of me and started to hustle my way. Clearly, my quick clean up wasn’t passing muster. A moment later, I was about ready to kiss the hotel manager, because a member of hotel security cut the woman off and spoke to her quietly. She gave me a disgruntled look, but walked off. I smiled at the security guard, looking professional and competent in his black suit. He tipped an imaginary hat at me and resumed his post.

I was about ready to whip out my phone and do a Google search—
who is Cicely Cole’s personal assistant
—when I caught sight of a small, but heated discussion taking place near the main doors.

It was quieter out in the lobby now. I could hear a dull roar coming from inside the ballroom, which meant the party was probably revving up. A trim, elegant woman with snow white hair and razor-sharp cheekbones was speaking to a stocky, squarely built man in a discreet suit.

I studied him for a long moment and then looked at the woman. She bore a striking resemblance to Cecily. The cheekbones, the facial structure in general, although this woman looked as though she never smiled. There was an older gentleman with her who looked…faded. Graying, tired and weak, like there wasn’t much of him left.

They faced the square, solid man with an air of indignation. He smiled politely back at them and shook his head.

Bingo.

I glided closer, accepted a glass of champagne from a strolling waiter when it was offered. The better to blend in, of course. Taking the edge off was just a bonus. When the older couple moved off, I moved in and held out my hand.

“Hello. I’m Aleena Davison…I’m Dominic Snow’s personal assistant.”

He glanced at me and then smiled. “Ms. Davison. I’m Tom, Cecily’s assistant. I hadn’t heard Mr. Snow would be in attendance at the gala tonight. Ms. Cole would be delighted to speak with him.” His smile widened into an all-out grin. “I’ll warn you, she is priming the guests for donations as we speak.”

“Yes, well…”
Here goes nothing
. “He’s actually not down as a guest. He does want to speak with her though.”

Don’t be mad at me, Dominic
. I sweetened the pot. “If you can coax her into giving him some one-on-one time this evening, I can promise you he’ll sign a check. Dominic is very much a believer in Ms. Cole’s cause.”

Tom’s eyes were thoughtful. After a moment, he nodded slowly. “I can talk with her, see if we can work something out. Might I ask what it’s in regards to?”

“Well, that’s more his concern than mine.” I gave him an easy smile and shrugged. “You know how it is, right?”

***

“A believer in her cause?” Dominic raised an eyebrow.

I gave him a weak smile. “I wanted to make sure she’d come up here.” With a wince, I said, “Do I need to apologize?”

“No.” He looked up from the empty glass he’d been studying and gave me a bleak smile. “You did exactly what you’d promised, Aleena. And hell, it’s not a bad cause.”

Then he sighed and went back to staring into his drink.

I settled down next to him and looked at the clock. “Tom told me he’d get back to me about a time. I don’t have any idea when it will be.”

Dominic pulled me onto his lap and I settled my head on his shoulder.

“I can think of several ways to pass the time,” he whispered into my ear, his fingers teasing my thigh through the slit in my skirt.

I reluctantly shook my head. “No.” Despite the fact that my pussy was still throbbing from his prior rough treatment, my body protested my refusal. “If he says twenty minutes from now, I’m not going to pull open that door looking like…like…”

“Like the woman I’m desperate to touch?” He ran his fingers down my cheek. “To make love to? All the time? Every day? Every way I can?”

I slid my eyes to meet his and leaned in, kissing him firmly. “Stop being a living, breathing temptation.”

He kissed me back with more enthusiasm, his tongue sliding into my mouth for a slow, pleasurable exploration. He sighed as he finally broke the kiss and then repositioned me so that we were sitting side by side.

“Fine. We’ll watch a movie instead.”

He didn’t sound enthusiastic.

Neither was I.

Waiting sucked.

Chapter 13

Dominic

The movie played on, but neither of us paid much attention. It was a mutual favorite, but we couldn’t focus on much of anything. Every couple of minutes, I’d look at the clock. Then she would. I was definitely wishing I could've talked Aleena into occupying me with her mouth, her body...

Fuck. I understood why she hadn't wanted to though. She cared what...Ms. Cole thought about her.

As the movie ended, the minute hand swept up to twelve, while the hour hand brushed eleven.

“Late hour for a meeting,” Aleena said, trying to break the silence. She smiled at me.

I reached up and touched her cheek. “I love you.” I could hardly believe how easily the words came now.

She covered my hand with hers and nodded. Then she stood up and turned off the TV. I watched her, elegant and sleek in black velvet, as she moved across the floor. I got up and went to pour myself a drink. It was my third and I was pushing it, but I didn’t much care at that point.

The knock came just as I was tossing back half the scotch. I choked, the fiery liquid burning a path between throat and lungs.

Aleena shot me a look as she hurried to answer. I turned away, struggled to regulate my breathing. Fuck. Oh, fuck.

“Hello, Tom. Ms. Cole...”

Ms. Cole. My mother...

Dimly, I heard her speaking. I swiped the back of my hand over my mouth, sucked in a breath and tried to steady myself.

“Ms. Davison, hello. Tom tells me your Mr. Snow has a proposition...”

I turned.

Her gaze came to me and then started to move away.

It snapped back almost immediately and I watched as she lapsed into silence, her face going pale. Shit. I'd forgotten how much I looked like
him
, the senator. The man who'd gotten her pregnant. My father. Shit.

I didn’t know what to say. Dammit. Why hadn’t I thought of something to say, how to say this?

Her face was ghost white, eyes huge and startled.

“Ms. Cole. May I offer you a seat?” Aleena touched her arm. Cecily looked around, dazed and then nodded, letting Aleena guide her to a couch.

Tom was staring at me, hard, dislike clear in his eyes. He'd already figured out that something wasn't quite right here.

I swallowed and reached up to tug at a tie I wasn’t even wearing. I just couldn’t breathe.

Aleena looked at me and I stared at her helplessly. I didn't know what to do. What to say. Me, Dominic Snow, who was always in control, was completely at a loss.

Aleena gave me an encouraging smile and then looked back at Cecily. “Ms. Cole. I...” She paused and then said, “I need to beg your understanding and your patience. Please.”

Cecily was still staring at me.

“Ms. Cole?”

Finally, she looked at Aleena and nodded.

I retreated back behind the desk and listened. Listened as the woman I’d never expected to love told the woman I’d never expected to find a story that sounded insane, even to me. But it had nothing to do with me. It was about the baby snatching ring from twenty years ago. When she stopped, Cecily was twisting a handkerchief around and around in her hands. After a moment, she looked up. “I know all about that ring, Ms. Davison.” She hesitated and then said, “I assume you’re telling me this because you know about my son.”

“Yes.”

Cecily nodded and struggled to smile. It was an attempt at a cool, collected smile and it was a damn good one.

But it wobbled and I could see the bleak heartbreak in her eyes. What were we doing? I didn’t need to know that badly. I didn’t need to tear open old wounds, did I? What kind of person was I that I'd hurt this kind, caring woman?

“If you know about him, then you know that my son died twenty-eight years ago. A doctor was there. He pronounced him dead at birth.”

Aleena leaned forward. The compassion that had gotten to me from the beginning showed in her eyes. “Your nana heard him crying.”

For a long moment, Cecily just stared at her. Then she leapt up, her jaw going tight. “No!” Her voice was harsh, jagged. Fists clenched at her sides. “No. Stop this. You…why are you doing this? It’s cruel. Isabel left because of what I’d done. Because I’d
killed
my son with the life I lived.” She swept the room with a gaze, but this time, her eyes bounced right off me as though I wasn’t there. “Tom, we’re leaving.”

But Tom was studying me, and it wasn't dislike in his eyes anymore. It was something else.

“She
heard
him crying, Ms. Cole,” Aleena said again, her voice gentle. “We spoke to her brother. She was fired the day after you gave birth. She didn’t want to leave. They made her. They wouldn’t let her come back, Cecily. They fired her because she knew you’d given birth to a healthy boy and they sold him.”

“No.” It was a whisper this time.

Her eyes skipped to me, held for a bare moment and I knew she was seeing the face of the man who’d fathered me. She’d felt something for him, I realized with a start. I could see it in her eyes. He’d turned his back on her. She’d written that much in the book. She’d thought she loved him and now she was staring at a man who looked so much like him.

Clearing my throat, I said, “My name is Dominic Snow.”

She jerked at the sound of my voice, as though it hurt.

“Twenty-eight years ago, on April twenty-seventh, my parents brought me home. I’m adopted...”

I stood up and walked over to her. She sat back down onto the couch, staring up at me with guarded eyes.

I settled on the chair across from hers, not wanting to spook her by sitting closer. “What day was your son born?”

“April twenty-sixth.” Her eye sketched a quick, nervous circle across my face.

“The private investigator I hired made some loose connections between the people who facilitated my adoption and a lawyer your parents used. There was a...sizable transaction that week.” Five hundred thousand dollars. The cost of a healthy baby boy.

She flinched as though she’d been slapped.

“They said he died.” She said it pleadingly, in the voice of the child she once was. But she didn’t sound like she believed it anymore.

I looked down, bracing myself. Then, slowly, I slid off the chair and settled on my knees a foot away from her. “I’m just about positive they lied, Ms. Cole.”

She took a deep breath and then reached up and touched my cheek. “So...my son’s name is Dominic.”

Chapter 14

Aleena

It had been three days. The first twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind of paternity testing and questions. The testing had been gently suggested by Tom. “You would both feel better, knowing for sure,” he’d said.

He was likely right, though I was grateful I hadn't needed to suggest it.

The tests, done on a rush in under twelve hours, were positive. Cecily Cole was Dominic’s mother.

The FBI was brought in directly since the case had originally gone to them when it had first been uncovered. With the new information, and two new players—namely the elderly couple I'd seen Tom speaking with—the authorities were confident they could start finding some of the bigger names, and possibly track down other stolen babies.

I almost felt sorry for the Coles. They had only done what they'd thought was necessary to protect their family's reputation. Now, Cecily was cutting off what little contact she'd kept with them and they'd never get to know the wonderful man their grandson had become. Still, the ‘almost’ was all there was. Seeing how badly they'd hurt Cecily took away most of the sympathy I would've had.

Dominic’s parents were a different matter legally. They’d thought they were participating in a private adoption, a pricy one, but a legit one. Or at least one with the mother's consent. Even the FBI said the papers looked legitimate. If Dominic’s mother had had some reservations, something her hunger for a baby had made her overlook…well, it wasn’t anything she would be convicted of. Despite her flaws, in some ways she was a victim too. And now, she had to look at Dominic and Cecily for the rest of her life and know how she’d hurt them both.

The worst part of the whole thing was the press. Someone along the way had leaked the news and we'd been swarmed as soon as we'd gotten back to New York. We’d retreated to the house in the Hamptons for some quiet and now, as night fell, Dominic and I sat staring out over the ocean and listening to the cry of the gulls.

“You won’t be staying in the guest house anymore,” Dominic said suddenly, breaking the silence.

I rested my head against his chest, smiled. “Yes, sir.”

His lips brushed my neck. “I love hearing you say that,” he murmured.

“I love you.” I turned my face and whispered the words against his cheek.

He turned his head so that our foreheads touched. “I love you.” He hooked his finger around my necklace. “Did you ever think that this necklace would come in so handy?”

“How so?”

“Well, it brought us together, didn’t it?”

I laughed. “That’s a good point.”

His fingers slid along the chain then lower, the tip of one teasing the neckline of my shirt. “Come here.”

I shivered and glanced around us, recognizing the tone in his voice.

“There’s nobody here.” Clearly tired of waiting, he pulled me into his lap. His hands slid up under the hem of my skirt, the heat of his hands sending a shiver up my spine. I'd never lounged around in a skirt before I'd met him, but I was definitely learning the appeal of easy access.