The Billionaire's Proposition (The Romero Brothers, Book 4) (17 page)

“I see.”

“Mom told me this story. It’s some old tale
about this man,” she said animatedly, “who sees this beautiful woman at the
village and she does everything for him. She cooks for him, cleans, pampers
him, everything.”

“Yeah?”

“Well, he eventually married her.”

“That’s good.”

“Not really.”

“Why?”

“Because he turned up at a bar one night
and said to the bartender that he missed the joys of being married. And the
bartender said to him, ‘I thought you were married.’ The man told the
bartender, ‘I am married, but so far I miss the joys.’”

“Oh?”

“The man had said that his wife used to do
everything when they were dating and when he asked his wife why she stopped
being nice to him, she had replied ‘I’ve got you now.’ Well that marriage
didn’t last long after that.”

“Ouch.”

“Exactly. So the morale of the story is
that it’s not enough to get married, but staying married takes commitment and
work and love and if you want to keep the spark or the flame, you’ve got to
work at it. Make your spouse feel happy since he or she chose to spend the rest
of their life with you,” she stopped. Her voiced trailed off.

For a moment, there was a long, awkward
pause. He knew then that they were both thinking the same thing.

Spend the rest of their life with the one
they loved. Carl felt a stabbing sharp pain in his gut. He really wanted more
than anything to spend the rest of his life with Venus. The question was, did she
feel the same?

Later that night, Carl lay awake staring at
the ceiling in the dark. Venus was sound asleep beside him. For a while he’d
watched her sleep. She looked so beautiful with her long lashes so visible with
her eyes closed. She was an earth angel.

One year.

No. One year would not be enough but he
didn’t want her to feel pressured into committing a lifetime with him if she
didn’t want to. He should probably ask her point blank. He often communicated
very directly with others, never one to mince words. But Venus was different.
He hadn’t feared anything before in his life before but Venus not wanting to
spend forever with him would kill him. Not just the rejection
but
the painful reality of her going her separate way from
him.

His cell phone at the bedside rang,
disturbing his thoughts.

“Yeah?” he answered. His voice sounded
more groggy
than he realized.

“Hey, bro,” Jules spoke, “Sorry to wake you
but I’ve got some news on Meritos. I think you should know.”

Carl propped himself up on the bed in lightning
speed time. “What?”

“It’s not good.”

“Wait a minute,” Carl said, and he
soundlessly got up from the bed. He glanced at the digital display clock on the
bedside table. It was eleven o’clock at night. He crept out of the room,
careful not to wake Venus and went into the guest room down the hall and closed
the door behind him.

“Yeah, what is it?” he said, sitting on the
bed, his heart was beating like a bass drum.

“It looks as if Eduardo knows Nadya is
Venus.”

“What? How?”

“Well, apparently, one my sources say that
he had connections in the country’s so-called justice system.”

“Including the witness protection program,”
Carl finished for him sternly. An
ice cold
feeling
rushed through his blood. He cursed under his breath. So Venus
was
in danger all along. It was only a
matter of time.

Who the hell could have known?

“Yeah. I’m sorry, man. But listen, we’ve
got some hot leads right now. His IP address, the one he’s currently using is
being traced so we should be able to track him down and let the authorities
know. We’ll also uncover the identity of the spy he has in the agency. It’s
only a matter of time.”

“Good. Keep me posted.”

“I will, Carl. And,
listen
,
don’t worry
. Venus is safe here.”

“Oh, I know that. I’ll make damn sure of
it.”

Carl knew that as a public official he’d
have no trouble getting police protection but no way in hell was he going that
route. He himself would protect the woman he…loved.

“Thanks, Jules,” Carl finally said, ending
the conversation.

He terminated the call and dropped his cell
phone on the bed beside him,
then
he held his head.
What the hell was he going to do now?

*
   
*
    
*

It was eleven o’clock at night but Amber
had to get into the office at the consulate when her boss, Vic, would not be
there. She’d told the security guard that she’d left something important that
should have been secured out on her desk. Her mind was bugging her the entire
day about what she’d learned.

Her own boss, Vic, was a crook. She knew
he’d been hiding things and peeking into her files when she was not there. But
something was very wrong and she sensed it.

She managed to get into his office and into
his file cabinet. There was a private file that she’d put together on Venus
Jackson but it went missing. Later she learned that Vic lied about not seeing
it, when in fact, he’d taken some information from her file.
But
why?

Amber glanced around to see if anyone was
looking. Hopefully, security would not be aware that she was not in her own
office, though she’d turn on that light, too.

She rummaged her fingers through the files
on his desk and then opened up his drawer. She felt guilty for nosing around,
but Venus was her responsibility and if there was any funny business going on,
she needed to know.

There was nothing there.

Then she remembered those detective shows
she’d seen. “The garbage,” she said to herself. There are always clues in the
garbage, but not just the physical garbage. The trash can of the computer. She
didn’t want to take a chance on logging on since the time would be noted. But
she did go into the physical garbage and turned over his paper
waste basket
. She rummaged through bits of papers. And there
it was! Her heart almost stopped suddenly in her chest.

Ed Meritos 1-212345-555-458-9586968

Eduardo
Meritos.

Good
God!

Vic must be working with, or more likely
for
, Eduardo Meritos. Amber covered her
mouth in shock. She looked at the time. It was after eleven o’clock. She had to
call Venus’s residence stat. Maybe she should just stop by. What if Venus’s
husband answered? But that wouldn’t be a bad thing. Amber was aware of the
Romeros and their reputation and power. Oh, what to do?

She drew in a deep breath. She was going to
let them know … tonight. Then, the police would have to be notified in Murumba.

At ten o’clock the next morning, Venus’s
heart was palpitating and she had to calm her breathing as she stared out of
the window, still reeling in shock. Her body felt numb.

Eduardo had discovered her new identity!

Carl had his arms wrapped around her waist
from behind giving her the support she so needed. He smelled so good; the scent
of his fresh aftershave was soothing, enticing. Neither of them had much
sleep
last night.

Luckily, Tristan was already at the daycare
at the Romero estate and Carl decided he would go into the office later that
day, as did she. Right now, they had other things to tend to.

Last night, Amber from the consulate called
and came by. She explained everything to Carl and to Venus as they listened in
horror. Venus’s blood ran cold just thinking about what they were told. All
this while, Eduardo knew her whereabouts—he was just waiting to strike at
the right moment when she least expected it. It was good that Carl and the
Romeros had their men on the case. It was also good that Amber was able to help
them pinpoint the mole in the consulate and the other source in the justice
system in Murumba.

“So Vic Damon was arrested this morning,”
Carl told her. “He also gave the name of the source of the spy in the witness
protection program.”

“I’m glad,” she said, relief evident. Her
body was still numb. “Carl, if it hadn’t been for you, I don’t know what I
would have done. Oh, my God!”

“Hey,” he murmured to her, “I’m not going
to let anything happen to you, okay? Don’t worry your pretty head over it.
Nothing can ever happen to you or Tristan.”

“It’s a good thing we met, I guess.”

“Hey, I thought you believe in divine
intervention or what is called? Fate, right?”

“That’s true. Whatever is meant to be will
be. My mother used to tell me that sometimes the universe brings the right
people in your life and removes the wrong ones from your life, if you believe
it.”

“If I believe it?”

“Yes. Mom used to tell us that we often
receive what we believe in. If we go around only expecting bad things then our lives
will be centered on that. We might even miss the good things because we’re so programmed
to seeing the bad in everything and the opposite is true for expecting good
things. Oh, Carl, why does life have to be so-”

“Challenging?” he finished for her, a warm
smile on his face.

“Yes,” she said softly. “Come, I don’t want
you to be late going into the office. We have a campaign to run.”

“Are you sure you’re up to going in today?
I can have Shelly come over here.”

“Oh, no. It’s okay. Really it is. I want to
get my mind off things. Especially since Eduardo has not been caught yet.”

“He’ll be apprehended soon. Don’t worry.
We’ve already got his contacts. There are only so many places he can hide.”

Venus swallowed hard. “I know. But, Carl,
Amber said that he knew about us. He found out that we’d gotten married. He had
apparently left some notes online that he was going to destroy us. He had some
information. How did he find out so fast?”

“Shh, Venus, worrying is not going to do
anything beneficial for you right now. There’s nothing he can do to us.
Nothing. And whatever he has planned, hopefully it will backfire long before
we’re involved.”

“Oh, Carl. I hope so for your sake. Eduardo
is a vile, vindictive person. He knows about politics from back home. He could
cause a scandal. Anything. I would die if anything happened to-”

“Hey, no worries, remember? Do I look
scared to you?”

“No. You always look brave to me,” she
teased him.

“Good. Now let’s get ready to-” Carl’s cell
phone just rang, interrupting his sentence. “Hey,” he said. His face looked
grim. He heaved a sigh. “Thanks. I’ll let Venus know.”

“What is it?” Anxiety knotted Venus’s
inside.

“Eduardo.”

“What about him?”

“They found him and it wasn’t pretty. He
resisted arrest. There was some sort of shootout between him and the local
police.”

She covered her mouth with her hand.

“Yeah,” Carl said quietly, as if he could
read her mind. They were always in sync with what each other thought, which
always amazed her about their relationship. But this time it was more serious. “Eduardo
was killed,” Carl finished in a low voice. His expression was serious. Carl was
truly a man. He never gloated over his enemy’s demise. He was just as stunned
as Venus was. Even though she wanted Eduardo to pay for what he’d done, it was
still a shock.

“He’s dead?” she echoed in a whisper,
trying to let the news sink in. But somehow, she felt the damage he’d done
since his escape had not quite come to pass.

The next two weeks were incredibly busy for
the new mayoral candidate, Carl Romero. Venus sat in the campaign office
shuffling some notes on her desk.

She had tried hard to push the events of
the past month out of her mind surrounding the breach of security within the
consulate and the death of Eduardo Meritos. All she could do was think about
Carl and doing everything in her power to assist and support him in his bid for
mayor.

Her duties as assistant campaign manager
included coordinating the campaign’s operations. She wanted to ensure that the
fundraising was in place and the advertising budget was properly allocated. She
was too busy overseeing various supportive activities to be worried about the
after-effect of Eduardo’s death.

 
Carl came into her office. “Are you okay,
beautiful?” He handed her a Tim Horton’s green tea, extra large with sugar.
Just the way she loved it.

“I should be getting
you
a coffee,” she teased, taking the cup.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss on her
cheek. More and more, she wanted to be Carl’s wife forever, but he hadn’t said
anything about the contract, and she didn’t want to push the issue. The last
thing she wanted to do was force him to remain married to her after the year
was over. But oh, he stirred all kinds of delicious feelings inside her. What
would she do without him?