The Tycoon's Virgin Bride - Part 3 (The Corskovi Dynasty) (3 page)

Because he is still your groom
.
She tried to ignore the voice
in her head but she couldn’t.

Gustav
straightened his jacket and tie then glanced down at his watch as if nothing
out of the ordinary had just happened. No emotion on his face. No clue as to
what the hell could be going on in his mind after what just happened—or
didn’t happen between them. “There is a lot that I have to discuss with you,
Hannah,” he said, sounding more business-like. “About
who
you really are and what trouble you really are in. Some of it you may not
believe but you have no choice. Remember truth is stranger than fiction.”

“No
kidding,” she murmured, still breathless from that crazy-ass super kiss and
orgasmic-inducing make-out session.

“Are
you ready for the whole story?” he said in a low voice as he moved closer to
her. Again, her body reacted to him as it did two months ago but that was all
so crazy, she was with Andre now and that was that. She loved Andre with all
her heart and soul and body. And not even her original sexy groom could change
that. Or could he?

After
they’d had a chance to clean up in the bathroom, Hannah got around to dressing
herself in proper attire.

Later
Gustav had escorted Hannah over to the solarium in the suite since it was
private and the windows were tinted in such a way that no one could possibly
see inside.

They
both sat there gazing at the morning sun and the beautiful skyline of Toronto,
the clean, pretty city below with the glass high-rise luxury condos lining the
large lakefront.

Hannah
finally had her breakfast set out for her. Fluffy scrambled eggs, thin slices
of bacon, juicy sausages, seasoned baked potato cubes coated with butter, fresh
strawberries and three slices of orange on the plate. Earlier Andre had made
certain that she’d have a hearty breakfast before flying back to New York.
Yesterday she’d had the delicious fluffy pancakes with Canada’s famous Maple
syrup and a touch of butter. It was scrumptious.

She
couldn’t argue with the fact that she was taken care of there. Too bad she was
a prisoner.
First, a prisoner of love for Andre.
Now, a prisoner of her jilted groom who happened to be an
undercover service agent from her home country of
Melipos
.
That was deadly.

“You
know my full name,” Gustav said, his voice now more serious and chillingly
smooth.

“Yes.”

“I
don’t use Jason because I can’t stand the name. My old man gave it to me when I
was born, but then he beat my mother to death when I was five and I hated
everything about him since then.”

“Oh,
God! Gustav, I’m sorry, I had no idea.”

Gustav
took a swig of Molson beer from his glass as he propped his elbows on his knees
looking out at the city below and the blue sky. Toronto seemed like such a
calm, clean place for an escape.
So neat.
The people
seemed overly polite. At least the ones they’d met.

“It
wasn’t long before I became interested in bringing creeps like my biological
father to justice.”

“You
mean he got away with killing your mother?”

Gustav
held his head down, his jaw clenched. “For a while,” he said with a chill in
his voice. “You see my dad was some sort of…what do they call it…important
person in society.
A politician of sorts.
Well, he had
a lot of connections in all places and her death was ruled as accidental.” He
took another swig of his drink but she could see the bitter expression on his
lips.

Her
heart went out for him. How awful that this should or could happen to him.

“So
later on, after my father met…an unfortunate accident himself,” Gustav sighed,
“ I went back to school, finished college. Got into Oxford in England and
Harvard in Boston.”

“Wow.
And you studied languages?”

“Political
science, languages, and law.”

“Holy
cow! Why didn’t you tell me this when we met?”

“Because
I didn’t want to blow my cover or place you into more danger.”

“Okay,
so you said that someone followed me from my country when I was a kid?”

He
shook his head. “Not quite. I joined the secret service years ago and had some
crazy and often dangerous assignments. But I soon learned that there were more
corruption with the team I worked with than on the streets.”

“Oh?”

“So
then I met up with an old ally of mine Mr. Barrington, some old rich gentleman
who owned successful businesses in several countries. He was elected mayor of
the capital by the counsel for a four-year term. But a family
situation
which we later announced as a
medical emergency caused him to step down from office before his term was up.”

“Oh.
And where do I fit in?”

“Well,
he asked me to take on a private assignment for him seeing that I worked for
him in security during his term. Politicians have the right to security for a
lifetime after they have served. Kind of like the US president and his
immediate family. In
Melipos
this
honor
extends to all politicians not just the top dogs.”

“Why
you?” she asked incredulously. Hannah leaned forward pressing her elbows on her
knees as she sat waiting for more as if she was being told a scary story by a
campfire and she wanted to know how it would all end soon.

“Hannah,”
Gustav’s voice was low and soft now. “There’s something you need to know. I’m
going to tell you who you really are and what’s really going on but your life
is in danger and that’s why I was sent here to…”

“Marry
me?” she looked incredulous.

“Remember
I had you tapped.”

“Yeah.”

“Right.
So I knew about your plans with your friend there, Lucy, to go to some club to
meet a guy and…”

“Oh,
don’t bother…I know the story…” she whispered, her cheeks burning. She was sure
they were crimson red now.

“Well,
I showed up there too. Ahead of you and Lucy and made sure that I could make a
play for you myself before some other creep got to you first.”

“And,
well, it worked didn’t it?” she said, trying to hide the sorrow in her voice.
There she was thinking she was desirable by some guy giving her the ‘look’ at
the bar when he was sent there on purpose to hook up with her.

“That’s
why I couldn’t…”

“Couldn’t
what?” Hannah asked.

“I grew
attracted to you, Hannah. I knew we had chances but I…It wasn’t part of the
assignment. I couldn’t fuck you,” he said softly, his words sent a tingling
chill inside her belly. Her sex pulsed momentarily.

“What?
So that’s it then? I was just an assignment and you were instructed not
to…sleep with me?” Hannah got up and paced, her arms folded tight across her
chest. “So that’s it then, all this talk about wait until our wedding night?”

“Which
you didn’t by the way,” he cocked a brow, his eyes following her as she paced.

“That’s
not funny, Gustav. You were supposed to be some green card gig. Which brings me
to…”

“No,
that green card story was bogus. But it worked and seemed practical. You needed
a
favor
so why not be a guy who desperately needed a
favor
, too? I’ve seen it worked out many times before.”

“But
you jilted me at the altar.”

“Because
my cover was about to be exposed and you and I would have been in grave
danger.”

“Oh,”
Hannah combed her fingers through her hair, shaken. “So…so what if we had
gotten married? Then what would have happened?” she asked not looking into his
deep ocean blue eyes this time.

“I
would have gone through with it as planned since it would be to my employer’s
pleasing then I would give you the child you desired—only in wedlock of
course, and then walked away out of your life, leaving you looking good in all
of this.”

“You
mean you would have faked your own death or something?”

He
nodded,
a sly smile curved his lips. Oh, those luscious full
lips of his. “Something
like
that.”

Hannah
was both terrified of him and fascinated by him at the same time. But her whole
life was so screwed up right now. There’s a sex tape of her out there,
somewhere, Andre was missing and God knew where, Gustav was back and telling
her he’s a secret agent sent to protect her and get her away from America.
Could her life get any more unreal than this?

“So
what about this Barrington man? Is he
my…my
father?”
she stuttered.

“No.”

For
some reason, Hannah’s heart sank to her knees. She felt a hole in her soul. She
was hoping that she could at least find her real father. Just to know him. Or
maybe she didn’t want to know him since he left her mother before she was even
born.

“Conrad
Barrington, III is one nasty old, conniving, grumpy gaffe-prone ex-mayor and
businessman who practically hates people. He is paranoid and doesn’t trust a
soul and had way too high standards for his one son—who died tragically.
An important thing to remember is that his son’s indiscretion with the servant
in the household caused him to step down from politics.”

“Oh? So
that’s why you’re helping him.”

“Right.
Old Mr. B was elected mayor by the communal council of the
Principality of
Melipos
and he can continue to
receive service from our organization until the end. Of course, this is a
personal
favor
to him from me.”

“Then
what happened?”

“He’d
done so much for the country, even gave most of his wealth to developed poor
inner cities—because it made him look good and it was a tax break.”

“You
really seem to like this guy, the way you speak of him so respectfully.”

“I
spoke to Mr. B the same way I’m talking to you now. I never minced my words.
That’s why when he left
office,
he kept me around
because of my honesty and frank
demeanor
. He hated ‘yes’
men and ass kissers.”

“So you
were hired to protect him and his immediate family?”

“Exactly.”

“So why
is this guy trying to hunt me down?”

“He’s
your paternal grandfather.”

Hannah
jaw fell open.

“And
no, he’s not the one hunting you down.”

“What?”
Hannah gaped in shock.

“You
see when your father Conrad IV, Mr. B’s wayward, troublesome son, came to him
with the story that he got the maid pregnant, his father wasn’t too kind about
it and thought your mother was a gold digger who wanted sneak her way into his
wealthy dynasty. Well, he soon fired your mother and disowned his son. Wanting
to avoid a scandal while in office, he left for ‘medical reasons’ before the
local press got wind of any of this disgraceful news.”

“God,
that’s sick. That’s awful.” Hannah felt her emotions swirling out of control
now.

“Anyway,
the old man doesn’t have much time to live now.”

“He
doesn’t?”

“No.
He’s dying.
Grumpy as hell, but still dying.
Now he
sees very little people except for his housekeeper Sherry Elroy James.”

Hannah
covered her mouth with her hands. “What?”

“Yes,
you’ve got it.”

“Sherry
has been looking for me?
To kill me?
But why?”

“Old
Mr. Barrington had a change of heart. His son was his only living heir and he
was to leave everything to him. But when he died in some skiing accident in
Switzerland, the old man took a huge hit, mentally. His health declined since
then. “

“That’s
when he hired detectives to look for my mother?”

“Right.
Call it guilt or change of old heart but he wanted to make amends. He’d heard
that your mother and you went to America and were suffering. Now with all his
billions in stocks all over the world he didn’t want it to go to the
government.”

“So
what happened?”

“Well,
those nut jobs he first hired did a lousy job in tracking you down. I mean you
and your mother changed your name to
Steeles
,
remember?”

“Right,”
she murmured looking down at her palms.

“He was
told that you had passed away.”

“What?
Who would have told him that?”

“
Ms
Elroy James, his housekeeper. We figured she may have
paid off one of the detectives and agreed to cash in the money and split it.
You know how tough life is in
Melipos
.”

“Yeah
either you’re super rich or super poor and struggling.”

“Exactly.
Anyway, he had written in his will that
Ms
Elroy
James and any of her
offsprings
would receive
everything.”

“Everything?”

“Yes.
Of course, that was cause for celebration but then a medical associate of his
had informed him that he had studied a woman at the teaching hospital in New
York who developed MS and she was originally from
Melipos
.
Mr. B became curious when his acquaintance said that the woman had a young
daughter visiting her every day. The girl looked like his dead son. There was
some resemblance.”

“Oh, so
that’s when he hired you to do a thorough job of finding me?”

“Precisely.
Of course it wasn’t easy, I used whatever resources I could during my more
active days in the secret service and all the research skills I had at my
disposal.”

“I see.
And that included having my phone bugged.”

“Sorry
about that.”

“Yeah,
whatever,” she playfully rolled her eyes. She stopped when he handed her a
black and white photograph.

“This
is an old photo of your father and grandfather. Mr. B wanted you to see this.”

Hannah
took the photo and tears welled up in her eyes spilling down her cheeks. Her
nose became stuffy with emotion again. God, how she hated when that happened.
Gustav gave her some tissues to dab her eyes and blow her nose.

“I wish
mom could see this.”

“She
will. In time.”

“But
what about this Elroy James person?”

“Well,
she needs to eliminate you first before your grandfather finds out that you’re
really alive because the old goat made it clear that if he had any blood
relatives alive they’d get everything but since he didn’t, his housekeeper for
so many years would get first dibs.”

Hannah
felt a sick, pulling feeling inside her belly. How could greed be the root of
this evil plot to kill her? It was crazy, this James person didn’t even know
her and yet wanted to eliminate her?

“We’ve
tracked her down.”

“You
have?”

“I
expect better manners of my guests, Gustav!” Andre’s deep, powerful voice
interrupted them as he walked fiercely over to the patio where they stood. “You
need to announce yourself and sign in before entering my property.”

Hannah
had forgotten that Andre had a secret passageway to exit and enter his
penthouse besides the private elevator. She jumped up, glad to see Andre was
okay and went over to hug him but he held up his hand and stopped her cold
while his dark eyes fixed dangerously on Gustav.

Gustav
stood up with his jaw clenched and faced Andre whose dangerous gaze brought
shivers down Hannah’s spine. Both men stared each other down.
The groom and the best man.

This
situation could not possibly get any worse.