Page 37 of Untamed Billionaire
And then they were gone, Chloe, Marco, Dash, Kasim, Callum and Angela stuffed into the limousine that was supposed to be a private ride just for Marco and Chloe.
“What the hell is going on?” Dash demanded.
Angela scowled, frantically typing on her phone. “I have friends at the FBI. I’m getting them involved. Something doesn’t smell right.”
Kasim called his head guard. “What do you know?” He listened intently while they gave him a report and Callum tore at the sleeve of Marco’s shirt, grabbing the bottle of vodka from the limousine’s bar stock and pouring it over the wound.
“Damn it!” Marco hissed. “It isn’t that bad!”
“Aye, but someone just shot at ye,” his Scottish accent coming out during times of stress. “Let’s no take any chances, eh?”
Marco gritted his teeth as Dash poured another shot of the alcohol on the wound. Chloe grabbed his hand and he pulled her closer. “It’s nothing!” he reiterated. “Now could we please stop worrying about this piddling wound? All of you know that I’ve had worse and survived. We need to figure out who shot at me.”
Kasim was the first to agree with him. “Who are your enemies?”
Marco laughed, then pulled Chloe onto his lap. With four enormous men and two women in the back of a limousine, he told himself it was the right thing to do to make space. The fact that it felt good to put his arms around her, to make sure that she was safe, that was a secondary issue. At least, that was what he was telling himself for the moment.
“Who isn’t my enemy?” he snarled. “Every damn person in this city has been against me.”
Angela looked up from her cell phone. “Why are you trying to set up your headquarters here then?”
He grinned, but the expression showed absolutely no amusement. “Because it will save me money, time, resources, and I enjoy the challenge.”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “You’re an idiot!” she snapped back. “Let’s head over to the reception area.” More tapping on her phone. “I have two friends within the FBI that are going to meet us there. Another team is heading to the site to look things over, try and find out what happened. They’ll give us the trajectory of the bullet at a minimum.”
“Why don’t we just use the local police?” Chloe asked. “My family knows…” she stopped as soon as the five of them looked at her. “Right!” she replied, lowering her eyes. “My family are all suspects.”
“Not Emma,” Angela pointed out.
Chloe laughed, but a moment later, she buried her face against Marco’s neck. “Don’t you ever leave me!” she whispered for his ears only. But the rest of them heard it. They also witnessed Marco putting his arms around her and pulling her close. “I won’t leave you,” he whispered back.
Angela blinked back tears, then quickly pulled her tough-woman persona back in place. “Right. Well, we won’t know what’s going on until we get more information from my buddies.”
“My security team is also on the scene. They’ll have something to tell me soon,” Kasim pointed out.
Dash looked at Marco. “You hired extra security for the ceremony. You were anticipating something.”
It was a statement, not a question.
Marco nodded his head. “Yeah. I wasn’t sure. But there was just…something that nagged at me. I couldn’t really put my finger on it.” He looked at Chloe, explaining, “All of the parties we’ve been to over the past week, something happened at each one, causing me to think that someone wanted me out of the picture.”
Chloe lifted her head and glared at him. “What kinds of things?”
“Someone put something in my wine that first night at your mother’s house. I think it was ipecac, that caused Bingly to throw up all over the dining room.’
“You mentioned that. Were there other incidents?”
“My tires were slashed one night,” he told her. “Another time, my car wouldn’t start. And a third night, there was a note left in my car telling me to get out of town.” He held her still when she started to pull away. “I wasn’t sure if it was a threat or a warning.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Chloe asked, hurt in her voice.
“Because your mother had you going every which way. And every time she spoke to you, she was a bitter old woman trying to put you down. I didn’t want to add more to your burdens than what she was already laying on top of you.”
She gripped the lapels of his jacket, staring into his eyes. “We’re a team, Marco!” she told him firmly. “We had an agreement! How am I supposed to live up to my side of this partnership if you are withholding information?”
He laughed, then leaned forward to kiss her. “I think you’ve more than upheld your part of the bargain.”
“Have you threatened anyone, Chloe?” Callum asked, diverting their attention away from each other.
