Page 9 of Untamed Billionaire
His blue eyes looked steadily into her own, nodding his agreement. “I know that, Chloe.”
“And I’m not an idiot. My parents, they treat me as if I’m just a flower that they can bring out to show off every once in a while. My mother, she tells me that I need to be lovely and beautiful and slender and then, when I’ve done everything she tells me to do, she comes at me with some sort of criticism!”
“I think you’re lovely and smart and intelligent, Chloe,” he told her, his hands bracing her upper arms as he held her still. Chloe was relieved for his support. She suspected that she might just topple over if he let go of her arms.
She wanted to sink into his arms. Chloe wanted to sink into the strength of his muscles, to feel those arms close around her body, to be held against his hard, massive chest and hear his strong heartbeat thudding against her ear. She wanted to know the feeling of his beard against her soft skin as he kissed her, as his lips moved over hers. Would that dark beard tickle? Was it rough?
Pushing those thoughts aside, Chloe lifted her chin, glaring up at him defiantly. “I’m not going to let them win!”
Groaning, she tried to slow down. She’d started out with a logical argument, now she was simply blurting out nonsensical statements that he couldn’t possibly understand.
Marco nodded his agreement, soothing the churning emotions roiling inside of her. “Tell me what the battle is, love,” he urged, his voice rough as he gently tugged her against his chest. “What, and how, are you going to win?”
That was all the kindness she could handle. Her defenses weren’t as strong as she’d thought, so when he held her in his arms like this, she let it all out. Every verbal barb, every threat to her sister, every put down and horrible critique came out as she sobbed against his chest. Chloe crumbled!
“I hate them!” she cried, her hands fisting, pounding against his chest. “I hate them! I hate all of their horrible criticisms. I hate that they’ve kept me a prisoner! I hate that they revere my brother when everyone knows that he’s an absolute idiot when it comes to investments. I hate that I’ve had to keep my own investment successes a secret! And I really hate that they are holding me hostage, using my sister as their weapon against me!”
As soon as she heard those words hanging in the silence between them, Chloe knew that she’d gone too far. Chloe froze, terrified of what she’d just revealed. She pulled back, stumbling over her feet once more as she wiped at her cheeks with the backs of her hands. “I didn’t just say that,” she whispered vehemently.
Marco released her, his huge, muscular arms crossing over his chest, tightening the material across his shoulders. “Tell me about your sister, Chloe.”
Chloe shook her head. “I…” she started to say that she didn’t have a sister. But Chloe couldn’t do that. Emma was everything to Chloe. She was the sunshine in her week. Every time Chloe got to visit Emma, Chloe walked away happier and stronger. Emma was her rock!
“I can’t.”
Marco finally grasped everything. Well, perhaps not everything, but he was starting to figure out what was going on. He took Chloe’s hands, leading her over to the sofa. He tugged on her hands until she sat next to him, handing her a box of tissues. “Blow your nose and dry your eyes. We’re going to figure this out together.”
Chloe laughed tremulously, shaking her head. “A lady should never blow her nose in front of others.”
He chuckled and handed her a second tissue. “Blow.”
Chloe, bless her heart, took the tissue, but only wiped her tears and dabbed daintily at her nose. He couldn’t ask for more though, as curiosity swamped him. “Okay, so now let’s figure out what a marriage would do to help you out. Start at the beginning.”
Chloe stared down at her hands, crumbling the tissue. A moment later, she realized what she was doing and stood up, tossing the tissue into the trash. “Perhaps I could start this meeting over again?” she asked, looking down at him.
Marco nodded, leaning back and spreading his arms against the back of the sofa. “Feel free to start wherever you feel most comfortable.”
He watched as she began pacing the office, grabbing another tissue but she still didn’t blow her nose. Instead, she tore the tissue to shreds, then stuffed each piece into her fist before tossing that one into the trash as well.
“I need to marry someone strong. Someone in a position of power.” She turned to look at him, her blue eyes bright with clarity now. “If I were married, then I’d be in a stronger legal position to take over as legal guardian of my sister, Emma. The courts would look more favorably on my petition to become legal guardian of her if I was married.” She took a long, deep breath. “In exchange for your help, then I will help you with connections in the area. For instance, I know that Bill Jennings is almost broke. I also know that my father has asked him to not rent you any warehouse space. Bill has agreed and in return, my father is going to advise Jennings on future investments for free.” She sighed, shaking her head. “Unfortunately, my father isn’t very good at investing. That means that Jennings will lose anything that’s left of his inheritance and his business will go under. My father has delegated most of the investment decisions to my brother, Steven. And believe me, Steven has absolutely no clue how to invest anything. He’s even worse than my father!” She laughed harshly. “I think Steven cheated his way through school, but my parents don’t care. They were thrilled when he was admitted to Harvard, and just as furious when he was kicked out. But did they do anything to punish him? No way! They just sent him off to another school. This time, he cheated his way through that and graduated.”
“But he’s still clueless at business?”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “He convinced my father to load up on TechnoFox shares,” she said.
“Ouch!” Marco replied, knowing that TechnoFox was junk stock now. All because of…!
“Steven suggested investing in that company after the chief executive and chief operating officer were indicted on conspiracy charges and ethics violations.”
Marco stared at Chloe, too stunned. “You’re kidding!”
Chloe shook her head. “Nope. Steven said that he knew someone in the Securities and Exchange Commission that told him that TechnoFox was going to be exonerated. He was hoping that the stock price would soar as soon as the company was off the hook.”
“But the evidence…!”
Chloe shrugged again, throwing her hands in the air with exasperation. “I know. The evidence was overwhelming. And yet, Steven was convinced that the head guys at TechnoFox would figure out how to get the charges dismissed. So…the day the CEO and Chief Financial Officer of the company were convicted, my father’s investment company lost about twenty million dollars of their clients’ wealth.”
Marco’s whistle filled the room. “Damn! That’s hard to do!”
