Page 88 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Surgeon

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to, actually. I need to check on Jelly…”

“Jelly.” Gia interrupted me and got a pensive look on her face. “I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before. And not at the hospital, either. Now where could that be, Paolo?”

Fuck. “You know what?” I forced a smile. “Drinks sound good. Gia, you up for a trip to one of West Bay’s best bars?”

“Always,” she smiled at me in a seductive way that made me nervous.

“Let’s go to the rooftop bar at Bahia Del Sol,” I said, standing. “Thank you for a great meal,” I said going over to hug and kiss my mother and father. When I bent over to say goodbye to my dad, he held onto my shoulders for a second.

“Don’t screw this up. She is your future, Paolo, if you don’t want to ruin all of our lives by making us lose the business.”

I swallowed hard. It had been months since Dad had said anything about that. I’d hoped he’d been exaggerating and had just let it go. Now I had to talk to Raphael, and soon. I hoped my father was just being dramatic and trying to control me. I knew Raphe was Dad’s right hand man. He would know the truth about our father’s threats. Was Dad really that intent on me coming back into the business? Did I really have an arranged marriage with Gia Santoro?

Would that even be legal?

And most importantly, if I didn’t marry Gia Santoro and we lost the contract with the Santoro family, would my family business go bankrupt? God. This was too much.

“Shall we?” I ignored my father, walked over to Gia, and offered her my arm.

“Of course,” she smiled up at me, and I had a flash of guilt.Jelly was lying at home feeling awful, and I was taking a beautiful woman out for drinks. Jelly would understand, though. She knew the pressure my parents were putting on me. And she didn’t even know how much worse it was. The thought of Jelly not being able to get a job in West Bay because of anything Gia might say about her left me feeling ill.

I was just going to have to hope she’d understand.

***

When we got to Bahia Del Sol and made our way to the rooftop, the drinks flowed freely, the conversation was good, and Ialmostgot lost in the company of a beautiful woman. In a word, I was drunk. This was never a good thing, but it was especially not good when you were out with a woman who was not your girlfriend. It was even worse when that same woman was blackmailing you.

Gia was all over me, and though I wasn’t encouraging her touches and lingering glances, I wasn’t exactly batting her hands away, either. I was doing my best not to piss her off.

“I know where I want to go next,” she purred, running a finger down the front of my shirt.

“Where’s that?” I asked nervously, hoping she wasn’t going to invite herself over to my place for a night of wild sex.

“I want to go to Cayenne. Your sex club.”

“Ohhh.” I was not taking her there. I mean, she could go, but not with me. “I can have my driver take you there. Just tell them you know me and they’ll give you a week’s pass. You won’t have any problems. You’ve been there before anyway.”

She pouted and pulled on my tie. “But I wanted to go with you.” She leaned closer with each word, staring at my mouth.

Danger signs were flashing through my mind. This night that had started with me determined for my parents to accept Jelly as my girlfriend had taken a strange detour. “I’m sorry, Gia, but Jelly is my girlfriend. I don’t go to Cayenne anymore, and I don’t plan to ever again unless I’m with her.”

Now she looked mad. “We’ll see,” she said ina mean voice that had me frowning.

“Do you want me to drop you there?” I asked, standing up.

I felt like someone was staring at me. I looked around and saw Leo Salazar. I waved at him, and he walked over to us. His smile was muted; he didn’t seem like his usual cheery self.

“Hello,” he said, and I looked at him weird. What was his problem? “Who’s your friend?”

“Oh, sorry.” I turned back to Gia. “This is Gia Santoro. I grew up with her. Her parents and mine are good friends.”

“Ah. Where’s Jelly?” he asked, and I knew then why his smile was dimmed.

“She wasn’t feeling well, so she went home.”

His smile dropped altogether. “She went home sick and you came out for drinks?”

“Ummm… yes.” It sounded bad when he said it like that.