Page 92 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Surgeon

“Really?”

I nodded. “At least one of them is always there. More likely than not, all five brothers will be in attendance.”

“Thanks.” She grinned, leaned in and kissed my cheek. “Don’t forget that you still have to take me to the hospital gala.” Then she got out of the car. She gave her hips extra sway as she walked inside the hotel, but I hardly noticed.

I didn’t know how I was going to explain the hospital gala to Jelly. Of all the social functions for me to not take her to, this was by far the worst. But I couldn’t think about that now.

I was a man on a mission. First a phone call, then I was going to get Jelly.

***

I finally connected with Raphe on the way to Salazar Heights.

“What’s up, brother? Everything okay?”

For a scary mafia-type, my brother worried like an eighty-year-old grandma. He’d be the first to deny that, but we all knew.

“Yeah. Everything’s fine.”

“Whew. You had me nervous.” I could hear him sitting down. “Yeah, sweetheart, can you get me a glass of water?” he said to someone in his house, probably a maid. Or some woman he was fucking. I heard water in a sink and then thensounds of him drinking. “Okay. I think I’m calmed down now. Jesus, Paolo. Text me before you call next time. You almost gave me a fucking heart attack!”

I rolled my eyes and did my best to hold back a sigh.

“I can hear you rolling your eyes, you bastard.”

“That’s impossible…”

He laughed. “Just tell me what the fuck was so important you thought it was okay to put me in an early grave.”

“Dude. You’re barely over thirty.”

“Fuck off. What’s up?”

“I just needed to tell you I’m sorry about the whole Gia Santoro thing, man. I’m not going to marry her. There’s no fucking way. I’m just not interested. Dad said that means the business is likely to go under because there won’t be a contract with Geno Santoro…”

He started laughing. Hard. It took him a while to calm down, too. “Oh my God. You don’t know how bad I needed that laugh today. Let me give you a couple reality checks here, older brother. First off, he’s tried to pawn Gia Santoro off on every last one of us. We’ve all fucked her, but hell if we’re going to marry her. You were his last resort. If I’d known he was coming after you, I would’ve warned you. We all thought you were safe since you’re not in the business. Fuck her if you want, but that girl is… mean.”

“Yeah. I’ve… well, I’ve figured that out. She was mean to a friend of mine.”

“A girl, huh?”

“How’d you know?”

“She’s done the same damn thing to all of us. Tries to run off whatever girl we’re into, you know? Anyway, she’s poison. Steer clear.”

Too late. I scrubbed a hand over my face and wished to anything Raphe had called me back justoneof the times I’d left him a message.

“Now, let’s talk about the other thing. There’s a couple things you need to know. First, we don’t want youback in the business. Not even a little bit. We all remember when Pops told you to shoot that guy and you fainted.” He chuckled. “And second, we’re making more money than we ever have before. Like, way more. That’s one of the reasons Pops is freaking out. He retired, telling us all that we wouldn’t be able to make a go of it without him, and we’re killing it. He’s got nothing left to control anymore. That’s probably why he’s messing with you.”

“Y’all are doing fine?”

“Yeah, man. We’re more than fine. We’ve even expanded into the ports of Charleston and Savannah.”

“Business isn’t going to crash and burn if I don’t marry Gia Santoro and get some contract for the business from the Santoro family?”

“Uh… no. Pretty sure there’s not a contract with the Santoro family. Geno Santoro sells race donkeys, and I can guarantee I don’t want in on that action. Pops is so full of shit.”

I was going to have to have a serious discussion with my lying asshole of a father. But I could only focus on one crisis at a time, and right now that was getting Jelly back. “Gotcha. Okay, then. Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t screwing up anything for you.”