Page 93 of Auctioned to the Billionaire Surgeon

“Not at all. And if Pops tries to pull that shit on you, just tell him you talked to me. He’ll back way the hell off.”

“Good to know.” Something he’d said finally clicked with me. “Wait… what’s a race donkey?”

“Don’t even ask, man.”

“But I really want to…”

“You shoulda called me if you were so worried about it. Never trust Pops. He lies almost all the time. It’s pathological.”

I made a face no one could see. “Check your missed calls and voicemails, dumbass. I called you like fifty times.”

“Oh. Sorry. Anyway, see ya.” And he was gone.

I pulled to the side of the road, put my head in my hands, and took deep breaths. I’d been given a huge reprieve. Not only was I not going to be forced into some kind of arranged marriage with Gia Santoro, there was no chance my brotherswanted me to give up my medical career to come try and work for the family business.

As soon as I had calmed down enough, I sat up straighter in the car and decided to think through my problems logically.

The problem with my family business was made up. Fictional. I didn’t need to worry about that anymore. The same thing could be said of the bogus arranged marriage with Gia Santoro. I had two more major problems to work through. First, I had to check on Jelly and make sure she still wanted to have anything to do with me after the horrible dinner at my parents’. Then I had to figure out how to stop Gia Santoro from blackmailing me.

I pulled back onto the road and resumed the drive to Salazar Heights. First, I would talk to Jelly. I would make her understand that things were fine between us. That I would handle my parents—I just couldn’t do it yet because it might tip Gia off that I wasn’t falling in line like she wanted me to.

I let the problem cycle around in my head over and over again until I pulled into my spot in the parking deck under Salazar Heights. No matter how I tried to come at the problem, I kept running into a major roadblock. How did I convince Jelly that everything Gia said was bullshit without telling her Gia was blackmailing me?

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Paolo

After I parked and took the elevator up to the lobby, my first real sign that something was wrong was when Tony, one of the nighttime security guards, saw me.

“Hey, Mr. Lanetti. I didn’t think you’d be coming back around.” He had a big smile on his face.

I turned slowly and stared at him. “Why?”

The smile dropped from his face. “Uh… because Ms. Pinkoe…” his voice trailed off.

“Ms. Pinkoe what, Tony?”

Now the color left his face. I could tell he didn’t want to say another word. “I, um, probably shouldn’t say. It’s just… well, have you talked to her lately?”

I was already hurrying to the elevators.

“Come on, come on, come on,” I mumbled as it seemed to take the elevator forever to get to Jelly’s floor.

I pulled out the key card and realized my hands were shaking. I took a couple of deep breaths to calm down then swiped it. It still turned green.

Thank goodness. I breathed a sigh of relief. From the way Tony had acted, I’d been afraid she’d moved out and that the locks had already been changed for the next person who’d be living here.

But the moment I walked in, I knew I’d relaxed too soon. If a place can feel empty, this one did. Nothing was immediately amiss. The furniture was where it had always been. The décor was the same. But something was off.

“Jelly?” I called, but there was no answer.

I hurried to her bedroom. The first thing I did was look in the closet. Her side was completely empty. I closed my eyes and slumped back against the wall. I ran a hand over my face and just stood there breathing deeply for a moment.

She moved out.

Shit. When did she do it? Was it right after she’d left my parents’ house? If so, why? I thought back to all the awful things my family had said about her while she’d been in the restroom. What if she’d heard that? What if that was why she’d left?

The nerves I’d been feeling had upgraded again. Now they’d turned to pure panic. I was an idiot. A fool.