His Dirty Promises (Dirty Billionaires 2)

“All thanks to Jessica.” Jessica was hired by Cesare for me as a housekeeper. I resented it for maybe five minutes until she not only made my life easier but ten times better. “I’m going to miss her. She even packed my bags for me.” I nod to my two suitcases. I’m not sure how long I want to stay with Alicia and Cesare in their ginormous mansion. I already have the keys to the condo they once lived in and still own. Their invitation for me to live there for as long as I want is an amazing gift. Alicia even mentioned getting an interior designer in to change the place up. While I appreciate it, I can’t see myself staying there for long. I’m already excited to find a place in the Wrigleyville area I used to live in with Alicia before I left for school.

Alicia’s smile flashes for only a second before lines appear in her forehead. My stomach drops. “What’s the matter?”

She shakes her head, not meeting my eyes. “We’ll talk on the plane. Let’s get to your graduation.”

Seriously? Is she trying to make me crazy? “Nope, I can’t sit there for an hour while I wonder what you want to talk about. Spit it out.”

“This is the last month Cesare is giving you an allowance. It makes sense, right? I’ve been keeping an eye on your accounts—you did great saving money. It’s why I think the allowance is no longer necessary, not just because you’ve graduated and it’s time to stand on your own. You have more than enough money to pay your own bills. You can do it, I have faith in you even though I’m not happy you aren’t getting licensed right away. While I understand wanting time off after school, you should have taken the test and gotten it over with. Now you have to wait until the next testing session opens in another three weeks. It’s... it’s time for you to be responsible for you.”

This isn’t a surprise. She’s right, it makes sense. It’s not as though she’s kicking me out into the harsh world. I’m not paying rent and she’s right, my savings could last me a year easily. A savings account I owe entirely to Cesare. He upped my allowance from fifteen hundred to five thousand a month almost two years ago while at the same time having Jessica paying my bills from a card Cesare gave her that he also took care of. It’s silly for him to continue giving me an allowance. I’m graduating today. This is my big girl moment, so why does it feel like a slap in the face? “Yeah, okay. Fine. Let’s go.”

“Bethany.” She grabs my arm as I turn, not willing to let her see the pain and confusion churning through me.

I shrug it off. “I don’t want to be late, let’s go.” I gra

b my keys. She doesn’t move. “It’s fine. I need to leave now or I’ll be late.”

I follow Alicia to the car, where a driver is waiting with country music turned all the way up. I won’t miss this about Iowa.

The next hour passes in a blur. Shaking the hand of the university president, I find Alicia in the crowd. She’s clapping with her whole body, tears falling without any embarrassment, only pride. Great, now I’m crying.

This moment wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Alicia. Not just because she paid my way through school, but because she supported me every step of the way. There were more times than I can count when I wondered if I could do it, but I didn’t give in or up because of her. She’s right, it’s time, it makes sense. I shouldn’t receive an allowance anymore. Allowances are for kids, and I’m not a kid anymore. I’m a twenty-four-year-old woman graduating today with her physician assistant degree. I’ll be responsible for people’s medical care; it doesn’t get any more grown-up. It’s just... sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever feel like an adult. The last time I checked, it was supposed to be when I finished this master’s program from hell. I finished a week ago... any day now would be good.

***

Dante

“What do you mean you aren’t coming over tonight? This is a family celebration. Bethany graduated, it’s a major accomplishment. It’s also long past time you met your little sister.” Che’s eyes narrow.

“Good for her. I’m not in the mood to celebrate. And I don’t want a little sister. She sounds like a pain in the ass.”

Dark eyes bore into me until I’m fighting to keep my mouth closed. Ever since I can remember, even before my father destroyed my world by shooting and killing our mother then killing himself and forcing Che into dad mode, I couldn’t hide a thing from my brother when he stared me down. Only lately the stare hasn’t worked. I’m not sure if I’ve gotten better at keeping my mouth closed, or if he’s not so scary since he fell in love with Alicia and she made him less miserable.

He gets up and pours himself a scotch, even though it’s only one in the afternoon and one of our biggest clients is coming into the office soon. His sip is measured as he savors the fine liquor. I’m jealous. I gave up drinking for Lent. Not really; I gave up drinking because I was becoming a drunk, and sloppy. A Sabatini may be a lot of things, an asshole, rude, ruthless, even a killer, but one thing we never are is sloppy, not with our money, not with our business, and especially not with our bodies.

After another bender in a long line of them in which I slept through my alarm clock and didn’t wake up until noon, I stumbled into the bathroom, took one look in the mirror and flinched. Deep lines were forming in puffy skin; that skin, once glowing, was sallow, mottled, with circles under my eyes so dark they were almost black. Closing my eyes against the sight, I called Gretchen, then my assistant for all of a week, and told her I wouldn’t be in. Her tone of boredom, her assurance she’d already cancelled my day and not to worry, pissed me off. Not at her, at myself.

I went through my place and dumped all my liquor, then I went across the hall to Che’s condo and did the same thing there. Now almost two months later, the lines are thinner, as is my face and body. I dropped the softness I was forming through better eating and spending time in my home gym. My color is back and while I’m no longer plagued with fuzzy thoughts or a poor memory, I’m still numb to... everything.

“Cosa C’e?”

I shrug. What’s wrong? Everything, nothing. Saying it out loud, it’s absurd. I’m not happy with my life. Who the hell wouldn’t be happy with my life? I’m a thirty-five-year-old billionaire at the top of the fucking heap in a city where only the strongest survive.

Yeah, Cesare laid the foundation. But I was there every step of the way, at properties we flipped, laying tile until midnight even though I had school the next day. All the way from high school, to college and even while I was getting my master’s from the Kellogg School at Northwestern. Finishing school, I went right into working seventy hours a week, courting the buyers with the deepest pockets and the sellers with the best properties. Cesare started us at millions; I helped take us to billions. As a billionaire the world is at my fingertips, so why am I bored out of my mind? Where did the pride and joy I once had in my life go? I don’t fucking know anymore.

“Are you still in on the foundation?” His question is the last one I expect.

I’m not sure if I’m relieved or hurt he doesn’t press me. “Yeah, of course. Say the word, I’ll have the money transferred.”

“Gretchen will clear your schedule for the next two weeks. Get the foundation up and running. We’ll do the ten million each, from me, you, Enzo and then twenty million from our company and ten million from Enzo’s company. Hannah will get you our current donations we have running to move to the foundation. I want you to work with Alicia. Once it’s up she will run it.”

He hands me a manila folder from under the file open on his desk. “This is a grant proposal from a doctor who wants to start a mobile medical office on the south side of the city. Two doctors or a doctor and a few nurses who can go in daily. He also wants another doctor and nurse who are willing to go into a person’s home for those who are not ambulatory to get to the office. Look into it, see how we can make it work while still keeping the other things we are funding.”

The numbers are almost overwhelming on how great the need is for the office but I know they aren’t why Che is considering it. “This is for our new little sister, isn’t it?”

Che smiles, no hint of apology. “Of course. And she’s not so new. You’ve just been busy. You don’t want to come tonight, fine. I’ll pass along your apologies. Bethany won’t be able to sit for her certification for a few weeks anyway. I’m not willing to sacrifice the things we are funding at the altar of giving Bethany a clinic to practice in, if it’s not viable to fund this, let it go.”

“Is this payback for not going tonight?”