Arrangement With A Billionaire (Bad Boy Billionaire Brothers #1) (16 page)

A
rturo had tried
to ask her what had happened, what Sebastian had said, but there was no way in hell Isla was going to talk to him just yet. If she did, she was going to flip right the hell out. She was going to lose her mind with all the rage and anger inside of her, and she wasn’t even sure yet if any of it was justified.

It still made for an awkward ride home. Sam even seemed to pick up on the fact that something was amiss, or he already knew.

Whatever. She just needed to be alone with her thoughts, but how in the hell was she supposed to think about anything when Arturo was sitting just right there, looking at her? He was no longer asking questions, but she could almost hear the gears in his head turning.

“Your brother,” Isla said, speaking for the first time since they’d gotten into the limo. Now they were almost home. “He’s a shit disturber, isn’t he?”

Arturo was silent for only a beat before he responded. “He likes to try and get back at me, Silvio, and Orlando. Thinks we made his childhood miserable.”

She nodded. She supposed she was going to have to swallow that for her answer. It wasn’t like there was anything else she could get out of him.

And what the hell had she expected him to say? That no, everything was fine and he and his brothers were all right as rain?

That was so not going to happen.

When the limo pulled up the stupidly long driveway and to the front door, she reached for the door handle and nearly jumped out before the limo could even come to a full stop.

Arturo reached out and snagged her by the wrist, yanking her back before she could fall out of the moving vehicle.

Even though the limo wasn’t moving so fast, falling on her face on the asphalt like that would’ve hurt like hell.

Arturo’s angry snarl showed off the whites of his teeth and everything. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Did she try to
jump
out?” Sam asked, looking in his rearview before turning in his seat. “Are you out of your mind?”

Well, the limo was stopped now, so that meant she could finally get away from Arturo, from him and his asshole driver.

Isla pushed against Arturo’s chest with both hands as hard as she could, separating them as he fell back in his seat, and while he was angry and scrambling forward, she was busy running away.

Martina was at the door, a confused and worried expression on her face as Isla jumped out of the limo, nearly spraining her ankles on the damned high heels she wore, and they ended up falling off her feet as she ran by Martina, ignoring her questions.

She didn’t care what this meant for her contract, and she didn’t care if not sleeping with Arturo tonight meant going home with nothing. She didn’t want to look at him right now.

And to think, barely five hours ago, she’d been feeling sorry and guilty for the things he’d caught her saying.

“Isla!” Arturo yelled, as he chased her down.

She ignored him as she ran up the stairs and down the hall to her room. She slammed the door and locked herself inside, resting her back against the door and panting for breath.

Her heart slammed in her chest, her adrenaline high, her anger and embarrassment so strong as to make her want to cry.

The bastard. The absolute, fucking bastard!

He probably had a key to every single door, but Isla didn’t care. She wasn’t going to let him in here.

Which was why it shocked her when he didn’t bang on the door or test the handle.

She could sense him on the other side of the door. That made no damned sense because it wasn’t like she could hear him or anything. The carpet out there was too thick for her to hear soft footfalls, and though he’d been running in the beginning, he’d started walking at some point.

Now he was just standing on the other side of the door, not saying anything to her, not demanding she get out there and talk to him, not asking questions, nothing.

She knew the moment he walked away, and only then did it feel like she could breathe.*****

She was such an idiot. Of course it wouldn’t just be about putting her in her place. He had to let her family and friends all know that she was whoring herself out to the man who had taken the family’s company.

There were some messages from her mother on her phone that she couldn’t stand to even look at. She didn’t read them, but she didn’t delete them either. One message from her dad. None from her brother, since he wasn’t the type to care who she was dating and why. Her grandfather wasn’t the sort to send texts, but he had tried to call her. Twice.

She’d ignored those calls, too. She didn’t want to talk to anyone other than Jane. Isla only wanted to hear the words of someone who would be on her side and not accuse her of anything.

Jane had said everything that was right. She’d called Arturo a monumental dickhead, and said he was a prick, an idiot, a loser, and a vindictive asshole.

Isla had to agree with all of that, but for the loser and idiot part. A guy who was a billionaire, regardless of how he’d gotten his money, was by definition, not a loser. The fact that he was keeping the company running after his father was sent away also meant he wasn’t an idiot.

But by the third day when she was alone in her room, she was starting to rethink that idea.

Arturo hadn’t come back, hadn’t tried to talk to her. Not in person, at least. Martina dropped by from time to time, knocking on Isla’s door with her meals, asking if she wanted to walk around the house or even go shopping.

Apparently, Sam was given orders from Arturo to take Isla to whatever stores she wanted to go to. Martina even informed her that Isla could buy basically whatever she wanted.

That might impress some other girls, but as much as she liked going shopping, she wasn’t about to let Arturo buy her forgiveness. In fact, when she stopped to think about it, she was kind of insulted.

He thought she was the sort of woman who could be bought? Seriously? What an asshole. That hockey game was one thing, and as furious as she was, she couldn’t bring herself to toss away her signed jersey when Martina brought it to her, but she wasn’t that materialistic.

A little materialistic, but not a lot. Arturo wasn’t getting out of this by buying her clothes and shoes and makeup.

And jewelry, or expensive meals….

Fuck. She needed to stop this. He’d already given her pretty much all of those things, and she’d accepted them. Why wouldn’t he think he could buy her?

She needed to get out of this room. She’d been moping too long, texting Jane and ignoring her mother and father. The fact that Arturo still wasn’t on the other side of that door trying to explain himself was pissing her off.

She made up her mind and sent off a text to Jane telling her of her plans to confront the man.

Although she couldn’t be entirely sure, Isla got the impression that Jane was relieved over the entire thing. Isla had probably been annoying her when she was just trying to work.

Well, whatever. She marched out of her room, shoulders back and fists clenched. She had a purpose now, and she was going to get what she came for, which was an explanation, and then she was going to yell her head off at Arturo for setting her up to humiliate herself in front of her parents.

When she stormed out of her room just to find the long, wide hallway empty of anyone to see her righteous rage, well, it was more than a little anticlimactic.

Isla cleared her throat. She really hoped there wasn’t a camera looking at her right then, making a film to prove how much she was embarrassing herself.

Over it. She was already over it, and she chose the direction that she was fairly sure led closer to the kitchen and the dining room, and she marched with a purpose.

Then she had to stop and politely ask one of the cleaning ladies where she could find Martina when she didn’t see the woman in either of those spots.

“She was in the foyer earlier, but she might not still be there.”

“Okay, great, thanks.”

By the time Isla found Martina, it was safe to say that pretty much all of her righteous rage had hissed out of her like the helium in a balloon. In fact, she didn’t know what to say when she approached the older woman.

Martina was speaking with some of the younger cleaning girls in Spanish, probably giving them instructions for their new jobs, or just giving updates.

Isla really wished she’d paid more attention in Spanish class instead of just doodling designs for necklaces and rings she’d wanted to make.

Luckily, Isla didn’t have to say anything. The girls looked at her, and that got Martina’s attention. She turned, and her dark eyes widened a little at the sight of Isla just standing there.

Isla felt incredibly sheepish and like a child who had been sent to her room for several days just to finally be let out. She’d been so angry before, and she still was, but what in the hell had her plan been exactly? She couldn’t yell at Martina or Sam or Robert for any of this. They just worked here. It wasn’t their fault that things had gone on this way.

“Miss King,” Martina said, and it was clear that she was having trouble hiding the shock in her voice. “I did not expect to see you.”

“No, probably not.” That sheepish feeling wasn’t leaving her any time soon, that was for sure. “Do you know where Arturo is? I want to talk to him.”

Martina briefly glanced to the women she’d been speaking with, and as though there had been some unspoken message there, they quickly scurried off to do their jobs.

“Mr. Calendri has spent the last three nights at Calendri Corporation.”

That… was kind of shocking. “Really?”

Martina nodded. “I can arrange for Sam to drive you there, or I can deliver a message.”

The message option seemed like the best one for her, but then that wouldn’t make her any better than Arturo, and she didn’t want to do that right now.

“No, I think it’s better if I talk to him in person, I guess.”

“You don’t seem so sure.”

Isla shook her head. “It’s nothing. I just… he didn’t stay at work because of me, did he?”

It seemed kind of strange that the man who owned this massive house would vacate it while Isla had her tantrum and pouted in her room. That didn’t seem right, but she couldn’t think of why else he would stay away.

Martina shook her head. “Mr. Calendri is a very busy man. He frequently spends nights at his office, and not always for the reasons you might be thinking of.”

Isla’s face heated up. Shit. That hadn’t even occurred to her.

“He works very hard and keeps long hours. To be honest, having you here has been good for him. At least then he can take some time for himself and for you. He needs to have more fun.”

“Oh, uh, of course,” Isla said.

Right. Arturo owned and ran a billion-dollar company. That would require several all-nighters to keep it in tip-top shape. Even Isla knew her parents and her grandfather worked like dogs just to keep the doors open. It made their family time all the more precious.

Arturo had very little free time because of his job, and he’d been spending that time with her. It was no wonder he couldn’t stay outside her door and explain himself. He had other responsibilities. If he had ignored his company and the many people who relied on him to keep their jobs, just because Isla was angry with him, then that would’ve been horrible.

And what sort of person would she have been if she had wanted him to do that? She’d been angry before, but now that she was thinking clearly, she knew this made sense.

Okay, no getting soft just because she might have found something out that made Arturo not so much of an asshole. He’d still kissed her on live television so her parents would see it. He still had to answer for that much.

“Come, I’ll call for Sam, and I’ll wait with you outside while he pulls up.”

Isla was glad for the company. A real person was better than a text. Martina seemed so nonjudgmental whenever Isla said or did something stupid.

“You really care about Arturo, don’t you?” Isla asked as she waited with her purse and Martina at the front.

Martina smiled a little. “Yes, I care for all the boys. Though it is harder to love and care for Sebastian. I didn’t know him as he grew up, you see.”

“And I guess his personality makes him hard to love.”

“He’s had a difficult life, but yes,” Martina admitted. She seemed to do so grudgingly, as though she didn’t like acknowledging that Sebastian was a hard person to like. Did she want to care for him, too?

Isla had grown up with a housekeeper and some babysitters when she was smaller, and while none of them could ever replace her real mother, she knew of plenty of other rich kids who did love their maids and nannies as though they were their mothers and knew that those women felt the same for the children they raised.

Isla wouldn’t bring it up. It wasn’t her place to know, but she was more than willing to bet Martina loved the Calendri boys like they were her own. The fact that their real mother had been murdered, and their father thrown into prison for the crime, had probably multiplied those feelings.

It was why Martina had asked Isla not to hurt Arturo. She loved him like a son, and if Isla’s presence helped Arturo in any way, then apparently Martina was on board with that, regardless of why Isla was really here.

And without wanting it to happen, Isla found herself softening toward Arturo all over again.

Christ. He didn’t even have to be around for her to get all gooey and forgiving. That was insanely unfair, and for it, she became all the more determined to get an apology and an explanation, even if she wasn’t sure it mattered anymore.

Sam pulled up in the limo, and because Isla just wasn’t used to it, she rushed to the door and opened it herself before Sam could get out.

From the corner of her eye, she noted the way Martina smiled at that.

Sam just got back into the driver’s seat. “I’ll get in trouble if you make a habit of that,” he said, though he was also grinning.

“I’ll only do it when your boss isn’t around. Can you take me to Arturo?”

Sam nodded and started driving, and Isla took the time to send Arturo a quick text that she was coming.