Billionaire's Revenge (24 page)

Sara
stared up at him in stunned surprise “Y
...
you
did?”
 
Darius pu
l
l
ed
her in closer as he
dropped a small kiss on her head
. 
“His father informed me that Nigel was being sent away for a month...and that he personally guaranteed that he would not be opening his mouth either now or in the near future”
 
The look on Sara’s face
made Darius smile, her eyes wide and full of wonder
. 
“I...I don’t know what to say...how to thank you”
,
she
spluttered, sincerity in every syllable.

Giving a large
heart
-
flipping smile
,
he
looked at the pad she held in her hand.
 
“Well ...you could tell me that the news i
s not
as
bad as we first feared
”
Sara’s
sigh
saw
him laugh adding
,
“
O
r
not
”
,
as she
curled her legs up and opened the
pad
.

“I am afraid that my news is not as good as yours”
,
she
re
p
lied with
a more sombre expression on her features
. 
“I found five customers who do not seem to exist”
,
her mouth curled in anger
,
“
A
lso ten fake suppliers...all used to buy stock for the customers”

Darius
lis
tened intently, his fingers gently
st
r
oking her arm as she
talked
. 
“
I looked
at the money trans
ferred to the suppliers for stock that we ‘bought’”
,
Sara giving a small groan
,
“It is worse than even
I thought”
,
her eyes looking apologetically at him.
 
“He siphoned money into that account for items that were never used on so many jobs, as well as ones made up with the fake customers”

He dropped a small kiss on her head
. 
“How much?”
 
Groaning softly
,
she lifted the pad to show the amount.  Darius
gave
a small whistle.
 
“He really did a number on your family’s company”
Sara g
ave
a small nod
,
“Yeah”
,
her only response, a rueful smile on her lips
,
“Not such a bargain now”
  S
he looked up at him
,
“I imagine that you are regretting getting involved with us again”
,
her voice sad.

Darius sighed, a long slow exhale of air, his expression solemn,
his
voice soft
. 
“I have no regrets...and I am sure that the detective I hired will find him
”
Sara
frowned.  “You hired a detective
? We
already have one working for us”
 
A slow smile spread over his face.  “This one has never failed.  The best bounty
hunter in the business...give
him a lead and he can find anybody.  He is looking for leads even as we speak”

Sara gave
a large grin, her eyes dancing
. 
“A lead like
......
this
?
”
,
pulling a slip of paper from the pad she
waved it before him, his fingers taking it and reading the contents, a frown of confusion on his face
. 
“What is this?”
 
Sara
chuckled “Well...I went through the delivery sheets and found that in all cases the person signing had
been a  Miss Seymour – not really helpful -except for one which was sighed Anne Seymour”

Darius
gave a small grunt
, “
Sounds like a fairly common name...but somewhere to start
I
suppose
”
Giving
a smug laugh she chuckled again
,
“Oh...like I would stop there.  I found a hundred and thirty two Anne
Seymour’s
in our area, and by age elimination brought that down to thirty six”
 
Darius
regarded her with a quizzical look
,
“Why age?”
Sara
sigh
ed,
“I never wanted to tell Angela this...but I never thought that Nick was working alone.  The man is a snake...
and a womaniser
.  Seemed to me to make sense that
he probably found some stupid woman to work with him”

He
gave
a small nod
.
“Sounds reasonable...do you have the list...my detective can work through them
”
She
smiled wider
.
“Like I said...why stop there
? 
I ran some online searches of the different Anne
Seymour’s
– took me hours – but I got lucky.  I found a picture of one woman with Nick...Anne Seymour, 28, attractive and just his type.  If you look on the other side of that piece of paper you will find her address and phone number”

Darius stared at her, his eyes full of respect, flipping over the sheet.
 
“O
K
Miss Marples...You are amazing”
,
he finally murmured, his tone full of admiration as he pulled out his mobile phone
,
placing a call to his detective
,
giving him the information she
managed to glean.
 
“Well
Sara
.
I think that perhaps we both managed to find some good news.  If I know Kane this is all he will need to find your brother-in-law
”
Sara’s
expression bec
ame
more serious as she bit her lip
,
“I hope that you are right.  The sooner we find him the sooner that money can be returned...
and
...”

“And you can get away from me?
”
Darius finished, Sara giving a return frown
. 
“No...
No that is not what I meant”
,
her shoulders shrugging, as a more guarded look
fell
on her
.
“It is complicated”
 
“Did it ever cross your mind Sara that I might be able to help?”
 
Sara gave a small nervous half-laugh, her eyes
avoiding his as the laughter left her features, her look more guarded.
 
“I...if I find anything else I will let you know
”
Darius
sigh
ed
as she ignored his comment.

Living with Darius was starting to feel normal to Sara she realised
,
as the two
woke
up the following morning. 
At
that time h
e would shower and g
e
t dressed for work
;
she
f
ound
herself enjoying this private time they shared, as the two would laugh and joke, telling each other their plans for that day. 
 
As he moved forward to give her a farewell kiss, she smiled up at him suddenly reminded of her appointment later that day.
 
“Darius...I might be late tonight”
  H
is brow r
ose
with interest
. 
“Oh? Anything I should know about?”

H
er lovely face g
ave
a soft smile
,
“No...Just that I have an appointment with a realtor...with you leaving in three days I need to find somewhere to stay”
 
She tried to keep her voice light, her nails digging deeply into the softness of her palms
.
“Best start my search before I am forced to move in with ... The mother”
,
the words uttered in dramatic horror, Darius giving an appreciative chuckle.

“Oh...yes I forgot to tell you
”
His
tone was
casual, nonplussed
,
as he moved to stand at the window
, “
There is no rush for you to do that...my business here is going to take longer than I thought so I have extended my stay
”
Sara
felt her legs start to shake, her eyes moving to stare at him with shock and disbelief
. 
“W...what do you mean?  How long?
”
the fun leaving her tone, her voice almost a whisper as he looked over at her in surprise
. 
“Not sure...about a month...maybe more. 
So there is no hurry for you to find somewhere else to live”
 
“NO!”
 
Her loud cry saw
him scowl
as he turned around his eyebrows knitted together in annoyance
. 
“What do you mean
‘
no
’
?”

She stood
,
eyes wide open in horror, her hands nervously pulling at each other, Darius seeing as she tried so hard to pull herself together, to calm herself
. 
“In three days that will be our two weeks...
I need to find a job and a home...
I need to sort out my life...
so thank you but I can’t stay”

Sara
saw
as he stood taller, his eyes narrowing
, “
Our agreement
Sara
was that you stayed with me until I returned to Italy
”
Shaking
her head
,
she groaned
. 
“No...I asked you for a timeline...you told me two weeks”
 
Waving his hand dismissively he gave a small snort of irritation
, 
“What I said was that I thought I was returning to Italy in two weeks, that you would stay with me until I returned...
well things have changed so deal with it”

Anger filled Sara as she moved closer to him, glaring at the man she both loved and hated in equal measures.
 
“No”
,
her body rigid
,
“Two weeks.
  Our agreement was for two weeks
-
no more.  I stuck to our agreement Darius and you have to stick to it too
”
He
stared back at her in surprise
,
a small superior smile touching the corners of his mouth
. 
“Well I guess that as I am the one holding all of the cards Sara, you will just have to adjust YOUR timeline because if you want to walk feel free...just know that your sister will be in prison the next day...and I am sure neither of us wants to put little David through that”

Sara stumbled backwards, her horrified expression clear in her lovely eyes as she stared back at him
. 
“Y...y...you wouldn’t do that”
,
she mumbled, her voice full of shock.  Darius gave
another smile, one
devoid of any
humour
, “
Push me and find
out Sara”
,
his low answer as she
turned from him, her whole body trembling,
her
hands moving to her mouth in stunned disbelief.

With a sigh he strode forward, his fingers wrapping around her shoulders as she
stood shaking
. 
“Has it been so bad Sara
? We
get on well...in and out of bed.  I really didn’t think you would mind spending more time with me...so you put off looking for a job and another place to live for a month or so...does it really matter?”
 
To his surprise
,
she
tor
e
herself from his hold
, turning to face him, tears magnifying her eyes
.