Maid for the Billionaire (20 page)

Abby’s chest tightened at the pain in his
voice. “It wasn’t wasted, Dominic. Look at what you created. It’s
beautiful.”

He turned her gently in his arms and met her
eyes with such sincerity that it nearly broke her heart. “No,
you’re beautiful. You don’t have to sugar coat it for me, Abby,
this place is gaudy and overdone. Before I met you, I had an
emptiness I couldn’t explain. I used to think that if I made more
money, purchased something better, or built something bigger it
would fill that void, but it never did. All of the things I bought,
all of the decisions I made, were for my benefit and none of it
made me happy. Our Chinese scholarship program is the first thing
I’ve done in a very long time that I’m proud of. I can’t even take
credit for it, since you forced me to do it, but it still feels
good.”

“Oh, Dom, you don’t give yourself credit for
the good you’ve done. What about Mrs. Duhamel? She told me about
how you helped her when she had no one else to turn to. Does that
sound like a self-absorbed man?” She laid a comforting hand on his
cheek and felt his smile even before she saw it.

“One kind gesture does not make a saint,” he
said ruefully.

“I don’t want a saint, Dom. I want you.” When
he cocked his head to the side in a blatant request for her to
continue, she said, “I fell in love with the complex man who
returned to Boston because his sister needed him and didn’t want to
meet her alone so he was willing to blackmail me into going with
him.”

Abby adored the flush she saw in his cheeks.
“I’m not sure at that point I was thinking about too much more than
how to get you naked.”

The light pinch Abby gave his stomach was a
playful reprimand. “Say what you want, but the way you clung to my
hand told me everything I needed to know.”

“I did not - ” he started to say then wisely
stopped himself. “Regardless, I want you to know that I’m no longer
the man who built this monstrosity of a home. I want to do
something more important with our money in the future. What do you
think of a scholarship for inner city children in the United
States? I think Corisi Enterprises could spare another five
percent.”

Abby bounced for joy within his embrace. “Oh,
Dominic, that’s perfect!” She rained kisses on his jaw. “You are
one amazing man.”

“I know,” he said with a self satisfied smile
that held a hint of something else. From the way he was beginning
to shift against her, she knew that his mind was already wandering
away from the evaluation of his character and back to the master
bedroom he’d shown her just a few moments earlier.

She ran a finger lightly over his lower lip.
“Have I told you how much fun being here is? Even if I’m
technically no longer being held against my will.”

He pulled her tighter against him, lifting
her slightly off her feet. “I’ll do my best to make it live up to
your fantasy.” He swung her up and over his shoulder and announced
in a poor pirate impression, “Yer mine, wench, to take back to my
room and ravish as I wish. Arrh.”

Abby laughed against his back. “Thank God you
went into computers and not theatre.”

Dominic spanked her playfully on top his
shoulder. “Don’t mock yer captor, woman. There’ll be a price to pay
for yer insubordination.”

Just before Dominic stepped through the large
double doors and into the house’s interior, the mood was broken by
the sound of two helicopters landing on the grass of the lawn on
the opposite side of the house. Still hung upside down over
Dominic’s shoulder, Abby watched in horror as, simultaneously, a
military plane squealed to a halt on the airfield in the
distance.

Dominic slid Abby down to her feet beside
him. The two stood side by side in shocked silence for what seemed
like an eternity before Dominic asked, his voice laced with humor,
“Did you call Zhang back to tell her that we’d made up?”

Abby covered her mouth with one hand,
“Crap.”

Dominic waved over one of his security guards
to apprise him of the situation calmly. Dominic accepted the
complication with surprising grace; simply handing Abby his cell
phone and saying, “Well, you’d better call her now, because the men
jumping off that plane have machine guns. I don’t think they are
going to listen to me.”

Zhang’s laughter boomed through airwaves in
response to Abby’s hasty explanation and apology. Instantly there
was a reorganization of the men on the airfield, followed by a
reboarding of the plane which efficiently headed back down the
runway for takeoff. Abby let out a relieved breath and agreed to
Zhang’s only request.

After closing the phone, Abby handed it back
to Dominic.

“What did she say?” he asked.

“She wants to be invited to the wedding,”
Abby said with a smile, but couldn’t shake off the uneasiness she’d
felt at what else Zhang had said. “But, Dominic, she said that she
didn’t send any helicopters. So, who is on the front lawn?”

Formerly invisible security filled the home
and headed toward the unidentified intruders. Dominic and Abby
rushed after them. The press wouldn’t be foolish enough to follow
them here, would they? She doubted Dominic would deal lightly with
any trespassing on his island. Security systems were lighting up
throughout the house giving the glass fortress the kind of
protection many of its medieval predecessors would have envied.

"The Cavalry has arrived," Abby said with
irony when the first of the intruders stepped out of the
helicopters. The ever efficient looking Mrs. Duhamel was quickly
followed by Jake who had his arm protectively over the back of Lil
and her baby.

Mimicking Dominic’s earlier tone, Abby
teased, “Did you forget to tell Jake?”

Dominic’s lips pursed in humor at her well
aimed jab.

The door of the second helicopter opened and
Thomas Brogos, the family’s lawyer stepped out with an older woman
Abby didn’t recognize. Dominic’s hand went stone cold within
Abby’s.

"What is it, Dominic?" Abby asked, seeing his
attention rivet to the older woman. "Who is she?"

"My mother," he said hoarsely.

Abby continued standing on her shaky knees
only out of determination to stay calm for Dominic. His mother?
Here? How was it possible?

Lil handed Colby to Jake and broke from the
group in a run. She wrapped her arms around her sister, asking
fervently, "Are you ok, Abby?"

Abby hugged her back just as tightly. "I'm
fine, Lil."

Lil held her at arms’ length and searched her
face for any signs of abuse. "The news said that Dominic
practically forced you to come here. I called Jake right away and
he arranged for Marie and I to take a jet to Alghero. Jake said you
were fine, but I had to see for myself. Is this payback for all the
years of grief I gave you?"

Abby smiled and reassured the sister who now
seemed hellbent on hugging the life out of her. "It was just a
misunderstanding."

Mrs. Duhamel stepped forward. "Dominic, you
release Abby at once." She pointed to the security that was
scattered across the perimeter of lawn. "You've probably got the
girl scared half to death with this chauvinistic power play. In my
day, a man showed more respect..."

Her lecture tapered off when Abby
disentangled from her sister long enough to give the older woman a
quick hug. "He’s asked me to marry him, Marie, and I said yes!”

Mrs. Duhamel coughed in surprise and hugged
her back. "Well, that’s fine, then.”

In her excitement, Abby hadn't realized that
Dominic was no longer beside her. She turned to check his reaction
to her announcement and saw him standing off to the side, about ten
feet away from the woman who shared many of his facial
features.

"Mother," he said the word like an
accusation.

The woman stepped toward him despite the
closed expression on his face. "Dominic!" she exclaimed
tearfully.

"I thought you were dead," his expression
held little emotion. It was as cold and lifeless as his hand had
become the moment he'd seen her.

"It was necessary for you to think that,
Dominic." She wrung her hands, her eyes pleading for his
understanding.

"Really?" he said as if it were something
from long ago that held little interest for him now.

His mother rushed to explain. "If your father
had known that I was still alive, nothing would have stopped him
from coming after me. He would have made me pay for leaving him. I
would have never been safe."

"You could have told me." His voice became
ragged. "I looked for you for years. I paid countless agencies to
scour the world for you. Money was no object. They all said you
were dead."

She wiped a tear from her cheek and looked at
the man beside her. "I returned to my home country, Dominic. To my
old village. There is a loyalty there that no amount of money can
shake."

"You dare speak of loyalty?" Dominic’s voice
boomed. "You left us."

His mother bent over as if his words caused
her actual pain. "I was weak, Dominic. Your father had crushed all
of my confidence out of me. He would never have let me leave. And I
couldn't take you with me. You were 17. Almost a man. Staying with
him offered you a legacy of wealth I never could. Once in Italy, I
faked my death and created a new identity for myself, but I had no
idea if it would actually work. I chose a life on the run for many
years -- living where I could on what money people were kind enough
to give me. What kind of life would that have been for you?"

Dominic face whitened with anger. "I didn't
want his legacy. I walked away from him after you left. You could
have come to me then. You could have given a note to one of the
investigators I sent looking for you. Why didn't you come to me? I
could have protected you."

His mother paled also. Her thin shoulders
shook with emotion. "At first you were too young, Dominic. Your
father would have crushed you as he crushed me. He was a vengeful
man. Then, later, when your company took off..."

"Yes?" he ground out. "Why didn't you come
then?"

"You were on the news, taking over company
after company..." her voice trailed away.

Dominic simply stood in silent accusation of
her.

She continued in a tormented whisper, "…so
much like your father. I was afraid to come to you. I didn't know
if you could forgive me and I still feared what your father would
do if he found out I was alive."

Dominic railed against this. His hands
tightened into fists at his sides. "So now that he is dead you
think you can simply jump up and announce that it was all a trick,
a ruse? Why did you come here today?”

Abby moved to stand beside Dominic. She took
one of his fisted hands in both of hers, simply holding onto him.
Let me in,
she thought fervently.
Don’t block me
out.

Dominic had said that he was ready to share
his life with someone, to be a real partner. Abby felt the sting of
uncertainty in the face of that declaration being tested so soon.
What would she do if he announced that this was none of her
business? Extreme circumstances didn’t often bring out the best in
people and what could be more extreme than a mother Dominic had
mourned the death of simply stepping off a helicopter?

What am I doing? He doesn’t need to prove
anything to me. He loves me.

If he needed to handle this confrontation
alone, she would support that decision. She loosened her hold on
his hand in preparation of doing just that.

Instantly, Dominic’s fingers uncurled and
wove with hers. He pulled her ever so slightly closer to him. She
gave him a reassuring squeeze that was returned without hesitation.
For just a second, he looked away from his mother to gaze
gratefully down at her.

Abby fell in love with him all over again.
This was the gentle man he didn’t like to admit he was and the
reason she believed he really would have left his company and
started over for her.

Dominic’s mother’s tearful voice drew their
attention again. "I know what I did was wrong, Dominic. I was weak.
I was scared. I wish I could go back and undo the whole thing. But
when I heard about you and Abby, I knew I had to tell you why I
left before you ended up repeating your father’s mistakes.”

"I don’t need your help. I’m not my father,"
Dominic growled, his anger increasing at the mention of Abby.

Jake stepped closer and interceded. "Dom,
listen to what she’s saying. She came here for you. She’s knows
that what she did was wrong, but she’s asking you to forgive her.
Can you honestly look at her and say that you've never done
anything that you were ashamed of? Are you living a life without
regrets, Dom?"

Dominic's hand clenched Abby's painfully. He
glared at Jake. "God, I hate that you know me so well." He looked
across at his mother, seeing her as a person for the first time and
grudgingly admitted, "The truth is that I’m no better than you,
Mother. I left Nicole. For the same reasons that you left me --
except perhaps more out of anger than fear, but I honestly thought
that she'd fare better in the gilded cage than fighting him from
the gutter as I intended to."

Thomas put a supportive arm around Dominic’s
mother’s waist. He clearly thought that Dominic could be handling
the situation better, but was willing to let the scene play out as
long as no intentional hurt was done to the woman beside him.

"Can you ever forgive me, Dominic?" Dominic’s
mother asked softly.

Silence hung heavy in the warm Mediterranean
air.

Abby wedged herself under Dominic's arm and
lightly touched his tense jaw with her hand. "I would give
anything, Dominic, for one more day with my mother. You're being
given a second chance to have a family. Please take it."

Dominic looked down with all of his love for
her evident in his expression. "I already found my family." He
hugged her into his chest.