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Authors: Cassandra Carr

Tags: #Erotica

Momentum (14 page)

BOOK: Momentum
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Nico pointed a finger in Marco’s direction. “Your brother’s time for being a child is over. He must come home.”

“A child?” Marco exclaimed. “I am twenty-seven years old.”

“Yes, far too old to be playing at,” he gestured toward the arena a short distance away, “this.”

“Ah, so
padre
sent you and Adriana over here to bring me back home as if I were a naughty, misbehaving child?”

His uncle spread his hands. “Your
padre
is a busy man, Marco.”

“Yes, I know. He keeps reminding me of that.” He jerked his head toward Adriana. “And why is she here, really?”

“Your father thought you would want to see the woman you have promised to marry.”

Marco heard a gasp and knew it must have come from Natalie. He willed himself not to lose his temper. When he opened them Natalie was stalking away. “Natalie!” Without another thought, he went after her.

She didn’t even slow when she heard her name, and he used the advantage of his longer legs to catch up to her.

“Go back to your fiancée, Marco.”

“She is not my fiancée. I don’t even know her very well. We dated for a few months before I left Italy, but I never intended to marry her. I came here and I haven’t spoken to her since.”

“Obviously you’re needed at home. What are you doing staying on the tour when your family needs you?”

Marco scoffed. “My family does not need me.
Mio
padre
already has someone to take over the business. Giuseppe has been at the company for years. He is a cousin and actually wants to take over. Please,
cara
, listen to me. Nico only came here to make trouble.”

“I don’t believe this. How can you say that? Why would your family send two people all the way here just to rile you up? There must be a reason.” Natalie took a deep breath and Marco waited for her to gather her thoughts, knowing if he rushed her she would run. She glanced up at him and it broke his heart to see the hurt and pain. He wanted nothing more than to chase those emotions away and make everything better.

“Look, Marco…I lost my legacy when my dad died. True, it wasn’t my dream to own and run that ranch forever, but it was my destiny. My father built that life, and after everything he gave me, I stayed to help him because I owed it to him. It was just him and me after my mom left, and my dad struggled and sacrificed to make that ranch work. Could I have left town and pursued my own dream? Of course. But my father seemed so lonely without me, so I stayed and figured out how to make myself happy.”

“Ah,
tesora
.” He began to reach out and cup her face, but when she flinched he dropped his hand back to his side.

“So go, Marco. Figure out what the hell is going on with your family. Put them first.”

“I promise I will go talk to my uncle, but I need to be sure you’re going to be all right.”

Natalie laughed without humor. “I’m always all right, Marco. Once my father died, I grew up real fast. I’ll survive. Go.”

Marco turned away, but then pivoted on his heel. “This isn’t over—you and me. Don’t think you can just make me leave and I’ll forget about you. I won’t.”

“Go,” she whispered.

Chapter Eight

 

With a sigh, Marco headed back to find his uncle and Adriana. His eyes welled up and he swiped at them. He hadn’t cried in many years and if Nico saw it he would use Marco’s pain to his advantage. Marco wished he could make Natalie see how manipulative his family could be. Obviously she saw the parallels between their situations, but what Marco saw was a much uglier side.

He returned to the area outside the riders’ room and launched back into the argument as if he hadn’t left. “Married? I don’t even know Adriana.”

“Ah, but your
madre
and
padre
do, and they approve. Adriana has been brought up for just this purpose, to make a good wife for you as you take over the business.”

Adriana closed in again, running her hand up his sleeve and over to his chest. “Marco, I want to make you happy.”

Marco would’ve chuckled if his heart wasn’t breaking. He needed to get Nico and Adriana the hell out of there and on a plane back to Italy. Looking down at Adriana as he removed her hand, he said, “We were not happy together. Besides, the last I heard, you were with his son.” He pointed to Nico and then folded his arms over his chest, knowing that blow would hurt but past the point of pulling punches.

Adriana’s eyes widened.

“Is this true?” Nico boomed. “My son is too young for you. He is still in
università
.”

Adriana’s lips thinned and Marco gave her a tight-lipped smile. “I believe he is nearly ten years younger. Yes, I still hear the gossip,
donna
,” Marco said, taking more pleasure than he probably should as Adriana obviously struggled to keep her wits about her. He noticed Jessica and Conner were still there, standing off to the side almost as if they were supporting him or staying to defend him, and he was struck by how the heavy weight that was his heart became a little lighter with the belief there were some people in his corner besides his brother. He pivoted and addressed them. “Can you make sure Natalie is all right? She has nowhere to stay if she won’t come back to the hotel with me, and, of course, she has no car right now.”

Conner nodded. “You got it, man. We’ll take care of her.”

Marco ran a hand over his face, suddenly exhausted. “Thank you.” He focused his attention on Paolo. “You don’t believe any of this, do you?”

One side of Paolo’s mouth kicked up. “Not a word,
amico
.”

“You ready to go?”

Without another glance at their uncle or Adriana, they picked up their gear bags.

His uncle clapped his hands together once. “Good. We will go to your hotel so you can pick up your things and then we will make return trip arrangements.”

“You’re welcome to come, as long as the arrangements are for you and Adriana only,” Marco responded, infusing his voice with deadly calm. He was done being played by his father. If he wanted to cut off funds to Marco, that was fine. Marco was making enough on his own to support both him and Paolo until his brother’s career took off. With that decision made, he began to walk away.

“Wait,” Adriana pleaded.

Marco spun to face her. “Go back to Bruno,” he retorted with a growl. “I am
never
marrying you, and,” he glanced up at his uncle, “I am
never
going to run the family business.”

Nico hurried to catch up with him as Adriana trotted along behind them like the show pony her parents had raised her to be. “You would turn your back on your family?”

“They turned their back on me a long time ago when they tried to tell me how to live my life. It’s my life,
Zio
. Not yours, not Adriana’s, and certainly not
mio padre’s
.”

Then came the threat Marco was fully expecting to hear. “If you do not come home with us you will be cut off. Your father will no longer support you in this ridiculous thing you’re doing.” It wasn’t surprising, but still cut another slit in his heart. Marco wondered how much his mother was involved in these decisions. Surely she knew, and yet she hadn’t even warned him his uncle was on his way. That really hurt. He loved his parents, he truly did. They were his parents, how could he hate them? But he found at that moment he really didn’t like them.

Paolo cast a worried glance at him but Marco shook his head and his brother remained silent. Marco had opened a bank account here in the United States and had been steadily depositing his winnings into it while he used his father’s money for their living expenses. He’d hated being so circumspect, but was now glad he had been. After three years here he had nearly one and a half million dollars in the bank. He’d been lucky and had started winning events within a few months of joining the tour.

Despite his recent setbacks, he had a natural knack for bull riding and was grateful both he and his brother would be able to live indefinitely on his earnings. He made a note to ask Paolo what he was doing with his winnings. They were much smaller than Marco’s, but he should have something to show for his more limited time here and smaller successes.

They reached their rental car and Marco turned to Nico. “As I said, you can come back to the hotel if you’d like a comfortable place to make arrangements to go back to
Italia
. But if you think you are going to convince me to come back with you, you are not welcome.”

Nico’s face flushed and Marco opened the car door. “You cannot do this, Marco. You will be left with nothing.”

Marco smirked. “Not quite. I have a bank account here in the States where I have deposited my winnings. I set it up so no one but me could get access to it. There’s enough in there to support both myself and Paolo for a long while, so you can tell
padre
his threat didn’t work. I’d like to say it was nice to see you, but I don’t lie.” He climbed into the car.

Nico’s face was bright red with anger and shock. No doubt they hadn’t counted on Marco protecting himself in that manner. But they really shouldn’t have been surprised. He learned at the knee of the best at protecting himself—his father. Adriana looked resigned and yet relieved, and Marco figured she’d never wanted to come here in the first place. Much like him, she had surely been pressured by her family. Maybe he should feel sorry for her, but since he suspected she had been cheating on him during their time together and knew she had hidden her current relationship he found it impossible to.

Paolo had piled into the passenger’s seat and Marco started the car. Luckily he could pull forward out of the parking space and put the car in gear. He wouldn’t have relished trying to back out of the spot with his uncle lurking at the rear of the car. Nico slammed his hand down on the back of the car, shouting in Italian, but Marco ignored him. Despite appearances, turning his back on his family wasn’t easy. But it was the only thing to do if he ever wanted a chance at true happiness.

As he left Nico swearing in the arena’s parking lot and headed for the hotel, his thoughts drifted back to Natalie. He was worried about her. Conner and Jessica would no doubt take good care of her, but he felt responsible for how it must’ve hurt her to see Adriana. Adriana meant nothing to him. How could he convince Natalie of that?

A thought occurred to him that left him feeling lightheaded and the car swerved briefly onto the shoulder as his overworked brain tried to assimilate it. He was in love with Natalie. It was crazy. They’d only known each other a short time, but he wanted her. He wanted her to want him, maybe even forever.

Paolo grabbed the handle on the roof of the car. “Marco?”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Paolo glance over, his eyebrows knitted in worry.

“Yes, I am sure. Don’t worry. I was telling the truth when I said I had a bank account here that the family cannot touch. Paolo, we will be fine. As of the last time I was able to get into the account from my laptop, which was about a week ago, there was a little more than one and a half million dollars and that amount is growing every day as it gains more interest.”

“Over a million dollars?” Paolo’s voice cracked and Marco would’ve smiled if he hadn’t just left his uncle spitting mad and essentially cut both him and Paolo off from his family.

“Yes. Where are your winnings, by the way?”

“I’ve been sending them back to
la nostra madre
. I think I may never see that money again, yes?”

“Probably not.” Marco both loved and hated his brother’s more trusting nature. He very much hated that it wouldn’t surprise him to see his family withhold Paolo’s own money from him out of spite or to pressure Marco into doing their bidding.

He rubbed the bridge of his nose to assuage the headache that had begun to pound behind his eyes as he’d pled with Natalie earlier and was only getting worse now. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew his cell phone and handed it to Paolo. “Call Conner. I can’t stand not knowing if they found Natalie. If they didn’t I am going to go out and look for her myself, even if it means I miss the next competition.”

“I will come with you.”

Marco looked at his brother. “You don’t have to. I know you’re trying to earn points.”

Paolo’s expression made it clear he thought his brother had lost his mind. “You are my family, quite possibly my only family now. I will not desert you. If you go after Natalie, so will I.”

Marco reached out and briefly squeezed his brother’s shoulder. He hadn’t meant to make Paolo collateral damage in this ridiculous feud between himself and his father, but he supposed his brother had made his own decision about his future when he’d followed Marco to America.

Paolo scrolled through Marco’s contacts and hit the button for Conner. Then he put the phone on speaker and set it in the cup holder between them.

“Hello?”

“Conner? It’s Marco.”

“We haven’t found her yet.”

Marco swore in Italian, but quickly gathered himself together. “She has little money, she couldn’t have gone far.”

“We were going to try the bus station. We already looked around the arena itself and the area right near it.”

“Okay. Paolo and I will go out searching as well. We can find out where the cheaper motels are and stop at each one.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Conner answered. “Hang on, I’m getting a call.” Marco waited for a moment, his heart thumping in his chest, until Conner came back on the line. “Marco?”

“Yes, I am here.”

“That was Brady. He and Leah are going to drive around the area near the arena again in case she’s on foot and Jess and I missed her somehow. And Leah is going to take Brady’s phone and call some of the other guys. I’m sure they’ll help too. We’ll find her, man.”

* * * * *

 

Natalie’s feet were killing her by the time she arrived at the hotel. It was only about a half mile away, but she’d been so upset she’d been booking along and quickly found cowboy boots were not a good idea when trying to walk long distances. Stealing into the lobby, she glanced around. No sign of anybody she knew. Blowing out a loud breath, she streaked across it while still trying to be inconspicuous before taking the elevator to the room she’d been sharing with Marco. Hopefully she could get her meager possessions into her suitcase and be out of the room quickly.

After throwing her luggage on the bed, she went to the bathroom and haphazardly gathered up her toiletries before tossing them into the suitcase on her way to the closet. Grabbing her other jacket off the hanger, she threw it in the general direction of the suitcase while she took stock of everything else.

She remembered she had a bag of dirty clothes she’d intended to take to the Laundromat. Where were they? Spinning, she looked all over the bedroom and then realized the bag was still in Marco’s car. Natalie swore, but hoped she could get the stuff back from Marco. She wasn’t planning to leave town—she didn’t have enough money to get far and now that this thing with Marco was over she needed to concentrate on learning as much as she could about bull riding. For now, though, where the hell would she go?

With luck, one of the other riders would agree to give her a ride to the next few events. After that she had no idea how she was going to get back to her car, or if she did manage that how she would pay for the repairs. She doubted she could count on Marco if they weren’t together. With a quick swipe at the tears starting to fall, she forced herself to focus.

Natalie checked her purse next. Her wallet and a few other essentials were in the main area and the envelope with her remaining cash was stowed in an inner zippered pocket. Straightening, she took a deep breath. She could do this. She’d been prepared to do it on her own from the beginning and just because she’d let Marco take care of things lately didn’t mean she was helpless. Hopeless, maybe, but not helpless.

With another angry swipe over her cheeks, she sniffled. She would not allow herself the luxury of tears. Later, in her crappy motel room, she could feel sorry for herself. Not now. Closing her suitcase, she then hefted it off the bed and moved out of the room as quickly as possible. So far she’d been lucky and Marco hadn’t come back, but she was sure her luck was running out.

Natalie pushed the button for the elevator and hopped from foot to foot while she waited. When her boot rubbed over a sore spot, she swore. She’d forgotten to change into her sneakers. Since she had no clue where she was going from here it made sense to stop now and put on more sensible shoes.

BOOK: Momentum
6.49Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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