ACCIDENTALLY MARRIED TO THE BILLIONAIRE SINGLE DAD (Gabrielle and Damon) novel Chapter 13

GABRIELLE’S POV

“I’m sorry,” the housekeeper said, giving me a snarky look. “He does not want to receive guests. Maybe come back some other time.”

Rhys and I exchanged glances.

I turned back to her. “Please try to convince him. It would only take a minute.”

“I understand,” she answered. “But he refuses to see anyone. And there is nothing I can do about that. I am only an employee.”

I exhaled in defeat.

We had been sitting in Zane’s living room for hours, yet he still refused to see us.

Each time we asked, the answer remained the same.

Rhys was this close to breaking in, but I had already stopped him twice. I did not need a scene, especially not here.

“Did you tell him who we are?” I asked her.

She hesitated, then nodded. “Yes. He said he does not want to see anyone right now.”

I reached for my bag on the table and searched for a notepad and a pen before writing a short note.

I handed it over to her. “Could you give this to him, please?”

The housekeeper didn’t even bother to take it. “No, ma’am. There's really no point. He is not going to even look at it.”

Rhys stood up, moved closer to us and plucked the note from my hand.

I tried to stop him, but it was too late.

He grabbed the woman’s hand and forced the note into it. “Go give him the fucking note. Now!”

Fear flashed across her face. “Yes, sir.”

She scurried out of the room.

I turned to Rhys sharply. “Why would you do that? We’re guests here.”

“She was getting on my nerves,” he said. “I ran out of patience.”

Before I could respond, the woman returned, avoiding Rhys’s gaze.

“I knocked, but he didn’t answer,“ she said, her hands shaking. “I pushed the note under his door.”

I forced a smile to ease the tension in the room. “Thank you.”

She nodded and gestured at the table. “You can help yourself to the snacks. Let me know when you are ready to leave.”

Then she walked away, giving me another brief once-over look before disappearing down the hallway.

That was rude, but I did not confront her.

I was too focused on the reason we were here in the first place.

“I was really looking forward to speaking to him,” I said quietly. “His help would have made things easier."

Rhys finally turned to me. “You would have spoken to him if you let me drag his ass out.”

“That is not necessary,” I said. “He must have a good reason for not wanting to see us.”

Rhys returned to his chair and leaned back, crossing his arms. “Or he is being a dickhead.”

I looked toward the hallway again. “Do you think he’s even in there?”

“Definitely. He’s probably watching us right now on his little computers,” he responded.

I picked up my phone and checked the time again. “We should wait a little longer. Maybe he will change his mind.”

“We’ve been here for almost three hours,” Rhys said. “That is generous for someone I barely know.”

“You know him enough to trust him with Damon’s past work,” I reminded him. “He helped us back then. What if he needs help too?”

“If he wanted help,” he said, “I’m sure he would ask for it like everyone does.”

Not everyone knew how to ask for help, even if they didn’t have a problem helping others.

Damon was like that before he changed.

But he had a point.

And we had already spent too much time waiting for him.

I reluctantly agreed to leave.

A few minutes later, we were in the car driving back home when an idea hit me.

“How about we pay Aiden a visit?” I asked innocently.

Rhys shook his head. “No. I know how that would turn out. He’ll do something stupid, and I’d end up killing him.”

I frowned at that.

That wasn’t my intention as I didn’t want to cause problems between Damon and him.

“I was just hoping you could rough him up a little so he leaves us alone,” I said, glancing out the window. “Not kill him.”

He shook his head slowly.

“I usually can’t tell the difference when I start, sister-in-law,” he responded. “It’s better I just avoid him.”

Even though I didn’t want to, I let it go and looked out the window as the drive settled into an easy silence.

“Do you know what Fiorella likes?” Rhys asked out of nowhere.

I turned to him. “Of course. Why?”

His jaw clenched, and he hesitated but just for a second. “I just wanted to do something nice for her.”

I could tell he was not saying the complete truth by how uncomfortable he looked talking about it.

Something felt off about them.

“Are you two having issues?” I asked before I could stop myself.

His gaze fell on me before returning to the road. “Never mind my question.”

I didn’t push, already deciding to talk to Fiorella instead.

The drive turned silent again.

Rhys let out a short breath when he finally pulled into the front of my office building.

“We’re here,” he said, cutting the engine. “Don’t drive home alone. I’ll swing back later or send security to bring you home.”

I nodded, already reaching for the door handle. “Thank you.”

He gave me a look, like he wanted to say something else, then shook his head and drove off.

I adjusted my bag on my shoulder before heading toward the entrance.

Fuck!

I had suspected Phoebe only told him half of what she knew, but this just confirmed otherwise.

Aiden reached into his pocket.

I took an instinctive step back. “What are you doing?”

He brought out his phone and laughed. “Relax, it’s just a phone. I’ve already sent everything I have on your family to my friends. If they don’t hear from me every five hours, they’ll release it.”

His eyes moved over my body before returning to my face.

“So you better not get any ideas. You'll do whatever I tell you,” he added.

“And what is that?”

“Convince your husband to return what he took from me,” he continued. “Then meet me alone at the location I will give you tomorrow night.”

I raised a brow. “I already told you we had nothing to do with Phoebe’s disappearance—”

“I’m not talking about Phoebe!” he cut me off angrily. “Just make him return what he took from me. And come see me alone. Do you understand?”

I didn’t respond.

“Do you understand?” he asked again, spittle gathering at the side of his lips.

My expression remained neutral. “No.”

“Yes,” he returned. “You understand you and your husband will go down if I release these files.”

I swallowed, my hands tightening into a fist beside me.

“First my story, then the book,” he continued. “The podcast, and then, the movie. I can’t imagine what your daughters would go through.”

My breath hitched. “Don’t you dare!”

“But all that could be avoided,” he went on, “if you come see me by yourself tomorrow night. And don’t even bother trying to find me before then. You won’t.”

Disgust rose to my throat. “So in other words, I have to fuck you to get you to leave us alone.”

He nodded. “Exactly. You’re finally catching on. I’ll gladly drop the fame just to hit Damon Gravari where it hurt the most. You."

I held his gaze, my face giving nothing away. “You’re more desperate than I thought.”

“And now that you know that, it’s settled,” he said, shoving his phone back in his pocket. “I’ll give you the address tomorrow. Wear something cute for me, okay?”

I felt repulsed just thinking about dressing up for him.

I belonged to Damon and no one else.

“And if you even think about telling your husband, I’ll make sure you both spend the rest of your lives in jail,” he said. “Your daughters will be passed from one orphanage home to another.”

Rage rose in my chest.

He turned around and walked towards his car, then paused by the door and winked at me.

He got in and drove off.

I didn’t bother going into the office again.

I called security to send a driver, and in few minutes, he arrived.

I got into the car, my heart thumping wildly in my chest. “Take me home. Now!"