STUCK WITH MR. BILLIONAIRE FOR CHRISTMAS novel Chapter 19

Chapter 19

DANTE:

96%

E55 vouchers

The picture appeared on my phone while Cinnamon was still rattling off Jensen Harbor’s ridiculous demands.

I stopped hearing her, stopped hearing anything except the roaring in my ears. Nothing mattered except getting to my mother.

Her face. Bruised, swollen, blood crusting at the corner of her mouth. Seeing it ripped something out of me. Then a thirty seconds video of Dove’s shaking camera, Max screaming in the background, a lamp smashing against the wall inches from where Mom cowered.

My hands trembled so hard I almost dropped the phone. I was going to end that madman.

“Dante?” Cinnamon’s voice came from somewhere distant. “What’s wrong?”

I couldn’t answer. My throat had closed completely.

In the jeep, I texted Tate with numb fingers: “I need the helicopter to take me back to Alabama. Now. Emergency.”

His reply came instantly: “On it. ETA three hours.”

I had Carlos drive straight to the helipad. Three hours. Three long, impossible hours while Mom sat in that house with the man who’d just hurt her. Three hours of Dove, alone, defenseless, terrified.

“Dante-” Cinnamon tried again, but I didn’t have the patience.

“Take care of things until I’m back.” My voice sounded foreign even to me.

Her brows knitted, lips pressed tight. I didn’t care. I needed to be in Alabama.

“What? Where are you-”

She didn’t get to finish. The helicopter roared to life, blades whipping the air into a deafening frenzy.

Once the noise settled, I stormed to the door, the phone pressed hard to my ear as I dialed Dove.

It rang.

Four times.

Five.

Six.

“Pick up,” I whispered. “Pick up. Pick up. Pick up.” Saying it over and over like it could change reality.

“Dante.” Her voice came through, trembling..

I was relieved. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I just woke up. I-” Her breath hitched, then broke. “He pushed me into the corner of the table. I hit everything went black, and when I woke up, Mom was-”

my

head and

“I’m coming,” I cut in, panic clawing up my throat. “Can you get somewhere safe?”

“I can’t leave Mom-”

1/3

09:54 Sat, Feb 28

Chapter 19

M M

96%1

55 vouchers

“Dove, listen to me.” I tried to remain calm, even though my hands were shaking. “Lock yourself in your room. Do not open the door for anyone except me. Do you understand?”

“Okay.” Another sob. “Dante, I’m scared.”

“I know,” I said softly. “I know. I’m coming.”

I hung up and immediately called Marcus.

I hated the thought of hearing his voice. I hadn’t planned on speaking to him anytime soon. I had barely spoken to him for six months.

He picked up on the second ring, lazy, unconcerned.

“Yeah?”

“Did Dove call you?” I didn’t waste words.

“Yeah. She was being dramatic. Max and Mom had a fight. Happens.”

I gritted my teeth. “Happens? Max shoved our mother and knocked Dove out on a table, and that happens?”

“Look, couples fight. Sometimes it gets physical. That’s marriage

“That’s abuse, you coward.”

“Jesus, Dante, you’re overreacting—”

I hung up on him. I shouldn’t have called in the first place. Marcus had always taken Max’s side-always. It didn’t even take a month after that snake slithered into Mom’s life for Marcus to start calling him Dad. Nothing about this surprised me.

My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. The helicopter ride stretched into two extra hours of pure hell. I couldn’t sit still. I checked my phone over and over, like it might suddenly light up with good news if I stared hard enough. Mom’s face kept flashing through my mind, frozen in different versions of fear I couldn’t push away.

When we finally touched down on the helipad above Mom’s penthouse, I was already moving-out the door before the rotors had fully spun down, heart racing, breath uneven, everything in me desperate to get to her.

I took the stairs, ignoring the elevator, and by the time I burst through the door, my vision narrowed to a single goal: find Max. End this.

Dove stood in the living room, arms wrapped around herself. Her left eye was nearly swollen shut, the bruise already purple and yellow, tear tracks streaked down her cheeks.

“Dove.” I crossed the room in three strides and pulled her into my arms.

She collapsed against me, sobbing into my shoulder. Her whole body shook.

“It’s okay,” I murmured, stroking her hair. “It’s okay. I’m here now I’ve got you.”

“He said it was her fault.” Her voice came out muffled against my shirt. “Said she provoked him. That she shouldn’t have questioned what he used her five million dollars for.”

My jaw locked, teeth grinding until they throbbed. “That bald-headed, out-of-shape demon,” I said, forcing the words through clenched teeth. “Did you call the police?”

“I tried. Mom said no.”

“What?”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify