Page 9 of The Billionaire's Bad News Baby

“And you are welcome to have legal proceedings presented to me, and whoever serves the papers will do whatever they can to make sure they’re safely in my hands. That’s how it works.”

“And maybe I will do that,” Elio said, seething. “Let’s see how it makes you feel to be stalked down across the world.”

“Hey. It’s not my fault, okay,” she said, any sort of professionalism quickly evaporating as she got defensive. “I’m just doing my job.”

“Well, your job is done now. Leave.”

“Thank you so much for the permission. Are you sure you don’t need me to wait around so you can throw a vase at me? That’s usually what happens.”

“Anything within reach is worth too much to be throwing at the likes of you,” Elio sneered.

The woman just laid a hand on her chest as if gravely wounded. “Chivalry really is dead. I’ll see myself out, then.” She turned and began to make her way out of the garden.

“No!” Elio called, running to catch up, the papers still in his hand. “I’ll be going with you. I want to see you off this island with my own two eyes.”

“Maybe chivalry still has a lingering heartbeat in there somewhere,” she said with a smirk as if this was all very entertaining to her.

“Just get moving,” Elio said.

He walked close behind her, the papers clutched in his fist. He was now officially screwed, and he had the paperwork to prove it. At the very least, he was going to walk this girl to the dock and see her leave so he wouldn’t be looking around corners and into shadows wondering if she’d stuck around on a whim or to case out the property. Just because she was here for an actual reason didn’t mean that she couldn’t be crazy on top of it. He just wanted to be alone. Apparently, that was too much to ask these days, even when you bought yourself an island to get away from the world.

“Son of a…” The woman trailed off as they reached the front of the house and the dock came into view. It took Elio a second to realize what she’d been swearing at, then it hit him. There was no extra boat to be seen by the dock. Whoever had brought her here had left without her.

A thunderclap boomed above them, so loud that it made Elio’s ears ring. The woman looked up at the sky like it might come crashing down on her at any second, the difference in the color of her eyes somehow more stark in the dim lighting. The rain hadn’t started falling yet, but you could practically see the curtain of water blowing inland from the sea, bringing the crux of the storm with it.

“Your boat just left you?” Elio asked, to which the woman just shrugged, looking mildly disappointed as opposed to a normal reaction like anger or despair.

“Yeah, it was just some random fisherman guy. I’m surprised he brought me out in the first place, to be honest. Guess the storm spooked him off.”

She looked up at the roiling sky with the same annoyed set to her lips.

Just when he’d thought she couldn’t sound any more deranged…

“You can’t stay here,” Elio said, and as soon as the words were out of his mouth, he knew that it was precisely what she’d have to do. Because the “fisherman guy” had had the right idea leaving when he did. There was no way a boat was getting through these waters anytime soon. Elio was half tempted to use the private yacht moored to the dock, but the way it was swinging wildly around so close to shore, let alone out on open water… He was desperate, but he wasn’t about to put his life on the line just to kick her off his property.

When any sane human might be seeking shelter, the woman just stared out across to the mainland with her hands on her hips, like she was waiting in line at the grocery store or something.

“Now is not a great time to be admiring the view,” Elio said, continually baffled by her.

“I was wondering if I really could swim it, you know. It’s not that big a distance. You can even see the mainland.”

Elio just gaped at her, mostly because she sounded kind of serious as she said it.

“So I’ll take it that would be a bad idea?” she asked.

“Yes. Bad. I’m already being sued for this nonsense. I don’t need a dead body on my conscience as well.”

“Who, me?”

“Just get inside!” Elio shouted, having to be heard over the wind now.

She just stood there, still and stupid, as if she didn’t understand what he was saying. Maybe he was the crazy one.

“You want to drown out here?” he asked, thoroughly done with everything. “If not, then get inside, don’t touch anything, don’t rob me, don’t send information to whatever law firm these stupid papers are from and then leave to swim the ocean and die because apparently, you need that to be spelled out for you.”

The first splatters of water falling from the sky seemed to break her out of the spell of idiocy that must have been cast on her. She looked up at the black clouds with an appropriate amount of concern, then back to Elio as the realization of how screwed she was seemed to settle on her shoulders.

“Inside,” Elio said, turning for the house, refusing to get stuck in the rain that was starting to pick up steam. She could follow him or she could swim across to the mainland. Her choice. Elio looked over his shoulder and found her close on his heels, her mouth pressed into a thin, worried line. Great. Just what he needed, an unexpected, unwelcome house guest.

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