Page 84 of The Sexy Billionaire

“True, harder to track someone on a private jet,” Smith adds.

The group continues to talk as if I’m not there, reorganizing my life until I’m unable to take it any longer and get up, storming out of the living room and into my bedroom and slamming the door. I let out a scream of frustration. How the hell has my life turned to this?

“Paige.” Smith knocks on my door.

“Go away, I need a moment,” I yell back.

I melt down in my room until I’m too exhausted to continue and collapse onto my bed. Obviously, I’ve been quiet for too long because Smith opens my bedroom door.

“Are you okay?” he asks, peeking around the door.

“No,” I answer, my lip wobbling as I sit up in bed.

He comes over and takes a seat beside me. “I’m sure today was scary for you,” he says, talking calmly.

“I would never have thought the man I saw today was the man I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with.”

Smith nods. “Because he’s not the same man, that man’s gone.”

“Did I do that to him? Did I make him into this monster?”

“None of this is your fault, but I do think he’s dangerous, Paige,” he says, concern etched on his face.

“I think so, too.”

“As much as I don’t like it, I do think if you head to Europe for a bit, it might be good for you. Plus, Gio has the contacts to keep you safe,” Smith suggests.

“By myself?” I pout.

“Savannah has indicated that she could come over for a bit. Callie and I can put in for vacation time and spend it with you when it’s approved,” he explains.

“How long would I need to be gone for?”

My brother shrugs. “I don’t know, long enough for Michael to be put in jail or he moves on.”

“You really think I should go?”

“As much as I have loved us living together, you’re cramping my style,” he jokes.

I throw a pillow at him. “You wanna get laid.”

“I do. I haven’t been able to since you moved in, and my hand is getting sore.”

Ew. I scrunch up my face over my brother’s TMI.

“Honestly, you need to get out of New York. Lucia has homes all around the world. Take a vacation if you need one, or go check out some of the businesses you inherited, see if any of them need anything, and start enjoying this new life she’s given you. You have a second chance at being whoever you want to be,” he suggests.

“You think that’s Countess Paige?” I joke.

“Who the fuck knows, but anything is better than living in fear because of some pindicked asshole,” he says angrily.

He’s right. What happened today was scary, and he’s escalating; who knows how far he will go next time, and I don’t want to find out.

“Gio is offering you a lift to Italy, and you love it there. Go check out Rome or Florence.”

I shake my head. “I can’t go back to Lucia’s, not yet,” I say, my lip quivering with emotion.

Smith reaches out and places his hand over mine. “That’s fine. Go to her hotels in Greece, she has that villa in Sardinia, the world is literally your oyster.”

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