Page 55 of The Billionaire and the Stripper (The Manhattan Billionaires)

“What do you mean?”

“On the face of it, it seems like these things would benefit me, but they mean way more to you than they mean to me. For example, when you stopped me from giving lap dances at the club, it wasn’t really for my sake. It was because you didn’t like to see me twerking over other men. This thing with the studio feels the same, Marcus. It feels like it’s fulfilling some need in you, instead of being purely for me. And that scares me. Because you don’t even ask me before you make these big changes to my life.”

I was silent for a long time as I digested her words.

“You’re only partly right, Celine,” I said eventually. “The thing at the club was all about me because I hated to see you dancing for other men. I still do. And I can’t change how I feel about that because you’re mine! That said, I will never hold it against you or use it against you because you did nothing wrong. It was pure possessiveness on my part, and I don’t know if I can ever get a handle on that possessiveness. I think it’s a character flaw.”

“It’s okay to feel possessive about me, Marcus. I feel that way about you, too. I was ready to set fire to your hair when I thought you were interested in Ruby. I can deal with it as long as you don’t use it as an excuse to demean and diminish me.”

“I won’t ever do something so stupid again, I swear. I really thought I was doing you a favor by buying all your lap dances.”

“Which brings us to the real thing that scares the crap out of me, Marcus. I can’t keep fighting you on this. I’m not a child. I’m thirty-three, and I’ve been fiercely independent all my life. So you can’t just come into my life and act like you know what’s right for me more than I do. You’re allowed to have an opinion about it, but you can’t make my decisions for me. I’m terrified that if I get locked into a relationship with you, I’ll lose my identity. I don’t care if you’re rich enough to own half of our country. I won’t lose myself in you to the point that I stop existing.”

“You don’t have to lose yourself, Celine. I know I can be a bit bossy, but I will always listen to you. I will never stop finding ways to make your life easier but you will always have the right to say no. I promise you that. But I can’t have you holding my privileged background against me. You’re going to have to trust that I’m never going to use it as a weapon against you. Can you do that?”

What if she said no? I was terrified she was going to break up with me because we seemed to fight more than we loved. What if she was tired of it all?

Celine put out a hand to grab mine and I let out a wary breath.

“I want to try. Trust doesn’t come easily to me, Marcus. But being away from you makes me so miserable that I’m willing to change that part of me,” she said. “I want to take a chance on us.”

I took her hand and kissed it gently.

“And I promise I’ll make it worth it. You’reitfor me, Celine. The love of my life. I’ll make you and Rose happy, no matter what,” I promised.

Celine reached up to kiss me. The kiss began in tenderness but soon moved into make-out territory. We were both breathing hard when I pulled away.

Celine shot me a blindingly happy smile.

“Race you to the car,” she said, setting off towards the door with her stroller.

It took me just two bounds to catch up with her.

But before we made it to the parking lot, my phone rang. It was Tia’s chauffeur.

CHAPTER 22

CELINE

Whatever he heard on the phone made Marcus turn white with fear. He turned to me worriedly.

“Honey, we have to go. Tia and Maddie have disappeared. They went into Central Park and didn’t come out. I think they’ve been kidnapped,” he said.

“Oh, no! Go, Marcus. I hope you find her soon. I’ll drive myself home,” I replied.

“No! It’s not safe for you to be on your own, Celine. You’re coming home with me.”

I followed him to his car because this was not the time to distract him with arguments. He needed to get home as soon as possible.

“Will you aunt mind our presence at such a time?” I asked as the car screeched out of the parking lot.

“She’ll be relieved to have you both close,” he replied, and I left him to whatever he had to do.

He jumped out of the car before it ground to a proper halt as soon as we pulled up outside the house, and ran inside. The chauffeur helped me take Rosie in. Fee hugged me tightly as soon as she saw me. She looked ten years older than she did a couple of hours ago.

We left the guys to their business and huddled in the sitting room, where Ruby joined us later. Hilde came running in to tell us that they had tracked the location to a warehouse near the Port. And that the Police Commissioner for the city of New York was with the guys right now, trying to figure out a plan of action. They had S.W.A.T. Teams in place, ready to storm the warehouse as soon as the cops gave the signal.

One of the security guys kept us updated with a live commentary from the surveillance van outside the warehouse where Maddie and Tia were being held.

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