Broken daddy, p.1
Broken Daddy, page 1
Broken Daddy
Victoria Pinder
Contents
Series information
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Also by Victoria Pinder
About Victoria Pinder
Series information
DECADANT DAWES
Broken Boss
Broken CEO
Broken Ex-Boyfriend
Broken Daddy
Broken Bully Coming Soon
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Chapter 1
Elaine
The air smelled like the ocean in San Francisco. I’d missed the scent of home, but the mountains I usually faced were a different kind of magnificent, and I needed little reminders from nature to tell me that I would be fine no matter what happened. I’d left to avoid Sav, and I would never tell the man I should have hated that I had his son.
I checked into the busy hotel with my small bag and rushed to my room.
My stomach rumbled. I needed to eat but didn’t dare go out into the streets and risk bumping into the one man I swore to avoid, Saverio Dawes. The hotel had a restaurant, though, and I couldn’t imagine a reason for Sav to show up there when he owned half the city. I could have ordered room service, but I felt lonely without my son and needed the sounds of other people to soothe my nerves, so I left my room and took the elevator down to the restaurant.
He’d taken everything from me.
Once my father lost his company, my mother bolted to God-knew-where. Not that it mattered to Sav.
Goose bumps grew on my arms as I entered the restaurant and scanned the booths and tables. He wasn’t there. I’m on edge, and that’s why my body feels electrified. It’s not because Sav is here. I sat at a table and looked at the menu.
My father had died and left me an estate. I was no longer penniless the way I was when I’d fled the city and Sav, so if I wanted a thirty-dollar burger, I could afford it. For one night, I could afford it.
If I lived like that forever, I would go bankrupt quickly, but I was in San Francisco to settle my father’s estate and figured it wouldn’t hurt to treat myself. Once the estate was settled, I planned to get back in my Subaru and head home to Denver and my son, Dino. My aunt was watching him so I could take the trip.
I stared at the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped thinking.
A warm rush of adrenaline poured through me, but I didn’t know why. Finally, my burger came, and I ate.
Despite the price, it hit the spot. I’d gone all day without eating.
As I took my last bite, a shadow startled me from behind. I glanced up and saw the one man I never wanted to see, staring down at me.
I pivoted in my chair, my hair flying behind me, and asked, “Sav, how did you find me?”
He came closer, and I knew why I’d felt the surge of adrenaline. He said, “I own the hotel.”
Half the city and the businesses weren’t enough for him then. I swallowed the thought and shook my head. “Of course you do. What don’t you own?”
He came closer, and I smelled his two-thousand-dollar-a-bottle cologne that mixed woodsy and floral and royal into an expensive bottle used by monarchs for centuries, which was good enough for Sav.
I licked my lips, and they tingled
He said, “You.”
I lifted my chin. He was right. He didn’t possess me anymore. I swallowed and nodded. “Exactly. Now leave.”
He held my chair, and for one second, I was paralyzed, but not by fear. I half imagined him standing me up, kissing me, and ripping my jeans off me.
However, he only said, “Wait.”
I batted my eyes, as that fantasy wasn’t ever going to happen, but I lowered my head so he wouldn’t see through me. “Why?”
He motioned to the chair across from me. “I want to talk.”
I squeezed my eyes closed. Maybe if I indulged him long enough, he would leave. “I don’t think we have anything left to say.”
I heard the chair scrape the marble floor as he took his seat. “Yes, you do.”
I let out a sigh and met his gaze. He didn’t want to talk about our son, I knew, because he didn’t know about him. My heart pounded. “You’re impossible.”
He sat and folded his hands on the table. “I heard your father passed. I was sorry to hear that.”
I winced. I’d not expected sentiment from him. I took a breath. “Thank you. I appreciate that. He never thought much of you.”
“No, but you did. I think you still do.”
He’d sat the same way when he’d told my father he’d bought the business out from under him. My body trembled, and I put my hands on my lap so he wouldn’t see them shake. “Time turned you insane.”
He winked as if I’d just told him a joke. “You’re just saying that because you’re supposed to hate me, but secretly, you’re attracted to me.”
I scooted closer but moved my feet as if to jump up in a minute. “I do hate you.”
He sat back in his chair and ordered us a Moscato, which he must have remembered I’d liked years ago. Once the waiter left, he said, “You don’t. We both feel this connection.”
I waited while the busser took my burger plate then folded my own hands. “Is that all you have to say?”
The waiter returned with wine and a tiramisu. My lips ached to taste the sweet dessert I never ordered anymore.
Once we were alone, Sav said, “You’re hard these days.”
Being a mom meant I cared for and prioritized another human being. If that made me hard, so be it. I grabbed my wine. “I grew up.”
He clinked glasses with me as if we were toasting. “I never forgot you, Elaine.”
My pulse zipped, and I sighed as I finished my sip. Then I said, “No, you just ruined me.”
His cocky grin grew, and I felt butterflies. “You enjoyed yourself,” he said.
Heat rose in my face as I remembered how I’d spent a late night in his office and then a week in his apartment, never realizing his intentions. I sipped my wine and brushed my hand against my sweetheart neckline, lost in memory for a second. “I meant my father’s company.”
He shrugged. “Business is business. I’d have thought you knew that, but we were different.”
I hated that saying. I ignored the dessert and pushed my chair back. “I have to go.”
He reached out to hand me a spoon. “Have dinner with me tomorrow.”
I sighed, took the spoon, and took a bite. The soft, sweet dessert made my toes curl, but I said, “I shouldn’t.”
He finished his bite. “You’re allowed to have fun, and we need to talk without trying to run away.”
I finished the tiramisu. I hadn’t meant to. “Tomorrow… dinner. Fine. I’ll meet you in the lobby at eight.” I stood.
“Seven thirty. There will be traffic.”
It meant he had a plan for me. I nodded. “Fine.” But dinner didn’t mean I would take a second chance with him. I waved. “Good night.”
Once out of sight, I practically ran to my room.
If I had stayed, I would have been tempted to get into trouble with him, and the one time I’d gone down that road, I’d ended up alone and pregnant.
Chapter 2
Sav
Her name had triggered an alert the week before, when she made the reservation. I’d set up the alert in all of my businesses when she dropped off the face of the earth three years before.
I was Sav, the savage Dawes, and I destroyed weak companies and made a fortune. The hotel she’d booked had been part of a hedge fund, and fate itself had brought me her name.
The first time we were together had sent a shockwave through me, and I’d never forgotten her.
Instead of focusing on my next project, though, I clicked to open the background report I’d ordered, since I had her reservation information with her new driver’s license number. My team had done as expected.
My eyes widened as I saw pictures of her and a baby. A baby that had my brown eyes. I called my investigator and asked, “How old is her son?”
“Two.”
My heart raced. In my gut, I knew she’d had my baby and not told me. I rubbed the back of my head. “Get me his birth certificate.”
“Yes, sir.”
I hung up and tried to work, but seeing that she’d started her business by making scarves and had expanded into loungewear made me pause.
I checked her suppliers and saw a weak link. Adrenaline rushed through me to form a connection to her in any way I could. I spoke to myself as I typed my secretary an email, “And majority holding in her cloth supplier.”
I paced my office. I should have been working. I honestly had more details to review, but I called the secretary covering the small Chinese factory and asked about the cloth company.
“Yes, sir,” she said. “I’m sending everything through, including the paperwork to Max for approval.”
My brother was a formality. If he didn’t like what I did, he was free to divest.
It was time to leave and get ready. I headed out of the office and walked to my penthouse near the bay.
As I stripped, the paperwork came in, and I pressed my hand to my chest and read my name listed on the birth certificate.
She’d left for Denver. She’d had my child. And I needed to ensure she never left again.
Billions of dollars at my disposal didn’t buy me the one thing I wanted, my own family, which I would not completely fuck up in the way mine had been.
Elaine was my chance, and I always got what I wanted.
I showered, spritzed my cologne, dressed, and headed out in my silver two-seater Pagani Huayra. I stopped at the jewelers, as my new plan included a diamond ring.
Once at the hotel, I parked and headed in. She stood in black slacks that were slightly too long and an orange flowered shirt.
Even in simple clothes, she had a glow to her. I needed her. I offered my hand, and she curled her fingers around mine. She was electrifying.
I half wanted to pick her up and bring her to her hotel room, but we had plans, and if we followed them, we would be alone. No matter how badly I wanted to strip her clothes off, I knew we needed more than sex, so I led her to my car.
She didn’t argue, but as I opened the door for her, she asked, “Where are we going?”
I nodded and said, “To my yacht.”
Her face went red, but she headed inside the car and settled into her leather seat. “Seriously?”
I joined her then started the car with a press of a button. “We need to talk, so I figure sunset in the bay might be more… peaceful.”
She curled her lips higher. “I’m not sure.”
“Yes, you are. Let’s go,” I said and headed to the dock, stopping only when we reached the Stormbreaker, designed by Theodoros Fotiadis, which could hold fifteen guests and had a spa, a gym, a cigar lounge, a dining lounge, a private office, an art gallery, a library, and a beach club for all the aquatic activities guests might want to indulge in.
She stepped into the circular lounge, which was surrounded by sheer white drapes that gave the center area a feeling it was its own room.
I left her there and grabbed a bottle of white Moscato from the bar with two glasses then set them on the middle tables.
She hugged her waist as she sat on the blue cushions and jumped up when I joined her. I poured the wine and said, “You had my baby.”
Her eyes widened, and she looked ready to bolt. “You knew?”
I handed her a glass and shook my head. “I found out a few hours ago that you left and didn’t tell me.”
Her voice went higher. “This is why you wanted to get me alone?”
I settled into the couch and relaxed my shoulders as I stared at her body. Her breasts were fuller, and she was still breathtaking. I ignored her question and stayed focused on the baby from the picture, so I scooted closer to the center as I asked, “Elaine, did you think I’d never find out?”
She twirled and sat beside me. “Yes, and I thought you’d never care.”
I widened my fingers so we touched. Another spark hit me fast and made my heartbeat speed up. “It seems we don’t know each other.”
Her face went white. “What does that mean?”
With Elaine and our son, I would have a chance to have my own family. I quickly squashed the thought, in spite of the fact that it kept striking me. She’d pretended I wasn’t in her life, so I said, “It means we’re getting married. If you have someone else in your life, it’s time to nip that in the bud. I will not live my parents’ life.”
She hugged her waist again, which wasn’t a habit she’d had a few years back. “You trapped me on the yacht to threaten me?”
I scooted closer. “I’m not threatening you. You’re mine, and you’re home. My son deserves everything I can give him.”
She glanced up, and despite her fear, she still gripped my soul as no other woman ever had. “He deserves love.”
I traced her side. I half wanted to kiss her and remind her how good we’d been together. “He gets that too.”
She untangled herself from me and jumped off the couch. “I need a few minutes alone.”
Fair enough. I’d had hours to sort out what I wanted from the truth. She would be mine soon enough, so I stepped back. “Take all the time you need. Bedrooms are down the hall. The library is next door. I’ll be upstairs, on deck with the champagne for the sightseeing tour, whenever you’re ready.”
Then I went up the ballroom stairs to give her space. Soon enough, she would be wearing my ring and bringing my son to me. It was our destiny.
Chapter 3
Elaine
I would never afford a luxury yacht or staff.
My father had done well for himself, but spending on mega yachts, where someone might avoid any plague by simply casting out to sea and having everything they needed, wasn’t on his agenda. It might have been nice. But I’d figured out how to live on my own.
If I agreed to this ridiculous plan, Dino would have more than I might ever conceive of. I checked the time, and since Denver was an hour earlier, I didn’t call my aunt Florence.
Instead, I marched myself out of the bathroom and up the stairs.
Champagne was set next to a lounge, but Sav was standing at the front of his yacht. I walked over and folded my hands on the bannister beside him. My skin woke up beside him as I said, “My—our son is sleeping.”
He pushed my hair, which had flown everywhere, behind my ears. “We’ll figure out when to get him from your aunt’s.”
“How do you know where he is?”
“I ran a check once I knew your address from your reservation.”
I sighed. Maybe I could bend a little with him. “Marriage is far-fetched. I’m doing okay on my own.”
He placed his hand on my lower back as we sailed away from the bridge that used to symbolize my home. “You’d deny your son billions and a lifestyle your sewing could never afford because of your pride?”
Damn. Frustrated tears formed in my eyes. I never once thought he would do what he was doing, though I’d imagined telling him about Dino in a million different ways. I turned away from him and embraced the cold of the day. “I lost everything because of you.”
His words behind me echoed in my brain. “And you’ll gain more than you lost or earned when you marry me.”
I massaged my forehead. I hated him—at least I thought so, though I’d done nothing to prove that to either of us. I cringed and wished I wasn’t half set to agree to his crazy plan. “What if I refuse? There is always a bottom line for you.”
He massaged my shoulder to get me to face him. “I sue for custody and ensure I win by any means necessary. But I’m hoping we come to a fairer agreement. I can give you everything you’d ever want, a generous allowance, luxuries you’ve never had, and my time.”
I swirled toward him and stopped. His fingers sent little tremors of desire through me as I quickly said, “I don’t want things.”
He didn’t move, but his brown eyes seemed already to have concluded I would cave. “Everyone does.”
My mother had left us. My father went into a retirement community. I was living with my aunt while I ran my home business. I didn’t have much, but I’d survived falling from grace. I swallowed as the memories rushed in then curled my lip higher. “I want to hate you for what you did.”
He came closer, and the air smelled like him—rich, entitled, and arrogant—and aches I’d ignored for years came awake for him. He said, “I relieved your dad of stress. We both know he enjoyed retirement.”
My breath was more like a cry, but I lowered my head. “I want love.”
He leaned back and didn’t touch me. “Take that off the table. What is love? I’ve never forgotten you.”
I let the sway of the luxury yacht lull me then dropped my shoulders. “I don’t want Dino to ever feel neglected because his father ignores him.”
