Page 55 of Wicked (Wicked Billionaires #2)
RAVEN
My instincts tell me to wake up, even if it’s still dark out. I worked late, and the few hours of sleep have done little. Walking naked from the bed, I retrieve my laptop. As I open it and slide back in front of Dante, I gasp. I do a double-take, and my tired eyes pop.
Parker and I spent six hours straight working on marketing, and we tricked everything online up. We did everything we could with cutting-edge social media connectivity and video content.
We had used every modern trick in the book and a few techniques Parker didn’t have time to explain to me.
The numbers I see in front of me blow me away.
We poured a huge amount of heat into chasing bookings, and flames should have built. The only thing is that a fire was roaring.
“Wake up!” I say, wide-eyed and mouth open. “Wake up!”
Dante stirs, and I rub my butt against his body.
As Dante awakens, we realize we’ve unleashed the beast. The theme park bookings are through the roof, and we’re on fire.
I feel excited and proud, and it also feels good me and Dante are creating something together. Even if it’s not just us, and well, private. It is kind of like our baby, only it’s not.
At all.
Over the coming days, we are all excited, and we work hard. I get to spend more time with Dante’s sister, Bianca, and his cool grandmother. They’re both gorgeously friendly and they’re both becoming friends.
As the theme park stabilizes and starts to run smoothly, it feels like we’re in the zone.
We work hard and fast the next day, and at full capacity, unplanned journalists arrive.
We’ve already had small local papers do articles on the theme park, even a national one. This, however, is unplanned.
Big vans with TV signs and satellite feeds are on them, and something feels off. I figure they cleared the visit with Dante, but as I stop on a raised grass area near the castle front with Tito, I take in the entire estate.
Something is wrong.
I’m about to discuss a vineyard tour with the next group of horse riders when Dante charges towards me on his large horse.
As he pulls his horse to a stop, inches from me, he tosses me his iPad.
“Explain!”
Stunned, I start to read an article online.
It’s from the travel publication I work for; they had run with the damning story. The thing is, they’ve made up a title I’d not written. “Italy. Old. Crumbling. Gone.”
It was the first draft I’d written in Italy weeks ago, and it gets worse. My name is on it, and they’ve even added more nasty detail.
“Shit!” I say, my mouth now open.
It’s horrific timing because photographers and a video team are racing up from the vans outside the castle. As they point cameras at Dante and my now-pained face, I gasp.
“I can explain!” I say, facing a furious Dante.
“Really?” Dante says, far from unimpressed and way out of character.
How to say it fast?
And what to say?
“I… I…” I stutter, unsure what to do.
As the cameras head closer, and my life is about to end, Bianca rides over fast. She must be learning about this cluster fuck in real time, like me.
Dante holds up his phone, and he looks like he wants to kill.
“That article came out two hours ago, and with your name attached! Your fucking name! Three articles connecting you to us are now spreading like wildfire throughout Italy. We’ve had seventy percent cancellations. Seventy percent in the last hour!”
My mouth drops open as cameras, feet from Dante and I, roll, capturing it all.
Behind the camera vans, an Italian sports car slides in the gravel and a woman runs up. It’s the overbred blue blood from the wedding, and she runs past the cameras in an over-the-top outfit.
As she hugs Dante’s long black boot, she glances up at him. “I came as fast as I could for you.”
Dante’s sister and I shake our heads. Dear God!
I toss Dante the iPad, and I give Bianca a look. As angry Italian reporters leap in, all talking at once, I vault onto Olive.
Spinning, I charge away with a confused Tito barking and following.
I hear a horse behind me, and I see Dante swing and try to charge after me . As cameras roll and capture everything, I know my life is about to end.
Dante is lightning fast, and he tries to cut me off near the castle front and news vans.
“Hey! We need to talk!”
I weave past him, and at the castle front, I leap down and run in. With Tito at my heels, I streak up the marble stairs and straight into our room. As I pack fast, Tito watches, confused. My vision is blurred, and tears fall fast.
I’m halfway done when Dante storms in. He grabs my arm roughly. “What the hell are you doing?”
I wipe tears away, and I have to run. “What does it look like?
“How could you do that? After what we built? What the hell have you done?” Dante asks, eyes angry. Fierce and so unlike him.
“You don’t understand!” I try to say. “It’s not what?—”
Suddenly, a news helicopter roars past the window, filming us.
“Look, I need distance!” I say, throwing my passport in my daypack.
“So, you’re running? Running when things get a little heated?”
“Yes!” I yell as I keep packing with tear-filled eyes. “It’s for the best! And if you want more news, I’ve fallen for you, and I know it’s my fault, but I love you. I loved you!”
I pack head down as tears stream from my eyes.
I manage to catch Dante shaking his head and he yells, “It’s not love, and it’s way too early. You’re also way too young and naive to know what love really is!”
A knife slices my heart in two.
I turn to Dante, and I wipe tears away with my wet hands. It’s bad timing because those same eyes of his that had connected so deeply to my soul… show hatred.
Dante and I are a foot away, but… we … us… is gone.
“You’re just a kid, Raven. And what do you know? You haven’t even seen the fucking world!”
I freeze and it’s as if Dante has driven a sword into my heart and twisted it. I need to vomit, and below me, Tito watches me through caring eyes. It’s as if he can feel my pain.
There and then, my love for Dante dies.
I don’t know what else he yells over the circling chopper because I have switched off. As I jam the last things into my daypack, I yank my wrist from his arm…
And run.