Billionaire Swirl Bundle (A Box Set of THREE BWWM Romance Novels)

by Ward, Vivian

  Her face was a mangled bloody mess. Bruises were already setting in along her cheekbone and around her eyes and nose. Whoever did this had deliberately planned this attack based on the description of what he was wearing. I watched in agony as Judy tried to recount what happened to her at the hospital. It was evident that the attack shook her, and her memory was hazy. Anytime someone entered the room, her head darted in the direction of the door as she jumped. She’d tuck her knees back into her chest as soon as she realized it was only one of the nurses or the doctor coming to check on her. It seemed as though she had a memory lapse. She had trouble giving the authorities a timeline of the attack and how long she laid in the road. At times her speech was incoherent and garbled as though she couldn’t focus on her thoughts.

  The doctor ruled it necessary to keep her overnight for observation. She suffered a broken nose and a slight fracture of her face where she’d been beaten. It was still unclear the extent of any brain trauma that may have occurred. She’d complained that her ribs hurt and had difficulty breathing, but the x-ray revealed there were no broken bones in her rib cage. The doctor determined that she must have had deep bone bruising, which would feel like a broken bone, he explained. When they told Judy she’d have to stay overnight, she began hyperventilating and experienced tremors in her hands and fingers while copious amounts of sweat beaded on her brow. To help her relax and get some rest, the nurse brought her a sedative to help her sleep. I stayed in her room with her the entire night. Even in her sleep, she was completely terrorized by the man who’d attacked her. She would moan and weep while begging him to stop as she fought her invisible attacker. It was unbearable to watch. Several times, I woke her to tell her she was safe and that I was right by her side.

  When Judy woke up in the morning, she complained of an excruciating headache and nausea. I called for her nurse right away. She came within a few moments and used her flashlight pen to examine Judy’s eyes as she took her vitals.

  “Dr. Jordan said you likely have a concussion and judging by the size of your pupils, I’d say he’s right. The sedative that we gave you last night might be upsetting your stomach this morning. I’ll order you anti-nausea medication and we’ll get you something for that headache. Do you feel like eating?”

  Judy stared at her with a blank expression as if the words didn’t register with her.

  “Are you hungry?” I asked her.

  She blinked her eyes as she looked at me. It was almost as if she’d been in a trance. “I’ll have some toast and coffee,” she replied.

  “We’ll send that right in,” the nurse said. “Mr. Pincetti, please call us if she needs anything else.”

  After the door had closed behind the nurse, I grabbed Judy’s hand as I sat next to her on the bed.

  “You’re safe. I’m here now and I’m going to take care of you.”

  “I need to be alone. When I get out of here, if you can take me home, I’ll…”

  “No, Judy. That’s the worst thing you could do. You don’t want to be alone. You need all the support you can get right now.”

  “I need to figure out where Nat and I are going to live and get her old clothes packed up for Ann. I never finished doing that last night. We won’t have much longer in the house.”

  Her demeanor did a complete 180. Suddenly, she seemed distant and withdrawn. It seemed as though she was trying to occupy herself; almost as if the attack never happened.

  “Hey, we can get you some help packing and going through things. You’re not even sure where you’re going to live.”

  “Jeff, all I know now is that I need to get out of this town, and fast. It’ll be over my dead body before I ever let anything like this happen to Natalie.”

  The nurse came back in the room with her meds and informed us that the doctor would be in shortly to check on Judy. If all was well, he’d likely release her and let us go. I asked the nurse if I could speak to her for a moment out in the hall.

  “What would you like to discuss, Mr. Pincetti?” the nurse asked once we were in the hall.

  “Is she okay? I mean, she’s acting…different. She’s jumpy, fidgety, distant, withdrawn and not her usual self at all.”

  “Mr. Pincetti, when you’ve been a victim of a violent beating like she has, those things are normal. Give her some time, and a little space. She needs to know people are there for her without everyone crowding her.”

  “How soon will the doctor be in?”

  “He’s at lunch right now, but he should come in to check on her afterward.”

  I went back in the room to sit with Judy. As I opened the door, she jumped off of her bed.

  “Hey, it’s only me,” I reassured her when she jumped on her bed.

  As we waited for the doctor, I thought about the dog. “Judy? Where was Rocky when all of this happened? You said you were taking him for a walk. Where did he go?”

  “I don’t know. His leash slipped out of my hand and he took off running. My guess is he’s somewhere in the woods around the house.”

  We had waited for about an hour before the doctor came in to reevaluate her condition. Once he examined her and reviewed her latest testing, he gave her the all-clear to go home with a set of instructions to follow. During the drive home, she was quiet; more so than usual.

  “Is there anything I can do to make you feel safer?” I finally broke the silence.

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “You know you have to talk about it sooner or later, and we’re going to find the guy who did this to you. Can you remember anything about him?”

  “He was heavy set. I remember his weight preventing me from moving with him on top of me while his fist pummeled my face.”

  “Anything else?”

  “He was white.”

  “Is that all?” I sounded more annoyed than I meant to.

  “Yeah, that’s all,” she said with a sarcastic reply.

  “I’m sorry, honey. It’s just that I want to catch the guy that did this to you and make him pay.”

  When we arrived at her house, I helped her inside and made sure no one was hiding in any of the rooms. After I had checked the house, I went out to the backyard to see if the dog had returned. There were no signs of the dog.

  “Judy, where is that paper with all the German commands? I’m going to see if I can find Rocky and bring him home. Something must’ve spooked him, making him run off like that.”

  “It’s on the counter, but I don’t know what good he is if he gets spooked,” she snapped.

  “I’ll go find him.”

  I started walking the area surrounding the house as I called his name. Listening carefully, I didn’t hear a thing. I glanced down at the paper and started yelling, “Here” and “Come” in the German commands. My efforts weren’t paying off. I began walking further away from the house into the dense timber that never got cut down the previous winter. As I approached a small creek, I could hear rustling noises. I spotted him and called his name. He looked at me, apparently confused at first, but he eventually recognized me and ran towards me. His leash was still on him. I grabbed a hold of it and led him back to the house. After locking him in the backyard, I went inside to tell Judy the good news.

  “I found the dog. He was by a small creek. I put him in the backyard and closed the gate.”

  “That’s good,” she mumbled.

  “All right, I need to get out of here,” I told her, remembering what the nurse said. “But I’m only a phone call away if you need anything.”

  “Okay,” she said as she made herself a glass of water. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  §

  I know Jeff means well, but I can’t stop thinking about my attack. For some reason, I was unable to recall much information about the man who assaulted me when I was asked about him. It’s strange though, I could remember that during the attack I tried to memorize things about the man, but I couldn’t remember anything since I’d woke up after I blacked out on the side of the road. I kept
trying to replay everything in my head—as painful as that was—but nothing jogged my memory. Jeff was more than accommodating to me, and even though he was right by my side, I felt isolated. I was scared to death the man would come back for me once he found out I’d talked to police.

  Trying to get my mind off things, I headed to Nat’s room and began going through her old clothes. As I was working, I had an idea. Maybe if we get out of here and move far enough away, we could start over. A real fresh start where we wouldn’t know anyone. Maybe somewhere cold.

  I could sell a lot of Afghans there and make plenty of money. It might mean that I wouldn’t have to leave Nat to go work at a full-time job somewhere. As I continued packing clothes for Ann’s daughter, it hit me. We could move to Wisconsin, near the Canadian border. The winters are long and cold there. It was perfect.

  The phone startled me when it started ringing from the kitchen, breaking my thoughts about Wisconsin.

  “Hello?”

  “How’s it going?” Jeff asked.

  “Good. I was packing up clothes and going through some of Nat’s old boxes in her closet.”

  “I was hoping you’d like some company for dinner tonight. We can eat at my place, or I can come over there. Whichever you’d prefer,” he suggested.

  “That would be nice. Let’s have dinner at your place. I don’t like being here alone,” I admitted. I kept finding myself glancing out windows and listening for any hint that someone might be in the house or out in the yard.

  “Do you want me to swing by when I leave the office to pick you up?”

  “That would be great. What time will you get out of there?”

  “In about an hour or so,” he paused. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “No,” I sighed. “I’m really not. I’m so scared he’s going to come back to get me,” I confessed as I looked in the backyard. Rocky was sunbathing near his food dishes.

  “We’re going to find who did this to you. You know that, right?”

  “Yeah,” I lied. There’s no way they’re going to figure out who’s doing all of this. He’s already done so much and he’s still out there.

  “I’ll see you in a bit.”

  When we hung up, I went out to check on Rocky. He didn’t have a scratch on him. I guess the attacker didn’t want anything to do with the dog; I was his target. After I refilled his food and gave him fresh water for the evening, I went back inside and locked the doors. Nearly finished with Nat’s closet, I heard a car door. I jumped and peeked out the window; it was Jeff. I grabbed my purse and headed outside.

  While we were eating dinner that night, I asked him if I could use his computer again to search for houses.

  “Sure. Do you have an idea of where you want to live yet?”

  “Actually, I thought about that while I was cleaning out the closet. I thought that Wisconsin would be a good place for us to start over. I make a lot of money off my Afghans here, and the winters are longer and much colder there. It would mean that I wouldn’t have to work a full-time job and leave Nat in someone else’s care.”

  “Wisconsin?” He was taken aback. “Why so far?”

  “Right now, I want to get as far away as possible. It’s just an idea,” I shrugged. “I wanted to see what areas there are to live in and what their housing market is like.”

  “Judy, that’s so far away. You realize that our relationship would be impossible if you moved there.”

  I hadn’t thought of that. My primary concern was to get away from Nevada, and I didn’t feel like it would be wise to move to Kansas City or Springfield. I wanted to live in a rural area where I wouldn’t have so much to worry about.

  “No, I guess it didn’t cross my mind.”

  §

  It scared the hell out of me at the thought of losing Judy and Natalie. They’d become such a big part of my life, I never pictured them leaving. To oblige her, I helped her get onto the internet to research various areas in Wisconsin and the housing in those areas, but the truth was I wasn’t ready to let her go. I wasn’t willing to let her go. I painfully watched her eye houses that she might potentially be interested in. Imagining what my life would be like without them felt like someone drove a stake right through my heart. Before they came into my life, I was single and on top of the world. But I was also lonely and isolated. There was no one to come home to, no one to have dinner with and no one to draw beautiful pictures for me.

  “Judy, I can’t let you move to Wisconsin,” I blurted in the middle of her search. “You can’t leave. I won’t let you.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m saying there’s no way I’m letting you or that little girl walk out of my life. You two are my whole world. We’ve been through so much together, and I vow that I will find who’s been doing all of this and they will be dealt with.”

  “But Jeff, you and I both know that I can’t raise Natalie alone here. If I move to a neighboring city, I’d have to get a full-time job and leave Nat in someone else’s care. That’s not something that I’m willing to do.”

  “Then come live with me. Let’s get married. I love you, Judy,” I got on my knee. “I’ve never loved a woman the way I love you. And Natalie owns such a big piece of my heart, she’s like my own daughter.”

  §

  My head was spinning. Did he just propose to me? I stared at him, trying to wrap my head around the words that had come out of his mouth.

  “I…I don’t know what to say,” I stumbled, trying to find the right words.

  “You don’t have to say anything. Tell me that you’ll move in with me and let me take care of you. We can be a family.”

  “Are you crazy? Look at what’s already happened since we started dating. Do you know what would happen if we got married and moved in together?”

  “Yes, I do. I’ll take care of you and Natalie, and no one will ever hurt you again. I promise.”

  “I need time, Jeff. Thomas hasn’t even been gone a year and you’re asking me to marry you and start a new family.”

  “I know what it looks and sounds like, but I love you. You know I’m not the groveling type, don’t make me regret asking you.”

  “Can you imagine what people would say when you walk into announce the development and I’m on your arm?”

  “I don’t care. They’d say I was the luckiest man in Missouri.”

  Chapter 11

  I drove to church on Saturday evening to pick up Natalie from her church camp. As I waited with the other members, everyone asked what had happened to my face. I’d hoped that I wore enough makeup to cover the bruising, but apparently I hadn’t. Most of the members had already heard the horrific tale of how I’d been ambushed while taking the dog for a walk, but the others were gawking at me. Embarrassed and ready to be left alone, I offered a short explanation that I’d been jumped in the woods near my house and excused myself to the ladies’ room.

  The church bus arrived while I was hiding and sulking in the stall of the women’s restroom. As I went outside to get Natalie, she was running towards me to show me her new rock collection that she’d picked up while away at camp. Her footsteps came to a halt when she saw my face.

  “What happened, momma?” she signed as she stared at my bruised face.

  “I’ll explain later. Let’s go home. You can show me your rock collection when we get in the car if you’d like.”

  She stared at me the entire ride home. I could only imagine what was going through her little mind. What am I going to tell her? I don’t want to scare her. I decided that I’d tell her the truth. Some man attacked me, but I wouldn’t tell her that it happened near the house. I didn’t want her to be scared while playing in the yard, but I already knew I had to keep a close eye on her. She couldn’t wander off like she normally did and roam the property. It wasn’t safe.

  After we had gone inside, I told her the story of how some man attacked me and that I was okay, just a little bruised up. She sympathetically touched my face as sh
e said she was sorry I got hurt. Children are so beautiful and innocent.

  “Can I go see Rocky?” she asked.

  “Yes, but stay in the backyard.”

  I watched her from the kitchen window as she sat on the porch petting Rocky. She seemed jubilant that she finally had a dog. As I watched her play, I thought of what Jeff had said to me. I still can’t believe he wants to get married, especially after everything that’s happened. Someone in the community is making it quite clear that they want me gone, and they don’t like interracial relationships. Even though we live in the country, we’re still within ‘city limits’. All of the other colored families live in the country, out of sight and out of mind for all the white folk. Of course, it didn’t help that not only was our address considered still within the city limits, but our property was also what stood in the way of the development. And then there was the fact that Thomas hasn’t even been gone for a year. Could I really move on that fast? I couldn’t believe I’d slept with Jeff, but I’ll be damned if it didn’t feel delightful to have a man’s warm hands on my body, wanting me and loving me.