Wild Billionaire Romance - Chapter 69: Chapter 69

JOSEF
Minutes ticked by like hours, and I gritted my teeth against the clinical smell of the hospital.
“We donate money to this place?” I asked Mario, one of my most trusted men.
Darius, my second in command, was currently at Volkov Towers, making sure everything was running smoothly.
After him, Mario was the one I entrusted with the things that matter. This mattered.
I fucking hated it when I was made to wait.
“Yes, Boss. Volkov Industries and Sigma International Security are listed as top donors.”
“Mm,” I grunted.
That was going to fucking change if I sat there one minute longer.
Smoothing my suit coat, I paced the floor, stepping outside the little waiting area where I’d just chugged an espresso. I noticed the doctor leaving Meredith’s room.
He’d likely just been delivering her test results, which meant she was awake.
“Is she okay? What’s going on?” I asked the doctor.
“Excuse me?”
“I am enquiring after Miss Gray. I’m a personal friend,” I said.
“I, um, well, I’m not supposed to disclose⁠—”
“Allow me to introduce myself, I’m Josef Aziz,” I said, watching as understanding dawned.
My name might not be as well-known as Volkov, but like Mario just confirmed, I was a major donor of this institution. Dr. Reynolds here, head of Emergency Medicine, would certainly know who I was.
“Yes, yes, Mr. Aziz, nice to see you. Um, Miss Gray is fine. I imagine it was the shock of learning her father had passed that caused her to faint,” Dr. Reynolds explained.
That made sense. I was told of Franklin Gray’s death seconds after we entered the ER.
The old bastard had it coming, even if he was kinder to me than his daughter had been.
I admit, I was shocked when Meredith said he was her stepfather.
I hadn’t known that little nugget. But I had my best guys researching it now, running down her claim. I needed facts. I needed indisputable truths.
If Franklin Gray was Meredith’s stepfather, why hadn’t she said so before?
I fucking hated not knowing. But at least I could busy myself taking care of her while I had my best team figuring all that out. If Meredith had secrets, I was going to learn them.
One way or another.
“Did you do the usual workup?” I asked.
“Oh yes, a full blood panel and exam.”
“And?” I asked, eyebrows raised.
What the fuck was up with this guy?
“And Miss Gray is in optimal health.”
“Good. And her father’s remains?”
“All taken care of. He had his wishes on record since he was a donor, as well,” Dr. Reynolds said, tipping his head towards me.
I really didn’t like being lumped in the same category with Franklin fucking Gray and my displeasure must have shown because Dr. Asshat backed away from me.
“Yes, well, um, excuse me. I must be going,” Dr. Reynolds said.
I moved past the physician and grabbed the handle to her door, ignoring the way his eyebrows shot up. If he expected me to ask permission to enter Meredith’s room, he could think again.
Seeking approval for my actions was something I had not done in a lifetime, or so it seemed.
I was Josef Aziz. Former soldier. Mercenary. Bodyguard. Founder of Sigma International Security.
True, my security firm had only one client. But when you worked for Volkov Industries, you didn’t need another.
I’d known Adrik and Marat Volkov for over twenty years. Longer than I’d known Meredith. But it was her father’s—no, her stepfather’s money that allowed me to invest in their company.
The idea I was missing something, something big, in Meredith’s personal life sat in my stomach like a brick.
Had she purposefully neglected to tell me Franklin was her stepfather? Why? There was a time I would have sworn I knew everything about her.
Including how sweet she tasted.
Fuck.
Yeah, I’d crossed lines. I tried to resist the pull I felt towards her. God knows I did. But it was difficult.
Maybe I should have tried harder to stay away from her. But from the very first moment we met, with her stomping her feet the entire way down the spiral staircase to the foyer in her stepfather’s house, I’d been inexplicably drawn to her.
Like a moth to a flame.
I knew the fire was going to fucking hurt. That it would burn me alive. But at the time, I just didn’t care.
I wanted her so badly.
I’d just taken a side job as a bodyguard for the Gray heiress after the company had received some threats.
Seeing her for the first time, all soft, pale skin and wildfire hair, was like a sucker punch to the gut.
She was beautiful then. And I hated to admit it, but she was even more beautiful now.
Meredith had been in her senior year at a private high school for stuck up millionaire brats. And she was pissed I’d been assigned to protect her.
She’d tried to make my life hell those first few weeks. And she very nearly succeeded, but not for the reasons she thought.
She had a fiery nature that matched her gorgeous flaming mane of hair.
“Are you going to lurk behind me while I study?” she snapped one afternoon when we’d arrived at the old library in town.
“Sure am, Little Red.”
“Little Red? Does that make you the Big Bad Wolf?”
I remembered freezing at her correct guess at the nickname I’d earned while working as an enforcer for Adrik Volkov. But I said nothing about that.
I didn’t want to mar the pretty princess in her ivory tower with any of my darkness.
“Anyway, might as well grab a book then. If you can read,” she’d muttered.
“Got a recommendation?” I asked, not able to stop myself from goading the razor tongued beauty.
“Sure. How about this?” she’d said, flinging a copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude at me.
“I’ve read it. In English and Spanish. Got any other recommendations?”
“You can read in Spanish?” she asked, curiosity flaring in her green irises.
After that, we talked about everything. I fell for her like a ton of bricks, but I never crossed the line. Not until her eighteenth birthday, and no, it shouldn’t have fucking mattered.
It wasn’t like hours or minutes or seconds suddenly made her an adult, but Meredith was unlike anyone I’d ever met. Maybe it was that fancy school or her sheltered upbringing.
We spent weeks together. And in those weeks, I’d shared more about my personal life with her than I ever had with anyone else.
That was still true today.
And that was why I was about to do the unthinkable.
I’m going to marry my enemy.