Page 39 of His Prize
Israel slowly looked over at me, and I saw his brother already had him on the hook. I wasn’t so convinced, though. I mean, we were talking about the same man who—not two weeks ago—tried to end our marriage by painting me to be a cheating liar! How in the world did Israel expect me to forgive this man just because he wanted to swindle us into taking his offer by booking every nice room in the city?
“You’re going to have to do better than that,” I said.
Then, Gio’s eyes met mine. “I’m sorry, Bonnie. Truly, I am. What I tried to do to you was wrong and conniving, and I should have had the balls to stand up to Dad when he asked me to do it.”
Israel pierced him with a glare. “That shit you pulled was all Dad’s idea?”
Gio nodded. “Every bit of it.”
I needed to accept his apology, but I wasn’t ready to forgive him just yet. We didn’t have any way of proving that he was telling the truth, and it wasn’t as if I trusted the man. My hope was that Israel didn’t fall for it so easily, though.
I needed him in my corner with this.
“You know Dad’s wrath is going to fall on your shoulders if he finds out you’re helping us, Gio.”
I snickered. “Israel, you can’t be serious right now.”
Gio shrugged. “I suppose worse has happened.”
Israel looked down at his lap full of keycards. He shuffled through them until he found the one that matched this hotel, then he handed the rest back to Gio. Without a word, he got out of the car. So, I followed his lead. I opened my door and clamored out, quickly walking around to take up my place beside Israel.
“Fancy a drink at the minibar, Gio?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Wonderful.”
Gio smiled. “Don’t mind if I do. I’ll make us all a nice, stiff drink.”
We headed into the hotel and up to the penthouse without bothering to stop at the front desk. I didn’t know what kind of twilight zone I had stepped into, but I didn’t like this one bit. Something smelled fishy. Something didn’t sit right with me.
So, when we stepped into the elevator, the questions started flying. “How did you book every penthouse so quickly?” I asked.
Gio chuckled. “You give any hotel in this city our last name and they automatically assign those kinds of rooms to us.”
Israel nodded. “Isn’t that the truth.”
I snickered. “Uh-huh. And, how did you know we’d be at this exact hotel?”
Israel furrowed his brow. “That’s a good question, actually.”
Gio shrugged. “Israel’s easy to predict. It’s one of the things Dad and I can track about him, to a tee. I knew he’d want to come here because it’s the best this area has to offer. And since he’s obviously falling in love with you—”
“Can it,” Israel said curtly.
I cocked my head. “He’s what?”
Israel pinned me with a glare. “I said, new topic.”
I looked over at Gio, and he gave me a knowing grin. But, I didn’t get to revel in the moment for very long. The second the elevator doors opened, it poured us into the living room of the penthouse suite. And even I had to take a moment to ogle at its beauty.
“Wow,” I whispered.
Gio nodded. “And I have to admit, my brother’s always had good taste.”
Israel hung up his coat. “Damn right, I do. Now, get to making those drinks. I’ll order us something for dinner from the kitchen.”
I scoffed. “We’re feeding the stray, too?”
Gio barked with laughter. “Oh, Bonnie. You never cease to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.”
