Chapter 8 - THE PHONE CALL
The air in the bridal suite turned instantly to ice.
Billy stopped breathing. She stared at Sabine, unable to comprehend the sheer, casual cruelty of the threat.
“What did you say?” Rafe asked, his voice dropping into a deadly, quiet register that made the fine hairs on Billy’s arms stand up.
Sabine yanked her wrist free from Rafe’s grip, stepping back and smoothing down her cashmere sweater. She looked triumphant, cornered but incredibly dangerous.
“You heard me,” Sabine sneered, pulling her own sleek cell phone from her purse. “I told you, Rafe. I planned for every contingency. If you burn my company down, I burn her family down.”
“You don't have the power to touch her mother,” Rafe said coldly.
“Oh, really?” Sabine laughed, a harsh, grating sound. She held up her phone, tapping the screen. “Martha is a very loyal caregiver, Rafe. Especially when I pay her five times what the state does. She’s at the house right now. One text from me, and Deardra Ror has a sudden, tragic medical emergency. A stroke victim... so fragile. Who would ever question it?”
Billy’s heart hammered a frantic rhythm against her ribs.
Martha. The caregiver. She hadn't just stolen the files; she was sitting in the Dorchester house right now, alone with a woman who couldn't move or speak.
“Don't,” Billy pleaded, taking a desperate step toward Sabine. “Please. Take the patent. Take the house. Just don't hurt her.”
“Get back, Billy,” Rafe ordered softly, raising his arm to block her from getting closer to Sabine.
He looked at Sabine, his dark eyes entirely devoid of emotion. He was a man accustomed to violence, but he rarely saw it wielded so casually by someone standing in a luxury bridal suite.
“If you send that text, Sabine,” Rafe said, “you aren't just committing fraud. You’re ordering a murder. I will not let you walk out of this room alive.”
Sabine scoffed, though her hand trembled slightly. “You won't kill me in your own hotel, Rafe. You’re a businessman. You don't want the mess.”
“You have no idea what I am,” Rafe whispered.
He didn't move. He didn't reach for a weapon. He just stared at her with the cold, absolute certainty of a predator.
Sabine hesitated. Her thumb hovered over the send button.
Suddenly, Rafe’s cell phone buzzed in his pocket.
The sound broke the suffocating tension in the room.
Rafe didn't take his eyes off Sabine. He slowly reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and answered it on speaker.
“Speak,” Rafe commanded.
“Boss, it’s Enzo,” a gruff voice crackled through the speaker.
Sabine’s arrogant smile faltered.
“Report,” Rafe said.
“I’m at the house in Dorchester,” Enzo said casually, the sound of a television playing faintly in the background. “I found the caregiver, Martha.”
Billy let out a shaky breath, pressing her good hand against her mouth.
“And?” Rafe asked.
“She was packing her bags to leave,” Enzo chuckled darkly. “Had a nice thick envelope of cash sitting on the kitchen table. And the stolen files.”
“Is she secure?” Rafe asked.
“Yes, Boss. She’s currently tied to a dining room chair, reconsidering her life choices,” Enzo confirmed. “And the mother is perfectly safe. Sleeping like a baby.”
Sabine stared at the phone, all the blood rushing out of her face, leaving her pale and trembling. She had lost her only piece of leverage.
“Bring Martha, the cash, and the files to the warehouse,” Rafe ordered. “And leave two men at the house to protect Mrs. Ror.”
“Understood, Boss.” The line went dead.
Rafe slipped the phone back into his pocket. He looked at Sabine, the silence stretching out like a tightwire.
“It seems your contingency plan failed,” Rafe said smoothly.
Sabine backed away, her eyes darting frantically toward the heavy double doors. “You... you can’t prove she was working for me.”
“I don't have to,” Rafe said. He picked up the dismantled blue gown from the floor and tossed it onto the sofa. “I’m calling the investors, Sabine. Your brand is finished. And when the DA sees the forged loan documents, you’ll be spending the next ten years in federal prison.”
Sabine shook her head, tears of pure, desperate rage finally spilling over her eyelashes.
“You can’t do this to me, Rafe!” she screamed, dropping her phone. “We were supposed to run this city together! You need me!”
“I never needed you,” Rafe said coldly. “I tolerated you because you were profitable. But you crossed a line when you forged my signature to steal a sick woman’s house.”
He turned his back on her, dismissing her entirely.
“Get out of my hotel,” Rafe ordered. “If I see you in Boston again, I won't call the police.”
Sabine stared at his broad back, realizing he was entirely serious. She didn't say another word. She turned and fled the bridal suite, the heavy doors slamming shut behind her.
Billy stood in the quiet room, the adrenaline suddenly draining from her body, leaving her exhausted and shaking.
It was over. Her mother was safe. The patent was exposed. Sabine was ruined.
She looked at Rafe. He was staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the morning traffic move silently along the street below.
“Thank you,” Billy whispered, her voice thick with unshed tears.
Rafe turned around. He looked at the ruined banquet server standing in the middle of a million dollars' worth of stolen couture.
“You don't have to thank me, Billy,” Rafe said softly, walking toward her. “I should have seen what she was a long time ago.”
He stopped a few feet away, his dark eyes tracing the exhaustion lines on her face.
“I’m transferring the patent back into your mother’s name today,” Rafe said. “My lawyers will handle the paperwork. And the eighty-thousand-dollar forged loan is being erased from your title.”
Billy stared at him, overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of what he was doing for her.
“Why?” Billy asked, the question slipping out before she could stop it. “Why are you doing all of this for a server you met last night?”
Rafe looked at her bandaged hand. He reached out, his large, warm fingers gently tracing the edge of the white gauze.
“Because for four years, you woke up at four in the morning to protect your mother,” Rafe murmured, his eyes locking onto hers. “You took a job serving people who treated you like garbage, just to get close to the truth. You bled on my floor, and you didn't even flinch.”
He stepped closer, the dangerous aura of the mafia boss completely giving way to a profound, quiet respect.
“I’ve met thousands of people in this city who claim to be loyal,” Rafe whispered. “But you are the bravest person I’ve ever met.”
Billy’s heart hammered against her ribs. She looked up into his eyes, feeling a strange, magnetic pull toward a man she should have been terrified of.
But before she could say anything, Rafe’s phone rang again.
He answered it, his expression hardening instantly.
“What is it?” Rafe barked.
He listened for three seconds. The color drained from his face.
“I’m on my way,” Rafe said, hanging up the phone.
May you like
He turned to Billy, his eyes wide with a sudden, terrifying urgency.
“We have to go,” Rafe said, grabbing her uninjured arm. “Sabine didn't leave the hotel.”
