“Gotcha.”
“Besides, Granddad’s not doing so well and this would be his fourth marriage. We know how the others ended after Grandmother passed away.”
“I know. They took him to the cleaners every time. It’s amazing he still has any assets left. Don’t worry, cuz. We’ll protect our grandfather from any more heartbreak.”
“The thing what bothers me the most is that I don’t think he realizes what he’s getting himself into. He only just met this woman three months ago.”
“Well, she is his nurse, cuz.”
“Yes, I know. But she is also aware that he has that heart condition. Any unnecessary excitement and that would be it for him.”
“I know,” Lucas agreed.
“Keep your men on it, Lucas. I want to find out everything about this woman and how she got to know Lucy Shillerton and this Dream Weddings company. I want to find out if there is a connection. Something is not adding up and I don’t like loose ends.”
“I hear ya, man!”
After Antonio finished his phone conversation he pulled up at one of his glass condominium high-rise buildings. He had already inherited his share of the Romero Realty from his own father but had merged it with his own investment firm and created his own corporation. It wasn’t like him to pull himself away from his work, but after hearing that his grandfather was going to tie the knot with a woman old enough, or young enough, to be his granddaughter, Antonio gave his right-hand person and chief administrative officer, Mariam, the go-ahead to take charge of his affairs for a while as he tended to “personal business.”
He was going to focus his energies on making sure no harm came to his grandfather. None what so ever. The doorman nodded to Antonio as he entered the marble lobby of his building. “Good afternoon, sir.”
Antonio absentmindedly nodded back while taking out his smartphone. He couldn’t wait until he got upstairs to his suite. There was something he had to Google and fast. As he entered the private area where his own personal elevator would bring him to his penthouse waited, he moved his fingers fast across the screen in the search box and typed in “Lucy Shillerton, Toronto, CEO.”
And sure enough, hundreds of sites popped up. He tried to see if she was on Facebook or LinkedIn. He went to her Facebook page to see if she had left it open for anyone to see who was on the system. Since he’d already logged in he should have no trouble if it was not private. Sure enough, there she was. She posted a beautiful photo for her profile picture yet it was not recent. The photo looked as if it was a few years old. Maybe from her college days. There was that reaction again. The cloth covering his groin area grew snug. Why on earth did that girl have that kind of effect on him? This was all too crazy. He wasn’t looking her up to stalk her. He was trying to see if he could see her Friends list to see if she knew Shelly, his grandfather’s new fiancée. Lucy had 127 friends and most of them were women. He scanned her page to see if she was one of those women who took selfies of themselves posing in sexy photos. None. Good. She wasn't a complete tart.
Why was he even going there? This was about business. This was about keeping his grandfather safe from scammers after his fortune. After all, his grandfather had made some Top 100 Wealthiest billionaire list some time this year, so it was only natural he would be concerned about gold diggers popping out from under rocks to be with him.
His grandfather’s last wife used him while she had her own boyfriend on the side. It was no wonder Antonio did not trust the not-so-fair feminine gender. All his life he’d seen them claw after his family’s money, fame and fortune. The sprawling estate north of Toronto hosted some of the finest parties—his father bequeathed him that home. But his parents had a bitter divorce and Antonio himself was hurt one too many time by opportunists. That was why he swore he would never marry. He would let his girlfriends know up front that it could never be anything more than physical and that was that. Sex but no love suited his lifestyle just fine, thank you very much.
Antonio entered his suite before long and continued to glance at the screen of his phone looking at any evidence or useful information he could find on Lucy. Who was she? What were her interests? He quickly scanned her likes, her friends list again, the type of quotes she posted on her wall and the type of stuff she in fact posted. The more he wanted to find something about her to dislike the harder it was. How on earth could he hate this woman?
One of her shared quotes caught his eye: "It’s not about who is real to your face…It’s about who stays real behind your back!”