The Billionaire's Revenge (The Blank Check #6) - Jeannette Winter Page 0,30
could hear her cell phone ringing in the kitchen. Jordan had a feeling he knew who that was. “You might want to listen to what I have to say before answering that.”
“You know who’s calling me? How?” she asked.
“I’m not positive, but I suspect it’s Marvin. I’ve had him followed.”
“You what? He’s your friend. Why on earth are you doing that? Is he doing something illegal?” she asked.
“No. He’s just adamant about finding you. And apparently he has.”
“You mean he knows where I live?”
“Right now he’s waiting for you outside of Today & Tomorrow. He’s been there for a while. That just shows me he’s not giving up, even though I told him to.”
“Jordan, I told you I can handle Marvin myself. I know him better than you think I do,” she said.
I don’t want to know how well.
“There’s things you don’t know about him Gianna. He hasn’t gotten any nicer over the years. And he really has his mind set on you. He wants you back,” Jordan warned.
“He never had me,” she laughed.
Jordan didn’t find this funny at all. He never forgot what Marvin did to Gianna. She was blindsided when Marvin didn’t show up for the wedding. Even Mary-Lou had told him how hard it’d been for Gianna. Now she’s acting as though it wasn’t such a traumatic experience after all.
“Even though I’d like to believe that, I know better,” Jordan stated firmly. “You need to take this seriously. Marvin is almost…obsessed with having you again. I’m not sure how far he’ll go to make that happen.” But he’s going to find out it’s not as easy as the first time.
“Jordan, do you remember I said I have something I need to talk to you about?” He nodded and she continued. “It’s about me and Marvin. I have never told anyone about this before, but I can’t…I mean…I can’t keep the lie going. Not with you.”
What lie? What was she hiding? He wasn’t so sure he was ready to hear what she had to say. But Marvin better pray it isn’t something horrendous, because even Sal won’t be able to stop him from confronting Marvin.
“I’m listening.”
Gianna put her mug on the coffee table and she got up and began to pace. Was she having second thoughts? It was probably because her phone was ringing again in the kitchen.
She stopped and said, “Excuse me for a minute.”
Jordan wanted to tell her not to answer it. Once Marvin had her on the phone, she might not ever tell him what she was about to. Instead he sat there waiting, but not for long. She returned just seconds later.
“I’m sorry. That thing was driving me crazy. I had to shut it off,” she said as she took her seat again. “Now. Where was I?”
“You were telling me about you and Marvin’s…relationship.”
“Actually, I was going to tell you the lack of it. I’m hoping you don’t think less of me once you know…what really happened,” she said.
Jordan reached over and took her hand in his. “Gianna, nothing you say is going to change how I think about you.” Can’t say the same about Marvin.
“You say that now, but I’m not so…confident. So where should I start?” she asked.
“How about from the beginning?” he suggested.
She gave his hand a light squeeze back before she said, “Marvin and I had been chatting on-line, nothing serious, just friends. He was funny and cracked a lot of jokes. And of course he did a lot of bragging. Talked about all the places he’d seen and things he’d done. I was only eighteen, but I knew even then only to believe half of the crap he was saying.
“Wise.”
“Not wise enough,” she said. “I kept talking to him. He was dating Rhonda at the time and would ask my opinion on what to buy her. Of course he was way out of my league and I shopped at the outlet stores, he was designer, all the way.”
Rhonda didn’t deserve a thing. Well, maybe she deserved Marvin. Jordan hadn’t expected Gianna to start that far back, but he said from the beginning.
“Well he was pissed off when Rhonda broke up with him. I mean, all he talked about was Rhonda and how he needed to get her back. He was desperate. I spent a lot of time listening to him talk about her. Nothing he tried was working so he came up with a plan.”