Page 13 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8
Her nostrils fluttered with her aggrieved breathing. ‘I’ve been scrubbing your damn boat all damn day. So I took a break for five minutes. Big deal.’
‘It was more like thirty minutes. And scrubbing my boat is one of your assignments. If you don’t like it, I’m happy to fire you.’
‘There are labour laws against what you’re doing, you know.’
‘Feel free to call the authorities, then,’ he taunted. ‘Oh, wait, we’re on international waters so I guess you’re out of options, Miss Chatterton. Whereas I’m not.’
Her eyes sparked in anger, then chanced a glance behind her into the inky waters of the Pacific. ‘What are you going to do? Are you going to save yourself the trouble of dealing with me by throwing me overboard?’
‘Don’t tempt me,’ he rasped.
Willow inhaled sharply. Then she corralled every ounce of her composure. ‘Look, Mr Tagarro, I know the circumstances of my presence on board don’t thrill you. Trust me, this is the last place I want to be myself. But surely we can get this over with if you’ll only hear me out?’
‘No.’
She clenched her jaw to stifle a frustrated scream before she loosened it. ‘For God’s sake, just—’
‘You can keep doing the job you signed up to do, plus whatever else I deem necessary, or you get fired, in which case Rebecca and Ripley get fired along with you for allowing you on board my yacht. That’ll be a shame and put me in a worse mood because until very recently, I appreciated their work ethic. But you should know they’ll probably sue the pants off you the moment you set foot on dry land.’ He shrugged lazily and the movement reminded her that he still held her captive. That she could feel the imprint of his hands on her waist. ‘I might even pay for their legal representation.’
Her jaw sagged at the cool, indolent way he outlined her less than ideal fate. She managed to hang on to her dwindling composure by the skin of her teeth, her heart pounding harder at the thought of any of what he’d threatened reaching the outside world.
While most things in her life had become tainted by indifference, lies and broken promises, the piano and violin had been her true, unwavering sustenance. Her way of bolstering herself and experiencing beauty when shades of grey closed in on her. She’d entered the competition to join the elusive, once-in-a-lifetime Mondia Symphony Orchestra on a whim, scarcely believing she would place.
Now she had a potentially life-defining acceptance email sitting in her inbox. An email she was avoiding because what would realising one dream mean if she walked away from her reality without a fight? If she cut ties with her father without discovering the root of their discord no matter how dire?
‘Tell me why you despise Paul Chatterton so much.’ She blurted the words out before she could stop herself, her belly twisting as his face instantly hardened.
‘You will not say his name in my presence.’ The words were guttural, wrenched from a dark, ominous place.
Earning both confirmation and denial in one breath zipped another bolt of frustration through her. ‘So I’m right? You know my father? Are you the reason behind Chatterton Financial’s recent troubles?’
Jario’s jaw clenched tight, then he released her abruptly, putting the distance of his deck between them, before spinning to face her. His fierce features made her take a step back. ‘Whatever this act you’re putting on is, I recommend you drop it while my last nerve is still intact.’
The unexpected response made her frown. ‘An act? I don’t have time for games, Mr Tagarro. As I’m sure you don’t. I want to know what’s going on. Now we’ve established you know my father, if you’d tell me why you’re so upset—’
‘Upset?’ he echoed gratingly, both eyebrows risen in incredulity. The air crackled with his seething emotions as he slowly approached, intense,lividdisbelief etched deep into the chiselled perfection of his face. ‘Are you for real right now?’ The question was softly voiced but infinitely more deadly.
Willow glanced away from the mesmeric eyes but almost immediately she was compelled back. ‘Of course, I’m serious,’ she murmured, slicking her tongue over dry lips. Then, because she needed to be certain, she kept pushing. ‘So you admit you are behind this?’
His gaze openly derided her. ‘Your tone suggests you think I was trying to hide something. I was not. In fact, I was hoping your father would come out of hiding and openly face me.’ His eyes scoured her from head to toe, a sneer tainting his lips. ‘Instead, he’s proved he’s not just a coward but one who has no shame hiding behind his own child.’
She gasped at the excoriating tone, even as her belly hollowed out at the confirmation that she’d at least uncovered this truth—something desperately alarming had happened between these two men. ‘God, why do you hate him so much? What did he ever do to you?’
Eyes flaring in genuine shock, he let out a vicious laugh. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you? You really came here clueless as to why he sent you?’
Heat rushed into her face at his mockery. It took monumental effort to fold her arms and hold in her temper. Not to...dear God, slap his handsome face. That wouldmost definitelyget her thrown overboard!
And while she would probably welcome the oblivion for a nanosecond, the knot of determination that had grown and hardened to become unshakeable these past few months, insisted there was no other course but this.
She was tired of being lied to, taken advantage of, so no, she most definitely would not be going out like that!
With each second that passed, she knew this was the right stance. That digging for the truth to find whatever Jario was withholding from her would determine whether it was worth cutting her losses or staying and demanding better than the crumbs of care and devotion she’d been tossed thus far. Would determine how she lived the rest of her life.
‘For the record, he didn’t send me. I came here on my own. And you can insult me all you want. I still need to know why you’re coming after him.’
For an age he stared at her, eyes gleaming with emotions she couldn’t entirely decipher, although disbelief and suspicion remained while her heart sprinted around her chest like it’d been supercharged with the purest adrenaline.
Eventually, he shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels, the move so suave he could’ve been at a cocktail party exchanging pleasantries with friends. If not for the volcano rumbling from his very essence.