Tycoon Takedown by Ruth Cardello Read Free Book Online Page A

talk to them. She could wait until tomorrow morning.
    She put the paper into her back pocket again. For some reason, she heard her father’s voice in her head: “Nothing worth doing is ever easy.” It was one of his favorite sayings and one that sh e’d rolled her eyes at every time h e’d said it. Today she clung to it.
    Just because this isn’t easy doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to do.
    Hopefully, it means the exact opposite.
    She hadn’t told her parents she was going to New York, and this was the first moment sh e’d regretted not telling them where she was. Even though she was on speaking terms with them again, they weren’t what she would call close. They talked around everything that mattered.
    It took distance to allow Melanie to see the role she had played in that as well. When sh e’d discovered that she was pregnant, sh e’d been ashamed to admit it was from a man she barely knew. So when her parents had pushed her for the information about the baby’s father, sh e’d pushed back and said things sh e’d regretted the moment sh e’d voiced them.
    Sh e’d taken out her anger with herself and Todd on her parents. She saw that now. In a movie, her parents would have understood that and loved her through it. Well, life isn’t a fucking movie. In reality, anger doesn’t birth deeper understanding—it spawns more anger. And that’s exactly what had happened. Her father had gone nose to nose with her, met her anger with his own, and followed her threats with some of his own.
    She missed her parents in a way she hadn’t allowed herself to since sh e’d walked out of their home. She decided then and there to do something about it when she returned to Texas. I’ve come this far to meet Todd’s parents. I need to find a way back to my own.
    Her phone rang in her purse. Melanie paused in the middle of the street to dig it out. She looked at the caller ID before stepping to the sidewalk and answering.
    Charles.
    She laughed and shook her head. Of course it would be him. What a perfectly fucked-up way to round off the day . She answered it. “Hello?”
    “Where are you? Your hotel said you’re still checked in but you’re not there.”
    “You called my hotel?”
    Charles was silent for a moment. “Tell me where you are. I’ll come pick you up.”
    She looked around and read the sign. “I’m on East 23rd and Madison. I don’t need a ride. I’m only six blocks from my hotel.”
    “I’m on my way.”
    A nervous shiver went up her back and she paused from walking again. There was something in his voice. “Did something happen?”
    Before he had time to answer, Melanie felt herself being pulled nearly off her feet as a young man grabbed her purse off her shoulder and started to run away with it. All the emotions that had been building within her that day rose and fused in a fury sh e’d never before experienced. “I’ll kill him,” she growled.
    “Who? What are you talking about?” Charles demanded.
    “Some little bastard just robbed me. He is not getting away with it.” Melanie hung up on him, stuffed her cell phone into her front pocket, and took off running after the man who had taken her purse. He was fast, but she was faster. She grabbed one of his thin arms and swung him around, causing him to fall as his momentum continued to pull him forward.
    He scrambled to his feet. He was tall, but upon closer inspection looked like he was no older than his late teens.
    Melanie advanced on him. “Give me back my damn purse.”
    He whipped out a small knife. “Don’t be stupid, lady. I don’t want to have to hurt you.”
    Melanie took another step toward him. “My son cuts his food with bigger knives than that. One of us is going to get hurt, but I can guarantee you it’s not going to be me. Now, one last time before I kick your ass. Give me back my purse.”
    Charles barked Melanie’s location to his driver and cursed his decision to request a limo for the day. He normally