“It’s not undercutting,” Moira said, her tone brisk. “It’s a new venture. A younger venture. And I think your dad would surprise you. Also, I think my father would be more willing to sell at a…lower price to the three of us.”
Julianna scoffed. “He’s got a goldmine on his hands.” And she wasn’t talking about the precious metal. She had a better idea of the worth of the mines and the prototype after spending the past few months researching and she had an idea what her father should have bid. “Why would he let it go for pennies?” Echoing his statement, she met Moira’s eyes.
“It won’t be pennies,” Moira said, shaking her head. “But he won’t mind making less of a profit if he keeps the mines in the family, so to speak. I’ll be honest, he hates the idea of selling to some hedge fund group and the idea of a huge conglomeration getting their hands on anything that’s related to the company is almost as bad to him. And me. This is a family business and has been for more than a hundred and fifty years. If he sees a way to keep it so, he’ll be intrigued.”
“If that’s the case, why is he selling?”
“Because that’s how things are moving for the family.” Moira shrugged. “My brothers aren’t as focused on the mines and my sister wants to run the stores. There’s a new development in our tech arm that requires some additional financing—yes, he does want to make money off this, but I know how much he needs and how much he’ll settle for.” She gave Julianna a cat’s smile. “There are benefits to being close to the dealmakers, you know.”
“Why is your father going to turn down a solid offer to let you play CEO, Moira? Especially if he was originally looking to liquidate so he could have ready money?”
Moira waved a hand. “He’s liquidating to simplify as much as anything. And he has a fair share of the money he needs. He’s just being cautious. If we can get him half what he’ll need, he’ll cover the rest. I can almost guarantee it. As to why he’d turn down the offer…I already told you.” Moira leaned forward now. “I don’t know what the deal is, but Dad’s always loved both of your families. You know they’re friends, all three of them. Well, maybe not together, but Dad gets along great with your dad…but he also hangs out with Michael Montrose. They play golf…hell, my mother has spa dates with Roman’s mother, Ava. We’ve gone on trips with them.” She made a face. “Not as often now that we’re grown, but we went to Disney with them when I was ten.”
“I went to Disney with you!” I scowled at her.
“I know, right?” Moira laughed, waving it off. “The point is, Dad has a soft spot for the families. If he sees a chance to bring the two closer together, even if it’s just through you two, I think he’ll take it. He’s always hoped there would be a reconciliation.”
Thoughtfully, Julianna eyed Moira. “Do you have any idea what started this whole stupid feud?”
“No.” Moira shook her head. Then, with a conspiratorial smile, she added, “But I think you should have that talk with your mom. I get the feeling she knows.”
“Why?”
“Some things Dad has said.” Moira shrugged and reached for her glass of water. “But have that talk. You might find out yourself. Now…what do you think about my proposition?”
22
Julianna
Julianna found her mother in the greenhouse.
It was a lavish affair that had been added on one year as an anniversary present and more often than not, if her mother was home, she was either in the greenhouse or in the kitchen.
Since her father was still out of town, Julianna doubted her mother would bother cooking—she’d always said cooking for one was terribly boring.
Her first stop had been the greenhouse.
She found Janice pruning one of her prized rose bushes, her hair swept back from her face and for a moment, she just paused to study her mother. She was beautiful and love made her heart hurt.
“Mama.”
Janice glanced over, a smile curling her lips. “I had a feeling I’d see you tonight.”
“Did you?” Julianna asked, moving over to the low stone wall close to where her mother was and sitting down.
“Hmmm.” She met Julianna’s eyes, then her gaze moved down.
Julianna resisted the urge to curl her hand over the necklace she wore.
“I need to ask you something,” Julianna said. “And you may not want to tell me, but I need to know.”
“If I can tell you, I will.” Janice lifted her hands, spread wide. She wore her gardening gloves, a pair of Mickey Mouse ones Julianna and her sister Sarah had bought for Janice one Christmas as a stocking stuffer.
The sight of them made Julianna smile.
Janice glanced down, then grinned back at her daughter. “The two of you and the silly things you buy for me.”
“You always end up wearing them.”
“That’s so they don’t go to waste,” Janice said loftily.
But Julianna knew it was more than that. Her mother loved those silly gardening gloves, just like she loved the silly slippers and socks.
Janice peeled the dirty gloves off and sat down next to Julianna, reaching out to take her daughter’s hand. The gloves never protected her from all the dirt, but Julianna ignored it as she closed her fingers around her mother’s hand. “You know the story behind why Dad and Michael Montrose can’t get along, don’t you?”
Janice arched one elegant brow. “Is that what you came here to talk about?”
“Yes. I want…no, I need to know why,” she said, correcting herself. She needed to understand what the story was.
Janice sighed, looking away from her daughter. “It all happened so long ago.”
“The way they act, it might as well have happened yesterday,” Julianna pointed out.
“That depends on which one you’re talking about.” Janice shrugged. “Your father could easily let bygones be bygones. Michael, though…”
An odd look crossed her mother’s face, one that Julianna had never expected to see on her mother’s face. Not when it came to Michael Montrose.
Fondness.
“Mom?”
Janice blinked and the look was gone, just like that. But Julianna knew what she’d seen. And Janice realized it, too. The older woman tugged her hand from Julianna’s and reached up to pat at her hair. “I guess it’s time you hear the story. Especially considering…” She didn’t elaborate, but Julianna heard the unspoken words loud and clear when her mother’s gaze dipped to the locket once more.
“You know, your father and I felt something almost the moment he and I met. But…” Janice bit her lip and looked away. “We started dating, but it was casual. It stayed that way for a while, because I was also seeing somebody else.”
She took a deep breath then and shifted her gaze back to me. “It was his best friend, Michael Montrose.”
“His…what?” Julianna gaped at her mother, certain she’d heard wrong.
“You heard me.” Exasperated, Janice waved a hand. “Before this whole stupid feud, your father and Michael were best friends. Competitors, yes…but the Castle and Montrose families had been friendly rivals up until there was a falling out between your father and Michael.”
The pieces clicked—the words she hadn’t said finally coming to me. “They had a falling out over you.”
Her mother blushed, fidgeting a little. “I’m afraid so, yes. I’ve always hated that, too. Michael and Charles were so close, but when I chose your father over him, Michael just…”
“He couldn’t take it,” Julianna said shortly. She could see that. The sharp-edged man she’d met a handful of times struck her as the type of man who’d be a sore loser.
Did he pass some of that on to his son? She thought a moment about how Roman had reacted when he’d discovered his ploy to steal the prototype hadn’t gone unnoticed nor had she been unprepared. She also thought of how he’d reacted earlier at the restaurant.
She remembered what her father had said, wanting her to be happy and not thinking it could happ
en with a man who had been raised to hold a grudge.
And wow, could Michael Montrose ever hold a grudge. This was a thirty-year-old flame he’d been nursing. But, she’d seen Roman’s regret on his face that night in the elevator and she’d heard the pain in his voice when he said his father had threatened to throw Roman out of the family company and he’d stood firm for her. So, while she could easily accept the elder Montrose’s actions and accusations told of his inability to let go of something that happened decades ago, everything within her was saying that his son was simply not that sort of man.
“No, I guess Michael couldn’t,” Janice said softly.
Rising, Julianna started to pace the cobbled stone path that made up the floor of the greenhouse. “So, all of this…the machinations the Montrose family had used against us in business, even the attempt to steal the prototype, it all goes back to that?”
Janice nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
Julianna, once again, thought of the talk she’d had with her father, the almost wistful way he’d talked to her. There hadn’t been any bitterness in his voice when he’d told her not to harbor any fantasies about a relationship with Roman and she understood that now.
He wasn’t bitter.
He’d won the girl. Her parents were still madly in love with each other.
“Julianna.” Janice rose from the low wall where she’d been sitting, moving to cut her daughter off. Standing in front of Julianna, she lifted a hand to brush her finger across the locket’s engraved surface. “I know where you got this,” she said quietly. “Michael once tried to give me a necklace that had a M pendant, done in the same design.”
Julianna met her mother’s gaze.
“Are you in love with him?” she asked gently.
Julianna nodded, although it hurt to even think it, especially after what had happened earlier that day.
“Why does that hurt you?”
She wasn’t surprised her mother had seen it. Her mother had always been able to see beneath the surface so easily.
“We had a fight,” she said quietly. “It was ugly.”
“Fights usually are. But if you love him, he’s worth fighting for…and with.” Janice smiled a little. “I’ve fought with your father plenty.”
“You’re not upset,” Julianna murmured.
“We don’t get to choose where and when and who we give our heart to.” Janice shrugged. “Believe me, I know. Your father was the last thing I was looking for. Reckless and hotheaded…” She laughed softly, her head falling back, face awash with memories. Finally, she looked back at her daughter. “But he was exactly what I needed.”
Now, she reached up and covered Julianna’s shoulders with her hands, squeezing lightly. “You love him…so go to him. Fight for him. Fight with him again, if that’s what it takes. If he’s what you want, then I want him for you.”
“And what will Dad think?” Julianna whispered.
“In the end, your dad will want you to be happy.” Janice shrugged. “If it takes him a while to see that, then so be it. But I’ll support you, no matter what.”
* * *
Julianna took one of the family cars.
While she knew how to drive, she rarely did, but she wasn’t in the mood to rely on a taxi and it was too late to have John drive in from his home in Brooklyn to ferry her around.
The burgundy Jaguar clung to the streets, the powerful throaty motor all but begging for her to open up, but the streets of midtown Manhattan weren’t exactly made for that.
She arrived at Roman’s condo less than thirty minutes after she’d left the family estate and she still had no idea what she was going to tell him.
They were going to have a reckoning, that was for certain.
But what was she going to tell him?
Other than the fact that he’d been an ass and he needed to listen to her, of course.
That was the first thing she planned on saying.
But beyond that?
She wasn’t sure.
The conversation she’d had with Moira could wait until later. Some part of her had been turning the proposal over in her head and she was excited about it, but things between her and Roman needed to be settled first.
Her blood was up as she strode inside his building.
The doorman greeted her with a smile and she moved toward the security desk.
“Ms. Castle.” The man behind the desk greeted her with a smile.
Glancing at his nametag, she nodded at him and said, “Hello, Carter. Can you buzz me up?”
“Mr. Montrose isn’t in right now. He stepped out…oh, perhaps an hour ago.”
Well, shit.
Feeling deflated, Julianna headed back to her place, less than a fifteen- minute drive from Roman’s.
She could try calling him—and she would once she got home. But she had a feeling he wouldn’t answer.
“I’ll track him down, sooner or later,” she told herself as she stepped onto her private elevator.
It zipped up to her floor as she leaned against the back wall, feeling drained and tired.
It had been a bitch of a day and as much as she wanted to curl up in bed and just sleep the rest of it away, she knew she needed to at least try to contact Roman.
“Try,” she muttered.
Try to call him so he could ignore her. Try to text him so he could ignore those, too.
She stepped out of the elevator doors as they slid open, trudging toward her door with her gaze on her feet.
She was five feet away when she finally looked up.
And that was when she saw him.
Roman.
Standing right by her door.
23
Roman
Her eyes softened at the sight of him and he felt an echoing sensation in his chest, but Roman steeled himself against it.
They had shit to settle.
Namely, the way she’d been running around behind his back.
Shoving off the wall, he moved to cut her off. Her head tipped back and he watched as a veil fell over her eyes, blocking the softness he’d seen.
“Hello, Roman,” she said, her voice calm and cool.
So calm and cool, it pissed him off.
“I want answers,” he said in lieu of greeting. “What the fuck was going on earlier?”
Her eyes cooled even more and she gave him a withering look.
“If that’s the tone you’re going to take, we don’t have anything to discuss,” Julianna said, cutting around him and moving toward her door.
He heard the rattle of keys as he turned around.
As she unlocked the door, she tossed a comment over her shoulder at him. “You should go home and cool off. You’re welcome to come back after you’ve done so. But when you come back, you better have an apology for how you’ve acted today…and tonight, as well as for not trusting me. I love you. I’ll always have your back. Got it? And when you do come back, be prepared to have a conversation like a reasonable adult.”
She unlocked the door and slipped inside.
Roman gaped at her, her words bouncing around inside his head a moment before finally connecting. Once they did, he lunged forward, slapping a hand against the door just in time to keep her from shutting him out. “Wait!”
She eyed him narrowly.
“Just…wait. What did you say?”
With a disdainful sniff, she said, “Must I repeat the entire thing?”
“Ah, how about the part where you said you love me?” He gave her a charming smile and hoped she wasn’t going to shut him out.
Julianna swept her lashes down low over her eyes, not responding to him.
“Come on, Jules,” he said cajolingly, lowering his voice. “Let me in. We’ll…talk. We’ll have that reasonable conversation.”
After he kissed the hell out of her.
She loved him?
Why in the hell hadn’t she ever said so?
Why in the hell hadn’t he realized how much he needed to hear it?
>
Julianna finally huffed out a breath and backed away from the door, letting him slip inside. He shut and locked the door behind him, turning to face her across a span of a few feet.
She’d backed away from him and the distance was more than he could stand.
He moved toward her, eliminating that distance so he could reach up and catch a thick lock of her hair between his finger and thumb. “Tell me again,” he murmured.
“You should go home and cool off,” she replied, an edge in her voice. “Come back with an apology. You’ve been an ass today.”
He thought back, and realized she might be right. Especially in light of what she’d said—she loved him and she’d always have his back. If she did have his back…
He wouldn’t ever betray her like that. Why had he assumed she’d betray him?
He didn’t know why it had been so easy to assume that, except coming off the heels of the blow-up with his father, he’d been stinging from that blow. Maybe it had just made it easier to believe others were waiting to deal him a similar one.
And that hadn’t been fair to Julianna.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. Laying a hand on her cheek, he met her eyes and said, “You’re right. I’ve been an ass and I’m sorry.”
Her eyes softened the slightest.
“Now…” he said, a pleading note in his tone. “Will you tell me again?”
“You’re awful demanding today,” she huffed out. “Fine. I said I love you. Is that what you wanted—”
The rest of her words were spoken against his mouth as he crushed his lips to hers.
She caught a breath, drawing him in and he thought he could maybe drown in her. If so, he wouldn’t mind at all. Pushing her jacket open, he skimmed a hand down her side and pulled her flush against him. “I’m sorry,” he said again, fisting his free hand in her hair and tugging her head back. The curve of her neck elongated and he pressed his lips to the exposed arch, following the line of it down until it disappeared inside the seam of her top.
Hate On: A Standalone Enemies to Lovers Romance Page 14
