She was unbearably nervous, but she felt better knowing that she had Daniel by her side. Somehow Daniel always made things better. Emma remembered how after she’d lost her mother he held her for hours as she wept. He didn’t utter a single word; he just knew that she needed to grieve. Emma realized when she finally lifted off him, sore and red-cheeked, just how deep her connection to Daniel was. He understood her, he cared for her, and he’d been there for her in her darkest hour.
“Just let today go well,” she wished. If the meeting today went well, her company would have investors; she could finally start creating her fashion line and placing items in stores. Her dreams would come true. As excited as Emma was at the prospect of everything changing, she couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt when she glanced back at her house.
Earlier that morning she’d knocked on her father’s bedroom door, hoping he’d at least wish her good luck. Instead, only stony silence met her. He was still sleeping, probably sleeping off his latest hangover. She wanted to hate him, to blame him for not being a better father, but she understood his pain. Her mother’s death had left a gaping hole in both of their lives. While she filled hers with work and purpose, he merely drowned in sorrow and alcohol. If everything went well with her company, what would become of her father? Would she leave him alone in his mansion to drink himself to death like a lonesome Miss Havisham, forever lusting after happier times? It seemed too cruel a fate to leave her father alone, no matter how lost a cause he had become.
The sharp sound of a car horn signaled the arrival of Daniel and Damion. Daniel was driving, his black Mercedes coming to a halt just in front of the steps. Damion was riding shotgun. Emma waved to both of them before climbing into the back of the car. The interior of the Mercedes was blissfully warm.
“Hey, Ems,” Damion turned and greeted her as Daniel put the car back into drive and headed back the way he had just come.
“Damion, hey, feels like I haven’t seen you in forever.”
“I’ve been chained to my desk,” Damion admitted.
“Hopefully not for much longer.” Emma beamed. “After today, Designs by Delacourt will become a reality.”
Her optimism was infectious, and both Daniel and Damion smiled along with her.
“About that.” Daniel caught her eye in the mirror as he spoke. “We’ve been talking; how do you feel about Delacourt Designs as the name?”
Emma pouted in contemplation. She’d thought that the name of their company had already been settled upon.
“It’s just shorter,” Damion explained. “Which makes it easier to market, copyright, all that stuff.”
She trusted the guys. In their respective fields, they were at the top of their game. She knew that their advice was not to be pushed aside but to be taken on board. Any changes they suggested to her, they didn’t do so lightly.
“Delacourt Designs.” Emma tried the new name on for size, testing how it felt within her mouth. “Del-a-court Designs” she repeated, dragging the words out.
“I like it,” she concluded and nodded.
Daniel grinned and turned to Damion. “See, she’s beauty and brains.”
“So, are we all happy about what we have to say during the meeting?” Emma asked, sounding preppy and full of purpose like a freshly graduated kindergarten teacher. Both Daniel and Damion nodded.
“Is the business plan finalized?” she asked.
“It’s there next to you,” Daniel explained, unable to glance back as he joined the freeway. Emma glanced to her left and spotted the document. It was bound and boasted all three of their names neatly typed on the front. For a moment she swelled with pride; it all looked so professional, so grown up. They were finally doing it. The dream of working together was finally becoming real.
“It looks impressive,” she commented.
“It should, took me long enough.” Daniel grinned.
For a while they drove on with only the sounds of the radio between them, Emma poring over the business plan as her heart rate increased with each passing minute as they drew ever closer to their destination. She hated feeling like she was being judged. She knew that the investors would be looking at them as much as their business plan, and it was essential that they each portrayed the best versions of themselves. But Emma feared that the best version of herself was long gone. While she wasn’t as lost to grief as her father was, she was still lost.
She missed her mother’s guidance. Each and every day there would be a moment which left her winded by the epic emptiness of her loss. Whenever Emma fell into that void, she struggled to breathe. Today it had been as she left her bedroom. She’d selected a dress she’d created herself, part of her own range. It was smart and tailored to her shape. The deep blue of the fabric accentuated her dark hair and sky blue eyes. It was easily her favorite dress in the range. If her mother had been there, she’d have stopped Emma before she left, casting a caring eye over her choice of outfit. Then she’d have given her daughter her blessing, held her close, and wished her luck.
Instead, her mother was gone, and her father couldn’t even get out of bed to say goodbye to her.
“Ems, you all right?” Damion sounded concerned. He’d turned around in his seat so that he was facing her.
“Yeah.” Emma nodded, though her voice trembled. She realized that a tear had broken free from her eye and danced its way down her cheek.
“Dammit.” She fumbled in her purse for a tissue. “I don’t want to ruin my makeup.”
Emma rarely wore makeup. She didn’t see the need. But the times when she did apply a bit of mascara and some lipstick, she looked stunning. She had the long, lean elegance of a model and the flawless features of a movie star.
“Were you thinking about your mom?” Damion asked. “I know it was the anniversary this weekend, and it must have been hard.”
Emma sniffed and wiped away her single tear, refusing to let grief steal this day from her. It had already stolen so much, and it wasn’t going to have this too, she wouldn’t let it.
Daniel’s hands tensed on the wheel as he drove. It was his job to comfort Emma. She was his girlfriend. But Damion didn’t know that yet.
“I want today to be positive,” Emma declared, forcing a smile. “I’m tired of being sad all the time.”
“Today will be positive,” Damion reassured her. “Today we make Delacourt Designs a reality.”
“Okay, guys, time to put on your game faces,” Daniel said as he slowed the car and entered a parking lot. “We’re here.”
Stepping out of the Mercedes, Emma took in the grand building they were about to enter. It was basically a sheer wall of glass, sparkling in the faint morning light. It looked like it belonged in another world.
“They’re located on the twenty-seventh floor,” Daniel explained as he straightened his suit. Damion did the same, smoothing down his jacket. Both men looked devastatingly handsome. Emma’s sadness over her mother gave way to immense pride at being best friends with such dashing, accomplished men who would do anything for her.
“Are we ready?” Daniel placed an arm around Emma and guided her towards the building. He smelled like cinnamon and oak. With him so close, she fought the urge to kiss him. Over the weekend they’d agreed to tell Damion, but not until the meeting was over. It didn’t seem right to drop a bombshell on him before such an important event.
“Let’s do this,” Damion declared as they all strode across the parking lot. Emma’s teeth chattered in her head, partly from the cold and partly from nerves.
Unlike Emma, this meeting for the boys was normal. They were used to speaking with people who had more money than sense. They were accustomed to high-powered meetings. They walked with a confidence that suggested nothing fazed them. Used to shopping at the low-end convenience store, Emma hid beneath the façade of her name. She didn’t have money; all the Delacourts had left were debts. What if the investors knew that? What if somehow they knew about her father and wanted nothing to do with her? Emma trembled
at the thought.
“It’s fine, Ems.” Daniel squeezed her shoulder. “We’ve already got this. The meeting is basically a formality, trust me.”
Entering the building, Emma saw that the flawless design of the exterior carried through effortlessly to the lobby. The large open space contained a stainless steel desk, behind which sat two receptionists wearing crisp white shirts. The walls were marble, setting off the stainless steel of the various elevator doors.
“It’s so fancy,” Emma breathed, trying not to look too in awe. It had been so long since she’d been anywhere like that. Growing up, fancy homes, schools, and hotels were a stable fixture within her life. But after her mother died, all that changed. Now luxury was foreign and strange. Emma felt more at home in the convenience store amongst the sale-priced cereal boxes, as if she’d forgotten how to be rich.
Inside the elevator, Damion pressed the relevant button, and they ascended towards the higher parts of the building. Emma’s shoulders tensed with nerves. She kept rerunning in her mind what she had to say, how she was going to say it.
“Everything will be fine,” Daniel told her with certainty as they exited the elevator and walked along a pristine marble corridor.
“It’s a nice building,” Damion commented. Emma’s eyebrows darted up at the lackluster word. Nice. The building was heavenly, gorgeous, like a modern-day castle. Much more than nice but perhaps not to Damion, as his family owned property all over the world. Both he and Daniel lived like modern-day princes, when they weren’t working.
They arrived at the door beyond which was the conference room where the investors would decide their fate. Daniel raised his hand to knock against the solid wood, but Emma stayed his hand.
“Wait,” she breathed.
“Are you ready?” Daniel looked down at her, lines forming around his eyes.
Emma took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, keeping her eyes locked on Daniel the whole time.
“I’m ready,” Emma declared, jutting her chin forward and putting her shoulders back. She tried to channel all her confidence, not that she had much. Even in prep school, she’d been the girl nervously lingering at the back of the class. She didn’t like being the center of attention. When they entered that room, all eyes would be on them. The investors would look upon her designs and judge both her and them in equal measure.
“We’re right here with you,” Damion whispered. And they were. Daniel and Damion flanked her on each side. They made her feel strong, as though she could do anything. For so many years, they had lifted her up and carried her when she couldn’t walk. Now they were doing it again, her unflappable, reliable knights in shining armor.
“Okay.” Emma nodded and signaled for Daniel to knock upon the door. Seconds later they breezed in, oozing confidence and glamor, each full of a steely determination to succeed.
The trio emerged from their meeting victorious. Emma was smiling so much that her cheeks ached.
“We did it,” she gushed to her new business partners. “We actually did it!”
“Told you we would.” Damion smiled.
“I can’t believe it.” Emma trembled, feeling completely overwhelmed. She’d been so nervous about the meeting with the investors that she never stopped to consider how she’d feel once it was over.
“Well, believe it,” Daniel told her, grinning. “Delacourt Designs is now a reality. This fall we will reveal our first line to the world.”
“Oh God, I feel sick,” Emma said, placing a hand upon her stomach and leaning forward. The whole world would get to see her designs. It was too much to take in.
“Hey, Ems, take a deep breath. It’s one step at a time, remember?” In the elevator as they headed back down to the lobby, Daniel spoke soothing words of comfort to Emma and ran his hand down her back as she bent over clutching her stomach.
Damion looked on, watching the familiarity with which Daniel touched her.
“I’ve got so much to do,” Emma declared, straightening. “I need at least six more designs, and then we’ve got to start manufacturing and finding shop space...”
“Let us worry about that,” Daniel told her. “Your job is to create the designs. Focus on that.”
Emma nodded. Her stomach continued to flip-flop. Over the course of one meeting, lasting thirty short minutes, everything had changed. Her dream of a design company was now set to become reality. It was amazing, it was wondrous, and she couldn’t have done it without the two guys standing in the elevator with her.
“You guys were amazing,” she said.
Damion glanced over, softening at the compliment.
“I honestly couldn’t have done this without you.” She drew them close for an embrace, the three of them locking arms and holding one another close. Reminiscent of their school days, they had hugged much more regularly then. It was less awkward when sexual tension didn’t exist.
“We were happy to help.” Daniel smiled as they pulled away from one another, and the elevator doors slid open to reveal the main lobby of the building.
With their heads held considerably higher than when they’d first walked in, the threesome headed back out to the parking lot and to Daniel’s waiting Mercedes.
“I just hope everything works out,” Emma admitted as self-doubt began to creep into her mind.
Daniel stopped and turned to face her, looking deep into her eyes so that her body shivered with delight.
“Of course it will.” He sounded certain, and his certainty gave Emma comfort. “This is everything you’ve ever wanted. It’s all coming together.”
Held in Daniel’s gaze, Emma felt drawn to him, desperate to seal their victory with a deep, longing-filled kiss. She tilted her head and edged closer to him.
“Look,” Damion said, striding towards them. He was ready to make his own feelings known, to tell them how horrid they were for keeping their romance in the dark from him. He wasn’t prepared to be made to feel like a third wheel, especially as they embarked on a new business venture together.
“I think you both owe me an explanation,” he said, his nostrils flaring with hostility.
Emma turned and looked at him with wide, fearful eyes while Daniel turned scarlet beside her. It was obvious they both knew exactly what he was referring to, which only added insult to injury.
“Damion.” Daniel spoke first, his voice wavering as he tried to find the right words. This wasn’t how they had planned to tell him.
The sound of Emma’s cell phone chirping brought the conversation to a halt. Sighing, though grateful for the distraction, she retrieved it from her purse and saw her father’s number flashing on the screen. Her father never called her. Her blood ran cold.
“It’s my dad,” she said to the two men. Daniel and Damion exchanged worried glances. They, too, knew that Emma’s father never called.
Taking a deep breath, Emma answered the call. “Dad?”
“Emma, where are you?” Sebastian Delacourt sounded agitated.
“Where am I?” Emma was immediately indignant at her father’s inability to remember her all-important investors meeting that morning.
“Dad, I’m at my investors meeting. You’d know that if you weren’t so blind drunk all the time!” She gripped her cell phone until her knuckles turned white.
“Shit, sorry.” Her father actually sounded regretful. Then his agitation returned. “When will you be home? Will you be back soon?”
Emma sighed. What did he want now? If he were asking her to pick up more liquor on the way home, the answer would be a clear no.
“I’ll be back in an hour or so,” she said, her voice tense.
“Good, we need to talk,” her father told her ambiguously before ending the call. Bewildered, she looked to Daniel and Damion.
Both men came to her aid, any initial animosity between them replaced by protective feelings for the girl they loved.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Daniel reassured her.
“Absolutely,” Damion agreed. “I wouldn’
t worry.”
But Emma was beside herself with worry as her stomach knotted itself.
“I’d best go find out,” she said, wishing that her father hadn’t managed to cast a shadow over what was supposed to be a joyous day for her.
PLANS FOR A CELEBRATORY meal had to be shelved as Emma hurriedly returned to her crumbling manor. Her father needed to talk, which sounded more than a little bit ominous. As they drove back, her mind pondered what bombshell he could possibly drop that he hadn’t already. Sebastian Delacourt had lost his job, his home, his friends, and his self-respect. Surely, he had nothing left to lose. Or so Emma thought.
Both Daniel and Damion offered to come into the house with her, but she refused the noble gesture. She needed to face her father alone. More than anything, she didn’t want any potential shame intensified by her best friends being present to witness it. Eventually Daniel drove away reluctantly, insisting that he would return in a couple of hours to check Emma was okay, and then they could finally go out and celebrate the birth of their new business.
As Emma entered the house, it was cold. They no longer had the funds to heat the vast building. She had to rely on a plug-in heater in her bedroom, which she’d move to the kitchen when she cooked.
“Dad,” she called out for him. He’d summoned her back, where he was. The least he could do was greet her and not leave her waiting.
After a few minutes, her father appeared, and Emma gasped in shock when she beheld his appearance. While still in his housecoat, he now boasted two freshly blackened eyes and a bloodied lip, and as he walked, he hobbled slightly, hinting at further injuries.
“Dad, what the hell happened?” She rushed to his side, holding him up as she guided him to a moth-eaten sofa in the grand living room. It was now the sole piece of furniture within it.
“We need to talk.” Sebastian winced. Once she settled him on the sofa, Emma surveyed his wounds. They looked deep and sore.
Designing Emma (Volume 1) Page 3
