“Shut your mouth,” he hissed, slamming the lid shut on the briefcase. “And not that it’s any of your business, but Kieran and I are both in a relationship with Lore.”
“Bullshit.” She snorted, waving off the declaration like it was a simple fib. “You can barely love one person, let alone two.”
“No, Mia, I just can’t love you.”
Her cold eyes turned on him, eyebrows angled down in her usual scowl. “Where’s my money, baby?”
The mocking way she said the word, a word she used to coo to him in the early hours of the morning, rousing his body to make love to one another. He remembered feeling such bliss on their honeymoon, thinking this was it, the end-all and be-all of love. Little did he know there were two people out there with such love to give him, love that would open his heart to all sorts of possibilities. Love that made him see he was worth more than to be constantly trapped and tortured by the stickiness of Mia’s web.
“In the ether, where it’s staying. I’m not paying you.”
She stood, squaring her shoulders as if she was preparing for battle. “Then you better get Wayne ready for another long series of alimony court cases. He just loves those, especially where you’re involved.”
Nolan paused in closing up his office for the night, staring at the gaunt woman who used to laugh and enjoy little things. “What happened to you, Mia? You were so vibrant and gentle and giving—”
“You happened, baby. You broke my heart and made me this.”
“You became this before you outed me. You’re bitter and cold and only want a man for his money. You can dig for mine all you want, but you’re not getting a damn cent. I pray to whatever higher power rules our lives that you will never have any children. If you do—”
She smiled cruelly. “We would have had beautiful babies together; such a pity.”
His heart hurt at the reminder, thinking how different his life would have been if he’d had a child. Lore would be a wonderful mother, with Kieran and himself helping and coddling her during the pregnancy. She’d had her tubes tied, a choice he respected, but they could still adopt if she didn’t want to have the process reversed or if it was too late.
“If you had been attacked, or we couldn’t afford to have a child, or you desperately, insanely did not want to have a kid, I would have stood by you when you had that abortion. I would never have forced you to do what you didn’t want to do. But you did it out of spite, knowing it would hurt me. You had your chance, and you threw it away.”
She grabbed her purse from the desk and headed toward the door. “Get your checkbook ready, asshole.”
“Get out.”
“G’night, baby.”
LORE LISTENED FROM the hallway near Wayne’s office to the confrontation between Enemy Numero Uno and her Nolan. The woman sounded like a pathetic and bitter old wench, leeching on whatever man she could bait with what Lore was sure were good looks and charm.
She had meant to surprise Nolan in his office. He had surely thought Wayne had met with Lore earlier in the day, not that she was there at that moment. As if she would ever come to his office and not take the chance to lock the door and make out with her man on his desk. She’d always wanted to do that. She hadn’t expected Wayne to go all father figure on Nolan and defend her honor. It was sweet but unnecessary. Nolan and Kieran would do everything in their power to protect and cherish her.
She heard the click-clacking of Mia’s heels as she exited Nolan’s office, followed by a distinct slam of his office door. Good, she didn’t need Nolan overhearing what she was about to do. No way in hell was she going to let this bitch mess with Nolan. The man was kind and wonderful and deserved better than this treatment. Mia had tortured him enough to last a lifetime; it was time for Nolan to be free of her. Lore took a deep breath and quickly formulated a plan, something that was a bit out of this world yet still in the realm of possibilities. She had the perfect idea. It was low, but she would stoop to any level to save Nolan from this woman.
“Excuse me,” Lore said, inching from the shadows. Mia jumped as she reached for the elevator button, her heels skidding on the marble floor. The woman was beautiful, as Lore had suspected. Gray eyes and bleached-blonde hair to match pouty lips and caramel-colored skin. She looked daring and radical yet seductive and intelligent. And she must have been intelligent, as Lore couldn’t imagine a lesser woman catching Nolan’s eye, even in his earlier years.
“Jesus, you scared me,” Mia said, patting her hair down. “I didn’t think there was anybody else in the office.”
“Oh, I had a late matter to discuss with my lawyer. You know how it is.”
“Yeah, me too.” Mia snorted, pressing the elevator button in a series of impatient stabs. “Man trouble?”
“Isn’t it always that?” Lore mumbled conspiratorially.
“You’re telling me, sister.”
“If only we could one day live without them.”
“It’ll never come.”
“Well, it should start for you sooner than you think, Mia.”
The woman paused as the elevator dinged its arrival, staring at Lore like she was a ghost. “Excuse you?”
Lore kept her voice pleasant, not wanting it to sound like she was threatening Mia, which was exactly what she was doing, even if the threats were empty. “Leave Nolan alone. Drop this baseless case against him.”
“I haven’t filed a suit yet, and who the hell do you think you are?” Her gaze flicked back to Nolan’s office for a second. “Were you eavesdropping?”
“Oh, no, I know all about you, Mia.”
Mia crossed her arms in confident defiance, putting on her ultimate bitch face. “You don’t know shit.”
“I do,” Lore whispered, folding her hands behind her back and taking a small step forward. Not enough to crowd but enough to let Mia know Lore wasn’t afraid of her. “I know you’ve been harassing your ex-husband for alimony he doesn’t owe you. I know you’re putting unnecessary stress on a man who should have the best of lives. And I know I told my father’s associates all about you when I learned how stressed my dear Nolan was becoming. They weren’t too happy to hear about it. All the uncles love Nolan.”
“Who the fuck is—”
“Don’t speak like that to me; my uncles don’t like it. My father, notorious arms dealer David Beyer, real name Edward Donaldson—you can Google him—left me with a great many associates as guardians. I call them uncles, of course; they’re the sweetest men. They practically raised me, always looking out for me and my friends.” Lore took another step forward, narrowing her eyes in determination. “Mia, Nolan is my friend, my good friend. They wouldn’t be pleased to hear some crazy lady wasn’t treating him well.”
“Are you threatening me?” Mia’s voice was strong, but Lore could see the uncertainty in her eyes. She was nervous.
“No, I’m just letting you know they wouldn’t be pleased, but that’s your decision to make.”
“Why should I believe you?”
“I told you, look up Edward Donaldson and read the articles about the sad little daughter he left behind, and how nobody in the press really believed my mother and I didn’t know what he was doing the whole time. You can decide for yourself what to believe.” She took one step closer, now eye to eye with the woman, her voice no louder than a whisper. “But believe me when I say that I know people, people who would jump at the chance to help me in honor of my father’s silence. Silence he kept in prison until the day he died.”
Mia visibly swallowed, stumbling back from Lore and dashing into the elevator before it closed.
“Leave Nolan alone, Mia.”
The elevator doors closed without Lore getting an answer, but she was pretty sure Mia had received the message loud and clear. If she proceeded with the case, Lore would have to think of some other way to scare her off, something she was at peace with, no matter how far from the path it took her.
“That was pretty devious of you, Lore,” Wayne said as he stepped u
p next to her and pressed the elevator button.
“Yup.”
“Feeling okay with that?”
“I’d do anything to protect them, Wayne. Anything.” Even give up every resolution she’d ever made and become deceptive like her father. She shook the thought away and turned to him with a relaxed smile, not wanting him to see the battle brewing in her mind.
“So you’ll send the IDs to the police tomorrow?”
“I’ll drop them off at the local bureau and say what we agreed, that you found the documents a few weeks ago but did not actually see what they were until yesterday. Upon realizing they were fake IDs, I promptly turned them over to the authorities.”
Wayne eyed her carefully as they stepped into the elevator. “You sure you want to do this? It will probably mean more investigations concerning your dad.”
“I’m sure. It’s time to wipe everything left of him clean.” And to start anew.
* * * *
Kieran sat on the top step of Lore’s childhood home, enjoying the warm breeze as he waited for Lore and Nolan to pick him up. He’d volunteered to sweep and mop the house while Nolan was at work and Lore ran some errands. She had been ecstatic, the great whoop of enjoyment and powerful bear hug she’d bestowed on him giving her away. Kieran enjoyed learning the little things about Lore as their relationship progressed, and a passionate dislike of cleaning was one of the more comical quirks of her character.
A mother and two children walked by, no doubt on their way home from school with their large backpacks and lunchboxes. Kieran picked up the small sketchpad and pencil lying by his hip. He’d disregarded the pad at first, not thinking he’d be struck by much inspiration in this smaller neighborhood, but as usual he was wrong. He couldn’t trust when or where the need to draw or paint or capture the simple beauty around him would strike. It was random, much like him.
As he sketched the quaint street, he took note of all the houses he’d come to know as he and Nolan frequented the block to help Lore out. He wasn’t very familiar with the neighborhood, but it was pleasant enough. He could understand why a couple would want to raise a family in the area. Good schools, low traffic, large lawns, and low crime. That is if you didn’t count the illegal arms dealer living with his wife and daughter next door.
The memory of Lore’s history here made his thoughts turn dark, reflecting in the new sketch he started. Instead of capturing the present-day, sunny suburban street, he found the sketched road covered with snow and surrounded by police vehicles. A dark figure coated in malice and regret was handcuffed and forced into the police car, and a little girl with long black hair gripped the porch and watched as every notion of her father was torn to shreds. Staring at the finished product, he shook his head. The whole scenario felt like something he’d watch on a crime procedural drama.
He tossed the sketchbook aside and stood, thinking he’d take a walk around the block to clear his mind. The memory of Lore’s face as she told her story flashed in his mind. The usual calm reserve had crumbled as the story progressed, revealing the tarnished layers of a woman scarred by her childhood. Scarred but not defeated. That’s what the three of them were, formed by but not the sum of their pasts.
Kieran stopped at the end of the walkway and looked up and down the block, imagining what New Year’s Eve might look like here. Christmas trees and menorahs would be in the living-room windows of the surrounding houses. Some mothers and fathers might be more keen to display their decorating prowess by bathing their homes in festive lights, a facet of the holiday season that never ceased to amuse Kieran. As his mind wandered, illustrating a snowy night in this corner of the world, one filled with spying eyes and police cars, something caught his eye, waking him from his creative revelry.
A black, unmarked car sat diagonally across the street from Lore’s childhood home. It seemed innocuous enough, but there was something tweaking Kieran’s gut, his intuition telling him the car was out of place. He could see the outline of a man in the driver’s seat, and if Kieran was a person prone to paranoia, he’d say the man’s gaze was focused in his direction.
Kieran was too inquisitive to let this go, so he lifted his hand in a pleasant wave, just one neighbor waving to another. He stepped off the curve to walk toward the car, and its engine revved, almost like a warning to keep away. Kieran shrugged it off and counted it as bad timing, needing to feed his curiosity about the mysterious car.
A car honked behind him as he reached the middle of the quiet street. He turned to see his lovers stepping out of Nolan’s car. He grinned as they waved at him in the midst of a conversation they were having.
“You could have told me you were in the room with Wayne as he went all daddy figure on me,” Nolan said in the petulant voice he used to imitate an annoyed teenager.
Kieran chuckled, having known Lore was going to surprise Nolan at his office today. Apparently the minx had engaged in a little teasing with Wayne. Wayne loved to torment Nolan, and really who could blame him? Sometimes the sexy man just made it too easy, but it was all in good fun.
The engine behind him revved again, making Kieran look back, and the black car pulled out into the street. Kieran only caught the face of a man with dark sunglasses. The guy nodded to Kieran as he passed and turned right once he reached the end of the block. That didn’t seem too ominous. Kieran was just overreacting, letting his imagination get the best of him.
“It’s not my fault you’re so gullible,” Lore said as Kieran looked back to them. “Wayne said he could hear you tremble in your seat.”
“Please.” Nolan laughed, resting his fists on his hips in a show of courage. “That man wishes I cowered whenever he spoke. More like laughed.” And then he laughed, outrageously loud and overexaggerated.
“Cool it, Nolan,” Kieran said as he ran up to the porch to grab his things and meet them back at the car. “That booming baritone voice is gonna cause an earthquake.”
“Maybe an earthquake in your pants,” Nolan muttered peevishly, getting back in the car.
Lore snorted and winked at Kieran before climbing back into the passenger seat. “Ah, such maturity for an accomplished lawyer.”
“Doesn’t it just warm your heart knowing he’s ours?” Kieran asked, settling into the backseat and leaning forward to kiss Nolan on the cheek.
“Yes,” she answered, wrapping her hand over Nolan’s where it rested on the steering wheel. “Every day.”
Chapter Sixteen
Lore smiled as the pasta sauce jar she considered buying from her local grocery store reminded her of Kieran’s face when he’d spilled sauce all over his favorite boxers the other night. Apparently underwear-only cooking was a thing at the guys’ house. When they told her she also had to conform to their rules if she wanted to eat the delicious food, she figured they’d let her get away with wearing a bra or a thin cami in addition to the panties. She should have known better. The men treated her the same way they dealt with each other, something she appreciated. They pushed and they pulled and they made her more comfortable in her own skin.
They weren’t fixing her, per se, but a relationship, no matter how many people participated, changed a person. This was something she hadn’t considered when accepting her involvement with them. But it was too late to go back now, and who the hell in their right mind would go back? She had two men to smile and joke with every day. Men who supported her and wanted to know her. They were good people, and they made her a better person. They made her happy. For the fifteenth time that day she felt a comforting weight of surety and love settle over her heart. So this was what being loved unconditionally felt like.
“Lore!”
Her spine straightened at the giddy shriek. She knew that obnoxiously perky voice. Lore plastered on a smile and placed the sauce jar in her cart, turning to see Kathy and her voluptuous curves bounce down the aisle toward her.
“Lore, I haven’t seen you since the last case meeting! Where have you been hiding?” Kathy was as vivacious as ever, but the
re was a small difference Lore couldn’t help but note in the woman. Her eyes were no longer dark with circles, and the smile wasn’t a facade to hide a mountain of shame for what was being done to her. She was a new woman, a stronger woman. Lore had to admit that even though Kathy could annoy the shit out of her, it was a relief to see the woman truly happy. She deserved it after all the crap that asshole had put her through.
“I’ve been around,” Lore said noncommittally. She didn’t want to end up being one of those people blocking aisles as they engaged in a deep conversation in the supermarket.
“Listen,” Kathy started, adjusting the purse strap on her shoulder and shifting on her feet. “I know you’ve been avoiding me.”
“Kathy, I don’t work at the office anymore. There’s no reason—”
“For us to hang out? Chat on the phone? I get I’m not your cup of tea or whatever, but if it weren’t for you, I’d still be stuck under the thumb of that monster. I just—”
“You don’t owe me anything, Kathy. What happened, happened. It’s over now.” Lore sighed, clearly seeing the woman was stressed-out by the direction the conversation had turned since their greeting. Well, she’d only put a couple of items in her cart, and it wasn’t like she had anything else to do that day. “Let’s go get some coffee; sound good?”
Kathy nodded, still pouting in distress. Lore put her items back, and they walked across the street to the small, local coffee shop she favored when she needed some time around people, but not too much.
After they received their orders, the women sat in the typical large yet tattered-looking coffeehouse chairs.
“So tell me what’s going on,” Lore asked, worried by the unease apparent in Kathy’s demeanor. The last time she’d seen the woman so uncomfortable was because of the asshat.
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