“Why didn’t you just tell him to back off?” I asked.
“We’re both so similar. Neither of us would back away from what we really want. He made up his mind and went after you. Part of me resolved that if I couldn’t have you, then at least you were with a good guy. The more I saw him make you happy, I just couldn’t continue seeing you two together. I set up the blackmail to stop you from being with him, so much for that working.”
I squirmed in my seat, trying to dissect what he was claiming and reasoning what about me would make a man change the course of his life to win me over.
“Why me?” I asked.
“Why not you?” He countered.
“I need to know why you’ve built this. Why here?” I asked, motioning to the estate. I gave him enough time to answer, but couldn’t stop from further asking, “And upended my relationship to have me? And what do you want from me, exactly?” I demanded.
“I want you to be my wife.”
The blood rushed to my cheeks and I felt my pulse quicken.
“I’ve never married, hopeful we could one day reunite. I’ve always wanted to be with you because I’ve always thought of you as family. You’re the first girl I’ve ever wanted to take care of. And I’m hoping you would be the last,” he revealed.
His words were too good to be true. It all felt contrived. I continued listening to his declarations.
“You were so young at the time. When I finally thought you’d be ready to marry and have a family, I found you were already married.”
I nodded, thinking of how I jumped at Ben’s marriage proposal. I thought I’d never have someone feel that way about me. It was daunting to have two men desire me.
“Why did you marry so young?”
“He was kind and attentive—” ‘—at first,’ I failed to quantify. I hitched myself to Ben so quickly, seeking the family I’d lacked as a little girl.
“But he was beneath your worth.”
“Who are you to make such judgments?” I argued.
“Because I know you. You wanted more for your life. Even at your young age, you could easily rattle off what you wanted, and never did you say you wanted to marry or be in business.”
“People change. Little girls grow up and realize their dreams aren’t always capable of becoming reality.”
“Why did you stop dancing? Changed schools?”
“I couldn’t do it anymore. The pain was too great. I couldn’t lower or even maintain my weight. Genetics played a huge role. My mother may have been thin because of illness, but I remember when she was as curvaceous as I am now. It was time to have a realistic dream.”
“Is that what he told you?”
I knew he meant Ben. I paused for fear of admitting Ben had suggested attending business school. Ben suggested a future position at Parisi. We were introduced by Dougie when he dated my best friend, Dougie. Dougie was Ben’s good friend. We weren’t exactly dating at the time, but his suggestion left an impression on me. I had decided to make a drastic change, quit dance, and went to Vegas to make quick money. I returned to Boston with tens-of-thousands of dollars to finance the changes; all for Ben to think me more suitable to date and marry.
“I made my choices. It has served me well in the last several weeks while working at Pentagon,” I defended.
He nodded and said, “You have. You’ve done a brilliant job. I love the direction you’ve taken Pentagram. I’ve wanted it for so long, and because of you, it’s happening.”
While I knew he meant my recent work, I regressed back to when Matt had stolen the key to acquire information about Liberty. I remained quiet as I glared at him. He sighed and groaned, tossing his head back.
“I didn’t mean to imply you helped us acquire the property. I do feel terrible about what’s happened to you, but Aida admitted her role, so I hope you can forgive me.”
I deliberated if he was truly repentant.
“If you had nothing to do with it, then there should be nothing to forgive.”
I locked eyes with him, and he was steadfast in his stare. He looked at me as impassively as Matt. A shudder surged through me and I’d wondered if he and Matt had learned the physical expression in the course of doing business together for almost two decades.
“For now, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.” I warned, making the same blank expression.
“Why can’t you give me more, seeing as you’ve forgiven Matt?”
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“There’s a lot I need to know so I can convince you to stay.”
“I’m not staying a week,” I finalized.
“Well, you will be staying at least a week. But I want you to agree to open to my hope to help you fall in love with me.”
“I’m married, Brady.”
He rolled his eyes.
“You’re not officially married.”
“I am. We had a ceremony with a judge. Matt and I are married.”
“You’re not legally married until the license is filed. Aida made sure it was in my possession.”
“Are you threatening to keep my marriage license?” I shrieked, moving forward on the lounge chair. My heart leapt and I felt sick.
“I’ll give it back to you once the week is over, after you’ve agreed to spend it with me,” he said.
“When I get back home, I’ll just have another ceremony.”
“Don’t be so sure I’ll make it easy for you two to file a new one.”
I was certain he would. I crossed my arms and turned away.
His face softened, “You must keep an open mind and heart, and allow me the same courtesy of romancing you as you allowed Matt. If at the end of the week, you still want to be married to Matt, I will take you home to him. I will return the license and you can have it filed.”
I felt sick. I couldn’t possibly stay with another man when I was clearly in love and committed to his good friend and business partner. But if they were such good friends, Brady wouldn’t make these overtures.
“No. I can always get a duplicate license. And we can file the new one,” I reasoned, and began to stand up.
“The closest commercial airport is forty-five minutes away. Otherwise the private airport, which I own is only a fifteen minute ride from here. I own most of this side of the bay, so there won’t be many options for you to return without my assistance.”
“And you’ll hold me here as captive as Aida intended.”
“I’d like to think you aren’t captive, but encouraged to accept my offer.”
Ever the businessman, he was making an offer I couldn’t refuse, much like Matt did by offering me his fortune in exchange for marriage.
“What do you expect from my staying?” I asked.
“For you to let me show you how much I love you without the physicality Matt employed. I care more deeply for you. I’ve been keeping the memory alive of us as friends, almost like family, since the day my Mom started working for yours. All I want is a chance to get reacquainted.”
I thought through his words. There was more history. He knows of my great loss and my family’s predicament. Even weeks after we were sexually active, Matt didn’t know me well enough to be married.
“If I refuse to stay here, demanding to go home, you would deny me?” I asked.
“I couldn’t deny you. But do you think when we get back to Boston, even if it is tomorrow, Matt would want me anywhere near you?” Brady reasoned with accuracy.
I shook my head ‘no’. Matt would keep me away from Brady, thinking he orchestrated this entire scenario just to spend time with me.
“However, if you say ‘no’, it would be uncomfortable for all of us to remain in business together.”
I thought it through, and Brady was right. Matt wanted to marry me to get the shares back under his control, thinking Brady was a threat to our marriage and control of Pentagon.
“If I stay, we are not going to be intimate. I don’t sleep around. Regardless of what you think, I’m not
a whore.”
“I know you’re not. I’m sorry I implied you were one . . . I was angry and desperate to stop you from marrying him.”
“So making me feel worthless was your best tactic?”
“I’m not proud of my behavior, and I would never have mistreated you if I’d had a chance to love and worship you.”
His words were simultaneously ‘so right’ and ‘so wrong’. I was surprised by how sincere his apology sounded and how they made my body thrum with excitement.
“If I choose Matt at the end of the week, I get my license back and you will leave us alone?”
He looked at me and then looked down at the tide, rolling closer to our feet. He nodded.
“I need you to verbalize that you will let me and Matt be a couple, if I decide I want to return to my husband and file my license to ensure our marriage is legal.” I enunciated each word to make myself clear.
Brady looked me square in the eyes, “If you have no doubts about your marriage to Matt at the end of the week, you will get to go home with your license delivered to your hand for you to file.” He affirmed.
I knew he was a very successful businessman who would be savvy enough to twist the words I needed to hear.
“Seamus Michael Clay, will I go home at the end of the week with my license?”
His eyes narrowed at the use of his birth name; a name I’d heard Maggie call out often and usually with intense anger.
“Yes. I’ll take you home at the end of the week and I will give you the marriage license for you to file.” He agreed.
“I need to be home by Friday.”
“Why Friday?”
“I have obligations on the weekend.”
“Like what?”
“I volunteer with a dance troop.”
“Oh, isn’t it on Sunday?”
“How do you know?”
“I’ve made sure to know a lot about you, Perla.”
“Can we go back to Boston on Friday?” I gently pled, ignoring his unnerving statement.
He took a while to answer, but then said, “Yeah. I’ll make sure to get the pilot to return Friday afternoon.” I nodded grimly.
Concerns swirled through my mind of how I would survive several days without seeing Matt. Just when we had reconciled, we were pulled apart again. The ominous feeling we would always be ripped apart waved over me, making me emotional.
“What will happen to you and the rest of the Pentagon men when I choose Matt?”
“If you choose Matt, everything will be business as usual.”
I looked at him skeptically.
“You don’t believe me?”
“No.” I pulled my hair in front of my shoulders. “I saw how you looked at us when we came into the meeting together and I saw how you looked at us when you left the room with Brigit. You were hurt and angry we chose to be together despite everything. I don’t believe you will allow us to be a couple.”
“I admit I was hurt and jealous because I want you with me, but I also care about him. He’s like a brother. We’re like clones created in the same petri dish. Both of us are tenacious and driven. All of our efforts have been for the greater good of the company. We employ many people, changing lives with our businesses and charitable efforts. And for one brief moment in time, seeing you with him and hearing you’re married made me realize all we built together . . . the five of us . . . was over.” Brady retorted.
I gasped, sensing the truth.
“I never want that to happen.” I cried. “My time at the company has been short, but I know the impact you’ve all made and what you’re doing nationwide is incredible. I’d rather be with neither of you.” I went to stand up to head back to the house.
“Perla.” He grabbed my wrist. “I can truly move on, if you want to be with him. Give me a chance to prove myself to you; like I should have from the start.”
There would be no way Brady could win me over. I was committed to Matt. I took my marriage vows seriously. We married legally and of sound mind, and the license Brady held was only a piece of paper. I only needed it to transfer the shares back to Matt and relieve myself of the immeasurable power. I didn’t want the shares. I wanted Matt.
At the end of the week, I could go home and get a replacement marriage license, if necessary. What I couldn’t get, if I didn’t comply, was my freedom from Brady’s expectation and hopes. If the Playa de Perlas estate was any indication of his desire for me, Brady had fallen hard for the woman he built me up to be. I hoped to show him I was no longer the little girl he wanted to protect, making him realize the woman he coveted was one he created in his own mind.
“I have to call Matt. I need to let him know I’m safe.”
“No!”
He frightened me with his forceful response.
“He will make every move to find you and take you away from me. I’ll send word that you’re fine,” he offered.
“What makes you think he won’t rotate the Earth off its axis to find me with just a ‘word’? He needs to hear my voice.”
“Non-negotiable term.”
“I’m not a business transaction, Brady. I’m a person with feelings and who is worried about her husband’s emotional state.”
He groaned at my use of ‘husband’, throwing his head back and looking away. He returned to face me.
“This is a phone free zone. There’s no ability to call in or out. We are incommunicado.”
“That is fuckin’ absurd!”
“Does Matt like hearing your dirty mouth?”
“Yeah. In and out of bed.”
We eyed each other. Both of us panted from the argument and the stifling heat of the night.
“Seriously. I’ve wired the region for the residents, to communicate with one another and for emergency response, but there are no phones.”
“If you expect me to believe you could completely make this a telephone free zone, I have a bridge to sell you.”
“This is supposed to be an escape from a very chaotic personal and professional life. I don’t want any disturbances or distractions from my unplugged time. I come here to relax and not continuously handle work. No one knew this place existed. How Aida found out and invaded my sanctuary is unclear, but the only person who matters is here now, and I don’t want anything to disrupt our time together.”
His voice had lowered and slowed as he stared into my eyes.
“Surely you can find me a cell phone? I have a phone in my purse, which the police might have.”
“No,” he shrugged.
“Well, then I’m not staying.”
“You have no choice. You’re staying.”
“So, now I’m being held captive. Now, there’s no chance for you to convince me of anything, Brady. I don’t feel safe here with you.”
I turned to walk back to the house. Brady tugged my wrist, pulling me to return to stand before him. He loosened his grip, holding me still.
“In a few days, you go back home to your life and career in Boston. If you choose Matt, no repercussions for him or Pentagon,” he said. “But we do this my way, or I will not make it easier for either of you when we return,” he finalized.
I trembled slightly, feeling imprisoned by the man who saved me from certain death. Brady was capitalizing on an opportunity given to him by Aida and her goons, and I realized neither of us would ever have closure if I didn’t comply with his demands, no matter how deplorable.
“If I choose neither of you, I want to live my life in peace without either of you interfering.” I said.
“And if you choose me?” He asked hopefully.
I hadn’t entertained the thought.
“I can’t speak for Matt and how he’ll react. I guess if I do choose you, then there will be a lengthy list of demands on how we’ll proceed. I assure you, Brady, I won’t make it easy for you. You have a lot to make up to me. I’m not sure you’re up to the task.”
“Obviously Perla, you have yet to fathom how far I’d go for you.”
&nb
sp; I shivered as his words pierced through me like a lightning rod. I turned and pulled my arm out of his grip, walking into the house to seek refuge in the compound he built for me.
*****
At the top of the stairs, I was greeted by the young maid and a man. “Is Don Shay, behind you? The doctor is here to look both of you over,” she said in Spanish.
“I’m sure he’s on his way back in. I’m okay, I don’t need any attention.”
“Are you sure Doña? Don Shay was very clear he wanted to make sure you are well,” he queried, eyeing me.
“I assure you, I’m fine,” I repeated. “Which room am I staying in?” I directed at her in her native tongue.
Behind me, Brady responded in perfectly accented Spanish, “Did the investigators finish in the suite in the west wing, Amaryllis?”
She nodded, looking downward as she rung her hands. I turned to look at him. He gave me a thin lipped smile.
“It is ready for her, Don Shay,”
“Please take her there. I’ll be with the doctor,” he ordered.
I was astonished by his fluency and comfort with speaking Spanish. While I knew Matt was fluent in Spanish, we rarely spoke to each other in the language. To know Brady built a home in the Spanish speaking country and spoke the local language was impressive and endearing. I smiled as I turned to follow Amaryllis.
When we entered the room, she stated, “I’ve put all your things in the closet and drawers,” she motioned to the dresser. “I left out a nightgown for tonight.”
“Did you see my purse?”
“A purse? No, only the suitcase was already here,” She said.
I hoped I could retrieve my phone from the tote bag. If it remained in the SUV, it was surely seized by the police. After all this time, the battery would be down and I doubted if I could find a charger. I sat on the bed, hopeless. I thought my nightmare was over and it became obvious the worst was yet to come. Only when I return home would I know the chaos my time with Brady would bring.
*****
After a restless night in which I tossed and turned, paced about the large room, stared off at the dark horizon with scenes of the events flashing in my mind, and cried until I exhausted myself, had I finally fallen asleep. I rested a pillow beside my body, simulating Matt next to me. I had intended to sleep until my body naturally awoke me, but the noise of clanking and wheels squeaking on the smooth tile floor woke me up.
Bound: The Pentagon Group, Book 3 Page 8
