Unyielding (Tortured Love Book 1)

by Ravenna Tate

  His expression grew hard. “They were pushing me out.”

  That was news to Merrick. “Why?”

  “I had lost my edge. I wasn’t motivated enough. I was too old-school. Take your pick. Younger blood. That’s the answer to everything these days.”

  “Still not a good enough reason to fuck me, Dean.”

  “Look. Todd approached me, okay? Not the other way around. It was a sure thing. Like you said, he’d been taking money out of the company for years. I have nothing left here. I’m in fucking debt up to my goddamn eyeballs, and that was never going away. Not while my ex-wives and kids drew breath. You wouldn’t understand. Everything you touch turns to gold.”

  “You did that to yourself, Dean. None of that is my doing.”

  “Then consider yourself collateral damage.”

  Merrick had heard enough. He wasn’t getting anything else out of the man. Time to wash his hands of Dean Masters.

  He turned off Dean’s mic and turned on Todd’s again. “So, what’s your story? Why did you do this to your daughter?”

  “Oh give me a fucking break. The company belonged to her all of twenty-four hours. She didn’t want it. She never would have tried to run it. You got what you wanted. Shelton Energy.”

  “You left it empty, Todd. I didn’t get shit.”

  “You have Lynda.”

  The leer on Todd’s face made Merrick want to find where this room was, go into it, and beat the shit out of Lynda’s father.

  “By the way,” said Merrick, “she knows you lied to her about why I wanted to marry her. And she knows you lied to me about her reasons for doing this.”

  Todd’s smug expression faltered for just a second, but it was enough for Merrick to confirm what he’d suspected. Todd hadn’t expected him and Lynda to confide in each other.

  But then he shrugged. “Nothing I can do about that now.”

  “Oh, and you should probably know this, too.” Merrick paused. This he would enjoy. “Had a little chat with your brothers after you disappeared.”

  Todd’s expression grew wary. He likely didn’t know yet they were dead. “So?”

  “So they told me some interesting things about you.”

  “Just spit it out, Merrick.”

  Merrick smiled. “You don’t like people playing head games with you, do you?”

  “Oh, okay. I see now. This is where I get all remorseful, right? Tell you that I shouldn’t have fucked around with the money, or lied to you and Lynda. Blah, blah, blah.”

  “They’ve disappeared, Todd.”

  Todd finally shut the fuck up, but his face told Merrick he didn’t believe his brothers had gone anywhere.

  “It’s true. No one has seen them for a couple of weeks. But last time I spoke with them, they told me how you watched them rape Lynda fourteen years ago during a party at your house. They also told me how you jacked off while letting them do that to your daughter.”

  Todd stood and slammed his hands on the table. His face twisted into a mask of fury. Pete was in the room before Merrick could speak again.

  “Time’s up,” said Pete, his voice angry and hard. Merrick didn’t give a shit. He had too much on Pete to worry about the agent holding this against him. Pete loved his job. He’d never do anything to jeopardize it.

  Merrick turned off the mic and faced Pete. “Now he knows that I know. Thanks for setting this up, Pete.”

  Pete sighed, looked like he was about to say something else, but merely shook his head instead. “You’d better get out of here. I’ll be in touch.”

  Smart man, Pete. He knew when to shut the fuck up, and he knew who took good care of him.

  ****

  While Merrick and Lynda waited for the wheels of justice to turn for her father and Dean, Merrick spent a lot of time staring out his office window, both at home and in the building where he rarely was these days.

  Every day with Lynda was like a precious gift. He kept waiting for the bomb to drop, but it didn’t. She wasn’t going anywhere. She didn’t hate him. Each of them had divulged the dark secrets in their pasts to the other, yet she was still with him.

  He thought a lot about what she’d suggested he do. Visit Theresa’s grave. Merrick had never been what anyone would call a devout Catholic. He had his own belief system that included hoping like hell God had a great sense of humor and good old-fashioned justice. He had never prayed to saints for their intercession, and he had never talked to the dead. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe they were somewhere else. It was that he simply had never understood what good it might do.

  He’d done a lot of looking, and he’d never seen a ghost. He didn’t have a stash of cool paranormal activity stories to tell like most of his friends had collected by the time he’d been in middle school. Dead was dead, and nothing brought them back. Talking to the sky was no guarantee they heard you, and the few times he had tried it, it had given him no sense of peace or satisfaction.

  He thought about asking Lynda if she wanted to come with him, but decided that was asking way too much of his new wife. On a rainy Tuesday, he told her he had to go out of town for most of the day, but would be home for dinner. He didn’t want her calling the office and then worrying when no one could find him.

  Merrick waited for morning rush hour to subside, then had Tyler drive him to Fenwick, Connecticut. Theresa was buried on her family’s estate, in a small cemetery that was accessible from a public road, but only by those who knew where to look for it. It wasn’t marked, and it wasn’t guarded. Merrick wouldn’t have come if he believed there was any chance of running into a family member.

  Tyler waited for him while Merrick made his way, sheltered from the rain with a large umbrella, toward the mausoleum. Once inside, he silenced his phone and lowered the umbrella, placing it on the concrete floor in the corner. Merrick wasn’t a superstitious man. He didn’t believe the dead bodies in here would care whether he had an open umbrella indoors.

  He walked over to the stone marking Theresa’s grave, and sat down on the ornate bench closest to it. If the number of benches in this place was any indication, others believed as Lynda did, that talking to dead loved ones had therapeutic value.

  “Well, love, here I am. It’s been a while.” Merrick felt incredibly foolish, so he pictured Lynda’s big blue eyes and that look on her face that said, “At least try it.”

  “If you can see down here, you know I married again. You also know why. But here’s the thing, Theresa.” Merrick sighed, then glanced around. If anyone came in, he’d shut up. But no one was there. No one human, at any rate.

  “Here’s the thing. I’m in love with her. It’s only been a couple of months, and I never thought I’d get here, but I did. I want you to know it doesn’t mean I don’t still love you.” Merrick sighed again. Fuck, this was hard to do.

  “I will always love you. But I can love her, too, without it diminishing everything we shared. She says I shouldn’t blame myself for your death. Well, it might take me a while to stop doing so, but I want you to know…”

  He swallowed hard against the sudden lump in his throat. Fuck. Why hadn’t Lynda told him how fucking emotional this would be?

  “I want you to know I would turn back the clock if I could and stop it from happening. You didn’t deserve to die. You didn’t deserve to be gunned down like a thug.”

  Merrick blew out a long, deep sigh to help his breathing slow down. “Theresa, I hope if you are up there somewhere and can hear me, and see me, you understand why I did what I did. I also hope you aren’t upset about Lynda. I had no choice but to marry her, and if you are watching, you also know the person who forced us both into this lied to us and betrayed us.”

  Merrick wiped his face. It was probably rain water that the umbrella hadn’t caught. “Maybe one day the people around me will stop lying to me and betraying me. Maybe not. But either way, please know that you have a place in my heart no one will ever fill. I love Lynda, and I’m going to make a go of this marriage because she …
she makes me happy, Theresa. She makes me want to laugh and smile, the way you used to do for me.”

  Merrick stopped talking and let the memories he and Lynda had shared these past two months fill his mind. She did make him happy. She made him want to do all the things he had once enjoyed. He missed relaxing once in a while, and she had helped him learn how to do that again.

  “I really do love her, Theresa. I’d have married her anyway, if we’d met under different circumstances. I hope you can understand that. I know you’d want me happy. I do know that much.”

  He rose. It was time to go. “I hope wherever you are, you’re happy, too.”

  Merrick had to get out of here. The air was close and heavy. He picked up the umbrella, and as soon as he was outdoors, he raised it above his head and breathed in the scent of cool, rain-drenched earth. It was a good smell. A clean smell. The kind of smell that made one believe in chances to start over.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Lynda had no idea what the huge surprise was that Merrick had planned for them, but he had called her on this Friday morning and asked her to wear a specific dress he’d chosen, specific underwear, and even specific shoes. When she’d asked him if he had any special jewelry he wanted her to wear, he’d answered that he would be bringing it home.

  That reminded her of the fundraiser, when he’d bought her those stunning sapphire earrings and matching necklace. “Oh, shit. Did I forget we have a fundraiser to attend tonight?”

  He chuckled softly. “No. We’re staying home tonight. I’ve already let Chloe know what I want for dinner.”

  “Merrick, you’re so damn mysterious. Tell me what the occasion is.”

  “You’ll have to wait until I get home.”

  His voice was filled with teasing humor, and even though it was killing her not to know, she loved that he’d gone to this much trouble for her. She took her time dressing, and was a nervous wreck when he finally got home. He stood and stared at her for so long she was ready to jump out of her skin.

  “Perfect,” he said. “Absolutely perfect.”

  “I didn’t know about this color, but I do like it now.” He’d chosen an emerald green dress, and although she didn’t usually buy this color for herself, she had to admit she liked it.

  “I hope you’re hungry.”

  “Starving.” She’d been smelling the food for close to two hours. They went out on the terrace where he’d had the staff string tiny lights along the railing. Soft music played, and he’d chosen a beautiful, clear night.

  “I suppose you ordered the weather, too?”

  “Of course.”

  She laughed while he poured them wine, and then he raised his glass. “To us, and to the future we will make together.”

  Wow… Lynda raised her glass, clinked it against his, and then took a sip. “This is heavenly.”

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  Dinner was incredible. He’d chosen all her favorite things, and it was no surprise that everything was cooked to perfection. When Merrick did something, he did it first class all the way.

  While they ate, he talked about work, her latest designs, and current events. It was the same kind of talk they engaged in every day, but tonight she sensed something different about him. Something peaceful and settled, as though everything that usually plagued him had been banished. At least for one evening.

  When dinner was over, they lingered over coffee and dessert, the same way they always did. He asked the staff to leave them alone, which also wasn’t unusual, but tonight he was suddenly nervous.

  “Merrick, what is it? Just tell me. Is it about my father and Dean?”

  “No. Their trial hasn’t been set yet. But you don’t have to worry about that. It’s a done deal. They have enough evidence to put them away. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it not go to trial. If they’re both smart, they’ll take plea bargains and be done with it.”

  “Okay. If this isn’t about them, what’s it about? You’ve been kind of jumpy, and that isn’t like you.”

  He laughed, but it came out as more of a nervous gesture than a humorous one. “I thought I had hidden it better than that.”

  He moved his chair closer to hers, and then he took her hands. “Lynda, these past few months have been a rollercoaster for both of us. A marriage we didn’t want, finding out we’d both been betrayed and lied to by people we trusted, the horrible revelations you had to endure concerning your uncles and Rey, and…”

  He averted his gaze for a second, then looked directly into her eyes again. “And I learned a few things about myself that I should have seen a long time ago. Things I needed to know. Things that have helped me put certain pieces of my past into perspective. You helped me do that.”

  “You’ve helped me, too, Merrick. I’ve been able to finally face what my uncles and Rey did because of your strength.”

  He squeezed her hands. “If I believed in fate, I’d say we were forced together like this for a purpose.”

  “Well I do believe in it. This happened for a reason.”

  He smiled. “Yes, I suppose it did. What I’m trying to say, and failing miserably to articulate clearly, is that I am so grateful you came into my life. As twisted as the beginning of this marriage was, it turned out to be the best thing that’s happened to me. You are the best thing that’s happened to me.”

  Lynda swallowed hard against the sudden lump in her throat.

  “This is hard for me to say. I swore I’d never let myself feel this way again. I never wanted to take a chance on having … on having someone I care about this much hurt again. I’m still afraid of that, but I can’t hold this back any longer. I don’t want to. I want you to know how I feel.”

  “Okay.” Lynda held her breath.

  “Lynda, I love you. God, I’m so in love with you.”

  She tried to blink them away, but the tears rolled down her face. He gently wiped them. “Please don’t cry.”

  “They’re happy tears. Merrick, I love you, too. I never thought I’d trust a man again, let alone fall in love with one. What we have is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. It’s dark and light at the same time. I love everything about you, the good and the questionable.”

  “I’m relieved to hear that because I am who I am.”

  “I know you are. I’d never ask you to change. I crave the twisted side of you.”

  He squeezed her hands. “I want to make this marriage work.”

  “So do I. You’re stuck with me.”

  He released her hands. “Good.” Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, distinctive red box. “Because otherwise, I need to take this back.”

  Lynda grinned like an idiot. She couldn’t help it. “Cartier?”

  “Only the best.” He gazed into her eyes for a second, then got down on one knee.

  “Oh my God…”

  “We never had a chance to do this right.” Merrick opened the box, and Lynda gasped at the engagement ring. It was stunning. Far more elaborate than she ever would have chosen for herself, but she absolutely adored it.

  He took it out and held it up. “Lynda, will you marry me?”

  “Yes, Merrick. I will marry you.”

  “Thank God,” he muttered, slipping the ring on her finger. It fit perfectly, and she wasn’t surprised. “Do you like it?”

  “It’s gorgeous.”

  He wiped her tears again then stood and lifted her to her feet. “So are you. I love you, Lynda. I want you with me always.”

  “I love you, too, Merrick. I don’t want to be anywhere but with you for the rest of my life.”

  He kissed her, and Lynda clung to him tightly as her passion and love for this man spiraled to dizzying heights. She had never pictured this as part of her life, but now that she was living it, she couldn’t imagine spending her life any other way, or with any other man.

  Merrick was dark and dangerous, but he was also charming and charismatic. And he’d just proven that he could indeed do the he
arts and flowers thing when he wanted to. She loved him exactly the way he was, and she’d spend the rest of her life making sure he knew that.

  The End

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  Other Books by Ravenna Tate:

  www.evernightpublishing.com/ravenna-tate

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