A perfect plan with only one flaw. Stephan lay back against the chair and closed his eyes in resignation.
I love her.
Chapter Sixteen
Sunday morning, Nicole sat at the small table in Stephan’s kitchen—alone. Yesterday, he had rushed both of them back to New York so he could deal with some upper-management emergency. He’d sent her back to his penthouse in a limo and had headed to his office. She’d waited up for him past midnight, but he hadn’t returned. So here she sat, all alone, with the breakfast for two the cook had prepared.
Her driver called from downstairs, but instead of going down, she asked him to come up. He took a long look at her pajamas before saying, “So, not going out today?”
“No.”
“Boycotting the shower, too?”
“Maybe. Want a coffee?” She gestured to the cup that was going to waste.
“That bad, huh?” Jeff asked, joining her at the table.
Nicole pulled both feet up onto her chair and hugged her legs. “I messed up in California.”
Jeff pushed Stephan’s scrambled eggs around the plate a few times before shrugging and having a few forkfuls. “What’s your definition of messed up?”
“Everything was going smoothly. His friends were great. He and I were connecting. We kissed. It was hot. I mean the best kiss I’ve ever had. I’ve had sex before, but this—”
Jeff cut in. “Just get to the part where you messed up.”
“I told him about my family.”
“And?”
“And he barely talked to me on the flight back. He didn’t come home last night. I don’t want to call him because he said our early return was work related.”
“But?”
“But I don’t believe him. He looked miserable yesterday. It wasn’t like he didn’t care when I told him the story, but afterward he wouldn’t look at me. I don’t know what that means.”
Jeff took a sip of the cold coffee then put it down. “It’s either a good sign, or a really bad one.”
Nicole almost smiled. “Wow, you are helpful.”
Jeff pushed out of his seat and stood. “I’m not psychic if that’s what you were hoping for. But if you want to know what he’s thinking there is one way you could find out.”
Nicole dropped her feet to the floor and stood. I’m getting desperate enough to try anything. “Yes?”
Jeff said, “Ask him. I’ll be downstairs if you need me.” He closed the door quietly behind him.
An hour later, dressed in yoga pants, a T-shirt and sneakers, Nicole headed out the main door of the apartment building. There was a small coffee shop about a block away. The sun was shining. Maybe a walk will clear my head.
Jeff was right. Instead of dancing around the topic, afraid to offend or anger Stephan, maybe she should just ask him.
Love is possible if you are willing to fight for it. Wasn’t that what Maddy said?
So why do I keep accepting everything without an argument? I could have asked Stephan these questions on the flight home. I could have demanded he tell me why we were really coming back to New York. If I wasn’t still afraid.
What am I afraid of?
Losing him? He’s already headed out the door.
Angering him? Stephan is not my father. He would never hurt me.
She had only gone a few yards when a woman who looked vaguely familiar approached her. Lost in her thoughts, she barely noticed her at first.
“Nicole?”
“I’m sorry, do I know you?”
“My name is Abby Dartley. We’ve met before. Once, at the reading of your father’s will.”
Nicole held her breath then let it out slowly. “Oh, yes, my brother’s new fiancée. Congratulations, I guess.”
The woman was dressed in simple, yet expensive slacks and a conservative blouse. Two men watched from beside a limo across the street—one to drive and one to guard. Abby didn’t seem bothered by their presence. It sure hadn’t taken her long to get used to her new level of wealth.
“Can we go somewhere to talk?” the woman asked.
Nicole looked down at her watch. Why the hell not? It’s not like my week could get worse. “I was going to get a quick coffee. You can walk with me if you want.”
Abby stepped closer and fell into stride with her. “Dominic has been trying to call you.”
“I know.”
Once inside the coffee shop, they suspended conversation until they had picked up their orders and were seated at a corner table, away from prying ears. Abby seemed in no rush to break the awkward silence between them. Nicole finally said, “Well, spit out whatever you came to say. What does Dominic want?”
Abby didn’t ruffle as easily as Nicole thought she would. “Your brother is really worried about you.”
Nicole looked down at her coffee. “Tell him he doesn’t have to be.”
“He loves you, Nicole. He might not be good at showing it, but—”
Eyes snapping up to meet Abby’s, Nicole said, “You’ve known him, what—a month? I’ve known him my whole life. He only cares about one thing—Dominic.”
“That’s not true. He let you down. He knows that, but he would give anything for a chance to make it up to you.”
“Is that what he told you? That he let me down? Does he think an apology will cover what he did? First, he deserted me like our mother had, and then, just when I thought I might have found a family who cared about me, he ripped them away from me, too. I’m sure he didn’t tell you that last part.” Nicole spat out the words.
Abby didn’t flinch. Her voice remained calm with a soothing undertone that Nicole fought against. “He did tell me. Neither is something he is very proud of. He was only seventeen when your mother left, barely a man. You can’t hate him for the decisions he made fifteen years ago.”
“And what about the Andrade family? Did he have to take their company? Their island? Did he have to build that chrome monstrosity on it, and rub his lack of respect for their heritage in their faces? Did he do that out of his love for me?”
“No,” Abby said sadly. “I bet he doesn’t even know why he did that. He acted out of jealousy, and he was wrong. He’s stubborn and he’s proud, but he would never deliberately hurt you. Give him a chance to apologize.”
“He’s had fifteen years to do that. It’s a little late now. I want to move on.” Nicole stood.
Abby also stood, and looked like she wanted to wrap her arms around Nicole. “It’s okay to feel like that, Nicole. But Dominic is there for you if you need him. We both are. One phone call, and you’ll see he would do anything for you.”
Nicole dropped her still-full coffee into the trash. Her stomach was nervous and sour. “Sweet as you are to come here and plead his case, I have no desire to see him ever again. You can tell him I absolve him from whatever guilt he is carrying from our childhood. I don’t hate him anymore, but I don’t need him, either.”
“I understand, but we’re staying here in New York. We’re not going anywhere.” She passed Nicole a paper with her phone number on it. “Keep this in case you change your mind.”
Nicole took it and said, “Why do you care? What do you get out of this?”
Abby’s eyes welled with tears. “Hopefully, another sister.” And she walked away.
Chapter Seventeen
Sunday night, Nicole waited up for Stephan. They needed to talk. She’d come to some decisions that would affect both of them.
After leaving the coffee shop, Nicole had taken a long walk in Central Park. The fresh air and sunshine had gone mostly unnoticed as she’d woven her way through the large number of people who’d also decided to enjoy the warm summer day.
Before heading back, she’d stopped at Belvedere Castle to look out over Turtle Pond. She and Dominic had gone there many times as young children. It was their favorite destination with their mother when some function had necessitated Papa bringing them to the city. The Corisis didn’t have nannies either, but for more nefarious reasons.
Cleaning services could be scheduled and canceled with no need to interact with the family. Nannies would have seen too much.
Playing on the rocks behind the castle, Nicole used to pretend she was a princess trapped in a dungeon by an evil dragon. In their shared fantasy, Dominic had always slain the dragon and set her free.
Is that what I hold against him? That in the end, he wasn’t a hero—just a man?
And the only family I truly have left.
George and the others were people she cared about, and she was lucky enough to have returned that affection, but they weren’t family.
The Andrades were everything she’d ever dreamt of in a family, but they weren’t hers. Not yet. Maybe not ever.
No matter what had happened between them, Dominic was her brother.
Abby said he loved her and Nicole was starting to believe he might.
He had called her every day since she’d seen him at the reading of the will, and although she hadn’t once taken his phone call, he hadn’t given up. What if Abby was right and he regretted everything, just like she did? Could they reach across the years of hurt and mend their family? Or was it too late?
Nicole jumped at the click of the door opening. Stephan was home.
He wasn’t going to like what she had to tell him, but maybe that was what they needed: simple honesty. No more trying to trick him into doing something she wanted. No more hiding how she felt. If they couldn’t talk—really talk—then they had nothing worth fighting for.
She met him in the hallway while he was still taking off his jacket and loosening his tie. He looked like he hadn’t slept since she last saw him. “You didn’t come home last night,” she said, attempting to keep her tone neutral.
“Yeah.” He ran a hand through his already tousled, blond hair. “Sorry about that. I had to get some things done.”
“Really?” she asked, following him into the living room. “I don’t believe you.”
He kept his back to her. “Don’t push it, Nicole.”
She stepped in front of him and looked him directly in the eye. “I am going to push it. I have a right to know what happened. Before California, I thought we were at least friends. Then at the Allen’s house we connected. I didn’t imagine that. So, what changed? Why won’t you look at me?”
“Why can’t you just drop it?” His voice rose with each word.
Nicole’s body tensed, but the fear did not come. This was not her father. She had nothing to fear here. Still, part of her journey was realizing that she played a role in how she was treated. “Do not raise your voice at me, Stephan. I won’t be yelled at.”
His face twisted with an emotion she couldn’t determine. “I would never hit you, Nicole.”
“I know,” Nicole said softly and she believed him. His family was loud, but they weren’t cruel. She stepped closer to him. “I trust you, Stephan.”
He stepped back and away from her. “Don’t. I’m not the man you think I am, Nicole. I wish I were. I wanted to have sex with you, that’s it. That’s all there could ever be between us.”
His hands were clenched at his sides and there was so much emotion in his eyes that Nicole didn’t believe him. If he were telling her the truth, if she meant nothing to him, why did he look tormented by his own declarations?
He said, “I realized in California that you were right when you said this should be a purely business arrangement, Nicole, and nothing more. Sex is just going to confuse a situation that will soon be over anyway.”
Nicole took a step toward him. “It doesn’t have to be that way, Stephan.”
His blue eyes raged with something he wouldn’t or couldn’t tell her. “Yes, it does.”
Why won’t you look at me? There wasn’t much more to that conversation, so she changed topics. “I called my brother.”
Stephan’s head whipped up. “Why?”
I have to do this, even if it means losing you again. Nicole clasped her cold hands in front of herself. “I’m meeting him tomorrow at my father’s house. I can’t spend the rest of my life hating him for what my father did to our family.”
Stephan said nothing. He was shaking his head ever so slightly.
Nicole continued. “This doesn’t change anything. I won’t tell him we’re not really engaged and you’ll still get the patent.”
“I don’t want the patent,” he said harshly and turned away from her again.
“But that’s why you did all this, wasn’t it? Partly because I had helped Maddy, and also because you knew you would profit from the conversion software?” She laid a hand on his back, wordlessly begging him to turn around. His muscles jumped beneath her touch.
“Go see your brother, Nicole,” he said and stepped away from her. Before she had time to ask him another question, he’d retreated to his room and closed the door.
Chapter Eighteen
Monday morning, Nicole ate breakfast alone again before calling Jeff to take her to her father’s old house. She’d considered various locations where she and her brother could meet. Finally, she’d decided they should return to where it all began.
Nicole had just opened the front door that led to a large main foyer of her father’s house when Dominic’s limo pulled into the driveway and parked behind hers. She watched him exit it then turn to offer an arm to Abby. He spoke to her as if preparing her for what was to come, and then leaned down and kissed her gently before taking her hand and walking with her toward the house.
He loves her. He really loves her.
Nicole stepped into the house and waited for them in the foyer. The three of them endured a painfully long silence until Nicole said, “Thank you for coming.”
“Did you think I wouldn’t?” Dominic asked roughly.
Abby slid beneath his arm and hugged him. She was a welcome buffer. Nicole and Dominic had never been good at making small talk.
Nicole offered a truce. “I wouldn’t have blamed you if you hadn’t.”
Abby looked around at the boxes that were in every adjoining room. “Are you moving?”
“Yes. I’ve decided to auction off the house and its contents. So, if there is anything you want, Dominic, take it now. The auction house is sending someone to do the evaluation and the real cataloguing, but they asked that we make sure when we said everything must go we meant everything.”
Dominic scowled. “There is nothing here I want.”
Nicole said, “I feel the same way.” She hesitated, then added, “I’m giving the proceeds to a local abuse shelter.”
Abby said, “That is a beautiful thing to do.”
“It seemed . . . appropriate. I’ve decided that it’s time to let go of the past.”
Dominic—strong, ruthless Dominic—flushed and his eyes shone with emotion. He stepped toward Nicole then seemed to rethink the move and stopped. “I am so sorry, Nicole. So very sorry that I wasn’t the brother you needed.”
Nicole clasped her hands together, fighting to retain her composure. “He damaged us both, Dominic.”
Never one to hedge, Dominic said, “I want to make it up to you. I need to make it up to you.”
With reflection came understanding. “I don’t think you can, Dominic, and maybe our healing starts when I accept that. The past is done. We should bury it along with Papa.”
“So where will that leave us?” he asked, sounding almost humble.
“I don’t know. I never thought we’d get this far.”
There was no hugging. It was too early to do more than look at each other across the chasm and acknowledge that both of them and neither of them had been at fault.
“I should have come back for you, Nicole.” The words were wrenched from him.
“And I should have left when I was old enough. We can’t change the mistakes we’ve already made.” Loving someone involved forgiving them for not being perfect, but Nicole was learning it also involved forgiving yourself.
Dominic took another step toward Nicole, determination hardening his features. “No, b
ut we can make damn sure we don’t repeat them. Nicole, you can’t marry Stephan.”
Wham.
The door that had just begun to open between them slammed shut. Nicole spun away. “Don’t talk about Stephan.”
Dominic strode to stand in front of her. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but whatever he told you . . . however he convinced you to get engaged to him . . . he’s using you. I don’t know what he thinks he will gain by doing this, but he’s lying to you.”
Abby broke in, “Dominic, we don’t know that for sure.”
Dominic snarled, “You might not, but I do. He’s using her to get to me.”
A spark of anger ignited into a slow-burning fury. Nicole advanced until she was toe to toe with her brother. Her voice shook with emotion. “So, my entire relationship with him is about you, Dominic? It can’t be about me, right? He can’t love me? It all has to be about the great Dominic Corisi.”
“That’s not what I’m saying, Nicole. I just don’t want to see him hurt you.”
“Hurt me? Stephan saved me. You know what? Our engagement isn’t even real. He did it as a favor to me. Imagine—he cared enough about me to not only play along, but also to put his own money into the deal, risking his reputation, for me. And what did he ask for in return? Nothing. Because he’s not like you, Dominic. He doesn’t play by your rules. He’s a good man. A decent man.” Angry tears began to spill down her cheeks.
“I don’t believe that Stephan wanted nothing from you.” Dominic’s face went red with anger.
“That’s because you judge him by your standards. But he’s not you. He stands by his family and his friends. And even after everything you did to him—to us—he helped me when I asked him to. So don’t tell me what you think you know about him.”
Dominic’s phone rang. He answered it and said roughly, “No, that’s not a good idea. She can’t handle it today. Stay in the limo.”
“Can’t handle what?”
“It’s nothing, nothing we need to get into today.”
“More lies? How are we going to put the past behind us if we still can’t be honest with each other?”
The Legacy Collection Box Set Page 13
