Katrine added, “I have to agree. Victor and I worked hard for many years to make Andrade Solutions successful. He used to say I could negotiate the wings off a fly if I had to, and sometimes finding new vendors was that difficult. Not all the years were profitable ones. We worked because we had to, but you ladies are lucky enough to be able to follow your passions.”
Abby squared her shoulders and said, “I have to admit, I’m not totally sure what to do with myself now. I always worked a day job. Sometimes two. I can’t really go back to teaching in the inner-city schools. Dominic would have a SWAT team following me at all times. How do you not lose yourself around men who cast such a large shadow?”
Elise leaned over and laid a supportive hand on Abby’s. “You stand beside them and make your own path. There is a price to wealth, but there is also a freedom that comes with it. As a teacher, you touched the lives of a few hundred. Now, you could touch the lives of millions if you wanted to. The wonderful thing about our men is if you want it, they will help you make it happen. Dominic seems like he’s that same kind of good man.”
Safe within a group of women who genuinely cared about her, Nicole shared, “Until I met Stephan, I didn’t see any good in having money. I resented the importance people placed on things and appearances. I don’t know that I ever spent a moment being grateful for what I had. In Stephan’s eyes, everyone is connected, whether it is through our environment or our finances, and the more you have, the more responsible you should be. When you look at the world like that, it’s hard not to want to get involved in every cause. I’m going to focus on helping abused women put their lives back together. From what you’ve shared with me, Abby, you might want to focus on education and reform. There must have been policies you dealt with as a teacher that you felt powerless to change. Now you have a voice.”
Maddy sighed. “I love happy endings.”
Nicole said, “As a wise limo driver once told me, the story doesn’t end when the book does. This is just the beginning for us. For all of us.”
Abby looked at the door and said, “Speaking of all of us, how do you think the men are getting along?”
Katrine wasn’t concerned. “The boys will play nice. Alessandro and Victor are in there.”
Nicole laughed. “Babysitting two of the biggest egos on the planet.”
Smiling, Katrine said, “Where do you think Stephan got his ego? Victor was quite a stinker when I met him, but our forty-plus years of marriage have domesticated him.”
Her words seemed to touch a cord in Abby. She asked, “Do you have any advice on how to make it last?”
Katrine said, “Honesty. Respect. Forgiveness.”
Elise joked, “And a little red bikini.”
Nicole sat up straight, remembering something. “Oh,” she said loudly, then lowered her voice, “they know about the red bikini. The steps are no longer a secret.”
Elise and Katrine spun in unison to look accusingly at Richard, but he didn’t look up from stirring his sauce. Just as quickly, they turned back and said, “Maddy.”
A sheepish smile spread across the younger woman’s face. She shrugged.
Laughing, Nicole shook her head. “You are so bad.”
Maddy wiggled her eyebrows at Nicole. “Difficult to stay mad, though, isn’t it, when my meddling brought you and Stephan back together?”
Abby sat back in her chair with a huge smile on her face. “Nicole, I totally understand why you love this family.” She turned to Elise and asked, “Would you mind if I brought my sister, Lil, to dinner sometime? She needs this.”
Nicole had gotten to know Abby pretty well over the last few days and she knew how much she loved and worried about her sister. Nicole asked, “How is she? Has she spoken to Jake since that day on the island? Didn’t you say you thought there was a connection there? Maybe you could invite them both. Would that be okay?” Nicole looked at the two older women at the table.
Katrine said, “Abby, your family is our family. Invite them.”
Elise said, “Jake. Jake.” She repeated his name as if trying to conjure up his image in her mind. “Isn’t he Dominic’s partner?” Nicole and Abby nodded. Elise clapped her hands together. “He’s beautiful and outrageously wealthy. How wonderful would that be if he and your sister got married?”
Abby’s eyes rounded, realizing she just might have started something she wasn’t sure she could contain. “Thank you for saying that, Katrine. I will bring Lil. Now, Jake, I don’t know about. He and Lil haven’t stayed in touch as far as I know. Maybe we should just let them figure it out.”
Maddy waved two excited hands in the air. “I have the perfect idea on how to get them together.”
“No,” everyone said in chorus.
Putting one indignant hand on a hip, Maddy asked, “When will you appreciate my genius?”
Nicole nodded grudgingly. “I have to admit, I’m happy with your results.”
“See,” Maddy stressed, pointing to her recent success. “Sometimes love just happens, but other times it needs a little push.”
Elise leaned toward her daughter. “What are you hatching in that little head of yours this time?”
Maddy turned to Abby. “Do you think Dominic can be trusted?”
A wicked smile lit Abby’s normally sweet face. “If it means feeding Jake a little humble pie, I’d say absolutely.”
Maddy said, “This is going to be awesome.”
“Maddy,” Katrine started in a firm, warning-laced tone that took a little of the wind out of her niece’s sails. Maddy’s arms dropped to her sides and she turned to her aunt, accepting the anticipated admonishment. After a pause, Katrine changed her mind. She leaned over and hugged her niece and said, “Don’t ever change.”
Hesitating only for a moment to reflect on Katrine’s words, Maddy quickly regained her enthusiasm. “Okay, this is what I think we should do . . .”
To Stephan’s surprise, Dominic had driven himself to the house. No wingman. No security. Just Abby.
Another man would have been nervous about being so clearly outnumbered, but Dominic entered the Andrade household with his head held high. He shook Victor’s and Alessandro’s hands without hesitation. He paused, but did not refuse to shake Stephan’s.
Alessandro led them through the house and asked his staff to bring them coffee outside. Three Andrade men and one Corisi sat on the large patio that overlooked acres of freshly cut lawn.
Once the men were seated, Victor said, “Your sister is already like a daughter to me. I was pleased that you accepted our invitation.”
Dominic nodded in acknowledgement of the statement, then looked over at Stephan. “Abby explained to me that you thought I had swindled your father out of his company and Isola Santos.”
Stephan looked his future brother-in-law right in the eye and said, “That’s true.”
Dominic added, “But now you know the truth.”
Stephan acknowledged he did with a slight incline of his head.
Neither man blinked.
Dominic said, “Had the situation been reversed, I would have done exactly what you did. And you almost beat me. Not many people can say that.”
The air stilled. Stephan said, “I’m not proud of what I did.”
“That could be the title of my own memoir,” Dominic said ruefully. Then, a bit more seriously, he said, “Abby is right. We can’t change the past, but we don’t have to repeat it either. Be good to my sister, Stephan.”
“I will be,” Stephan said, seeing clearly for the first time the love Dominic had for Nicole.
Dominic reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. He handed it to Victor. “This is the deed to Isola Santos. I want you to have it.”
Victor looked at the two proud men before him and said, “Why don’t you make it a wedding present for Stephan and Nicole so that our legacy is a blending of our families?”
Dominic repocketed the deed and cleared his throat. “I’d like that.”
Alessand
ro leaned forward in his seat and asked, “So, have you made any progress debugging your server?”
Victor shook his head at his brother in disapproval.
Alessandro countered, “We’re family now, no? How are we going to help him if we don’t discuss it?”
Family. At the end of the day, that’s what Dominic was now. Stephan said, “Dominic, you’re welcome to use the software design I was going to offer China.”
Dominic shook his head. “Not an option. It’s different enough that they would know. And, unfortunately, your hacker knew what he was doing, Stephan. No one I’ve paid an obscene amount of hush money to has been able to fix it. It’s as if the virus attached to every line of code.”
Victor looked at his son and said, “Stephan, with all of your connections, you don’t know anyone who could help?”
With a one-shoulder shrug, Stephan said, “The only one I know who’s that good is the man who created the virus, and he’s not budging.”
Dominic said, “I know of some people who could defrag God if they wanted to, but I’m not sure they would help us.”
Stephan stood. “Whatever you need, Dominic. If it’s money . . .”
“No, they don’t care about money.”
Stephan said, “Everyone has their price. What do they care about?”
“Jake,” Dominic answered.
Victor stood up. “No, Jake isn’t one of those Waltons, is he?”
Stephan asked, “What are you talking about, Dad?”
“In the late eighties, two highly respected computer designers made the news for claiming their software was being stolen by the American government for military purposes. It was a huge scandal that ended so abruptly people were taking bets on whether they’d been bought out or brutally silenced. Either way, it was a loss. The quantum encryption software they were working on back then was so far advanced we still use their notes as a guide today. If they are alive and still working on software design, I want to meet them. You think Jake is their son?”
Dominic shifted in his chair like he’d been caught saying much more than he’d meant to. “He’s never admitted to it, but I believe he is.”
Victor stood and joined Stephan by the stone railing. “Looks like we’re going to have to find out. Dominic, how much time do you have left before your server goes online?”
“About a month,” Dominic said.
Stephan said, “That’s not much time.”
Alessandro patted his nephew’s shoulder in support and said, “I know some people who might be able to help us track them down. If they are alive, I’ll have their location within a week.”
Sweaty and still in his kitchen apron, Richard opened the door to the patio with a huge smile and said, “Dominic, your presence is being requested in the kitchen.”
Dominic looked around at the other men who were also smiling suspiciously. Alessandro walked over and gave Dominic a sympathetic pat on the back. “It’s never a good sign.”
Victor joked, “Maybe they have an extra apron.”
Dominic wordlessly appealed to Stephan for help. Stephan gave him no sympathy, just a wicked smile. “The mighty Dominic Corisi cowers before a kitchen of women?”
Not denying the accusation, Dominic growled, “If you think it’s so funny, you go see what they want.”
Stephan hopped up onto the wide stone railing and didn’t attempt to hide his amusement. “They asked for you.”
Dominic headed into the house, tossing a threat over his shoulder. “I’ll remember this, Stephan.”
Turning back to his father and uncle, Stephan said, “What do you think they want to see him for?”
Alessandro shrugged. “I’ll ask Maddy later.”
Stephan shook his head with humor, then a thought came to him. “Dad, I have one more confession.” Both older men went absolutely still and Stephan wished he had chosen his words more carefully. He hoped he never had another of those confessions. This one was much easier to share. “I told Nicole that we know about the red-bikini scam.”
Victor said sadly, “Now your mother won’t wear hers anymore.”
“Dad!” Stephan jumped off the railing and tried to block out the mental image his father had just scarred him with.
Ever optimistic, Alessandro said, “Maybe they’ll come up with something even better. Although, I will miss Elise meeting me at the door in hers.”
Time to go. “I’m going to see if Dominic needs me.”
Stephan stopped at the door of the kitchen and took in the scene before him. Richard had returned to his post at the stove. Maddy was enthusiastically laying out some wild scheme to Dominic whose entire demeanor was softer here with the women. Dominic looked across at Abby, shared a laugh with her and nodded in agreement with something Elise said.
One month. They had one month to fix Dominic’s server.
We can do it, he thought. We have to.
Nicole caught a glimpse of him and headed over to his side. She hugged him, and the weight of the world slid off his shoulders. She said, “The rest of the family will be here soon. How did it go out there? You’re both still alive and smiling, so I’m guessing it went okay.”
“My father liked him, I could tell. And Uncle Alessandro is going to locate someone who could help him remove the virus.”
Nicole turned her face into Stephan’s shirt and he felt her shudder against him. He eased her back a little so he could see her expression. “What is it, Nicole? I’d thought you’d be happy.”
Fighting back tears, she said huskily, “I am happy. I’m so happy that I’m afraid. Can this really be my life? What if I wake up and none of this happened?”
He tucked a stray lock behind her ear and said, “If you do, come to my office in Manhattan. I’m sitting there with your photo in my desk, waiting for you.”
Then he kissed her, the kind of kiss that makes an overprotective brother growl something from across the room, and a crazy aunt give a standing ovation.
THE END
Don’t want the story to end? Read on with Book 3 of the Legacy Collection
Bedding the Billionaire
Book 3
The Legacy Collection
Lil Dartley’s life is upside down. Her previously steadfast and predictable sister is marrying an influential billionaire and needs help planning the wedding of the century in less than a month. Years of middle-class rebellion have not prepared Lil for handling billionaires or paparazzi.
Jake Walton knows a train wreck when he sees one. Lil was trouble from the first day he met her, but since her sister is marrying his best friend, he has no choice but to help her or this wedding will be in the news for all the wrong reasons. Keeping Lil safe would be a whole lot easier if she didn’t drive him crazy both in and out of the bedroom.
Chapter One
“Looking for more about the Corisi/Dartley whirlwind romance? We have an exclusive interview with the bride-to-be’s sister.” The promo from a Boston news station played on the phone Jake Walton had propped on a table in his room-sized closet as he was getting dressed one morning.
Jake paused briefly from looping his carefully chosen, blue silk tie in a full Windsor. Most men were aware of one or two ways to knot a tie, but Jake knew over eighty methods to perform that simple function and how each conveyed a subtle, yet different message. Information was power, even when applied to the details.
The video clip his business partner, Dominic Corisi, had sent his phone a few moments earlier was not welcome information, but since the actual interview had yet to air there was time to squash it. Having a network of security in a variety of cities had paid off again.
This was an unfortunate distraction for Dominic at the very time when he most needed to regain his focus. Luckily the situation could easily be rectified with a few phone calls and would hopefully be quickly forgotten by the public.
No doubt, Dominic’s next step would be to call him, perpetuating the cycle they had fallen into years ago—Dominic made a mess and a
lways expected Jake to clean it up. Jake didn’t deny that there was a certain pleasure to be found in bringing order to the chaos his business partner often left in his wake. Normally something like this interview would be categorized as a minor nuisance. Dominic was famous for being volatile, impulsive, and often the subject of legal inquires, certainly not a man who feared bad press, but with Corisi Enterprises having invested so much into one contract with China, the stakes were insanely high.
Jake resumed knotting his tie as he watched the rest of the video clip.
“Listen as Lil Dartley spills her true feelings about having billionaire and computer tycoon Dominic Corisi kidnap her sister. Hear her confess something that is sure to rock the Corisi camp. Think you know the whole story? You don’t know this. Don’t miss our exclusive phone interview—tonight at seven.”
Surely Dominic hadn’t been careless enough to share the one piece of information that could topple Corisi Enterprises? If so, no amount of money could stifle her interview.
Was Lil making a grab for her five minutes of fame, or something more insidious? She was a young, single mother of twenty-five. It wasn’t unimaginable that she’d think the world owed her something since her sister had hit the proverbial jackpot by snagging a billionaire.
Normally the exposure of human flaw did not elicit more than annoyance from Jake, but it was oddly disappointing to find it so soon in Dominic’s new family—Lil in particular. Not that her character, or lack of, should matter one way or another to Jake. She was, and always should have been, off-limits.
A memory from the first time he’d met her came back to him with disconcerting clarity. His body tightened and warmed as if she were once again standing before him, defiantly flipping her cascade of dark brown curls over one shoulder and waving her other hand back and forth as if underlying her words.
The Legacy Collection Box Set Page 17
