A Forever Love

by Maggie Marr

Leo exchanged a look with Devon.

  Devon rolled his gaze toward the ceiling. “Something’s come up at the office. He asked that we start without him and said he’ll be here in time for dessert and coffee.”

  Justin’s chest tightened and a deep heat coiled in his gut. He would not be disrespected. He would not allow his brother to disrespect his son. Justin wanted to give his brother Anthony the benefit of the doubt. Before Justin’s illness, before Max, before Aubrey, Justin wouldn’t have wanted to leave the office before ten p.m. He rarely did, even now. The past three weeks though, he’d missed Aubrey and he’d missed Max. He’d numbed the pain by working. Made himself believe that if he worked, he didn’t have to feel any of his feelings. Not now, not ever.

  “They’re in the dining room,” Justin said.

  Both the brothers walked through the living room. Max stood when they entered. His gaze flickered from his mom to his dad and then finally landed on the two men beside his father.

  What was his son thinking? What did he see in the two men that flanked Justin? One was shorter and thicker with dark eyes, but the same black scruff of hair as Max that hung over his forehead and nearly flopped in his eyes. Devon was the rabble-rouser. The man who always wanted a good time, whom women fell for and men wanted to be. On the other side was Leo. Closest in age to Justin, he was thoughtful and smart and taller than Devon but shorter than Justin. He cut an imposing figure, with the jet-black eyes of their mother but the black Travati hair. He kept his hair trimmed above his collar, much like Justin. Leo wore a suit and Devon had more of a hipster vibe, while Justin was all Wall Street.

  “Leo, Devon, this is my son.” Justin’s voice trembled and nearly broke. This moment, damn this moment. Tears burned the back of his eyes, and he pressed one fingertip into the corner of his eye, then grasped his son’s shoulder. “This is my Max.” He nodded. His nostrils flared. Pride and love and joy shot through his body. A giant mass of emotion flooded his senses. He looked across the room to where Aubrey stood in an emerald-green dress, her red curls framing her porcelain face, her eyes understanding the depth of emotion that thrummed through Justin. Max was her son too. Her forever love. Max was their child together.

  Leo reached out and clasped Max to him. He slapped his back. When he pulled back and looked into his nephew’s eyes, Leo’s eyes glistened too. He looked from Justin to Max. “I’m so happy to meet you. I’m …” He tore his eyes away while one hand rested on Max’s shoulder and his other hand rested on Justin’s. “I just … I’m so happy you’re here. That we have the next generation. Welcome, Max. Welcome.”

  Max smiled and nodded and looked at his dad and then spun his head and glanced at his mother.

  Devon hugged Max too. “Man, you’re tall!” Max was nearly as tall as his Uncle Devon. “You like sports? What are you playing? Huh? Football? Soccer?” He reached out and grabbed Max’s arm. “Football. You got too much Midwestern muscle not to be playing football.”

  “Yes, sir. Freshman football this year.”

  “I’m your Uncle Devon, you got that? I’m here for anything you need, anything you want to talk about, anything at all. You got that?” He pointed his finger straight at Max. “Anything. Trouble, good stuff, anything. We clear?”

  Max nodded.

  “Come here, kid.” Devon grabbed him up into another tight hug and pulled him close.

  Justin’s heart was full, nearly bursting. These were his brothers, the men he loved. The men he trusted. The men who would be charged with taking care of his son, and hopefully soon his wife, should something ever happen to him.

  “Man, he looks just like you,” Devon said and his eyes flicked from Max to Justin. His gaze then traveled toward Aubrey. He squinted. “You’re Max’s mother.” He tilted his head to the side. “Have we met?”

  Aubrey smiled. “You were still in school when I worked at Travati Financial, but I saw you at the Murphy-Duval wedding at Mesquale.”

  “You …”

  “Were very close with Paloma.”

  “Paloma. You knew Paloma.”

  “We graduated B-school together. She was one of my closest friends.”

  “One of the most beautiful women in the world. And smart. he was perfect for Ryan. But Charla seems good. They’re in love—you can see it.”

  “Very different than Paloma,” Aubrey said, “and yet she and Ryan make a perfect pair.”

  Justin watched Aubrey with Devon while Leo spoke to Max about his upcoming first year of high school and sports and what did he do in Kansas for fun? Then with that Travati charm, Devon was turning to talk to Max, and Leo had made his way to Aubrey.

  “Aubrey, it is such a pleasure to see you again. This is the most wonderful blessing and surprise. I …” He pressed his hand to his chest. “I’m sorry. I’m never this emotional, but this is such a night. To meet my nephew and his mother and to see you and how happy Justin is? I only wish”—he looked from Aubrey to Justin—“I only wish you’d told him sooner.” Leo reached out and grasped his brother’s arm.

  Aubrey nodded. Now her throat tightened, and she was choking on her words. “I do too, Leo. I do too. I pray one day that Justin and you and Devon and Anthony can forgive me for that. I was young and scared and then just scared.” The emotion of the evening was swamping her and overwhelming her. She looked to Max—he seemed happy and engaged, and he bubbled with a brilliance and joy.

  “I’m glad we have him now.” Leo turned to sit, and then they were all around the table in the penthouse and the chef was bringing out plates of Travati family recipes that their mother and grandmother used to cook on special occasions and sometimes just on Sundays.

  They were finishing the cheese course of a ten-course Italian meal when, finally, just as the espresso scent was coming from the kitchen, Aubrey followed Justin’s gaze. There at in the doorway to the formal dining room stood the final Travati brother.

  Aubrey remembered Anthony. She remembered an uneven feeling of distrust that bordered on dislike. Of all the Travati brothers, Anthony was the one she’d never seemed to understand. His face was like stone. He did not enter the dining room, which was filled with joy, or give a smile or show happiness over the thought of welcoming his eldest brother’s son into the Travati family.

  “Anthony.” Justin didn’t rise. He didn’t move toward his brother from the head of the table.

  “My apologies.” His eyes glanced over Aubrey.

  A chill raced through her body, sent a shiver into her soul. There was little kindness in his eyes. Then his gaze locked on Max, who was speaking to his Uncle Devon about the draft for some sports team. Max looked at his mother and then followed her gaze. He looked across the room and met his father’s gaze, and then he saw his uncle. He stood, a polite gesture from a well-schooled young man. He walked toward his uncle with a smile on his face, his arm outstretched as though he was ready to great another Travati. The final Travati. His third uncle.

  Anthony’s eyes skimmed over Max as though he didn’t see him. As though he didn’t exist. “Justin”—he turned his head from Max, completely ignoring the boy— “might I have a word with you?”

  Justin’s eyes clouded. Heat rose on his face, and his lips turned into the thin line that was the foreboding of angry words to follow. “Anthony.” Justin stood. “This is my son Max. Max, this is your Uncle Anthony.”

  Anthony turned his head. His arms did not leave his side. His eyes grazed over Max from toe to top. “A pleasure,” he said coolly and then turned his head back toward Justin.

  Devon’s face now contained a storm, and Leo cocked an eyebrow toward Anthony.

  “Justin, a word please.”

  Aubrey followed Justin’s gaze. She’d not seen him so angry before tonight. He was holding back his temper for her, for Max. He didn’t want the boy to realize, in case he hadn’t picked up on it, just how dismissive and disrespectful Anthony was being.

  The air flew from Aubrey’s lungs as though she’d been punched in the gut. Anthony Trav
ati didn’t believe that Max was Justin’s son! She started to tremble. Not from fear, not from sadness, but from rage. Anger. She’d spent her life caring for her son, alone. If not for Max sussing out the details of his mother’s life, she would have never told Max about his family, at least not until he was much older, and yet Anthony wanted to believe that she and Max were gold diggers after the Travati fortune.

  “Anthony, tread lightly,” Leo said. He folded his napkin and set it in the center of his place setting where a moment before his plate had been.

  “Why bother? Because you’re too scared to walk on that path at all?”

  “Anthony, why do you need to do this now?” Leo asked.

  “Because it has to be done. We’re talking about an inheritance of a billion dollars. We’re talking about the work to which we’ve dedicated our lives. We deserve to be one hundred percent sure.”

  Max turned from his uncle to his father. He seemed to not quite grasp, at least not yet, what his Uncle Anthony was saying. Probably because he’d not yet been trained in the dark arts of subterfuge, lies, and deceit. At least not as well as the Travati brothers were trained.

  “Anthony, what is it that you need to say?” Justin remained in his seat at the head of the table. “Max, please sit. I don’t believe your uncle will be staying.”

  All joy flew from the room.

  “I’d be happy to have this conversation in private. With Leo and Devon and you and me.”

  “This”—Justin nodded toward the table—“is my family. Every person sitting here who chose to eat with me tonight, who chose to embrace my son as their own, they are my family, Anthony. You can say anything that you would say in private to me, in front of them.”

  “Very well,” Anthony said. His gaze glimmered over Aubrey and a dark heat lay there. A horrible, intense heat that seemed to scream whore and harlot and gold digger and liar and every bad thing that any man could possibly think about her. “I demand that Max have a DNA test to prove that he is in fact a Travati.”

  Max’s eyebrows pulled tight as though he wasn’t understanding what his uncle had requested.

  “You demand,” Justin said calmly. His voice sounded deadly, a thick heat that would close around you slowly and quietly and squeeze you until you were dead.

  “We’ve worked our entire lives to create a legacy; we have the right to know that legacy is going to a true Travati.”

  “What the hell, man?” Devon knocked his fist against the table. “Now? What is your problem? Look at this kid. He could have been your twin, he looks just like you. How do you think this kid isn’t a Travati?”

  “I want to believe Ms. Hayes’s claims, but she was a young single woman in the city. Justin most certainly wasn’t the only man she allowed to climb between her legs.”

  Aubrey’s face flushed red, the heat starting in her chest. She dropped her face toward the table. Her son sat across from her, and suddenly his eyes clouded and he was rising up from his chair and she was opening her mouth to tell him to stop and faster than both, Justin jumped up and grasped Anthony’s collar and pinned his little brother against the wall.

  “You sick, twisted piece of shit.” His voice was low and lethal. “You come into my house, my home, and you not only insult my son but you insult the woman I love? The mother of my child, and you impugn her reputation? Her honesty?” Justin pulled Anthony forward, then slammed him back against the wall. “I don’t fucking care what you want. What you think. Max is my son. I say he is. I know he is. I don’t need a blood test to prove it, and if that’s enough for me, then it’s enough for you too.”

  Anthony’s nostrils flared. Devon and Leo were on their feet but they paused, knowing from experience that if they moved in, Justin with his quick-fire temper might beat the hell out of Anthony. Justin pressed close to his face. “We’re done. Until you apologize, I don’t want to see you again.”

  “That’ll be difficult, seeing as we’re business partners.”

  “Really?” Justin pressed his face close to his brother’s ear and lowered his voice. “Maybe you’re forgetting about the majority buyout clause.”

  A twisted smile spread over Anthony’s face. “Maybe you’re naive enough to think you have a majority.”

  With Anthony’s words, Justin’s hand released Anthony’s collar. He turned toward Leo and Devon. A question spread over his face.

  “This isn’t the night to discuss what needs to be done,” Leo said. He ran his hand through his hair. “Anthony, you need to apologize, and you need to do it now. You don’t say things like that to a woman and to our … our …” His gaze flew from Aubrey and Max. “To Max.”

  Justin’s heart hammered in his chest. What? This wasn’t happening, how was this happening? Two of his brothers had entered his home and pretended to have joy in their hearts about Justin finding his son, and they’d been scheming this plan for … for how long?

  “Devon?” Justin’s voice held a question.

  “Brother, let’s not talk about it now. Let Max and Aubrey have a great trip to New York. Get that test done and then we’re okay, right? I mean, we all know Max is your boy, our boy. We can tell. He’s totally Travati—it’s all over him. The test is just a formality.”

  “But if it’s just a formality, why do you all need it so badly?”

  Devon hung his head, and Leo pushed his hands into his jacket pockets.

  Anthony’s eyes skimmed over his brothers. “Because we don’t know if she’s telling the truth. How do we know?”

  Justin’s face flamed red. He fought the urge to slam his brother against the wall again and this time crack his skull. “Because I believe her. If I believe her then that is enough.”

  “For you, maybe, but for us, not necessarily.”

  “Leo?”

  “It’s an easy test, and I’d want the same thing done if a woman appeared with a child and claimed that he was my son.”

  But this wasn’t just any woman, and she hadn’t appeared, and she hadn’t wanted to tell him that this was his son and she’d created a life that didn’t include him, so why … “The three of you need to leave.” Justin’s shoulders slumped forward. This was not how a family should act. They were letting their greed overwhelm their good judgment. They weren’t thinking of love and family and all the things their parents had taught them.

  “If I worked at the docks and I brought home my child and told you he was mine, you wouldn’t act this way?”

  “Who’s to say if you worked at the docks she would have ever let your son find you?” Anthony asked.

  “Not one more word about my mother.” Max slowly stood. “I know to respect my family and my elders, but sir, if you say one more word about my mother, I’m going to have to beat the hell out of you.”

  “Really?” Anthony smiled and pulled at his jacket. He looked over his shoulder at Justin. “Don’t know what you’re worried about, brother, the boy is obviously Travati. Look at him defend his mother, just as any one of us would. Get the test finished and be done. Takes forty-eight hours.”

  Anthony turned toward the door. Leo and Devon walked behind him. The sound of Italian loafers on marble as they exited had never before sounded so loud.

  Chapter 22

  “Max is asleep.” Aubrey walked into the giant expanse of Justin’s room where he stood staring out into the New York nighttime skyline. “He wants to go home tomorrow.”

  “You aren’t scheduled to leave for another two days.”

  “He also wants to have the DNA test done.” Aubrey sat on the edge of Justin’s giant bed with its carved black wood frame. He didn’t move at her words. He stood, a solitary dark figure outlined by the night sky and the lights behind him.

  “Such a different view than the one in Kansas,” Justin said.

  An understatement to be sure. “They both have their appeal,” Aubrey said. Her heart hurt for Max and for Justin. There was even a twinge of sadness for herself, that Justin’s brothers, the men he held so close, were unwilling
to accept his son.

  “It’s a very simple request,” Aubrey said softly. “And not an outrageous one at that. I understand their concerns.”

  “Do you?” Justin didn’t turn away from the view. “To look at Max is to know he is a Travati. It’s in his hair, his eyes, his face.” Justin turned toward her. “In his very nature and carriage. There is no other person he could possibly be.”

  “Then just get the test.” She pulled at the plush gray silk duvet that covered his bed. “I don’t take their desire as a personal affront, just men protecting their business interests.”

  “What if I do take it as an affront?” Justin’s eyes smoldered in the dim light. He walked across the room toward her, and with each step her heartbeat increased, her breathing shortened, her desire raged. “A personal attack against my son and the woman I love.”

  He stood before her now. Stalwart and strong and masculine and safe. He reached down, and his hands grasped her arms and pulled her to stand. “You, Aubrey, you and Max are my family now. You’ve become my family. You mean more to me than Travati Financial, than even my brothers. You two have become my world.”

  Pinging against her chest at an impossible rate, Aubrey’s heart expanded and warmed. This man. Had she ever stopped wanting him? Desiring him? Nina was right, Aubrey loved him, perhaps since the day she first laid eyes on him. That young twenty-something girl giving her heart away without even knowing it, only to discover fifteen years later that Justin was the man she loved.

  “I won’t have them disparage you. Disparage us. Disparage what I know to be true.”

  “They’re not.” Aubrey reached out to his stern face. His eyes lit with the flame of desire and want and a protectiveness that said he would smash the world should anyone hurt her or Max. “I know and you know and Max knows the truth. Don’t do this for them, do this for Max.”

  “Max?” Surprise filtered through Justin’s eyes.

  “Once the test is complete, he’ll be in a strong position with all your brothers.” A chill raced through her with the memory of Anthony’s cool gaze. She’d not want Max ever alone with that heartless man. “He can assume his place in your family and there will be no doubt. Not in any of their minds.”