He turned and spotted her just as she came out of the guest bathroom. “Alessandra,” he called out, heading toward her.
She met him halfway, surprising him when she grabbed his wrist and pulled him out onto the balcony.
“I missed you,” he moaned, reaching for her hips and leaning in to finally kiss her.
Alessandra tilted her head back from him and scowled.
Uh-oh.
“Did you try to rally the board to vote me out?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she eyed him.
Damn.
Any ideas of sharing a passionate kiss with her quickly faded. He released a heavy breath and looked up to the dark skies.
“Wow, Alek,” she said in disbelief. “Just...wow.”
He looked at her. “That was in the beginning, Alessandra. That was before we even linked up to—”
“Screw?” she interjected angrily.
He frowned. “Don’t do that, Alessandra. I was going to say before we linked up on the airline deal.”
“Don’t do that?” she asked with calm. “What you shouldn’t have done, Alek Ansah, is seduce me just to weaken my interest in the business and then let your ex-wife—and God knows who else—know all about it.”
Alek’s face immediately filled with guilt. “That was a joke, Alessandra, I swear,” he said, remembering the dinner party at Chance’s apartment.
He reached for her, and she shook her head and held up her hand as she stepped back. His heart ached to see the tears brimming in her eyes as she fought so hard to maintain her calm.
“You’ll do anything to get me out of the company,” she said with a bitter laugh. “Just like you threatened to cut your sister off to keep her from entering the business. Right?”
Alek felt desperate, as if he were trying to contain sand that slipped through his open fingers.
“I love you, Alessandra,” he said, praying she could see the sincerity in his eyes.
“No, you do not,” she said plainly. “Don’t go that far, Alek. Don’t cross every line.”
“I love you,” he stressed, grasping her arm and trying to lock eyes with her. “Please believe me.”
“Stay the hell away from me if it has nothing to do with ADG,” she said, roughly jerking her arm from his grasp and entering the apartment through the balcony door before disappearing into the crowd.
“Damn,” Alek swore, trying to follow behind her, but he was surrounded by his guests.
He lost sight of her and knew he couldn’t catch up to her.
* * *
Curiosity was killing LuLu.
She eased away from the party, entered her master suite and crossed the room to step out onto the balcony. She shivered in the coldness but she still clutched the metal railing of her balcony and looked down at the row of chauffeured cars on the street below. It wasn’t hard to spot Alessandra’s vintage Jaguar, nor for her to pick out her driver among those chauffeurs braving the night chill to pass their time waiting together.
“Roje,” she whispered, pressing a hand to her pounding heart.
“What you shouldn’t have done, Alek Ansah, is seduce me just to weaken my interest in the business and then let your ex-wife—and God knows who else—know all about it.”
First LuLu’s eyes widened and then her mouth dropped at the sound of Alessandra’s raised voice. They had to be on the balcony in the great room. Alek did what?
“That was a joke, Alessandra, I swear.”
Oh, Alek.
LuLu was torn between rudeness at eavesdropping and a mother’s innate curiosity about her children’s lives. And she did listen on and she felt like weeping because it was clear they both were hurting.
“I love you. Please believe me.”
LuLu heard the raw emotion in her son’s voice and knew him well enough to know he spoke the truth of his heart. Alek is in love.
“Stay the hell away from me if it has nothing to do with ADG.”
And Alessandra loved him, as well. That level of hurt and anger were the shadows to being deeply in love. That LuLu knew as she took off across her bedroom suite in her heels. She denied herself happiness and love. She did not want that for any of her children.
They already sneaked this past me.
LuLu made it down the hall and onto the elevator behind Alessandra just before the doors closed. She looked down to make sure her flowing caftan hadn’t been caught. “Come, come, come, come, come,” LuLu said, beckoning her with her fingers at seeing the young woman’s emotions on overload.
They shared a brief look before LuLu closed the distance and embraced her. Moments later, Alessandra’s body shook with her tears. “I know about you and Alek,” she admitted as she stroked the woman’s back and gently rocked their bodies. “I overheard your argument on the balcony.”
“Oh no,” Alessandra wailed. “Did everyone hear us?”
“No, just me,” LuLu said, leaning back to look at her as she wiped away the track of her tears with her thumb.
The elevator came to a stop and LuLu took Alessandra’s hand in hers to lead her to a sitting area in the lobby. “I know you think I am saying this because he is my son, but I heard the love he has for you in my son’s voice, Alessandra,” she said. “Before I was his mother, I was a woman who lived and loved and lost.”
Alessandra removed tissues from her clutch and pressed them to her cheeks. “I’m sorry but I don’t believe that,” she admitted.
“What do you believe?” LuLu asked.
“I believe that Alek betrayed me. I believe he would go to any lengths to oust me from the company,” Alessandra said, releasing a heavy breath before she continued. “I believe I am so disappointed that I feel betrayed by my own heart.”
LuLu’s ached for her. “The only advice I have is to remember the time you shared and follow your gut if you really believe all of it was fake. I believe you’re smarter than that, Alessandra. Don’t you?”
“I thought I was smart enough not to risk everything I worked so hard to establish in business for a man, and well, I guess I wasn’t that smart, after all,” she said, rising to her feet. “I left my jacket.”
“Would you like me to go up and get it?” LuLu asked.
“No, that’s okay,” she said, taking out her phone. “I’ll just make sure my driver turns up the heat.”
LuLu looked up at her. “Your parents loved each other and in time they were lost to each other, but I promise you neither one regretted the love. They would want that for you. I want that for my son.”
Alessandra’s lingering sadness was clear. “Thank you for your kindness,” she said.
LuLu rose as well, walking her to the door.
The doorman held the door open for them.
“Thank you, William,” LuLu told him before turning back to Alessandra. “I hope you think of what I’ve said.”
Alessandra remained quiet.
Roje spotted them and came walking up to them, quietly standing beside Alessandra with his eyes resting on LuLu.
“Life is too short to deny yourself love,” LuLu said, unable to look away from him.
Alessandra hugged her. “Seems like advice you could use as well, Ms. Ansah,” she said before turning and walking away.
LuLu barely felt the cold as she stood there lost in the regret in Roje’s eyes.
“Ms. Ansah.” Roje greeted her with a nod before finally breaking their stare and following behind Alessandra.
She watched as he helped Alessandra into the rear of the Jaguar before looking back at her. With one last glance at him, she walked back inside determined to be okay with her decision to deny herself love.
* * *
Alek was on the chase.
He wasn’t a violent man. He didn’t want to lay hands on his ex-wife, but he would pay good money to lay eyes on hers.
&nb
sp; He wiped his mouth with his hands as he flipped over his iPhone and called Kenzay’s phone number for the third time. It went straight to voice mail. “Shit,” he swore.
Alek looked up as Chance and his fiancée, Helena, came toward him where he stood away from the crowd by the entrance to the kitchen.
“You’re missing the party,” Chance said, handing Alek the extra glass of champagne he carried.
“Have either of you seen Kenzay?” he asked them.
Chance shook his head.
“She left,” Helena said, the diamonds of her numerous bracelets and her engagement ring shining brightly as she tucked her blond hair behind her ear. “Something about a headache.”
Alek gritted his teeth as he slid his phone into the inside pocket of his blazer. “She’s the damn headache,” he muttered.
Helena made a face. “That’s not nice, Alek,” she said before playfully pouting.
Chance and Alek shared a brief look.
“What isn’t nice is her telling Alessandra that I was planning a hostile takeover of the business and—”
“Weren’t you, though?” Helena said lightly with a wince.
Alek looked at Chance again.
“And that I planned to seduce her to get her to leave the business,” he added, his ire rising.
Helena seemed oblivious to it. “You did say it. I was there,” she said.
Alek frowned. “So, your moral compass says it’s okay to be mean and spiteful to a woman you don’t even know just because you’re jealous?” he asked, his tone hostile. “Then what does that say about you?”
Chance eased in between them. “We’re gonna head on out, Alek,” he said.
Alek held up his hands. Helena irked his spirit but she still was his best friend’s bride-to-be. “Nope. Y’all stay. I’m leaving,” he said, turning and striding away.
He reached the foyer, happy that the partygoers didn’t even notice him as he summoned the elevator. The doors opened and he was surprised to see his mother exiting. He noticed her sadness. “Ma, you okay?” he asked.
She forced a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I wasn’t happy to overhear that my son even joked about playing with a woman’s heart for any reason,” she said.
His broad shoulders slumped and he looked down at his feet. “It’s all a misunderstanding,” he explained.
She grasped his chin and tilted his head up. “Then go fix it,” she said before patting his cheek and then gently nudging him onto the elevator. “We’ll cut the cake and open presents tomorrow. Okay?”
“I will, but first it’s time to get some clarity with Kenzay,” he said.
“Make it clear that when she invites herself to a party she shouldn’t upset invited guests, so she is no longer welcome in my home,” LuLu said with a broad smile just before the elevator doors closed.
Alek couldn’t get the look of hurt and betrayal in Alessandra’s eyes out of his mind. He hurt because he knew she was hurt.
You’ll do anything to get me out of the company.
There was a time he would have, but she had gained his respect.
The elevator doors opened and he quickly strode across the marble lobby out the door to the street. Before he reached the curb, Julius was pulling the black Bentley Mulsanne out of his parking spot down the street and easing to a stop in front of the building. “The Peninsula Hotel, Julius,” he said as he soon as he slid onto the rear seat and closed the door.
The Peninsula was Kenzay’s go-to spot when she was in town.
As Julius sped up the street, Alek thought he spotted a flash of red as they passed a parked SUV. “Pull over, Julius,” he said, already reaching for the handle before the car came to a complete stop.
Alek jogged up the street and pulled open the door to the SUV. Kenzay looked at him before glancing away with a bored sigh.
“Hey,” the driver yelled out, turning around in his seat.
“What was your purpose tonight, Kenzay?” he asked, his voice cold and unrelenting.
“Awww, did Kenzay make someone cry?” she asked, her voice petulant as she pulled a compact from her clutch. It lit her face when she opened it, exposing her smugness.
Alek paused as he looked at her and really saw her for the first time. “What did Alessandra ever do to you?” he asked.
She snapped her compact closed as looked at him. “She took your attention off of me,” she said. “No other woman has ever made you reject me, and in public. That was a first for us, and if you ever want to have me again it best be the last.”
This was about her ego and her belief that she controlled him.
“I love her, Kenzay,” he said. “If I lose Alessandra because of you—”
“Because of me?” Kenzay retorted. “I shouldn’t have that much power in your silly little relationship. If I’m able to make it crumble just like that...then it was already broken somewhere.”
He hated that there was truth in her words. His relationship with Alessandra—if it could be called that—had not been perfect at all. The hesitance to be together. The secrecy of their dealings. The resistance to accepting her just as easily in the boardroom as the bedroom.
“We’re done, Kenzay,” he said, his anger with her dissipating. “It’s time we both moved on for good.”
She looked at him for a long time. Even the driver shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “She gets the love you never gave me?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I’m calling foul on that, Kenzay. Alessandra has nothing to do with the love we didn’t have for each other,” he stressed, stepping back and reaching for the door.
“You’ll call me, but will I answer, that’s the question,” she said, her feigned hurt gone and replaced by her conceit again.
“Goodbye, Kenzay,” Alek said, closing the car door firmly before he turned and walked away.
He didn’t flinch or look back when Kenzay began screaming expletives out the window of the SUV detailing just what he could with both his head and his goodbyes. He was thankful when he climbed back in the Bentley and closed the door, shutting her tirade off as he called Alessandra’s phone.
It rang just once.
She was sending his calls to voice mail.
He slumped down in the back of the car and covered his eyes with his fingers. He felt sick.
“Where to now?” Julius asked.
“Passion Grove,” he said, sitting up to text Alessandra.
I LOVE YOU, ALESSANDRA. WE NEED TO TALK. PLEASE ANSWER. PLEASE CALL ME.
He had no shame. He wanted her back.
During the nearly one-hour drive Alek forced himself not to continue to text her like an obsessed stalker.
As they drove through the quiet streets of Passion Grove he thought back to all the time they shared there. An ache of loss radiated across his chest.
Julius pulled the car up to the gate of her estate and Alek jumped out of the car to walk up to the security video camera. “Hey, fellas,” he said with a wave. “Is Alessandra home?”
“Good evening, Mr. Ansah,” a voice said through the intercom. “I’m sorry, but Ms. Dalmount has alerted us not to allow you on the estate, sir.”
He turned just as Julius respectfully rolled the driver’s-side window up.
“Could you call her, please?” he asked.
“We’ve been instructed not to, sir.”
Through the gate, Alek looked up the long drive as he paced. The irony of it all was not lost on him. He finally laid his feelings out for her and he could understand her inability to trust that the words were true.
He moved back over to the security camera. “Were you instructed not to call anyone else on the property?” he asked, thinking quickly on his feet.
The pause was lengthy.
“No, sir,” the male voice finally answered.
“Then please call her aunt Leonora for me,” he said.
As he waited, Alek knew the sense of urgency he felt was brought on by his guilt. He had tried to orchestrate her removal from ADG and for that he had been wrong.
He turned as light suddenly radiated across his body. It gradually brightened. Soon he distinguished the golf cart coming down the drive. He slid his hands into his pockets as he stood facing the gate. It came to a stop and he watched as Leonora exited wearing a fur with a hood. She came to stand on the other side of the gate as she lit a cigarette.
“Hello, Alek,” she said, the tip of her extra-long cigarette reddening as she inhaled. “The camera and intercoms are off.”
He nodded as he stepped closer to the gate. “I need to speak with Alessandra,” he said.
“Listen, I can see a lot from my bedroom balcony. I honestly don’t think you spent every weekend for the last three months cooped up in that guesthouse with my niece just to get her away from ADG,” she said firmly. “The vote could have done that. Okay?”
“Okay,” he said, surprised that she knew of their relationship.
“She’s gone, Alek,” she said, pausing to take another draw. “Best advice I can give you is to allow her the time she needs. Okay?”
He felt gut-punched as he nodded and stepped back from the gate. She was gone. He remembered when he wanted that so badly. Now it broke his heart. With a final nod of understanding he walked back to the Bentley and got in the rear. As Julius reversed, the lights from the golf cart and the red flame of her cigarette eventually disappeared.
Chapter 11
One month later
Alessandra smiled as Roje drove her past the large bronze sign welcoming them back to Passion Grove, New Jersey. Snow covered the tops of buildings and the ground. Christmas decor was in abundance. It was the holiday season.
“Feel good to be back?” Roje asked, eyeing her in the rearview mirror.
“Yes,” she admitted without hesitation.
“I’m very happy you’re back,” he said. “Driving Marisa around has been an...adventure.”
Alessandra nodded, glancing out the window at the line of storefronts before glancing back at him. “Thank you for letting me know what’s going on with her, Roje,” she said. “I’m disappointed to hear her partying has advanced to drug use.”
A Billionaire Affair Page 15
