Revelations of the Night Before

by Lynn Raye Harris

  She went down the hall to the bedroom, discovered that he was indeed staying there, and then turned and went back to the living area where she made a couple of phone calls before settling down to wait.

  She didn’t even have to wait an hour. The door burst open and he was there, looking so delicious in his navy blue custom suit with the pin-striped shirt open at the neck.

  He also looked furious. Obviously, the concierge had done as she asked and called Nico to let him know she had arrived.

  “What are you doing here, Tina? And why didn’t you let me know you were coming? You should have had security.”

  She stood and faced him squarely across the couch. Her heart swelled with love for him. He looked so angry, but she only wanted to touch him. She wanted to put her palms on his face and tell him how much she loved him.

  But she was too scared. She would do it, but not quite yet.

  “You didn’t steal the prototype, Nico,” she said, ignoring his questions. “I want you to tell me the truth.”

  He swore violently. She expected him to fight her, but he went over and poured a Scotch from the liquor cabinet before turning back to her.

  “I might as well have. It was my fault.”

  “How?”

  He sank onto a chair across from her and rubbed his forehead. And then his gaze snapped up, glaring at her.

  “I took a copy of the plan to my father, to ask him for the money. He refused. He told me he would only back us if I built the motorcycles and made it a family enterprise.” He took a sip of the Scotch. “I told him no. But he had friends who followed the sport, and he took the design to them, looking for investors. The next thing I knew, the financing was in place for Gavretti Manufacturing. Renzo didn’t believe me. We said terrible things to each other—and I went to work for my father.”

  “I thought it was your company?”

  “I bought it from him a few years later, but no, it was not at first.”

  Tina blinked. “But he didn’t care about motorcycles, did he? Why would he try to start a factory that built them?”

  Nico took another swallow of the Scotch. “Greed. He saw something in the plan and wanted to capitalize on it. He was right, as the success of the company proves.”

  Tina clenched her fingers in her lap. “You have to tell Renzo this.”

  His eyes flashed, his jaw hardening. “I did tell him, Tina. He didn’t believe me.” He laughed harshly. “Can you blame him? In his eyes, I betrayed him because I believed I was better than he was. Because I was a rich and privileged Gavretti.”

  She couldn’t stop the feelings swelling in her another minute. He was a good man, and he tortured himself so much. Not only that, but he expected people to believe the worst of him.

  She went to his side, knelt on the floor before him, and grasped his free hand in hers.

  “No,” he told her, setting the Scotch down and trying to make her get up. “Don’t get on the floor.”

  “Nico,” she said, tears rushing into her throat and eyes. “I believe you. I believe you.”

  He pulled her up and into his lap, and she clung to him, buried her face against his neck and breathed him in. He was everything to her, everything. Him, the baby. She couldn’t imagine her life without them now. And she was more than prepared to do battle with her brother over it.

  “You’re too trusting, Tina,” he said, stroking her hair. “I did go to work for my father. A better man would have refused.”

  “And let him steal all the hard work you and Renzo did? I don’t think so.”

  “I asked Renzo to come work for me. I thought we could still do what we wanted—but he refused. And he was right to do so, as the success of D’Angeli Motors proves.”

  She pressed her palm against his chest, felt how fast his heart was beating. “You were both so stubborn. And wrong to let this fester between you.”

  “It can’t be fixed, Tina,” he told her. “There’s too much bad blood between us now. We’ve spent too many years feeling bitter and angry. I know I’ve said things, done things, that can’t be forgiven.”

  She squeezed him tight. “We’ll see about that.”

  The door buzzed then, and she took a deep breath to fortify herself for what came next. It wasn’t going to be an easy afternoon.

  She just hoped the two men she loved most didn’t hate her by the end of it.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  HER brother was so furious he vibrated with it. Beside him, Faith had a hand on his arm. She squeezed it at regular intervals, as if to remind him he couldn’t do what he so obviously wanted to do, which was to punch Nico.

  Faith shot Tina a worried look, and Tina clenched her jaw. She’d done this, and now she had to see it through. Worse, she’d dragged Faith into it when she’d asked her to help set up the meeting. Renzo would not be happy about that, either. Right now, he was too focused on her and Nico to be angry at Faith.

  “This is a low blow even for you, Nico,” Renzo snarled. “You couldn’t touch me, so you went after my sister?”

  “Renzo,” Tina snapped, and he slanted his icy gaze at her. “Didn’t you read the email I sent you? We met at a masquerade. We didn’t know each other’s identity.”

  “That’s what he wants you to think.”

  Tina rolled her eyes. My God, he sounded like Nico had in the hotel room when he’d accused her of setting him up. “The two of you are exactly alike. It’s no wonder you won’t talk.”

  Nico was standing over by the liquor cabinet again. He hadn’t refilled his glass, but he stood there with his hands in his pockets, his gaze flashing furiously at her and Renzo both. He looked like a cornered animal. And a dangerous one.

  “There’s nothing to talk about, Tina,” Nico growled. “You see how he thinks.”

  Tina resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of her nose. Instead, she went over to her brother and touched his arm, even though he was so very angry with her.

  “Renzo, for God’s sake, there’s a baby on the way. Nico is my husband now. You both made mistakes, you know. And I want you to talk to each other about them.”

  Renzo’s expression was thunderous. “You can’t be serious, Tina. He cares nothing for you. This is all a game to him.”

  “I am serious.” So serious that her chest hurt with the chaotic emotions buffeting her. It was an effort not to cry. Her eyes stung, her throat ached and her heart tattooed the inside of her chest at light speed. She loved them both, and they were idiots. “It’s not a game.”

  Renzo swore. “You’re a fool, you know that?”

  She lifted her chin and stared at him with all the imperiousness she could manage. It hurt to hear him say that but, strangely, she wasn’t feeling cowed. She’d always wanted her brother’s approval—but now, for what must be the first time in her life, she realized she didn’t need it.

  “I’m twenty-four years old, Renzo. Old enough to make my own decisions. I don’t need you deciding what’s best for me anymore. I’m married to Nico and pregnant with his child—and that’s not going to change.”

  He looked fierce. And so worried for her that it broke her heart.

  “Tina, for God’s sake, he betrayed me. Betrayed us. I almost didn’t get the financing for the company after that. If I had not, you’d probably be waiting tables in some restaurant and trying to make ends meet. Our lives would not be what they are today. He tried to take that from us, cara mia.”

  She leaned toward him then, feeling fiercer than she’d ever felt in her life. “If you believe that, you’re the fool.”

  “Renzo,” Faith said in that syrupy Southern drawl of hers. “Why don’t the two of you talk, for Tina’s sake? You can at least be civil for her, can’t you?”

  Tina had the feeling that if anyone else had said that, including her, he’d have snapped their head off. Instead, he closed his eyes and squeezed his wife’s hand, as if seeking patience and strength.

  “Fine, yes. We will talk.”

  Tina went over to Nico, he
r heart in her throat. He was every bit as murderously angry as her brother, and she wasn’t sure he would agree. She took his hand, and when he didn’t stop her, she felt hopeful.

  “I want you to do this for me, Nico. For our baby. Please.”

  His eyes flashed. And then he squeezed her hand and she drew in a shaky breath. “For you,” he said. Then he lifted his head and glared at Renzo. “We can talk on the terrazzo.”

  “No,” Tina said. “Faith and I will go outside. You two stay in here.”

  His brows drew together in concern. “It’s hot out there, tesoro.”

  “We’ll sit beneath the umbrella. Besides, I’m fairly positive neither of us will try to throw the other one off the roof. I’m not so sure about the two of you.”

  When the door to the terrazzo closed, Nico turned to look at the man glaring at him so murderously. They’d been best friends once, almost like brothers, but they’d been enemies for so many years now that he remembered that time as if it had happened to someone else.

  “Drink?” he said.

  Renzo shook his head. Nico refilled his own and leaned against the bar. He waited for it to happen, waited for the storm brewing inside Renzo to break. The man might have promised his sister to talk, but that hadn’t changed his view in the least.

  “I can’t believe you went after Tina,” Renzo said, his voice low and hard. “She had nothing to do with what happened between us.”

  “No,” Nico drawled, “she didn’t.”

  “Yet it didn’t stop you.”

  Suddenly, Nico was tired of this charade. He turned to glance out the window at Tina, who sat beneath the umbrella with her sister-in-law and cast worried glances toward the door. She was beautiful, fierce and lovely. Special.

  She believed in him, and nothing he said or did had shaken that belief. He’d been expecting her to leave, to hate him, but she didn’t. No, she followed him and confronted him and demanded he face his past head-on in order to free his future.

  And he wanted to do it. For her, he would do anything.

  Anything to see her smile, to have her in his bed beside him, soft and warm and sexy. He wanted her there, on her computer, making her stock trades and giving him hell. And he wanted to watch her grow big with their baby, knowing she loved this child so fiercely that she’d come to him in the first place so that her baby would have a father.

  Their baby.

  The feeling that had gripped him in the garden the other day seized him again. Only this time it wouldn’t let go until he acknowledged it for what it was.

  Love. He loved her, and it stunned him. He’d never loved anyone—or hadn’t since he’d been a child and learned that loving your parents didn’t mean they had to love you back.

  He wanted to go to her, wanted to sweep her into his arms and tell her how he felt. She’d fought for him so hard, fought against him, too, when he’d tried to keep her at arm’s length. She’d crawled beneath his defenses and curled up in his heart.

  Nico turned back to face Renzo, his chest swelling with emotion. He didn’t really care what this man thought of him—but he did care what Tina thought. And Tina loved her brother. He hoped like hell she loved him, too. Because he wasn’t ever letting her go.

  “I love her, Renzo.” The words felt so foreign coming out of his mouth. So new. “I don’t care if you believe that or not, but it’s the truth. And I will do anything to make her happy. If that means talking to you, then I’ll do it for as long as she wants me to.”

  Renzo looked taken aback. But then his eyes narrowed. “Why should I believe a word of what you say?”

  Nico took a deep breath. “I don’t care if you believe it. Whether or not you do doesn’t change the truth of how I feel.”

  Renzo snorted. “My God, you’re unbelievable. Somehow, you’ve got her believing the lies you spout. And don’t think I don’t know you’re doing this to protect your company. I’ve heard whispers of your trouble. You think the only reason I won’t destroy you is because of my sister. Don’t bet on it, Nico.”

  “You once said to me that the motorcycles weren’t my passion as they were yours. You were right.” He shrugged. “I enjoy what I do, but it’s not my life. If you want to take it away from me to prove a point, then do it.”

  “You’re bluffing.”

  Nico shook his head. “No. Not only that, but I’ll also tell you exactly how to truly destroy me, if that’s what you wish.” He turned to look at Tina again, felt his heart swelling with feeling. “Take her away from me, Renzo. That’s how to do it.”

  Renzo didn’t say anything for a long moment. “If you’re lying to me about this—” He broke off, swore.

  “I don’t want to fight with you anymore. I should have never gone to work for my father. I should have found another way. I should have blown up the plant before allowing the first motorcycle to come off the line, but I didn’t. I’ve made mistakes. I regret them. But I won’t let them harm the woman I love any longer.”

  Renzo looked fierce. “If you hurt her, I’ll make you wish you were never born.”

  “If anything ever happens to Tina, you won’t have to.”

  They didn’t seem to talk for as long as she’d hoped, but they had at least spent twenty minutes together without either of them throwing a punch. Faith gave Tina a hug and said she’d call soon, and Renzo stood in the door looking more thoughtful than he had when he’d walked in earlier.

  “Ciao, Tina,” he said softly. And then he opened his arms and she went into them, relieved and shaken and so very grateful that he wasn’t going to shut her out. He kissed her on the head. “If he makes you happy, then I am content.”

  “I’m sorry for causing you pain, Renzo. But I love you. And I love Nico, too.”

  Renzo squeezed her before setting her away from him. “We will see you soon, I hope? Domenico has grown. You will be very surprised when you see him.”

  Tina wiped her eyes as she laughed. “I look forward to it.”

  Renzo and Faith left then, and Tina turned around to look at Nico. But he wasn’t standing by the terrace door any longer. He was outside, standing in the middle of the terrace, lost in thought.

  She went out to him, her heart thrumming. She didn’t doubt he was angry with her, but she hoped that, like Renzo, he would forgive her. She didn’t think he and Renzo had solved their problems, but she hoped they might have at least managed a truce. One day, maybe, forgiveness would come for them both. But for now, she’d settle for them being together and not looking like two wolves circling for the kill.

  The sun had dropped lower in the sky, and the shadows lengthened across the terrazzo. Across the way, she could see an old woman hanging washing on her balcony.

  Nico turned, as if he could feel her approach. What she saw in his eyes made her heart skip a beat.

  “I’m sorry, Tina,” he said before she could say a word.

  “For what? I’m the one who forced you to spend time with my brother.”

  He took a deep breath. “For leaving you. For doubting that you could believe in me. For everything.”

  “Hopefully not everything,” she said lightly, trying to keep from throwing herself into his arms and begging him to love her the way she loved him.

  Love would come in time, she was certain. She could be patient. She would be patient.

  She took a deep breath. “I’d be grieved, for instance, if you said you were sorry for the way you can’t keep your hands off me. Or if you said you were sorry you’d married me.”

  He shook his head. “I’m not sorry for that.”

  Then he reached out and tugged her into his arms, and relief melted through her.

  “I’m not sorry for it, either.” She sighed and pressed her cheek to his chest. “I’m going to prove to you that this can work between us.”

  He lifted a hand and pushed her hair from her face. “I already believe it.”

  She tilted her head back to look up at him, her entire body tensing with hope. “You do?”r />
  His smile lit her world. “I love you, Tina. And I believe there’s nothing you can’t do when you set your mind to it.”

  Tina felt her jaw drop. “You love me? Really?”

  “I do.”

  “Oh, Nico, I love you, too,” she said, tears filling her eyes. Good heavens, these hormones were making her weepy.

  “I know you do.”

  “But I’ve never said it. How did you know?”

  He laughed, the sound breaking as if he, too, were feeling overwhelmed with emotion. “You stood up to your brother and told him you believed me. I think you even called him a fool.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “I truly enjoyed that, by the way. But you’ve also defended me fiercely and never once backed down, not even when I tried to make you do so.”

  “Of course I did. I love you.”

  “Yes, that’s what I thought. You’d either have to love me or be insane. I chose the option I most wanted.”

  She curled her fists into his shirt. “I used to want this when I was a girl, you know. You, me, marriage. But I didn’t really know what any of that meant. I just knew that you were perfect and I wanted you to love me.”

  He shook his head. “I’ve never been perfect. But I’m going to try every day of my life to be the best man I can be. For you and our children.”

  Tina laughed, though a tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. “You already are the best man you can be, Nico. You always have been. And your best is pretty damn good.”

  He dipped his head and kissed her fiercely. “I want to shout it to the rooftops how much I love you. In fact … I love Valentina D’Angeli Gavretti!”

  Across the way, the woman hanging laundry stopped. “Brava, amore,” she shouted back.

  Others took up the cry until Tina was laughing and crying and trying to hide behind Nico. He took her hand and dragged her inside.

  “I love you,” he told her, his mouth against her skin, his fingers divesting her of her clothing. “I love you …”

  Tina never doubted him for a moment.

  EPILOGUE

  TINA looked up from the computer screen when Nico walked in, holding their son in his arms. The baby’s little head lolled against his father’s chest as he fought sleep, and Tina’s heart squeezed hard with love for her men.