by Zahra Girard
Julian,
Let me say again how much of a pleasure it was to host you and your fiance. Her especially. We both know she’s much too good for you, and I mean that in the best sense — so hold on to her. I trust this small token of my appreciation for your generosity to my charity finds you well.
Best wishes,
Gordon
“What’s it say?” she asks, looking at me with curious and bright brown eyes.
I forget all about anything else but my mission. With a letter like this, I’m even more determined and hopeful that my plan will work.
“It says we need to get our asses to Los Angeles.”
Chapter Sixteen
Melody
When Julian Stone decides we need to do something, it happens faster than should even be humanly possible. We pack, get dressed, shower, and are on the road in his Jag within an hour.
My knees are still wobbly, my head is filled with zippy bubbles from the champagne, and I loll my head against the window to watch the world slosh by while my brain turns over the spiderweb that is these past few days.
I’m glad Julian never got around to asking about my past. Relieved.
There’s plenty of things and a person in particular I’d love to keep buried, and, while I couldn’t lie to Julian, I’m happy to omit the truth. Not because I don’t trust him, I just don’t want him to think less of me. I went through shame enough getting free of my past, I don’t need to dig it up again. Our relationship is fake, but we’re putting so much into it that it’s starting to feel real.
He’s my totally fake, totally invented fiance, and our relationship is built on a foundation of money and mutual stubbornness.
And I wouldn’t trade it away for anything.
Because that’d mean no more days waking up in his arms, no more days having him — this man who can buy anything his heart desires — reminding me that I am priceless.
I’ve never had that before.
When I look in his eyes, even when he’s talking about how this is all ‘just business’, I see the truth.
This is real.
I feel it. He feels it.
We’re both going to deny it. We might even fight it. But that doesn’t change the reality.
I won’t let anything get in the way of his goals — including my past — because I couldn’t bear to see him hurt. I want the best for him, just as much as he wants the best for me. So I’ll keep up with all this craziness of this charade.
He’s worth it.
At some point, I drift off to sleep, carried away by the comforting bounce of the road and the steady hum of the engine.
“We’re here.”
Something gentle shakes my shoulder, something stubbly kisses my cheek.
I open my eyes. First slow, then they snap open once I realize what I’m seeing.
I sit up abruptly.
This is what heaven looks like.
The last rays of sunset stream over the horizon, casting a sublime glow up on the world around me. My heart starts beating quicker, pushing adrenaline through my body. I thrust my legs out of the car and practically hop to my feet.
This sunset is more beautiful than the one I saw a year ago in Rockaway Bay, when I knew I’d found my home.
It takes my breath away.
“It’s beautiful.”
Warm, welcoming, Julian wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me close against his chest. I lean into him and my body relaxes.
“I’ll never get tired of this,” he says and I don’t think he’s talking about the sunset. I put a quick kiss on his cheek.
While the flaming lantern-like sun drops beneath the horizon, casting it’s final rays of violet and red and orange into the darkening sky, we stay silent. Watching.
This moment is special.
Sunsets speak to me. This one’s singing, a beautiful harmony that reminds me just how good life can be if I let it, if I’m brave. I took a big risk to go after what’s important, to follow what my heart told me was the right thing.
I need to listen to my heart again, here and now, even if it’s risking a lot.
The sun disappears and the stars start to poke through the darkening sky, little pinpricks of light.
I turn around and look at his house for the first time.
It’s expansive, a long, sprawling thing stretched across a hillside like some beautiful creature languidly laying out to catch the sun. We’re so remote up here in the hills above Malibu — the nearest mansion is almost a quarter mile away — that it feels like we’ve stepped into some kind of dream.
“You live here?” I say, my voice an awed whisper.
He smiles and moonlight shines in his eyes. “Sometimes. Would you like to come inside?”
I shake my head. “Let’s wait a while.”
He wraps me up again and kisses me on the top of my head.
I put my arm around him, holding him tight for warmth as the night air chills. His heart beats against my back, slow, content. Every once in a while, he gives me a gentle squeeze, like he’s reminding me that he’s there.
Even though he can’t see it, I’m smiling so hard I feel like I could light up the night around us.
I listen to the waves crash against the distant shore and I listen to my heart.
“Julian,” I say, hesitantly.
How do I start? How do I bare my heart to him without chasing him away?
It’s been so long since I’ve been in this position, and the last time it ended with my world thrown upside down, shattered. It ended with me leaving my home behind just to feel safe again.
“Yes?” he says, his voice this contented, half-sleepy rumble that I feel in his chest as much as I hear it.
“I know things are only going to get tougher from here on out and I don’t want to distract you from any of that. But I told you I’d always be honest with you,” I say, and I pull a great big sigh into my lungs and let it out slowly. My chest is thumping. “This doesn’t feel fake to me anymore. I think I’m falling for you.”
Silence falls between us for what seems an incredibly long time. It’s weighty, potent, charged with energy. The world seems to go so slow, and I start to feel afraid. Not afraid that he’ll be angry or anything like that, but afraid that I might’ve said something I shouldn’t — that acknowledging that this is all real might bring it to an end somehow.
Finally, he answers me.
“This hasn’t felt fake in a long time.”
I look up into his eyes, green, lit with thought. “What does it mean for us — for after, I mean.”
His chest fills with a sigh and then he kisses me. “I’m not sure. To be honest, I’ve never felt like this for someone. It’s strange. It’s confusing. Terrifying, even. You’ve got me scrambling to figure out just what it all means. But I’ll tell you one thing,” he says.
It’s dark, but I can hear the smile in his voice.
“What’s that?”
“Whatever it costs to make this work and make this last, it’ll be worth it.”
“I might just love you, Julian Stone.”
“I might just feel the same, Melody Peres.”
Those words envelope me, filling me with warmth, with contentment, with hope.
I kiss him.
Once, slow and on the lips, taking in everything about him, luxuriating in the feel of his hands on my back and his body against my chest. I want to take him in, to have him even more a part of me.
Telling him how I feel is scary and liberating at the same time; I’m in some mixed-up relationship, in some high-society power struggle, but at least I don’t have to fake I don’t have sincere feelings for the man I’m pretending to love.
I look in his eyes.
My hurting cheeks tell me I’m beaming.
“You know, all this driving and then all this conversation, has me pretty tired.”
And there’s that smirk that I’ve come to love. “Is that so? I think I remember you sleeping most of the way down from Monterey. Which is
pretty impressive, by the way. It’s a long drive.”
“Shut up,” I say, making a face at him. “What I’m trying to say is that we should go to bed.”
His smile shines back at me in the moonlight. “Say no more, love.”
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing those words from his lips. They way he says them — so confident, so unshakable — it’s like nothing can come between us; Julian Stone won’t let that happen.
I take his hand, squeezing it.
Together, we head inside.
Chapter Seventeen
Julian
I wake at the crack of dawn.
For once, the first thought that enters my mind isn’t about taking control of Stone Capital; the first thought I have is that I’m a lucky man to have her sleeping beside me.
What a change.
I sniff and smile at the thought that this rooms going to carry her scent — the pillows, she sheets, all of it. She’s becoming a part of every facet of my life.
Just one woman means everything to me. That’s a first.
She’s not a stepping stone to a conquest. She lifts me up of her own accord, she makes me better.
It’s strange, but then, that’s love.
I get up without disturbing her and throw on some sweatpants and head downstairs to the kitchen. I know these last few days have taken a lot of out of her, that we’re going at a pace she’s not used to and I keep pushing her along because what we’re doing is important.
I can’t let Victoria have the company, I can’t let the board give it away to someone who had no part in building it. All Victoria did was lay down for my father and then spit us out nine months later. She never worked a day in her life. And now that Alex is behind bars and my father’s dead — may he burn in hell — she thinks she can make a move?
I’ll die before I let that happen.
I make some coffee and start planing my next move.
I’ve got Gordon on my side, thank God, and his word will carry a lot of weight with the others considering he used to hate my guts.
The one other man I need to bring around is Keith Henrickson.
It makes me grimace just thinking about that. It’s not something I’m looking forward to — it’ll be hard on Melody, for one, and Keith is just an unpleasant person to begin with.
I flip through the morning’s copy of the New York Times while I try and plot just how the hell I’m going to bring Keith to my side. I send a few texts, to Mike and an old friend of mine, Sam Sloane, to track down Keith’s whereabouts.
Time must move faster than I thought, because there’s a knock at the door that makes me start.
“Just a minute,” I call out while I head to the front door, pausing just a second to listen and see if I can hear Melody stirring. She’s still asleep.
I open the door and immediately try to slam it shut.
One foot kicks out, propping it open.
“Good to see you again, Julian. You going to invite me in?”
Throwing the door back, I reach out and seize the smug bastard by the collar of his shirt and rip him inside. Hard and fast, I press him up against the hallway.
“What the fuck do you want, Pierce?”
He gives me a smile dripping with sleaze. I can see myself in the reflection of his sunglasses and I am not happy to see him.
“Is that any way to treat an old friend of your father’s?” he says, while taking off his sunglasses and casually putting them away — like I’m not shoving him against the wall.
Pierce has grown a goatee since I saw him last, but there’s something wrong about it. It’s too dark, and crooked. It makes his pale blue eyes and slanted smile even more prominent.
“You’re not a friend of mine. What the fuck are you doing at my house?”
“No friend of yours? Julian, how many messes of yours did I clean up back when you were younger? I’m here because I’ve been keeping tabs on you. I know what you’re up to and I wanted to see if you needed any help.”
“Keeping tabs on me? Fuck, man, I only got in last night and you’re over here the next fucking morning?”
“I’m good at what I do. You know that.”
I let go of him and wipe my hands off on my sweats. They feel dirty just touching the man, and I’ll need to wash them later.
We head into my living room and sit down across from each other.
“Help me how?” I say.
He chuckles. “You’re making a play for the company. You’re going to line up who you need and then call a board meeting to help the company chart a path forward, where you’ll take control.”
“Congratulations on picking up on the obvious.”
All I can think about is how to get this filth out of my house. He’s useful — there’s a reason my father kept him around — but every conversation with him feels like I’m bargaining with the devil.
“How much do you know about your fiance, Melody Chadwick?”
That gets my attention. We only went public with her damn name just a couple nights ago. “I know plenty.”
“There’s not much record of her that I can find. No leases, no property records, no employment history, nothing. It’s pretty concerning.”
Fuck.
“I’ll say it again: what the fuck do you want?”
“The usual. The reason your father paid so much for my services is I get the job done. I think you need the same help. What would happen if your fiance had something in her past that you didn’t know about? A felony conviction, kids she didn’t tell you about, drug problems. Any dirt on her comes to light, and your image goes right back into the gutter, along with your chances of taking over Stone Capital.”
“Leave,” I growl. “Now.”
I know he’s right, and worse still, he’s toying with those same small doubts I’ve had before — that maybe Melody is hiding something. But no fucking way I’ll make a deal with this piece of shit.
She’ll tell me when the time is right. If there’s anything to be told.
“I trust that woman sleeping upstairs. I love that woman sleeping upstairs,” I say, my voice rising, louder and louder, and I stand up. “And if you don’t get the hell out of here right now, I will beat the shit out of you.”
Pierce starts to get up — slowly.
But he’s still got that look on his face, like an animal making up it’s mind whether to strike. I can’t stand the look on his face. His eyes call out a threat and it’s not just against me — it’s against the woman I care about more than I thought possible.
He’s not going to let this be.
I hit him. Hard.
He swings in return, but I move and it barely brushes my shoulder.
I hit him again, square in the temple and he crashes sideways into an end table, sending it to the floor in a clatter.
Stumbling, he makes the perfect target.
I hit him again, and his face makes a satisfying crunch against my knuckles.
“If I see you again, I’ll ruin you,” I growl and I lash out in a kick that connects square to the face.
He hits the wall and catches himself against it with both hands to keep standing.
I throw one more punch, a solid right hook that whips his head sideways and makes his knees give out.
Pierce Anderson drops and I grab him by the scruff like he’s a stray dog and bodily hurl him out the front door. He lands face down on my porch.
I turn around and slam the door.
That’s when I see her. Shock painted on her face plain as day. Eyes wide, pupils dilated.
It’s clear she saw at least some of that.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Her voice cuts me like a knife.
This isn’t how I want her to see me on our first morning after we agree we might be an actual couple. Hell, I don’t want her to ever look at me like that.
“It’s complicated. Long story short: he needed to leave and it took some encouragement.”
“Yo
u invited him in, and then you beat the crap out of him? Why?”
“Like I said: complicated. He was threatening to fuck up my plans to get the company.”
“And that’s when things escalated from a morning chat to beating the shit out of him?”
The judgment I hear in her voice is grating as hell.
What right does he have to say any of this? She wasn’t here, she doesn’t even fucking know Pierce and the shit he gets up to.
“I’m not going to let anyone threaten us. I’ve put too much time and energy and money into getting control of Stone Capital.”
Her expression darkens for a second, and she crosses her arms.
When she speaks, it’s a lot softer and more subdued; thoughtful and almost afraid. “That’s what really matters to you, isn’t it? It’s all about getting the company, the money, that’s what you care about.”
I shake the angry cobwebs out of my head and step closer to her, my arms open. “You know that’s not true. If I don’t do this, it means I’m allowing my brother to waste away in prison without any fucking consequences for the people that did this to him.”
But she’s hardly looking at me. Her eyes are on my hands. There’s blood there, and it isn’t mine. That looks says all she needs to say.
Without a word, she turns on her heel and stalks up the staircase. The door to the bedroom slams shut.
Taking a deep breath, I keep myself from following after her. She needs to cool off and so do I. There’s too much at stake to get bogged down fighting and arguing
Alone, in the kitchen, I wash the blood off my knuckles and make plans for tomorrow night, where I’ll put the final piece in place to take control.
Chapter Eighteen
Melody
I go a few hours without him. In a house as big as this one, it’s easy to get lost. I keep thinking, hoping, that he’ll come after me.
I want know that the most important thing in his life isn’t destroying other people’s lives. I signed up for this whole thing to help Julian rehab his image and I fell in love with a man who can be generous, who can be loving and kind and looks at me like he knows in his very core that I’m someone who’s worth more than all the money in the world.
