The Pink Rose: Secrets, Love and Betrayal

by Alicia Roberts

  He heard the sharp clack of her high heels as she walked towards his office, and he opened the door before she could knock.

  "Nicky." He smiled politely and held out a hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you again. Please, come in. Can I get you something to drink, a cup of coffee maybe?"

  "No, but thanks for the offer."

  She smiled at him warmly. With dark hair and stern eyes, she was definitely not someone he wanted to mess with. But today she looked tired and as she settled down into the chair opposite him, she said with a sigh, "This will be a brief visit."

  "Ok."

  "Let's not beat around the bush. We've been doing some ridiculous stuff lately. Trying to take over the same companies is no use to either of us."

  "I agree. It's not good business."

  "Right. So why don't we come to a gentleman's agreement - or a gentlewoman's, in my case - not to mess with each other's intended targets?"

  Max felt a weight lift off his shoulders. The past year had been no fun for him and Matt, losing takeover targets to Nicky and then trying to steal firms she had an eye on. But Amy had been right, he hadn't been about to make a fool of himself by offering the truce first - what if Nicky had turned him down? Besides, offering a truce would have made him look weak.

  They spent a couple of minutes hashing out the details. The two of them had different ambitions, and wanted to focus on different industries, so it was easy to come to an understanding. Nicky had never been one for small-talk, and Max appreciated her brisk, no-nonsense attitude

  They ironed out the details quickly, and when it was all finalized, Nicky glanced at her watch, announcing that this was one of the most efficient meetings she'd ever had.

  "Thanks for being so reasonable about everything," she said, as she grabbed her bag and stood up to leave. "By the way, I'm sorry things ended between you and Amy. I might've teased her about dating a loser, but she really liked you and I was hoping it would work out."

  Max felt himself stiffen. The memory of what she'd done to him stung him as if for the first time, and he said woodenly, "Obviously. It wouldn't work out after she tried to bring down my company."

  Nicky stopped and looked at him, surprised. "What're you talking about?"

  "You know." He would be polite; he would not call her all the names he was thinking. "After she told you about the deals I was going to do."

  "Oh that." Nicky's confusion cleared. "That wasn't Amy."

  His heart stopped beating for a split second. "I'm sorry, I thought you said 'that wasn't Amy'."

  "I did, Amy never told me anything about your work. I got two anonymous tips, both from a woman I'd never talked to before. One was about six weeks ago, and the first one was a few months ago."

  It wasn't Amy? Doubt began to flood his mind and he wondered if he could trust Nicky. He had to - they'd just come to a verbal agreement. "Who was this woman?"

  Nicky shrugged. "Don't know, didn’t bother to find out. Said she was calling from a payphone and wanted to stay secret. I asked her if she wanted anything, like cash or something, but she said that seeing you hurt was her biggest reward. I figured she was a disgruntled employee."

  "I see."

  Max walked Nicky to the elevator, and went back to his office slowly, the gears in his brain churning as fast as they could.

  Amy. She hadn't tried to ruin him. He figured he could trust Nicky, so she must be telling the truth. His emotions rose up to the surface, he wanted to run to Amy immediately and fix things.

  But he knew that wouldn't work - he'd better have a good apology ready and an excellent reason for her to come back, if he wanted her to forgive him and take him back. He knew he wouldn't be able to survive without her again, and he was going to do his best not to let her ever leave him again. He started thinking of things he could do to make that happen…

  He came to a decision quickly, and made a few hasty phone calls before leaving work and getting into his car. As the car wound its way towards Amy's apartment, he wondered who could have made those calls to Nicky.

  They hadn't fired anyone in recent years, his employees got great pay and benefits and they loved working here. It wouldn't be an employee. Six weeks ago…

  He tried to think back to six weeks ago, what had he done then? He'd been away from Amy, while she went on that darn "holiday" of hers. No, that wasn't relevant. Max tried to stop thinking about Amy and focus on the business meetings he'd had around that time, but he failed miserably and all he could think about was Amy.

  That was the first time they'd been apart, and he remembered how terrible he'd felt then - but it had turned out to be nothing like how bad he'd felt during the last few weeks. He remembered Chloe sitting in the limo next to him on a night like this, thinking that just because Amy was on holiday it meant he was single again, and he'd talked into his phone, hoping that Amy would come back to him and trying to ignore Chloe.

  Chloe. He knew instantly it was her - she'd been next to him quite a few times when he'd talked business on the phone. And it was just like her, too.

  But then he was at Amy's apartment, rushing up to meet her, and all he could think about was winning her back. She'd sounded polite and skeptical on the phone, but he was eager to see her again.

  When she opened the door, he grabbed her in a bear hug before she could protest. Her hair smelled gorgeous, like roses in the rain, and he pulled away to look at her. God, she was beautiful - even though she was mad at him, he loved her with a fire he knew was true.

  She stepped away from him coldly, and he followed her inside.

  Might as well get down to it. "I'm sorry Amy, I -"

  She spun around and interrupted before he could go any further. "I'd expect you to be sorry. What happened, Chloe told you I didn't share your company secrets?"

  Her voice was cold and sarcastic, her eyes were gleaming with an anger he'd never seen before, and Max ran a hand nervously through his hair. "No, Nicky came by…"

  "Great. So it was Nicky then, she's the one you trust now."

  He looked at her in surprise. "Amy, look - "

  "No, you look. You trust everyone in the world but me. What happens when Chloe calls you tomorrow and tells you that I set your office on fire?"

  He sighed. "I'm sorry. You have to forgive me. I've never done this before. I should've trusted my gut, I knew you were perfect and couldn't hurt me, but I was stupid. You'll have to believe me, I've always trusted you, I just didn't trust myself."

  Amy started to say something and then stopped, looking at him quietly, and the anger in her eyes seemed to have been replaced with skepticism.

  Max took her silence to be a good sign. "You do believe me, right? I was scared of being in love, I was scared of our future and I wasn’t thinking straight."

  Amy sat down on the sofa next to him. "I guess I do. I just…"

  She sighed, and the anger in her seemed to deflate, just as quickly as it had flared up. Max grabbed hold of her hand, squeezing it between both of his. "I've missed you, sweetheart, and it's ridiculous to stay mad at each other. I shouldn’t have been scared of being in love. We're meant to be together, you know that."

  "Do you?"

  He was taken aback. "Of course. What makes you think otherwise? I mean, other than the fact that I've been a complete jerk to you?"

  Amy laughed. It was hard to stay mad at him, and he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her fingertips gently, one by one. "So you'll forgive me?"

  She pulled her hand away. "You're not the only one who broke up, you know - I've had a really hard time trying to get over you and I don't think I can take this kind of thing again."

  "I promise, it'll never happen again. Please, just move back in with me and things can go back to being good."

  She smiled and tilted her head. "Ok," she said. "Just so you know, I never want to see you even standing next to Chloe ever again."

  "Please. You know I can’t stand that woman. But I promise, I'll do a better job of running away from her."<
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  He placed the palm of his hand against her face, before taking a deep breath and going on. "Now that that’s clear, I’m going to try to make sure you never leave me again. And I’m hoping you’ll accept some proper jewelry from me, for once."

  He pulled out a small, square box from his pocket and opened it. “Amy Sanders, will you marry me?"

  The ring glinted in the box, the diamonds flawless in their purity, their setting perfect. Amy looked at the ring in disbelief and then looked back at Max’s face. "Are you serious, is this a joke?"

  But she knew from the look on his face that it wasn't. She looked down at the ring again. The stones glittered in their intricate gold setting, winking up at her from inside the box.

  "Are you serious?"

  "You've said that before." Max's voice was gentle. "You're meant to say 'yes'."

  Amy gulped.

  "Yes," she whispered, “I will.”