Coming To Reason (A Long Road to Love)

by O'Connor, Liza

  “And some of it’s not true?” Destiny asked.

  “None of it’s true. So I need to understand what part is delusion on her side and what part is Trent playing games.”

  “Oh God, she’s going to be devastated! And how am I going to look at her without bursting into tears? I wish you wouldn’t have told me!”

  “You kind of forced me,”

  “I did. I thought you’d become stalkerish on someone you like who loves someone else.”

  “I do like her. But you don’t have to worry about me becoming a stalker. I don’t fall for women involved in other relationships, and I don’t do rebounds.”

  “One of those is a really good rule. Any reason you didn’t share it with me?” The angst in her voice came through loud and clear.

  He turned around and came to her, pulling her from the chair and into his arms. “God. Am I so blind I didn’t see your pain?”

  She shook her head, still holding him tight. “I’ve purposely hid it from you.”

  “Why?”

  “So you wouldn’t look at me with those sad brown eyes. It breaks my heart when you’re unhappy.” She pushed away from him. “Besides, I knew better than getting involved with a married man.”

  “Destiny!” He’d pictured a young boy her age, not someone old enough to be married! “Who?”

  “Nothing happened.”

  “Destiny, I want his name!”

  “You may want it, but you aren’t getting it. Nothing happened. He didn’t even realize I’d fallen for him until I blurted it out one day, and he stared at me in horror. He evidently thought me the most hideous woman in the world.”

  Dan gathered her in his arms again. “I’m sorry your heart got broken, but I’m very glad this guy had the decency and willpower to refuse you.”

  “He didn’t have a problem rejecting me, Daddy,” she muttered into his shirt.

  “Destiny, you are a beautiful young lady. If the guy looked horrified, he’s either gay or frightened a temptress wanted to tear his marriage apart. He did the right thing, sweetheart. Good men do not fall to temptation, no matter how delightful and beautiful.”

  Destiny hugged him tight. “I love you.”

  “And you’re my whole world.”

  She stepped back and smiled at him, wiping her eyes dry with the tail of her headband. “I’ll make you a copy of the phone message with Trent and then erase it.”

  “Can you do this without listening to it?”

  She nodded.

  “I don’t want you to hear it. It might damage your trust in men forever, and I’m pretty sure it gets pornographic at the end. Promise me you won’t listen.”

  She smiled and took his hand. “I promise. I’m sorry I know what I do now.”

  Satisfied Destiny wouldn’t be tempted, he kissed her on her forehead and sent her out. When she opened the door, he heard Helen scolding someone. “What is wrong with you? Were you raised by wolves? Such language is never necessary, and certainly not with me. You may stop calling here, because I will never allow you to speak to Mr. Marshal. You have stepped beyond the line, young man.”

  The phone slammed down and Destiny burst into applause.

  “Oh, Destiny, child. The man provoked me into speaking such. Do not ever believe what you heard is proper phone etiquette.”

  Dan closed his door and returned to his desk. His eighteen-year-old daughter had fallen in love with a married man. But where? She spent all her time at college and here. Must be at college. Maybe he should go visit her professors and see if any looked like someone his daughter could love.

  He turned on his cell phone and searched through the messages looking for any calls not from Trent, Sam, or Mars. He found one.

  He selected it and hit redial.

  “Give me my phone back!” an old woman yelled.

  “Dan, it is critical I speak to you. Call me back… Damn it, lady, that hurt. What do you have in there? Bricks?”

  Dan shook his head. Trent’s behavior had always been a great source of amusement until Dan met Carrie. Ever since, it had been a great irritant. She deserved so much better.

  His thoughts turned to his daughter’s mystery man. Why the hell would Destiny fall in love with a married guy? Thank God, she chose someone who knew the difference between right and wrong and not a jerk like Trent.

  His cell phone rang. Trent.

  He should take the call now. Once he heard the phone conversation, he’d no doubt be angry as hell.

  “Dan Marshal.”

  “It’s about fucking time!”

  “Who’s this?”

  “You know damn well who it is. You’ve been dodging my calls for two days.”

  “Ah, Trent. Thanks for clogging up my phone while I had it turned off. Keeps those paying clients from getting through to me.”

  “I’ll pay your outrageous bill under one condition.”

  “Sorry, I can’t make Hell freeze over, so I’m letting my lawyer handle the matter.”

  “You’re suing me?” Trent thundered

  “Normal procedure when a contract is broken.”

  “Your lawyer will cost almost as much as the bill.”

  Dan rolled his eyes. Trent was a piece of work. “Possibly, which is why I’m asking the judge to make you pay the court costs and lawyer fees.”

  “Yeah, well, good luck collecting.”

  “I’m looking forward to selling the judgment against you to some sleazy firm such as GetPaidSuperFast. Then you can have your phone messages filled with nothing but threats.”

  “If you’ll shut up and listen for a moment, I have a better solution.”

  Despite having no hope getting his money would be this easy, Dan gave it a try. “Go ahead.”

  “I understand you’ve hired Carrie as one of your whores.”

  His jaw clenched so tight he halfway expected his teeth to crack. He took in a deep breath so he could relax enough to respond. “You have it wrong. But I can see your confusion, since you pressure your salesgirls to prostitute themselves for a contract.”

  “You’re probably the one who started the lies about me and my company.”

  Dan pressed his fingers to his temple. “Wrong again.”

  “Are you going to tell me one of your so-called consultants didn’t nearly rape me in her office?”

  Four months ago, Trent and Carrie arrived, wishing to replace half their staff. He’d assigned Sandra to the project, thinking they’d get along. And according to Sandra, they got along very well until Carrie walked into the office. Then he put on a good show of revulsion. Knowing Trent’s proclivities, he believed the woman.

  However, having it thrown back in his face now made him a bit sorry he hadn’t fired Sandra on the spot. Then he’d have the high road. Instead, he seemed to wallow in the same filth as Trent, which did not sit well with him.

  “Carrie made it very clear she had no intention of using flirtation to manage her clients. And I agreed she doesn’t need it. I’d prefer none of my consultants use it.”

  “Well, I’d prefer she didn’t work for you. I got her a better job in New Jersey, but she feels some obligation to you because you hired her first. So I need you to fire her so she can take this job near her home. And if you do, I will pay your bill.”

  “Oh, you’ll pay my bill,” Dan stated with certainty.

  “Excellent. Fire her at once and be harsh. Tell her she lacks marketable skills.”

  “Are you insane? I could place her any day of the year. She’s the most marketable person I’ve ever met.”

  “Coco thought otherwise.”

  “Your source is Coco?”

  “She told me more than once.”

  “And how many other things did she lie to you about while she almost destroyed your business?”

  “It’s beside the point.”

  “No, Trent. That is the point. Coco saw how much you depended upon Carrie and did everything in her power to get rid of her. She knew, if you didn’t have Carrie, you
couldn’t turn your business around.”

  “You’re right. And the business is struggling without her. I need you to fire her so I can bring her back.”

  A sharp burst of angry laughter burst from Dan’s chest. “You have no intention of rehiring her. You damn well know all your lies and deceits are about to blow up in your face.”

  “Everything’s fine, if you’ll keep your nose out of it.”

  “Trent, you are a gossip magazine’s wet dream! You’ve got a mistress in your penthouse, another having your baby in New Jersey, and a whole damn harem at work. Plus a fiancée on Long Island planning a wedding. I thought you had discovered a sense of decency and let Carrie go. But no. She shows up outside my office thinking you two are still engaged.”

  “We aren’t engaged. Carrie has to pretend to keep her family off her back.”

  “She’s wearing a ring! Are you saying you didn’t give it to her?”

  “Yeah, but it’s not real. She knows diamonds can’t grow so big.”

  Dan used the palms of his hands on his temples. “Are you on drugs? Because diamonds do not grow like some carrot in the ground. They are mined, and, in fact, diamonds larger than the fake you gave Carrie do exist.”

  “In museums, but not on a middle-class girl’s hand. She has to know it’s fake. Women can see a knockoff a mile away.”

  “Some women, but not Carrie. She has no interest in fashion.” Dan doubted she had a clue what such a large diamond cost. If she did, she would have demanded Trent take it back and buy her a chip instead. “I’ve wasted enough time on this conversation. If you had an ounce of integrity, you’d break if off with Carrie and let her get on with her life.”

  Trent growled. “I still love her.”

  The desire to throw his phone across the room overwhelmed him. “If you do, then stop being a spoiled bastard and, for once, think about Carrie instead of yourself. You are getting married in two months! A woman in New Jersey is having your baby.”

  “How do you even know this stuff?” Trent demanded. “Besides, it may not be mine. She has a husband, you know.”

  Dan didn’t answer his question. He knew the devastated novelist who was married to Trent’s pregnant mistress. Jon had gotten a vasectomy after the fourth child they couldn’t afford. Trent had offered to let the family stay in his penthouse for free and gave Jon a well-paying job as marketing director so they could earn enough to buy a home in the suburbs of New Jersey. Unfortunately, Trent’s generosity didn’t end there. He kept showing up at the penthouse to taste Jon’s wife, who evidently thought she could slide another baby into the family without Jon being the wiser.

  His stomach ached with disgust. “I want to be clear. I am not firing Carrie. She’s going to need a safe place to recover when your debacles blow up. But every day you let this lie continue, the worse it’s going to be for her.”

  “I’ve got it handled if you’ll just fire her! If she’s working in New Jersey, she won’t find any of this out.”

  “Well, it’s not happening, because Hell will freeze over before I let her go.”

  “Then I’m not paying your bill.”

  “Fine. My lawyer will be in touch with yours…no, wait, yours quit.”

  “Are you stalking me? I’m getting a restraining order.”

  “Why don’t you get a brain and a fucking conscience instead?” Dan slapped his cell phone closed and jumped when a timid knock sounded on his door.

  He took a moment to calm before saying, “Enter.”

  His round-eyed daughter scurried in, placed the tape on his desk, and hurried out. Damn, he hated she’d heard him yelling through the door.

  He wanted to call her back in and apologize, but he needed to listen to the damn tape so he knew what to do about Carrie.

  He pulled out his ‘antique’ tape recorder as Destiny called it and placed the cassette inside. He inserted the earplug in his ear. No way would he risk the conversation being overheard.

  He turned the machine on and listened. Carrie sounded so happy, and Trent so damned abusive. God! Why did she put up with such mental battering?

  Although he’d already decided his next step, he listened through what Carrie assumed was a porn movie. If he hadn’t interrupted the ‘one-sided phone sex’ she would have learned the truth last night. The woman called out Trent’s name several times. Part of the self-centered ass must know he needed to break it off with Carrie. Why else would he make her listen to him having sex with another woman?

  But what a cruel way to deliver the news.

  It made his decision easy. Still, he hated the pain his next phone call would cause Carrie, but better the knife come from a third party rather than Trent. To be so viciously stabbed by the man she believed loved her could scar her forever.

  He dialed the number for Gossep and asked to speak to Roberto. Once the publisher came on, and niceties were exchanged, Dan got to the point. “I thought I’d give you a heads up, since I know you’ve got a girl at Lancaster Chairs. Someone’s about to break the story.”

  “Shit! When?”

  “Soon, but if your girl doesn’t have sufficient information by now, then she’s forgotten her job.”

  “Thanks, I’ll get right on it.”

  “I have a favor to ask…”

  “Sure, what?”

  “Can you leave Carrie Hanson out of the story?”

  “Who’s she?”

  “A nice person who doesn’t deserve to have her name dragged through the mud.”

  “I’ll talk to Angela. If she’s not critical to the story, we’ll leave her out.”

  “Thanks. She’s not critical.”

  He hung up and closed his eyes. He’d pulled the trigger that would send a bullet headed right though Carrie’s heart. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to hold back unwanted tears. He wished Trent would have let her down easy, but the phone call left no doubt he intended to destroy the very thing he claimed to love—her beautiful spirit.

  By pushing Gossep to publish their story, Dan hoped to prevent Trent from delivering the fatal blow. Then Carrie would only have to deal with the bastard’s selfish infidelities and lies, but be spared from knowing he went out of his way to hurt her with the ugly truth.

  Dan knew from painful experience the difference mattered. When your partner slipped and betrayed you, it hurt like hell. But when they deliberately stabbed you in the heart with the cold truth, just to see you fall, the pain exceeded forgiveness.

  His ex-wife’s act of needless brutality had left him gun shy ever since. He kept his heart well-guarded, or had until the day a very small, enchanting woman entered his office and declared she had expected better of his firm and she’d be going elsewhere. Her eyes held such honesty, such sincerity, and determination. His walls fell in an instant.

  He glanced at his watch and frowned at the hour he’d wasted on Trent. According to his schedule, he had a half-hour before his first client showed. He decided to go downstairs and find Carrie something to eat for her mid-morning snack.

  Not certain what to buy her, he called Dr. Lenard. “I know you can’t discuss patients, but if I wanted to feed a person with an underdeveloped stomach a mid-morning snack, what would you suggest. And how does a stomach turn out underdeveloped?”

  “Buy a pack of trail mix. And in one patient I examined, the young woman’s stomach had failed to extend to a normal size. Instead, it’s more like a narrow tube with a bulb at the bottom. Rather looks like a new variation of a stomach bypass. However, this patient’s size leaves no doubt this occurred naturally. She has an identical twin who is 5’8”.

  “Trail mix. Any particular brand?”

  “Why are you asking me? Shouldn’t you be asking her?”

  “I needed some time to walk off my anger. I lost an hour trying to talk an ounce of decency into Trent.”

  “Ah…well, given he’s a major financial contributor of this hospital, I can’t comment on the matter. But, I’m glad you’re looking after my patient. I’
ve grown fond of her.”

  “I’ve found the trail mix. Guess I’ll buy one of each and she can take her pick.”

  Doing something nice for Carrie eased his conscience and put him in a better mood when he entered Jeff’s office. He dumped the bags on the desk. “Snack time. Choose one.”

  Jeff smiled and selected one.

  “Hey, ladies first.”

  Jeff put it back.

  To his surprise, Carrie selected the one Jeff wanted. First act of selfishness he’d ever seen her make.

  Upon handing the pack to Jeff, she chose another and smiled at Dan. “Thank you for thinking of us.”

  She returned the others to the plastic bag and gave it back to him, all the while radiating with happiness. When the next publication of Gossep came out, she wouldn’t be smiling.

  He handed the bag to Jeff. “She requires food every two hours.” As guilt overwhelmed him, he hurried from the room.

  Chapter 6

  Carrie’s second day went nonstop, which meant she never had a chance to purchase a new phone. Thus, she couldn’t call Trent until she got home at nine.

  When she called, Mars said he had not returned.

  “Has he said anything about work? I’m worried. I fear my departure has stressed him. He became a complete bear when I spoke to him yesterday.”

  “I advised against it,” Mars reminded her

  “Yes, you did. And had I realized he’d returned to channeling his father, I might have listened. But with this change in his behavior, I’m worried about all our…his employees. If he treats them half as horribly as he treated me, then they’ll probably all quit. Maybe I should come back.”

  “No!” Mars exclaimed. “You should stay where you are. Master Trent has set himself upon his path and he’s determined to follow through. And if his company fails, so be it. It is time for him to grow up and take responsibility. You cannot continue to save him. The job is no longer yours.”

  “You’re right, of course. Otherwise, I’d be enabling his weaknesses. But it’s hard to watch him flounder.”

  “You are far too generous. Focus on your new job, make new friends, and get on with your life.”