Reunited: A Novella

by HELEN HARDT

  I sat in my car and fingered the delicate note Brett had given me two weeks earlier. A tear fell onto the discolored paper. What had I expected? That he’d understand? I’d kept a child from the man I loved.

  He’d walked out without kissing me, without making plans to see me again. I’d enlisted the babysitter to take Maya to soccer practice in the days following. I couldn’t face him. Not yet. I’d eventually tell him how to get in touch with Michael, and perhaps we could regain a friendship. But I had no doubt lost him as a lover, as a soul mate. That I’d betrayed him pierced my heart like a poisoned dagger.

  I placed a gentle kiss on the note before folding it and placing it back in my purse.

  I cleared my throat, choking away more tears, and turned the ignition.

  “Oh!”

  The rap on the windshield startled me.

  Brett.

  I wiped my eyes and rolled down the window.

  His beautiful eyes were sunken and sad. “Hi, Kath.”

  I sniffled. “Hi.”

  “Can we talk?”

  “I’m on my way out, as you can see. Maybe later?”

  “Please?” He walked around the car, opened the passenger door, and sat down.

  “I’m on my way to meet someone.”

  Our son. I’m on my way to meet our son.

  “Can it wait a few minutes?”

  I shook my head.

  No, it can’t wait. I’m already twenty years late.

  “What do you want, Brett?”

  He tentatively touched my hand. Sparks slid over my flesh. Always sparks, always with Brett. Never with anyone else.

  “I want to apologize.”

  My heart jolted. “Apologize? You have nothing to apologize for. This was all me.”

  His full lips trembled and he shook his head. “I was only thinking about myself. I didn’t think for a minute about what you went through. I wish I had been there for you. I wish you had told me.”

  I gulped and nodded. “I wish I had, too. I did what I thought was best at the time for both of us. But I was wrong. You had a right to be involved in the decision, whether or not you loved me. I didn’t know you did.”

  “I know. I should have told you.”

  “It’s okay. We both made mistakes.”

  He squeezed my hand. “And we’ll probably make more. One thing I know though. You’re the one I want to be with when I make them, if you’ll have me.”

  Tears welled in my eyes. He still wanted me?

  “I’ve waited twenty years for you, Kath. I don’t want to wait any longer.” He caught a tear on my cheek with his index finger.

  “Oh, Brett.” I sniffed back my tears, my heart soaring toward the moon. I leaned toward him and brushed my lips over his. “Buckle up, then.”

  He complied. “Where are we going?”

  I smiled. “To meet our son.”

  COMING SOON FROM HELEN HARDT…

  Rebel

  WOLFES OF MANHATTAN

  When Rock Wolfe was fourteen, he tried to kill his father.

  Twenty years later, someone else finished the job.

  Now Rock is returning to New York for the reading of the billionaire’s will. No way did Derek Wolfe leave anything to his oldest son, but according to Rock’s brother, his presence is required.

  Estate attorney Lacey Ward isn’t looking forward to the reading. None of Derek Wolfe’s children will be happy, least of all his oldest. When Rock enters the conference room, Lacey is stunned. He’s a rebel—a biker all muscled and gorgeous in black leather. This won’t be easy, especially since she can’t stop staring at him.

  Rock pays no attention to the reading. He’s lost in a fantasy of bending his father’s hot attorney over a desk. He’s not a commitment kind of guy, though, and she screams white picket fence. Sparks fly between them, but the murder lurks in the back of their minds.

  Rock knows all his family’s secrets…or so he thinks. Mysteries seem to hide everywhere—mysteries that threaten not only his and Lacey’s future but their lives as well.

  Excerpt:

  When I was fourteen years old, I tried to kill my father.

  The stunt had cost me my freedom. I’d have gladly spent the rest of my life imprisoned as the love slave of a Greek battalion had I been successful. But to be put through hell when the bastard was still alive? So not worth it.

  Military school. Not just any military school, but a private academy where millionaires sent their troubled kids to be beaten down, where the rules were that there were no rules. Where survival of the fittest was no longer reserved for the animal kingdom.

  I survived.

  I grew stronger living through the hell that was Buffington Academy. Secluded in the Adirondacks, the school was home to the most spoiled young men in the world…and the most troubled. After two weeks, I knew I didn’t belong there, but I spent four years in that hellhole.

  Those years made me wish for juvie.

  But no, my parents didn’t turn me in. Instead…Buffington.

  I spent those years plotting my father’s demise, but of course by the time I turned eighteen and released myself, I knew better. I’d learned my lesson. My father wasn’t worth it. Trying to take him out had cost me four years of my life.

  Even so, I dreamed of his death. It was no less than he deserved.

  But when it finally happened, I was totally unprepared.

  “Dad’s dead,” my brother Reid said into the phone when I answered.

  I froze, as if ice water had replaced the blood in my veins.

  “Did you hear me?”

  “Yeah. Yeah. What happened?”

  “We’re not sure yet. But I have to ask you, bro…”

  “What?”

  “Were you anywhere near Dad’s penthouse last night?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “Someone shot him in the head in the penthouse.”

  I couldn’t help a chuckle. Most guys might freak out hearing this kind of news. Not me. The bastard had it coming.

  “They’re going to get in touch with you,” Reid continued.

  “I’m at my cabin, Reid. And by the way, you don’t sound too broken up.”

  “None of us are. He was a bastard. That’s public knowledge.”

  “So why the interrogation? There’re a thousand people who probably wanted him dead.”

  “True, but Dad sent you away when you were so young. The cops are going to think you might be getting back at him.”

  “Don’t you think I’d have done something before now?”

  “Whatever, man. Still, Riley, Roy, and I need to know. Did this in any way involve you?”

  “I just told you. I’m home.”

  “You could have hired it out.”

  Seriously? I’d been a model citizen since I left Buffington—well, maybe not model in the sense of perfect, since I’d been arrested in a biker brawl once, but I hadn’t started it and the charges were dropped. I’d driven after too many drinks a few times, but I hadn’t gotten caught. I’d made my own money, never stole a dime. And never took one penny from that motherfucker who’d fathered me. Not that he would have given me any. I had a few biker buds who might have been able to handle a contract on a human life, but I’d have never asked.

  The asshole warranted better than a paid hitman who bore him no ill will. He deserved to be taken out by someone he’d wronged, someone who could look into his cold eyes so he knew who was doing the deed.

  There were a ton of us out there.

  “I didn’t,” I told my brother. “Trust me. I had nothing to do with it. But I’m glad the asshole’s dead.”

  “None of us are crying, like I said.” Reid sighed through the phone line. “Thank God.”

  “Relieved, are you?”

  “Of course. You’re my big brother. I don’t want you rotting in prison for the rest of your life.”

  I hadn’t seen my brothers and sister in years. Reid was the only one who kept in touch with me regularly
. I heard from Roy and Riley every once in a while. Roy didn’t keep in touch with anyone, and Riley had her own issues.

  “I won’t be. I was out on a ride last night with buddies who can vouch for me. I got in around one a.m.”

  “They think the murder occurred around four this morning. You couldn’t have gotten here by then.”

  “Plus the fact that I’m still in Montana right now.”

  “Yeah. Right. I’m not thinking straight.” Reid cleared his throat. “You need to get on the next flight to New York.”

  “Fuck that. I’m not coming home.”

  “You have to. The cops want to talk to you.”

  “There’s this little thing called a phone.”

  “Damn it, Rock. You need to come home.”

  “Burn him and be done with it. You don’t need me for that.”

  “We haven’t made any funeral arrangements yet.”

  “What do you need me for, then?

  “The attorneys are reading Dad’s will tomorrow morning.”

  “Why the hell should I care? You know he didn’t leave me a damned penny.”

  “It specifies that we all have to be present. They won’t read it without you there.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.” The bastard was going to rub my nose in it from the grave. All his billions…and I’d get nothing.

  Not that I cared.

  Much, anyway.

  “Sorry,” Reid said. “But it’ll be good to see you, bro. I’ve…missed you.”

  Truthfully, I’d missed him as well. He was my youngest brother, and he and I had been close once. Roy, who fell between us, was a classic introvert who’d spent most of his childhood in his room painting or reading. That left Reid to be my primary playmate, even though he was five years younger. Riley hadn’t come around until I was eight and Reid was three.

  “All right. I’ll get a flight.”

  “I’m one step ahead of you. I’m emailing you your confirmation. Pack a bag. Your flight leaves out of Helena in three hours.”

  A Note From Helen

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading Reunited. If you want to find out about my current backlist and future releases, please like my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HelenHardt and join my mailing list: http://helenhardt.com/signup/. I often do giveaways. If you’re a fan and would like to join my street team to help spread the word about my books, you can do so here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/hardtandsoul/. I regularly do awesome giveaways for my street team members.

  If you enjoyed the story, please take the time to leave a review on a site like Amazon or Goodreads. I welcome all feedback.

  I wish you all the best!

  Helen

  Also By Helen Hardt

  Steel Brothers Saga:

  Trilogy One—Talon and Jade

  Craving

  Obsession

  Possession

  Trilogy Two—Jonah and Melanie

  Melt

  Burn

  Surrender

  Trilogy Three—Ryan and Ruby

  Shattered

  Twisted

  Unraveled

  Trilogy Four—Bryce and Marjorie

  Breathless

  Ravenous

  Insatiable (coming soon)

  Trilogy Five—Brad and Daphne (coming soon)

  Fate

  Legacy

  Descent

  Follow Me Series (coming soon):

  Follow Me Darkly

  Follow Me Under

  Follow Me Always

  Blood Bond Saga:

  Unchained

  Unhinged

  Undaunted

  Unmasked

  Undefeated

  Sex and the Season:

  Lily and the Duke

  Rose in Bloom

  Lady Alexandra’s Lover

  Sophie’s Voice

  Temptation Saga:

  Tempting Dusty

  Teasing Annie

  Taking Catie

  Taming Angelina

  Treasuring Amber

  Trusting Sydney

  Tantalizing Maria

  Misadventures:

  Misadventures of a Good Wife (with Meredith Wild)

  Misadventures with a Rockstar

  The Cougar Chronicles:

  The Cowboy and the Cougar

  Calendar Boy

  Daughters of the Prairie:

  The Outlaw’s Angel

  Lessons of the Heart

  Song of the Raven

  Collections:

  Destination Desire

  Her Two Lovers

  Non-Fiction:

  got style?

  About the Author

  #1 New York Times, #1 USA Today, and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Helen Hardt’s passion for the written word began with the books her mother read to her at bedtime. She wrote her first story at age six and hasn’t stopped since. In addition to being an award-winning author of contemporary and historical romance and erotica, she’s a mother, an attorney, a black belt in Taekwondo, a grammar geek, an appreciator of fine red wine, and a lover of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. She writes from her home in Colorado, where she lives with her family. Helen loves to hear from readers.

  http://www.helenhardt.com