Collateral Damage: A Small Town Romance

by Lagomarsino, Giulia

“Not if you humiliate him,” I said ruefully.

  “Anna-“

  “Shush, Robert. The ladies are talking now,” I said dismissively. “Here’s the thing, if you don’t out him for who he is, your children will hear gossip and his version of the story their whole lives. But if you have proof of his cheating and leave him with nothing, they’ll know exactly who he is.”

  “I can’t do that to them,” she said sadly. “You’re not a mother. You don’t understand. They’d hate me.”

  “No, they’d respect you. Do you want your kids to know that your husband treated you like shit and that you were okay with it? Because frankly, if you don’t put a stop to this, if you let him tear you and your companies apart, it’s like telling your kids that what he did was okay. If I had children, I would want them to know that I didn’t let someone walk all over me, that I was strong enough to take what was rightfully mine and throw the trash out the door.”

  I took a sip of my water and set it down almost too harshly. Frankly, I was pissed off on her behalf. I hated that he not only cheated on her, but that she knew what his next move would be. It was wrong.

  “They’ll see that I left him with nothing.”

  “And when they’re adults, they’ll see that you made him earn his own living. Maybe they’ll even respect him for it. Let me ask you this, did you know he was cheating?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You were out building your companies and he was screwing around behind your back. Did you know?”

  “Of course I didn’t know. Do you think I would let him make a fool of me like that?”

  “Then why are you allowing it now? If he takes half of everything you own, how does that make you look?”

  “Anna-“

  “No, Robert,” I snapped, because I was looking out for this woman. She was getting royally screwed and it wasn’t fair. “Your husband made a fool of you, Rebecca. He took advantage of the fact that you loved him unconditionally and that you were swamped with work. And now when everyone finds out, you’ll be the laughing stock of the city, because he’ll walk away with half of everything you own, and you’ll have to pay him a buttload in alimony because he hasn’t worked in over a year.”

  Silence filled the table, and I wondered if I had taken it too far. Pointing out that she would be laughed at was maybe a little harsh, but it was necessary.

  “It’s really simple, Rebecca. I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know how all this works, but I do know that he’s taking more than just your money. He’s taking your hard work, your passion and your drive, and he’s making a mockery of you. But if you go along with Robert’s scheme, you come out on top. You win and you make that bastard pay for ever thinking he could screw you over. Because if things were reversed, you know he would take every dime from you.”

  Robert

  I watched her fire off at Rebecca and hid my smile as best I could. She was fucking amazing. I knew she was flying by the seat of her pants and pure emotion. Part of that emotion was probably directed at me. I had fucked up her life and now I was paying the price for it. I was just happy that at least in this case, she was on my side. If she went back to school, she would be one hell of a lawyer. She was passionate and it showed as she shot off her opinion to Rebecca.

  I was shocked at how much she remembered from going over notes last night. I hadn’t expected her to remember all that, let alone be able to recite it so easily to Rebecca. Now I understood why Eric needed her so much in the office. She was awesome.

  Rebecca sat there for a moment taking in everything Anna had just said to her. I could tell that she still hated the idea of moving, but there was also a gleam in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. She was ready to decimate her husband and now she knew how to do that.

  “Alright, I’ll agree to the move and proceed as you advise me.”

  “Thank you,” I started, but she interrupted me.

  “But I have one condition.”

  “Of course,” I nodded.

  Rebecca looked at Anna and grinned. “I want her on the team.”

  “What?” Anna shrieked in surprise. “Oh no, I’m not…I don’t- you know, you should really think about using your actual attorneys.”

  Rebecca tilted her head and stared her down. “I don’t want just my attorneys. I want you. You’re the one that convinced me this was the way to go, and it takes a lot to make me want to do anything that I’m completely against. So, either she stays on the team, or I’ll find a different firm and just use your strategy.”

  Shit. I glanced at Anna, but I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. If she decided not to do this, then all that work, leaving her over the weekend was all for nothing. I thought of my boss, and I knew exactly what he would think. Anna was part of the deal or this was over.

  “Anna?” I asked quietly.

  She looked at me with wide eyes and shook her head slightly. I was going to lose this deal. She swallowed hard and stood. “I’ll agree to stay on, but you have to sign with the firm right now or I walk.”

  Rebecca grinned and held out her hand. “Show me where to sign.”

  As Rebecca headed for the elevator after coming back to the firm and signing the paperwork, I stared at the amazing woman beside me. I couldn’t have done this without her. She really got to Rebecca when the rest of us couldn’t. But right when I was about to tell her how amazing she was, Mr. Mosley walked up with a cocky grin on his face.

  “I knew you would come through for us.”

  I smiled, but I really wanted to punch him. He didn’t know I would come through, and frankly, it was bullshit that he even said that considering he was holding my job over my head.

  “And with Anna on the team, I’m sure Rebecca will be satisfied.”

  He turned to walk away, but I stopped him. “About that…Anna’s going to need to meet with HR to sign a temporary employment contract.”

  His brows furrowed and he shook his head. “And why would she do that? There’s really nothing more for her to do. She’ll make an appearance when needed, but-“

  I stepped into his space, cutting him off. “She needs a contract. We only have this contract because of her. And if she’s going to be on call with this firm, she will be compensated for her time.”

  “Robert, you’re talking about maybe two or three meetings.”

  “And she will be compensated,” I repeated.

  He huffed, shaking his head slightly. “Fine. I’ll have a contract drawn up for her.”

  I nodded and turned to Anna with a big smile. She held back her smile, glancing around at everyone that was passing. I took her by the elbow and led her into my office, shutting the door behind us. She grinned and jumped up and down for a moment, raising her arms in the air. I grabbed her around the waist, spun her around, and pressed her up against the door, kissing her hard on the mouth. I hadn’t meant to do it, but when I saw how happy she was, I just couldn’t resist.

  Her fingers threaded through my hair and her tongue clashed with mine. God, she felt so good in my arms. I couldn’t control myself. I had to have her. I yanked myself away from her on that thought, breathing hard as I tried to collect myself. She looked at me in shock, wiping at her mouth gently with the tips of her fingers.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, still breathing hard. “I just…” I ran my hand through my hair, cursing myself for being such an idiot. I wasn’t going to get her back if I just took from her. She needed to know that things were different, that I wasn’t the asshole she thought I was. “I saw you excited and I wanted to kiss you. It won’t happen again.”

  When my gaze finally met hers, I was a little shocked to see that she didn’t look like she was in agreement with that. But just when I thought she might tell me to kiss her again, she nodded.

  “You’re right. I told you this wasn’t going anywhere, and it’s not. We definitely shouldn’t do that again.”

  I nodded and straightened my tie and my jacket. I needed to pull myself together.

  “S
o, what exactly does it mean for me to be on the team?”

  I cleared my throat and sat behind my desk. “Um…well, when we meet with her, you’ll need to be there, and you’ll need to appear as my fiancé. It shouldn’t be more than a few meetings. I’m sure she’ll want us to do most of the legwork without having to continue to come in.”

  “Okay, so this should be pretty easy then. Do I need to study or something?”

  I chuckled and shook my head. “No, I’m sure we’ll be able to navigate this just fine without you going back to law school.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s not in the cards for me.”

  “Why not?” I asked, suddenly very curious.

  “Robert, I don’t even have enough in my savings account for the downpayment on my house. I definitely don’t have the money for school.”

  “I told you I would pay you. I meant that. Especially after what you accomplished today. That was amazing.”

  “I did that for you. I told you that. Besides, I have a job I love. The last thing I want is to start my life over by going back to school. I mean, it felt really cool to be in that room, but I don’t think I’m cut out for this life.”

  “And what life is that?” I asked coolly.

  She chuckled humorlessly. “Robert, I can tell you’ve earned your place here, yet your boss is holding your job over your head because of a client. He’s an ass.”

  “I know that.”

  “And yet you stay and work for him. Why don’t you start your own firm?”

  “Anna, this is the best firm in the city. You have no idea what it would take to start over.”

  “But people trust you. I’m sure it wouldn’t be difficult for you to gain clients.”

  “It’s not as simple as that. There are startup costs and I would have to take on partners so I could afford to run a business.”

  She quirked her head at me. “Wouldn’t you rather own something for yourself than work for an ass like that?” My jaw clenched in anger. She had no idea what it would take to start over. “Robert, you have this amazing apartment, a fancy sports car, expensive suits, but you aren’t happy. You hate working for that man, yet you’re not willing to fight for something better.”

  “Yeah? Like you?”

  She flinched and took a step back. “Excuse me?”

  “After your mom died, you took a job at a fucking gas station and stayed there for over ten years. You could have found something else. You could have applied for loans and gotten into school, but instead, you stayed at a dead end job until I came and pulled you out of that hell hole.”

  Her eyes narrowed dangerously at me. “What the hell do you know? You left me!”

  “You were halfway across the country. What the hell was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to give up everything and sit around waiting for you to come back?”

  “You didn’t even say goodbye,” she spat. “The decision was made and you were gone. Do you know what that was like for me?”

  “I was seventeen!”

  “So was I! And don’t you dare judge me on how I lived my life. I’m the one that had to deal with everyone staring at me all the time. I’m the one that had to watch our child being taken away and handed to someone else. You weren’t there for that!”

  “I couldn’t be!”

  “You didn’t want to be. It was so much easier if you could just pretend like it didn’t happen, right? You moved on and forgot about everything. I had to deal with that for years. I was depressed for years, taking different medications to try and feel normal, like I hadn’t just thrown away a piece of myself!”

  My whole body went rigid. I didn’t know any of this. No one had filled me in on what was going on with Anna. All that time I was in college, when I heard she returned, she was moving on with life. No one said anything about her struggling. No one said she was fucking depressed.

  “Anna-“

  She swiped at the angry tears that were falling down her face. “You want to know why I didn’t go find a better job? My mom was an alcoholic. She had racked up debt because she cared more about getting booze than paying bills. So, when she died, I had to pay those bills. I was struggling just to make myself go to work, let alone go get a college degree. And even if I wanted to, I couldn’t get a loan because I owed too much money.”

  “I’m sorry,” I choked out. I had no idea.

  “It doesn’t matter anymore. I moved past that years ago. I made myself stronger and vowed that no one would ever control my life like that again. I worked as much as I could and I paid off that debt and then I started saving, so I could give myself a life to be proud of. I took classes so that I could get a better job. You saw that. So don’t stand there and pretend like I just sat there and watched life happen. I fought for everything I have. I worked my ass off and look where I am! Maybe you think me working as your brother’s office manager is a shit job, but I love that job. Your brother relies on me, he respects me. And it has nothing to do with whether or not I have a fancy education. It’s because I work hard for him and I do my job.”

  I just stood there in stunned silence. I didn’t know what to say. How could I have been so blind? Why hadn’t I talked to her after she got back? Why hadn’t I bothered to look in on her over the years? She had been my best friend, the love of my life, and I had abandoned her. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed. I knew now that there was nothing I could do to ever make this up to her. I had done more damage than I thought when I walked away from her. She was right, I wasn’t the man I used to be. I was ashamed of that man- no, that kid. I was ashamed of the kid that didn’t have the balls to stick around and be there for her. And who was I now? I was driven by my own greed, too busy filling my bank account to even take the risks that she had taken to give herself the life she wanted. I didn’t deserve this woman. Hell, I wasn’t even in the same league as her.

  “I’m sorry,” I said quietly, running my hand across my jaw. “I’m so sorry. I’ll take you home now.”

  Anna

  I was shocked at Robert’s response. I hadn’t expected the look of sadness on his face, the look of defeat. I thought that the man I knew was no longer there, but now I could see he was still there, buried deep inside the man in front of me. I had a feeling that my pregnancy had affected him more than he let on, obviously not in the same way as me, but it had changed the course of his life. It changed who he was supposed to be.

  He grabbed his stuff as I stared at him and then headed for the door, pausing momentarily for me to follow. We walked down to his car in silence and drove out of the city without another word spoken. I didn’t know what to say. All along, I had blamed him for how my life had turned out. Logically, I knew it was on both of us, but I needed someone to blame. Decisions had been made without me feeling like I really had any say in what happened. And I went along, but that was on me. I knew giving our son up for adoption was the best thing at the time, and I didn’t regret it. Robert and I wouldn’t have been able to care for him or give him the life he deserved.

  I glanced over at him, his hard expression hitting me like a sledgehammer. I still loved this man, faults and all. But we were different now, and what we had was gone. When he pulled into my driveway, I lingered, unsure what to say at this point. I just didn’t want to leave things the way they were.

  “Robert-“

  “I’ll call you the next time that I need your help. And Mr. Mosley has put in the paperwork for you to be paid,” he said, staring straight ahead.

  “Robert,” I repeated, wishing he would just look at me. When he finally did, I saw shame in his eyes. I hadn’t meant for him to blame himself. I wanted him to understand where I was coming from, but I didn’t want him to put this all on himself. “I didn’t tell you so you would feel bad. What happened is in the past. I like my life. This,” I waved to my trailer, “is just a temporary situation. I’m doing good for myself and I’m happy with my life.”

  “Until the government takes it from you,” he huffe
d. “What will you do then? You won’t take my money.”

  My mouth gaped. “How did you know?”

  “Eric told me. He saw the letter.”

  “Is that why you…was this all to trick me into taking your money?”

  He huffed out a laugh. “You should have heard my brothers, trying to come up with ways that I could win you back. I wanted to help you,” he said, wringing his hands on the steering wheel. “I hate you living here, but I knew that you would never accept my money. And then this thing at work happened and I knew you could help me. It was like everything was falling into place. You needed money and I needed your help. Except you won’t take my money now.”

  He turned and looked at me, shaking his head slightly.

  “I fucked up big time with you. I didn’t realize how bad until today. I know I can’t make it up to you. I’ll never be able to fix that, but I can help you now. They’re not going to give you shit for your land. It’s not valuable and that trailer isn’t worth anything. Let me help you. It’s the least I can do.”

  “Robert, I want to do it on my own.”

  “But at what cost? How long will you have to save until you can afford the house you want? When they take your land, you’ll have to spend more of your paycheck on rent.”

  “I’ll make it work.”

  “Anna, just let me help you. I know it doesn’t make up for what happened, but I want to do this. Please,” he pleaded.

  I wanted to tell him no, but it felt like he needed this to let go of some of the guilt. And honestly, I didn’t want him to feel guilty. I had moved on from our past, and I wanted him to be able to also. He didn’t need to live with this hanging over his head.

  “Fine, but only enough to help me with my down payment.”

  I could tell he wanted to argue. He wanted to pay for the whole house, but I couldn’t accept that much money. He nodded. “Alright, enough to help with the down payment.”

  I smiled, wanting to end this on a good note. “Alright. Thank you. I appreciate it.”