by Bella Andre
Duncan was surprised to find himself laughing again as they headed inside. He wasn’t tense. He wasn’t even angry anymore.
He was simply ready to finally move Alastair into the rear view.
Lola didn’t look the slightest bit ill at ease either. On the contrary, she was absolute perfection in a dress made from one of her own prints, which had gold and silver threaded in a subtle floral design through a black base. Her heels were high, her hair was glossy, her makeup was flawless. She was utterly magnificent, and Duncan was beyond proud to be with her, and to love her.
“This is it.”
Her lips curved up into a small smile. “Oh yes,” she said, clearly relishing the opportunity to give his brother hell. “This is most definitely the end of the road. He’d better hope he doesn’t provoke me, because my brother Hudson can attest to the fact that I give one hell of a noogie twist. It’s been twenty-five years since the last one, and he’s still a little afraid of me.”
Weeks ago, if someone had told him that he would break into laughter just seconds before confronting his brother with the long list of his crimes, Duncan would never have believed it. But Lola had changed everything. Her sass, her confidence, and her belief that people should always be kind and fair, had transformed his entire outlook on life.
The office at the top of the building looked out over the Boston skyline. It was a magnificent view by any measure, but one Alastair had never appreciated for anything more than as a symbol of power. Wealth. Prestige. Duncan’s brother liked knowing that he sat a head above every other person in the city.
But instead of scowling, with Lola at his side, Duncan was smiling as they walked into the corner office. Which ended up being exactly the right move to throw his brother off. Alastair would have assumed Duncan would enter guns a-blazing. But relaxed and smiling?
He would have never seen that coming.
“Duncan.” Alastair’s voice was smooth. He shifted his calculating gaze, which transformed into a leer as he said, “And you must be Lola.”
In lieu of replying, she squeezed Duncan’s left hand while he reached into a leather bag with his right. He placed the condensed report—a document with less than a quarter of the evidence they’d found, but all of it damning—on his brother’s desk.
“This is for you,” Duncan said.
Alastair was clearly dying to see what was on the pages in front of him, but instead of giving in to the urge, he continued ogling Lola. “You’re even more beautiful than you appeared in the pictures I’ve seen online. A girl like you could go far with your looks. Especially if you’re smart enough to sell them to someone who is willing to pay you what they’re worth.”
Alastair was so predictably egotistical and power hungry that Duncan wasn’t sure he’d ever stop beating himself up for not having seen it sooner. He needed to try, though. Not only did Lola deserve him at his best, rather than being forever chained down by the past—he deserved it too. No matter how difficult it might be to finally let go of, and forgive himself for, his past mistakes, he was determined to prevail.
His desire to be a better man for Lola—and the fact that she was more than capable of defending herself—was all that kept Duncan from leaping across the desk and wrapping his hands around his brother’s neck.
“You are even more of a dirtbag than I heard you were.” Lola spoke softly, but there was steel behind her words, something Duncan knew she got from her mother. “A guy like you thinks he can get away with manipulating everyone around him for his own gain, but you always end up having to pay for what you’ve done. Especially if you’re dumb enough to overestimate your own worth.” She bared her teeth in a snarl, rather than a smile. “Looks like it’s your time to pay…although there aren’t going to be any pretty girls where you’re going.”
Duncan couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Alastair betray surprise. But Lola had obviously stunned him speechless, and not just because of her looks. She was whip smart. And one of the bravest people he’d ever known.
Working to recover his composure, Alastair turned back to Duncan and drawled, “She speaks remarkably coherently for such an attractive woman. It’s nearly impossible to find that combination in the fairer sex. She might be a gold digger, but I can see now that she could also be an asset on your arm at parties…and certainly in your bed after the parties are over.”
Yet again, Duncan was sorely tempted to land a solid right hook on his brother’s jaw, but Lola’s firm squeeze on his hand helped to remind him that Alastair would be far more thrown off if his insults were ignored. “I’ve come to tell you it’s over. This is your final chance to admit to your crimes. There’s no guarantee that the FBI will cut you any slack for coming clean, but I’m assuming you’ll have better odds for leniency if you don’t try to run from them.”
Though his brother leaned back in his large leather chair and laughed, to Duncan’s ears it seemed forced. “Perhaps you should take your own advice,” Alastair stated in an easy voice. “Word on the street is that both the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission are both chomping at the bit to speak with you.” He adopted a somber expression. “You should know that I’ve asked them to give you a chance to make things right with everyone you defrauded at Brilliant Funds. In fact, I’ve suggested that they let me oversee your restitution to the clients you wronged so badly behind my back. If you’re lucky, you might be able to avoid a lengthy prison sentence by agreeing to those terms. Of course, I would still be happy to take over your company so that none of your clients suffer for your misdeeds.” There was steel in Alastair’s eyes as he added, “I’m on your side, Duncan. I always have been.”
This time, Lola was the one who looked on the verge of leaping across the desk to wrap her hands around Alastair’s neck.
Duncan turned to face her. “He can’t touch me anymore,” he reminded her in a low voice. “He can’t touch us anymore.”
“If you’re not going to accept my offer,” Alastair interrupted, “then I’m afraid you’re on your own with the feds. And now, if you two little lovebirds could take your nauseating gushing outside, I have work to get back to.”
Duncan had needed to make this final visit. To look into his brother’s eyes one more time to see if the sixteen-year-old boy who had vowed not to let the foster system tear them apart was still in there. At last, he accepted that though he’d always be thankful to the boy his brother had been, he wouldn’t miss the corrupt man he had become.
“For so long,” Duncan said, “you weren’t just my brother, you were the most important person in my life. And even when we didn’t see eye to eye, I gave you the benefit of the doubt and respected your decisions, because I thought that’s what family was. I thought that’s what love was. But I’ve learned otherwise. Whatever respect and trust and love there was between us is long gone. Your actions, your crimes, have betrayed my trust in the worst possible ways. I wish I could say you’ll one day feel remorse for what you’ve done, but I very much doubt you will. Still…” Duncan took a final long look at his brother, who had once been the center of his world. “I hope you can find happiness one day. Real happiness that comes from what’s inside of you, rather than the illusive trappings of wealth and power.”
With that, Duncan and Lola turned to leave. They were almost out the door when Alastair spoke again.
“When you get tired of slumming it, sweet Lola, I’ll be here waiting to give you absolutely everything you could ever desire.”
She whirled around, a furious goddess. “Duncan is everything I could ever desire. He is the man of my dreams. And now that I’ve seen just how vile you truly are, I love him even more for rising above you, in every possible way.”
With that, Lola and Duncan walked hand in hand to the elevator. Before the door closed, Duncan could see his brother at his desk, looking red-faced with rage as he read through the papers Duncan had given him. No doubt, Alastair would spend the next several hours calling in every last favor to try to keep hims
elf out of jail.
Once they were out of the building, Duncan drew Lola into his arms. “I’m sorry for everything he said to you, for the way he looked at you, for the way he dared to treat you.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for. And it was really satisfying to tell him exactly what I think of him, especially when it clearly hit the mark.”
“He’s usually unflappable,” Duncan agreed. “But he never counted on coming face-to-face with a woman like you.” He gently stroked his fingertips over her cheek. “Neither did I.”
“Just like I said in my parting shot to him, the fact that you remained so honest and good with a father figure like him is truly amazing. Compared with that, the feds are going to be a breeze to deal with.”
Only Lola would call meetings with two of the most powerful government agencies in the world—agencies that at the moment wanted his head on a pike—a breeze. But though he was mere minutes from what would surely be one of the most difficult, intense afternoons of his life, as Duncan held Lola in his arms in the middle of a busy Boston sidewalk and kissed her with all the love in his heart, he couldn’t help but believe that justice and love would prevail.
If he’d learned anything from Lola’s parents, her cousins, and from Lola herself, it was that in a battle between love and evil, love would always emerge the victor. Because love was always worth fighting for, no matter how hard, or how long, the fight.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Spending ten hours a day for a week straight inside a windowless room with a team of lawyers, FBI agents, and SEC agents had to be one of the most exhausting experiences in the world.
Lola hated that she couldn’t be in the meetings with Duncan. Though she and Duncan were staying at his house in Boston, Lola went over to Hudson and Larissa’s home each day and paced a hole in their back lawn while Duncan was dealing with the feds. Thank God her brother and sister-in-law lived in the same city. They not only went out of their way to make sure Lola didn’t go completely crazy with the waiting, they also made sure to help out with providing food for Duncan so that he didn’t have to worry about anything other than his meetings.
On top of everything else, Lola was worried about Hudson and Larissa. For the past few years, she’d noted hints of strain between her brother and sister-in-law. Now, after spending the better part of a week with them, there was no denying the chasm between them. Lola wished she could do something to help…but the truth was that she was barely hanging on herself.
Every evening when Duncan returned to his house from the latest round of questioning, he was even more stoic and silent than the day before. It had been a wonderful surprise when she’d found the family tree he’d been making for her on his drafting board. Hoping that drawing would relax him, she’d encouraged him to spend time working on it during the week. But she knew how hard it must be for him to concentrate, even on something he really enjoyed, when on top of his high-stakes meetings, he also had to accept the loss of his brother, once and for all. She couldn’t imagine how deeply she’d grieve if she ever had to face such hard truths about one of her siblings.
Fortunately, that would never happen. In fact, as news had traveled through the Sullivan grapevine that the love of Lola’s life needed additional backup beyond what her five cousins, father, and Moira had already given, Sullivans from around the globe stepped up to help.
Alec, who had transitioned from owning a billion-dollar fleet of private planes in New York to cooking at the garden restaurant he shared with Cordelia, called in favors from heavy-hitting business contacts on the East Coast. Harry, Alec’s brother, utilized his research skills as a Columbia professor to join Sophie in chasing down any leads and financial information that the FBI and SEC had trouble confirming. Both Nicola, Marcus’s wife in Napa Valley, and Ford, Mia’s husband in Seattle, used their extensive music industry connections to get more details on Alastair’s investments in the entertainment industry. Smith Sullivan and his wife, Valentina, also reached out to their extensive film and TV contacts.
While the FBI hadn’t yet exonerated Duncan for his brother’s crimes, Lola remained hopeful that it would happen in the very near future. Otherwise, wouldn’t they have filed charges against him already?
Thankfully, at the end of the week, the FBI and SEC gave Duncan a break from questioning—and Lola was determined that they would make the most of it.
She had been longing for a lazy morning in Duncan’s bed, a few precious hours where they didn’t have anywhere to go or anyone to see. Time to cuddle together in his house while drinking coffee and reading the paper. Time to walk in a garden, hand in hand, while smelling the roses in bloom.
But as soon as they woke in each other’s arms, neither of them could quell their urgency to let pleasure take over and banish the threats hanging over Duncan’s head and their future.
His lips on her skin, his hands caressing her curves, made all her fears, her worries, disappear. And as he kissed his way down her body, she wondered how she could have lived without him for so long. When he finally levered himself over her, filling her with his hard heat until she was breathless, Lola didn’t have one single doubt that Duncan was her destiny.
Wherever they were, as long as they were together, was home.
Their lovemaking temporarily helped them forget the uncertainty swirling around them, but as Lola came back down to earth, she remained overwhelmed by the deep emotions their lovemaking had stirred up.
As though sensing her disquiet, Duncan lovingly stroked her hair. “Before I leave Boston for good, there’s one place I’d like to take you.”
Anything he wanted to show her, anything he wanted her to understand about his life, his mind, his heart, she wanted to see. “I’ve always loved Boston. And I know I’ll love it even more when I’m with you.”
Her enthusiasm made him smile. “Despite everything that’s happened here, I can’t hold it against this city. At the same time, I know Bar Harbor is exactly the right place to begin anew.”
Lola hadn’t ever had to contemplate starting over. She’d always been safe and secure not only in the knowledge that she was in the right place, but also that her family would be there for her, no matter what. Now, they would all be there for Duncan too.
They had just finished dressing when there was a knock on Duncan’s front door.
Her heart immediately leaped into her throat, hammering faster than ever. Was this the FBI coming to take him away in handcuffs?
For the second time that morning, Duncan reminded her, “Whatever or whomever is out there, everything’s going to be okay. I promise.”
She knew he was right, that no matter how tall the mountains were in front of them, as long as they had each other, they’d climb them together.
Thankfully, when Duncan opened the door and brought a package inside, she immediately recognized Brooke’s handwriting on the label. Rafe’s wife was an artisan chocolate maker who sold her homemade truffles at grocery stores, restaurants, and boutique stores throughout the Pacific Northwest.
“Hurry, open it,” she urged Duncan.
She was practically drooling as he undid the packaging, then took off the lid of a lake-blue chocolate box imprinted with a pattern of green trees. The best chocolate truffles in the world were inside.
A note accompanied the sweet treats. Lola and Duncan: In case you guys need a pick-me-up, here’s some chocolate! Love, Brooke.
Duncan looked seriously impressed, not only with Brooke’s intricate truffle designs, but also their rich aroma. “Did Brooke make these herself?”
“No one can transform chocolate like Brooke can,” Lola confirmed. “I haven’t ordered a box of truffles from her for far too long—mostly because I can’t trust myself not to eat the whole thing in one sitting—so this is a major treat. I know it’s only nine in the morning, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s never too early for chocolate.”
Their moans and groans as they popped one truffle after another into their mouths rivaled the
sounds they’d made in bed earlier.
“This is the best chocolate I’ve ever had,” Duncan said. “How come I’ve never heard of Brooke’s company?”
When Lola had first met Duncan, she’d thought he was too preoccupied in trying to grow every business he was involved with into a multinational, billion-dollar corporation. But now she understood that it wasn’t money that drove him, but the urge to help people with great products change the world for the better.
“Brooke loves creating the chocolates by hand. It’s more like she’s making art than working in a commercial kitchen,” Lola explained. “Plus, if she and Rafe are thinking about starting a family soon, she might not be interested in going into startup mode and upending their relaxed lake life in Washington.” Actually, it was the perfect opening for Lola to let Duncan know that she’d changed her mind about a few things. “You might be surprised to hear this, but I’ve decided that I can finally see the benefits of working with a great investor. The only barometer I used to have when it came to investors was Moira’s terrible experience, so I assumed they were all bad. But Serafina loves working with you. Same goes for Dave building the prosthetic limb—he’s clearly thrilled to have your support for his work.”
“Corporate and financial success used to be the only barometers I had to gauge my own happiness,” Duncan responded. “But once I met you, I finally understood just how many other things there are to be happy about. Parts of life that have nothing to do with work, or business, or money. Picking vegetables in the garden. Taking a walk by the shore. Sitting side by side sketching.” He looked at her with so much love it stole her breath away. “And I would give up every penny I have just to hold you in my arms one more time. When you kiss me, Lola, I have everything I’ll ever need.”
Cradling his jaw, she brought his lips down to hers. Duncan was exactly the kind of man she’d been hoping for all her life. After being in so many bad relationships, she’d started to believe good ones didn’t exist. But now, here she was, in love with the most amazing man in the world.