“You know me, Logan.” She surrendered, her voice dripping with despair. “I thought you knew me.”
He ran his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes. He said nothing. Emily tossed her employee badge on Robbie’s desk. With that, she scurried back to her office, grabbed the few possessions she’d decorated the space with, and closed the door behind her. The hostile faces made sense now. The entire office thought she was a traitor. Inhaling a long breath, she struggled to keep herself together as she walked out the front door toward her car.
She knew her professional career was over, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. The only thing that mattered to her at that moment was that Logan had come to believe that she had betrayed him. Seeing the hurt in his eyes was unbearable. Still, what devastated her more than anything was the idea that he didn’t know her well enough to realize that she would have never been able to commit the actions that she had been accused of. She would have hoped that the intensity and the genuineness of what they had shared over the last few weeks would help him find the truth in his heart.
Chapter 18
Logan
Logan watched Emily walk out of the office and felt his chin tremble. Overwhelmed by a sense of dismay and impotence, he was unable to speak or react in any other way to the sounds and movements around him. “I’ve gained the trust of the younger Marshall brother, and I anticipate that I’ll soon be able to influence his decisions.” He still felt the pain that pierced through his chest when he read the e-mails that morning. He remembered Emily’s soft lips on his, and his heart sank. The carefree scene from the previous night flashed through his mind. “If you try my blueberry cobbler, you’ll never want to leave me.”
His mother’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts. “That sleazy traitor. I knew it. Don’t ask me why, but I just knew it,” Mimi said in a self-congratulatory tone. “I should have become an FBI agent. I’m so good at reading people.”
“I still can’t believe it. She always seemed so reliable and trustworthy.” Robbie shook his head in disbelief.
“The evidence speaks for itself,” said Rupert Abbott, the head of the IT department. He was fourteen years younger than his cousin Mimi Marshall. He was a gifted child, but he grew up in poverty and his future looked bleak until Mimi took him under her wing after marrying Lawrence Marshall. She made sure he attended the best schools and got him a job at the Marshall Resorts. His performance record was impressive, and his rapid rise to the head of the IT department had nothing to do with his family connections. Robbie and Logan had little communication with him outside the workplace, but professionally, they held him in high esteem.
“The investigation continues though,” Robbie pointed out.
“I assure you that we’ll identify her accomplice shortly,” Rupert said.
“You should have never hired her, Robbie,” Mimi insisted.
“She’s been with the company for four years. Her record is impeccable,” Robbie replied.
Logan looked out the window. Emily’s words rang in his ears. “Are you playing games with me?” “I love you.” “You know me, Logan.” “I thought you knew me.” He took a deep breath, and he knew in his heart that she was right. He knew this woman. He loved this woman. And he would never let anyone hurt her.
“As the investigation team leader, I’ll take care of everything personally,” Rupert said.
“That won’t be necessary,” Logan suddenly growled as he slapped his hands on the desk and stood up. “As the CEO, I’ll set up a new investigation team.”
All the eyes in the room turned to him.
“Are you saying that you don’t trust me?” the older man demanded.
“If you’re saying that Emily Taylor is a traitor, then yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.” Suddenly, he was certain that Emily was the woman he always thought she was. It was him who had betrayed her by not standing up for her from the moment the others accused her.
“Logan, I understand your position, but I’m afraid you’re too personally involved to lead this investigation,” Robbie tried to calm him down.
“Robbie, I know Emily. She didn’t do this. She could never do something like this,” he snapped. Emily was the only good thing in his life, and he couldn’t believe that he had been stupid enough to doubt that.
“You know her?” Mimi released a humorless laugh as she waved her hand dismissively. “For how long? One month? Don’t be ridiculous, Logan. You know nothing about that woman.”
“I got to know her in one month much better than I got to know you in thirty-two years, Mother,” he said, his voice grave and firm. “And what’s even more ironic is the fact that she knows me much better than my own mother does.”
“That’s enough, Logan. You completely lost your mind over this traitor,” Mimi muttered.
“Stop calling her a traitor. Emily’s got nothing to do with all this, and I won’t stop until I prove it.”
“I’ve been with this company since you were a kid, Logan. My work has always been above reproach. Don’t forget that I’m also your uncle. And you’re suddenly telling me that you don’t trust me and the evidence that I—”
“Emily Taylor’s word means much more to me than all your credentials, evidence, and family affiliations. I was a fool to let you make me doubt her loyalty even for a moment,” Logan cut him off.
“You were not a fool to believe your eyes, my son.” Mimi did her best to soften her voice and gestured toward the stack of papers on the desk. “It’s all here.”
“I don’t know what the deal is with these e-mails, but you can all rest assured that I’ll find out very soon. And when I do, I’ll make sure that those who are responsible will pay for this.”
He stormed out of the office with the eyes of his family members fixed on him. The employees remained silent and motionless as he rushed down the corridors. As soon as he left the building, he started dialing Emily’s phone number, but there was no reply. The sense of disappointment and frustration that he felt when he read the e-mails Rupert had shown him earlier that morning was replaced by the conviction that what he and Emily had shared couldn’t be a lie.
Her tearful eyes kept flashing through his head. Remembering Emily alone in front of the accusations felt like a dagger in his heart. Anger grew inside him at the thought of someone trying to set her up. He continued to call her from his car on his hands-free device. Her phone kept ringing until the voice mail kicked in. He was anxious to talk to her. He wanted to apologize for his silence while his mother and Robbie interrogated her, assure her that he trusted her, and promise that he would take care of everything.
After his attempts to reach her failed, he decided to leave a message.
“Baby, I believe you. I know you’d never do something like that. I’m sorry I was such a fool to doubt it even for a second. I was so hurt, so desperate when I read those e-mails that I had no strength to speak or even think. I don’t know who’s behind all this, but I promise I’ll find out as soon as possible. I’m heading to your place. Please, meet me there. I won’t leave until I see you. I love you.”
Chapter 19
Logan
Logan’s phone finally rang, and his heart jumped. He desperately needed to hear Emily’s voice. Before he answered, he glanced at the screen. Disappointed to see it was his mother, he declined the call. He was too upset to talk to anyone else but Emily, and the inability to get in touch with her filled him with frustration.
Arriving at the parking lot in front of her building, he looked around in hope of seeing her or, at least, her car, but there was no sign of either. He got out and dashed to buzz the intercom. Nobody responded. He knew Emily was a proud woman. She was hurt and humiliated in that office, and he understood that she might be angry with him for not jumping to her defense immediately. He couldn’t forgive himself for believing his eyes instead of listening to his heart and for letting her leave the office without him. He sat at the entrance to her building and waited for her to arriv
e. His phone calls went straight to voice mail now.
Emily and her brother were close, and it occurred to Logan that she might have gone to see him, looking for comfort and support. He didn’t have Lucas’s home address, so after nearly two hours of waiting, he decided to drive up to his restaurant.
It took him about twenty minutes to get to the quaint diner located in a beautiful Victorian house in the Historic District. The place had just opened, and it was still quiet. Logan walked in and approached a young man standing at the maître d’ stand.
“Excuse me, I need to talk to Lucas. Is he here by any chance?”
“I’m sorry but you just missed him. He had an emergency and had to run.”
“An emergency?” Logan frowned, suddenly worried. “I’m his sister’s boyfriend, Logan Marshall. Could you please tell me what kind of emergency?”
“Emily’s boyfriend? You don’t know what happened?” the young man said, hesitantly.
His tone immediately alarmed Logan. “What do you mean?” he demanded, his blood running cold.
“Lucas got a call from the hospital. Emily had a car accident.”
Logan’s knees buckled beneath him, and he fought to catch a breath.
“What? Is she okay?” His head throbbed as he tried to process what he had been told.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know much else, but I’m afraid it’s serious.”
“Do you know the name of the hospital?”
“Wait a second. I’ll ask in the kitchen. Our chef was with Lucas when he received the call.”
When Logan found out where Emily was, he ran to his car and sped away. Tears welled in his eyes, and his lips quivered. He pictured her smiling face, and the possibility of not seeing it ever again tore his heart apart. The fifteen-minute drive to the hospital seemed like an eternity even though, miraculously, every traffic light was green and the usual road congestion had melted away. Finally, he arrived at the hospital and asked about Emily at the reception desk. As he rushed to the ER, a woman with long, curly red hair, standing in front of the coffee machine, glanced over at him.
“Logan?”
“Yes.” He looked at her, confused.
“I’m Claire, Emily’s sister-in-law. I recognized you from a picture she showed us.”
“Oh, Claire. How is she?” he asked, his voice desperate with urgency.
“She’s been in surgery since we arrived. They told us that she was found unconscious and that she has internal injuries,” the woman said, her expression worried.
Logan’s eyes filled with tears. He raised his hands to his head and looked up. “Lord, please save her.”
Claire remained quiet for a moment. “I’m taking a coffee to Lucas. Do you want one?” she finally said.
“No, thanks.”
“I’ll take you to where he is,” the woman offered.
They walked down the hall in silence. A man with his face buried in his hands was sitting in the waiting room.
“Honey, this is Logan Marshall.”
Lucas looked up. His face was pale, and his eyes were red and watery. He rose from his chair and shook Logan’s hand. “I’m glad you’re here. How did you find out?”
“There was a problem at the office this morning, and she had to leave. I ran after her a bit later and then waited for her in front of her apartment building. She never showed up, so I went to your restaurant. The guys told me what happened.”
“What kind of problem did she have? Was she upset when she got into the car?” Lucas asked as he took his coffee from Claire and sat back in his seat.
“Yes, she was very upset.” Logan nodded and looked down. He was suddenly overwhelmed by the sense of guilt. If he hadn’t let her walk out of that office by herself, none of this would have happened. Or if it had to happen anyway, he should have been in the same car with her. He wished he were in that operating room instead of her. As he sat next to Lucas, he took a deep breath. With his gaze glued to the floor, he told them all about that morning’s meeting at the Marshall Resorts headquarters. After he finished his account, he looked up at Lucas, concerned that he might judge him for doubting Emily’s loyalty.
“I’m so sorry I gave any credibility to those e-mails. I should’ve known better. Please, forgive me,” he said, his eyes pleading.
“There’s nothing to forgive, Logan. It was a natural reaction. You were hurt. Actually, I appreciate the fact that you didn’t need any counterevidence to convince you of her innocence. You reached the conclusion that she couldn’t be a traitor by yourself. You didn’t need anyone to prove it to you. You found the answer in your heart,” Lucas replied.
Logan placed a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Thank you. You can’t imagine how much your words mean to me.”
Lucas patted him on the arm. “She’ll make it. I know she will.”
“Of course she will, baby,” Claire said as she grabbed her husband’s hand and pressed it to her lips. “God has beautiful things in store for her.”
Logan closed his eyes and prayed as he settled in to wait. The prayer helped him silence the turmoil of his mind. When over an hour passed without news, he rose to his feet and started pacing the waiting room and doing trips up and down the hallway. It seemed like forever before the doctor arrived to give them an update.
“Are you Emily’s family?” the woman in the white coat asked. The smile on her face immediately eased the tension in the room.
“We are.” Lucas braced himself for the news.
“She’s stable. It’s a miracle,” the doctor said, a look of pure amazement on her face as she shared the news of Emily’s nearly impossibly smooth surgery.
Tears of relief ran down Logan’s cheeks. She was safe. “Thank you, God,” he whispered, raising his eyes to the ceiling.
Chapter 20
Emily
When Emily woke up, she was confused before she even opened her eyes. She had been so upset that she hadn’t noticed the dog running out in the road. She remembered she swerved to miss it and the car spinning out of control. Then everything had gone black. Images and sounds started flickering through her mind. “He’s not Logan. He’s Mr. Marshall to you,” she heard Mimi’s admonition. “I really trusted you, Emily.” The accusation in Robbie’s voice cut deep. She had no idea where she was or how long she had been there. She wished she had no memory of that last meeting in Robbie’s office. But she did, all too vivid. She remembered Logan’s silence and the pain on his face.
She was afraid to open her eyes, worried at what she would find when she did. It was only when she felt the warmth of a hand on hers that she was drawn from the darkness. As she slowly opened her eyes, she was shocked to see Logan, asleep in the chair beside her, rumpled from his time waiting in the hospital. He looked exhausted, and somehow she had never loved him more.
A sob escaped her lips, and Logan came suddenly awake as though he were driven to protect her.
“I would never betray you,” she whispered.
“I know that, baby.” Logan jumped up from his chair and reached for her face, running his fingers across her cheek. “Please, forgive me. I was such a fool.”
She gave him a weak smile, her eyes locked with his. “You believe me?”
“Of course I do, sweetie.” He brought her hand to his lips and kissed it gently as he sat down on her bed.
“How did you discover I was innocent?” Her eyelids were still heavy, but she couldn’t fight the urge to hear about what happened after the accident.
“I looked into my heart minutes after you left, but it was too late.”
She sighed as she touched his lips with her fingertips. She remembered feeling abandoned and disappointed with Logan’s silence after leaving the office. But she tried not to judge him as she admitted to herself that he must have been so shocked and hurt with the claims about her betrayal that he couldn’t even control his initial reaction. She was happy to hear that it didn’t take him long to suppress his doubts and that he found all the answers inside h
imself.
“No, it wasn’t. I’m here, you’re here. That’s what matters.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “I’ll always be here, by your side.”
Although she wasn’t sure of the exact extent of her injuries, she knew that she ached all over. She didn’t need to stay alone and rest though. Looking into his bottomless eyes and feeling his closeness was her best medicine.
“I haven’t been able to stop scheming ways to hack into the e-mail server to prove they didn’t come from you somehow.”
“You’re not a hacker, Logan,” she snorted. “You hate computers.”
“You’re right,” he admitted. “But to clear you of the charges, I would crawl inside the mainframe myself with a flashlight and look for proof of tampering.”
They laughed together. Speechless, they stared into each other’s eyes for a while.
“Why me?” she asked, barely above a whisper.
“What do you mean?”
“So many women would do anything to be with you. Why did you choose me?”
“You know what they say, ‘God gives his best to those who leave the choice to Him.’ I left the choice to him. All I had to do was recognize you.”
Her lips split into a smile. The idea of the two of them being chosen for each other by God made her heart swell. It felt so reassuring and so right.
“I’ll tell you a little story. A true story,” Logan continued. “I was about thirteen years old. I happened to be with my grandfather when his childhood friend came to visit. They chatted about the old days, and the other man asked him which of the many women he had been with he thought was the love of his life. My grandfather was something of a playboy in his youth. After he divorced his first wife, he went on to marry three more times. Considering his life history, you might have expected him to dismiss the very notion of that kind of love as being some sort of romantic fantasy. But he did nothing of the kind. He didn’t hesitate for a moment before he said Vera. Vera was not the name of my grandmother or either of his other three wives. When I asked who she was, he said she was his first love. She was a receptionist at the first hotel he managed when he began his career. He had no money and no status, and she loved him anyway. He told me he lost her when he put his ambition and business before his love for her. After so many years, his voice quivered as he explained to me she was a woman who deserved to be put first and he didn’t do that. They were a perfect fit, but he neglected her and convinced himself she was a distraction. He regretted it every day of his life. I still remember his words clearly, ‘God handpicked her for me, and I ignored Him.’”
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