by Kathy Noumi
Soph piped up first. “Okay, so the company is nuts. They’re fighting to set up a board of trustees, but Mr. W is battling the other partners tooth and nail.”
Khloe sat, tight-lipped. I scowled at her. “And what about you?”
She cleared her throat, fiddled with her silverware, and sipped her water before speaking. “Me? Uh—nothing. Just work, you know how busy it gets during fall with all the holiday events.”
“You better tell her,” Sophia said as she slapped Khloe’s arm
“Oh, yeah . . . I went on a date,” she said in a barely audible mumble.
“Yes!” I shouted. “Tell me everything.”
“Calm down, it was one date,” she insisted, taking a bigger gulp of water this time.
“With who?” I asked impatiently.
“Charles,” she whispered.
“Charles Davenport?” I questioned.
“Yes,” she mouthed.
“Holy shit!” I screeched. “When? How? Tell me, Khlo!”
Sophia made a humming sound in her throat. “Khloe, stop stalling. Tell her already.”
I glanced at Soph then Khloe. “Tell me what?”
Khloe sucked down more ice-cold water before looking at me with worry in her eyes. “Jameson hasn’t been to work since you left.”
“What do you mean he hasn’t been to work since I left?”
Soph twisted her ring. “He stormed out the day you resigned and hasn’t been back to the building at all. Or, at least, no one has seen him in the building since then.”
“And,” Khloe interjected, “Charles told me he punched his father the same morning.”
“Jameson punched his father?” I asked. They both nodded at me. My mind raced. “Has Charles seen him?”
“Chuck went to his house about ten days ago. He said he was fine.”
“Do you believe him?” I asked her.
“Yes, I do,” she replied. “But Jameson said something to him about William not being his real dad, which seemed weird as hell.”
“What?”
“Yeah, he said William wasn’t his biological father, but it didn’t make any sense to Chuck. He thought Mr. Winthrop was lying to get under Jameson’s skin,” she explained.
“This doesn’t make any sense.”
My mother chimed in, “Maybe it’s true?”
I shook my head at her. “No. Why would he tell him now?”
Sophia sipped her margarita. “I tried to get Tommy to check on him, but they aren’t speaking right now. I don’t know what is going on over there.”
With a deep inhale, I let out all the frustration. “Doesn’t matter anymore. I’m done with WSquared, done with Jameson, and a hundred percent done with all their drama.”
My mom squeezed my hand. “You’re sure you can let him go?”
I stared her dead in the eye. “No, but I can survive anything at this point.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jameson
“Goddammit, Jameson, open up!” Tommy shouted from the other side of my front door. “Stop being a baby.”
“Go away, Tommy,” I yelled back.
“I’m not leaving until you let me in the door, dickhead,” he said as though I were the younger brother.
I made the loudest frustrated noise humanly possible, then made my way to the door. When I unlocked it, Tommy turned the knob from the other end and let himself in.
“Make yourself at home, why don’t you,” I snorted as he walked through the hall into the kitchen. I cocked my brow when he took a seat at the island. His stiff posture nearly made me laugh.
Tommy stippled his fingers against the granite. “Your hibernation is officially over.”
“Excuse you. What?”
“You heard me, J. R. There will be no more hiding out,” he insisted.
Fury ignited within me. He thought he could come into my house and demand things like our father? Or his father. Not mine.
I rubbed at my chin. “I’m not hiding, you idiot. You would have known as much if you hadn’t publicly told the press I fully supported William in the merger.”
Tommy slapped the counter with his hand. “Fuck this. You know Charles and Nathaniel failed to explain all this nonsense to me until after Dad had me make the public statement.”
He’d forced me into a corner. William had no limits; he would use anyone and everything against me to secure his place. The churning in my belly unleashed a loud roar. “I should have known he’d use you, too.”
“Nathaniel said you gave up on the plan to take back the company,” he accused.
I clenched my jaw. “For now.”
“What the fuck. Why?”
“Because the bastard halted the signing on the Kaleidoscope, and now the fucking FBI is looking into me instead of him. I need to lie low, Tommy.”
“No, you need to go get your girl. Sophia said she’s miserable. Fucking get off your ass, get her back and then you both take his ass down. She had your back, didn’t she?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“I’m not dragging her into this.”
“What is the point of having this company, or this house, or any of it when you can’t have her?” he questioned.
My chest felt like it was being squeezed by a vise. Since Eden left, everything had disintegrated. I desperately wished she were here, if for nothing more than comfort. The last few weeks I’d thought of her nonstop. When I closed my eyes, I saw hers.
Tommy gripped my shoulder. “She’s worth fighting for, isn’t she?” he asked.
I blinked, thinking. She wanted a new life away from all this nonsense. Would it be fair of me to drag her back? But what if she hadn’t found someone else? Might it be possible that she couldn’t let go of me, either? Fuck. What I would give to hold her, touch her, take in her sweet scent. I closed my eyes, tight, squeezing my temples. “She is.”
“Let’s go get her then. But you might need like three showers before we go. You smell.”
We both chuckled. “Shower first, then I need to get something.”
He looked at me with furrowed brows. “What do you need to get?”
“Can you do me a favor?”
“Okay . . .”
“Can you get in touch with Sophia for me?” I pleaded.
“Yeah. Why?”
I inhaled deeply. “Can you ask her to meet us at the Cartier store downtown?”
He gawked at me, his mouth open.
“I’m in love with her, and if I’m going to bring her back, I want to make her mine. She can help me run WPL as an equal, once we rid the company of William’s presence. Now call Sophia and get her to meet us at the store in an hour,” I demanded.
He grinned at me like a goofy drunk after a few beers. “All right, captain.” He saluted.
“And ask her if she can somehow get Khloe there, too.” My hands trembled. Was I about to ask Eden to marry me? The thought of her rejection niggled in the dark corner of my mind. God, what if she said no? Totally going to say no. Could I survive her breaking me into a trillion shards? I’d never been nervous in my life. But I refused to let her go without a fight. Not this time.
Twenty minutes past our appointment time, Khloe and Sophia strolled into Cartier, where they found Tommy and me leaning against the showcase of engagement rings. The salesman held a black velvet tray with a few settings I’d chosen prior to their arrival. I wanted Eden’s friends to help me pick the ring out, even though I knew which one I wanted to get her.
Sophia squealed. “Oh my gosh! I could kill you, but then you’d never get to ask Eden to marry you, so I’ll refrain.” She laughed and added, “For now.”
Khloe hugged me and swatted my arm. “I’m only going along with this if you promise never to break her heart. Otherwise, I swear on everything that is holy I will kill you myself. She’s been through enough. Plus, I know she won’t admit it, but she loves you more than you know.”
Tommy stood next to Sophia, silent for once. I combed my hair back. “I will
never hurt her, Khloe. I swear to you. Now, can we choose the right ring?”
The girls nodded, and Tommy threw in his two cents. “I’ll just be standing here doing nothin’.”
All of us laughed. The salesman turned on the charm, showing us each ring. When he was done, Khloe pivoted and looked up at me. “I don’t know if she’ll like any of these.”
I shot her a sly smirk, because I’d known she’d say that. “I don’t think she will, either. Renée, would you get the one I saw before Ms. Sharp arrived?”
“Of course, I’ll just be a moment.” He vanished into the back room and came out with a single ring on a sapphire velvet display, smiling like a buffoon. Handing me the piece, he said, “Here you are, sir.”
It had a four-karat, cushion-cut diamond at the center, and twisted ropes crossed over top, giving the illusion the stone was tied down. Five different ropes made up the band—some thick, some thin, some encrusted with tiny diamonds—but all crisscrossing and entangled. These would signify the ropes which would bind us together. Forever.
All she had to do now was say yes.
I landed at JFK the next morning, the smell of New York City hitting me faster than a subway train. At baggage claim I noticed a man holding up a sign with my last name scribbled in black marker. I waved him down. He guided me to the town car parked at the curb. I slid into the cool leather seats then told him, “94A Marine Ave., Brooklyn.”
“Yes, Mr. Winthrop.”
Thankfully, we missed rush hour and made it to Brooklyn in record time. Reaching for the door handle, I reminded myself to breathe. It didn’t help. I could do nothing to halt the jitters. I stepped out onto the pavement and smelled the familiar scent of roasted nuts.
The driver fetched my bag, handed it to me, and said, “Have a great trip, Mr. Winthrop.”
I gave him a quick nod. “Thank you,” I replied while checking my breast pocket for the thousandth time since leaving Chicago. The ring in its velvet box remained safely there. As I stared at Eden’s childhood home, the loud, thunderous pulse of my heart drowned out the noises of Brooklyn in the background. I let the worries coil through me one last time before I marched onto her front stoop.
Don’t fuck this up.
After I pressed the doorbell, I waited and waited, but no one answered. I stepped back, glanced at the number on the side of the house again—it was correct. With a deep sigh, I pinched the bridge of my nose. Where could she be? Khloe and Sophia claimed she hadn’t started a new job yet. Maybe they were wrong? Eden was resourceful, if nothing else, and she put her career before everything. They must have been mistaken.
I took a seat on the top step, shielded my face with my hands, and groaned under my breath, “Fantastic.”
“Jameson?” Eden said as though my name were a question.
My head sprung up. There she stood. I couldn’t breathe; her face had no trace of makeup, and her hair was tied back in a messy bun, but all I could think was wow. Her eyes sparkled in the sun.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked, confusion plastered across her gorgeous face.
“I came to talk to you,” I managed as she came up the stoop.
“And all of a sudden every phone on the planet evaporated?”
A tiny twinge panged in my chest at her snide retort, and I answered, “It’s not something I could talk about over the phone.”
She gave an annoyed snicker. “So, you show up at my door—how quaint—assuming I’ll be here.”
“No, I didn’t assume. ‘Hoped’ would be a better word,” I confessed. “Not only hoped you’d be here, but hoped you’d hear me out.”
Eden sidestepped me to pierce the front lock with her key. She walked in, leaving me outside to gawk after her.
Slick move there, buddy. She’s sure as shit not letting you inside.
When she disappeared into the house, I called the open door, “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
She hollered back, “Will you ever go away if I don’t?”
A chuckle escaped my lips. “No.”
“Fine. You have five minutes,” she said, peeking out from behind a wall.
I headed down a narrow hall, following the direction she’d disappeared. The house had subtly charming vibe. In addition to pristinely kept antiques, the home showcased what seemed like every single kindergarten drawing Eden had ever made. Her mother obviously cherished her daughter more than life itself.
The hallway split and Eden called out from the left, “In here.”
I followed the sound of her voice and discovered her seated at a round oak table. Forms were strewn across its surface, each pile stacked in a lopsided mess. A clunky set of keys had been used as a paperweight for the biggest.
“Don’t mind the mess. Now, what is it you came all the way here to talk about?”
The invisible vise crushing my skull tightened. I shut my eyes a moment, taking in a deep breath. When I opened them again, Eden had cocked an impatient brow. I dragged a chair out and sat. With a big gulp, I said, “When I left you in New York five years ago, it was because I thought . . . I thought you’d found someone else. I told you I wanted to go public, thinking that you’d be happy, but you ran for the hills. I assumed—”
“You assumed I didn’t care for you the same,” she spat, sounding disgusted.
“I . . . There is no excuse for how I acted after we split. I guess my wounded ego got the better of me. We were young then, and I didn’t consider what it would do for your career if we told people about us.”
Eden didn’t move, watching me with a ferocious intensity. “I didn’t grow up the way you did,” she said finally. “I couldn’t let our relationship ruin my career before I’d even had a chance to prove myself. It was easier to walk away. But how could you ever think I didn’t care for you? After everything she shared?” Her voice sounded like I’d sliced her with a sharp knife.
“God, Eden, you have no idea what I would give to take it all back,” I confessed. Combing my sweaty hair back with my fingers, I added, “But even after all the bullshit of the merger and the years of crap we put each other through, I don’t think I ever stopped loving you.”
“You think you never stopped?” she inquired.
I shifted my chair closer to hers. “I know I never did,” I said, taking her hands in mine. “I came here so I could see your face when I told you, so you would believe me.”
Eden rolled her eyes. She pulled her hands from my hold. “Why now, Jameson?”
“Because I can’t lose you a second time. And if I have to give up WPL and move here with you, I will.” I reached for her a second time. Gripping her shoulders, I whispered, “Look at me.”
Her eyes focused in on mine. There she was: the strong, independent, sassy love of my fucking life. How I had lived without her for so many years I would never understand. She remained silent for a moment, then touched my cheek. “I wouldn’t let you.”
“I didn’t ask your permission, Miss Black,” I teased.
Then, she smiled the most beautiful smile, one that left me feeling like a million tiny specks of dust at her feet. “You really are a pain in my ass.”
I reached into my breast pocket, retrieved the ring box, and popped it open. Eden’s eyes shot open, and her face drained of all its vibrant color.
“Would you allow me the honor of being the pain in your ass for the rest of our lives?” I asked.
She blinked a billion times a minute, the expression on her face unreadable. Then, “Have you lost your damn mind?”
“No. For the first time in my life I am thinking perfectly clearly,” I assured her.
“You lie to me constantly. You fight me tooth and nail. Most days I want to slap you silly, and yet you want to marry me!” she half laughed, half shouted.
“I don’t want any more secrets. I’ll tell you everything, including my plan to rid us all of William,” I divulged.
“Then what? We get married and my new husband is also my new boss? Do you eve
n hear yourself?” she pressed. “What will people think? Everything I worked so hard to accomplish will all go up in a puff of smoke because I married you. The talk in the office will be that I slept my way to the top.”
I grumbled. “No. Enough. Everyone in our business knows how hard you work, and if anyone dared to open their mouth, I would silence them by throwing some quarterly earnings in their face. You are just as good at your job as I am—”
“I’m better,” she interjected.
I grinned, throwing my hands up. “The best. And I don’t want to run the new WPL company if you’re not at my side. You and I will be co-CEOs, or I quit and move here with you. We can start over, but I want you—here, there, wherever the hell you will agree to marry me.”
“How will my old bosses and the board allow all this? I’m not exactly qualified to be a CEO.”
“Because my family still owns the controlling shares and the members of the board remain under my father’s thumb. He made damn sure he’d be able to do as he pleased.”
Eden squinted at me, tapping her pointer finger over her perfect lips. “Tell me your plan before I give you my answer.”
I did a mental tally of our chess score in my head, but whatever it was, it didn’t matter anymore. All I cared about was taking the queen. She had to say yes.
“Nathaniel and I found proof of what my father’s been up to, all of it—the embezzlement, the harassment, the bribery—and it’s all tied to the Kaleidoscope. That’s why I bid so much for it. I didn’t want you mixed up in it, which is why I didn’t tell you. Can you blame me for wanting to keep you away from all this?” I asked, but it wasn’t a question, not really.
Eden fidgeted with her necklace and cleared her throat. “And what exactly do you plan on doing?”
“He tied up my deed transfer, which is currently our biggest problem,” I said, trying not to scare her. “I need to figure out how to corner him in a different way.
“I’m sorry for what he’s done to you, and . . .” She held my hand.
“It gets worse,” I whispered, dropping my head. “He’s been trying to frame me for all of it. I’m under investigation by the FBI.”