by Anna James
Her heart squeezed. He was right. Sanford would never give up the power associated with the kind of wealth Trey had. Still, it didn’t justify what he’d done. “You lied to me. Why didn’t you tell me the truth from the very beginning?”
“Would you have agreed to marry me?”
She might have if Dante hadn’t returned. And, talk about your payback being a bitch? Apparently, she hadn’t quite learned her lesson because karma or fate or whatever term you want to use had deigned to kick her in the teeth once again.
Trey had lied and manipulated her to get what he wanted. Justifiably so, in his own mind. She’d done the same as far as Dante was concerned. Had Dante experienced the same gut-twisting turmoil, the same sense of utter shock and betrayal, when he’d learned the truth about her? If so, no wonder he walked away.
The situations had been different, but the results the same. She couldn’t trust Trey. And Dante didn’t trust her. She’d had her chance and blown it.
“Sophia, we can still make this work. Marry me and we’ll both have what we want.”
What did it matter? She’d already lost what mattered most anyway. Dante wouldn’t forgive her, so why not save the company? It’s all she had left.
No way. She’d had enough. No company was worth selling your soul for and that’s what marrying Trey would be. She didn’t love him and she didn’t trust him anymore.
Dante will hate you again if you’re the reason the company goes under, her brain derided. It’s the most important thing in the world to him.
Her heart thudded in her chest. He would and she’d have to live with that.
“He’ll do it, you know. He’ll take every cent of my inheritance and hand it over to Myer and Kane without the slightest hesitation, and then—”
“Let him.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Her head jerked up and she stared at Dante as if he’d grown two heads. Let him? No, she couldn’t have heard him right. “We’ll lose the company.”
Dante laughed. “Yes. I can live with that.”
The breath caught in her throat. He could live with that? The man who’d made it clear from the beginning of their association that the company mattered above all else, didn’t care if Baker went under? What would drive him to make such a statement unless… He planned to leave Baker for good. It was the only explanation that made sense.
Trey crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at her. “What’s it going to be, Sophia? Save your father’s company or watch everything he worked for go under?”
Her eyes narrowed, she squared her shoulders and threw him a withering glare. “No, I will not marry you.”
“Fool,” Trey muttered under his breath as he strode toward the exit.
The door slammed closed. A loud silence echoed in Trey’s wake.
Dante broke it. “I’m sorry.”
A hysterical laugh bubbled up inside her and erupted in a distraught sob. “For what? You were right about him all along and I didn’t believe you.”
“I didn’t want to be right, Sophia.”
His words brought no comfort. “How did you figure out Allen was responsible for destroying my car and for the robbery? I understand he appeared on the security video, but a good lawyer could argue a number of reasons for him to be in the building that day.”
“You’re right and the police said as much.”
“So, what finally convinced them to pick him up for questioning?”
“The Franck Muller watch he wore on his wrist.”
Her eyes widened. “Allen had my father’s watch?”
“Custom wrist band and all.”
“He must have been taking things out of the house right under my nose. It would have been easy after he moved back in. Hell, it had probably been the reason he insisted on moving home in the first place.” She shook her head, disgusted with herself for dismissing the possibility of his involvement. “I’d wondered how the thieves got everything out in such a short amount of time without raising suspicion, but what I don’t understand is why he did it in the first place. Almost everything he stole already belonged to him.”
“He set you up to take the fall.”
A memory of the police arriving at her front door and dragging her down to the station for hours of questioning slammed into her brain. If he’d succeeded, she might have been arrested. She would have, at the very least, spent a fortune in legal fees trying to prove her innocence. He could have filed another petition to remove her as the executor of their father’s estate, effectively getting her out of his life once and for all.
“More retribution.” She snorted. “Oh, and bonus. He gets Dad’s art collection and the insurance money to boot.” What a fool she’d been.
“Yes.”
She shivered and turned away. “I didn’t understand the depth of his hatred for me until now.” But maybe her father had. Maybe that was why Gil had made her the executor of his estate?
“You don’t have to worry about him anymore. The police have arrested him. He’ll get what he deserves.”
“Right.”
Dante let out a heavy sigh.
She stiffened. He would tell her now he was leaving for good.
“You, ah, had me a little worried.”
About what? Did he think she’d cause a scene? “Why?”
“I thought, for a minute there, you were going to accept Trey’s proposal.”
There’d been no chance of that happening. Not after he lied to her. “No.”
He ambled over and stopped in front of her. “But you thought about it.” He lifted her chin and waited for her eyes to settle on his. “What made you decide against marrying him?”
She stared into those beautiful blue eyes. A knot formed in her stomach. Lord, one stupid mistake six years ago had ruined everything. “He lied to me and I don’t trust him anymore. How can I marry someone I don’t trust?”
“I agree.”
His words killed any fleeting hope she still held. He couldn’t marry someone he didn’t trust.
The jangling of her office phone made her jump. She hurried to her desk, sat down in the chair and snatched up the receiver. “Baker Investments.”
“I’m disappointed with your decision, Sophia. I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.”
The breath whooshed out of her. “Sanford.”
Dante strode to the desk and pressed the speaker button. Sanford’s voice boomed from the telephone base.
“I’ve decided to seek financial investment counseling elsewhere. I want you to liquidate every cent of Trey’s investments immediately.”
A fine tremor ran down her spine. This was the beginning of the end. “Are you sure you want to do this? There’ll be heavy penalties for withdrawing many of the investments early.”
“I don’t care. Cash everything out now.”
She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. I’ll take care of it. Where would you like the funds transferred?”
“Myer and Kane have set up a holding account for me.” He rattled off a bank account number.
Sophia jotted it down and then ended the call. Turning to the computer, she began the process of settling Trey’s accounts. Her fingers shook as they glided over the keyboard. Not only had Sanford made good on his threat, he’d gone straight to their top competitor. It was only a matter of time before word got out.
Dante came over and laid his hand over hers. “That can wait for a moment. We need to talk.”
She shook her head. “I already know what you came back to tell me. You can go ahead and leave.” Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Damn. She’d hoped against hope he’d come back because he wanted her as much as she wanted him. Loved her as much as she loved him. But he didn’t, and she’d have to accept the reality and move on. How, she wasn’t sure. If only she’d been truthfu
l with him all those years ago they might have had a different outcome.
“I’m not going anywhere. What makes you think I’d leave now?”
He knelt down beside her, so close his breath tickled her ear. A shiver ran down her spine.
“This company is the most important thing in the world to you. What else can I believe when you encouraged Sanford to walk away?”
He drew her hands into his and brought them both to a standing position. Sophia stared up at him. A wealth of tenderness shone in his eyes and she couldn’t turn her gaze away.
“I found something more important to me.”
Her head spun. The breath caught in her throat, and damn it, there went her crazy heart again. He wasn’t leaving.
He cupped her cheek in his palm and smiled down at her. A gorgeous, devastating grin that reached all the way to his eyes. Her heart beat a rapid tattoo and her insides turned to jelly, then his head lowered and, oh, finally his lips were on hers, tasting, tantalizing. Sophia sighed, wrapped her arms around him and drank in the sweetness of his kiss.
The telephone rang again. She let out a heavy sigh.
“Don’t answer it,” Dante growled and kissed her again.
She didn’t argue, in fact quite the opposite. She rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him back with all the love in her heart.
A knock on the office door a moment later had her stiffening in his arms.
“What is it?” Dante barked.
The door opened and Clair took a tentative step through. A grin formed on her face. “I hate to interrupt, but Lucas Morgan is on the phone. He insists on speaking with Sophia. Right now.”
Sophia aimed a speculative glance up at Dante. He seemed as surprised by the information as she. She hurried to her desk and answered the call. “Hello, this is Sophia.”
“Lucas Morgan here.”
“What can I do for you, Lucas?”
“I’ve decided to give Baker Investments a shot at managing my money.”
Her mouth gaped. Lucas wanted Baker to manage his finances, even after the incident at the Acquati hotel? “This is good news. I can promise you won’t be disappointed.”
“I better not be. I’ll be in Los Angeles next week and would like to set up an appointment to finalize the details.”
She smiled. “Absolutely. What time are you available?”
“Monday. Ten o’clock.”
“I’ll see you then, Lucas, and welcome to Baker.”
Sophia hung up the phone and swung her chair around to face Dante. “I can’t believe it. Lucas has decided to give us a chance. His finances won’t make up for losing Trey’s accounts, but the revenue will certainly help.”
Dante grinned. “Maybe Baker won’t go under after all.”
Clair cleared her throat. “I don’t think it will.”
His eyebrow arched up. “Oh? Do you know something we don’t?”
“I guess you and Sophia haven’t heard the news.”
“What news?” they asked in unison.
Clair pointed over at Sophia’s desk. “I stumbled on the story a couple of hours ago while doing some research for a client.” She strode over to where Sophia sat. “Go to the MSN home page.”
Sophia clicked on the Internet icon, which took her directly to the requested site. “What am I looking for?”
Clair watched as the news bites scrolled from one story to the next. “SEC Launches Investigation. Yes. That’s the one. Click on it quick before the next story flashes on-screen.”
Sophia did as Clair instructed. An article appeared and she began to read. “Myer and Kane Financial Investment Firm Under Investigation. Several employees, including top level management, are facing embezzlement charges today. The Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation… Oh my gosh, Dante.”
He strolled over and joined her.
Sophia continued to scan the article. Said employees had skimmed millions of dollars from company clients over the last three years. Among those charged were James Kane and Malcolm Foster. She let out a low whistle and turned to Clair. “Is this true?”
“Judging by the number of new client appointments we booked for next week, I’d say yes.” She winked and gave Sophia a cheeky grin. “I’ll let you get back to whatever it was you were doing before I came in.”
Sophia laughed when the door closed a moment later. “Dante, we might just save the company.”
He came toward her with an easy fluid stride and pulled her back to her feet. Pressing a finger against her lips he said, “I don’t want to talk about work anymore. I want to tell you why I came back today.”
“I’m not pregnant,” she blurted.
“It’s you I want, Sophia.”
She smiled up at him. “I love you, Dante.”
He drew in a sharp breath. “You do? But, I got so much wrong along the way.”
“We both did, but it’s behind us now.”
He cupped her cheeks in his hands and gazed down into her eyes. “You mean the world to me. You’re more important than any company could ever be. I love you, Sophia. More than I ever imagined possible.”
“Enough to marry me?”
He threw her a startled glance. “I wanted to marry you when I asked back in San Francisco.”
She let out a soft cry of distress. “You spoke only of doing what’s right for the child and I assumed you’d only asked out of obligation.”
“Yes, I can see why. I latched on to the idea of a baby. It meant I could have you and not have to examine my reasons for wanting you too closely.”
“I turned you down.”
Dante snorted. “And if that wasn’t bad enough, you dropped your bomb on me about relocating to New York. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep and still it took India dropping that damned tabloid on the table this morning before I could acknowledge the truth. I loved you—and you were going to marry Trey.”
She smiled up into his eyes. “No, I wouldn’t have, not even to save the company.”
“I wouldn’t have let you. I love you too much.”
Her heart soared. “So it’s a yes to the marriage proposal?”
He grinned. “Absolutely, but you’re going to have to make an honest man of me soon. I don’t think I can wait. Six years has been long enough.”
He lowered his head and finally his lips covered hers. She kissed him back with a confidence she hadn’t possessed before, a certainty that came from learning the truth. He loved her and she loved him. They’d get married—soon if Dante had anything to say about it. The future seemed brighter than ever, and she was happier than she’d ever believed possible.
In the end, she’d gotten what mattered most. She’d gotten Dante and they’d share a life full of love and laughter together.
About the Author
Anna James writes contemporary romance novels with strong, confident heroes and heroines who conquer life’s trials and find their happily ever after. While she’s been writing for years, her first published story released in 2010. Since then, Anna has penned four novels, seven novellas and one short story.
She is a member of RWA (Romance Writers of America), CTRWA (Connecticut Romance Writers of America), CORW (Charter Oak Romance Writers) and RWA Contemporary Romance Writers.
Anna is married to a wonderful husband who spends countless hours picking up the slack around the house so she can pursue her dream of writing, and is the proud mother of five fabulous children and a big, loveable rescue dog the entire family adores.
Although she’s lived in several locations throughout her life she now calls Connecticut home. When not writing, reading or plotting, she can be found spending time with family and friends.
You can learn more about Anna James at: www.authorannajames.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/annajames.author
Twitter
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Email: [email protected]
Don’t Miss the Next Book in the Forevermore Series by Anna James
Coming Soon:
Chasing Memories
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