His mouth fell open and he glanced back toward the dining room, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He lifted a hand to his forehead. “She’s your cousin?” he repeated.
“Yes, and I just got a call that she’s in the hospital fighting for her life,” she said. “If you had just listened to her back then, contacted your brother and let them sort this out between the two of them, none of this would have happened.”
Hudson touched her arm. “You’re talking in circles, Annabelle, slow down. You’re upset.”
“Damn right I’m upset,” she shouted. “She was staying at my apartment because her own flooded, and Mark must have broken in looking for dirt on me. He hurt her, Hudson.”
Tears streamed down her face and her hands were shaking so hard, she could barely hold onto her cell phone. She needed to get out of this restaurant and get her things together, but she wasn’t even sure she’d be able to make it back to the hotel on her own.
“Oh, my God,” Hudson said. “And she’s pregnant?”
“Just over five months pregnant,” she said. “If anything happens to her or this baby—”
Sobs cut off her voice and she held a hand to her mouth, trying desperately to pull herself together. To be strong for Julia.
“You were wrong about her,” she said. “The baby she’s carrying is your own neice, and you turned her away like she was trash on the bottom of your shoe. You’re so busy thinking about yourself and your precious company that you stole my cousin’s best chance to have a real family.”
"Annabelle, I’m sorry about your cousin, but you have to understand,” he said, careful to keep his voice down as he stepped closer to her. “You’re not the only one who cares about their family. My brother promised me he hadn’t had any affairs in the past year. I believed him.”
She searched his eyes. “Did you tell him about the baby?”
Darkness crossed his features and he cleared his throat. “No, but I didn’t think it was necessary,” he said. “I didn’t want him to worry for no reason.”
“No reason? He’s going to be a father, Hudson,” she said. “I just pray the baby survives. I need to go.”
She collapsed into tears again and her knees grew weak as she tried to walk toward the entrance.
Hudson grabbed her arm again and spun her around to face him.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this earlier?” he asked. “Why keep it a secret until now?”
“Because I knew you wouldn’t take me seriously,” she said. “If I mentioned the baby to you earlier, you would have dismissed me the same way you dismissed her.”
He let go of her and stepped back, realization reaching his eyes. “The payment,” he said finally. “You went through all of this for her?”
She swiped at the tears that blurred her vision, knowing he deserved the whole truth. “Yes, and I know you’ll hate me, but I was the one who set up those photos in the first place,” she said. “I never wanted them to be leaked to the press, but Mark sold them out from under me.”
“What?” Hudson’s hands tightened to fists and he looked as if she’d just slapped him. “You set me up?”
“I should have told you the truth in the beginning,” she said. “But it’s too late now. It’s too late for us, Hudson. Just know that I never meant to hurt you. No one was ever supposed to see those photographs. All I wanted was to get your attention so that you’d hear me out and agree to talk to your brother. It was wrong, I know, and now Julia is paying for my sins.”
He started to reach for her, but then shook his head.
“I have to go,” she said.
As she turned to go, Hudson slammed his fist against the wall and muttered a curse.
“Annabelle, wait,” he said before she reached the door. He rushed to join her. “I’ll call my pilot. It will be impossible to get a flight out at this time of night on a regular airline. You can take the jet.”
She looked up and his eyes pierced through to her soul. The memory of all they’d shared came rushing back to her and it was all she could do to stay standing on her own two feet. But she did stand. Despite her broken heart.
“Thank you,” she said, and he stepped aside to let her pass.
“Thank you, too,” he said, surprising her.
“For what?” she asked, turning back to look at him one last time.
“For making it a hell of a lot easier to let you go.”
His words cut her to the core. Maybe it was easy for him to say goodbye, but for Annabelle, walking away from him that night was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life.
Chapter Twelve
The next morning, Hudson was exhausted as he walked into his brother’s office for their meeting with Mr. Takahashi. He’d managed to salvage the dinner last night by telling everyone that Annabelle had gone home with a terrible headache. He’d blamed it on jetlag, but the truth was eating him up inside.
Mr. Takahashi was scheduled to sign the papers just before noon, but Hudson didn’t feel like celebrating.
“Wow, you look rough this morning. What’s wrong, didn’t that fiancée of yours let you get any sleep?” Harlan laughed, but Hudson’s fiery stare made it clear that he wasn’t in the mood for jokes this morning.
“Let’s be serious this morning, guys,” Jack said. “It’s a very important day for our company.”
He fixed himself a steaming cup of coffee and sat down on a grey leather couch in the room. “Annabelle’s gone,” was the most he could bring himself to say in response.
“What? Back to Sea Island? Why?” Jack asked.
“No, back to Atlanta. Last night on the jet.”
“Ouch.” Harlan patted Hudson on the shoulder twice before standing and straightening some papers on his desk. “She didn’t even wait for the ink to dry. Don’t you know you aren’t supposed to transfer the money until after the deal is signed?”
“Cut it out,” Hudson said. “I mean it. Let’s just get this over with.”
Hudson did his best to listen as Jack went over the contract and the deal that was on the table. Without Annabelle, he had barely gotten a wink of sleep. This should be one of the happiest days of his life, but the truth was, he didn’t care about the acquisition half as much as he cared about the woman who had left him.
Last night, his worst fears had been confirmed. Annabelle had been lying to him the entire time, and he’d been foolish enough to fall for her. It took his heart years to recover after what happened with Haley all those years ago. This time, he thought he might never get over the pain of being betrayed.
When he’d gotten back to the suite the night before, he tried to convince himself he was better off without her, but he’d ached at the silence that permeated each room. All of her clothes were gone, but she’d left a package on the bed for him.
Those damned sketches kept him up all night. The drawings and plans she’d done for the old slave quarters back on Sea Island spoke to his heart. She’d given life to the vision he’d had for the area, and he could see her passion and personality in every page of her carefully constructed proposal.
If it weren’t for those sketches, he might have been able to convince himself that she never cared for him at all. When he looked over her drawings, though, something inside him knew that deep down, Annabelle’s feelings for him were real. She’d put so much love and detail into every stroke of her pencil.
All night, he’d wrestled with his own demons, trying to convince himself that Annabelle’s actions were no better than Haley’s, and he should write her off for good. But unlike Haley, Annabelle wasn’t interested in his money. All she wanted was to protect her cousin’s happiness.
What if he’d been wrong about Julia all along? The thought came to him in a rush. All this time, he’d never once considered the fact that Harlan was the one lying about his behavior.
“Hudson, are you even listening to me?” Jack stood in front of him with one hand on his hip, looking concerned.
“Wait,�
� he said. “Harlan, can I ask you something?”
“Of course. You know that you can ask me anything.”
“You have to promise me you’ll tell me the truth. No bullshit. No matter what. This is very important to me.”
"What’s this about, Hudson?” Jack asked, but Hudson ignore him, his eyes trained on Harlan’s face.
“Just promise me,” he said.
“Okay, sure.” Harlan looked worried, but he agreed.
“When you were in Georgia this past March visiting the family, did you ever slip up and go out to a bar? You know, pick up a woman and take her home?”
Harlan inhaled sharply and paced the room. When he stopped, he ran one hand through his thick brown hair. “We said we wouldn’t do anything that might jeopardize the deal, specifically, picking up women or being seen in public at bars or dance clubs.”
“Just answer the question, Harlan. Please.” Hudson searched his brother’s face and immediately saw the truth. The guilt in Harlan’s eyes said it all.
“Just once, I swear. I was bored and needed to get out of the house. I headed over to St. Simons Island, thinking that the bars would be empty in the off season,” he said. “I went out to get a drink. I didn’t have any intention of talking to women or anything, so I figured there was no harm in it.”
“But you did meet someone.”
“Yes,” Harlan admitted, and Hudson closed his eyes, unable to believe how wrong he’d been. “I met the most beautiful angel. She was irresistible. I couldn’t help myself, Hudson. I was drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Julia was her name. We got to talking and one thing led to another. It only happened once, and I have no idea how you knew, but I have to tell you. I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind.”
“What’s this all about?” Jack asked. “Mr. Takahashi and his attorneys will be here any minute.”
Hudson cursed and slammed his hand down on the table. He’d been such a fool. Annabelle lied to him about some things, but she’d been right about his behavior. He’d been so quick to judge Julia, believing that she was only trying to trap his brother into marriage so she could get to his money. Believing that she wanted to hurt Harlan the way Haley had hurt him all those years ago.
Hudson stood and clapped his brother Jack hard on the shoulder. “I have to go,” he said. He grabbed Harlan’s hand. “You’re coming with me. I’ll explain on the plane.”
“Wait.” He heard Jack’s voice calling after them, but he didn’t stop.
As the elevator doors began to close, Jack’s hand jammed between them, causing the doors to stop and reopen. “Where in the world do you think you’re going? We’re about to close one of the biggest deals in our company’s history.”
“I don’t have time to explain, but you need to trust me,” Hudson said. “Besides, I think you can handle this just fine on your own.”
“What am I supposed to tell Mr. Takahashi?”
“You’ll think of something,” Hudson said as the elevator doors closed.
Exhausted and scared, Annabelle jumped into a cab and asked the driver to take her to the hospital as fast as possible. The ride home to Georgia had been miserable, despite the comforts of the Montgomery family jet.
She had put the on-board phone to use and called Dr. Andrews every hour to check on Julia. So far, there had been little change in her condition, but the baby’s heartbeat was strong.
She also made a few calls to the police department, but found no leads there. They didn’t have any solid evidence against the intruder. She told them about Mark’s threats, but she doubted they would be able to prosecute him without more convincing proof. If they could even find him.
As soon as the cab pulled up to the hospital, Annabelle paid the fare and hurried inside, desperate to see Julia. The nurse on duty at the desk paged Dr. Andrews, then ushered Annabelle into the room. The sight of her cousin with an IV in her arm and machines hooked up to her body monitoring both her heartbeat and the baby’s made Annabelle’s heart break all over again.
She sat down next to her cousin and took Julia’s limp hand in hers, leaning down to kiss it over and over. “I’m sorry, Jules. It’s all my fault.”
Over the next several hours, Annabelle sat by Julia’s side. In the space of twenty-four hours, she had hurt the only two people in the world who mattered to her. Losing them both would tear her apart.
Quietly, she laid her head on Julia’s arm and closed her eyes. All she ever wanted was for Julia to get her chance at having a real family. When they both lost their parents in that car crash, a piece of their happiness had been lost forever.
Somehow, the two girls had both survived the pain of losing their parents, but Annabelle wasn’t sure she could survive losing Julia, too.
Julia was the strong one who struggled to take care of Annabelle, constantly making sacrifices so that Annabelle wouldn’t grow up alone and afraid. It wasn’t fair for her to have to raise a baby on her own now, too. If anyone deserved to be loved and to have a real family, it was Julia.
Sobs choked her as she suddenly understood her own selfishness.
It wasn’t Julia who wanted those things for herself. How many times did Julia tell her that she was okay raising the baby on her own?
Annabelle was the one who really wanted a family. Those dreams of raising a baby someday with a man who loved her were her dreams, not Julia’s.
And now, the only man she’d ever loved was lost to her forever. She couldn’t lose Julia too.
“Please wake up,” she whispered just before exhaustion took hold and finally pulled her into a deep sleep.
The following day, Hudson stood in a suite at the Ritz Carlton in Atlanta, glaring at the redheaded photographer who stood in front of him. The smug smile on the kid’s face as Hudson handed him the envelope made his blood simmer.
“Nice to see someone’s finally come to their senses,” Mark said, grasping the sealed envelope and tapping it against his palm. “It would be a shame to have to drag that poor girl’s name in the mud after all she’s been through. I heard she’s in the hospital.”
It was all he could do to keep from ringing Mark’s scrawny neck. “She’ll be fine,” he said. They both knew who put her there, but there was no way to prove that Mark was ever in that apartment as long as Julia was still unconscious.
“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Montgomery. See you around.”
Mark started toward the door, but Hudson was quick to grab him by the arm, squeezing tight as the kid tried to wriggle away. “You listen to me, Mark. I gave you that check because I don’t want to see Julia or Annabelle get hurt.”
He tightened his grip and relished the look of fear in Mark’s eyes.
“Don’t expect to ever see another cent of profit from my life, do you understand me? If you so much as look at Annabelle or Julia ever again, I will personally see to it that you live out the rest of your miserable life in agony.”
“Okay, fine,” Mark muttered, rubbing his arm where Hudson had held him.
As the kid walked away, Hudson smiled. Mark thought he had a check in his hand for twenty thousand dollars, free and clear. He was in for a huge surprise. The second he tried to cash that check, he would be arrested for extortion, blackmail, and breaking and entering. If anything happened to Julia, he’d be going down for much worse.
Hudson would make sure that Mark spent several years in prison for what he’d done to Annabelle and her cousin. He knew it wouldn’t make everything right, but he prayed he wasn’t too late to convince Annabelle how much he cared for her.
“Ms. Day.” The nurse gently shook Annabelle’s shoulder, and she snapped up as she remembered where she was.
“Is she awake?” She looked to Julia, but saw that her cousin’s condition had not changed. Two days of sitting by her side with no response.
“No, I’m sorry to wake you, but you have a visitor.”
Confused, she rubbed her eyes and yawned. “Who is it?”
�
�Mr. Hudson Montgomery is in the visitor’s lounge and he’s been asking for you. He’s been waiting for a few hours now. I hated to wake you up, but I need to check your cousin’s vital signs, so you’re going to have to leave the room for a few minutes. I thought now might be a good time for you to go talk to him. He looks worried out of his mind.”
Her stomach twisted. Hudson was here at the hospital? For a minute, Annabelle wondered if she was dreaming. How was that even possible? He wouldn’t have left Japan now, when the acquisition was so close to being finalized.
Annabelle stood and squeezed Julia’s hand before letting it go. “I’ll be right back, Jules. I love you so much.”
Without even bothering to check the mirror to see how she looked, she made her way out to the visitor’s lounge. Through the window, she saw him pacing the room as if it were his own cousin he was waiting to hear about. She braced herself before she entered the room, not daring to hope that he could still love her. That he ever loved her.
“Hudson?”
He turned to her, anguish written across his features. “Annabelle.”
“What are you doing here?” Her voice came out in a half-whisper.
“l had to see you.” He stepped closer and grasped her hands. “How’s Julia?”
Her heart pounded like a battle drum against her ribs. Despite the seed of hope taking root within her, she told herself he was only there out of concern for her cousin. There could never be anything more between them. “There’s been no change.”
A tense silence filled the room, strained by the unspoken words hanging between them.
Annabelle pulled her hands free and ran them through her knotted curls. “I don’t want to leave her alone for too long.”
“Wait.” The distress in his tone caused a tight lump to form in her throat.
“I talked to Harlan,” he said.
“About Julia?” She searched his eyes, not trusting the sudden hope that filled her heart.
Hold Me Closer (Sea Island Brides Book 1) Page 15