Richard’s face crumpled again and he began to sob and Lila let him cry himself out. ‘Rich,’ she said softly, ‘It’s okay. We both have our…mistakes.’ She felt strangely disloyal to Noah saying that. ‘Please, take a deep breath and tell me everything.’
So he did. To her great relief, it wasn’t Camilla he had strayed with this time, but his new assistant, Molly. The affair had only begun three months before Lila’s stabbing but she could tell that Molly had been more than a fling. She felt strangely relieved.
After he’d finished, they stared at each other. ‘I love you, you know?’ he said and she nodded.
‘I know. I love you too but Rich, we’re not in love anymore, are we?’
He shook his head sadly. ‘No, I don’t think we are. And I hate saying that. I thought we’d be together forever. I hope you find someone who truly deserves you, Lila, I do. And please, whatever happens to me, to us, please don’t abandon my family. They love you as one of their own.’
It was Lila’s turn to cry now, tears dripping down her cheeks. ‘I would never do that, I love them too.’
He put his hand against the glass again. ‘Lila…will you come visit me again?’
‘Of course. Every day. Every day, Rich, as long as you’re in here.’
She was still thinking about him on the ride home. As the town car sped through the city, she felt a peace settle inside her. Her cell phone rang. Charlie.
‘Hey little one, how did it go?’
Lila sighed. ‘Good. Really good. Charlie, I need your help…we have to start trying to free Rich – ‘
‘Are you serious?’
Lila pulled the phone away from her ear for a moment. When she spoke again, her voice was strained with anger. ‘Charlie, enough. I know Richard didn’t try and kill me. I know it.’
‘Because of your years of detective training? Or a hunch?’
‘You weren’t in that dressing room, Charlie, you didn’t have a knife stuck repeatedly in your belly, and you didn’t hear him, feel him, and smell him. Don’t you think I would have recognized my own fucking fiancé?’ She was mad now, mad at Charlie for his antagonism, his negativity.
There was a silence on the other end of the phone then… ‘You’re right. I’m sorry, boo. I’m just frustrated that we haven’t found whoever did it. I’m scared I’ll lose you…but, forgive me, the guy cheated on you if nothing else.’
Lila sighed. ‘That’s not anything you have to worry about now. We agreed to break our engagement. But that will not stop me from fighting for his freedom.’
Another silence then a soft laugh. ‘Sweetheart…I hope that guy knows what he's lost. I’ll come by after work and we’ll talk.’
‘I’d like that.’
When she got home, she showered and then got into bed for a nap. The day had exhausted her; her body ached, her mind fatigued and sad. Her head pounded and she felt nauseous.
She awoke to the sound of someone pounding on the door. She staggered out of bed in her shorts and t-shirt to see her security guard coming in the door.
‘I’m sorry to disturb you, Miss Tierney, but there’s a police officer here to see you, says it’s urgent.’
Lila sighed. ‘It’s just Charlie, let him in.’
Charlie was grim-faced when he came in but Lila rolled her eyes at him. ‘What’s with the drama? I was sleeping.’
‘Lila…’
Something in his tone made her stop. ‘What is it, Boo?’
‘Lila…sweetheart, I have something to tell you and it’s not going to be easy.’ Charlie took her hands, his expression grim but his eyes were sad. He led her to the couch and made her sit down.
Lila looked at him, ice flowing through her veins. ‘What?’
Charlie cleared his throat and when he spoke his voice was soft. ‘Lila, there was an incident at the prison. In the exercise yard. Some guys were whaling on a new guy and Richard tried to stop it. Lila, he got stabbed, in the back. They called the emergency services straight away and he was rushed here, to the emergency room a little over an hour ago.’
Lila was shaking her head from side-to-side. She wanted to scream, wanted to hit Charlie for what he was about to tell her. ‘No…no…’
‘Darling…he died forty minutes ago.’
She stared at him in horror. No…no, this isn’t happening…
Richard was dead.
Lean Into Me Part Two
Upper East Side, Manhattan
There was a quiet sadness in the apartment as Lila dressed for the funeral. She still couldn’t believe it; Richard was dead. Her love for so long, the man she thought she would spend the rest of her life with until that terrible day all those months ago. The day she was brutally stabbed and left for dead. Somehow, even though she had loved Richard, she knew that day marked the end of one life and the beginning of another.
She looked around the apartment. It rang with loneliness. This was never my home, she thought now. I may have spent every night here, with Rich, but it was never really my home. It was too opulent for her simple tastes, too designed, too neat. She preferred her space to be cluttered and cozy.
She had already told Delphine, Richard’s mother, that she wanted to move, that being in the penthouse apartment was too painful. Delphine had understood. ‘You can go anywhere you want now,’ she had told Lila, ‘everything Richard had is now yours, with our blessing.’
God. Lila Tierney, the girl from the children’s home, the girl who from sixteen to eighteen had lived in an old car, was a millionaire. She would give every penny away to have Richard back in their lives, even though before he’d died, they’d agreed to break up. She still wanted her friend, for herself, for his family.
‘I miss you, Boo,’ she said aloud to the empty apartment. A knock on the door made her start, chuckle softly to herself. If this was a movie, she thought as she went to get the door, then Richard would be standing on the other side, a big grin on his face.
Instead, her oldest, most trusted friend, Charlie, half-smiled at her. ‘Hey, you. Ready?’
She tried to smile back but just nodded. ‘Ready.’
He offered her his arm as they walked to the elevator, his big warm hand covering hers. It wasn’t until they were settled in the town car, that it hit Lila. Richard’s funeral. Richard was gone. That funny, erudite, adventurous live-wire of a man was dead. How could that be? Her breath hitched and caught in her chest and she felt her composure slip.
Charlie took one look at her and wrapped his arms around her and let her sob out her heartbreak.
Westchester
Harrison ‘Harry’ Carnegie felt utterly out of place in the home he had grown up in. Having lived in Australia for the last fifteen years, he’d forgotten how organized and structured Westchester gatherings could be. More than that, he hated to see his parents, his sister Cora, so utterly devastated.
Delphine had introduced him to Lila at dinner last night and he’d chatted to the petite brunette, seeing exactly what his brother had in her. What she’d been through this last year…poor girl. And the devastation on the faces of his family was echoed in her lovely, heartbroken eyes. He’d liked her very much.
Now though, circulating through the gathered mourners, Harry felt discombobulated, as if the person they were burying hadn’t been his own brother. He and Richard had been close growing up but as their lives moved in different directions, the inevitable distance grew.
And he just couldn’t get his head around the fact that not only was Rich murdered, but was in prison at the time. In prison! Harry shook his head – what the hell had happened to his family? His sister Cora was a wreck and, according to his mother, only thirty days sober. He looked across at her now, fragile and sparrow-like in her black dress, and his heart pounded with sadness.
‘Hey kiddo,’ he said moving to her side and wrapping a big arm around her. ‘This is a shitstorm, isn’t it?’
Cora smiled up at him through bloodshot eyes. ‘This last year, really, Harry.’
&n
bsp; ‘Sorry I wasn’t around for it, punkin.’
She wrapped her tiny arms around his waist. ‘Don’t apologize. I’m glad you were spared at least some of it.’ She sighed. ‘Lila looks so sick, don’t you think?’
Harry glanced over at his brother’s ex-fiancée. ‘I don’t know her well enough to say but yeah, she looks tired. I don’t know who half these people are, Cora. Richard’s friends? And who’s that dude over there that looks like he might go postal at any minute?’
Cora chuckled. ‘That’s Charlie; he always looks like that but he’s a big softy, really. To me, at least, he’s been very kind.’
‘Little crush, sis?’
Cora giggled through her blushes. ‘Noooo….He’s Lila’s oldest friend, and a cop.’ She broke off suddenly. ‘His partner, Riley, is lovely too.’
‘He’s gay?’
Cora laughed. ‘No, his police partner, idiot. Hey, come meet some people.’
Harry balked and made an excuse – he really didn’t want to meet ‘people’. Cora, shaking her head, stuck her tongue out at him and smiled.
‘Hermit.’
‘Twig.’
‘Old man.’
‘Wise-ass.’
Harry smiled after his sister….oh lord, talking of sisters; Judith was bearing down on him. Out of all the Carnegie children, Harry was the only one she liked – adored, actually. The feeling was definitely not mutual.
Not even pretending to be subtle about it, Harry made his escape to the bar his parents had set up in the reception room.
‘Dewer’s on the rocks, please.’
The barman nodded and went to get his drink. Harry leaned against the bar and rubbed his eyes. God, let this be over soon, please…
‘I heard an accent,’ said a voice….an Australian voice. ‘Might you be the sibling who escaped all this grandeur to go to the greatest country on Earth?’
Harry grinned and looked up to see a stunningly pretty blonde girl grinning at him. ‘I might be. Well spotted.’
She laughed. ‘Wasn’t hard. I have Oz-dar.’
‘The hell is Oz-dar.’
‘Like gay-dar, except I can spot an Aussie accent a mile away – even an ex-pat who’s caught the lingo. Where did you end up?’
‘Melbourne.’
She clinked her drinks glass against his. ‘Born and bred.’
Harry smiled. God, she was gorgeous, blonde hair pulled back in a low pony tail, blue eyes sparkling with humor, pink, rosebud lips parted in a wide smile. He stuck out his hand. ‘Harry Carnegie.’
‘Tinsley Chang.’
Harry raised his eyebrows. ‘Chang?’
She grinned, obviously expecting the question. ‘My stepdad is Chinese. And lot nicer than my real dad was so when my mum remarried, I took his name.’
‘That’s cool. I know the weight of having a ‘name’.’ He motioned around the place, then added hurriedly, ‘Not that I don’t love my family, because I do.’ Sadness enveloped him and Tinsley stepped toward him, placing her hand on his arm.
‘I’m sorry, Harry, about Richard, about all this. I got to know him quite well over the last few years; Lila and I used to work at the same bar and Charlie and I used to double-date with them.’
A spike of disappointment went through him. ‘Oh, so you and the bulldog?’
She laughed. ‘Not anymore, no, but thankfully, we’ve stayed friends.’
Harry nodded, his mind racing. She was utterly beguiling but a complication he really didn’t need at the moment. Unless he was desperately needed, he wanted to get back to Australia and his life there. His shipping business was huge now, built from a small export and import company he’d started with some capital from his father and it had made him a billionaire in less than two years. He knew his father, to whom he was closest, was proud of him but within himself, there was a building dissatisfaction with his life. He wanted to create something, something tangible, with his own hands. He wanted to build boats, beautiful bespoke, hand-crafted sailboats for passionate sailors like himself. He just didn’t know how his family would react if the CEO of the world’s most successful shipping company was to give it all up to apprentice as a shipwright.
So…Tinsley Chang, no matter how enchanting, was a no-go. Really. Seriously. You can’t go there, man. And guess what, you definitely can’t ask a woman out at your brother’s funeral, dumbass…
He sighed. ‘Look, I have to get going but it was great to meet you.’
Tinsley nodded, not showing any disappointment or insult. ‘You too, Harry. Hey, if you get the chance before you go back to Melbs, drop by the bar and I’ll buy you a farewell drink.’ She handed him a business card, and smiling, he took it.
‘I will, thanks.’
Tinsley disappeared back into the gathering and he watched her go, feeling regretful and yet suddenly more optimistic. This trip home could be different than he’d planned. It could be the moment he finally broke free from his family’s expectations, and told them what he really wanted for his life.
New York City
A week after the funeral, and Lila was just about finished packing up the apartment. The Carnegie’s had insisted that she do whatever she wanted with the place; it was hers. So she decided to sell, find a small place in the city, put the money in a bond somewhere to gather interest. Not that she ever had to worry about money again, of course; Richard had left her his fortune, his properties, his cars, his personal effects. Only his trust fund and his seat on the board of Carnegie’s industries went back to his family, the trust fund split between Cora and Harry.
Lila had begged Delphine to come and choose anything of Rich’s that she wanted before Lila put it all in storage. ‘There’s no way I’m more entitled to anything than you,’ she told her and Delphine reluctantly acquiesced.
Now the place rang with emptiness, with sadness, with the hole Richard had left. God, they had been so in love in the beginning, so sure that they belonged together. A part of Lila wished they hadn’t decided to end things that last time, that Richard had died with the certainty he was loved by her. Which he was, of course; they did love each other – but it hadn’t been enough.
And then there was Noah…
Lila sat down on the floor amidst the boxes, her entire body aching. She had pushed herself too far; it was still only a few months since her stabbing. Although she had made a remarkably quick recovery (thanks, in part, to Noah), tonight, her body was hurting – a lot. She lay down on the floor, staring up at the ceiling. She had rented a one-bedroom apartment in the village, and tomorrow she would make the final move and start over.
Except…she didn’t want to be here, in New York, anymore. She wanted mountains, and orca, and the Space Needle. She wanted to go home and start her life over there…
And then there was Noah…
‘You, again,’ she whispered and closed her eyes, recalling his tall, broad frame, those sea-green eyes that twinkled with mischief. She remembered the feel of his skin on hers. At first, only in a professional capacity. The first time they’d met, he’d examined her, fingertips light on her spine, then pressing down, doing a routine exam of her abdomen, her injuries. The look in his eyes when he’d seen the extent of the stab wounds – not pity – not anger, compassion, empathy.
Only now could Lila admit that she’d been hooked from that first day. As they’d progressed through her rehabilitation, she got more and more excited when she knew she was going to see him.
When he started to visit with her after hours, she knew she wasn’t the only one feeling it. They would sit and talk about their lives, about everything. She knew he was thirty-nine, from money (he’d rolled his eyes when he’d told her that) and that he loved what he did. They would laugh and joke about the same things, and every night his chair would get closer to her bed.
That last day, she had woken up, knowing that she would see him, professionally, for the last time and Lila knew, with every fiber of her being, that she would have to do…something. She hadn’t counted o
n the passionate love-making on the floor of the rehab room; his gentle but firm touch, the way he caressed her body, the way he looked at her. She could recall every second that his huge, diamond-hard cock thrust into her, that she’d never wanted it to end, coming over and over. His kiss, his mouth on hers.god…
Lila rolled onto her side and moaned softly. Noah…Seattle…so much temptation. Stop it. Get up, go grab some food, and get some sleep. ‘Okay,’ she said out loud and rolled up, scrambling to her feet.
A searing, tearing pain ripped through her belly then and she gasped, doubling over. Overwhelming nausea and then she was running, just making it to the bathroom in time before she threw up. She vomited until her stomach was empty, and then sat down on the edge of the tub to recover, breathing deeply, trying to quell the nausea. Jesus…she had pushed it too far.
She swiveled around and ran the hot water. A soak would be perfect, then maybe she’d order some Chinese food and…uh-oh…big mistake. She bent over the toilet and dry-heaved for a few painful moments. As the bathtub filled, she brushed her teeth, gagging gently, trying to breathe through her nose. Soon, she was sinking gratefully into the tub, letting the warm water sooth her tired body and she felt herself begin to drift. She reached out to grab a bath towel, rolling it up and resting her head against it. So tired, so warm…
She awoke with a start. The water was freezing cold but it wasn’t that which woke her. It was the fact that she felt something, even maybe heard something.
Someone was in the apartment with her.
Big mistake, my darling, sending the security team home for the night. I heard you telling them, in that sweet but firm voice of yours, that you didn’t need their protection anymore.
But you were wrong.
That glorious body of yours stretched out in the bathtub, your golden skin, your dark hair piled on top of your head, those dark circles under your eyes. The way those thick, black eyelashes rest on your cheek. Your breasts…I want to reach out and touch them but no…I hold back. I watch the soft rise and fall of your belly as you breathe; admire the scars my knife left on you that day. I imagine going back to your kitchen, finding a knife and returning to plunge it again into your center, watch the shock on your face as you bleed out into the tub. Letting them find you dead and gone.
His Sweet Torment: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance Page 86