The Perfect Ingredient (Dare Valley)

by Ava Miles

  Last time they’d run for their lives—or she had. Jane had come along for her own reasons.

  “Oh, Jane. Thanks for being the best friend…a girl could ever have.” Her throat constricted, making her words drop to a whisper.

  “You know it,” her friend said, her voice breaking too. “I love you, Liz. It’s going to be okay.”

  But was that really true?

  “I need to call Rhett. I can’t wait until he gets here.”

  “Good idea. Just remember. We have a lot more resources than we did when we were at Harvard, and a lot more people to root for us too.”

  But how did that help Terrance unless he revealed the real reason for the fight?

  “Thanks, Jane. I mean it.”

  “No need to say it. It’s what sisters do.”

  Once they signed off, she called Rhett.

  “Hey, sugar,” he said, his voice heavy with emotion. “How are you holding up?”

  “Rhett, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you. I…was afraid you’d tell Terrance and—”

  “Let’s leave that for another time. Jane told me why you did what you did. I don’t like it, but I love you. Now we just need to sort through this load of shit and help T. He’s gonna need it.”

  She grabbed a tissue and blew her nose. God, she was a mess. “I know he does. It’s bad, Rhett. He’s lost the TV show.”

  “I heard that,” he said with a sigh. “We’re just going to have to help him not lose anything else. I don’t know how much Abbie and I can do to help, but we’re coming to New York with Jane and Matt to be with you two. That’s what family does.”

  You two. Them. Together… She loved the sound of that, but she wasn’t sure Terrance wanted her anymore, not after the way his voice had sounded on the phone. Part of her couldn’t blame him. Tears plopped onto her leggings.

  “Thanks, Rhett. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Hang in there, sugar. We’ll find a way to make things right.”

  Unable to bear the silence when she hung up, she called Terrance again. When he didn’t pick up, she decided to leave a message.

  It’s me. I don’t know what to say except…I’m so sorry. I just…don’t know what to do. I’m worried about you. I know you’re mad at me and you have every right…but I love you. Please call me or text me and tell me you’re okay.

  As she ended the call, her mouth tasted bitter. Okay? What in the hell was okay in this kind of situation?

  The media continued to spin the story. When pictures of Terrance getting into a black sedan with dark-tinted windows were posted, she felt light headed. He hadn’t been charged…yet.

  Her phone lay in her lap. He didn’t call. He didn’t text.

  She felt like she was being buried alive in a coffin of her own making. The darkness pressed in on her as the hours passed, but she made no move to turn on the lights. She didn’t want to see any evidence of this place where they’d been so happy. She didn’t deserve it.

  When the front door clicked open hours later, she jumped up. The hallway light came on as Terrance appeared in the doorway, his face rigid, his eyes hard.

  He’d never looked at her with such anger, such vehemence.

  “Terrance, I’m so sorry,” she said, starting to walk toward him.

  “Don’t.” His voice was harsh, and he held up a hand. “I almost had one of my people come pack me a bag so I wouldn’t have to see you, but I’m not a coward.”

  Pack his bag? Oh, God, he was leaving.

  “Please—”

  “Enough, Elizabeth. You lied to me. After I told you how important honesty was to me. You let me walk into the office of the man who’d stalked you, and you said nothing to me. Nothing! You fucking talked to him behind my back. How could you make a deal with that man?”

  She clenched her hands, rocking in place. “He called when the story about Ryan broke on Twitter.” Even now she could hear Vince’s menacing voice in her ears, a sound from so many nightmares. “He recognized me. I never thought something like this could happen! That you could be in business with him. When he found out you didn’t know who he was, he said I’d better keep it that way.”

  Terrance stared at her with hard eyes, and she could see she wasn’t reaching him. She took another step toward him.

  “Don’t make me say it again.”

  “I was afraid he was going to hurt you.”

  He thumped his chest with his fist. “Hurt me? Are you fucking kidding me? I can take care of myself. I have since I was a kid. A guy like Harwick doesn’t scare me.”

  “Well, he should. Not only could he destroy your business deal, but he could hire guys to hurt you. I was protecting you!”

  He shook his head. “No, you were protecting yourself. If you’d believed in me, you would have trusted me to handle this.”

  This time, he strode across the room. She almost backed away from him and the anger pouring out of him.

  “You thought I’d beat the shit out of him if I knew, didn’t you?”

  Her bottom lip quivered.

  “Didn’t you?” he yelled.

  “Yes! I was afraid of what you might do. Of what he might do to you! And me!”

  He tore away from her.

  “What else was I supposed to think? You almost knocked Ryan out for hassling me. And you knocked the guy at The Peacock flat for calling me names and putting his hands on me.”

  His mouth twisted. “Right. And Vince did a hell of a lot more than both of those guys put together. All I could think of was what he’d done to you. Then he baited me about you. Called you names. How else was I supposed to handle that? It wasn’t my best moment, and God knows, I’ll have to apologize, but I don’t regret a thing. He deserves a hell of a lot more than what he got for what he did to you. I stopped myself from giving him the beating he deserved.”

  She extended her hands to touch him, her whole heart breaking. “Terrance, please.”

  “Don’t touch me, Elizabeth. Don’t ever touch me again.”

  His flat, unemotional tone had her hands fisting at her sides. “How many times will you make me say I’m sorry? I love you. Terrance, please don’t throw away what we have because of this.”

  His head shook slowly, oh so slowly, like he was seeing parts of her for the first time that he didn’t like. “What we had were some good times, a hell of a lot of intense shit I don’t ever want to go through again, and enough mistrust for a lifetime. We’re done.”

  “Don’t say that!”

  “Why not? It’s the truth,” he said and spun around, heading to his bedroom, the bedroom they’d shared. “You even talked to Mac about this, right? That’s why he changed his mind at the last minute about using my bank.”

  She followed him, her chest tight with tension. “I didn’t want Vince to have yet another thing to hold over you if he decided to hurt you because of me. And Mac didn’t deserve that.”

  “So you were protecting Mac too?” He flung a few pairs of shoes from the walk-in closet into a black duffel bag. “You went behind my back on business. My business. Did you tell Mac why?”

  He wanted to know if she trusted Mac more than she did him. “No! I didn’t even tell Rhett about this.”

  His laugh was bitter. “Were you afraid he might tell me, or that we’d both beat the shit out of Vince?”

  “Both!”

  “Well, at least you can be honest about that.”

  “Why won’t you understand?” she asked him. “Why can’t you forgive me? This wasn’t easy for me either. I didn’t see another way out.”

  “If you don’t understand,” he said, shoving clothes into the duffel bag, “then I can’t help you.”

  She followed him into his massive bathroom and watched him load up toiletries and his shaver. “What do you want me to do? I’ll do anything to make it up to you. Anything,” she said quietly.

  His bottle-green eyes met hers in the mirror, and for a minute, every muscle in his body seemed to tremble. A moment later he was in control a
gain.

  “Reporters are going to call you since they think you’re my girlfriend. Don’t say anything.”

  Her heart bled at that. “The calls and emails have already come pouring in. I haven’t answered any of them.”

  “My team and I are going to dig our way out of this. Mac’s going to support me, but I need to talk to him about that. It might be in his best interest to sever ties with me too. I won’t be the cause of any trouble to his business.”

  His martyrdom almost brought her to her knees. “But I’m the one who caused this. If—”

  “You didn’t cause anything. I hit the guy on a public street in downtown Manhattan. That’s on me. Now it’s time to pay the piper.”

  “But if I’d told you about him…”

  “I probably would have decked him anyway, Elizabeth.” He slung the duffel over his shoulder and walked over to her. “I had to admit that to myself when I was sitting in the back of a cop car—something I hadn’t done since I was fifteen.”

  She drank in his features. Curled her hands into fists so she wouldn’t touch him.

  “You were right to fear what I’d do to him,” Terrance told her in a low voice. “You just can’t take the street out of the rat.”

  Her heart broke. “Don’t say that.”

  He strode past her. “It’s the truth, and I always promised you the truth.”

  The arrow found its way into her gut. “What if I tell the media why you did it?” she asked. The very mention of it was enough to cause a sudden constriction in her throat.

  She’d thought it through over and over again since Vince’s call. The very idea scared the bejesus out of her. Talking about all of it again, bringing back the hurt and pain. No one had believed her before. Why would they this time? And Vince would come at her with everything he had.

  “What? You’re going to say Vincent Harwick of Harwick & Taylor stalked you when you were at Harvard? Elizabeth, no one believed you then, and according to what you told me, his lawyer painted you as a fortune hunter and a slut. All of that’s going to get dragged out, and nothing good will come of it. Throw in the Vixen pictures…and…well, you’re going to look like the slut they accused you of being.”

  Shame burned in her. He was only confirming her conclusions. Everything Vixen had been and done would be misrepresented. At least Liz Parenti had looked like a normal girl. Vixen was another matter all together.

  His hand lifted, almost as though he was going to touch her face, before falling to his side. He moved away from her, widening the gap between them. “I’m pretty sure Harwick senior and son will sue you for defamation or worse if you try.”

  Everything she loved would be tarnished if she tried to fight Vince again. Defeat knocked her down for the last time.

  “Elizabeth.”

  Terrance called her back from the darkness. She looked over at him. He held up a key and placed it on the side table.

  She knew what it went to. It was her key. The symbol of her trust in him. The invitation into her heart.

  The darkness enveloped her completely again.

  “You can leave my key when you leave the apartment. I’ll have the things you left at my place in Dare Valley sent to you when I get back. You can stay here as long as you need. Just know there are reporters crawling outside. My property manager told me that you already called him about the private entrance. Use it when you leave.”

  Unable to speak, she nodded.

  “Promise me you won’t say anything. I know guys like Vince. Don’t tangle with him again. You should head back to Dare Valley as soon as possible.”

  She had to swallow the lump in her throat. It was over. Everything between them was gone. He was speaking to her like someone checking off the boxes on a list.

  House key returned. Check.

  Proper breakup speech concluded. Check.

  Was he going to wish her well now too?

  “Terrance?”

  “Goodbye, Elizabeth.” His eyes scanned her once more. Then he turned around and walked out of the apartment.

  She wrapped her arms around herself and started to cry when the door shut. A horrible, messy, loud cry that came from her belly—because her heart was lying in pieces, and there was nothing she could do to put it back together.

  When someone knocked on the door a while later, she was still sitting in darkness. The effort it took to push off the floor and walk to the door exhausted her. When she opened it, her family stood waiting in the hall.

  Jane rushed forward and wrapped her arms around her. She pressed her face into her neck and held on. Then large arms wrapped around them both, and she knew it was Rhett.

  Taking deep breaths so she wouldn’t start bawling again, she absorbed their comfort and their strength. When she pressed back, she grabbed Jane’s hand.

  “I’m all packed and ready to go. I hope you made reservations somewhere.” Even now, she could smell Terrance’s cologne. If she didn’t get out of here, she’d go mad.

  “We’re at the Plaza,” Jane said. “Was Terrance—”

  “He was here,” she said flatly. “He left.”

  She couldn’t talk about it.

  Turning away, she headed back to the den and grabbed her luggage, but Matt took it from her and wheeled it past Rhett and Abbie, who were holding hands, frowns on their faces.

  “Just give me a moment.”

  Her family left her, and her eyes went to the key she’d taken off her keychain—the one to his house in Dare Valley. It lay on the same side table where he’d put hers.

  But she left her key there.

  She hoped Terrance understood her message.

  Chapter 39

  The bourbon in Terrance’s hand felt like it weighed as much as one of his five-gallon stock pots. His friend’s restaurant was as silent as a tomb. Without any distractions, all he could think about was Elizabeth.

  After meeting with his publicist and the rest of his team, he’d called his chef friend and asked if he could stay with him for a while. And go to his restaurant in the dead of night.

  Being in a restaurant had healed him before. He hoped to God it would again, especially now that he feared he might have lost his place in one for good.

  His phone rang, and he saw it was Mac. His boss.

  “Where are you?” Mac asked the minute he picked up.

  Terrance gave him directions, and when a discreet knock sounded on the front door of the Michelin-star restaurant, he pushed off the bar stool to open it.

  His friend looked about as exhausted as he was. “Bad day?” Terrance joked.

  “Not my best.” He closed the door and scanned the restaurant. “You’re alone?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “My friend understood why I wanted to come here. Mac, I need to apologize to you.”

  His boss waved his hand. “I know why you did it. Elizabeth told me today when I called her.”

  Terrance’s body felt like it had aged thirty years as he strode back to his bar stool to pick up his bourbon. He threw it back. “I couldn’t stop myself when he said those things about her.” Vile things. Things that still made him want to wrap his hands around Vince’s throat.

  “I’m not surprised. Peggy told me stalkers like to taunt. She said you should have kicked him in the nuts.”

  His laugh was hoarse. “I like your wife. Could have used her help with the cops today.”

  “Was it bad?”

  Other than being looked at like he was nothing again, just vermin on the street, it had been a walk in the park. “It got better when Harwick refused to charge me. He said it was a misunderstanding.” But he knew that wouldn’t be the end of it. Not with a monster like Harwick.

  This time Mac laughed, but there was an edge to it. “That’s rich. I’m sorry about the TV show, Terrance. But who knows? Given what you’ve said about the network guy, you might have dodged a bullet with that prick.”

  He poured Mac a drink. “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell myself.” Otherwise, he c
ouldn’t take it.

  In one day, he’d lost everything.

  Including the woman he loved—by her own actions.

  Now it was time to go a step further and do the right thing. “Mac, I think you need to find yourself another chef. I’m damaged goods right now, and I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt your business.”

  Mac threw back his bourbon. “I had a feeling you were going to say that. Now let me tell you what I think. Poker players are rough around the edges. They don’t call me The Maverick for nothing. We’ll handle it. I assume you and your publicist worked out a statement that has you humbly eating crow.”

  So much so that he feared he would choke on it. “Yeah. I say I’m sorry, that it was a serious business misunderstanding, and that I’m seeking the help I need.”

  “Then we’ll be fine. You can cook and keep a low profile. Not too many big-shot reporters are going to hole up in Dare Valley to keep tabs on you like they would here. This will blow over.”

  But he knew how to get lost here, and he couldn’t do that in Dare Valley. Not with Elizabeth around. “I can’t go back there, Mac. Not now.” He didn’t give a reason, but it was implied.

  His boss fished out his phone and texted something. “I thought you might say that. Think on it. If you can’t come back to Dare, you can head up the kitchen at another one of the hotels. I have four more to choose from until the Vegas one is finished.”

  For years, Terrance had felt like there was no one in his life he could count on. Slowly, as he’d turned himself around, that group had grown. And for that, even in the midst of this mess his life had become, he was grateful.

  “You’re a good friend.”

  “Shit. You might make me cry.”

  His laughter bubbled out roughly, and he thought about giving his boss a Ben Franklin as a joke to start his own Cuss Fund. But he couldn’t manage it. The Cuss Fund didn’t matter anymore. The show was over.

  “Are we having a moment?” he asked.

  “Probably. If not, we will when Rhett arrives.”

  His body tensed at that. Rhett was supposed to be with Elizabeth. “If you’re going to hang around, have another drink.”

  They sipped their bourbons in silence, Terrance growing edgier as he wondered if Rhett was going to tell him to forgive Elizabeth and take her back.