by K. M. Scott
I wasn’t in the mood for Daryl’s bullshit nonsense. It hadn’t taken long for Karl and his friends on the Board to move on my position in my absence. I was still technically the CEO, but not for long. Every day I was forced to stay away was more justification for them to officially remove me and then replace me, likely with Karl or one of his handpicked lackeys.
“Just get to why you’re here.”
“Why aren’t you staying at that five star hotel I read about on the plane? The Ambassador or something. I get why you aren’t staying at one of your hotels, but why continue living here in this house? I mean, you can still afford it, so why aren’t you living in style like usual?”
Looking around at the old building my mother had fallen in love with nearly twenty years ago, I said, “I like this place.” Turning my attention back to him, I continued, “Enough with your bitching. Why are you here?”
“Your lady isn’t holding up very well.”
Leaning forward, I studied his face for any sign of what was going on with Nina. “What’s wrong? Is Nina okay?”
“Physically, she’s fine. The boys tell me she visits museums a lot. Pretty high brow stuff as far as they’re concerned, but she’s getting out. I think this whole thing is starting to take its toll on her, though. I’m wondering if you should consider another way of keeping her safe.”
“I don’t see any other way, Daryl. As long as Karl thinks what I have is a danger to him, I can’t be around her. I don’t know what he’s concerned about. I’d be endangering her for nothing.”
“You haven’t figured out anything? It’s been four months, Tristan. I know you spent the first couple out of your mind in more ways than one, but you’ve got nothing?”
Shaking my head, I admitted the sad truth. “Nothing. I’ve been through those notes over and over, and even those pages that are about other investigations. I’ve got nothing.”
“Then maybe it’s time to admit what he’s afraid of isn’t in that notebook. I think you’re on the right track, though. Your assistant told me that your penthouse was ransacked twice in the past two months. Michelle said the police think it was an employee each time, but I don’t think we’re talking about some disgruntled maid or bellboy. Karl wants something he believes you have, so the penthouse would be a logical place to look for it, especially since he can’t get at your house.”
“West and Varo are still guarding Nina?”
“Of course. And the security system you installed is working fine. No one gets onto the property without them knowing.”
“He’s going to want to get into the house when he finally figures out that’s the only place he hasn’t been able to check.”
Daryl nodded. “Have any other homes I’m not aware of?”
Chuckling, I shook my head. “No. I only kept the penthouse when I took over as CEO. Well, that’s not entirely true. My father kept a place in LA, but I never go there. The house has been empty for years.”
“Hmmm. I’ll check into whether it’s been broken into lately. Any chance what he’s looking for is there?”
“I have no fucking idea what he’s looking for, Daryl. If I did…” I ended my thought because I honestly couldn’t say what I’d do if I had what Karl so desperately wanted. Maybe I wouldn’t give it to him. If it just had to do with the terrible things my father and Taylor did to the Cashens and Nina’s father, then he could have whatever it was. But was there something more my father had done that I didn’t know about?
“I have to ask the question, Tristan. How far are you planning to go with this? Karl’s a man who seems to have something important to hide. If we find out what it is, are you going to let it go or is this going to be some kind of crusade for you?”
Daryl’s question wasn’t an easy one. Karl had always been a dick to me since the day I took over Stone Worldwide, but I’d thought it was just the way he was. Now I had the sneaking suspicion it was something much more. Even worse, if he had his way, he’d have made sure Nina was dead by now. For that, I’d be willing to make it my personal crusade to make Karl’s life a living hell.
“It depends on what he’s trying to keep hidden. Karl’s happiness isn’t my concern. If he suffers, I won’t be unhappy about that.”
The conversation seemed to come to an abrupt halt with my thinly veiled threat, and we sat in silence as I fantasized about Karl Dreger suffering at my hands. My father’s closest friend, he’d been in my life from the day I was born. I’d seen him around the table on holidays, a younger, more handsome man then making my mother smile with his jokes and always eager to take my father away immediately after he’d finished eating for private meetings in his study. Taylor had begun joining them in his last year of college, but I’d never been invited into their inner sanctum on holidays or any other time.
I remembered the first time I stood in my office looking at the space where I was supposed to now lead an international business I’d never given a damn about. As I studied my father’s degree from Wharton School of Business and commendations from business associations worldwide that still hung on the walls, I felt small and inadequate. I’d never finished college, much less earned an M.B.A. like my father and Taylor.
I saw in Karl’s face all I lacked as he stood leaning against the doorframe watching me. The son who’d never amounted to anything. The one who’d never been a part of their meetings. I’d eventually shown him I was more than that, but from the first moment, he’d been an enemy I always knew I’d have to keep an eye on.
“Well, maybe it’s time for you to leave Shangri-la here and get back in the game,” Daryl said as he looked around at the mess of my home away from home. “We need to find what Karl wants before he does.”
“I’m not sure I want to join the world again.” I wasn’t. I wanted to be with Nina again more than anything else in the world, but the rest of it? I didn’t give a damn about that.
“Yeah, well I guess I can see how wallowing in your own self-pity is quite the life, but you don’t have the luxury of doing that. We need to get to the bottom of what Karl is looking for. The sooner we solve this, the sooner you and your lady are back together, and that means we need to get you back to the States.”
I knew he was right, but I’d let myself enjoy the life of nothingness I’d created for so long that I wasn’t sure I could do what I had to for Nina and me.
“And there’s something else. It’d probably be better for Nina if it seemed like you weren’t coming back for the time being. I’m thinking some kind of subterfuge would be best. You haven’t been gone long enough to be declared dead, but I think a good show of her moving on might throw Karl off the scent for at least a little while, which might give us enough time to find out what the hell is going on.”
“Declare me dead? What the fuck are you talking about, Daryl? I don’t want Nina to think I’m never coming back. This is only temporary.”
“Well, her looking like she’s moving on will only be temporary too. We’ll let the press see her with someone new and…”
Daryl stopped before he completed his thought and raised his hands to calm me as I leaned toward him, my face twisting as I thought about the words that would next come out of his mouth. The idea of someone new in Nina’s life made me want to kill someone with my bare hands. Even the mention of it was more than I could deal with.
“I know you might not want to think about it, but it would help if she seemed to be starting a new life. It could take the focus off her. I’m worried it’s only a matter of time before Karl turns his eye toward her. If she looks like she believes you’re not coming back, he might leave her alone.”
“You just said she wasn’t holding up well. Now you want her to act like she’s moving on?”
“Well, yeah. Just a few sightings of her with a new man would probably be enough.”
Jesus Christ. Every word out of Daryl’s mouth was like a punch to the heart. Even though I was more certain than I’d ever been in my life that I didn’t want to hear the answer
to my next question, I asked anyway. “Since you’ve obviously given this some thought, who’s she moving on with?”
He got a sheepish look on his face, telling me he had thought about this. Quietly, as if saying the man’s name in a normal voice might set me off, he said, “I think Varo could work.”
Varo. Six foot four inches of brick shithouse Varo. Nina’s bodyguard I hired and now lived just feet away from her while I remained here thousands of miles away Varo. If he had said West, I might have been able to handle it. At least I could believe Nina would never want him. But Varo wasn’t as easily dismissed.
“No.”
“Before you say no, hear me out. He’s there already, so it wouldn’t be much to just have him move into the house. Once or twice out for dinner for the press and I think that would do it.”
“No.”
Sitting back in his chair, he let out a frustrated sigh and made a clucking noise with his tongue. “You’re not thinking clearly, Tristan. How do you plan to keep her safe? We’ve been lucky so far, but it’s only a matter of time before Karl begins to focus on her. With Varo, we know we can trust him, he can keep her safe, and it could buy us some time to do our own research into what Karl wants.”
“She’ll never go for it,” I mumbled, trying to convince myself as much as convince Daryl.
“She’ll go for it if I tell her you need her to. Unless you have a better plan in mind, I say we do it.”
I sat there unable to think of anything to replace Daryl’s stupid idea. My brain was filled with the thought of Nina and Varo. Even their pretending to be a couple made my gut churn with jealousy.
“Only if we set some ground rules. He doesn’t touch her, he remains in the carriage house, and they only pose for the press twice. No more.”
Daryl shook his head. “That won’t work. He has to move into the house with her if the deception is to be believable. He can stay in another room, but he has to be in the house.”
I knew he was right. Karl would never believe Nina had moved on if her new supposed boyfriend still lived in the carriage house with West. Somehow the press would find out, and then the whole thing would be blown. It’s just the idea of Varo living in my house, taking my place, acting like the man in her life now nearly drove me out of my mind.
“Tristan, don’t you trust her? After all she’s done to show you she’s devoted to your life together, you can’t believe she’ll be loyal in this?”
My demons screamed “No!” inside me, threatening to take over my thoughts until I couldn’t think straight. I’d never been the master of my jealous nature, and having another man living in my house filling my shoes when I should be there next to Nina wasn’t something I was able to handle.
“It has nothing to do with that, Daryl. Can you imagine what it feels like to know that another man will be with the woman you love while you have to stay away from her side? As if it wasn’t bad enough I can’t go back to her, now I have to agree to being replaced?”
Standing, he looked down at me in sympathy and nodded. “I get it, but it’s only for show and not for long. We just have to move fast to find out what there is at the heart of Karl’s secrets so Nina’s pretend relationship may only have to be those two dinner dates.”
Relationship. Dates.
Fuck me.
“Fine. Tell her I think this is for the best,” I bit out.
“Good, but that’s probably not going to be enough. I think you’re going to have to tell her. Oh, and no matter what she does—no matter how many times she calls you or texts you—I need you to keep your distance. This only works if she believes in this. Any sense of how much you hate this and she won’t be able to do it.”
“Fine, but how am I going to tell her?”
Daryl pointed to the notebook on the table. “Write her something. I’ll take it to her.”
I found a sheet of paper in an old desk and quickly wrote her a note telling her to pretend to be in love with someone else, my heart feeling like it was being squeezed in a vice the entire time. My notes to Nina always had been to show her how much she meant to me, and each word I wrote added to my betrayal of something I’d only done out of love before. Handing it to him, I silently prayed to God she wouldn’t be able to do it. That we’d have to figure something else out that didn’t involve her pretending to be another man’s date, or worse, girlfriend. Something that didn’t involve the woman I loved acting like I was dead.
“I’ll be back. It’s time you got the hell out of this place. We’ve got work to do.” He headed toward the door as I began to spiral out of control and stopped as he opened it. “Hey, she wanted me to give you a message.”
“What?” I asked, my heart pounding against my ribs.
“She said she’ll be waiting. Don’t worry, Tristan. Your life is waiting for you when you get back.”
Daryl left me sitting alone with nothing but my demons to torment me. Each one in turn marched through my mind flying his fucked up flag and goading me to spin out of control until I was sure I couldn’t go through with Daryl’s plan. I couldn’t go on knowing that Nina was with another man, even if it was only for show.
By the time night came, I’d drank enough scotch to drown my misery, but still I wasn’t as numb as I needed to be to feel okay with what I had to make Nina do. I wanted to talk to her—I wanted to explain that this was the only way and I hated it more than I hated being away from her. It took everything in my power not to pick up my phone and call her just to hear her gentle voice tell me she missed me or even that she was furious with me for leaving. Anything would have been better than being alone.
I closed my eyes and thought back to the night I first met Nina. I’d barely recognize that man if I met him today. Surrounded by gorgeous, vapid women with little to offer other than their bodies, I’d walked into the Anderson Gallery oblivious to anything but my own desires, intent on finding Joseph Edwards’ daughter and assuaging my guilt for my father’s crimes. I’d scanned Nina’s picture once or twice before leaving the penthouse and believed I knew what kind of person she was.
Simple. Nice. Not my type.
Not that any of that mattered. I wasn’t looking for a girlfriend or fuckmate. I was looking to make myself feel better about being the son of the man who’d had her father killed. Maybe I could hand her some money or at least if I could somehow find a way to repay her for what she’d lost, I might have been able to sleep better at night.
The balls I had to think that my throwing money at her would ever be enough to make up for what she’d lost. Even now as I remembered the man I was then, I cringed at my fucking nerve.
“Tristan, what are we doing here? This gallery is filled with nobodies.”
I ignored Kamara’s comment along with her clinging hold on my bicep and scanned the room. A cluster of people stood oohing and ahhing over artwork that looked like shit, but what did I know? Art had never been my thing. I wasn’t there to admire indecipherable pictures anyway.
The girls all grabbed glasses of champagne as the waitress passed by, emptying her tray. Traveling with six women in tow was a hassle on the best of nights, but having to deal with them drunk would likely hamper my efforts to meet Nina Edwards. I shot them all a nasty warning glance and saw they got the message loud and clear. Their job was to stand beside me, behave themselves, and look good, not cause me some bullshit hassle because they couldn’t handle their alcohol.
They all chattered about whatever meant something to them as I continued to look for Nina. From behind a column on the far side of the room she peeked her head out as she straightened her waitress uniform. Long brown hair fell down over her shoulders, and she had a pretty look about her in person. I had to admit she looked even better up close than she had in her picture.
I had to play it cool, so I pretended to enjoy myself with the actresses, actually paying only the slightest bit of attention to them. Vanessa beamed up at me, happy to have her turn as the woman on my arm. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nina
standing with a tray in her hands, waiting to serve the semi-wealthy and society wannabes who were right at home at Sheila Anderson’s gallery. She took a step toward me and my entourage and stopped.
“Tristan, are you going to buy this picture?” Vanessa asked in her usual, cloying way. “I think it would look great hanging in one of your hotels.”
I wasn’t listening to her, though. I was too busy meeting Nina’s gaze. She held my stare and didn’t look away. She had a fearless vibe to her that impressed me. Standing there dressed like some cheap waitress, Nina looked too good for this place and her ridiculous costume. I wanted to know more about this person, but there was no way I could approach her with the gang surrounding me. I’d have to find another way.
There was a piece of art on the far wall, so I guided the actresses to that part of the room as Sheila Anderson busied herself with barking at Nina. After a few minutes of staring at another picture I didn’t give a damn about, I led the girls to the car and instructed Jensen to take me to mine at the hotel and drop the women off wherever they wanted to go. They’d done their job for the night, and I had no further use for them.
A half-hour later I was parked behind the Anderson Gallery unsure of what the hell I was doing there but sure I wanted to meet Nina in person and not only to make amends for what had happened to her father. I hadn’t planned on being interested in her. All I wanted to do was see if I could find a way to help her, but something in the way she held her head high as she did the dirty work dumped on her at the gallery impressed me.
I wanted to know more about this woman, and that was something pretty rare for me, so I stood there waiting in that alley next to the Dumpster hoping she’d be the person forced to take out the garbage and not one of the other two women serving drinks and cocktail wieners that night. When the door opened, I saw luck was on my side.
“Nice show, huh?” I asked, willing to lie if it got the ball rolling.
She spun around, obviously frightened, and I realized that a strange man standing in a dark alley waiting for a woman probably wasn’t the best move. I was no rapist, but it still didn’t look good. I remained cool, standing against the Jag with my arms folded, hoping to give off a non-attacking vibe. I didn’t need to begin whatever this was with her screaming for the cops.