by Sierra Rose
His fingers tightened around the glass as he offered me a sad smile. “Now they are. You have no idea how much shit they went through to get there.” His face twisted with the painful memories. “Abby ran off to South America, and Nick almost died.” He bowed his head suddenly, spilling his dark hair into his eyes. “That was all because they had to please the damn board, trying to keep a legacy alive.”
“Yeah, but you know what?” I asked, raising my voice with sudden determination. “Abby said it was all worth it. When we were camping, she said everything was worth it in the end,” I said with a smile. At the time when she told me, I didn’t really understand the significance of the words, but now they did, because we were staring at the same problems, poised on the edge of that same fateful cliff.
James lifted his eyes and stared into mine for what felt like an eternity. When another wave of sadness crashed over him, he picked up the scotch and slid his hand away from mine. “I don’t know if it was.”
And that’s the ballgame.
I bowed my head and leaned back in my chair, feeling like I’d been stabbed right through the chest. A dreadful shiver swept over my skin as the world around me blurred with tears, but I was determined not to let them fall. I refused to guilt him over his decision, and I couldn’t possibly resent him for taking steps toward a successful, lucrative future. I knew he loved and admired his father, and I couldn’t fault him for choosing Ben Cross or his hard-earned company over me.
“I understand,” I said quietly as I pushed to my feet. “Cross Enterprises is your father’s legacy, James. No one can put a price on something like that.” A pair of tears slipped out in spite of my best efforts, and I turned my face quickly to the wall. I already missed him, already wondered what might have been. “I’ll just go away quietly, maybe transfer to another branch or—”
A sudden kiss silenced me, followed immediately by another.
My eyes fluttered open in a daze, and I looked up to see that magical twinkle in James’s. “What are you...” I started in confusion, staring into his eyes. “Why would you—”
“Because I could never choose the damn company over you, you daft yank!” He pushed my hair away from my face and offered a tender smile. “And to think, David claimed I am the one who’s going mad! Are you insane? Of course I choose you, Della! I always will.”
My mouth fell open in pure, unadulterated shock, a rather poor response to such a beautiful proclamation, but it was the best I could do. I saw my fingers tightly clasp the front of his shirt, and I felt a tiny surge of hope sweep through me. “But I... You really don’t have to choose anything,” I insisted earnestly, all the while refusing to let go of him, even for an instant. “James, you don’t have to choose—”
“Actually, I do.” He hesitated for just a moment before he looked at me with a sudden flash of clarity in his eyes. “I love you,” he said simply.
A radiant smile flashed across his face as he said those three precious words, but it dimmed slightly at the thought of their consequence. When his eyes flicked again to the window, I realized he wasn’t blankly staring at all; he was considering Cross Enterprises, weighing his options, making a decision as he stared in the direction of my competition. For a split second, a look of bittersweet nostalgia washed across his face, and just like that, it was decided.
“I love you, Della, so, yes, I do need to choose...and I already have.”
And just like that, I won the heart of a billionaire.
“Now whatever happened to a wish that was promised to me?” he purred in my ear with that sexy tone of his.
“I’m not a genie. But your wish is my command.”
Chapter 13
“ARABELLA PENELOPE HUNTER!” Abby’s voice rang out angrily through the kitchen the next morning as a peanut butter-covered blur raced past her. “You will wash your hands at once, or you’ll wish you had!”
“I got it.” James scooped her up as she streaked past and carried the sticky child dutifully over to the sink. “Come, Hells Bells. We must get you cleaned up.”
“Thanks,” Abby said, then stared at him for a second longer before turning conspiratorially to me as the two of us cleared the breakfast dishes away. “I don’t get it. He just decided to choose you over the company? Really?”
I glanced at James as he cheerfully water-boarded his little captive, and then I looked at Abby again. “Yeah, that’s about it. He said he saw what it did to you and Nick when company pressures were put on your relationship. He doesn’t want to do that to me, to us.”
Her face tightened empathetically as she placed a hand over her heart. “While that’s incredibly sweet, it shouldn’t be some kind of all-or-nothing ultimatum. If Nick had any interest whatsoever in taking over his father’s company, I’m sure the two of us could make it work.”
“I tried to tell him that, that he really doesn’t have to choose, but he just won’t listen.”
“Well...” She trailed off hopelessly, watching the two children in her life play by the sink. “Does he have to make that decision right now? Can’t he wait a little while before endorsing Robert? Sleep on it a few days?”
I bowed my head and sighed. “He wouldn’t listen to that either. In fact, he’s already scheduled a press conference for this morning. He says he just wants to put the whole thing behind him and get on with our life together, whatever that means.”
“That’s fucking ridiculous,” she countered, shaking her head in frustration. “Cross Enterprises is his family legacy, Ben’s life work! He can’t just put it behind...” She stopped when he moved within earshot. “Oh, hey, James!” She changed her tone immediately and cleared her face with a bright smile. “Thanks for handling Ari, although it’s your furniture you spared, not mine.”
He laughed lightly and leaned down to give me a kiss on the cheek. For all intents and purposes, he looked like a man just set free, not one who was on the verge of giving up everything that was dear to him and his recently departed father.
A whiff of that delicious honey scent washed over me, and I grabbed his collar to pull him back for another lip-lock. “Abby and I were just talking about you.”
“You were now?”
“Of course. For the life of us, we can’t figure out why you want to throw your life away and heap mountains of misplaced guilt on me. Would you mind explaining that?”
Abby blanched, then turned back to the dishes. “Della was saying, uh... Well, I said... I need to go make more coffee,” she said, then vanished into the kitchen without another word, taking her daughter with her and leaving the two of us to fight it out as we pleased.
“Darling,” James said, looking down with a sweet smile, cupping his hands over my shoulders, “we talked about this.”
I pulled deliberately away. “No, we didn’t talk about anything, James!” I said, not appreciating his patronizing tone one bit. “You made the unilateral decision to call a press conference and hand your father’s beloved company to your evil twin. I disagree with that decision, but that doesn’t seem to matter.”
“You know it’s not that simple. I need to—”
“Hey, traitor.” Nick said as he breezed into the kitchen and clapped James on the back with a great deal of extra force, nearly spilling his mug of coffee. “How’s the unemployed life? Have you had to resort to panhandling yet?”
I fought back a grimace as James turned to him in surprise. Of all the people to condemn him for turning his back on the family company, Nick was the last who should have thrown stones, and we all knew it.
“I don’t know,” James replied sharply, hurtling a packet of cream at him. “Maybe you can show me how it’s done, what with your lifetime of experience doing nothing but shit.”
Nick didn’t even flinch. He simply dropped some cream into his coffee, packet and all, followed by far too many sugar cubes.
“Come now, Nick,” James pressed, with a coaxing smile. “Not even a sympathy laugh? I was sure you, of all people, would be happy about th
is.”
“Happy?” Nick raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You’re walking away from something you deeply care about, something you have a talent for. You have a chance to make that company great again, to clean up the disaster your monster of a brother has made of it.” His handsome face hardened with sincerity as the two of them locked eyes. “You’re my best friend, James. Why in the world would you giving up make me happy?”
For the first time that morning, James seemed to falter. A tiny shadow flickered across his face, and while he cleared it quickly away, his façade didn’t fool anyone. “Now things can go back to the way they were before.” He shrugged with what looked like a supreme amount of effort, trying to find his way back to that casual smile. “Only now, I’ll have someone as well. As you know, I truly love her. Not sure how it happened, but it did. And I know that probably shocks the hell out of you. And I can’t imagine not having her in my life. Now, we must plan our adventures for four, instead of you and Abby having to haul around a third wheel.”
“You don’t have to sacrifice your career for love, James. You’re a lucky bastard who can have both, and you’re an idiot if you can’t see that.” Nick set his over-sweetened coffee down and stared entreatingly at his friend. “There’s no law that says you have to choose.”
“Isn’t there?” James’s eyes darted over to me before he turned them back on his best friend. “Imagine if you and Abby had to go even another month tied to the wellbeing of your dad’s company. I’ve never seen the two of you as unhappy as you were then. It almost tore you apart, and—”
“My dad’s company, James,” Nick insisted. “It was his, because that old asshole is so pickled with hate that he’ll never die off. This is not the same at all. You won’t be under anyone’s thumb. The company will be all yours—”
“As well as all the obligations that go along with it,” James interrupted, finally raising his voice. “Of course I’ll be under someone’s thumb, a whole board of directors’ thumbs, as well as the thumbs of countless employees, not to mention our constituents and investors and—”
“Is that what this is really about?” Nick countered fiercely, stepping forward till they were face to face. “Are you telling me you’re afraid of the responsibility?”
“I’m not afraid of anything!” James argued. “I’m just trying to protect what I have!”
An arm linked through mine as Abby came to stand beside me, and together, we watched the men shouting. It was frightening seeing two such powerful people square off, and it charged the air with an intensity I hadn’t felt since James confronted his brother the last time. It was as if we were witnessing a real, live clash of the titans, and it was easy to forget that even the foul, angry curse words they screamed at one another were spoken with the best of intentions. Every time they shouted, they did so out of love.
“No one is trying to take anything from you!” Nick yelled. “For fuck’s sake, James, if you were actually required to make a choice, I’d applaud you for choosing Della. Don’t you realize that I know what a huge step that is for you? It makes me proud as hell, you idiot!”
“Then how about a little damn support?!” James demanded, his eyes flashing angrily in the sun. “I shouldn’t have to tell you take my side, Nick. You’re supposed to just...automatically stand up for me.”
“Your side? There are no sides, you dumbass,” Nick said with a growl. “Until you get that through your thick British head...” He trailed off suddenly and stared over James’s shoulder. “Er, uh...your lovely head.”
The two stopped shouting at the same and turned around with matching smiles to greet the little girl who wandered into the room. She took one look at their friendly posture, one leaning casually against the other, then tilted her head to the side. “Daddy, why were you and Uncle James shouting at each other?” she asked with a curious frown.
Their posture dropped simultaneously, and Nick withdrew his arm. He cast James a sideways glare, but he was quick to regain his faux smile as he knelt down in front of his princess. “I’m sorry I was shouting, darling. It’s just... Well, your Uncle James is about to make a very stupid mistake, one he can never take back, and that makes me a little angry.”
Her eyes grew cartoonishly wide as they fixed on James. “Did you tell him not to?”
Nick glanced over his shoulder with a look that could have melted the world’s largest glacier. “I’m trying.”
She flew forward instantly and wrapped her tiny arms around James’s legs with heartbreaking concern. “Don’t do it, Uncle James. No remorse, no regrets!”
Remorse and regrets?
Abby looked at her husband. “Did you teach her that?” she asked, crossing her arms at him.
Nick shook his head and looked at her with wide-eyed innocence. “I wouldn’t dare! It must have been Max. He’s always reading those stupid self-help books.”
Arabella glanced over her shoulder and frowned. “Don’t fib, Daddy. You said that is the basic rule of —”
“Silence, child!”
James knelt down and took her tiny hands. “Sweetie,” he said with a gentle smile, “I’m not making a mistake. I’m trying not to make one, so I can be with your Auntie Della.”
“Then why does Daddy think you are?”
James flashed her a sad smile. “Because your father is a deeply disturbed man. He didn’t grow up the same way as the rest of us. He was actually discovered hanging upside down from a tree. Didn’t I ever tell you that?”
Arabella snorted in laughter as James leaned forward to give her a tight hug.
“Now, you’ve got to get going, or else you and Max will miss your flight home.”
“But I don’t want to go,” she whined, turning to her parents. “I wanna stay and see Uncle James’s press conference.”
I tossed my hair back and smiled innocently. “Trust me, honey, no one wants to see that,” I said.
“Your grandma is looking forward to seeing you, dear,” Abby said and kissed her on the forehead as she handed the little girl’s fancy, overstuffed bag to Max. “You’ll have a lot of fun there, as you always do.”
Arabella’s face fell as she looked longingly at the London skyline. “Her house smells like soup...and old socks.”
The adults in the room turned their laughter quickly into coughs as Nick scooped her up and handed her off to his trusted bodyguard. “That’s only because she’s the world’s best cook and loves to do laundry. You’ll love it. It will only be a few days, and then you can come back and play with your Uncle James.”
Her face perked up at the prospect, and she looked at him slyly out of the corner of her eye. “Will you have time for me then, Uncle James? And I don’t mean just time to wash off the peanut butter.”
A strange look flickered across James’s face before he smiled again. “I’ll always have all the time in the world for you, love, as well as a seat beside me at the table. Remember, you’re my favorite.”
There was a flurry of hugs and goodbyes before Max and Arabella headed into the elevator. They were followed soon by Ferdie, who muttered something about stocking up on groceries, though I suspected he had more on his mind, that he couldn’t stand to see James throw away his birthright.
Just a minute or two later, just the four of us were left, along with a fight that wasn’t going anywhere.
The second the door closed, Nick stepped forward again, but James lifted a preemptive hand to stop him. “Enough, all right? We’ve talked this to death. It’s done. My decision is made, and that’s final.”
I expected Nick to rant and rave, expected him to pull out some brilliant piece of logic I’d not yet thought of myself, expected him to generally just bully James into making the right decision. However, Nick did none of those things; instead, he merely offered his friend one last appraising glance and asked, “You’re absolutely sure there’s nothing I can say to change your mind?”
James’s face softened slightly at his friend’s change of tone, and he even wen
t so far as to offer him a faint smile. “I’m sorry, but no. I promise this is for the best,” he added quickly, trying to convince everyone else as much as he was trying to convince himself. “You’ll see.”
Nick stared at him for a second more before nodding curtly and walking away. “In that case, Abby and I need to pack,” he threw over his shoulder.
With that, the two vanished, leaving James and me frozen in surprise. We looked at one another quickly, shared a shrug, and rushed after them, then skidded to a stop on the checkered tile, right on their heels.
“You’re leaving, just like that?” James asked in disbelief. “You’re actually going to go?”
There was no response as they continued up the stairs.
James stared incredulously after them and was just about to go up himself when the elevator door suddenly whooshed open. At that point, he changed direction midstep, cursing under his breath, “Damn Max. What bad timing to forget the tickets.”
Of course it wasn’t Max who stepped into the parlor, not by a long shot, and by the look on James’s face, he was just as surprised and confused as I was.
“Max, why must you...” he started, then stopped as his mind caught up with what his eyes saw. “Wait. Gr-Granny?” he stuttered.
The ancient woman marched furiously toward us, storming into the penthouse as if she not only owned it but the rest of the city as well. Her eyes flashed blue fire as she whipped a cane out of thin air and smashed it down with chilling finality upon the checkered floor. “James Lysander Cross,” she said, “you, young man, have got some serious explaining to do!”
Chapter 14
“YOU’RE GOING TO THE island.”
James took a step back as the shock faded slowly from his face, only to be replaced by a dark sort of understanding. That seemed to increase tenfold as his eyes jumped back up the stairs. “Nick,” he muttered.
Granny hobbled forward, waving her cane like a spear. “Now, before you get any fancy ideas, like parachuting off the balcony, you should know that I’ve got the place surrounded.”