by Mia Carson
“No,” she said quietly. “We had a good thing going, you and me. I enjoyed my time with you.”
Greyson shifted in his seat, not sure what to say.
“Listen, I’ll admit I can be rough around the edges and I’m jealous as hell of you and Belle, but… I’m not just doing this because you paid me, you know.”
“Then why do it at all?”
“Maybe, deep down, I wish I could have someone care for me as much as you care for Belle,” she said. “But don’t get any ideas, alright? I’m not going soft, but I was always a romantic at heart.”
Greyson rolled his eyes as he scratched his beard and stared out the window. “So I guess you’re not going to stop trying to get me back.”
“Hell no,” Aiden said with a laugh. “You were mine before you were hers. I just have to remind you of that.”
“And I thought I just witnessed a miracle.”
“Sorry, I don’t think that’s possible,” she said. “We have about two hours to go. What do you want to talk about?”
Greyson tapped his fingers on his knee and shrugged. “Anything besides my company.”
Aiden nodded and smirked but didn’t mention Greystone Games. “Do you think you’ll marry Belle?”
“What?” he asked roughly and cleared his throat. “I… uh, I don’t know. We’re still working things out. We’ve only been dating what—two months? I can’t propose to her out of nowhere.”
“But you’ve thought about it.”
That he couldn’t argue. When he’d been out buying her new wardrobe, he’d stopped by a jeweler, and before he realized what he was doing, he was inside, looking at rings. He’d only shopped once for a ring with his old girlfriend. Thankfully, he hadn’t bought one, nor had he proposed, but with Belle, it felt like the next logical step. They were already living together, and though he worried in the beginning that it wouldn’t last, he now knew how well they worked together, at the office and at home.
And in bed, he mused, remembering two nights before. Should I just ask her and get it over with?
“Did you already buy the ring?” Aiden asked, and Greyson didn’t answer right away, sinking lower in his seat. “Well, shit, maybe I am out of luck with you.”
“I didn’t say I did,” he grumbled.
“And you didn’t deny it,” she argued. “What are you waiting for?”
“I want to find her family first,” he admitted, thinking of the ring tucked away at his house. He worried Belle would find it if she snooped hard enough in his dresser, but the idea made him smile more than anything, imagining her expression when she realized what it was. The white gold band riddled with diamonds and sapphires light enough to match her eyes was breathtaking. Seeing that ring on her finger would make all their stubborn fighting worthwhile and give him hope that they did have a chance, as Sally told him repeatedly.
“And if we never find her family? You do know it’s a long-shot,” Aiden said gently.
“Eventually, I’ll ask her,” he said, “but I know she’s curious about her parents. She wants to know why they gave her up. If I can help her find the closure she needs, maybe we’ll find happiness that lasts.”
Aiden fell silent, and Greyson didn’t speak again. Life with Belle was all he wanted. His cares for his company slipped away as his idea of making her a joint CEO with him felt more possible with each passing minute. With both of them running the company, he’d be free to design and produce more games, and she would be able to run the place like the well-oiled machine it should be. And with her artistic talent, they could produce gaming atmospheres never experienced before. The new VR tech opened up so many avenues he wanted to explore, and finally, he had someone besides himself who was just as excited about it as he was.
Aiden finally exited the interstate, and the rest of the drive was two-lane blacktop roads heading out onto the peninsula of Wisconsin perched on Lake Michigan. It wasn’t warm enough yet for tourists, but there were still plenty of locals bustling along.
“Want to check into the inn first?” Aiden asked.
“No, I want to see if this lead pans out. If not, we’re moving on to our next stop. But we’re getting two rooms wherever we stay. I'm not spending another night with you trying to creep closer,” he muttered. He’d kicked Aiden out of his bed three times in the night. The woman was relentless.
“Fine, fine, we’re almost there,” she said and tapped the GPS. “Ten minutes.”
Greyson sat up, watching the cottage-style houses pass by before Aiden took a right turn and they pulled up outside a small, dark green house with a white fence. Wind chimes hung along the front porch ceiling, and a large oak stood tall in the front yard.
“Ready?” Aiden asked just as the front door swung open and a woman stepped out, watching them closely.
Her light blue eyes reminded Greyson of Belle and his heart leapt. “Yeah,” he said and climbed out, following Aiden’s lead.
“Can I help you folks?” the woman asked.
Greyson shivered at the sudden chill in the air and glanced up at the darkening sky with a frown. “Afternoon, ma’am,” he said and held out his hand when they reached the porch. “My name is Greyson Taylor, and this is Aiden Reynolds. I was hoping I could ask you a question?”
“Best be quick. We have a small storm coming,” she said with a smile. “Why don’t you come in out of the cold for a minute?”
He thanked her, and they followed her into the small home. The furniture and décor were simple, and Greyson could tell she didn’t have much, but she seemed happy.
“Ma’am—Mrs. Hall, is it?” Aiden asked once they were seated.
“Just Miss,” she said. “Never married.”
“We’re looking for a Linda Hall who had a daughter twenty-two years ago and gave her up for adoption,” Aiden announced without preamble, and Greyson glanced at her, surprised by the gentle tone. “Was that you, by any chance?”
The woman leaned back in her chair, tears shining her eyes. Greyson waited anxiously for her to say yes, and when she nodded, his hands shook. He'd found Belle’s mom. This was perfect. But then the woman reached over and picked up a picture frame off the nearby end table and ran her fingers over the glass.
“My poor, sweet girl. If I kept her, maybe she would still be alive,” Linda whispered.
Greyson’s hopes crashed. “She… she died?”
“My Isabel—though the family who adopted her called her Belle. They sent me pictures all the time,” she said and wiped away a tear. “There was an accident a few years ago, and she… uh, she was killed in a house fire.”
“We’re so sorry,” Aiden said and reached out a comforting hand for Linda’s.
“It’s alright. I’ve mostly moved on, but I can tell by that young man’s face I’m not the woman you are looking for.”
Greyson’s shoulders hunched as he nodded. “I’m afraid the woman we’re looking for had a daughter named Belle who is alive. I’m sorry for wasting your time,” he said, but she shook her head and rested her hand on his.
“Nonsense. I don’t get many visitors,” she told him and set the picture frame back on the table. “You love this woman? The one whose mom you’re trying to find?”
“Yeah, he does,” Aiden said.
Linda smiled even wider. “Why don’t you share your story, and I’ll share mine with you? Soup’s on, and I haven’t heard a good story in a long, long time.”
Linda wasn’t that old, but she moved like an old woman, groaning as she stood, with bags under her eyes and her skin sallow.
“Linda, are you sick?” he asked gently.
She paused and gripped the back of the easy chair hard. “Cancer. I've got six months at most.”
He glanced at Aiden and out the window. “Looks like snow,” he grumbled.
Aiden already had her cell out and showed him the airport page. “Flights are still leaving so it won’t be that bad for tomorrow. Why don’t we stay? It's better than eating out.”
H
e tried his cell, wanting to text Belle and let her know he’d be another two days at least, but there was no signal. “Damn, can I use your phone, Linda? Then we’d love to join you for dinner.”
Linda smiled warmly, and Greyson saw a bit of Sally in her eyes. Before his dad died, before he shut himself off from the world, Greyson had had a softer side, a side Belle was slowly bringing back out in him. The playboy was gone, and the man he was many years ago with big dreams, filled with excitement for life, was coming back. Even his arrogance was slowly fading—very slowly—but it was fading all the same.
Linda pointed to a corded phone hanging nearby as she and Aiden went down the short hall to the kitchen. It was strange, too, seeing a normal side of Aiden. In another time, they could’ve been friends, but that could never happen now.
He picked up the phone and dialed Belle’s cell, but it went straight to voicemail. Worried, he dialed the house, but after three tries and no answer, he finally just left a message. On the off-chance she was being an idiot and overworking herself, he called his desk phone at the office, too. By the fourth ring, he expected it to go to voicemail when someone fumbled for the receiver.
“Hello?” Tim muttered on the other line.
“I leave for a day, and you’ve already moved into my office,” he teased and glanced at his watch. “It’s nearly five there, what are you doing?”
“Working to fix a problem that nearly destroyed us.” He groaned. “Damn, out of coffee and your chair is ungodly uncomfortable, by the way. And where are you? The warehouse said that you weren’t there and that they had no idea you were even going to be there. What’s going on?”
“Linda wants to know what you’d like to drink,” Aiden called down to him.
“Linda? Who’s Linda?” Tim asked loudly. “Is that Aiden with you? Man, what are you doing?”
“It’s not what you think, so don’t even go there,” Greyson snapped and shot Aiden an annoyed look. “I’m doing something Belle would kill me for.”
“Yeah, cheating on her with your ex-booty-call constitutes as grounds for her to do that,” Tim snapped. “I can’t believe you, man. Here she is, busting her ass to save your company, and you’re hanging out with that slut!”
“Shut up for five seconds, alright? Aiden’s helping me track down Belle’s family.”
“What?” Tim asked, surprise in his voice.
Greyson sighed and leaned against the wall. “We’re in Wisconsin, thought we found Belle’s mom, but it was a dead-end. We’re headed to New Jersey in the morning to track down another lead. There are two more after that if it’s not the right family.”
“And you neglected to tell your girlfriend this because...?”
“I don’t want to get her hopes up if I fail,” he said quietly. “Listen, Tim, please keep the lie going for me until I get back. She says she doesn’t care about her parents, but she’s lying and I’m going to find them for her.”
“With Aiden,” Tim mumbled. “How many times has she grabbed your crotch?”
“Too many, and I don’t want to talk about it,” Greyson warned, gritting his teeth when Tim cackled on the other end of the line. “Swear it, man.”
“I won’t tell her. I’ll leave that to you.”
“Thank you,” Greyson said and puffed out his cheeks in relief. “Now, what is this about a problem? What did you break now?”
Tim briefly explained what happened but assured Greyson they had everything under control. Belle was working miracles again, and he wondered what made that woman doubt her ability to take on the world. She was fierce, filled with a fiery passion and a drive stronger than his. There were days he swore she had to be older than him instead of six years younger the way she handled stress.
“Just don’t let her overwork herself,” he told Tim sternly. “I don’t want to come home to find her dead from exhaustion.”
“I shall do my best, my liege,” Tim mocked. “I’ll let her know the warehouse needs you for another day or two, so don’t worry yourself over that.”
“I owe you,” Greyson said, and Tim agreed with a laugh before hanging up.
Aiden walked back down the hall and showed him their tickets had been switched for a different flight. “Something about a flight not making it in. We won’t be heading out as early as we planned tomorrow morning. It might put us behind a little, but we’ll still be able to leave.”
“Damn,” he said, rubbing his forehead and the pain spreading behind his eyes.
“It could be worse,” she said. “This is just stop one of four, and we’re only a few hours behind.”
“How could it be worse? I can’t keep lying. Eventually, she’ll find out,” he snapped.
Aiden paused and after a moment shrugged with a smirk, nudging him with her arm. “Only if there’s a reason for her to be jealous… which I guess there might be, soon enough.”
“What did you do?” he asked, worried as he watched the jealous glint flare up again in Aiden’s eyes.
“I didn’t do anything,” she insisted with an innocent smile. “Why would you ever think that?”
Greyson sat down at Linda’s kitchen table, and for the rest of the evening before they left to check into the inn for the night, he worried about Belle and what Aiden meant. She was up to something, and his fear mounted that this trip would cost him more than just money.
Chapter 5
Belle heard the dinging sound of an elevator and frowned, curling her arms back around her head to block out the noise. Dreaming, I must be dreaming. A voice called her name, and she scrunched even tighter to hide.
“Are you alive? If you’re dead, Greyson’s going to kill me,” Tim muttered. “Belle, wake up!”
She shot up, nearly head-butting him in the face, and looked around. “What? What time is it?” she snapped and rubbed at her eyes. When she saw sunlight pouring in the office windows, she shot up from her chair. “Shit! Oh no… no, this isn’t happening!”
“Slow down,” Tim said, but she scrambled past him and into Greyson’s office. She’d been using his computer—a hell of a lot better than hers—to finish her final project last night. “Belle, will you calm down and talk to me.”
She ignored him, trying to recall last night. She’d been working at the desk when the phone rang; she argued with marketing at their partner company for two hours, and then went back to work, right? But when she pulled up her e-mail and the blackboard for her class to submit her mid-term, the floor fell out from under her and she sank hard to the floor.
“Jesus,” Tim yelped and rushed to pull her back to her feet. “What’s going on? Belle, your eyes are glazing over. Look at me.”
“I missed the deadline,” she muttered in disbelief. “I missed it… I never sent it in.”
The past two days had exhausted her beyond all reason. Between doing Greyson’s job for him, saving his company from tanking, and doing her mid-term, she must’ve thought she sent it in but never did.
“Too late. It’s too damn late. I’m screwed. I’m going to fail a class.”
“What are you talking about?”
She let Tim pull her to her feet and get her into the office chair before she told him quietly she forgot to send in her mid-term last night. The assignment was closed now, and she was screwed.
“How much was it worth?” he asked.
“Half,” she choked out. “Half my grade. There’s no coming back from that. None.”
Tim cursed and ran a hand through his hair, but Belle knew there was nothing he could do. Nothing anyone could do. She’d helped save Greyson’s company when it nearly dove off a cliff while he was gone, and what did she have to show for it? A boyfriend who lied to her and a big, old, fat F glaring her in the face.
“Were you here all night?” Tim asked quietly. “I’m taking you home.”
“Greyson,” she muttered when he tugged her to her feet and walked her back to her desk. “Did he call you again?”
“Said they’re working out the kinks, he sho
uld be home sometime tomorrow,” he told her.
“I got it. I can drive myself,” she insisted, but his worried frown told her she must look worse than she felt. “Really, I’ll be alright. I'm not sure what I’m going to do about school, but I’ll figure it out. I always do.”
He walked her to the elevator without speaking, and the second the doors closed on his face, Belle sank to the floor, holding her face as she cried. Everything she’d worked for was gone in one night. One stupid mistake, and her college effort was worthless. She’d have to retake the class. It would put her behind, and paying again for the same class wasn’t something she looked forward to. All her income from this job had gone to pay off other debts. Why hadn’t she put more of it away, just in case? The doors opened to the parking garage, and she pushed to her feet, wiping the tears from her eyes quickly as anger replaced her anxiety.
Once in the Mustang, she called Carrie. “Hey, I’m picking you up. We need girl time.”
“You sound terrible. What happened?” her friend asked.
“I think I just screwed everything up. Greyson’s out of town. We’re going to have the place to ourselves, including his massive wine collection,” Belle said, her body warming as her anger grew with each breath she took. “It’s all his damn fault anyway.”
Carrie paused for a beat before she asked, “You sure you want to be drinking at his place?”
“Hell yes, I do. I’ll be there in twenty,” she said and hung up, revved the engine, and peeled out of the garage.
She had no idea how to fix her missed mid-term, and she couldn’t ask the professor to extend her deadline. If Greyson hadn’t run off to wherever he went, the warehouse or not… It was his fault. She stepped in to save his ass and where was he? Out gallivanting around in California, calling Tim with updates instead of her. She’d texted him all day yesterday, called him a few times too, but he never answered. The phone call he lied about reared its ugly head again, and she nibbled at her bottom lip. Was she that boring to him? Was he cheating on her right now?