His face hardened. “Your sister doesn’t know a damned thing about me.”
“Oh, yes, she does. She told me you were going to hurt me, and she was right.”
He reached for her again. “Raina—”
“Don’t touch me!” she shouted, jerking out of his grasp and stalking across the room, needing to put as much distance as possible between them. She was shaking so badly she thought she’d go into convulsions at any moment. The pain of his betrayal was staggering.
Warrick said evenly, “I can understand why you’re so upset—”
Raina whirled on him. “You don’t understand anything. If you did you wouldn’t have done this to me. My God, Warrick, do you have any idea what it’s been like for me to love a man who I know will never love me in return? That’s right,” she jeered at his stunned look. “I love you. God help me, I’ve loved you since I was ten years old!”
Warrick shook his head slowly. “I didn’t know.”
She barked a mirthless laugh. “Of course you didn’t. You hardly knew I existed, let alone that I was carrying a pathetic torch for you.”
“Raina—”
“It happened the very first time I met you, the day Yolanda invited me over for a sleepover. You and your friends were going out, but when you saw a little boy across the street sitting alone on his porch, you told your friends to wait in the car, then you walked over to the boy’s house and sat next to him. Yolanda told me that his mother had recently died, so he’d been sent to live with his grandmother. I stood at the window watching as you talked to him, tied his shoes for him. Teased him until he started giggling.” Raina shook her head, awash in bittersweet memories. “From that moment on you could do no wrong in my eyes. Everything you did made me love you more. Twenty years, Warrick. I’ve loved you for twenty years. Do you have any idea what that’s been like?”
Warrick closed his eyes as if he were in agony. “Raina—”
“Do you know what hurt me the most during the trial? It wasn’t the fact that everyone was calling me a liar and a traitor for testifying against Yolanda. It was the fact that you thought I was a liar and a traitor. It never once occurred to you that I was telling the truth.”
“Who was I supposed to believe?” Warrick shouted. “Yolanda’s my sister!”
“And she had everything to gain by lying about what happened that night. I had no reason to lie. If she’d really been at that party with me, I would have said so in court. My God, Warrick, do you really think I wanted to see my best friend go to prison?”
He clenched his jaw, his eyes flashing in warning. “Let’s not rehash the past—”
“But the past has everything to do with why we’re standing here today. You wanted revenge!”
“I don’t! I did at first, but not anymore.”
“What happened?” Raina sneered. “You grow a conscience?”
“Damn it, Raina. I fell in love with you!”
“Liar!” Raina roared, enraged by his cruel audacity. “You don’t know the first thing about love. You use and discard women like trash, reducing them to hysterical parasites who make spectacles of themselves in public. You wouldn’t know what love is if it walked up to you and bit you on the ass!”
“And I suppose Bradford does,” Warrick challenged.
“I can guarantee he knows a helluva lot more about love than you do.”
His lips twisted mockingly. “Then why isn’t he the one who’s been warming your bed every night for the past week?”
Raina recoiled as if he’d slapped her. “Damn you! Why couldn’t you leave my spa alone? Haven’t you taken enough from me? What more do you want? You have everything! Money, power, fame. The world at your feet, eating out of the palm of your hand. Everything!”
“And none of that means a damned thing if I can’t have you!” Warrick exploded.
Raina raked him with a contemptuous look. “You can have my property, Warrick Mayne, but you will never have me. I’d rather die than spend the rest of my life with someone like you.”
Something like grief crossed his face before his expression hardened. “In that case,” he said coldly, “have a nice life.”
“I will if you stay the hell out of it!”
He scowled, then strode to the door and held it open for her.
Not sparing him another glance, Raina stormed out of the office. The door slammed behind her with shattering finality, officially putting an end to all her hopes and dreams.
As soon as Raina left, Warrick stalked across the room and snatched the newspaper off his desk. When he’d finished reading Deniece’s article, he let out an enraged bellow that brought his secretary running, her eyes wide with panic.
“Is everything all—”
“No,” Warrick snapped, marching across the room with a lethal expression that made her shrink against the door as he passed her.
“Where are you going, Mr. Mayne?”
“To handle some unfinished business. If I’m not back in an hour, call my damned lawyer.”
“Your lawyer?” Mabel asked worriedly. “Why would you need your lawyer?”
“To bail me out of jail,” Warrick snarled.
An hour later, he emerged from the downtown building that housed the offices of the Houston Ledger.
When he’d arrived, Deniece had taken one look at his face and begun stammering unintelligibly. As if fearing for her life, she’d run to her boss’s office, which was where Warrick had been heading next.
In no uncertain terms, he’d informed Deniece and her managing editor that he would sue them and the newspaper if they didn’t immediately retract the libelous article about Raina. But he hadn’t stopped there. He’d promised them that if they ever printed another word about him or Raina, he would use his connections to launch an advertising boycott against the Ledger that would effectively put the newspaper out of business.
By the time he was through with them, the spineless managing editor had demanded Deniece’s resignation. Warrick was too furious to feel an ounce of sympathy for Deniece, especially when she’d spitefully admitted to him that she’d written the article to get back at him for choosing Raina over her.
As Warrick left the building and climbed into his car, he didn’t know what infuriated him more: the fact that Deniece had been camped outside Raina’s spa on Sunday night so she could spy on them, or the fact that he’d underestimated just how malicious she could be.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, he thought humorlessly.
Which only made him think about Raina.
He couldn’t believe she’d accused him of conspiring with Deniece. How could she claim to love him when she thought he was capable of such underhanded cruelty?
Almost at once, guilt nagged at Warrick’s conscience. Could he really blame Raina for the way she’d reacted? Considering that he and his family had ruthlessly disowned her years ago, she had no reason to give Warrick the benefit of the doubt concerning the newspaper article. From the very beginning he’d made it clear to her that he would do everything in his power to wrest her property from her.
But that was before you fell in love with her.
Warrick frowned, staring bleakly out the car window at the downtown skyline. It made him think about the snow globe Raina had given him. She’d loved him so much that she’d remembered his kindness to a neighbor’s grandson, had remembered the words to a speech he’d given eighteen years ago. That kind of love was a rare, precious gift.
And he’d trampled all over it.
Warrick swore under his breath.
In spite of everything that had happened between them, in spite of the fact that he’d spent the past twelve years blaming Raina for his sister’s imprisonment, he’d done the unthinkable and fallen in love with her. She was the first and only woman he’d ever considered marrying. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.
But he’d ruined any chance of that happening.
And some way, somehow, he’d have to learn to live without
what could have been.
Chapter 18
Over the next four months, Raina learned the meaning of going through the motions. She ate, slept, and breathed like someone operating on autopilot. She even went through the motions of dissolving her business as if it were something she did every day, though, admittedly, she’d hired an attorney to handle the transaction so she wouldn’t have to deal with Warrick. She was so emotionally dead inside that she hardly blinked whenever she heard his name on the news, which was often. She hadn’t reacted even when she’d heard that he’d been romantically linked to yet another actress. She was completely numb.
Her family and friends were worried sick about her. Her parents and sister took turns making unannounced visits to her loft. To her credit, Reese had never said, “I told you so,” though she certainly could have. She even went out of her way not to discuss her burgeoning romance with Dr. Carracci, not wanting to rub Raina’s face in her happiness.
Raina had called things off with Bradford. She knew it was unfair to lead him on when she was in love with another man.
Trey and Tina, who now worked at different spas, also kept a regular vigil on Raina. They came bearing food, books, movie rentals—all the things she used to enjoy.
She now worked as an advertising consultant, although she didn’t need the money. She could easily retire and live off the generous sum Warrick had paid for her property. But she didn’t want his money, so while it sat untouched in the bank, she was putting her education and skills to good use—and keeping herself busy in the process.
One morning in early October, Raina was working on an ad campaign for a new client when her doorbell rang. When she answered the door, she was stunned to find Yolanda Mayne standing there.
Raina was so shocked to see her that for several moments she didn’t speak, just stared at her old friend while painful memories rushed to the surface of her mind.
Because Yolanda had been blessed with her mother’s youthful genes, her looks hadn’t deteriorated during her twelve-year incarceration. But the brown eyes that stared back at Raina were unmistakably older, wiser. Filled with a humility that had never been there before.
“Hello, Raina,” Yolanda said quietly. “Mind if I come in?”
Raina hesitated, then wordlessly stepped aside to let her enter.
“Nice place,” Yolanda murmured, glancing appreciatively around the comfortably furnished loft. “You always did have—”
“What are you doing here, Yolanda?” Raina interrupted. She was in no mood for exchanging pleasantries, especially not with this woman.
“I came to talk to you about my brother.” Yolanda hesitated. “Can we sit down?”
“I don’t think—”
“It’s really important, Raina. Please?”
That, too, was new. In the eight years they’d been friends, Raina could count on one hand the number of times Yolanda had said please.
They sat in the living room and stared at each other for a long moment, two strangers who’d once been as inseparable as sisters.
Yolanda smiled softly. “He said you were beautiful. He was right.”
“Who said that?”
“Warrick. When he came to see me a few months ago.”
Raina said nothing, though inwardly she was surprised that Warrick had discussed her with his sister.
Yolanda shook her head slowly. “You and Warrick…I never would have guessed it.”
“There is no me and Warrick.”
“That’s not what I’ve heard. Everyone in the family has been talking about how heartbroken Warrick is over you, how he hasn’t been himself in months. And I’ve seen it with my own two eyes. My family threw a big homecoming celebration for me last week, and even though I know Warrick was as ecstatic about my release as everyone else, he seemed subdued, like his mind was a million miles away. He’s definitely not himself. Even his father’s worried about him, and Uncle Randall never worries about anything.”
“I don’t know what to tell you—”
“My brother loves you, Raina. And I know the only reason the two of you aren’t together is me.”
Raina said nothing.
“You know, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect upon the past,” Yolanda said somberly, “and of all the regrets I have, my biggest regret is what I put you through, Raina. You don’t know how many times I’ve thought about that night and wished I could undo the terrible decision I made to get into that car with Tate. But I also wish, more than anything, that I hadn’t asked you to lie for me. I put you in an impossible position, and for that I’m truly sorry. I don’t expect you to ever forgive me, but I at least wanted you to know how I felt.”
Raina stared at her hands in her lap, torn between conflicting emotions. Anger, vindication, sorrow, gratitude, regret.
“I plan to gather my family together this weekend and tell them the truth about what happened that night,” Yolanda said. “It won’t be easy, but it’s something I should have done a long time ago. I let you take the fall for me, Raina, and that wasn’t fair to you or my family. They’re going to feel horrible for the way they’ve treated you all these years. Don’t be surprised if your phone starts ringing off the hook.”
“I don’t want their apologies,” Raina said coldly.
“That’s understandable.” Yolanda hesitated. “I’ve made so many mistakes, hurt so many people. But you and Warrick were two of the most important people in my life, and you both deserve to be happy.”
“Yolanda—”
“I brought something I think you should read.” Yolanda pulled an envelope out of her leather purse and passed it to Raina.
“What is it?” Raina asked warily.
“A letter. From Warrick.” She paused. “He sent it to me on July sixth.”
The day before Deniece’s article was published.
Raina unfolded the letter and saw Warrick’s bold, distinctive handwriting. Her hands trembled as she began reading:
Baby girl,
I know we’re going to see you later this week, but since we won’t be alone, I wanted to share some things with you that have been on my heart, things I’ve never told you before.
When Ma first called and told me you had been arrested, I was devastated. As I flew home from Philly, all I could think about was the night my father pulled me over for speeding and found drugs in the car. As you remember, he looked the other way and let me go home that night—after he kicked my ass, of course. It was the first and only time in his career that he’d broken the rules, and he made damned sure I realized how lucky I was that another cop hadn’t pulled me over.
When I heard that you’d been arrested, it felt like bad karma. Since I’d escaped from my brush with the law, you had to make atonement. I know it may sound crazy, but I felt guilty, like I was responsible for what had happened to you. I’ve never judged you, baby girl. Were it not for my father, my life could have turned out so differently. It could be me serving time instead of you. I hope you know that my love for you will never change, no matter what may have happened that night twelve years ago.
Which brings me to the last—but definitely not least—matter I wanted to share with you. It’s about Raina. I’m in love with her. I know this may be hard for you to hear, but it’s the truth. I’m crazy about her. I think she’s amazing. I’m even thinking about asking her to marry me. You’re the only one in the family that I’ve told, because I thought you deserved to hear it from me first. You may feel that I’m betraying you, but believe me when I tell you that I never meant to hurt you any more than I meant to fall in love with Raina. I want to be with her, and I hope you and the rest of the family will support my decision and welcome Raina back into the fold. But if you can’t do that…Well, that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. See you soon.
Love always,
Warrick
Raina would have read the letter again, but she couldn’t focus through the tears blurring her vision and spilling from her eyes. As she clutched the letter
against her aching heart, Yolanda rose from her chair and sat beside her on the sofa. When Raina looked at her and saw tears shimmering in Yolanda’s eyes, something melted inside her. The two women hugged each other and wept uncontrollably.
When the emotional storm finally subsided, they drew apart and smiled tremulously at each other. And in that moment Raina realized that although they could never erase the painful past and reclaim their old friendship, they could forge a new one.
One day at a time, Warrick had told Raina.
Warrick!
Yolanda laughed as Raina suddenly leaped from the sofa and began rushing around in search of her car keys.
“He’s not here,” Yolanda told her. “He went back to New Jersey after the party last week.”
“In that case,” Raina said determinedly, “I need to buy a plane ticket!”
Chapter 19
Raina was waiting for Warrick in the study when he returned home that evening.
Cyrus Gibbons and Evamay Watts had been so pleased to see her that they’d happily agreed to create a ruse to lure Warrick into his study as soon as he came home from work.
Raina was seated at his desk with her back facing the door so he wouldn’t see her right away. But she had a clear view of his reflection in the window as he strode into the room, briefcase in hand, scowling as he impatiently jerked his tie loose. Her heart lurched at the sight of him.
“I’ve had a long day,” Warrick said to his butler and housekeeper, a note of exasperation in his voice. “What did you want to discuss with me that was so urgent?”
On cue, Raina swiveled around in the chair and drawled, “Actually, Mr. Mayne, I’m the one with an urgent matter to discuss with you.”
Warrick’s eyes widened.
“Raina?” he whispered, staring at her as if he were hallucinating. “What are you doing here?”
“You have something of mine,” Raina said, looking at the snow globe on his shelf, secretly relieved that he hadn’t gotten rid of it in the aftermath of their argument.
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