Forever (Time for Love Book 1)

by Charles, Miranda P.

  "Good book?" Phillip asked.

  "Yes."

  "What's it about?"

  "Um, just a love story."

  Phillip smirked. "I would have loved to see the cover on that. That's the problem with ebook devices. You can't spy on what people are reading anymore."

  She gave him a small smile and continued reading. It was a bit rude, yes, but she really couldn't stand the man.

  "Where's Zach?"

  "Working," she answered.

  "So you're Zach's current flame," Phillip said as he made himself comfortable in his seat. "I must say I'm very surprised."

  Again, Rebecca chose to stay silent. She couldn't care less why Phillip was surprised that Zach was with her.

  "Well, Zach always did have a weak spot for pretty girls," Phillip continued. "And when he has his fill, he moves on to the next one."

  Rebecca glared at Phillip. Not only was the man creepy, but he was the epitome of insensitivity.

  "Don't worry," Phillip said, ignoring her reaction. "He does treat his discards well—buys them expensive gifts or takes them on a nice holiday before he lets them go. Pretty much like what he's doing to Vicky with this trip."

  Rebecca couldn't help her surprised look. How did Phillip know about Zach and Vicky?

  Phillip looked at her, a snide smile appearing on his lips. "I can only guess you must be very, very good in bed, Rebecca. Even though Zach loves his women, I've always known him to be careful in his selections. He let himself slip with you."

  "What do you mean?" she asked in a low voice, anger rising.

  "You see, Rebecca, I know about you and the man who gave you your apartment. I saw the two of you in our basement garage. You hugged him tightly before he got in his Mercedes, and I heard you call out to him. Do you know what I heard? You said, 'I love you. Thanks again for my apartment.'

  Rebecca's jaw dropped to the ground at what Phillip was insinuating.

  "And do you know what I did after that? I followed your boyfriend. I found out where he lived. Then I went to a coffee shop opposite his apartment building while I contemplated my next move. And do you know what totally surprised me?"

  Rebecca could only stare at Phillip. She was in too much shock to correct his misconceptions then and there. And somewhere within her was this perverse need to hear him say all the untruths he believed about her.

  "To my great disbelief—I even sputtered coffee all over my shirt—I saw your boyfriend walk out of his apartment building with another woman," Phillip said melodramatically. "He had his arm around her and was kissing her on the street. I thought then he was two-timing you, and I did feel sorry for you at the time. Lucky for me, they came into the same coffee shop I was in and sat on the table next to mine. That was when I noticed their wedding rings. Poor you, I thought.

  "But it wasn't long until I found out the complete truth. At one point, your boyfriend's wife went to the bathroom. While she was gone, your boyfriend called someone. I don't know whom he talked to, but do you know what I heard, Rebecca?"

  Rebecca found herself shaking her head, curious as to what was going to come out of Phillip's mouth next. If she weren't so shocked, she would have laughed at the ridiculousness of it all.

  "Your boyfriend said that you've found out about his secret, that you were mad at first that he'd lied to you, but that you got over it pretty quickly because you loved your new apartment," Phillip said rather smugly.

  "I couldn't believe it at first," the annoying man carried on. "But it was pretty clear to me that you've agreed to be a married man's mistress because he gave you very expensive gifts."

  "What?!"

  "No point denying it, Rebecca. Many women do what you do. I've even bedded some of them. What I'm surprised about is that Zach still took you even after knowing all that."

  "When did you tell Zach this?" she asked indignantly.

  "Oh, about the time it happened. When was that—five, six months ago? All the brothers know. I showed them photos I took of you and your boyfriend in the basement garage, and of the guy and his wife kissing on the street. I even managed to record your boyfriend's telephone conversation on my phone. The brothers heard that, too. And you know what? I have a feeling they've resumed investigating you, because Jeff called me about it a couple of days ago."

  "They had me investigated?" she asked in horror. "And they're doing it again?"

  "Of course! What else would you expect a Carmichael to do when dealing with someone like you? When I realised you were living in my apartment building, it raised alarm bells in my head since Magda seemed to have grown attached to you, so I brought the issue to the brothers. They agreed to an investigation, which I did myself. That's why I'd followed your married boyfriend."

  "What did they say when you told them your story?" she asked, anger keeping her tears at bay.

  "They were shocked, of course. They thought you were this nice, caring nurse. But since there was no indication that you were scamming Magda, they'd dropped it after I gave my report that the apartment was from your married boyfriend, not from the Carmichael coffers."

  "Zach believed that too?"

  "Yes. That's why I'm so surprised he's sleeping with you now. All I can think of is because he was ready to ditch Vicky and needed a replacement to warm his bed. Since you're around and only too willing..."

  Rebecca was gulping deep breaths, her mind having difficulty grasping everything Phillip had just said. Zach had thought she became a married man's mistress? For money? He believed that of her? And he was getting someone to investigate her again? For what? Because they were back together?

  Sarah's confession that she'd told people how Trey had gifted her apartment to her came to mind. It was after that that Zach had wanted to reconcile...

  "There's a reason why I'm telling you all this, Rebecca," Phillip said, making her draw her attention back to him.

  He cleared his throat before continuing. "Zach will eventually replace you with someone else. That's a given. As for me, I've been looking for a long time for a wife. I can promise you that I'd shower you with gifts too if you married me. With your reputation, it would be hard to find someone who'd be serious about you. All you'd get are men wanting to cheat on their partners with you, or wanting a short fling, like Zach. But with me, you can have the security of being someone's wife. I may not be as rich as Zach or your married boyfriend, but I'll still be able to afford to give you a great lifestyle."

  Rebecca jumped up from her seat and looked at Phillip in stunned disbelief. When she found her voice again, it was cold with white-hot anger. "You're an asshole, Phillip. And you can tell Zach he's as much of an asshole as you are for believing everything you've said."

  With that she turned on her heels and ran back to her room.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  *I can't see you tonight.*

  Zach frowned at Rebecca's text. Was she not well? He excused himself from the dining table where he and his brothers were doing a debrief about the projects they'd left to their capable managers and assistants.

  "Zach," Rebecca answered his call, her voice cold and low.

  His frown deepened at her tone. "Are you okay, baby?"

  "Have you spoken to Phillip?" she asked flatly.

  "No," he answered, starting to get nervous.

  "Find him, and tell him to tell you what he told me today. And leave me alone for a while, Zach. I'm so angry I don't want to see your face." Then she hung up.

  "Fuck," Zach muttered under his breath. What the hell did Phillip tell Rebecca? From her tone, he could tell it had something to do with that wrong conclusion Phillip had made about her. Damn it, he should have sought Phillip out earlier.

  He dialled Phillip's number, his hand fisting at his side.

  "Zach?" Phillip answered rather warily.

  "Can you come to the main restaurant, Phillip? We're having a business meeting." He didn't want to give Phillip a chance to avoid him. Being invited to dinner with the heads of The Carmichael Corporation sho
uld be enough to get him to come. No doubt Phillip would think he might be offered a job in the company.

  "Of course," Phillip said, sounding pleased and relieved. "I'll see you there shortly."

  Zach walked back to where his brothers were. He should warn them of why he'd asked Phillip to come. He'd need them to stop him from doing something he'd later regret.

  *****

  Zach sat with his arms folded across his chest, his eyes hard, as he watched Phillip approach them.

  Phillip's light and confident gait faltered, and he saw a flash of fear in the older man's eyes.

  Good, Zach thought.

  "How's everyone?" Phillip asked with feigned levity as he took a seat at the table.

  "Phillip, what did you tell Rebecca today?" Zach asked without preamble.

  "About what?" Phillip asked, trying to look nonchalant but not quite making it.

  "You tell me."

  Phillip was silent for such a long time that Zach thought he wasn't going to answer.

  "Well, Zach, I just told her what I've discovered during my investigation," Phillip said finally.

  "Yes. Your investigation," Zach said, his voice low and deadly. "Why did you give us the impression that you hired professionals to do that?"

  Phillip fidgeted on his seat. "Did I give you that impression? If so, I didn't mean to. It was an impromptu decision on my part to do the investigating myself when I saw Rebecca and her boyfriend at the carpark. I didn't expect to come up with the answers so soon. I got lucky."

  Zach seethed inside, but he kept calm outwardly. He needed to keep Phillip talking. "So what exactly did you tell Rebecca?"

  "First, I want you to know that I talked to her today because I believe she's just playing you, Zach," Phillip said nervously. "I wanted to bait her so she would show her true colours."

  "What did you tell her?" Zach repeated, his voice lower and more menacing.

  Phillip gulped visibly. "I told her what I told you guys. That I know she was having an affair with a married man—the one who bought her the apartment."

  Zach squeezed his eyes shut before sending deadly looks to Phillip. "What else?"

  "That it was you who gave the go ahead for her to be investigated. Look, Zach, if she wasn't supposed to know then I'm sorry."

  "What else?"

  "Uh..."

  "You might as well tell me everything, Phillip. I'll find out eventually anyway, and I wouldn't be happy if I discovered that you've held a few things back."

  "Um, I sort of said I was surprised you were with her. I... uh... said that she's probably a replacement for Vicky."

  Zach stared at Phillip in disbelief.

  "But it was just bait to see how she would react," Phillip added hastily. "Remember, I thought she was just playing you."

  "Go on." Zach was now sure he was going to throttle Phillip. But not yet. Not until Phillip had told him every single thing he'd told Rebecca.

  "Uh, what else did I tell her?" Phillip mused loudly, his face beading with sweat. "Oh, yeah. I think I mentioned that you may be resuming the investigations on her. Are you really doing that?"

  "Where the hell did you get that idea from?" Zach asked through gritted teeth. How insane had Phillip's conversation with Rebecca been? No wonder she'd been so mad.

  "Well, err, Jeff called me to ask about the company whom he thought I used for the previous investigations. I told him I'd done it myself. I just assumed you decided to open it up again because you're sleeping with her now."

  "You're a fucking moron," Jeff muttered angrily.

  "What else did you tell her, Phillip?" Zach said.

  "That's... it... I think."

  "Are you sure?" Zach asked ominously.

  "Um, there was one other thing that I said because... uh... well, because I was baiting her... like I said before."

  "And what was that?"

  "I said that she should..." Phillip hesitated, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

  "She should what?" Zach growled.

  "Uh, I said she should consider marrying me," Phillip mumbled.

  Zach was dumbstruck for a full second before he rose up from his chair with suppressed violence.

  Greg was quick to grab his arm, dragging him back to his seat. "Zach, we're in public."

  "What in the fuck were you thinking, proposing to my girlfriend after you've practically told her we all thought she was a gold-digger?" Zach asked as he sat back down, his face thunderous.

  "I was baiting her," Phillip said defensively. "If she'd said yes, then you would have seen for sure the kind of woman she really is."

  "She is not what you think she is," Zach hissed. "That married boyfriend you were talking about is her brother. If you'd done everything properly in the first place, this mess wouldn't have happened."

  Phillip paled at Zach's words. "But I thought..."

  "You thought wrong, Phillip."

  *****

  "Hey, Zach."

  "Hi Sarah. May I come in?"

  "Sure. What's wrong?"

  Zach looked around the room and realised Rebecca wasn't there. "Where's Bec?"

  "I thought she was with you!"

  "No," he answered, raking his hair with both hands. He pulled out his phone and dialled her number. It rang and rang—then went to her voicemail. He left her a pleading message to call him back.

  "What's going on, Zach?" Sarah said, her voice laced with worry.

  "She's mad at me."

  "Why?"

  Zach sighed loudly and sat on the edge of Rebecca's bed. Then he told Sarah what had gone on.

  *

  "Are you serious?" Sarah asked incredulously. "Do you know how much Bec hates having the term gold-digger attached to her? I'll tell you how much. More than the average person—because of humiliating experiences that involved her mother!"

  "I didn't know at the time, Sarah," he said insistently. "Look, I don't have any excuse for my stupidity, but I'm willing to do anything to make it up to her. Please help me."

  "Well, I don't know where she is, Zach. She could be anywhere in this massive ship."

  "I'll call one of my security to help find her," he said, picking up his phone and barking instructions to someone on the other end of the line.

  "Good move, Zach," Sarah said sarcastically. "Get some paid experts to hunt her down. She'd be really pleased with that."

  Zach buried his face in his hands.

  "Hey," Sarah said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe she just needs some time alone to cool down. She's bound to come back here at some point."

  "I'm going to look for her. Could you give me a call when she comes back? Please?"

  Sarah hesitated before answering. "Yeah, okay."

  *****

  Zach groaned in pain. What was the time? He checked his watch and cursed. It was ten in the morning.

  He dragged himself out of bed, his head throbbing from a splitting headache. He'd only had about four hours' sleep. He'd paced his room and stared at the ceiling until six in the morning, when sheer emotional exhaustion finally put him to sleep.

  After not finding Rebecca anywhere last night, he'd gone back to her and Sarah's room. Rebecca was there, but she'd said she'd call him when she was ready to talk, and pleaded with him to respect her wishes.

  She'd been cold toward him. Very cold. And it terrified the hell out of him. She'd felt... unreachable.

  Pain stabbed him at the real possibility of Rebecca breaking up with him again. He shook his head, unwilling to entertain the thought. His Bec was just angry—furious even. But they'd work it out. They had to. He didn't know what he'd do if they didn't.

  He checked his phone to see if there were missed calls or messages from her. None yet. When would she be ready to talk?

  *****

  "Zachary, how could you?" Magda said with a tsk. "If you were with her for four months, you should have known that she couldn't be someone as scheming and cold-hearted as you'd thought she was."

  Zach exh
aled loudly as he looked up at the ceiling while sprawled on Magda's sofa. "I know, Gran. I was wrong. But I was conscious of protecting our family and our reputation after the incidents that happened over the last two years."

  Magda sat beside him and took his hand. "Heavy responsibilities were put on you and your brothers unexpectedly," she said softly. "You, being the oldest, bore the brunt of it. I'm sorry, dear. I, of all people, should understand how difficult the last couple of years have been for you. Have you told Rebecca about all the women—and men—who tried to scam us after our faces and wealth had been splashed in the papers?"

  "No."

  "You should tell her. I'm sure she'll understand why you were inordinately suspicious."

  Zach sat up straight, nodding. "Thank you, Gran. I just hope she'll talk to me again. Can you help me find out where she'll be hanging out today?"

  *****

  Zach went to the smallest of the ship's pools. Sarah had told Magda that Rebecca would be there. He'd left messages for Rebecca all day, and he did get one response from her—that she didn't want to talk to him yet. Okay, that was fine. But that didn't mean he couldn't be in the same place as her.

  It was just past midday and the area was quiet. Most people, he assumed, were having lunch.

  There were four people in the water, but none of them was Rebecca. He looked around and his heart lurched. She was sitting on a deck chair in a sexy two-piece... having a quiet conversation with Alix. Had she turned to him for comfort?

  His first instinct was to barge in on them and carry Rebecca away. But of course, that would be insane. She'd probably get even madder if he did that. In fact, she might even tell him to leave her alone in front of Alix, which would only give the other man reason to feel hopeful.

  He plonked himself in an empty chair not too far—yet not too close—to the two, watching them from behind his dark sunglasses.

  *

  Zach stood up when he saw Rebecca and Alix preparing to leave. They'd have to walk past him, and he'd be waiting for them.

  "Zach!" Rebecca cried in surprise.

  "Hi," he said softly, but his hands fisted to his sides as he noticed Alix put a protective arm around Rebecca.