by Lexi Blake
Might never experience it.
“I’m sorry for hitting you.” He’d never hit his brother.
Drew ran a hand across his jaw. “I’m sorry for offending you. I don’t get this thing. Don’t get me wrong. I like Ellie. She’s a nice woman, but I don’t think she loves you. I think you’re going to get hurt and it bothers me to stand here and watch it.”
Control freak. Drew had been looking out for them for so long he didn’t know another way. “Some things are worth getting hurt over. And she does love me. I know she does. She’s a little like that story Mom used to read us. You remember? The one with the dragon.”
“‘Sleeping Beauty.’ I always wanted the dragon to win.”
Because the dragon was the coolest part for a bunch of boys. Mia had loved the princess. “Ellie’s asleep right now. She’s buried this integral part of herself because I hurt her. I hurt her badly. She’s got her defenses up, but eventually she’ll let them go because that’s who she is. Some prince will come and kiss her and wake her up again. I’m the fucking dragon who will scare all of them off and kiss her myself. Prince Charming was a wimp. She needs a dragon to protect her.”
That got Drew smiling. “You think you can convince her in two weeks?”
“No. That was a mistake.” He finally realized what he’d done to her. He was the one who kept placing boundaries on them. He was putting them in horrible positions and it had to stop.
“She could take us all down, Riley.”
Poor Drew. All he had to cling to was his never-ending plan. “She won’t. She’s not one of us, not in that way. You look at her and think she had everything you didn’t. Her background is more similar to ours than you would think. She grew up alone. She had a father who barely could be considered a guardian much less a loving dad. She didn’t have a mom. She grew up in boarding schools.”
“Which is a far cry from a damn group home,” Drew shot back.
“She didn’t have anyone and somehow she still figured out how to give a damn about the people around her. Don’t think for a second she’s the enemy. She’s who we should be trying to be. I thank God Mia found Case before we dragged her fully into our misery.”
“It’s not misery, damn it. It’s justice.”
“No, it’s revenge.” He could see it so clearly now. “Justice would be proving that man killed our father, not this righteous takedown of him and everyone around him. We get Ellie’s company back and then I’m out.”
“You don’t care who the fourth person was?” Drew asked, righteous indignation in his voice. “You don’t even give a crap about finding out the name of the other person who killed them?”
“I do, and if we can connect Patricia Cain and the mystery person to our parents’ murders, I’m all in for taking that to the right authorities. But other than that, I’m going to do what our father would want me to do. I’m going to live a life. I’m going to be good to the people around me. God, Drew, do you even remember him anymore?”
“I remember them both.” Drew’s eyes were red, his hands fists at his sides. “I remember how they screamed.”
He turned and walked out.
Riley ached for his brother. Those last moments were all Drew seemed able to remember. Had he forgotten how loved they’d all been? How their mom would bake them cakes and call them little monsters? How their father had scooped them up and twirled them around and told them the world was a magnificent adventure?
He caught sight of his wife walking by.
He was on his feet in an instant.
Bran followed Ellie, grabbing a light jacket. Riley managed to catch them as the elevator opened.
“Ellie, can I have three minutes?”
Ellie nodded and looked to Bran. “I’ll meet you in the lobby.” After the doors closed on Bran, she turned to Riley. “What do you need? You know eventually you’re going to have to let me walk around the city without a bodyguard.”
“Not while Castalano’s after you.” He couldn’t help but smile. She was wearing a yellow skirt with a pretty white top and a black belt that cinched her waist in and made her look sexy and sweet.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Because looking at you makes me happy.”
Her eyes turned down. “Riley, I should tell you something.”
“You’ve already called your building manager about moving back in.”
“How did you know that?”
“Drew overheard you. It doesn’t matter. I was a fool to give you that deal.”
Her chin came up, a stubborn expression on her face. “So you’re going to block me?”
“No. I’m going to find an apartment in your building and I’m going to court you all over again, baby. I’ll start at the beginning. I’ll introduce myself because I saw you walking in and I couldn’t take my eyes off you. I’ll help you with your groceries, but you should know I’m doing it all because I’m praying you’ll go out with me and give me a chance.”
She shook her head. “It can’t work.”
It had to. “I’ll wait for you. That’s what I didn’t tell you before. I was impatient and tried to push you into something you’re not ready for and that’s not my job.”
“Your job as my husband?”
He shook his head. “No. I might not be that for long. I’m talking about my job as the man who loves you, the man who places you above all others. I won’t ever walk away from you, Ellie. Not two weeks from now. Not twenty years from now. If you can’t ever love me again, then I’ll be the best friend you’ve ever had. I’ll be the dependable one, the one who looks out for you. I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving you, Ellie. One way or another.”
There were tears in her eyes, but she didn’t move to him.
Time. He had to give it to her with no threats or promises beyond the fact that he would be here.
“Have a good day, sweetheart, and if you need anything, call me. I’ll be there.” He stepped back and gave her room.
When the elevator came, she moved into it, but her eyes were on him right until the door closed.
He walked away lighter than he’d been before.
Fifteen
I don’t understand how you can sleep with that man,” Lily said, her mouth tight.
“He’s really good in bed.” Ellie looked down at the menu. She felt bad, but she kind of wished she’d ignored Lily’s request for a happy hour meeting. She had so much to think about, but Lily seemed to mostly want to remind her of all the reasons she should hate her husband. She definitely shouldn’t have told Lily she was still sleeping with Riley.
Lily’s eyes widened. “Have you forgotten what that man did to you?”
Ellie put the menu down, her eyes on her friend. “Not at all. I think about it every single day.”
And she wondered what she was going to do about it. She had two weeks left and she was no closer to finding a way back into her proper place.
Riley knew she’d made arrangements to keep her apartment. What he didn’t know was how torn she was at the thought of leaving the penthouse.
His plan had worked beautifully. She loved the penthouse and sitting down with the entire clan for meals and talking and arguing over pot roast and a couple of bottles of wine.
It was everything she’d missed when she was growing up. The Lawless siblings were a family. Drew was the authority figure. Mia, the one who made everyone laugh. Bran was the quiet, thoughtful one. Hatch was the crazy uncle. And Riley worked his ass off. He was Drew’s strong right hand.
She’d rapidly discovered she had a place in this crew. She argued with Drew and Riley and made them think about something beyond making a dollar or plotting revenge. They’d had several serious political discussions and she’d managed to make her brothers-in-law think about their positions. Drew was considering implementing some of her worker-friendly idea
s at 4L.
“Ellie, he destroyed your career.”
She glanced over. Bran was sitting at the bar, smiling at the waitress. Her brother-in-law had a serious soft spot when it came to women. She actually worried about him. There was something in his past. Something no one would talk about. Bran had a weakness and it was any woman with a sob story. He looked back her way and gave her an encouraging smile.
Damn it. She already loved Bran. Not the way she loved Riley. She wished she didn’t love Riley.
“I thought you said the workers were still behind me.” She’d been thinking a lot about what Riley had or hadn’t thought would happen when he did what he’d done. He really could have thought she would easily move through it.
Lily took a sip of her wine. “Some of them are, but they’re risking everything by taking your side. Riley did that. He used you.”
“And he’s trying to make it up to me.”
“By marrying you and taking your stock?”
“Which is worth next to nothing right now.” When she really thought about it, Riley didn’t have to offer her marriage. It would have been easier for him not to. Drew had been forced to give her stock in his company. That had required an enormous amount of trust on his part. She could use the stock to put Drew and 4L in a bad position.
Should she look at his words or his actions? His actions told a very specific tale. Every move he’d made since Castalano had dropped the hammer on them had been to help her. He’d done everything he could to save her.
Had he done it strictly out of guilt?
“It’s going to come back up,” Lily said.
They were sitting in the back of the small restaurant. Lily had insisted on subterfuge. She’d come in the back way and planned to leave through the kitchen. They were far from StratCast, so no one would likely wander in and find them together. It was all getting to be too much.
“Lily, I think it’s time for you to get out of StratCast.”
Her friend’s eyes widened and she sat back as though she’d never thought of the idea herself. “Why would I do that? Has he convinced you to give up the fight? Are you so happy with him that you’ve forgotten the rest of us?”
Guilt weighed her down. “No, I haven’t forgotten. I’m simply worried about you. You don’t know what Castalano is really capable of.”
“I think I do. I’ve taken over as Kyle’s admin. He talks about his father like he’s some kind of evil genius. He says if we wait the old man out, everything will come to him.”
“Lily, tell me you’re not seeing him.” Kyle was bad news.
“I can handle him,” Lily assured her. “And he’s really not so bad. His father is awful, but Kyle will protect me. I’m far more worried about you. Kyle explained the situation with the Lawless family to me, and you’re in real danger. They play deep games.”
“Oh, I would love to hear how Kyle explained it.”
Lily leaned over as though she thought Bran could hear her from across the bar. “They think your father and Steven stole some kind of code from their dad. They’re even crazy enough to think Steven and your father and Patricia Cain murdered their parents. Can you imagine Patricia Cain as a killer? Would she do a segment on the proper etiquette of murder and what to serve your guests afterward?”
Actually, the woman was cold enough to do it. “My father told me the truth before he died.”
Lily nodded. “Kyle knows it all. That code was always your father’s. Benedict Lawless was the one who tried to steal it.”
“No. My father killed Benedict, took the code, and that’s how he, Steven, and Patricia formed StratCast. He told me himself. My husband’s family is right. Steven even called me a few weeks ago and threatened to hurt everyone I love if I don’t find the source code my father kept from him. I think he’s afraid it will prove his crimes.” Drew wasn’t so sure, but he wanted to see it. If she could find that code, she would hand it over to him and hope to be done with the whole mess.
Would Riley do what he’d said? Would he try to start over? Would she let him?
She tried to picture herself turning him down, and somehow the image wouldn’t form. What if they could meet with none of this between them? Would they do it right this time?
Lily sat back in her chair. “I can’t see Steven really murdering someone. I know what he did was awful, but going all the way to murder . . .”
She needed to make Lily believe. “He did. My father was in a bad place when he confessed. He also told me something I’ve been thinking more and more about lately.”
“The code? I know Steven is all up in arms about something your dad took. He says it belongs to the company, but your dad took it so he could hold it over Steven’s head.” Lily’s lips turned up in a wry grin. “Naturally your father is the villain in his version of the tale. Steven told Kyle that if you turned over the code to him, he would take some of the heat off you.”
So many lies. “Then he’s lying. He told me if I turned over the code, he wouldn’t hurt you.”
Lily frowned. “Me? He’s holding me over your head? I can handle myself.”
Lily would try, but Ellie wasn’t sure her friend was capable of doing what it would take to truly defend herself. “Watch your back. I would feel better if you walked away.”
“I can’t. Someone has to watch them. Kyle has fired three people because he didn’t like them. These are good people, Ellie.”
“Yes and you weren’t able to stop him. They don’t talk around you. I don’t think it’s worth risking your life when we’re not getting anything out of it.”
“Well, I’m sorry I haven’t been great at the spy thing.” Lily seemed to blink back tears. “Maybe I can help you find this code.”
She didn’t want to involve Lily more than she had to. “I have an idea of where he might have hidden it.”
“But you’re not going to give in, are you? I know you, Ellie. He made a mistake when he threatened you like that.”
She reached out and put a hand on Lily’s. “That’s why I need you to walk away. If he doesn’t have someone to hold over my head, then everything else is simply business. I have to trust that the man still wants something out of StratCast. He can fire anyone he likes, but he needs the money the company can bring in.”
“You’re going to give the code to your husband.” Lily said it with an almost fatalistic acceptance of the situation.
Ellie nodded. “I believe what my father told me. I believe that code or whatever it is belongs to the Lawless clan. But, Lily, I don’t know that Riley is going to be my husband for long. I’m moving back to my place in two weeks. We’ll see where we go from there.”
“Why are you moving? I thought the point was to keep you safe. Did he throw you out?”
Wow. Her friend immediately went to the worst possible scenario where Riley was concerned. “No, I’m choosing to get back to a normal life. They’ll support me while I figure out what to do. And who knows? Maybe we can see each other. The point is I’ll be out of this war with the exception of wanting my job and my company back.”
“So you think you’ll be able to find it?”
She wasn’t so sure about that. “I think I’ve figured out where to look.”
“And you want me to get the hell out of there.”
“I do. The minute Steven figures out I have what he wants, he’ll use you against me. He knows how much I care about you.”
Lily squeezed her hand. “I care about you, too. And I’ll go easier on your guy. I suppose I should. We all make bad decisions and sometimes they put the people we love in awful positions. I guess I never considered that you would forgive him.”
“I’m not totally there yet. I can forgive him, but it’s hard to forget. I do understand that he thought he was doing the right thing for his family. I’m not sure we work as a couple, though. They won’t be done even if the
y manage to get Steven behind bars.”
Lily’s well-shaped brows rose in obvious surprise. “They want to take down Patricia Cain? How are they going to do that? She’s not in the tech business anymore. Are they going to poison her fall pies or find some porn she did as a young woman? Because that would be cool.”
She’d tried to stay out of their business when it came to that woman. “I don’t know, but if they think Steven is a monster, I don’t know what they would call Patricia.”
“You never call her Auntie Patty.”
“Never.” She shuddered at the idea. “My father hated her. She’s not a ‘Pat’ and no matter how much she tries to be America’s homemaker, that woman is a shark. I don’t like the idea of them going after her. Someone’s going to get hurt.”
She wasn’t sure it would be Patricia.
Who would be the voice of reason if she left? Mia and Case were needed back in Dallas. Mia couldn’t leave her husband right now.
If Ellie left, it would be the men of the family and they didn’t always make the best decisions.
She looked over at Bran, who was quietly talking to the bartender. He glanced Ellie’s way and then gave her an open smile.
Would he be the one they sent into Patricia Cain’s den? Or would Riley go since he didn’t really have a lot else to do in New York?
She’d found her place in the family. Was she ready to leave it now?
“So I’ll go back to the office and pack up my things. I’ll leave Kyle a fuck-you note.” Lily gave her a smile. “Think there’s an admin job for me at 4L?”
“I think my brother-in-law can pay your salary until I get my job back.” Drew could handle it, and it would be nice to have Lily around again. She could get back into business mode.
Lily gave her a little salute. “I’m your girl.”
The waitress came by and they ordered another round. All the while Ellie contemplated her future.