I closed my eyes. Cole’s words swirled in my head. Everything that’d happened earlier was a jumble of images. He had said so much to me, blamed me for so much. I couldn’t keep any of it straight. Getting Cole back was impossible, but I had to at least try to clear my name. Maybe get him to hate me a little less.
Screw the list. Well, for now. First, I had to figure out how to get Cole to believe in me again. A slow burn swirled in my stomach at the thought of the disgust I’d seen in his face when he asked if Alex had put me up to this. God, he got to that conclusion fast.
Alex’s return couldn’t be a coincidence. Why did he come looking for me after all this time? Why now? How did he even know where to find me? If he had come to my parent’s house, Dad wouldn’t be here. He’d be at either the county jail or the hospital, which was why I never told Dad about what Alex did to me. Dad would’ve killed him. Did he reach out to Annie? No. She would’ve told me. A big piece of the puzzle was missing here.
I stuffed my hands in my hair and focused on what I did know. Cole had lost his company, and I was to blame. Alex was conniving, but not smart enough to pull off something like this. I kicked the covers, hands clenched. In Cole’s eyes, I was just like Alex, a liar.
My pulse throbbed in my throat. I sat up. No more running. No more punishing myself for believing in Alex’s lies. I paced the room as I rubbed my temples. Think. Tricking Cole into giving up his company would’ve required a lot of skill. Bridget. This had Bridget written all over it. But how did she pull it off?
Cole deserved better than this. Even if he didn’t want me anymore, I didn’t want him to go on thinking I had betrayed him. This time I wasn’t going to hide under my bed and let my parents fix everything for me. Cole and I deserved to be together.
Holy shit. Am I really going to try and get Cole back?
A rush of calm washed over me, and everything became clear to me. I had to find out how Cole lost CCI, and I knew where to start.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Or a Better Lie
Cole
I slumped into the lounge chair and gripped the armrests. Anything to keep me from going over to Valentina’s house and make her tell me the truth.
Or a better lie.
Make me believe in you again.
At this point, I’d take anything. The pain Bridget’s betrayal inflicted on me was nothing compared to what I felt now. This pain was a thousand times worse. Valentina had betrayed my love for her. And still, I refused to believe she would sell me out so easily. This couldn’t be the real her. Had she seemed confused by my accusations? I pinched my nose, squeezing my eyes shut. Everything that’d happened last night, everything I’d said to her was a big blur, echoes. In my rage, I’d lost sense of reality and I couldn’t think straight. Did I give her a chance to explain?
“I’m glad to see you’re back to normal.” Em set the rest of my breakfast on the table. The frown lines around her mouth said she didn’t think this was normal or that she was glad.
I took a bite of the eggs. They tasted like cardboard despite the barbecued pulled pork she’d added. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Wednesday is downstairs, asking for you. And you’re up here. Hiding.” Em poured coffee in a mug.
“Tell her I’m in a meeting.”
When she didn’t say anything, I looked up at her. She was glancing in the direction of the cottage. I threw my fork on the table, unable to stomach any more of the eggs.
“Relax, Derek. She’s gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean she’s gone?” I rubbed my throbbing temple. A hot rod churned painfully in my gut.
“I mean, you asked her to leave your house. And she left.” She picked up the empty tray and left me to continue my pity party of one.
“I didn’t mean for her to move out.” I whipped around in my chair. Em simply shrugged without looking back.
I picked up my phone and dialed her number. I gripped the phone with sweaty palms. Each ring chimed longer and louder than the last.
“Hello?” a man answered on the fourth ring.
I pursed my lips. Red blotches clouded my vision and my last shred of logic. That didn’t take her long. I pressed the End button, threw my napkin on the table, and headed for Valentina’s cottage. Not that Em would lie to me. I just needed to see it for myself. Did she really leave? To be with Alex Maio?
This morning I’d woke up wishing last night had been a nightmare. But it’d all been real. I pushed the door open and leaned my shoulder on the threshold. The furniture was still here. An ominous air covered every inch of the living room and screamed what I already knew.
Valentina was gone.
My eyes fell on the wall we’d painted together. Back then, I’d been grateful she’d patched the hole for me. No doubt she did it to gain my trust, an act to make me think she could fix everything that was fucked up in my life. I stepped into the living room. Her scent still lingered in the air, and my stomach twisted in a knot.
Cocking my head, I traced the discoloration on the wall with my fingers. My heartbeat slowed to a painful pace, intensifying the throbbing in my head. Because of Valentina, my life’s work now lay in the hands of a fucking addict. How long before Bridget sold the company by the pound? Before all my people were out of the job? If she already canceled the bonuses for the year, as Dom said, we were looking at months. A year, at most.
Goddammit. I’d let them down. I didn’t know what pained me the most: the loss of CCI, that Valentina was to blame, or the possibility that she was still involved with that asshole Alex. I squeezed my eyes shut. Images of his smug face, his smirk when he’d talked about Valentina and the men in her life flickered in my head. A scream escaped my lips. I balled my hand into a fist and pummeled the wall again and again, until the Sheetrock crumbled. Arms braced on my knees, I stared at the gaping hole in the wall. There. Now the cottage looked like it should again.
Out of nowhere, Pirate strolled in and went straight to Max’s bedroom, as if he owned the place. I leaned on the wall, gulping air, knuckles bleeding, clothes covered in sweat.
“Since when do you come in here? You were banished from this house, remember?” I asked when he came back to rub his head on my pants. I followed him into the kitchen. “Were they feeding you?”
Pirate meowed in response. I shook my hand to ease the dull ache, while I searched the cupboards under the sink. I found several cans of cat food there, and a wave of hope washed over me. How bad could she be? If this was all an act, why take the time to feed my cat? I dumped the food on a plate she kept with the cans and set it on the floor for Pirate.
“What do you think? Is she as bad as they say?” He limped toward me and curled around my leg. “I don’t believe it either.” I sat on the floor next to him and scratched his ears while he ate.
When my legs went numb from sitting on the tile, I got up, but I couldn’t make myself leave. Instead, I trudged toward her bedroom and her rumpled bed. I pictured her making room on the mattress for her suitcase, dumping her things in a hurry. How long did it take her to walk out on me? I went through the closet and drawers. All empty. A heavy weight pulled me down. I pinched my nose to stop the tears, but it was no use.
Where did you go? Please don’t go back to that asshole. He doesn’t care about you.
Feeling tired, I lay on her bed and buried my face in her sheets. Her smell was still on the pillow, her warmth. I inhaled, and for the first time since last night, my lungs didn’t ache with each breath. The minutes slid by, or maybe I lay there for hours. I stayed in her bed and played our conversation over and over in my head. Or at least what I could remember.
She’d seemed sincere when she said she didn’t know what I was talking about, and even shocked by my accusations. I closed my eyes, recalling her face and all the things she’d said. Was that fear in her eyes? I grimaced and bit the inside of my lip. Was she telling the truth? God, I wanted to believe her so badly. Valentina, did you run away because you’re innocent
or because you’re guilty?
A cold shiver went through me, and I pulled the covers over me. A white undershirt fell to the floor. It was mine, the one she’d borrowed the first night we were together. She certainly didn’t act like someone who was doing her boyfriend a favor. No, that night was real. She wanted me. The way she trembled under my touch, consumed by it. No one could fake that. No one could kiss like that and not feel anything.
Jesus Christ. What was I thinking, accusing her of colluding with Bridget and Alex? I could argue I was blinded by rage. But that was no excuse. I was a real asshole for saying all those things to her. The jerk didn’t even know Max’s name.
She’d also said she loved me. Why would she say that? A smiled pulled on my lips.
I jumped to my feet, rushed out of the cottage, and headed back to the house. None of this made sense. Valentina loved me. She couldn’t have sold me out. If she was telling the truth, I intended to find out. I was an idiot for taking Bridget’s word for it. She was an addict. At this point, she’d throw her own mother under the bus just to get one more high at the poker table.
At my computer, I punched my access code, sat back, and waited for the video feeds for the last two weeks to download. I placed my elbows on the desk and buried my face in my hands. Why did I send her away?
When the download completed, I set the files to autoplay and scanned the screen for Valentina’s face. I hit paused when she first appeared, wearing a gray pencil skirt and a dark blue top. That’d been her first day at my company, in my building. Because of her, I’d begun to heal that day. Knowing she was there, surrounded by everything I’d built, I’d felt at peace.
Shit. This would be easier if she were here. This emptiness in my chest didn’t threaten to choke me when she was around. I reached in my back pocket and fished out my phone. I wanted to hear her voice.
Guilty or not, I wanted her back.
I tapped on the Recents icon and spotted her name immediately. Maybe she’d answer this time and explain what the fuck was going on. The computer screen kept going in fast forward. Sitting back, I pinched my nose as my gaze shifted from the video to her name. And then, there she was again. One of the feeds showed Valentina going into Bridget’s office to drop an interoffice envelope. I paused and rewound the image. The resolution on it wasn’t all that great, but I could see her expression well. She didn’t seem suspicious or even preoccupied. She simply dumped the envelope and left. No note or anything. Were the divorce papers in that envelope? Was this how she sold me out? In five seconds flat, she’d thrown my company away.
I threw the phone on the desk. This couldn’t be her. I raked a hand through my hair, staring at her face on the screen.
“If you ask me, it all sounds too perfect to be real.” Em stood in front of me. How long had she been standing there?
“What do you mean?”
“You’re in pain, and that’s understandable. You’ve been looking for this kind of connection with someone for a long time. I know you have. That’s why it hurts so much. You opened your heart to her, and you got hurt again.” She gave me her signature over-the-glasses glance, extra dose of pity. “It’s hard to see things clearly, but give it time.”
I rubbed my eyes. Everything seemed to be under a dark fog: my thoughts, Valentina’s face, and every piece of evidence pointing a finger at her.
“If this was her intention all along, I think she’d would’ve gone a different route. Stealing doesn’t seem to be her style.” Em shrugged.
“Who knows what her style is?”
Em pressed her lips together. “All I know is that this doesn’t add up. Or rather, it adds up too perfectly. Think about it.”
“That’s what I’ve been doing all morning. But the details are all fuzzy. There’s nothing there to show me if she was telling the truth.” I rubbed my temple.
“You don’t need to remember what happened last night. Just look in there.” She pointed at my heart. “See what you find. Hmm?” She smiled and left.
Chapter Twenty-Five
For Us
Valentina
I eyed my mobile sitting on Mom’s kitchen counter. My hands itched to grab it and call Cole. But what would I say? It was too soon. He probably wouldn’t even answer. Gripping the whisk, I whipped the batter faster.
“Whoa, easy. We do want lumps. I think it’s good now.” Mom pushed me out of the way to take over. “Just sit down. You’re making me nervous.”
I plopped myself down on the counter stool. “Sorry.”
“You look better this morning.”
I rested my head on my hands and swallowed my tears. “I don’t feel better.”
“Give it time.” She poured the batter in the waffle maker. “So why is he so mad?”
“He thinks I made him lose his company.”
“How did you do that?”
“No idea.” I shrugged. “But I need to figure out what happened. I can’t defend myself if I don’t know what I’m guilty of, right? I was thinking about calling Em, his housekeeper.”
“Housekeeper? Fancy.” She slanted a glance at me over her shoulder.
I let out a breath. “You don’t know the half of it.”
“Does it bother you?”
“What?” I asked.
“You know, that he’s loaded and white? Come on. The guy has two first names.”
I laughed and shook my head once. With a triumphant smile, Mom turned her attention to the waffles. The cinnamon pumpkin smell was all over the house.
“I’m proud of him. He’s achieved so much. And he’s not even thirty.” I sighed. “We have so much in common. It’s hard to believe we grew up on literally opposite ends of the country.”
Mom gave me her raised-eyebrow look, the one she saved for special occasions. Like getting the truth out of me. “Last night aside, does he make you happy?”
“Yes.” I nodded. A smile pulled on my lips. “He’s smart, kind, and generous. And tall and so freakishly hot.”
Crap. Did I just say that out loud?
“Oh. I didn’t realize things were that serious. Did you two already…you know?” She placed a hand over her mouth to hide her grin.
“Mom.” I blushed and touched my forehead to the counter, arms covering my head.
“Well, good for you, honey. About time.”
I peeked at her, raising both eyebrows. Why did I think she’d be mad at me?
“Go call this Em lady. Figure out what happened.” She wiped her hands on her apron before she placed my hair behind my ear, the way she used to do when I was little.
Now that I had Max, I realized I would always be her little girl. Just as Max would always be my little boy.
“You deserve to be happy. Don’t give up now.” She pointed toward the hallway. “Now go to your room.”
I jumped off the stool and reached for the phone. Mom busied herself with breakfast as I rushed back to my bedroom. I called Cole’s house, knowing Em would pick up.
“Good morning, Valentina,” she said.
Her cheerful greeting disconcerted me for a minute. How did she know it was me? Oh right. Caller ID.
“Um. Good morning, Em.”
“Would you like me to get Cole?”
“No,” I blurted out. My heart did a couple of flips when she said his name. “I wanted to ask you when would be a good time to come get my stuff.”
And also, did you happen to catch any of Cole’s conversation with his friend last night? Any idea why he thinks I betrayed him?
Crap. I should’ve scripted something before I called. I had no idea how to pose the question. The static hummed for what seemed like an eternity.
“It’s your house. You don’t need my permission, dear. Come over anytime.”
“Oh. Thank you.” I puffed out a breath, hands cold and sweaty. “How is he?”
“As can be expected. Bad.” She took a long pause. “You should come see him. Talk.”
I shook my head frantically, even though she couldn
’t see me. “I can’t. I don’t even know why he’s mad at me.”
Her small laugh could barely be heard through the speaker. “Cole signed his divorce papers a month ago. Someone took them and sold them to Bridget.”
That was it? I’d spent all night dissecting our conversation, racking my brain for anything I might’ve missed, any clue to tell me what had unhinged him. The answer was so simple. Why didn’t Cole take the time to give me two sentences to clarify things? I wanted to slap him, punch his chest again.
“It wasn’t me.” I gritted my teeth, wiping my cheeks and nose. “I love him too much. I could never do that.”
“I know that. And I think he very much wants to believe that too.”
“What about Nikki?” I was really reaching here, but other than me, only Em and Nikki had access to Cole’s house…and his bedroom. A painful burn twisted in my belly. I sat on the bed and took a deep breath. How long before Cole went back to her?
“You think it was her?”
“Who else has had access to Cole’s house?”
The long silence on the line was like a python coiled tight around my chest. Right. Cole brought a new girl every night. Any one of them could’ve done it. But Nikki was the only one who dared to show up uninvited. No doubt she felt she had some sort of claim on him.
The memory of Nikki’s proud breasts in Cole’s living room still hurt, but I forced myself to think about the day she was in his house. The second time I’d run into her. She was in the loft while Cole was upstairs taking a shower. She had a suspicious look about her. Hadn’t she? She was sweaty and half-naked for no good reason. After our fight and make-up sex, Cole and I never discussed Nikki again. But if they hadn’t had sex that day, why was she half-naked? Did she do that to throw us off?
Well, it’d worked brilliantly. I ran out of the house, taking Cole with me. If she wanted to go back to the loft and take whatever she needed, she would’ve had plenty of time to do it after we left. Cole and I’d spent hours in his bedroom that day. A warm flutter touched my chest, but I pushed the thought aside. I had to stay focused on Nikki.
Love Over Lattes Page 20