Thorneless (Rose of Thorne Series)

by Michelle, Mia

  I know this lunch meeting today is just between the three of us. I could give a fuck about the business part; I just want to see her.

  True to my word, I had not followed her to Los Angeles. I won’t lie. I had Harrison fly out a few times to check on her, and I don’t apologize for that. That is how I knew about the job with Yung.

  I spot Mr. Yung as he makes his entrance into the restaurant. He tosses his coat into the young hostess’ arms without even looking her way. His stern cold look makes him almost lethal in the business world. Intimidation is something I mastered a long time ago, but this man brings out a little bit of fear even in me.

  Yung approaches me and I stand and bow my head at his arrival. I’ve learned enough in my travels and work that shaking hands is not the traditional Japanese way to greet one another. Usually with him, it is saved for the sealing of a deal, but after the threats my legal team made to get me in this meeting, I am sure he is ready to punch me in the face.

  “Mr. Yung, thank you for including me in on the meeting this afternoon,” I begin. He shoots me a harsh glare and then sits.

  “Let’s cut to the chase, Mr. Thorne. I am not a fool. I know your intentions of this meeting and I must say, you have pulled all stops to get here.”

  “Mr. Yung, I’m not sure if I understand what you are saying. I…”

  He interrupts me before I can finish. “Mr. Thorne, I don’t like you. Make no mistake about that. I attended our first meeting with your company originally with no intentions of ever doing business. Ms. Rose is the only reason I chose to go with Thorne Enterprises. She is an extraordinary talent; one of a kind I should say.” He says, adding a soft smile. The ruthless son of a bitch is grinning just by the mentioning of her name.

  How does she do that?

  Hell, why am I even asking myself that? I know the reason why. The woman brings everyone to their knees. Her presence is spellbinding. She had captivated Yung instantly and obviously he cares a great deal about her current well-being, or else he wouldn’t be attacking me right now.

  “Yes, Ms. Rose is an extraordinary woman,” I add as I am still in deep thought. I glance back up to the front of the restaurant looking for any signs of her.

  Where is she? Shouldn’t she be here by now?

  “I’m afraid, Ms. Rose will not be joining us for this meeting. I received word from my assistant this morning that she is too ill to attend.”

  I instantly am alarmed by his words. She is ill? “Is she alright? What was the message?” I ask trying to mask the panic in my voice.

  “Mr. Thorne, I’m afraid that is all the message says. I wanted to keep our meeting to keep face with my legal team, but I also wanted to speak to you.”

  “Mr. Yung, if it is about the legal threats, I’ll ease off. If you will excuse me, I need to leave,” I say as I begin to stand. His warning glare catches me midway, so I ease back down into my chair. I don’t want to make a scene here with him, but I have to get to her and make sure that she is all right. For Skylar to miss something as significant as this meeting, she must be very sick.

  “I assure you this has nothing to do with your legal threats, Mr. Thorne. I’m not here to call your bluff, I am here to protect that girl from you. Honestly, I am glad she isn’t able to be here today. She doesn’t need to be anywhere around you. You are too dangerous for her.”

  “Skylar doesn’t need to be protected from me, Mr. Yung. You can be damned certain of that. There isn’t anything I won’t do for her and no one had better try to get in my way of her. Dangerous doesn’t begin to describe the lengths I will go to when it comes to that girl,” I fire back at him. Who the fuck does this dickhead think he is?

  A smug smile grows across his lips as he leans back and crosses his hands in front of his chest. The fucking bastard is smiling at me, but not in a good way. If he doesn’t stop it soon, I am going to be knocking him and his chopsticks on his ass.

  “Well, now. Mr. Thorne I’m glad to finally see this side of you. It only proves to me that I had you quite figured out from day one.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I grit out angrily through me teeth.

  “I knew from the day I walked in on our first initial meeting that you were in love with her. It had been written all over your face, by the way you watched her during that meeting. I hadn’t needed to see her presentation at all that day. I had known from the moment I met that girl, that I would be hiring her. Her talent is just an added bonus.”

  “I don’t understand. If that is the case, then why are you…”

  “…a callous cruel bastard?” He laughs as he finishes my words.

  Damn, the man is fucking psychic to have known exactly what I am thinking.

  “Mr. Thorne, you and I are quite a lot more alike than you realize. I must admit, I was quite pleased by the news of your engagement to Ms. Rose last year. So you can imagine my shock and disappointment to have heard that two of you had broken up. It is one of the reasons that I hired Ms. Rose to work for me in the first place.”

  “If that is the case, then why not just tell me this before now?”

  “Most people find me uncaring, Mr. Thorne, but that is simply not the case. My family had been quite wealthy growing up. In my culture, my parent’s marriage had been traditionally pre-arranged, so I didn’t grow up in a house where love was shown. Those who I thought loved me only wanted my wealth. Then I met my wife. She came from nothing and I offered her the world, but she wanted nothing to do with me because of my money. She thought it changed people. That is when I knew she was the one for me. It took a lot of convincing, but we couldn’t ignore our feelings for one another. You see she finally saw that my life wasn’t about the money. I see a lot of my wife and me in you both. I don’t want you to miss out on a love of a lifetime. “

  I nod my head and still try to let his words sink in. This is simply the very last thing I expected when he walked in the door of the restaurant. “I’m afraid things aren’t that simple. Sometimes you do mess things up so badly, it can’t be fixed.”

  “There is nothing in this world that true love can’t conquer. Look at you and me and what love has made us do. Love makes us fold at the knees and bow down to it. When it comes to business, I will fight and never back down; when it comes to love, I surrender. I don’t care what anyone says, love never completely dies. It is evident in hate, jealousy and rage. All of them stem from love. No emotion can be felt truly without love being part of it. It is what drives us to do things we never thought we would find ourselves doing. Even threatening a multi-million dollar lawsuit from across the country in order to see the woman you love.“

  “I think it may be too late this time.”

  “Nonsense!” He stands and looks down at me.

  “My advice to you is to fight for her as you would fight for any business deal. Trust me, finding your way back to her, will be the best deal you ever make. Good day, Mr. Thorne.” Yung says as he leaves. I am rendered speechless at what he had just said.

  Why hadn’t I thought of this before now?

  Pushing back from the table, I grab my keys from my inside jacket pocket and feel the wrinkled letter that I keep tucked inside. One day perhaps I can get her to read the words I so desperately think will fix this. I see Mr. Yung getting into the back of his limousine as I turn to make my way across the busy street to my car. I sit behind the wheel and contemplate what to do first.

  Can I just show up to Kylie’s front door? Will she even want to see me?

  I’m racking my brain with questions, as I drive across the busy intersection. A red light catches me and I impatiently slap at my wheel waiting for it to hurry and change. My chest tightens as I feel the hope begin surging through my veins. Just when I thought that fate and God both hated me, I see her crossing the street. How is it possible in this big of a city, that she is right here in front of me? I’m so mesmerized by watching her cross that I don’t even realize that the light had changed. Horns honk and I blink out of my ha
ze.

  Flipping off the guy behind me, I quickly turn and follow her. I spot her going into the nearby building, so I ease over and park next to the street. About fifteen minutes later, she is exiting with a small bag in her hand. I throw open my car door and quickly try to catch up to her.

  As I walk past the building that she had just left, I notice it is a pharmacy. I assume that she must have been there picking up medicine from her doctor. Pushing harder through the people, I finally grow close enough to call her name.

  “SKYLAR!” I shout around the people in front of me. She immediately stops and slowly turns to face me. People huff and impatiently walk around us as we stand there looking at one another. I can’t close my mouth as I see how pale and thin she looks.

  My heart races and I fight to urge to run and embrace her. Instead, I make the last few steps to her, closing the distance between us. I’m rewarded with her sad eyes staring back deep into mine. The dark circles beneath her eyes make her look exhausted and weak.

  Something isn’t right; I can feel it.

  Skylar

  “SKYLAR!” I hear someone shout my name. I feel my heart immediately drop at the beautiful sound of his voice. Sebastian is the very last person that I thought I would be hearing at this moment. Just like a safe word, the command in his voice takes instant control of me. My feet lock and my body freezes where I stand. I need to run; I need to hide. There is nowhere I can go to get away. Turning to face him, I take a deep breath and then dare to gaze into the eyes of the man I want more than anything.

  His face drops at the sight of me. I know I look horrible; I feel even worse. Between pregnancy symptoms and recovering from pneumonia, I haven’t really cared about my appearance. Lucas had said I had lost weight when he first saw me, but I hadn’t realized just how much until I put on my jeans the other day. I have been trying to eat more, but the morning sickness is atrocious. Actually, it isn’t just morning sickness…it’s all the time sickness. Either I am nauseated or I’m puking. I’m not sure which is worse, to be perfectly honest with you. Food is certainly is not my friend right now.

  Since I couldn’t stop vomiting earlier this morning, I’d had to cancel an important lunch meeting today with Mr. Yung. The last thing I need is to get sick in the middle of the exclusive posh restaurant where he had made us reservations. His assistant Chanru had taken my message and I promised to teleconference him next week when I am feeling better. I, of course, left the part about being pregnant. I don’t want anyone knowing that just yet.

  Lucas planned to look at houses all day today with one his buddies from college that is now a real estate agent in the area. Because of the contract I have with Mr. Yung, I will need to stay on in L.A. for a bit to oversee things. Lucas feels that it is best that we find a house for ourselves, instead me staying with Kylie. He has been so great to look after me since I came home from the hospital last week. He had already checked in on me once this morning. I feel bad that I had lied to him about feeling all right, I just know how much he worries unnecessarily about me, just as badly as my best friend does. He and Kylie would both be pissed if they knew I had been sick all day and not told them. Thankfully, when I called my doctor this morning, he prescribed me something to help with the nausea.

  Tucking the prescription in my bag, I break my stare and look down away from him. The less time I spend looking into those eyes, the better. Every look he gives me reminds me painfully more of the life that I can’t have with him. Absentminded, I slide my hand across my stomach and then quickly I pull it away. I am not sure what to say or even how to breathe for that matter.

  Just as I gain the courage to look up, he closes the space between us, leaving me face to face with him. Stranger’s faces blur, as they walk around and then past us on the sidewalk. Horns blare and cars speed through the busy intersection beside us. I feel so disconnected to everything right now. It is the dark place I go when I feel like I am about to be or feel pain.

  Why is he here?

  “Oh, Skylar,” he says as he embraces me in is arms, shaking me from my state. I refuse to wrap my arms back around him. Instead, I stand there letting him awkwardly hold me against his dark suited chest. His delicious smell spirals me deeper into my pain, but still I fight the urge to return my affections.

  Be strong! Oh, God! My heart is ripping in two.

  My phone in my pocket starts playing a familiar tune and he hesitantly pulls away from me. Digging it out, I glimpse at Lucas’ handsome face on the screen and debate on whether or not I should answer it. If I don’t, he will panic. After everything that we’ve been through lately, I promised to not do that again. I put the phone up to my ear and clear my voice.

  “Hello?” I answer.

  “Hey, gorgeous! I found us a place. Get this, it’s only a ten minutes from Kylie’s. Thought if you are back home, I’d come pick you up and we can go look at it. They say another buyer is very interested, so I want to move fast and put in an offer.”

  “Wait. I thought you were just renting a place. You’re buying it?”

  “Yeah, well it’s a better investment for me to do this. Besides, it gives us an excuse to come visit Kylie and not have to stay with her.” He tries to joke. After his disappearing stunt at the hospital last week, Kylie still isn’t happy at all with him.

  “Oh, all right,” I add as I notice Sebastian intently watching me.

  “Are you alright, baby? You don’t sound like yourself. That meeting didn’t wear you out did it?” He asks me with concern in his voice.

  “Yes, I’m fine, Lucas. I’m just tired I guess,” I add trying to cover my anxiousness.

  “Let me come get you. I can’t wait for you to see the place. Then we can grab some takeout and crash.”

  “I’m still not home yet. I have some errands to run while I am out,”

  “You need to be resting, Skylar. The doctor said you didn’t need to push yourself so quickly. You know Kylie or I would have done anything you needed.”

  “I know. I’m fine. Just go ahead and do what you need to do on the house. I’ll see you there later.”

  “I love you, Skylar,” he says and I hesitate to respond back to him.

  “Skylar?” he asks and I struggle to swallow the lump in my throat. Staring deep into those dark amber eyes in front of me, I answer him back.

  “I love you, too.”

  What no one knows is that I am talking to the man in front of me. The man I love more than the air I breathe…the man whose child grows inside me.

  Lucas

  The moment I hang up the phone, I know something isn’t right with her. I can hear it in her voice. I try to chalk it up to me being overly paranoid, but I still can’t seem to shake the chill that is shooting down my spine. I have been so worried about her overdoing it lately with her just getting out of the hospital last week. The baby has seemed to be draining the life out of her face and I worry she isn’t getting her strength back like she should. She had a meeting today with Mr. Yung that I had begged her to cancel. Skylar had insisted I not worry and promised that she wouldn’t overdo it. I know she enjoys what she does, but to be honest I wish she would just quit. I can more than take care of us. If I don’t work another day, our grandchildren will still be set for a lifetime. I know money. It is my business, but it isn’t my life. Skylar is everything to me. She is the missing piece to my puzzle. Now that the baby is in the picture, my love for her has only managed to grow more.

  So far, no one knows about the pregnancy but Kylie and myself. She hasn’t even told her sister just yet. That is something that she plans on doing when she comes in to visit in a couple of weeks. I know right now, she is still trying to figure it all out for herself. My feelings haven’t changed. I want her and the baby for the rest of our lives together. I want to hold her hand when she brings this baby into the world, along with a houseful more to join him or her in the future. I haven’t mentioned marriage to her because I don’t want to scare her off. The ring I bought her, before coming out
here to L.A., is burning a hole in my pocket. I want more than anything for her to say “yes” and slip it onto her finger, but I want to do it right, so for now I will wait. I am afraid if I ask her now that she will think I am doing it only because of the baby.

  The baby.

  That brings me to whole new problem. What if she decides to tell Sebastian about the baby? Involving him in this equation is not a good thing. It will mean that from now on, he will have some sort of part in our lives. I am not sure how I feel about sharing any part of Skylar with him. If they equally share this child together, then there will always be a piece of her that I will not fully have.

  The son of a bitch has ripped her to the core once again. I know what he will do once he finds out, and it scares the fucking hell out of me. I don’t want him playing with her mind; he has done that enough. He makes her weak and I refuse to let him move in on what is no longer his. I will not let him this time.

  I drive up to gate and enter the code into the keypad. Slowly, it opens and I drive on up the circle drive and then I park in the front. I had fallen in love with this house the moment my buddy, Chad, had shown it to me. With eight bedrooms and five baths, it is every possible thing any person could want. The house is only two years old and has generated a lot of interest since the seller dropped the asking price a couple of days ago. I had known instantly that I wanted it, but I had hoped Skylar would have been able to come with me to get her opinion. I don’t want her to think that I want to live here permanently, there is only one place I can see us sharing a future together.

  After seeing Skylar at my grandparent’s lake house in Austin, I know for certain that I want to raise my family there, where so many wonderful childhood memories I have still reside. This house here in L.A. is a great investment, but it is no place to bring up a family. This is just to make our life more comfortable right now. Sure, we could just stay at a condo or apartment for the time being, but with Skylar needing to be here for a while longer because of work, I think she needs to feel the peace of being in an actual home. I want her to see the whole picture of what this can be like for us. In a way, I am buying an idea to show her a glimpse into what our life can be like together.