CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Jarryd stared at the text he’d received. What a total surprise. Erin was asking how he was.
It had been more than a month since he’d had communication with any one of his and Marilyn’s mutual friends. While the ball was still firmly in his court in terms of explaining what had happened, he was glad that one of them was reaching out to him. But, damn, what timing.
Sighing, he poised his thumb over the keypad, debating what he should say. Well, the question was short and sweet, so hopefully a quick answer should suffice.
*Hi, Erin. I’m okay, thanks. Hope you and Brad are well.*
Erin’s response was swift.
*I’ve just come out of a meeting with a client close to your office. Want to go for a quick drink?*
He let out a harsh sigh. How should he handle this? Pressing his lips together, he texted back.
*Sorry, I’m not in the office. I’m at a work site. Next time, maybe?*
There. He’d just have to make sure he didn’t go out of the office until much later. Erin might see him and discover he’d been lying. The phone vibrated in his hand.
*Sure. I’ll be back at my client’s tomorrow and on Wednesday. Any chance then?*
Argh.
*Unfortunately, I won’t be coming to the office at all this week. Maybe I’ll let you know when?*
*Okay, definitely let me know. We’re worried about you and want to see how you’re doing.*
*Thanks, Erin. I appreciate that.*
And he did appreciate it. Big time. Someone was finally willing to give him the benefit of the doubt regarding this debacle. It wasn’t Marilyn, but would Erin have approached him like this without Marilyn’s blessing? He’d like to think she was aware. That would mean she still cared a little bit, right?
He shook his head. What good could come out of endless hoping? It kept him in an emotional roller coaster that zapped him of vitality.
So no more hoping, just like no more pleading with Marilyn. It would be much better to focus his time and energy on things that were likely to give him results.
*****
Jarryd entered his office building and stopped as if he just hit a brick wall.
“Hi!” Erin said, standing up from the waiting room couch.
“Hi,” he answered, dazed.
Erin smiled tentatively before walking up to him and kissing him on the cheek. “I know you said you wouldn’t be in, but I took the chance since I was around already. Your receptionist said you’d be back at two thirty and didn’t have any appointments booked for the rest of the day, so I thought I’d wait.”
His brain scrambled for an excuse. “I did have something else on, but it got cancelled. I was going to let you know, but I have other work that I need to get done. Glad you’re here, though.”
“I should have called first. Do you have time for a quick drink? Or a scoop of gelato?”
He smiled. Could he really turn down a friend who was reaching out to him? “Sure. Gelato sounds nice.”
They strolled to the café down the street, making small talk about Erin and Brad’s upcoming wedding. The invitations hadn’t gone out yet, and he wondered if he was still going to be invited. He didn’t want to ask right now, though.
He’d never felt this uneasy talking to a good friend, and he wasn’t looking forward to getting to the nitty-gritty. Surely Erin hadn’t popped by for only a light catch-up.
They ordered their treats and sat at an available table.
“So how have you been?” Erin asked.
“Like crap,” he said honestly. “I haven’t exactly been having fun since Christmas Eve.”
Erin let out a sigh. “You said you’d be contacting us to explain your side of the story. How come you haven’t yet?”
His lips tugged up mirthlessly. “I still don’t know how to prove that Patrick’s allegations are untrue. There’s nothing new for me to say and, frankly, I’m afraid that no one would believe my word against Patrick.”
“But you’ve been asking Marilyn to listen to you.”
His heart felt a telltale pinch. “Yes, because she thought—thinks—that I’ve used her. I’m desperate for her not to believe that, so I’ve been trying to get her to talk to me. Obviously, I’m out of luck in that regard.”
“What is the truth, Jarryd?”
He looked Erin in the eye, grateful for the question and not bothering to hide his emotions. “I didn’t coerce, manipulate, force or intimidate Margaret into writing a new will for my benefit. We didn’t even talk about me inheriting anything from her at all.”
“Why didn’t you tell us who you really are? Didn’t you think we’d have kept your secret if you asked us to?”
“I trust you guys. But from the very beginning, I promised Margaret I’d keep our relationship quiet until she was ready for the world to know. She was a big deal and it was her story to tell. Then a few months after she died, Patrick O’Neill started accusing me of stealing his inheritance. By that time, I just couldn’t come out and say, ‘Hey, I’m having a problem with the famous Patrick O’Neill of Biz Q&A thinking I’m a scamming thief.’ Besides, Greeves Minerals was still in negotiations to buy Well of Brilliance, and I’d promised our CEO I’d stay quiet to avoid any unwanted publicity. As for Marilyn, I didn’t expect to fall for her so hard and so fast. But the fact that I did made me even more afraid because I had so much more to lose. I was biding my time, but everything caught up with me.”
Erin stared at him long and hard, and he didn’t flinch.
“I hope you’re telling me the truth, Jarryd, because I want to help you sort things out with Marilyn.”
He smiled sadly. “Thank you. But I’d rather she believes what I say to her than what you say to her. I’m going to lie low for a while and concentrate on finding ways to convince Patrick he’s wrong about me. Please don’t worry about talking to Marilyn on my behalf. There’s no point when she can’t trust me. And right now, I have no means to earn back her trust.”
Erin was quiet for a long moment until her eyes moistened. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For implying I don’t fully believe you.”
His own eyes stung. “Thank you. That means a lot. But there’s no need to apologise. I’d probably be more suspicious of me if I saw things from your point of view.”
“So what are you gonna do? Do you have a current plan?”
He shook his head. “Nothing that’s guaranteed to improve my situation. Anyway, I better head back. I do have a bit to do. I’ve neglected work for a few weeks and I’m now paying the price.”
“We should catch up again,” Erin said softly.
He stood up and gave Erin a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for listening to me. You take care of yourself, okay?” Then he walked away.
He wasn’t going to make promises he couldn’t keep. He had a role to play and he wasn’t going to do anything that would jeopardise what little chance of success it had. He might come out empty-handed, as it would be a complete stab in the dark, but he was going ahead with it. He couldn’t see any other opportunity to get his life back on track.
*****
Jarryd frowned when the security intercom buzzed. Who’d be calling to see him at nine o’clock on a Friday night without prior notice?
Maybe he should ignore it. He most definitely wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone after watching the latest episode of Biz Q&A.
Marilyn had been in it, and she’d been wonderful. She’d mentioned Grant Ace now owning Well of Brilliance without sounding salesy or gimmicky, and she’d given sound, actionable and compassionate advice to the three budding entrepreneurs who’d just ventured into the jungle that was the world of business.
But obviously, fucking Patrick O’Neill had cemented his friendship with the Grants. And it was clear Marilyn had taken Patrick’s side.
His heart writhed some more.
He had no idea what was keeping Patrick from challenging the will. Perhaps holdin
g off was part of his tactic to ensure his success? Who knew what the man planned? In any case, Patrick was already winning. Jarryd was miserable.
The intercom sounded again and curiosity made him answer it.
“Hey, Jarryd. It’s Tash and Cassie. We’ve come to say hi.”
Tash and Cassie?
He raked his hair with his fingers. Why the hell were they here?
“Hey, girls. Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll come down to meet you.”
“Can we come up?”
“Uh, sure.” He buzzed them in and stood by the open door as he waited for them to climb up two flights of stairs. They’d sounded friendly, and he bet Erin had spoken to them and had given her opinion on his situation. Had Erin spoken to Marilyn too?
Well, if she had, Marilyn had clearly not shared Erin’s belief that he was innocent. Otherwise, Marilyn wouldn’t have gone on Biz Q&A, would she? He let out a sigh.
“Hey, girls, good to see you,” Jarryd said as the two appeared at the top of the stairwell.
The hugs the women gave him were warm and it made him feel somewhat better.
“Carter and Gavin are out somewhere, so we had dinner by ourselves,” Natasha said as they went inside his apartment. “We thought we’d drop by because we were passing through here.”
“Right. Want some coffee or tea? Or milk?” He glanced at their tummies and smiled at Cassie’s slightly obvious bump. Natasha was wearing a loose top and he couldn’t tell if she was showing already.
“Just water, please,” Cassie said. “We’ve already had herbal tea with our meal. Have you had dinner?”
“Uh, yeah,” he said unconvincingly, going to the kitchen as he poured water for his visitors. He hadn’t eaten anything since he’d had an early lunch with a client. He had been hungry and had planned to order pizza or something, but seeing Marilyn on Biz Q&A had totally robbed him of all appetite.
Come to think of it, hadn’t Cassie and Natasha watched the show?
“Hey, didn’t you see Marilyn on Biz Q&A tonight?” he asked casually as he rejoined them in the living room.
“Yes,” Cassie answered.
“Where? I thought you went out to dinner.”
Both women flushed.
“We had dinner at my place,” Cassie said. “Then Tash and I thought we’d go out to have dessert, but decided to drop by here instead.”
“Why, thanks. It’s unexpected, I have to say,” Jarryd said lightly.
There was a moment of silence before Natasha spoke. “Erin told us that she saw you the other day. We thought we’d give you a chance to explain too.”
He inhaled deeply, touched. “Thank you.”
“So... anything else you want to say?”
He rubbed his jaw. “Apart from what I’ve told Erin? Not really. I’m still nowhere near coming up with anything that would counter Patrick’s allegations. Is there something you particularly want to ask me?”
“Did you ever lie to Marilyn?” Cassie asked, her tone a tad challenging.
“Yes. Lies of omission, mainly, as you already know.”
“I mean about your feelings for her.”
“No. Never,” he said quietly, meeting their gazes frankly. “In the beginning, I kept the truth from her because of my loyalty to Margaret’s memory. But it didn’t take long before my reason also became the fear of losing her. Obviously, I stuffed everything up because I lost her anyway, in the worst possible way.”
He saw the look in their eyes turn from uncertainty to compassion.
“She’s still very hurt,” Natasha murmured.
He nodded. “That’s understandable. She’d been betrayed by a guy before, so I don’t blame her for reacting the way she did, considering the circumstances.” But, damn, understanding her reaction didn’t lessen the pain in any way.
“Give her time,” Cassie said sympathetically. “When she’s ready, we’ll be happy to arrange for the two of you to meet.”
He looked down on the floor. “Thank you, but please don’t worry about it. Like I told Erin, I have nothing right now that would rebuild her trust in me, and I’d rather she doesn’t think of me at all than think of me with hate and anger. Besides, it’s become more complicated now that she’s appearing on Biz Q&A. I have to respect her decision.”
“What are you saying?” Natasha asked, her brows furrowing.
“I’m asking you to let her be.”
“You don’t want us to talk to her about you?”
Jarryd shook his head in confirmation, trying to stop his eyes from misting. He didn’t know what the future held for him. If he would forever be a subject of suspicion due to Patrick’s public profile, Marilyn would be better off not being connected to him. His story would be picked up by the media once it became known that he was Margaret O’Neill’s son. And when it came to that, Patrick could make his life a complete hell regardless of the legal outcome of a will challenge. He might have his billions, but what good would that do if nobody trusted him? He didn’t want to drag Marilyn or Grant Ace down with him if he couldn’t find a way out of the hole he’d fallen into.
He missed Marilyn so damned much. But he wasn’t going to put her in a position where she could be exposed to more hurt. And if he couldn’t clear his name, he couldn’t see how they could be together again.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Marilyn glanced surreptitiously at her friends as she lowered herself into Jade’s swimming pool. Lunch had come and gone, and they were now about to enjoy delicious treats prepared by the Biltons’ chef for afternoon tea, but the five still hadn’t brought up the topic she’d been waiting for all week: Jarryd.
They’d agreed to this mini pool party the last time they’d met for dinner at her place, with Jade offering to host. The men had also been invited, but they’d arranged a boys’ get-together elsewhere to ensure that the women got to discuss freely amongst themselves.
Marilyn was grateful for the men’s thoughtfulness, but she was disappointed that there had been no discussion happening among the girls yet—at least, not the important one she’d been expecting.
“I wonder what the guys are doing right now,” Lexie said, sitting next to her on an underwater bench.
“They’re probably still enjoying their fishing without some of us girls complaining of nausea or boredom,” Jade said from a deckchair beside them.
Cassie snickered. “Carter just sent me a photo of him and Brad posing with their catches.”
“Oh, really? I better check my phone,” Erin said, getting out of the pool.
“You know that Gavin’s never had any luck with fishing?” Natasha said. “It frustrates the hell out of him, and he’ll probably be the last to want to leave because he’d still be trying to catch one when everyone else is ready to go home.”
“I wonder if Simon brought a date with him,” Lexie mused. “When Rick told him about today, Simon said he’d already promised to spend the day with a model who’d asked him out. But he also said he wouldn’t mind going fishing with the boys. Rick said to take whoever she was with him, if she didn’t mind spending the day with men.”
Erin laughed. “If she knew how hunky all those men are, I’m sure she wouldn’t have said no. But if she’s there, I hope she knows she can only flirt with Simon.”
“Or Tristan or Derek,” Jade quipped. “You know Simon. If he’s decided to forgo a day alone with one woman, he’s not that interested in her.”
Marilyn wanted to roll her eyes, having had enough of waiting for the “main event”. “Hey, girls, are we ever going to talk about Jarryd? Didn’t we say that some of you would try to contact him last week? Has anyone managed to do that?”
Her friends looked at each other.
“So you do want us to talk about him?” Natasha asked.
“Of course.”
“Well, we were just waiting for you,” Cassie said.
“Why? I thought talking about him was one of the main reasons we’re having this pool party.”
; Erin let out a heavy sigh. “He asked us not to force you into discussing him, so we thought we’d wait until you brought him up.”
“What do you mean?”
Erin swam to sit next to her. “I saw Jarryd on Wednesday and Tash and Cassie saw him last night. The three of us believe he’s telling the truth.”
Her heart banged rapidly in her chest, as if saying “I told you so” in an emphatic fashion.
“And it wasn’t so much what he said, but how he said it,” Cassie murmured.
Natasha nodded. “It was his demeanour, his expression. I know dishonest men could be excellent actors, but I’d say even those kinds of people wouldn’t be able to fake emotions as quickly and as clearly as Jarryd did when we mentioned your name.”
“What did he say?” Marilyn whispered.
“Apart from swearing that he didn’t manipulate Margaret into writing a new will, he said that he never lied about his feelings for you.”
Her eyes smarted as her heart continued its frenzied dancing.
“He also said...” Erin paused.
“What?”
“Well, he said that he didn’t want my help in asking you to talk to him because he’d prefer that you believe what he has say rather than what I have to say. He didn’t think there was any point trying to get the two of you to meet because he doesn’t have any proof that would rebuild your trust in him.”
“He’s mad at me?”
“No! He said he totally understands why you reacted like you did.”
“But he doesn’t want to see me or talk to me?”
“Not exactly,” Natasha said. “He thinks you’ve taken Patrick’s side, since you agreed to appear on Biz Q&A. He said he wants to respect your decision.”
“He also said he was scared of losing you, that was why he’d kept the truth hidden for as long as he did,” Cassie supplied. “But he knows he stuffed up and he doesn’t blame you for hating him.”
A tear fell down Marilyn’s cheek. “I don’t think I hate him. But I’m still angry at him. And although I’m interested in what he has to say, I’m scared to allow myself to trust him again. What if he’s just a great actor? Can any of you guarantee that he’s not an opportunistic scammer?”
The Unknown Billionaire (Captured by Love Book 6) Page 14