“Good morning, Diana.” The receptionist gave a wide smile, even wider than usual. “These came for you a few minutes ago.”
Diana smiled with pleasure as the girl pointed to the flowers.
“There’s even a card.” Carla passed the card to Diana, who immediately put it in her dress pocket. She didn’t have to look to see who’d sent the flowers. “Thank you.”
Still smiling, she didn’t give in to the girl’s obvious curiosity, only grabbed the heavy vase and walked on through to her office.
“Nice buds!” Willa, their accountant, remarked as Diana passed down the narrow aisle of desks toward her office. Her brown face was still creased with a smile.
“Somebody had a great weekend!” Nora came around the corner, an iPad and her purse in her hands. She glanced at the flowers with a smile. “Did you even make it home after the fund-raiser?”
Diana couldn’t stop the wide grin that tripped across her face. Then she reigned it in at Nora’s look of surprise. “That’s for me to know and you to never find out,” she tossed over her shoulder as she walked into her office. She carefully placed the flowers on her desk and put aside her things before sinking into her chair to open the card.
Diana.
Thank you for a weekend I’ll never forget.
I want to do this again with you soon.
Yours, Marcus.
Diana bit her lip, tugging back the smile that threatened to run away from her. She looked up at the sound of footsteps. Willa stood in the doorway.
“A hot date this weekend?”
Diana wondered how much she should say. She’d never had anything personal to share at the office before. Then she mentally shrugged. “Yes, actually.”
“Good. It’s about time. I’m happy for you.”
Color surged under her skin. It was a well-known secret in the office that she didn’t have much of a life outside of Building Bridges and her family, and it had never bothered Diana before. But something about the other woman’s words made her flush with something like embarrassment. She never minded being the workaholic before. Never minded being the woman who was always at the office before everyone else and the last to leave. The work fulfilled her, gave her everything she needed to be happy.
But now, seeing the look on Willa’s face, remembering the pleased expression Carla wore, she realized how much they must have thought her life was lacking. How much, perhaps, it had been.
But she didn’t want her life’s changes, what there were of them, to simply be because of Marcus Stanfield. Talking with her brother that morning had rankled her more than she liked to admit. It made her doubt Marcus. Made her doubt what she was feeling.
“Willa.” She tapped a finger against her thigh under the desk as she gave second thoughts to what she was about to say. “Have you heard anything about developers buying up the land around here?”
“No, I haven’t. But if something’s happening. Nora would know.” She shrugged, then offered a folder to Diana. “Here is the file for the Williamsons. Their security check and financials came back clean. They’re a go to adopt little Felix.”
Diana shrugged aside her personal concerns as she slid Marcus’s card into the top drawer of her desk and opened the manila folder. “Okay, great. I’ll have Melissa call the agency today to let them know, then we can begin paying the necessary fees to get that little boy into his new home.”
“Great! I have a few more on my desk that should be done by the end of the day.” Willa turned to leave. “Oh, by the way, you did know that the Sorensons were denied, right?”
Diana paused with the folder between her fingers, frowning. “Yes. Our security firm saw some signs that they might be linked to a child sex ring. He contacted Vic over at Miami-Dade Police about them.”
“That’s a damn shame. It just goes to show you never know the true character of the person smiling in your face. That smiling face is not always the real one.”
Once Willa was gone, she forced herself to turn to the task at hand and away from thoughts of Marcus. She turned on her computer and began her tasks for the day.
Once she finished up her morning list, she went to find Nora in her office. She walked in carefully, waiting until her boss got off the phone before asking her the same question she’d asked Willa earlier that morning.
“Have you heard anything about investors buying up property around here?”
The chair squeaked as Nora leaned back. “I heard a few things through the board at my condo. You know I don’t live too far from here.” Nora made a vague gesture north. “I was a little worried but didn’t want to invest too much energy into the rumor in case it isn’t true.” Her boss tapped a pen against her neatly arranged desk. “But in the past week or so, we’ve received a few large donations that will cover the cost of our relocation. If it should come down to that.”
Diana frowned. “Large? How large?” And why didn’t you tell me?
“Over a million dollars.”
Diana blinked in surprise.
“That’s not even including the money from the fund-raiser on Friday night.”
Diana was shocked by the sheer amount of money. The cost of what they did for the children and their prospective families wasn’t cheap—security checks, adoption fees, helping them to get their homes ready for the arrival of a child. Building Bridges had been getting by with steady donations from reliable donors as well as from their annual fund-raisers. But they’d never raised so much money at one time. Suspicion gnawed at her. Was Marcus paying to make his guilt go away?
“That’s great that we have so much now,” she said, dazed by the thoughts swirling through her head. “Really great.”
Suddenly, she needed to talk with Marcus. “Thanks for chatting with me about this,” she said. “I’m going on an errand, but I’ll be back for our meeting later this afternoon.”
Nora didn’t bat an eye. She knew Diana would more than make up for any time she took off. “Okay. See you at the meeting.” She tipped her head in Diana’s direction and turned back to the phone.
Diana left her boss’s office, grabbed her purse and walked home. She wasn’t quite sure where she was going at first. To Marcus’s house? To Trish’s? To her favorite coffee shop to fret more about the situation?
In the end, she found herself at Marcus’s place. At the gate, the guard called Marcus, who gave permission for her to drive up to the house. He was out back on his boat, apparently.
It was barely eleven in the morning, and the air smelled clean and fresh, as if all the filth had been washed away, leaving the world a place where nothing could go wrong. Where everything was right and people did things out of love. It was a naive enough feeling that Diana released her breath with each second that passed.
She parked her car in front of the massive house and took the long walk from the circular drive down the cement path, through a manicured garden and out to the back of the mansion. The exterior was as beautiful as the interior. It was an impressive Spanish style, with the many terraces overlooking the turquoise pool and the bay where Marcus’s boat floated on the water. Sunlight reflected up in a torrid sparkle on the underside of the boat, the Dirty Diana. Water slapped against the white hull in a soothing rhythm.
Diana was staring up at the boat, wondering if she had the courage to board it and confront Marcus when she heard the light sound of footsteps. He appeared on the deck, carefree and handsome in shorts that were loose around his narrow hips and flapped around his knees. His bare chest glistened in the sun.
“Diana! What a surprise.”
He jogged across the deck and climbed quickly from the boat, his smile eager and unrestrained. “Did you get my flowers?”
Marcus was so beautiful. It was all she could do not to throw herself into his arms. Diana took a few careful steps back. “Are you buying up the land in Baltree Heights?”
He stopped short. The smile dropped from his face like a lead balloon. His look said it all.
She sucked
in a breath, surprised by how much it hurt. “Marcus…” His name left her mouth in a hoarse whisper. She blinked from the sudden tears, her fist tight against her belly. “How could you do that?”
The muscle clenched in his jaw. “The plan was set in motion long before I met you,” he said.
“Does it matter? You’re displacing dozens of people. You’re ruining the community.”
“Nothing is ruined, Diana. It’s business. Everyone who owned property will be well-compensated for their land. You know that.”
“But what about Building Bridges? What about the people in the neighborhood who can’t afford to go anywhere else? What about the people whose taxes are going up once you come in and rip apart the community?” She bit her lip before she could say anymore. “I thought you were better than that.”
“It’s not the end of the world, Diana. I’m sure we can work something out for Building Bridges.”
“Like the money you helped us raise? Nearly half a million dollars, Marcus? Is that how much it cost to appease your conscience?”
“This is not about my conscience. It’s about taking care of the nonprofit so it can find a new home without an interruption in its business.” He paused. “Nora doesn’t see anything wrong with it.”
“Nora?” She made a dismissive sound. “She’s too naive to know any better.” Diana shook her head, unable to believe he was so cavalier about what he was doing to both the nonprofit and to the neighborhood. He of all people should know the importance of investing in black communities so they could thrive instead of being gobbled up and forced out like so many others across the country.
He moved toward her, a hand stretched out. “Diana, please see my perspective—”
She flinched from him. “I just can’t believe you’d be so selfish when you could have bought land in any other part of the city. Make your millions some other way aside from at the expense of the people in Baltree Heights. Your people.”
“Don’t bring race into this conversation.”
“It never left the conversation.” She clenched her teeth and stepped back from him. “I can’t look at you right now. I just can’t.” Her chin wobbled with the onset of tears, but she steadied it. “You’re not the man I thought you were.” She turned to walk away.
But he grabbed her arm. “I am that man. The actions of this deal do not reflect who I am.” His hand was hot around her upper arm. “I’m a good man, Diana. I’m the man for you.”
She jerked her arm away from him, or she at least tried to. “No, Marcus. You’re neither of those things. You’re just as opportunistic and heartless as your father. Worse. At least he never led anyone to believe he is anything other than what he is.”
He released her suddenly, his face abruptly shuttered. The look almost made her take back what she said. Almost. She was so accustomed to his open look. Laughter. Desire. Tenderness. Not this blank page she couldn’t read. She felt herself weakening.
No. It wasn’t just about her and Marcus. Not only had he betrayed her, but he also had betrayed her community and the work she was doing.
Diana left him there. She left the dock and the boat that bore her name and the man whose face she no longer recognized. In her car, the tears flowed freely, running down her face in a blinding stream. Her fingernails dug into the steering wheel as she forced herself to navigate the car down the long drive and through the high steel gates. She had trusted him. Opened herself up to him, and all the while he had been planning this?
Her mother was right. Her brother was right. Marcus was no better than his father. She drove away from the mansion weighed down by the most sadness she’d carried in a long time. The betrayal cut more deeply than she ever thought possible. Trapped in a well of grief, Diana drove to her house, parked the car in her garage and turned off the engine. She sat there in the dark for a long while, not knowing what else to do.
Chapter 21
Diana didn’t know how she was able to go back to work, but she did. She finished the work day, even stayed late, clearing her mind of everything but what she needed to do her job. She didn’t talk to Nora about the sale of the land and their building. She figured her boss would find out about it soon enough and take the necessary steps. Diana’s main concern was making sure that none of their plans and cases got interrupted or derailed because of the move.
At nearly eight o’clock, she left the office and went home. She walked into her darkened house, wanting to talk to somebody. Anybody. The conversation she’d had with Marcus still weighed heavily on her. Beyond her capacity to carry alone.
She called Trish.
“What’s wrong?” Trish asked the question before Diana could get past “Hello.”
Diana bit her trembling lip as she sat down on the bed. “It—”
“Don’t say it’s nothing. I can tell you have something going on from all the way over here.” The sound of rustling came through the phone. Trish in her own bed across town. “Do you want me to come over there?”
“No, no.” She pressed her lips together.
“Is it about Marcus Stanfield?”
There was no use denying it. “Yes.”
“What did he do?”
Haltingly, the words came from her lips. Their hookup at the dinner party. Their easy passion. The betrayal.
“The whole time he was romancing me, he was planning to destroy Building Bridges!” she sobbed.
Trish let her cry for a moment. Then she sighed softly through the phone. “Don’t you think you’re being a little dramatic about that, Diana? It’s just business. And all this started before you two got together.”
“Why do you always take his side?” Diana sniffed and wiped away the tears with the back of her hand.
“It’s not his side, honey,” Trish said. “I’m on the side of whatever makes you happy. If—”
The sound of another call coming through interrupted her friend’s voice. Diana looked down at the phone. It was Marcus. Her breath caught.
“What is it?”
Diana stuttered, then tried again until his name came out of her mouth. “It’s Marcus on the other line.”
“Answer it!”
“No!”
“Yes. See if he has anything different to say.”
They argued fiercely back and forth while the tone rang insistently in Diana’s ear.
“Go answer it, or I’m going to call him back myself,” Trish finally said.
Diana clicked over. “Hello.”
It was nothing but dead air for a moment. Silence. Then the sound of breath. His voice. Her stomach clenched hard. Her heartbeat was deafening in her ears.
“Diana. I killed the deal.” Another breath. “I don’t want this to come between us. I know you don’t understand my point of view, but I see yours. I understand.”
Her tight grip on the phone loosened as the lump tightened in her throat. “Okay. Thanks.”
Silence again. His breath. Her breath.
“I’ll talk with you another time,” she said, then hung up the phone without waiting for his response. She went back to the call with Trish.
“What did he say?”
“That the deal is off. He won’t buy in Baltree Heights anymore.”
Trish made a noise of triumph. “See? I told you he was a good guy.”
Diana twisted and untwisted the hem of her nightgown between her fingers. It was more than that. It hurt her deeply that he had been willing to go through with it despite knowing how much Building Bridges meant to her. The betrayal ran deeply through her. But even she had to admit his leaving Baltree Heights alone went a long way toward fixing things between them.
“I can’t believe he was willing to do that, Trish.”
“Honey, he may give money to charity, but he’s still a businessman. I’ve dated men who had their eye on Baltree Heights. If Marcus doesn’t snap it up, it’s only a matter of time before someone else does.” Trish’s breath blew against the phone. “He must be throwing away millions of dollar
s because of you.”
“Not because of me. Because he’s doing the right thing.”
Trish sighed again. “Sometimes I wonder at how naive you are, honey.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The world does not run on sunshine and flowers. To be able to do the things you do, someone has to get down in the muck and deal with the filth of life.”
“But he’s not doing that—he’s selling our neighborhoods!”
“Enough of this pointless debate,” Trish said with exasperation in her voice. “Let’s go out for a drink. You can give me all the details of Marcus’s stroking technique in person.”
Diana drew a swift breath. “Trish!”
“What?” Trish asked. “It’s not like I’m asking you for a show-and-tell.”
Chapter 22
Marcus disconnected the call with Diana and sank back in his chair, putting his cell phone on the table. On the other side of the boat, Seven was stretched out on one of the leather benches, ankles crossed, a whiskey sour in his hand. The ocean lapped against the hull, the sound reaching Marcus through the open portholes.
“Did you lose that woman with your typical foolishness?” Seven asked. His wedding ring clinked against the glass as he sipped his drink.
“Not the typical kind,” Marcus said, cursing himself for the hundredth time since Diana came to see him.
“At least she picked up your call,” Seven said.
“Yeah…I was worried for a minute that she wouldn’t.” Marcus couldn’t stop the twinge of anxiety that clenched his jaw.
“Did you really stop the deal?” Seven raised an eyebrow in his direction.
“Of course. I wouldn’t lie to her.”
“Only by omission,” Seven said with a wry twist of his mouth.
Even knowing what his friend said was the truth, Marcus made an irritated noise. He tapped his fingers against the table, wincing at the memory of Diana’s visit that morning.
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