Someone Like You

by Brittney Sahin

  Bella sinks onto my bed next to the box.

  “What’s wrong?” I stand upright and focus my attention on her.

  “Just sad about Grace.” She tucks her lip between her teeth and fidgets with her hands on her lap.

  “She made her decision.” I grab another stack of T-shirts and set them in the box, then I use both palms to press them down as if that’ll actually make them fit.

  “I’m sorry. I guess you two just weren’t—”

  “You were right.” I grab the shirts from the box and toss them on the bed in frustration. I move the box and sit next to her.

  She finally looks at me. “I didn’t want to be right.”

  “Well, I wasn’t in the best place to be getting involved with anyone—especially someone like her.”

  “You’ll meet someone someday. Give it time.” She stands, grabs another flat box, and starts folding it.

  I grab the tape roll and toss it to her. “I don’t want to meet anyone.” It hurts too goddamn much. “Let’s just pack and not talk about this anymore. Okay?”

  She sets the box she’s taped together on the bed and reaches for the T-shirts I tossed. “Sure.”

  “And, Bella?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do me a favor. Never mention her name again.”

  “Cindy?”

  My jaw tightens. “Grace.”

  I have no idea why Bella and Jessica brought me to this place. There’s not a chance in hell I can afford it. I leave the master bedroom and head back into the living area, where the realtor is talking to them.

  “And we’re here because…?” I lean my hip against the kitchen island.

  “You need to live close to Cindy’s. It will increase your chances of getting joint custody,” Bella says, and the realtor just raises her blond brows and smiles.

  The court date is in two weeks, which means I need to get my shit together. “I can’t afford this place. I don’t even want to know how much it costs.” I push away from the counter and start for the door.

  “We have the investment. We can put some of that money toward the rent here,” Bella says from behind me, and I turn to face her.

  “No. We need that for the business.”

  Jessica steps in front of me. “Let me help you.”

  “No.”

  “Don’t be a stubborn ass. Do you want Lily to be able to stay with you or not?” She crosses her arms, trying to stare me down. “Cindy might win if you rent some one-bedroom place across the river.”

  “Better than the boat,” I grumble, hating that I’m getting rid of the thing.

  I was planning on keeping it since I’m taking an actual paycheck from the business now, thanks to Jessica and Luke’s investment, but it’s nowhere near enough to cover a place like this. And…the boat reminds me of Grace now.

  I don’t need any reminders of her, of the way she made me feel during those few weeks we were supposed to be only screwing. Yeah, sure…as if that’s all it was.

  “I want to help,” Jessica says.

  Bella comes up next to her, and the realtor disappears, giving us some space to talk.

  “And I said no.”

  “Then work for me.” Jessica’s shoulders lift as she exhales a frustrated breath.

  “What?” Bella looks at her.

  “We could use another guy for a job. It shouldn’t take too long. Five days. Maybe seven. You’d be done in time for the court hearing,” Jessica says. “It pays fifty thousand.”

  Fifty thousand?

  My fingers rush through my hair as I process the amount. How can I turn that down?

  But I promised myself I wouldn’t do anything dangerous anymore, risking leaving Lily without a father.

  But Lily might lose me anyway if I don’t do this.

  “I’ll give you the money up front so you can put a deposit on this place.” Jess places her hand on my forearm. “It’s an easy job.”

  “How easy can it be if it pays fifty Gs?” I need to say yes, though. She’s right about this apartment. It might help me secure at least the weekends with Lily. It’s less than five minutes from Cindy’s, and it has two large bedrooms, a great kitchen, and even a pool on top of the building, which Lily would love.

  “Then take the fifty and don’t do the job—that works for me too,” Jessica says, avoiding eye contact with Bella.

  But she already knows I won’t take a handout.

  I raise a brow. “Do I get a gun?”

  “Maybe even two,” she says as her hand leaves my arm.

  I shut my eyes. It’s been eight months since I’ve been in the military. Eight months since I’ve shot a gun or suited up. If I go back into this world—will I ever be able to leave it?

  My eyes flash open as my body tenses, and my heart starts hammering. “I’m in.”

  “I thought you only did bodyguard gigs and stuff.” I look at Luke as a broad grin spreads across his face.

  “This is the ‘and stuff.’” He points at an image on a computer screen. We’re in a hotel in Boston’s South Ward. “Timothy. Age five. He was taken three days ago.”

  “Ransom?” I ask, eyeing the kid who’s the same age as Lily. My stomach tightens at the thought of any asshole ever kidnapping my daughter.

  “Yeah. Parents were told if they contacted the Feds, they’d kill their son.”

  “How’d they find you?”

  “The father is friends with a buddy of mine.”

  “The two of us against an unknown number of kidnappers, huh?” I fold my arms. I’ve been in much worse situations, but they were a lot different. They were government-issued ops.

  “I’ve got them tracked to within a square mile of this area,” he says while pulling up a map and zooming in on the screen. “Once we narrow it down, we’ll go in.”

  “Rules of engagement? Because last time I checked, shooting people was still illegal in the US.”

  “Not if it’s self-defense. And I’ll give my friend at the Boston FBI office a call right after we’ve secured the kid.”

  “Not before?”

  “I don’t want any Feds fucking things up for us. I want this to be a quick in and out.”

  Yeah, that’d be ideal.

  He cocks his head, studying me. “You sure you’re good?”

  Do I look hesitant?

  Shit, I have a lot on my mind, which isn’t good. When I was a SEAL, I had learned to become two different people because the person I needed to be on the field couldn’t worry about dying or leaving a widow or a fatherless child…

  “You can back out. I can handle this.”

  I glance at the bed where he’s got pistols and rifles laid out. There’s a slight twitch in my hand as I go to them and reach for a Sig P220. I run my fingers over the gleaming metal and look at Luke.

  “I’ve got your back,” I say, and he nods. “Is this going to be a kill or capture mission?”

  “Guess we’ll find out when we get there.”

  23

  Grace

  I slip on my black slacks. I have zero desire to dress up for dinner with Patrick and his family at my parents’ tonight. No dress or skirt—nothing to give him any glimmer of hope that he’ll ever touch me. It’s almost eighty outside, but I’m tempted to put on a turtleneck just to cover as much skin as possible.

  I zip the pants and look at my phone on the bathroom counter in front of me. It’s a message from Bella.

  Unfortunately, we’ll be passing on the Hamptons job. Thank you, though, for the consideration.

  My hand darts to my stomach as I go into my bedroom and read the message again. I settle down on my bed. I’ve been expecting this after what happened between Noah and me, but it still hurts. Part of me was hoping I’d get to see him again.

  If he remodeled my house, maybe there’d still be hope for us.

  But how?

  I have to pull myself out of this mess without Noah getting hurt in the process.

  Well…more hurt. I already stuck a knife in him w
ith what I said. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive myself for recycling the words my parents said to me about him—to him.

  But Noah’s not the type of man to give up so easily. I witnessed that during his fight for Lily, and even when he stood in front of me, offering to fight my family with me.

  I had to say what I did to make sure he would give up on me, give up on the idea of us, even if I never want to give up on the idea. It was a crazy idea to start with—there ever being an us.

  But somehow it became crazier for there not to be.

  I stopped caring about my name, what my friends or family would think—I just knew I had to be with him.

  And the second I gave in to that, he was taken from me.

  The goddamn world was against us from the start. We never had a chance.

  I’ve never cried over a man before. I’ve never cared enough about one. But my insides have been a shaky mess, my stomach doing a gymnastic routine as my eyes have been blurred by tears every day since Noah left my office.

  I want to type a message back to Bella to apologize or say something to make this right. But what can I possibly say? The truth?

  “The truth is kind of our thing, right?” Noah’s words come back to me as I stand and toss my phone on the bed, my stomach squeezing as though I might be sick.

  I’ve barely slept in the week since I ended things with him. Between the pain and the nightmares about Number Four…I’m beginning to feel as though I’m losing my mind.

  I try to figure out how I’m going to keep my shit together as my driver takes me to my parents’ place.

  “You okay?” Frank asks, his eyes on me in the rearview mirror.

  Frank has been with our family since before my father took control of the company thirty-three years ago. He started as my grandparents’ driver, then Dad’s driver before he switched to me. I don’t know how he’s tolerated being with our family for so long.

  “I’m being forced to marry someone I hate,” I admit without hesitation. Frank has known me forever, and he would never betray me. It feels good, to be honest.

  “The Grace I know would never be forced to do anything.”

  I wonder if I ever let Frank know the real me. Which person have I been around him? The Ice Queen Bitch or the woman beneath the mask—the woman Noah revealed again? Noah chipped away the ice. It became nothing more than a puddle at my feet. All that was left was me. The real me.

  “You know my father. Once his mind is made up…”

  “Yeah, and I also know he was in love with someone else before he was forced to marry your mother.” He parks the car at the curb, but he doesn’t get out.

  “What are you talking about?” My breath hitches as I lean forward and press a palm to the edge of his seat.

  He shifts and faces me, his eyes finding mine. So much warmth there. “Her name was Jane. She was taking night classes at an art school while waitressing during the day.” His brows pull together, and my heartbeat quickens as I wait for him to finish. “Her dad swept the floors at the high school. Her mom was a teacher.”

  I swallow, thinking about my hard-ass grandfather. “And grandpa didn’t approve?”

  He shakes his head. “It was your grandmother. She refused to allow him to see her anymore once she found out.”

  “No. That can’t be…” My house in the Hamptons was hers. She was different than everyone else. “You must be mistaken.”

  I reach for the door handle, my fingers trembling because I can’t possibly imagine my grandmother denying true love. I only remember her telling me about her hopes and dreams for me, ones that involved being the opposite of my dad.

  “Your father was pushed into the marriage with your mom a few months later. And your dad never forgave her for that.” He sighs.

  “She wasn’t like that, though.” I drop my hand to my lap.

  “When she saw what your father became after his marriage—cold, hard, ruthless…like her own husband—I think she changed.” He smiles. “She became carefree. A little crazy at times, but in a good way.”

  Holy shit. “And now he’s doing the same thing to me.”

  Frank gets out of the car, comes around to open my door, and holds his hand out for me. “The question is—are you going to let him?”

  I take his hand and get out, looking at him as I do. “It’s never that simple.”

  “Nothing worth fighting for ever is.”

  “Shall we toast?” Mom raises her champagne flute, but I can’t bring myself to celebrate this sham of a marriage.

  Everyone looks at me, though. Waiting.

  Patrick’s sitting opposite me, his head angled, his cold eyes narrowed. “To our engagement.” He extends his glass my way.

  My stomach twists. “I, uh, need some air. Excuse me.” I push back from the table.

  “Grace,” my father rasps.

  I look at Corbin, not Cade, for some sort of interference. If I don’t get out of this dining room, I’m going to suffocate—officially drown like I almost did twenty years ago.

  “Cade pissed off the mayor last night by taking all of his money in a card game,” Corbin says and winks at me.

  “What?” my mom shrieks.

  I hear Dad call my name, but I’ve already rushed into the kitchen and am headed straight for the closest terrace. Their home occupies the entire floor of the building, and their massive outdoor living space wraps around the outside like one big Saturn ring.

  An outdoor garden thirty stories above the ground. I used to love it when I was a kid. I’d play my cello outside when I was home during the summers in order to escape the noise inside—the noise of complete silence. I never knew silence could be so loud…but it’s possible.

  I go over to the edge of the deck and grip the railing, looking onto the city and feeling a little like Rose in Titanic, when she makes her quick exit from dinner.

  But that was a movie, and this is real life.

  And Jack isn’t about to rescue me. I’d give anything for Noah to, though.

  “You shouldn’t have taken off like that.”

  Patrick’s voice slides over my skin, burning me, and when his hand touches my back and starts to slip south, I spin around and reach up to smack him. He catches my wrist quickly and pins me to the railing. My arm is caught between his chest and mine, so I try to use my other to shove at him, but he grabs that one too.

  “Let go of me,” I hiss as he presses his body even harder against me.

  “Or what? You’re going to be my wife in three weeks. And then when we’re in London, I’ll make you scream my name, beg me for more.”

  “Let go,” I demand again, ignoring his disgusting words as I struggle.

  “Take your fucking hands off my sister.”

  Patrick’s forehead creases in surprise, then Cade’s hand is on his shoulder, ripping him away from me.

  Cade’s jaw is locked tight, his chest slowly expanding as he takes a deep breath. He grabs the lapels of Patrick’s blazer and yanks him forward. “Get the hell out of here!”

  “She’s mine. What’s wrong with you?” Patrick shakes his head and tries to back away. “And you can’t do a goddamn thing about it.”

  I stare at them as I try to digest what’s going on. My body tenses and I’m back in that hotel room in Greece…only this time it’s Cade there to protect me.

  “I’m not going to ask you again,” Cade warns, even though I barely hear him.

  My shoulders tremble, and my hand goes to my chest as Cade punches Patrick in the face.

  “Bloody hell!” Patrick’s hands go to his nose, and he looks at me then back at Cade before heading into the house.

  “You okay?” Cade comes my way, but I flinch.

  “Why’d you help me?”

  He doesn’t say anything. His lips draw tight, then he reaches for my arm and gently grabs my elbow. “Come on, you took off right before I was about to make an important announcement.”

  I blink a few times, surprise warming my s
kin as I allow him to lead me back inside—terrified of how this will all go down.

  “What did you do?” Richard Pierson yells the second he sees Cade.

  Patrick’s not in the room, nor is his mom, so the bastard is probably getting cleaned up in the bathroom.

  “Nothing he didn’t deserve.” Cade scratches the back of his head and looks at Corbin and nods.

  What am I missing?

  “You better start talking, or the engagement and merger are off!” Richard comes around in front of Cade.

  Cade shakes his head. “You won’t call it off. You need us. You’re so goddamn desperate that you thought marrying your son off before the merger would be the only way to ensure we didn’t back out of the deal when we found out about all of the shit you’re in.”

  “What the hell are you talking about, Son?” Dad grips the back of his chair, his knuckles whitening.

  “You did your due diligence on these guys—but you didn’t look deep enough.” Cade tips his head Corbin’s way and Corbin pulls out his phone, taps the screen, and tosses it to Dad.

  Everything is happening so fast, and I’m afraid I’ll miss something from the loud sound of my heartbeat pulsing in my neck.

  “I have a friend at MI5 in London, and I had him dig a little deeper into your company. Apparently”—Cade looks at my Dad—“he lied to us about his financials. He’s facing major tax evasion, among other things, and he’s been using his name and title to bail him out for the last few years. But at some point, he’ll need a deal or the company will collapse.” Cade points at the phone in my Dad’s hand. “It’s all there.”

  Dad reaches into his pocket for his glasses, slips them on, and swipes at the screen.

  Patrick comes back in the room with a bandage covering his nose. “That’s not true.”

  “It looks that way,” Dad says under his breath.