Elias had been sentenced to a few years in prison, five, because they struck a deal with the district attorney to provide information about other people involved in the matter in exchange for leniency. Piper had a public defender assigned by the State because she did not have the resources to pay for a good lawyer. Unfortunately, her public defender did not do a good job.
Michael thought he could have gotten her a sentence better than twenty-five years, but for Piper’s bad luck, there had been a death related to the case. She said she was trying to help the boy, and that was why her blouse had drops of blood on it when they found her in an abandoned factory. The jury did not believe her. Piper had been sentenced for drug trafficking and homicide in the second degree.
Michael had closely followed the way the young woman had transformed from a skittish girl, as the trial moved forward, into an unshakable source of energy and hope. Until the jury voted, and she found out she would never be free again...
Piper Galloway’s case haunted him, but he knew there was still a way to redeem his conscience. He would redeem it for that Michael that would have given the girl a chance if he could. For that Michael had no choice but to use his whole arsenal to put her in jail.
CHAPTER 13
Rachel knew that Michael would be closing the bank merger agreement in the late afternoon. He was very careful with professional matters, and he was hermetic with the information he could give her. She understood and did not pressure him, except when there were details that could be related to Piper’s past. And even then, Michael knew how much he could say about the subject and any other.
That night they’d decided to watch a movie at home. It wasn’t the best plan she could have thought of, but the winter cold had its grip on the city, so she did not feel like going out. Managing the pressure of the pace Paul set at work, helping Delaney prepare a bachelorette party because her friend needed extra staff, making plans with Michael, and trying to relieve some of her stress in the gym, she felt like she was going crazy. And that was without considering that she hadn’t heard anything from her older sister. She needed to know where she was, but Piper had made it clear that she would get in touch as soon as she could.
She wanted the night to be memorable. The last between her and Michael. He’d given her a key to his house. A show of absolute trust, according to Zayda.
When she’d had the chance to talk to Kyle’s wife alone, days ago at Michelle’s party, she had told Rachel that, after Ingrid’s infidelity, Michael had decided to only have sporadic relationships, and keep them short. That he usually went out with women who he never introduced to his family. And when he had to introduce them to his friends, it wasn’t voluntary, but only when they ran into each other at an event.
“Women who wanted the same thing he did: pleasure without commitment,” Zayda had told her. She had also assured her that whenever those women tried to modify the plan they’d agreed to, Michael left them. It was his usual routine. That’s why Zayda confessed that she was intrigued when Michael had taken her to his goddaughter’s party and, even stranger, had done so of his own free will.
That conversation with Zayda did not lighten her burden. On the contrary. A part of her wanted to make him feel shame, pain... another needed to tell him that she loved him, that she was in love with him. But this other side had no say anymore; Rachel had sent the letter that would change everything an hour ago. She used the local service, so it would take exactly the time she needed to make one last memory with him.
The sound of Michael’s key opening the lock on the front door startled Rachel. She quickly looked at herself in the cabinet mirror. Hair down. Eyes with a touch of makeup. No lipstick. She was barefoot and wore jeans and a red and blue checkered blouse with three-quarter sleeves.
“Hello, darling,” he said when he saw her as she came to meet him. Michael liked knowing that he could find this beautiful, lively woman at home. Perhaps he should find the right moment to ask her to move in with him. He liked the idea of seeing her surrounded by his home more and more. Veronica comforted him and aroused him in a way that no other woman had ever managed. She was special, and he wanted her to himself. It was that type of thought, uncommon since his divorce, that made Michael think that it was time to set his fear of commitment aside. “I love knowing that you feel comfortable here,” he muttered as he kissed her.
She smiled.
“Is that so?”
“Of course,” he replied against those lips that fit so well into his. he kissed her delicately, enjoying her. She sighed, and Michael took the sigh as a welcome key to explore her in more depth.
Michael’s tongue caressed her intimately, and Rachel grabbed his shirt to keep her balance. As if he were a lifeguard. But she did not want sanity. She yearned to get lost in those waves that were starting to drown her with need. To feel him closer. As if that night was the definitive end of their possibilities. And to a large extent, it was.
Michael was unbuttoning her blouse. Her breasts were rising and falling rapidly, and she watched him work his way down her blouse until she was exposed to him.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, caressing the silhouette of her breasts with the back of his hand. “Your skin is soft, and I love every inch of it.” He leaned down to kiss her neck. Rachel threw her head back to give him better access to her skin. He nibbled her earlobe and started to leave a trail of wet kisses and gentle, tempting nibbles.
“Michael...”
“Yes, my love, I know,” he said, taking her bra off deftly. “I’m such a lucky man to have you, Veronica.”
“She could not say anything else, because Michael’s hands were full with her breasts. He caressed them reverently and gave her pleasure with that expert mouth. He sucked, licked, and venerated her in such a way that she thought that any minute, she would have the fastest orgasm of her life, with nothing but Michael’s mouth on her breasts.
Rachel could not stay still. She needed Michael’s skin. To feel him. She liked the contrast of his pectorals covered in nascent hair in a line that descended sensually until it disappeared into the most intimate part of that virile man. The sensations he gave her with his caresses were so intense that she felt her heartbeat frenetically.
“I like your touch,” she confessed.
“As much as I like yours, sweetheart. By the way... do you mind if we hurry a bit today?” asked Michael, devouring her mouth avidly, as they both stumbled through the house. He leaned her against the glass wall that divided the main living room from a smaller one. “You drive me crazy and I can’t wait any longer...”
“If you don’t hurry, I’ll probably torture you later...” she replied, pulling off his belt. He helped her. His trousers fell, as did Rachel’s. Michael’s hands wandered around her womanly curves.
He grabbed her leg and lifted it against his hips, so she could feel him, though not inside her yet; so she would be aware of what she did to him. Michael was fascinated by her. He could not deny it to himself.
“It’s not possible...” panted Michael, this time taking her by her tight buttocks and lifting her, so his sex was fractions of an inch from Rachel’s most intimate entrance. “Hold my shoulders tightly, gorgeous.”
“Michael, now, please... I need you now,” she begged, pulling on his lower lip with her teeth, and feeling the friction of their bodies about to boil over. Michael’s eyes shone like Mercury. He was breathing heavily. Rachel’s legs were wrapped around his hips.
He did not make her wait any longer and anchored himself to her with an eager push.
“My God, woman...” he moaned, thrusting and moving frantically with Rachel. “You’re so... I feel such exquisite pleasure with you...”
Michael sped up his undulating hips. Their bodies, glistening with the effort, looked like they were about to erupt. Convulsively, they both left the electric shock of a monumental orgasm. They did not hold back their moans. He let her know exactly how she made him feel, and she did the same.
S
he felt like she’d had two whole bottles of wine. She was drunk with pleasure. And when her body managed to recover a bit, he took her in his arms, and they laid down on the closest piece of furniture. The one they’d just noticed, of course; apparently all Michael had seen earlier was the closest point of support, and that had been a glass wall.
Unable to avoid it, Rachel laughed. He arched an eyebrow.
“What?”
“We’re insane...”
“Well, they say insanity is best enjoyed with a partner.”
He got up and headed to the downstairs bathroom. He cleaned up a bit, and then came out with an intimate wipe for Rachel.
“You don’t need to do that,” she whispered, blushing when he laid her back. “It’s too...”
“Intimate?” asked Michael with a smile. “After everything we’ve done together, I think that taking care of this part is as intimate as burying myself in the depths of your body.”
A while later, they both got in the shower in the opulent master bedroom belonging to the beautiful mansion’s owner. They enjoyed something more than just the hot water and the different pressure jets. They pleasured each other and then kissed.
Kissing Michael was one of the things Rachel enjoyed the most, and she bet he felt the same since they could spend long periods enjoying themselves that way. Of course, they never did just that. But that man’s kisses sent her senses into psychedelic orbits. Something worth experiencing.
“Michael?” she called when he closed his eyes for a moment. They were lying on the bed. “Your achievement today should be celebrated,” she whispered.
He opened his eyes and smiled.
“I think I just did.”
“Ha! Very funny.” he laughed. “We’d said we’d watch a movie, but I think I’m a bit hungry. Maybe it would do me good to go out. Are you in the mood?”
“To make love with you again?” he asked, removing the sheet she’d covered herself with, to trap her under his naked body.
“Michael, I’m serious.”
He smiled and kissed her lips tenderly. He looked in her eyes for a moment, before taking her cheek in his hand and stroking it.
“I love you, Veronica,” he said, suddenly. Surprising himself and her.
Michael’s surprise soon turned to certainty. All these weeks. Every day and every night that he knew he was with Veronica had been special. He could put a label on the relationship, they could take many months or years to define it, but he was sure of one thing, and that was that he loved her. Saying it out loud only made it more real. He wasn’t scared or worried. He felt that this time, it was right.
Rachel could not believe what she was hearing. Michael was slowly weakening her defenses. Putting her, without knowing it, at a crossroads between loyalty to her family and her own heart.
“Michael...” she murmured, looking at him with sparkling eyes.
He cocked his head to one side.
“What do you want to say? Michael, you’re scaring me, or Michael, shut up?” he asked with a smile, though inside he was anxious. Veronica had eroded his fears and turned them into something more colorful and less prickly.
“I thought you were one of those men with a fear of commitment,” she said instead.
Michael did not lose his good mood. He rubbed his nose against hers.
“I don’t know when it happened,” he confessed with a smile. “Or maybe I always knew you were a convenient excuse to let my heart come back to life.”
She looked at him tenderly, but also fearfully. He’d taken her by surprise.
“The truth, Michael, is that I...”
The telephone began to ring insistently. He ignored it.
“You...?” Nobody called him at home unless it was a true emergency. Like when his nephews were in that accident. When he remembered the event, he pulled away from Rachel. Inside, she felt nothing but relief. “I’m sorry, darling, I have to pick up, it could be an emergency,” he said before picking up the phone.
“I guess whoever’s calling doesn’t understand intimate moments,” Rachel murmured before getting out of bed to get dressed.
She needed to protect herself. She needed to go outside and let the frigid Chicago air slap sense into her. She collected her clothes and went into the bathroom. She splashed water on her face and looked at that image in the mirror that seemed foreign to her. No trace of rage. No need for revenge. She only saw a woman scarred by the size of her emotions. A woman who now regretted what she’d done this morning when she took her lunch break at work.
If the universe wasn’t completely merciless, perhaps her letter would get lost in the local post office. If she got lucky, Pablo Chestein, a friend who worked at a legal magazine in the city, would not find the letter. With so many thousands of letters, how could she not think of that possibility?
She put her hands on the sink.
Everything had gotten out of hand. She was in love with a man who shouldn’t cause so many emotional short circuits in her, who seemed to stabilize everything that was twisted, defy her conventional thoughts and hypotheses, caress her as if he would never tire of her; a man who, when he told her that he loved her, let everything in his eyes confess it so that she knew he was not lying. She, on the other hand...
She walked out with the intention of telling Michael that she loved him too. That she was the girl from the beach, years ago. Piper Galloway’s sister. That she was hurt after she was torn from her family, but now, after all this time together, she knew that he was only doing his job. That she had a hard time accepting her family’s pain, but that she’d also been an idiot for trying to get revenge. For trying to build justice out of the injustice she had committed, by judging him before knowing him... as she knew him now.
Because now she knew that he was an upright, generous, passionate man with a high sense of ethics. Because she had already lost too much in her life. And she could not lose him.
***
As he listened to Dereck, Michael started to feel rage taking over his body. His neck muscles tensed. He clenched his jaw as the man who had promoted his career with a vote of confidence gave him the news. How had it happened?
He did not even know that girl... The last name a coincidence? His brain was clear. Lawyers did not believe in coincidences professionally, and much less when this kind of thing happened. A blasted anonymous letter.
“I don’t know where it came from, Dereck,” she said, his voice contained. He wanted to break everything around him. “But before accepting what others say, I think you should give me the benefit of the doubt...”
“I’m not accusing you, son. I’m telling you exactly what the letter says. I understand there’s a copy. It says so here. Legal Strength is the publication they sent it to.”
Michael ran his hand through his hair.
“Damn it!”
“Do you want to tell me about this issue with Saint Cleare Hospital?
Michael explained that he was an anonymous donor for Saint Cleare Hospital. That he did not do any of the things he was accused of. He told him about Vannia’s case, and his conversation with the Bronsons, without getting into too many details. He simply made it clear that he had never used his resources to interfere with an organ donation list; that was a complete fallacy. That he thought it was unethical and that he would never, even if he could exert that type of influence, play God with people’s lives by deciding who got help first and who did not.
As Michael relayed the information to Dereck, a frozen chill started to seep into his veins. Suddenly, the movie that seemed so clear before faded to black, and gave rise to another version. A version that made him look like a complete fool.
“You should be congratulating me on the billionaire merger for the company,” he replied with disdain. As if Dereck was to blame.
“I did that with a bank transfer for the amount of your bonus,” he said with no change in his usual firm, kind voice. “If there is any possibility that someone else will receive that letter, my d
ear friend, you’ll need to meet with the firm’s public relations team to plan some contingency measures... even if what the document says is a lie. There’s no mention of the child here, by the way. I hope she was able to get her transplant.”
At least they’d granted him that, thought Michael with derision.
“She’s moved up on the waiting list. We’ll see in a few days. In any case, Dereck, thank you for calling...”
Dereck laughed dryly.
“Sure. It was either that or letting you hear about it in a call from a magazine. In any case, my boy, I hope you can solve this. It can affect the firm, and you know well that is not something I can allow. Although, of course, we will defend you.”
“Thank you for your vote of confidence.”
“I know the people I hire. Don’t let this thing ruin today’s achievement with Bancroft. It’s the operation of the year. They called from Breaking Legal Deals. They want to do a profile of you. It’s big. Bruce scored it.”
“The public relations intern?”
“A full-time hire in the works. The boy has potential. I told him today that we closed the Bancroft deal, and he told me he had a friend at that magazine. And you know not everyone has an in with those journalists, they’re particularly unsociable. I thought it was a good idea, as long as the details about the operation are kept to a minimum and you’re on board. In any case, I hope it happens.”
“Not if Legal Strength publishes something about my alleged bribe and influence peddling at a certain hospital,” he said, a sour edge to his voice.
“I hope everything goes off without a hitch. By the way, Dwayne called to invite you to dinner at his house. It seems he’s invited all six of the lawyers that worked as your legal assistants on the case, and the two of us, for obvious reasons. I’ll see you there the day after tomorrow...”
Flirting with Revenge Page 14