The Secret One

by Cardello, Ruth

  ALSO BY RUTH CARDELLO

  CORISI BILLIONAIRES

  The Broken One

  THE WESTERLYS

  In the Heir

  Up for Heir

  Royal Heir

  Hollywood Heir

  Runaway Heir

  LONE STAR BURN

  Taken, Not Spurred

  Tycoon Takedown

  Taken Home

  Taking Charge

  THE LEGACY COLLECTION

  Maid for the Billionaire

  For Love or Legacy

  Bedding the Billionaire

  Saving the Sheikh

  Rise of the Billionaire

  Breaching the Billionaire: Alethea’s Redemption

  A Corisi Christmas (Holiday Novella)

  THE ANDRADES

  Come Away with Me

  Home to Me

  Recipe for Love (Holiday Novella)

  Maximum Risk

  Somewhere Along the Way

  Loving Gigi

  THE BARRINGTONS

  Always Mine

  Stolen Kisses

  Trade It All

  A Billionaire for Lexi (Novella Collection)

  Let It Burn

  More Than Love

  Forever Now

  TRILLIONAIRES

  Taken by a Trillionaire

  Virgin for the Trillionaire

  BACHELOR TOWER SERIES

  Insatiable Bachelor

  Impossible Bachelor

  Undeniable Bachelor

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2020 by Ruth Cardello

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  Published by Montlake, Seattle

  www.apub.com

  Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates.

  ISBN-13: 9781542025171

  ISBN-10: 1542025176

  Cover design by Eileen Carey

  This book is dedicated to all the men who understand there is more than one way to be “alpha.”

  Sometimes the strongest man in the room is the one who is quietly supporting those around him.

  CONTENTS

  START READING

  CHAPTER ONE CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER TWO MCKENNA

  CHAPTER THREE CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER FOUR ABIGAIL CORISI, DOMINIC CORISI’S WIFE

  CHAPTER FIVE CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER SIX MCKENNA

  CHAPTER SEVEN CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER EIGHT MCKENNA

  CHAPTER NINE CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER TEN MCKENNA

  CHAPTER ELEVEN CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER TWELVE MCKENNA

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN CAMILLA ROMANO, CHRISTOF’S MOTHER

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN MCKENNA

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN MCKENNA

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN MCKENNA

  CHAPTER NINETEEN CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER TWENTY MCKENNA

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO MCKENNA

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR MCKENNA

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX MCKENNA

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT MCKENNA

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER THIRTY DOMINIC

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE MCKENNA

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO MCKENNA

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR MCKENNA

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX MCKENNA

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE MCKENNA

  CHAPTER FORTY CHRISTOF

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE MCKENNA

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO JUDY CORISI, DOMINIC’S DAUGHTER

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE CHRISTOF

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

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  CHAPTER ONE

  CHRISTOF

  Seven years earlier

  Weekends used to be something I looked forward to, but I’d begun to dread them. Funny how one event could turn so many lives upside down.

  “Nice to have you stick around for a change, Chris,” Bob, my college bud, said as he motioned for the waitress to bring another round of beers. Neither of us were of legal drinking age, but Bob was a regular at this hole-in-the-wall bar and claimed the key to getting served was always leaving a generous tip. Since we hadn’t been carded, I couldn’t argue the point.

  Bob was a good guy, a good friend, but had been a horrible roommate. Thankfully our friendship had rebounded the following year, when we’d each gotten our own dorm rooms.

  “Yeah.” I downed half the beer in one gulp. Don’t ask about anything. I don’t want to think tonight.

  “How’s Sebastian?”

  Fuck.

  It was a fair question. Bob had attended the funeral for my sister-in-law a few months before. He knew my brother wasn’t handling her death well. “He’s still struggling.”

  So was I.

  Therese was my first experience with losing someone close to me. It had taken a while to wrap my head around how someone could be there one minute, then gone the next. Therese had been the sister I’d never had, and from the moment Sebastian had brought her home to meet us—she’d been one of us.

  Her loss had ricocheted through my family. At first we’d all been in shock. My mother cried—a lot. My father remained at her side, quieter than I’d ever seen him.

  My brother Sebastian held it together through his wife’s funeral and the seemingly endless condolences that followed. I remember thinking he was stronger than I would have been. For him, I kept my emotions locked away as well. Mauricio and Gian, my other brothers, did the same. Right through the first week, we stood in stoic solidarity.

  I thought the initial pain would be the hardest part. I was so wrong. The real sadness came after the fanfare had died down. When everyone went home and life tried to return to normal . . . that was when I missed Therese the most. When we gathered and her seat was empty, or when something funny happened and I went to call her, only to remember I couldn’t.

  I didn’t know what to do. Friends only wanted to hear about it so many times, and I didn’t want to add the weight of my sorrow to anyone in my family, so I kept my thoughts to myself. For the first time in my life, I felt alone even when I was in a crowd.

  That wasn’t the hardest part, though.

  Sebastian began to unravel. The kind, hardworking brother I’d grown up with, the one who laughed easily and believed family was who mattered most—that brother had died along with his wife.

  Sebastian 2.0 was angry, frequently drunk, and prone to lash out at anyone who dared to try to help him. Not physically—I might have preferred that. I could have ducked to avoid those hits.

  The problem was Sebastian wanted to be left alone to drink his pain away, but we loved him too much to all
ow him to.

  It wasn’t pretty on either side. I’d never lost a wife and unborn child without warning. I tried not to judge him for faltering, but understanding didn’t make it easier to hear his alcohol-fueled wish that we were all also gone so there would be no one left to remind him of her.

  It didn’t make it easier to hear him ramble that he wanted to join her.

  I didn’t know what to say. None of us did.

  Every weekend followed the same routine. I returned home to hear that Dad or my older brother Mauricio had stayed at Sebastian’s place with him. I felt guilty that I wasn’t doing more, frustrated that nothing we did seemed to be enough.

  Mom planned outings with Gian and me as if we were both younger. Because she was trying so hard, I didn’t tell her that dragging us to a day at the zoo was too much.

  There was no reset button that could bring my family back to how it was before Therese. As that realization set in, none of us knew how to deal with it.

  No childhood was perfect, but mine had been good. Better than good. My parents, my brothers, and I had immigrated from Italy. Moving to a new country, learning a new language, and adapting to a new culture had bonded us. For as long as I could remember, it had felt as if we were on the same team. We had common goals and a shared vision of how we would forge a new life together.

  Family was shelter from any storm.

  Until we lost Therese and became the storm.

  For the first time we needed protection from each other. Gian took that the hardest. The more Mom tried to protect him from Sebastian’s temper, the more Gian felt excluded. Gian was technically a cousin, having joined our family as an infant. Yet in every way that mattered, he was our youngest brother, though he acted as if we’d leave him, as his biological mother had.

  When Sebastian lashed out at Gian, I loved and hated them both. Gian took Sebastian’s words to heart, which added another layer of gravity to the situation. I didn’t want to take sides. None of us did.

  Their interactions haunted me.

  My parents had recently told me to remember that school should be my first priority. I’d used coursework as my excuse to not return home that weekend. The truth was I didn’t want to go home.

  I wanted to step outside of my life for just a few minutes. To not be sad, guilty, or angry. I just wanted to forget.

  “Another round of shots?” Bob’s girlfriend, Ashley, asked as she joined us. The tall brunette was the reason I’d often had to find an alternate place to sleep the year before. Bob swore she was the one for him, but I couldn’t see them lasting past college. She was wild, and he was, too, but only when he was with her. His family was a soft-spoken, serious bunch. Away from Ashley, Bob was like them. To be with her—to be like her—he drank. She often joked that sober Bob was a bore.

  I would have told him sex wasn’t worth the effort he was putting into her, but since I hadn’t had sex yet, who was I to judge? Maybe it was.

  Ashley ordered tequila shots for the three of us. “Here’s to Chris not ditching us for a change.”

  “I’ve had a lot going on.” I downed my shot as soon as it arrived and welcomed the distraction of the burn down my throat.

  “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Bob kicked back his shot.

  “Thank you,” I said with relief.

  “You know what might help?” Bob asked as he put his arm around his girlfriend. “Ash, let’s get this guy laid. You must know someone.”

  “I’m fine,” I said with a wave of my hand.

  Ashley looked me over. “You’ve had sex, right?”

  I’m sure my face reflected my embarrassment at the truth.

  She grimaced. “I’m not doing that to any of my friends.” Then a smile returned to her face. “We’ll find you someone here.”

  “Seriously, the last thing I need right now—”

  Ashley scanned the room. “Bingo. Blonde sitting alone at the bar. I’ve never seen her here before, and she looks pissed. My guess? Someone just dumped her.”

  I followed her gaze, and my breath caught in my throat. As if aware that we were discussing her, the blonde had turned toward us. She looked about our age and every bit as angry as Ashley had guessed. Her long curls were pulled back in a ponytail. Her jeans hugged her ass to perfection. I only had a side view of her breasts, but I bet they were deliciously shaped, just like the rest of her. As my blood headed south, I wondered if her lips would feel as soft as they looked. “If someone did, he was an idiot.”

  “His loss is your gain.” Bob clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Go offer to buy her a drink. This could be your lucky day. She might be looking for a revenge fuck.”

  I shook my head. “Or she needs someone to talk to.”

  “Do you want to die a virgin?” Ashley ordered another round of shots. When they arrived, she slid one in front of me. “Life is shitty sometimes, Chris, but you can’t let it bring you down. You used to be fun. Yeah, your brother’s wife died. We get it. But it’s time to suck it up and move on. I’d pity fuck you, but I like Bob.”

  I exchanged a quick look with my old roommate. I wasn’t looking for a pity fuck, especially not from his girlfriend. The awkward moment sent me over to talk to the woman, who turned away at my approach.

  “You’ll thank me tomorrow,” Ashley said in a voice that rose above all other noise in the bar.

  I was reasonably certain I wouldn’t, but I’d discovered a topic I wanted to discuss less than my family. The glare the blonde gave me as I sat down next to her would normally have been enough to send me right back to the table with Bob and Ashley, but I was beginning to feel those shots.

  “Hi,” I said. “My name is Chris.”

  She grunted and shook her head.

  We were off to a great start.

  CHAPTER TWO

  MCKENNA

  I should have gone home.

  I don’t know what I thought would happen if I went to a bar at night alone, but if the drunk frat boy next to me laid a fucking finger on me, my fist would have connected with his face. I should have punched Noah, but it had taken me a moment to fully process that he’d thought having sex with me and then one of my friends didn’t mean we had to break up.

  I’d driven all the way to Providence to look Noah in the eye as I told him what an asshole he was. I’d done it, too, just before I’d thrown the necklace he’d given me back at him. Had I known that such an act would give me one good moment of feeling vindicated, followed by hours of asking myself why the hell I’d even wanted to see him again, I wouldn’t have bothered.

  I didn’t know if I was angrier with him for being someone I couldn’t depend on or with myself for wanting someone I could. Ever since my father had died, I’d found it difficult to be alone. You know what felt worse than being alone? Fucking someone so you wouldn’t be and then having to face the fact that sex didn’t mean shit to most people.

  I kept thinking I was nothing like my mother, but maybe, in the end, I was exactly like her. Or maybe fucking a bunch of douchebags was how she’d become someone who didn’t care about anyone but herself.

  Look at me, Mom, following in your footsteps.

  You must be proud.

  I took a sip of the strongest mixed drink I’d ever tasted. I wasn’t old enough to drink, but I had tits and a fake ID. Sadly, that was enough at most places. Usually, though, I stuck to one beer. I shouldn’t have even been drinking at all, since I intended to drive home.

  Unless I was hoping to wrap myself around a tree.

  Noah wasn’t worth it. So why did that idea sound tempting? “I’m so fucked up.”

  I only realized I’d spoken that last part aloud when the idiot next to me replied, “No more than me.”

  I shot him an ugly look. “I’m not interested.”

  “Normally that kind of bluntness might hurt my feelings, but I’m currently buzzed. Don’t worry, I’m not sticking around. I just need a minute more over here to let those last shots hit my bloodstream
, and I’ll be numbed to whatever else my friends say to me tonight.”

  Yes, he was nearing drunk, but he wasn’t giving off a creep vibe. He was also pretty good looking in a middle-class, boy-next-door, trying-too-hard way. What was someone like him doing in a dive bar on the wrong side of town? Had he gotten lost on the way to the library? I almost smiled. “Sounds like you’ve got some pretty shitty friends.”

  He sighed. “I’d say we’re batting about even on who is less fun to be with lately. They mean well. God, I hope they don’t want to hit a dance club after this.”

  “Then don’t go.”

  “That kind of negates the whole decision to hang out with them tonight.”

  “Sometimes it’s better to be alone.”

  “How are you enjoying that?”

  “Fuck you.”

  He smiled. “Not even if you asked me to. Not tonight. All I’m looking for is sweet oblivion, and if you’re alone, you’re vulner—vulnerable.” He slurred the last word.

  “How is that buzz coming? Ready to go back to your friends yet?”

  He seemed to actually consider my question before answering. “Almost.” He put a fifty down on the table and asked for two more of what I was drinking.

  “I don’t want a drink from you.”

  His smile was surprisingly disarming. “Who said they aren’t both for me?”

  I rolled my eyes, but I was curious about something. “What were your friends saying that you didn’t want to hear?”

  “The truth.”

  “Ouch. Yeah, you’re better off without those bastards.” I was only half joking.

  “At least until I hit the bottom of that second glass.” There it was, that easy smile again. I didn’t want to like him at all, but I found myself not hating that he’d joined me.

  The bartender gave us each our next drink. Chris told him to keep the change, then swept both the glasses in front of him. My mouth fell open. “You’re seriously going to drink both?”

  He wagged a finger at me. “You didn’t want a drink from me, plus you shouldn’t get drunk alone.”

  “Because you think I’m vulnerable?” I might have been small, but I was fierce. I didn’t doubt that I could kick his ass, because I was not above striking fast and low if I had to. I sat up straighter and waved a hand over my chest and shot him another glare. “Am I wearing a sign that says I want your advice?”