“That’s great.” She eyed her mother closely. “Is everything okay?”
“Oh, yes.” Janice laughed. “Everything is fine.”
But Julianna knew her mother. And the sound was strained, forced even.
“Come on, Abby. Let’s leave these two to their meal.” Janice wiggled her fingers at her daughter then waved at Moira before hooking her arm through Abigail’s and leading her away.
Lowering herself back into her seat, Julianna stared after her mother with a frown.
“What’s wrong?” Moira asked.
“Maybe nothing,” she said with a shrug, reaching up to worry with the necklace she wore. “Mom just…did she seem a little off to you?”
“I was talking to Ms. Mendoza more than anything.” Moira shrugged and flashed a card. “I get the feeling she’s going to hit us up the next time she needs a corporate sponsor.”
“We’re a corporate sponsor,” Julianna said, distracted. She glanced up and saw the table where her mother and Abigail had been seated. Her mother had been watching her. Their gazes locked and Janice gave her a dazzling smile.
Weird…
“But don’t be surprised if she looks for some material goods for the next silent auction. They do a number of those throughout the year,” Julianna said, forcing her attention back to Moira.
“So…can I ask you a question?”
Julianna narrowed her eyes on Moira’s face, the studied casualness in her friend’s tone raising every bit of awareness she had. “You can ask,” she replied. “That doesn’t mean I’ll answer.”
“I’m just wondering how long you and Roman have been an item.”
Julianna blinked.
Blood drained from her face, then rushed right back, staining her cheeks red. She couldn’t control that telltale reaction and she knew that Moira got her answer without Julianna saying anything. Still, she tried. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, please.” Moira waved a hand. “Don’t bother playing coy. Even if I’d just been speculating, that reaction right there would have told me everything I needed to know. Which explains something else.”
As Moira leaned forward, elbows braced on the edge of the table, Julianna struggled to remain cool. “And just what does it explain?”
“Why you’re so adamant not to discuss anything about the sale.” Moira flashed her a slow, smug smile. “You’d never play dirty, Jules. It’s not in your makeup, but you’re not above having a slight advantage over the other party either. Except now you don’t seem to want one. It makes sense why. You’ve gotten personally invested.”
“I did not,” Julianna replied hotly. But she knew she was lying.
“Oh, really? You’re not thinking at all about how Roman will be affected if Castle wins the bid?” Moira asked, cocking a brow at her.
“I…” She stopped, then huffed out a breath. “Bite me, okay, Moira?”
Moira nipped playfully at the air. “Now let’s get back to business. I’ve got something I want to discuss with you and Roman. Together.”
That had Julianna straightening in her chair. “What do you mean…together?”
“You heard me. As in…both of you.” She waggled her eyebrows. “I assume you two can handle that.”
“I’m not sure why,” Julianna said, shaking her head.
“It’s just this…idea that I have. It could involve you and Roman.”
“Would you keep your voice down?” Julianna rolled her eyes. “It’s not exactly public knowledge that Roman and I are together.”
“Is that a fact?” Moira cocked her head, then she lowered her gaze, studying Julianna’s neck. “Maybe you should have thought about that before wearing a pretty Montrose locket around your neck for the whole world to see.”
For a second, those words made absolutely no sense.
Then, panicked, Julianna clasped a hand over the hollow of her throat. The locket was warm against her skin, the engravings on it pressing against Julianna’s hand.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered, her eyes going wide. Her gaze shot to her mother.
Janice had her head bent toward Abigail’s, unaware of her daughter’s attention.
“Your mom doesn’t know either, does she?”
“Are you kidding me?” Julianna demanded, panic welling inside her. “She’d freak out…oh, hell.” She recalled the way her mother’s expression had frozen and changed mid-conversation. “Mom saw my locket. Do you think she recognized it?”
“That design is pretty iconic,” Moira said wryly. “You might as well have his name tattooed on your ass. Actually, an ass tattoo would be more discreet.”
“Oh, shit. Oh, shit.” Covering her eyes with her hand, Julianna sucked in a breath.
“I think you need to chill out, babe,” Moira said.
Julianna dared to shoot a look at Moira. “My mom knows.”
“I know.” Moira made big eyes at Julianna, clearly mimicking her. Then she waved a dismissive hand. “I also know your mother. She loves you. She wants you happy. And you are. I’ll be honest…I kind of figured there was a guy when we were talking on the phone. Then you saunter in here wearing that locket—”
“That is how you figured it out?” Julianna demanded.
Moira grinned at her. “I know, right?” At Julianna’s groan, Moira just laughed. “Hey, it’s not like I didn’t have insider knowledge. You two were at the gala together. I kept waiting to hear how that thing went, but you never mentioned him again, which got me to wondering. Then you come in here wearing his necklace. And I knew. Things went and got serious…didn’t they?”
Julianna met Moira’s eyes. Unable to do anything but be honest, she nodded.
“How serious?” Moira asked gently.
“Pretty serious,” Julianna admitted. She resisted the urge to shoot another look at her mother, just as she resisted the urge to take the locket off. She wasn’t going to hide the token that Roman had given her.
She wasn’t fifteen and sneaking around with the bad boy from the opposite side of the tracks for crying out loud.
Okay, fine… she was sneaking around. But, she was a grown woman, involved in a committed relationship…with a good guy.
“Focus, Julianna. I need your attention here,” Moira said, wiggling her fingers at Julianna.
Groaning, Julianna reached for her glass of wine. She had the urge to gulp it all down, but took just a sip. “Okay. What?”
“So…things are serious with you two,” Moira said, shrugging. “Originally, I was just going to talk to you about this, but you came in here wearing his necklace…”
As Moira trailed off, Julianna asked, “Talk to me about what?” It couldn’t just be trying to press for info about the sale. Not if she was curious about Roman, too.
“It’s just an idea I have.” Moira’s eyes glittered with excitement, though, making it clear she had more than just an idea. “Can the three of us talk? As in…tonight?”
Julianna thought about the dinner plans she had with Roman, then she shrugged. “I’ll text him.”
If anybody would understand something relating to the business, it would be him.
20
Roman
“How did the meeting with Gibson go?”
Roman looked up to see his father standing in the doorway of his office. Waving him in, Roman leaned back from the desk. He’d just gotten in from the meeting a little over an hour ago and was still processing everything, but he had enough to tell his father. “He’s trying to hold out, thinks he can get us to give him a bigger piece of the pie.”
“Fat chance,” Michael said, coming in to stand in front of Roman’s desk. He wore a steel gray Armani suit and looked very much like the CEO of one of the best jewelry dynasties in the world. His graying hair, the lines on his face only served to give him a patrician air. His voice was rich and vibrant, the kind that could catch the attention of a crowd and hold the people mesmerized as he spoke. “If he wants cheap prices, he can find cheap jewelry. If he wants quality,
he has to accept it comes with a price.”
“That’s more or less what I told him.” Roman lifted a shoulder, unconcerned. Gibson and Roman would come to an agreement. It was just a matter of time.
Michael nodded, smiling. “Exactly what I’d expect from you, son. How did he take it?”
“A lot of gesticulating and talking about how there’s a lot of fish in the pond, blah, blah, blah.” Roman just shook his head. “But he came to us for a reason. He wants what we have to sell him.”
“Any idea what his reasons are?” Michael asked.
“Some,” Roman hedged, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to go into detail with his father just yet. He was still uneasy about the close call he’d had that morning, with his father showing up so closely on the heels of Julianna’s departure.
Michael Montrose likely knew about the deal that had precipitated the initial contact from Omega, but Roman didn’t know if he’d connected the two. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep working on him. With Templeton moving out of the game, we’re his number one goal.”
His father’s eyes narrowed slightly and he inclined his head.
Roman swore mentally because he knew his dad wasn’t going to let it go. He’d caught the scent. There was one other player in the game, one that rivaled Montrose Jewelers and was just a step or two higher than Templeton Legacy. If Gibson wasn’t reaching out to Castle, it was for a reason.
“Why do you think he reached out to us in the first place, Roman?” Michael asked, slipping a hand into his pocket.
Roman bit back a sigh. “Rumors are his top competition out on the West Coast has reached a deal with Castle Jewels. They’ll be selling a limited number of pieces in their top stores by the end of this year—the line will debut with the Christmas catalog, with a larger showing to be debuted come Valentine’s Day.”
The two top-selling periods in the industry.
A taut silence stretched out between them, lasting just a few beats before his father nodded, almost pensively. In a soft voice, he said, “I want you to make this deal happen, Roman. If he needs high-end quality, then we’re his best bet and he knows it. You’ve got him over a barrel, so don’t let him slip away. I can count on you for this.”
It was a statement, not a question.
“I’m working on it, Dad.” Roman met his eyes with a steady smile.
On the heavy granite slab that served as Roman’s desk, his phone vibrated. Roman barely glanced at it, more interested in wrapping up the conversation with his father than anything.
“Gibson has to fly back within the week, but we might have drinks again before he goes, and regardless, he’ll be giving me a call. He knows we’re the ones he’ll be dealing with. He’s just trying to hold out for a better deal on his end.” Roman shrugged. “I already gave him the best he’s going to get. He just needs to suck it up and accept it.”
He glanced down at his desk as the phone vibrated a second time.
His father did the same.
Almost in unison, they glanced up, meeting each other’s eyes and the look on his father’s face had Roman wishing he’d grabbed the damn phone on the first vibration.
It was too late now.
His father’s face had soured like somebody had shoved a lemon into his mouth and Roman knew exactly why.
Julianna’s face smiled out at him from the screen of his phone and it wasn’t just some shot he’d saved from a business card or a picture he’d downloaded from some corporate website either.
He’d taken it one morning after they’d finished making love, when her face was soft and sleepy, a warm smile on her lips. She was lying in his bed, the sheets tumbled around her, her hair disheveled. Although there was nothing at all revealing about the picture, it was decidedly…intimate.
“Julianna.” Michael shot Roman a look, face tight. “Just why is Julianna Castle calling you?”
The phone vibrated again and Roman scooped it up from the desk, shoving it into his pocket before looking back to his father. Meeting his father’s gaze, he debated on how to answer.
Did he lie?
Did he hedge his bet and try to buy a little more time?
In the end, he did the only logical thing.
“Julianna and I are involved, Dad.”
The confused expression on Michael Montrose’s stern face might have been almost comical if Roman hadn’t known what was coming next. He stood there, braced for it, both hands on the surface of his desk as he waited.
For several seconds, nothing happened, but as Michael’s expression bled from blank to furious, Roman went on the offensive.
“We’ve been seeing each other for a couple of months. What we have together is personal,” Roman said stiffly, feeling his back go up simply at the disgust forming on his father’s face. “It’s personal. It has nothing to do with business. And for the record, I can see whoever I like. This family feud is…” He stopped, shaking his head in irritation. “Julianna and I don’t even know shit about what started it and it doesn’t matter to us. We’re involved and that’s it.”
For a few seconds, there was utter silence in Roman’s office.
Then it was shattered as Michael exploded. “That’s it?” he thundered.
He’d failed to shut the door behind him when he came in, and behind him, Roman could see several people pause, looking inside the doorway before scurrying off to parts unknown, eager to get out of the way. Michael Montrose didn’t lose his temper often, but when he did? He really lost it and nobody wanted to be around for it.
Blue eyes, so like Roman’s, blazed with rage as Michael slammed his hands down on the desk. A vein pulsed in his temple, highlighting the fury that stamped his features. “I would suggest that you think all of this through a second time, boy. Shit…you think this is personal? To a Castle? That’s bullshit, son. Everything is business with the Castles. You’re setting yourself up for a one bitch of a betrayal.”
“No,” Roman said calmly. “I’m not.”
Shoving back from the desk, Michael pointed a finger at his son. “Do you want to stay a VP in this company? Retain your shares in the business?”
The threat came as something of a shock. Something. But it wasn’t a complete surprise. Roman had known his father would be furious if he found out about the relationship.
“Are you really going to make the threat because I’ve got feelings for a woman who has nothing to do with you? Nothing to do with this stupid feud you’ve got going on?” Roman demanded.
“She’s a fucking Castle!”
“This bullshit fight you’ve got going on with Charles Castle started before Julianna or I were even born!” Roman fired back at him, his own anger starting to burn like a bright, fiery ball. “Why should we pay for a problem that started with the two of you!”
“End this relationship,” Michael said instead of responding to his son’s comment. He pointed a long, thick finger at his son’s nose, his hand trembling slightly from the depth of his rage. “Over my dead body will a Montrose ever be involved in a relationship with a Castle.”
“You’re looking pretty hale and hearty,” Roman snapped. “And I’m in a relationship with a Castle now. And I don’t plan on ending it.”
“You’re willing to throw your career away for this woman? Your whole fucking life?” Red-faced, Michael glared at his son.
“Are you ready to throw your son away for some feud?” Roman returned. “Your so-called favorite son? What matters more? Your hatred for the Castles or your love for me?”
Michael looked nonplussed for just a moment, mouth slightly agape. Then he snapped his jaw shut. “If you had any love or respect for me, you never would have started this so-called relationship. Don’t go lecturing me about love.”
“Since when do you put limits on how I’m allowed to love?” Roman said. The complete hypocrisy of the entire conversation stunned him. “I’m not going to tell you that I’ll only love you if you behave the way I say. That’s not how love works, you bigoted piece of wor
k.”
“You…” Shaking now with anger, Michael shook his head. “I raised you. I gave you every advantage you had in life. And you want to treat me this way?”
“I’m not treating you any way!” Frustration, bitter and hot, boiled in Roman’s throat. “I love you. You’re my father. But I’m not seven years old anymore. You don’t get to tell me what to do with my life. I’m not an eleven-year-old boy with a concussion—you don’t get to move me out of some sick girl’s room at the hospital and throw your weight around because things aren’t going your way! If I want to see Julianna Castle, I will.”
“No.” Michael simply shook his head and turned on his heel. On his way out, he slammed the door.
Roman grabbed the stapler from his desk and turned, hurling it across the room. It hit the heavy plate glass window of his corner office and bounced off, springing open as it hit the carpet. Staples rained out as he stood there, breathing heavily.
“That went rather well,” he muttered.
His phone buzzed again, but he ignored it as he fought to control the rage as it trembled through him.
A few seconds later, there was a timid knock at his door.
“What is it?” he asked, keeping his voice level through sheer will alone.
“You’ve got a phone call from a Tyler Gibson…” his assistant Stella spoke to him nervously through a crack in the door.
“Take a message. Let him know I’m out of the office for the rest of the day.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “And if I have any appointments, cancel them. I’m taking the rest of the day off.”
“Of course, Mr. Montrose.” Stella closed the door silently, leaving him alone once more.
Roman sucked in a breath of air and turned toward his desk. He spied his keys waiting in the small bowl where he kept them and he grabbed them, juggling them in his hand as he headed for the door.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, but he didn’t pull it out to check the messages.
Hate On: An Enemies to Lovers Romance Page 12