Читать книгу Seductive Memory - AlTonya Washington - Страница 14
ОглавлениеHe should’ve waited. He should’ve waited before pressing her to talk or to let him talk—explain. He had pressed though, and what had that gotten him except her telling him where to go? She’d reminded him with scalding efficiency of just how much he’d hurt her.
Now, three weeks later, that moment still maintained prime position in his head. She’d pretty much told him he had no chance with her, and yet he’d spent the better part of his time since the ill-fated encounter on the beach assuring himself that this wasn’t over.
He couldn’t fathom why he was so sure of that now, when they’d been out of each other’s lives for ages. Linus knew why, of course. Paula had never been out of his head. Not really. Such a thing wasn’t possible when she was the district attorney in the city he lived in.
Paula Starker was a frequent presence on his TV screen when a new case required her input for the evening broadcast. Not only that, but as a public figure—a beautiful public figure—her private life was also prime fodder for the rumor mill.
Linus could’ve done without all the buzz on the latest athlete, actor or musician she’d been seen on the town with. Still, when the odd occasion arose where they wound up at the same event, he managed to make himself scarce. He made himself scarce when what he really wanted was to rip out the intestines of the latest idiot who thought to claim what was his. What used to be his, he reminded himself.
Such torture, however, didn’t stop him from tuning in for the gossip. The celebrity involvements rarely lasted beyond a date or two. When she’d been caught out with someone he didn’t recognize and those outings numbered beyond four...those were the times his heart seized in his chest. Those were the times he feared she was lost to him for good.
The fact that she wasn’t lost to him for good gave him hope. Seeing her on that beach, though...witnessing the sheen of tears in her eyes not spilled...
He’d hurt her in the past, badly. Regardless of how much he assured himself that all wasn’t hopeless between them now, there was no going forward until he told her why. He’d lost it that night, demolished the place that was meant to signify a defining moment in their futures. It was the place he’d planned to ask her to be his wife.
Linus sensed a numbness along his forearm and saw that his drawn fist was to blame. He had long since triumphed over the anger—the rage—that had ruled him. There were times, however, when he believed he hadn’t triumphed at all—that the demons had only lain in wait for the perfect thing to destroy.
It had been that way when he’d found Paula. He’d gone years without an episode, even joined his best friends on a completely bold venture to revamp an already successful and revered company. Linus had been the outspoken visionary behind Joss Construction when he met the ambitious new lawyer with future designs on turning the Philly political scene on its ear by becoming the city’s first black female DA.
Life had been good then, and their chemistry had been explosive. Now, Linus’s appetite for women had little to do with conquests and more to do with hope. It was the hope that a woman out there could make him forget Paula Starker. He didn’t think such a woman existed. Their emotions had delved far beneath the shallow physical allure to collide with something far more powerful. The surface attraction, however, had done a total number on him. The confident lawyer with the nonstop curves had had him cold.
Linus had wanted Paula in the most desperate way, but he’d wanted more than the delights her body promised. He’d sensed a kinship—a connection of the spirit that surpassed the physical—and he had wanted to see where things could go between them. Such was not to be, and the blame for that rested right at his feet. He wanted—needed—to make it right. More than that, he wanted her back, wanted her to be his, the way she always should’ve been. His and his alone.
But what of the demons? The demons had waited ever so patiently to unleash their havoc-wreaking frenzy until he had been literally days away from securing a future with Paula. Giving her an explanation for that night and then just walking away wasn’t an option for him. Neither was hurting her again.
Besides that, giving her an explanation—the one she deserved—meant revisiting a place he had sworn he was done with. A place that made him feel like nothing more than the scared kid he’d been instead of the accomplished man he’d become.
There was a sound on his office door that barely passed for a knock. Linus turned to see his partners hovering just past the threshold. Their wary expressions brought a much-needed smile to his face. Despite the smile, he had to wave them in before they moved any farther beyond the doorway.
“Este says you’ve been in here all afternoon.” Tig referred to Linus’s assistant, Estella Mays.
“Yeah,” was Linus’s only confirmation.
Tig looked helplessly to Eli, and both men appeared to be holding out little hope that their friend’s mood had improved.
“So how’d the rest of the meeting go?”
Linus’s query seemed to be the olive branch Tig and Eli needed. Noticeably more comfortable, they moved a little farther into the office.
“All went well. Everything seems in order,” Tig said.
“Any pop in here, Line?” Eli asked on his way to the mini fridge.
“Yeah, help yourself.”
Eli gave a nod and sent Tig a sly look across his shoulder.
“So it looks like Maxton’s cool with us taking as much time as we need at the villa.” Tig moved into the roomy living area that occupied over a third of the office space.
“Sounds good,” Linus said, joining him.
“Me and E were thinkin’, since we’ve got so much work to do with going over the rest of the proposals, it might be a good idea to just keep this strictly a business trip.”
“Right.” Linus settled into his preferred recliner. The smile curving his mouth gave away the fact that he was all too aware what had prompted the change in plans. Still, he pretended to be confused. “What about playtime with playthings?”
Tig cast aside the idea with a wave. “Sophie’s already taken three weeks of her eight-week leave. Best to save the rest for when we come up with our master getaway to pay back Rook and Veev for Mexico.”
“Mmm-hmm, and what about Clarissa?” Linus asked Eli, who was on his way to the living room with three bottles of soda in tow.
Eli smiled at the mention of his girlfriend, Clarissa David. “She’s already feeling guilty for leaving Ray with so much of the workload—first the getaway to Cortina and then Mexico for Tig and Sophie’s wedding. She’s trying to get the woman to take some time for herself.” Eli referred to Rayelle Keats. In addition to being Clarissa’s best friend, Ray served as general manager for her late aunt’s franchise of gentleman’s clubs that were transitioning into dance studios.
“Trust us, it won’t be all work,” Tig said. “We’ll take Rook and Bark along. Since Rook’s new job keeps him up to his ears in snow for most of the year and if the weather guys get it right, we’ll be getting our fill of it in a few weeks, so I don’t think it’ll be hard to convince Barker. We could make it a guys’ getaway—hell, we’re entitled to those, same as the girls,” he added.
“Sure we are.” Linus gave a half shrug. “Thing is, guys’ getaways are a lot more fun when girls participate. No offence, but Rook and Bark aren’t exactly the playmates who’d put that fun in motion.”
“Yeah, well, it wouldn’t be much fun if everybody didn’t have a playmate,” Tig observed.
Linus grinned, the gesture sparking his faint dimple. “You know, I won’t have trouble finding one of those to bring along.”
“Mmm, but not the one you want.” Eli held his bottle poised for drinking while regarding his friend with quiet amusement. “Who is she?” he asked.
Linus’s grin remained, but the gesture appeared just a tad forced. “Do you really need me to talk about my list of conquests now?”
“No. Just the one who’s got you in this mood.”
The grin vanished. In its place was a series of muscle twitches along the jawline. Linus left his recliner and began to pace the living area.
“We don’t mean to pry, man.” Tig winced. “If you don’t want to talk—”
“It’s okay.” Linus shook his head. “I should’ve told you guys about her a long time ago.”
“Girl from your past?” Tig guessed.
“Way past,” Linus confirmed.
“We know her?” Eli asked.
“Yeah.” Linus turned then, folding his arms over his chest while he leaned against a wall. “Paula Starker.”
Tig and Eli exchanged looks.
“Paula?” Tig blurted.
“DA Paula Starker?” Eli emphasized.
Linus’s lazy grin returned. “Yes and yes.”
“Get the hell out of here!” Tig ordered, after silence had held the room in its grip for half a minute.
Eli roared with laughter. “Damn, man, if you didn’t want to talk about it, you could’ve said so!”
“It’s not a joke,” Linus insisted, though he fully understood his friends’ disbelief.
“She’s the DA.” Tig apparently felt the need to reiterate that fact.
Linus only smiled. “She wasn’t always.”
“How is this possible?” Eli wanted to know. “We’ve been friends since the crib.”
Linus laughed heartily then. “Does that mean we have to know everything about each other?”
Eli shrugged. “I’d say everything else pales in comparison once you know someone crapped their pants up through first grade.”
Laughter exploded between the old friends.
“Lies!” Linus roared. “That only happened when they served that green pudding for lunch.”
“I gotta agree with E, man.” Tig’s tone brought a touch of seriousness back to the conversation. “Soph and Paula are best friends. She’d have mentioned it.”
Linus grew more serious then too. “Guess she’s done as good a job keeping it from her friends as I have from mine.”
Eli leaned over to set his bottle on an end table. “What happened?” he asked.
“Lost my temper.” Linus knew it wouldn’t take much more than those words to give his friends a good idea of how things had derailed. Questions remained, however.
“Did you hit her?” The gold flecks in Tig’s dark eyes glinted with unspoken disapproval.
“No.” Self-disgust had sent the faint amber hue of Linus’s gaze diluting to its molten chocolate state. “But I didn’t much care where the furniture landed when I threw it. She wasn’t touched, but she could’ve been.” Linus reclaimed his seat on the recliner. “Touched or not, she got hurt just the same. I said things...called her names.”
“What names?”
“The bad kind.” Linus sent Eli a humorless smirk. “She’s got every right to hate me, and she’s made it clear that she does over the few times we’ve seen each other lately.”
“In Cortina?” Eli shifted a meaningful look at Tig while referring to the recent trip they had taken to Rook Lourdess’s home.
“Hmph, yeah.” Linus shook his head in spite of himself. “Then there was Mexico.”
Tig winced. “So I guess all the love and adoration that’s been goin’ around has been hell on you.”
“You’ve got no idea, T.” Linus managed a weary grin. “She should have been my wife by now. The night I lost it, I was gonna propose.”
“Jesus, Line...” A measure of Eli’s own temper surfaced then. “It was that serious and you never told us?”
“Nothin’ personal, E.” Linus shrugged weakly. “It was just so good for so long between us and I didn’t want to do anything to set them off.”
“Them?”
“My demons,” Linus said in reply to Tig’s query. “They’d been quiet for so long before that night. I thought maybe...maybe they were gone. That somehow I’d defeated them. It took that night to see there was no defeat, no triumph ’til I turned and faced them.”
“Looks like you have.” Tig spread his hands in an encompassing gesture. “We haven’t been witness to any furniture-throwing outbreaks lately.”
“Paula hasn’t been in my life lately, T. Sometimes I think all my so-called progress is a joke. It won’t be real until I turn and face her—apologize for what I did.”
“So what happened that night?” Eli queried, his expression a tad guarded. “To make you do what you did?”
“That’s not the point.” Linus’s features visibly sharpened as well. “The point is I did it and I need her to give me the chance to tell her how sorry I am.”
The looks exchanged between Eli and Tig were laced with uncertainty again.
“An apology for what you did might go over better if you tell her why you did it,” Tig noted.
Linus’s features remained set. “Why doesn’t matter.”
“It might to her,” Tig challenged.
Linus leaned forward then and held his head in his hands. Silently, he agreed.
* * *
“But that’s for later. First, I want to hear about this young man.”
Paula sent strongly worded mental orders to her brain to pick her jaw up off the ground. She watched Miranda Bormann with a mix of humor and disbelief.
“You can’t just lay something like this on me and expect us to go back to talking about my love life,” she said.
“Ah, so you are in love with him?”
“Professor B—”
“Humor an old woman, love.”
“Okay. Where is she?” Paula countered.
Miranda Bormann’s gaze sparkled slyly. “Nice try, but flattery won’t help. I want to know about your young man. Let’s start with when you met him.”
“Alright.” Paula anticipated the woman’s surprise at what she would say next. “A few weeks before I got my law degree.”
Miranda Bormann was indeed stunned. “You met him then, but I’ve never seen you with a diamond on a certain finger. What gives?”
“Remember that drama I spoke of? There was a ton of it.”
Bormann blinked. “Still?”
The inquiry had Paula wincing. “It kind of carried over—it was hard to run from.”
“Such are the ways things tend to be when it comes to drama with the one we love, and don’t try telling me you’re not in love with him. If you could see your face, you’d know that’s what’s written all over it.”
“I can’t let myself get snagged back into it, Professor B.” Paula drew a hand through her loose curls. “I’ve come too far. I’m not the little idiot he knew.”
“But he’s still on your mind?”
“We’ve got mutual friends. We bump into each other sometimes since they’ve gotten back together.” Paula tapped her fingers against the glossy countertop. “It keeps bringing all the other stuff back.”
“And you can’t ignore it?”
“Oh, I could.” Paula swore and pushed away from the island to pace the kitchen. “But he wants to—to talk about it. To explain what went wrong.”
“And you don’t want to know.”
“I want to know, but I—” Paula bowed her head, pressing her lips together as though she were trying to tell herself to get it together. “If he tells me what happened, I—I’m afraid I’ll...”
“Fall deeper for him than you already have.”
Paula looked directly at her mentor. “I can’t let that happen.”
“But, honey, why? Especially when it seems you both still have feelings for each other.”
“Linus Brooks is a part of my past.” Paula looked a mite flustered. “It’s best he stays there.”
“Linus Brooks.” Something sharpened in Miranda Bormann’s expression.
“I’ve done a pretty good job of not letting my heart have a say in any of this.” Paula took no notice of Bormann’s manner. “I’ve been pretty happy because of that. Guess I owe that to Linus. Dammit.” Again, she tugged her fingers through her hair. “Why the hell does he have to come messing with my head now?”
Bormann stood. “You’re a smart girl. I’m sure you’ll figure out the best way to handle it.” Bormann fidgeted with the ends of the braided ponytail she sported. Her dark hair was just beginning to show silver strands along her temples.
“Yeah, well...my head doesn’t work so well with him inside it,” Paula went on.
Bormann smiled. “It may not be such a bad idea to let your heart do a little talking either.”
Paula snorted. “Please tell me it’s time to change the subject.”
“Are you sure you want that?”
Paula threw back her head. “More than sure!”
Miranda Bormann’s smile looked defiant. “Just remember you said that.”
The woman’s tone had Paula eyeing her curiously. “What is it? What’s really going on with you, Professor B?”
Bormann retrieved the folder from the island. She offered it to Paula.
“I’m guessing this is why you really wanted to see me?” Paula took the folder.
Bormann shrugged. “Of course not. You know I always enjoy our chats.”
“But?”
“But I need another perspective on this.”
“What is it?” Paula asked even as she flipped through the folder.
“I’ve always taught my students that it’s better to be armed with a cache of facts before charging in with allegations.” Bormann’s unreadable gaze was set on the folder. “Those are my facts—what little I’ve been able to gather.”
Paula closed the folder and joined Bormann, pulling the woman along with her to the den area across from the kitchen. “Talk to me, Professor,” she insisted once they were seated.
Bormann laughed quietly. “It’s my own damn fault for digging up a mess I’d probably have been able to live my life blissfully unaware of.”
The renowned lawyer aimed an index finger at her former pupil. “Don’t let anyone tell you different, Miss DA—retirement is a wonderful drug, but boredom is one bitch of a side effect.”
“What’d you find?” Paula asked through a tight smile.
“I married into all this.” Bormann raised her hands toward the high ceilings. “I married into Hank’s money, and he wasn’t any more interested in it than I was.” She smiled at the mention of her late husband, Henry Bormann.
“Still.” She sighed. “The money management fell to him as the firstborn. When he died, he’d made arrangements so I wouldn’t have to deal with any of that. Most of my financial advisors are his family—the others are friends of the family.”
“You don’t trust them,” Paula detected.
“I don’t know who to trust. Which is why I’ve had an old friend from law school helping me on the sly, when my digging around uncovered some discrepancies I didn’t expect.”
“Discrepancies?”
“Oh, nothing’s been taken,” Bormann was quick to assure, “but I’ve noticed funds have...shifted on dates that coincided with times I’ve been away on speaking engagements. I wouldn’t have been involved with moving funds then. I haven’t come across anything that’s been removed and not replaced, but Hank had a lot of private property outside of the family holdings. My friend confirmed that some of those properties have been earmarked for development.”
Paula returned to shuffling through the folder. “Have you visited any of these sites?”
“Some, I’m sure. My husband’s holdings were vast. There’s no way of knowing which developments are on the up-and-up and which aren’t.” She gave an exasperated huff. “Maybe they are on the level, and it’s just the shifting of funds that has me suspicious. Regardless, I can’t go to any of the family with this.”
“Why’s that?”
Bormann’s exasperation mixed with frustration. “For one, my nephew has immediate control of my assets and I’d rather not alert him until I have enough to prevent him from wiggling out with a lie. If I alert anyone else...”
“It’s liable to get back to him,” Paula finished. Sighing then as well, she shook her head. “I’m out of my element here, Professor. My friend Sophie is the detective, not me.”
“Which is why I wanted to see you about this.”
“You want the police involved?”
Bormann shoved away the idea. “We aren’t there yet—this could all be a misunderstanding, which is the second reason I’m playing this close to the vest. My nephew, Hayden, took over the management of my finances from his father, Hank’s younger brother. When Hayden assumed control, safeguards were also put in place regarding my access and freedom with my finances. That freedom is how I was able to get in and look around in the first place. The safeguards are there should I ever become mentally incompetent to make certain decisions. I can’t alert the family that I’m questioning activity until I have proof to back me up. Otherwise, I risk questions regarding my state of mind and I—”
“Risk losing access to your own damn money.” Paula balled a fist, hating to see her mentor in such a bind. “You say you don’t want the police in on this but that you called me because of Sophie?”
Bormann straightened. “Actually, it’s her husband I’m interested in. He and his partners. I think his company, Joss Construction, is one of my nephew’s clients that Hayden may be using my assets to do business with.”
Again, Paula felt in danger of losing her lower jaw function.
“I believe my suspicions are spot on,” Bormann continued. “I may even have evidence that could link Hayden to one of the properties and prove to his clients that he’s dealing under the table.”
“So you don’t think his clients are acting under the table with him?” Paula asked.
“I’m willing to keep an open mind on that score. Still, I can’t be sure that none of them are speaking out because they’re unaware of the scam or because they’re benefitting financially.” Bormann’s expression turned apologetic. “I hate coming to you with this, hon. I know Joss has a very respected name in the business. This isn’t about bringing them down.”
“I get it, Professor B. You need someone in your corner who can’t be disputed.” Paula stood then, considering the situation as she paced the broad area flooded with natural lighting from the bay windows lining that end of the room.
“Professor B, why do you think Joss might be one of your nephew’s clients? Do you have any signed documents or—”
Miranda Bormann was already shaking her head. “Hayden was always a smart kid. I’d hoped he’d go into the law profession when he was younger, but I soon realized that he was lacking in character and would do nothing for the field except add to the heap of lawyer jokes we all know and loathe. He’s too smart to go and leave signed documents lying around, but Joss is the only client I can suspect him of having. He hasn’t even been seen meeting with anyone who could fit the bill.” She blew out a laugh. “He hasn’t even been seen meeting with Joss.”
“Then how do you know about them?”
“Paula, I may live in Boston, but I’ve still got a lot of friends and former colleagues in Philly. Some of those friends have known Hayden since he was a baby. He was seen going into Joss. Of course he could’ve been there to use their restroom, but something tells me his visit was about more than that.”
She nodded toward the folder Paula still held. “If you take a closer look, you’ll see that Joss has never handled a job for my husband or his family. But as I said, Joss is a pretty impressive outfit. There was talk of moving some projects there a few years ago. I recall Hank saying something, but so far the family business hasn’t broken ranks with Kincaid, which has been their contractor for decades. The company’s founder, Weaver Kincaid, is married to my husband’s cousin Doreen.”
“So your nephew wouldn’t have a reason to be there otherwise?”
Bormann nodded. “Not on family business, and I can think of only one other purpose. If I’m right, chances are strong that he was there to see Linus Brooks, and it’s widely known that no deals are greenlit for Joss without Linus’s approval. If you want in with Joss, you’ve got to go through Linus Brooks first. From what I hear, he’s a hard man to go through.”
Don’t I know it. Paula kept her agreement silent.
“I’m sorry, hon.” It was obvious that Bormann saw the despair shadowing Paula’s honey-toned face. She pushed to her feet. “I believe we could use that coffee now. You’re gonna have to bring more of that soon if it tastes as good as it smells!”
While Bormann returned to her kitchen, Paula’s attention remained fixed on the folder. She sat there trying to figure out which was worse—talking to Linus about their past or about this present upset? Everything in her said he’d done all completely on the up-and-up.
Almost everything in her said that. There was a time she’d have leaped to his defense at the slightest hint of someone questioning his integrity. But now...it was as she’d told him on that beach in Mexico—the girl who would’ve killed for him if he’d asked her to was gone.
“It’s got such a fabulous color and the fragrance is so rich!” Bormann called as she poured out the coffee.
Paula was searching her phone contacts. Linus wasn’t among them, but Joss Construction had been programmed in when she and Santigo Rodriguez were finalizing the many surprises he had in store for his wife during their honeymoon.
The line was answered. “Joss Construction. How may I direct your call?”
Paula debated half a second longer and then sighed. “Linus Brooks, please.”
