“He will never forgive me,” she says, shoving her dark hair behind her ear, her hand and her voice trembling now. “Go to Derek.”
“Shane will forgive you over time,” I say. “I’ll help him. And I’ll help you. But he has to be told what’s going on. I’ll talk to him first. Okay?”
“I don’t want my husband knowing about this. He can’t know, at least not until we know he’s going to make it through this treatment.”
“I’ll talk to Shane, but I think that makes sense. Can I call him?”
“Yes.”
I dial Shane and he answers immediately. “What’s happening, sweetheart?”
“Can you please meet me in the bar?”
“Now?”
“Most definitely now.”
He’s silent for several beats. “I’ll be right there.”
I end the call and refocus on Maggie. “Stay here or go back to your table. I’ll talk to him at the bar and we’ll go from there.”
“Yes.” She grabs my hand. “Thank you.”
There is this desperate fragility about her right now, nothing like the woman I’ve known her to be, or that her sons have known her to be. And I am reminded of my own mother, who became someone I didn’t recognize. I lost the woman who’d been my rock long before she was gone. It hurt. It made me resentful. And these are things Shane and Derek will feel at the worst possible time. I stand up and walk to the door.
SHANE
I walk through the lobby of the hotel I now call home because of Emily, because of my family, dread in my gut over my mother’s certain betrayal. Seth is by my side, a rock ready to smash my enemies, trust between us that I share with only one other person: Emily. We round the corner to the bar, and I spot Cody and Emily sitting in a corner on an L-shaped couch, but it’s her and her alone who I see. Her who creates that punch in my chest I always feel when I see her. Not so long ago, I believed it to be a deep, clawing, physical need that she stirred in me. Now I know that need is a result of a bond, one part physical and one part something far deeper. A deep connection that I feel with her that I have never felt with anyone before in my life. I want a calmer day when I can make love to her and when I can propose. When I can make her my wife, and know what that means isn’t this life I’m offering her now. Rather one where my enemies are gone and hers are forgotten.
Pulling away from Seth, I approach the couch, while Cody stands, gives me a nod, and leaves Emily and me alone. I claim the cushion catty-corner to her. “Hey,” she says softly, scooting to the edge of her seat, holding her dress primly at her thighs when, not so long ago, I had her alone, dress to her waist. The way I wish I had her now.
“Stop looking like you want to crawl into a hole,” I tell her, my hand settling on her knee. “I already assumed my mother betrayed us before you came down here. I mentally prepared myself.”
“It wasn’t really a betrayal,” she says, her hand covering mine. “More a series of misplaced decisions. Though I think right now, in the heat of everything happening, you’ll see it as a betrayal.”
“Tell me,” I urge.
She inhales and lets it out. “She was an absolute mess when I got down here. I pushed her and she retreated to the bathroom, where I found her in a complete meltdown.”
“As in my mother was crying?”
She gives a grim nod and whispers, “Yes.”
“Are you sure we’re talking about the same person?”
“No. Yes. I mean, this is how it was with my mother too, Shane. It’s hard to see our parents change and become weak. But I know you want me to get on with this and tell you what she did or didn’t do. So. Here goes. First, she says she doesn’t love Mike. She said she was lonely and it just happened. She also says she doesn’t have a clue about a takeover, and got irate and ready to attack Mike when I said he was up to no good.”
“And you believe her?”
“Yes. I do believe her. I also believe she loves your father and regrets her affair with Mike, which is what left her vulnerable to Martina’s threat to expose her affair.”
A muscle in my jaw begins to spasm. “What did she agree to do?”
“Helped him get to our door last night. Nothing more. She had no idea Ted was going to be hurt, and the idea that she allowed that to happen shook her badly, Shane. Ramon is the one who threatened her. He visited her. She thought he might rape her.”
Anger, red-hot and fierce, pours through me, and I lace my fingers together, containing it, ruling it the way I plan to rule Ramon and Adrian. Seconds tick by, and I remove my phone from my pocket and dial Derek. “Come down to the bar,” I say when he answers. “It’s important.” I end the call and lift a finger, silently calling Seth and Cody to our sides. They join us, Cody beside Emily and Seth beside me. I look at Emily. “Tell them what you told me.”
She gives a tiny nod and quickly, succinctly relays the information before I look at Seth and ask, “How, if we were watching her, did they get to her?”
“She and Mike met at a hotel last night,” he says. “Obviously Ramon had a plan to sneak her out and get her here. And I do not like Ramon’s involvement. I recommend we put your parents on a plane to Germany tomorrow morning. Get your mother out of here.”
“Agreed,” I say, glancing at Emily and Cody. “Where is my mother now?”
“The bathroom,” Emily says. “She’s been in there a long time now too.”
I look at Emily. “Derek needs to understand what Martina is doing to our family. Tell him.” She nods, and I stand up, suddenly angry all over again at my mother’s actions. Emily grabs my hand and stands.
“I know you’re angry with her. I am too, but remember. She’s human. And if there is one thing I learned from losing my father, guilt can be a brutal pill to swallow.” She releases my hands and I turn away, rejecting her words, that anger I’m feeling already rooted in a hot spot that refuses to cool.
Crossing the bar, I reach the bathroom door, and without even a blink, enter the women’s bathroom as I did once before to find Emily. My mother is sitting on a chair to my right, and the instant she sees me, she pops to her feet and bursts into tears. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I just … I just … I don’t what to say, Shane.”