“But where will he come up with that kind of money on his own?” I demanded. That piece of shit Stefano wasn’t exactly giving him a lot of time. I shoved my hands through my hair and tugged, feeling more and more helpless, more and more frustrated.
“How about instead of driving yourself crazy,” she suggested, “you call him.” She pushed my cell phone into my hands and guided me over to the couch. “Call him and get an answer. That’s all there is to it.”
Touching my phone, I looked up and gave her a wan smile. “You know, every now and then, you really make sense.”
She gave me a wounded look. “Only every now and then? I thought I made sense all the time. You’re just not superior enough to understand my unique way of thinking.”
“Yeah. You’ve got a unique way of thinking, alright.” Sighing, I pulled up Kaleb’s number and hit the call button.
One ring.
Two.
Three.
Four.
As it rolled to voicemail, I closed my eyes, unable to stop the sinking sensation of dread inside me. I left a message, hoping I didn’t sound as desperate as I felt. When I disconnected, I shot Astra a look. The look on her face had me wincing.
“That sounded pretty pathetic, didn’t it?”
She held up a hand and wiggled it. “You could have sounded a little more needy, but that’s okay. You like the guy. Right?”
She sat down next to me and hooked an arm around my neck, hugging me closer.
“Don’t worry. He’ll call back soon, and you’ll figure out what’s going on, and we’ll all feel better.”
But Kaleb didn’t call. Not that hour.
Not the next.
It was almost eight when somebody knocked on the door, and I lunged for it, ready to yell at him and hug him and kiss him and throttle him.
But it wasn’t Kaleb. Feeling deflated, I stood there, staring at Stuart Rushmore, unable to say anything.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” he asked, offering me a smile.
“Um, yeah.” I looked around the loft, feeling like I’d never seen it before. It already felt empty without Kaleb there. How insane was that? “Come on in.”
I stepped aside and waited for Stuart to come in, although I had no idea why one of my parents’ personal legal lapdogs might be here to see me.
He moved deeper into the main area of the loft before he turned and met me. Astra had retreated into her room earlier, and it was just the two of us. Probably a good thing. She didn’t like Stuart any more than I did – and she didn’t bother to hide it.
“Why are you here?” I asked, feeling too drained to bother with courtesies.
He sighed, smoothing his tie down. “We need to talk, Piety. I…look, I don’t want to be rude, but can I have a drink? It’s been a rough day and I could use it.”
The grave expression in his eyes hit me a moment later, and my heart seized inside my chest.
“Are my parents okay?” I asked, forcing the words out through an already tight throat.
“Yes, yes…” His eyes softened. “Of course. They’re fine. They…well, I told them you might take it better coming from me.”
“Take what?”
“That’s what I’m here to discuss.” He put his briefcase down and came toward me. Within moments, he had me sitting on the edge of the couch, holding my hands in his.
I don’t know how he managed it. It was one of the reasons he was so good at what he did – managing people. He hadn’t stayed with my parents for so long by not being good at it, that was for certain.
“Piety, you look so tired.”
“I’ve had a crazy couple of days,” I said shortly, tugging my hands free.
He nodded his understanding, as if he knew exactly what I’d been dealing with the past forty-eight hours. “That’s part of what I’m here to talk to you about.” He patted my knee, then got up and went into the kitchen.
Make yourself at home, I thought sourly. But I remained quiet as he cracked open a bottle of scotch – my brand new bottle – and poured both of us a drink. He came back to me, concern stamped across his features as he gave me the glass.
“You’ll probably need it in a moment, sweetheart.”
I took it but didn’t lift it to my lips. I just held the glass in my lap as he sat back down.
“How about you cut the bullshit and just tell me what’s going on?” I said.
“You are so much like your father.” He shook his head and took a sip of the scotch.
“Insulting me won’t help me feel any better,” I fired at him.
Shock danced across his features. “That wasn’t an insult.”
“Maybe not to you.” I took a sip too, then put it down. It hit my raw belly too hard and too strong. “But I’m not feeling too friendly toward the man right now. Sue me. He wants to control my life, dictate who I’ll marry, and when I do marry, he insults the man, ignores me–”
Stuart interrupted me, his voice calm and placid. “And he protected you today.”
“What?”
He didn’t repeat himself, just reached inside his briefcase and withdrew a manila folder. “Kaleb went to see your parents today. Did you know that?”
“He…no. What?” Confused, I shook my head, eying the folder like it might bite me.
“Piety…” He sighed. “Look, I know you have your differences with your parents, but surely you know they love you.”
“Yeah.” I jerked a shoulder in a shrug, still eying that folder. What was in it? And why was he here? “Why are you here? I’ve already asked once.”
“Kaleb attempted to blackmail your parents.”
“I…he what?” Shaking my head, I shoved upright and paced a few feet away. Once I had some room, I took a deep breath. This was bullshit. It had to be. Something Stuart and my dad had cooked up.
But where’s Kaleb?
“He paid them a visit and told them things weren’t going quite the way you two had planned. You’re not happy – he’s not. Anybody can see that. But he didn’t want to give up on a good thing so easily – or that was the implication. But if they wanted him to make it easy…well, he said he’d agree to an annulment if they agreed to help him out…financially.” Stuart’s eyes fell away at the end, like he couldn’t stand to look at me as he said it.
“No.” Denial swelled inside me at the very first word. Shaking my head, I repeated, “No. That’s bullshit.”
It had to be. It wasn’t like we had planned on anything between us being real to begin with. This had to be a joke. He was getting money from me to help his sister, and I was getting…
What was I getting? I thought I was getting back at my parents.
But that seemed an empty reason now, especially considering what Kaleb was dealing with. But what Stuart was saying was just bullshit because we knew the marriage was a farce.
Nobody else did.
“No,” I said again, louder, with more force in my voice. I practically shouted it.
It was loud enough that Astra appeared in the doorway, looking from me to Stuart then back.
Distaste flashed in her eyes for a moment when she saw him, but it was quickly hidden when she met my gaze. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I said, my voice shaking. “Stuart here is just feeding me a load of crap that he and my parents cooked up.”
But I didn’t sound entirely convinced.
I didn’t feel entirely convinced.
Why hadn’t he called me back?
Why hadn’t he texted?
“Have you talked to him?” Stuart asked softly. “Maybe there was a…misunderstanding on your father’s part.”
“I bet,” I muttered, shaking my head. But I pulled my phone from my pocket, checked the messages, and tried to call again.
Nothing.
“When did he…?” But I couldn’t bring myself to finish the question. Shaking my head, I turned away.
“Piety, I spoke with him myself at the reunion. Kaleb seemed ??
? in my opinion, at least – to have a great deal on his mind. If he was desperate, perhaps…”
“Desperate.” I jerked my head up, staring at him. “Why do you say that?”
“I know desperate men, sweetheart.” He held my eyes levelly. “The man who went to the bank with me was a desperate man.”
“You went to the…” I stopped and sucked in a breath. “You went to the bank with him?”
“Your parents agreed to pay, as long as he sign the papers as promised.” Stewart stared at me with a solemn, sad expression. “Then I accompanied him to the airport. They wanted to make sure he’d actually leave as promised.”
Leave.
Agreed to pay…
“Is this really happening?” I whispered.
“Piety…”
“Stewart,” Astra said softly. “Shut up.”
She came to me and rested a hand on my arm. “Are you okay?”
I looked at her, unable to answer.
Maybe he’d just been desperate, I thought. No, there was no question of that. He had been desperate. Whatever he’d done, it wasn’t done out of malice.
“Why didn’t he wait?” I whispered. “I was trying to help.”
“Help with what?” Stewart asked. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Look, this boy has led you around by the nose–”
“Shut up!” I shouted. Spinning away from him, I shoved my hair back and tried to think. Why hadn’t I told him? I mean, I knew why. I’d been trying to make sure I had everything in place. I hadn’t wanted to get his hopes up and then have things fall apart.
But if I’d been upfront with him about everything I’d been trying to accomplish over the past couple of days, he would have known I hadn’t just forgotten.
He wouldn’t have been so desperate.
“It’s my fault,” I whispered, tears trying to burn their way up through my throat.
Stewart misunderstood. “Honey, you made a bad choice.”
“Oh, shut up!”
Both Astra and I shouted it at the same time. He looked caught off guard and backed up a step before realizing what he’d done. Mouth flattening out, he lifted a hand. “I think you need to take a deep breath and calm down.”
Shaking my head, I looked over at the folder Stewart had brought with him. The annulment papers. I didn’t want to calm down.
“You can go now, Stewart.”
“Piety…”
“I just said you can go!” I turned away, and when I didn’t hear movement behind me, I shouted. “Go!”
23
Piety
I hadn’t touched the scotch from earlier. Now I wished I’d just poured it out. The smell of it was leaving me nauseated.
Astra sat across from me on the opposite couch, watching me with worried eyes as I stared at the annulment papers as if they were a snake ready to bite me.
I almost wish that was the case. A snake bite might feel a little bit less painful than this.
It didn’t make sense. It wasn’t like we had anything real, right? So why did it hurt so much?
“Just because it wasn’t real doesn’t mean it won’t hurt that he just up and left,” Astra said.
Dazed, I looked up at her. “What?” Then I realized I must have spoken out loud. Shaking my head, I said, “It just doesn’t make sense. I know he didn’t plan to stay, but–”
“That doesn’t mean you expected him to go and ask your parents for money.” She offered a weak smile and shrugged. “But it sucks. Not that your parents aren’t jerks, but you still don’t want to see them being used.”
I snorted. “Hell, my parents excel at using people. Maybe I should celebrate that they got used for once.” I rubbed my burning eyes and swallowed around the knot in my throat. I would feel better if I could just cry, but the tears refused to come. I was so angry. Angry and hurt. I wanted to cry, and I wanted to scream, and I wanted to throw things. But that wouldn’t solve anything either.
“Why couldn’t he just wait?” I asked, my voice cracking.
“Oh, honey…” Astra got up and came around the table, wrapping her arms around me. “There’s no answer to that.”
A tear finally managed to break free of my burning eyes, and it rolled down my cheek, followed by another, then another. As the dam started to break, I wrapped my arms around Astra and rested my head on her shoulder. “Why couldn’t he just wait?” I asked again.
“Maybe it’s better that he didn’t,” she said gently. “If you’re hurting this bad already, think about how much worse it would have been the longer you two were together. This was never meant to last anyway.”
“But I think I wanted it to,” I said as I started to cry harder. Astra nodded, and we sat there, her rocking me while I cried.
It wasn’t supposed to be real. But it sure did hurt like it was.
24
Kaleb
“Piece of shit bastard,” I muttered, fuming. I disconnected the call and slammed the phone down although it didn’t do anything to cool the temper burning inside me.
I’d called Stefano so many times, I’d already lost track.
The same could be said for Camry.
Neither of them bothered to call back or even send a text. That was only one of the things that had me in a foul mood.
Piety had called numerous times that first night and left several messages. But since then, she had only called twice, and each call had been late. At least late for the eastern part of the United States. She hadn’t left a message, and she hadn’t texted anything either. I almost answered each call. I almost called her back.
But what the hell would I tell her? That I’d accepted the money from her parents so I could help my sister? And it was driving me crazy to sit in Philly while doing nothing while she worked?
Would I tell her that the prick lawyer had been right in that there was really nothing else I could have done? He was right, even as much as he was a prick. Maybe he didn’t know why I needed the money, but I had needed the money. And I needed it bad enough to do something desperate, something that would hurt her. That had mattered more than anything.
Maybe it wasn’t fair to compare my sister’s life to the feelings of a woman I barely knew – even a woman I wanted more than I’d ever wanted anybody. But that’s how it was. My baby sister needed me and I’d already failed her too many times.
That thought had me reaching for the phone again, but when I went to check my messages, Piety’s name fill my vision. I read the last message she’d sent me over and over even though I’d already committed it to memory.
Where are you? Is everything okay? I’ve got some cool news, and I can’t wait to tell you. But I want to tell you in person. Call me back, please?
Cool news. I had no idea what she planned to tell me, but that message had come through while I’d been speeding across the country on a first-class ticket paid for by her parents.
Even now the thought turned my stomach.
I went to delete the message, just as I had told myself to do a thousand times over the past couple of days. But before I could, the phone rang.
“Finally,” I muttered under my breath. There was no name attached to the phone number, but I knew who it was none the less.
I answered with a short, “About time you called, damn it.”
“Easy, easy,” Stefano said. “Why are you so hot under the collar? I would have thought you’d be happy that I was giving you time to get all that cash together.”
“I want to talk to my sister.”
“She’s sleeping. You know how these junkies are.” He sounded amused with himself.
I wanted to punch my fist through the phone, grab him by his thick neck, and strangle him.
“When can we meet? I want to get this taken care of. I want it over with.” I sounded calm. Maybe I should consider an acting career.
“Yeah, well, me too. But I’ve been busy. I’m a businessman, you know. Your sister isn’t the only fish in the sea, and I’ve got other…fish to take care of.
Although she is my favorite. I’m going to miss her when she’s gone.” Then his voice went sly. “Assuming she doesn’t come crawling back for more. You know, I can be hard to resist.”
“Huh. Fuck you. Look, can we just set up a time to meet or what?”
“You’re in such a hurry. But fine…no small talk.” Stefano laughed and named a place.
I had no doubt it would be just as sleazy as the last place, but it didn’t matter. Camry was all that mattered. “What time?”
“I’ll be there around three. You be there.”
He hung up, and I stood there staring at the phone. I had a bad feeling about this entire thing. But what else was I supposed to do?
Three o’clock came and went. It was coming up on four-thirty when he finally came in…alone.
Camry wasn’t with him.
That alone made me furious.
I came out of my seat, hands closing into fists.
He had an easy smile on his face when he saw me, and I wanted to knock that smile off his face and his teeth down his throat.
“Hey there, Kaleb. How’s it going? You got my money?”
He looked so damn pleased with himself. The arrogant bastard always looked happy.
“Where is my sister?” Anger was a huge ugly knot in my gut, but I managed to keep my voice level.
“That ain’t how this works.” He clicked his tongue and shook his head, looking almost pained as he said it. “See, you gotta pay me what you owe me and then she’s free to do what she wants. But until you pay me…”
“I want to see my sister.”
Stefano’s eyes went cold and hard. With a shake of his head, he shouldered past me. “You don’t get to make demands here. I own her.”
“Did they forget to tell you that slavery ended a long time ago?”
He laughed. “You’re so naïve. Where. Is. My. Money?” He enunciated each word, the cold, ugly threat coming through with every syllable.
I’d heard it from the very first word, but this time, I knew I couldn’t ignore him. I wasn’t worried about me, but my sister? Yes.