4. Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Noah
I met Royal for a drink at the Rhodes Hotel bar. My furnished apartment was right next to the hotel, and I spent a good amount of time eating and drinking at The Southern Charm Bar since I'd become the worst version of myself. And, yet, despite the self-loathing that was now an integral part of me, I knew there was no recourse. I couldn't fix this. It was done. I had to live with it. Baron Hunt had to live with it. Stella had to live with it.
Sweet Stella . I hadn't planned to call her Sweet , it had slipped out. She was so fucking sweet and adorable. In bed, she was spicy and sexy. We'd done it every which way that one night. She'd been as insatiable as me.
I had met my sexual match—and it had been exhilarating to find that person who enjoyed fucking as much as I did, and who’d wanted it with such enthusiasm.
I liked my sex hard and rough, long and demanding. I liked to dominate. I liked to please a woman and have her please me. She had been a dream come true—a woman who was my ideal sexual partner in every which way, except that she was Baron Hunt's daughter.
But it was more than mere fucking , even my black heart knew that. There had been affection, and she had told me she loved me. So, there had been love—the elusive kind I never thought I'd find, the kind I would run from if it ever came along.
I had thrown up when I first sat to watch the videos to find the best edit to show Baron. But I persevered; revenge was not for the weak.
But Sweet Stella was innocent .
So was Neveah, I reassured myself righteously, whenever that thought emerged in my head. My sister had been without blame, and that video, combined with the death of my father, had led her to attempt suicide.
I never forgave myself for not taking better care of her, of my father. I never forgave Baron Hunt. And now, I knew that Sweet Stella would never forgive me. The vicious cycle of revenge and blame, of hurt and destruction, would continue. But it would stop with Stella. She didn't have a mean bone in her body. She would never strike back. So, that was something to find comfort in.
"I heard from the city, and they will finalize the announcement that Carter Construction has the Savannah bridge project in a couple of weeks." Royal drank some beer as he looked through his tablet.
He was still pissed with me, but we were ride-or-die friends, so we wouldn't be rid of each other, no matter how low I'd sunk.
"Have you talked to Nina?" I asked.
He nodded. "She's agreed to let you buy Stella Hunt's shares of the business."
She lost her partnership. The one she was so proud of.
"I love what we're building at Savannah Lace," Stella said as we had dinner at my apartment. I had it catered by the Rhodes Hotel. I had opened a lovely Bordeaux to go with the succulent steak.
"What's so special about Savannah Lace?" I refilled her wine glass. I didn't want her drunk. We were going to have sex after dinner; I needed to make sure she wasn't sloshed. I'd have preferred if she wasn't drinking at all, but that would look suspicious. But Stella was a one-or-two-glasses-of-wine-at-dinner kind of girl.
"Nina built a company where we can be ourselves. We're not conforming to the usual corporate bullshit. And we do great work. I'm so proud of what we built. I'm proud that I'm a partner there," Stella explained.
"Nina will have the paperwork ready for you next week," Royal continued, not looking at me. "And she'd like to introduce you as a partner in the office."
We were sitting in a booth at the far end of the bar so we'd have some privacy. My friend had not looked me in the eye since he sat down.
"Royal?"
He looked up, finally. "Yeah?"
"How long will you be pissed with me?"
"She's selling her house, Noah," Royal quipped. "Nina told me."
I felt the bile rise inside me. She loved her house. She'd redone it herself. Restored the house and the furniture within. She'd painstakingly and lovingly tended that beautiful garden of hers. Her hands were not soft like a society woman's. Hell, no, they had callouses. They were hands used to build.
"It's still available?" I asked.
Royal nodded. "Rose Dixon is the agent on the books. You know, they're friends."
I did know. But I also knew that Stella didn't have close friends. Oh, she spent time with plenty of people, but she had her guard on, her walls up. I'd torn them down. I knew how to. I had the same walls. I knew what I was dealing with. She hadn't stood a chance, not when I was seducing her with such intent.
"How much is the asking price?"
Royal told me.
"That house is worth at least fifty grand more than that," I protested.
"She's in a rush, and it's a buyer's market, right. And she wants to sell her furniture as well."
"All of it?" She loved the stuff in her house. She'd bought them at estate sales and antique shops.
"Yeah," Royal nodded. "She needs the money, Noah. She had to forfeit a percentage for pulling out of the partnership, so she's short the money she owes her father. The son of a bitch was charging her a high fucking interest rate."
I wouldn't feel bad for her, I told myself. I did what I had to do. Stella was collateral damage. She was Baron Hunt's daughter. She'd land on her feet. Daddy was in a snit, but he'd come around and take care of her.
"Buy the house," I told him.
Royal raised both eyebrows. "Seriously? You're that much of an asshole?"
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I gritted out.
Royal shook his head. His blue eyes pierced through me, and he loosened his tie. "Hell, Noah, you want to buy her place so you can rub it in some more that you took everything from her? The company and her house?"
Did I? Is that what I was doing?
"The investment into Savannah Lace is to help Nina out, Royal. It's got nothing to do with Stella. The house? I know the place. I like it. Rose knows I'm in the market."
But why her house? Because it would smell like her. It would be like she was there.
I was an idiot.
"And she's selling it cheap, so why the hell not? It's a good investment," I said with a casualness I didn't feel.
"It's too small for what you've been looking for, Noah," Royal pointed out.
"If I raze part of the garden, I can even extend the house to make it bigger."
"My garden is my pride and joy. I love it." Stella spread her arms wide, the sun lighting her up.
"It's beautiful," I agreed.
"That's why I bought this house…so I'd have all this space for a garden."
Like hell I'd do anything to that garden or let anyone else touch it, either. No, the house would be mine.
Royal ran a hand through his blond hair. "What the fuck are you doing, Noah?"
I finished my scotch and set the glass down on the table.
"I'm expanding Carter Construction," I said flippantly. "I'm buying a partnership into an architecture and design firm."
"So, it's a business decision to buy into Savannah Lace?" Royal mocked.
"Yes. Nina is getting some very interesting projects; if we can snag those construction contracts and work with Ginny Montague, that expands our portfolio considerably." Ginny led construction for Savannah Lace, and brought in companies and liaised with them on all Savannah Lace projects.
Royal shook his head. "You destroyed that poor woman's life for this?"
"It's always been about the business, Royal. I went after Baron after he tried to get us out of the Savannah bridge deal. Or were you thinking I run a fucking charity?" I demanded, my temper flaring.
I knew what I had done. I had done it consciously. I hadn't expected her father to all but disown her—I thought he'd be humiliated and beg for the video to protect his daughter's reputation. He'd, instead, given me the contract, and then fucked Stella over. That had not been part of my calculation. The rumor was that Baron Hunt was protective of his daughter and was lining up men for his daughter to date, and marry. Stella showed up for all Hunt events on a Daddy-approved man's arm. What the hell was I supposed to think?
"Whatever, Noah, I'm done giving you advice on morality and—"
"You have no standing to give me advice on fucking morality," I barked. If he knew my secrets, I knew his. "Let's not forget who you are."
Royal flinched, and his eyes darkened. "The people I destroyed deserved it. I didn't use innocents to get what I wanted."
"Stella is a Hunt. She's no innocent."
Royal set his tablet down on the table. "I'll talk to Rose about making an offer."
"Hide my name," I instructed.
Royal raised both eyebrows and scoffed. "This is Savannah, Noah. You move into her house, everyone will know. You can't hide that."
"For now, I don't want her to know," I retorted. "No point rubbing it in, as you said. By the time I move in, she'd be over her…whatever it is she's feelin'."
I fucking hoped so, because the silent tears she cried in my office still broke something inside me, something I hadn't realized still existed. She'd looked so beautiful in that blue dress. Her green eyes had been smiling when she'd come in, and were red-rimmed by the time she left.
I'd given her one present, which she left on my desk on her way out. She didn't ask questions. She didn't say anything. She didn't text or call. She didn't leave you're an asshole messages. Her silent tears were all she gave me.
"When is Neveah coming to Savannah?" Royal leaned back, and I could see he was letting what I did to Stella go. We'd been together for too many years, and no woman would come between us. We could be annoyed and angry with one another, but in the end, we were brothers.
"Fall," I told him and smiled. Thinking about my little sister always made me happy. Despite what had happened to her, she'd bounced back. She was a cute, little pixie, and was doing her PhD in psychology at UCLA.
"How long will she stay?"
"A while," I told him. "She needs to be ready to defend her doctoral thesis in January, so she's going to hunker down and work on completing it."
"And after?"
I shrugged. "I don't think she knows. She wants to work as a psychologist, but she'll need to figure out where."
I was incredibly proud of Neveah and what she'd achieved. She was so smart and kind…a lot like Stella in so many ways. If Stella and I had been a real couple, they'd become friends. But we were not, and I'd make sure that Stella and Neveah never met.
My thirst for revenge had been quenched, though if I was honest, the nausea I felt on and off whenever I thought about what I did to Stella had done that, not showing the video to Baron Hunt.
"Have you talked to her since…that day?" Royal asked.
He didn't have to explain who her was.
"Why would I?"
What would I say? What could I say? I'm sorry I used you. I'm sorry I seduced you. I'm sorry I fucked you and recorded it. How does one make any of that okay with a fucking apology?
Royal nodded. "From what I know, she hasn't said anything to anyone. People didn't even know y'all were dating."
I was still new in Savannah, for all practical purposes. I was invited to a few parties, like the one where I met Stella, but all in all, I was still an unknown entity. That would change with the partnership with Savannah Lace and the bridge project.
"She doesn't have a lot of friends," I told him.
He nodded. "That's tough…going through what she is and having no one. That…."
"Royal, I did what I had to do. I can't change a damn thing now. Can you stop beating me up for it?" I slammed my hand on the table and saw a few heads turn toward us.
He shrugged. "I'm going home. And, yeah, you're right; I need to get over what you did. The question is how can you?"
Get over it? Fuck no. I'd never get past seeing what I did to her.
"It is what it is," I said gravely. I pulled out my wallet, and threw some money on the table. "I'll walk you out, and go to the apartment."