Chapter Nineteen
Drew
Boston
Memories of the last forty-eight hours tickled at my brain, pulling me out of sleep.
I remembered the flustered look on Bella’s face when I’d told her I’d rented a ten-bedroom house just so she’d have plenty of places to hide.
I smiled, thinking of how defensive she’d been that I’d bothered to learn her favorite candy.
Her laughter was still vivid in my mind, as was the image of her by the fireplace—loving and being loved, then simply being with me.
In the blink of an eye, we’d gone from rivals to lovers.
Life had a way of surprising a person. I hadn’t been looking for this, but being with her had changed the way I viewed our shared history—and what our future might hold.
I’d fallen asleep with her in my arms, and I frowned as I realized we were no longer entangled.
Reaching out, I expected to find the warmth of her skin.
Nothing.
My hand met only the crisp, expensive linen of the bed.
It was empty and cool to the touch. For a few seconds, I stared at the ceiling and listened for the sound of her, fighting off the physical betrayal of her absence.
I told myself she was likely just an early riser.
Like me, she had business commitments that didn’t wait for a convenient hour.
She was probably in another room plotting world domination over coffee.
The thought almost made me chuckle; that was Bella—armor up before dawn. Or maybe she was in the kitchen making breakfast. I smiled at the less likely possibility of that, imagining her in my shirt again, all sharp efficiency and hidden fire.
“Bella?” I called out.
My voice sounded rough, controlled in that way I sounded when I was trying to project a calm I didn’t feel. There was no answer.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood. Naked, my skin still humming from her touch, I padded through the house. My muscles coiled with anticipation, half-expecting her to be around the next corner, waiting to pull me back under the covers.
The house was quiet, but it wasn’t peaceful. It felt hollow.
I walked the length of the house to the kitchen where she’d sat yesterday, looking like a dream I wasn’t ready to wake up from. The space was now pristine. Counters wiped, chairs pushed in. No sign she had ever been there, until I reached the island.
A single piece of cream stationery sat propped neatly beside the bowl of candy.
Drew,
Heading back to New York early. The roads and airfield should be open by the time you find this. Thank you for yesterday. I didn’t know I needed it.
Bella
It was polite. It was clinical. I stood there, naked, her scent still filling my senses, reading a message that sounded like it had been drafted by a legal department.
Thank you for yesterday? Like I’d catered a damn brunch.
If I wasn’t so pissed, I’d laugh at how perfectly “Bella” that was—guarded even in her goodbyes. But it stung, right where the fire from last night still smoldered. I headed back to the bedroom, found my phone, and fired off a text.
Drew: Where are you?
Delivered. Read. Three dots . . . then nothing.
That stung more than anything had in a long time. I tossed the phone onto the bed and headed for the shower. Beneath the hot spray, I convinced myself that demanding a response wasn’t an option. I was better than that. Barely.
As I scrubbed down, I thought about the woman I’d seen past the shield. Bella had run because she was scared. The part that hurt was that she’d run from me rather than to me. She wanted to believe she didn’t need anyone, and I wondered if it wouldn’t be better for both of us if I let her go.
But I could still taste her on my lips. I could still feel the way she’d arched under my hands as if she were finally free. I’d seen a woman overwhelmed by responsibility, lonely and yearning for a connection. How was I supposed to unsee that?
How could I unwant her?
I thought of how little control she actually had over her life, and that was what kept me from calling. I didn’t want to force her into a choice. I wanted her to come to me freely.
After I was dressed and packed—my suit fitting like armor over skin that still remembered her nails—I called Nora. She answered on the second ring.
“If you’re calling because of the storm, we’re good, Drew,” she said. “The resort cleared a path, and a fleet of snow cats showed up out of nowhere to clear the pass. The Range Rovers you sent are already here. Nice touch.”
My chest tightened. “I didn’t arrange for them.”
There was a pause. “No? Hang on. Brady, make sure those vehicles are here for us.” A moment later, she came back. “All good. His sister sent them. For everyone. Bella is so cool. I’ve always liked her.”
“Me too,” I said, not realizing I’d spoken aloud until the words were out. I cleared my throat. “Be careful getting back to school.”
“I will,” she promised. “You should come here sometime, Drew. You work too much.”
I hung up and stared out at the snow-coated pines. Bella hadn’t just left; she’d made sure everyone was safe. She’d woken up, walked out of my bed, and secured the world for everyone else before she allowed herself to disappear.
That wasn’t avoidance. It was a heightened state of responsibility, and damn if it didn’t make her even sexier.
My jaw clenched. People equated wealth with freedom, but it often brought the opposite.
I was in a leadership role because it was expected, not because it was a dream.
For the first time, I was asking myself why.
Did I want to follow in my father’s footsteps? Work until my wife died alone because I didn’t care enough to look for her? Or did I want to learn to ride and go with her?
I wanted more. I wanted to go to Bella and ask her if she wanted more, too. Feud be damned. Crashing a Holliston boardroom sounded like exactly the kind of fun I needed.
Halfway to Boston, my phone finally buzzed.
Bella: Home. I’m home.
Three words. A status report. I typed a question, then deleted it. I typed another, and deleted that too. The only questions that mattered were the ones I refused to ask: Did yesterday mean anything? Is this as hard for you as it is for me?
Drew: I’m still en route. Thank you for setting up a ride for everyone.
I softened the response because, even ghosted, I had to admit—she had style.
Bella: You’re welcome.
I couldn’t help myself. I sent one more.
Drew: You should be here with me.
Dot. Dot. Dot. Nothing.
I ran my hand through my hair and pocketed the phone. Me, Drew Burke, reduced to checking dots like a lovesick teen. Pathetic. No matter how good the connection was, I would never be the type of man who chased a woman.
Not me.
The next morning, my Boston office felt like a tomb of glass and steel. I sat at my desk staring at a spreadsheet, debating if I should go to New York, walk into Bella’s office, and carry her back here.
I thought of Dominic Corisi. His wife had once asked him: Can you actually kidnap someone who wants to go with you? Twenty years in, and there was still a twinkle in his eye when he looked at her. I smirked, wondering what Dominic’s advice would be. Most of his ideas would probably land me in jail.
The private line rang. I picked up. “Yes?”
“Hello, Drew,” a familiar feminine voice said. It wasn’t the one I was hoping for.
“Alethea. I’m glad you called. The escape rooms you designed were beyond anything I’d imagined.”
“Thank you. It’s nice to be appreciated.” After a pause, she added, “Consider it a favor.”
A favor from Alethea Stone. That could mean anything from a coffee run to burying a body.
“Of course,” I said, standing slowly.
“Since you went to Vermont with her, you must have liked what you learned,” she said.
A chill went up my spine. “How do you know about that?”
“I know a lot of things. I did a little digging into your new friend—”
“Stay the hell away from—”
“Watch your tone,” Alethea cut in. The ice in her voice snapped through my anger like a blade. I was a battering ram, but in her world, I was not the apex. “Your sister got herself into a messy situation for the youngest Holliston.”
I frowned, the video Bella mentioned flashing in my mind. “How messy?”
Alethea laid it out. A plan by frat boys to take Brady down. Getting him drunk, trying to film a compromising situation. Nora had found out and dragged him out of there.
“Your sister’s clothing was half off,” Alethea continued, “and they both looked like they’d been involved in something they shouldn’t have.
Nora confronted them; they responded crudely.
Brady got some good shots in before security broke it up.
Your sister is quite the scrapper too. She doled out some physical justice, which is why she was banned from that campus. ”
Nora hadn’t said a word.
“The record was scrubbed,” Alethea said. “Professional-grade cleanup. Bella traded a massive favor to make sure neither Nora nor Brady were in trouble.”
Bella hadn’t just handled a video. She’d protected my sister.
“Those frat boys are still plotting,” Alethea said. “Deleting a record doesn’t delete a grudge. I need you to ask me to handle this for you.”
“What does handling entail?”
“Let’s just say I know their parents. I can persuade them to rein in their children.”
I knew that tone. It was steady, cold, and deadly. She was the one Dominic trusted to defend his family. I would do the same.
“Do it,” I said. “And thank you.”
“Keep this favor between us,” she said. “One more thing. Call your father.”
I stilled. “What?”
“He’s in Firebrook Valley,” she said calmly. “There’s a problem brewing there you should get ahead of.”
The line went dead.
I stared at the receiver, my pulse thudding. Bella had disappeared into silence. Alethea was waging war for me. And my father was in Firebrook Valley in the middle of winter.
If this feud was the only thing standing between me and Bella, I was going to ram right through it.