4. Delilah
Gulping back a sob,I half ran through the lobby. I couldn’t focus on the fact that my secret lover used to fuck my new stepmother.
Gross. So, so gross.
That was a vomit-inducing thought for later. For the moment, my mind was trapped on the bigger, more life-changing discovery I’d made. The real reason Nash was keeping our relationship secret, why he didn’t want to marry me, despite how pleased it would have made our grandfathers.
I needed to know what else was in Howard Royal’s will.
“Delilah?”
Ducking my head, I ignored Winston calling out to me. I couldn’t face him, not now. There was only one person I wanted to see, one person who could give me the answers I needed.
Outside, I pulled out my phone and called Sam.
“Bunny!” His happy, exclaimed greeting made the sting of tears worse. “How are you feeling? Please tell me you’ve been resting. Stef insisted, and you know how he doesn’t insist on anything.”
“Sam,” I choked back a sob. “I need you.”
“Where are you?” All the sweetness was gone from his voice.
“On my way to you. There’s something I need to talk to you about. I need a favor.”
“Anything. You know that, sweetheart. Whatever is going on, I’m always here for you.” His heartfelt vow was too much, breaking the dam holding back my tears.
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” I whispered, hanging up before he could hear the meltdown I couldn’t stop as I slid into the back of a taxi.
The ride was short, but the driver kept sending me concerned glances in the rearview mirror. As soon as he stopped outside the large building, I scanned my phone to pay for the ride and rushed inside.
Sam was already waiting by the elevators when I entered. Even though it was a Saturday morning, a steady number of people were coming and going through the security checkpoint, but he opened the gate and waved me through. As soon as I was close enough, he wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug.
Sniffling, I pressed my face into his Brunello Cucinelli suit, his cologne a familiar, comforting scent that pulled an emotional hiccup from me. Patting the back of my head, he murmured soothingly as he guided me toward the bank of elevators.
We stayed silent on the ride up to his office, but he held my hand, occasionally squeezing my fingers to remind me he was there. The conversation I’d overheard kept replaying in my mind, causing my head to throb.
“Mr. Vincent, would you like me to bring you and your guest coffee?” I vaguely heard his assistant ask as we walked past her desk.
“No. Make sure we aren’t disturbed. Not even by my father,” he instructed without sparing her a glance.
Eyes swollen, I stumbled to the leather sofa and dropped down, while he walked to his small bar and extracted a bottle of water from the mini fridge.
“You are scaring the fuck out of me, bunny.”
Fingers shaking, I took a sip of the water, grimacing as the cold fluid hit my empty stomach. “You didn’t handle my grandfather’s will.”
Surprise flickered in his brown eyes. Sam was a beautiful man, with his dark-brown hair styled back from his face, his sculpted features, and the thickest lashes I’d ever seen on anyone. It should be illegal for anyone to be as good-looking as he was. He was eight years older than me, and his brilliant legal mind was a sight to behold when he was working and was the reason he was already a partner in his firm.
He and Stef were in a happy, committed relationship, something only a few people were privy to. His family was old-school traditional, and even though he’d come out to them, they refused to acknowledge his relationship.
“Can you access the files?” I asked, fighting another wave of nausea.
He sat down beside me, cupping my sweaty face in his hands. For a long moment, he just watched me. Sam was aware I didn’t know the details of the will, that, per my grandfather’s request, I wasn’t allowed to be present for the reading of. He’d argued the matter with his father and my own at the time, but in the end, he’d dropped it because I simply hadn’t been interested enough.
Stupid, naive little girl.
“Ethically, I shouldn’t. But if something has upset you this badly, I will.” Pressing a kiss to my forehead, he stood and walked to his desk. While he clicked away on his computer, I sipped my water. Hope tried to flicker in my chest, but I squashed it before it could fully come to life.
“Is there anything specific you would like to know, bunny?” Sam asked, frowning at his screen.
“Just tell me if anything sticks out to you.”
“Are you going to tell me why?”
Twisting the cap back on the bottle, I leaned back against the sofa, my eyes closing in an attempt to block out the pain of betrayal. “I need to confirm a few things.”
“Such as?”
“If my father were to divulge details of the will, would he risk losing anything?” It was not the most important issue. I didn’t care one way or another. But if it was true, then that would mean the rest was as well. And I wanted to hide from it for a little longer.
More clicking from Sam, followed by a grunt. “Yes. If he speaks about the particulars of Howard’s estate to anyone other than Nash or the lawyers specifically listed here, he will forfeit half the sum of his bequest.”
Damn it.
Tears pricked my eyes. “Okay.”
He continued to read, and I knew the moment he realized why I was upset, sending my queasiness to another level. A hiss escaped through his teeth. “Sonofabitch!”
Scrubbing at the tears that spilled down my cheeks, I nodded. “Yeah.”
Brown eyes lasered into me from across the office. “Who told you about this, Delilah?”
“No one told me. I overheard a conversation that was definitely not meant for my ears and decided to get confirmation of the facts.” Because I was reasonable like that. Facts over emotions was what Grandpa Howie would have respected. Even if my heart was nothing but a pile of rubble in my chest. “Give it to me straight, Sam. Am I going to lose everything?”
Muttering curses, Sam switched his gaze back to the computer. “So, at first glance, your father was given the stipulation of losing half his bequest—which was a hefty number, by the way—if he spoke about even the smallest detail of the will. But Nash doesn’t have that same requirement. He could have told you about any of this at any time. But I’m guessing he chose not to?”
Several more tears spilled free. “Yup.”
“Bastard.” Sam didn’t have to tell me his opinion of Nash. They’d disliked each other from day one. After he’d had to hide his own relationship with Stef for so long, Nash making me feel like a dirty secret only pissed him off more.
He clicked a few keys. “The will itself is straightforward. If you aren’t married to Nash by your twenty-first birthday, the Royal shares of the Royal Phoenix become Nash’s. There are no if, ands, or buts about that. From the looks of it, my father drew this damn thing up, so yes, it’s airtight. You would be hard-pressed to fight it, but that doesn’t mean you can’t. Whatever you want, bunny. I’ll stand with you in this.”
I pressed the water bottle to the back of my neck, hoping to alleviate some of the nausea. If it weren’t for the sick pit in my stomach, though, I would have felt numb.
“Do I at least get to keep my job?” I voiced the only concern that needed to be addressed. It hurt that my grandfather had been so cavalier with my birthright. Even more so that Nash was just going to steal it from me. It wasn’t about the money or the hotel, though.
The Royal Phoenix was my home, the only one I’d ever known.
Sam shrugged. “There’s nothing that would suggest otherwise, unless Nash fires you.”
At this point, I wouldn’t put it past him. Obviously, he hadn’t planned on telling me about any of this. Who knew what he was going to do after my birthday?
Which meant I had a lot of things to figure out.
Like where my baby and I were going to live.
I had plenty of money in my bank account. Not only had I not spent much of the salary I’d been earning since I was sixteen, but I’d gotten my trust fund when I turned eighteen. It wasn’t as if I was going to be homeless. I could find a house or an apartment. Something.
But it was hard to think about all that when everything inside me was screaming in agony from the heartbreak of discovering the man I loved had betrayed me.