47. Chapter 46
Ria
Frozen to the spot, I vaguely register movement and faint mutterings as I stare at Ezra and Trixie’s retreating forms.
It’s happened. He’s beaten me.
I’ve been so wrapped up in making this relationship with Leo look plausible that I let it cloud my judgment, and what I should have been focusing on was bringing Ezra down. How am I going to get out of this and not look like I’ve tried to break Cole’s trust?
My legs are heavy as I slowly slip out of the warmth of Leo’s touch.
He tries to pull me back, but I push his hands away.
The terror, fear, and utter humiliation claw at my chest, gripping my heart in a vise, and I push through the crowd to reach the escape of the wide-open space of the expansive gardens.
This afternoon, I was free as I floated through the grounds as we had multiple photos taken, laughing and joking with our family and friends.
Leo had held me close and kissed me whenever he could, no longer acting.
It was so natural to be with him, and I’ve never been so happy and full of hope.
I need to grasp on to that feeling again, but as I suck in a deep breath of the cool evening air, it doesn’t fill my lungs and release the impossible feeling of failure.
It triggers the backs of my eyes to tingle, tears threatening to fall with every intake.
“I’ve got you, baby.” I don’t realize I’ve sunk to the ground until Leo pulls me into his lap, cradling my body against his, my head resting on his chest and his heart thumping against me. “I’m so sorry,” he mumbles into my hair as he kisses my crown. “This is all my fault.”
His words crack my heart in two.
“It’s not your fault,” I say in between sobs. “I said we should stay married.”
“But I went along with it knowing full well I have wanted this for so long.”
“You can’t say things like that to me.” I shake my head, the fabric of his shirt brushing my cheek.
“Trust me. I’ve dreamt about it.” Lifting my head off his chest, I look up into his eyes that are soft and full of so many emotions.
I cup his jaw and bring my lips to his for a gentle kiss.
“Let’s get you off this cold ground,” he whispers against my lips while scooping me up like I weigh nothing and carrying me over to the willow tree where we sat for ages just this morning, wrapped up in each other.
Shifting so I’m perched on his lap, he refuses to let me move to sit next to him as he curls his arms around me, giving me a tiny smile that eases the grip of terror wrapped around my heart.
“You truly do mean it, don’t you?” Nodding slowly, he brushes the pad of his thumb against my cheek. “But what about the fear of breaking someone's heart?”
“With you it would never have been me breaking your heart; you’d break mine.
I’ve papered over the cracks for as long as I can remember.
Watching you with other men who are not worthy of your time but who chip away and break your beautiful and kind heart.
” His legs start to tremble underneath me as he keeps talking.
“I couldn’t tell you how I felt because I never thought you’d look at me like you are right now or how you have these past couple of weeks.
I finally get it. I get why Dad never could move on and exactly what he meant when he said his heart was only ever one woman’s and why I flitted between women, never settling, keeping my heart safe.
I’ve never been able to give it away because my heart was never mine to give.
You’ve always owned it. It’s yours. It always has been and no one else will ever hold it.
It’s yours to look after and yours to break, and that should scare me but it doesn’t. I know you’ll never break it.”
“Leo,” I whisper. “You’ve held on to this for all this time.”
“Yeah.” He laughs softly. “I’ve loved you for a long time. I guess I needed this push to finally tell you.”
“You love me?”
“So much, baby. And I don’t expect you to say it back.
” He cups my face and brushes away the wetness that coats my cheeks.
“You’re incredible, and that’s how I know you’ll get through this.
You don’t need me or anyone to fix this for you.
You’ve probably got the tools to bring him down.
You just need me to stop distracting you.
” His lips tilt up into a cheeky smile..
“I quite like your form of distraction.” Kissing him gently, I giggle against him.
“I can’t say I’m complaining either. But you need me to let you be the CEO you are and crush Ezra fucking St. Claire.”
“I’ll destroy him, not crush him.”
“There she is.”
Luckily Ezra’s outburst was only heard by us, and the rest of the wedding guests were oblivious. Hunter assured me that nothing could ruin their perfect day and made a joke that it has never been me to bring the drama to family events. I did feel sad for Jade because Trixie never came back.
Ria - I’m sorry again. But have the best honeymoon. This will all be over when you get back.
Hunter - Stop apologizing, you’ve got this.
Rubbing my eyes, I lean back in my chair, stretching out my aching muscles.
Nila grumbles on my lap at the sudden movement, and I scratch under her chin.
“Sorry, sweetie.” The glow of my computer screen in the dark is all that illuminates my home office.
I’ve been looking over every piece of information Deacon gave me along with anything Mom and Dad could give me on Dale, and I’m struggling to piece it all together.
“Hey, what are you doing in here? It’s four in the morning and still dark outside.” Leo spins my chair and crouches in front of me, stroking Nila softly, and she purrs loudly at his touch.
“Couldn’t sleep.” I sigh, meeting his gaze.
“Okay, give me two minutes.” Standing, he turns to leave. “Let me help.”
“No, you need your sleep. You’ve got the auditors coming today.”
“You also have the auditors today, baby. I’m not leaving you in here to do this alone.
Do you think I can sleep knowing you're here?” He places a strand of hair behind my ear that has fallen from my messy bun and kisses my forehead.
“I’ll get us some coffee. And check on Bartholomew, since apparently you have a favorite.
” He tips his head to Nila who is curled into a tiny ball on my lap.
“Don’t say that she followed me in here and I didn’t want to wake him.”
“Don’t worry; I won't tell him.” He winks before he slips out of my office.
He returns a few moments later and places a mug next to me as I rest my head in my hands. “It has to be in here. But nothing is making any sense. This is going to ruin Bright if I don’t pull out. How will our clients trust us again?”
“Baby.” Leo pulls my hands away from my face before taking Nila off my lap and placing her carefully on the ground.
He gently draws me toward him, before sitting back down in my chair with me settling onto his lap.
“We might be looking in the wrong place. Have we gone through the filed accounts for Peak with a fine-tooth comb?”
“I looked at the most recent set, yes.”
“Okay, I’m going to analyze them for the past five years, before he took over. Bright has always been in competition with Peak, but it was a healthy competition. Fred Crawley was a good friend of your dad’s. He had nothing to hide.”
“Maybe you’re right. Okay, you look through them and I’ll analyze the rest of this.” I motion to the newspaper reports up on my screen of anything I could find on both Ezra and Dale.
Dusting the back of his fingers down my cheek, he drops a quick kiss to the tip of my nose. “We’ll get him.”
We work in perfect harmony until the sun starts to stream in through my window. Leo settled in his own chair and kept his hand on my thigh the whole time, anchoring me.
“Baby? Have you heard of Sinclair Properties Ltd?”
“No.” I pause my scrolling and look over at the report Leo is working through.
“Here. Look at this.” He points to a sentence in the most recent set of accounts that mentions Sinclair Properties and how Peak has loaned the company quite a substantial amount of money.
“I thought it was strange, so I looked on the Companies House website at Sinclair Properties and the director is one of the top associates at Peak. I was expecting to see Ezra’s name if I’m honest.”
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m really not sure, but the money trail seems off.”
“Brent?” the barista shouts, and I walk forward to collect our coffees to take into the office.
“Thanks.” I pick up the tray, and Leo loops his arm around me, taking the tray as we head to leave.
“You know that’s the first time you’ve used my name.”
“Is it?”
“Well, it’s the first time I’ve heard you use it, and it felt fucking fantastic.”
“It feels good saying it.”
“Would you look at this. Mr. and Mrs. Brent out in the wild. Method acting at its finest.” Ezra slow claps as he walks next to us.
“What do you want, St. Claire?” Leo sighs.
“Just wondered if you had told Cole you were pulling out yet?”
“Move along, Ezra.” I start to speed up my steps to get away from him, and Leo keeps in step.
“I’ll take that as a no.” He cackles. “You’ve got until Friday. I expect you to email me to say it’s done by midday. If not, I’ll send him the video.” He breaks away and heads in the other direction. “Tick tock, Brents.”
I pull Leo in the opposite direction. “Come on; don’t let him get to you.” As he starts to walk in step with me, his phone beeps with an incoming email.
Who is that?” I ask, frowning as his face drains of color. “You look pale. Everything okay?”
“Huh?” He shakes his head and gives me a fake-as-shit smile. “Yeah, everything is fine.”
“You don’t look fine,” I press as we continue to walk toward the offices.
“No, Ria, it really isn’t okay if I’m honest, but I think we need to talk about this away from prying eyes and ears.”
“What the hell do you mean?”
“I mean, I need to fire someone,” he growls as he passes me his phone.
To: leobrent@
From: dlucas@
Subject: Tick Tock
Dear Mr. Brent,
If you think you can intimidate me then you’re sorely mistaken.
Your little display in your office was cute, but I’m cleverer than you are and know more than you think I do.
It would be a real shame if a recording of your unprovoked attack made it to Mr. West. I very much doubt someone as upstanding as he is would appreciate a bully maintaining his investments.
You need to think this through very clearly because you may think you’re safe, but trust me, if you don’t contact Mr. West and tell him you can’t look after his portfolio, I will not only release the video of your deceit that will ruin Ria’s reputation, but I will take the harassment in your offices further.
I bet you look good in gray. I hear that’s the color they put the criminals in here.
Tick Tock.
And in case you think I’m joking, attached is the recording from your very own security footage. Seems your employees need more of a financial incentive to remain loyal.
Dale