Release You

7. A Truce and a Deal

CHAPTER 7

A Truce and a Deal

Nikki

I glared at the scrape on James Cavalier’s elbow. No matter how hard I tried, the memories of that day remained locked away. Henry’s eleven-year-old face was all I saw whenever I closed my eyes and thought of the night his dad was killed. Dom had called it gruesome. Gruesome didn’t begin to cover the hatred on these images. I picked up a marker, circled James’s arm, and pinned the picture to the wall.

Stepping back, I focused on the scene—Lisa’s entire case file was laid out on my wall, like an official murder board. It was hard to look at, but I needed the reminder of what everyone involved had gone through, what Lisa was still going through, rotting in a cell for almost half her life for a crime she didn’t commit. I stifled a cry, and then, wiped my cheeks. I promised Lisa no more tears.

A knock on the door broke the silence in the room. Henry. Who else could it be? I backed away from the door. I didn’t want to deal with him. Every time I saw him, my mind rushed back to that summer. It hurt too much .

Another knock. “I know you’re in there, Nikki. You haven’t left your room in four days.” His voice rumbled in the hallway.

A raw energy rushed through me at the sound of his voice. I ambled to the door, opened it just enough for me to squeeze through, and closed it behind me. “What do you want? I don’t have time for you right now. I’m with a client.”

Henry glanced upward then met my gaze. “For four days?”

Who was full of tells now? I shrugged. “What can I say? He has stamina.”

He pinned me with one of his dark stares. I swallowed and leaned against the door. He smelled of soap and aftershave mixed in with his own personal brand of manly scent. My hand itched to touch his clean-shaven cheek, maybe run my finger along his perfect jawline.

He braced a large hand next to my head. His lips parted, and I closed my eyes. How many nights had I dreamed of this moment? How many nights had I waited for Henry to come through the door, kiss me, and tell me he was sorry for letting me go? His warm breath brushed my ear, and my legs wobbled a little. Dammit. Why couldn’t Henry Cavalier have grown up to be…less hot? A lot less hot.

“Maybe he can share?” His words touched my ears and pulled at something deep in my chest.

“What?” My eyes snapped open.

By the time I realized what he meant to do, he’d already reached behind me and let the door swing open. I stumbled backward, and he barged into the room. My gaze followed his line of sight to the empty bed. A box of pizza on the desk under the window completed the pathetic scene. Henry scanned the room quickly. He was actually looking for a man. I placed myself between him and the closet to keep his attention on me, but he sidestepped me and pushed the door open.

When he found the closet and bathroom empty, he turned to me, suppressing a smile. “Did he fly out the window, or were you just lying as usual?”

“What do you want? I don’t have time to play with you today.” I crossed my arms, suddenly feeling naked in my thin cotton tank top and pajama pants.

“I need your help.” His gaze fell on the rumpled bedspread.

“No.” I pushed him toward the door, but it was like trying to move a tree. “You need to leave now.”

“Could you just hear me out?” He held me at arm’s length. “Yesterday…” He froze.

“Please don’t look, Henry.”

“What the fuck is this?” He let go of me and slowly approached the wall plastered with every little detail of his father’s murder. Tears pooled in his eyes. “What the fuck is this?” He glared at me.

“Lisa’s case file. I told you I’m here to prove she’s innocent. And the answer is on that murder board. I just need to find it.” I stepped toward him, but he shuffled back.

“This is a chapter in my life that’s been closed for fifteen years. Why are you doing this to me?” The space between his brows deepened.

“I’m not doing this to you. I’m doing this for my sister. Now get out. You saw there’s no guy in here. Just leave.”

He sat on the edge of the bed and hung his head. “Can we call a truce? I’m so tired of fighting you. That’s the last thing I want to do.” He shoved both hands in his hair.

We were both broken. When James Cavalier died, our childhood died with him. We were forced to grow up and face our new reality, as harsh as it was. Worst part was, we were forced to deal with it alone.

I sat next to him. The mattress dipped and drew me closer to him, while his dad’s murder board loomed over us. A pressure gripped my chest. I focused on his breathing, the warmth of his body against my side, and this familiar sense of being safe I felt every time Henry was near me. What was the point of all this fighting when we had bigger problems out there? We needed to let go of the hurt we’d carried with us since we left Paradise Creek.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” I sighed.

“We were too young when it happened. I never knew the specifics.” Wincing, he turned to face me, his eyes red and wet.

I placed my hand on his cheek. My voice was a soft whisper, meant to soothe his pain. “I never saw any of this either. But if I’m going to find your father’s real killer, I have to let go of my fear and face this.” I pointed at the wall. “We were both there. We just have to remember what happened.”

“It still hurts.” He shook his head again.

“I know.” Fighting wasn’t helping either one of us. We needed a truce. I jumped to my feet and grabbed his hands. “Come on. I know just what you need.”

I ushered him downstairs and led him to the red sofa. He had done this for me once when I needed it most. This was my chance to return the favor. It was time to put all my anger aside. I turned on the espresso machine while butterflies bounced wildly around in my belly.

“Wait until you try this. I make my own chocolate syrup. It has cacao powder, maca, mesquite, collagen powder, and coconut sugar.” I rambled on as I worked my magic with the espresso machine.

“I can’t remember the last time I had chocolate anything.” He reached for the mug I offered. His fingers lingered on mine for a long moment before he pulled away. “Thanks.”

“I drink it every day,” I blurted out and then bit my lip. He didn’t need to know how big an idiot I was. He didn’t need to know that I thought of him every time I found myself in a dark room .

“Thank you. This is great.” He sipped from his cup, sat back, and smiled at me.

“It’s not exactly hot chocolate. But we’re grown-ups now.” I melted into the cushion next to him, putting my hair away from my face and behind my ear.

“Yeah, we are.” He surveyed my face before his gaze fell to my chest and the oh-so-transparent tank top. He inhaled and looked away.

With any other guy, I’d know exactly what to do. But with Henry, it was different. He put me on edge, and I couldn’t think clearly. No matter how much I wanted him. I couldn’t handle one more rejection from him.

“So, you called for a truce?” I sipped my coffee. “What are your terms?”

“If you agree to help me, you can have anything you want.”

“Anything?” I raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know. I already have everything. Except for my Mercedes, of course. It got totaled.”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Is that what you want? A car?”

“No. I can replace that.” I leaned forward on the sofa.

“So. what do you get a girl who has it all?” His arm grazed mine

“You get her the Prince of Paradise.”

“What?” He drew his eyebrows together, cheeks red. He knew the girls in school used to call him that.

“Ten years ago, you made me a promise. I want to know why you broke it.”

This had nothing to do with Lisa, but I needed to know. If we were going to work together on this, I needed to know I could trust him and put our past behind us.

His whole face turned a different shade of red. “As I recall it, you made a promise that day too. I showed up. You didn’t. ”

“What the hell are you talking about? I showed up. You didn’t.” I jerked to my feet.

No way in hell was I going to let him turn the tables on me. All of this was on him. The way my life turned out; it was all because of him.

“I’m not doing this with you.” He stood, towering over me.

“Except you are. You want my help. This is the price. Tell me why you thought it’d be fun to make me believe you wanted me. Only to leave me hanging.”

His eyes went wide. “I waited for you. Like an idiot, I waited for you until my uncle’s men came to find me.”

“You’re lying. I was there too.” I was there. I wracked my brain, searching for the details I’d tried to bury for so long. I was there. He wasn’t. “I was maybe fifteen minutes late, or maybe an hour, but I was there.” The tears rolled down my cheeks. I hugged myself as the cold from the marble floors seeped through my bare feet.

“How convenient. You were late, then happened to walk away with five thousand dollars of my mother’s money.” He shook his head once. “Don’t deny it. I knew you came back to the manor that day to steal from my mom. You knew where she kept her emergency cash.”

How had I forgotten about the money? It was how I’d been able to run away from foster care, how I’d gotten to New York and survived. “Yes. I stole that money. I didn’t know you were back in town until you called for me in the manor passages. So what? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Tell me the truth. Why did you kiss me that day?” The pain in his eyes cut me.

“Because I never wanted to just be friends with you. Because you were you.” I couldn’t stop the tears. I didn’t care if he saw how much he’d hurt me. “I waited for you. I slept on the ground under the mesquite tree that night, waiting. For you. And you never came for me.”

“You were really there?” He closed the space between us.

“Yes.” I shoved him away from me.

The hole in my chest blocked the air to my lungs and made everything hurt. I wanted Henry to feel the same pain. I balled my hands and struck him. And all he did was stare at me, letting me pound on him.

I stopped to inhale, and he hugged me close to him, his ragged breath in my ear. “Hipolita, I’m sorry. I should’ve come back. I should’ve waited all night.” He cradled the nape of my neck. “The men who came for me told me they saw you leave town.”

I shook my head. He surveyed my face as if he didn’t recognize me. His thumb slid up and down my jaw. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against mine in some kind of surrender.

“God, I missed you. I missed you every day you were gone.” He covered my mouth with his.

I snaked my hands through his soft hair, tasting my own tears on his lips. Standing on my tiptoes, I deepened the kiss, pressing my body against him. He groaned, a sexy, all-consuming groan that made my toes curl. This version of the Henry I’d grown up with was a stranger to me. But it didn’t matter. My body reacted to him, just as it’d done my first day back in town. I wanted him in the worst way possible. I wanted his hands on me, his lips, his hard body. But what I wanted right now didn’t matter. Henry was a beautiful distraction I didn’t have time for.

I slipped my fingers up his stomach and pushed him away from me. He gripped my waist with both hands, laboring to catch his breath.

“Henry,” I whispered .

“I’m right here.” His warm breath sent goose bumps down my arm.

This was going to be the hardest thing I’d ever had to do. Whatever he made me feel, it didn’t erase all the years I’d spent hating him. Not to mention the rest of Lisa’s life was on the line here. Time. Why was it always bad timing for us?

“I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.” He met my gaze.

“I hear you have a gig for me.” I braced my hands on my hips.

“Right.” He nodded once. “I can wait until you’re ready. I wasn’t expecting you to just forget the last ten years and run away with me.”

I let out a nervous chuckle. Run away with Henry? “We already tried that, and it didn’t work.”

“Like I said, I can wait, but if we’re going to talk business, you need to get dressed first.” His gaze fell on my chest.

“I am dressed.” I flashed him an innocent smile. “I’d tell you my eyes are up here, but I’m enjoying this too much.” I ran a hand over his broad shoulders. “I like knowing you’re not indifferent to me.”

“ Indifferent ? Are you kidding me? I’ve been in sheer agony since you rolled back into my life.”

“Well, you didn’t show it.” I crossed my arms.

“I’m good at poker.” He sat on the sofa, running a hand over his mussed hair. The muscles on his arms rippled with the effort. He was doing it on purpose, no doubt. “I could show you a few tips if you want. You’re a horrible liar.”

“I’m a perfectly good liar, thank you.” Soft bubbles filled the hole in my chest. Henry wanted me as much as I wanted him. For now, that was enough. “What do you need from me?”

He licked his lips and cleared his throat. “It appears you were right. You do have a skill I can use.”

“What are we stealing, Henry? ”

“My mother.”

“Your mother?”

That killed the mood. I plopped myself next to him. Tessa Cavalier had been the genius behind all the parties at this hotel. She’d also been a ray of light in my life after my parents died. Until she got sick.

“I’m always up for bending the rules a little and maybe breaking a few unnecessary laws. You know that.” I furrowed my brows.

“More like complete disregard for the rules, but we can use your word.” Henry grinned, reaching for my hand.

“Fine.” I shrugged. “We’re talking about kidnapping here. I mean, does she want to be stolen? Or come with us?” Swiping a few trinkets, mostly art, here and there was actually fun—not that I’d ever admit that to Henry—but this was major. “How is she?”

“Worse.” He glanced down at his hands. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and my heart squeezed tight. “You should’ve seen her. She can barely move or speak.”

“Where is she?”

To break into a hospice would require some planning, but it was totally doable. We’d need uniforms, access cards, and a few favors—lonely security guards were my specialty.

“Cavalier Manor.”

Well, fuck. Cavalier Manor was a fortress and with reason. The place was drowning in expensive art and furnishings. Lisa and I hadn’t even been allowed to walk on the rugs. While Henry’s mom had been an angel to us, doing everything she could to fill in the void our parents left behind when they died, Henry’s aunt had been a real bitch. She’d never let us forget we were at the manor to work. I was ten, but she didn’t give a shit.

“That’s going to be tricky. She’s home. Why would we take her away from that? And where would you take her? ”

Henry opened his mouth, but the words didn’t come out. He apparently hadn’t considered the logistics. His mom needed special care he couldn’t provide. “I thought she could come here. Nikki, I haven’t seen her in years. I thought she didn’t want to see me, but today?—”

“Wait, you saw her at the manor?”

He nodded. “She seemed afraid. But there was nothing in her eyes to tell me she wasn’t happy to see me.”

“Okay. You have access to the manor, so this may be easier. We just need to come up with transport.” The desperate look in his eyes tugged at my insides.

I wanted to hold him and tell him everything was going to be okay, but this was us. Nothing was ever okay.

“I don’t have access to the house per se. But I can get us inside the grounds.”

Exactly how much of his fortune did Henry lose? “You can’t even go into your own home? Why?”

“My uncle. After you left, he moved me from Tucson to another boarding school in Canada. My heart was so broken I didn’t care about anything anymore. Never thought to ask about Dad’s estate either. When I finished school, I came back to find out my uncle had inherited everything from Dad. I confronted him, but he showed me Dad’s will. It all looked legit. He kicked me out of the house and told me never to come back. Even told the guards to shoot me on sight if I ever so much as came up to the gate.”

“Motherfucker.”

Henry chuckled. “My thoughts exactly.”

“He took everything.” I blew out a breath.

So this was why Henry wanted revenge. His uncle had betrayed his dad’s trust. My stomach sank, and I wanted to punch something. No. I wanted to punch Jonathan Cavalier, that greedy asshole, just like his wife. Because of them, Henry, the Prince of Paradise, had ended up living a very different life than the one his parents had planned for him.

“So, are you really an architect?”

“Yes. I finished college in Canada but did my master’s at Arizona State University. If I couldn’t come home, I wanted to at least be nearby.”

“I’m surprised your uncle didn’t go after your college fund.”

“I’m sure he tried. But that was separate from Dad’s estate.” He stood, his expression blank again.

“But you found a way to get back to Paradise Creek.” I looked up at him.

“Yeah, I bid on the job to renovate the old downtown.” His gaze focused on the stormy clouds outside. “Jonathan voted against me, but this is still my town. The board awarded me the contract anyway.”

“Tell me about your half-assed plan.” I rose to my feet and joined him. “I know the renovation was part of it. But you’ve been here a while, literally blasting away the streets around this hotel. Yet you need my help. I’d say whatever you’ve been trying to do isn’t working.”

“My half-assed plan was to find the tunnels, sneak into Cavalier Manor, and find my dad’s original will where he names me the sole beneficiary.”

“And steal everything back. I like it. A punishment to fit the crime. Your uncle has always been all about appearances. I’d say more than the money, he wanted the town. He wanted what your dad had—their admiration and respect.”

“You don’t need money for that.” He stuffed his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

“You’re a Cavalier, so of course you’d say that.” I stepped back.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Just standing there, with no money and ripped jeans, he still looked like he owned this town.

“I don’t know what I mean.” I shrugged.

“No. Say it. You think I never appreciated what I had. I never was more than just another spoiled, rich brat. That it?”

“What? That’s definitely not what I meant. But your family always made it sound like having money was everything. I spent my entire young adult life trying to live up to that. Money was everything.” I had no idea where I was going with that. He had his poker face on again, and his gaze trained on me. The Cavaliers had money and the town’s respect. The Morrow girls had neither. “I’m sorry. This isn’t your fault.”

“I wish I knew what isn’t my fault.” He sighed.

“In a way I understand how your uncle feels. After Lisa went to jail, this town hated me so much I had to run away. I always thought that if I had the money to buy a pretty building like your family did, they’d like me.” I crossed my arms and leaned my shoulder on the windowsill.

Henry closed his eyes. When he opened them, he pulled me into a tight embrace and kissed my hair. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that alone. I hate that we’ve lost so much time.”

He placed a finger under my chin and tilted my head up. I rose up on my tiptoes and kissed him. His tongue touched my lips, and I parted them to let him in. He cradled my neck and moved closer, deepening the kiss. God, I wanted this man, but it was obvious we still had a lot of unresolved issues. He stopped kissing me but didn’t let me go.

“I finally got you back. I don’t want to lose you,” he whispered in my ear.

“If we want to get rid of all this anger between us, we need to set things right. That’s the only way, Henry.”

He stepped back, cocking his head. “Does this mean we’re partners? The way I see it, you need me as much as I need you.”

“Partners. You help me clear Lisa’s name. And I’ll help you get the Cavalier fortune back.” I grinned. I’d never had a partner before.

“Mom first.” He flashed me a smile that made my knees go weak. “Well, Nikki Swift, sounds like we’ve got ourselves a deal.” He offered me his hand, and I shook it.

“Deal.”