Chapter 25
Savannah clung to me as I led her into the event room. The eventstarted thirty minutes ago, but I wanted everyone to be here for when we arrived so Savannah could see how many people turned out to take part in the auction.
And there were hundreds of people. People who were wealthy andhappy to donate to a worthwhile cause, and while the cause was to help a charity, the real cause was to get my defiant wife where I wanted her.
The auction was due to start in an hour, so I spent the time takingSavannah around, introducing her to different people. Some people she knew, or at least recognized their famous faces, others she didn’t know.
There was one person I avoided though, someone I was going to waituntil later to introduce Savannah to.
My sweet Savannah was a different person from the one I’d taken tothe launch party. Whenever someone asked about our wedding, she gushed about how perfect it was, how beautiful her dress was, and how her favorite part of it was the dancing fountains in the background.
She held my hand the entire time, and whenever she looked at me,her eyes filled with love, the way I was sure I looked at her. I didn’t want to get my hopes up because Savannah was good at playing her games, but the more she spoke of our wedding, the more certain I was that she was being genuine.
She was surrendering.
“I still can’t believe this,” Savannah said as she took a sip of herchampagne. We’d spent the last few minutes talking with the executive director of DSoA, who wanted to thank us personally for arranging the evening. “I can’t believe you arranged all this in a few days.”
I smirked. “Anything can be achieved if you put your mind to it. Andmoney, of course.”
She returned my smile before her eyes flashed over my shoulder. Inan instant, her body tensed, and the smile disappeared. I looked over my shoulder to see what had caught her attention, but aside from the familiar faces of people I’d invited to the auction, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
“You okay?” I said, turning to face her.
“Yeah, I thought…” she trailed off as her eyes darted nervously overmy shoulder again. “I thought I saw Liam.”
It was my turn to freeze.
It wouldn’t have been impossible for Liam to be here, after all, I hadlet him go, but it had been with a stern warning in his ear that if he ever went anywhere near Savannah, it would be the last thing he did.
I turned back around, my eyes scanning the crowd as a knot ofanxiety formed in my stomach. Liam had the potential to fuck things up for me, something I categorically wasn’t going to let happen.
“Sweetheart, this is an invite-only event. I know for certain I didn’tinvite Liam,” I said, doing my best to reassure her. While it was an invite-only event, I wasn’t stupid enough to think there weren’t other ways into the venue.
She shook her head. “You’re right, I’m sure it wasn’t Liam. I mean,why would he be here anyway, he lives in Portland. At least, I assume he does, I guess I don’t really know where he could be,” she rambled.
My temper spiked a fraction when her eyes glazed over as if shewas disappearing into the memory of her ex. If there was a way I could reach into her brain and remove every trace of Liam Olsen from her memories, I would have done it. I didn’t want her thinking about him, and I certainly didn’t want her talking about him.
I gently tilted her chin up to me. “Stop. It wasn’t him, he knows betterthan to come anywhere near you, Savannah. Put him out of your head, it wasn’t him.”
Even as I said the words though, a part of me didn’t believe them.The truth was, when I let Liam go, it was with the order that he was to leavethe country and never set foot on US soil again. Or a Carson-Fox resort, for that matter.
I had ways of checking in on Liam from time to time to make surehe hadn’t returned to the country, but in the last week, I’d been so distracted by Savannah and her antics, that I hadn’t done due diligence.
She was quiet for a few seconds, her brows furrowed in thoughtbefore she finally spoke. “What happened to him? I know you said you would let him go, but was that it? Did you just let him walk out of wherever you’d been keeping him?”
Ignoring the way my skin started to itch with her disobeying my orderto put him out of her head, I dropped her chin but took a step closer so our chests were brushing.
“That’s exactly what happened. He walked out of there knowing hisdebt to me was paid, and he never gave you a second thought,” I said, watching as anger flashed in her eyes as the truth dawned.
Liam had left her to take the fall, and he hadn’t once looked back tomake sure she was okay.
After a few seconds, she frowned. “You know, a couple of weeks agothat would have hurt.” She paused, sucking in a deep breath. “But now, I wonder if I ever really knew Liam. I look back on our relationship and wonder whether what we had was real or just in my head.”
“Sweetheart,” I said, leaning to whisper into her ear. “It doesn’t matterif what you had with him was real or not. He’s out of your life. But I’m here. I’m here with nothing but love in my heart for you.”
She pulled back, her eyes wide in surprise. “Wh…what did you say?”she said, disbelief in her voice.
I grinned down at her. “I’ll tell you later. Right now, I’ve got somethingI need to do,” I said, resisting telling her that I fell in love with her the very first time I saw her. “Go find Sherry, she’ll show you to your seat.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but I raised a brow, silentlyquestioning if she was going to defy me. She quickly closed her mouth again, a small smile pulling at her lips.
“Okay,” she replied.
Reaching up, she gave me a lingering kiss, and if it wasn’t for the factI was due on stage in a few minutes, I would have dragged her to my office to show her just how much I loved her.
I watched her until she found Sherry, making sure she didn’t stop totalk to anyone along the way. When Sherry started escorting her to the table I’d allocated for her, I scanned the room, looking for my partner in crime.
Fox was at the bar talking to Lily. Why he’d brought her along, I hadno clue. The more he took her to events like this, the more he was getting her hopes up that something more would develop between them.
“Fox, I need a favor,” I said, interrupting their conversation whichsounded very much like Lily had asked him to go away for a weekend together.
“Sure.” He walked away without responding to Lily, leaving her staringafter him like a wounded animal.
“Your timing is impeccable, Junior,” he said when we’d found a quietarea to one side of the bar. “Lily invited me to her family holiday home in Rome.”
“Very romantic,” I replied, stifling my amusement. “Are you going topop the question while you’re there?”
“Fuck off. Obviously I’m not going,” he said, glaring at me.
“You need to cut ties with her, she’s going to turn into a bunny boilerbefore long.”
“I’m aware,” he muttered, rolling his eyes. “What did you need?”
“I need you to go and sit with Savannah while I do my speech,” I said,looking over his shoulder to see Savannah in the distance engrossed in a conversation with Sherry. “She thought she saw Liam.”
Fox’s brows almost disappeared into his hairline. “Liam? As in the exwho screwed her over?”
“The very same,” I replied, scanning the crowd once again. I wasprobably being paranoid, but until I knew he was still out of the country like he was supposed to be, I wasn’t taking any chances.
Fox chuckled. “Worried he’s come to take your woman from you?”
It was my turn to glare at him. “No. Savannah isn’t going anywhere.But if he is here, I don’t want him going anywhere near her. Fuck knows what kind of bullshit he’ll spout to her.”
“Ah, Junior. Didn’t I tell you the truth would come back and bite youon the ass one day?”
I didn’t reply to him, opting to glare daggers at him until hesighed in resignation. I didn’t need a lecture from him, I needed him to look after Savannah while I was busy.
“Fine, fine. I’ll go sit with your wife. But maybe you should be moreworried about what truths I might tell her. I’ve still got that story up my sleeve about that night in Bali when you took those hallucinogenics.”
He winked at me when I snarled at him before he turned anddisappeared into the crowd. I loved Fox, but if he ever told her about that night, I’d kill him.
“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor to introduce to you the manwho made tonight possible,” the executive director of DSoA announced to the audience.
She’d just finished her speech about how the profits raised tonightwould go to supporting families across the country looking after their loved ones suffering from dementia, along with funding crucial research. “Please put your hands together for Mr. Nash Carson.”
The audience clapped wildly as I stepped onto the stage and shookthe director’s hand. Around us, several flashes from cameras went off.
Unlike Fox, I never got nervous when giving speeches. I plannedthem meticulously, and could usually recite what I was going to say without the need for my script.
But tonight was different. Tonight the nerves did hit me because I wasdoing something I’d never done before.
I hadn’t planned what I was going to say.
Why?
Because my speech wasn’t for everyone else. It wasn’t even for thecharity. It was for one person. The only person I wanted it to mean something to.
The woman who was sitting front and center of the stage.
Making my way to the microphone, I glanced around the room, brieflywondering if Liam really was out there somewhere or if Savannah had imagined it.
Before I’d come onto the stage, I’d fired off a text to Brian, instructinghim to find out where the fuck Liam Olsen was. I hoped he would have answers for me by the time my speech was finished.
Finding my sweet Savannah sitting next to Fox, her eyes fixed on meas she waited for me to begin. I tuned everyone out, focusing only on her.
“Good evening,” I paused to swallow down the nerves creeping upmy throat, but with Savannah waiting patiently to hear what I was going to say, she was all the encouragement I needed. “Firstly, I would like to not only thank all of you for your attendance tonight at such short notice, but to those of you who donated to such a worthy cause.”
I scanned the room again, searching out the faces of those who haddonated some incredible prizes to the auction. While I knew better than anyone that donating to a charity was in part to improve your reputation, I couldn’t take away how generous people had been.
“We have some amazing prizes on offer tonight as part of the silentauction. An all-inclusive week’s stay in a beautiful lodge in Aspen.” I nodded to Fox to thank him for his contribution. “Four nights in a penthouse overlooking Central Park in New York.” I found the owner of the New York New York Hotel and Casino in the crowd and gave him a nod, one he returned. “A suite at the Allegiant Stadium to see the Las Vegas Raiders play.” I knew the person who donated this prize wasn’t able to make the event, so instead, I found Savannah. “These are just some of the prizes up for grabs tonight, and I would like to personally thank everyone for their generosity.”
I started clapping, and Savannah immediately joined in with abeaming smile on her face. The rest of the audience followed, and within seconds the event room was ringing with the sound of applause.
When the clapping died down, I returned my gaze back to Savannah.“I’ll be the first to admit that until recently, my knowledge of dementia was limited. Not just around the profound impact on the individual battling this illness, butalso on the devoted caregivers who stand by their side.”The room was silent, everyone listening intently to what I had to say, none more so than Savannah. “But someone close to me knows firsthand the heartbreaking reality of taking care of a loved one with dementia. It is because of her unwavering strength, courage, and compassion that I stand before you today, committed to making a meaningful difference.”
Although the lighting around the audience had dimmed, it was brightenough for me to see a tear roll down Savannah’s cheek, even though her lips were pulled into a small smile.
Savannah hadn’t spoken of her mom’s illness or her death, but Iknew from what she’d said the other day about her childhood that she had been close to her mom. I could only imagine how hard it was for her to watch the one person she loved more than anything wither away in front of her, powerless to stop it.
Holding Savannah’s teary eyes, I continued. “I didn’t get the privilegeto meet my mother-in-law. If I had, I would have thanked her for raising her beautiful daughter to be the incredible person she is today. When my wife was eighteen, and after her mother was diagnosed with dementia, Savannah made the selfless decision to put her life on hold so she could take care of her mom.”
Savannah’s mouth dropped open at the revelation that I knew aboutthis part of her life, even though she’d never spoken about it. Maybe now, she’d realize there really wasn’t a single thing I didn’t know about her.
“I didn’t know Savannah then, but I know the woman she is now. I’vewitnessed firsthand the depth of my wife’s love and devotion to those she cares about, and I know that Savannah would have sacrificed every minute of her time to take care of her mom without any help, not because she wouldn’t have accepted it, but because the help wasn’t available.”
By now, tears were streaming down Savannah’s face, and Fox hadreached out to hold her hand. If it had been anyone else touching my wife, I would have stormed off the stage and broken every bone in their hand, but I trusted Fox more than anyone else on this planet. He was just comforting her until I was in a position to take over.
I grabbed the mic and moved it from the stand, feeling the need tomove closer to Savannah. I took several steps until I was at the edge of the stage, mere feet away from the woman who had changed my world.
“Every day, up and down the country, there are remarkable people,like my wife, who selflessly sacrifice their own dreams and aspirations to look after their loved ones in the face of adversity. Tonight, we have the power to make a start in changing that.
“With your generous contributions, we can take enormous stepstoward providing vital support to families affected by dementia, as well as fund essential research aimed at finding a cure for this devastating illness. Your support tonight will not only provide much-needed assistance to those in need, but it will bring hope for a brighter future for all those affected.
“But the fight doesn’t end tonight, and that’s why I’m standing hereright now to make this promise.” I held Savannah’s eyes, wanting her to know how serious I was about doing my bit to change the future of those who were in the position she was once in. “I pledge to become an ambassador for this noble cause, ensuring that our efforts continue to inspire change long into the future.”
Tearing my gaze away from a stunned Savannah, I looked around theroom, meeting the eyes of as many people as possible. “Together, let us start this journey of compassion, hope, and determination to make a difference in the fight against dementia. Thank you.”
As I put the microphone back in its holder, Savannah jumped to herfeet, clapping animatedly. Around her, everyone joined in, and once again the room erupted with applause and cheers, only this time it was louder than ever before.
I bowed my head to the crowd, thanking them beforedisappearing off the stage, intent on getting my hands back on my woman.