The Moment It All Began (The Duke Brothers #6)

Chapter 1

Blue Jay McAllister white-knuckled the box she was holding.

You can do this because you are a badass and take no crap from anyone.

Watching the numbers on the elevator panel as it descended was something she’d done hundreds of times in the eight years she’d worked for Cavanagh Sale, a fashion house that had nurtured her career and given her plans for a future the naive country girl she’d once been would never have believed possible.

All that had come crashing down today.

Be strong, Blue.

The doors slowly opened and she stepped out, exhaling. There was just a short walk now, and she was out of here. Done with this place and the lying, backstabbing people who worked in it.

“Blue!”

Lowering the shoulders that had risen to her ears, Blue turned to see a man running toward her. Tall, gorgeous, and as trustworthy as a snake oil salesman, but that was something she hadn’t realized until about twenty minutes ago.

“Wait, Blue.”

She didn’t. Gripping the box with everything she’d cleaned out of her desk, she struck out for the door.

“I said wait.” Fingers wrapped around her arm, stopping her. “What the hell are you doing?”

Sebastian Cavanagh’s dark brows drew into an angry line, his handsome face no longer wearing its habitual genial expression.

The man whom everyone loved and who had been trying to get her into bed for the past year.

She’d never succumbed to his charms like others because she was a professional, goddamn it, and sleeping with a Cavanagh of Cavanagh Sales had always seemed like a really bad idea.

“Leaving.” Blue added nothing to that. She just jerked her arm free and backed up a step.

“Look, there is no need for this behavior—”

“No need,” Blue gritted out. “The protege you made me train because, and I quote, ‘you are the best designer we have, Blue, and I want my cousin to learn from the best,’ just stole one of my drawings and pitched it to Shannon, my boss, as her own. Said boss then told me to get over myself. It’s no big deal as this kind of thing happens all the time. ”

Sebastian’s eyes narrowed. They were what had drawn her to him. Blue, the color of a bright cloudless day in her hometown of Lyntacky, Colorado.

The stab of longing she felt for her home then nearly dropped her to her knees. She fought the need. Keep it together. You’re the tough McAllister, remember.

“And the worst part of all this is that you knew. Shannon told me you said I’d be unhappy, but I’d roll with it ‘because Blue is a professional.’”

“Look. I know what Layla did was wrong—”

“When did you know she had stolen my drawings, Sebastian?”

He didn’t want to answer her because his eyes moved just an inch, to the right.

“How long?”

“I saw her talking to the clients with Shannon, and when she came out, I asked her what was going on,” he conceded. “She showed me her drawings, but I knew they were yours.”

That had to be over a week ago, Blue realized. The betrayal hit hard.

“Let’s go upstairs and work this through. You are our best designer, and we can settle this. I know you’re halfway through the designs for the catalog, and—”

“So you’ll tell everyone those are my designs that she stole, and your cousin will be reprimanded, if not fired?”

“There is no need for that. She knows she was wrong, but Layla is family—”

“And I’m what?”

“Important,” he gritted out.

“But not family.” Blue snorted. “Clearly there is no loyalty to me, a staff member who has poured her heart and soul into designing your lines for years?”

His eyes moved left and right. “Keep your voice down.”

She laughed then, right in his face. “You want me to swallow this entire thing and just deal with it, don’t you, Sebastian?”

“These things happen, Blue. We don’t want to lose you, so come with me back to the office, and we’ll get Layla in there, too, and we can talk this entire thing through.”

He wore a deep gray suit, tailored to his muscled body, and a white shirt, with a blue tie that matched his eyes. The man was hot, there was no getting around that, and he knew it, but something had always stopped her from getting close to him. As it turned out, that was the right move.

“They don’t happen to me, and I can’t work for people who don’t have my back. If Layla gets away with this, she’ll keep doing it.”

He snorted. “Your country girl roots are showing, Blue Jay. This is the big city. Things run differently here.”

Blue really hated people laughing at her, which had started on her first day of school when her mother had made her wear a smock dress in some curtain material she had left over.

“Come on, I’ll buy you a coffee, and we’ll talk about it,” Sebastian said in the gentle voice that had calmed nervous clients before.

It didn’t calm her.

“Let me explain my feelings, Sebastian. I will never work for Cavanagh West again. I would rather be unemployed. I’m leaving, and if you come at me in any way, I will talk, loudly, to anyone who will listen about what low-life scumbags the upper management at Cavanagh Sale are.”

And that hurt the most because for years she’d ignored the murmurings as jealousy or someone trying to rake up trouble for Cavanagh Sale. When the truth had slapped her in the face, she could no longer do that.

He leaned into her. “Be very careful, Blue. We have a lot of money and power behind us and could destroy your reputation. I want those designs you have already drawn, and you are going to give them to me.”

The calm veneer tore away, and Sebastian Cavanagh became a man she’d never seen before.

His blue eyes filled with ice, and anger sharpened every line of his face.

She realized then that there was no point in continuing this conversation because she would never win. The Cavanagh family had all the power.

“Goodbye, Sebastian.” Blue took a step back and then walked around him and out the door. Stepping into the cool New York air, she wondered what the hell she was supposed to do now.

The city didn’t pause to acknowledge her situation. People streamed past in every direction—heels clicking, coffee cups clutched, voices raised into phones mid-argument or mid-joke. Taxis blared. Somewhere, someone laughed too loudly.

Just another workday in New York City, Blue thought, forcing the swell of hysteria back down. She fell into the current moving left, clutching her box of possessions to her chest like a shield, and let the city carry her forward.

What was she meant to do now? Did I do the right thing? But even as the question crossed her mind, she knew she did. Blue was raised in a family that, while odd, was loyal and knew the difference between right and wrong, which they’d instilled in their four children.

If she’d stayed at Cavanagh Sale, it would not have been the same, and she would have resented everyone involved in stealing those designs from her. No, her time there had been tainted. It was over.

Looking at the shop window to her right, she saw her reflection. A woman who fit into the New York vibe. The power-casual style, blending professional polish with personal flair, her boss called it. She always praised Blue for her clothing choices.

Blue walked and let the thoughts come and go. She loved this city as much as she loved the small town she’d been born and raised in. Here she was anonymous and no longer one of the crazy Lyntacky McAllisters. Here she’d grown up out of the shadow of her siblings and parents.

What am I going to do now?

Looking down at her Christian Louboutins which had been a purchase after her last bonus, she wondered if she’d have to sell them now. There was a huge market for secondhand clothing and shoes these days.

“For pity’s sake, Blue, calm the fuck down,” she muttered as anxiety slid its ugly tendrils into her veins.

She was nobody’s fool and knew that finding work in the fashion industry would not be easy if Cavanagh West made things difficult for her.

Sebastian hadn’t been lying when he’d said he could destroy her reputation.

He could, and it would only take a few phone calls.

The industry respected them, and she was nobody in comparison.

A wave of tiredness had her moving to a bench on the sidewalk and dropping onto it, still clutching her box. Panic slithered through her. It wasn’t too late to go back in order to—no, that wasn’t who she was. She couldn’t work with people she didn’t trust.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there thinking, but her cheeks were icy, and her nose had started running from the cold. Thoughts tumbled through her head as she tried to come up with a plan.

Blue was good at planning and always having a direction to travel in. Right then, she was clueless. Her plan had been to stay with Cavanagh West and climb to the top—as far as they let her go, that was.

She saw a black Escalade pull up alongside her. Looking into the driver’s seat, she saw a man alone in a dark suit and sunglasses. Her immediate thought was a chauffeur or security. The car moved forward a few feet and then stopped.

Blue watched the rear doors to see who got out. She loved celebrity spotting, and this car had tinted windows and a driver, so her guess was that whoever sat inside was someone important, like a politician or celebrity.

A black-clad leg appeared, a polished black leather shoe on its foot over a deep gray sock.

Then the body followed. Tall, Blue thought.

His back was to her, and she saw broad shoulders in a black suit jacket.

The suit perfectly complemented his long, lean frame.

His dark hair ruffled in the breeze. She watched him lean back into the limo and take out a leather briefcase. He slung the strap over his shoulder.

As she wondered what he looked like, he turned. Their eyes caught and held, and Blue felt the breath lock in her chest. What the hell was he doing here? Further to that, why was he in that limousine dressed like that?

Sin, she thought. The man looked like sin.

Sexy as hell, and a little dangerous. Then he smiled at her, and Blue felt an answering smile tug at her own lips.

Jay Haddon had gone to the same elementary school as Blue back in Lyntacky.

He was a few years older and friends with her brothers, but she knew him.

“Hey, Blue. Who’d have thought I’d run into you today.” Jay moved to where she stood and looked down at her. His eyes ran over her face and then moved to the box she was still clutching.

“Hi, Jay.”

“You all good there, Blue?”

She’d known this man most of her life, and they’d run into each other on and off over the years when their trips home had coincided, but he’d never been what she’d call a close friend. They just grew up in the same crazy town alongside each other.

“You look a little pale. What’s going on, Blue?”

Lyntacky had plenty of hot guys per capita, and she’d never thought Jay Haddon one of them, but looking up that long suit-clad body to the handsome face above, she knew that opinion had now changed.

The man was smoking hot in that suit. In Lyntacky, he was always scruffy and unkempt, but not today, she thought, looking at the smooth-shaven jaw.

“Nothing,” Blue said, realizing she was staring. “How are you, Jay?”

His blue eyes told her he wasn’t buying her words that nothing was wrong. Not blue like Sebastian’s eyes. No—these were more deep-ocean blue. He also had ridiculously long eyelashes, which she was instantly jealous of. Hers were fake. How had she not noticed them before?

“Why were you in that limousine, Jay?”

“Catching a ride.” He shrugged.

“In a limousine? Now tell me the truth.”

His smile was crooked.

“Why are you sitting there clutching a box full of—” He leaned in to look inside it. “—desk contents.”

Before she could stop him, he’d pulled out the pen holder that had pens, pencils, and other crap in it that her sister, Birdie, had made for her.

It was an old can that she’s stuck pictures all over and then handwritten the words “to my big sister for her twelfth birthday.” She’d carried it with her everywhere.

“Nice. Did Birdie make that for you?”

Blue nodded, taking the pen holder from him and putting it back in the box.

“I figured it wouldn’t be Lynx or Finch.”

“No, my brothers were not into making my gifts,” she agreed.

“What’s going on, Blue? You look panicky.”

“I’m not panicky,” she said, sounding exactly that.

His gaze went over her shoulder, and she turned, hoping Sebastian hadn’t found her. But what she saw was one of New York’s finest hotels that she’d never stayed in. Who knew I’d walked that far.

“It’s cold out here. Come inside and have a drink with me,” Jay said.

“Are you staying here?”

He nodded.

“Are you rich, Jay?”

“That’s a rude question, Blue.” His mouth twitched again.

“You sell real estate at home in Lyntacky, but there is no way that income would allow you to stay here.” Blue pointed at the hotel.

“Come inside and have a drink with me, and I might tell you what I’ve been up to.”

“I don’t think so. I need to get home.”

“You work at one of the fashion houses, don’t you? How come you’re not there at 2:00 p.m. on a Monday?” Jay asked.

“None of your business.”

“Come on, Blue, we’re friends who come from a crazy little town that loves square dancing. Have a drink with me.”

She was clearly silent for too long, because he wrestled the box out of her hands.

“If you want this back, you have to come inside and find me.”

“Jay, give that back. That’s theft!” He ignored her and kept walking, those long legs taking him away from her.

She watched him walk through the glass circular door and then disappear.

“Well, hell,” Blue muttered.