Chapter Seventeen
THE EXECUTIVE OFFICES of Young Enterprises gleamed with modern minimalism—steel and glass surfaces reflecting the city lights outside. During the day, it buzzed with the hustle and bustle of a highly driven corporate workforce. But at midnight, the entire place was quiet and dark...save for the office of the man who owned all of it.
Lucius wearily leaned back against his seat, suit jacket discarded, and sleeves rolled to the elbow. Everything inside of him felt dead. It had been so since he had gotten rid of her.
A sound alerted him to someone coming inside to his office, but Lucius couldn't even find the fucking energy to open his eyes.
Marius' lips tightened as he studied his eldest brother, who was a picture of exhaustion and despair. It was like looking at a fucking stranger.
"What is it, Marius?"
Marius' lips twitched. When they had been younger, none of them could slip anything past their eldest brother. It was nice to know this part of Lucius was still the same.
"I've got some investment recommendations."
"At midnight?" Lucius finally straightened in his seat and looked at his brother. "How about telling me why you're really here?"
"I'm not lying." Marius placed a memory stick on his brother's desk before sliding into the leather seat across from Lucius. "I bought Black Carpet."
"Congratulations," Lucius said, his voice devoid of inflection. "Are you here to ask how much I'd like to invest in it?"
"In the company I just acquired? A hundred mil. In your marriage? That depends on whether you can ever get your head out of your ass."
Lucius' gaze glinted. "Don't."
But the warning only made an identical pair of copper eyes glint back at him just as fiercely.
"You fucked up, Lucius." He pushed the memory stick forward. "Let's just hope it's not too fucking late."
Lucius watched his brother walk away with the same abruptness with which he had appeared. It was unlike this brother of his to interfere in anyone's personal relationships, and tension turned his body rigid as he reached for the memory stick.
The storage drive contained several video files. He clicked on the first, and his stomach clenched as Tassina's face filled his screen.
She was in a conference room, presumably in her workplace, and surrounded by colleagues. She was awarded a promotion...at the same time that asshole chose to break up with her.
The second video showed her talking to her department VP, and his chest tightened at the way her eyes softened when she shyly admitted that their marriage was a love match.
The third video, however...
Lucius shot to his feet at the sight of her ex nearly succeeding in forcing himself on his wife in what appeared to be a medical room, stopping only when Stella arrived.
Rage flooded his veins, but this just as swiftly turned into agony when the last video showed Tassina crying in the hallway, and he heard her sobbing out, "I love him."
His blood turned cold.
"I love him, I really love him..."
Lucius could feel himself whitening at every word she choked out, every sob that tumbled past her trembling lips.
"I love him...b-but I don't think he ever l-loved me...if he can hurt me like this."
His fists clenched, memories that he had tried to repress suddenly devouring his mind.
God, oh God.
He remembered teasing his Tassina for the first time in the airport lounge, and how easy it was to make her question whether he was flirting with her or not.
He remembered playing with Tassina in Foxtown, and how she had ended up second-guessing herself because of someone simply professing their innocence...
He remembered Tassina in his parents' ranch, and how easy it had been to surprise her.
He could go on and on, but he realized now, just when it could be too late, how she had always been so damn sweet...to the point of being gullible. How could he have forgotten this part of her? How could he have forgotten how fucking innocent she was...to the point that he had managed to fool himself into thinking his Tassina was a cold-hearted bitch who would lie about falling in love with him just to get revenge on her ex?
The Tassina he knew and had fallen in love with...could never have it in her to deceive anyone.
But because of his own damn fears...he had ended up throwing away the most important thing in his life.
The realization hit him like a physical blow, leaving him gasping for air.
God.
Oh God.
What have I done?
Marius was heading back home when his phone started to ring. The call was from Lucius, and he had been expecting it since leaving his brother's office.
Lucius spoke as soon as Marius answered. "I fucked up."
"You did."
"Can you help me?"
Marius inhaled sharply. This was only the second time in his entire life that Lucius had ever asked anything from him, and it was no coincidence that both times had to do with his wife. Some people might see this as a disadvantage and think of Tassy as a weakness on his brother's part. But for Marius, it was the opposite.
The whole family had felt Lucius withdrawing from them bit by bit after their father's death. But Tassy had changed all of that. She had made him human again. Made their eldest brother capable once more of feelings...the moment she had stolen his heart.
And that was why—
"What do you have in mind?"
Whatever his brother needed to get his wife back, Marius would stop at nothing to make it happen.
DAWN brOKE OVER THE city skyline, painting the glass towers in shades of pink and gold. Jacob waited in the underground parking garage while mentally rehearsing his resignation speech for the tenth time.
Some lines just couldn't be uncrossed, Jacob thought gloomily. And yet that night, he had crossed it, and now he was paying the price. He had been unable to sleep since then, his conscience refusing to give him rest.
The elevator doors slid open, and Lucius strode out, his expression a storm of determination and despair, and the sight gave Jacob pause.
Lucius took one look at his chauffeur's face and knew what the older man was thinking of doing.
"You don't need to quit," he said tautly. "I was an ass. I didn't know that then, but I do now, and that's why I need you to drive for me so I can beg my wife to take me back."
"Understood, sir." Jacob's voice shook with emotion, and he found himself furiously blinking back tears as he slid behind the wheel. He was relieved over not having to quit, but more than that... oh, thank God his boss had seen the light!
As they pulled out of the garage and into the early morning traffic, Jacob heard his boss ask, "Would you really have quit if I hadn't told you I realized I made the biggest mistake of my life?"
"Of course, sir."
"Even though you've only known her for over a day while you've known me for years?"
"I don't mean to cause offense, Mr. Young—"
"Offend away," Lucius said with a sardonic twist of his lips.
Jacob met his boss's gaze soberly through the rearview mirror. "I'm good at what I do, sir, and billionaires to work for are not that hard to find. But on the other hand..."
Lucius' gaze swung back to the rearview mirror, and the sight of the older man fighting back tears had his jaw clenching.
"Mrs. Young's heart of gold? That's one in a million, and I just can't..." Jacob swallowed hard. "I just can't believe we left her there, sir."
The older man's voice cracked, and Lucius' own gaze started to blur.
God.
Oh God.
What a fool I've been.
Jacob had only known his wife for an even shorter time than he did, and yet the older man had realized all on his own that he had misjudged Tassina.
The man she married, on the other hand, and one who had sworn to love her for better or worse...
God.
A haunted silence gripped the air, and the billionaire knew he wasn't the only one whose mind was suddenly assaulted by shared memories.
God.
Oh God.
How could I have been so blind?
He remembered ordering Jacob to drive off while leaving Tassina behind all alone...at night...and in the middle of nowhere.
I'm sorry, God. Help me. Please.
It was Lucius' first time to pray.
Because it was also his first time to experience a terrifying sense of helplessness.
And his first time to realize that when he had broken Tassy's heart, Lucius had also broken his own.
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, God.
Please give me another chance with her.