Chapter 4
ROBERT
I’m wrapping up at the hotel, and as soon as I leave, I dial Eleanor’s number.
Of course it goes straight to voicemail.
Fuck.
Paul walks up to me when I get outside, shaking his head. “We got a problem.”
He follows me to the car.
“What’s the problem?”
“Eleanor—”
He just says her name, but I’m stopping in my tracks. “Eleanor what?”
He runs his hand through his hair. Paul has been Eleanor’s driver and protector for years. When she insisted on letting him go to live a simpler life, I kept him on, knowing we’d need him when she returned.
Paul holds his hands up. “She’s okay. She’s safe.”
I pounce on him, pushing my chest against his. “What happened?”
He bows his head. “Victor Sterling interrupted her lunch today.”
I shake my head. “What? What do you mean, ‘interrupted her lunch’?”
“She went to eat at a restaurant in midtown, and Victor was there. He sat down with her.”
I roll my hand for him to continue. “And?”
Paul pops his shoulders. “That’s all I know.”
“Is Eleanor okay?”
He shrugs again. “Yes. She’s at her apartment. I called her as soon as I saw.”
I climb into the back of my car. “Take me to her.”
Paul runs around to the driver’s side and takes off. I ask him, “What do you mean you called her when you saw… you saw what?”
He holds up his phone. “It’s all over social media.”
“Show me,” I demand.
He tosses the phone to me, and I open the social media app. The first picture I see is Eleanor and Victor sitting at a table together. “Son of a bitch,” I mutter.
I swipe to another photo, and my jaw tightens. Victor is sitting across from my wife like it’s some casual lunch instead of what it is. This is a power move on his part, no doubt about it.
I swipe again, and a video pops up. It’s shaky, obviously being recorded by someone across the room. Victor is leaning toward her, talking, but I have no idea what he’s saying.
There’s no expression on Eleanor’s face.
The next is a picture of them standing, and it looks like Victor is about to touch her. His hand is raised but not touching her yet. Fuck. Did he?
“She said she’s fine,” Paul says as he drives through town. “A little shook up, but she’s fine. She’s at her apartment.”
I try to call her again, but it goes to voicemail, so I pocket my phone. “Who owns the restaurant?”
Paul meets my gaze in the rearview mirror. “It’s neutral territory.”
“Buy it,” I demand. “If Eleanor wants to eat there, she needs to be able to do so without running into Victor Sterling.”
Paul looks at the road in front of us. “If you buy the Italiano, there’s going to be repercussions.”
My voice is thick. “He thought he could sit down at the same table as my wife. I’m either going to buy it or burn it to the ground.”
Paul nods, and I toss his phone into the console. I can’t look at any more pictures because they’re all making me sick. I pull my own phone out of my pocket and dial Eleanor again. She doesn’t answer. “Fuck.”
As soon as her voicemail picks up, I say, “Eleanor, answer your damn phone.”
Paul nervously looks at me. “We’re almost there.”
We finally pull into the parking lot of her apartment building, and I’m out of the car before it’s fully stopped. “Stay here,” I tell him.
I climb the stairs two at a time, and by the time I get to the third floor, I’m even angrier. I knock loudly on the door. Once, twice, and then a third time.
Impatiently, I shift my weight from one leg to the other and bang on the door again. “Eleanor, answer the door or I’m going to break it down.”
I finally hear movement on the other side. She’s unlatching the deadbolt, and I feel like I’m holding my breath until I see her.
When she finally opens the door, my mouth drops. There are tears rolling down her eyes, and it’s like my heart rolls in my chest. “Ellie… baby… are you okay? I’m going to kill him.”
She sniffs and shakes her head. “No, it’s fine. I was just so scared and—”
I lift her chin up and search her eyes. “Did he touch you?”
She shakes her head. “No. He almost did, but it’s like he knew—”
“He knew I’d kill him.”
She leans against me. “Probably.”
I hold her to me and move into the apartment, slamming the door behind us. “Baby, talk to me. Are you okay?”
She nods against my chest. I’m stunned. Eleanor is one of the strongest women I know, and to see her like this is unsettling, to say the least. With my arms wrapped around her, I hold her to me, relishing the feel of her in my arms. It’s been too damn long since I’ve held my wife.
Reluctantly, I loosen my hold and lean back to look her in the face. “Tell me what happened.”
She blinks up at me, and then she pushes away, crossing her arms over her chest. “Why did you cancel lunch?”
I stutter, surprised by the change in her. “Tell me what happened.”
She nods. “I will. But first I wanna hear why you canceled lunch with me.”
I take a step toward her. “I told you that something came up.”
She searches my face. “So the day that you and I are supposed to talk about our problems and me possibly coming back home… you canceled.”
I grit my teeth. “Oh, you’re coming back home. Especially after this little stunt.”
She wipes a tear from her cheek. “Stunt? You think that’s what this was? I’m not stupid, Robert. I wouldn’t put myself… our family… in the line of fire because I wanted your attention or something.”
I just cross my arms over my chest.
She throws her hand up. “Italiano is midtown. I didn’t go into the Sterlings’ territory. I wasn’t looking for trouble or to mess up your day. I wanted lunch, and I didn’t want to sit here by myself and eat it.”
I blow out a breath. “Fuck. I know you wouldn’t. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m going crazy without you, Ellie.”
She laughs. Literally bursts into laughter. “Really? You’re going crazy without me? Is that why you canceled our date? Is that why you had to go to the hotel over on Fifth Street when you were supposed to be having lunch with your wife?”
I glare at her. “Think about it, Eleanor. Think about it before you answer.” I jut my chin at her. “Why do you think I was at the hotel?”
She puts both hands on her shapely hips. “Oh, I don’t know, a booty call maybe. Why else would you be going to a hotel in the middle of the day when you were supposed to be meeting your wife?”
Anger courses through me, and before I say something I might regret, I step away from her, walk to the big bay window, and look down.
I’ve fucked up. That’s all I know. If my wife of thirty-five years actually believes I would betray her, then I fucked up.
I look down into the parking lot, and it seems like everything crosses my mind at once.
Eleanor is not safe here. She wasn’t before, and she definitely isn’t now.
But if she believes I’m cheating on her, she’s never going to come home.
I turn and look at her. “I fucked up.”
She looks stricken, and it’s then I make the connection. “No, not like that. I didn’t cheat on you, Ellie. I would never do that to you… to us.”
She glares at me. “Then tell me what you were doing at the hotel.”
I lean my head back and blow out a breath. I need to come clean. “I was meeting with an informant.”
She rolls her eyes. “Right. You were meeting an informant at a hotel downtown. Makes sense. Who is she, Robert?”
I walk over and sit on her couch and put my head in my hands. “I was meeting Audrey Sterling.”
She gasps and puts her nose in the air as she puts a hand to her stomach as if she’s going to be sick. “She’s half your age, Robert.”
I roll my eyes. “My God, woman, I’m not hooking up with her. I met with her and Bennett.”
“Bennett? What’s he got to do with this?”
I point at the empty cushion next to me. “Sit down.”
She reluctantly walks toward me and sits down. “What does our son have to do with this?”
I wrap my hand around hers. “You said that I needed to start letting go of the reins, Ellie. That’s what I’m doing.”
She gasps. “But…you’re quitting? You’re stepping down?”
She’s more excited than I thought she would be about this. She’s been asking for me to step back and take more time off, but I didn’t think she’d be happy with this turn of events.
“And you’re okay with Bennett taking over?”
“I thought you would give it to your cousin Vinny… or even your nephew Marcus. Not once have you talked about turning the Kingston dynasty over to our children.”
I nod in agreement. She’s right. “I know. But Bennett came to me. He wants it.”
Slowly, she repeats in disbelief, “He wants it. Bennett wants to take over for you?” She shrugs her shoulders. “He’s never mentioned it to me.”
I nod. “After Cole’s wedding, I got the boys together, and we talked about the future. I told them what I was planning, but Bennett asked me to give him a chance.” I squeeze her hand. “I know you’re not happy hearing this—”
She stops me. “I never want any of you in danger, but I’m not a fool either. Our children will be safer at the helm than working for either Vinny or Marcus.”
Surprised doesn’t even begin to cover it. “You’re okay with it then?”
Eyes wide, she stares at me. “You didn’t think I would be? But you’re doing it anyway?”
I hold my hands up to stop her. “Ellie, we built all this, and our son wants it. Do you really want me to tell him no?”
She shakes her head. “No, of course not. And of course he wants it. You groomed him to take over, whether you realize it or not.”
I tilt my head to the side. “So you knew he would take over one day.”
She pops a shoulder. “I figured.” She leans toward me. “So what’s this got to do with Audrey Sterling? She’s your informant?”
Surprised by her interest, I ask, “You really want to know?”
She nods enthusiastically. “Yes! Gah, I’m so bored sitting on charity boards and attending tea luncheons. I want to know what you all have been up to.”
I nod and reach up to cup her face. “Fine. I’ll tell you everything.”
She gasps in surprise. “Everything? No more of the ‘need to know basis’ or ‘the less you know the better’?”
I’ve fought with myself for years. I’ve always wanted to share things with Eleanor, not only because she’s my wife but also because I trust her judgment and the fact that anything has to be safer than what she’s doing now. “Yeah. Everything you wanna know, I’ll tell you.”
She squeezes my hand, and I just stare at our intertwined fingers. I can’t lose her. I won’t. And if telling her everything she wants to know is going to keep her by my side, so be it.
“Audrey moved into our territory a few months ago.”
Her eyebrows lift. “You let that happen?”
I bite my lip. I know she’s right. It’s not like me to let someone from a rival family move into our territory. Especially a Sterling, our biggest rival. “From the moment I found out about it, I had Bennett and Knox on it.”
Her eyes widen. “On it?”
I nod. “Yes, they were finding out everything they should about her, checking to see if she had a mission.”
Eleanor leans toward me. “Why is she here?”
I stroke her hand. “Because she’s trying to get away from her family. She doesn’t have any mission or ulterior motive. She’s just tired of how the Sterlings do things.”
Ellie purses her lips. “Interesting.”
Confused, I ask, “Interesting, why? You think she’s lying?”
She shakes her head. “No. But I find it interesting. Bennett has been different the last few months, and I’m wondering if that has anything to do with Audrey.”
I gasp. “What? No. She’s the enemy. Bennett would never do that.”
Eleanor rolls her eyes. “I don’t think she’s the enemy. Not if she’s trying to get away from the Sterlings.” Her eyes light up. “I bet she has something to do with Bennett’s decision to take over too. Have you talked to him about it?”
Perplexed, I shrug. “He said he wanted it. I didn’t ask any questions.”
She rolls her eyes. “So what was the meeting about this morning?”
I squeeze her hand and then put my other hand on her thigh. “I didn’t want to cancel lunch with you. Bennett said he had important news and it couldn’t wait.”
She cups my chin, and as soon as her soft hand touches the scruff of my beard, I lean into her. She has a power over me like no other. Softly, she strokes me. “You could have told me that. Instead of ‘Something came up,’ like you didn’t care, you could have explained it to me.”
“I don’t explain to anybody,” I say almost automatically and then quickly follow up with “Sorry. You’re right. If we’re going to make this work, I need to communicate.”
“So what did she say?”
When I hesitate, her hand drops from my neck.
I grab it. “She said the Sterlings are planning something. They’ve been slowly moving into midtown, buying up properties under an LLC, and they’re getting closer and closer to us. They want to take over.”
Eleanor doesn’t even blink. “Well, you won’t let that happen.”
I let out a big sigh. I didn’t realize it before now, but I need Eleanor’s approval.
I crave it. She’s my biggest supporter, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that the things I’ve accomplished are because of her.
There’s no way the Kingstons would be what we are today without her.
Afraid I’m going to push her away, I softly whisper, “I’ve missed you, Ellie. ”
She smiles. “I’ve missed you too.”