Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Inigo didn’t really look at his phone screen as he answered the video chat. He’d left a bunch of messages for Marielle wanting to explain and apologize to her, but she wasn’t talking to him. In fact, her family PR man had texted him and told him to stop calling.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. This wasn’t me,” Inigo said to Bianca, but his sister wasn’t having any of it. She’d video called him, and he could tell she was visibly upset.
“There are reporters in Cole’s Hill...that hasn’t happened since Hunter got married. No one is happy about it and everyone—I mean everyone—is giving me looks like, that poor girl. I went from being someone everyone envied to someone they pitied overnight.”
“I think you’re exaggerating,” Inigo said, noticing as the words left his mouth that Derek was moving his hand across his throat as if to tell Inigo to shut up. He realized that he’d said the wrong thing.
“You think I’m overreacting?”
“No,” he said in a rush. “That’s not what I meant.
Listen, Bia, I didn’t do this. Someone on my Moretti Motors team leaked it.
Back on New Year’s Day I thought that I would make things right by trying to get revenge for you.
But once I got to know Marielle, I couldn’t.
.. That doesn’t matter. She won’t even take my calls.
I’ve got Alec looking into it. He can find even the smallest trace of information on the internet.
I’m sorry for all the trouble this is causing you and Marielle.
For what it’s worth, I know Jose lied to her too.
She didn’t know he was still married when she was seeing him. ”
Bianca’s mouth got tight, and then she nodded. “You’re right. It is a big mess. But we’re going to make sure the person who caused this trouble will never meddle in my business again.”
“You bet we are. But are you okay? How’s things with the baby?”
“Fine. I’m fine. The baby is as stubborn as Derek and refusing to come out. They are going to induce on Friday,” she said.
“I love you, Bianca. I’ll be there on Friday if I’m still welcome. I’m truly sorry for all of this.”
“Of course you are welcome, you’re my baby brother.
And it’s not your fault, Inigo,” she said.
“And as much as I wanted to blame Marielle, it’s not hers either.
We are both still dealing with Jose’s crap even though he’s been dead for years.
Of course, it’s embarrassing to have the world know he cheated on me, but I have a good life with a man I love very much, and I’ll get over it. ”
He smiled as Derek hugged his sister and then kissed her.
They had what he wanted. What he’d hoped to find with Marielle, he was realizing.
He had made a million excuses for why she affected him so much.
She was hot; it had been so long since he had sex; she got him because they weren’t trying to impress each other.
But the truth was he loved her. He’d probably fallen for her the minute she’d caught him staring at her while his dad shoved him toward her.
“How’s Marielle handling this?” Bianca asked after a long pause.
“I don’t know. She’s not talking to me.”
“Oh, Inigo,” Bianca sighed. “Why? What happened?”
“I couldn’t keep on seeing her... It doesn’t matter,” he said. There was no way that he was telling his sister he’d broken up with Marielle to keep from hurting Bianca.
“Was it me? Did you let her go because I demanded that you stop seeing her? I’m sorry.
I know I was freaking out, but now all this mean-spirited gossip has reminded me how much better my life is now.
And I bet Marielle’s is different too. I remember that she was twenty-one when she was with Jose. I should have been mature about this.”
“Thanks, Bia, that means the world to me. But the issue with Marielle is mine to fix. And you were a victim of Jose’s lies and Marielle’s gullibility.”
“Well, fix it,” Bianca said. “Do you love her?”
He just shook his head. “I don’t know how to fix this.”
“If you love her, you should go to her and tell her you’re an ass and she was right—”
“Let me handle this,” Derek said, taking the phone from Bianca.
“You think you know more than me?”
“No, but I’m a guy, and I know what it’s like to have to woo back a stubborn woman,” Derek said.
“Stubborn? Moi?”
“Yes. Now go,” he said, kissing her and pushing her out of the room.
Inigo wasn’t sure that Derek had any advice that would help him. He’d screwed up in his own special way. Derek was more mature, maybe even a little old to be dishing out advice to him.
“Dude, I appreciate it, but I got this.”
Derek just laughed and shook his head. “You got this? Tell me what you plan to do.”
“Figure out how to spin the leak, then take care of it,” Inigo said. “Once everything dies down, then I’ll text her and try to get back together.”
“You’re an idiot,” Derek said.
“Hey.”
“I know I’m not your brother except by marriage, but I meant that in the kindest way possible. You can’t let any time pass, Inigo. Go to her. Tell her what’s in your heart and make sure she understands you want her by your side.”
He looked at Derek. Would that work? “What if she says forget it?”
“Then you take a few days and go back again. Mo knows what I’m talking about.
Your older brother did this again and again with Hadley until she was ready to forgive him.
I’ll tell you something I have learned from your sister.
The deeper the hurt, the more you need to make sure she knows how deeply you love her.
If you can’t do that, if you don’t feel as if you can’t breathe when you think of the rest of your life without her, then let her go. ”
Inigo nodded. He did feel like that. As if without her by his side the rest of his life would be the blur that the world was when he was driving three hundred miles per hour. “Thank you.”
“No problem. If you need anything I’m here.”
“Thanks, Derek. Keep me posted about the baby,” he said, ending the call.
He needed a plan.
The beach was deserted in late January as Marielle and her mother walked along the shore.
After her mom had fought her way through the lobby of her building filled with paparazzi, she’d decided they needed to be isolated on the family’s twelve-acre home in the Hamptons.
It had been three days since they had come back here.
Marielle was still recovering, and also wallowing in the love and affection her mother was showering her with.
They’d left the house earlier, as Carlton and her father were having a meeting to determine what the best course of action was.
In the past she’d have been tucked up in her room feeling scared and guilty, but not today.
Marielle realized for the first time what it meant to be a Bisset and have her family behind her.
She’d spent the majority of her life trying to shake off her name and her association with them.
But letting Carlton take over the entire mess had been a blessing.
Siobahn had driven her out to her parents’ house and stayed for two days before she had to get back to New York because she had another single coming out.
Her brothers had all rallied around her, and her father was getting the Bisset legal team ready to ruin the life of whoever had leaked the information—something that Marielle really couldn’t get behind, because at the end of the day the gossip was true.
Her mom had been the biggest surprise. Ever since they’d come back out to the Hamptons, they’d spent long hours walking together on the beach.
Her mother didn’t talk much, she just held Marielle’s hand and listened.
That relationship—that bond—was something she’d never realized she’d missed until now.
On today’s walk, her mom let her talk about Jose and the affair and urged her to try to figure out her feelings for Inigo.
Then she just calmly said, “You were a girl who made foolish choices, but now you’re a woman.
Make wise choices. I had to face my part in your father’s affair all those years ago.
I’m not saying it was my fault he cheated.
That’s on him. But...this is the complicated part.
.. I sort of liked it that he was gone and not in my business with the boys.
He used to fight a lot with Leo, and I hated that. ”
“He’s still so hard on Leo,” Marielle agreed. “Why is that?”
“They are too alike. I don’t know what was in Jose’s head, and he’s not here to explain it to us. My only advice to you is leave it in the past. It’s out there, so it can’t hurt you any longer. You have a career that will survive this,” her mom said.
“Thanks, Mom,” she said at last, hugging her mother.
“Now about Inigo...”
“What about him? His sister isn’t ever going to forgive me,” she said.
“Is that all that is keeping you apart?”
Was it? He had a busy life and schedule. He’d asked her to give him a chance at a relationship, but she’d never been good at them. She really was better in short doses. Inigo’s sister made things complicated, but it was the thought of hurting Inigo that kept her from reaching out.
She might have fallen for him, but he saw her as a possible good-luck charm, someone who could help him win. What if she no longer could do that? What if...what if she wasn’t enough?
“No,” she admitted to her mom. “It’s me. I’m not sure I’ll ever be enough for him.”
“Does he make you feel like you are less?” her mom asked. “I don’t know him at all. I did ask around and heard some encouraging things, but that’s never the same as knowing a man intimately. Out of the public eye, life is always different.”
Marielle linked her arm through her mom’s. “He’s never made me feel less than. In fact if I’m being completely honest, he sort of makes me feel like it’s okay to be the real me. You know what I mean?”
Her mom tipped her head to the side, studying her. “The real you?”