A Billionaire for Christmas (9 page)

Devon took a deep breath, but he didn’t say anything, didn’t take back what he had said about the deal. Anthony’s heart lurched in his chest. What the fuck was Devon hiding, if he was willing to take a deal that sounded like an open-ended death sentence?

“Gentlemen.” Theresa walked toward the door and left, the other attorneys trailing in her wake.

Silence.

All four Travati brothers in one room, and there was silence. That rarely happened. Anthony couldn’t remember a time when one of them didn’t have something to say about something.

“Why do you want to do this?” Justin finally asked Devon.

Anthony came around the table and held up his hand. “Stop.”

Justin glared at him. “What the hell, Anthony? Now you don’t even care enough to talk to your own brother, who may or may not be going to prison?”

Anthony cocked an eyebrow. He leaned forward and placed his palms on the conference table. “No, that’s not what I meant,” he said with a cool, measured calm. “I just want everyone to be on the same page before we begin. Anything incriminating that Devon says to us could make us accomplices, or potentially make us perjure ourselves. Brothers don’t have any sort of qualifying confidentiality. I’m good with that. I just want to make certain you are too.”

The brothers all exchanged looks. The Travatis had always subscribed to blood first and always. Family was the most important thing. Each of them nodded.

Justin leaned closer to Devon. Devon’s eyes shifted away from his older brother’s scrutiny, and a light sweat filmed his upper lip. His fingertips continued to tap an unheard beat on the back of his hand.

“Okay, Devon,” Justin sighed. “Tell us what the hell really happened.”

“Thank you for coming with me today.” Aubrey hadn’t developed the full-on waddle that Shelly had seen in other women who were this far along, but she was definitely walking wide-hipped.

“When is the baby due?”

“March.” Aubrey smiled. “But it feels like next week.”

They turned the corner into a giant banquet hall. People carrying lights and ornaments and tinsel and evergreen branches scurried about the room. “We’re having the Travati Foundation Teddy Bear Luncheon here tomorrow, and I wanted to check on the progress. All the years they’ve been doing this before, the guys handed off the responsibility to Gwen.” Aubrey nodded toward the tall redhead at the far end of the room, the Travatis’ event planner. “And she’s always done a great job. But somehow, this year, this event got shuffled to me, I guess because I’m the only woman in the Travati family. So all the questions she used to ask Justin, she now asks me.”

Gwen waved and walked toward them. She wore a black sweater and pants and boots, her hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail. Her look screamed all kinds of urban sophistication.

Aubrey leaned toward Shelly and whispered, “I really like her. I’ve been trying to work some matchmaking magic, but I’m not sure if she’s right for Leo or for Anthony.”

Shelly’s stomach pitted.
Anthony?
Her Anthony? She forced a smile to her face. Was it possible Aubrey didn’t know about Shelly and Anthony’s past? More than possible, actually, if Anthony and Justin had been getting along as poorly as she’d witnessed last night. Plus, Anthony had completely insulted Aubrey with the whole DNA test. Anthony and Aubrey probably hadn’t had any heart-to-heart, tell-me-your-life-story sessions, and Justin probably didn’t have much to say to his new bride about the brother who was being such a jerk to her.

So yeah, to Aubrey, Shelly might just be a girl the brothers had grown up with, Mrs. Bello’s granddaughter, not the former love of Anthony Travati’s life.

“You’re glowing!” Gwen leaned in and kissed both of Aubrey’s cheeks. Shelly looked at her from head to toe.

“This is Shelly Bello,” Aubrey said. “She grew up with the guys. Like a sister, from what I’ve heard. She’s in from San Francisco for the holidays.”

“San Francisco!” Gwen gushed. “One of my all-time favorite cities. If I didn’t have my entire family in D.C., I’d be living in San Francisco. Do you love it?”

Her enthusiasm and beaming smile nearly knocked Shelly on her ass. She knew women like this, or had known, in her life before Texas. Something about them made her uncomfortable. Their constant smiles, their abject adoration of everything in life, and the way nothing ever seemed to bother them or make them sad.

“I do love it,” Shelly said. “I’ve only been there for about six months.”

“Oh! Wow. Where were you before?”

Heat flushed through Shelly’s chest and up her neck. She maintained her smile, but her lips tightened. “Texas,” she said, keeping her voice steady. This is when things always got tricky, or had in the last six months. Some people stopped their questions when she gave that one-word answer, sensing her discomfort, but others, whether out of curiosity or interest or because they were assholes, continued to ask questions. Questions that were uncomfortable for her to answer, because she didn’t want to have to discuss her past.

“I love Austin! It’s fabulous,” Gwen said. She punctuated her comment with a smile, then turned her attention to Aubrey.

Shelly swallowed. Took a deep breath. The awkward moment had passed. The knot in her chest loosened while Gwen and Aubrey discussed the decorations for the luncheon tomorrow afternoon. Would she ever feel comfortable about her past? Could she forgive herself for what she’d done and how strung out she’d been? For the rest of her life would she feel as though she clung to her sobriety like she was hanging from the edge of a great cliff by her fingertips?

“Oh, I think that will be lovely,” Aubrey said. “What do you think, Shelly?”

“Hmm?” Aubrey’s question jerked Shelly from her thoughts.

“The sleigh for Santa, we’ll put that in the center of the stage. And the teddy bear centerpieces include a bear for every child.”

Shelly nodded. “Sounds wonderful.” She’d get whiplash if she dove too deep into thoughts of her past while she stood here at the venue for a children’s Christmas charity event with a woman married to one of the richest men in the world.

Funny, she still didn’t think of the Travati brothers as billionaires, not even Tony, with his expensive car and custom-made suits. He was hard and focused now, not nearly as joyful and fun as she remembered. He covered himself in ultra-expensive clothes. His shoes must cost more than what she earned in a month working as a barista, she was sure.

But even last night, sitting high in the sky in a penthouse that was worth millions, both Justin and Anthony had still been those Travati boys, neighbors and compatriots who had run through sprinklers with her as kids and were best friends with her brother.

Shelly’s gaze swept the giant room, with all the decorations and all the people. The realization of just who the Travatis had become was sinking into her psyche. And in such a short time. When Vinnie had died, Justin had been well on the road to success. Anthony had just finished business school and had taken a job with Travati Financial and now…now, five years later, the brothers were four of the richest men in America.

“Let me show you the cookie-decorating station,” Gwen said, leading Aubrey across the room. Shelly followed three steps behind them.

A rock the size of a boulder had lodged in her throat, and that queasy feeling was back in her belly. She didn’t fit in here. Aubrey, with her smooth business demeanor, seemed meant to be a Travati wife, and Gwen too, with her great hair and perfect outfit, who organized these fabulous parties for the über-rich all the time. They were the type of women who fit this world, the new world that the Travatis inhabited. Who was she? Just a girl from Long Island who’d ditched college for drugs.

Her heart thumped hard inside her chest.

Done anything for drugs.

“Aubrey, I think…would you mind if I head home?”

Aubrey spun around, teetering a bit like a Weeble Wobble. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, no, I just…I have some Christmas things to do and I promised my grandmother I’d help her with the wrapping and—”

“I’ll take you—”

“No, no, no, I’m sorry. I don’t want to mess up your plans.” Shelly wound the loose end of the scarf she had borrowed from Nonna around her throat. “I just, I forgot how close we were to Christmas until I saw all this.”

“Take the car then, at least,” Aubrey said, referring to the chauffeured SUV that had brought Shelly into the city. “I’ll be here for a while, and you can send him back for me. Please.” The hopeful look on Aubrey’s face held concern, and a bit of worry.

Aubrey was truly nice and kind. Really, if Shelly hadn’t fucked up her own life so badly, Aubrey might have ended up being a good friend.

“Okay. Thanks,” Shelly said. She hoisted her bag higher on her shoulder as she took a step back, preparing to leave.

“It was nice meeting you,” Gwen called. “See you tomorrow.”

Shelly nodded, smiled, and scurried away, knowing in her heart that Gwen was the type of woman Anthony should have in his life, not the broken, battered woman she had become.

*

“Anthony, you brought more treats?” Mrs. Bello nodded at the red and white Carmine’s bakery box he had handed to her. “I’m baking, too. I can’t eat all this, and I know Shelly can’t either. She’s as big around as a broom handle.”

Anthony stomped his feet on the concrete steps. The morning sleet had turned to afternoon snow, which had bled into the evening. The flakes turned into drifts that grew deeper and deeper.

“I just made espresso, come get out of the cold.”

Anthony slipped off his coat as Mrs. Bello walked toward the kitchen.

Why was he here? This made three days in a row. He usually saw Mrs. Bello once a week, perhaps even twice, but he didn’t come every day. He definitely didn’t have his assistant clear his schedule of meetings and a dinner engagement so that he could come visit Mrs. Bello in Long Island, as he had done today. No, that he didn’t do.

“Shelly’s not back yet,” Mrs. Bello called over her shoulder.

His body warmed. Shelly. That was why he was here again. Sure, he could pretend that he wasn’t on Mrs. Bello’s doorstep because Shelly was home. He could make up a dozen excuses as to why he was here for the third time in as many days. He might even give those excuses to Mrs. Bello and to Shelly herself, but he was, it was true, here for Shelly. And to understand a piece of his past. A childhood that had been simple and filled with love. A childhood before parents abandoned children and died and best friends got shot up in foreign wars and girlfriends ran away and became drug addicts and little brothers were faced with either jail time or ratting on a Russian mobster.

Yes, he missed those simple, wonderful, easy times. There’d been nothing but loud music, fast cars, cold beer, and Vinnie driving with Shelly scrunched between them in the front seat on more Friday nights than Anthony could count. He stood in front of the wall of pictures and peered into his best friend’s face. Vinnie, young and confident in his dress-blue Marine uniform, looking sure that he was doing exactly what he wanted to do.

“Where’d she go?” Anthony called.

“She’s with Aubrey. They were checking on the decorations for the Teddy Bear Luncheon.” Mrs. Bello’s voice grew louder as she entered the room carrying a tray. Anthony hurried over to liberate the tray from her hands.

“You complaining about me always bringing you food, but you’re always trying to feed me,” he teased. She had brought out a plate full of the Christmas cookies from Carmine’s, as well as two espressos. “Swear to God, I’ve gained seven pounds in the last three days.”

“That can’t be all my fault,” Mrs. Bello said, sitting on the couch. “I hear your sister-in-law had quite a nice dinner last night.”

Shame flashed in his heart. His sister-in-law. Yes, that was what Aubrey was, and he hadn’t been treating her very much like a sister, even after she’d married Justin.

A Travati didn’t enjoy being wrong. Being wrong meant he owed an apology. Damn, he was going to have to make things right with Aubrey and Justin, and even Max.

“Last night was…” Anthony paused, not sure how to continue. He could gloss over his feelings, but Mrs. Bello would see right through his facade.

“I like Aubrey,” Mrs. Bello said. “I think she and Justin are well matched.”

“You’re right.” He glanced down, suddenly feeling like an eleven-year-old kid who got caught throwing a football in the house. “I might not have been sure before now, but you’re right. They are well matched.”

“Well, we wouldn’t always pick the people for our family that they pick for themselves. I mean, I love you Anthony, but I remember when you and Shelly started dating. Vinnie wasn’t very happy about the situation.”

“Not happy is an understatement.” A smile crept over Anthony’s face. He’d earned a black eye from his best friend when Vinnie discovered that Anthony and Shelly had been sliding out together on the sly.

“But you won him over, as I remember.”

Anthony nodded. He’d made some serious promises to Vinnie to get his best friend’s blessing. Promises that he might have forgotten.

“She…Shelly seems good.”

Mrs. Bello nodded. Her smile remained, but worry flooded her eyes. “She seems better. But I think…I think she feels a lot of guilt. I’m not certain she’s forgiven herself for the past. I don’t think she got over losing Vinnie, came to peace with it. And I definitely don’t think she’s forgiven herself for what happened between you two.”

Anthony lifted an eyebrow. So he wasn’t the only person who harbored guilt over the demise of their relationship. He’d carried it so long: Guilt that he’d let Shelly get away from him in Texas; guilt for not finding her again; guilt for not spending more time trying to convince her to come home, get help, surround herself with the support of her family and close friends.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself,” Mrs. Bello said, as though reading his mind. “Both of you are stubborn. Your father and her father were friends but stubborn, oh so stubborn. Maybe you should both forgive each other for the things you think you did wrong? Maybe you start fresh and—”