A Secret to Keep (3 page)

“Liyah, hello. It’s been a while. Sloane.” Finally regaining her faculties Sloane pulled herself up to her full height of 5 feet 6 inches and smiled. The unmistakable maleness of him filled her senses as she looked into those familiar eyes. Prickly chills scampered up her spine as she stood face to face with the father of her baby boy.

“Hi, Gates.” Liyah interjected, trying to break the obvious awkwardness.

“Gates, it’s good to see you again.” Sloane stammered while inwardly cowering under his intense gaze.

“Is it really?” Smirking, Gates continued past her to meet and shake hands with a few of the representatives from the various companies with bids on the table.

Oookay, so that went well.” Both ladies turned to watch him weave through the crowd of people as he headed towards the front of the room before Liyah turned to Sloane. “You up for this?”

“I don’t have much choice, do I? I guess he really does hate me.” Sloane swallowed the big lump of nerves in her throat and tried to pull herself together for what she knew was going to be the fight of her life. She and Liyah took their seats as the meeting got underway and she was never so glad to sit down. Her legs felt weak and her stomach was queasy. If it weren’t for the fact she hadn’t been with anyone since Gates, she would have sworn she was experiencing morning sickness all over again.

“Maybe not so much hate, as maybe severe dislike.

”

###

Sitting through the meeting was utter torture for Sloane. She tried her hardest to concentrate as Gates introduced himself to everyone. He was eloquent and commanded the room with his sheer presence. Each time he looked her way, she felt those same prickly chills run up and down her back.

‘Are you okay?’ Liyah mouthed at one point and Sloane nodded, turning her attention back to Gates. He was the ultimate businessman. He had a way of making each and every person in the room feel like he was talking to only them and no one else mattered. It was the way he used to make her feel. Like she was all that mattered to him.

“So, what do you think?” Liyah’s voice shook Sloane from her reverie as the meeting adjourned and she watched Gates exit the room as quickly as he’d entered. “Again, I ask, are you okay?”

“We have a lot of work to do.”

“What do you mean? Our proposal is awesome if I do say so myself. It’s air tight, Sloane. Gates has to see that.”

Willing her restless body to stand, Sloane clutched the edge of the table for support and stood on baby bird legs. “Liyah, do not get snowed by him. Gates is not going to let us slack off. You heard him. Over forty percent of the projects are going to be cut. And I could see him salivating at the thought of working with Dawson & Stein. You saw him talking to Tom before the meeting. He hardly even acknowledged me. This is
so
not good.” Sloane’s insides felt like a bowl of gelatin and she grew more and more unsure of everything as she and Liyah left the building and headed to Liyah’s car.

“What do you mean?”

“He’s not going to go easy on us. And it’s all because of me.” Sloane murmured, leaning her head against the window as Liyah pulled out of the parking lot. She was never so thankful for the cool glass against her temple as the intermittent lights of passing cars got lost in her blurred vision. “Everything is so complicated now.”

“Okay look, life is complicated sometimes. But we’ll get through this.”

“I know, it’s…I don’t know. Maybe I should ask Antony to take me off this project.” She had nearly rubbed the skin off of her hands with all of the twirling and fidgeting she was doing and no matter how hard she tried, her mind kept returning to Gates. If he still had any feelings for her, there was no way to tell because his gelid glare had nearly stopped the rhythmic pump of her heart. And if he felt this way about her, what would he do if he found out about Brayden?

“Okay. Now you’re talking crazy.” Liyah stole a quick glance at Sloane.

“I don’t want to be the reason this hospital doesn’t get built.”

“Sloane, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” Sloane lifted her head from the window and turned to see an awkward hesitancy in her friend’s eyes.

“What really happened between you two? I pretty much thought you were perfect for each other and you seemed really happy.” Liyah bit her lip before asking the million-dollar question even Sloane wanted the answer to. “Why didn’t you tell him about Brayden?”

“There were a lot of things. It all got so messed up.” Sighing, she stared into the evening sky. She was tired and she didn’t realize how much it took out of her to think about her past with Gates.

“You guys knew each other for a while and then you were engaged and the next thing I know, you’re back here having a baby on your own. What gives?”

Resolving herself to open up to her best friend about the situation, Sloane took a deep breath. “I loved Gates. He was everything to me. He filled so many voids in my life and I felt complete with him. But loving him wasn’t enough. There were people who didn’t want us to be together; namely his father. He hated me, and believe me, the feeling was mutual.”

“Okay, yeah, I remember you telling me how his dad didn’t like you, because you are black right?”

“You know, I thought that at first too. Truth be told, it was more about status. I didn’t come from a family with the kind of money and connections to make the two of us a more powerfully connected union. Victor was such a materialistic man.” Sloane added, thinking about all of the evil things he had said to her.

“You’re kidding me, right? That sounds like some old-fashioned arranged marriage kind of crap.”

Shrugging her shoulders, Sloane sat quietly, staring out of the window. “I wish.” Sloane proceeded to fill Liyah in on how she and Gates seemed to argue more and more and how Victor continuously came in between them.

“Okay, but Gates wasn’t like that, so…”

“No. He wasn’t, at least, not at first. Gates didn’t care about how much money I had or didn’t have. He didn’t even seem to care about how much money he had,” she paused, thinking of their romance before Victor had intervened. “We were in love and it was all that mattered. He put me before everything. At least, that’s how it started, but things changed when he got more involved in the business. Gates turned into Victor and there was nothing I could do to stop it. He was money and power hungry and it wasn’t the Gates I knew, or even remotely liked. Then the rumors started. He said there weren’t any other women in his life, but I saw the papers.” Sloane cringed as she recalled her memories of the tabloids and the late nights; and that last text message. Not long after she left, she saw a photo of Gates with the gorgeous redhead who appeared at every party she had attended with him. It was none other than Allison Gentry, the woman who’d been after Gates from day one. “I tried to ignore it. I tried to believe him when he said women were just jealous, but how long can you believe that?”

“Oh wow, Sloane. I had no idea. I guess I figured he should know about his son. I mean he is his father.”

Sloane shrugged and continued. “I didn’t even know I was pregnant until after I left. But it wouldn’t have mattered. Gates didn’t want kids. His business didn’t allow for it. That wasn’t in his plan, no matter how much I wanted a family with him. His father seemed to love the over-exposure he was getting in the papers. It was free advertising for him, but it was killing me. I had this notion in my head that since we were engaged I was the only one he wanted.” Tears pierced the corners of her eyes like cattle prods and she wanted to kick herself for still caring. “I was wrong.”

“I never thought Gates was that kind of guy. He seemed so honest and down to earth, and so into you. I’m sorry I opened up old wounds.” Liyah added, pulling into the driveway and putting the car in park. She watched Sloane carefully, knowing she was fighting with her past and trying not to succumb to the pain of the memories.

“Don’t worry about it. I was a fool to think we wanted the same things. We came from two different worlds. I know Brayden has a right to know his father and Gates has a right to know he has a son. I know I have to tell him, but after today, I really don’t know how to do that. I’ve always been afraid that Gates will reject Brayden, like his own father did to him when he was young.”

“The only way you’re going to know is to just do it. Look, I’m sure it’ll work out.” Liyah reached over and squeezed Sloane’s hand.

“Maybe.” Gathering her things, Sloane gave Liyah a half-hearted smile as she exited the car and trudged to her front door.

“Are you sure you want to go through with this?” Evan stood in the middle of the hotel room watching Gates remove his jacket and tie.

“What’s there to debate, Evan? This project will make money. Isn’t that what we do? What’s the problem?” Gates knew he would never hear the end of it when he told his best friend he was buying the development company working on Sloane’s project. Truth be told, Evan was actually the reason he had even met Sloane in the first place.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the fact that the only reason you’re doing this is because of Sloane?” Evan countered; raising an eyebrow at his friend who’d removed his platinum cufflinks and was in the middle of rolling up his sleeves. “I’ve been around you long enough. I know the history and I’ve watched you practically kill yourself with work since Sloane left. You’ve been using it to try and replace a woman that’s, let’s face it, simply irreplaceable.”

“You know me too well.” Striding across the room, Gates unbuttoned his collar as he poured himself a glass of water at the bar. He would admit; he didn’t realize it was going to be so hard to face her again. He was somewhat shocked when his throat tightened while meeting her gaze earlier that night. She was still as beautiful as ever. She had straightened her naturally curly locks and it shone like the sun bouncing off of a newly polished plate glass window. When he walked past her, he’d caught a whiff of the glorious perfume she’d always worn. Lavender. It made it even harder for him to concentrate while he introduced himself to the representatives. Everything in him fought the desire to clear the room and take her right there on the boardroom table.

“This is getting out of hand, Gates. You don’t have to do this just to get back at her. Look, I know you’re still mad. Okay, I get it. But does it have to get ugly?” Evan shook his head when Gates offered him a glass.

“Evan, Evan. Always the peacemaker.” He raised his glass to his lips, wishing it actually held something harder, something to help erase the recent memories of Sloane from his mind as he sat down in one of the chairs in the suite.

“Gates, you’re playing with fire. I just don’t want either one of you to end up truly hating each other.”

Once he took another swallow of the water, Gates lowered the glass and watched the beads of condensation run down to seep into the fabric of the chair’s arm. “A little late for that don’t you think?”

“You don’t hate her, and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t hate you either.”

“Evan, I pay you to be my attorney, not my therapist.” Tilting his head to the side, Gates gave Evan an exasperated look.

“Okay, but you have to admit, this is going to take a lot of goodwill or something to get this project past this community. Yes, choosing Dawson & Stein would be very prosperous for McCall International. But I’ve been doing research on this and I don’t think you are aware of how many people want to see
this
hospital in
this
location, with
that
little girl’s name on it.” Evan walked across the room and picked up a newspaper clipping. He scanned it once more as he went over to Gates and placed it in front of him.

“And I’m guessing you think I haven’t already thought about that?” Gates glanced at the photo of the angelic face of Mariana Reyes with her parents at her last birthday party weeks before she was struck and killed by a drunk driver as she walked home from school. He knew going with Dawson & Stein would ignite a backlash in the community. Wilmington was a fairly large town, but in her short lifetime, Mariana had managed to make a huge impact on many people. Her bubbly persona and the fact that she never met a stranger was part of what made her so popular. She was more deeply involved in the community than most adults. Mariana had been a
Girl Scout
and she focused her energy on helping feed the homeless and collecting toys for children. Gates honestly had nothing against the hospital project. If anything, he wanted to make sure it was done and done right to ensure the little girl’s memory endured. He just wanted a chance to shake Sloane up a bit in the meantime. “Evan, I appreciate your concern, but let me do this my way. I’m only giving Sloane a hard time. As far as I’m concerned I could make money with D&S anywhere.” He knew he was playing with fire, but he didn’t care about getting singed. All he wanted was to make her hurt as much as he had when she left him.

“You’re seriously sick, Gates. This has the potential to get real bad.”

“Nah, I won’t let it get that far; but I do need you to work very closely with Gelly to make sure it goes smoothly.” Gates took another drink before picking up and handing Evan a file that Angelica, or rather, Gelly, their long-time friend and one of Gates’ executives, had prepared. It had been a long day and he was tired; he hadn’t been able to sleep the night before. He’d lain on his back staring at the ceiling most of the night. For one, he hated hotel rooms. No matter where he traveled he usually stayed in the most luxurious suites of the hotels, but he hated them. They had the same disconnectedness of the many dorm rooms he’d lived in during his boarding school days. But the overarching reason was Sloane. He couldn’t get her out of his thoughts since he’d seen her in Antony’s office, which was strange for him. Women did not make him nervous. If anything, he had that effect on them. However, Sloane had always been able to make his stomach do somersaults, even from the very first day they met. It was the most unnerving and unsettling thing he’d ever experienced. How had he let the woman invade his every thought? Even after all this time, he still wasn’t able to shake her and the power she held over him. He could kick himself for getting involved with her in the first place. She was like a magnet and he couldn’t resist her pull.