The Billionaire's Forbidden Desire (35 page)

“Halfway agree with your man,” Chad said, but he stepped over and pulled Dane off of George. “Come on. This asshole’s done.”

The lights came on in the room. Sophia flinched at the sudden brightness. Iain stood there, taking in the scene, his mouth hanging open. “What the…? Are you all crazy?”

Other members of the family appeared–Ceinlys, Salazar…even Barron, whose loud complaints about the lack of water died an abrupt death. Sophia pulled inward, hugging herself and stepping aside. It wasn’t her fault that Dane and George were fighting, but if she hadn’t been here, they wouldn’t have. Or if she’d just let Dane come along with her to the vending machine…

Chad let Dane go and came over to her. “Hang in there, champ.”

She nodded absent-mindedly, but she could barely register anything with all the adrenaline surging through her body.

“What’s going on here? Who is this man?” Barron gestured with his hand. Confusion carved deep lines on his forehead.

“I’m George Grudin,” he moaned. “I had an appointment with Justin Sterling earlier today.”

“You have no idea what kind of trash that”—Dane gestured his bruised knuckles at George—“
thing
is. I’m going to make sure he never walks again.”

“Okay, Dane, time to chill. He’s not worth going to jail for,” Iain said.

“You’re wrong.” Dane started for George again, but Iain put him in an arm-lock. “Let me go! He attacked Sophia.”

Iain’s head snapped Sophia’s way, along with everyone else’s—except George and Dane—and his gaze sharpened as he registered her state. “Oh.”

“If that piece of shit had hurt Jane, you wouldn’t be so calm.”

A flush rose on Iain’s face. “You’re right…but I’d still want someone to pull me away.”

“For heaven’s sake, somebody get a nurse,” Ceinlys said, but nobody moved.

George turned until he was lying on his back, then choked back a laugh. “‘Dane’? You’re Dane Pryce?” He looked at Sophia without waiting for a confirmation. “You’re with
him?
”

“It’s none of your business,” Sophia said.

Amazingly, he began to laugh. “You stupid… This is the man who crippled you!”

Sophia didn’t get it. Each word out of George’s mouth made sense separately, but together…

George chortled hoarsely. “The accident you had in Paris. He paid your daddy five million bucks to keep his mouth shut.”

The room seemed to tilt slightly. Dane couldn’t be the driver from Paris. He simply couldn’t. “You’re lying.” She turned to Dane, willing him to deny it. The muscles in his jaw tightened, but he said nothing. Salazar sighed and rolled his shoulders.

Suddenly her mother’s words came back to her:
he owes us
.

Now everything made sense. She remembered Salazar’s mild surprise at seeing her. Despite his off-hand explanation that he hadn’t been taking calls, the more likely scenario was that Betsy had forgotten, but he hadn’t let that minor detail get in the way. Not when he knew.

“What is this…person talking about?” Ceinlys said.

“There was a car accident in Paris seven years ago. It ended Sophia’s figure skating career right before the Olympics,” Dane explained, his voice wooden. He didn’t look at anyone, his gaze fixed somewhere beyond the wall in front of him. “I was the driver who hit her.”

“Why wasn’t I told?” Ceinlys said.

“You didn’t need to know,” Salazar responded. “Sophia, Dane didn’t know either. I was the one who dealt with the aftermath, and no one ever told him who the people in the other car were.”

But he obviously learned at some point
. “How long ago did you find out?” Sophia asked Dane, staring at his face.

His expression was as barren as a cliff. “A few days before the wedding.”

She pieced the information together. “Is that why you were acting so strangely? Telling me not to come to work, then later getting me to transferred to UCLA?”

He said nothing.

Embarrassment and humiliation seared her face. She’d been so stupid. She’d thought what they had was real. But in reality, the only person who’d felt anything was her.

It made so much sense now. His excessive generosity. His insistence that she find another path to pursue. Even his unusual attentiveness in bed. It all had been…atonement.

“You should’ve told me,” she said, her voice barely audible over the roaring in her head. If she’d known she wouldn’t have given him her heart. She would’ve made sure to not take his gestures for anything more than what they were. “
You’re despicable!
”

“Sophia…”

Chad put himself in front of her. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Step aside. I pay your salary,” Dane snarled.

“To protect her. And I’m protecting her from you.”

She breathed deeply for a moment to gather herself. It wouldn’t do to break down in front of everyone.

But it was too late for excuses. There was nothing Dane could say.

She stalked out, her hands clenched by her sides. She didn’t know where she was going or what she was going to do, but she knew she couldn’t stay in the same room with Dane any longer. She couldn’t be with a man who spent time with her out of guilt.

* * *

She was gone.

No. The precise assessment of the situation was—he’d lost her.

Dane had known all along she would never forgive him if she found out, but the reality choked him, paralyzing him like a viper’s venom.

He squeezed his eyes shut. This had to be a nightmare.
It had to be
. In another second, he’d wake up with Sophia in his arms like always. She’d continue to sleep peacefully, and he’d lie there in a cold sweat and stare at the ceiling until his heart slowed.

George’s grating laughter snapped him out of it. “I’m going to make you pay. I’m pressing charges.”

“Oh for god’s sake!” Barron stepped up spryly and gave George a soccer-kick in the ribs. “There. Why don’t you press charges against me while you’re at it?”

George groaned. “Mr. Sterling!”

“You’re a disgrace.
I
am going to press charges against
you
for being trash because your particular flavor of trash is so offensive it’s got to be illegal.” Barron then turned and smacked Dane on the shoulder. “And you: stop standing around! Go get your girl while I take care of this…garbage.” Then he bellowed, “And somebody get Vanessa some water!”

Dane pulled himself together. What the hell was he doing? He had to come up with a game plan fast. But the first priority was to stop Sophia. If she left, he might never get her back.

He ran out into the hall. The elevator doors at the end of the long corridor were closing with a soft chime. “Shit.”

He charged down the corridor. Sophia was on that elevator. Another one opened, and he got in and pressed the close and L buttons repeatedly. “Come on. Come on!”

Before it shut, Ceinlys slipped inside.

“You should stay with Vanessa,” Dane said.

“She has an army of people.” Ceinlys squeezed his forearm. “You need at least one person by your side.”

He stared at her hand. “You think I’m going to fail.”

“What do
you
think?”

He looked away. He’d never, ever done something knowing his chances of success were low. His financial empire was built on careful planning and—as far as possible—risk avoidance. But Sophia wasn’t an empire to be built. He’d never win her by being careful. He had to lay it all down.

They finally came to a stop at the lobby. He hit the button for Vanessa’s floor and ran out. “Don’t follow me,” he called back to Ceinlys.

Sophia wasn’t anywhere to be found, not that he’d expected her to linger. He went outside. Gray, more gray and some trees and lawns. Cars. Uniformed nurses on a break.

Come on
. She couldn’t have gone that far.

There!

Sophia was marching down the sidewalk with Chad behind her. Her fists pumped. Tension had pulled her shoulders together, raising them until they almost brushed her gold hoop earrings. She hadn’t even taken her purse.

Dane ran after her. “Wait!”

She took one look over her shoulder and picked up speed so she was power-walking.

Chad stopped and took a solid stance as Dane neared. Why the hell had he ever thought it was a good idea to hire the man?

Because you were terrified for her
—
that someone might hurt her again when you weren’t around
.

“Get out of the way. You have no idea what you’re dealing with,” Dane said.

“You firing me?”

“No. Just give me a minute of privacy with her. You know I’d never hurt her. Otherwise I wouldn’t have hired you.”

Chad gave him a very hard stare, but finally nodded and stepped aside. “Fine. You better not make her cry though.”

Dane rushed toward her as guilt plowed through him. She couldn’t run because of him.

“Sophia.” His hand closed around her wrist. He made sure to be extra gentle. She needed that after the ordeal she’d gone through with that piece of trash upstairs.

“Let me go.”

He did so, but stood in her way. She wouldn’t look at him, and it was flaying him alive. “Listen to me.”

“I’ve already heard enough.” Her chin trembled, and she bit her lower lip. “There’s nothing you can say.”

“Sophia…” For once he didn’t know how to fix it. He almost always knew exactly what to say—the unvarnished truth. But now it was too late.

“You had plenty of chances to be honest with me,” she said. “ But you preferred to keep the secret. Was it fun for you, playing games with some penniless waif you’d picked up? Did it help you sleep better at night, giving crumbs to a girl whose lifelong dream you ruined?” Tears started to roll down her cheeks, and she covered her face best as she could with her free hand. “You’ve done enough. I don’t want to see you ever again.”

Desperation dug its claws into him, and the wall around his heart cracked. There was a vise around his chest that tightened until he couldn’t draw in another breath.

One part of him wanted to let her go as she wished, while another whispered he should beg her to stay with him. Then another part of him—the one that had made him successful—demanded that he
make
her stay with him. He always did what he wanted. Why should this be any different?

And he hated himself for even thinking of forcing her to do something. After all that had happened, how could he even consider it?

His father had been right all along. He should’ve never been born.

He breathed out long and steady. He dug into his pocket and pulled out his keys. “Here. Take these. Take my car and stay at the penthouse. I’ll check into a hotel.”

She stared at the offering like it were a rattlesnake. “I’d rather sleep under a bridge.”

“Preposterous. I won’t let you sleep under anything other than a proper roof,” Ceinlys said, approaching them. She handed Sophia a handkerchief but looked at Dane. “Staying at your place is an insensitive idea.” She turned to Sophia. “Enough with all this lodging with Pryce men. You will stay at my place and that’s that. And I won’t hear of you speak of sleeping under a bridge ever again. Understood?”

Her voice was as hard as ice. Dane ground his teeth. Sophia needed empathy, not someone trying to boss her around. “Mother, this really does not con—”

“You know what? I like that idea, Ceinlys,” Sophia said, cutting him off. She still didn’t look at his face, her eyes focused somewhere around his sternum. “I’m staying with your mother while I figure out my next step. Don’t even think about contacting me. We’re through.”

Chad gave him an indecipherable look, and the three of them turned and walked away. Dane stood there on the sidewalk, watching them go and feeling like his heart had been ripped from his chest.

Sophia had assumed Ceinlys would have a place much like Salazar’s or Dane’s, but her condo was spacious and surprisingly homey. The tall ceilings and bright colors made the place look bigger and airier than it was. A couple of contemporary art pieces hung on the walls. Despite having only a few pieces of furniture, the place didn’t look barren. It had a minimalist elegance that Sophia found comforting.

“I’ll get the guest bedrooms ready,” Ceinlys said. “Let me know if you need anything.”

Sophia perched on the edge of a couch and buried her face in her hands. Her eyes stung like they were full of sand. Time passed slowly, or felt that way. She didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there when her phone rang…again. She’d been ignoring it since she’d gotten inside Ceinlys’s car.

“You want me to shut it off?” Chad asked, his voice gentle.

She shook her head. Just in case it was the UCLA people calling her back about her application, she glanced at it.
Libby
flashing across the screen made her gut clench. Had she heard about what happened? Or maybe—hopefully—she was calling to meet like they’d talked about earlier…

“Hello?”

“Oh my god, Sophia!” Panic edged Libby’s usually bubbly voice. “Tell me it’s not true.”

“What?” she said, but her heart was already sinking.

“I just got a call from George’s lawyer. He’s in jail for assaulting somebody at a hospital. He’s saying it was you.”

“Libby…” So the Pryce family had decided not to let it go. It might not have been their decision. Justin must’ve been furious at the incident marring what was supposed to be one of the most joyous moments in his and Vanessa’s life.

“It’s a mistake, right? George would never do such a thing. Can you call the police and tell them?”

Sophia glanced down. Bruises bloomed on her wrists like ugly flowers. “I’m sorry, Libby, but it’s true. He did attack me.”

“What?” That single syllable, whispered, so full of tremor and confusion… It felt like it was going to change her life.

Sophia rubbed her forehead. “Libby… He…attacked me at the hospital.” She didn’t mention him being one of her stalkers. It was already bad enough.

“But why? Did you say something to him?”

“No!” Sophia bit her lower lip. “It…wasn’t the first time he’d tried to hurt me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“He attacked me before. In Sea—”