The Roman's Woman (A Singular Obsession Book 4) (25 page)

If Richard had stolen Jorge Má
rquez
’s research and passed it off as his own, what else was he capable of? Cornered rats could be dangerous. Especially now that his transgression had been uncovered.

On impulse, he called downstairs and told Enzo to get him a car, a dark nondescript one.

Sophia would be furious if he interfered with her handling Richard tonight, but what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. He was only going to drive himself over to the Englishman’s house and sit outside.

If all went well, she would never know that he was there. But if there was any sign she was having trouble, he would be close by to make sure she was all right.

****

Eight, nine, ten…

Counting wasn’t working. Sophia was still so angry she couldn’t see straight. It was a small miracle she’d been able to drive without getting into an accident.

She took the steps of her father’s house two at a time and knocked on the door with a determined balled-up fist. Several minutes passed before she saw movement at the curtains.

“Richard! Open up!”

Still nothing. He was sitting behind the curtain, watching her like some sort of peeping Tom. Did he think she was going to give up and go home? The entire house was lit up. It was obvious he was home.

“I can see you behind the curtain damn it! Open the fucking door!”

That finally did it. The door swung open and Richard stood there, a sour expression on his face. “Darling, I know I’m in the wrong here, but that is no reason we can’t have a civilized conversation like two decent people.”

“Decent!” The man had some brass balls on him. “Are you fucking
kidding
me?”

A look of sheer panic crossed his face. Scanning over her head, he pulled her inside and shut the door.

“Are you seriously afraid of what the neighbors will say? After what you did?”

Richard stepped back and ushered her deeper inside the house. He had redecorated, replacing her father’s Spanish-inspired decor with heavier furnishings. It looked like the inside of an English lodge.

Suddenly that made her furious. “What did you do—throw away all his things after you took his research and published it under your name?

“Sophia, will you stop please and listen? I didn’t steal a single thing.” He stood up straighter and stared down his long narrow nose at her. “Your father stole from me.”

She shook her head. “Unbelievable! I never realized what a liar you are.”

He threw up his hands. “I’m not lying, and I’m insulted that you would believe I would. I'm aware we’ve been having a hard time lately but you are still my best friend in the world and Jorge was like a father to me.”

He stepped closer to her and put his hands on her shoulders. “I swear I’m telling you the truth. I helped your father out from time to time and he took the idea to study online trolling from me. I had no idea he had pursued
my
idea behind my back. When I found out, I was crushed. Completely disillusioned “

Her breath was trapped in her lungs. God, he was good.

Sophia exhaled slowly. “Nice try. But he didn’t get the idea for the study from you. He got it from
me
.”

She had never told anyone that, not even Kelly. It hadn’t been a big deal at the time. One freezing Sunday morning, she had been sitting there in his garage while her father worked on his car. They had run out of topics of conversation so she brought up a blog post she’d read recently on the harassment of female bloggers in the gaming industry. The article discussed how the Internet allowed for the evolution of online trolls, people who hid behind the anonymity of their computers to say and act with impunity.

Since it was a question related to his field, her father’s attention had been caught and he started talking to her about it—really talking and not lecturing. It was the most two-sided conversation they’d ever had. Instead of sermonizing, he listened and they’d debated pros and cons until he came up with a unique angle he wanted to pursue further.

Of course in time she regretted giving him the idea. Since she’d come up with the topic in the first place, her father assumed she would be eager to hear all the details. She had been privy to the evolution of his thoughts on the subject and then some. She knew way more about online trolls than she wanted to.

“From you?” Richard finally asked, his face was twisted in dismay.

“
Yes
. During one of our damn Sunday morning visits. So don’t stand there lying to my face and say he stole it from you because I know better.”

He paled, turning a pasty gray. Staggering to the new leather sofa, he threw himself down on it and buried his face in his hands.

In all her time with Richard, she’d never seen him display that kind of emotion. He was never at a disadvantage, and he never dropped that superior attitude of his. She almost felt sorry for him.

Don’t even think about letting him off the hook
. He had lied and until she called him on it, he’d expected to get away with it. She couldn’t let that happen.

“You have to go to the dean of the University and tell him the truth.”

He put his hands down and stared at her. “I can’t do that Sophia. I’ll lose my job! I was just tenured.”

“You got tenure based on a lie. They gave it to you based on your amazing research paper, the one that you stole!”

Richard rose and came towards her, his hands up. “Only you know that. Jorge was so secretive about his work. The rest of our colleagues have no idea what he was doing towards the end. And I did help him with a lot of it. He didn’t even finish. Once he was gone, it was only natural that I take over. My contribution was significant, too! He would have wanted me to have it.”

Sophia laughed hoarsely. “You’re kidding, right? He would never have wanted someone else to steal his thunder. And what happened to your own project? The one on
ethics
?” she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“I am still working on that,” he said. “But it wasn’t ready and the tenure issue came up quickly when your father passed away and Aaron Spitz took early retirement.”

By now he was pacing around the room, wringing his hands and looking at her with a wild light in his eye. “The department wanted to keep me on, but there was another candidate with equal seniority—that obnoxious Leonard Cox. You remember him right? From the faculty dinner?”

Her answer wasn’t important, and he kept right on going with his justification. “I needed an edge on Cox, and your father’s research provided it. I never dreamed it would overshadow my own work the way it did, or that it would be the reason they gave me tenure. It just happened. But Sophia, darling, after all that I went through with your father, don’t you think he would have wanted things to work out this way? I am his spiritual heir. He said as much several times.”

“You’re not listening,” Sophia said with a slow shake of her head. She took a deep breath and tried to come up with a reason he would understand.

“You have to come clean about what you did now before you permanently damage your career. Sooner or later, someone is going to find out. You can’t complete a study like my father’s without leaving a paper trail. Somewhere out there is evidence that he did it, not you. You can’t ignore that.”

Richard seemed to crumble in front of her. His face fell, and he stared at her with bright wounded eyes. “No, believe me, I checked. But if somewhere down the road someone finds something suspicious, I can explain it away…as long as you back me up.”

Her mouth dropped open in shock. “You expect me to lie for you?”

“What I want—no, what I need—is your loyalty, like when we were together. If you could just be like that again, when I had your unequivocal support everything would be fine.”

The truth slammed into her like a brick. “Oh, my God! That’s why you wanted to get back together. You knew I would eventually find out about this. It wasn’t about your feelings for me. All that noise about that two of us belonging together, finally meeting your parents, it was bullshit. You just wanted was to make sure that I would keep my mouth shut!”

“No! That’s not it! I sincerely believe we are meant to be together. It’s what your father would have wanted,” he said frantically putting his arms around her and trying to pull her to him.

Utterly disgusted, she pushed him away. Breathing heavily, she stared at him. “That is not going to happen.”

“
Why not
?”

She laughed shortly. “Well, for one, I am in love with another man. But even if I wasn’t, our relationship is over. It has been for a long time.”

Richard made a face. “The Italian? Are you serious? He’s nothing but a spoiled playboy! No, he’s worse! Don’t you know about all the terrible things that man has done to his wife? It’s all over the Internet. All you have to do is Google him!”

She held up a hand. “Gio is a good person. The only thing wrong with him is his ex-wife. She’s a deranged slut whose been smearing him in the press for her own ends. Seriously, she’s a mess. Although right now I’m not exactly in a position to throw stones when it comes to exes,” she added pointedly before standing up straight. “I’m done arguing about this. You have until Monday to speak to the dean.”

Richard’s hands fell down to his sides. The manic look in his eyes dulled and his expression closed up. “If that’s what you want,” he said slowly.

“It is.”

“All right then. But can I ask you for one favor?”

Sophia’s head drew back. “What is it?” she asked suspiciously.

“I want you to take a few days to think about this—really think about it. Consider what I did for your father and what he wanted for me, for
us
. And then decide if asking me to sacrifice my career and reputation is what
you want
.”

“I’m not going to change my mind.”

“I understand. But please do it anyway.”

Sophia wrapped her arms around herself. “I will, but I’m not making any promises.”

He nodded. “Good, that’s good. Um…do you want to stay for dinner?”

Unbelievable
. “No, I can’t,” she said slowly. “Gio is waiting for me.”

“Oh, of course.”

Giving him a last look of frustration mingled with disgust, she started for the front door.

“Sophia, wait.” He crossed in front of her, blocking her path. “I just remembered those things I found, the ones that belong to your mother. I put them in a box in the garage. Do you want them since you’re here?”

Crap
.

All she wanted was to walk out the front door and never come back. However, if there was anything of her mother's here, she couldn’t leave without it.

“It’s one box?” she asked, suppressing a sigh.

“Yes,” he assured her, gesturing towards the kitchen.

Determined to grab the box and leave as quickly as possible, she hurried through the garage door, leading the way.

Behind her, Richard stopped at the threshold to flick on the light. Her father’s vintage Chevette was right where he’d left it. It didn’t appear as if Richard had moved it, supporting her theory that he bought the car out of guilt.

Nothing else looked different either. Walking around the front of the car, she peeked on the other side. No box.

“Richard, where is—”

A sudden rush of movement behind her was her only warning. She started to spin around, but she wasn’t fast enough.

Something heavy crashed into her head. There was an explosion of light and pain that burned across her vision like a meteorite before everything went dark.

Gio checked his watch for the fifth time. He was sitting in a car across the street from Richard Selwyn’s house—Sophia’s father’s old place.

When he’d asked Enzo for the address, he was unsurprised to learn his security chief already had it. The address had been part of the background check he’d run on Richard, one he conveniently neglected to tell Sophia about. It would have only pissed her off knowing he’d invaded her ex’s privacy that way. But again, what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.

As soon as Sophia walked out the door, Gio was going to start the engine and drive back home. With luck, he would beat her there. She would never find out that he’d been here at all.

Except it had been almost a half-hour and she was still inside. Her car was across the street a little up from the house, so he knew he hadn’t missed her leaving. How long did it take to tell someone off?

Another few minutes crawled by and his concern grew. What if something had happened? He knew his woman well enough to assume she had come here guns blazing. Richard had probably been on the defensive. As strong and capable as she was, Sophia was much smaller than him. What if he’d done something to her?

A rush of adrenaline nearly propelled him out of his seat and up the steps of the house. It was only Sophia’s voice echoing in his head that stopped him. This was exactly the sort of thing they had been arguing about.

What if they were just talking, somehow managing to work the situation out on their own?