Crash (17 page)

“What?” I yelped. “No way.” For some reason I found the idea of meeting his father, much, much worse.

“He knows you’re here. C’mon.”

He slapped my ass and grinned as I scowled at him. The door flew open and he tugged me forward, even though I wanted to dig in my heels.

A lightning bolt seared up my spine as I heard him downstairs, talking in a low voice. William laughed at me as I stopped on the staircase.

“Keep going, doll. Or I’ll keep squeezing your ass.”

Doll?

A ruthless pinch made me start forward. I ignored William’s deep laughs as I descended the staircase. We passed the marble foyer and entered a living room, which contained a white grand piano and a gold painting ceiling; we crossed over and entered the next room, which was a richly dark-brown study. I stopped at the threshold, but William continued inside.

Domenico Pardini, CEO of Pardini Worldwide, sat behind a mahogany desk with a phone to his ear. William stopped in front of the desk and crossed his arms, waiting patiently for his father to get off the phone.

He was a thin reed of a man, with a wiry mustache and angry, dark eyes. He still wore a business suit and looked utterly terrifying, because his face was devoid of any joy. He stood up from the desk, revealing a lean, skinny waist.

“Goodbye.”

Will’s father hung up the phone and glared at his son.

“You are not supposed to be here, William.”

I knew what he meant. We came back early from the campaign because William felt that he had to return to Chicago immediately. I was hoping to slink out of the room, unnoticed.

“Thanks, Dad. Hello to you, too.”

“Who is that?”

At that unfortunate moment, Mr. Pardini chose to acknowledge my presence. I stepped into the room awkwardly, my legs trembling.

William looked surprised to see me standing all the way in the back. He waved me over impatiently. “This is Natalie. She’s the graphic designer for the campaign.”

Oh, Jesus. Will, I’m going to kill you.

Mr. Pardini was clearly looking for something polite to say. “I see. And—er—you decided to bring her here because?”

“I’m also dating her.”

I wanted to die.
Please someone just shoot me
. Mr. Pardini opened his mouth angrily, but William interrupted.

“Dad, I’m here because I found out that you’re in a lawsuit with Luke. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Mr. Pardini stepped around the desk. For a moment, I thought that he was going to hit his son. “It was none of your concern. I wanted you to focus on the campaign, which, apparently you’ve decided to just drop.”

“Is it true? Are you trying to stiff him out of his shares?”

Mr. Pardini’s hot glare flashed in my direction and I took a step backwards. It was clear that he didn’t want me there. He grabbed the half-empty glass of amber liquid on his desk and took a small sip.

“Yes, it’s true. Giacomo and I were planning to do this with all of you. It’s time to break up the empire.”

A heavy silence followed his words, with only the sounds of Domenico calmly sipping his drink and my pounding heart filling my head.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Lots of family members want out. They want their money, now. Breaking up the empire was something Giacomo and I had been talking about for years. It’s time and both of us realized that our sons were incapable of managing an empire.”

“You’re going to butcher the empire our family has spent generations building?”

“I have no choice. Did you really think Luke was the only lawsuit I’m dealing with?” Will gaped at him as he walked across and studied a painting. “Most of the family’s money is in corporations owned by trusts. Slowly, I’m going to sell all the companies we own and liquidate Pardini holdings.”

“Dad, you can’t—”

“I am the sole trustee for the family. I can do whatever I wish. I am selling Luke’s shares and I am giving him an appropriate amount for the deals he has made for the company. I will do the same with everyone else.”

Will gave a frustrated sigh. “Just give him the money, Dad. He’s already been screwed over by his father.”

Mr. Pardini wheeled on his son. “You think that just because you’re a Pardini, you’re entitled to be wealthy? The trusts were meant to meet your reasonable needs, that’s it. They were designed to enhance the family’s position through donations and investments. They were not meant to make individual billionaires!”

His voice rang in the small room, echoing in my ears painfully.

“I am old and tired, son. And I’m being hounded by my nephew, cousins, and every member of the family with a trust. They want out and I am tired of dealing with this. If your grandfather knew what had happened to this family, he would be spinning in his grave.”

He almost seemed to limp back to his chair behind the desk. He looked tired and emotionally sick.

“I’m sorry that you had to witness this,” he said, addressing me suddenly.

I forgot my own presence. “Oh, uh—it’s fine.”

We started chatting a bit; he asked me the same sort of questions his wife had, but William said nothing. He leaned against the wall with his arms folded, looking disturbed.

What am I going to tell Jessica?

Mr. Pardini wasn’t selling the shares out of greed, as I previously assumed. He was following a principle that they were only entitled to the amount of money and work they had put into the family’s advancement. And frankly, it seemed fair. Then I thought of Luke, who had been disappointed by his father’s will—and now his uncle was, in his eyes, giving him a meager amount for his shares.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Natalie.”

“Yes, Mr. Pardini.” I leaned forward and shook his hand, Will watching me out of the corner of his eyes.

That was my cue to leave. I walked out of his office and wiped my hands on my jeans.

“That wasn’t so bad.”

Will scoffed as we ascended the staircase back to the room. He opened the door for me and I walked in, startled by the violent look on his face.

“What the hell am I going to tell my cousin?” he yelled when the door was closed.

I lifted my shoulders helplessly. “Honestly, what can you do? Your dad has all the power and his argument made a lot of sense.”

He paced the room like a caged animal. “I should be able to do more. He’s one of us. He deserves what’s owed to him. God, this family is so fucked. This is going to ruin us.” Will sank to the bed and stared at the floor.

An odd feeling swept through me. Why was he so upset over this? Was this really about Luke anymore? “When I first met you, you were thrilled that Luke’s dad was dead because he was out of the running for CEO. Now, you’re getting upset because he’s not inheriting his millions?”

A pained look crossed over his face. “I feel guilty about it. He’s getting completely screwed over.”

I bent down until he was forced to meet my gaze. “You can’t control your dad’s actions anymore than you could control the accident.”

William’s eyes were livid. “Please, don’t.”

His hands gripped the edge of the bed, whitened with panic, and I dropped my gaze.

Chapter 9

I swear to God, if you ignore another one of my emails, I will start calling you. You’re really acting like a bitch. I’ve been nothing but nice to you. I don’t deserve to be treated like garbage—

I deleted the email before I finished it, my heart pounding with poison. It coursed through my veins, spreading a sick feeling. The phone trembled against my ear.

“I’m starting to get really freaked out by Ben’s emails. He has never called me names like this.”

Jessica sighed on the other line.
“I think it’s best you ignore them, like Will said.”
She paused for a moment.
“He’s been over here a couple times, looking for you. He still has a key, you know.”

“What? He went into our apartment?”

Will’s head jerked up from his arms and looked at me, fury etched all over his olive-skinned face. I waved him away.

“Yeah, but don’t worry. I got a locksmith to change the locks. He just wanted to know where you were…and he wanted to know about Will. I’ve never seen him so agitated.”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into him. It’s weird.”

“Well, anyways. Tell Will thanks for trying. I’m sure Luke appreciates it. How are you doing?”

I shook my head. “Fine, I guess. This whole thing with Ben is really stressing me out. I think I need to tell him that it’s over, ‘cause he obviously isn’t getting the message.”

I glanced at the article splashed across the website:
Will Pardini Spotted with Petite Beauty.
My ears burned whenever I read the title. Underneath was a photo of us kissing at O’Hare. That was only half an hour ago.

I hated this. All of these photographs and articles would only incense Ben further. I wished it would stop.

Suddenly, the jet engine roared to life. “I’ve got to go. Plane’s taking off.”

“Okay, we’ll catch up when you come home.”

I ended the phone call, refusing to acknowledge William’s presence one foot away from me, but he would not be ignored. He tapped impatiently on the desk with his fingers. I shut my laptop and finally looked at him.

"What?"

“You should file a restraining order against Ben."

I laughed at him, looking up at his furious face and swallowing my laughter. "No."

"I'm serious, Natalie. He's crossed the line by visiting your home without your permission."

"Maybe, but I don't want to escalate things. Ben would never hurt me. He's not dangerous, he's just being a bit pathetic because his heart’s been broken.”

“He's had nine months to get over his broken heart."

I bit my lip so hard that I drew blood. “Maybe I'll send him an email warning him."

He sat down across from me and gave a slight shrug. “Do what you have to do, but don't expect it to work." He grasped my hand. “I don’t have a good feeling about this guy. He reeks of desperation."

I felt a rush of affection for my dark-haired paramour. He was so concerned with my safety. It was cute and touching at the same time. I squeezed his hand and leaned over the table to kiss him.

"I guess I'm lucky that I have you to protect me,” I said, an inch away from his lips.

I felt his smile against my lips and he grabbed my head, deepening the kiss.

Whatever I said, I was worried about Ben. The thought of returning home without Will made my insides churn, but I really wanted to get back to see Jessica.

“You should stay with me tonight,” he said in a low voice.

My skin was tingling all over at the thought of being alone with Will in his apartment.

“I’ll come over tomorrow. I have a lot of things to do. I still haven’t finished those newsletters, and I know I’ll be too distracted at your place.” I winked at him and he smiled.

* * *

“Don’t forget—tomorrow.”

His throaty voice echoed inside my head as I bounded up the stairs to my apartment. I had only been away from Will for a few hours and I felt myself shaking, as though I were suffering from a fever. I barely stepped three feet into the apartment before Jessica threw her arms around my neck, nearly knocking me over.

“Ouch—hey!”

Strangely enough, I felt relieved to be back. There was nothing like coming home after a long trip, even if home was a two-bedroom apartment with wall-to-wall carpeting that was slowly rotting away.

Jessica asked me excitedly how the trip went, what Italy was like, if Will and I were a couple. I was more curious about what had been going on here, but at the same time I didn’t want to ask her about Ben. There was just so much crap in my life lately, and I wanted for once, to focus on the positive things.

I sank down on the couch habitually with my laptop sitting on my knees.

“I need to send an email telling Ben to back off.”

Jessica groaned sympathetically.

Ben,

I’m really sorry about these past few weeks, but as you know, I’ve been busy working abroad. I was not trying to ignore you.

It’s over. I’ve realized that I really have moved on and I just don’t feel the same about you anymore. Please give me space and respect my boundaries. I don’t want to hear anymore about you visiting or calling my parents. I’ve also changed the locks on this apartment. I’m not angry with you, I’m just done.

Goodbye,

Natalie

I slid the laptop for Jessica to read and she nodded approvingly. I just wanted it to be straight to the point and I wanted him out of my life. I sent the email, hoping that he would read it and give up.

That would be too lucky.

I shut my phone off and watched TV with Jessica, gabbing happily about the new season of American Idol and laughing at the ridiculous auditions.

“What kind of pizza do you want?”

“Surprise me.”

Thank God for online ordering
. We were settling in for a girl’s night complete with margaritas and I was in charge of getting the pizza. I was too tired to go out, so I paid for delivery.

“Now, what should we watch? Rom-com or should we just nerd out on
Gundam Wing
?”

The anime cartoon was our favorite when we were children and it was fun to watch, especially with the horribly dubbed voice actors. Last time we watched it, I was reduced to tears of laughter and I really needed a laugh.

The pizza arrived and Jessica blended the margaritas, forgetting to place the top on the blender and getting green ice all over the counter. We scooped the remains into glasses and brought everything to the living room.

BAMBAMBAM
.

I jerked from my seat and Jessica’s widened eyes made a hot drop of fear slip down my throat.

BAMBAMBAM
.

“All right, I’m coming.”

The door was pounding so hard that the walls rattled.

“Open the fuck up!”

My heart lightened when I recognized the voice. “Will?” Relief washed over me. I was just glad that it wasn’t Ben. Annoyed, I yanked open the door. “What are you doing here? I told you—”