Cunning (Infidelity #2) (27 page)

“You’re what?” I asked in disbelief. “A damn martyr?”

Suzy held her chin high. “Yes. And I don’t regret a thing. Marcel and I tried for years for a child. He blamed me, though he’d never go to the doctor to learn differently. I figured he was right; I was broken. Then after Alton and I… after we…” She at least had the decency to look down. “I became pregnant. It wasn’t like Marcel and I weren’t still… I was his wife. I told him Bryce was his. I believe Marcel wanted to believe. But with time, he couldn’t.”

“Are you two?” I moved my eyes back and forth. “…still?”

Alton knelt beside my chair. “No. You two are friends. I wouldn’t do that. In a few months we’ll be married. Suzy and I are done.”

A tear descended my best friend’s cheek.

“This is so sordid!” And then a new thought occurred to me. “My parents know?”

Suzy nodded.

“Why? Why did my father agree to this?”

“Because I’m not Russell. I have a vested interest in making this marriage work, as much as you do. I want this.” He looked around the office and then peered at me with a raised brow. “Adelaide, I want you. I want Montague Corporation, but mostly I want to guarantee my son’s future success. You’ll never be able to give me a child. I can live with that, but I want to know that my son will have the best. This marriage will accomplish that.”

“But Alexandria…?”

“Is a child,” Suzy answered. “She and Bryce are best friends. Who better to marry than your best friend?”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I wasn’t about to marry my best friend. I was about to marry my best friend’s lover, and my parents were okay with it. Shaking my head, I looked at Alton. “How did you and Father negotiate this? When are the children supposed to wed?” My indignation grew. “When they’re eighteen? How about as soon as Alexandria has her period? Then she could reproduce.”

“Laide,” Suzy cooed, “don’t be ridiculous.”

I stood again and walked toward the windows. The storm had calmed, leaving the darkness of night looming over the Montague estate. In the reflection of the panes, I saw my likeness. But it wasn’t me. My eyes were too narrow with dark circles below each one.

Alton’s voice brought me back into the room. “After Bryce completes graduate school. We built in eighteen months. Hopefully, they’ll be ready to marry sooner. If things go as they are now, it’ll be organic.”

I spun toward them. “What if it doesn’t?”

“They don’t have a choice,” Alton said. “It’s my hard limit for this marriage.”

I felt it in my hands first, the trembling. His hard limit… to marry me.

“Is it that unappealing?” I asked louder than I intended.

My back straightened as Alton came closer. “No.” His deep tone had softened as his gray eyes shone with flecks of blue and green. “Marrying you is very appealing. Marrying into your family is appealing, running Montague Corporation is appealing. Guaranteeing that Bryce will have it all after we’re gone is the icing on the cake.” He leaned down and kissed my cheek.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Suzy quickly turn away.

“Laide,” he said with a smile. “I like that name. We’ll have many years together. This will be good. As parents we want what’s best for our children. This agreement assures all of us of that outcome.”

“But what if they don’t? What if they fall in love with someone else?”

He shook his head. “Love has nothing to do with it. This is business. We can grow to love one another. They have the advantage of starting out as childhood friends. According to the agreement, if either marries someone else, refuses to marry by the defined time limit, or marry and divorce, Montague Corporation and all assets of Montague, including Montague Manor will be sold. The proceeds will be transferred to Fitzgerald Investments. Montague will cease to exist.”

“No…” I shook my head. “My father would never agree to that.”

Alton caressed my cheek. “He already has. He did because he has faith in us.” He motioned to all three of us. “Faith that we’ll keep Montague intact. Faith that Alexandria and Bryce will have a long, happy marriage and provide us with a home full of grandchildren.”

My daughter was four years old and he’s talking about grandchildren.

I BRACED MYSELF,
steeling my shoulders as I prepared to open the door. With my hand near the knob, I heard voices. The wooden barrier did little to muffle their words as the small peephole became my only view of the scene on the other side.

“May I help you?” Deloris’s voice was sharp yet professional.

“No,” Bryce dismissed her as he turned back, rapping his knuckles again against the solid door.

“Son.” Her demeaning title made me smile. “You’re knocking on my door. May I help you?”

Bryce took a step back, the crimson on his cheeks simmering in his new state of confusion. “Your door? I thought this was…” He stood straighter. “Is Alexandria Collins staying with you?”

“I’m not sure why
who’s staying with me
is any of your concern. You are…?”

“I-I am Edward Spencer, and I’m looking for my fiancée.”

His word made my stomach churn. It took every bit of self-control not to open the door and correct him.

“I assure you I don’t know who you mean. If you’ll excuse me, I need to enter my room.”

“You do know who I mean. I saw you. You were at her roommate’s hospital room this morning. You know Alexandria.”

Deloris was at Chelsea’s room? Why? When? Why was Bryce there?

“Son, I’ll gladly call security if you don’t step aside.”

“This isn’t…” He paused. “…this isn’t Lennox Demetri’s suite?”

Deloris’s eyes narrowed. “Mr. Spencer, I’m not sure who you are or who you think you are, but this room is registered to me. I’m staying in this room, and you have three seconds to allow me to enter.”

Not wanting to be standing and staring when she opened the door, I picked up my purse and hurried toward the bedroom. As I crossed the threshold, I suddenly worried that Deloris didn’t have a key. Then I realized whom I was thinking about. Of course she had a key. A moment later the locking mechanisms turned, and the door opened. I waited unseen for the door to close. Once it did, silence prevailed.

With my shoes dangling from her fingertips, Deloris turned the corner and met me eye to eye. “Thankfully,” she said, “he didn’t pursue me. If he had, I’d need to convince him that four-inch navy pumps were now my shoe of choice.”

I shrugged with a smile and reached for my shoes. “I remembered my purse.”

Deloris sat on the edge of the bed and patted the mattress beside her. “Alex, we need to talk.”

Taking a deep breath, I moved her direction and sat.

“He’s mad at me.”

“Mr. Spencer?” she asked with a furrowed brow.

I shrugged again. “Probably. But I don’t care about that. Nox, I mean, Lennox, is mad at me. I said something I shouldn’t have.”

She nodded knowingly.

“You already know, don’t you?”

“I do,” she answered truthfully. “I was informed on my way here. Since Isaac is with him, Lennox didn’t want you left alone.” Her eyes widened as she tilted her head toward the living room. “I believe that was a good call. Please tell me that you weren’t about to open that door.”

I looked down at the shoes in my lap and sighed.

I was.

“You think you know him?”

“Bryce or Nox?”

“Mr. Spencer.”

I swallowed. “Deloris, I do know him. I’ve known him my entire life.”

“It’s a common misconception. I’ve known Lennox for many years. I may know more about him than anyone, yet you know him in ways I don’t.”

My cheeks tingled with pink as I nodded.

“Knowing someone and
knowing
that person are two different things. How much contact have you had with Mr. Spencer over the last few years?”

“Very little.”

“Alex, you have no reason to be honest with me, but I have no reason to be dishonest with you. Please tell me about Edward Spencer, the one you
know
.”

I replayed the day’s scenes in my head. “First, before I do.” I reached for her hand. “I will. I’m not stalling. I just want to know what Bryce meant when he said he saw you at Chelsea’s hospital room today?”

“I was there.”

I waited. When she didn’t offer more, I pried. “Why?”

“Because she was attacked in your apartment. Keeping you safe has become my job. I need to know all I can.”

I nodded. That made sense. “Was it before or after… were you the person with her who asked her mother for privacy?”

A small grin came to Deloris’s face. “Her mother is… it’s easier to talk without her around.”

I couldn’t agree more. Tina Moore was annoying at best. “Did you say anything to her about moving to New York?”

“No. Why?”

“Nox… Lennox thinks I should offer her my apartment. He said it would save on cross-country trips. The thing is, she really isn’t high maintenance. She didn’t ask me to come out here. It was my idea. I wanted to be sure she was safe.”

“I’m sure Miss Moore is debating all of her options. Now, please tell me about the man who claims to be your fiancé. You can see how that’s a direct violation of the agreement you signed?”

I sighed. “Do you mind if I change into something more comfortable and we can talk?”

She patted my knee. “I don’t mind. I’ll be out in the living room.”

“Before you go, please tell me… how mad is he?”

Her shoulders moved up and down. “I’ve seen him more upset.”

“Why isn’t that comforting?”

“Change clothes. Then we’ll talk.”

An hour later, with my legs curled beneath me, wearing jeans and a sweater and sipping a glass of moscato, I was all talked out on the subject of Bryce Spencer. I’d told Deloris everything about him that I could think of, from how we were friends since birth, our mothers inseparable, the best of friends. I even told her about us dating at too young of an age and how I expected my mother to protest, but she never did. The conversation was cathartic, allowing me to purge a part of my life, a part I was happy to leave in the past.

“Even while he was at Duke and I was still at the academy, he continued to pursue the relationship.”

“You didn’t fight it?”

“No. I can’t explain it. There’s something about being back in my hometown that is…” I looked out the window toward the bay. “…well, it takes away my ability to fight.”

“Does Lennox do that to you?”

A grin pulled at the corners of my lips. “It’s different.”

“That makes me curious.”

“While I was at Stanford, I worked to become someone other than the obedient daughter I was raised to be. I worked to be independent and have my own beliefs. I’m proud of who I became and what I did. I want to carry that on to Columbia.”

I took a drink of my wine.

“With Lennox…” It was odd to use that name. “…I’m still the me from Stanford. I want to please myself and have my own opinions, but I also want to please him.” I tilted my head to the side. “I don’t know if that makes sense.”

“It does,” Deloris said with a smile. “So you aren’t engaged?”

“No.”

“Never were?”

“No.”

“Mr. Spencer is…”

“Obsessed,” I volunteered. “I guess he feels entitled. If I never went away, if I’d attended Duke as he wanted, I probably would be engaged.”

Deloris reached for my hand. “Is that what you want?”

“It doesn’t matter, does it? You know about Infidelity. I couldn’t walk away from Lennox if I wanted to.”

“Do you want to?”

I stood and walked to the window. The early evening sun danced across the water. “No. I don’t want to be with Bryce. I want to be with Lennox, but he also scares me.”

“Lennox or Mr. Spencer?”

“Lennox.”

“He frightens you?”

“That’s the wrong word. I’m apprehensive. I shouldn’t have said anything about his wife today. It was that Bryce said some things, and it had me thinking, wondering.” I spun back around. “You know who my family is, don’t you?”

She nodded.

“Does Nox?”

“I haven’t told him. I recommend that you do.”

“Is it that important?”

It was Deloris’s turn to ask questions. “Do you know anything about Melissa Summers?”

I pursed my lips and tried to recall that name. “I don’t. Should I?”

Our conversation ended as we both turned to the opening of the door.

The energy of the room immediately shifted. Power surged through the air, crackling the molecules and setting off electricity. With only his eyes on me, the hairs on my arm stood to attention. I tried to read him, to decipher his disposition.

Is he still upset?

“We’re leaving tomorrow.”

His proclamation did little to assure me of his mood, though it did bring my conversation with my mother to mind, reminding me she was supposed to be in New York on Sunday.

“Leaving? For…?” I asked, suddenly concerned I wouldn’t.

“Back to New York.”

I sighed.

In only a few elegant strides, Nox was across the room. My heart fluttered as I craned my neck up to look into his eyes. The anger from the car was gone but frost remained. I stiffened as he captured my waist and pulled me against him. “Have you behaved?” His question mocked me, reminding me of his directives and the grounding I’d just experienced.