Forever in Love (18 page)

At the very end was a yellow sheet. It didn’t have any information about him. It merely had a signature and read:

Authorized by Kimberly Sanford on behalf of S Pryce
.
Invoice paid in full
.

S Pryce… Had to be Salazar. Why in the world would Catherine have this report unless…

Blood pounding in his head, Blaine thought back. He remembered how she’d shown interest in getting close to him. Even helped him with the bar. His instinct had been right, that she wasn’t the kind of woman who soiled her hands. No, she was the kind of woman used to being served. What was her relationship to Salazar? His new lover maybe? Blaine had looked him up on Google. The man was a player who couldn’t stay faithful. The Internet showed strings of beautiful young things he’d hooked up with. Catherine was definitely his type.

And after she’d met Sean, Salazar’s lawyer started talking about him. Coincidence? Blaine thought not. She must’ve told Salazar, and that rat bastard had instructed his lawyer to use Sean as leverage.

Blaine fisted his hands to stop them from shaking. How could he have been so stupid? No wonder Catherine knew exactly what to say and do to get him to trust her and feel something for her. Any woman with this much information on a guy would be able to do that.

“Mimi,” he said.

“Yeah?” The waitress frowned. “You okay? You look a little pale.”

“I’m fine. Can you call Rick to come in? I have to take the rest of the day off.”

“Sure.” Her eyes slid over toward Irene, and he shook his head.

“Not a word about this to anybody, Irene,” he said darkly. “I mean it.”

“Okay,” the older woman said, her voice thin.

The manila folder tucked under his arm, Blaine went up to his apartment. He wanted to look Catherine up on Google before he confronted her. If she was one of Salazar’s many lovers, there had to be some mention of her somewhere. It was only fair he know something about her.

* * *

Sitting in a cushy rocking chair, Amandine smiled at her precious baby boy as his eyes closed in sleep. If what she’d felt for him when he’d been in her womb was love, what she felt for him now was something fierce that no words could ever describe.

“Hey,” Gavin whispered into her ear and put a hand on her shoulder.

She kissed his fingers. “What did Ethan say? How’d it go with Catherine?”

“Not the way we hoped.”

He took a seat and watched her hold their son. Gavin spent so much time with her now that there were occasions when she worried he was neglecting his business. But her brother, who worked for Gavin, had assured her the firm was doing great, and she knew Pete would’ve said something if things weren’t going well. Amandine couldn’t believe how lucky she was. She had everything her heart desired right here in this nursery.

“Catherine called Ethan from a public phone,” Gavin said. “And he said she didn’t sound all that happy about the audit.”

She tilted her head. “She’s upset that she’s been cleared?”

“Apparently Ethan said some things to her a little while back, which still upsets her.”

She frowned. “I can’t imagine what it could’ve been.” Ethan had a reputation for being the nicer brother. Amandine disagreed with that since she thought Gavin was the sweetest and the most irresistible of the Lloyd brothers.

“Me either, but now Ethan can’t reach her to talk further, and she seems unwilling to sell her shares of the company.”

“Is it important?”

“He offered her a lot more than they’re worth. Given her finances, taking the big lump sum might not be a bad idea.”

“Yeah, but aren’t you the one who always talks about the long-term investment horizon?”

He shook his head with a chuckle. “You’re confusing me with somebody else. I don’t do horizons, short or long. I only care about profit. But you’re right that if we turn the company around, the shares could be lucrative for her in…” He paused, considering. “…about a decade.”

She gasped. “It’s going to take Meredith that long to turn things around?”

“No, but I’m taking Ethan’s offer into consideration.”

“I see.” Amandine ran a finger down Jeremy’s cheek. “Do you think I should go see Catherine? It might be better if somebody talked with her face-to-face.”

Gavin took her hand. “Amandine, you don’t have to do that. I know seeing her makes you uncomfortable.”

“Actually…it doesn’t.” She curled her fingers around his. “I was uncomfortable because I thought you were still pining for her and I wanted your love more than anything else. Things are different now.”

Knowing—
really
knowing—that her husband loved her seemed to have freed her from all those petty fears. Besides, after speaking with Olivia it was obvious Catherine had given Amandine the best advice she could when she’d come by a few months back. “I know where she is, so I’ll fly out to see her. It shouldn’t take that long. And we’ll see how things go from there,” Amandine said.

“Take Thomas with you.”

Her mouth parted in surprise. “Are you sure? He’s your chauffeur. How are you going to get around without him?” She’d never seen Gavin drive.

“I’ll manage. I’d rather have him chauffeur you around than some taxi driver. I’ll have a car waiting.” He took the baby from her arms and kissed her gently. “Don’t overdo it, and call me if you need anything.”

Blaine couldn’t believe the lack of information about Catherine on Google. There wasn’t a single useful piece.

There was, however, some stuff about the people around her, and it corroborated what she’d told him about her ex-husband and in-laws. There were a lot of sordid stories about Jacob Lloyd, who, despite being a complete douchebag, was a decent-looking guy. Blaine could see how he might have dazzled Catherine. There was also some stuff about how Catherine’s father had lost everything playing the stock and commodities markets. Her mother had come from a very good family in Charleston.

It seemed that Catherine also had some connections in the art world. A financial paper had published a recent article about a painter she’d introduced to a gallery in New York. Apparently she’d never picked a loser according to the art gallery owners she was friendly with.

Blaine started to get angry. It was unfair that he couldn’t find enough information to fill a post-it note when she knew everything about him. Damn it.

So lost in his fury, he almost didn’t hear Sean come in. When the door clicked, he went out to the hall and found his younger brother sneaking into his room. “Where the hell have you been?” he thundered.

“With Catherine, since you told my friends to not take me in,” Sean said with a frown. “You knew that, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, I knew. Have you ever wondered why she’s being so nice to you after the stunt you pulled reading her letter?”

Sean flushed. “Because she’s a nice person?”

“Because she’s using you.”

“No way. For what?”

“To get to me.”

Sean put up a hand. “Whoa whoa whoa, hold on. You aren’t making any sense. Why would she do that?”

“She knows there’s fifty million bucks waiting for me.”

Sean’s expression slowly changed as he processed what had just been said. “What fifty million bucks?”

“It’s from my biological father.” God, it was galling that Salazar was his “father.” The man did not deserve that title.

“I thought you didn’t know who your father was.”

He shoved his hands into his hair. “I didn’t. Until recently. He’s this rich playboy from the west coast. For some reason he suddenly wants to play at being daddy, except I’m not having any of it. So he’s dangling fifty million dollars to get me to acknowledge him as my father.”

“Holy shit. So you’re gonna take the money, right?”

“Wrong. I ain’t for sale. I basically told his lawyer to fuck off and die.”

“Good thing to tell a lawyer.”

“Yeah. But apparently Catherine knows all about the money. She has this thick report about me, like an FBI file or something. And it’s got detailed information about the fund.”

“Damn.” Sean’s jaw dropped, then clicked shut. “So that’s why… Jeez. So she really is a gold digger.”

“What makes you say that?” Blaine asked, gripping Sean’s arm.

“The letter I read. It said something about getting the kind of husband she deserved. There were lots of names dropped in there, names like Barron Sterling. He’s like, the fifth richest guy in the world.”

So that was why it was sent to her via special courier. His instinct about it had been right. Who would send a baby announcement that way?

And when Catherine had shed tears and clung to him, what had he said? He’d made it clear how much he found her lovely and wonderful. She probably thought she had him then. All she’d have to do was reel him in.

Except Sean had seen the letter. That was why she’d been so nice to him. Butter the young kid up a bit, be extra kind and he’d shut up.

Blaine didn’t care if she wanted to play games with him. He was a big boy, and he could handle it. But she went too far when she involved Sean.

“Where’s Catherine?” he asked.

“She went home.”

“Stay here.” Blaine punched his fist through his coat arm.

“Where are you going?”

“To the Blue House.”

* * *

Catherine sat in the living room with a cup of fresh coffee and stared at the horrible painting Salazar had hung in there. At least the area was dust free now, thanks to Irene having stopped by. The place was so quiet she could hear the gears in her brain turning.

She’d been so wrong about everything. The more she thought about what the women had said, the more she agreed with them. There would be prenups that specifically protected the men. Rich people didn’t ask for those agreements because they benefitted somebody like her. After all, it had been the sole reason why she hadn’t been able to do much against Jacob. And it had been the biggest enabler of Salazar’s man-whorish ways. Ceinlys couldn’t do a thing about it.

Maybe Catherine had been wrong to seek security and stability from men. She’d always dated men at the top of the social pyramid. In high school that meant the football team captain. He’d made sure she remained a queen bee, but after high school ended, she’d lost him and had nothing to show for it. And every dating experience since had been the same. As long as she was with the right man, she was all right. But when it ended…

But what could she do to be somebody? How could she get security and stability in her life on her own? She had nothing, no talent or skill.

And the women at the clothing store were right about her getting close to thirty and what that represented. Age wouldn’t be an issue if her next husband loved her, but she wasn’t that lovable or even worthy of respect. When people knew how she really was they would pity her but never love her. It was difficult to love someone so useless.

Moaning she buried her face in her hands. If she could just disappear right now…

Somebody pounded on her door. She snapped her head up with a scowl. Didn’t the universe have any respect for her need to be alone?

With a deep sigh, she went over to the door and opened it. “What’s the big…” The rest of the words died when she saw Blaine. He looked awful with his hair sticking up like he’d been pulling at it. There was redness around his eyes that hinted at some huge emotional turmoil. “What’s wrong?” she asked, standing aside to let him in. “Did Sean…?”

“No.” He brushed by her and closed the door behind him.

His looked at her with the dispassionate detachment of a critic tearing a piece of art apart to find flaws to harp on. Catherine felt the urge to turn away and hide, then mentally shook herself. How ridiculous would that be? She had to be projecting her mood onto him somehow.

“How well do you know Salazar Pryce?” he asked.

She flinched at the awful tone of his voice. He might as well have asked her if she was a murderer. She chose her answer with care. “He’s a family friend. He and my dad were very close.” Unable to stand so close to Blaine while he looked at her so coldly, she gestured at the couch. “Do you want to sit down?”

“No. I don’t want to sit down. I want to know what the hell you’re doing here.”

“Blaine, there’s no reason to be angry.”

The vein on his forehead stood up and throbbed. “I have every reason.” He reached into his coat and dumped a manila folder on the floor between them.

She gasped, then went rigid as the densely typed pages spilled on the hardwood and rugs. How did he… No… He couldn’t have found it. It had to be Irene who’d discovered it while cleaning and ran to him, instead of talking to Catherine about it. Given the way Blaine looked, the old woman must’ve put the worst spin possible on this. “I don’t know what Irene told you—”

“She didn’t have to tell me anything except that she found this in this house. The rest is pretty self-explanatory. You’re working for Salazar.”

Her heart pounded in her chest. She had to make him understand it wasn’t anything like that. But what could she tell him? Everyone always thought the worst of her…assigned the most despicable motive on her every action. The coffee she’d had churned in her belly violently, and she felt like it was eating away at her stomach. “I didn’t read it.”

“I’m supposed to believe that?” he spat. “You passed on the opportunity to read everything about my life? You weren’t even the slightest bit curious?”

“Blaine, I swear to you. I didn’t read it.”

“
Suuure
. Tell me something, Catherine. Is anything you’ve told me the truth? Or did you fabricate everything, knowing all the right buttons to push? Whoever Salazar hired to dig up all that stuff about me was thorough. It’s amazing what you can find out about somebody if you have the money.”

“I…” She hesitated. If she told him she was terrible at reading, that it gave her a horrible headache, would he believe her or would it give him another thing to jeer about?

“I just want to know why—what’s in it for you? You’re exactly Salazar’s type—young and beautiful. But he’d never leave his wife, not even for someone like you. So let’s say he offered you some money, but how much could he offer that could tempt you? You already seem to have money of your own, given the kind of clothes you wear and car you drive. Not to mention your four thousand-dollar purse. Why would somebody like you go as far as to sleep with me? It’s overkill.” Blaine breathed out roughly. “Then Sean told me you needed a rich husband, and the report conveniently has all sorts of financial information about me, including the fifty million bucks Salazar will give me if I acknowledge him as my father. Then it all became clear.”