The Unintended Fiancé (Captured by Love Book 4) (15 page)

“Of course, not. I’m not talking about the being engaged part. I’m talking about the dating part.” Was he also thinking that they were truly a couple now? Oh,
please
.

Brad took her hand. “I honestly think that at this time, we have to cool it off.”

“But, Brad—”

“There are no buts, Erin,” he said, his voice getting harder. “I care a lot about you. You know that. But I never set out for this relationship to become a real-life situation. And while I’m not against exploring where it could lead, I don’t think this is the time for it. I have my hands full finding the person so intent on destroying my business, trying to keep my current clients happy, and acquiring new contracts.”

A tear escaped her eye. One minute they were making perfect love, and the next minute they were over. How cruel.

“Hey,” he said, placing a palm on her face. “Please don’t be like that.”

“Can’t we just pretend that we’re not together?”

“How is that gonna work? It will only make things worse if someone finds out we’re pretending not to be together just to cover up our fake engagement.”

“But what about us?” she persisted.

Brad smiled at her sadly, shaking his head. “I’m not ready for us.”

Ouch.

“So will you be moving out?” she asked, trying to keep her voice strong.

“Yes. I’ll have to put up with a serviced apartment for a while.”

“You said those places don’t feel homey enough for you. You’d hate to live in one.”

“Well, it’s only for four months, tops, then I can move into my new house. I’ll probably be spending most of my time in the office anyway.”

She took a deep breath, trying to contain her emotions. It was surreal. Being Brad’s
fake
fiancée for almost three months, and then breaking up with him for
real
. “What do we say to people?” she asked quietly.

Brad shrugged. “I don’t think we need to explain to anyone. But if we really have to, then we can say that what’s been happening has taken its toll on our relationship. Or you could say I cheated on you,” he said dryly. “That’s probably the next rumour that would come out.”

“I could have cheated on
you
,” she said, feeling incredibly querulous.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he scoffed. “We want to protect your reputation, not mar it.”

“Damn it, Brad, you’re taking on too much.”

“It’s my fault we’re in this mess. I should have thought it through before I started this crazy idea of being engaged. We shouldn’t have started it in the first place.”

Something sharp stabbed at her heart. He was regretting their time together? Gosh, that hurt more than anything he’d said before.

“I’ll arrange to move out tomorrow,” he said softly. “Better start the ball rolling early, before rumours that our engagement is fake start cropping up in earnest.”

“Tell me something,” she whispered, looking at him with pleading eyes. “Can we continue after all this is over?”

Brad opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He stared at her for a long, agonising moment, his features painting his uncertainty.

She inhaled deeply. His look said it all. Brad did care for her greatly—but only as a friend.
Still
only as a friend.

And she knew now that it was all they’d ever be.

She reached for her engagement ring that she’d placed on her bedside table and wordlessly handed it to him. “Can I have one last hug?” she asked, mustering all her energy to keep the tears at bay.

Brad smiled sadly and wrapped his arms around her.

She held him tight.
I love you, Brad. Goodbye.

B
rad stared at the document in front of him. If this weren’t so serious, he’d laugh. It was utterly ridiculous.

Warren Oliver was threatening to sue him. For defamation, of all things. Apparently, Brad had sent a warning letter through the mail to one of Warren’s new clients that Warren was the one responsible for the rumours going around about Brad.

He shook his head. What a way to spend his birthday. Here he was in Lexie’s study with Gavin, while a small group of family and friends were outside in his sister and Rick’s backyard, here to help him celebrate.

He probably shouldn’t have cancelled his business trip to the Whitsundays. He wasn’t exactly keen to party, but there had been no stopping his mother and Lexie from organising this.

“What do you think?” he asked Gavin, who was sitting in an armchair next to him, rubbing his jaw in deep thought.

“I don’t think Warren would start anything that would open him up to scrutiny that could out him,” Gavin replied. “So I don’t think this particular case was started by him.”

“Yes, those are my thoughts too.”

“It seems that whoever’s behind this is playing you and Warren against each other,” Gavin mused.

“I don’t understand why someone would want to do that.”

“Let’s go over everything again,” Gavin suggested. “This person seems to be close enough to you to hit on certain truths.”

“It wouldn’t be anyone I’ve told, that’s for sure.”

Gavin made a sound of agreement. “I’ve done some checks on them, much as I loathed it, as they’re my friends too. But they’re clear.”

He grinned. “And you didn’t tell them?”

“Hey, I’m a professional. I’ll let them know after we solve this case. I don’t think they’d mind.”

“No, they’d understand. Well, the only other people close enough to me would be my staff. But I’ve never shared anything about this with any of them. Besides, why would they want the company they work for to fail?”

“Let’s look into them again, anyway.”

For the next half an hour, Gavin grilled him about his staff, not leaving any stone unturned. He was impressed, even though his heart was heavy at the thought that one of his trusted employees could be part of this mess. But they couldn’t ignore any possibility.

They were interrupted by the knock on the door. “Brad?” Vivian called out.

“Yes, Mum?”

Vivian entered the room. “I know this meeting is incredibly important. But it’s your birthday, and people are out there waiting for you to join us.”

“We’re done,” he said, smiling guiltily.

Gavin nodded, rising from his seat. “Sorry, Vivian. My fault for keeping the birthday boy in here.”

“As long as you help him sort this out, it’s fine. But come on, you two. Everyone wants to eat.”

“I’ll just put away these papers,” Brad said, stacking the sheets he and Gavin had been working on. “I’ll follow you in a minute.”

Vivian and Gavin closed the door behind them, and he sank into his chair, drained.

He’d made wrong decisions regarding this saga. First, he shouldn’t have focused on Warren being the suspect when it had first happened. Second, he should have given the first detective he’d hired more freedom to investigate rather than ordering him about. Well, come to think of it, that previous private eye was probably just incompetent for not having the gumption to say no to what he’d wanted him to do. Contrast that to Gavin who, from the outset, had been proving his expertise by disagreeing with him on some occasions—and turning out to be right.

But the heaviest load in his chest didn’t have anything to do with the sustained attack on his business, or Warren wanting to sue him.

Erin wasn’t here to help him celebrate his birthday. And his heart ached from missing her like hell.

His only consolation was that breaking up with her had been beneficial to her career. JMR had been so welcoming of the “bad” news that their PR team had even strategically announced their “commiserations” at Erin’s failed engagement—and highlighted the fact one of their most valuable employees was no longer attached to the now-infamous Bradley Mead.

That was great for Erin. It was exactly the result he’d wanted for her.

But couldn’t she really be here tonight? Lots could have been done to cover up her attendance. But all he had gotten was a short text from her this morning, wishing him a happy birthday. Same with Christmas when, even though he’d spent it with his family, he’d been the loneliest he’d ever felt. He hadn’t heard her voice then, either. It was just another text greeting.

Why was he having such a hard time with this? It had been his own big, fat idea to completely break up with her.

He rubbed his face harshly.
It’s better for her, Brad. Just shut the fuck up and get on with things.

“Brad?”

He turned around, startled.

“Hey, sis.”

“Are you okay?”

“Of course. Just lots to think about.”

Lexie embraced him. “I’m sorry you’re going through this. Just know we’re all here for you.”

“I know. Thank you,” he said, hugging her back tightly.

“Come on,” Lexie said, taking his hand and dragging him out of her study. “The others won’t start eating until you’re out there.”

“Um... Erin’s really not coming, is she?”

“No.”

He nodded. “It’s better that way. How is she anyway? I haven’t spoken to her since I moved out.”

“Well,” Lexie said with a deep sigh. “She’s coping. You have to understand that, for her, it was like a real break-up. You know that, don’t you?”

“It was the best thing to do,” he murmured.

“Yeah. But it was still hard for her. And you know why.”

“Yes,” he said, his throat closing up.

Lexie stopped walking and smiled sadly. “She would have stuck by you, Brad. She was willing to sacrifice more.”

“I know,” he whispered, his heart squeezing. “And I couldn’t ask her to do that. I hope she knows why we have to do it this way.”

Lexie ran a comforting hand on his arm. “For what it’s worth, she knows you have her best interest at heart even though you don’t return her feelings. Anyway, she does need time to get over you, so give her some space. Better that you don’t call her or anything at this point. It’ll just make it more difficult for her.”

“Does this mean she’ll always avoid me now?”

“No. In fact, she told us she’s keen to get over you quickly so you can go back to the old, easy friendship you used to have. Your friendship is important to her—and she does want to keep that going. She’s open to being proactive with moving on so she can heal as fast as she can. All she needs is time, and rest assured, we’re helping her.”

“How?”

Lexie shrugged. “She wants to go on fun dates where there’s no pressure of commitment. Frankly, I think it’s a great idea, so she won’t mope around thinking of you.”

His heart pounded hard as he followed Lexie outside. Erin was getting over him.
Proactively
getting over him. Fuck. That hurt more than anything he’d been through in the last few months. Did he really want Erin to move on?

You want her career saved.

Yes. Yes, he did. He simply couldn’t let her jeopardise what she’d worked hard for when the problem was all his. The only solution was to clear his name first, and when there could be no more threat to her reputation, chase after Erin with everything he had.

He could only hope and pray that when that time came, it wouldn’t be too late.

*****

“
Brad.”

“Warren,” he responded, taking the man’s hand for a shake. “Thank you for seeing me.”

“Well, we do have some business to take care of, don’t we?” Warren said rather sarcastically, pointing him to the visitor’s chair next to Warren’s large office desk. “I’m surprised you didn’t bring your legal team with you. I would have been happy to include mine into this meeting. But since you wanted a private chat, I can only assume you’re here to apologise and recant your claim that I was trying to sabotage you?”

He waited until Warren was seated before unzipping his document holder and pulling out a file. “I would apologise, Warren, if I was the one who’d sent that letter to your client making that claim. But I did no such thing. And that’s why I want to talk to you.”

He pulled out some sheets of paper and laid them on Warren’s desk. “In here are various notes where it showed that, on at least four occasions, it appeared that
you
had been the one trying to give me a bad name out there. So I admit that you were the only person I’d suspected for a long time, but since there has never been any concrete proof, I haven’t said a word. I knew the consequences of making accusations that didn’t have solid backing.”

Warren stared at him blandly. “So you’re denying you sent the letter—even if it had your signature?”

“I didn’t do it. Here is the result from an independent test that shows it’s forged. You’re welcome to do your own testing with any other expert of your own choosing.”

Warren inspected the document, frowning. “So if it wasn’t you, who sent the letter?”

“I’m still trying to figure that one out.”

“You really do have some serious enemies out there, don’t you?”

“Yeah. And I thought you were the only one,” he said jokingly.

Warren let out a forced chuckle, touching the knot on his tie nervously.

That action told Brad that Warren was guilty of something.

“Warren,” he said, leaning forward and looking intently at the other man. “I’m here to ask for your help.”

Warren’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

“I’m asking you to tell me which of the sabotage attempts or rumours you’ve started,” he said in as mild a tone as he could manage. “I’m not going to seek retribution for them. I’m calling for our feud to end. It’s not doing either of us any favours. We’re both at the top of our game, and surely we can compete with each other on a professional basis without any below-the-belt or underhanded actions.”

Warren smirked. “You don’t have any proof, Brad. Don’t go around accusing me of anything.”

“Please, Warren,” he said tiredly. “I just want this to end.”

“You should have brought your lawyers with you, after all, Brad,” Warren drawled, sitting back on his chair.

He pressed his lips. He still couldn’t believe what he was about to say to his long-time rival, but it was time to take drastic action. “I have a proposition to make in exchange for your honesty,” he said.

Warren laughed. “Call your lawyers, Brad.”