TRUTH (21 page)

I glanced up at him. He was watching me, but I couldn’t read the emotion in his face.
 

He smiled and then gave me a quick kiss. “No stopping now, sweetheart. Keep going.”

I turned back to my journal.

We had breakfast, I made eggs and toast. Then he had to go. I stood just inside the door and watched him leave on the new monitor. When I saw him step into the elevator and disappear from the screen, I finally moved away, knowing I had almost ten hours before I would see him again.

I cleaned up the kitchen and loaded the dishes into the machine before going into the living room and picking up one of the books Lily had brought over for me. I like the book. Jake is funny. He is so out of his element in the city. The only women he’s really been around were his mom, who was a rodeo rider, and a couple of local girls who’d also grown up on ranches. He’s awkward and charming at the same time.

When he met Ronnie, she was everything all the other women he’d known weren’t, and he liked that about her. It made me wonder about relationships in general.
 

“Go on,” he said when I stopped writing.

I turned my head to the side and pressed my face against his chest. He smelled of soap and something else that was distinctly him. It comforted me and made me want to kiss him all at the same time.

He hugged me tighter to his chest. “Waiting isn’t going to make it any easier. He isn’t here. He can’t hurt you. You don’t have to write down everything that was said. I just want to know how it made you feel.”

I nodded and turned back to my journal.

When the phone rang, I didn’t want to put my book down, but I knew it could be Stephan so I answered it. As soon as I heard his voice, I knew it wasn’t and I began to get nervous. All I wanted to do was hang up, not listen to him, but for some reason, I couldn’t make myself do it.

Then he said . . .
 

The pen started shaking. Then I realized it wasn’t the pen, it was me
.
 

Stephan took hold of my free hand and squeezed. “Deep breaths, Brianna. You’re doing great. Just a little more.”

I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Like walls were closing in on me and I couldn’t get out. He dismissed what had happened to me like it didn’t matter.
 

Like I didn’t matter.

Stephan removed the journal from my hands, gathered me in his arms, and laid my head on his shoulder. “You matter, Brianna. You always matter. Don’t ever think you don’t.”

I cried against his shoulder, soaking his shirt. He didn’t say anything, only held me until the crying stopped.

“I got your shirt all wet.”

He ignored my comment. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yes.”

Stephan took my face in both his hands and kissed me. “I want you to do something for me.”

I nodded. I’d do anything for him.

“I’m going to talk to Brad about teaching us some self-defense. We can add it to our workouts. I think it will help you with your confidence.”

“You mean . . . learning to hit people?”

He chuckled.
 

“Kind of. But I was thinking more learning to get away from someone. I don’t want you to ever feel helpless, Brianna.”

“Okay.”

“Good girl. Now, I think we’ve had enough for one day. Let’s get our shower and crawl into bed. I have a feeling you might want to get back to that book you were reading, and I have some work to do.”

After folding the blanket and putting it away, we took a quick shower before getting into bed. Neither of us wore any clothes, but it didn’t feel strange. It felt natural. Normal.
 

Stephan leaned back against the headboard and placed his computer on his lap, while I opened my book to where I’d left off. I couldn’t help but smile at how good it felt to be with him like this. Smiling, I began reading my book, getting lost once again in Jake and Ronnie’s story, and really happy that Stephan was here beside me.

At eight thirty Wednesday morning, Stephan called on my cell phone to let me know that he’d talked to the phone company and the phones were now forwarded to his office during the day. He said I’d still be able to use the phone if I needed to, but no one would be able to call me. I released a sigh of relief knowing John wouldn’t be able to call me again like he had the day before.
 

Lily called on her lunch break to ask if I wanted to go shopping with her the following week since Stephan had mentioned to her that we’d be going to a concert next Friday night. It took a little persuading on her part—I didn’t like leaving the condo without Stephan—but she finally got me to agree.

I had to rush to make dinner. Before I knew it, it was almost four thirty, and I hadn’t even begun to prep anything. I’d been too caught up in my book.

When the monitor flashed, letting me know someone was in the hall, I was still putting the finishing touches on dinner. Although I didn’t think he’d get upset because things weren’t ready yet, I wasn’t sure, and I felt my anxiety level rise. The door opened. Stephan walked inside. I immediately stopped what I was doing and lowered my gaze to the floor.

The sound of his footsteps drawing closer brought with it both a sense of excitement and nervousness. I wanted to make him happy always. I never wanted to disappoint him.
 

He stood before me for only a moment before opening his arms. I stepped closer and hugged him.
 

Stephan tilted my head back and kissed me. “Dinner smells good.”

“Thank you.”

“How much longer till it’s ready?” he asked, glancing at the pot on the stove.
 

I looked down, embarrassed.
 

“Fifteen minutes?”

He rubbed his thumbs over my cheekbones before tapping my chin to regain my attention. “Is something wrong, Brianna? Did something happen today while I was gone?”

I felt even worse. I’d let time get away from me, and now he thought something bad had happened.

“No. I just . . . I was reading and . . .” My face heated. “I lost track of time.”

“Oh.”

Stephan looked toward the couch where I liked to read and then back to me. To my surprise, he chuckled. “Must be a good book.”

“You’re not mad at me?” I knew my eyes must be wide with shock. Did he really not care his food wasn’t ready when he arrived home?

“Of course not. I never told you dinner had to be done at a certain time. Why would I be upset that we have to wait fifteen minutes to start eating? It would be a longer wait if we went out.”

“I don’t know. I just thought . . .”

“Brianna, if you ever want to know how I feel, just ask. You know I won’t lie to you. All right?”

“Okay.”
 

“Good girl. Now, I’m going to go get out of this jacket and tie while you prepare dinner.” He gave me one last kiss on the lips before going to his room. I turned back to the stove to finish cooking with a smile on my face.
 

Stephan

The new CFO was finally in his office, trying to wade through the mountain of paperwork that had built up over the last month. It was a blessing, especially since everyone who needed something from me seemed to be coming out of the woodwork. My office started to feel as if it had a revolving door.

Lily had stopped by twice needing my approval on items for the fall gala. We’d both been extremely busy lately and hadn’t spent much time together. The foundation’s big fundraiser was only a little over three months away. Everything had to be finalized soon in order to make sure it would all arrive on time. With Logan having been away for the last week, I knew she was even more stressed as they’d not been able to play.
 

After Lily left my office for the second time, Gary, the marketing director, poked his head in to see if I had a minute to deal with some sort of mix-up in an ad campaign we’d launched six months ago. Thankfully it was an easy fix, but he was going to have to spend most of the afternoon on the phone with the ad agency we used to correct not only the ads currently running but also the ones that were scheduled to start next month. It wouldn’t do us any good to run the ads if the website address was wrong.

The icing on the cake was a visit from Ross. He strolled in about two o’clock wanting to see me. Jamie, of course, told him I was very busy, but he insisted. In the end, it turned out to be a good thing.
 

I had Jamie hold all my calls while we talked. Ross was not my favorite person, but he was proving he would put Brianna’s well-being first.
 

“John showed up at my place again last night.”

“What did he want?”

“He said he was served with a restraining order. That was the start of it, anyway. Then he went on to say how he’d called and talked to Anna.” Ross paused. “I guess I know why she didn’t answer her phone when I called yesterday.”

“I found her curled up in a ball on the couch, crying.”

“But she’s okay?”

“She is now. I’ve made arrangements to have the phone forwarded to my assistant during business hours, so if you want to reach Brianna, you’re going to have to call her cell.”

He nodded.
 

“Do you think he’ll try to see her again?”

Ross didn’t hesitate. “You can count on it. From what I saw last night, he was gearing up for an attack. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

“If he comes near her, I’ll have him arrested.” I wanted to leave no doubt as to my intentions.

“I have an idea. I have no idea if it will work, but it might buy us a little time at least.”

“I’m listening.”

“Why don’t I suggest to John that I talk to you . . . see if I can see Anna and talk to her? He trusts me. Maybe if I can assure him that she’s really okay, he’ll back off a little.”

“It’s worth a try.”

“If we’re going to make this look convincing, I’m going to need to come see her.”

I nodded.
 

“Can you come for dinner Friday night?”

He frowned.

“Something wrong?”

“No. I’ll just need to talk to Jade first. My girlfriend. We usually go out on Fridays.”

I thought about it for a moment. “If she’s willing, bring her along. Brianna needs to meet new people, and she’s going to meet her at the concert anyway. This, at least, will be a safe environment for Brianna. If something goes wrong, it will be easier dealt with at home than out in public.”

“Agreed.” He looked around the room, spotting the picture of Brianna I had on my desk. “How is she doing?”

“You talk to her almost every day.”

“I know that, but talking to her and seeing her are two different things.”

Standing, I walked over to the window. It was crazy how much I missed her when she wasn’t right there in front of me.
 

“She’s doing better every day.”

“I want to help her, you know.”

I turned around, leaning on the window’s ledge. “If I didn’t believe that, you wouldn’t be coming over to my home for dinner Friday.”

He laughed.
 

“At least you’re honest.”

I walked back to the chair behind my desk and sat down again. Leaning forward to rest my elbows on the desk, I appraised Ross. Taking a chance, I filled him in on what was happening with Ian Pierce.
 

“I haven’t had the opportunity to go through the files yet, but I’m hoping to find something—anything—that will put Peirce behind bars.”

“What do you think the chances are of that happening?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, but there has to be something. Brianna didn’t suffer through all that for ten months to have that bastard get away scot-free.”

After Ross left, I finally had a few minutes to myself and took the time to open the envelope Oscar had sent over for me to look through. The stack was almost two inches thick. Going through everything would take a while, unfortunately. Oscar still had people sifting through everything, but an extra set of eyes wouldn’t hurt, especially since we really didn’t know what we were looking for.