Page 33 of Passion and Deception

Ramit watched her expression and noticed the softening of her stance. She even stepped forward, her arms dropping to her sides. “Blackmail?” she whispered, her pretty brown eyes concerned now.

“It’s an ugly business, but yes.”

“Who?” she whispered. “And why?”

“Barney Mathis and Humphrey Todras tried, and they almost succeeded,” he emphasized. “They tried to use what I thought were naked pictures of my sister in order to convince me to fund a project for them. Apparently, they’d burned through all of their inheritance and needed to find a new way to finance their decadent lifestyle.”

Maggie remembered the pictures in Humphrey’s sports jacket. She turned away, wringing her hands as she thought about those pictures. “A dark haired woman having sex with a dark haired man? In a room with blue walls?”

His head snapped up and his eyes narrowed on her. “How the hell do you know anything about those pictures?’

She turned to face him. “Because I know how Barney and Humphry lost them,” she admitted quietly. “Ann, Emily and I have a sort of…system…at the club. When we…uh…think one of the rich bastards who frequent the club…is doing something wrong, we…um,” she shrugged. “Well, we do what we can to stop them.”

There was a long moment of tense silence. Then he said, “What did you do, Maggie?” Fear was choking him now. “Did you…?”

“I overheard Humphrey Todras whispering to a guest at the club. They said something about a trophy, patting his jacket. That was a couple of weeks after Barney Mathis…well,” she sighed, running her fingers through her hair at the horrible memory. “Barney is an entitled ass and he…!”

“Made a pass at you. And you kneed him in the groin.”

She stared up at him, her eyes wide. She didn’t say anything, remembering the look in his eyes when he’d walked away from her.

“That’s the night that I saw you two. I thought you were flirting. I saw you in the hallway that night. And I thought,” he paused and stared down at Nadia. Shaking his head, he looked at Maggie and admitted, “I thought that you were accepting his advances.” He sighed and pulled Nadia closer. “I’ll admit that jealousy at seeing you with that…man…caused me to act…precipitously. I was jealous and walked away.”

Her eyes were wide after that admission. “That’s why you walked away?”

“Yes. Because I thought that you…welcomed his advances.”

Maggie bowed her head, nodding her understanding even as she ignored the stab of pain. “You thought that I wanted him to…assault me.”

“Yes. I’m sorry. I was completely wrong.” He closed his eyes. “I know that you can’t forgive me for believing the worst without evidence.” He opened his eyes and looked at her. “Maggie, I’m learning. At the art gallery, you started the process of showing me how to look at…activities and situations differently. I can only apologize for viewing that situation at the club through my own lens and not understanding. But I’m trying to learn and be better. It’s a slow, pathetic process, but I’m getting there.”

Maggie nodded, not sure if she was livid that he’d assumed something so awful about her, or amazed that he’d admitted he was wrong. Not just wrong, but actively trying to fix his perception of certain situations. It was a sort of evolution, wasn’t it?

“You’re learning?” she asked softly, wanting to believe him. But still wary. She had always been too trusting. Was this the moment to step back and protect herself? Or embrace her hope?

“Apparently, that’s the night that you kneed him in the groin.”

She shuddered. “Barney Mathis is terrifying. And he’s angry now. Not to mention, wildly unethical. Humphrey is even worse. A couple of weeks after that night, Ann spilled some wine on his sports jacket so that we could see what was in his pocket. It was the pictures. We switched them out with fakes and now, I think he’s really angry with us.”

Ramit moved closer, his eyes wide at her admission. “You…confronted him?”

She shrugged. “Indirectly,” she replied, not sure why he was so upset.

Before he could respond, a bad smell permeated the air. “What the hell?” Ramit growled, looking around, then his eyes landed on the infant in his arms. “Please tell me that smell isn’t coming from Nadia!”

The tension created by their conversation evaporated in the face of his horror. Maggie couldn’t stop the burst of laughter. She even covered her mouth as she turned towards the hallway. “I am happy to inform you that our little girl is a very healthy baby. And that means that she has very stinky poop.”

Maggie felt Ramit following her and tried to find that small kernel of self-discipline. However, she could feel the heat from his body and her own reacted to his nearness. It had always been like this. From the first moment she’d met Ramit, he’d been a force to contend with. Just his mere presence sent her into a tizzy.

Stepping into Nadia’s room couldn’t be avoided. All of the supplies were on the changing table. “Help yourself,” she told him, sweeping her arm to indicate the changing table with all of the diapers, wipes, and powder.

He stared at her. “You don’t actually expect me to change her diaper!” he asked, stunned.

Maggie shrugged, then tilted her head to the side when she realized that he was serious. “Why wouldn’t I expect you to change her diaper? You’re holding her.”

He looked down at Nadia, who had a blissful expression on her tiny features.

Ramit looked back at Maggie, extending his arms towards her, trying to hand their daughter over to her. “I have never changed a diaper.”

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