Page 113 of Bitter Confessions

He threw back his head and laughed as if she’d told a hilarious joke. She started to draw away, but he didn’t let her escape. He used her step away to spin her and bring her back to him. To her chagrin, the music began to build. Sullivan swept her across the ballroom, which felt as large as a football field.

“You don’t disappoint, my dear.”

“The night is young,” she quipped, inwardly castigating herself for her wayward tongue.

“Rebellious, beautiful, poised, intelligent. The Hennessy blood runs strong in you. I can see why Roth risked it all for you.”

She looked away from his penetrating gaze. “I didn’t know you were acquainted with my husband.”

“Roth approached me before he was run out of New York. He wanted my help. I admired his guts, but I didn’t give him the aid he wanted.” He gave a small shrug. “I also didn’t participate in your father’s mission to cripple him either. Thank God for that. I didn’t think I’d hear his name again—people come and go every day in this business—but I kept an eye on him, and when I saw what he was doing across the pond, I realized my mistake and reached out to him.”

“You reached out to Roth?”

“I’d be a fool not to. Anyone who bet against him is paying dearly for it now.” He shook his head. “It’s too bad he and Maximus couldn’t put their differences aside to do business together. They could have made history.”

“They should have set their differences aside for the sake of family, not business,” she said tartly and instantly regretted her words.

Thus far, Sullivan was nothing like the tyrant he was reputed to be, but just because he wasn’t showing that side of himself didn’t mean there wasn’t truth to those rumors. She should be engaging in mundane, innocuous conversation, not arguing with him. But the familiar way he was speaking to her short-circuited her training, so she responded just as candidly.

“You’re quite right, my dear. My apologies. I’m a reformed businessman trying to turn over a new leaf. Sometimes, I forget myself and revert to what I know best. Acquire, expand, repeat. I thought if I kept doing that, everything in my life would fall into place.”

Although the smile stayed on his face, it dialed down a few notches. His eyes glazed over as he reflected inwardly.

“Why is it that we old men only learn what’s important at the end of our lives, when it’s too late to change anything?”

She didn’t try to answer the rhetorical question. She sensed the conversation had taken a turn, and she didn’t know how to steer it back into socially acceptable waters.

“I called Maximus after he disowned you to warn him the affair wasn’t worth losing family over. He wouldn’t listen.” His mouth tightened, and he looked away. “Neither did I. I didn’t change after I lost my wife to leukemia, but when I lost Lily, I realized my accomplishments were meaningless.” A pause, and then he rasped, “You know about my Lily.”

She considered lying out of politeness but knew he would know otherwise. It had been all over the news.

“Yes. My condolences.”

“I was hard on all my kids, but Lily wasn’t like Nathaniel or Charlotte. She was soft. I thought I could change that and broke her instead. She saw suicide as her only way out.” His chest expanded and his grip tightened before he controlled himself. “I’ve been trying to change my legacy, but I can’t reset the course. Nathaniel’s turned into the worse version of me after his wife overdosed. He would rather expand our empire than have a relationship with his child. I keep trying to tell him, she is the empire.”

Sullivan’s despair was palpable. At the moment, he didn’t look like one of the most powerful men in the world or the ruthless magnate her father had admired. He looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. For some reason, he seemed hell-bent on confessing his sins as they danced. Although he claimed to know who she was, she still felt as if there’d been some horrible mistake, and he had her mixed up with someone else.

“Why are you telling me this?” she whispered.

He cocked his head. “I thought you’d understand.”

She blinked. “Me?”

“I see Lily in you.” His eyes moved over her face as if he saw his late daughter in her features. “You didn’t fit in with the rest of the family, you were strong enough to walk away. I know that wasn’t easy.”

“I had no choice.”

“You had a choice. You chose the harder path. You stood up to Maximus and then Roth and rejected what they valued most—money and prestige. It’s probably the best thing that ever happened to either of them. It takes someone with character, conviction, and guts to stand up to the force of nature they are. I commend you for that.”

The paternal approval made her swallow hard.

“Charlotte’s forgiven me for all the terrible things I’ve done. There’s something about a loving daughter that brings fathers to their knees, even the great Maximus.” His eyes flicked over her shoulder before his smile returned, brighter than ever. “And an otherwise invincible man like your husband to wear his heart on his sleeve. You have his undivided attention, my dear.”

Roth was probably watching her like a hawk to make sure she was making a good impression.

“We’re newlyweds.”

He gave her an arched look. “Way I hear it, you’ve had his attention for seven years.”

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