Page 137 of Worth Every Penny

“Then you also need to know that Nico saved the company. He didn’t have to. He could’ve stepped away. He could’ve let the whole thing play out. We would have lost the house. We’d have lost everything. The only reason we still have the company at all is because Nico fucking saved it. Dad would’ve gone to jail if he’d even lived that long. He wasn’t well. His death wasn’t Nico’s fault; it was his own damn fault. He lived recklessly. He’d been living with the guilt and shame and the secret of what he was doing for too long. But he was my father too, and when he begged us to do one last thing for him—to keep his damn depravity from you—we swore we would. So if you’re questioning Nico’s loyalty, or mine, know that we did it for Dad.”

Jack is talking too fast, his voice sounding closer to breaking with each word. I’ve never heard him like this. The emotion coming through the phone is fast and furious and vulnerable. Listening to him makes my heart ache, and tears stab behind my eyelids.

“Just like you wanted to keep the company,” Jack continues. “I wanted to keep something, too. This was the oath I kept… and I’m sorry it hurt you. But that was how Dad loved you, like you would break if you knew the truth. Maybe he couldn’t really see you. Maybe he was wrong, and if so, I’m sorry I colluded in it.” A ragged breath blows down the line. “But I lost Dad too. I wanted to hold on tosomething. Dosomething. Don’t hate Nico for it. He would’ve told you if I’d let him. Christ, he pestered me about it. Kept saying we should tell you the truth, and I had no idea it was because he cared about you. I thought he was having some crisis of conscience. It was me who convinced him it was better if you thought he was in the wrong… if you thought he was the badone, rather than our father. Nico’s not disloyal… his loyalty just didn’t lie with you.”

I swallow hard. “Maybe it should have.”

My pulse beats once, twice, three times before Jack speaks again.

“I don’t know what’s going on between you two,” he says. “And I don’t want to know. God knows, I don’t approve or sanction it or whatever the hell brothers are supposed to do. But I don’t want you to be miserable. So get the fuck out of bed and come down to the office before Nico fires you for pulling too many sickies in a row. We all know you’re not really ill.” He sighs. “So, are you?”

“Am I what? Sick?”

“No,” he says, clearly exasperated. “Broken. Are you broken, now you know the truth?”

Elly has the decency to look away while I absorb Jack’s words.Broken?A tangled mess of bedsheets suffocates my body. I haven’t washed since the weekend. The room must have smelt stale and airless before Elly opened the windows. With a shock, I see myself clearly, and it doesn’t look good. The realisation stokes up a fire in my heart that I thought was extinguished.

I’m not giving up. No one can make me quit. Not even my father and his lies.

I won’t be controlled anymore.

“No,” I reply, pleased with the conviction in my voice. “I’m not broken.”

“Good.”

Jack hangs up and Elly and I stare at each other.

“He’s not the best at apologies, is he?” she says with a bemused shrug. “But he definitely cares.”

I throw back the sheets and stand. “I have a presentation to write.”

Elly breaks into her best championing grin, clenching a fist and pumping it in the air. “Go show those bastards what you’re made of.”

42

KATE

Icheck my reflection in the mirror. My shirt is ironed, but my skirt is hanging off me. Apparently, if I don’t eat for a week, I shed weight fast. I’m in the ground floor bathrooms of the office. This is the first day I’ve been back, and my spa presentation is in less than ten minutes.

My heart is racing, and my nerves are reaching uncontrollable levels. I need to get in there and get this over with before I chicken out.

The door swings open and a woman enters, but it’s the voice that follows her in from outside that freezes me to the spot, barely able to draw breath.

“Why don’t you fucking have it? I need it now. Fuck’s sake, Elliot.”

Nico sounds furious, and he’s just outside.

I thought my heart was racing before, but now it’s hammering so fast, it could crack my ribs.

I’m not ready to come face to face with him.

I check my watch. The Knightsbridge spa meeting with Argentum starts in five minutes. I can’t stay in here and avoid him. I have a presentation to give.

“Fuck it, Elliot. This isn’t good enough. I promised—”

I exit the bathroom and Nico’s voice cuts short. He stares at me, eyes wild. He looks out of control. His shirt sleeves are rolled up, which I’ve never seen him do in the office. He’s normally so composed that the sight of him disheveled chills me.

“I’ve got to go,” he barks into the phone. “Call me when you have it. I’m waiting.”

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