Page 69 of Suddenly Tempted
“I didn’t fall back in love with Claudia Romano,” Devlin’s voice echoed through the speakers. “I fell in love with somebody else.”
Darcy felt a perfect bubbling fountain of happiness rise up inside her, but before she could fully process the moment, she heard Claudia’s voice cut through the airwaves, shrill and panicked. She could almost picture the other woman’s face — twisted with rage, her carefully crafted persona crumbling in front of everyone.
“Oh, Devlin, you poor thing. Doctor, we should get him back inside,” Claudia said, her words crackling over the radio. “You’re not well. He’s, uh, obviously not in his right mind. Perhaps we should reschedule this for another—”
“No, I think today is absolutely fine,” Devlin said. “I am in my right mind. I don’t think I’ve ever been so sure about anything in my life. I woke up today to find Claudia here, uninvited. We haven’t spoken in almost a year. But she’s trying to blackmail me by threatening to lie about who I really am to ruin my business and my life. She’s sold private stories about me before, but this time she was going to make up awful lies. She used me for leverage once before, and I’m not going to let her do it again. Certainly not by holding my company hostage.”
Darcy could hear the sound of cameras clicking, of shocked gasps. Devlin had been right about Claudia — she was wicked.
“I won’t allow it.” Devlin continued. “I let you get away with selling stories about me once before but not again. Not when you are risking my employees for your own gain.”
He paused, a small smile tugging at his lips, as if recalling a moment. “Like Claudia, I used to think image was everything. But then I met someone. Someone who, when she managed to stop talking for more than thirty seconds, showed me that being strong isn’t about shutting everyone out. It’s about caring for others, letting people in. And when I found myself in a situation where survival was the only option, she showed me that I could survive — and thrive — by being myself.”
Darcy’s heart swelled. It was as if Devlin was speaking to her alone. She could hear the truth in his voice, the raw vulnerability that he had kept hidden for so long.
“It’s about letting yourself love somebody,” Devlin continued. “And letting them love you back.”
Darcy’s smile was almost too big to fit on her face. All she wanted to do was ask the driver to turn around so she could run into Devlin’s arms, but she could hear the chaos as the reporters all tried to get answers. There was no way she’d be able to get close to him now.
Through the radio, she heard Claudia’s voice again, but this time it was distant, almost drowned out by the noise. From the sound of it, Claudia was storming off, pushing reporters out of her way as she walked back into the clinic.
Then there was silence. A relative calm settled over the scene.
“I’m exhausted, and injured,” Devlin said. “But I have never felt more alive. And I just want to say sorry. Sorry to everyone I have hurt. It wasn’t me, not really. I was afraid of what would happen if I let the world see the real Devlin Storm. And it took somebody amazing to show me that isn’t a bad thing. And that someone was Darcy.”
Darcy blushed, her heart skipping a beat as she realised what he was saying was absolutely, 100 percent about her.
“Sometimes you have to walk through the darkest of moments before you see the light,” Devlin said, steady and thoughtful. “But Darcy walked with me, she never left my side, she pulled me out of that darkness — quite literally. She showed me that happiness can only come from being myself.”
The reporters went wild at that. She could hear the sound of camera shutters like hail pounding on a tin roof, raised voices clamouring for more. Luckily for them, Devlin wasn’t done yet.
“I will be taking a leave of absence from my company,” Devlin said. “I feel happy. I feel good. To quote a friend of mine: find love, and everything else makes sense.”
The next words were almost a whisper, and once again Darcy felt as if he was speaking to nobody but her.
“Everything makes perfect, wonderful sense.”
“Mr Storm,” somebody called out. “Where are you going to go?”
If he replied, Darcy didn’t hear it. Chaos had broken out again, and she could almost picture the surge of reporters pushing forward towards Devlin. She thought she heard his voice again, but it was drowned out.
“Please,” she said to the driver. “Please turn it up a little more.”
He did so. The thunder of the crowd was almost deafening, but just for a second, Devlin’s voice rose up above it, perfectly clear.
“You know where to find me! You know where we belong!”
And then it was over. The press conference faded into static, the radio cutting to the familiar voice of a newsreader summarising what had just taken place. But Darcy wasn’t listening anymore. She had heard everything she needed to hear.
You know where to find me! You know where I belong!
She did. She understood exactly what Devlin meant.
“Take me home,” she said to the driver, tingling with excitement. “I’ve got a bag to pack.”
Chapter 40
DEVLIN
