Page 54 of Flirting With Forever
Sloane left a note in her room. Just in case. She also spent the next few hours pacing while coming up with a plan.
Noah wanted to meet at the hotel bar. So she waited until six and then texted Noah that she’d meet him—but on her terms.
She chose a new location and said she’d meet him in the park in front of the pier house. It was well lit. Well traveled. And well located.
It took Noah about twenty minutes to get there. He’d probably had to retrieve his car from the hotel valet and punch in the GPS address. Curse a blue streak when he noted the location she’d chosen by the police station within shouting distance.
But he showed up, wearing a thunderous expression that told her exactly what he thought of his baby sister pulling the very puppet strings their father typically controlled.
But during her pacing, she’d realized it was past time she took control of her life since they had dictated her every move from birth until the day she’d run.
“Have a seat,” she said, slowing the swing where she sat so that he could lower himself beside her. They were in full view of everyone taking an afternoon post-turkey stroll along the boardwalk and pier without being close enough to be overheard. Still, she could scream and have a hundred witnesses. So there was that.
“Feeling pretty good about yourself, I see.”
She stared at the V of pelicans flying in the distance, wondering how such awkward-looking birds could be so graceful. “Catching onto your tricks, you mean? You should be proud. I learned them from you.”
Noah’s suit-clad arm touched her as they slowly swung back and forth. It reminded her of when they were kids, and they’d play together in the yard. The giant swings hanging from a massive tree much like the one that had killed their mother.
A shiver of fear and uncertainty coursed through her, and she shoved it away. “Why won’t you leave me alone, Noah? I can’t go back to Chicago, and you know why.”
“You don’t have a choice, kid. Father’s let you have your tantrum, but time’s up. He’s had enough. You are coming home with me. Make any excuse you need to for your friend, but it’s happening.”
“I’m twenty-six years old. I’m not a child you can boss around. How many times do I have to say I don’t want to be involved in that life? Why can’t you just accept that?”
Noah was a handsome man like their father. The kind of handsome displayed on yachts in Ralph Lauren ads. He stood tall and spent his due diligence in the gym to make up for the hours behind a desk or at a conference table, meeting with the very people she wanted to avoid at all costs.
But unlike in his younger years, Noah’s face and eyes held a hardness now that she didn’t like seeing. It told of the life he led, of the things he’d done to achieve and keep the power their family wielded. He wasn’t the boy she remembered but a man with dirty, perfectly groomed and bloodied hands.
“You follow the rules just like the rest of us, Sloane. It’s how we get by.”
“How we get by,” she said, repeating the words softly. “You’re hardly scraping by and living paycheck to paycheck. And I’d think you’d want better for me. You know Mama certainly would. She wouldn’t want me to be a part of…what Father’s become. What you and Jarrett have become because of him. You know I’m right.”
A muscle spasmed in Noah’s jaw, proof her words had hit home, so she continued speaking while she held his attention. “I’ve never officially worked for Harrington Financial as an accountant. Only as an intern. I’m nothing. Let me go. Please, Noah, let me go live my life.”
“You’re one of us, and everyone knows it.”
She knew exactly who he really referred to and fisted her hands. “All I am is the kid sister and the flighty daughter who decided accounting wasn’t for me. That’s what you told everyone. What father told them. So tell them— Tell them you couldn’t find me. Tell them I had an accident and can no longer do accounting work. Tell them whatever you need to, Noah, but don’t do this. Not to me, not to us. Just leave me alone.”
Noah stayed quiet for long moments.
“Father’s being pressured, Sloane. We all are.”
A shiver of warning ran down her spine, like the winds suddenly shifted in an evil direction to force her to comply. “My answer is no.”
“It’s not that simple. Father’s being asked to prove himself by…powerful people. Clients.”
“Then he can do that. Whatever is going on doesn’t involve me.”
Noah shifted his gaze from the view to her.
“It does when you are the peace offering on the table.”
She sucked in a breath. “What are you talking about?”
“They want a stronger connection. Something more substantial to tie the firm to them. It’s a way to ensure we have more at stake.”
She shook her head, unwilling to go where this conversation seemed to be heading.
