“Just don’t,” she’d told him quietly as she’d turned to face me. “Whatever you want to do, I’m behind you one hundred percent. I know Arella means a lot to you, and I realize that the things you’ve been…” She paused and gritted her teeth. “You’ve been asked to do things that have put you in a position that might make her think you don’t care as much as you do. Do what makes you happy, Jordan. That is all I’ve ever wanted for you.” As she’d picked up her cane and started out of the room, she called over her shoulder. “You can sleep in the guest room, Jared.”
“Fuck,” he’d muttered, scrubbing his hands over his face as he watched her walk away. When she was gone, he turned to face me. My father and I had never been close. He was a good dad but too much of a hard-ass at times for us to really connect. He’d never expected me to come along.
After Mom’s accident, she was told she would never have children, so my birth had freaked them both out. I suspected my dad resented me a little because, for one, I had put my mom’s life in danger during her pregnancy. For another, she always took my side.
“She’s right,” he’d said after standing there glaring at me for several long moments. “I made mistake after mistake with her. I don’t want you to go through that, son. Any more than I want you to put this Arella girl through what I did your mom. If coming home is what will make you happy, I’ll find you something in one of the companies here.”
“No,” I told him point-blank, and he’d blinked at me in confusion. “I mean, no, I don’t want to work for you or one of the companies you own. I’ve got my own plans.”
“But this is your legacy, Jordan. Everything will be yours one day.”
That had been all he and my uncle Ricco had ever talked about. Ricco and his wife had never been able to have kids of their own. Eventually, they had adopted two little girls, but neither of them had wanted anything to do with the family business. I was expected to take over everything in time. A billion-dollar empire that the Giordano family had created. All of it was mine, and I didn’t want any part of it.
“I’ll take over when the time comes, but until then, I have projects of my own I want to work on.”
For the past six weeks, I’d been working nonstop to finish any open projects and get everything ready to turn over to my replacement. The entire time, I’d tried tirelessly to reach Arella. When she wouldn’t answer and I finally realized she’d blocked me, my first thought was to fly home and make her talk to me. Whatever made her pissed at me enough to block me, I would make it right.
But then a few projects I was wrapping up hit snags, and I had to make the choice to wait to talk to Arella about what was wrong, or put those projects on hold and delay my departure from the company that much longer.
Now, as I looked down at my girl and saw the haunted look in her beautiful eyes, I realized I should have just said to hell with the projects. The way she was shaking so hard her teeth chattered told me something was wrong. I could see she’d needed me, and I wanted to kick my own ass for not having been there for her.
When the service ended and everyone filed out of the church to get into the line of limos to travel over to the graveside service, I held Arella back. My parents coming to this funeral should have been enough to show our respects to Remington Sawyer, but I had another reason for attending. His grandfather and my dad had done business plenty of times in the past, and I’d even worked with Remington on a couple projects over the last few years.
I’d known Arella would most likely show up since her cousin had been married to the man. She’d been late, something I’d expected because Arella had never been on time to anything a day in her life. I’d waited in the limo until I saw her enter the church then followed after her, knowing if she was still pissed at me, it was the only way I could get her to speak to me.
Having ridden with my parents, I guided Arella to her car that was waiting in the church parking lot instead of the line of limos. No one tried to stop us, but they probably figured I would just drive her over to the cemetery.
There was no way I was putting her through that, though. Not with the way she was still trembling against me.
I took her keys as I opened the passenger door and helped her sit. Leaning in, I fastened her seat belt and then pressed a kiss to her forehead before straightening. “I’ll get you warm, baby,” I promised.
“I’m not cold,” she denied, but she pulled my jacket around herself a little tighter.
Her car was so tiny and I was a tall man, so I had to practically fold myself behind the wheel. It had been uncomfortable as hell sitting in it Christmas Eve, but I’d sat there anyway, desperate to see her.
The limo procession filed out onto the road, but when I went to follow, I turned left instead of right with the others. Arella sighed but didn’t stop me. “I need to see Cathryn. Could you drive to her office?”
“Your agent?” She nodded, and my hands tightened around the steering wheel. “Baby, I need to talk to you. Can’t this wait until tomorrow or later in the week?”
“Please, Jordan,” she whispered. “It’s important. And then I can explain what has been going on.”
Releasing a heavy exhale, I gave in. “You’re going to have to tell me where to go.”
She sat quietly in the passenger seat, giving me directions every few minutes. Every time I glanced at her, I saw that she looked a little more fragile, and no matter how high I cranked the heat in the car, she still shivered like she had hypothermia. When I grasped her hand to entwine our fingers, she felt like a block of ice.
“Arella, tell me what’s wrong,” I commanded, lifting her hand to my lips.
“I didn’t block your number.”
“Yeah, I heard you before.” My jaw hardened. If it were anyone else, I would have called them a liar and just made her tell me why she was playing games with me. But this was Arella. I knew she wouldn’t do something like that. “If you didn’t, though, who did?”
“I-I don’t know,” she muttered.
I stopped for a red light and glanced at her. She was looking down at her phone in her lap, her face pale, locks of her glossy dark hair falling forward. She appeared so fragile, as if the slightest wind would knock her over. In all the years I’d known and loved this girl, I’d never seen her like this. She was normally so strong, a fighter.
“Turn left up ahead,” she instructed.
It wasn’t long before I was pulling up in front of a tall building. After parking, I got out and walked around to open Arella’s door. She was still shivering, and I tucked her close as we walked inside.