The Boyfriend (The Boss 7)

“I don’t think you can promise that,” I whispered. I sat up, blinking back tears. “I should have told you before we left. I’m going to tell you now, and you’re going just to assume...you’re going to think I put off telling you so it wouldn’t ruin our trip. I swear that wasn’t the case.”

“Sophie, do give me some credit. You know I already have suspicions. I’m simply asking you to confirm them.” His eyes were so full of tender sympathy they left no room for doubt.

I took a deep breath. “All right. He called us sexual deviants. He openly shamed me for being with the two of you and said we treat Olivia like an inconvenience. And he said we should lawyer up.”

Neil’s expression never changed. He nodded thoughtfully and said, “Well, that certainly does confirm my suspicions. And a few more.”

“Please...don’t do anything drastic,” I said softly. “I know you’re probably furious—“

“No.” He shook his head as though he were refusing something he’d been offered. “No. I was furious when I confronted Valerie over this after Christmas.”

My jaw dropped. “What?”

“I didn’t like the way he spoke to us at Langhurst, and I brought it up with Valerie. I wanted to handle it while you and El-Mudad were enjoying Venice, without worrying the two of you. I had the opportunity when I was at the lodge with my brothers.”

“Neil...why didn’t you tell me?” My chest ached with sympathy for him. I’d been carrying around the weight of my worry for a day. He’d already been doing it since Christmas?

He shrugged. “What would the point have been? It would have simply upset you and created more tension. I thought I’d made it very clear to Valerie that any discussion about my private life was closed, but clearly, she didn’t relay that message to Laurence.”

“So...wait. Does Valerie know...”

“About the three of us?” Neil nodded. “Absolutely. I didn’t see the point in lying to her with a three-year-old between us. You know how good Olivia is at hiding things.”

Right, like Valerie and Laurence’s elopement. A spark touched off a wildfire of understanding in my brain. “Oh my god. That’s why you reacted the way you did when you found out they’d gotten married?”

He didn’t answer. Which gave me the answer.

“You dick! Why didn’t you tell us?” I demanded, pushing myself to my feet.

“As I said, I didn’t want the two of you to worry unnecessarily. And I didn’t want to make El-Mudad feel as though he needed to leave us for our own good or some other chivalrous notion he might get into his head.”

“So, you would rather we thought you were still hung up on your ex? Especially after the history I have with her?” I demanded, then cursed internally for letting my voice raise so shrilly while El-Mudad slept.

Neil stood, too, and ran a hand through his hair. “I thought it was better than worrying you over possibly losing Olivia. Which isn’t going to happen. I’ve already covered that with Valerie.”

“Laurence seems pretty certain, though,” I wrapped my arms around myself; it was a little chilly now, standing there in just my silk nightgown on the open ocean. The subject matter didn’t help.

After a long moment, Neil said, “I trust Valerie. You may not like to hear that, but it’s the truth. She is one of my oldest friends, and we had a relationship as parents that went beyond physical intimacy. She never tried to use Emma to hurt me. She’s not that kind of person.”

“I...” I shook my head because there was so much in those statements to dissect that my brain’s processing power ground to a total halt.

“You can trust her, Sophie,” he said, coming to me to take my hands. “I promise.”

I thought about the way he’d described his relationship with Valerie. He was right; the bond co-parenting their daughter after all they had been through was unique and intimate beyond anything I could ever experience with him. And that destroyed me at a very base level. Just like with his marriage to Elizabeth, I wanted to erase his life with Valerie from his mind. Both of them came before me. Both of them threatened me with the specter of their memories living in Neil’s mind. As nonsensical and unrealistic as it was, I wanted to be the only woman who’d ever known Neil. I wanted to be the one who knew him best. It was bizarre, but at that moment, it did help me believe that Valerie wouldn’t hurt us. And she wouldn’t let Laurence hurt us.

“If you trust her,” I began, swallowing against the sudden dryness in my throat. “If you trust her, don’t mention this incident to her.”

“Oh, I will most certainly mention it to her,” he said with a disbelieving laugh. “Sophie, he openly threatened us. He degraded you. I won’t let that stand.”