“No,” I said, pulling her close and hugging her. “You’re the thing I never expected to happen because I didn’t deserve it. No matter what happens, I wouldn’t regret this. I couldn’t.”
She smiled up at me. “Just promise you won’t forget what you’re trying to accomplish because of me, okay?”
“It’s a promise.”
By that evening, we were both tired from the sun, water, and the long day. I felt happier than I’d felt since I could remember. I felt normal. It wasn’t the first time I wished I could just drop my persona as Mr. White and live this new life instead.
But that night Jules fell asleep early, exhausted from the long day we’d had. I sat out on the balcony of our apartment and looked through an old photo album. I saw all the pictures of my father and I camping. My mom died when I was young, so it was always just me and dad. He took me everywhere and tried to teach me as much as he could. He came to every baseball game, every event. He was great, and Russ Coleton took him away from me because of his greed.
I ran my fingertips across an image of my father smiling. I felt my resolve harden. I’d come this far, and Jules stood behind me finishing this. I wasn’t going to let my determination waver now. Russ Coleton was still going to pay. I was going to make sure of it.
34
Juliette
Adrian’s whole team was in our apartment. It was a foggy night, and I could barely see out the huge windows to the city, save for some blurry impressions of lights creeping by on the road below. On clear days, the view was a blue-tinged wonder. I could usually see the giant rectangle of green trails making up Central Park stretching out in front of the building. I could look at all the buildings hemming in the little slice of nature. If I looked close enough, I could see the little dots of people winding through the trails there.
I turned my attention to the conversation. I’d been essentially starved of involvement until now, save for my brief visit to the masquerade party, which had been more like a tease than anything. I’d also nearly screwed that up with my random British accent that Adrian refused to let me live down. Still, it was nice to get to sit down with the group and listen to a state of affairs directly from them, instead of filtered through Adrian.
We were all spread out on the couches and love seats in the living room. Adrian was beside me in one of his suits with his fingers templed under his chin and his brow furrowed. He was in work mode, and I realized how long it’d been since I’d seen that version of him. Around me he was so much softer now. So much kinder. But I remembered all the ruthlessness he seemed to radiate in those first days we’d met when I still only knew him as Mr. White.
I could hardly believe it had been three months now. I’d called Mikey after a week in New York and told him I quit, just like we’d agreed. Except my brother wanted me to go back to father with my tail between my legs. He wanted to be able to claim credit for bringing me back, but when I’d told Adrian about the situation, he’d asked me to do whatever I could to buy time. So I’d had to promise Mikey I wouldn’t just come back if he gave me more time. I’d come back and tell my father how Mikey had found me, convinced me against all odds to come back, and how he’d also convinced me to “behave” this time. In other words, I was supposed to go back and dutifully allow myself to get married off while giving my brother all the credit for my turnaround.
I had no intentions of things getting that far, but Mikey had greedily accepted my terms. I got four months and he got his promise. He knew I was a lot of things, but someone who outright lied and broke promises wasn’t one of them.
With the issue of my brother temporarily settled, time in New York had been flying. Adrian was finding a better balance with work that meant we spent most evenings together and almost every weekend. He still worked crazy hours, but he’d started to find things for me to help him with and also gave me his full attention on weekends. I’d even gone back to North Carolina twice already to visit Anastasia and Lythe.
But I knew this was coming. The job was always looming over everything, and I always kind of knew it wasn’t just going to happen in the background. Somehow, I was going to have to get my hands dirty.