Risk (The Men of Matiz 1)

"Crew Benton owns this store," he quips with a grin. "I read that on the company website. You trying to pass yourself off as the owner, Noel?"

"Nolan," I draw out my name on my lips as I mentally note that I need to put someone other than Crew in charge of website design. "I am the owner of Matiz, and I'm Ellie's boyfriend. Two facts you'd do well to remember."

"Where is she?" His gaze darts around the store. "I'm only in town a few hours. I came to New York just to see Ellie."

"You're looking for Ellie?" Verna, one of the security guards, stops as she passes us. "Ellie took a few days off. She blew out of town for a girls' weekend. I wish I could have gone with."

I bite back the urge to ask where the hell Ellie took off to but I don't give Tad the satisfaction.

"Shit," he mumbles under his breath as Verna walks away. "This fucks up everything."

"Looks like you missed your chance." I blow out a breath with the realization that I might have missed mine too. "If we're done, the exit is the same as the entrance. It's right behind you."

"I don't get why she'd go to Boston," he mutters. "There's nothing left for her there."

"There's nothing left for you here." I point at the door. "Ellie's moved on. If you have a legal matter to discuss with her, I'll give you my attorney's name."

"It's not a legal issue." He shakes off my words with a jerk of his chin. "We settled months ago. She gave it all away. Every penny I gave her went to charity. She'd give her last dollar to a beggar on the street."

"She'd do everything in her power to help anyone who needed it," I correct him. It doesn't shock me that Ellie helped other people instead of herself. "There's nothing left for you two to discuss so why are you here?"

"It's her sister's birthday today."

Sister? Ellie has a sister?

Tad examines my face. "I loved her. Whatever she told you about me, I loved her. I fucked it up. If I knew I had a chance to get her back, I'd take it. I'd give it everything."

I don't want to hear it. He broke her heart. I'm fucking breaking her heart right now. The last thing I want is to be like this clown.

"She's no good to the world on this day." His jaw tightens. "I'd have to hold her up to help her get through this day every single year we were together. Says a hell of a lot that she's not looking to you to give her that."

"Hold her up? Why?" I ask without thinking or planning or giving a fuck what he thinks.

I see the flash of satisfaction in his eyes when he realizes he holds a prize that I don't. My watch or my store or my goddamn misplaced sense of entitlement as someone important to Ellie doesn't matter right now. He knows something about the woman I love that I don't have a fucking clue about. "Ellie planned a trip to France for her sister's birthday five years ago. She worked two jobs while going to school to save for it."

"They never went?" I shrug my shoulders. I doubt like hell Ellie would fall apart over a canceled trip. It explains her knowledge of French, though. She must have studied in anticipation of the trip. I can take her. I can take her and her sister and her nieces and May too. I can make this right. I can make us right again.

"Her sister died three months before the trip."

Died? Jesus Christ. Ellie's lost so much.

When I don't say anything, Tad goes on. "She's always blamed herself even though there was nothing she could have done."

"Why would she blame herself?" I can't honestly believe I'm asking Ellie's ex-fiancé anything about her, but he's willing to provide it, so I'm taking full advantage.

He glances at one of the sales associates as she tosses him an eager grin. "Ellie got shot the day her sister died. She saved that baby's life and she thinks it cost her sister her life."

Chapter 51

Ellie

I glance out the hotel window at the lights of downtown Boston. I haven't been here in years. I grew up here, made friends here and then when my mom died, my dad came from New York with his daughter to get me. She was my half-sister, and by the time she died, she was my sister, in every sense of the word.

"Annie's birthday is today," I whisper.

"I know." Adley hugs me from behind. "I ordered a small chocolate cake from room service. We're going to sing Happy Birthday in French for her."

I bow my head. "She'd like that but I can't do it."