Chapter One

Gabby winced as sunlight broke through the clouds and glanced off the windshield, striking her in the eyes. She waved her hand at the cab as it pulled up beside her. Sea-Tac bustled with that particular nervous energy common to all major airports. So many people vied for the taxis, she thought she’d never get one.

Mara gestured to Gabby’s bags. “Just the two, thanks.”

The cab driver nodded and popped the trunk.

“How do you travel so lightly? I couldn’t do it,” Mara said. Gabby’s colleague had met her at the arrivals gate, wanting to go over a few of the finer details of their latest merger proposal before the weekend.

Gabby grinned at Mara as she tossed her laptop bag on the backseat. “When you’ve been doing this as long as I have, you learn the hard way to keep it light. Usually it’s only one bag.”

Mara shuddered and stepped into the cab. She scooted over to make room on the back seat. “Doesn’t bear thinking about. So, have you told Matt this is a permanent move?”

Gabby bit her bottom lip and shook her head. Excitement swirled in the pit of her stomach at the thought of telling her son she was finally moving to the States. With her relationship with Brett over, she’d decided this was it.

“No. I want it to be a surprise. The look on his face will be priceless. He’s been nagging me to make the move for ages. I thought since I was here for Taka’s, ah, wedding, anyway, it would be the perfect time to tell him.”

She moved backward, trying to cover her stumble over the word “wedding”. If she didn’t think about it too hard, she could pretend the horrible leaden lump in her stomach was from the in-flight food. Never mind the fact that she’d felt like this since receiving the invite from her son’s friend three weeks ago.

So fast. So damned fast.

She hoped Taka’s mother was wrong about the reason for such a speedy wedding. It would be so hard to hear he’d gotten the girl pregnant. She hoped like hell she’d be able to get through tomorrow without making a complete fool of herself.

What on earth would she do if she lost it during the ceremony?

She really didn’t want to have to sit through seeing him marry someone else. But what choice did she have? She was the silly twit who’d accepted the invitation—something she was regretting a whole lot at that moment. The closer the plane had got to Seattle, the worse she’d felt.

She’d given up pretending her feelings for Taka were platonic, at least to herself. What was the point? Once, the man had been able to blow her mind with a simple kiss, but he was still her best friend’s son, and still too young.

He’d finally found someone. And she was the daughter of a business associate and friend of hers, no less.

That would be the hardest part—knowing the family. She’d met the girl’s father, Jonathan, a few years ago. He’d hired her and her team to broker a merger for one of his smaller companies. They’d become friends. She’d advised him on international expansion, and now his London ventures were gaining momentum. She’d never met Monique, but she’d only ever heard good things about her.

Heaven help her if she hurt Taka, though.

“It’s hard to believe you have a son so old. Isn’t he turning twenty-nine this year?”

Gabby nodded, a small smile creasing the corner of her mouth. “Yeah. What can I say? I was a young mother.”

Really young.

Most people thought he was her younger brother, not her son, and he tended to act like it. They had a much more easy-going relationship than many she’d seen. Their closeness and easy familiarity was something that got them both through her husband’s death twelve years ago. Gabby flopped against the seat back, unwilling to get into the details about her son. It either prompted an ever-growing list of questions, or a stunned, awkward silence. Mara had never asked outright, and she was too tired from the flight to want to deal with the subject.

Shifting on the seat, her neat navy business skirt snagged on a tear in the vinyl. “Oh, damn!”

She lifted up and twisted, grabbing the seat in front of her, trying to unhook herself. The material let go with an audible protest. She tried to see the damage as the driver slid into the front seat. She glanced up to say something to him when a lanky, unkempt figure in the crowd caught her attention through the windshield. Ice washed over her, stealing her train of thought. Her hand clenched tight on the seat back. Disbelief shattered through her, twisting her stomach into knots.

It couldn’t be.

She searched the crowd again. Her heart stuttered back to life when she didn’t see who she was looking for. Shaking her head, she let out a tense breath. No. She was imagining things. The fact that the bastard had been recently released from prison was screwing with her head. The man was in New Jersey, not here. The police had said so.

Matt. Think about Matt instead.

Matt was on the nightshift, so he’d be at home at this time of morning. She relayed the address to the driver, and he pulled into the swiftly moving traffic. She threw one last glance behind her as she clicked her seatbelt into place, and accepted she’d been mistaken.

Her son had finally settled in one place long enough to buy himself an apartment and was happy at the hospital where he worked, mentored by the chief of neurosurgery. Taka had talked up the merits of the hospital he worked at so much so that Matt had applied for a job when his tenure came due. He’d stopped switching cities, claiming he liked it here. It was what she’d been waiting for. She was sick of only seeing him when work brought her close to whatever city he was currently living in.

She loved her job. It was what she’d always wanted to do. She owed her parents big-time for their help in getting her through school after getting pregnant so young. But she wanted a stable base in the States. A place to call home, somewhere close to her son. She’d been living this life for too long. Starting out in international corporate law, then working her way up to being a freelance merger consultant had taken its toll. For ten years now, she hadn’t called anywhere home, never being in one place long enough to put down roots.

Mara pulled a thick folder from her bag, catching Gabby’s attention.

“This is the latest info we have on the Arcos acquisition. Vibrante Holdings wants to pull the company apart and sell off the individual sectors. These are the figures for the last quarter, and here are the proposed sales prices—they came through while you were in the air. Vibrante stands to make an awful lot of money if they pull this off.”

Gabby took the offered sheaf of papers. Stifling a yawn, she tried to follow the stark black printing. Jetlag always hit her hard coming this way across the Pacific. Numbers swam on the page, refusing to focus.

She closed her eyes while Mara continued with the debriefing, glad to be distracted from tomorrow’s impending festivities. She wiggled and found the comfortable spot all cabs seemed to have, relaxing back into it with the papers sitting limp on her lap. The sun slanted through the window, warming her pliant body, sinking her farther into the upholstery of the seat. Her flight from Australia had been crap, the turbulence so severe in places she actually thought she had bruises from all the bouncing around. She’d rest her eyes for just a minute…

Squealing brakes tore her eyes open to stare out the side window across from her, beyond Mara. She blinked, confused. An SUV was on the wrong side of the road, headed straight for them. Her friend screamed. The driver swerved and swore, trying to control the slide of the cab on the slick road.

Metal squealed as it tore. Glass shattered, shards spraying her in the face. She grabbed at the seat in front of her as her body was flung sideways. She glanced up at the driver of the SUV. Terror gripped her insides and twisted sharply as her vision cleared.

Oh God, no. It’s him.