Chapter Fifteen

“Please tell me you have something juicy to share to go with that look on your face,” Charlotte said.

Holly snapped to attention, realizing her mind had gone wandering when she should have been looking at Charlotte’s spreadsheet.

“Sorry. Can you go over the lead acquisition numbers from last quarter again?”

“Nuh-ah. Sharing is caring. Spill first, analytics second.”

She rolled her eyes. “I happen to care about analytics.”

“And I happen to care about living vicariously through your sex life. And given the way you’ve been glowing these past weeks, I’m going to bet it’s going well.”

There was no stopping her guilty grin. “So. Freaking. Well.”

“The man looks like he knows what he’s doing,” Charlotte agreed. “Does he have any great tricks? Give me something to try with my next partner.”

“Knowing how adventurous you are, I doubt you’ll struggle with coming up with new ideas.”

Charlotte sighed. “So true.”

She, on the other hand, was normally the one living through her friend’s stories. But this time, she got to experience her fantasies in real life.

And boy, was Julian committed to helping her live them out. The damn man was nothing if not creative.

Holly grinned. She was having the time of her life, and she knew it. The last parts of her trying to separate who she was from what she had to do had been defeated. Her Lillian facade had crumbled beyond salvation and she’d thought if she dropped her sister’s mask, all that would be left would be quiet, wallflower Holly.

But maybe she was becoming something new.

Someone who didn’t shy away from taking what she wanted.

And these days what she wanted was Julian.

“World rocking aside, how is the rest of it going? The wedding date is coming up fast, and Julian still thinks he’s walking down the aisle.”

Her face fell. When she was with him, she tried to ignore the realities of their situation, but she couldn’t run forever. The clock was ticking, and Lillian was still nowhere to be found. Her father was growing more and more unbearable, to the point where it was easier to stay away from home than cross his path.

Not that the task was hard to accomplish. Julian didn’t seem to mind when she turned up on his doorstep most nights. Hell, she even had an extra toothbrush by his sink and a shoebox of toiletries in his cupboard.

“I don’t know,” she confessed, glancing around to make sure she wasn’t overheard. “Father isn’t budging, and Lillian is gone. I haven’t seen the financials myself, but Father says we’re still in danger of having to cut jobs.”

Charlotte sighed. “Okay, big picture question here. Julian has to find out your real name eventually. Can’t you just tell him?”

It was a suggestion that had been increasingly on her mind. They slept together most nights. Julian didn’t seem to have any qualms about tying his life to hers. They even agreed on the future they both wanted.

So, what happens if I tell him the truth?

Would he forgive her? Or would she destroy both her company’s salvation and her own heart in the process?

It was a puzzle she might never solve. Because as much as she was growing to adore the man in her bed, people’s jobs were still on the line here. How did she decide which one deserved her loyalty more?

I want to trust him with my secrets. I want to believe in him.

The instinct was so new she wasn’t sure what to do with it.

Just call me Ms. Conflicted.

“I don’t know,” she answered Charlotte.

“I’m sorry. It’s so nice to see you happy, but I feel like you’re headed for a cliff without a parachute.”

So do I.

“Thanks for your support. One way or another, I’ll probably need more of it soon.”

“Pah, I’m not going anywhere. Let me know when it’s time to start drinking. I’m so there.”

“Thanks,” she said drily.

Rising to her feet, Charlotte patted her shoulder. “I’m headed out for the night then. Text me you if need me.”

“It’ll be a slow evening,” she said. “Julian has some business to do, so I’m on my own.”

“You mean you don’t get to climb your tasty man like a tree tonight? So sad.”

She rolled her eyes. “Bye, Charlotte.”

“Ciao.” With a wave, she headed out.

Holly looked back at her spreadsheet and sighed. She was done for the day, too. She packed up quickly, wishing she was driving to Julian’s home and not her own. But he had a late night tonight with an early start in the morning, so it didn’t make sense to crash at his place.

Swinging her purse over her shoulder, she switched off the last of the lights in the marketing department and left the office.

She drove home on autopilot, looking forward to a quiet night.

That is, if I can avoid Father.

Then again, he seemed more focused on dollars than on her recently.

What is he up to?

Whatever it was, she doubted it’d be anything good. Julian had stopped mentioning the records he kept trying to get from their accounting team. In fact, no one had mentioned anything related to financials to her in weeks.

Weird.

And when John Abbott got cagey, nothing good came of it.

I need to do some digging. Figure out what game he’s playing.

She pulled into the massive garage on the estate grounds and jogged around to the front door.

Sylvie was waiting in the entrance hall when she walked in, wringing her hands.

“Holly,” she said, her voice hushed.

“What’s happened?” she demanded, instantly on alert.

“You need to go into the living room.”

“Why?”

Sylvie gave her a look so filled with sympathy it chilled her heart.

“Lillian’s back.”

The world tunneled around her. Her sister was back? Joy flooded her. It was over. Lillian was back with her solution. Everything would be all right.

I can tell him the truth.

“I need to go,” she said, rushing past Sylvie.

“Wait,” the maid said, but she was already running for the living room.

She burst into the room, her gaze zeroing in the one person who was a carbon copy of herself.

“Holly,” her sister said, rising from her seat.

She flew across the distance, wrapping her arms around her sister. “Are you okay?” she demanded.

“Fine,” Lillian replied, returning the tight hug. “I’m so sorry.”

“You left. Without a single word. How could you?” she asked, stepping back.

“She was protecting you.”

Her gaze jerked to her father and the smug expression on his face.

“What’s happened?” she asked.

“Barrens found your sister,” he said, gesturing to the man in the corner she hadn’t even noticed.

Her father’s PI stood with hands folded in front of him, not saying a word.

“Where?”

“San Francisco,” Lillian said.

“What?” she asked. “Why would you go there, of all cities.”

“Because Dominic St. Clair is there,” John said. “And your delightful sister planned to use my worst enemy against me.” He pushed to his feet and stalked toward them. “Lillian here figured she’d sell out the family. How’d that go?”

She glanced at her sister, who was staring stonily at the ground. “Lil?” she asked.

Eyes so similar to hers rose. “I failed,” she said, her voice gruff as if she’d been crying. “I’m so sorry, Olly. I couldn’t find the money.”

Adrenaline surged through her. “I don’t understand.”

“Don’t you?” John said. “Your sister’s grand plan to bring me down is gone. There’s no way out for the company except one.”

The blood in her veins turned to ice, and she stumbled a step back from her sister.

“Marriage is the only option now,” he continued. “And the right Abbott has finally returned.”

The one with the fortune. The one who could ensure Julian got something out of merging with a company heading toward the weeds.

Whereas she had nothing to offer to balance the scales.

Horror rushed through her.

“You can’t,” she denied. “You told me he was all mine. I have a relationship with him now.”

“Had,” John corrected. “Now Lillian does.”

Like hell she does.

“No. No, I won’t let this happen. I’ll tell him the truth before—”

“And what will happen, Holly?” her father asked. “What makes you think you have any more choice now than you did the first day you met?”

This can’t be happening.

Not now. Not when she’d finally found a man who appreciated who she was. How could she ever be his sister-in-law when she’d been ready for a lifetime with him?

“There’s another way,” she said slowly, not sure if it was a choice she could live with. “We go through with the layoff, cut our costs and get our company back on track. Then you merge with Julian when both companies are financially stable.”

It would cost innocent people their jobs, but it would keep the doors open.

But the cold smile that curved her father’s lips chilled her to the bone.

“Holly,” Lillian whispered. “You don’t know the whole story.”

She blinked, turning to her sister. “What do you mean?”

“She means that she wouldn’t have run to our greatest enemy over a round of layoffs,” John said.

The financials Julian’s been looking for.

“What did you do?” she demanded.

“He ruined it all,” Lillian said. “We’re not facing a layoff. We’re facing bankruptcy.”

Pure unadulterated horror swept through her. The company her grandfather had built? One that employed thousands of people around the world? All gone?

“How are you in the middle of a merger?” she demanded. “This has to be nine ways to illegal.”

“Yes,” John said, tapping his fingers on the armrest. “And?”

She reeled back. “Do you have no remorse?”

“Money can always be found if you get creative enough. Then Julian came knocking with his proposal. Was I supposed to walk away from that golden apple?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “Because he’s going to sue you into the stone age when he realizes what’s happened.”

“He won’t,” John replied. “By the time he figures out he’s chained himself to a sinking ship, he’ll have no choice. Either he’ll go down with us, or he’ll keep us afloat to avoid the scandal.”

“You want to use him as your own personal ATM.”

His smile made her skin crawl. “Tomorrow you have a lunch date with Julian,” he said.

Her head jerked. “How—”

“Please. Did you think I wasn’t keeping tabs on you? Had to make sure you didn’t have a sudden attack of conscience.” He waved to Barrens. “You did very well, Holly. The man is wrapped around your finger, by all accounts. Now is the perfect time to swap the two of you out. You’ve laid the groundwork well for your sister.”

“I refuse.”

The smile slid from her father’s face. “What did you just say?”

The tone of his voice sent a tremor through her. Always before, she would have looked down and away. Would have capitulated to whatever he wanted. But not this time. Not when it was about Julian.

I won’t let you win.

“I’ll tell him,” she said. “You can’t stop me. I’ll tell him all of it.”

She lifted her chin, ready to do battle. Funny, after years of being a shadow, she finally had something worth fighting for.

If we’re out of options, there’s only one choice.

She’d just have to trust that he meant the promises he’d made to her. That he cared about her enough to forgive the role she’d played in this ruse.

And if nothing else, he deserved the chance to run from her as fast as his legs would carry him. This was their mess. It wasn’t on him to clean it up.

“You’ll tell him?” her father said, his voice silky.

“Yes,” she met his gaze without flinching. “I used to think this family was my entire life. The only thing worth protecting. But now I see there’s another way.” She rolled her shoulders back. “If we crash and burn, then we deserve to. This isn’t Julian’s problem.”

A dark rage banked in her father’s gaze, but he didn’t speak right away. Knowing his Machiavellian tendencies, she doubted that meant anything good.

“Holly…” Lillian said, her voice concerned.

But she had no time for her sister. Not right now.

For the first time in my life, there’s something more terrifying than my father.

And losing Julian was it.

“If you’ll both excuse me, I have a man to see about a company.” Turning on her heel, she marched past the silent Barrens.

“What about your friend, Charlotte?”

The words froze her in the doorway.

“What about her?” she demanded, turning.

“What happens to her when we go bankrupt?” he said, a knowing smile on his lips. “You agreed to this game for a reason, my girl, and that reason hasn’t changed. You were willing to put hundreds of jobs above your own happiness. Are you making a different choice now that it’s thousands on the line?”

Her fists clenched. “That’s on you, not me.”

“But it will be if all those people wind up without a job and you selfishly choose your own happiness over theirs.” Her father crept closer, twisting the life. “How will you start your new life knowing the price you paid for it was other people’s futures?”

“Maybe he’ll help,” she said, grasping at straws.

Would he? Our company isn’t his problem. I’m not his problem.

Especially if she’d been inadvertently luring him to the rocks like a freaking siren.

“Are you willing to bet everything on it? Because that’s what this comes down to.”

Her fingers went to her necklace in a telltale sign of her conflict she was helpless to stop. Her father had a point. If she made the wrong move, everyone she’d been trying to protect would lose their futures. Charlotte had a mortgage she was struggling to keep up with. Her marketing director had just had a new baby two months ago. The sales intern was in night school to get her degree.

There were thousands of stories just like theirs. Normal people living their lives, trusting that the management of their company was being handled well.

Could she really bet on their livelihoods? Was their ability to retire less important than her need to be with Julian?

“There’s a way to be sure,” her father practically purred.

The trap was about to snap shut around her but even so, she asked, “What do you mean?”

His grin was fast. “You think Julian knows you, cares about you?”

She flinched.

“So let’s put it to the test. Is he a man who would choose you over everyone else, or is he a CEO playing the game because it’s what’s best for his interests?”

“He’s not like that.”

“Then you have nothing to lose.” He gestured to Lillian. “Tomorrow, your sister will meet him in your place. If he cares about you, he’ll never be fooled by another woman. No matter how identical. Right?”

Her throat tightened.

Don’t do this. Don’t say—

“It’s simple. If realizes he’s not there with you, then we’ll trust that you know him better than we do, and you can risk all our futures by telling him. But if he doesn’t notice the switch, then you have to admit that your star-crossed love was never anything more than a business arrangement, and you will fall in line.”

Shock flooded her. This was her worst fear come to life. That Julian would be just as happy with Lillian as he said he was with her. That she really was that interchangeable to a man she was falling for.

That disposable.

“What do you say?” her father said with a Cheshire cat grin. “I think this compromise is more than fair.”

It was a devil’s bargain, but what could she do? Her father was right. If Julian didn’t recognize her, then he didn’t care about her in any way that mattered. And if that was true, telling the truth would damn her employees.

They needed to be sure.

“Fine,” she said, pulling the engagement ring off her finger to hand to Lillian. “He’ll pass.”

I know he will.

Because any other outcome was unthinkable.