His ex-wife?
“Ex-fiancée,” Vaughn corrects her with a growl. “Now get the fuck out of here.”
The woman laughs. “Oh look at you, still as blunt as ever.” She looks down at me from beside him, curling her perfect red lipstick in a smirk. “He can be a real beast, can’t he?”
It’s clear from her tone, she means more than just his manners.
I can’t believe it. I don’t know what to think as I stare at Julianne in shock. She’s beautiful, one of those sleek, blond, glamorous women poured into a chic black dress and towering spiked heels.
She dated Vaughn?
They were engaged?
Julianne looks from Vaughn to me and back again, and arches a perfect eyebrow. “Oh, did he not mention me? Whoopsie. Sorry, darling.”
She touches his shoulder again. I see Vaughn’s whole body tense. “Anyway, I must be on my way. You look well, darling. Give my love to your brother.” With a smug grin, Julianne turns on her heel and sashays away.
Silence.
“Vaughn?” I finally ask, my voice shaking. Insecurity ripples through me, ice-cold. “Is it true, what she said?”
“Yes.” Vaughn answers curtly, snapping back to life. He beckons the waiter over, and orders a steak, rare, like nothing’s happened. “Keely?” he prompts me. I blink, food the furthest thing from my mind. He sighs. “She’ll take the salmon,” he instructs the waiter, sending him away.
My head spins. I knew Vaughn had a past, that there were women before me. Dozens. Hundreds. But he always said, he didn’t do relationships. The one time I made him take me on a real date, he did everything he could to shut it down.
Now I discover there was a woman in his life, for real. A woman he wanted to marry, to start a family with.
A woman he was willing to say vows for.
“Talk to me, Vaughn,” I say, hating the pleading note in my voice. “I thought we said no more secrets.”
“Julianne isn’t a secret.” Vaughn spits out her name. “She’s the worst fucking mistake of my life. That’s all you need to know.”
“But that’s not enough.” I frown. “What happened? How long were you together? Why did it end?”
“Dammit, Keely, I said that’s all.” Vaughn scowls at me.
I take a deep breath, suddenly feeling on the edge of tears.
I thought things were different now. I thought he was finally letting me in. But if Vaughn is still hiding something as big as this, what else is still lurking in his past, undiscovered?
“Excuse me.” I get to my feet and bolt for the restrooms. I need a moment away from him, to pull myself together before I lose it completely.
The marble bathroom is small and cool, and I run my wrists under the cold faucet, trying to talk myself down.
The door flies open.
“What---” I can’t even get the word out before Vaughn is slamming me back against the wall, claiming my mouth in a violent kiss.
I gasp for air. He pulls away, clutching at my body through my clothes. Groping my breast, shoving his leg between my thighs.
“What are you doing? Vaughn!” I protest as he yanks up my skirt. He wrenches his belt open and frees his swollen cock.
“What does it look like?” he growls, pushing me back against the wall. “I’m putting my dick back where it belongs.”
He pulls my thighs apart, panting. There’s a weird desperation in his eyes like I’ve never seen before.
“No!” I shove him away. “Not like this. Talk to me, Vaughn. Tell me what’s going on.”
Vaughn lets out a curse. He slams the bathroom wall and whirls around.
“Vaughn,” I call, but he storms out. The door swings shut behind him.
I don’t know what to do, I feel so confused, so I straighten up my clothes and head back to work. The office is quiet during lunch, and I wander the long route to my office, trying in vain to reach Vaughn on his cell.
You know what the hell to do. Message at the beep.
“It’s me,” I say, “Come on, Vaughn, please call me. I don’t even know what just happened, but whatever you have to say, I’ll listen. I’m here for you, remember? We’re a team now.”
I hang up slowly, calmer now. This Julianne woman hurt him; that much is clear. I shouldn’t be jealous. I just need to give Vaughn time to open up. He’s emotional right now, blind-sided -- that’s why he tried to blot her out in the only way he knows how.
I have to believe he’ll talk to me in time.
“Penny for them?” Cam’s voice cuts through my thoughts. I look up. I’m outside his office, the door open. He’s at his desk, looking at some papers as he eats takeout from a box.
“Give me another week, and that’s all the company’ll be worth,” I sigh, stepping inside.
Cam shakes his head. “It’s not over until the fat lady sings,” he says. “Or in our case, until the last member votes.”
I pause. I know I can’t trust anyone here, but finding information alone has been a challenge. I quickly weigh the risk before asking, “What do you know about Martin Ridley?”
Cam pauses, frowning. “I haven’t heard that name in a long time. He was part of the company, way back years ago.”
“So you don’t know he’s behind the Excaliber bid?” I ask point-blank.
Cam looks shocked. “Are you serious? When did this happen? How are you sure?”
If he’s lying, he’s doing a good job of it. “I had someone do some digging,” I say carefully, not wanting to give Vaughn away. “And they confirmed he’s the one behind the hedge fund.”
Cam exhales. “Shit. That would explain why Ashcroft didn’t accept their offers.”
“So there was bad blood between them?” I press him, looking for any hints of deception.
But Cam doesn’t flinch. “Real bad.” He nods. “Ashcroft wouldn’t even talk about what happened back then. All he ever said is the guy was rotting in jail where he belonged.”
“He’s out. And running around town conspiring with Brent and Carter.”
“Maybe this will help us.” Cam looks brighter. “Ridley always had the worst reputation.”
“What do you mean?”
“Shady business dealings, mob ties, you name it.” Cam sighs. “Ashcroft didn’t find out until too late, they were already in deep with him. But if the board knows he’s behind the offer, maybe that will make them think twice. You can’t trust a guy like that. He’s dangerous.”
I gulp. “That’s not good.”
“Not at all.” Cam looks grim. “I heard he had a way of making threats just disappear. Feds tried to get him on drug running charges once. Two weeks before the trial, their star witness blew his brains out.”
I feel a chill. “Suicide?”
“That was the official verdict,” Cam gives me a look. “But it was too convenient by half. The guy didn’t leave a note, just put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.”
Just like Vaughn’s dad.
I stumble back, suddenly sick to my stomach. “I... should get back,” I say quickly.
“Thanks for the intel on Ridley, this should help us a lot.” Cam grins, not realizing what his words have done to me. “I’ll look into his history with Ashcroft Industries. Maybe there’s something back then we can use.”
I nod and hurry back to my office, mind racing. All this time, Vaughn and his family believed that his father committed suicide, but what if that’s not the truth?
What if Jack Vaughn was killed -- because of this man, Ridley?
No. I can’t jump to conclusions. Something like this is too big to just go on coincidence and rumor. Even Cam said, they never knew about this other guy for sure -- and I can’t dredge up Vaughn’s past for him without solid proof.
The thought haunts me for the rest of the day. I still don’t hear anything from Vaughn, and when I get back to my apartment, I’m not even sure if he’ll be there.
But he is. Sitting in the dark staring out of the window, like he’s been there for hours.
I turn on the lights. He doesn’t move.
I take a deep breath. I’m feeling scared and insecure and angry over the way he acted at the restaurant. But I won’t let him push me around now. If this is going to be different now, I need him to let me in.
“I was worried about you.” I cross around so I’m standing in front of him.
Vaughn looks tense and conflicted. He gulps from the glass of whiskey in his hand. “Dammit, Keely. Can’t you just leave it alone?”
My heart aches. I hate seeing him like this. I wish we could just move on and pretend we never met Julianne at all, but it’s too late for that.
“You promised me, no more lies,” I remind him. Vaughn gets up angrily and turns to go, but I move to stop him.
“I mean it, Vaughn. You either tell me the truth, or you walk out that door right now. And you don’t come back.”