Clio went into his embrace as if it was the most natural thing in the world to do. And the fact that he had done something nonsexual and intimate without reservation, it blunted the shock of realizing another level to Jackson’s deception.
That something her aunt had given her out of love was now lost to her hurt more than the fact that she was basically penniless. Again.
“That’s not it. From all the claims he made, and the returns he’s been showing in his statements, my investment should have grown by leaps and bounds.”
She went back to her bedroom and grabbed the files. He was heading into the kitchen, so she laid them on the table. After a few seconds of rifling through it, he stared at her with icy fury in his eyes.
“These records show your investment had nearly fifty percent returns. But the actuality is that he’s lost it all? He’s fronting the funds from somewhere else?”
“Looks like it,” Clio whispered.
Instantly, she was lifted off the ground in a bear hug. “You did it, bella. You found it.” Putting her down, he cradled her face in his palms. “That’s all we need to expose him, bella. Jackson won’t recover from this.”
“It doesn’t feel like an achievement, Stefan. I have a sick feeling in my gut. Everything he did, everything he ever said to me, it was all such a big lie. How can I ever—”
She was more than surprised when he pulled out a dining chair and pulled her onto his lap. His long fingers tracing the angles of her face, he pressed a kiss to her temple. Held her within the cocoon of his embrace. “Shh… It’s all his shame, Clio. Not yours.”
It was a place Clio never wanted to leave, and the want was so visceral that she shivered.
Holding Clio in his arms as she trembled, seeing the pain in her beautiful gaze abate as he kissed the lush curve of her mouth, Stefan finally felt at peace after a long time.
Strange since seeing his parents after so long, unburdening his shame and guilt with his father, and making love to Clio, the day should have been an emotional roller coaster.
Yet the facts that Clio had uncovered about Jackson, that he finally had a chance to bring him to justice for all the wrongs he had done to so many people, freed something inside him.
He couldn’t find it in him to be angry with Clio anymore for interfering. Instead, he felt grateful.
With her actions, she had only shown him how much power he had given Serena’s rejection over his very life. And yet here she was, struggling to find herself again after Jackson had stolen so much from her.
In the face of her strength, Stefan felt some of his own bitterness melt. He lifted her and carried her back to her bedroom, drenched in the realization that a small part of him could trust a woman again.
However their marriage had started, it seemed he had a wife who bore his name with care and honor and duty.
CHAPTER TWELVE
TWO WEEKS LATER, Stefan and Clio arrived in Gazbiyaa, Zayed’s desert kingdom, the evening before Zayed’s wedding was to take place. The desert palace glittered in the setting sun, breathtakingly beautiful, a haven of luxury amidst the stark landscape of the desert.
Stefan and she had been shown to a suite in the wing of the palace that was away from the festivities of the wedding and provided privacy, just as Rocco and Olivia, and Christian and Alessandra had been.
With Stefan catching up with Rocco and Christian, and feeling a bit fragile to face the other women yet, Clio toured the Gazbiyan palace with a bevy of maids—at least the portions that she was allowed to without infringing on the customs of a kingdom that clung to its traditional roots. A kingdom that Zayed was determined to pull away from the brink of war with its neighboring nation.
Everywhere she looked, there were festivities going on with a pulse of joy beneath them.
The next evening, reunited with Rocco’s wife, Olivia—they had bonded over her and Stefan’s kissing scandal at Christian’s wedding—and Alessandra, who was beginning to show a growing baby bump, she visited Nadia, Zayed’s intended.
Even as Stefan and she were taking part in Zayed’s extravagant wedding, back home in New York, Jackson was under investigation by the SEC. The guilt she had initially felt had eased as more and more of Jackson’s illegal business practices began to come into light.
Driven by greed, he had fleeced so many people.
Under Stefan’s expert guidance on all things related to the charity and its finances, she had hit the ground running in terms of her work. When he looked at her now, there was nothing but admiration and respect in his gaze.
She had achieved everything she had set out to do when she had stumbled into his suite at the Chatsfield with her life in tatters.
As much as she had feared ruining their fragile relationship, making love with Stefan was the most natural path they could have taken.
More than a week went by where they lost themselves in learning, exploring each other, where Stefan, as if determined to be the only man in her thoughts, seduced her so thoroughly that Clio felt like a new woman in her own skin, free to embrace her wants and desires.
And the more she let herself go with Stefan, the tighter he bound her to him with his own desires. Sometimes he would wake her up with kisses, make love to her so slowly, with such thorough care that she thought her heart would burst out from his tenderness.
Other times, his desire was touched by a desperate passion that shredded his control, that had once had him taking her against the wall in the lounge, seconds after he had returned from burying Marco.
I needed you so desperately, bella, that a week has never felt more like a lifetime.
At those times, she felt like she wouldn’t be able to breathe if he stopped.
The different depths to his desire left Clio addicted and just as desperate as him. And terrified that he was slowly, but irrevocably stealing a part of her soul.
Because as demanding and giving as he was when it came to sex, he didn’t say a word to her out of that context. She had begged to go accompany him to Marco’s funeral, wanted to share the ache of that moment with him. But he had stubbornly denied her.
It was as if he could communicate with her only through sex.
Now, as she dressed for Zayed’s wedding, Clio trembled when the gold silk caftan slid over her skin with a whispered caress, imagining Stefan taking it off her. She remembered the heat of his erotic promises, the addictive strokes of his tongue at her core, the sinuously abrasive texture of his skin, the whipcord strength of his thighs…
It was as if he was spreading through her every cell, every thought until he was a permanent part of her.
Grabbing her hairbrush, Clio ran it through her hair and met her reflection.
He deftly alleviated her concerns and yet didn’t give anything of himself that he didn’t want to.
The default pattern of their relationship.
As they stood witness to Zayed’s own wedding, amidst the noise, extravagant pomp and celebration, amidst the acres of garden and incredible feasts unlike anything she had ever seen, Clio finally pinpointed the root of the growing panic within her.
It was the uncertainty of what tomorrow with Stefan would bring.
And yet, she didn’t dare ask him where they were headed or what he wanted. Couldn’t bear to hear him say they were done with each other. Not yet.
As usual, every small thing she required, from the elaborate, long-sleeved designer dress to the jewelry that would go with it; from the gold-colored sandals to her bangles; everything had been arranged as it suited to Mrs. Bianco’s status.
He would give her everything but would he give her even a little piece of his heart? How long was she willing to let this uncertainty hang over her?
And how had she, again, found herself in that very spot where her happiness, her entire sense of self hung precariously on the whims of a man, and one who had ruthlessly warned her that he had nothing to give her?
Stefan pocketed the sheaf of papers that he had collected from the printer in Zayed’s office and stepped out into the enormous gardens in front of the majestic Gazbiyan palace.
The most extraordinary stunts were being performed in honor of Zayed’s wedding and yet the flutter of excitement in his gut felt stranger than anything he had seen.
For the first time in years, he felt as if he could have a different kind of life, felt as if Clio could fill the void he had been determined to ignore.
Burying Marco who had had such a long and wonderful future ahead had made him think hard about his own life.
He could never love Clio, never be the man who believed in it. But he wanted a future with her. And just the prospect of taking his wife home and making love to her in their bed…it was the best thing he had looked forward to in a long time.
Spotting her, Stefan laced his fingers through hers.
“Boys’ club dispatched for the night?” she said with a smile.
He nodded, without bothering to clarify that he hadn’t been with Rocco or Christian. Or that he had been cooped up all day in the office that Zayed had lent him, on a phone call with his lawyer. Or that he hadn’t slept a wink in over a week deciding what to do.
Pulling her close to his side, he let his hand wander over her hip just as the sky burst into a million colors.
A chorus of laughter and shouts erupted from the crowd.
“You were hard to find after the wedding ceremony, bella,” he whispered at her ear. “Almost as if you were avoiding me.”
Slowly, the tension in her lithe frame dissolved. Reaching a hand up, she pushed a lock of hair away from his forehead. The intimate gesture pierced through Stefan, finding a vulnerable spot.