And now that he’d tasted these past many weeks of passionate love with Keyonna in his arms, no way he could take it if she left him again. Losing Keyonna was no longer an option…
Chapter Sixteen
Nick frowned slightly with impatience as he spoke to his secretary on the line. “Yes, Brenda?”
“Sir, Mrs. Vitale’s here to see you.”
“What?” he said. “Keyonna’s here? My wife?”
“Oh no, sir,” Brenda said on a laugh. “It’s your stepmother.”
The smile he’d unconsciously had on his face at the thought that Keyonna had come to see him vanished.
What did Lena want now?
And that was the exact same thing he asked her the moment after the door closed and she was standing in front of him.
As always she was dressed to kill; hair perfectly groomed and her svelte figure sheathed in some designer get-up that enhanced her undeniable beauty. There had been a time her breathtaking looks had moved him, but not anymore.
“Really, Nick,” she drawled, tut-tutting. “Is there anything wrong with my coming to see my adorable stepson at work?”
“Your so called stepson is a busy man, Lena. What is it?” he said coldly, drawing back when she bent over him to try and kiss his lips.
“Well, well, well,” Lena murmured as she straightened and then went to take one of the chairs in front of his desk. ”How your attitude has changed. Could it be due to the fact that your runaway wife is back?”
Nick’s look was chilly as he met her scornful gaze. “Maybe. I’m certainly glad I found her, safe and sound.”
“Oh, I’m sure you must be glad indeed. Because if she wasn’t – safe and sound that is,” Lena drawled sarcastically, “Then you’ll be without all this.” And she waved a dainty, heavily beringed hand to indicate the plush office.
Nick scowled darkly. “If you’re implying that I wanted Keyonna back to ensure that our marriage stayed valid, just so I could keep my fortune then you’ve got it all wrong. With the marriage certificate, I no longer had anything to worry about. I didn’t need Keyonna anymore. But I did want her. And thanks to Rachel, I found her.”
“How ironic,” Lena sneered. “Your ex-fiancée ends up helping you unearth your heartbroken, disillusioned bride.”
She was cut off by the suspicious look on Nick’s face. “Why would you think Keyonna was heartbroken and disillusioned?”
Lena’s eye widened innocently as she shrugged. “A mere assumption, darling. I mean, what if the poor girl found out about you and me.”
“There is no ‘you and me’ Lena as you very well know,” was Nick’s cold response. “Once upon a time, I believed myself in love with you. And I’ve always felt grateful for your eye-opening rejection, believe me. Just don’t kid yourself that just because Dad’s dead, we can start up something because it’s not going to happen. I love Keyonna and nothing in the world would make me do anything to jeopardize that.”
Lena’s face twisted into something bitter and angry and far from pretty. “You love her,” she gasped furiously. “And what about me?”
He gave her a deliberately blank look. “What about you?”
Lena smiled thinly, even as she rose to her feet with fluid grace and then began pacing the office in her high-heeled pumps. “I always regretted turning down your offer to run away with you. But I knew your father was a powerful and ruthless man and he would destroy me – and you as well, for making a fool of him if I dared follow my heart. My marriage to him was never about love but I respected him and he treated me like a princess. I lacked for nothing. And yet…all that never stopped me from pining for you. You were the one thing I really wanted, but could never have.”
She stopped in her pacing to turn to him. “I was so mad when you didn’t ask me to marry you once you could. First you chose Rachel, and then ended up with Keyonna. In a flash I sensed that with her, it was different. Part of me wanted to find a way to get back at you for all the times you rejected me. But another part of me longed to win back what I’d lost. So when I showed up at the reception, I realized that the best way to do that was to get rid of Keyonna.”
Nick went stock still, unable to believe his ears. What the hell was Lena saying? That she had something to do with Keyonna’s sudden disappearance?
He suddenly shot to his feet and moved swiftly to grab her shoulders, shaking her angrily.
“Just what did you do, Lena? Tell me!” he barked, his eyes dark with fury.
Lena merely laughed in his face. “Ah, I thought that would get your full attention.” She broke out of his grip, her own gaze stormy. “I did nothing devious, trust me. In fact, I’d say you had more of a hand in it yourself.”