Here lay Chloe Gustav, once a famous actress, now a bankrupt has-been forced to beg the one man who had loved the real her.
The words burst out of nowhere, strangely melodic and very much like an epitaph. It sapped her energy, and she found herself falling on her knees, completely defeated. "I'm begging you. Lend me the money – please." Her eyes closed as tears trickled down her face, probably the first tears she had shed in years that weren't contrived at all.
Silence answered her. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a check for two million dollars thrown in front of her.
The sobs came fast and furious, and the memories she had fought so hard to bury broke free. She had been Staffan's surrogate older sister when they were kids. When they grew up, she had been his first lover, his first everything. He had loved her more than life itself, but his love hadn't been able to satisfy the gnawing need in her to be one of them.
Girls like Sapphire March, who had been born with everything.
Only now – only when it was too late – did Chloe finally understand that she could never be like Sapphire March. And it wasn't because Chloe couldn't be as beautiful, as rich, or as sophisticated. Girls like Sapphire had the kind of innocence that couldn't ever be tainted. She used to have that – but she had lost it by turning her back on Staffan.
"Staffan, wait!"
He stiffened at the sound of Chloe's voice behind him. Seeing her had left a vile taste in his mouth. She reminded him of how fucking foolish he had been with her. It was like rubbing salt in an old wound. It became apparent that even though he was over thirty years old now, Staffan could still play the fool because of a woman.
"Staffan---"
He turned to her wearily. "I don't want to have any fucking thing to do with you anymore. Consider that check as my way of saying thank you when you and your mother helped me when I was a child. But after this, I'd rather forget you even fucking existed."
Chloe didn't even flinch. "I know that."
Her words made Staffan narrow his gaze. "What fucking game are you playing now?"
Her answering laugh was bitter. "The silly thing about this is that I should be playing a game, doing my best to seduce you or make you pity me but … I'm not. There's no game."
Impatience made Staffan frown. "Get to the fucking point---"
"I met her."
He inhaled sharply, her words confirming his earlier suspicions. "Just stay the fuck away from her," he said tightly before turning away. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This wasn't part of the plan. He shouldn't fucking care what Saffi thought he was doing with Chloe. He shouldn't. But he fucking did.
"So I was right," Chloe said from behind him. "You love her." He spun around to snarl at Chloe, but she beat him to it, saying with that same unnerving cynical twist on her lips, "And for some reason, she loves you too."
"Shut up!" He didn't like the way she was saying the words. It was as if he didn't deserve Saffi's love, as if Saffi's betrayal could be forgotten just by wishing it away.
"She paid me to leave, you know. She begged me not to hurt you. She even cried, the stupid girl." When Staffan only looked at her, she said savagely, "I'm doing you a fucking favor! Can't you fucking see that what happened to us – what I did to you – is making you act like a fucking asshole when she doesn't deserve it?"
"Figures you'd take her side," he snapped derisively even as his heart furiously beat at Chloe's words. "Both of you being a slut---"
Chloe cut him off with a fuck-off flip of her finger. "It's your call, Staffan. But I'm telling you – you're close to fucking this up. For some shitty reason, that girl wants to love you to death. She wants to love you forever but even if she wants to – it won't fucking last, Staffan. The same way that you used to love me and it didn't last. Someone will come and that person – if he's smart – he's going to snatch Saffi away and then you'd be too fucking late."
She didn't wait for him to answer, sauntering off with her chin up in the air. For some insane reason, Chloe had gained his respect with that – something Staffan had thought was fucking impossible after everything she had done.
As he finally slid back into the driver seat of his car, Staffan felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. It was a text message from Bob.
Saffi is headed to her brother's office, boss. And she's crying.
Staffan's heart pounded wildly in his chest. When they had broken up, she had done her best to avoid having her family see her in pain. Only the greatest hurt, the most desperate motives could make Saffi reach out to her family like this.
Without another thought, Staffan shifted the gear for maximum speed.
Chloe's words beat his brain like a mallet as he drove like hell to Steel March's office. Someone will come and that person – if he's smart – he's going to snatch Saffi away and then you'd be too fucking late.
No fucking away, Staffan thought grimly. He would not let Saffi leave him. Whatever happened, he just could not let her leave him.
Chapter Eight
Saffi March changed her name to Saffi March-Aehrenthal
Everyone who was ever employed or was still employed by March Enterprises would always pity Sapphire March.
Saffi knew that, had always known that, and she had long accepted it. Their employees tended to grow old with them, and as a result, all of them were like family to her. All of them had seen how hard it was for her to make friends in high school because she was different. All of them had witnessed how she had been turned into a local sensation – a private butt of the jokes by their country club associates and their children – when Vania Coolidge had revealed that at sixteen, their high school's smartest graduate still talked to herself and her fish. The video had been even more humiliating because it had been edited to include comic balloon dialogues from Saffi's aquatic pets.
And the made up remarks hadn't just been crude. They had been vulgar, causing Saffi to be literally sick to her stomach until her parents had rushed her to the E.R. for treatment.
Every second of that video was still vividly imprinted on her mind, never really forgotten – no matter how hard she tried.
"Hi, Freddie," she had greeted the rare-breed catfish she had donated to the middle school science laboratory.
And the video's editor – one of the most popular football players back then and the current vice-mayor of their town – had made "Freddie" answer. "Hi, fish momma. Some day, I'm gonna figure out how to get you alone and fill your tummy with fish eggs so we can make fish babies together." The scene had segued to Saffi's face superimposed on the heads of tiny fish.
Even then, Saffi could not make herself ask for her family's help. They had given it. She had been thankful for it. But she had not asked for it because she wanted to be strong, wanted to find a way to make them proud on her own.
But this time, she had no pride left.
When she got to Steel's office, it was clear he was already waiting for her. He had a phone to his ear, and she had a feeling it was one of his security men, reporting to him about what had just happened. She wouldn't put it past Steel. He had always felt a special need to protect her ever since that awful night.
At the sight of her, Steel ended the call. "Out." He did not take his gaze away as he spoke the word and the group of harried-looking executives seated around the conference table hastened to do his bidding.
When the door closed behind the last executive to leave, Steel said quietly, "Come here, baby girl."
Saffi rushed to him, and she was already crying by the time his arms closed around her. "I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm so sorry for being weak."
"You're the strongest person I know, baby. You just have a different way of showing it." Steel hugged his sister as tightly as he could, wishing there was a fucking way for him to absorb her pain. Everything that happened to her since that goddamn night during her high school graduation was his fault, and Steel knew he would feel that way his entire life.
"I issued a check---"
"Sssh. It's okay, I know. It will be good."
"I can't lose him to her, Steel. I love him too much."
The words pained Steel to hear. He couldn't see how a gentle sweet soul like his sister could want such an asshole. He pulled away, needing to look into Saffi's eyes as he urged her harshly, "Divorce him, Saffi. I was wrong. I was goddamn wrong to force you to marry him." He started to say more when he saw a red light flickering from his desk, indicating a security matter.
"Saffi?"