"Yes, he is."
She was about to suggest they move into one of the nearby parlors to await Trevor's arrival, but just then a squeal of brakes came from the front drive and a minute later the door swung open.
Trevor Storch was tall, thin and more gangly than athletic. He stood just inside the foyer, brown hair mussed, shoulders sloped and breathing hard, as though he'd run most of the way from Keller Corp's main office building instead of driving.
Before he could say anything or begin bowing, as was his usual custom, Marc handed Danny back to her and turned on his assistant, any sign of kindness or amusement wiped from his face. Watching him close in on the younger man, even Vanessa had the urge to shy away and cover the baby's face to protect him from the steam that was almost literally pouring from Marc's ears.
Raising a hand practically in Trevor's face, Marc said in a low voice, "I'm going to ask you some questions and I want honest answers. God help you if you lie to me, do you understand?"
Any hint of eager anticipation drained from Storch's face, along with every bit of his skin's natural color. No doubt he'd thought he was being summoned to Keller Manor to run some extra-special errand or to receive a much-deserved-in his mind, at least-promotion.
"Y-yes, sir," he stammered, struggling to regain his composure.
"Did Vanessa call the office last year, just after we were divorced, and ask to speak with me?"
Trevor's eyes darted past Marc's shoulder to where she was standing, rocking slightly with the baby, who was currently content with attempting to fit his entire fist into his wide-open mouth.
"Yes or no, Trevor?" Marc demanded sharply.
"Y-yes, sir," he said, returning his attention to his very unhappy employer. "I believe she might have."
"And did you or did you not tell her that there was nothing she had to say to me that I wished to hear?"
At that, Trevor Storch's eyes went as wide as golf balls and his jaw dropped like a boulder. "I … I … "
He closed his mouth, licked his lips nervously. Then he seemed to deflate, his shoulders sinking even lower beneath his black shirt and beige sweater-vest than before.
"Yes, sir," he replied obediently, "I did."
Even from her vantage point near the stairwell, she saw Marc's brows dart upward in astonishment. Until that moment, she knew he hadn't believed her. He'd thought she was lying, or at the very least had suspected she was reinventing history to suit her purposes.
"Why?" he asked, shock and confusion evident in his tone.
"I … I … " Trevor's mouth open and closed like a guppy's and the color returned to his face in two rosy spots of nervous embarrassment.
"Because I told him to."
Eleanor's voice, deep and stern and coming out of nowhere, made Vanessa jump. Danny jerked in her arms at the sudden movement and began to fuss. She bounced up and down and pressed a kiss to the top of his head to shush him, but the greater part of her attention was on her ex-mother-in-law and the bomb she had just dropped into the middle of the cavernous foyer.
"Mother," Marc murmured, turning in her direction. "What are you talking about?"
Eleanor stepped from the doorway of the very same parlor Vanessa had almost suggested they move to before Trevor's arrival, the heels of her powder blue pumps clicking regally on the thick parquet tiles.
"After your separation, I instructed Mr. Storch to field any calls that came into the office from Ms. Mason and to inform her that you didn't wish to speak to her again, for any reason."
Marc swung his disbelieving gaze from his mother to Travis and back again. Vanessa's own heart was pounding in her chest, emotion clogging her throat until it threatened to cut off her supply of oxygen.
All this time, she'd been so angry at Marc. So hurt that he could cut her off the way he had, that he could be so cruel and uncaring with a woman he'd once claimed to love … and who was unexpectedly carrying his child.
She knew, too, that Marc had probably been equally as angry and hurt at what he perceived to be her actions after they split, if he'd been expecting her to stay in at least moderate contact, only to have all of her calls impeded by his personal assistant.
Now she realized they had both been deceived.
"But … why?" Marc asked.
Eleanor's lips thinned. "She's trash, Marcus. Bad enough that you married her and brought her home in the first place. Having her continue to contact you and hang around after you finally wised up enough to divorce her would have been beyond unacceptable. As though I would ever stand by and allow her to work her wiles and trick you into taking her back."
"So you ordered my assistant to block my wife's attempts to contact me." It was a statement, not a question.
Eleanor had known Marc all his life, while Vanessa had known him for only a handful of years. Yet his mother seemed ignorant of the resentment building in the heat of his green eyes and the clenching of his fists at his sides.
"Of course," Eleanor responded haughtily, tipping her nose another few centimeters into the air. "I would do anything to protect the Keller name from gold diggers like her."
"Her name," Marc intoned from between gritted teeth, "is Vanessa."
Before his mother could respond to that bit of information, he crossed to Vanessa and plucked Danny right out of her arms. While she floundered, unsure of what to think or do, he grabbed her elbow, ran his hand the rest of the way down her arm and threaded his fingers with hers. He marched them past the pile of her packed belongings nearly to the door, stopping a mere foot from Trevor's trembling form.
"You're fired," he told the young man in a brook-no-arguments tone. "Return to the office, clear out your desk and leave. You're welcome to work for my mother, if she'll have you, since the two of you certainly deserve each other, but I don't want to see you anywhere near Keller Corp ever again. Is that understood?"
Vanessa could have sworn she saw tears fill Trevor's eyes just before he ducked his head to stare at the tops of his shoes. "Yes, sir," he said in a watery voice.
"And you," Marc continued, turning this time to glare at his mother. "I always thought Vanessa was exaggerating when she told me how badly you were behaving toward her behind my back, because I didn't want to believe my own mother would treat the woman I loved as anything other than a true member of this family. But she was right all along, wasn't she?"
Marc paused for a moment, but Vanessa didn't think it was to allow Eleanor to respond. "You won't see us again. Not here. I'll send for my belongings and anything Vanessa might have left behind. But the company is mine. Mine and Adam's. You're off the Board of Directors as of now and your name will be removed from anything related to the corporation."
Eleanor's nostrils flared as she sucked in a breath, and Vanessa saw the first shadow of fear cross her severe features.
"You can't do that," she rasped.
Marc's gaze narrowed, his expression every bit as unyielding as his mother's at that moment. "Watch me."
With that, he yanked open the front door and stalked through, tugging Vanessa along behind him. The two servants who had been helping her carry her things to the waiting taxi were standing beside the bright yellow car, doing their best to remain inconspicuous and out of what she was sure they assumed would be the line of fire.
"Put all of Vanessa's things in my car," he told them, transferring Danny back to her. The poor baby was probably beginning to feel like a racquetball, though from his happy gurgles, he seemed to think being passed from one parent to the other and back again was some sort of game.
Then Marc crossed to the cab and leaned in the open window to speak in low tones to the man behind the wheel. After Marc slipped him a few folded-up bills, the driver nodded, and Marc returned to her side.
"What are we doing?" she asked, still unable to believe all that had just happened.
Lifting a hand to cup her face, he said, "We're leaving. We'll stay at a hotel until I can get things straightened out at the office, then we'll head back to Summerville."
"But … "
"No buts." He shook his head, his gaze immediately softening to a lovely emerald green. "I'm so sorry, Vanessa. I didn't see it. I didn't believe you because I didn't want to admit my family was anything but perfect, that one of them would treat my wife with anything but love and respect."