Stolen:The Billionaire Deception(26)

"I should have listened to you in the first place. You called it. You   said I was going to get hurt …  that I couldn't have it both ways … "



"I say a lot of things. I like to hear myself talk. Baby girl, you have a   beautiful heart and that heart fell in love and no matter what a big   bag of wind like me says, you can't stop that from happening when it's   right. So if for no other reason, get out of this bed, get dressed and   go fight for that man you love so much."



"I don't know how. How do I do that? He'll never trust me again."



"Never say never baby. He's had a week to think about things. He's had a   week to figure out why you did what you did. Now go find him and tell   him that you still love him. Tell him he's more important than a   company."



"That's true. I'd be willing to walk away from it …  for him."



"I know. I can see how much you love him. He's the one you need to   convince. You can't do it looking like this though. Damn! You should see   that hair. You look like a cavewoman. And that breath! You ever heard   of mouthwash?"



I laughed, which is exactly what Grant was going for. "I'll shower and brush my teeth," I told him. "Then we'll see."



"Good. One step at a time. Personally, I will appreciate the shower … "



"Shut up!" I said, socking him in the arm. I hadn't left the house for a   week, or paid attention to what I looked like, but I showered and   brushed my teeth every day and he knew it. He was trying to make me feel   better and as usual, he had.



He stood up and headed for the door. When he got there he looked over his shoulder and said, "Eat the pancakes too."



"You're not my mom," I told him with a smile.         

     



 



"If I were, you'd be a lot better behaved," he said. "Now get in there and shower and then come back and eat!"



"Okay, Mom." Still smiling I got up and headed into the bathroom for my   shower. When I got there, the mirror confirmed what he'd said: my hair   made me look like a cavewoman.



I spent a long time in the shower. As the hot water cascaded across my   shoulders and down my back and I breathed in the warm steam, I tried to   reach a new perspective on things. Maybe if I told Seth that I loved  him  enough to give up my quest, he would believe that I hadn't just  been  using him. Was that me being weak? Was that compromising my values  and  giving up what I believed in? Maybe, but if I was forced to  choose, I  decided that love was the way to go.



I had just finished dressing in jeans and a t-shirt and was pulling my   hair back into a ponytail at the nape of my neck when there was another   knock on my bedroom door. I sighed heavily. I loved Grant, but he could   be the biggest pain in my neck sometimes. "I showered and brushed my   teeth! I don't want the pancakes!" I was still in the steamy bathroom   when I heard the door open. The reply made me drop the brush I was   holding in my hand to the floor.



"Okay, no pancakes. How about a latte?" It wasn't the words that surprised me. It was the voice. It wasn't Grant. It was Seth.



I tentatively stuck my head out the door. He was standing there holding   two paper cups looking as fresh and gorgeous as ever. "I'd love a  latte,  thank you," I said. I worried for a second that I was having a   hallucination. He held the cup out to me and I stepped over and took it   out of his hand. As I did, our fingers brushed. I'd never been so   tempted to throw myself into someone's arms in my life. I suddenly   realized what a mess my room was. I hadn't had the energy to do much of   anything the past week. Cleaning my room was low on the agenda. "Excuse   the mess."



Seth glanced around the room. Great! I've called it to his attention. "I don't mind," he said. "Can we sit down for a minute?"



"Of course," I said. I went over and swiped things off the bed and then   with what I'm sure was a goofy smile I said, "Have a seat." The corner   of his mouth quirked up, it was definitely a hopeful sign. He took a   seat on one end of the bed and I sat down with my back against the   headboard and pulled my legs up tight against me. I silently sipped my   coffee and waited for him to talk. In the meantime, he was killing me   with those sad blue eyes.



"I need to know your story …  the whole story and the honest to God truth."



I had held it all inside for so long. Grant was the only one who knew   the full story and I didn't even discuss it that often with him. I had   to learn to live with my new name and my new story. That would have been   too hard if I hadn't remained Erin Summers twenty-four seven. The   problem had always been that Adele Morgan was always still there …sometimes deep down and sometimes right on the surface, begging to get   out. I unlocked her cell now and told her that she was free to state her   case. I nodded at him.



"I was born Adele Louise Morgan. My parents were Sean and Maddie Morgan.   My father was brilliant. He was one of those people who were just born   with a knack for numbers. Before he finished college he had already   started a little business drawing up investment portfolios for people he   knew. He and my mother had just gotten married as well. He was working   full-time for an accountant in Mid-Town but on the side he started a   tiny little business of his own. He had this inherent business sense and   he started out telling his friends and family where they should invest   their savings. By word of mouth people from all over the Bronx began   coming to him, talking to him about what they should do with their   money. My mom told me once that he started out only charging them two   percent of their profit. He took that two percent and invested it for   himself and my mother. Then he eventually used that money to buy his own   firm. When he bought Morgan Corp. there were only five full-time   employees. The original owner had retired and moved to Florida. My   father kept all the original employees. He didn't want anyone to lose   their jobs." I stopped for a second and took a sip of my coffee. Seth   was listening intently and when I realized he didn't have anything to   say yet, I went on.



"By the time I was born, the business was already doing pretty well. My   father told me he had a hundred employees that year. He had moved to a   bigger office …  the one that your company is still in today. He was so   proud of that company, but he was also proud of me and my mom. We spent a   lot of time together as a family. I was given what I needed and I was   taught to work for what I wanted. They never just handed me anything,   but if I did my chores or got good grades I got pretty much whatever I   wanted. I had a great childhood. My mother went back to school when I   was five and she became a nurse. Our house was busy, but it was so full   of love. I never went a day without knowing how much they loved me and   how hard they worked for my future … "         

     



 



"It must have been so hard on you when they died." Seth looked so sad.   It was my life we were talking about and I wanted to give him a hug and   tell him it was okay. I nodded again and went on.



"I had just turned thirteen a few weeks before I found out they were   never coming home. They had been involved in a big pile-up on the   Pennsylvania Turnpike. They'd gone there to see about expanding the   business and died on their way home. The first few weeks were so dark   and confusing and then there was a question about where I would go and   who I would live with. Once it was finally settled that I could stay   with Louisa, the lady who took care of the house for us, that was when   the lawyers called and told us we had to vacate the house."



"Why did you have to leave your home?"



"We were told at the time that the estate had to be sold in order to pay   back a lot of people whose money my father had taken to invest. I was   told that he hadn't invested it properly and they were entitled to a   full refund. There was a lawyer who claimed that these people had come   to him to file a suit prior to my father's death. He was filing it at   that time against the estate. They froze everything while it was going   through court. I realize now that it went through really quickly …  too   quickly. Within weeks they had taken everything and I was left   penniless."



"That lawyer, the one who sued your father's estate …  that was my dad?"