“Worry about your divorce. Finalize everything before Salazar changes his mind.”
“I’m not worried about the divorce. Be kind to yourself, Dane. Everyone makes mistakes.”
“Tripping and falling is a mistake. Playing roulette is a mistake. Ruining somebody’s lifelong dream is not.”
“So prickly. So proud. Do you know why your father’s and my marriage failed? It wasn’t because we didn’t love each other. We simply couldn’t bear to make ourselves vulnerable. And I don’t know if you’ve ever been that way with Sophia. Just feeling love for someone isn’t enough if it doesn’t come with action. One of my…friends told me that love requires the merging of two souls in order to be complete. But how can you merge them if they’re encased in stiff, stony shells of pride?”
“If you know so much, why can’t you fix your marriage?”
“Because it’s too late. I lie at night thinking about why I was so foolish. Why Salazar and I let our pride and fear get in the way of true happiness. I wish I could go back in time. I wish I’d been braver and we could start over, but your father and I have done and said too much at this point. But it’s not too late for you and Sophia.” She took one of his hands in both of hers and looked up into his eyes. “She’s in a very, very vulnerable position, Dane. I know it’s difficult—even frightening—but if you don’t take the leap, you’ll lose her forever. Don’t end up like your parents.”
He said nothing.
“Now, I really must go. You’re not the only one with appointments to keep.” One final hand laid gently on his cheek, and then she left, the door shutting with a click behind her.
Dane sat heavily in his seat, dropping his head back. Did his mother think he hadn’t done anything? He’d called. Texted. Sent letters. Sophia wouldn’t respond to anything from him. It was difficult to “merge souls” when one of them wouldn’t agree to meet. He was running out of options, but he also knew he couldn’t continue like this.
As he spun around in his chair, a fancy white envelope on his desk caught his eyes. The delicate loopy handwriting on the outside meant it came from Elizabeth. Probably hitting him up for more mon—
The donation!
He jumped to his feet. God, why hadn’t he thought of it earlier?
So much time wasted.
He dialed Mark. Time to call in a favor.
* * *
“Favor my ass,” Mark said on the phone. “That was an act of sabotage.”
“You would have preferred Hilary to get in a car with somebody like Ryder instead?” Dane arched an eyebrow.
“Of course not.”
“I drove her back to L.A. safe and sound from the grove. You owe me.”
“No. If I do this for you, you owe me because there never was a debt between us.”
“Is that what Hilary thinks?”
A long pause. “Fine, you can borrow André. Jeez. He’s going to filet my face for this. Can I ask what you want him for?”
“A date at my penthouse. Very private. Very romantic.”
“Oh.” Disapproval came through strong and clear. “You found a blonde you like?”
“Something like that,” Dane said. He wasn’t telling his brother he was in love with Sophia when he hadn’t told her yet.
“Fine. But it can’t be on a weekend. A Monday would be best.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll let you know the time and date.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Success is the best revenge.
Sophia repeated it to herself as she forced down a breakfast of scrambled eggs and yogurt under Chad’s watchful eye. Even if she had no appetite, she shouldn’t neglect her health. It was practically all she had left.
Until Huntington’s disease got her.
No. Not going to think like that. The disease might not even manifest itself. She had a fifty percent chance. Given all that had gone wrong in her life, surely she was due for a break.
Except the universe didn’t care about fair.
She pushed the thought away. The possibility of a debilitating disease wasn’t going to stop her from living her life the way she wanted to live it. She wouldn’t give anything that much power. She was going to pretend she was all right until she knew otherwise.
Still, it wasn’t easy to fake it, not when there was a big gaping hole in her heart.
It’d been three weeks since she’d walked out on Dane. She should feel fine by now. She told herself she was all right, but the hole wouldn’t close, not even a little. If anything it’d gotten bigger. But how could that be?
At least she had plenty of things to fill up her time. She’d started a new job at Omega Wealth Management, and that kept her quite busy. Apparently there had been an opening for an assistant, and Hilary had passed along Sophia’s name to HR. She’d learned how to manage five ultra-busy associates’ calendars and make killer coffee.