Noah stuck his hands in his pockets. “Good luck. I wish you all the best with your business.” And without a backward glance, he left her standing beside her workbench.
Cassie didn’t move. Even after Noah’s SUV disappeared, she stayed where she was, staring at the card in her hand.
Noah was gone and she already missed him.
Chapter 8
Noah sat behind his desk in Manhattan and re-read the same report for the third time. He rubbed his eyes, trying to figure out what was wrong with him.
For the last ten days, he’d buried himself in work, pushing himself even harder than usual. But nothing he said or did could erase Cassie from his mind. He wasn’t sleeping, wasn’t eating, and wasn’t getting much of anything done.
His office door shot open and his brother strode into the room. “If there’s a fire you should have hit the alarm.”
“This is worse than a fire. You had a lucky escape.” Jack dropped a folder onto Noah’s desk.
“What are you talking about?”
“Cassie didn’t tell you the whole story about why she won’t accept the award. Her father is Tony Harper.”
Noah stared at his brother. Four years ago, Wilson Enterprises had asked a high-profile jewelry designer to create an exclusive collection for their company. After missing two crucial deadlines, Emanuel Ricardo had accused Tony Harper of stealing his designs.
With Wilson Enterprises’ financial backing, Emanuel had filed a lawsuit in a federal district court in Los Angeles. The media coverage before and after the trial had been brutal.
Everything Cassie had said about a friend being accused of stealing someone’s jewelry designs, and the need to distance herself from his company, now made sense.
Slowly, he opened the folder. Even before the trial started, television, newspaper, and social media personalities had decided Tony Harper was guilty. At its worst, it seemed as though every artistic prima donna had found their way in front of a camera, tearing Tony to shreds.
“What happened to Cassie’s family after the trial?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
Noah lifted his gaze to his brother’s worried face.
“The cost of fighting the case made her family bankrupt. After the trial, they sold their house in Los Angeles and moved to San Francisco. Tony eventually found another job.” Jack hesitated. “There’s something else you should know. Cassie’s mom was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer before the trial. She died a few months after her family moved to San Francisco.”
Noah closed his eyes and groaned. “I’ve made a huge mistake.”
“You did the right thing. If we’d sold Cassie’s jewelry, her father’s reputation could have negatively impacted on our corporate image.”
Noah nearly told his brother what he could do with their corporate image. But Jack hadn’t met Cassie, hadn’t seen how hard she worked to raise money for the people who needed help. He hadn’t stood in her studio, enthralled by her creativity. And his brother hadn’t fallen a little in love with a woman who had more secrets than either of them.
“Why didn’t Cassie tell me?”
Jack shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. What I do know is that she saved our company from a PR disaster.”
“Forget the company. Cassie must hate me for what I did.”
“You went to trial because it was the only thing you could do. Knockoff jewelry was flooding the Internet. If we didn’t protect the intellectual property of our designers, who would?”
“Cassie’s father was innocent. Emanuel should be in prison for the lies he told.” When the issue of who held copyright over a jewelry design raised its ugly head, Noah had done everything he could to get a clear legal judgment. It wasn’t until the trial was nearly over that the attorneys discovered the level of Emanuel’s deceit.
Noah’s decision to prosecute Tony Harper would haunt him for the rest of his life. “How am I going to apologize to Cassie?”
“Her father won the case. You don’t need to apologize.”
“When did you become so hard-nosed? Her family became bankrupt because of me.”
“You did what you had to do.”
