She nodded, like she knew exactly what he was talking about, and something about her understanding bothered him. They’d both lost so much four years ago. He’d hoped that the sacrifice would have at least resulted in one of them finding contentment.
“Let’s sit down.” He headed for the couch, with her following him. “Can I get you something to drink? Coffee or water? Wine?”
Lucy laughed. “It’s not even ten. I haven’t become dependent on a morning drink since you left me, Joel.”
Her words pierced like a knife to the gut. He stopped abruptly, turning as she stumbled into his back. He caught her arms to keep her balanced and held her against his chest. She was so close her breath fanned against his lips.
“Leaving you isn’t how I remember it, Luciana.”
Her eyes widened. Two dark moons. She inhaled a stuttering breath, and he released her. Here was the hurt that stretched between them. She thought he left her, but he remembered she’d given him no choice.
He sat down on the couch, nodding at her to do the same. She chose the farthest opposite corner.
“So.” This is what it had come to. The most important person in his life, sitting across from him like a stranger. “Luciano is still dead set on selling his business to a third party when he retires?”
Lucy threw her hands in the air, then let them drop in her lap. “Either that or he’ll leave it to my cousin, Nico. The one you met at the wedding.”
“That was your cousin?” The bastard had his hands all over her. No cousin he’d ever known cozied up like that on a dance floor.
“Second cousin,” she clarified, as if it made a difference. “Nico is here from Italy to show his interest in Barone & Sons and convince my father he’s the best one to take over.”
“No way in hell that’s happening. You have my word on that.” If that was what she was worried about, he could take care of it before nightfall. Second cousin or not, he’d have this Nico character back on a plane to the motherland before dinner.
She stared at him with an odd expression. One he couldn’t place until she said, “Nico thinks he’s going to marry me.”
“Fuck. No.” His curse slipped out before he could stop it. He’d made it good practice never to swear in her presence…unless they were in bed. His legendary control wavered like a string being plucked. “You’re married to me.”
“Yes. But no one knows that.” She fiddled this time with the hem of her shirt. “But theydothink we’re engaged.” She peeked up at him. “Because of you.”
She was trying to get at something, but he couldn’t think past the horror of Lucy married to another man. No matter what had passed between them, she was his, and he had the paperwork to prove it.
She doesn’t belong to anyone, you idiot. That’s why you let her go, remember?His one still functioning brain cell reminded him.
“So, what do you want me to do?” he asked, trying to keep the maelstrom of emotion out of his voice.
Lose control of your emotions, and you lose control of the situation.His father taught him that. The motto had served him well in life and business. But with Lucy, he notoriously lost his grip on his control and emotions.
Seconds, that felt like minutes, passed before she spoke again. “I want us to pretend to be engaged long enough to get Nico off my back and convince my father that I’m the right person for Barone & Sons.” She blew out a breath.
While he tried his damnedest not to show a single reaction.
“I know it sounds stupid. My hard work and dedication alone should make him proud. I thought it would! But he’s old school and in the weirdest ways. I can’t figure out why he’d rather I be a CEO of literally any other company than his. But there it is. He’s stubborn.” Lucy turned to him, edging closer up the couch, until their knees almost touched. “But so am I, Joel.”
And didn’t he know it?
“Will you please say something.” She looked at him with big, guarded eyes, her brows pinching above them.
His mind reeled with all the things he wanted to say. The questions in his heart were too raw, too scattered to be coherent, so he started with the most logical. “Have you talked to your father about this?”
“Of course I have! So many times, in so many different ways. He brushes it off, deflects, or changes the subject. A couple of times he flat out said no, but never with any concrete reasons. Just things like ‘oh you don’t want that’, or ‘we’ll see Luciana, we’ll see.’”
The way she mimicked her father’s voice was spot-on and Joel would have chuckled if it weren’t so heartbreaking. Her humiliation rolled off her, hitting him like a rogue wave. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to ask someoneyou loved for something so important, and not be taken seriously.
“So I gave up asking and started doing,” she went on. “I took on more than just the books. I got us more clients, worked on rebranding and upgrading our marketing.” Her defeated sigh was heart-wrenching. “I don’t think he even noticed.”
If Luciano didn’t notice all of that, then he didn’t deserve his daughter working for him.
Although he knew the answer to his next question, he asked it anyway. “Have you thought about starting your own company?”
