Effectively shutting me out.
“You want to know where I’ve been all these nights, sis? Working. Just like I said. I didn’t lie to you even though I wanted to keep the surprise. Old man Johnson allowed me to clean up the slop every night for cash. And why? Because I wanted to buy you something special for Christmas. After all you’ve done for me, the sacrifices made, it was something I needed to do.”
Exhaling, I glanced at the box. “Oh, Danny. I’m so?—”
“Save it, sis. I don’t need your pity and I certainly don’t give a shit about any apology. Now, I am going out with my friends. You’ll see me when you see me.”
Oh, God. What had I done? I’d pushed him away hard enough he’d never looked back. Oh, sure, he’d told me he forgave me, even acting like it for a couple of years.
Then he’d left one day and I didn’t hear from him for weeks. By that point, it was too late for sisterly love or any aspect of influence.
The wrong crowd had swallowed him whole.
After that day, I’d kept the necklace in the velvet gift box for years, more special than any other gift I’d ever received.
I couldn’t stand the thought of not having something so dear to my heart. Somehow, I had to get it back. I’d call Montgomery, only we hadn’t exchanged numbers because we’d had no intention of seeing each other again. I could always drop by. Then what? Maybe he’d think my sudden appearance was for another reason.
Why was it a big deal? When I left for my errands, I’d drive to his house and ask him to keep an eye out for the precious gift. Without explaining why. He didn’t need to know. He wasn’t interested in providing me with details about his life or his past, so why should I do anything different? My past was private, a cruel period of my life, but things were better and no one was going to take away all the hard work I’d put into building a new life.
Including my horrible ex.
My brother.
And especially not Montgomery.
They were all complications I didn’t need.
Grabbing my coat, I searched outside, spending a solid thirty minutes scouring the ground and front porch, retracing every step.
No necklace.
My frustration doubled.
Huffing, I cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, making another cup of coffee. Even with the fresh scent of roasted coffee beans, I could still smell the powerful man. His scent had painted my skin. As soon as I brought my arm to my nose, my pussy throbbed both from excitement and leftover soreness.
Several rounds of hot, wild sex could do that to a woman.
The brutal combination of emotions was too much for me to take. With the coffee cup in my hand, I popped on some music before heading to my tiny office. Maybe burying myself into some paperwork would help.
With my finger still stroking my neck, the heavy angst remaining in my stomach, I settled behind my laptop. My thoughts were all over the place from Montgomery to my brother. What was Danny doing and why the sense of urgency?
God. When everything seemed perfectly normal in my life, two wrenches had to be tossed into the mix. The coffee tasted bitter for some reason, but I took several sips before pushing the mug aside.
When I’d found myself flustered, I buried myself into work. Forget the day off.
I pulled up the accounting files and grabbed the stack of invoices. My fingers flew as I made payments, applying them to the right accounts.
But my thoughts continually drifted to Montgomery, images of him clouding the sadness. He’d been so different this morning, determined to make a fire. Why?
The frustration regarding both men continued to infuriate me. Who was the guy? Montgomery Prince. French Cajun. New Orleans. Surely, given he was obviously extremely wealthy, there had to be some internet trail on the guy.
I tried social media first, moving from Facebook to Instagram. The only connection I found, although I wasn’t certain of it, was to a business called Indulgence, the location a mix of a five-starrestaurant, a bakery, a gift shop, women’s clothing, and an art store. Plus a nightclub. Talk about an eclectic mix. And I thought my little knickknack shop was extremely diverse.
Even with the glowing reviews, my instinct was screaming there was more to the family’s story. With my wild imagination, I envisioned various criminal activities.
Shifting to Google, I typed in the Prince name, shocked to see the number of entries.
There were several on the first page, most glowing reviews of the restaurant, a destination in New Orleans. However, the article at the bottom caught my eye.
