It had been two days since my meeting with Carmichael and I had been on edge ever since. I had snapped at everyone around me, including Alana.
I sat in my office looking out at the L.A skyline and wondering what she was doing. She was probably in the shelter. I checked my watch and sighed. I had another two meetings to go to before I could get home to her.
I heard the office door opening behind me. I knew it would be Jax. Everyone else knocked.
‘You okay, amigo?’ he asked in his soft southern drawl as he walked into the room. I spun in my chair to face him. ‘You seem a bit wound up lately. A bit more than usual anyway,’ he said with a half-smile.
‘That meeting with Alana’s father has me rattled, Jax. He’s such a fucking snake. He makes my fucking skin crawl.’
‘So, do something about him then?’ Jax said with a shrug.
‘He’s my wife’s father! You suggesting I just make him disappear and lie to her face every day?’
‘You’ve lied to every other woman you’ve ever dated.’
‘But I’m not dating her, am I? She’s my fucking wife, Jax.’
He nodded. ‘I know. But I thought the point of marrying this chick was business. I seem to recall you swearing that this was purely a business deal, and she wouldn’t change you or your life in any way. And now…’
‘Now what?’ I scowled at him.
‘Now … you’re different, Alejandro. More considerate? And I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. But you have changed, amigo. Six months ago, you would have squashed Foster Carmichael like a bug for the way he spoke to you.’
‘You think people will start to think I’m weak?’
Jax shook his head. ‘I never said that. I think the new, slightly more mellow you, is good for business. But, these past few days, you’ve been distracted and you’ve been pissed. All I’m saying is that if this is just about Carmichael, then let’s deal with him. But is it?’
I shook my head. ‘No.’
It was true that my meeting with Alana’s father had been the catalyst for my current bad mood, but it was more than that. It was the phone call I’d overheard a few nights ago. It was that I wasn’t one hundred percent certain I could trust her. And I refused to share my bed with a woman for the rest of my life if I couldn’t share my secrets with her too.
‘I thought that it wouldn’t matter, Jax. As long as she was with me, I thought it wouldn’t matter why. But I can’t do this half-assed. I need all of her. I need to know whether this is for real or whether it’s all an act and she’s waiting for the right time to fuck me over. I keep wondering if she and her father are just waiting for the right opportunity to screw me. What if she’s a plant?’
Jax ran a hand over his jaw and shook his head. ‘I don’t know what to say, Alejandro. What does your gut tell you?’
‘My gut tells me that it’s real. The way she looks at me, Jax, I don’t deserve it. But, I know that she’s such a good actress and it might all be a big fucking act with her. She grew up with that narcissistic prick parading her in front of the cameras for every photo opportunity that could make him a quick buck or win him a few votes.’ I shook my head. ‘Besides. I’m not sure I trust my gut around her. She messes with my head, amigo.’
Jax sat back in his chair and laughed softly.
‘Just what is it about this situation that is so fucking funny to you?’ I snarled at him.
‘The invincible Alejandro Montoya, in pieces over a woman. I never thought I’d see the day,’ he laughed again.
I smiled at him as I realized he was right. There were only four people in the world who could get away with laughing at me – two of them were my parents, another one was this man here, who was like a brother to me, and the fourth person was Alana.
‘So, what the fuck am I going to do?’ I asked him with a sigh.
‘She needs to prove to you somehow that you can trust her.’
‘And how does she do that, Jax? I can’t keep testing her. If she is for real, it’s not fair. And I can’t bear the look on her face when she’s hurt.’
‘Well, that, amigo, I can’t answer for you. Only you know what she can do to prove that. And only you know if you’re prepared to do whatever that is.’
I licked my lower lip. I knew what I had to do – the trouble was, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it. There was every chance I’d lose her if I did.
I left the hotel as soon as my last meeting had finished and drove home as fast as I could. I’d taken the papers that I needed from the safe in my office. I wondered if I’d regret what I was about to do, but I hadn’t been lying earlier in my office – I needed Alana for real.
I walked into the bedroom to see her sitting on the bed brushing her beautiful, dark hair and my cock twitched at the sight of her.
She turned to me and gave me one of those killer smiles and my heart leapt into my throat.
‘What have you got there?’ she asked, indicating the envelope in my hand.
I walked towards her and handed it to her. ‘I need to talk to you.’
She blinked at me as she took the envelope from my hands. ‘Alex, what’s wrong?’
‘I need you to know that your father is not the man you think he is, Alana.’
‘What?’ she said, her beautiful face pulled into a frown.
‘That is everything I have on him. Everything he told you that I’ve been holding over him to make you agree to marry me.’
She glanced down at the envelope and then opened the top, peering inside. ‘Why are you giving this to me now?’
‘Because I want you to have it. You can do whatever you like with it. Destroy it … or keep it, it’s up to you.’
‘Why would I keep it? Let’s get rid of it now.’
I sat down on the bed beside her. ‘I think you should at least look at it before you make a decision. And I think you need to talk to him about this arrangement between us.’
She placed a hand on my face. ‘Why don’t you tell me instead?’
I took hold of her hand. ‘This is a conversation you need to have with him. I need you to know the truth.’
‘Then tell me the truth,’ she insisted.
‘You wouldn’t believe me.’
‘So, what are you suggesting?’ she said and I saw the tears in her eyes.
‘I’m releasing you from this contract between us. You’re free to go whenever you choose. You should go home and speak to your father and then decide what you want to do next. But that information in your hands hurts my business almost as much as it hurts your father. So, I want you to think about that and why I would ever release it.’
‘Alex,’ she started to say. ‘I don’t know … what are you talking about?’
‘I’ve booked you on the red eye to New York tonight. Hugo will drive you to the airport and then one of your father’s men will pick you up from JFK.’
‘So, that’s it? I can just go? Just like that? You and me are done?’
I took her face in my hands. ‘You and me will never be done, Alana. I hope you come back to me. I hope that you weren’t lying when you told me that you love me. But, yes, you are free to go, princess.’
She looked up at me, with tears in her eyes and a look of confusion on her face. I wanted her to go and see her father and find out the truth, but I also wanted her to wrap her arms around my neck and tell me that of course she loved me and that she couldn’t stand to be without me.
But she said none of those things. Instead she uttered two words, and they broke my ice-cold heart.
‘Thank you.’
