He stood by her bedside. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You’d hurt me more if you didn’t.”
He removed his pants and shirt, but kept his boxers on. His stiff penis didn’t care about her broken body. In spite of her injuries, she was still the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. When he pulled back the linens and crawled in next to her, she smiled. While at the hospital, she’d had nightmares, so tonight he left the bathroom light on and the door cracked. He didn’t want her waking in total darkness.
“Can I hold your hand?” he murmured. She found his hand beneath the sheet. This felt so right.Shefelt so right.
After a few moments of silence, she spoke quietly. “I need to know something.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Why does the Francesco Company mean so much to you? You’ve invested in many businesses over the years, but this one seems special. Why?”
Her fingers had tightened. Did she realize she was squeezing his hand? “You want the short or long answer?”
“Long.”
“From as far back as I can remember, my dad scared the living hell out of me and I couldn’t get two words out without tripping all over myself. I developed a stammering problem. A group of kids at school bullied me, but I had Cain. He was fearless and he had my back. When he died, I kind of died with him. One night, about a month after his death, I overheard my dad tell my mom that the wrong son had been taken from him.”
Brigit gasped. “Oh, my God.”
“She kicked the son of a bitch out. Between speech therapy and Alexandra making me read her bedtime stories every night, I stopped stammering. Going to Harvard boosted my confidence, in part, because I could start over.” They’d both been staring at the ceiling. He looked at her. “After getting my MBA from Harvard I started Mitus Consulting. Two years later, I closed it.”
She craned her neck to look at him. “Why?”
“It failed and I needed to step away. I took a year and retooled. When I started Mitus Conglomerate, the Francesco Company was my first big win. It changed the tide of my career. It was defining proof that I wasn’t the loser my jackass of a father told me I was.” They stared into each other’s eyes and the air between them grew electric.
“Francesco set you on your path to success,” she murmured.
“Investing in that company changed my life.” He rolled toward her. “And now, with everything at stake, I could lose it, and with that, Crockett Boxes. Too many people are counting on me to get this right. I cannot fail.”
“You won’t.”
Beneath the blanket, he stroked her arm, then gently lifted her hand out to examine it. “Hmm.”
“What is it?”
“Where’s that silver bracelet you always wear?”
She stared at her arm. “Oh no, it’s gone! My parents gave me that bracelet.” She broke down and sobbed.
She was too injured for him to pull her into his arms, so he did the next best thing. He got her a box of tissues, wiped her tears, whispered words of encouragement and waited. When she finished crying, he dotted her face with doting kisses until she smiled. Then he said something that made his guts churn as soon as he uttered the damn words. He promised her that everything would turn out okay. Now he really was carrying the weight on his shoulders because he had no fucking idea if that would be the case.
Would she even make a full recovery? Had she miscarried before the brutal attack, or would he have to be the one to break the devastating news about the baby? And how in the hell was he going to keep Francesco out of MobiCom’s hands without doing the one thing he vowed he’dneverdo again?
47
BAD NEWS
Eight days following theattack, Brigit still remembered nothing. Had she been lured away? Or had Vinny Ray slipped onto the property and abducted her?
She tried not to let the missing bracelet affect her, especially in light of her traumatic injuries, but the meaningful gift couldn’t be replaced. The Yurman Collection offered bracelets so similar it would require a discerning eye to note the subtle differences. But the last physical connection to her mom and dad had been permanently severed.
That evening, Brigit held the stair rail and plodded downstairs. Taylor had convinced her to have dinner with the staff. Flanked by Taylor and Mojo, Brigit paused in the foyer to admire the elaborate Christmas decorations and beautifully trimmed tree in the living room, then continued into the dining room. Only Vanessa’s chair remained empty. When the staff saw her, they clapped. Her spirits brightened from their warm welcome.
As desserts were devoured and after-dinner liqueurs relished, Colton tapped his water goblet. The chatter ceased. “We have a Christmas tradition. The newest Mitus employee places the Santa hat on Michelangelo.”
“Brigit,” Taylor said.