CHAPTER NINETEEN

RYDER

“Good morning, Mr. O’Kane!” Kelly says cheerfully as I walk off the elevator.

I walk right past her and into my father’s office, slamming the door behind me. “Tell me you were lying to Jaycent,” I demand.

He sits behind his desk, his phone to his ear. The person on the other end must have said something because the next thing he says makes me narrow my eyes at him. “It’s your son.”

“She’s on the phone?” I demand and all but run toward his desk. He hangs up the moment I go to reach for it. “So he was right?” I demand.

He sighs and says the one thing that makes my skin crawl. “You have to pick your battles, son.”

I take a step back as if he hit me. “Pick your battles?” I ask in disbelief.

He nods. “Yes. And this is not one worth fighting.”

I can’t believe I’m hearing this! “How can you say that?”

“This is what is best for Maggie. If your mother …” He can’t even finish the sentence. “She will be so lost. Confused. And I won’t do that to her.” He shakes his head quickly. “She needs to stay where she belongs, and that is with Rosie.”

“So just let the bitch win?” I snap.

He slams his hands down on the table as he stands. “That is your mother!” he all but shouts.

I snort. “Yeah, some mother she is.”

“Ryder …”

“First, she cheated on you. Had a baby with your best friend, which she didn’t even want. And then paid a man to fuck your other daughter …”

“Ryder …”

“Now, she’s blackmailing you to keep her reputation.” I snort. “She’s fucking pathetic. And so are you,” I snap.

“Get the fuck out of my office!” he roars, pointing at the door.

“Gladly!” I shout, throwing my hands up in the air, and then spin around and walk out, slamming the door behind me.

“Mr. O’Kane?” Kelly asks timidly as she stands from behind her desk. “There’s a call on line four …”

“Hang up on it!” I snap and get on the elevator. Taking the day off.

I walk outside the glass doors and see Milton still standing by the back door of my Escalade, having only dropped me off minutes ago. “Where to, Mr. O’Kane?” he asks.

“Talia’s,” I say, and he nods, closing the door.

I sit in the back of the SUV and remove my suit jacket and tear off my tie. I undo my cufflinks and roll up my sleeves along with undoing the top two buttons. I feel like I can’t breathe. My heart pounds in my chest, and my palms are sweaty. I can’t seem to catch my breath. I’m so wound up. So pissed. I’m spiraling out of control.

I pull my phone out of my pocket and look up my mother’s number. My finger hovers over it for a few seconds as I think about what I would say to her. That I would finally tell her what I think of her, but instead, I close out the screen and throw it to the floor. She would just hang up on me before I could get the words out, and that would just piss me off more.

“We’re here,” Milton announces, and I climb out of the back seat.

“Hello, Mr. O’Kane,” a man says as I enter Talia’s. I’ve seen him before but don’t remember his name.

I nod. “Hello …?”

“Thomas.”

Ah, yes, Ashlyn has told me about him before. “Where’s Ashlyn?” I ask.

His face falls, and I catch it before he can mask it. “Uh …” He looks around as if at a loss. Then his eyes meet mine, and he sighs. “She isn’t coming in today.”

“Not coming in?” I take a step toward him, and he takes a step back. “I just dropped her off here thirty minutes ago,” I snap.

He nods. “Yes, but then she left.”

I take another step toward him, not in the mood to be fucked with. “Where did she go?”

His shoulders slump. “She went to a meeting.”

“Where at?” I growl. Is it a top secret meeting for NASA? Why in the hell is it like pulling teeth to find out where my girlfriend is?

“She went to the Belvedere Hotel,” he finally says

“Thomas,” I growl, “I’m in no mood to play games. So you said she left for a meeting and then you tell me she’s at Belvedere.” He nods quickly. “Explain.”

“She has a meeting at the restaurant in the hotel.”

“Why was that so hard?” I ask and slap him on the shoulder.

“Belvedere Hotel,” I tell Milton as I get into the back of the Escalade again.

I try calling her twice but get voicemail both times. Just as we pull up to the hotel, I see her coming out, wearing a smile on her face. She comes to a stop and turns to her right and shakes the hand of a man dressed in a black suit with a bright yellow button up. He pulls her in for a hug.

My anger rises more than I thought possible. I’m out of the door before the Escalade comes to a complete stop.

I square my shoulders as I approach them. “Ashlyn.”

She pushes the guy away from her at the sound of my voice and spins around to face me. “Ryder?” she squeaks. “What are you doing here?”

Walking up to her, I take her in my arms and give her a long kiss on her lips. It’s totally a douche move, but at this point, I couldn’t care less. I want to show whoever this man is to my right that she’s mine. Pulling away, she stumbles a bit and I finally turn my attention to the man staring at me with narrowed brown eyes.

“Ryder O’Kane,” I say, reaching out my hand to him.

“I’m very aware of who you are,” he says in an annoyed voice. And I notice he places his hands in his pockets instead of shaking mine.

“Well, I don’t know who the hell you are.”

“Ryder,” Ashlyn snaps. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Coats,” she says, turning to him.

“It’s quite all right, Ashlyn.” He says her name with a smile on his face, and I fist my hands down by my side. Turning to face her, as if I’m not standing here, he gives her a bright smile. “I hope to hear from you soon, Ashlyn.” Then he looks at me. “We would love to have you in Seattle.” He walks off.

I whirl around on her. “What the fuck does he mean by Seattle?”

ASHLYN

Shit! How did he find me? “Ryder …” His name comes out a little rough, so I clear my throat. “I can explain.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard you say that one before,” he snaps.

I let out a long breath. “How did you find me?”

“Really? I catch you at a hotel with another man, and you ask how I found you?” he asks with wide eyes.

My mouth falls open. “Don’t go there, Ryder. You know damn well I wouldn’t do that,” I snap.

He takes a step back and runs a hand through his hair as he lets out a long breath. “I know,” he says softly. “I just …” He trails off. “What’s going on, babe?” he asks confused.

I lick my lips as I look around, and Milton catches my eye by Ryder’s Escalade. “Come on. We both need to get back to work,” I say, taking his hand.

“Thomas said you were talking the day off.”

So that’s how he found out. “Well, I’m not. I’ll explain on the way.” I don’t miss the fact that his hand is shaking in mine. I know something else is going on other than finding me here.

Once in the Escalade, I turn to face him. “We had a meeting at work on Monday, and your father was wrong.”

He snorts. “About so many things.”

I ignore that because I don’t know what he’s talking about. “Talia’s has been sold.”

He starts shaking his head. “No—”

“Yes,” I interrupt him. “When I questioned the details, she said she could not disclose them. Why didn’t you tell me that you bought them?”

“No!” he says, shifting in his seat. “I am the one dealing with the Anderson file, and it hasn’t even gone to auction yet. The date is still out a month …”

“No, babe.” I shake my head. “I’m not a hundred percent sure when the date is set for, but it’s done with.”

“Who bought it?” he growls.

“They wouldn’t tell us,” I say, lowering my head.

“How long do you have?” he demands.

“The doors close after today.”

His hand softly grabs my chin, and he lifts my head to where I have to look up at him. “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asks, his brows pulling together.

“I wanted to. But you came home and had just found out about Maggie …” He closes his eyes and sighs. “Ever since then, things have been nothing short of chaos.” We both know that he hasn’t been in the best of moods since he took over the company and found out about his little sister. Me losing my job was the last thing he needed to worry about.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispers, looking back at me. “But that doesn’t explain why that guy mentioned Seattle.”

I take my hand from his. “He runs the Mason Gallery here in town, and Thomas was able to get a job there. So he got me an interview. But they aren’t hiring anyone else. But they do have a spot open in their sister gallery in Seattle—”

“Absolutely not!” he interrupts me.

“Let me finish,” I snap.

His jaw is set in a hard line, and he turns to look straight ahead, staring at Milton’s head as if he can really see where we are going. “I told him no.”

He turns back to face me. I reach out and grab his hands in mine. “I told you I love you. I told you that I’m all in. Hell, I moved in with you, and you still doubt how I feel?” I ask in complete disbelief. “When did the roles reverse?” I ask, trying to smile and lighten the mood.

He sighs. “Babe.”

“I’m trying not to make things more difficult for you, Ryder, but you’re making things hard for me. I’m trying to handle this on my own, so it’s one less thing you have to worry about. Please, trust me.”

“No,” he says.

“No?”

He gives me a soft smile. “No,” he repeats as he cups my face. “I won’t let you do it on your own because part of my job is to take care of you. And I hate that you didn’t come to me.”

I shrug. “I just thought you bought Talia’s and forgot to tell me through all the chaos.”

“But I didn’t buy it. But you can bet your ass I’m gonna find out who did,” he assures me. “I will find you another job.”

I sigh. “I’ve been calling for days now, and no one is even hiring. Thomas told me today that it’s bad. In his search for another job, he was informed that other galleries are closing as well. That due to the easy access of internet, no one is going to the galleries anymore. They prefer to buy them from their phones or at home from their computer. He just happened to get lucky.”

“We’re here, Mr. O’Kane,” Milton announces.

“Give us a second,” he calls out.

Milton doesn’t respond, but I watch him get out and stand over on the sidewalk in front of Talia’s. I turn my attention back to Ryder, and he leans close to me. “Don’t worry about anything. Okay? I will take care of it. I promise.” I open my mouth to argue, but he places his finger over my lips. “The only words I want to hear are yes, Ryder.”

I laugh and pull away from his finger. “Yes, Ryder,” I say with a smile. It’s crazy how this man can make me happy when I should be freaking out.

“Okay, so I lied. I want to hear one other thing,” he admits.

“What is that?”

“I love you.”

I wrap my arms around his neck and place my forehead on his. “I love you.”

His hands slide up my ribs, and he gently presses his lips to mine. “You’re mine, baby.” I nod then give him a kiss of my own. “And I take care of what is mine.”