“It was a gambling debt, okay?” Karina repeated. “A very large one, Miss Drake.”
Sam sank back into his chair. Michael’s brow crooked.
Karina shook her head. Let out a heavy breath.
Scarlet’s stomach plummeted. But she asked, “You couldn’t have just told me that from the onset?”
“No one knew,” Karina said. “Aside from Mitcham. I didn’t want my sons to find out.”
“Mother—”
Karina lifted a hand to cut Sam off. She explained, “I developed a vile and evil addiction not long after that artwork was stolen. I started drinking in the afternoons. Sipping vodka with my Valium. Call it cliché if you must, Miss Drake, but you have no idea, I’m sure, what it’s like to be a waitress living in a horrific neighborhood and doing everything you possibly can to raise a son. Only to fall in love with a man of Mitcham Vandenberg’s caliber. He moved me and Sam out here. To a completely different world in so many ways. There were expectations to meet. There were people to convince that I truly did love my husband, and that I wasn’t just after his money. There was pressure, Miss Drake, to fit in.”
Scarlet asked, “You feared you were falling short?”
“Miserably.”
“I’m not calling you cliché,” Scarlet told her. “And you’re right, I don’t understand what you went through. I can comprehend it in my mind, but I can’t fully relate to it.”
“I did everything I could think of,” Karina continued as she toyed with her napkin with her finger and thumb. “I was willing to do anything to prove I was genuine, to be the kind of wife Mitcham deserved, to live up to the image and reputation of his first wife.” Her gaze lifted from the table and landed on Michael. “I know it was a painful situation for you. It all happened so fast.”
“Yes, it did.” Michael sat again with the rest of them. The air in the solarium shifted from tense to dismal.
Karina told him, “I worked in a café close to Mount Sinai. Your father would come in mid-afternoon. He’d order coffee but never drank it. He’d stare out the window toward the hospital, not saying a word. With his frequent visits always around the same time of day, we reached a point where he didn’t even have to ask for the coffee. I just brought it to him. He didn’t have to speak at all, and I could tell he preferred that. He’d just gaze outside, lost in his thoughts. It was perfectly evident to see that he was distraught. Tormented.”
“My mother got ill suddenly,” Michael said. “Died quickly.”
Karina nodded. “After a couple of weeks, I noticed a change in him. The tear in his eye as he stared out the window. Just one. It’d pop up on the rim and he’d whisk it away before it fell. Then his entire demeanor would turn rigid. His jaw would clench and his fists would ball on the table, next to his untouched coffee. He’d take a few deep breaths, and then he was composed again. On the outside, at least.”
Scarlet stared at the woman, seeing Karina’s turmoil as much as Karina had witnessed, become wrapped up in, the turmoil of the stranger in her café.
Karina’s eyes misted as she said, “I didn’t know who he was, but I could tell he was a strong, prideful man. From the way he dressed to the way his shoulders were always squared, no matter the hell playing out in his mind. In his life. I didn’t doubt that he felt out of control of this situation that I knew nothing about and it tore him up.” She paused a moment, sniffled, then told them, “It tore me up, too. I didn’t even know him, but I was heartbroken for him.”
“That was very compassionate of you,” Scarlet said in a soft voice.
Karina dabbed the corners of her eyes with her napkin. “I wondered when he’d stop coming in, but every day he continued to show up. After a month or so, he appeared a little less wrecked. Not quite so angry. He started drinking his coffee. Glancing around the café, I guess really seeing it for the first time. Really seeing me for the first time. One day, he smiled. Not a full one. Just enough to express gratitude that I’d respected his space, his privacy. That I’d been there for him, in a sense.”
“I appreciate that,” Michael said her.
“I liked his quiet strength, his commanding presence, in the obvious face of tragedy,” Karina explained. “I didn’t speculate about what he did for a living or who he was. I was curious, of course. But mostly I was interested in what had brought him in that very first day and why he kept coming back.”
“So you eventually asked him,” Scarlet ventured.
“No. He was the one to start the conversation. I was about to take my break before a double shift started and he asked if I’d sit with him. He wanted to buy me a coffee. And a slice of pie.” She grinned, albeit shakily. “He said I looked like I could use more than one slice. I was rail thin back then, and I’m sure he could tell I couldn’t afford to splurge on dessert.”
Scarlet did not miss the shame that crossed the other woman’s beautifully made up face. The shame of being poor, of being a struggling single mother, of living in the hellish neighborhood she’d mentioned, had clearly been emotional baggage she’d brought to the Hamptons. Had not fully rid herself of even fourteen years later.
Scarlet found that intriguing. Karina was a humble woman. One with secrets, certainly. But she’d been fighting her demons since she set foot in this house. That resonated within Scarlet, because she’d witnessed Karina’s son battling his own mental monsters in a home he was supposed to have shared with his wife and child.
Scarlet’s gaze shifted to Sam, who sat stiffly. Perhaps he hadn’t known all of these things about his mother. The shame. The difficulties she’d confronted when moving here. The addictions.
Getting back to that, Scarlet asked, “How did you hide the gambling debt from your husband?”
Karina sipped her mimosa, then said, “I took out a private loan. Not with a bank,” she pointedly added.
“Ah. One of those types of loans.”
“Yes. All very shady-like, but also confidential.”
“Mother.” Sam sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you come to me for the money?”
“Sam.” She shook her head again. “I never wanted you to know any of this. Of course I wouldn’t want you to know. Nor could I ever have asked you for help.”
He started to speak, but Scarlet asked Karina, “What did you use as collateral?” She didn’t want Karina getting sidetracked and drawing this out to be something more painful than it already was.
“The Vandenberg name, of course.”
That would go far, no doubt.
“But you said Mitcham knows,” Scarlet recalled.
Karina went back to fidgeting with her napkin. “I told him about the loan after he handed me the check. The initial debt wouldn’t have made a solid dent in the settlement money, but the substantial interest on the loan tipped the scales.”
“Jesus,” Sam muttered. And resumed his pacing.
Scarlet’s heart went out to him. To Karina, too, for having to reveal this dark truth to her own son. To both of them, really.
Michael draped an arm around Scarlet’s shoulders and asked, “Does that cover all the bases?”
Not wholly. But Scarlet felt she’d done enough damage for the day. She didn’t want to destroy this woman in Michael’s and Sam’s eyes.
She said to Karina, “I appreciate your candor. I know this hasn’t been easy for you, and I apologize for that. Please understand that I’m just doing my job. It’s nothing personal.”
Karina gave her a serious look. “It’s not?” Her gaze flitted from Scarlet, to Michael, and then to Sam.
“I’ve had to question them as well,” Scarlet said. “I haven’t been happy about it, but this is what I do. I have a responsibility to my client.”
“And you’re clearly quite talented in your field. I’m sure you were much easier on me than you would have been under different circumstances.”
Scarlet’s stomach twisted. Now her loyalty was divided. Because it was true. Scarlet would have driven harder from the onset were she not interviewing the mother of the two men she was sleeping with.
But that was another issue to obsess over when all was said and done. When this case was closed, how exactly could she continue her relationship with Michael and Sam? How could she ever return to this house, after the confession she’d forced from Karina, in front of her family?
And for God’s sake, that might not even be a consideration. Because she’d pissed off Sam by being so invasive. By pushing his mother until she’d cracked.
Would he be able to forgive her?
Another concern was how this affected Michael. He appeared quite troubled by the revelation and how it’d come about. Because he hadn’t been so welcoming of his stepmother from the get-go? He hadn’t given her much of a chance to prove herself worthy of his father’s affection and replacing the matriarch of this estate?
Possibly. And now he knew the story of how Karina and Mitcham had fallen in love. The impediments she’d encountered because she’d followed her heart.
It couldn’t have been easy walking through these doors the first time. Scarlet actually could empathize with the woman since she’d felt a similar challenge when she’d sat down to a lovely brunch in the home of a family who had invited her in—and then she’d finagled a bombshell that had left Michael and especially Sam reeling.
Scarlet got to her feet, and Karina did the same. Scarlet shook her hand and said, “I truly am sorry I had to put you on the spot. I hope you’ll—” Scarlet let out a sharp breath. “I have no right to ask for your forgiveness or your understanding. Just please know that I wish I was meeting you all under a different scenario.”
“I can accept that,” Karina graciously allowed.
Over her shoulder, Scarlet asked Michael, “How can I get back to the airport? Should I call a car?”
“Of course not. We’ll take the helicopter.”
“Would it be all right if I stepped into the restroom first?” she asked.
“Out the double doors and to the right.”
She left Michael and Sam with Karina, knowing they’d need a few private minutes with her. From the look on Michael’s face, Scarlet suspected he had an apology to make. And then there was Sam.…
Scarlet had no idea how that interaction between son and mother would play out. In all honesty, that was Sam and Karina’s business.
So Scarlet wasn’t surprised when Michael joined her in the hallway without his stepbrother.
She said, “You don’t have to accompany me back to the city. I’m sure you have other things to take care of.”
“I am going back with you.” He kissed her forehead. “And I want you to stay the night at my apartment. I think it’s important that you do.”
She stared up at him. “After what I just did?”
“Your job? Scarlet, I knew you wouldn’t be satisfied unless you had a chance to speak with Karina. Am I happy that she actually did have something to hide? Hell, no. But on the other hand … This is the first time she’s opened up about her struggles here in this house, in this town. And I’d never heard the story of how she and my father fell in love. My guess is that he never wanted her to discuss it with me, because he wasn’t able to bring himself to talk to me about it. Make no mistake, I heard every word she said. It—”
Michael let out a low growl as sheer agony flashed in his smoky eyes.
He said, “I thought of her as someone who’d taken advantage of a distressing situation. Turns out, all she did was pour the man coffee and let him work out his troubles and the pain inflicted in his head while she quietly stood by, obviously providing some sort of reassuring or comforting presence to a man who was wrecked. Now I have my own debt to pay. I owe her my gratitude.”
Scarlet wound her arms around his neck and held on as he tightly embraced her.
“I feel horrible for upsetting Karina,” she told him. “I wish she wasn’t someone I’d suspected of wrongdoing.”
“I know. And I appreciate that.”
Scarlet buried her face in the crook of his neck, trying to get her bearings, compose herself. It took a while and Michael didn’t rush her in any way. Eventually, she released him and stepped away. “What about Sam?” she asked. “He has to be livid with me. Not to mention shredded by now knowing what his mother has been silently going through all this time.”
“They’re talking. At the moment, he’s mostly concerned that she’s okay. That she realizes this doesn’t make her a bad person in mine or Sam’s eyes. She’s a victim of circumstance, Scarlet. I respect that she’s held her head high no matter the roadblocks and setbacks.”
“I’m glad something good came out of all of this,” Scarlet told him. “Karina doesn’t have to carry the secret around her sons and you see her in a better light. I believe she truly loves your father. And in so many ways, everything she does is to protect him. That’s valiant, even if she did periodically stumble.”
“I can’t dispute any of that. I can, however, admit guilt in not making it easy for her when she first came to live with us.”
“I don’t think she’d want you to harbor any guilt, Michael. She clearly saw the big picture from the beginning. She just wasn’t fully equipped to deal with it all, so she turned to vices in order to cope. She’s not the first, or the last. Sam and I did the same.”
Michael’s expression darkened. “Such as?”
“I’ll explain some other time. What I’m saying is that Karina obviously isn’t proud of her secret behavior and that’s understandable.”
“Yes.” Michael studied Scarlet for several seconds, then said, “Thank you for caring about the people under this roof. Even my father. I could see you were affected by Karina’s story, by the fact that my father actually was emotionally devastated over my mother’s illness and death.”
“As were you. I’m sorry he never talked to you about it.”
“Pride can be a pain in the ass sometimes.”
“I suppose so.” She hugged him again. “I would like to spend the night in your apartment. See where you live. Just … be with you. And Sam.” She gave Michael a hopeful look.
His brow furrowed. “I’d like that, too, but no guarantees, sweetheart. He’s not just disturbed by Karina’s admission; he’s mad as hell at you for pushing her to make it.”
“I don’t doubt that. And I won’t press him about anything. I’ll just be there for him.”
“Sam can be a bit of a hothead when warranted.”
“If he needs to yell at me, then let him yell at me. I don’t perform my investigations without grasping the fact that repercussions are a huge possibility. I wouldn’t be surprised if Sam wanted to have words with me, and I think he deserves the opportunity.”
“Fine. We’ll all go back to Manhattan together, if he consents.”
Scarlet flattened her palm against Michael’s corrugated abs and said, “I hate that I’ve upset everyone, but I’m grateful you understand why I had to come here.” She stretched on tiptoe and swept her lips over his.
“Maybe it was time this all unraveled.”
She knew he was being optimistic. Knew Sam wouldn’t feel the same. Was certain of it when she saw him stalk from the solarium, catch sight of her and Michael, and scowl.
“Sam.” Scarlet moved away from Michael. “I really am sorry.”
“Let’s go,” was all he said. And he marched down the marbled corridor.
Their luggage had already been stored in the helicopter since they’d all packed up before brunch. The tension inside the cabin was grueling. Scarlet sat in one of the chairs across from the sofa, which Michael and Sam occupied. She glanced at one man and then the other. Michael appeared deep in thought. Sam glowered. Perhaps not at her, just in general.
Either way, Scarlet’s insides remained knotted.
She desperately wanted to sit between the two men. Feel their heat and smell their cologne. Revel in their closeness. Cover Sam’s hand with hers and do exactly as Karina had done with Mitcham—be a silent supporter.
She couldn’t quite bring herself to move, though. It’d be audacious and presumptuous on her part. And gut instinct told her that it was much too soon for that.
Thus, the trip into the city was a strained one. When they touched down, a hint of panic crept in on Scarlet.
Sam slung the strap of his bag over his broad shoulder and headed toward the limo awaiting them.
Scarlet gripped Michael’s arm and whispered, “You didn’t say anything to him about going to your apartment.”
“You need to be the one to ask him.”
She gaped.
Michael said, “This is mostly between the two of you. Just don’t forget that his temper might flare.”
“I’m not afraid of his temper,” Scarlet said. “He’d never hurt me. But I hurt him.”
“Yes.”
She cringed inwardly. “I’d love to say that wasn’t my intention, but I knew going into this that it comes with the territory. The possibility existed.”
Damn it.
They all climbed into the limo, with Scarlet in the middle. She turned to Sam and said, “Michael would like to talk. And so would I. Will you go to his apartment with us?”
“I have a flight to catch, Scarlet. There’s a birthday party I’m supposed to be at tonight.”
She shot a look over her shoulder at Michael. His chin hitched, telling her to press on.
Returning her attention to Sam, she tried to engage him once more. “I won’t lie that I was hoping for a piece to the puzzle when I spoke with your mother. But I most certainly was not hoping to reveal something you’d find disconcerting. You or Michael.”
“She fought a battle she told no one about, Scarlet,” Sam said. “At least, not until she’d started gambling and had dug a huge hole for herself. She kept it all inside, covered it all up.”
“Yes,” Scarlet said. “She’s been carrying around a lot of guilt and shame and the fear and reality of not being accepted. The inadequate feelings didn’t just go away once she had a ring on her finger, and chances are very good that’s because Mitcham had married her so quickly, she had a not-so-savory background, and she had to compete with Lindsay Vandenberg’s ghost.”
“Scarlet,” Sam hissed.
“What?” she insisted. “I can’t say that out loud? After all, Sam, I had to compete with Cassidy’s ghost until you caved to what you were feeling for me.”
“Yes. I know.” He stared out the window.
Michael, ever the voice of reason, suggested, “Maybe we all need a drink and a few minutes to process.”
Scarlet crossed her arms over her chest. She contritely said, “I have trouble letting things like this go. I stew over them. I apologize, but you have to realize that this is who I am.”
“No one’s putting the blame on you, Scarlet,” Michael told her. “It’s not an ideal situation, no question about it. But let’s face facts. All three of us knew what we were getting into when we started this affair. It’s been no secret that you’re looking for answers to solve a crime. Neither Sam nor I have had those answers. Karina doesn’t, either. My father won’t have anything new to impart since his wife made her confession. I get that you still feel there’s an avenue to pursue, and while Sam and I would prefer you close the vein, we can’t be upset with you for keeping your investigative options open.”
Sam’s head whipped around and he said, “He’s right. But, goddamn it. I am pissed.”
She nodded. “I think you have the right to be. I put your mother on the stand. I made her admit something I’m sure she never wanted her sons to know.” Scarlet looked at Michael. “She’s held herself accountable for her actions. She told her husband about her addictions. About the trouble she’d gotten herself into. Frankly, I admire that. I like Karina. Does it mean I’m done with my work?” She groaned. “I want to say yes. With every fiber of my being. I swear it.”
Sam radiated disgruntlement. Scarlet couldn’t begrudge him that. They rode the remainder of the way in silence. Traveled to the Tribeca district of Manhattan. They took the elevator up to the top of Michael’s apartment building. Scarlet admired the stylish décor and the panoramic skyline views, a nice distraction from her inner turmoil.
Silvery moonlight filtered in through the unadorned windows. A few lamps were set on a dim up-glow in the corners. The entire atmosphere was shadowy and seductive. As Scarlet gazed out of the tall glass panes, Michael stole behind her.
“What can I pour you?”
“Nothing at the moment, thanks.” She turned to him and pressed her mouth to his. Their lips parted a breath later and she kissed him with a mea culpa riding the wave of desire.
When they pulled away, Michael said, “Sam’s going to have a different perspective.”
She went to him as he stood by the gas fireplace that he’d flipped on. Splaying her hands over his pecs, she said, “Be angry with me all you want, as much as you need.”
“Until it’s out of my system?” he asked in a low, husky voice.
“If that’s possible.”
“I warned you once about carte blanche.”
“And I let you take it.”
“Scarlet.” His jaw set. His cerulean eyes deepened in color.
“I hurt you,” she told him. “I feel horrible about that. But I know you won’t retaliate. You won’t hurt me.”
“I’ll try not to.” He took her hand and led her to a desk set at an angle in the corner. He jerked the chair away and positioned her in front of the smoky glass top. He shoved her skirt up to her waist with no prelude. Whisked her sweater over her head. Guided her to bend over the smooth surface. From behind her, Scarlet heard the unfastening of his belt and the gliding of his zipper down its track on his dress pants.
He hooked an arm at the crook of her leg and lifted her thigh, so that her knee rested on the desk. His hand slid along her inner thigh to her apex. He stroked her folds, then her clit. Until she was wet and ready for him. Then he thrust into her from behind.
Hard and fast.
His palm flattened against the middle of her back so that she was pinioned to the glass top. His other hand was still between her legs and he massaged the swollen knot of nerves while he plunged into her. Drove quickly and forcefully.
Scarlet’s breath was labored, erratic. Sam pushed deep into her, aggressively, the way Michael tended to do. It was exhilarating. His pumps were filled with angst and lust. An erotic, powerful combination. One that heightened her arousal.
From the opposite side of the desk, Michael watched. He was hard and wanting her, too. But Sam had his frustration, his irritation, his passion, to take out on her first.
His cock stroked feverishly and he kept his hand at her back, kept her in place so that she couldn’t move. Just had to take what he gave her.
And that was a sensational feeling. Succumbing to him. Absorbing his emotions, his dark need.
“Yes,” she whispered as he pushed her higher. “Fuck me. Come inside me.”
His rugged features were stormy. But as furious as he was, his desire for her seemed to be overriding everything else. Because he could have simply taken what he’d wanted from her and been done with her. He wasn’t just reaching for his own release, though. He clearly needed to spark hers as well.
He thrust wildly, stroking wickedly until Scarlet’s raspy moans echoed around them.
“Make her come,” Michael insisted, his tone tight as he watched his stepbrother thrust into her.
“Yes,” Scarlet pleaded.
Sam’s pumps were short and rapid. Two fingers massaged her clit. Scarlet continued to gaze at him over her shoulder, caught in the hunger, the urgency, exuding from him. He could be mad as hell at her, but she could see he easily got fully, completely caught up in her.
“Scarlet,” he murmured. His expression softened. He removed his hand from her back and instead leaned over her. He kissed her. Sweetly, yet fiercely. And she fell apart for him, the climax flowing through her, making her shudder.
Sam broke the kiss and pressed his forehead to her temple. “Yes,” he whispered. “Oh, fuck, yes.”
She felt the tremors in his legs. Felt him drain himself inside her. Felt the anger lessen.
And very acutely felt their emotional bond strengthening.
He forgives me.