I was looking at the fantastic view of New York from Cross Magnates’ glass wall. My pulse was hammering, and I felt that familiar heavy lump in my chest. A surge of emotions was raging inside me. I recognized the strongest of them all. Pain. I smiled to myself. I welcomed it. It was my very old friend.
But I had to let it go. Along with its best friend—Anger. For years, these two had kept me company all throughout my miserable nights. But I didn’t need them now. My entire life had changed. My days were no longer cold and my nights were no longer lonely. Now, I had sunshine and warmth. Pain and anger need not be my company.
I had joy and love.
I had Brianne.
My heart swelled at the mere thought of her name. I remembered many years ago when I was just ten years old and my best friend introduced me to the cutest girl I’d ever seen. She was wearing a white sleeveless top and a pair of lime green shorts. Her long hair was braided on both sides of her face. She had a pair of green hoop earrings. Her face was emotionless when her brother introduced us. I extended my hand to hers.
“Cherie,” I greeted her, not letting my friend realize that I was somehow star-struck with his sister.
The girl raised a brow and then turned her back on me. Feisty, I thought to myself. And I think I liked her even more after that.
I grew closer and closer to her family. She grew more and more beautiful to me. But Tom was more than a friend to me. He became a brother. And I knew there was this Bro Code shit that said you weren’t supposed to screw your best friend’s sister. Well…not that I want to ‘screw’ Brianne. She was not the type of girl you just had fun with. She was special. Everything I wanted in a girl was rolled into her. And that was probably the only thing I didn’t like about my friendship with her brother.
“Seriously, dude, your sister is gorgeous…” I decided to test the waters with Tom one day. He didn’t go out much. Who knew? Maybe he hadn’t heard of the Bro Code before.
“Shut up!” Tom scolded me. “Stay away from my sister, Travis. She’s not like one of your girls. She’s off-limits! Especially to you.”
I heaved a sigh of disappointment. “I know. Kills me,” I murmured to myself and hoped Tom didn’t hear.
One night, she came home from a party. She was so scared that her parents would be disappointed in her. I pulled her to my room. I was teasing her. It was the first time I held her in my arms and leaned my body against hers. And I wished I hadn’t! She was soft like velvet. She smelled of strawberries. And she trembled against my touch.
When I grazed my nose against the base of her neck, I felt her knees buckle. I was pretty sure she would fall flat on the floor if I wasn’t holding her. She was sensitive on that part. Damn! I didn’t have to know that.
I reminded myself over and over. Forbidden. But I would give my life just to have a taste…a moment. Her hatred toward me provided me with comfort. The way she repelled me kept me at bay, provided a reminder that I couldn’t have her no matter how much I wanted her.
The day she rode in my car on the way to the lake house, I could feel her presence charge the air around me, her scent fill my senses, intoxicating me. She fell asleep beside me and I could see the goosebumps on her arm. I had to fight to keep my eyes on the road.
Tom was driving behind me with their parents. He was driving very slowly. He didn’t like to drive even half a mile over the speed limit. And I was getting sleepy driving so slowly. Brianne was feeling cold beside me, but she was sleeping like an angel.
I stepped on the pedal and drove way ahead of Tom. I knew it would take time for him to catch up with me. When I rounded a street, I stopped on the side of the road. This gave me time to recline Brianne’s seat and to drape a jacket over her to make her feel warmer. I pushed a lock of hair away from her face and I watched her as she slept. If peace had a face, it would look like this, I was sure. From the rearview mirror, I saw Tom approaching. I reluctantly tore my gaze away from Brianne’s sleeping form and started to drive again, this time at Tom’s very slow pace.
Later, he asked me why I’d sped up, and as an excuse, I told him that I needed an adrenaline rush because his driving was sending me to dreamland. Now, I find it quite ironic that Tom would die in a car crash just a few weeks after that trip.
I thought I was numb with pain all my life. Both physical and emotional. I didn’t have a happy home and I didn’t give a shit anymore. But that last time I spoke to my best friend, I realized what pain really was.
He was physically damaged, and he knew it. Guilt was gnawing my insides, and I thought I would throw up blood on the floor. And more than that, I wanted to kill my old man for causing all this.
“It’s not your fault…Travis,” Tom had said to me. “Do. Not. Blame. Yourself.” I gathered that he was trying to be firm…trying to be the big brother, as always.
Tears welled up in my eyes then. I was on the verge of breaking down. My carefully built cold façade was crumbling. I loved this guy! He was my brother. He was the only one who looked out for me those last few years.
“I want you to promise not to tell my family about this, Travis.”
My eyes widened in protest. I shook my head. “No, Tom. I will take responsibility! I was stubborn. I was stupid!”
He slowly shook his head. “They will need you, Travis. We both know I’m gone.” He struggled to take a deep breath. “My sister will need you. And I can’t let her hate you. If she knew what happened, she would get mad at you. And you won’t be able to do what I’m going to ask you to do.”
I stared at him. “And what is that?”
He took another deep breath and tried to compose his sentences. “My parents have been pretending to be okay…for a while. I’m not stupid. My father is having…an affair. One day…they will drift apart. It’s only a matter of time. Brianne can’t be alone. She will need someone…to be there for her…to look out for her…the way I would…if I could. Promise me you will take care of her, bro. Promise me…you will always be there for her. You will do what I would have done. You will take my place in her life. Make sure that she will never be alone…after I’m gone… and for the rest of her life.”
“Tom…for years you told me to stay away from her!” I protested. “Man…I’m not a saint! And now…are you saying I need to intertwine my life with hers?”
He took a deep breath. “No, I’m saying you take care of her without ever seeing her again!” I couldn’t believe he’d still managed to go for sarcasm. I raised a brow at him. Tom heaved another sigh. “Yes, Travis. I want you to make me a lifetime promise. Make sure that Brianne is safe…and taken care of.”
“Tom…I don’t know if I can do that. I can barely look out for myself,” I said in a weak voice.
He shook his head. “I may be older than you, but you’re the ‘adult’ between the two of us, remember?” Right! He had to remind me that I was emancipated and could do whatever I wanted to do. My emancipation didn’t make me feel lucky or privileged. It had always made me feel…abandoned. “No one would be able to take care of Brianne better than you. I know you, Travis. And I know you care about her more than you show. I know you can…and will do this.”
Then he raised his pinky at me. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I tried my best not to cry…not in front of him. I hooked my pinky with his.
In spite of myself, I remembered how difficult it was for me to do what he asked me to do. How difficult it would be for me to take his place… as Brianne’s big brother. Because I never saw Brianne as a sister. “Tom…are you also asking me to promise you not to… want her?”
He stared at me for a moment. Then he sighed, “Try your best to control yourself, okay?”
I was disappointed. In a way, I wanted him to give me his blessing. For sure he knew how I’d felt for Brianne throughout those years.
“And if I can’t?” I asked quietly.
He didn’t answer. We were interrupted by the doctors. When I got up to leave the room, I looked back at him, and I thought I saw a smile on his face. Back then, I didn’t know what he was smiling about. I dismissed it and thought that he was forbidding me to go after what I felt for his sister. But it all made sense to me now, and I felt my heart swell with gratitude and joy.
Tom wanted Brianne and me to be together. That’s why he’d asked me to make him a lifetime promise. He knew I loved his sister and could take care of her better than any guy. But I was young and reckless then. She was too beautiful and innocent. We had a lot of years ahead of us. We had so much to learn from life. If I’d gone for Brianne then, we wouldn’t have made it this far. Tom wanted us to love each other as friends first…and nurture that relationship over the years…to strengthen us. He wanted us to be together…at the right time. So no matter what storm came our way later, we’d survive through it. Our love would be deeply rooted.
And he was right. Brianne and I had been through a lot. But it never even crossed my mind to give her up. I dismissed what I felt for her because I thought Tom wouldn’t want that. But in the end, I was only human. And I went after the one thing I wanted in my life. The one thing I had been depriving myself of for years. The one thing I knew would make me complete.
Now, I felt none of the guilt. I knew that if Tom were alive, he would be the happiest person on Earth because his sister and his best friend were together…bound not just by marriage…but by deep friendship and everlasting love.
And now…I had our whole lives to look forward to. Brianne was so sad that we couldn’t have a baby, but I would not allow her to feel she wasn’t enough for me. Because she was. She had always been.
And today…I would prove that to her. I was done wearing a mask in front of her. I was done running away from her every time I got scared that I would hurt her…or lose her. I made a promise to myself that I would trust her and our love. I knew that she would fight for me, the same way that I would always fight fate for her. Brianne and I were a single unit now. She would be there for me like I would always be there for her. She would be strong for me, the way I was always trying to be strong for her.
She had given herself fully to me. I had to do the same to her. And because of that, I had to do what had to be done. So I could be free of my past. So I could finally give my whole self to her…me minus the pain, anger, and hatred. Brianne deserved nothing less than joy and love.
I heard the door open behind me, followed by a series of footsteps. I didn’t turn around immediately. I tried to control the emotions raging inside me. He couldn’t know what I was thinking about and what I was feeling. More than anything, he couldn’t know what made me change my mind…and who lived there inside the confines of my heart. The more I shielded her from him, the safer she was going to be. I never trusted him, my whole life. I was not going to start now. But that didn’t mean I would keep fighting this war. I was done. Brianne was right. I needed to walk away.
When I turned around to face the man I loathed the most, my face was the same way it had always been—stoic.
He sat on the leather chair directly opposite from where I was standing.
His face was weary. There were dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept in days. He looked down at the papers in front of him, pretending to read something, but I knew better. He was trying to compose his lines, preparing to swallow his pride. He was left without an option but to sell to me. He needed the money. I had it. He needed me. But he didn’t know how to say it. Moreover, he was wondering how the boy he had abused over the years had managed to take him out of his game.
He opened his mouth to speak.
“Save it,” I said in stone-cold voice. I took the stack of papers in front of me and handed it to Karl. Karl took it to him.
“Those are your loans. I paid off all the interests and restructured them. That buys you at least four years to get your act together,” I said as he schemed through the papers in front of him.
Karl handed him another set of papers. “In there you will find the transfer papers. I sold off twenty percent of my shares to your company to external shareholders. You will find the transfer of the remaining fifteen percent to your name.”
He scanned through all the papers, as if he was unable to believe what he was seeing.
Then finally, he stared at me. “And you will keep only five percent?”
I shook my head. “Oh no,” I replied. “I want nothing to do with your company anymore. I transferred it to the name of an orphanage, so they will get a percentage of your annual profits. I figured you could use good publicity to dig you out of the hole you were in.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Why would you do this?”
I had taken a deep breath before I answered. “I don’t want anything to do with you or your company. So long as you stay away from me and anything that has to do with me.” Then I motioned to Karl. It was time to go.
I walked past the old man and his hounds without another word.
“She made you do this, didn’t she?” he said just before I reached the door. When I took in what he’d said, I felt my blood boil inside me and all the hairs on my body rise up. “She is an exquisite woman.”
I turned back to him. My face was not stoic at all.
He smiled slowly. “I met my daughter-in-law. That’s why I was late for our meeting.”
In a few strides, I was on him, holding him by the collar.
“Travis!” Karl screamed. My father’s bodyguards were on me, pulling me away from my father, preventing me from murdering him with my bare hands.
Surprisingly, he remained calm. He looked at his bodyguards. “Leave us,” he said in a commanding voice.
The two men hesitated at first but walked out of the room when he gave them a reassuring nod. Karl walked out of the room, too.
I stood opposite him, with balled fists and blazing eyes.
“Relax, son,” he said. “I didn’t do anything. She’s safe and alive.” I raised a brow at him. He sighed and sat back in his chair. “I have known about the Montgomerys ever since you were ten, Travis. Don’t take me for a fool. I know how important Thomas was to you, and now, don’t even think I don’t know how much you love his sister. You’ve always been in love with her. And now, she’s your wife. Nothing about you escapes my radar.”
I was a little surprised about what he said, but I kept myself from moving toward him. I was afraid I would not be able to stop myself from committing murder once I was less than a foot away.
“Today, I went to her mother’s art gallery,” he said. “I was wondering when you would introduce us. I figured you never would.”
“You’re damn right about that!” I muttered.
“She was gracious even though she was aware of how broken our relationship was. From the first minute of meeting her, I understood why you would fall for her charms. She compliments you in many ways. She is what you needed…” He took a deep breath. “After all the things I put you through.”
That didn’t come as a surprise to me. It came as a shock!
When he looked at me again, I thought I saw tears in his eyes. “Travis…to say that I have been a terrible father is probably an understatement,” he said. “I broke you in so many ways. And I am sorry, son.” He took a deep breath and tried to compose his sentences while I stood there, open-mouthed. “I was set to give you my company today. You’ve earned it. All your life, it seems I have been preparing you to be worthy of taking over my company…everything that I have worked for. You’ve exceeded my expectations…far beyond my imagination. You are an outstanding man…any father would be proud to have a son like you. I made you tough and ruthless…which made you successful in business. But unlike me…you have a heart…and soul. And I know I have your wife to thank for that. And that’s why I went to see her. I wanted to meet the woman that made my son who he is now…which is more than what a father could ever ask for.”
I stood there looking at him as if he had just lost his mind.
“I pushed you and trained you to be tough and wise…the only way I knew…the way I was trained by my father. But you became a better man than I was,” he said. “Your wife taught you how to use your heart.” He took a deep breath. “I know you will never forgive me for all that I have done to you. But I vow…I will no longer try to destroy you or damage you in any way. I promise you that. And if forgiveness brings us together…I will be forever thankful.”
We stood there for the next five minutes. I was trying to process what he said. For years, I had waited for my old man to change. What had happened to him now? Was he dying? I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was and that was why he was doing this. I just found it so hard to believe that he would do this…just because he was…truly sorry.
I backed away from him, un-balled my fists and put them in my pockets.
“I don’t know if I can ever forgive you,” I said quietly. “But I only ask one thing from you now.”
He looked up at me…his eyes hopeful. “Anything, son.”
I took a deep breath. In a cold, sober voice I said, “Stay away from my wife!” My voice was low, but the venom and threat it carried was enough to make him stare back at me in surprise.
I raised a brow at him. He studied my expression for a moment and realized that I was dead serious. He took a deep breath and said, “No harm from me will come her way, I promise you that. In fact, I will do everything in my power to keep her safe…if she’s the only thing that will keep you sane…if she’s my only hope for your forgiveness.”
“I won’t let you use her!” I growled.
He smiled confidently, to my surprise. “I don’t have to. I am sure that with her by your side, you will learn to believe how truly sorry I am for everything that I did to you.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why…why are you doing this?”
He sighed. “I…I have cancer, son.” He said. “I have…a few years ahead of me. I am working to fix my relationships…rectify all the damage that I have done. Starting with you. I stayed away from Brianne these years. I didn’t touch her no matter how important she was to you, and even though I know that getting to her would get through your thick skull the fastest…I let her be. I figured…I had been so tough, and our family had been so broken…you deserved something good in your life. Somebody who could still make you feel loved.”
“Do you think that makes me feel grateful? Or sympathetic toward you?” I asked, keeping my face stoic once again.
He stared at me thoughtfully. “I don’t expect anything from you. I know I don’t deserve it. But I hope you can…give me a chance. And when the time comes, make me a part of your…children’s lives.”
I raised a brow at him. “Brianne is…we can’t have kids,” I said bluntly. “And I’m okay with that. In a way, I find comfort in knowing that your genes need not be passed on. It stops with me.”
I don’t know if I imagined it. But I thought I saw sadness in the man’s eyes. Well, did he honestly think I could forgive him or trust him that easily? The damage he did to my soul was far too deep. If I didn’t have Brianne in my life, I would have been as soulless as he was.
He took a deep breath and stared at me with eyes so similar to mine. “I will accept your offer, only for one reason,” he said. “To turn this company around…back to its former glory. I will not leave it in ruins. And in the end, I will give it back to you. You are still my heir, Travis. You cannot change that. So when I go…you have to take this company…this is, after all, my legacy. And you can choose whatever you want to do with it. But it is yours, son…whether you like it or not.”
I stared back at him. I tried to assess whether he was serious. Whether he really was trying to change. Had his cancer changed him? Was he truly sorry for all the monstrous things he’d put me through in my life?
“What kind of cancer do you have?” I asked.
He took a deep breath. “Liver. But that’s the least of your concerns. I have the best medical team on my case. My main goal now…is to fix whatever damage I might leave behind once my treatments fail.”
“You mean you’re cleaning up your mess?”
He sighed and nodded. “Yes. And I’m starting with you.”
I gave him a hard look. Something inside my chest seemed to be tugging at me, poking me from inside… annoying me to no end. I didn’t want to feel anything for this man. He’d done nothing but hurt me and break me all my life. And I could not trust him.
I took a deep breath. “Good luck with that,” I muttered, and then I spun on my heel. Before I left, I turned back to him again. “And I mean it. I will stay out of your way from now on. Stay out of mine. And leave my wife out of the picture. You said she was the only one who kept my soul anchored to my body. You’re right. You won’t like me at all when she’s not in my life.” And I left.
I kept my silence all throughout the ride home. My emotions were raging inside me. I could still feel pain and anger. But now…something else was there. Something I couldn’t place or name. And I didn’t like that feeling at all…especially not for my old man, who was the cause of all my troubles…one of the reasons why Tom was taken away from Brianne and me.
When I reached home, I found Brianne standing on the balcony. She was holding a glass of juice, and she was looking out at the view, lost in her thoughts.
“Brianne,” I called her. She didn’t turn around as if she didn’t hear me at all. “Brianne!” I called a little louder.
She spun around, almost startled to hear me. “Travis.”
I assessed her expression. Did she look scared? Did her meeting with my father terrify her? Did he threaten her?
But she smiled, placed the glass on the table, and immediately hugged me. I breathed in the scent of her. Her touch warmed me every single time—no woman had ever done that to me.
Then she looked up at me, wearing a nervous expression on her face. I already knew what she was nervous about.
“Your father…came to the gallery,” she said. “He…spoke to me.”
I nodded. “What exactly did he say to you?”
She shrugged. “He just said it was lovely to finally meet me. He thanked me for always being there for you. And he gave me…this.” She pulled away from me, pointing at the box that was sitting on the table.
It was a large wooden box. She opened it to show me its contents. I’d already known what that was. It was a whole set of diamond and sapphire jewelry that had been in my father’s family for at least four generations, passed on to the women their men chose to marry. The last person who’d worn it was my grandmother…the mother of my father. I’d always wondered why my father never gave it to my mom. But I guessed they hadn’t stay married long enough for my mother to get her chance to wear the Cross family heirlooms. This had to stay inside the family no matter what.
So my father didn’t think my mother deserved this treasure…but Brianne did? I knew she did, but it was a big step coming from my old man.
I smiled at Brianne. But she knew me better now. I knew the questions that she would soon ask.
“The Cross family heirloom,” I said, “has been passed on to the brides of the Cross family for generations. My grandmother wore it last. It skipped my mother. But now…I think it’s my father’s way of telling you that you’re worthy of being the keeper of this treasure now.”
Tears welled up in her eyes. And for the life of me, I couldn’t believe it either, but I felt like crying, too. I closed my eyes and slowly tried to process these new emotions sweeping through me.
My father broke me in unimaginable ways. He’d taken my childhood away from me; he’d never shown me an ounce of respect or love. But now, he was starting to fix things between the two of us. I promised Brianne we would leave all of it behind. Could I really accept him and give him a chance? Could I really forgive him for the numerous ways he’d tried to take my life away from me?
Brianne reached up and touched her lips to mine. I leaned my forehead against hers. When I pulled back and stared into her teary eyes, I saw love, faith, encouragement…hope.
And I realized…I knew what I needed to do.