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“Thank you?” Aileen scowled. “You didn’t do anything. It was all Daveed’s father.” She rounded on Heath, all her pent-up frustrations erupting with volcanic ferocity. “And you!”
Heath frowned and backed away, holding his hands up in surrender. “Look, I’m sorry about how things went down in the senator’s hotel room. I owe you an explanation and—”
“You owe me a hell of a lot more than that, buddy!” She advanced on him, finger poking into his chest for emphasis. “You betrayed me. You gave away all my hard-earned research like it was worthless trash. You made me believe that you actually cared about me, gave me gifts, complimented me, shared my damned bed. And then that’s how you end it? You son-of-a—”
“You slept with my goddamned sister?” Murphy yelled, his good humor vanishing into rage. “I swear to God, Heath, I’m going to fucking kill you!”
“Stop it!” Aileen screamed at her brother. “I’m a grown adult woman. You don’t dictate to me how I live my life or who I go to bed with. Understand?”
“Aileen, I did care about you. I still do. I—” Heath started.
“Don’t give me your pretty lies. They don’t mean a thing,” she snapped, snarling at him again. “What you did in that hotel room made me doubt everything, did you know that? Who I am, what I do. Hell, I even considered resigning from the newspaper because of what you did.” Aileen blinked hard against the sting of tears. She wouldn’t cry. Not here. Not now. Not in front of this man who’d already gotten way more of her tears and time and devotion than he deserved. And yes, maybe she did still love him. She’d get over it, eventually. “And now you waltz in here and say everything’s fixed and expect me to just forgive you? Well, fuck you, Heath Goldwin. Fuck you and your family name. Because that’s obviously what’s most important to you, isn’t it? Screw the MacLeans and all those poor people who could lose their life savings.”
“Actually,” Daveed said from his seat on the sofa, still calm as an oasis. “The current stockholders stand to make a good profit on the sale of the company and my father’s Minister of Energy plans to invest more funds into researching this bogus invention the company was touting to see if they can actually make it a viable energy source.”
Some of the wind left Aileen’s sails and she looked back at Heath. “Fine. But that still doesn’t excuse your behavior in that hotel room.” Her nose twitched with the effort of restraining herself from punching him, her heart raw with pain. “How could you hand all that information over? You knew how hard I worked to get that, how much that story meant to me. And now it’s gone. You bastard.”
“Darling, I’m so sorry.” Heath laid a tentative hand on her shoulder. “I should have told you about having Daveed hack into your files, but when this whole thing started I wasn’t sure I could trust you, then later, after what happened between us, I didn’t know how to tell you for fear it would all end and I’d lose you.” Heath’s big shoulders slumped. “And now, that’s exactly what happened anyway.”
“Don’t touch her, dammit!” Murphy growled, still upset. “You and I, we’re gonna have words after this, dude.”
“Leave him alone!” Aileen said, giving her brother a look. “I told you. It’s my business, no one else’s. Including yours. You didn’t ask my permission to run off with Daveed’s ex and fall in love, did you? No, you didn’t. So, please stay out of this and mind your own business, all right? Who I chose to fall in love with is my problem, no one else’s.”
Murphy snapped his mouth shut and sagged back into his chair and Aileen faced Heath again, only to find the color drained from his tanned cheeks and his eyes wide.
“What did you say?” Heath’s question was hesitant, totally unlike his usual bossy demeanor.
“I told my nosy brother to mind his own damned business and stay the hell out of my love life.”
“Is that what this is? Love?”
Yes. “No. Not anymore. I don’t know.” Aileen shook her head and walked over to the windows to stare out into the overcast winter day. She needed some space to think about all of this and come to her own conclusions.
Daveed cleared his throat. “Also, you should know that while I was in your files, I made backups of everything.” He set a small USB drive on the coffee table. “Just in case the senator decided to renege on our deal. I doubt he will though. Daveed’s father’s secret guard has already made it clear to the senator that if he makes any attempt to fulfill the threats he’s made against Heath or his family, the consequences will be…harsh. And swift. Senator Lawrence might be a lot of things, but brave isn’t one of them. I believe he’s more than content to do his time in a white-collar prison and maybe get a book deal for his memoirs. As for all of your research, it’s there, intact. Though you won’t be able to write the story you originally intended now.”
“Thanks,” she said, her tone sarcastic. “Lot of good it’ll do me now.”
“You can still write your story, darling,” Heath said, starting toward her then stopping at her warning stare. “I know you’re upset and you have every right to be. The only reason I gave Lawrence my phone like I did was because I knew Daveed had backups of it all. He was so cocky at the time, so sure of his success, he didn’t ask about back-ups.” He snorted. “That’s changed now, of course, but there’s nothing he can do. And to address your earlier statement, my family name isn’t what I care about. Not at all. The only reason I went along with that at the hotel was to let the senator think he’d won. My wealth is only important for the good it can provide to others. That’s my opinion anyway. And I meant what I said about your story. You can still write it. Just not about Senator Lawrence. You can cover the sale of EnKor instead and help increase the coverage on it. That should help boost profits for people like your MacLeans too.”
Aileen pressed her hand against the cold glass, feeling completely confused. Part of her wanted to accept Heath’s apology and snuggle back into his arms. To take the gift he and her brother and Daveed had given her and run with it. B
ut the other part of her, the wounded little girl with the broken heart who trusted no one except her brother after her mother left still needed time. “I need to think about everything. Alone.”
“Sis, at least call the paper about the EnKor story. If you don’t get a jump on it, another reporter could yank the scoop right out from under you,” Murphy said, his earlier bluster replaced by contrition. “You’ve wanted to be a reporter your whole life. It’s who you are, what you do. And you’re phenomenal at it. What are you going to do if you aren’t a journalist?”
“Please. Just go, okay?” She sighed. “I need time to think about all this by myself.”
“What about New Year’s Eve?” Murphy asked.
“What about it?” Aileen said.
“Look, you and I have a lot to catch up on. And Shayma is dying to meet you. Daveed and Mel are having a party to celebrate the New Year. Please say you’ll come and we can talk and it’ll be like old times again. Please?”
Aileen shook her head. “Send me the details and I’ll see.”
“Will do.” Murphy stood and leaned over to kiss Aileen’s cheek. “Love you, sis. Good to have you back. I’ll text you the details.”
Daveed pushed to his feet as well, following Murphy to the door. “Mel and I would love to have you at our engagement party. Please consider our invitation.”
