Broken: A Billionaire Love Story (19 page)

So, she let herself believe it wholesale, finally releasing, finally surrendering completely outside of the moment of passion.

She stared in his gorgeous blue eyes and kissed him. “I love you, Shane.”

Chapter 27:

Their lovemaking session continued on after that first amazing go-round a number of times—both of them apparently happy to finally engage with each other with some privacy.

He loved her. Olivia let the words sink into her bones and skip around in her inside parts. He really, truly loved her. Nothing had made her quite so happy as that in her entire life, she didn't think.

As might be expected after skipping dinner and engaging in so much extracurricular activity with Shane, Olivia had worked up quite the appetite. Shane was dead tired, and snoozed away in her bedroom.

So, following Shane's somewhat murky directions through the maze of corridors and stairways, Olivia eventually found herself in the kitchen at around two in the morning. The tiles were cold on her bare feet, though her pajama pants and oversized tee shirt made up for the cold somewhat.

Over the course of a few minutes of searching through the kitchen's multiple fridges and panties, she made herself a small sandwich. Sitting down at an island counter on a brief stool, she began to eat.

“Can't sleep, hmm?”

It was Cassandra. The voice had startled Olivia somewhat, with as sleepy and relaxed as she had become over the course of the night. The older woman wore an expensive robe, her make-up removed for the evening.

“Oh, yes,” Olivia said, nodding, pausing in her tiny meal. “I just couldn't quite get to sleep with the empty stomach.”

“You shouldn't eat at night,” said Cassandra. “You’ll get fat, and then my son won’t want to sleep with you anymore.”

“Excuse me?”

Cassandra herself was as thin as a rail. If she was heading into the kitchen this late at night for something to imbibe, Olivia had doubts the craving was for food. She sounded a bit drunk, in fact, slurring her words slightly.

“No, you’re right.” Cassandra shook her head. “You’re already somewhat heavy, aren’t you? That’s too bad. I suppose there weren’t any real women to be his counselors that he could fall in love with?”

“W-what?”

Olivia was in no way prepared for a discussion of this kind. Her mind was still wrapping around the idea that someone else in this enormous house had actually run into her in the middle of the night—and now she was in the middle of being read the riot act.

“Oh, come off it,” Cassandra snapped. “He was vulnerable. Needy. You took advantage. You could have been some...some spike-covered witch. He still would have fallen in love with you, I assure you. I know my son. He just needs something to work himself out on. He'll tell you he loves you right away, like he's done with all those others. Watch, if he hasn't already—oh!” Cassandra smiled. “I can see by the look on your face that he has. That's wonderful. Enjoy it while it lasts, dear. Because, I don't care how good you think you are at your job, nothing lasts with Shane. Nothing, and no one. In a year, you'll be a bad memory for this whole family.”

She pulled out a long tall bottle of wine out from the fridge. She sighed, rubbing a finger over the label, and then walked back over to the door. For a few moments, she looked back up at Olivia—and remorse flashed across her face.

“Don't...don't mind me so much, dear. I've had a few too many. I expect you know my type. And don't worry about the marriage. I suppose you’ll do. You don’t seem dead-set on ruining us, not yet.” Her face became hard again, all remorse gone. “But I am watching you. Understand that.”

Olivia gulped and nodded. And just like a bad storm run out of lightning and wind, Cassandra was gone.

Chapter 28:

The following morning, after a long and involved talk with Olivia, Shane knew exactly what he had to do.

Shane was a bit worried about Olivia. She mentioned briefly she had a run-in with his mother last night—and when she came back to bed, she had held him tight. So tight, in fact, he had to ask her to relinquish her grip a little bit. But she wouldn't talk about what happened. Something else for Shane to yell at his mother about, he supposed.

But today's agenda mostly had to do with Hunter.

He found Hunter in the weight room. Rather different than the exercise room at the rehab facility, which was a hodgepodge of every different kind of fitness equipment in the world, with dirty tiles and dirtier ceilings. Hunter's weight room was a small, hot box filled with iron weights and a few benches. Hunter didn’t believe in machine weights, only the free kind. Barbells and dumbbells, lots of push-ups, lots of crunches. That sort of thing. The entirety of the far wall was a long mirror so that he could watch his form.

Hunter was working on the incline bench, pressing somewhere around a hundred and fifty-five pounds. A warm-up for him.

“I want to talk to you,” Shane said, watching his brother lift.

“I’m sure you do. Or, I’m sure I know what you really mean by that, rather. Did you bring your belt or your fists? Maybe a stick from the woods?”

Shane let the shame pass over him for a few moments, not daring to meet Hunter’s gaze.

“If it’s all right with you,” said Shane, “I’d like to talk about what happened back there. Last night. I think we sort of owe it to each other, don’t you?”

Hunter stopped pressing the weight, letting it rest above him. He stared at Shane through the mirror in front of them both.

“I punched you, all right? It’s not going to change,” said Hunter, breathing harder as he went. “If you get close to me again, then I’ll punch you again, all right? You’re a bastard. Not literally, but in every other sense of the word? Oh yeah. They couldn’t possibly find enough dictionaries in the world with your name next to that word to do you justice, you understand? You’re a horror of a human being and I’m sorry you showed up and I hope that you die somewhere alone, cold, and starving.”

Even Hunter looked shocked at his own vitriol. He looked down, away, his mouth shaking—his whole
body
shaking. Taking a breath, he stood up and walked over to Shane, his head hanging low. He started to grab at his brother...and then stopped.

“That all came out at once,” said Hunter. “I’m...I wasn’t expecting that.”

“It’s all right,” said Shane.

“No, it’s not. That’s like something...something...”

“Something I would say?”

“Something
Mom
would say. You remember her rants? They’ve only gotten worse. Jesus Christ.” Hunter sat down on a nearby weight bench, rapping his knuckles on the barbell. “I’m sorry.”

Shane stayed close. “Is it all right if I say something?”

Hunter shrugged. “Sure.”

“I really do understand why you’re angry with me.”

“Oh yeah?”

It didn’t look like Hunter believed him.

“Look,” Shane began. “When we were kids...”

“Oh Christ. You don’t have to bring that up.”

“I do, though. It’s important.”

“It’s ancient history.”

“It’s
our
history. Will you just listen to me for a minute?”

Hunter shrugged. “All right. Go.”

“I was really rotten to you,” said Shane. “When you called me a bastard, I knew exactly why. It’s not a mystery to me. But I...a lot of the things I did, I never wanted to admit to. Any time that I felt like owning up to them, I would drink instead to bury them. But it didn’t work...and after enough burying, all those emotions crawled back up, except they were made poison, just like the rest of everything I was putting in me. Sometimes, I’d try to talk to you about it, but...” he shrugged. “I would just make it all worse, you know? You know.

“Anyway. I know I can't change anything about what happened—I would if I could. But I can offer you an apology. So, I do apologize. For all of it, together. For the wreck, for the boozing...all of it. Every part that was my doing, I apologize for.  If there’s anything you want to talk about in particular, I can do that. I’ve got no problem with that. And if you can’t think of anything now, but you come up with something later? That’s cool too. I’m open to it. This is an open offer. An open, ongoing apology, all right? I was a rotten brother to you. I’m trying to be better, somehow. All I’m asking is that you...that you just hear me. Like you’re doing right now. I’m really grateful for that.”

Hunter sat down, stood up, sat back down. His face—all that fury there—seemed only slightly abated. Like it was looking for some other way to come out.

“I gotta admit,” said Hunter, “this is really hard for me to swallow, with you coming back to do what you’re gonna do.”

“What do you mean?”

“Christ.” He shook his head and stood up once more. “You’re still playing that card. Fuck it, man. You know...you know, screw you. I really thought you were sincere.”

“I
am
sincere—”

Hunter punctuated his words with hard fingers into Shane’s chest. “I really thought you were gonna come clean with me, but then you’re playing that ignorant bullshit while Arthur is trying to destroy everything that this family stands for!”

Shane held his hands up and stood back. “Hunter, listen to me, please.” He said everything slow and deliberate, trying not to respond with all the anger his brother was showing him. It was sorely tempting. “I am being honest as hell with you right now, okay? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m back here because...I don’t know. I didn’t want to sully the family name with all my shit. I thought it was the right thing to do to hide it. Hide my problem. Now you’re telling me...I’m not even that sure. But you’re angry about it. I want to hear you. I want to help. But you have to talk to me.”

Hunter took a step back. “You really don’t know, do you?”

“I really don’t,” said Shane. “And I wish you would tell me. If I need to apologize to you...make amends? I’ll do it. You got me at a good time here. I want to apologize. I want to do right by you. Whatever it is you need.”

Hunter, still looking a bit disbelieving, began to explain.

“Arthur...ever since you’ve been gone, or, I don’t know. Not very long after that. Arthur, he...he didn’t blame Mom, for how you left and disappeared and all of that. But he didn’t let her escape her blaming herself. He made it a point to tell her how you only talked to him. About how she must have done something wrong. So all the edge she used to have in the business world, all that savvy...it just got softer and softer, you know? She drinks a lot. Like you drink, except she doesn’t really take it out on anybody except herself, most of the time.”

“Jesus...” Shane shook his head.

“And now, well. I want to take over. I want to be in charge. I’ve been studying for it. Paying attention. I've been in the business, every day. I've got the degree—I got my Master's, just like you. Except, you know. In something useful.”

“Thanks.”

Hunter grinned. “Just joking.”

It was hard to hide his surprise, even if the joke hurt a bit. Hunter was young to have a graduate degree already—just like Shane had been. But Shane was also surprised at his brother's acumen in business—and his desire to run everything. It did make sense, though. He was always wanting to follow in Dad's footsteps. Shane always thought this was because he had never really known Dad—by doing what their father had done, Hunter was trying to know him in the way he understood best.

“So,” Hunter continued. “I can be in charge. I really can. I'm positive I can get the votes and make it happen. Only, I can’t do it until later this year—the board can have an election whenever, but I have to be twenty-five to take over. That doesn’t happen until September. Arthur...he wants to make the company...You really don’t know about this?”

Shane shrugged. “It’s all new to me.”

“Arthur wants us to invest in weapons. Defense systems, he calls them, but it’s just weapons. Things that kill people. I want to push us back toward the environment. Alternate energy sources. Organic farming, that sort of thing. He’s just following the dollars, you know, but it’s destructive stuff that he wants to fund. There's this deal he’s got coming up, with a company called Global-Comm. It’s to do that. They’re only telecommunications in name. Their real deal is defense. And there’d be a new board, that he would control, and I’d never get my shot on top.”

“Shit,” said Shane. “I don’t even...I never cared about this kind of stuff. I never paid attention.”

“I know. But I do.” Hunter sighed. “You were the big unknown for Global-Comm. They didn't want anything to do with the Conway Corporation while you had your shares. You were too volatile. I thought that by coming in with Arthur, this scheme he's dreamed up to make you look secure and under control...I thought you were working with him.”

“No,” said Shane. “That was all...I don't know. Just the way it fell out, it seemed like.”

Probably Arthur had taken great pains to make it seem that way. Maybe no matter what, Arthur would have found him and dumped him in rehab over the past few weeks. Who could say?

“At any rate, he's got you under his thumb, now, looks like. Pretty soon you'll probably be wearing a suit, just like yours truly.”

The thought rather disgusted Shane. He never wanted anything to do with the business—now, less than ever.

“I'm sorry.” Shane put a hand on his brother's shoulder. “I wish I could help, but...Olivia. I really do care about her, Hunter.”

Hunter nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I can see that you do. You wouldn’t have apologized to me without her, huh?”

“I don’t know. Probably not.”

“Well, then it’s done, now.” Hunter shrugged. “Right? You want to marry this girl?”

“I do.”

“That’s good. She’s good for you. You marry her. That’s important. This business...I don’t know. Maybe I’ll have another shot.”

But Shane knew that Hunter wouldn’t. He knew that with his marriage to Olivia, he announce to the world he was safe and secure, that Arthur's deal would go through, and he would ruin everything important to his brother—just like he had been afraid of doing ever since the accident.

Chapter 29: