Love Handles (Oakland Hills #1)(101)

“That will be easier when you actually leave,” Bev said. “And when you stop driving over to Oakland to break things.”

“You will never have his money,” Rachel said. “Not one of you.”

Ellen turned around. “What money?” Her cheeks were splotchy.

“You thought I wanted to be part of the family,” Rachel spat out. “As if that was some kind of f*cking prize.”

Ellen’s voice dropped. “What money?”

Bev leaned over to pick up the framed photograph and got to her feet. “She got some money.”

“What money?” Gail stood shoulder to shoulder with Ellen.

“He told me he gave it to charity. Putting a down payment on his immortal soul,” Ellen said. “You didn’t let on a thing.”

“He found out he was dying before Christmas. He wanted to look out for me,” Rachel said.

“And so he did.” Bev tilted the picture up, careful not to tip out the broken glass, and bent the back out to release the photo, which she carried over to Rachel. “It’s time for you to go,” she said, taking Rachel’s arm tightly in her hand.

“But who is she?” Gail asked. “Is she our sister?”

After a moment Ellen laughed. Her voice surprisingly gentle, she said, “I’ll explain everything later.”

Bev forced Rachel out into the hall, and she went easily, probably because Kate was assuming another fighting position. When they were ten feet out of the room in the dim corridor and alone, Bev said, “One year from now, you are welcome to come back here.” She loosened her grip on Rachel’s arm. “We’ll go out for coffee. We’ll talk. I won’t give you a job, but I promise to listen.”

“Sure you’ll be here? Any of you?” Rachel pulled her arm free and rubbed it. “You think it’ll be easy to keep this place running without me? Without my money?”

“Without you breaking windows and ripping up samples?”

She pinched her lips together, looked away. “I wanted to believe you were for real. I did, for a while.”

“I am real.”

“You started screwing Liam. And then, the fit modeling. I really, really hate fit modeling.”

“Noted.” Bev shoved the picture at her. “You’ll never do it again.”

“Nothing works here without me making it work.”

Bev nodded towards the exit behind her. “Maybe nothing will break, either.” She turned and saw Liam watching the exchange from the conference room doorway, back lit and huge and unreadable.

Did he come back for Fite, or for her?

Rachel was still standing there in the semi-darkness. “I hated—what I did to the Target presentation—that just about killed me.” She burst out with a noise that was a laugh or a sob. “All that work. It was horrible.”

“You need a break, Rachel. Book a trip somewhere, bring a friend. Get away from this place for long enough to make a difference.” Bev sighed. “And if anything weird happens around here or at the Oakland house, to Liam or to anyone in my—our—family, I’m calling up your mother in Borrego Springs and telling her everything. She worked here for twenty years, right? I don’t think she’d like to know what you’ve been up to.”

Rachel gasped. “How—”

“Do you understand?”

The hallway went quiet. Bev could see the conference room light reflected in Rachel’s eyes.

“Yes,” Rachel said.

Bev said, “See you when you get back.”





Chapter 25

Standing in the hallway, watching Bev stride back towards the conference room, Liam longed to haul her up into his arms.

Not yet. She still had the rest of her family to deal with.

Eyes locked with his, she stopped a few feet in front of him. The shadowy hallway swallowed up her dark hair, emphasizing her pale face like an actor on stage. He stared back at her.

“Nicely done,” he said finally, smiling.

She gave him a warm, tentative smile that made his throat ache. Then she shrugged a shoulder, laughing off his compliment. “Thanks. It got a little messy.”

“You were great.”

She stared at him, glanced past him into the conference room. “Will you wait for me?”

He reached out and caressed her hair, watching her lips part while he stroked the cool silk. “That’s what I’m doing,” he said softly.

She leaned into him, eyes heavy with desire.

He dropped her hair and cleared his throat. “Go on. Get rid of them. I’ll be right here.” He strode off towards the lobby before he could succumb to temptation and drag her into a quiet corner.

First he wanted to have a few words with Rachel. She was just walking past Carrie’s desk, heading for the street. “Hold up!”

Rachel shot him a look and kept going.

Liam jogged over and stood in front of the front door, more pissed than ever. “You’re going to listen to me.”

“Get out of my way.”

“You’re in no position to demand anything.”

Rachel rolled her eyes. “Before, I wasn’t. I am now. What are you going to do—fire me?”

“Here’s the deal. You are never coming back into this building.”