Page 57

What have I done?
Marius was heading back home when his phone started to ring. The call was from Lucius, and he had been expecting it since leaving his brother's office.
Lucius spoke as soon as Marius answered. "I fucked up."
"You did."
"Can you help me?"
Marius inhaled sharply. This was only the second time in his entire life that Lucius had ever asked anything from him, and it was no coincidence that both times had to do with his wife. Some people might see this as a disadvantage and think of Tassy as a weakness on his brother's part. But for Marius, it was the opposite.
The whole family had felt Lucius withdrawing from them bit by bit after their father's death. But Tassy had changed all of that. She had made him human again. Made their eldest brother capable once more of feelings...the moment she had stolen his heart.
And that was why—
"What do you have in mind?"
Whatever his brother needed to get his wife back, Marius would stop at nothing to make it happen.
DAWN BROKE OVER THEcity skyline, painting the glass towers in shades of pink and gold. Jacob waited in the underground parking garage while mentally rehearsing his resignation speech for the tenth time.
Some lines just couldn't be uncrossed, Jacob thought gloomily. And yet that night, he had crossed it, and now he was paying the price. He had been unable to sleep since then, his conscience refusing to give him rest.
The elevator doors slid open, and Lucius strode out, his expression a storm of determination and despair, and the sight gave Jacob pause.
Lucius took one look at his chauffeur's face and knew what the older man was thinking of doing.
"You don't need to quit," he said tautly. "I was an ass. I didn't know that then, but I do now, and that's why I need you to drive for me so I can beg my wife to take me back."
"Understood, sir." Jacob's voice shook with emotion, and he found himself furiously blinking back tears as he slid behind the wheel. He was relieved over not having to quit, but more than that...oh, thank God his boss had seen the light!
As they pulled out of the garage and into the early morning traffic, Jacob heard his boss ask, "Would you really have quit if I hadn't told you I realized I made the biggest mistake of my life?"
"Of course, sir."
"Even though you've only known her for over a day while you've known me for years?"
"I don't mean to cause offense, Mr. Young—"
"Offend away," Lucius said with a sardonic twist of his lips.
Jacob met his boss's gaze soberly through the rearview mirror. "I'm good at what I do, sir, and billionaires to work for are not that hard to find. But on the other hand..."
Lucius' gaze swung back to the rearview mirror, and the sight of the older man fighting back tears had his jaw clenching.
"Mrs. Young's heart of gold? That's one in a million, and I just can't..." Jacob swallowed hard. "I just can't believe we left her there, sir."
The older man's voice cracked, and Lucius' own gaze started to blur.
God.
Oh God.
What a fool I've been.
Jacob had only known his wife for an even shorter time than he did, and yet the older man had realized all on his own that he had misjudged Tassina.
The man she married, on the other hand, and one who had sworn to love her for better or worse...