Page 35 of Accidentally Mine

Brent

“B rent?” my assistant, Tate Sullivan, called as I stood in my office in Brookline, looking out over the Pike.

I’d tried to work, had actually gotten a few things accomplished.

But now I’d gotten caught up in thinking about how Roselynn ran that night, wondering how she’d managed to keep driving after an accident such as that.

She was kind to everyone, doted on her aunt, and was sweet with me.

I had a hard time believing she’d even hurt a fly.

Only one thing would’ve made her leave an accident like that: Necessity.

Now, more than ever, the pieces were coming together in my head. She’d had an abusive boyfriend, this Anthony. He was powerful and dangerous. This man had been after her, and she’d run for her life.

I whirled around when Sullivan cleared his throat. He was looking at me with a curious expression on his face. Just out of college earlier this month, he was new to Key Tech, but was likely already used to me spacing out at odd times. I scrubbed my hand over my face. “Yeah?”

“The latest reports from the most recent round of trials are in your email box,” he said, pointing at my laptop. “I thought you’d like to take a look.”

I gave him a distracted smile. “Thanks, Sully, I will.”

Later.

I went to my phone on my desk and opened it to the messages I’d sent to Roselynn. Three of them. She hadn’t responded to a single one.

She was avoiding me. And she didn’t have to hide the reason why anymore. I knew everything.

Frowning, I decided to operate a bit more like my former self. I jabbed in another text: Dinner tonight. I need to talk to you.

I was surprised when I saw the three dancing dots, indicating that she was replying: I’m sorry. I’m in the middle of a big project and it’s going to take most of the night.

I stared at her message, leaned back in my chair and raked my hands through my hair, gathering fistfuls of it, my fingers grazing the raised, bumpy scar on my skull where they’d cut into the side of my head after the accident.

It was the reason I wore my hair longer than before and slicked back—the hair hadn’t grown back over the four-inch incision. I jabbed in: Can I help?

My phone buzzed. Thanks. But I wouldn’t subject my worst enemy to this.

Great. That meant I wasn’t her worst enemy. But what the hell was I to her?

I suppressed the urge to ask her if she was avoiding me. It didn’t take a genius.

I couldn’t keep texting her and not getting any response.

I had the compulsion to have Ernest drive me to her house and demand we clear the air, which I resisted.

I’d already stalked her once. No wonder she’d looked at me with fear in her eyes when I’d shown up at that second café.

She’d already had one controlling boyfriend, and she didn’t need another one.

So I texted Claudia and asked her if she wanted to meet me for dinner instead. She agreed, thankfully, saving me from another night of sitting at home.

I met Claudia at our favorite bistro in the Back Bay, close to her office, since she was always burning the midnight oil and would probably go back there to keep working after we finished. When she sat down across from me, she said, “Well, you look like shit.”

I mock-saluted her, then rubbed my jaw and realized I hadn’t shaved.

She studied me closer. “I thought being in love was supposed to have a positive effect? Looks like you’re going downhill.”

I frowned and opened my menu. “Where’d you get the idea I was in love?”

“Duh,” she said, setting her menu on the table and leaning forward. “I saw you two together. I’ve never seen you look so…peppy. When I dropped her at your house, you looked like a man possessed. You’ve seriously got it bad. I mean, when was the last time you wanted to be at a gala?”

I’d wanted to be with her , not at the gala. But, as usual, my older sister was right. I had it bad.

When I didn’t answer, her face fell. “Oh, god. Trouble in paradise? Don’t tell me you kicked her to the curb already. She was so good for you. I think she’s the first girl I’ve seen you with who I actually liked.”

“That so?”

“Yes. She has a brain. You always seemed to date floozies whose IQs were smaller than their shoe size. What was with that?”

I scanned the menu, not really reading the words. I wasn’t very hungry. “Correction…I never dated anyone.”

“Right. My brother. Total nerdboy, and yet somehow manages to be king of the one-night stand. What a player.” She rolled her eyes.

She knew as well as I did that I didn’t set out to have meaningless sex with women. It was just what usually ended up happening since I never connected with a woman on a deeper level. Not until Roselynn. “Well. What can I say?”

“Say you’ll ask her out again!” she said, pounding both fists on the table hard enough to make the silverware jump.

I shook my head. Closed my menu. Sighed. “It’s not that simple. She turned me down, actually.”

Her jaw dropped. “Seriously? But she seemed so into you. What happened that day, after the salon?”

“Nothing. We had an amazing lunch.” And she was into me. Ernest had said the same. There was no question, we were into each other . But that didn’t make things easy. “She’s going through some personal stuff.”

“Right. You said that about her aunt. But…eventually you might get together? After the stuff with her aunt gets ironed out?”

“No. Probably not.”

She gave me an incredulous look. “How can you let that happen? I’ve seriously never seen you as wound up about a woman before. It’d be a sin to let her get away.”

“But I’m not going to force her. Look,” I said, leaning forward, ready to spill it all. “Remember during the gala when you were talking about my accident and she kind of shut down?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

I took a deep breath and let it out. I knew Claudia’s opinion, but I trusted her to trust my own judgement, as much as she babied me. “She was the woman. The woman who saved me.”

Claudia’s eyes widened before filling with rage. “You mean she was the one who almost killed you and left you to die? Oh, my god!” She clenched her teeth and ripped her napkin off her lap. “Are you kidding me? You knew that, and you still wanted to date her?”

“I’d had my suspicions, but I didn’t know it for sure until right at that moment, in the limo, when I saw the way she reacted when you said she should go to jail.”

She pressed her lips together. “Right. I did say that.” She pounded the table again. “I still think she should. Oh, my god, baby brother. She’s a criminal. Why didn’t you turn her in?”

I gave her a get-real look over my menu. “What would you say if you knew she was running away from someone that night? Someone who was trying to kill her?”

Claudia smoothed her napkin over her lap again, and her eyes snapped to mine. “Was she?”

“An ex-boyfriend. In the mafia,” I said, nodding. “That’s why she’s keeping her distance from me. She’s afraid that this ex will find her again. And she doesn’t want to get involved with someone else and complicate things.”

“Holy shit,” Claudia said, her face paling. “Are you serious?”

I nodded.

Claudia hugged herself, and questions started bubbling out. Once Claudia got started with questions, she usually didn’t stop. “God, she must be so scared. Who is this asshole? If she ran away, why did she come back?”

“Anthony Markin, and he was arrested after my accident but is due to be released any day now. I think she came back because her father died, and she needed to settle his affairs then learned that her aunt was sick.” I shrugged.

“Again, I don’t know any of this for sure. Just what I’ve pieced together.”

Claudia clutched at her heart. “Ugh. Who knew a girl who looked so angelic could be hiding that ? And he’s mafia? Really? How did she ever get involved with a guy like that?”

I hitched my shoulders. “Don’t know. All I know is she grew up here, but I think he threatened her, and she felt like she had to leave.

She’s been in hiding, I guess. Like I said, she’s been closing me off.

She feels like she has to go before that guy gets out.

I want to help her, but I don’t want to push her. She’s been through enough.”

“Push her?” Claudia sighed. “You should stay away from her, baby brother. If she has mafia on her, and you get involved, don’t you think you could end up their next target?”

The hair stood up on the back of my neck. There was no if . She absolutely had mafia after her.

“Forget me. If anything happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself.

It’s easy for me to be selfish and want her to stay, but I want her to be safe, first. So if she thinks the only way she can be is by leaving, then I guess she leaves.

What I want her to know is that I’ll do anything to help her with that. ”

Claudia leaned forward, raising her eyebrow suspiciously. “Even leaving with her?”

Leave with Roselynn. Protect her. Love her.

I met my sister’s gaze and nodded. “Yeah. I’d do anything.”

She closed her eyes. “No! How could you? Your company is here. Your life. You can’t just leave with her and be fugitives on the run like that. Brent!” She dropped her hands on the table with a crash. “Please. Promise me you won’t just up and leave with her like that.”

I threw up my hands. I wasn’t about to promise anything. But yes, if it came to that, if Roselynn took me into her confidence and told me she wanted me with her, I’d have a fucking hard time looking into those turquoise eyes and saying no. To just about anything.

“Look. We have time. Her boyfriend’s sentence was overturned, but he’s being held for the moment on new charges. Somebody got smart. Right now, I’m letting her work out the things with her father’s estate before I talk to her.”

“Can’t the police do anything? Your friend, Kyle?”

I shook my head. “Kyle will arrest her for leaving the scene of an accident. Then the mob really will know where to find her.”

“God,” Claudia said, shaking her head. If I knew Claudia, she was replaying every last thing she’d done in Roselynn’s presence and feeling guilty for judging her. Claudia was a soft heart and wanted everyone to like her. “I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes.”

“Yeah,” I said, taking a long drink of my water. “Hopefully, you’ll never have to be.”

She pouted and looked down at her menu. “Well, I’ve lost my appetite. Why couldn’t you just find a nice, normal uncomplicated girl to date?”

I snorted. “Now, what fun would that be?”