Page 158 of Soul Mates: Hercules Valentine and I

I’m backto the office. I’m certain Achilles could smell my bullshit from a million miles away. Paisley has been gone for more than three months. Other than Shop-A-Lot, we’ve got nothing big. My worst fears have come true. We’ve turned into a videogame company. Last week, Mason explained that we don’t have a programmer good enough to figure out how to make the most of our compression technology. And we can’t figure out how to steal from GIT to make our own version of the personal trainer software work. Mason confirmed that Paisley used an obscure language to make the demonstration script she gave us. Her ability to do that kind of shit gets me hard. Mason heard from Lark that Paisley’s not working for her family anymore and that there’s a rift between her and Max.

I recall how I sat up straight when he mentioned her name. My head felt as if it were floating away from body. I’d been waiting way too long for someone to say her name. Eden never speaks of her to Nero. Lake is the only one who talks about her, but she makes Mason promise to not repeat to me what she tells him. I heard she bought an apartment in Lake’s building. She can afford to live anywhere in the city, but she picked that old building with its crumbling infrastructure. She doesn’t even have a doorman. A Grove without a doorman—I can’t believe Max allowed it. I drove by the place dozens of times, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. I even hoped to run into her during my run. But I guess the same fates that always brought us together is making sure we stay apart.

However, when Mason spoke her name during our Wednesday-morning meeting, everything inside me sizzled.

“A rift?” I asked Mason.

“She’s mad at him for making her work with us and for what he did to Jillian Rowell.”

“Right…” I said, nodding thoughtfully.

Jillian Rowell wrote something true about his unethical business practices, and as a result, she incurred his wrath. I didn’t know that she used to be Paisley’s roommate, though. However, Mason told me that Paisley made some sort of deal with Max, and the law suit he filed against her went away.

“Maybe we can woo her back,” Mason suggested.

I flew off the handle with my response. I said hell no. It wasn’t that I hadn’t been thinking the same thing. But I couldn’t see Paisley every day and have her think that I want Rain more than I want her.

Yes, I still want Paisley, even though I can’t have her.But after lunch with Achilles today, it’s clear that neither he nor my mother is backing off on their hairbrained scheme to attain the bulk of the Valentine family annual disbursement from the chest. The rule is that if a Valentine male of good standing marries a fifth or later cousin of equal or lesser wealth, then he has “done good” and will be paid five or six times more than lower beneficiaries. The math has been done. If I marry Rain, we stand to collect one billion three hundred thousand dollars from the trust. That’s a lot of money, and the company needs it.

I grunt thoughtfully as a solution comes to mind. It’s crazy, but at this point, it’s my only option.

I press the call button.

“Hi, Hercules,” Madison, my assistant, answers.

“I need you to do something for me, stat.”

Chapter Fifty-Five

Two New Jobs, Maybe Three

Paisley Grove

Back to the Day of the Run

Staring into Hercules’s eyes, seeing his face, makes all the longing I’ve managed to keep at bay come rushing back like a tsunami. I can barely feel the burn in my legs from suddenly stopping without stretching.

“You want to make amends for deceiving me and your team, then come back and finish what you started,” Hercules says.

His tone is pleasant, yet it lacks the same sort of warmth he once had whenever he spoke to me. I close my eyes and massage my temples, still absorbing his proposition. His offer feels like a dream and a nightmare. I’m at peace with Max and my uncle Leo. I gave them the missing code in exchange for them dropping all charges against Jillian and agreeing to never harass her again.

We made the deal in the office Max keeps across from our dad’s office in the Grove Investment Bank building. He conceded after reading the handwritten code I’d given him.

“When did you secure this?” he asks, sitting behind his glass desk.

I know why he asked me that question. He wants to know if I obtained the code while in VTI’s employ.

“I found it after I left VTI.”

“Before or after we last spoke?”

Tension grips my eyes. “Why does it matter? You have the code, now leave my friend alone.”

Max stares at me with a look that I’ve seen on numerous occasions. He’s waiting for me to adjust my attitude.

“Yes. After we spoke,” I say, deciding to ease up on my hostility.

Finally, Max nods. “Okay. I’ll drop the charges. And since you care that much about her, she’s off limits.”