Chapter 46 I jumped out of bed and pulled on my pajama shorts and top. This absolutely wasn't the kind of conversation one had while naked. When I turned back around, Salvatore had put on a pair of shorts and was sitting with his back to the headboard, a perplexed look on his face. "Beatrice, I need you to explain what you mean. When did I reply?" I held up a hand. "Hold on. I'll show you." I had a bad habit of never deleting text threads, even those with people I never planned to speak to again. I still had the few Tore and I had exchanged when we'd first met. Bringing up our thread, I scrolled to the beginning, stopping on the screenshot I'd sent to him after he'd left me in his hotel room. "Here." I handed him my phone. "It had taken me a few hours to work up the nerve to tell you. I thought you'd never speak to me again once you found out, but I hadn't been able to keep it from you. I'd thought...I'd thought we were starting something real, and I didn't want this hanging over us." He studied the screen, his brow furrowed. I pointed to the reply he'd sent. "See? You said you understood and appreciated my honesty. You know about the money, Sal. You know I returned what I could. If I could go back and never accept it in the first place, I would. It was stupid, and I was desperate, but it was a mistake. I only took it because I already thought you were so, so cute and wanted to flirt with you anyway. But I already told you that, so I don't understand why you're bringing it up now." My throat suddenly grew tight, and my eyes began to burn. "Tonight was so perfect. I mean, I thought it was. Maybe you didn't. Maybe you're regretting telling the kids about us. If that's the case, we can slow down-" His hand shot out, gripping the side of my neck. "I didn't send this text." My mouth came to a screeching halt. "What do you mean? You see it right here with your own eyes. You definitely sent that text." "No. I didn't see this." His thumb hovered over the time stamp on his reply. "This says it was sent at 5:17 p.m. My sister was being taken off life support at that time. I don't know where my phone even was, but I wasn't reading or sending texts." "What?" I exhaled every ounce of my righteous indignation. "Then who-?" He let go of me to grab his phone and tapped on our messages, scrolling back to the beginning. Buried deep under my confusion, I was pleased he'd kept our text chain like I had. He turned the screen to me. "I haven't deleted anything, but I don't have a text from you. Or a screenshot. And you can see I never replied." I didn't have to look very close to see he was right. The texts I'd sent and received weren't there. I lifted my eyes to his. "What's going on, baby?" He shook his head. "Sam was the one who told me about the money." "It was five hundred dollars. Back then, that meant a lot to me." His nostrils flared as he released a breath. "I know, beautiful. I understand why you took it. I'm not angry at you. I love that you tried to tell me. You're everything I always knew you were, and this only confirms it. I'm furious, though." "At Sam?" I guessed. "Yes. He shouldn't have put you in that position," he gritted out. I was pissed at Sam too, but for an entirely different reason. My immediate need, however, was to eliminate the distance between Salvatore and me. I crawled across the mattress and up his body. His hands slid to my hips, helping me straddle his legs. I cupped his neck, and he held my waist, our chests flush. "I noticed you, Sal. That first night, you blushed, and I thought you were so adorable. You came back the next night, and I was secretly hoping it was because you thought I was adorable too." "Not adorable. Stunning and mean." I grinned. "Yeah. You like me mean." I rubbed my nose against his. "Sam approached me, asking me to give you extra attention. And I accepted because, well, I needed the money. If you'd been any other customer, though, I would have told him to get fucked. I took it because it was you, and I wanted to flirt with you anyway. The money was a very nice bonus." His grip on me tightened, the tips of his fingers digging into the give of my flesh. "He never should have put you in that position." "No, it wasn't fair to either of us. But you need to know, that third night you came back? Even if he'd never given me a dime, I would have sat with you when you'd asked. And I would have said yes to a date because I was so fucking smitten with you." His head cocked. "Smitten?" I laughed. "Tony's wearing off on me, I guess. It's a good word. I was-and am-totally into you. I hadn't expected it, but it happened, and I went with it. I'm sorry this makes how we started messy, but for me, it was real and true." "It doesn't matter to me." He touched his lips to mine. "Even when Sam told me what he'd done, I didn't doubt you. I wanted to understand exactly what happened, but the bottom line is, there's nothing anyone could tell me about you that would make me doubt you." "That's because no one knows me the way you do." "That's right. Some of that knowledge I stole." I reared back, frowning. "Did you hack my hard drive?" He chuckled. "No. I resisted. I mean Anthony. Through him, I peered into your life without your permission." "Oh." My frown lifted. "Well, I always had a feeling someone was behind him. If I'd known it was you, I probably would have started sexting." "What?" A laugh shook his shoulders, and he buried his face in my throat. "Christ, Beatrice. I never know what you're going to say." "I'm keeping you on your toes, baby." He smiled against my skin. "That you are." I let him hold on to his happy for another minute then sighed. "We need to talk about Sam. Why did he bring up the money now? What do you think his intentions were?" He sobered, leaning his head back on the headboard. "I know his intentions: to drive a wedge between us so I would focus on Nox exclusively." My stomach dropped. "He's been trying to get you away from me?" "He's been trying to control where I put my energy since we met, and I've let him. It's how we worked back then, and the dynamic remained...well, until Tia died. After that, I had to make some huge changes he didn't like but had to accept." Sam could really fuck right off. If I saw him again, I would tell him that. He shook his head. "He's been subtle about it, but he never stopped pushing me in the direction he wants me to go." I rested my hands on his chest, feeling his steady heartbeat. "Sal...what else has he steered you toward?" He didn't answer right away. His eyes were unfocused, distant, like he was riffling through mental files, looking for patterns. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet, almost too calm. "Sam had my phone two years ago. He had to have replied to you then deleted those texts. There's no other possibility." His jaw worked as he mulled over his next words. "The email you got this morning...I dug through our servers and discovered it'd come from Sam. He sent it to you." My jaw hung open. "Holy hell. The man has lost the entire plot, hasn't he? What did he think would come from doing that?" "Steering me. Always steering me." Exhaling, he banged his head against the wood behind him. "He wanted you to give me attention two years ago so I'd agree to sign the DoD contract. He'd been right. It'd been the logical next step, and I'd been digging my feet in." I shook my head. "It doesn't matter if he was right. He went about it the wrong way." "Yes," he agreed. "But he's always been this way. Not just with me. With everyone. He is single-minded and thinks he's always right. Often, he is, but-" "He doesn't get to move you like a chess piece. What he did today was beyond the pale. It's one thing to spring surprise investors on you at a dinner meeting. It's shitty, but it's business. But for him to meddle in your personal life-in my personal life? No, Sal. I don't accept that. It's not okay. And next time he gets pissy, the outcome could be far worse." "Beautiful," he said, taking my face in his warm hands, "it isn't okay, and there will not be a next time." I searched his face. Something in his expression cracked open a spot in my chest I didn't know could ache like this. It wasn't only anger. Grief was in the mix, darkening his gaze. His oldest friend had absolutely gutted him. I slid my hands up his arms and cupped the back of his neck. "I know you're handling it. I'm sure you're three steps ahead." "I am." His voice was firm but not defensive. He never tried to prove his competence to me; he simply stated facts. "I met with my lawyers this afternoon." "I'm glad you have a team." I shifted, lowering my forehead to his. "I'm on your team too." He sucked in a ragged breath. "I don't know how to process this," he admitted. "On the one hand, I'm so angry, I don't know how I'll look at him tomorrow. On the other, I can't believe it's come to this. We built Nox together. We once shared a vision for the future. More than that, we were friends. At least, I thought we were." My fingers slipped into his hair. "You were. I'm sure you were. People change. They get greedy, and some drop their masks, showing you what a piece of shit they are." "Yeah. I know about masks." His jaw clenched. "It won't be immediate. He still has board influence, so I can't be reckless with this." "Have you ever been reckless a day in your life? You've got this, baby. And if you feel like you don't, I'll be here to remind you you do." His arms came around me fully, crushing me to his chest. "I didn't want to believe he'd cross the line like this." "I know." "But he did." "Yes." I nodded against him. "I'm sorry. So, so sorry." Silence stretched between us as his breathing evened out. The gears in his brain were still turning, probably plotting how he'd handle what was coming, rehearsing the things he'd say, how he'd act, preparing himself so there were no more surprises. When he spoke, his voice was low. "My lawyers are working on a draft to restructure the voting rights. I'm consolidating-cutting off anything he can use to apply pressure. It'll take a few weeks, but once it's done, he's out." He shuddered. As if it physically pained him. Even though I didn't understand exactly what he meant, I knew it would be a huge deal when it happened, and I would be here. If he needed to lean, I'd hold him up. "You have to do it. It's not just about protecting yourself." I touched his chest. "You're protecting the whole company. The kids. Me." His eyes met mine. "Always you." I smiled, slow and sure. "I'm going to back you so hard, Salvatore Gallo. No one touches my man and walks away clean." He gave a broken laugh and rested his forehead against mine again. "If you weren't on my side, I'd be terrified." "You like me mean, though, right?" "I do." He kissed me, long and deep, until we were both out of breath. "My beautiful, mean love." "Yeah..." Then I thought of something that made me giggle. He raised a brow. "What's so funny?" "Nothing, really. It's just...Paul's going to be so pissed." After a beat, he laughed. "Oh yes. Paul will not appreciate being impersonated." "No, he won't." I snickered. "He'll have to wear one of his very serious vests to show everyone he means business." "He does own a large collection of vests, doesn't he?" "Right? So many vests," I agreed through giggles. Laughing with me, he tucked me into his arms. We stayed like that for a long time, and when we finally fell asleep, it was wrapped in each other. No matter what waited for us tomorrow, we had this-laughter and love and arms that didn't let go. That was a whole lot. Discover our latest featured short drama reel. Watch now and enjoy the story!