A New Resolution (22 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Nolan’s offices were as quiet and efficient as ever. No intercom mishaps, no ranting ex-wives. It was close to turning-in time, and he had, amazingly, finished all his work for the day. Nicolette had gone home early for a family dinner, and Wayne was close to finishing up in his own office. He remembered something about Wayne having a late client, but the person might have gone home already. Recently, throughout the day, Wayne had taken to using the computer instant-messaging system to harass Nolan as to why, with the whole enemy-numero-uno episode hanging over his head, he was so gleeful. Even when his cases weren’t going well, he had a smile on his face. Wayne had started to ask him what kind of meds he was taking to achieve such a euphoric state through all hours of the day.

But it wasn’t drugs. It was—and Lord help him for how fucking clichéd it sounded, but—it was just the love of a good man and a good woman. The combination of having Lore and Kieran to wake up or come home to was an almost drugging feeling, and as Wayne had pointed out, he’d been acting like he was on a some sort of upper. Kieran had always been there for Nolan, from the moment they met and Kieran had persuaded Nolan to admit his bisexuality was nothing to be ashamed of, no matter what others thought. It hadn’t exactly been hard to guess what he was when they first met, as Nolan had been a drunken mess falling all over Kieran like some randy teenager. Embarrassing didn’t cover half of what that night had been.

And Kieran, amazing, sweet, strong, and wonderful Kieran, had been there for him through it all, including his final divorce. Nolan had never believed he would love again, let alone love two people at the same time. But he did and it made his day that much brighter. Who was he to question his good fortune?

A
ping
on his computer alerted him to a new message.

GoodLookinLawMan: Still working hard or jerking off to porn?

Wayne was nearing his sixty-seventh birthday, but he still sounded like a horny twenty-year-old. Nolan dropped the paperwork he’d been filling out and focused on his laptop, the soft acoustic guitar music playing from an online radio his only companionship.

NoNooseGoodNoose: Want me to turn on my laptop camera so you can find out?

GoodLookinLawMan: Please, my hearing is already going. I don’t need to be blind as well.

NoNooseGoodNoose: Your loss. To what do I owe the pleasure of your messaging?

GoodLookinLawMan: I was wondering if you came to your senses and would tell me what the hell is going on with you? Is Kieran pregnant? If he is, since when has Kieran been a woman?

NoNooseGoodNoose: Ass. Trust me, as my lawyer you’ll be the first to know if that ever happens.

GoodLookinLawMan: So what’s got you so giddy?

NoNooseGoodNoose: Why does it have to be anything? Maybe I’m just having a good month?

GoodLookinLawMan: Oh, really? Nothing new or exciting going on?

NoNooseGoodNoose: Nope.

GoodLookinLawMan: No new aspect to Kieran and your relationship?

Okay, that was strangely close to the mark. Nolan frowned, checking the time once more before responding.

NoNooseGoodNoose: We’re as happy and blissful as ever.

GoodLookinLawMan: So your new giddiness has nothing to do with a Ms. Lore Beyer who you’ve brought into your relationship?

Nolan stared, mouth agape, at the screen. Wayne had always been a perceptive bastard. It was what made him a keen lawyer, but he wasn’t a fucking clairvoyant. Nolan shut his instant messaging off and picked up the office phone to call Wayne’s extension.

“Good Lookin Law Man speaking,” Wayne said with a chuckle. “How may I help you, Mr. Busted?”

Nolan ran his hand through his short hair, wondering how the hell the man had found out. They hadn’t told anyone, the relationship too new and not ready for the scrutiny of the outside world just yet.

“What the hell, Wayne?”

“Oh, c’mon, what are you so upset about?”

“Well, I’m not that happy when people read my fucking mind, which is clearly what happened here because how the hell else would you know? Do you have surveillance in my bedroom? Are you selling sex tapes of me and my family?” And even though Nolan was confused and frustrated by Wayne’s keeping one step ahead, it still felt damn good to call Kieran and Lore part of his family.

“Shut up. A little birdie told me.”

Well, that was surprising. “Lore told you?”

“She came to see me with some old paperwork of her late father’s to sort out, and we got to chattin’ and she mentioned you boys once or twice or ten times. The woman never spoke about her personal life in any of our previous meetings. Not once. At least nothing that wasn’t relevant to what I was assisting her with.”

“Huh, I guess she’s opened up a little too much then?”

“Are you kidding me? Listen, Nolan.” Something in Wayne’s hardened voice told Nolan this wasn’t simple lawyer-to-lawyer advice anymore. “I’m going to break my confidentiality with her a little here, but let me tell you, I was Lore’s father’s lawyer after he was arrested…one of them at least. Do you know about her dad?”

“Yeah, she told us about it. What must that have been like for a teenager?”

“Whenever I saw that girl, I saw a broken shell. She was nothing after learning what her father really was, what he’d done to keep his criminal life under wraps. She was the product of a lie. In all truth, I didn’t think she would ever really get over it. But over the years, she’s grown, found a little niche in life, something that helped her blend in. But she never seemed like a real person, at least not until after the Krueger case, after she met you and Kieran. You’re both good for her.”

“Wayne—”

“No, listen, Nolan,” Wayne said, sounding like an overprotective father. If he had known Lore since her father’s arrest, then Wayne had seen Lore grow up. Seventeen years of knowing someone was a shadow of a person and there was nothing he could do about it. No wonder he sounded protective. “You do one thing to hurt that girl, and I swear I will kick your ass, geld you, and then just for fun have you disbarred.”

“I wouldn’t do anything to hurt her; neither would Kieran. We— Fuck, Wayne, we love her.” Their love was so deep and resilient it could withstand a million trials by fire and still come out clean and clear on the other side. Nolan felt it to the ravaged depths of his soul. “We’re in love with Lore.”

“It better stay that way.”

“I can’t imagine my life without her in it.”

“Good. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Good night. And Wayne?”

“Yeah?”

Nolan hesitated before saying, “Thanks for not freaking out about it or anything, ya know, the ménage-relationship thing.”

“You kidding? I’m almost jealous. Almost. Good night.”

“Good night.”

“Good night,
baby
.”

Nolan looked up at the bloodcurdling voice to see Mia standing in the open doorway, mocking him as usual. Her gray gaze pierced his with a malicious glimmer that made the hair on his arms stand on end. How could she have changed so much since they first met? But maybe she hadn’t changed, maybe he just never truly knew her to begin with. Bitch.

“The office is closing, Mia,” he said, standing, not intending to remain in her toxic presence for longer than necessary. “You need to come back tomorrow.”

“I had a late meeting with Ryan. I like to make sure he’s gone over every little detail in the pre-nup before moving forward with any decisions in the divorce.” She said, strolling into the office like she owned it. “So…you gonna leave Kieran for this new bitch? Wife number four?” She giggled, sitting on the edge of his desk. He focused on packing up his briefcase and shutting down his computer. “You’re catching up to my number, baby. We can make this a sport.”

“Shut your mouth,” he hissed, slamming the lid shut on the briefcase. “And not that it’s any of your business, but Kieran and I are both in a relationship with Lore.”

“Bullshit.” She snorted, waving off the declaration like it was a simple fib. “You can barely love one person, let alone two.”

“No, Mia, I just can’t love you.”

Her cold eyes turned on him, eyebrows angled down in her usual scowl. “Where’s my money,
baby
?”

The mocking way she said the word, a word she used to coo to him in the early hours of the morning, rousing his body to make love to one another. He remembered feeling such bliss on their honeymoon, thinking this was it, the end-all and be-all of love. Little did he know there were two people out there with such love to give him, love that would open his heart to all sorts of possibilities. Love that made him see he was worth more than to be constantly trapped and tortured by the stickiness of Mia’s web.

“In the ether, where it’s staying. I’m not paying you.”

She stood, squaring her shoulders as if she was preparing for battle. “Then you better get Wayne ready for another long series of alimony court cases. He just loves those, especially where you’re involved.”

Nolan paused in closing up his office for the night, staring at the gaunt woman who used to laugh and enjoy little things. “What happened to you, Mia? You were so vibrant and gentle and giving—”

“You happened, baby. You broke my heart and made me this.”

“You became this before you outed me. You’re bitter and cold and only want a man for his money. You can dig for mine all you want, but you’re not getting a damn cent. I pray to whatever higher power rules our lives that you will never have any children. If you do—”

She smiled cruelly. “We would have had beautiful babies together; such a pity.”

His heart hurt at the reminder, thinking how different his life would have been if he’d had a child. Lore would be a wonderful mother, with Kieran and himself helping and coddling her during the pregnancy. She’d had her tubes tied, a choice he respected, but they could still adopt if she didn’t want to have the process reversed or if it was too late.

“If you had been attacked, or we couldn’t afford to have a child, or you desperately, insanely did not want to have a kid, I would have stood by you when you had that abortion. I would never have forced you to do what you didn’t want to do. But you did it out of spite, knowing it would hurt me. You had your chance, and you threw it away.”

She grabbed her purse from the desk and headed toward the door. “Get your checkbook ready, asshole.”

“Get out.”

“G’night, baby.”

LORE LISTENED FROM the hallway near Wayne’s office to the confrontation between Enemy Numero Uno and her Nolan. The woman sounded like a pathetic and bitter old wench, leeching on whatever man she could bait with what Lore was sure were good looks and charm.

She had meant to surprise Nolan in his office. He had surely thought Wayne had met with Lore earlier in the day, not that she was there at that moment. As if she would ever come to his office and not take the chance to lock the door and make out with her man on his desk. She’d always wanted to do that. She hadn’t expected Wayne to go all father figure on Nolan and defend her honor. It was sweet but unnecessary. Nolan and Kieran would do everything in their power to protect and cherish her.

She heard the click-clacking of Mia’s heels as she exited Nolan’s office, followed by a distinct slam of his office door. Good, she didn’t need Nolan overhearing what she was about to do. No way in hell was she going to let this bitch mess with Nolan. The man was kind and wonderful and deserved better than this treatment. Mia had tortured him enough to last a lifetime; it was time for Nolan to be free of her. Lore took a deep breath and quickly formulated a plan, something that was a bit out of this world yet still in the realm of possibilities. She had the perfect idea. It was low, but she would stoop to any level to save Nolan from this woman.

“Excuse me,” Lore said, inching from the shadows. Mia jumped as she reached for the elevator button, her heels skidding on the marble floor. The woman was beautiful, as Lore had suspected. Gray eyes and bleached-blonde hair to match pouty lips and caramel-colored skin. She looked daring and radical yet seductive and intelligent. And she must have been intelligent, as Lore couldn’t imagine a lesser woman catching Nolan’s eye, even in his earlier years.

“Jesus, you scared me,” Mia said, patting her hair down. “I didn’t think there was anybody else in the office.”

“Oh, I had a late matter to discuss with my lawyer. You know how it is.”

“Yeah, me too.” Mia snorted, pressing the elevator button in a series of impatient stabs. “Man trouble?”

“Isn’t it always that?” Lore mumbled conspiratorially.

“You’re telling me, sister.”

“If only we could one day live without them.”

“It’ll never come.”

“Well, it should start for you sooner than you think, Mia.”

The woman paused as the elevator
dinged
its arrival, staring at Lore like she was a ghost. “Excuse you?”

Lore kept her voice pleasant, not wanting it to sound like she was threatening Mia, which was exactly what she was doing, even if the threats were empty. “Leave Nolan alone. Drop this baseless case against him.”

“I haven’t filed a suit yet, and who the hell do you think you are?” Her gaze flicked back to Nolan’s office for a second. “Were you eavesdropping?”

“Oh, no, I know all about you, Mia.”

Mia crossed her arms in confident defiance, putting on her ultimate bitch face. “You don’t know shit.”

“I do,” Lore whispered, folding her hands behind her back and taking a small step forward. Not enough to crowd but enough to let Mia know Lore wasn’t afraid of her. “I know you’ve been harassing your ex-husband for alimony he doesn’t owe you. I know you’re putting unnecessary stress on a man who should have the best of lives. And I know I told my father’s associates all about you when I learned how stressed my dear Nolan was becoming. They weren’t too happy to hear about it. All the uncles love Nolan.”

“Who the fuck is—”

“Don’t speak like that to me; my uncles don’t like it. My father, notorious arms dealer David Beyer, real name Edward Donaldson—you can Google him—left me with a great many associates as guardians. I call them uncles, of course; they’re the sweetest men. They practically raised me, always looking out for me and my friends.” Lore took another step forward, narrowing her eyes in determination. “Mia, Nolan is my friend, my good friend. They wouldn’t be pleased to hear some crazy lady wasn’t treating him well.”