Fall Into Me (Heart of Stone)
Read Fall Into Me (Heart of Stone) Online
Authors: K.M. Scott
FALL INTO ME
K.M. SCOTT
Wealthier and more powerful
than most men his age, Tristan Stone merely has to give voice to his desires
and whatever he wants is his. Money has given him the ability to say nothing
and no one is beyond his reach.
Except for Nina. Stripped of
her memory after an accident, she doesn't remember the man who loves her. Now he
must find a way to show her why she fell in love with him, but the past is
always just a step behind, threatening to take her away forever.
Unsure of everything about
the past four years, Nina believes Tristan loves her. But will the secrets he
holds tear them apart just when she needs him most?
Fall Into Me
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and
events are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to
events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
2013 Copper Key Media, LLC
Copyright © 2013 Copper Key
Media, LLC
All rights reserved. Without
limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of
the copyright owner.
Published in the United States
Cover Design: Bookin It
Designs
eBook ISBN: 978-0-9891081-6-4
Adult Content: Contains
graphic sexual content
Tristan
"I
thought you understood how this had to end."
Looking
down the hall at Nina's hospital room, I eyed with suspicion every person who
walked in and out. Pressing the phone to my ear, I listened as the man on the
other end repeated himself and added, "We've given you more than enough
time, Tristan. This has to end."
"I
won't do it. I told you that. She's no threat to you, Karl."
"You're
not thinking with the right head, son. If anyone finds out about the evidence
she has, everything your father worked so hard to attain will be gone. Are you
prepared to let that happen? We aren't. Take care of this. Or we will."
"She
has nothing. I've checked everything she owns and there's nothing. Let her live
in peace."
"With
you, happily ever after, like some storybook ending? I told you that we can't
afford to have any loose ends. There's proof somewhere. Those of us who
supported your father all those years won't be taken down by your schoolboy
romantic ideas."
"And
I told you there's nothing to prove whatever my father was doing. He's dead and
Nina's father is dead. Let whatever happened end with them."
Karl
was silent for a long time. "We've told you what we want. You decide how
this is going to happen. Or we will."
I
pressed End Call and stuffed my phone back into my suit coat pocket, disgusted
with Karl but more with myself. How had I let this get so fucking far?
All
I had to do was find the papers Karl was sure her father had showing what my
father had done. I was still in the dark about what exactly Joseph Edwards
thought he'd caught my father doing, but I didn't care anymore. Whether it was
some tax scam or real estate deal gone bad, it didn't matter. All I cared about
was keeping Nina safe from the likes of Karl and the other board members who
thought of nothing but protecting their own hides.
"Mr.
Stone?"
I
shook off my phone call and saw one of Nina's nurses at my side.
"Yes?"
"It's
time for her to leave. She's all ready. Her ribs might be a little sore at
first when she gets back to her daily activity, but that's to be expected. I've
told her to just listen to what her body's telling her and she should be fine.
Now we just have to wait for her memory to come back."
Nina
appeared in the doorway of the hospital room where she'd spent the last five weeks.
Seated in a wheelchair, she wore her black yoga pants and white sweatshirt and had
the pink roses I'd given her that morning in her lap. Her blue eyes lit up when
I stepped out from behind the wall.
"Hey!
The doctor said I'm ready to roll."
Bowing
deeply, I looked up at her and smiled. "Your chariot awaits, my
lady."
The
press was out in full force when I pulled the Jag in through the gate at the
bottom of the driveway I'd had installed the week before. Cameras flashed on
all sides of us, making Nina bury her head in the space between our seats.
Snaking my arm around her to hold her close, I hoped this first introduction to
my world hadn't made her wish she'd had anywhere else to go.
I
leaned my head down and whispered next to her ear, "Don't worry. We'll be
home in a minute and we won't have to deal with them again, Nina."
The
gates closed behind us and I raced up the driveway, wanting all that bullshit
with the paparazzi left back there in the past. Fucking vultures. Like anyone
should want to see pictures splattered all over the gossip pages of a man
bringing a woman home from the hospital after a car accident.
Nina
lifted her head and sat up straight in her seat to look at the house as I
stopped the car. "This is where you live?"
"Where
we live," I said, gently correcting her.
She
turned her head and the look on her face was a mix of uncertainty and
disbelief.
As
I shut off the car, I flashed her a smile. "Don't worry. It's cozier than
it looks."
"Uh
huh." She looked unconvinced.
I
grabbed her coat and walked around the car to help her out, watching her crane
her neck to take in all of the house as I placed my black leather jacket across
her shoulders. Looking up at me with those gentle blue eyes, she asked, "I
really live here? With you?"
Nodding,
I smiled. "You do. In fact, you like this house more than the other
one."
She
stopped walking and stared straight ahead. "There's another one?"
I
shrugged. "Well, it's a penthouse at the Manhattan property, but you told
me you liked this one better."
"Wow.
First the car and now more than one house. Jordan wasn't kidding when she said
you were loaded." Nina fell silent and grimaced. "Sorry. That sounded
worse than I meant it to. She just said you were wealthy."
"Wealthy.
Loaded. It's all the same. I just hope you're comfortable here."
With
a tiny chuckle, she said, "I can't imagine anyone couldn't be."
Rogers met us at the door and bowed. "Miss, it's wonderful to see you again."
Nina
studied him for a moment and then smiled meekly, obviously not remembering him.
"Hello."
"Get
the bags from the car, Rogers."
As
he passed us, she looked up at me and frowned. "I guess I've met him
before? I don't remember."
"The
doctors said it could take some time. Give it a chance."
Nodding,
she tried to put on a brave face, but I saw in her eyes she was disappointed. I
stood there staring down at her and wishing I could make things better, wishing
I had the power to turn back time to before that night when she ran away and...
I
pressed a smile onto my lips and extended my hand toward her old bedroom, my
heart heavy from the words I was about to say. "Your room is right down
this hall."
Nina
looked around the entryway and then at me, her eyes wide. "It's beautiful
here, Tristan."
Faking
enthusiasm the best I could, I said, "Thanks. Let's get you settled
in."
I
gently placed my hand on the small of her back, a tiny gesture I did out of
habit before I remembered for the first time that day that she and I were
basically strangers in her mind. She didn't react as I kept my hand against her
and escorted her to her wing of the house, and I wanted to at least believe it
hadn't bothered her that I'd done it.
Opening
the door, she looked around in amazement at her room, her mouth hanging open, just
as she'd looked the first time she saw it all those months ago. "Wow, this
is great! I thought maybe you were showing me to the servants' quarters or
something, but this is as nice as the other part of the house."
Her
words cut like knives. To her, I was just some man who paid her to work for
him. She had no idea how much I wanted to take her back to our bedroom on the other
side of the house, the one she belonged in. The bed she belonged in right next
to me.
"You
aren't my servant here. This is your home, Nina."
I
tried to disguise the hurt in my voice, but it was no use. She heard it too and
turned around from looking out the window to face me. "I'm sorry. I didn't
mean to say the wrong thing. I didn't mean to make it sound like you'd treat
someone like a servant. This is all so new to me."
"Don't
be sorry. I'll leave you to get settled in. If you need anything, I'm just on
the other side of the house."
I
wanted to reach out to touch her hand, to take her in my arms and tell her how
much I loved her, but she wasn't ready. I didn't want to scare her off. I knew
I had to be patient and hopefully if I was, when she finally started to
remember things, she'd also remember how much I loved her.
My
insides felt empty as I walked toward my side of the house, alone again as I'd
been for so long. I had work to do, but my heart wasn't in it. I didn't care
about reporting to the Board as I had to soon at the quarterly meeting. I
didn't care about anything involving Stone Worldwide. What did it matter
anyway?
I
sat down at the desk in my room and looked out the window at the unseasonably
warm December day full of sun. All I could think of was that in just over a
week the date I'd chosen for our wedding would pass without mention because she
didn't remember the day held any special meaning. Nothing like the biggest day
of your life going unnoticed.
"Tristan,
I've arranged for dinner at five, as you ordered."
Something
in Rogers' voice told me he hadn't come to find me to talk about dinner.
Closing my eyes, I leaned my head back. "That's fine, Rogers. Thank
you."
My
words were met with silence, but he didn't leave. I'd avoided Rogers for weeks,
knowing what he thought, but I wasn't going to escape this discussion about
Nina. Opening my eyes, I turned to see him standing there staring down at me.
"Is there something else, Rogers?" I asked, knowing there was.
"I'm
simply wondering what I'm to do regarding Nina."
I
hated the way he could refer to a human being in the same tone as he'd use to
tell me he believed the gutters needed cleaning. Looking into his dark eyes, I
leveled my gaze full of disgust on him. "What you're to do regarding Nina?
Speak plainly, Rogers. I'm not in the mood for the butler talk. You've known me
since I was five years old, for fuck's sake."
Rogers nodded his head slowly, and when he raised his gaze to meet mine again, it was one of
doubt. "Nothing has changed, Tristan. Your father is still the one
responsible for her father's death and you're still Victor Stone's son. The son
of the man who killed Nina's father. Things are the same as they were the night
she drove away from here."
I
didn't need Rogers to tell me all of this. None of it had ever left my mind
since that day Karl had confirmed what I'd found in my father's secret files.
I'd lived with the knowledge that my own father had been the architect of
Joseph Edwards' murder just as I'd have to continue living with it for the rest
of my life.
"I
don't need you to remind me of any of this, Rogers. What the fuck am I supposed
to do?"
"About
what, Tristan? You can't fix what your father did. No one expects you to."
"I
don't care about fixing anything Victor Stone did. I care about taking care of
Nina, not because of what happened to her father but because I love her. Why is
this so difficult for you to understand?"
Rogers stood there staring at me, his face full of judgment. "Because you haven't
loved anything or anyone since the accident."
Looking
away, I watched out my window as a porcupine walked slowly across the grass.
"I'm not incapable of love because of a plane crash. Are you saying you
don't believe I fell in love with her?"
"I
have no doubt you love her and she loved you. You've been given a second chance
to make things right, Tristan. If you do not, I can't see how your future with
her could end any differently than it did before."
"All
I need is time," I mumbled as I watched the porcupine continue to make his
way across the lawn toward the trees on my side of the house.
"Time
for what? You must tell her the truth. If you don't, you'll be making the same
mistake again and the outcome will be the same as last time."
Time.
If I could find the evidence Karl believed existed, then Nina could be safe and
never have to know about my father's heinous crime. Never have to know that I
was the son of the man responsible for taking her only parent from her.
Turning
back to face Rogers, I stood to get to work. "Thank you, Rogers. That will
be all."
I
saw the disapproval in his eyes as he turned to leave, but I didn't care. I
wasn't going to let Nina find out the truth of her father's death. Her memory
loss meant I could spare her that. It was the only good thing to come from her
accident, and I intended on protecting it, no matter what.
All
I needed was time.
At
five o'clock I sat in the dining room waiting for Nina so we could eat dinner
together as we had every day we'd been here in this house. I'd had Rogers instruct the cook that tonight's meal was to be duck in the hopes that maybe having
that would remind her of the time we spent together at the penthouse. I knew it
was probably grasping at straws, but what else did I have?
I
waited for twenty minutes, watching the steam slowly fade away from the dishes before
I was forced to admit that she wasn't coming. Of course she wasn't. She wasn't
coming because she didn't remember that this was something we both looked
forward to each day. That too was gone.
Loosening
my tie, I leaned my head back and closed my eyes in frustration. I couldn't go
on like this. It was like being sent to a country where everyone had forgotten
the language except that one lonely soul who kept speaking even though nobody
understood him, hoping one day he'd find just one other person to comprehend
his words.
I
pinched the bridge of my nose and felt the stress ebb away for a moment. Maybe
I was just kidding myself. Maybe it was time for me to forget that language
too.
If
I could forget, I may have tried. But I couldn't. Rogers had been right when
he'd said I hadn't loved anything or anyone since the accident. He was only
partially correct, though. In truth, I'd never loved anyone before the accident
either. Not like I loved Nina.
She
was my everything. I needed her like I needed air to breathe. I doubted she'd
even known how I truly felt about her before the accident. She was unlike
anyone I'd ever encountered. Never before had another human being made me want
so much more than the things my money could buy me.
All
my life I'd been blessed with everything I could want, and it had made me hard
and greedy. Nothing meant anything when you could have it at the drop of a hat.
I'd learned that was one of the curses of money, but for a long time didn't care.
Cars? I'd gone through dozens with not a thought about why I shouldn't. Homes?
They came and went without any feeling or connection to them. Women? I could
have who I wanted, when I wanted, and how.