Love's Deception (14 page)

C
arissa angrily paced the floor of her office as her mind reeled with this latest twist.
What in the hell is going on?
Hunter had been the mastermind behind acquiring Edwards Electronics. Had he used her for—for what?
Revenge
was the only word that came to mind. But revenge for what?

She jabbed the intercom button on the phone. “Is Hunter in yet?”

“No, ma’am.” The temp secretary, Maria, stammered over the line.

Clamping her jaw, Carissa punched the release button and returned to pacing. What the hell was Hunter’s angle? What was the real reason he pushed to acquire Edwards Electronics? The more she
thought about it, the more she felt certain that she’d been used.

The feeling didn’t sit well with her.

The speaker beeped before Maria’s accented voice filled the room. “Ms. Cartel, Mr. Hunter is here to see you.”

“Show him in.” She spun toward the desk, her hands clenched. “Calm down,” she recited under her breath.

The door opened and Colin entered the room.

Carissa waited patiently until he closed the door behind him. “You have an awful lot of explaining to do.”

“Is that so, Ms.
Carnes
?”

Her chin jerked as if he’d struck her.

“Don’t act so surprised,” he said coolly and with more reserve than she cared for. “I had to admit when my son first told me about you, I suspected, but I didn’t quite put two and two together. But I figured it out. Though I have to admit I don’t understand your angle.”

“There’s no angle. When I first met Nathan I just thought if he learned that I was Cartel that he would blame me for Travis’s condition.”

“And as time went on, you never felt the need to tell him the truth?”

“Under the circumstances, I hardly think that you’re one to preach about honesty. What’s your game in all of this?”

“You know how you always seem to think that
nothing is personal. Well, my dear, I’m here to tell you that everything is personal. Everything!”

“So I’m right. You did stage this!”

“Of course not. I had no idea of Travis’s medical problems. I merely wanted to put the man out of business.”

“But how convenient that it worked out this way for you,” she added sarcastically.

He shook his head. “You have it all wrong.”

“Do I?” She moved toward him. “You personally proposed that Cartel Enterprises acquire Edwards Electronics.”

“True,” he agreed, then shook his finger in the air. “But don’t try to make this into anything more than it is. It was a golden opportunity that fell into our laps.”

“No!” She closed the distance between them and jabbed a finger in the center of his chest. “This was a golden opportunity for you. You used my company to get what you wanted. I don’t know for what—but revenge is written all over this fiasco.”

“And since when did you object to that? Hell, since when did anyone in your family object? Do you even know the history of this company?”

The truth delivered a powerful blow and a curtain of shame covered her. She returned to her desk and leaned back in her chair. “Do I at least get to hear the real story between you and Edwards?”

The corners of her lips curved, but then he shrugged as his voice dripped with sarcasm and his
hard gaze met hers. “Have you ever been in love with someone who loved another?”

Taken aback by the sudden flash of vulnerability in his eyes, she shifted uncomfortably in the chair.

“It’s a living hell,” he went on. “The worst part is I still love her. I loved her the moment I laid eyes on her.”

“What stopped her from loving you?”

“She was married to my best friend.”

“So I was right. This
was
all about revenge.” It was a statement, not a question, and she was saddened by the reality of it. “But she loved Travis to the end, didn’t she?”

He didn’t respond.

“This is all going to blow up when Nathan learns the truth.”

Colin’s face sobered. “You mean this is going to blow up in
your
face, Miss Carnes.” He sat in the vacant chair in front of her desk.

He was right. She was the only one. She was the only one who stood to lose everything. Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “He can’t possibly know you work here. Hell, Liz and I were a two-woman circus trying to prevent him from learning my real identity. If he knew about you, he would have simply come to you.”

When he squirmed slightly in his chair, she knew she had him.

“Hasn’t anyone ever told you that silence can also be viewed as dishonesty? There’s no way he’s not
going to think that we somehow collaborated to do his father in.”

Colin’s face colored. “I will
not
lose my son.”

“You mean stepson, don’t you?”

“I’ve been that boy’s father for most of his life. As far as I’m concerned all of this is your fault.”

“What? How in the hell do you figure that?”

“Nathan would have left Atlanta a long time ago if it hadn’t been for you. My son wouldn’t have cared one bit if Travis Edwards dropped dead. Then you came along preaching love and forgiveness, which was the last thing I expected from C. J. Cartel.”

The insult sparked her temper. “You have a lot of nerve, Hunter. If cold and ruthless is what you had in mind, maybe I should go and have a long talk with Nathan. Let him be the judge of whether you’re guilty or not. We both know how he feels about honesty.”

“He would never turn his back on me. I’m family.”

“But you’re not blood.”

Colin jumped to his feet. “What the hell do you know?”

“I know that the one power Travis has is he’s Nathan’s flesh and blood. That’s the real reason
your
son is still here. It didn’t take much from me to convince him to let go of his anger. Anger that you no doubt fueled.”

Carissa steepled her hands against her chin. “How on earth do you think you’re innocent in any of this? You stole your best friend’s wife, raised his child, then decided to swing the final ax by stealing his
company.” She shook her head again. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”

“That wasn’t exactly how it was.”

“But it’s exactly how it turned out. And no matter how innocent you want to make yourself, when Edwards comes out of his coma, Nathan is going to be right there and you’re
not
going to come out smelling like a rose and you know it.”

His stony facade cracked.

“Think about it. For the first time, Travis has his son’s undivided attention. Trust me, when he wakes up, we’re screwed.”

Nathan felt as if he were walking on a cloud as he strode down the hallway toward his father’s room. He couldn’t remember ever feeling this way. For the first time in his life he had hope for the future. He had someone in his life he looked forward to seeing and talking to every day. Not to mention he had someone he trusted.

Carissa made him feel like he could talk to her about anything. And to his amazement, he discovered that he wanted to tell her everything about his life.

Unfortunately, he realized, there was still a lot he didn’t know about her. His pace slowed. Actually, there was quite a bit missing. He shrugged off the nagging feeling.

Of course, he knew plenty about her, except what she did for a living. He thought of last night’s performance. She definitely could have a future as a stripper.

Nathan entered his father’s private room. When he glanced at his father, to his surprise, he noticed there was more color in his complexion. Nathan’s smile widened with hope. He sat next to the bed for a few seconds and allowed the monitors to be the only sound in the room.

Finally, he took Travis’s hand into his. “I don’t know about you, but when you’re finally able to walk out of here, I plan to make up for lost time. It may be a little difficult, seeing that I do travel quite a bit.” His thoughts returned to Carissa. “But I have a feeling that I’m going to be spending a lot of time in Atlanta.” He laughed.

“You know I’ve been trying to remember the sound of your voice, but for the life of me I can’t.” He fell silent as his mind drifted.

“I remember for a long time, when you were away in Vietnam, I’d wait for hours by the door for you. Mainly because Mom kept saying that you were coming home soon, but it felt like a lifetime. But then you were gone again.” He lowered Travis’s hand and stood.

“Mom cried for a long time.” As he moved toward the window he had a harder time shrugging off years of heartache and disappointment. “But the one thing I picked up on was the fact that she never said, ‘Daddy will be home soon.’ It’s kind of funny what a child remembers, isn’t it?”

Nathan exhaled. “Carissa said I’d feel better once I talked to you about this. It looks like she was right.” He turned and choked back his shock when he stared down into Travis’s eyes.

C
arissa drove for hours, terrified by the different scenarios of Nathan’s possible reaction to her upcoming confession. And in her mind’s eye, there was no way to escape the explosion—or rejection.

She shook her head at how everything had gotten so complicated. But the how and the why didn’t matter anymore. She needed to focus on fixing it—no matter how much she dreaded it.

Even still, a glimmer of hope for Nathan’s understanding blossomed within. A strong part of her believed Helena’s speech about soul mates and believed, too, that he was her destiny.

“Listen to me,” she muttered under her breath, then sniffed away threatening tears. “I’ve screwed this
whole thing up. There’s no way he’s going to forgive me. Practically everything I’ve told him is a lie.” She glanced in the rearview mirror and didn’t recognize her own stare.

She had become a different woman since Travis Edwards stormed into her life. The incredible thing was she was grateful—to both of them. And her aunt had been right as well. She needed to take a leap of faith.

She arrived at the hospital steeled with courage and a prepared speech cemented in her head. But her heart seemed to have dropped into the pit of her stomach.

“Carissa.” Nathan’s familiar voice thundered behind her.

She froze.

“I’ve been looking all over for you.” He encircled her in his arms and planted a kiss on her cheek. “I thought you’d never get here,” he said, leading her down the hallway.

“Where are we going? Aren’t we going to the—”

“Didn’t you get my messages?” He stopped and faced her.

Confused, she shook her head.

“He’s awake.”

Panic seized her. “What?”

“I know. I can hardly believe it!” In one grand swoop, he swung her around, then set her back down on weak knees. “Wait until you see him. The doctors are amazed at how well he’s doing. He’s talking and everything.” He turned again and tugged at her arm.

Her mind reeled. “How? When?”

“Isn’t it great?” He pulled her back into his arms in a fierce hug. “I got my second chance, just like you said. I owe so much to you,” he whispered against her ear, then turned to lead her back down the hall.

A chill slithered down her spine. She was seconds from losing him. “Wait. There’s something I have to tell you.” She dug in her heels, trying again to stop him from dragging her into Travis Edwards’s room.

“Can’t it wait?” He laughed incredulously.

“No. This
definitely
can’t wait.”

He frowned. “What can’t possibly wait?”

Carissa stared wide-eyed at him, unable to find her voice.

Nathan’s brows furrowed and his frown deepened. “What is it?” When she didn’t readily respond, he pulled her into his arms and laughed. “Come on. We can talk later. Wait until you see him. I’ve been talking his head off for the past hour.”

With that, he managed to escort her the rest of the way to Travis’s room, where she expected her life to end.

“Dad, look who I found roaming out in the hallway.”

The moment Travis’s and Carissa’s gazes crashed, the room instantly layered with an explosive tension. And in that same instant, she knew the game was finally over.

Carissa swallowed the lump lodged in her throat and watched with dread as Travis Edwards’s smiling disposition darkened ominously.

“What are you doing here?” His gaze shifted to Nathan, his distrust mirrored in his eyes. “What’s going on? Why the hell did you bring her here?”

Carissa pulled out of Nathan’s grasp. “Calm down, Mr. Edwards,” she said, worried about another heart attack. “I can explain.” She turned toward Nathan’s questioning gaze.

“You have some nerve coming here,” Travis continued to bark. “I’m sure I’ve disappointed you by not dying, Cartel.”

“Cartel?” Nathan’s eyes darted between her and his father. “I don’t understand.”

“Didn’t she tell you? Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t. That woman will stop at nothing to get what she wants.” Contempt dripped in his voice.

Carissa whirled on her heel. “Stop it. That’s not true.” To her horror, a tear slid from her eyes.

Travis lifted an inquisitive brow. “Excuse me if I speak from experience.”

What could she say? She doubted Travis would believe some fairy tale about the power of love and how it had helped her change her ways. Hell, she hardly believed it herself.

“Carissa?”

She closed her eyes against the tremble in his voice—or rather the undeniable pain layering it. Slowly, she turned as a steady stream of tears flowed from her eyes. His figure blurred from her vision. “I swear I wanted to tell you the truth.”

He stepped back and stared at her as if he’d never seen her.

Her heart tightened. “My real name is Carissa Cartel. I’m the president of Cartel Enterprises. I didn’t tell you who I was because…I thought you would blame me for what happened to your father.”

“If he doesn’t, I sure as hell do,” Travis’s boisterous voice interrupted.

She bit her lip and forced herself to face the older man. “I don’t blame you for hating me. And I don’t expect you to believe a word I say—”

“Good. Save your breath and get out.”

She nodded and wiped her tears. “I’m truly sorry, Mr. Edwards.” She managed to meet his gaze again. “I don’t think you’ll ever know how much.”

For the briefest of seconds, she swore the older man’s dark gaze softened.

“Then everything was a lie between us?” Nathan assessed in a firm yet troubled voice.

His words pierced her heart. She didn’t know how to convince him otherwise, so why bother? The ensuing silence condemned her.

“I think you should leave, Ms. Cartel,” Travis suggested.

To her utter amazement, she saw sympathy pool around his eyes. She nodded and headed out the door. Blinded by tears, Carissa struggled to get down the hall.

Seconds later, Nathan jerked her around to face him. “You were behind this all along?” Fire simmered in his gaze and burned a hole through her.

She stepped back and mouthed the word
no
. The accusation rumbled in her head like a freight train, rendering her powerless against the field of guilt it left in its wake.

He matched her movement, bearing down on her as if preparing to attack. “I should give you a taste of your own medicine. Maybe you’d like it if I stripped you of everything—robbed you of your dignity,
Cartel
. You had me running all over town on a wild-goose chase. What kind of person are you?”

Backed against the wall, she shook her head vehemently, still unable to voice any protest.

His head lowered. His hot breath rushed against her face and weakened her knees.

“Did his company mean that much to you? Where in the hell did I fit into all of this?”

His anger broke her heart. He
had
stripped her—with his words and disgust. She’d never felt this vulnerable—this ashamed.

“It was only business. It’s not personal,” she managed to whisper. Tears of remorse crested and splashed over the rims of her eyes.

“It sure as hell doesn’t feel like business. I’m beginning to think that you don’t know the difference.”

“I’m sorry that you feel that way. I don’t expect either of you to believe me. But I never meant for any of this to happen.”

“How in the hell am I supposed to believe you?”

“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. Her body quaked with heart-wrenching sobs. When he
moved away from her, it took everything she had not to reach for him.

“The game is over, Cartel.” His voice dripped with disgust. “You stay away from me and my father.”