Rulers of Deception (23 page)

“Just wait till you get fat,
chica
,” Raoul warned, shooting her an amused look. “You’ll be begging for that chair.”

“I’m sure I will. But until that happy day, I’m going to be just fine living like normal.” She turned her face up to Grant’s for a kiss. He obliged her just as the sound of arguing voices could be heard beyond the steel doors of the kitchen. Raoul turned his attention to cleaning out a steel pot in the sink, knowing what was coming and wanting no part in it. Within moments, Charlene and Quinn’s mother Clara entered the room, hip-to-hip and bickering loudly. They turned in unison to face Grant and Quinn, teary-eyed smiles lighting up their faces.

“My baby.” Clara rushed forward and pulled Quinn into a tight hug.

“When did you get here?” Quinn stammered, surprised to see her mother. “You didn’t tell me you were coming.”

“Do I have to give you warning every time I want to come visit my grandbaby?” Clara asked, pulling away to rest her hands on her hips.

“There’s no grandbaby yet, Ma. Give it another six months.” Quinn laughed. She noticed Charlene watching her with a strained smile, her hands clasped together. Realizing the woman was holding herself back from something, Quinn walked over to wrap her in a hug. “It’s good to see you, Charlene.”

Charlene stepped back to get a closer look at her daughter-in-law, inspecting her from head to toe. “I hope you’re adhering to a healthy diet. I’m going to have my dietician contact you about what’s healthy for the baby. And you really shouldn’t be working. It’s much too stressful and tiring.” She shot a disappointed look over her shoulder at her son. “How come you aren’t letting her stay at home?”

Grant shrugged. “She wants to work.”

“I worked through all of my pregnancies and my babies turned out just fine,” Clara put in, wrapping an arm around Quinn. “It’s healthy to stay active.”

Charlene didn’t look convinced. “This is our first grandbaby. You can’t blame me for being cautious.”

“I’ll be careful,” Quinn promised, flashing a smile at Grant. “My husband takes good care of me.”

Grant cleared his throat as all eyes went to him, feeling awkward. He glanced down at his watch. “We should get going, Quinn.”

“Our first doctor’s visit,” Quinn supplied, beaming at her mother and mother-in-law. “We get our first ultrasound today.”

“You better hurry back over here right after and show us our grandbaby,” Clara ordered, pulling Quinn in for a last hug. “Now get going before you’re late.”

Madison swept in
as the four of them left the kitchen. She noticed her mother fluttering over Quinn, a sight that both irritated and pleased her. Unlike her siblings, she hadn’t forgotten what Charlene had done to Win nor would she ever forget. That particular sin was filed away with all the others in Madison’s mind, forgiven but never forgotten.

And thinking of sins forgiven, she approached Raoul and laid a hand upon his shoulder. “I trust you’ll keep an eye on our Quinn while she’s in your care?”

Raoul sniffed, continuing to scrub the grime and grease off a dirty pan. “She is accident prone. Some things cannot be helped.”

“But you like her.” Madison’s eyes softened. “I’m glad you two work so well together.”

“As am I,
cariño
.” He set aside the now-clean pan and dried his hands on a towel. “You haven’t been by to see me for awhile.”

“Not that it should surprise you, but things have been hectic.”

“I thought everything was going smoothly now.” Raoul tossed aside the towel and turned to her, his hands sliding up her arms to grip her shoulders. Their eyes met and held, and he saw the fear she tried so hard to conceal. “What happened?”

Her head tilted to the side as her hands came up to hold his wrists. A dark smile hardened her features even as dread chipped away at her heart. “You were right, darling. Right about so many things.”

Raoul’s eyes burned at her admission. “I take it you met Wyatt Bailey’s little guido friend.”

Madison’s breath caught in her throat, not realizing he knew. “You’ve seen him? At the hotel?”

“I have.” His fingers tightened over her skin as his anger flared. “Tell me what you need me to do,
cariño
.”

Her mind raced with this new information, realizing that she had to act faster than she’d originally planned. There was no other option if she was going to protect her family. “Come with me. We need to talk someplace private.”

As they left the kitchen, she focused her mind on the task at hand. She would not let herself or her family be overcome by the past, not again. This time, she’d set out to forge the future.

Quinn lay back
on the exam bed, Grant seated on the stool beside her. She held his hand tightly, nerves getting the best of her as the nurse squeezed a dab of warm gel onto her belly.

The nurse smiled politely as she placed the handheld transducer device over the gel. “Ready to see your baby?”

Quinn nodded, unable to speak. A shaky smile lit her face as she turned to Grant, who looked sick to his stomach. She squeezed his hand and brought his eyes to hers. “Ready?”

He sucked in a deep breath. “I don’t know.”

“Just in case it’s an alien, I want you to know it happened against my will.”

He broke down in a nervous laugh and brought her hand up to his lips, pressing a grateful kiss to her skin. “All right.”

All eyes went to the monitor resting on a portable metal table, where a fuzzy black and white image was visible. The nurse shifted the device over Quinn’s abdomen until she found what she was looking for. “Ah, here we go.”

Quinn saw what looked like a black circle with some misshapen grainy white shapes within it. She squinted her eyes and tilted her head in an attempt to see something in the shifting image. “Is that it?”

The nurse became quiet, holding her breath as she inspected the image closer. Quinn’s eyes shot to her anxiously. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” the nurse assured her, a broad smile lighting her face. She turned to both of them excitedly. “Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Vasser. You’re having twins.”

Grant paled, his mouth falling open as he stared at the monitor.

“You’re kidding, right?” Quinn stammered, eyes skipping between the nurse and the ultrasound image. “Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.” The nurse held up a pencil to point to the individual shapes within the grainy image. “Here’s baby number one, and there’s baby number two.”

“Oh my God.” Quinn gasped. Her heart fluttered excitedly as she processed the news. “Twins. Wait till Ma hears this.”

Grant rubbed his face and then stared at the image again. When Quinn looked at him, he attempted a supportive smile. “At least it’s not an alien.”

“True.” Tears brimmed in her eyes as she watched him struggle with the notion that he was going to be a father of not just one child, but two. “Are you happy? Be honest.”

He stared at the image for a moment longer, already feeling the love for those two little shapes blooming within him. His and Quinn’s. Theirs. Not having any words, he simply leaned in and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead.

It was all she needed.

D
aniel paced around his father’s office, gladly venting his anger. “Please tell me you’re not going to continue doing business with these people.”

McAllister sighed, sitting back in his desk chair. “Madison assures me she has everything under control.”

“She’d say anything to convince you not to pull out,” Daniel argued, waving his hands around dramatically. “She needs us more than we need her, and you know it. We should stop any further brand changes to our hotels and quietly walk back the few that have been changed.”

An angry flush reddened McAllister’s face. “I don’t think you realize how difficult that is, son. We’re in too deep at this point. Our shareholders are not going to be happy with us dancing around without a concrete plan.”

“Once they hear what’s going on with the Vassers they’ll be begging you to cut off ties,” Daniel pointed out, stopping before his father’s desk and resting his hands over the surface. He met his father’s eyes. “I knew I was right about them. Don’t you wish you’d listened to me from the beginning?”

With a heavy sigh, McAllister avoided his son’s glare. He looked out the window of his office and considered the few options he had. He didn’t want to abandon Madison just yet, not when he knew there was still profit to be had in the merger. As it was, the new scandals had not leaked to the press. It was possible they never would, so any hasty decisions to break ties could be detrimental to his company. The best option seemed to be to slow down production and wait and see. At the first whiff of trouble, he’d make the case to the board and get out of the deal with the Vassers. But until then, he couldn’t bail. He valued his merger with the Vassers too much.

“Well? What’s the plan?”

Father and son met eyes and fought a silent war for power. When Daniel broke eye contact and turned away, McAllister knew he’d won. Despite his son’s ready temper, he still lacked the spine to stand up for himself. “Hang in there, son. These things have a way of working themselves out.”

Daniel ripped open the door, then looked over his shoulder. “It’s only going to get worse. There’s more to come, horrible things they’ve done that you could never even imagine. Once you know, I’m sure you’ll change your tune.”

Pleased with his ominous message, Daniel left the room and stalked into his own office. He slammed the door shut and collapsed into his desk chair, closing his eyes. For a few moments he sat in absolute silence, listening to the sound of his breathing as he fought to cool the fire in his blood. He would have his way in the end, he was sure of it. Soon his father would see the light and then things would finally begin to move in the direction he wanted. He just had to be patient.

Feeling restless, he unlocked one of his desk drawers and carefully lifted out a small mirrored tray. A tiny straw and few lines of snow-white powder rested over the glass, promising to lift his spirits. He set the mirror on the desk and, straw in hand, snorted one of the lines into his right nostril. He released a huff of breath and shook his head, the drug a shock to his system. Sniffling, he wiped at his nose and sat back in his chair.

His eyes drifted to the professional-grade camera that sat on his desk, the lens reflecting his image back to him. With a giddy smile, he reached for the camera and turned it on. Flipping through the digital files of photographs he’d taken, his smile spread even wider.