Dread shuddered down her spine. At this very moment Dibs was going to confront his father, and yet here she stood, hiding in her office like a scared little girl, doing nothing.
No.
She snatched up her cell phone and the leather BFG portfolio and marched straight for the door. She’d go in search of Ms. Kramer, and if her search ended at the Executive Suites, then so much the better. If Dibs needed her, she would be there to stand at his side. Together they could face his family. Together they could decide what came next.
Down the hall, she stopped every so often, but inside office after office, she met only bewildered shrugs. No one had seen Ms. Kramer all morning.
She rounded the corner in the hallway, her anxiety mounting each step nearer the elevator. The doors slid open, and she hesitated. Perhaps she should go back to her office and wait. When Dibs returned, she would tell him everything. That she knew of his father’s phone calls. The conversations she overheard in Vail, her meeting with Michael, all of it.
But her waiting had brought them to this place…and time had not been on her side.
She stutter-stepped onto the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor. As the doors whispered closed, she breathed deep, her nerves humming like a struck tuning fork at the thought of defying Mr. Brenner.
The elevator opened to a buzz of activity, the composed, almost serene atmosphere during her first visit to the Executive Suites shockingly absent as people rushed across the room. She clamped down on her disquiet, lifted her chin, and strode confidently toward Ms. Kramer’s reception desk.
“Hi, Nanette.” Tessa clutched the leather portfolio to her chest. “Is she in?”
Ms. Kramer’s receptionist held up a finger. “Yes, right away.” She spoke into her headset, jabbed a button on her phone. “She needs to see you. Three minutes.” She lifted her eyes to Tessa. “She’s in, but you’ll have to wait a bit to see her.”
Tessa nodded, stealing a peek at the double doors leading to Mr. Brenner’s private suite. Maybe she should just knock. Hell, maybe she should burst inside and demand they include her once and for all.
Angry voices filtered through the doors. The noise level in the room hushed. Murmuring conversations trailed off to an awkward silence. Each person stilled in their activities, the edgy silence almost palpable in the air.
Nanette faced Mr. Brenner’s suite. A few moments of uncomfortable tension passed before she refocused on Tessa.
Tessa’s head snapped around when deep shouts erupted through the walls. A loud slam vibrated the wooden barrier and Mr. Brenner’s receptionist jumped in her chair.
The door wrenched open and Dibs stalked through, jaw tight, long stiff strides propelling him across the room. Tessa stood frozen, her mouth dry with fear. He stopped before the elevator and punched the call button. Mr. Brenner stormed from his office, a sheaf of papers clutched in his fist. Their shoulders evened as the doors opened, Mr. Brenner’s determined gait leading him onto the car at the same moment Dibs stepped inside.
He faced the room, anger glinting like steel lightning in his eyes. “We are through discussing this.”
“I will not be dismissed, David.” Mr. Brenner aimed a finger at the floor. “I say when and for how long this conversation will last.”
The doors closed. Tessa slowly exhaled, then stiffened when every head in the room swiveled back to her, as if all those present expected her to make the next move.
She clenched her jaw and crossed to the elevator, innumerable eyes boring holes into her shoulder blades as she waited for it to open and stepped on. She lifted a finger, but it hovered before the panel. Where did she start? Locating Dibs and his father before their argument escalated any further was paramount, but it was anyone’s guess where they’d gone.
She said a silent prayer and hit the button for the bottom floor. She would start at ground level and if need be, work her way back up. Her stomach lurched unsteadily when the elevator descended. A fine film of sweat coated the inside of her palms.
The doors opened. Angry shouts echoed through the hall. She strode briskly for the corner, ignoring the expressions of concerned curiosity, employees stepping from their offices into the corridor.
“We did what you wanted, David!” Mr. Brenner’s voice berated her ears. “We gave her the job, now that’s enough! The relationship needs to end!”
Tessa stopped dead in her tracks. A strange numbness exploded across her face. She stumbled to the side and reached blindly for the wall.
They gave her the job?
They gave her the job?
Even though she’d asked him not to, Dibs had gone behind her back and stacked the deck in her favor.
“Fine! Let’s say you did me a service! What of it?”
She shoved away from the wall, fierce anger blotting out her reason. She finally understood. The Brenners thought she owed them, and now they wanted to be rid of her. Awarding TNT the event had been their payoff, and in return she was to leave their son alone.
Sweet God, how many people knew? A visual of all those expectant faces in the executive suites swept the blank walls of the corridor. Did the entire staff assume TNT got hired because Tessa Adams was sleeping her way to the top? Repugnance roiled in her gut, clawing bitter and vile up the lining of her throat.
“You don’t owe her anything, David! It’s time you grow up and face your responsibilities!”
She straightened her shoulders, her hands twin fists at her sides. Her footfalls momentarily faltered as she rounded that damned corner. The one that had always existed…around which waited the end of every relationship.
Dibs and his father faced each other in the hallway, their argument escalating another degree.
“What makes you think you can tell me what I should do with my life?”
“I’m your father, David.” Mr. Brenner jabbed a finger toward Dibs’s chest. “That gives me every right!”
Dibs stomped forward, bumping the extended digit. “We’re getting married,” he gritted through clenched teeth. “And nothing you, or mother, or anyone else can say will change that.”
Benjamin Brenner squinted. He lifted the crumpled papers and shook them in Dibs’s face, his voice lowered to a heated threat. “Then you had better decide, David. Either I sign off my shares, you save your precious foundation, and assume the role of BFG chairman as we have asked, or you can say goodbye to your life, sit helplessly in the stands, and watch while we take down you, and everyone else around you.”
Tessa sharply inhaled and withdrew a step. The portfolio slipped from her careless grasp. A stinging clap echoed down the corridor when the leather smacked the floor. Several sheets slipped out, whispering across the tile, and glided to a slow stop along the wall.
Dibs and his father pivoted in her direction. The menacing bitterness in Dibs’s gaze slowly faded…to be replaced by fear. He searched her face, as if trying to determine how much she had heard, if she understood what was happening.
She instinctively retreated another step and spun for the elevator, but too many people blocked her path. Some faces held shock, others knowledge, their eyes condemning and hard.
She whirled to the opposite corridor…and locked directly onto Michael. He stood outside his office door, wretched pity creasing his brow. He had witnessed everything. And recognized his entire prediction come to life.
Trapped, unable to pull any air, she lurched in a circle, every set of accusing eyes focused solely on her.
She finally forced a step in Michael’s direction, until at last her heavy footfalls gained momentum. As she passed by his side, he whispered her name. But she didn’t acknowledge him. A door at the end of the corridor offered escape and she hurried toward it, pressed on the emergency exit and stumbled into the sunshine.
A hand on her chest, she dragged in a lungful of air. The terrace behind the Crystal Ballroom sprawled on her left and she raced in that direction. She would leave through the ballroom. Return to the sanctuary of her condo, lock the door, and keep everyone out until she had time to think.
Dibs had betrayed her, in the worst possible way. He had set her up right in the middle of everything, and then lied to her face. Of
course
the Brenners hated her. Why wouldn’t they? She’d accepted the bait. Played right into their hands. From the very beginning, she’d had zero control over
anything
!
Say goodbye to your life…sit helplessly in the stands…
Mr. Brenner had shown his hand. Exactly as she had always feared. He would destroy the Foundation. Choose power over family.
Her heels clacked up the steps, mirroring the rapid staccato of her heart. Her skin crawled with revulsion and shame. She was done. Her association with the Brenners was over. No more would she fulfill a role in their wicked plans. They had taken her love for Dibs and twisted it, distorted it, until it resembled something filthy and slimy. She’d been nothing but their pawn, falling in love so they could blackmail Dibs to their benefit.
God, what a fool she’d been. What a fool. Well, not anymore. Their power over her stopped here. Now.
“Tessa!” Dibs shouted behind her.
She flew across the terrace. Didn’t dare stop. Being anywhere near him would bring too great a pain.
“Tessa, wait!”
She yanked open the door, focused on the other end of the ballroom and strode faster, her footfalls rapping the marble floor. If she could just reach the lobby before he reached her.
A hand clasped her shoulder and twirled her to face him. “Please, Tessa, just wait.” He held up both palms, breathing heavily.
“You lied.” She spun away and resumed her path toward the door.
“It’s not like it seems.” He side-stepped in front of her. The two of them choreographed a dangerous dance. “Let me explain.”
“It doesn’t matter! None of it matters anymore, Dibs.”
“What are you saying?” He closed in, grasped both her elbows. “What doesn’t matter?”
“Haven’t you been listening? This was all a game to them. And to win your father will destroy the Foundation! Your family will ruin everyone associated with us!”
“I won’t let him do that.” He tightened his grip. “You have to believe me, I would never let anything bad happen to you.”
“This isn’t
about me
, Dibs!” She shoved his chest, broke free, and backed away. “This is about you! The people involved in the Foundation, Tiffany and TNT. He’ll take it all away unless you do what he says!”
“That’s not the only option.” He flung his arms wide to the sides. “There are other steps we can take!”
“I refuse to be in the middle of this. I simply refuse.” Teeth clenched, anger seething, she pointed at him. “You did this. You wanted me to have the event, so you made a call and set the whole thing up behind my back. You put me right where I didn’t want to be and then lied to cover your tracks.” She whipped a hand toward the door. “How am I supposed to face them now? How am I supposed to face anyone in this organization knowing I never deserved any of it?”
“You did deserve it! They had already made their decision. When I called the deal was already done.”
“Quit bullshitting me!” She threw her fists down at her sides. “I heard what your father said. They did as you asked. The relationship has to end.”
“He’s twisting the facts to get what he wants, just like he always does!”
“I know exactly how the whole thing was set up.” She turned her back to him and stormed for the terrace door, thoughts racing in time to her feet. “Let’s humor the pathetic little businesswoman Dibs has his eye on, and then maybe she’ll be satisfied and just leave us alone!”
“You can’t really believe that, Tessa!”
“I can’t?” She seized the handle, spitting her words. “Tell me I’m wrong, Dibs. Tell me your family hasn’t been thinking that exact thing!” She shoved onto the balcony and rushed for the stairs.
He raced out in front and planted his feet, blocking her path. “Yes, okay! You’re right!” He raked a hand through his hair. “But I had nothing to do with it!”
“You have
everything
to do with it!”
Movement caught the corner of her eye. Michael. Standing at the bottom of the steps. Her portfolio in hand, the pages sticking out at an awkward angle. He ascended that first step, a level stare aimed at her from under his brows. She squinted, silently warning him not to come any closer.
Dibs tracked her eyes over his shoulder, and she held a breath, afraid he might recognize Michael for who he was. But when Dibs swung back to her, only concern haunted his gaze, concern for her. Once again the man she loved stood before her, and his only thought was of her…
An internal door slammed. The answer now so clear.
If they had never fallen in love, then Dibs would be safe. If she had never gone to him that day at the airport, the Foundation and everyone around them wouldn’t be in danger. The Brenner family would have no leverage. They couldn’t force Dibs to choose.
The pain etched on his face spoke volumes. He would do anything to keep her. He would battle heaven and earth, and if he destroyed his family or his company or his life in the process, it wouldn’t matter. If he damaged everything and everyone they ever touched, it still wouldn’t matter.
Because of
her
this was happening.
Despair tumbled through her heart, dark and violent. She trembled under the weight, bit back a sob. She had become more than his love. She had become his symbol, a representation of everything he spent his entire life fighting for. A figure to show his family he could no longer be manipulated.
No, no, their love shouldn’t be his crusade against the world.
Her heart shattered. She withdrew a step.
She had to let him go.
No matter what he said, no matter how much they loved each other, the guilt over what their love had destroyed would follow them everywhere. Until it changed them, transformed their relationship into something bitter and cruel…everything they once shared lost, forgotten…wrong.