A Winter's Secret (A Winter's Tale Book 4) Read online

  “A co- worker,” she answered simply.

  “A co- worker?”

  “Yes.”

  “Who randomly shows up at your place in the middle of the day. You must think I’m a total idiot.”

  Rolling her eyes at him, Charlotte said, “Your words not mine.” Easily sliding her narrow feet from her running shoes, she carelessly kicked them into the closest corner. “Now, answer my question. What are you doing here?”

  His smoky grey eyes laughed at her even as they mirrored his frustration and hurt at the possibility of her lying to him. Taking a step in her direction, Nicholas stopped cold when she backed out of his reach. For several seconds, he stared at her unblinking as if in deep thought, a deep frown slowly clouding his beautiful features as his mind attempted to formulate answers to questions his wife refused to answer. “Are we there?” he asked, his voice low, broken. “Are we at the part where you want to see other people?”

  “He’s just a co- worker, Nicholas.”

  “Who happens to be at your front door in the middle of the day. I saw how he looked at you . . . how you looked at him. There is an attraction there . . . between the two of you.”

  “That’s your guilt talking,” Charlotte sighed.

  Nicholas’ molten gaze turned to ice at the impact of her words. “My guilt,” he repeated, snorting indignantly. “I know what I saw. But if you say that he’s nothing to you, nothing more than a co- worker who randomly stopped by . . . I have no reason to doubt you. I mean, it’s not like you’ve ever lied before,” he said sarcastically.

  Charlotte scowled darkly. “Right. Just as I have no reason to doubt you. I mean, it’s not like you’ve ever cheated on me before,” she bit back.

  With a sigh of regret Nicholas shook his head at her harsh words. “And you’ll never let me forget it, will you?” Thoughtfully, he combed his fingers through his thick ash brown hair. “I thought after the other night we were getting back to us, that you were ready to forgive me, but I guess I was wrong.”

  I’m trying, her mouth wanted to scream out, but Charlotte’s will was too strong, and her anger went too deep. Her feet wanted to move forward, but her brain forced their compliance to stay in place. Her hands yearned to reach out for him, but even that small gesture was muted by her iron stubbornness. And so, she stood there unspeaking, unmoving, unchanging.

  “Right,” Nicholas said, completely at his wits end. “Right.” Holding her heated brown gaze with his cold silver one, he shook his head once more before backing toward the door. Then without so much as a backwards glance, he turned and left, leaving Charlotte to stare after him.

  ***

  Nicholas sat across from his siblings in the back of Milton’s Bar & Grill slowly sipping his Blue Moon, lost in his thoughts and seemingly oblivious to the conversation taking place in front of him. The establishment was filled to capacity making for an energetic and lively atmosphere. People from all walks of life stood around the large room engaged in conversation over drafts and folk classics emanating from the overplayed jukebox.

  “Mumford & Sons,” Rebecca sighed contentedly. Closing her eyes, she leisurely swayed to the music. “I love this song.”

  “Awesome track. Their music creates a sense of nostalgia . . . good years, good times,” Caleb answered, his dark blue eyes on his sister.

  “For sure,” Rebecca smiled sadly. “Too bad we didn’t spend those good years together, or those good times.”

  Caleb moved then, reaching out to Rebecca, he pulled her into him. Pressing her face against his muscular chest, he gently combed his fingers through her thick, rich brown hair. “There. There,” he cooed, brazing his full lips against her forehead. “We’re together now.”

  Rebecca struggled against him making a real effort to get out of her brother’s tight grasp. “Won’t you let go of me?” she asked, straight faced.

  “And lose out on the opportunity to annoy you?” he laughed. “What kind of older brother would I be if I let precious opportunities like this pass . . . who knows the next time we’ll be together again?”

  “I’m warning you, Caleb. Let go, or suffer the consequences.”

  Knowing the just of those consequences, Caleb quickly twisted Rebecca’s long hair around his hand until his fingers touched her scalp. “I’ll take my chances, Rebecca,” he teased, pulling her head back and pecking her on the lips. “No biting,” he chastised. “When I let you go, no biting.”

  Glaring up at him, Rebecca nodded her head. “We aren’t children anymore Caleb. You can’t just kiss me on the lips, it’s weird.”

  “You’re my baby sister. I can kiss you whenever I want to,” he answered, releasing his hold on her. “Besides, who’s to say what’s weird and what isn’t?”

  Rebecca rolled her eyes at her brother’s words before turning her attention to Nicholas. “Nicholas?” she said, clapping her hands in front of his face. “Where is your mind right now?”

  Nicholas straightened his posture as he met Rebecca’s grey stare from across the table. Drumming the side of his thumb on the cheap wood, he silently contemplated how much to divulge. “Charlotte and I are separated,” he said after a while. “I had sex with Blithe on her parents’ balcony the night of their New Year’s Eve party.”

  “What?” Rebecca gasped, her silvers wide from the shock of his admission. “You did what?”

  “A few months ago, I fired an employee for his constant attacks on Charlotte. I had no idea that he was clinically insane, like a real- life nut case . . . turns out he’s been stalking Charlotte and I for months . . . and he was there that night. He took pictures of me and Blithe . . . and blackmailed me for five- million dollars and my position at the magazine. I−”

  “Wait! What!” Rebecca yelled, holding up her small hands. “Nicholas, slow down. He blackmailed you? Did you go to the police?”

  “No, I paid him.”

  “But−”

  “Rebecca, let him finish,” Caleb interrupted her. Finally, he would hear the truth behind what had been agonizing his brother. For months now, he knew that something was off with Nicholas, but forcing him into a confession never worked, so patiently, Caleb waited for his brother to be ready to let him in. “Nicholas, go on,” he said, his voice nonjudgmental.

  “I paid him the money, but Charlotte ended up finding out anyway. She found out that I stepped down from the magazine and I had no choice but to tell her.”

  “At your wedding reception you two seemed happy . . . that was for show?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where did you get the money?” Caleb asked.

  “Catherine Fissicle.”

  Frowning, Caleb mumbled the woman’s name. “She helped you? Does Hayward know that his wife gave you five- million dollars?”

  “She’s been an ally of mine for some time now,” Nicholas admitted. Shrugging nonchalantly, he said, “Fissicle doesn’t know anything Catherine doesn’t want him to know. She’s a smart woman, that one,” he said thoughtfully, a small smile touching his mouth at the thought of the older woman. “She’s been good to me.”

  “But why is she helping you?” Rebecca asked. “There has to be a reason . . . no matter how good she’s been to you, there’s a motive. She’s a part of that world, Muffy and Spencer’s world, there’s always going to be a motive.”

  Nicholas pondered over telling his siblings about Fissicle’s affairs but decided against it. The last thing he wanted to do was embarrass Catherine by telling others of her husband’s infidelity. Instead he simply answered, “Everyone has motives, she has the right to hers.”

  “So, this disgruntled employee made off with your job and five- million dollars, and Charlotte still left you . . . is that why you went back to Plotus Cosmetics?” Caleb asked. “Is it because you had to give up your position at the magazine?” he pressed. “Now that Charlotte knows about you and Blithe, you have nothing left to lose, why not take back your position at the magazine, and keep away from Spencer altogether?”

 
“I’ve decided to allow the man to continue on as Editor- in- Chief at Gizzelle, while I take care of things at Plotus.”

  “Take care of things at Plotus?” Rebecca glared at Nicholas as she repeated his words. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?” she asked him.

  Nicholas’ silver gaze moved from Rebecca to Caleb and then back again. It was time to fill his siblings in on his plan. “I am going to overthrow Spencer from his position at Plotus Cosmetics and once I’m acting CEO, I am going to break the company apart and sell it off, piece by piece.” Nicholas’ voice was hoarse, dark− almost unrecognizable.

  Caleb blinked at his brother, clearly shocked. Opening his mouth to speak, he quickly closed it when no words came out. He was at a complete loss. Sure, Nicholas had spoken about taking over Plotus Cosmetics in the past, but that was the talk of a child who was wounded and hurt. This was different, this was the declaration of a man who now had the knowledge and ability to turn mindless talk into fruition.

  “How exactly do you plan on accomplishing the impossible, Nicholas?” Rebecca asked, her tone forlorn. Had her family really fallen into that deep of a pit− that a son sought to destroy his own father? It was a sad thought indeed.

  Amusement warmed Nicholas’ steel eyes. “Impossible?” he smiled at her. “Nothing is impossible.”

  “You don’t have the numbers−”

  “If you give me your shares, I will have the numbers on my side. Mine and Caleb’s shares put me at sixteen percent, plus the twelve from Fissicle− that puts me at twenty- eight. Spencer gave me fifteen percent just to return to the company . . . all I need is your eight, Rebecca, and that makes me majority share- holder at fifty- one percent.”

  Rebecca turned to look at Caleb. “You’ve been in on this, too?”

  Caleb remained silent; his blues focused on his younger brother as his mind quickly worked out the reality of what was happening. When Nicholas had asked for his shares at the company, he should have suspected that it was for an outcome such as this, but in all honesty, he never thought his brother had the willpower to execute the unthinkable.

  “Caleb unknowingly helped me. When I approached him about his shares, he had no idea why I wanted them. He is innocent.”

  “Lucky him,” Rebecca scoffed. “You’re asking me to knowingly, willingly help you take dad’s company away from him.”

  “If there was another way, I wouldn’t put you in this position, but there isn’t.”

  “There is another way,” Rebecca laughed uncomfortably. “Don’t go through with it. Yell at him, scream at him . . . walk away from him and mom like I did, like Caleb did. But taking his company, isn’t that a bit much?”

  “I’m sorry,” Nicholas said, meaning it. “He’s given me no other option.”

  “Why now, Nicholas?” she asked. “Why take the company now? It would have made sense years ago, when he was a tyrant manipulating you and Caleb with his schemes, but it’s been years−”

  “He’s been the puppet master for years, orchestrating my life all the while feigning innocence. Pretending to stay at a distance, but really playing me, manipulating those around me to get what he wanted. He stole my magazine, rather got Fissicle to steal my magazine from me. Had I not resigned as Editor- in- Chief for the sake of being blackmailed, I would have lost the position because of Spencer.”

  “How do you know that?” Rebecca pressed.

  “Catherine told me.”

  “And you trust her?”

  “Emphatically.”

  “Catherine Fissicle gives you five- million dollars . . . Hayward Fissicle takes your company at dad’s bidding, but then gives you all of his shares at Plotus Cosmetics . . . yet you think you can trust them? Since when has any of our parents’ friends been generous without cause? Hayward is dad’s friend. What makes you think he hasn’t told him that you now own his shares? For all we know, Spencer is waiting for you to make your move so that he can completely decimate you.”

  “That’s not going to happen.”

  “Nicholas−”

  “Either you’re going to help me, or not. If you won’t I respect your choice, but you are not going to talk me out of my decision. My mind is made up.”

  Rebecca groaned, “Nicholas, please just consider−”

  “Give him your shares,” Caleb interjected.

  “You can’t be serious, Caleb. Taking Spencer’s company would destroy him,” she sighed, feeling defeated. “Granted he is not the best man and he hasn’t been the ideal father, but taking his company because he took yours Nicholas, is just being vengeful. It will not change what he has done to you, and you will be behaving just like him. How does that make you any better?”

  Rebecca’s words cut deeply, punctured his heart until it ached beyond comfort. It was a hard truth that he struggled with daily . . . the thought that he shared any similarities to his father. “I am nothing like him,” Nicholas denied the charge.

  Caleb’s deep blue eyes searched Nicholas’ silvers for what felt like an eternity before he spoke again. “If you do this . . . there is no going back. It cannot be undone. Are you sure you’re willing to live with the consequences?”

  Nicholas met his brother’s gaze. “I am.”

  Caleb turned his attention to Rebecca. “Give him your shares,” he said, his voice holding an authority, a finality, that neither of his younger siblings ever thought to question. Caleb’s word was final and without further argument Rebecca nodded her head in silent agreement. There was a heartbeat of silence between them before Caleb cleared his throat, a faint smile briefly touching his full lips and then disappearing just as quickly as it came. His captivating blues now fixed on Nicholas watched his brother intently. Caleb could sense the weariness in him, could see the etched lines, though faint, forming on his face from the burden of bearing the Elliot name. “Nicholas. While I’m all for breaking apart Plotus, I don’t think doing so right away would be beneficial. Such a rash decision would look impulsive and thoughtless, and could pose the risk of destabilizing the company. We don’t want to scare investors, doing so would mean a decrease in revenue. We have to be smart if we are going to be successful.”

  Nicholas looked up at Caleb, his bright silver gaze penetrating. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, “We?”

  “I gave you my word little brother, and I am nothing if not a man of my word,” he smiled at him. “I’m coming home.”

  Chapter Twenty- Five

  JANUARY 1999

  Nicholas walked into Johnny Rays, a small dive bar in the heart of Rockingham County, New Hampshire. Stomping the snow off his ash brown Stefano Cognac boots, he removed his matching leather brown gloves from his hands as his bright mercury gaze scanned the dim lit establishment.

  A tall brunette woman in a tight white V- Neck quickly made her way over to him. Openly eyeing him, she asked, “Looking for someone?”

  Nicholas’ grey eyes met her dark brown ones briefly, and clearly uninterested in her forwardness, he continued his search, his intense stare moving from face to face.

  “Well?” she pressed. “I’ve worked here for two years and I know just about every face that walks in and out of this place.”

  “My brother. I was told that he worked here, but−”

  “Prince.”

  Nicholas frowned. “Excuse me?”

  “Prince. That’s what we call him, your brother− Caleb. Prince. I should have known you were kin . . . your resemblance is uncanny, and you reek of money.”

  A slow smile curved his sensuous mouth. “Do you know where I can find him?”

  “He’s currently on break, but he’s working the bar tonight. Head over to a table and I’ll see if he’s in the back.”

  Nodding his head, Nicholas walked further into the bar, the once inaudible 80’s Rock, now clear and vibrant in the intimate space. Stopping at the first empty table he came to, Nicholas sat down and continued to scan the room for his brother. Caleb hadn’t been expecting him, and from his many failed attempts at t
rying to make contact, he wasn’t so sure he’d be a welcomed visitor.

  “Nicholas,” Caleb said from behind him. Grasping his younger brother’s shoulders, he squeezed gently. “How did you find me?” he asked as he rounded the small pub table. “Does Spencer and Muffy know that you’re here?”

  “I paid one of the tech- nerds in my dorm to track your phone. And no, they don’t know where I am. I told them that I was visiting a friend before heading back to school.” Nicholas furrowed his brows, causing small lines to form around his eyes. Staring at his brother intently, he said, “You didn’t come home for the holidays.”

  Caleb met Nicholas’ silver gaze with his deep blues. “No, I didn’t.”

  “You’ve been ignoring my calls . . . my texts.”

  “I have,” he admitted.

  “Why? Are you upset with me?”

  Roughly combing his fingers through his thick dirty blonde hair, Caleb sighed. “Why would I be upset with you? I just need some space.”

  “Space,” Nicholas repeated, frowning. Sitting back in his chair, he narrowed his eyes at his brother in speculation. “Space, from me?”

  “Space from our parents, space from the Elliot name, space from that world, from everything.”

  Nodding his head at his brother’s words, Nicholas was silent for a moment and then rose from his seat to leave.

  Caleb quickly grabbed his hand. “Wait, don’t leave. I don’t want you to go.”

  “You just said−”

  Smiling boyishly, Caleb shook his head. “I know what I said, and I meant it. But you didn’t let me finish. I needed space from everything . . . to clear my mind and figure things out. Talking to you would have made staying away harder. The only reason I go back to New York is to be with you and Rebecca. This year bro, this year I couldn’t bring myself to go back there, not even for the two of you. I don’t know . . . I just felt guilty, I guess.”

  “So, you’re not upset with me?”

  “Of course not,” Caleb laughed softly. Eyeing his brother, he said, “You look different since the last time I’ve seen you . . . you’re growing up, Nicholas. Nineteen looks good on you.”