Page 55 of Maid for a Magnate

Will took in a deep breath, blew it out and raked a hand through his hair. “This is harder than I thought,” he said on a sigh. “Do you remember the night Mum died? Dad woke us and said she’d been in an accident?”

 James nodded. “I heard them arguing earlier that evening. I was heading downstairs to get some water and heard them fighting so I went back upstairs.”

 Will straightened. “You heard them arguing?”

 James nodded. “Dad raised his voice, and then Mum was crying and Dad was saying something else but in a lower tone. I didn’t hear what all he said.”

 Will closed his eyes and wished like hell he could go back and...what? What could he have done differently? He’d been a kid. Even if James had gone downstairs and interrupted the fight, most likely their mother still would’ve walked out to get away from their father.

 “What is it?” James prodded. “What aren’t you telling me?”

 Will opened his eyes and focused on his brother. “Dad had an affair. They were arguing about that.”

 “What?” James muttered a curse. “Has that man ever valued his family at all?”

 “There’s more.” Will hesitated a moment, swallowed and pushed forward. “The affair was with Maria. Cat’s mum.”

 Will started to wonder if James had heard him, but suddenly his brother jumped to his feet and let out a chain of curses that even had Will wincing. James kicked the leg of the chair, propped his hands on his hips and dropped his head between his shoulders.

 “If I’d have gone downstairs that night...” he muttered.

 “Mum still would’ve left,” Will said softly. “We can’t go back in time and you’re not to blame. Our dad is the one whose selfish needs stole our mother. He crushed her. She would’ve done anything for him and he threw it all away.”

 James turned. “Does Cat know this?”

 Shaking his head, Will came to his feet. “I doubt it. She’s never said a word to me.”

 “Do you think once she knows the truth she’ll take you back?”

 Yeah, the odds were more than stacked against him, but he refused to back down. Nobody would steal his life again. And Cat was his entire life.

 “I don’t even know what to say about this,” James said, staring out to the ocean. “I never had much respect for Dad, but right now I hate that man.”

 “I’ve made his life hell.” Will was actually pleased with the timing. “As CEO of Rowling Energy, I’ve frozen his shares. He can no longer vote on any company matters that come before the board.”

 James smiled. “If this action were directed to an enemy, dear old Dad would be proud of your business tactics.”

 “Yeah,” Will agreed, returning the grin. “He’s not too proud right now, though. But I have more pressing matters to tend to.”

 James reached out, patted Will on the back. “I’ll do what I can where Cat is concerned. I know what this is like to be so torn over a woman.”

 Torn wasn’t even the word.

 “I never thought either of us would fall this hard.” Will pulled in a deep breath. “Now we need Bella to convince Cat to work the party. I can take it from there. I just need you guys to get her there.”

                       Seventeen

 If Catalina didn’t adore Bella and her valiant efforts to raise money for the Alma Wildlife Conservation Society which she’d recently founded, Catalina wouldn’t have stepped foot back into this house.

 But Patrick was out of town and Bella and James had caught Catalina at a weak moment, offering her an insane amount of money to help set up for the event.

 In the past week since she’d last seen Will, she’d not heard one word from him. Apparently she wasn’t worth fighting for after all. Not that she would have forgiven him, but a girl likes to at least know she’s worth something other than a few amazing sexual encounters.

 Catalina hurried through the house, hoping to get everything set up perfectly before the first guests arrived.

 Okay, fine. There was only one person on the guest list she was trying like hell to avoid.

 She’d spent this past week furiously working on her final designs. She didn’t have the amount of money saved up that she wanted before she left Alma, but it would just have to be enough. Alma had nothing left to offer her. Not anymore.

 Catalina took a final walkthrough, adjusting one more floral arrangement on the foyer table before she was satisfied with everything. She’d already double-checked with the kitchen to make sure the food was ready and would be served according to the set schedule. She’d also told Bella she would be back around midnight to clean up. There was just no way she could stay during the party. That had been her only condition for working tonight, and thankfully Bella had agreed.