Page 78 of Wrecked By You
“Be careful, Johannes. If you go poking around in this girl’s affairs without her permission, you might push her away rather than keeping her close.”
He had a point. One I’d already considered and decided to ignore. Uncovering the truth was more important. I couldn’t risk this turning into another Sadie situation. To have a woman fool me once was one thing, but to walk blindly into it for a second time?
Not a fucking chance.
“Noted. So, can I have the goddamn number or not?”
“Jesus, you really can be a sullen jerk.” I heard the smile in his voice. “It’s your funeral. If it all goes south, don’t come crying to me.”
I snorted. “As if. Text it to me.” I hung up, and a few seconds later, the number came through.
My finger hovered over the Call button. Calling my brother this late at night was one thing, but calling a stranger, one whose help I needed, was another.
I’d have to wait until morning.
I returned to the bedroom, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t sleep. At five o’clock, I gave up. Normally, when insomnia kicked my ass, I’d head to my private gym and exhaust myself on the treadmill, but the suite didn’t have its own gym, and I had no intention of visiting the hotel one dressed in a high-necked sweater.
Instead, I left Ella a note in case she woke, and then went downstairs to the space Nolen wanted me to rent and turn into another nightclub. I tapped the key card Nolen had given to me against the door, and went inside. Wandering around the periphery, I allowed my mind the freedom to innovate, envisaging what it could look like. Each one of my clubs brought something different to the clubbing scene. I wasn’t interested in creating a chain of identical nightclubs. I wanted my customers to have a unique experience at each establishment they visited.
I lost track of time as I jotted notes on my phone and sent a few emails to previous construction firms who’d decked out some of my other clubs. The sooner I moved things along, the better. A buzz fizzed through my veins, a burgeoning excitement that came at the start of every new adventure. Soon the buzz would disappear, replaced with stress and anxiety as I dealt with problem after problem, culminating in an opening night where I’d bite my nails until they bled. But right now, in this moment, the possibilities outweighed the negatives.
The next time I looked at my watch, it had turned seven o’clock. I called the private detective.
Thirty minutes later, having told him everything I knew—which wasn’t much—he promised he’d get back to me as soon as he’d uncovered anything. I could be way off the mark, but the way my intuition had fired up after last night, stoking the embers of suspicion that had been there for a while, I didn’t think I was.
When I arrived back at our suite, Ella was sitting in the center of the living room playing with Chloe, the giant bear I’d bought for the little girl sitting right beside her as if he, too, was playing the game. The smile Ella gave me tightened my chest. God, whatever she was hiding, I hoped to Christ it wasn’t an unforgivable secret. Like Sadie.
I couldn’t bear it… the idea that I’d allowed another woman to scale the walls I’d built afterher, only to find I’d made the same mistake twice.
No.
Ella wasn’t Sadie. I had to believe that.
“Morning.” She beamed. “Come, join us.”
“Johannes!” Chloe scrambled to her feet and raced toward me. She clamped her little arms around my legs and held on tight. Emotions swirled inside my chest. Tension, worry, fear, joy, surprise. A slew of them battering me until I couldn’t think straight. “Play with me.”
I sought out Ella whose surprise matched my own. Then her eyebrows lowered, and her eyes misted over, and she pressed a hand to her chest as if she was afraid her heart would burst right out of it.
“What are we playing?” I peeled Chloe’s hands from around my legs and guided her back to her mother, then folded myself onto the floor.
“The bear’s tea party.” She handed me a pretend cup. I took it from her and sipped, wondering who the fuck I was right now. Only a few months ago, I’d have scoffed at the idea of me drinking pretend tea out of a pretend cup with a five-year-old kid who wasn’t mine, and enjoying every second. But now…
Please don’t be another Sadie. Please…
“Do you like it? I made it special.”
I caught Ella’s smirk and returned it with one of my own. “Delicious.”
“Where have you been?” Ella asked, peering up at me from beneath her lashes. “Your note didn’t say.”
“I went to take another look at the potential nightclub. Made a few notes.” I left out the part where I’d asked a private detective to invade her privacy. “Should be a real moneymaker if I get it right.”
“You’ll get it right.”
My chest swelled at her pride and belief in me, then collapsed just as fast. “Have you eaten?”
“No. We were waiting for you. Ginny’s still asleep, I think.”