The Marriage Merger

Chapter Sixteen

Two days later, Sawyer punched the button for the inter-com. “Is Wolfe back yet?”

His secretary’s voice came out crisp and sharp. “He just arrived, Mr. Wells. Should I send him in?”

“Please.”

He pushed back from his chair and paced his inner sanctum, stopping by the few erotic pieces he displayed on the wall. He’d begun to notice his new wife had a touch of oCD and constantly needed to straighten paintings, pic-tures, or knickknacks to a perfect line. especially when she was stressed. It was another tic he enjoyed getting to know about her.

Sawyer studied the paintings. They were subtle enough for an office, yet still retained the aura of sensuality he enjoyed studying. The woman lay her head on the man’s chest, her eyes closed, her face reflecting a peace and satisfaction of a recent orgasm. The man held her in a possessive gesture that always fascinated Sawyer. When he took women to bed, he had never experienced the need to hold them close afterward or the roar of his inner primate to claim them on any more than a physical level. He soothed, comforted, supported. He pleasured. Never, ever did he actually feel.

Until Julietta.

They’d gone riding yesterday again. Taking advantage of the lure of spring, they’d actually played hooky on their lunch hour and taken to the streets. He loved the wild freedom of watching her take off on the sexy bike, her laugh-ter and challenge echoing in the air around them as they roared through the city.

He still hadn’t responded to her comment of love. He’d prepared himself for a dreaded conversation where he once again explained his emotional limitations, but instead she hadn’t said a word. Just continued as if the event had never happened.

He didn’t even know if he was overjoyed or pissed off.

The door opened behind him, but he didn’t turn around.

“About time you got back. Don’t tell me we had more problems on the site.”

“No. remember I told you I needed a few hours to meet with Maggie?”

“oh, yeah, the modeling thing.” Sawyer shook his head in amusement. “you won’t even wear the designer clothes I got you, let alone get in front of a camera. But I thought it was really nice you let Maggie drag you over there.” He twisted to face Wolfe with a grin. “How’d you get—holy shit!”

He blinked, not recognizing the boy in front of him.

He looked more man than boy. His crazy spiked hair had been completely shaved off so he sported the popular look preferred by today’s youth. Without hair, nothing de-flected from the strong lines of his face, the stinging blue of his eyes, the strong jaw with the slight dimple that he never noticed because of the facial jewelry. A bit of stubble hugged his chin.

His basic shirt and tie had been replaced by an Armani suit that seemed to have been custom-made for him. Snug lines emphasized his height, and the double-breasted jacket with a red tie gave him a dashing aura that would have women dropping their panties. Crap, his shoulders and biceps were huge, evident in the way the material stretched. All that working out had given his apprentice another benefit.

A hot bod, as the ladies would say.

His gaze kept roving over the boy’s figure but his mouth wouldn’t work. Wolfe scowled and thrust out his jaw in familiar rebellion. “What’s the matter? Don’t you like the hair?”

Sawyer struggled for words. “you look so different.”

“Different how? Do I look like a nerd, dude?”

He shook his head in awe. “Hell, no. you look awesome.

How did Maggie talk you into this? What happened?”

Wolfe shifted his weight. “I had a consultation with the designer. He was a trip. Loved my look, but said we needed to soften some of the edge. Maggie suggested I go for the shaven style, and I figured it would be good for business, too. I mean, I can’t keep meeting big clients with this appearance anymore. It’s just not fair to you.”

Sawyer remained mute, feeling as if he’d been dropped into an alternate universe. Was this the kid who sneered and challenged and refused to bend?

“So, we got it done, and the guy booked me for a shoot next week. But listen, I don’t want you to think this is going to pull me away from Purity. It’s a Saturday session, and I’ll make up the hours. Is this cool with you?”

raw emotion rose up and choked him. “It’s very cool with me. Jesus, Wolfe, you look amazing. So . . . grown up.

And you’re gonna be a fucking cover model? Women will be dropping at your feet.”

Wolfe grinned and again, Sawyer was struck by how the boy seemed to have changed. “yeah, we can hope. Listen, I gotta catch up with Julietta on a few things. you need me for anything?”

“Not now. We have a four o’clock meeting I’ll need you to sit in on.”

“No problem. Thanks, Sawyer.”

Sawyer watched the door close behind Wolfe. Pride surged and tingled through every vein in his body. Somehow, someway, Wolfe was going to be okay.

…

Later that night, Sawyer watched the credits roll past on the massive TV, and he pulled his wife’s feet into his lap.

She groaned as he massaged her insteps. “I can’t take any more,” she moaned deliciously. “No more Rocky. I’m burnt out. How does he always manage to come from behind when he’s so much smaller than his opponents?”

Wolfe snorted. “Wait till you see the final installment.

Five sucks bad so we’re skipping it, but he brings it home in the sixth.”

“But how old is he? I thought his brain was fried in three?”

Sawyer gave a patient sigh. Women. “He pushed through it. Wolfe’s right, five’s a tragedy. But the last one wraps the whole series up. Poor guy.”

“yeah, it’s sad how lost he seems without Adrian.”

Julietta swung her head around. “What? Adrian dies?

That’s terrible! I don’t want to see it.”

Wolfe stuffed another handful of popcorn in his mouth and adjusted his blanket. Clad in flannel pants and a long-sleeved shirt, he propped his bare feet on the edge of the chair with a bowl settled in his lap. “Come on, Julietta.

you’re usually not so girly. Suck it up.”

She sputtered a laugh, which turned into one of those yummy moans when Sawyer worked her toes. She had pretty feet, with delicate bones and fire-engine-red nails.

“Fine. But this is the last one. It’s almost two a.m.. I’ll be dreaming about knockout punches.”

Sawyer pressed a kiss to the top of her head and eased off the sofa to slip in the last DVD. When Wolfe arrived home from work, Julietta always greeted him with a kiss and a huge. Sure, Wolfe usually looked awkward and ducked his head, but the flash of pleasure in those blue eyes told him the truth. He’d gotten quite attached to Julietta and allowed her liberties most couldn’t claim. Like touches, smiles, and even the occasional laugh.

After dinner, Wolfe announced they should have a movie marathon with the old classics. Since his collection included all of the Rocky movies, they’d convinced Julietta to watch the original Rocky. of course, this morphed into most of the series, so they all looked like a bunch of vegetables like poor rocky.

“Bathroom break,” Wolfe announced. “Don’t start without me.”

Julietta shook her head in amusement, the obvious ad-oration on her face for him making Sawyer’s heart lurch.

odd. They acted just like a family would. The scariest part of all?

He loved every moment.

He gazed at his wife, who was cuddled under a cream-colored afghan. The conflict raging inside grew more vio-lent. Sawyer knew he was hurting her by not being man enough to even admit he’d heard her confession. once again, the confirmation he sucked at dealing with real emotions dragged him down.

Julietta loved him. The truth was in her eyes every time she looked at him. His ice queen was really a woman full of passion and goodness, opening her arms to a man who had once lived in garbage and walked in darkness. All he had to do was take her hand and take a chance.

Maybe he could. Maybe, just once, this time it would work.

“I forgot to tell you, some mail came for you today. It’s on the kitchen counter,” Julietta said.

“Probably a bunch of bills. Let me check, be right back.”

He walked into the kitchen and scanned through the envelopes. Then froze. The return address was stamped FISHKILL

CorreCTIoNAL FACILITy.

His fingers numbed and dread slithered through his veins. The past rose up from Dante’s Hell and entered earth.

“I have to check something out real quick on the com-puter,” he called out. “Be right back.”

He headed toward his office, shut the door, and ripped open the envelope. He unfolded it and read the words from his hated foster father.

Dear Sawyer, Did you think that by changing your name and run-ning to Italy you’d avoid me forever? I know everything about you since you locked me up in this hellhole. You always did think you were better than anybody else. I took you in, gave you shelter, food, and you threw it back in my face. You should be in jail for killing Danny. You were such a pussy, you couldn’t stay for your little brother. He trusted you to care for him, but you left. Left him knowing what would happen. You’re at fault, too. Does that bother you at night, or have you forgotten him and moved on with your perfect little life?

I’m coming up for parole. You may have put me in this place, but you’re going to help get me out. I need you to recommend my release, which will help me in court.

I can hear you laughing now and asking why you’d do that. And I’ll tell you why. If you don’t, I’ll find a way from prison to destroy your reputation.

We have a lot of time to think and plan in here. I’ll destroy everything you’ve built. I’ll leak the story to the press. Tell your sweet little family the shit you pulled, the way you killed your brother because you didn’t take care of him. Or have you just replaced him with that kid in your house and moved on?

I’ll use my last dying breath to drag your past into the open. I’ve got nothing to lose. Do you?

Send the written letter in care of the parole board address below.

Sawyer shoved the letter back in the envelope and threw it in the desk drawer. He despised his automatic fear, a boy’s fear, and reminded himself he was a grown man.

That it was over. He’d never give the asshole a way out of prison, a way to hurt other kids.

The best memory of his life was the one of his foster father going to jail. once Sawyer lost Danny, he went straight to the social workers and exposed what had been going on for years. Within months, the piece of shit was behind bars for a long, long time. It was the only justice that allowed him to sleep at night.

Now he was back.

The other memory shoved its way into his brain and carved him in raw, bloody pieces he knew would never heal.

An innocent boy on the streets was ripe for anything to happen. Danny had been looking for Sawyer, trying to find him, believing he was old enough to make it on his own.

Instead, he’d fallen into one of the local gang traps and was caught stealing their food. There was a price to pay on the streets, and his brother paid the ultimate price.

Sawyer’s fault.

He stared sightlessly at the floor. His heart beat and air filled his lungs. Blood pumped through his veins. But inside, he was empty, a soulless being with a past that would never go away and that would continually remind him he was nothing.

His fingers lifted and he traced the scar on his cheek. A reminder of what he’d almost forgotten. He was better alone.

Julietta and Wolfe would be dragged into a mess, and poor Wolfe didn’t need that type of exposure. Not when he was just beginning to heal. He thought over the options for a long time before returning to the living room.

Wolfe sat on the chair with the remote in hand. “ready, man?”

His tone was wooden. “Sorry, guys, I gotta hit the bed.

you two finish it up. My head’s starting to hurt, and I need some sleep.”

Julietta studied his face, probing for answers. He forced a smile and left them.

When she finally came into bed and slipped in beside him, Sawyer pretended to be asleep. He lay still for hours, throughout the night, and wondered what he was going to do.

…

Julietta sat in her office and stared at her sister. “Something’s wrong. really wrong.”

Carina put down her coffee cup and looked at her with concern. “What’s the matter?”

The itchy restlessness drove Julietta to stand up and begin pacing. The nugget of worry had now blossomed to a full-fledged attack. A few nights had passed since their movie marathon, and her husband was no longer the same.

A faceless, nameless ghost haunted every moment, evident in the preoccupied look in his eyes, the distance carved out on his features when he spoke. He cited work and refused to eat dinner at home. He sidestepped her request to speak with him alone, ready with a list of excuses, and kept himself locked in his office or endlessly talking on the phone.

He canceled an outing with her family and kept away from her mother’s house. When he wasn’t working, Julietta caught him staring at the wall, as if another place was on his mind. She’d tried to be patient and understanding. Tried speaking with him. even tried sex, but by the time he came to bed, it was the middle of the night, and she’d fallen into an exhausted sleep.

“I think he got spooked. I told him I loved him the night we went out. During sex.”

Carina swiveled her head around. “Hey, you weren’t supposed to have sex that night. We agreed, remember?”

“Did you jump Max when you got home?”

Her sister sighed. “yeah. you know I did. Alexa admit-ted her failure right away. And Maggie was pretty quiet and tame the next day, so I think Michael apologized properly.

They definitely did it, too.”

“See? Drunk women get horny. So, anyway, I told him how I felt after I seduced him, and even though he didn’t answer, he changed. He was more open before, happier.

We were starting to gel as a family.” Back and forth she walked, her heels tapping. “But suddenly, during our Rocky marathon break, he came back in the room and acted funny. He’s withdrawn completely. I’m worried about him, Carina.”

“I love those Rocky movies.”

“Focus.”

“Sorry. Have you tried to talk to him about it?”

“Several times. He completely shut down. Wolfe is worried, too. They used to work out together every day, but he’s missed all their sessions.”

“Did you try sex?”

“yeah, he’s been avoiding me.”

“This is serious.” Carina nibbled on her lip. “Maybe Max can talk to him? They’re close. Maybe it’s a guy thing.”

Julietta adjusted the photos of her nieces and nephews so they were lined up perfectly straight. Why couldn’t the cleaning person put them back in their proper place when she was done? She held back an impatient sigh and refo-cused. “When do you guys leave?”

“Two more days. I’ll talk to Max tonight. Try to get Sawyer to come to the house. Mama wants to have a big farewell dinner, and we want both of you there.”

Julietta stopped. The doubts assailed her; the sheer raw-ness of her emotions screamed something was wrong but she didn’t know how to fix it. “What if it’s me? What if he doesn’t love me the way I need?”

Her sister got up and pulled her in for a tight hug.

“He does. Give him some time. I don’t think he ever had anyone believe in him the way you do. And I think it’s the opposite. I truly believe he doesn’t think he’s worthy of you.”

Juliettta hugged her back. “Thanks. I have a meeting in a minute. Meet you at Mama’s tonight?”

“yes.” Carina got her coat. “Trust your gut, and do what you think is right.”

After her sister left, Julietta pulled herself together and headed toward the conference room. She needed to be calm. Cool. Allow him to work it out on his own and be patient. She clicked off her earpiece, grabbed her files, and took her place at the table. The department heads trickled in, laughing and joking. She fell into her role without hesitation, automatically bringing business back to being the main focus, challenging her directors on various questions, pushing for more efficiency, better production, bigger sales, always more.

Her fingers gripped her pen, eyes unfocused on the screen. The PowerPoint slides flashed with fury in an endless rhythm.

She needed to talk to her husband.

The little voice inside whispered, growing louder as the meeting droned on. Julietta stood in front of her team and knew in that moment nothing else mattered except pre-serving the precious gift she had found in a simple business merger.

Love.

The pen rolled from her fingers. She pulled off her headset and threw it on the table. Her employees stared at her, startled at her sudden jerky motions. “I have to go.”

Her assistant, elena, raised her voice. “We’ll wait if you need to take a call. Marcus can pass out the new marketing statistics.”

She shook her head hard. “No. I need to leave. I have to go talk to someone. Meeting dismissed.”

She fled the building without a glance back.

…

The door slid open soundlessly and she entered the office.

He stood with his back toward her. Dressed in a custom designed black suit, the cut of his pants and tight jacket showed off the hard lines of his body. His hair was loose, and blond waves hit the tops of his shoulders. His stillness reminded her of someone separate from civilization, as if he drew in the world’s energy and locked it up inside himself. Her heart lurched in pain and a wanting that would never go away.

“you need to talk to me. Tell me. I deserve that.”

He turned. Those piercing tiger eyes met her gaze and shredded past the surface to her soul. Slowly, he inclined his head. “of course. you’re right. I apologize for avoiding you.

I just don’t think this is working out.”

She swallowed past the fear and remained still. “Care to explain?”

He spoke as if he wasn’t in the room with her. A wall surrounded him, reminding her of a pod who spoke human and acted human but owned no soul. “I told you from the beginning I wasn’t good at this. I think spending so much time together, and being married, blurred the lines. I don’t think you’re in love with me, Julietta. If we take a step back and concentrate on why we did this in the first place, we can go back to the way things were. I can’t risk Purity because of emotions that aren’t even real.”

Her temper snapped. She closed the distance, moved past the wall, and made bodily contact. He jerked as she grabbed his biceps and dug her fingernails into his jacket.

“Don’t you dare patronize me about my own emotions,”

she hissed. “Do you think I throw words like that around? I love you. It’s not going away, and it’s not neat and tidy. Now, cut the bullshit and tell me what happened. Did something from the past come up?” She paused. “or someone?”

The surprised gleam in his eye confirmed her suspicions.

“exactly what I thought. If it was that bastard who put those marks on you, I’ll kill him myself. What happened? Did he or she dredge up the past? remind you of all the reasons you don’t deserve to be happy?”

She struck a nerve. rage and grief battled for domi-nance, and he grabbed her arms, shaking her slightly. “Why are you doing this? I’m not good for you, never was. Don’t ruin this between us. Let’s step back, get our footing, and try to focus on why we did this in the first place. To settle a debt. To make your mama happy. To solidify La Dolce Famiglia.”

“Fuck that,” she growled. He was in front of her but hovered on the edge of nothingness. Julietta was afraid if she let him slip over, she’d never get him back. “I don’t care about work or La Dolce Famiglia or anything I once believed in. right now, all I want is you. Now tell me the truth.”

“My foster father contacted me. From prison.”

The words were ripped out of his mouth in a snarl. He let go of her and stepped back, as if he couldn’t stand the thought of touching her. He shook his head and rubbed his forehead. “Tell me,” she said softly. “I deserve to know, don’t you think?”

“The bastard’s up for parole, and he wants me to write a recommendation on his behalf. If I don’t, he said he’d leak out to the press what happened, who I once was.”

The air pulsed with electricity as if a tornado hovered, ready to strike. In the quiet of the center of the storm, she took a deep breath. “And who were you?”

“I lost my parents when I was nine. Went into the sys-tem. Got picked up by him and his alcoholic wife. They liked to take the older ones since no one wanted them. Always had a few kids going in and out, but I became his favorite.

He liked to beat the pride out of me, as he used to say. I learned early not to tell, or the others got hurt. It’s funny when you hear stories like that: The first reaction from people is always the same. Just tell the social worker. But a lot of them aren’t like in the movies, where they want to help.

Many of them just need to get their placements done and turn a blind eye to a bruise now and then.

“Anyway, there was a little boy named Danny. Looked up to me. As I grew older, Dickhead liked to use the younger ones as bait. you know, if I didn’t do what he asked, he’d beat the shit out of them instead of me. I could take being beaten, but they couldn’t. I counted the days till I was eighteen and legally free. By that time, I’d promised Danny I’d take him away. But I needed to get myself fixed up with a job and a place first. I told him to wait for me.”

An agony of grief poured through her, but she kept her tone even. “Is that when you found Jerry?”

“No. There’s no job for an eighteen-year-old with no di-ploma and no money. The shelters were almost worse than the foster home. Almost. I started to learn the rules of the street. Found places to sleep, people to steal from, restaurants to haunt. I learned the gangs who ruled and how to survive. But Danny was getting restless, and he didn’t want to wait any longer. I stopped checking in with him as much, and I think he thought I’d abandoned him.”

A shattering silence fell over the room. “What happened?”

“He came looking for me. Packed his shit and snuck out at night. But he didn’t know where to find me. Gossip came from the street that there was a young boy who tried stealing food from a rival gang. They beat him to a pulp. He didn’t survive. I found out it was Danny.”

Julietta closed her eyes, fighting the nausea that ripped at her stomach. “Did your foster father get blamed?”

“Nah. He told the worker Danny ran away and that I sicced the gang on him. They found me and brought me in for questioning. I saw it in their faces, the knowledge that I’d killed him by not keeping my word. I promised I’d get him out, keep him safe. Instead, I killed him.”

The woman who loved him wanted to cry and rage and comfort. But he was past that and spiraling down a pit of blame he’d been nurturing since his foster father planted the idea in his head. She snapped her voice like a whiplash.

“And how is that your fault, Sawyer? Did you beat him up?

Did you deliver him to the gang who killed him?”

“No. But if I had gotten him a message beforehand, he would’ve waited.”

“Bullshit. His father was beating him daily. He would’ve tried to run away before he did, and I don’t think any message of yours would have stopped him. He’d had enough, and he ran into the wrong crowd, and he got killed. But you didn’t kill him.” He stared as if surprised she was still there.

“How did you get your scar?”

He rubbed his cheek. A small smile touched his lips. “I went after the gang. It was me against six, but I managed to put three in the hospital. They knifed me. It never healed right.” The energy seeped out of him, bone by bone, and all she glimpsed was a man who had surrendered his hope.

“The next two years were a blur until I finally found my way to Jerry. There was a little girl, Molly, who I also tried to help. She ended up hooking on the streets rather than live with him. ended up dead of an overdose before I could get to her. you know the rest.”

“And your foster father? How did he finally go to jail?”

“I finally went after him. All those years, he’d poisoned me to believe no one would think I told the truth. I was worried about the others. After Danny and Molly, nothing mattered. I just knew I couldn’t let him hurt any more kids.

one social worker listened to me. I exposed the truth and testified in court. of course, it was too late for the ones he had already ruined, but at least they locked him up for a long time.”

Julietta gathered all her strength and walked over. Tilted her head to gaze up at him. His beautiful face looked down at her in puzzlement, not understanding why she wasn’t leaving him or cringing in disgust. She didn’t know if he’d ever heal his wounded soul, but she refused to walk until she knew this man couldn’t give her the love he held tightly under wraps in the mistaken impression he’d hurt someone he cared about.

She traced the line of the scar with tenderness.

“This scar reminds me of your bravery. That you’re a man who protects the people who belong to him. A man who will fight for what he believes in and what is right, even against the odds. This is a man who deserves everything.

Happiness. A home. Me. Wolfe. A family. That’s what I want with you, Sawyer Wells. your broken past means nothing to me; it only reminds me of what you’ve become in spite of everything that tried to rip you down. you’re not getting rid of me. Until you can look me in the eye and tell me I mean nothing to you, I’m fighting for both of us.” She raised herself on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his lips. “I want you to come to Mama’s tonight. My family’s leaving soon, and it’s a good-bye dinner. They all want you there because you’re a part of us now.

“I love you. Deal with it.”

She left him with her words echoing in the air.

…

He wasn’t coming.

Julietta stared at the door with a sinking heart. Wolfe stretched out next to her, stroking Dante’s back as the cat purred madly. The kids sat in a circle playing with a puzzle, the twins rolling and giggling while Lily played the little mother and kept them in line. Alexa was in the kitchen with Mama helping to clean up, and Maggie and Michael had escaped for a walk. The house had been full of cousins and uncles and relatives. Now, the last of the guests trickled out, leaving an exhausted clean-up crew and a quiet vibration through the villa.

Julietta refused to accept defeat. She’d spent her whole life hiding from anything messy or real. It was finally time to fight for her future, but Sawyer might not be ready. The first test had failed. The path ahead might be a losing battle, but she wasn’t going to step neatly aside and let the man she loved isolate himself because he was afraid he had no emotions left to give.

Screw that.

Wolfe watched her face with a deep worry she ached to soothe. each step Sawyer took away from them, the boy suffered. They’d formed a bond within this short time pe-riod, and she sensed Wolfe’s constant premonition that anything good would eventually be destroyed. Julietta swore if Sawyer walked away from them, she’d never let Wolfe go.

She’d cling to him like a fierce mama bear and spend the rest of her days proving her devotion.

Max took a seat next to her. “I haven’t seen Sawyer since our night out. Working round the clock?”

Julietta slid a glance over to Wolfe and pasted on a bright smile. “yeah, the opening for Purity is coming close.

We’re all putting in extra hours to make sure we don’t miss the deadline.”

Wolfe paused midstroke. His gaze assessed her face as if he knew there was a deeper problem. Dante sensed something amiss and pushed his head into the boy’s palm, bump-ing his attention back to the task at hand. Wolfe looked down at the demanding cat and gave a half smile. “Pain in the ass,” he muttered under his breath. “Want some milk?”

Dante jumped down in perfect understanding and stalked toward the kitchen, not bothering to look back to confirm Wolfe followed. She watched the boy disappear and turned toward her brother-in-law. “Something’s wrong, Max. Do you know anything about his past?”

Max shook his head. “No, it’s obviously a closed subject.

I never pried.”

Julietta struggled between needing help and not wanting to disrespect her husband’s privacy. “There’s someone who’s come back from his childhood. It’s dredged up a mess of memories, and he’s distancing himself from us.”

“Do you think he just needs some time to process?”

She clenched her fists. “Maybe. But my gut says the more space I give him, the more he’ll slip away from us.

This person is trying to blackmail him.”

“Bad stuff?”

“yeah. Nothing that he did wrong, though. But he doesn’t believe that.”

“Sawyer doesn’t take crap from anyone. He’d never buckle from a threat. I’ll visit him tomorrow.”

“Thank you.” Julietta didn’t know if she was making a bigger mistake recruiting Max. Her husband could lose his temper and slip even further away from her, but she trusted her gut. It had never failed in business. Time to put her instincts to the test in her personal life.

Max gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Sawyer is one tough son of a bitch. He’s going to be okay. you probably knocked him sideways with his feelings for you. He’s obviously fallen hard, and he’s never committed to anyone before, let alone marriage.”

She forced a smile. “I hope you’re right.”

Please don’t leave us, Sawyer. We need you.