A Forever Love (18 page)

“Dad, please don’t start.” Aubrey lay on her back beneath the old Case tractor they used to haul hay and wrenched at the axle.

“No, no. I think it’s a good trip for the boy. Honestly I do.”

Aubrey pulled herself out from under the tractor and wiped her greasy hands on a rag that hung from the pocket of her jeans.

“Boy needs to know his family. Max doesn’t know that side. I’ve been doing some research, and they seem to be a pretty successful group. He’s got some fine blood pumping through his veins, that Max
Travati
.”

Aubrey flinched with the sound of Max’s new last name. This morning, before Max’s enrichment class, Justin and Max had managed to get in front of a judge in Lawrence and have Max’s birth certificate officially changed. Aubrey had sat that one out, instead opting for orders and a cake tasting with another set of soon-to-be-marrieds.

“Maxwell
Hayes
Travati.”

“Hayes?” Aubrey threw the wrench into the open toolbox. “His middle name is Roy, after you.”

“Got rid of that and put Hayes in there instead. Came by my place this morning and asked me if it was okay. I said, ‘Maxie, I think that is a damn fine compromise, you keeping mine and your mama’s last name.’”

Aubrey’s heart warmed but her lips thinned. Ever since their disagreement, she’d been a bit of a baby. She’d not gone down to Justin’s to have breakfast with Max, nor had she spoken with Justin in two days.

“Girl, what’s got you all worked up? Think those two are being awful generous to you, considering.”

Aubrey slammed shut the toolbox and turned toward Dad. “Considering? Considering what? That I’ve dedicated my life to my son?”

“No.” Roy pursed his lips. “Considering neither one knew of the other until a couple of weeks ago. I mean, some men might not do too well with that.”

She closed her eyes. “I made the best choice I thought I could make at the time. How many times do I have to say it? How many times do I have to repeat it?”

“I guess until you believe it, Aubrey. Seems no one else is bothering you much about that choice but you.”

Aubrey’s heart jolted in her chest. “Dad, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I don’t? Early-morning walks back home from that suite, late-night drives, dinners, ice cream in town? Nope, no, I wouldn’t know a man courting a woman if I stumbled across one, now would I? Not like I ever had to do any of that myself.”

“We have a life here. I have a life here, and so does Max.”

“True enough,” Roy said. He lifted the toolbox from the tractor. “True enough. Hear your sister has her sous running the place tonight and we’re all meant to have dinner together. I got a new job I’m working on, so I’ll see you then.”

Aubrey threw the rag onto the tractor and crossed her arms. Courting a woman? Dad had no idea what he was talking about. Those were pent-up emotions playing out between two people, one of whom had just discovered he was inextricably linked to the other. There wasn’t a future for her and Justin aside from the joint parenting they’d have to participate in for the rest of Max’s life. Yes, the words Justin had said about them becoming a
family
catapulted through her mind each day. But what would that look like? How was that possible? Those were words spoken on the edge of passion and excitement, not the true desires of a man who wanted to build an entire life with her.

How would this new life for Max play out with a father in New York City and a mother on a farm in Kansas? How could it play out? Only one way, and it wouldn’t be pleasant for her son. Max would have to choose. Eventually he’d have to pick where he was going to live and what kind of life he was going to lead, and one of them would lose. Maybe not forever, but for long bits of time. One of them would be without Max.

Anger rushed through her body. She kicked her foot into the dirt. Maybe Dad was right. Maybe she was beating up on herself more than anyone else was right now. Maybe it was the whole damn idea that Max was leaving for two weeks and he’d be a thousand miles away in a giant city and she wouldn’t be there to protect him or watch over him, and maybe she was damned scared that Justin Travati hadn’t changed all that much and he’d get back to New York and get busy with his hundred-million-dollar deals and forget that Max was alone and without anyone but him.

Well, Max might be leaving for two weeks and Justin might have agreed to vegetables and bedtimes and limited screen time, but she had some other rules she needed to set.

“Well?” Justin asked. “Did they sign?”

Leo ran his hand through his hair and shook his head. “Nope.”

Justin’s heart sank. “We’ve got to find another way to keep these acquisitions buoyant.”

“Working on that, but I need to come back to New York. Did Devon call you?”

Agitation raced through Justin’s chest. “Devon? No, why? What happened?” With their youngest brother, it could be good news or it could be bad.

“Vice bust at Prayer. Someone was running girls through the club.”

“Girls? As in?” Justin couldn’t say it; he couldn’t even think it. A prostitution ring in a Travati-owned business.

“He spent the better part of last night on the phone with our attorneys. They’ve closed Prayer, and the police are investigating all our properties with a liquor license. Anthony gets back from China next week, and I can’t get back until day after tomorrow, but we could use you there now.”

Now? Three weeks before he wouldn’t have hesitated. He would have been wheels up within the next two hours, but now? Now there was more to consider than just him. There was Max and Aubrey, and even Aubrey’s family. But how could he stay here, in this faraway, slow-paced land of Oz, when Devon and his entire arm of Travati Financial were under siege?

“Devon didn’t, he doesn’t—”

“No,” Leo said. “I rang him. We Skyped. I believe him one hundred percent that he had no idea, but it doesn’t look good. Not at all. Especially if they start digging into the Travati past. If the media picks it up and then with this deal in Dubai ready to fall apart … It’s not a good time for you to be away. You do better with those inquiries from the media than any one of us.”

Justin stood. He paced forward and back across the wood floorboards as Leo continued to talk. Nope, the Travati past before he and his brothers had “clean” money didn’t look good. Their father had done nearly anything and everything to put food on the table for his family, and some of it not even close to legal. Much of their father’s work history was still unknown to the brothers, but then again, they hadn’t dug too deep.

“Let me see what I can do. Let me see if I can get back before end of day. But there’s something you need to know. I should have told you—”

“Justin!” The door to his suite flew open without so much as a courtesy knock. “We need to talk about Max going to New York with you.”

“Who is that?” Leo asked. He moved closer to his own computer screen as though that would help him see the voice he’d heard. “Do I know that person? That voice seems vaguely familiar, and who is Max?”

Aubrey stopped. She stood just in front of Justin’s laptop in full view of the camera.

“Wait,” Leo said, his eyes widening in surprise. “I know you. We’ve met.” His eyes squinted and a slow smile spread over his face. “Yes, you’re Aubrey Hayes. You worked for our company, what was it? Wow, that was years ago. So this is the business you’ve been taking care of?” A wide grin spread across Leo’s face. “Is this who’s coming back to New York with you?”

Justin picked up his laptop and turned it away from Aubrey and toward him. “No, absolutely not. This is my personal business, Leo, and I’d appreciate your discretion. I’ll tell you about it soon.” Justin shut his laptop and placed it in his bag. “Aubrey, there’s something we need to discuss.”

“Yes, we do.” Aubrey said and crossed her arms.

“I need to leave today. Now.”

“What?” Her face screwed up into surprise. “What do you mean you need to leave today? But you and Max were planning on going early next week. The enrichment class he started doesn’t finish until Friday.”

“He can’t come with me now. I’ll send for him then.”

“Send for him? What, as though he’s a mail-order son? What do you mean, you’ll send for him?”

“Aubrey, please, you’re being hysterical. This is business. Travati Financial business. I’ve wasted enough time playing house here on the farm, but now there’s something pressing, something urgent that I really must attend to.”

She couldn’t have looked more stunned if he’d reached out and shook her. He didn’t want to leave this way, suddenly and without much explanation, but this was business. Travati business. “I’ve given you and Max more time than I’ve ever given anyone.”

“You’ve given us three weeks.”

“Uninterrupted. Do you think I’ve ever been away from the office for this long? Not even when I was sick and going through chemo. I never was out of the office for more than forty-eight hours. And now … Well, now there’s something that’s happened with one of the businesses and I need to get back.”

“But Max is in class, in town, he won’t be back until three.”

“I need to go now, Aubrey.” Justin walked to the far side of the room and picked up a stack of business papers and put them in his briefcase. “I will either send for Max or return for him next week.”

“He won’t understand, Justin. He won’t get why you’d leave without even saying good-bye. Especially with your promises and your plans and the focus and attention that you’ve given him.”

“And now I must use that focus and attention to save my company.”

“You can’t even wait two more days?”

His heart careened in his chest. “Have you really been on this farm and away from business for so long that you’ve completely forgotten the lightning speed at which things can change?”

“No, just long enough to have forgotten how mercurial your feelings are.”

“That’s unfair.”

“No. No, it’s not. You may say that you had an entire speech prepared about how you wanted me to stay with you, to be a couple, but was that before or after the picture on page six with Tasmina Tadasai?”

“Excuse me?”

“The Russian heiress, the one you took to the Met gala the night after I … we … when … before I came to your office.”

Justin stopped before her. Really? Was he dealing with petty jealousy as his company was potentially falling apart? “I don’t even recall—” He stopped speaking. Oh yes, Tasmina Tadasai. Oh yes, he did recall. He took a deep breath. “That was before our, us, that was set up. It was to work on a business deal that I was doing with her father. She wanted to go and I could get her in. I went as her escort and only that.”

“All for business,” Aubrey said.

“Yes, it was business. I never saw her after, at least not on a date if that’s what you’re implying.”

“What I’m implying is that you went for business, you didn’t feel the need to explain any of that to me, and yet you claim that our night together meant everything to you. And here you are doing the exact same thing again, only you’re doing it to our son. You’re leaving him for business, without even taking the time to tell him that, without even having the courtesy of an explanation to him. Max will be heartbroken when he gets home. He will not understand. This is what worried me, this is what has made me so uncomfortable and unwilling to trust all that you’ve said to me, to him, to us. Travati business will always be first, and every other thing in your life, including your son, second.”

“This is ridiculous. The two events are entirely different. If you’d only asked me then or told me or—”

“I’m asking you now,” Aubrey said. Her voice was quiet and her jaw hardened. “I’m asking you now to wait and explain to Max why you have to go, why you can’t wait for two days. To tell him when you’ll be back.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not asking, Justin, I’m demanding.”

His chest tightened and heat built in his body. A furious heat that made his head pound. “You’re
demanding
that I do something?” His voice was low and thick with anger. “After you tell me that you threw away my life with my son because of a petty jealousy over a woman who meant nothing to me, you’re demanding that I stay and talk to Max?” He took two steps forward. He was close to her now, and the heat that raged through his body had nothing to do with desire. “Aubrey Hayes, after what you did to me and my son, you have no right to
demand
anything from me.”

Her face flamed red. Anger fired in her eyes. “He’s my son too, and I am telling you that if you abandon him, if you leave without telling him why, you will do as much damage as I ever did.”

He pressed his lips together. Nothing good would come from his mouth in this instance. Not one good word. “You should leave.” Justin stood close to her, and the anger that vibrated from Aubrey was only matched by his own. “Now.”

In one swift motion, she turned and slammed out the door.

*

“Have the plane ready, I’ll be there in half an hour.” His assistant had made the necessary arrangements for the plane to meet him in Lawrence, the nearest airport that accommodated a small jet. He now waited outside Max’s soon-to-be high school, should he choose to remain in Hudson with his mother. He checked his watch. Three minutes. According to the schedule with which he’d grown familiar, Max would walk through the front doors in three more minutes. Aubrey was infuriating.

Tasmina Tadasai, that was the reason Aubrey had left? The reason she’d called it quits after the night they had shared. She was ridiculous. He’d thought so much more of her. She was a businesswoman, smart and quick and astute, but deep down inside she was just like any other woman, filled with insecurity and petty jealousies. How absurd. He hadn’t mentioned his evening at the Met because as he recalled, there’d been nothing to mention. Of course page six had reported him escorting Tasmina. He’d been one of the wealthiest and most available bachelors in the country at the time, and she was one of the wealthiest heiresses in the world. But their evening had been about business, much like his leaving now was business. His decision to leave today had nothing to do with his personal feelings or desires and everything to do with what needed to be done to protect Travati Financial.