Give Up On Me (8 page)

“Yes.” She choked a little and tried to make it sound like a laugh of derision. “He’s e-easy, and all I had to do was shake my ass a few times. It was fun at first, but I’m tired. I want the money without the clingy lovesick puppy to go with it.”

This time, Kyler fumbled. Her harsh description of Matt took him by surprise. She loved Matt’s devotion, but she had to tear it down, or he wouldn’t move on.

“So are you going to give me money, or not?” she demanded.

“I-I—” Margaret stuttered, and Janae signaled for Kyler to cut the recording. He did, and she sank into the chair she had occupied earlier.

“There you have it,” Janae said softly. “I want to ask one more thing. I want one last night with Matt.”

“No, way!”

She looked up at Margaret. “What can it hurt? I just need to say good-bye in my own way.”

Margaret sneered. “You might try to warn him and get him to do something stupid. If he runs off with you, I will make sure to destroy your father and his company.’

“Your evil knows no bounds.”

Margaret reached over to grab Kyler’s phone from his hands. She waved it in the air. “We’ve got proof of what kind of woman you are. You don’t have any cards left. So, you better watch your mouth. I am being generous giving you money and helping you to go away. Don’t ruin it.”

Janae stood. Her tears had a last dried. She wished the stupid things had done so before the meeting with these two. “I’m going to get my affairs in order. I assume you’ll want to do this fast. Call me with the details.”

As she walked to the door, it seemed like all the strength in her body drained away. She could hardly get the knob to turn to get out, and when she pulled to close the door behind her, her hand slipped before it shut.

A wave of dizziness assailed her, and she propped herself up with a shoulder against the wall. Kyler and Margaret’s voice reached her through the narrow opening.

“It seems like maybe she cares about him,” Kyler said.

“Don’t be fooled. You saw how fast she came up with that scheme. It’s because she had it in mind this whole time. My guess is even the tears were a part of her plan.”

Janae shook her head and covered her mouth as she staggered away. Let them think what they wanted. Her world had crumbled all around her, and she had nothing left to fight with. What she could do now was survive—until the hurt eased and she didn’t feel like she was dying every time she inhaled.

“…
y
ou going
to give me money, or not?”

Matt shut his eyes. He stuck his hands in his pockets, but they kept on shaking. “Play it again.”

“Come on, Matt,” Kyler said. “I’ve played it three times. You know what this means.”

Matt looked at him. “Give it to me a minute.”

His brother sighed and handed over his phone. Rather than play it again, Matt chucked the phone across the room. The tiny device struck a display window, which covered shelves built into the wall. Glass shattered and flew everywhere. The phone landed on the floor.

“What the hell are you doing, Matt?”

He ignored Kyler and strode over to the phone. Atop the glass littering the carpet, he stomped the phone until it lay in as many pieces at the glass. Kyler shouted again behind him, and Matt spun around.

He charged across the office and grabbed his brother, lifting him off his feet. Kyler was just as big as he was, maybe more densely muscled, but Matt moved on adrenaline, rage, and the depths of sorrow.

“Do you think for one minute I will let her go, even with this?” Matt bit out between clenched teeth.

“Matt, stop this.” Margaret tugged his arm. He didn’t budge.

“I love her more than my next breath. Do you understand that? No, you couldn’t. You’re a fucking cold-blooded idiot, and right now I hate your guts.”

Kyler paled, his eyes widening. Matt imagined neither of them had ever seen him this way. He had never needed or wanted to be a prick in his entire life. Maybe he was more fortunate than others, but Janae had made a good life an amazing one.

“You paid her money to go away?” Matt said.

“She asked for it. You heard the recording.” Kyler struggled in his hold.

“I would have paid her,” Matt shouted. “I would have given her everything. But you knew that!”

Something in Matt snapped, and he threw his brother with enough force to send him over the top of his desk. He smashed against the far wall, shattering a vase on a shelf there. Kyler landed on the floor, and a pile of heavy books fell atop him along with the broken vase. Matt didn’t flinch.

“Kyler!” Margaret shouted. She ran over to him, and Matt turned away, heading for the door.

Behind him, his brother cursed. “Damn it, no, Margaret, let me go. I think it’s broken.”

Matt had a second of guilt before he pushed it away, recalling what his brother had done. He reached for the door, but Kyler, panting, called to him.

“What are you going to do, Matt?”

He looked around. Kyler had struggled to his feet, but he cradled his right arm in his left. Matt steeled his heart again his brother and grandmother. “I’m going to find her wherever she is if I have to rip this country apart.”

“Matt, don’t do anything stupid.” His grandmother thought he would listen to her again. Not now, not ever.

He turned and walked back over to them. Staggering, Kyler stepped in front of Margaret, and she stared at Matt wide-eyed and pale. He wasn’t so far gone as to attack an old woman, but he stopped several feet away from them as Kyler’s face wasn’t safe from his fist. If Kyler grew spiteful, he might press charges just to slow Matt down. He didn’t want to push his luck when he needed time to find Janae.

Matt tugged his cell phone from his pocket and pulled up email. In his agitation, his fingers moved rapid fire over the keys. Seconds after he sent the missive, his grandmother’s cell phone dinged, and she checked it. Her gasp let him know she got is message.

“You can’t be serious, Matthew. Think about what you’re doing. Is this woman worth it?”

“Let me see,” Kyler said, and he read aloud. “This email will serve as my official resignation from my position as president of marketing. From this day forward, I am breaking all financial ties to the company. That means you will be hearing from my lawyer and accountant to settle properties wherein I hold joint stocks… Matt, you can’t mean any of this. You’re being too rash. Wait a day and think about the best course.”

Matt ignored Kyler and focused on his grandmother. “When my grandfather died and you took over his business, I followed you without question because you’re a brilliant businesswoman. However, you’re also heartless. You don’t give a fuck about me or Kyler.”

“That’s not true.” She pressed a hand to her chest as if she would faint. Matt refused to fall for it. Margaret was strong until it suited her means to play the old delicate lady role. Too bad she wasn’t good at it.

“You ignored Kyler and me as long as Granddad was alive. When he died, you started taking control, and I realized he stood between you and us all that time. I sometimes wondered how I would have turned out had our parents lived instead of dying in that plane crash. Doesn’t matter. I’m okay with the man I am.”

“You’re a good man,” she tried, but he waved her off.

“I know how you and Kyler see me, and I don’t care. What I am is not stupid. I invested in the company under my own company name, one that I own and has no connection to you.”

Margaret’s eyes turned colder, and she stood straight. “You don’t think I knew that?”

“Of course you did. I wasn’t hiding it. What it means is I don’t have to depend on you for my livelihood. I’m wealthy in my own right, but I no longer want to get funds from your company. You’ll hear from my lawyer to buy my stock.”

“Matthew.” She started to move toward him, but Kyler held her back. “Don’t do this, son.”

“I’m not your son,” he spat. “I’m going to find Janae. I’m going to hear from her lips that she doesn’t love me, and if I’m convinced she doesn’t I’ll let her go. But if there’s the smallest chance she cares, I will nurture that feeling until she loves me. Then I’ll make her my wife, and I dare either of you to get in my way. You will spend the rest of your life regretting it.”

Matt left the office without looking back and was soon behind the wheel of his car and speeding down the highway. His next stop would be Janae’s father’s company. He knew where it was because he had picked her up on several occasions when she ran late at work. While he sputtered about hope and his plans to seduce Janae, a knot formed in his stomach, ripping him apart, and making him fear she was lost to him.

He slammed a fist on the steering wheel, and the horn blasted the unsuspecting driver in front of him. The person beelined for the right lane, and Matt sped by. “I
will
find her!”

A short while later, he parked outside Wilson Renovation Services. The door to the office banged the wall, making the secretary jump. He hadn’t meant to use so much force. Monique looked at him with eyes wide, and it was obvious by her frightened expression she knew why he was there.

“Janae isn’t—”

“I’m looking for Allen Wilson,” he interrupted.

She looked him up and down, a slight curl to her lip. “He’s not here either.”

“Where is he?”

“Look, Mr. Foust, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t come barging in here acting all—”

He approached her desk, and she scooted her chair back until it hit the wall. Matt leaned on the desk with both hands flat. “I don’t know what you
think
you know about me and Janae, but suffice it to say it’s none of your business. So, you can tell me where to find Allen Wilson, and I’ll be on my way.”

She chewed her lip, debating to tell him anything. He waited because he wasn’t budging without a good answer. That morning he had gone to Janae’s house when she didn’t answer his call. He had dialed her dad and didn’t get an answer from him either.

Had her dad gone with her? He didn’t think so because the man seemed pretty passionate about his work from their conversation the last time they spoke. Then again, Matt knew he would abandon all if it meant he needed to keep Janae safe. Did her dad believe he needed to keep Janae safe from Matt? He had thought the older man liked him.

“He’s at a work site,” Monique said at last. She tore off a sheet from a small notebook on her desk and scratched down the address. When she handed it to him, she didn’t let go right away. He looked at her. “Don’t go over there starting trouble. They’ve had enough of it, and frankly I don’t want to lose my job because we had to shut down.”

Matt blinked at her. Was that why Janae asked for money? Because the company was in trouble? If so, why didn’t she come to him? He would have written her a check without question. Matt didn’t want to believe Janae was the opportunistic woman he heard on the recording. Every word she spoke ripped him apart and left him raw. He needed an explanation directly from her.

A short while later, Allen Wilson was the first person he spotted when he walked into the school. Matt raised a hand to his mouth as he strode across the dusty hall to the huge opening in the wall opposite the entrance. The overpowering scent of paint and sawdust tickled his nose, and the dust coated his throat with one breath.

“Allen, can I talk to you a minute?” Matt asked.

Janae’s dad turned toward him and frowned. He hesitated, glanced over at another man, and sighed. “George, take care of this, will you? I’m going to need a minute.”

“Sure thing, boss,” the Latino man said.

Allen walked over to Matt and gestured toward the door. “Let’s go outside.”

They didn’t get far beyond the door before Matt faced him. “Where’s Janae.”

“Now hold on, son. Don’t get all worked up.”

Matt’s eyebrows rose. “Don’t get all worked up? You know I was talking to her about marrying me. What am I supposed to feel when I come home and find her gone?”

“She left you a note.”

“A note.” Matt struggled to keep control of his anger. “It explained nothing. She said something like we’re not right for each other, the same old crap people have been telling each other for eons while they rip the other person apart.”

“I’m sorry, Matt.” He did seem truly distressed, but that didn’t calm Matt down.

“Where is she? Just tell me where, and I’ll go get her and bring her home. I assume you miss her, too.”

“Yes, I’m not used to being apart from my little girl, but I want to do what’s right by her.”

“What’s right?” Matt swore and paced. He clenched his hands at his sides. Right now, he wanted to go inside that building and rip out a wall. He wasn’t a violent person. Most of the time he never found a reason to get angry. That just wasn’t his nature. Janae’s leaving hurt so bad he couldn’t think straight.

“I need her,” he choked out, ashamed and pissed at himself.

“You think you do, but you’ll get over her.”

Matt looked at him. “You can’t convince me she doesn’t love me.”

Allen hesitated. “I…” He scratched his head. “I don’t want to hurt you, but it’s best this way. Janae wasn’t serious about you. Because of her mother running out years ago and abandoning her, she’ll never commit to a man. She’ll never get married.”

“I don’t want to hear about her background. I know about it. We shared the past with each other when we spent time together—when she told me how she feels about me.”

“Matt, I don’t know what to say.”

“You’re telling me your daughter used me, that she seduced me to get money?” Matt spoke each word through gritted teeth. “You’re going to stand there and tell me that? I thought you were a better father than to talk about your daughter that way.”

Allen tensed. He spun around so his back faced Matt. “It’s over. I don’t have anything else to say to you. Go away.”

Matt reached out, grabbed the older man, and jerked him backward. A fist came flying at his head, but Matt ducked it easily. He raised his own, and the horror of what he’d been about to do struck him. Stumbling back a step, he let go of Allen. Pain ricocheted all across his insides. Every breath hurt like hell to drag into his lungs.

“Tell me where she is.
Please
. I promise I won’t hurt her. I won’t force her to do anything she doesn’t want to. I just need to talk to her.”

Allen sneered at him. “Look at you. You’re disgusting. Do you think Janae would want a bastard like you, crying over her like little boy?”

Matt wasn’t actually crying—not visibly anyway. The insult rankled, but he didn’t care what Allen thought of him if he could convince the man to tell him where Janae had gone. “My pride means nothing compared to her.”

For a long while Allen stared at him. “I would have loved to have you as a son-in-law. You’re honest and open, but maybe you’re not what she needs.”

“I won’t be convinced that she needs a man to use her and cheat on her.”

“Of course not!” He rubbed his jaw. “Maybe you should look at yourself, see where you missed it.”

Matt frowned. “I was devoted to her.”

“See, that’s one place right there.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You’re arrogant. You think you were her everything, that she had nothing outside of you, but that just means you’re self-centered. Newsflash, rich kid, the world doesn’t revolve around you. Definitely not my daughter’s world.”

Could he be right? Had Matt been too caught up in his own wants and needs, his desire for Janae? Had he overlooked what she wanted? “Please, tell me honestly,” he begged. “Was she with me only for money?”

Allen answered without hesitation, looking Matt square in the eyes. “Yes.”

Matt staggered, and when he couldn’t find the strength or the will to speak again, Allen turned away and walked back inside the building.