His to Hold: A Billionaire Romance (His to Have Book 2) (8 page)

“I wanted to tell you earlier, but I couldn’t help myself. We kissed and I couldn’t think about anything but how much I want to be with you. I owe you an explanation,” he says. “I avoided telling you this because I didn’t want to get you in trouble too, but you deserve to know the truth. What Ben is saying about me is true. I broke the law. I found out what was happening at Carlisle Capital and I used the whole thing to cover up my own plan. The man who hurt my sister, Jacob, he hired investigators to look for us. One of them found us, and I guess he took pity because he came to me and told me what was happening.

“I had been working at your father’s company for a few months at that point, and I had already started my rise. He told me that it wasn’t the first case he had worked for Jacob, and that the last person had disappeared shortly after. I guess he had a crisis of conscience, because he offered to pretend he hadn’t found us in New York. He offered to lead a false trail to California for a price.

“What does this have to do with coming clean?” I ask.

“I’m getting there,” Blake says. “After he left, I realized I might not get so lucky a second time, and I decided to start digging into Jacob. If I ever wanted Alex and myself to be safe, I’d have to do something about it. I thought about the options. I considered everything, but while I was figuring it out, I stumbled across M-CORE. I had found my answer. Carlisle Capital was already manipulating stocks and faking trades. I figured I could do the same thing to Jacob, except I wasn’t going to simply make money, I was going to drive him into bankruptcy. I was going to take away his ability to ever come after us again. I told myself that when it was done, I’d walk away.”

“Why not walk away, then? You’re rich beyond belief. He can’t hurt you now. No one can hurt you.”

“It’s not that simple. When I started trying to tease apart his finances, it was a nightmare. It was a financial rat’s nest, shell company after shell company. He had an ocean of assets flowing across companies based in unfriendly tax havens. I’ve tried to step away, but it isn’t easy.”

I think of the files he had back at the loft. This must be what he’s talking about. The files are Jacob’s companies. Blake has been compiling evidence about him, tracking his every move.
Is he holding the records as leverage, or does he intend to use them in some way?
“It will never be over,” I tell him. “Even if you win, it will never be over. Don’t you see that? Even if you get away with all of it, it will still be there, hanging over you, hanging over
us
.”

“I love you,” he tells me, “I’m going to fix this. We can get through this.”

“I can’t,” I tell him. I’m not going to let him lie to himself or to me. He believes what he’s saying, but I know it isn’t true. He’s never going to be free of what happened.

“Why hide?” I ask him. “You’re not some scared kid. You’re an adult. You’ve taken care of yourself. You’ve taken care of your sister. You’re successful. You have a company. You have me. You have to turn the page. I can’t stand by and watch you torture yourself over the past. Either you have to move on or I do.”

“Cat, it’s almost done,” he says.

“How long has it been almost done for?” I ask. “What happens once you’ve ruined him? What happens to you? Do you really think that will be enough? Will you really just decide you’re done and go back to living a normal life?”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I would tell you to choose me, but that’s not what I want. I want you to choose yourself. Which Blake are you going to be? Are you going to be the guy I’ve fallen in love with? Or are you going to be the guy who can’t even trust the people he loves?”

“You’re right,” he says. He sits on the edge of the bed and runs his hands through his hair. “I need to end this. I love you more than anything, but I have to do this next part alone. You can’t be involved in this.”

“You can’t say that. You don’t get to say that,” I tell him. “If you’re serious about loving me, you’ll trust me enough to let me know what you’re doing.”

“I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life. I love you.”

“Prove it,” I tell him. “Make me believe you. If you’re so hell-bent on keeping me in the dark, at least give me a reason why.”

“Did you have a moment when you realized you loved me?” Blake asks. The question catches me off guard. “Because I can tell you the exact moment I fell in love with you. We were at my sister’s bar, and it was half-dark, and you had let your guard down with me for the first time. If I close my eyes, I can picture exactly how you looked. The look in your eyes told me everything I needed to know about you. I saw how much you wanted something more than this superficial life. I tried to convince myself that maybe I could give it to you, but I realized that I could never do that without telling you the truth, and I was afraid I might lose you. Instead you stood by me, and I saw how much more there is to you. I want to be the man you deserve. In order to do that, I have to come clean.”

“With me?” I ask. He gets up, walks to his wardrobe and starts pulling on clothes. I get up and follow after him. “What does that mean?” I ask. “Is there more you haven’t told me?”

“Do you know how to drive stick?” Blake asks.

“Not really, why?” I ask.

“I need you to drive yourself back here.”

“From where?” I ask. Blake’s phone is buzzing somewhere. I turn around to figure out where it is. It must still be in the pile of clothes we left at the elevator door.

“Brooklyn,” he says. “I need you to trust me on this one. You asked me to trust you. It works both ways. I need you to trust me. I will end this once and for all, but you can’t get in the middle of it. I know I said we were done with the loft, but I need to show you something there. It’s important.”

“What’s going on?” I ask him. “Will you just tell me what you’re planning?”

“Something I should have done a long time ago,” he says. He walks over, wraps his arms around me and holds me tight. He kisses me on the lips, letting the kiss linger like a prayer. “Cat,” he says, “I’m turning myself in.”

I don’t know what to say. My mind is blank. “What?” I stammer. I know exactly what he said. I just can’t believe it.

“If I promise to go to Ben, will you promise to trust me? I can’t explain everything right now because it would put you at risk. You can’t know the details of this. Once you do, you’re at risk, and I can’t let that happen. It’s killing me not to share everything with you, and I promise I will as soon as I can, but right now I need to keep you as far from this as possible. Do you trust me?” he asks.

“Yes,” I tell him. “But I want to go with you. I don’t have to know the details, but I want to be by your side. Will you let me do that?” If my presence can help at all, I want to be there.

He wraps his hands around mine and holds them at my hips. “I don’t think I could keep you away if I tried,” he says. He leans in and kisses me again. His kiss is slow and sweet, and the taste of him lingers on my lips even after he pulls back. He smiles at me. “Are you sure you’re ready for this?” he asks. He squeezes my hands.

“I’m ready for anything,” I tell him. “Let’s go do this together.”

“Good,” he says, “There’s something I need to show you first.”

Thank you for reading
His to Hold
, Part 2 of the His to Have series. Part 3,
His to Keep
is coming out later this month.

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Thanks again!

-Piper