"Ms. Sierra?" I jerked at the sound of a woman's voice, shocked to realize I'd fallen asleep. It was now dark out and a storm was brewing in the distance. I turned in my chair to see if I'd hallucinated the voice. A maid was standing in the doorway, relief on her face as she spoke into her walkie, letting someone know she'd found me. She disappeared back inside and returned a moment later with a blanket that she wrapped around my shoulders. My leg was hurting like a bitch, so I decided to wait to see who she'd called on the walkie.
Sal and Hector both arrived at the same time, Emeril meeting us in the hallway outside the drawing room a few minutes later because he'd gotten lost on the way up.
When we got back to the cabin, Micah was already there.
"I ordered a little of everything because I wasn't sure who liked what." He started as I made my way towards my room. "Sierra, you do need to eat. Your guard says-"
"I don't need anyone telling me when to take my meals." I muttered loud enough for him to hear before heading into my room for a hot shower. Once I got out and rebandaged my leg, I tugged on some flannel pajamas I'd made sure to buy at the mall because I remembered how cold Sal liked to keep the cabin. Hair still dripping, I wandered back into the kitchen where the guys were eating. Chinese, pizzas, and wings were scattered across the counters. My stomach growling gave me away.
"I ordered chow mein, string bean chicken and broccoli beef, extra broccoli." Micah stated softly when I paused between him and Sal to look at the spread. He'd also ordered a few extra dishes from what smelled like a Cajun place in town. When in Rome and all that, right? I grabbed a beignet and shoved the whole thing in my mouth before accepting the takeout box from Micah.
"So, the reason we're buttering you up with this food." Sal started once I'd taken my first bite of chow mein. I turned to look at him while I chewed. "Hector, Emeril and I are going to head out for a night on the town. Micah doesn't have any plans, so you won't be alone. It's been a while, and some of us need to get laid. We'll be back sometime tomorrow, maybe." I nodded once but pretended to be too hungry to pause for chitchat between bites, bites that I chewed as slowly as I could. They took the hint and resumed their conversation about their plans for the night and where they should start.
"Have fun." I called as they headed for the door twenty minutes later. "And take a driver, please."
"You got it." Someone called as the door slammed behind them. Once it was just Micah and I, I grabbed my takeout boxes and thanked him for the food before going back to my room. I let the door swing shut a bit too hard with a little smirk.
I'd just gotten comfortable in the middle of my bed with my food on a tray when Micah knocked and opened my door without waiting for confirmation.
"Forgot your drink in your hurry to get away." He teased, stepping in to set my drink on my tray. "You truly find my presence that tedious to endure?"
"No, I honestly just wanted to be lazy and finish my food in bed."
"I did notice you barely ate." He glanced at my tray. "Do you mind if I join you?"
"Sure, but I'm not sharing." I pointed my chopsticks at him. "Bring your own food, buddy."
"I'll return shortly." Five minutes later, he returned with a plate of pizza and beignets, along with a box of takeout of his own. He reclined on his side and picked the broccoli from his beef, watching me quietly while he did. I ate a few bites before clearing my throat to ask a question.
"So, your grandfather is going to help ensure the Ricci family's future as a favor-"
"Not a favor." He interjected calmly, and I nodded once. "Salvatore is paying my grandfather for the protection. Up until Salvatore found out he had cancer, they were sworn enemies."
"Do you know why?"
"Yes." I arched an eyebrow when he didn't elaborate.
"Are you going to tell me?" He set his box of takeout on my tray and grabbed his drink, ignoring my question completely. "You aren't, are you? Because I'm a Campoz?"
"Not because you are one, but because you work for one. Even my grandfather doesn't want to get on Andres Campoz's bad side, and by extension, yours." That made me smile. "Salvatore doesn't either, despite what you maybe think. Andres' name carries a lot of weight in the underworld."
"Must be nice to be a man." I mumbled before shoving chow mein noodles in my mouth.
"Tell me something, Sierra." I nodded once because I was still chewing. "You were engaged, recently."
"That's not a question." I observed with a slight frown. "And how do you know that?"
"Your father received a call today from a man claiming to be your ex-fiancé." I set my box down a little too hard on the tray, sending the beignets rolling. I focused on gathering them instead of meeting Micah's gaze. "Your ex seems to think that he has the right to join this family vacation. He said you broke the engagement without a reason and left town. When he found out you'd come here for a reunion, he got your father's number and contacted him because you weren't answering." So, Derek had gone into the employee files and found my emergency contact information to call my parents and lie? For what?
"What?" I could feel myself getting lightheaded and judging by the look of concern on Micah's face, I was probably getting pale. "What do you mean-"
"Salvatore invited him to fly out here tomorrow and spend a few days." I called Hector and crawled out of bed to pace the room while I waited for him to answer. "Wait, who are you calling?" Micah demanded at the same time Hector answered. I waved Micah off so I could answer Hector.
"Grandpa Sal invited Derek – he'll be here tomorrow." I announced before he could say anything. It was suddenly very quiet on the other end of the phone. "Hector?"
"We just got to the club but we're turning around-"
"No!" I took a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves. "He won't be here until tomorrow anyway. If you guys don't stay out too late, we can still come up with a game plan before tomorrow morning."
"Ok. We'll be back by midnight, the latest." He hung up without giving me a chance to say anything else. When I turned back to face Micah, he was sitting on the edge of my bed, watching me intently.
"This isn't a reaction of a woman in love, Sierra. Or even a woman saddened by her broken engagement." I started pacing the length of my room, trying to figure this out before it got away from me. If I told Micah the truth, he'd tell Grandpa Sal. I couldn't tell him or anyone that matter. It was bad enough Hector knew, but I was thankful he hadn't mentioned it to anyone else. I stopped pacing in front of the window and looked out, thinking. I'd have to play my part well, if I didn't want anyone to suspect something was amiss. "Sierra?"
"What?" I could hear the defeat in my voice. I hoped because he didn't know me that well that he couldn't.
"Why did you break off the engagement?"
"He cheated on me with his secretary." I took a few deep breaths to try and relax.
"Is that all he did?" I frowned at the window in response but didn't dare turn to face him. Even though we were strangers, he would probably see the truth in my eyes. Hector said I had a terrible poker face, and I wasn't sure it was just because I was bad at cards.
"Yes."
"Then why are you so upset that he's coming here?"
"When I finally found out about his affair, I saw it as the best way out without him fighting me on it. We were together for two years, and he wouldn't take no for an answer when I told him I no longer wanted to marry him. He claimed he'd give me some space and come to terms with the fact that he'd strayed from our relationship because I didn't put out, but that would be solved once we were married." I confessed mildly as I repeated every word Derek had told me when he'd chased me from his office to the elevator. He'd snatched me from the elevator by my hair and had thrown me against the wall to tell me exactly that. I'd kneed him in the dick and ran. "Derek tends to make everything about him. I'm sure this is another way for him to do just that. I learned, later rather than sooner, that Derek doesn't like when others have the last word."
"He told your father he has every intention on marrying you." I tensed at that. So not only was he trying to manipulate me, but also my family. To what end? Why was he doing this now, after everything? I called Tony. "Who are you calling now?"
"My boss." I moved to the bed and sat back in the spot I'd had earlier. I put the phone on speaker so I could eat and talk. I shoveled a few mouthfuls of broccoli beef down while I waited. Tony answered the second call, but he sounded stressed. "Hey, Tony."
"Hey, kid. What's up?"
"Derek got my emergency contacts from my employee file and called my father." I started, bypassing any other pleasantries. He went silent, and I heard the ding of the elevator. He must have still been at work. No wonder he sounded stressed.
"He called Jamie? For what, exactly?"
"I'm in Louisiana for a Ricci reunion." I explained, having forgotten I'd never told Tony I left town. "I'm not sure how Derek knew that, but he called today and told them God knows what. Grandpa Sal has invited him to spend a few days here in response."
"Sierra, listen to me." I frowned at his sudden change in tone. "Derek got fired this afternoon – even his father couldn't save him. Turns out having an affair with a subordinate on company property is highly frowned upon with the board. Not to mention the fact that we've lost ten million in contracts in the last two days alone – all clients of yours. This morning the board called an emergency meeting to discuss why we've lost so much money. Naturally I had to tell them the truth – that all the clients we've lost chose to take their business elsewhere after finding out the real reason you weren't working with us anymore."
"Why didn't you call me earlier? I could have-"
"Because it was an emergency meeting, I had five minutes to get down to the boardroom. Once Derek and I got there, they pounced on us. I told them the whole truth, Sierra, I'm sorry." I glanced at Micah to see if he was paying attention. He most definitely was, glancing between me and his phone. I'm sure he didn't miss a single word of what was being said, though. "After that shocker, I explained that the money we'd lost were all clients who worked personally with you. That didn't sit well with the board."
"I would give anything to have been a fly on the wall to see Derek's expression." Knowing that his life was going up in flames now, that helped to sooth the rage I'd begun to feel towards him.
"Yes, well, once the board heard of the affair, they asked me for receipts to back up my claims."
"What do you mean, receipts?"
"They wanted the security footage pulled from his office, along with timestamps to prove Derek and Molly were both in the building after hours. They also wanted me to get formal statements from our clients as to the reason for their withdrawal so they could pin that on him too. And you know how things work here – they wanted me to get all the evidence myself before they would proceed with the meeting."
"Is that what you're doing right now?"
"No. The minute we were dismissed, I pulled Avery from Internal Affairs to help me. While I was working on contacting clients and asking for statements, Avery was going through and pulling all the timestamps from when Derek and Molly were here after hours – I told her to go back a few months just in case for extra ammunition."
"Ok, well that sounds like you guys had a good system to gather all the evidence. Why do you sound so stressed right now? Did the meeting go well afterwards?"
"I'll get to that in a minute. While Avery was combing through the timestamps, we experienced a company-wide blackout. It took the IT department two hours to get the servers back online and figure out what happened, but by that time we'd sent everyone home for the day to avoid losing more money." He paused, and it sounded like a bunch of documents hitting his desk before I heard the familiar groan of his desk chair. I'd told him to get a new one a year ago. I glanced up at Micah to find him watching me. A text pulled his attention away, but it still made my cheeks warm.
"What was it?" I pressed. He sighed deeply before answering.
"A payload virus was uploaded to our backend data servers, and that triggered the failsafe. It was coded for a single thing – deleting the security footage from Derek's office." I peeked at Micah to see if he was still following the conversation. He was still texting someone, not sure who, but I wasn't too worried about him hearing all of this. None of it was too incriminating. "So, naturally, IT traced it back to Derek's computer – and the board did not take kindly to that sabotage. We lost two hundred grand in those two hours that we were offline, not to mention having to send everyone home early. Once Avery and I presented everything to the board, including Derek's virus fiasco, his father was one of two who voted in favor of keeping him on with a demotion."
"So did he get fired, or did he get demoted?"
"They were going for demotion before the virus fiasco. But after he cost the company two hundred grand on top of ten million, plus everything else, they cut him loose. I'm sure while he was uploading the virus, he went into the employee files and got your father's number. I'll bring that to the board in tomorrow's follow up meeting."
"I think you shouldn't do that-"
"He most certainly should." Micah interjected.
"Is someone with you right now?" Tony asked, suddenly a bit standoffish.
"A family acquaintance." Vague, but not too vague.
"Salvatore allowed acquaintances to go to this reunion, and you didn't invite me?"
"Grandpa Sal actually invited Micah's family himself." I paused a moment before I told him the real reason we were here. "He has cancer. Apparently not for the first time."
"Wait, wait, what?"
"Yeah, shocker, right?"
"Salvatore announced that he had cancer at your family reunion?"
"We're only here because he thinks he doesn't have much time left."
"Or he's lying." I glanced at Micah, and he shook his head no.
"I don't think he's lying, Tony." He hummed in response.
"Did Derek mention anything before he took his leave, anything that would give us any insight as to why he's coming here?" Micah asked, and it took a moment for Tony to answer. I wasn't sure if he did it on purpose or if he was busy, but either way it made me want to chuckle.
"No, but I wasn't around when he was escorted out." We chatted for a few more minutes but he had to get off so he could pack up for the night. After the board meeting, Tony had been informed that he had to absorb Derek's workload until they could find another C0-Executive. I'd gotten distracted, watching Micah pace. Even in a suit, he still appeared too rough to be anything other than a mobster.
"I do not think I have to state the obvious, but seeing as we're still learning each other, I might as well save us both some time and go ahead." I glanced up from my phone when Micah started talking. "It appears Derek's motives for coming here very well may be filled with ill intention."
"I could have told you that ages ago." He offered me a smirk as he took a seat on the edge of the bed. "Don't make me regret trusting you, Micah. You may have everyone else fooled, but I'm sure there's an ulterior motive for you being here in the cabin with us."
"What do you-"
"It's not hard to guess, Micah. I'm the last Ricci girl on the market, and your grandfather has agreed to take over and cultivate his enemy's family. And no one is saying why."
"When Salvatore passes, sixty percent of the Ricci organization goes to my grandfather – the other forty will be used solely to fund the Ricci coffers. We are here for the money and controlling shares, nothing more, nothing less." I hummed but didn't argue. "I will speak with Salvatore in the morning. He will rescind Derek's invitation."
"If he offered it in the first place, it means he thinks Derek has potential. He won't change his mind once he has made a decision." I pointed to the food. "I want to forget about this for the rest of the night, ok? How about finishing the food with a movie."
"Sure. You pick."
I chose Lawless. And while reclining after we'd finished our food, I admired Micah in the dim light of the TV as best I could. He'd discarded his suit jacket and his polo to lounge in the tee shirt underneath.
"What?" He teased when he caught me looking at him.
"Nothing." We went back to watching the movie, but I was getting tired now that I was full and my problem was resolved to a degree.