Billionaire's Love Suite (21 page)

“That’s really not good, Justin.”

“Legally, you mean?” Justin asked.

“That and morally. Look, I like this girl. I think you like her, too. She
deserves better from you, Justin.”

Justin heard recrimination and concern in Leon’s voice, which stabbed
Justin in the solar plexus. “I want her back, damn it, Leon.”

“You can sue her. Take her to court. She doesn’t have to live with you
according to the Will. My guess is that she will sue you for divorce. Then
you would have to counter sue for joint custody of the child.”

“Divorce? She would do that?”

“Look around, Justin. She’s left you. If you don’t do something and
quick, that’s exactly what she will do. If I were you, I think I’d ask myself
why you want her back.”

Justin frowned and rubbed the back of his neck with his palm. “Fine.
Shana is my wife now and she belongs here where I can take care of her and
see her through this pregnancy and that’s all there is to it!” Justin roared.

Leon was silent for a long moment, which might as well have been an
echo chamber as far as Justin was concerned. He heard his own words and
they sounded like the rantings of a spoiled child.

“Thanks, Leon,” Justin said. “I’ll call you later.”

Justin hung up knowing that he had to take action. He thought seriously
of calling her mother to see if Shana had flown to Sedona but he hadn’t
devised the exact excuse he would give when he spoke to Emily. “Hi. Your
daughter left me because I’m an idiot.”

He raked his hair with his fingers and slumped into his chair. “And then
what, Mr. Bigshot?”

There was a strong possibility that Shana had indeed left New York, but
until this very moment Justin had not considered this. For two days now
he’d been convinced that because of Shana’s sense of duty and loyalty he’d
believed she would show up to work. Even if they had differences she would
have come to work. Her pride would have spurred her to do that. However,
Shana had not called him to apologize for leaving him in the lurch. She was
being inconsiderate and very unprofessional.

“She can’t keep this up forever. We have meetings scheduled with the
building inspector and a conference with the construction general and …”

Justin’s anger was so volatile he knew that if he didn’t get out of his
office, he would go off on the next person he saw. He stomped out the door
and stopped at Helen Mavery’s desk. “Helen, reschedule my afternoon and
re-book everything for tomorrow if you can. I’ll be on my cell if you need
me.”

“Yes, sir,” Helen said as Justin trounced out of the office.

Justin entered his suite and tossed his key on the white washed oak
cabinet in the foyer. He crossed to the middle of the living room and stared
at the newspaper still lying on the floor. He glanced up at his mother’s portrait
and gazed into his mother’s beautiful blue eyes. “What would you have
me do, Mom?”

Shoving his hands into his trouser pockets he trudged to the bedroom
where he saw that the carpenters had finished the dry wall separation between
the master and the nursery. The painters were obviously on break as they’d
left tarps and cans of paint on the floor. The room was nearly finished now.
It was painted in a soft butter cream yellow with crystal white trim, crown
molding and white doors. The baby’s crib had been delivered this morning.
Helen had been good enough to oversee the delivery of the nursery furniture
that Shana had ordered.

Justin walked to a white bead board chest with a changing table on top
and saw the packages of baby clothes Shana had ordered. He picked up a tee
shirt that was so tiny it barely covered his large hand.

“My God.”

The realization of the fragile life he would hold in his hands in a matter
of a few more months hit him like an avalanche. For the first time in his life
he was going to be completely responsible for another human being. He
was no longer at war with his father. He was no longer battling to secure
the hotel chain and yet, he knew he’d never been engaged in a more monumental,
life-altering crisis as this.

“I have to get her back.”

For over fifty-three hours since Shana left, Justin hadn’t been able to
form a strategy of attack and it had been killing him. He’d responded to
emotions he didn’t know existed. He’d felt fear, pain, loss and regret. He
hadn’t been able to sleep or think and that wasn’t like him.

Shana had turned his life upside down just like she’d transformed his
penthouse from a place where he hung his hat to a real home in the blink of
an eye. She had made him see himself for the first time and some of it, he
didn’t like at all.

Justin stuffed the tiny tee-shirt in his jacket pocket.

“I must get her back.”

***

Shana pulled up the document on her computer, typed in today’s date
and hit the print button. “Glad I saved this,” she said as she snatched the
resignation letter she’d submitted to Justin the day after they’d met. She
signed the paper, folded it and put it in an envelope.

She took the envelope and walked into the living room where Cate was
doing her stretches before her afternoon run.

“Would you drop this in the mail for me?”

Cate took the envelope. “Sure. What is it?”

“My resignation,” Shana said glumly as she sat in an overstuffed chair.
She picked up a box of truffles and started to open it when Cate snatched the
box out of her hand. “Oh, no you don’t.”

“What?”

“It’s not good for the baby,” Cate scolded. “It’s also not good for you
or the baby to sit here behind closed draperies for three days. It looks like a
cave in here. I can feel my SAD’s coming on.”

“You do not have seasonal affective disorder.”

“I just developed a strong case,” Cate retorted. “Look, Shana. I love
you. I want the best for you, but you have to want the same. You can’t keep
avoiding Justin. He’s your husband, at least until you divorce him or annul
him or something.”

“Divorce?” Shana’s eyes widened and then suddenly teared.

“That’s what it looks like you’re doing. You left him. He lied to you. He
married you under false pretenses. Call a lawyer because if you don’t, we’ll
have to call a doctor for you. Depression is only something single people
can indulge themselves in. You have a baby to think about,” Cate said caringly
placing her hand on Shana’s shoulder.

“I hadn’t actually thought about divorce. I still can’t believe that this is
happening. He doesn’t love me.”

“But you knew that.”

Shaking her head, Shana replied, “I thought that deep down there was
still a chance he might. That he would come to love me. I was hopeful…”

“Hopeless, if you ask me. Frankly, this has all happened for the good.
Thank God you found out now and not months or years from now. You
could have been destroyed, Shana.”

Shana braced her back and squared her shoulders as courage ripped
through her body. It was going to be tough, but she would find a way to
tackle each and every difficult day ahead of her. “You’re right. I have to face
all this and take action.”

“Now you’re talking sense,” Cate smiled. When Shana forced a smile
back at her, Cate said, “Why don’t you come for a walk with me? You need
to exercise you know. At least that’s what I’ve read.”

“I will. Give me a second and I’ll change.”

Shana put on her lime green racing back top and realized that her breasts
were bulging out of the low cut neckline. “When did that happen?” Then
she pulled on a pair of black tights with a lime green running stripe down
the leg. “What?” She looked down at the slight bump in her belly. Placing
her hands over her abdomen she smiled. “My baby.”

Glancing at herself in the mirror she smiled widely. It was true what
the magazines and books said about pregnancy. She was glowing. It was if
she was lit by a light from within and she liked it. She was going to be one
of those mothers who proudly displayed her bump and then later, the bulge
that told the world she was carrying a very, very loved human being inside
her body.

Shana walked into the living room. “C’mon. Let’s go see the world out
there.”

Cate beamed at her best friend. “Now, that’s my Shana!”

They took the stairs to the front foyer and Cate proceeded through the
front door with Shana behind her.

“I thought we do a fast walk. You think forty-five minutes is too much?”
Cate asked as she glanced up at Shana who had gone pasty white. “What’s
wrong?”

Shana stood frozen just inside the door as she stared across the street at
Justin. “He’s here.”

“Who?” Cate followed Shana’s eyes and saw Justin. “Well. Well.
Muhammad comes to the mountain.”

“I’m not going,” Shana said and retreated into the building and bounded
up the stairs before Cate could stop her.

Shana raced into the apartment and locked the door behind her. She
rushed to the window where the drapes still closed out the world and peeked
down to the street. Cate had crossed the street and was talking to Justin.

“Traitor! Benedict freaking Arnold! What are you doing?”

Justin looked up at the apartment window and saw Shana watching him.
He smiled. Shana flipped the draperies shut. She rushed into the bedroom
and peeked through the slats of the wooden blinds. Cate had finished her
conversation with Justin and took off for her run.

Justin took out his cell phone and with his eyes still on Shana’s apartment
window, he called the apartment.

Shana scowled at the ringing telephone. “Where’s your courage now,
Shana?” she berated herself. For the first time in days, she answered Justin’s
call. “What do you want, Justin?”

“I want to talk to you,” he said. “Can I come up?”

“We have nothing to say,” she answered.

“At least come to the window so I can see you face. Please. You owe
me that much.”

“The heck I do! I don’t owe you squat.”

“Shana, I am your husband!” he countered.

“Only through tricks. Besides, you won’t be for long. I’m…going to get
a divorce!”

The words thundered through Justin searing him with unexpected
agony. She was right. He’d used deception and trickery to claim her as
his wife, and until she’d left him he hadn’t seen the harm. Now he was on
the receiving end and if he didn’t do something and fast, she would find a
way…legally…to leave his life forever.

“Do you have a lawyer?” he asked pointedly.

“I…I…”

“That’s what I thought. Well, to get one you are going to have to leave
the apartment eventually, find one, and sign papers in person. And when you
do, I’m going to be right here waiting and you’ll have to talk to me then,
won’t you?”

Shana opened the blinds a bit further to get a better look at Justin. “What
are you talking about?”

Justin glanced up and down the street and seeing no traffic he dashed
across and sat down on Shana’s front steps. “Just what I said. I’m staying
here until you come out.”

Dropping her jaw, Shana retorted, “You can’t do that!”

“Watch me,” he chuckled.

Shana snapped off the phone and tossed the handset on the bed. “What
kind of nutcase are you, Justin?”

***

Justin sat on Shana’s front door step and called his assistant, Helen, to
make certain he hadn’t missed any calls. For two hours he sat on the cement
step and conducted his business as if he were sitting at his desk.

Along Shana’s street were old oak trees that afforded him a leafy green
canopy to shade him from the afternoon sun. He took off his jacket and
hung it on the iron railing. He untied his tie, folded it and stuck it in his
jacket pocket and when he did, he found the baby’s tee shirt.

“Don’t you worry little fellow, Daddy’s got this under control.”

Justin looked up at Shana’s window and saw her looking down at him
through the crack in the drapes.

Justin pounded out Shana’s number. She picked up on the third ring. He
felt his heart pounding in his chest and wondered fleetingly if it was possible
to die of anticipation. “I want to talk to you, Shana. I want to see you.
I want to explain…”

“Justin. It’s not going to happen. You might as well pack yourself up
and leave.”

“No way.”

Shana flung the draperies back so that she could get a full view of Justin.
He’d turned around so that he could look at her while he talked to her on the cell phone. Shana jabbed her finger at the window pane when she spoke.
“Listen, you…you…liar…”

“I admit to that, Shana. I lied to you. I deceived you and it was all for
my own selfish purposes. You have every right to be mad at me. I just hope
you don’t hate me.”

“Hate you?”

Justin’s face was filled with sincerity as he faced Shana. “Thanks for
opening the drapes. I feel better when I can see you. I always feel better
when I’m with you. That’s one of the things I discovered since you left. It’s
not enough to just have you around, Shana. I want to be with you. I want to
work with you that goes without saying. You are a marvel at what you do,
but the thing is, you make work seem like…well, you enjoy it so much. You
make it an adventure. You do that with everything you do. Our home. You
should see the nursery, Shana. It’s nearly done. The furniture came today.”

Shana felt her heart melting but the one thing she knew was that anytime
she was even in the same building with Justin she would melt. Hearing the
sound of his voice and his words that appeared to be sincere were breaking
down the walls around her resolve that she had quite painfully erected.

Courage, Shana. Don’t give in. He’ll only trick you again.

“The painters finished. The color is happy and bright, just like you
wanted. The baby’s clothes came. Gosh. They’re so tiny. I didn’t realize…
how….precious….Shana, there’s so much I didn’t realize. Mostly, I didn’t
realize how much I need to be with you. Not just working, but all the time.
Please let me come up. I want to hold you and I can’t say the rest of what I
need to say if you don’t let me come up.”