It was possible Gerri was right, but Nadia didn’t think so. If the Chairman were prepared to give in to a blackmail attempt, then he never would have changed the marriage agreement in the first place. Backing out of the agreement would mortally offend Chairman Belinski and the entire state of Synchrony, and he would not have put himself in that position. Wars had been started over lesser offenses, and though Paxco was much larger and richer than Synchrony, Synchrony’s high-tech military made them a bad enemy to have.
“I’m not going to do it, Gerri,” Nadia said, putting every bit of her conviction into her voice. “I’m not going to blackmail him, and I’m not going to tell you what I heard. Period.”
“Fine,” Gerri said. “For now. As long as the marriage agreement isn’t signed, and as long as Mom hasn’t as good as publicly admitted your guilt by sending you upstate, there’s a chance that we can get out of this. But if they start hammering nails into our social coffin, you and I are going to have another talk. I am not going to let the Chairman destroy our family without a fight.”
If it came to that, Nadia was going to have to tell Gerri the whole truth, no matter how much she didn’t want to. Her sister was ordinarily levelheaded and practical, and she had to hear the sense in what Nadia was saying. But she was also fiercely protective of her family, especially her kids, and she might well be willing to risk both her own life and Nadia’s if she thought it would save the rest of the family from ruin.
Gerri sighed. “I wish I could segue from that into something better, but I also have some bad news I have to share with you.”
Nadia listened with a heavy heart as her sister told her about the death of Nate’s mother. News of Eleanor Lake’s passing didn’t exactly break her heart, but she knew Nate had to be hurting, no matter how many mixed feelings he had toward his mother. She was grateful that she would be allowed to leave the retreat to attend the funeral. It might be the only chance she got to see or talk to Nate in the near future, considering the difficult position his new unofficial engagement put him in—and the pleasure the Chairman no doubt felt in keeping Nadia as isolated as possible.
Just as Nadia thought this, she saw Nate, standing in the entryway. A smile of greeting began to curve Nadia’s lips. Until she saw the girl who stood a couple paces behind him, just in front of his bodyguard. The girl who looked to be about Nate’s age, and who was, as Dante had described her, “not beautiful.”
The girl who Nadia knew at once was Agnes Belinski.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Meeting Nadia’s eyes across the crowded visitors’ lobby was like a punch to Nate’s gut, made about a thousand times worse when he saw her notice Agnes. Nadia was a pro at hiding her feelings when she wanted to, but she couldn’t hide her hurt and dismay at the sight of the girl who would replace her by his side. Nate cursed his father under his breath for one more act of casual cruelty. Instead of forbidding Nate to visit, or arranging some activity that would prevent Nate from doing so, he had merely declared that Nate and Agnes should spend the day together “getting to know” each other. Nate’s choices had been to bring Agnes along or to not visit at all. He hoped he’d made the right one.
Nadia was sitting with her sister, Gerri. When he first caught sight of them, they’d been leaning toward each other in earnest—and obviously private—conversation. As soon as Nadia noticed him, Gerri followed her sister’s gaze and noticed him, too.
Gerri was like a younger, marginally softer version of her mother. Not quite the cast-iron bitch that Esmeralda was, but plenty formidable nonetheless. Which was only natural, with her being the heir to her father’s presidency.
Nate had always had the impression that Gerri didn’t like him, though he’d never had any concrete evidence to support that impression. She was properly respectful and polite when they ran into each other at social functions or when Nate had attended business meetings with her. There had never been any warmth in their interactions, but then neither had there been noticeable coldness. Until now, when Gerri was glaring at him so fiercely he could almost feel it as a physical slap across his cheek.
Nate’s temper stirred, but he quickly leashed it. Gerri had no way of knowing how the Chairman had managed to force him into this marriage arrangement. Nor did she know that Nate hadn’t brought Agnes with him to the retreat by choice. In her place, he’d have been staring daggers, too, and he was glad at least one member of Nadia’s family seemed to be standing by her. He glanced over his shoulder at Agnes, who had spoken maybe five or six words during the ride over, and those only when absolutely necessary.
“Stay here!” he ordered her, and he had no doubt she would obey. She was very likely the mousiest girl he’d ever met, which made her about the worst match for him he could imagine.
He started across the room, and, as expected, there was no pitter-patter of footsteps indicating Agnes was following. Meanwhile, Gerri and Nadia exchanged a few more words and a hug. By the time he reached the love seat where they were sitting, Gerri was on her feet. The look on her face had not warmed, and Nate was half-surprised his bodyguard hadn’t gone on red alert. He checked over his shoulder to make sure, but Fischer was still standing at attention in the entryway while Agnes stood a little ways off, looking lost and uncomfortable.
“You have some nerve,” Gerri said to him when he was within earshot. She looked like she wanted to skin him alive.
Nadia put her hand on Gerri’s arm. “Gerri, please.”
The soft plea did nothing to calm Gerri’s obvious rage. “It wasn’t bad enough that you ruined my sister? You had to bring that creature here?”
“Gerri!” Nadia said more sharply. “It’s not his fault. And we aren’t alone.”
Nate saw Gerri do a quick visual sweep of the room, checking to see if anyone was watching them. Which, of course, they were. Nate was the Chairman Heir, and when he walked into a room, he could be sure his every move was being observed.
Gerri shook her head and lowered her voice. “You never deserved her. And she deserved way better than you.”
Once again, Nate had to wrestle with his temper. He was the Chairman Heir, and people just didn’t talk to him like that. Not only that, the words fucking hurt. Nate tried very hard to swallow that hurt, because Gerri was more right than she knew. And until now, he’d never really appreciated just how lucky he had been to have a friend like Nadia.
“I know,” he told Gerri in a tight voice.
She blinked in surprise, but otherwise made no response. She gave him another contemptuous look, then brushed past him, bumping his shoulder on the way by like a pissed-off guy might do. Nate ground his teeth and took it without complaint, watching her stride angrily away from him. She paused for a moment to give Agnes a sneer, making the girl’s face turn a mottled red; then she left the room.
Nadia sighed. “Sorry about that,” she said. “Obviously, she doesn’t know the whole story.”
Nate turned back to Nadia and took a really good look at her for the first time. She was as beautiful as ever, though the powder-blue uniform leached much of the color from her face and he thought she might have lost a little weight. A glance at her hands showed she’d been chewing her nails, a habit she’d broken long ago, and there was a hint of a slump to her usually proud shoulders. She was not flourishing here at Tranquility, and everything she was suffering was because of him.
Guilt ate at him as he enveloped her in a hug, wishing he were smart enough to think of a way to fix things.