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“I’m well aware. Your father started calling you that when you were a baby. I always preferred Abigail. It means father’s joy. Caleb was so excited to have another girl after Elaina. He had the notion that if Elaina was just like me, you’d be just like him, and he wasn’t wrong.” Celeste laughed.
Stunned, Abby dropped onto the couch and pulled the phone away from her ear to gape at it. Did her mother just laugh? Celeste’s tone was almost warm as she continued. “You’re so much like him that it used to frighten me at times. Admittedly, there was a point where I was a tad jealous of how close you two were. I always thought both of my girls would look up to their mother, but you never quite looked at me the way you looked at your father, Abby.”
Abby was at a loss for words. Years of being at odds with her mother allowed suspicion to worm into her mind. Celeste was being too nice and gentle all of a sudden. “Are you being nice to get me to agree to continue with the whole Damian debacle? I told you, I’m no longer interested in seducing him.”
“But you already have, my dear.”
“You assume I’ve managed to get into bed with him already?” Abby nibbled her lower lip and looked skyward. She was alone in her apartment. There were no eyes on her yet. She blushed profusely at the memory of all she and Damian had done. She’d gotten into his bed alright, and various other places in his house.
“If you hadn’t, he wouldn’t have stopped by yesterday looking for you.”
“What? He ... me? Are you sure?” Why wouldn’t he have called? Not that she was all that eager to hear from him. Or maybe she was. Abby didn’t know what was going on with her jumbled emotions.
“You’ve got him right where we want him. That’s why I was so confused by your message. My god, Abigail ... You haven't gone and developed feelings for the man, have you?”
Again, her cheeks flamed. “Of course, not. Don’t change the subject. You wanted me to do your dirty work, and I quit. There’s nothing left for us to talk about. Goodbye, Mother.”
“Not so fast. I told you to sit. Are you sitting down?”
Gritting her teeth, Abby cursed herself for not simply ending the call. “Yes. Why?”
“I’m going to tell you the truth. I’m going to give you the dirty details that I've been trying to protect you from. Hopefully, you’ll see why I’ve been hell-bent on destroying Coldwell and regaining Aldridge Enterprises.”
Finally, the truth. Abby pulled in a deep breath and sat back. “You have my undivided attention.”
***
The knock on Abby’s door took her by surprise. She wanted to be left alone to wallow in her deepening despair. The conversation with her mother had been both eye-opening and depressing. She was thrown further into distress when she discovered who was at the door. After a few knocks, her unwanted visitor began to shout her name. There was no mistaking who the voice belonged to.
“Abby?” Damian shouted, followed by another boom on the door.
Abby jumped up, her eyes wide. Celeste confessed to giving Damian her address after her revelation about the decades-long feud between the Aldridge’s and Coldwell’s. It started with both her and Damian’s fathers, and Damian had taken it upon himself to continue the feud. To think she’d started to believe that Damian’s callousness had been exaggerated. After hearing the full story, it turned out that he was worse. He was as heartless and conniving as his father before him. Her resentment of him had returned and even grew the longer she sat in silence and processed everything Celeste had revealed.
He was the last person she wanted to see. Yet, there he was at her door, practically knocking it off of its hinges. “Damn it,” she said, looking around her living room. She didn’t have time to hide her painting, so she turned the easel around to face the window. He wouldn’t be staying long because he certainly wasn’t welcome.
Her mood darkened as she marched to the door. She had been drawn back into her mother’s scheme, and she was none too happy about it. Even a saint would agree that Damian deserved whatever was coming to him. Taking a steady breath, she yanked the door open.
“You’re disturbing the entire building, Damian.”
He stood there, dark eyes assessing before his brow furrowed. “If you had opened the door before my patience wore thin instead of deliberately making me wait, there would’ve been no need to beat down your door.”
Leaning against the door and folding her arms, she suppressed her desire to lash out. She looked at him closely, without emotion. He looked as handsome and smouldering as ever, meeting her stare head-on, his typical stoic demeanor in place. “What do you want?”
In the manner that never failed to heat her blood, his eyes ran over her frame from head to toe. There was a small smile playing on his lips that barely softened the hard edges of his expression. “There are a few things that I want,” he said, making her swallow hard. “But I mostly came to apologize.”
“After two days?”
“I thought I’d give you enough time to cool off. You’re as hot-headed as they come, Querida. A trait I find incredibly stimulating, but I didn’t want to approach you too soon and risk losing an important body part.”
She hated that he made her want to smile. She hated herself for hungrily drinking him in with her eyes. Even as she tried to convince herself that she hadn’t missed him in the least, there was no denying that her body did. “I’ve calmed down …”
“Then invite me in.”
“I don’t know how I feel about you invading my personal space.”
He smirked. “I’ve already invaded plenty of your personal spaces.”
It was too late to shove down the thrill that shot up her spine at his suggestive comment. Sweeping her lashes down to hide her embarrassment and her sudden carnal need, she dropped her hands and stepped aside. “So you have ... What’s another one for you to invade, right? Please, come in, Damian.”
