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Chapter 1
“It’s urgent, Dane!” Maya Belmont pleaded over the phone to her nephew. “You’d better come quick.” There was a faint tremor in the aging woman’s voice as she spoke.
“Urgent?” Dane Romano, manager of the luxurious, historic Belmont Hotel, leaned forward in his executive leather office chair. He was never the type to get excited, even over catastrophic news. While on the phone in front of his computer, Dane sat facing an unobstructed view of the sunset on the waterfront through the floor-to-ceiling windows. His office overlooked Lake Belmont, in the town named after his paternal great-grandfather.
Belmont was a highly sought-after community overlooking the shores the lake, east of Toronto, which was currently populated by affluent and self-made tycoons. He spent long hours at the office—even sleeping at the hotel in a guest suite, so having his desk face the view of the water was much-needed therapy.
“What do you mean urgent?” Dane tried to clarify in a calm, controlled tone.
“Oh, Dane, I…” she hesitated.
Earlier, Dane had seen a missed call on his cell from his father’s private phone, but when he tried to call it back, the number was constantly busy. Was his father trying to reach out to his other brothers? Just what the hell was going on?
“What’s wrong, Aunt Maya?” He was on the land-line phone with his aunt while at the same time pressing the call back on his cell phone to try to reach his old man. But to no avail. The call went straight to voicemail.
Great. Just what he needed right now. A staffing crisis at the hotel—and a family emergency. Still, family came first, even though the hotel was the family business.
It was already the first of December and Dane had a billion things to do. The hotel just hosted two practically royal weddings for his long-time friends, two of the Romero brothers. Dr. Alonso Romero to his new bride and Troy Romero to the family’s press secretary. The Romeros and the Belmonts traveled in the same social circles and often did business together. Dane couldn’t believe all eight of those once-sworn bachelors got hitched in such a short time. Normally, he could relate to the Romero brothers, but not where love was concerned. Well, good for them, but marriage would never be for him and he knew his half-brothers felt the same way.
Now, he was gearing up for their busiest holiday season yet. They were already booked solid—and not just from anyone. The Belmonts hosted many distinguished guests, including the rich and famous from all over the world. A-list celebrities reserved their $50,000-a night exclusive Belmont suites with gold-plated faucets and other luxury furnishings. While top executives from Fortune 500 companies booked Christmas parties at the hotel. The busy holiday season at the Belmont never seemed to stop.
He knew Aunt Maya could be dramatic at times, but she was never one to make a fuss. Sure, she liked to gossip, chew out the boys from time to time, keep things in order at the Belmont Palace but she would never get stirred up over something unless there was a good reason for it.
“It’s Jonah, your father,” Maya said, her voice unsteady. “He’s…he’s not himself, Dane. I think he’s losing it.”
“What do you mean losing it?” Dane’s tone hardened.
“Well, he’s just come back from the specialist.”
“The specialist?”
“Yes, you know? The oncologist?”
“I thought he was all clear now. His cancer’s supposed to be in remission, right?”
“Well…I think he’s received some…bad news.”
Dane’s heart collapsed in his chest. “Bad news? What did he say to you?” Dane’s tone grew more serious.
“Well,” Maya hesitated over the phone. She then cleared her throat. “The truth is, Dane, I couldn’t quite catch everything he said. You know it’s so hard to hear through those darn new French doors he had installed in the study. He always closes them shut when he’s in there talking on the phone.”
Dane rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Aunt Maya,” Dane chastised, lovingly, “have you been listening in on other people’s conversations again?”
“Dane! You know your dear old aunt would never do a thing like that.”
“Oh, really now?”
“Besides, that’s not the point. He said he’s going to see his boys right away and he’s going to make drastic changes at the hotel. He even called his lawyer over to make changes to his will.”
“What? Well, you had no trouble hearing that.”
“Very funny, Dane. He was speaking loudly! You know your father can wake up the dead when he raises those pipes of his.”
Dane grinned in spite of the gravity of the situation.
“And he’s also talking about this bucket list.”
“Bucket list?” Dane raked his fingers through his hair. He thought he’d heard it all, but now this. Since when did his old man talk about things like bucket lists?
“Yes, Dane. But that’s not all.” Maya’s voice sounded more choked. “He’s got that old antique brass bucket in the study with him—he wants to fill it with his wishes. It’s the bucket our grandfather—your great-grandfather, used to wash hotel windows before he opened his own after the war. Oh, Dane. He’s really gone-”
“I’ll be right there, Aunt Maya. Don’t worry about a thing.” Dane hung up the phone. He then keyed in the extension to make a quick call to his secretary.
Antique brass bucket from his great-grandfather?
Bucket list? Was his old man…dying?
“Yes, boss?” Stella Ward answered the intercom in her usual cheerful voice, interrupting Dane’s thoughts. She was their versatile office temp who wanted to learn about the hospitality industry. But she was also an aspiring food, travel and culture journalist studying part time. She’d applied for an internship at the Belmont’s Weekend Magazine publication.
“I need you to take all my calls, Stella. I’m out for the afternoon. Family emergency.”
“Sure thing, boss. Is everything okay?”
Dane hesitated for a moment. “If I can help it, everything will be fine!”
Was that a promise he could even keep? Dane had already lost a parent. He wasn’t ready to lose another. Not after he’d just become reacquainted with a family he didn’t know existed.
Dane and Jonah hadn’t gotten along when they’d first met. When Dane’s mother died when he was a teen, he’d ended up hating the guy when he found out he was his biological father and what he’d done to his mother. But he’d soon learned that hate was a toxic, useless emotion and his energy was better spent getting ahead in life and trying to prove he was a good person.
The holiday season was always difficult for Dane. It was at this time of the year many years ago when he’d lost his mother. He could still remember the day they found her body in her car in a parking lot outside of another hotel. She’d been working a double shift between two of her jobs and the police ruled her death as carbon monoxide poisoning. She’d taken a nap in her car between her jobs and left the motor running. It was a brutally cold day and Dane figured she’d wanted to keep warm. But if that hadn’t killed her, exhaustion would have. She’d wanted to buy the boys a present if she could afford it so they wouldn’t have another Christmas of making their own gifts out of cardboard and their collective imagination.
She shouldn’t have had to struggle between two low-paying jobs. It wasn’t fair.
That was the reason, once successful, Dane earned a reputation in the hotel industry for being a fair employer—one who paid his staff way more than any other staff in the country in comparable positions. He never stopped giving back. That would never bring his mother back from the dead, nor would it heal the broken heart he’d endured from that loss. It was his way of dealing with what life dealt him.
God, he hated holidays. He loathed the togetherness obligation that came with them. What if you just wanted to be alone? Non-couples were made to feel inadequate if they had no significant others to be with. No wonder rates of depression skyrocketed. That’s why Dane loved to work. Work kept his mind active and shielded from pain.
Yeah, the pain of heartbreak.
Dane picked up the phone again as he logged off his computer. He had to at least alert his brother—if Aunt Maya hadn’t done so already. He was grateful to have his father’s side of the family. He didn’t have many surviving relatives on his mother’s side.
It seemed as if those relatives were destined to be unsuccessful in love. He, too, knew the stabbing feeling of having his heart broken. The girl with whom he’d been living recently moved out and went back to her ex.
Imagine that. After all he’d done for her. That served him right for getting involved with a rebounder. She’d just come out of a long-term relationship and it took him six months to realize he was the rebound boyfriend. She’d gone right back to her ex after Dane helped her get sober. Of course, she had no idea, neither did he, that he was one of the lost heirs to the Belmont empire. She’d tried to get back with him when she found out about his fortune but he didn’t bother to return her calls.
Relationships. God, he hated them. He loved women, but he would never trust another one again. Especially one who was emotionally strung up like his ex had been.
