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She dabs a finger at her bleeding lip. “She asked if I thought she and Cole would last. I said no.” She looks at Cole. “You are notorious for chasing and playing women, Cole darling. How could she be any different? You will tire of her the way you tire of all your women. You should end this now. Let your father give you the shares of the company instead of him making you buy them from him.”
This gets me going and I retreat, burying my face in Cole’s chest. “Cole,” I whisper, wet, sloppy tears soaking my face.
“Shh, Kate, it’s all right.” He strokes my hair. “Baby, she’s wrong. I love you.”
“Tell them, please, please, tell them.” I sob harder into his chest.
Cole tenses. “Kate is my soulmate. I love her. We’re forever.” I feel something wet dripping down my neck. At first, I think it’s tears and I swipe at it with my hand, but it feels sticky. I pull away from Cole and glance down at myself. There are splatters of blood on his shirt and tie and large spots of blood on my shirt.
“My god, Kate.” Cole reaches for his handkerchief; he holds it to my neck, stopping the trickle of blood. “Are you all right?”
Am I all right? No, I’m not! I was just beaten up both mentally and physically. I am far from all right. But, “not really,” is all I manage to muster.
“Olivia, you scratched the hell out of Kate’s neck.”
Olivia huffs. “Well, she took out a chunk of my hair.”
I raise my eyebrows, glancing over at her. Well, damn. That’s a dream come true. But then I berate myself, I am not that type of person. Oh hell, I can’t help the fact she’s missing a chunk of her fake hair. It makes me feel better—but just a little.
“This is ridiculous,” Preston says, pacing between the two of us. “You’re both grown women acting like five-year-old’s. Tomorrow night, the four of us are going out, and the two of you—” Preston points a finger from me to Olivia. “Will act like civilized adults and get along. This is our family,” he pauses, “for the moment.” I turn my head, so I don’t have to look at him. “Both of you, Olivia, Katherine, tell me you understand?”
Good grief, he sounds just like Cole. Wait, that’s wrong—Cole sounds just like his dad. “Kate,” Cole’s voice is sympathetic. I peer up at him. He motions for me to answer his dad.
“Yes, I understand.” More tears well up in my eyes and I lay my head back on Cole’s chest.
“Olivia,” Preston demands.
“Whatever you want, dear.” A few minutes later, I hear. “I understand.”
“Excellent. There’s a singer performing downtown at the Las Vegas Club. I have a private booth reserved. It starts at 7:30, we’ll all go together.”
Everyone turns quiet. Luke is the one to break the silence. “The car is around front.”
“I’ll see you in the morning, dad.” Cole keeps his arm around me, ushering me towards the door.
“Sounds good son, goodnight, Katherine.”
“Goodnight, Preston, sorry for the trouble.” My voice is shaky and weak.
“Not a problem,” he chortles. “I was thoroughly entertained.”
I sniff, trying to keep the tears at bay, but it doesn’t work. In the elevator, Cole doesn’t say anything, but he keeps me close. I feel his fist open and close at my back. It makes me uneasy and I flinch when he does it again.
“Sorry, baby.” He kisses my forehead. The car ride is quick, basically around the block to the back of the hotel.
Luke opens the SUV door for us, helping me out. “I’ll call you later. We can discuss the plans for tomorrow,” Cole says, clasping him on the shoulder. Luke nods.
“Come on, Cookie,” Cole wraps his arm around me.
“Kate.” Both Cole and I turn around to look at Luke. “Hope you saved a piece of that hair as a trophy.” And he winks.
CHAPTER TWELVE
In the villa, Cole sits me down at the dining table. “Stay here. I’ll get the first aid kit.” I watch him undo his tie and take his suit coat off. His shirt has several bloodstains on it. It’s also wet and smeared black in spots from all my tears and mascara. When he comes back into the dining room, he has the sleeves of his shirt rolled up, a washcloth in one hand, a red box in the other.
“I think maybe we should take your shirt off, lift your arms.” I nod and do as he asks. Cole grins, taking it off.
“What?”
