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He will always guide me in the most dominating way to where he wants me, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
NICHOLAS
The days leading up to flying to Rome to get my girl were gut-wrenching.
I had dealt with all the drug-charge drama and made sure I buried Jocelyn so far down in this industry that she will never work in a luxury hotel again. She may not have been charged with anything, but her wicked ways and manipulation of Laurence meant that I couldn’t stand back and let her walk free.
Broderick let a few stories get leaked to the media on how we had terminated her from the company and severed all family ties due to drug use, all hypothetical, of course. But then there was some mystery security footage that my team had managed to track down that might have then been leaked to corroborate the stories a few weeks later.
The last I heard—because you can guarantee I have someone watching her and will continue to until I don’t feel the need—was that she was working at a small pub in Scotland and living upstairs above her workplace. Her family had cut off her trust fund, and of course, she had been blowing her own money for years on feeding her drug habit. It still shocks me how she hid it from me that well, but as Flynn reminded me, I always look for the good in people, even when they are terrible people. That is why I kept her employed all those years; I kept giving her one last chance, way too many times.
Theo’s stepfather, Warren Webb, contacted me when he heard the full story of what had happened at the club, when Theo drugged Victoria, and he assured me that Theo will never step foot in York and Webb Design and that her job will be there when she returns, no matter how long it takes. I didn’t give him any answer, because to be honest, that’s not my decision to make, but I know she won’t be going back if I have any say.
I’m not sure how I will tell Victoria about the drugs in her drink, because she will feel violated, but she has a right to know. I just need to remember that I can be angry for her, but it was her body, not mine. She has the right to feel what she needs to and take the actions she feels are necessary. Nothing can be done now, it is my word against his, but still, it is her decision to make.
Warren also told me that the reason Gwenda Francis had taken extended leave when Victoria started was because Theo had convinced her to take party drugs one night while out at the Friday-night staff drinks, making sure he filmed her without her knowledge, and then he threatened to make the videos public if she didn’t help him get a promotion by giving him the bigger clients. When he found out that Victoria was hired, he started pushing Gwenda harder, and she panicked and took a leave. He was a nasty piece of work, hiding behind a bubbly little man who was craving attention. It’s good that he was charged and is now awaiting sentencing on all his charges, that escalated to more serious ones once he was arrested. There was more evidence on his computer that showed his drug operation to be bigger than a side hustle.
Once I got through all of that and life started calming down, all I wanted was to be with Victoria, but I knew I had to wait, and when she was ready there would be a sign. I didn’t know what that would be, but as soon as I got the message she had arrived in Rome and was at Pepe’s, I packed my bags and was on the move. Much to the amusement of Flynn, Rem, and Forrest. I called Pepe on the way to the airport and asked him to hold her there somehow until I could get there. That was when he suggested his daughter’s apartment for her to stay, which I tried to compensate him for once I arrived, but he refused. We finally settled on a vacation for him and Angelina in one of my hotels anywhere they wanted to go.
Going to Rome was like she was calling to me to come for her, and I wasn’t waiting a moment longer. My therapist tried to tell me I should wait until she came home to me, but that was bullshit, and for the first time in my life, like my mother always said, the universe will send you a sign, and I knew Rome was my sign that she missed me.
Standing to the side, I watched her at the fountain have an internal debate about what she was about to do. It had my heart racing, and the moment she stood and walked toward the fountain and turned her back, I was there and doing what I should have done a long time ago—I grew some balls and told her I loved her. I had never felt it before in my life, and I wasn’t letting her go. Just like my mother and father’s souls found each other and discovered instantly that they belonged together, Victoria and I were the same, but we just let all the other crap get in the way.
I had my villa stocked with food and her bag taken there during the day, and although my mother told me it was kidnapping, I reminded her I was just doing what she told me and finding a place for us to talk… among other things.
One of the things my grandfather did well was buy properties, not just hotels. He had no one to share his wealth with, so he just kept investing it and also donated a generous amount to charity, but he never took too much credit for it. We have a company called the ARD Foundation that was named after my grandmother Aileen and my father Richard Darby, without listing their names. Every year my grandfather made anonymous donations to worthy causes. I have continued that since I took over, and the only people who know it is me are the guys who I trust everything with, plus my mother, who I now get to help me with picking where the money should be spent.
We have been in the villa for a few days now, and tomorrow is Christmas Day. I promised my mum a proper family Christmas this year, so she and Broderick, the guys, and Elouise are all at the hotel waiting for us to arrive tonight to surprise Victoria. But before we leave, there is one last discussion I need to have with her before we leave the privacy of the villa, where we can yell and scream at each other until we sort out where we stand going forward.
This morning’s round of sex on the balcony in the cold wore her out, and I’m not sad about that at all. The more sex we have, the calmer Victoria is, and that is how I like to see her. The vision in front of me, her lying in my king-size bed, wrapped in the warm cream-colored blankets and her red hair spread all over the pillow, is one I will never get tired of. I don’t want to wake her, but we need to talk before we go back to Rome.
As I run my finger down the side of her face, her nose starts to twitch, and I can tell she is close to waking. Leaning down and kissing her softly, her lips start to respond, and her soft moan tells me she is responding to my touch.
“Wake up, beautiful,” I whisper, kissing her forehead and then both her cheeks before going back to her mouth. Her lips are like a magnet for mine.
“Just because you don’t sleep, don’t be mean and wake me.” Stretching her hands above her head, her eyes finally open, and I see that she is coherent enough for this.
“We need to talk, and then I have a surprise for you.”
She sits up in the bed, and her eyes are now wide open and have a sparkle in them. “Ooh, I love surprises. Tell me, tell me.” I can’t help but laugh at her childlike tendencies sometimes. She can be a hard-ass bitch in business or when she is protecting me, but I love that she can also be so light and fun too. She balances her life like my mum in some ways. She doesn’t let anything get the better of her to dull her spirit.
“I need to ask you something that is unresolved between us first. But before you panic, just hear me out.”
The fun in her eyes has gone and the worried look is there, and I hate that, but we need to do this.
“Did you come up with the new branding for the hotels?” I know it’s a weird way to start, but I’m curious what she will say.
There’s a confused look on her face as she thinks about what she is going to say. “I’m not sure if I should be worried why you are randomly asking this, but yes, I knew within a few days of being at the estate what I would pitch to you when the time came.”
“Good, then let’s have it. I don’t need some big fancy presentation, I just want to know from your heart what you think.”
She takes a deep breath, clearly nervous, but she doesn’t need to be. No matter what she says, it won’t change how I feel about her.
“When I spent time with you in the hotel in Rome and got to know you, the real you at the estate, there was no denying what I thought you should do. I think you are going about this the wrong way. Your family name is important to you and has finally given you a link to a family you didn’t have the honor of knowing. Sure, let’s modernize the look of hotels and the way we market them. Look to target the younger crowd that I think you have been missing out on up until now, and I can suggest ways to do that. But Nicholas, you spent your whole life trying to find who you were. Now that you have found that, don’t bury it. Like I said in the beginning, shorten the name, so instead of The Darby Hotel chain, just call them The Darby. Be proud of that name and heritage, don’t ever lose it, because I fear you will lose yourself again too.”
Looking at me so tentatively, I know she is nervous for my reaction, and this is not the place I thought she would be giving the presentation to me, but in all honesty, it’s perfect. She has stripped back the layers of me perfectly, and everything she just said is true. The big well-known hotels don’t change their name and are short and to the point. The Savoy, The Ritz, everyone knows them. My job as the head of the family is to make sure everyone knows the Darby name too.
“You know, you didn’t need to get naked to hook me with your pitch.” Pushing her back onto the bed, I hover above her. “You are the only person who truly knows me, probably better than I know myself. It’s perfect, just like you. I love it, but just in case you’re worried, not as much as I love you.” I kiss her in a way that she will understand how much it means to me that she put so much thought into how important the business is to me and who I am as a person.
