Chapter 8

Three months later…

Dennis, She is hiding something from you.

- Concerned.

This was the third note he had received in as many months. They were all the same. With the first one he had thought that it was being addressed to his father, but Dennis Senior didn’t know anything about it. The second one had come in French, and that was when DJ was sure the messages were for him. They insinuated that Evie was hiding something, but he didn’t have the guts to ask her what. He wasn’t terrified of being tagged a coward. It was losing Evie once again that scared him to death. Right now, they were at a good spot—not romantically, but in their friendship. Yes, they had made out a couple of times, but neither of them lets it go past that. To be honest, they were both afraid of getting in too deep, too fast. That method hadn’t worked for them. Now it was slow and steady, and it was honestly killing DJ.

He shoved the note in his briefcase just as he had done with the rest. Evie was different, so the idea that she might have been keeping something from him didn’t shock him at all. The carefree, honest with no filter, little Evie was still inside the hurt woman he saw today. She was buried deep down inside, and DJ missed her. Although he wasn’t sure that that Evie coming back into the light was good for her. The woman who was there now was hard, strong and tough enough to bear it all. Evie needed that, especially being in New York, his playground that hosted many of his female playmates. Somehow DJ needed to find a way to…he didn’t want to say trap, but that was essentially it…her into a life with him with no way of easily getting rid of him.

DJ needed to marry Evie then, that way, they could chip through the lie, reveal honesty’s ugly head, and have it wreaked havoc in their lives before they could start rebuilding. So, he was keeping the note tucked away, waiting for that time. Right now, the first step to ‘I do’ was a call from the doctor. Evie couldn’t carry a child to term, the accident had seen to that. DJ didn’t want Evie to suffer the trauma of another miscarriage, so he had insisted on a surrogate. Evie wasn’t up for it at first, but DJ was insistent, and she gave in. He was by her side through the hormone shots, the egg retrieval and the bed rest. In two months, they had grown so close, almost making up for the two years that they had been separated. Even though the surrogate didn’t know who they were, he knew who she was. DJ didn’t want to risk the woman getting overly ambitious and holding their unborn child to ransom.

Today they would find out if the implantation worked and the surrogate was pregnant. If not, DJ was determined to try over and over again until they succeeded. His and Evie’s lives, and happiness depended on it.

DJ looked up when there was a knock on his room door. They were at a hotel in Colorado. It was easy for him to be recognized in New York, so he had chosen a fertility clinic that didn’t know of his reputation and family’s esteem. To them, he was just another father looking to have a baby. But what if it didn’t take?

“DJ?” Evie stepped into the room; her lower lip worried between her teeth.

DJ went up to her and pulled her lip free. He ran his thumb along the soft, plump flesh, wishing he could kiss her. “What’s up?”

“I know that I have been putting off this visit for a while now. I just…it’s been a month since the implantation, the surrogate should know for sure. The fact that she hasn’t called…it should be good news. But—”

“You are scared?” Evie nodded. “So am I.”

“I was thinking. You had two parents.” Evie stepped back and walked around him. She leaned on the chest of drawers, looking more unsure than he had ever seen her. “We are both different people, new people. We aren’t Dennis Rogers and Eyvette Ross from Nice. We are DJ and Evie in America.”

“Okay.” DJ chuckled.

“We know the realities of life. So, we would be walking into this whole thing with our eyes wide open. Two consenting adults agreeing to be partners.”

“It’s called parenting.”

“No, marriage.”

DJ took a step back, his head cocked to the side, his neck throbbing as if he had whiplash. Here he was in his room, plotting how he was going to trap the lovely Miss Evie into marrying him, and she’d had the same idea anyway. It was incredible, unbelievable and…smelled rotten. DJ was a lawyer. He knew when someone was trying to pull wool over his eyes. Evie, who had said that she wanted nothing but friendship from him, now wanted to get married. Usually, if it was anyone else, he would play along and see where it led. But this was Evie. He was going to be honest with her, even though she seemed determined not to be so with him. Maybe this was what the note was referring to—her end game.

“It pains me to have to ask you this, and it pains me even more to know that you are trying to play me, but what do you want?” DJ sat in the armchair next to him. Just like that, the man who had wanted to be her happily ever after had disappeared and Dennis Kent Junior, the lawyer, had taken over. Even with the one person he loved the most, the one he couldn’t live without, his instinct to protect himself had taken over and a shield had risen around him.

“My visa is almost up.”

“Right.” DJ sighed in relief. At least it wasn’t something terrible. Before Evie, he hadn’t thought he would ever want to get married and being a green card husband didn’t seem so bad. “When do you want to do this?”

“You mean…you are okay with this?”

“I get to marry the only woman I want in this world. Sure, it’s great.” DJ got up and out of his defensive position. “I know a judge here in Colorado who wouldn’t mind doing it today if you want. The sooner the better right?”

“Right.”

* * * *

“Right.” Evie didn’t know why she felt like she had signed her life away with just that one word. She didn’t want to go back to Nice. There was nothing left for her there. She didn’t want to keep living in the hotel. Sure, it belonged to her brother, but she felt like she was imposing. Evie had had a serious discussion with herself, in front of the mirror, and this was the only solution she could come up with. They were going to have a baby soon, so it made sense for them to be married, living in the same home and being partners. It would also be a whole lot easier asking him to help her open her bakery as his wife than as the woman who was struggling to be indifferent to him.

She watched as he made a phone call. As his arms moved, the seams of his jacket pulled, stretched beyond their limits. She could see the well-defined muscles in his back. He had gotten bigger, fuller, since the last time they had made love. She wished she could feel his new-found strength, feel those arms hold her close, and just disappear in them. It was crazy how much she wanted him. But Evie had promised herself that there would be no crazy antics. She was taking it slow. That was laughable, considering that she just asked him to marry her, and they were trying to have a baby.

“Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“The Court House, then the clinic. We need to be there in fifteen minutes. It’s not that far.” DJ grabbed his briefcase, then turned to her. “You have fifteen minutes to change your mind.”

DJ’s phone rang and Evie noticed how he frowned when he looked at it. Countless times she had seen him stare at his phone with an irritated look but never pick it up. She always wondered who it was that was calling.

“Let’s go,” he said, once he silenced his phone.

Evie nodded, though she wasn’t really considering it. It might work out for her to be married and be able to stay in the country, but she wasn’t going to delude herself into thinking that a green card was all she wanted. This man was going to be hers, legally. He already belonged to her in every other form imaginable. But, once she signed her name on the dotted line, she had the right to take a shotgun to whichever woman had the balls to get too close to him.

A few hours later, she hadn’t changed her mind. She looked at the simple platinum band that DJ had given her, then stared at the black band on his finger, and she could hardly believe it. She didn’t think DJ had gotten used to the idea of being a husband. His thumb kept on twisting his wedding ring round and round, and he had pulled at his collar three times already since they had arrived at the clinic. It was literally like he had a noose around his neck. Evie couldn’t help but laugh.

“What is it?” he asked smiling.

“I can’t believe it, bachelor number one off the market. I wonder how the women of New York are going to take it.”

“I’m not worried about them. I’m worried about my brother…and yours.”

“Why? Is that why you look so terrified? I thought it was because you had signed away your stud card,” she teased.

“I only need you, Evie. Someday you’ll figure out I mean it when I say you are the only one, I want.” Evie looked away, the earnestness in his eyes digging away at her heart. “Your brother, on the other hand, is going to kill me.”

“I don’t understand why you would say that.”

“Rich is very protective of you. He has taken to his role of big brother almost as vigorously as Reno did. When he finds out I married his little sister without asking for his permission, he’s going to kick my ass.”

Ethan had been overly interested in her life. In the first couple of weeks, it was cute, and it made Evie feel like she finally had a family to call her own. But then, as a person who had been forced to act as an individual for all her life, it became annoying and frustrating. However, she rolled with it, taking a few lessons from Catalella, Danny, Katherine and Lisette on how to be the perfect little sister while still being an independent woman.

“AJ almost killed Michael for marrying Catalella and flattened Rich’s nose when he got Catalella pregnant. And here I am, two for two. I’ll be picking my teeth up from the floor.”

“It’s a good thing you have a big brother of your own then.” Evie elbowed him in the side. It felt good just talking, teasing and laughing with DJ. They both almost seemed whole, untarnished and unbroken. It felt good.

“Extremely good. I don’t know how I would have survived the past two years without him.”

“I think, after this baby, we should try for another one. That way the kids will have each other. Speaking from a life of single childhood, you need someone to help with your crazy parents or, in my case, roommate-mother.”

“Yes, about her. I don’t want her to have any direct contact with any of the children we are definitely going to have.”

“Agreed.” Evie grinned. “Look at that, our first decision as a married couple. I like it when we are on the same page.” She was completely aware of how intimate the situation was and how completely unconsciously it came about. He wasn’t trying to make a move on her, but she wished that he was. He exuded serenity and, at the same time, he was turning her emotions chaotic.

“Me too.”

“The doctor will see you now,” the nurse said to them.

“Here we go,” Evie grabbed hold of DJ’s hand. She didn’t intend to ever let it go.

* * * *

She let go, that was all that kept running through DJ’s mind that evening after the doctor’s visit. Before they had walked into his office, Evie had grabbed his hand, held on to it with such… he didn’t even know how to describe it. He never thought she would let go. However, that was before the doctor had said that the implantation had been successful, but the surrogate had subsequently had a miscarriage. What was worse, the other embryos had gone missing. Evie had let go of his hand. DJ’s mind was spiraling out of control, and he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He wanted to dig a hole deep in the earth and bury himself. He couldn’t believe it—karma was here yet again, ruining his life.

DJ stood outside Evie’s bedroom door. At mid-afternoon that day DJ had thought that they would have their bedroom, just one. Now it seemed like they weren’t in the same orbit. He knocked and there was no response. The sobbing had stopped an hour after they had arrived back at the hotel. DJ had given her the time he thought she needed. Now he wanted to be let in…to her room and her life.

“Evie, open up the door, let me help you.”

DJ stood there for a while, listening as random sounds echoed through the door. She was moving things around, but he couldn’t imagine what. When Evie opened the door, she was fully dressed and dragging her suitcase behind her. “Help me with what?” Her tone was cold, distant and strangely devoid of emotion.

“Where are you going?” DJ grabbed the bag from her hand.

“Home, New York.”

“New York is your home now?”

Evie wiggled her fingers, the last of the day’s sun rays bouncing off the platinum wedding band. “’Til death do us part. I need the keys to our apartment.”

“This is the part where I break up with a girl.” DJ didn’t mean to sound harsh, but Evie was trying to pretend like she didn’t care so he was going to play along.

“A divorce after only one day of marriage, no-no. An annulment wouldn’t make sense. I think that would damage your reputation as a stud. And if you try that, I will name you as my accomplice in defrauding the United States Immigration Department. Now give me the keys, and money for a ticket home.”

“You are staying here because we are going back to that clinic tomorrow. We are going to file a lawsuit against them for negligence. So, you don’t want me to help you, but you are as sure as hell going to help me. Now, you can order room service if you want, I’m going out.”

DJ tossed her suitcase to the corner of the room before walking out of the hotel suite. He rarely let anyone wind him up enough for him to lose his cool. As a lawyer, he needed to have his temper reigned in a hundred percent of the time. But Evie and DJ had just lost another baby and she was acting like it didn’t even matter. Sure, it was easy to just hide the pain, pretend like it didn’t happen. Two children in one lifetime…that was too much for a man. He needed a couple of drinks.

However, DJ needed something else first. He went back into the suite and Evie was standing on the balcony, staring out into space.

“Tell me something, what game is this that we are playing?”

“What?” She turned her around, her expression just as stone cold as when he had left a few moments earlier.

“This game, the one you are winning, and I just get the thank you for participating trophy.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Well, here is something you do understand. Why did you pull your hand from mine like that?”

“When?”

“Evie,” DJ groaned in frustration.

“Who? Little Evie, your Evie?” She had a mocking grin on her face.

“Yes, my Evie. For a moment—”

“For a moment I…Evie…entertained the idea, the dream, a fantasy—”

“I get the point.”

“Evie…me…I thought that we could be together, that if God let us have that baby it would be a sign.”

The stone mask broke as tears began running down her cheeks. It was breaking her just as much, if not more, than it was him, this loss. However, Evie had found an escape, one that didn’t work for him.

“And now that we lost it it’s a sign that we shouldn’t be together? For fuck’s sake. You have got to be kidding me,” DJ barked. He didn’t mean to yell, but he was tired of this feeling that everything, everyone else but him, had control of his life.

“I think it’s best.” Her hard expression was back.

“I know what’s best for me now. I won’t be the yoyo bouncing up and down from your finger. So, what is best is that we go our separate ways. I’m not chasing after you, and I’m not going to try to convince you that we could have a happy life together, with or without children. I wish you the best in finding a man, an American man with good mojo. Goodbye, Evie, and this time it’s for good. Just have the hotel book the ticket for you and charge it to the room.” DJ looked at her one last time, committing her face to memory. He would frame this Evie’s mental picture against his lovely Evie. He would remind himself every day what love did to a man’s state of mind and keep away from it. DJ was exhausted. His body, heart and soul couldn’t deal with another round of love.

DJ left, and the hotel bar was his next stop.

* * * *

Evie had waited up all night. She hadn’t meant to, but it was hard knowing that DJ had stormed out of the suite because she had upset him. It was even more difficult knowing that, at that moment, he could have been with another woman. That part just pissed her off. Somehow, she needed to devise a plan, a system, that would keep her irresistible and her wandering husband home. It wouldn’t be much of a sacrifice being the only woman he had sex with, as long as it was just that—sex. Evie wasn’t ready for the making love stage. A naïve part of her thought that she could accomplish separating the physical aspect of it from the emotional. DJ had done it for years and had only managed to fall in love once. He was a pro at it, actually, but her…she was the kind of girl that guys like DJ had on an hourly basis.

She could do it, couldn’t she?

Evie looked at the clock when she heard the suite door open. It had just gone midnight. She hadn’t expected DJ to return until five o’clock the next day. The bar either didn’t have the variety he needed or, whoever the girl he picked up was, she must have been a quick lay. Yet again, maybe it wasn’t DJ. It might be a hotel staff member here to pick his stuff up. Evie jumped out of bed and tied her robe around her half-naked body. She ran to the shared living room of the suite, then sighed with relief because it was DJ. But, for the same reason, her stomach dropped.

DJ was standing at the balcony with a drink in his hand, his jacket slung over his shoulder, and the moon’s silver rays bounced off the perfect features of his face. He was beautiful, a romantic picture, one she wished she could be a part of. He swirled the gold liquid in his glass before tossing it all back. He stared at his empty glass, the light from the moon glinting off it, making it look like it was made of tiny little diamonds. Something else shone in the low light…his wedding band. It was a reminder that this man was her husband and that they would be together for an untold amount of time. Did she want to tolerate the years that would follow, act like they were bearable, or did she really want to be happy?

She wanted to be happy. She needed DJ’s arms wrapped around her when she slept, she was desperate to see his smiling face next to her when she woke up and she wouldn’t accept a life where they could not live their love, one in which she wasn’t Mrs. Kent in every way. DJ turned around and froze when he spotted her. They stood there in a blanket of silence, the words they had spoken earlier to each other echoing in the quiet of the suddenly chilled room. Was there a way they could come back from this? She wasn’t sure. But she was determined to try.

“I want to be Mrs. Kent.”

“What?” his voice was a little slurred, but he wasn’t inebriated so that he couldn’t understand her. “You can change your last name when we get to New York.”

“It’s the only name that is actually mine, that and Eyvette. The other two…” Evie walked toward him. “One was given to me out of hate and jealousy, and the other was just a lie. I need an identity and being Mrs. Kent, your wife, is the one I have wanted for a long time and the only one I’ve got.”

DJ put his glass down. “You are Evie, my Evie, at least you were. Now you can be Eyvette Kent. Everyone with that last name is screwed up, one way or the other, so you are welcome to it.”

DJ started to walk away from her. He was just indifferent, as if he had completely given up on them. He wasn’t even trying to get her out of the mere mention of a robe she had on. She had pushed him away. “One night.”

“What?” He didn’t turn around but, from the tensing of his back muscles, Evie could almost see the expression on his face. Shocked, dumbfounded and disbelieving.

“I am your wife, so I think I am owed one night.”

“You are owed?” He chuckled. “One night, then what?”

“Then we start afresh…that is, if we can.”

“We can’t, there is just too much history—too much pain, lost dreams and desires.”

“Babies that we could never hold in our arms. I know, but we can at least give it a try.” Evie walked up to him. She took his jacket and tossed it on the sofa. Her hands trembled as she lifted them to his chest. She was terrified of touching him.

“Why now? Why not three months ago? Or, better yet, two years ago?”

“I was in a different state of mind two years ago. I was barely conscious then. But, when I came back, of course I wanted you to make love to me, even when I thought you had abandoned me. But it’s the same thing as what I am feeling now.”

“And what is that?”

“I feel like I will break if you touch me, kiss me, hold me…love me. I am also afraid I will if I don’t.”

“So, what do you want to do?”

Her hands finally came in contact with him, though of course there was a thin layer of cotton between their flesh. However, beneath her fingertips, she could feel the quickening beat of his heart, the tempo matching her own. Her hands explored the taut, well-defined wall of muscle on his chest. DJ stroked her cheek with the back of his hand, and she melted into it.

It had been a long time, dangerously long. The reminder of his tender touch sent her body into waves of shock. Cupping her face with his hand, he dipped his head down toward her. Like the whisper of a breeze that surrounded them, his lips brushed hers once, twice, before claiming them fully. A smoldering feeling of pleasure curled through her. His mouth felt firm on hers, yet achingly gentle all at the same time, as his tongue demanded and entreated a response.

DJ pulled back and his thumb pushed her chin up so that she could stare directly into his eyes. Then he said, “One night. Right now, that is all I can give to you.”

They stripped down to nothing but their aching hearts. An overwhelming sense of coming home enveloped DJ when he settled himself between her thighs. It had been so long since he last made love, and he wasn’t sure if his heart would survive it or if his souls wouldn’t shutter under the emotions, he was just about to expose himself to.

“Once upon a time, a princess met a prince at a café by the beach,” Eyvette’s melodic voice invaded his thoughts pulling him out of them. “It was love at first sight for the princesses, but the prince was too afraid to open his heart. The princess never gave up on loving him. She showed him her heart and one night he accepted it-,” Evie broke off with a gasp when he surged into her, driving himself deep to the hilt.

Her back arched as she welcomed him. Her arms and legs went around him and in a passionate but desperate embrace, as if she was trying to hold on and brace herself for the storm that was about to settle around them.

“The prince and princess loved each other very much,” she went on in a strained voice, as DJ pumped inside her in silence. Tears stung his eyes and his chest held back the wail, building up within him just as fast as his orgasm was. “But they hurt each other and had to be apart-,” Evie’s scream tore through the air as her body began to tremble. Through gritted teeth she went on, “but no matter how much time they spent apart, they both remembered the night they surrendered to each other, on a beach with just the moon and stars as their witnesses. Their souls bonded then, never to be separated even though they were far apart.”

“I love you,” DJ hissed as his orgasm clenched him in a tight grip, taking too long to let go.

“I love you more. More than you’ll ever know.”

* * * *

One night.

Evie had watched DJ surreptitiously from the corner of her eye ever since they had left the hotel and boarded the private jet the four families owned. And until they finally reached the hotel where all her things were. Later on, he had taken her to the apartment they now shared, and his words, when he led her to another room that was not his, still echoed in her head. It was the master bedroom, huge enough for four people, not just one. The bathroom and closet were bigger than the apartment that she and her mother had shared in Nice. The whole apartment had one tone…it screamed bachelor pad.

“You can do whatever you want with it. Hire an interior decorator if you want. You can also get a stylist to fill your closet. It’s too big to be empty,” DJ said.

“We can share it,” Evie suggested. She was building a bridge that they could eventually cross.

“We already are. I don’t have much in terms of clothes.” DJ pressed a button on a panel that sat on the island in the room. His clothes took up half of the space in the closet, contradicting his words. “I’ll ask Catalella to call someone for you. I would ask Danny, but she seems to have dropped from the face of the earth.”

“I can pick my own clothes.”

“That is not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?” Evie hadn’t meant to start an argument but that was how it seemed to turn out.

“Okay, then you can go on your own. In the directory near the phone there are all the important numbers—family, staff, the offices and emergency numbers. You can call the driver and he can take you,” DJ looked at his watch and stepped out of the dressing room. “I have to go; I have a meeting. I’ll come and pick you up at six. We have dinner plans.”

“When were you going to tell me?”

“I just did.” DJ made an exasperated, huffing sound. “I thought it would be best if we informed our families of our marriage. I made reservations at Rich’s restaurant.”

“Ethan has a restaurant?”

“De Alma, that’s where he met Catalella and AJ. I’ll give you a call.”

“Sure.”

Evie watched as DJ walked away and realized that being married was going to be more difficult than she thought. She walked into the bedroom, dropped on the bed, and tried to convince herself that one day they would move past all of this. She could only hope that that day would come a whole lot sooner. Evie jumped off the bed and took a walk around her new home once more. She needed to find a way to make this beautiful, museum-looking apartment into a home, into their home. Although DJ didn’t seem attached to the monochrome items in his apartment, she didn’t want to move anything without his consent. Until then, she made mental notes of what to get rid of, what to keep and what would look better in a different color.

After she was done with that she went to the bedroom, unpacked her three suitcases, and stared at the gaping space left. She really did need to fill in the space, not because she was vain but because the empty spots were like a mirror image of what her life was like now. It was too depressing.

Evie knew she would need to get a hobby. DJ already had a housekeeper. She thought of talking to him about opening her bakery. That would keep her busy, out of the apartment and hopefully occupy so much of her time that she didn’t have even a second to listen to her heart.

Dinner with the family, her family, was incredible. She had never felt so included before. It was a little disappointing that Ethan hadn’t punched DJ for marrying his sister behind his back. Evie had been looking forward to seeing that. But something strange did happen. Dennis and Catalella had taken DJ aside. They spoke in hushed tones but, from the look on DJ’s face, it was a topic that he didn’t like. All night she had waited for DJ to tell her what had happened, but he never did. Evie sat in the living room waiting for DJ to come out of his own room, determined to ask him.

A knock sounded on the door and Evie got up to answer it. A short, thin man stood there, his glasses falling over his nose. “I am looking for Eyvette Ross and Dennis Kent, do they live here?”

“Yes.” Evie stepped back and let him through.

DJ emerged from his room, his hands fiddling with his tie, his shirt halfway undone. He was beautiful and Evie took a minute to examine her prize.

“Who are you?” DJ looked past her and to their guest.

“I am from the immigration office. I am investigating a marriage fraud.”

Evie was terrified. She immediately rushed to DJ side, worried that the stick-thin man would try to take her out of her new home. However, DJ didn’t look fazed, and simply stared the man down all the while, still working on his tie. “And?” DJ did up his buttons and fastened his tie. He walked over to the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. “Investigate.”

“I am, sir. It is a coincidence that you married her just before her visa was almost up. How long have you known each other?”

“Almost two and a half years.” DJ and Evie answered in unison. In her opinion, it was great that DJ remembered and that they were on the same page. But she was sure that, to the immigration man, it seemed rehearsed.

“Why did you get married?”

Evie didn’t answer that one. She was in love with DJ. An idiot could see that. But when she had proposed marriage, it had been to stay in the United States. She had proposed to commit marriage fraud and DJ had gone through with it.

“I love her, and she was expecting my child,” DJ answered dismissively. He took the newspaper and sat at the breakfast table. “Why else do people get married, sir?”

“Are you still pregnant?” The man, this time, directed his question to Evie.

Evie tripped on her answer, not because she didn’t know the answer but because it was hard for her to claim the recent miscarriage. She had completely detached herself from it and, since she hadn’t been carrying the baby, it was easy to pretend it didn’t happen. “No, we lost them. The first one two years ago and the second one a week or so ago.”

“I’m sorry. Are you going to try and adopt?”

“Nope, because he wants my baby, one who looks just like me. Sometimes that’s the only thing I believe that is true in this world.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing.”

“Listen.” DJ tossed the newspaper on the table as he stood up. “My wife isn’t in this country illegally. Her father is Adrian Ross. Her mother had taken her to live in France but she, too, is an American citizen. If you had done your research, you would have found all of this out and you wouldn’t be here in our home, bothering us.”

“I received a report yesterday that the both of you were trying to commit fraud. I didn’t have time to do any research. However, there are still some necessary steps to be taken considering she was born in France,” the man said.

“As I said, do your research. But now, if you don’t mind, please leave.” DJ walked the man to the door and unceremoniously shut it in his face.

Evie was horrified. She kept on thinking that someone could come and take her away at any time. There was no reason for DJ to be so rude with the man. “Why did you do that? I could get sent away. We both know Adrian Ross is not my father.”

“I know. But when I went to the immigration office to notify them of our marriage, your birth certificate still had his name. The DNA results weren’t made public and Adrian senior honestly doesn’t mind.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I asked them,” he said in an exasperated tone. DJ went back into his room and came back out in his jacket and with his briefcase. “Let’s go, we are late.”

“Where?”

“The office.”

“I don’t work there.”

“Didn’t I tell you…of course I didn’t.” DJ spoke to himself. “I’ve been so absent-minded; I need a vacation. You are going to meet with my business manager, so that he can help with the café and bakery. You are also going to meet with a real estate agent, so that you can find a location. New York is a prime location and difficult to find any store fronts, but, if you find a place you like, we’ll make it happen.”

“I don’t have a business plan.” Evie shrugged. She wasn’t the least bit prepared to pitch her ideas to him.

“Business plans are for banks. You have a rich husband. Just work out the details with the business manager. He will put you in contact with suppliers and all the stuff that goes with opening a café or bakery. Let’s go. I’ll be late for my meeting.”

Before Evie knew what she was doing, she rushed into his arms and hugged him. “Thank you,” she whispered into his chest. Evie smiled when she felt his hand on her lower back.

“You are welcome,” he said above her head. “And if you keep making me late you are going to start driving yourself.”

“I thought New Yorkers’ took cabs.”

“This city isn’t that safe so if you can avoid a cab, please do. Now let’s go.”

When they got to the office, DJ escorted her to the conference room and left her there before rushing to a meeting taking place in his office. She waited less than a minute before she had company.

“Hi!”

Evie smiled at Catalella as she joined her in the conference room. She envied the woman. She was so well put together—a lawyer by day and a mommy by night, a superhero in her own right.

“How are you, Evie?” Catalella took a seat across from her, laying a file down on the table. There was nothing family-like or friendly about this encounter, Evie realized. Catalella wanted to ask her for something and, from the look in her eye, it was going to be unpleasant. “I heard you are opening a bakery. Tom is a good business manager, he helped Reno with his tattoo-biker shop, with Ethan’s restaurants and clubs, with AJ’s vintage car shops and with DJ’s photo gallery. I bet each day he wonders why rich kids with full time jobs would want to turn their hobbies and passions into a cash factory.”

“So, DJ is still taking his pictures?” Evie hadn’t seen anything in the apartment. She thought he had abandoned his love for creativity. It was good to know that a piece of Dennis Rogers was still there.

“He has a tiny gallery in the city. He takes beautiful pictures.” Catalella chuckled before pushing the files toward her. “This is a prenuptial agreement, and this is an annulment. Pick one.”

Shock didn’t begin to express what she felt. Evie sat there in stunned silence, her gaze switching between Catalella and the files. Was this what they were discussing at the party? Why hadn’t DJ told her about it? “He never said…Does Ethan know you’re doing this?”

“Rich—no, this is none of his business. As for DJ—I’m not surprised. He would do anything to keep you by his side. This is the thing—without this prenup signed, DJ will lose his fortune. It was a contingency plan set by his grandfather, to keep the gold diggers at bay. Dennis Senior…let’s just say he has a past.”

“DJ told me.”

“I’m surprised. I’m his best friend and he couldn’t tell me. He loves you, so don’t make him choose.” Catalella pushed the file closer to Evie.

“You want a bakery, and he has a gallery and those things are not funded by DJ personally. Just in case all of this,” Catalella waved around, “disappears one day, he will be protected. Like the rest of us…we live off our salaries. Investments and our share of company profits go into a nest egg. You, as his wife, if he allows, will have access to his nest egg, but you are not allowed to access company funds, records or have a say in the company. That is what the prenup is for.”

“To protect the company?”

“No, to protect our legacy, the empire. I know you don’t understand—”

“How could I? The only thing I have to my name are my clothes. I have never owned anything over a hundred dollars.” Evie was now getting a good picture of how different they were and how their priorities didn’t match. “I want him to ask me.”

“That’s not his job, that’s my job as his lawyer. Are you going to sign it or not?”

“Did you sign one?”

“Of course. Harold presented it to me three months after the babies left the NICU. I signed them because I understood. Lisette and Katherine also signed one. DJ presented Katherine with her prenup,” Catalella said.

“I still—”

“Lella!” DJ stormed into the room, a less than amused expression on his face. It was obvious that he hadn’t known this was happening. “What are you doing? I told you I would speak to her.”

“You notify her, and I present her with the papers. You didn’t do your part so don’t get upset with me for doing mine,” Catalella barked back.

Evie admired how fierce she was. She didn’t back down for anyone.

“You won’t bully her.”

“I’m not. I am asking her politely.”

Evie caught the sarcastic tone that accompanied her words.

“Rich didn’t hold my hand when Harold confronted me with that stack of papers. I didn’t see AJ here when you were getting Katherine’s signature, so I don’t understand why you are here.” Catalella stepped in front of DJ, blocking his path to her. “We both know that Reno will not allow the funds to open the bakery without that prenup, and he sure as hell won’t let you use your personal funds.”

“I don’t understand,” Evie said.

“You see, dear, without our fathers’ money, we might as well be like everyone else,” DJ said bitterly.

“Sad but true,” Catalella echoed. “So which document are you going to sign?”

Evie reached for the prenup, and she didn’t even bother reading it. She flipped to the last page and signed it.

“You should learn how to read before you sign,” Catalella said.

“It doesn’t matter. I trust him,” she smiled at DJ.

“Okay. Tom and his team will be here in a minute. DJ, you need to get back to your meeting. Rich might be my husband, but he is still our client.”

“I’m not worried,” he grinned. “I think he has a reason to keep his business with us.” DJ took one long look at her before leaving. Evie took that as his apology. She would have liked to hear the actual words, but she was okay with it.

When Catalella called them a team, she wasn’t joking. Tom came into the conference room with twelve people, all demanding her attention and presenting their ideas. It took the whole day to come up with the concept for the bakery, to pick suppliers, personnel straight from culinary school, the color scheme, logo and location. Evie wanted her bakery to be as close as possible to DJ’s gallery. That way she could find a way to bring his passion into hers. Once every hour DJ would come and sit by her. He would take a look at the ideas and say nothing at all, even when she looked to him for advice. However silent he was, it felt good that he was there with her. It made her feel like it was their bakery, and he was providing more than cash flow. They felt like a team, just the two of them.

“Hey baby sis.”

Evie lifted her tired head and stared into Ethan’s eyes.

“I’m exhausted,” she said.

“I’d like to say it gets better, but I would be lying,” Ethan sat next to her and took her hand in his. It was a strange feeling, the familial love. Evie tried her best not to shy away from it.

“It’s just a little café, nothing compared to your empire,” Evie teased.

“The size doesn’t matter. I can help you if you want, I know a few things about the food industry,” Ethan said.

“De Alma,” Evie said with a nod.

Ethan stared at her for a while before asking, “Are you happy? Are you truly happy?”

Evie stared back at him and decided to be honest. “I want to be, DJ is trying his best. He’s patient with me,” she sighed. “But I don’t think I’ll be happy without having a baby.”

“Let me tell you a secret about our Irish blood, it’s known to create miracles when it comes to babies,” Ethan said with a smile.

Evie squeezed his hand, “Lend me some of that magic, mon frère.”