Infinitely Mine (Incapable Part Three) Read online

  I laughed as I pulled my shirt over my head before picking my phone back up. "It's not so bad. You should visit, Isa."

  She heavily sighed. "Small towns are not my thing, child, but for you, I'll make an exception. My schedule is pretty packed right now, but I'll keep you updated."

  I smiled. "It's fine, I understand. How's your dating life? I think the last I talked to you, you had a date or something?"

  She sighed. "Ugh, that turned into nothing really quick. We went on two, maybe three dates. I guess I wasn't feeling it."

  "Hmm, could you be feeling someone else maybe? Perhaps someone by the name of Chace possibly?

  She laughed. "Maybe. Of course you're not here to truly know, now are you?"

  "Touché."

  She grew quiet. I checked the phone to make sure the call hadn't dropped. "Isabella?"

  "Something weird happened."

  "Weird like what?"

  "I don't know." She took a big sigh. "Grayson. The last date I was on, he ended up being at the same restaurant. He was there with someone, and he took it upon himself to join us…and, I don't know, it felt awkward. She wasn't you, Emmalin. I don’t even know why he did that." She kept talking but I couldn't focus on anything she was saying. Her words felt like a dagger in my heart. I had left for a reason, but now I had to hear about him going around town dating anyone and everyone else.

  I wish I never met you…

  I shut my eyes, thinking back to the last words he had said to me, and my eyes welled with tears as I sunk slowly to the floor. He was the love of my life.

  "Emmalin? Emmalin?"

  I tuned back into the conversation. "Yeah, sorry. Hey, I have to go, can we talk later? I have some stuff I have to do."

  “Of course. Talk soon, okay?”

  I hung up before she could say more. I pulled up the website for Ellestad; I'd had enough. I had done what I was supposed to—at least, what I thought I was supposed to. It took some searching, but I finally found a contact number and dialed.

  "Ellestad, Nora speaking."

  I cleared my throat. "Is Dale Ferguson in?"

  There was silence. "No, he's out of the country and will be for a while."

  "I need to reach him, is there a number you can give me? It's important."

  "I'm sorry, but that's not something I can give you."

  "Nora. I'm not asking you. I need that number."

  "Again, I'm sorry, but I have a strict protocol to follow." Click.

  I stared at my phone in disbelief. That bitch hung up on me. I leaned back against the wall, frustrated. I could talk to Grayson, tell him outright.

  I wish I never met you.

  He'd never talk to me. He had made it very clear that he wanted nothing to do with me.

  How long before the hurt fell away? How long before you got over it and were able to move on? I missed him. I missed Tyler. I truly am alone, aren’t I? So what’s the point in being here? I picked myself up off the floor. Funny how I had to do that literally.

  Chapter Three

  Grayson

  "You're canceling the charity benefit gala?"

  I sighed. If one more person walked into my office uninvited, I was going to lose my shit. "Not now, Chace."

  "Stop telling me ‘not now’, Grayson. That's all you fucking tell me. Why are you canceling the gala?"

  "What does it matter? They're still getting their funds." I shrugged, turning my attention back to the email I had been reading before I was rudely interrupted.

  Chace slammed his fist on my desk, and I slowly looked up at him. "You've clearly lost your fucking mind Chace, or better yet, forgot who the hell you're talking to."

  "Fuck you, Grayson! Your threats mean shit to me, and you know it. You can walk around here threatening everybody else because you're miserable as shit, but not me. Un-cancel it."

  I slowly stood up. Chace and I had gone head to head before, but this time was different. We both had anger rolling off of us. I spoke low. "I said it was canceled, and it's firm." I watched as he narrowed his eyes at me and his jaw tightened.

  He gave me a slight nod before standing to his full height. "You're the boss."

  "That's right. I am."

  He nodded, turned for the door, and then stopped and turned back to me. "She's free game now."

  My eyes cut to his as he walked out the door. If there was ever a statement to rile me the fuck up, that was fucking it.

  I sat stewing the rest of the day after those words. Yeah, she was free game, but I didn't like thinking about it. So, what could I do? Something I was good at, something I built my name on—poker. With the way I was playing in my private room, you would think I had never played a single game in my damn life.

  "Place your bets."

  I put in ten thousand.

  "How many cards, Mr. Mandrake?"

  I peeked at my hand. "Just three."

  She was free game. Was she seeing someone else? Did he fuck her as good as I did? Did he make her come as hard as I did? No one should have been touching her. I wanted to kill anyone that had their hands on her. She wasn't theirs to touch. Yes, I realized I was the biggest fucking hypocrite thinking any of those things, but I couldn’t help it.

  "Mr. Mandrake, your move."

  I glanced at the dealer. I wasn't even paying attention. I was already eighty thousand dollars in the hole. I peeked at my cards. What kind of crockery shit is this? I threw my cards down. "I fold." I ran my hand through my hair before standing up. "I'm done." I needed to get out of there. I needed a distraction. I needed to fuck—hard. I was halfway out the door when I got a text.

  Meredith: Meet me for lunch

  Me: No

  Meredith: I wasn't asking

  Dammit! Why couldn't everyone leave me the hell alone! I made a note to change Meredith's name in my phone to Annoying Sister. Thirty minutes later, I pulled up to the requested restaurant. It was actually ten minutes away, but I made sure to purposely be late. She was sitting in the back and looked up immediately as I came to the table. I leaned in for a quick kiss on her cheek before sitting.

  "Mer. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

  She gave me a smirk. "Do I need a reason to see my brother other than the fact that no one has seen you in months?"

  I signaled to the waiter to bring me my usual. "I've been busy."

  She leaned back in her seat. "Is that what you're calling it? Busy? Very fascinating, Grayson." She cocked her eyebrow at me. If the entire lunch was going to be like this, then I sure as hell didn't want to be there.

  "How about you cut the shit, Meredith, and tell me why you really asked me here."

  Her expression grew serious. "I'm worried about you. We're all worried about you. I don't know what's going on, or what happened between you and Emmalin, or why she's gone—"

  "I don't want to talk about her. If that's what you're here to talk to me about, then this conversation is over."

  I moved to get up and her hand shot out to mine. Her brow was furrowed as she stared at me with such tension in her eyes. She slowly shook her head. "Grayson," she whispered. "I've never seen you like this."

  "Like what?" I snapped at her. She took a deep breath before answering, looking at me with…what? Pity?

  "Broken."

  I stared at the table and counted to five. Then I counted again, and three more times after that, before turning my attention back to Meredith. I made sure the next words out of my mouth were spoken with finality. "Emmalin left of her own will. She wasn't the person I thought she was. She's a coward." I found myself flinching at my own words because I knew they weren't true. Emmalin was everything I wanted and the strongest woman I knew. So then, why was I saying them? Because I wanted to spite her. I wanted to forget her. I wanted to hurt her for hurting me. I stared into eyes that were the same blue as my own. I knew damn well she didn't believe me, because I didn't believe myself. She gave my hand a tight squeeze.

  "We miss her, too," she whispered, not meeting my eyes as she
grabbed the menu, a lame attempt at busying herself. I glanced down at my own menu because yeah, I missed her, too.

  After an awkward lunch, I finally headed back to the office. I wasn't any closer to getting my shit back together. All I wanted to do these days was get shit-faced drunk, and God, how I wanted to fuck. Hard.

  “Mr. Mandrake, there’s someone here to see you.” Glenda’s voice came through over my speaker.

  “I said I didn’t want to fucking see anyone. If those instructions are too hard to follow, then find me someone who can!” I threw the phone across the room and it shattered. I walked over to my bar and grabbed the bourbon. Fuck needing a glass, and I drank it straight.

  My door suddenly opened, and in walked Ruska. Fuck. I don’t need this shit right now.

  “The fuck do you want?”

  He eyed me up and down precariously. “You’re looking well—the exact look I had when my wife left me.”

  I tipped my bottle back, not taking my eyes off of him, and flipped him off—because fuck him, that’s why. “I said, the fuck do you want Ruska? If you’re here to gloat, do it another time. I’m not interested. I’m busy.”

  He laughed as he pulled out a Cuban and lit it up. “I can see that.” He took a drag before speaking. “I have something for you.”

  “Well, you can keep it. I’m all out of fucks right now. Maybe come back later.”

  He smiled wickedly. “It’s about Dale Ferguson.”

  I shrugged, tipping the bottle back again. “Still out of fucks Ruska. I’m no longer interested in Dale.”

  He laid an envelope on my desk. “Oh, I think you will be interested in this. You were right. He was up to something.” He gave me a wink before turning around and leaving.

  Fucking asshole. I sat stewing at my desk before curiosity got the best of me. I finally opened the envelope and a picture fell out.

  It was a picture of Lydia sitting on a bench. I rubbed my eyes and checked the timestamp. It wasn’t Lydia I was focused on; it was who she was sitting next to and staring at.

  Carmen.

  Chapter Four

  Grayson

  “You were supposed to meet me three hours ago—what the fuck man?” I sat there staring at my desk, unmoving. I hadn’t moved out of my spot since Ruska left. I sat so long, I actually sobered up. Chace snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Why the fuck do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?” His eyes narrowed at me. “Did something happen? Did you hear from Emmalin?”

  That name. That fucking name. I didn’t even want to hear that name. I slowly stood up, and then headed for my office apartment. “I have somewhere to be. You’re going to have to be in charge for a while.”

  He looked at me, bewildered. “The fuck? What the fuck is going on Grayson? That’s not my job.”

  I ignored him as I shut the door behind me and dialed Ruska’s number.

  “Took you long enough.”

  “What the fuck is this?”

  I could hear him lighting up one of his infamous Cubans. “You said you weren’t interested in Dale. Did you all of a sudden change your mind?”

  “What the fuck is this Ruska?!”

  “After I killed my men for killing the wrong guy—and I do apologize about that—I decided to do a bit more prying on your behalf. I figured you would want to see that. Perhaps it would be useful.” I rubbed my eyes as I stared at the picture again. The same damn picture I stared at the past few hours. “There’s one more thing.” I focused back on the conversation. “I had Dale followed, and he made a special visit back to the States a little over three months ago, so I took it upon myself to personally follow him for you.” I listened as he took a moment to blow a puff of smoke. “He made a stop at a restaurant that wife of yours went to, to meet Chace.”

  I cringed at him referring to Emmalin as my wife. It was like a fucking knife in the back.

  “It’s like he was watching her, waiting for her to be alone, and he finally had his chance.”

  I looked down and noticed my fingernails had pierced my skin from my fists being clenched so tightly, and blood was now running down my hand.

  “She looked scared, and I almost intervened, if not for any other reason than to put a bullet through his head. Probably should have; he’s an annoying fuck. But you should know, he gave her something before he returned to London.”

  “What did he give her?”

  “That’s for you find out, comrade.” And with that he hung up.

  I picked up the phone to make one last phone call.

  “I need the Mandrake jet, fueled and ready for London within the hour.”

  Chapter Five

  Grayson

  "How soon until we land?" Claudia, Rachel, Susan, or whatever the fuck her name was asked as she came bouncing over.

  "Good Morning Mr. Mandrake. We should be arriving at Heathrow within the hour. It'll be just four in the morning. Is there anything else I can do for you? Perhaps something you need?"

  I shook my head as I waved her away and glowered out the window. Upon finding out the new information, I dropped everything I was doing and had my plane fueled and ready to head to London within a few hours. There wasn't any need for me to bother to pack. All of that was inconsequential at the moment.

  Taking out the picture from my breast pocket, I stared at it again. I went through multiple scenarios in my head of how this picture could have been altered. In fact, I prayed that it was somehow, in some way, Dale fucking Ferguson maneuvering a way to fuck with me, finally hitting the nail on the head by attacking me from another angle.

  That fucker had been out to get me since day one, for reasons I still did not know to that day, and probably never would know. The only thing I could come up with was that he didn't like the fact that I had surpassed him businesswise. Even when I had been with Carmen, the fucker had loathed me.

  "I want you to meet my family." I smiled down at her as she shyly looked up at me with her blue eyes.

  "Yeah? You know what that means, right? Means we're permanent. Forever and ever."

  She blushed as she twirled a dandelion between her fingers. "Well, if it's with you, then that's all that matters, right?"

  I plucked the dandelion from her fingers and put it behind her ear, the color popping out brightly against the dark blackness of her hair. Pulling her close to me, I laid us back on the blanket so we could look up at the clouds. "I would love to meet your family Carmen."

  "Mr. Mandrake. We've arrived. Your car is already on the tarmac ready to take you to your hotel." I glanced up, rubbing my eyes as I nodded to convey my gratitude. Forty-five minutes later, we pulled up to The Connaught. All my hotels were impressive, but I’d always been especially fond of this place, and it was my favorite whenever I was in London. Of course, it had occurred to me to just go ahead and purchase a flat and not have to deal with hotels, but I never had the time to think about doing so.

  I yawned as my car pulled up to the hotel and the manager came down to greet me.

  "Mr. Mandrake, it’s a pleasure, as always. We understand this was a last minute trip for you and you didn't have time to pack, so my staff took the liberty of filling the wardrobes to your tailored needs."

  I shook the man’s hand. “Thank you, I appreciate it. I'm not sure how long I'll be here, but of course I thank you for the hospitality."

  "Of course, Mr. Mandrake. We are absolutely honored to have you at any time."

  I nodded. “My invitation is extended to you, as well, if you’re ever in the States. You just let me know.”

  “My appreciation, sir.”

  After settling into my suite, I took off my suit jacket and stood in the middle of the room. My mind went to the one person I'd been trying to forget since the day she walked out of my life. She’d said she had always wanted to visit London one day; being there only made me miss her more. My mind kept playing over different parts of our last week together. Yes, she had appeared different, and yes, she had started to distance herself, but I sure
as fuck hadn't seen it coming when she said she wanted to 'save me one last time, and leave.' I had just stood there, listening to all the bullshit coming out of her mouth.

  What Emmalin had forgotten was that I could read her. I could fucking read her well. I knew everything coming out of her mouth was mostly shit. Yeah, sure, some of it held some truth, so I couldn't fault her for all of it, but to abruptly leave? That's where she had fucking lied. So, I’d let her, just in case she needed some space and needed to wait it out. What I hadn't expected was to find out she had hopped a fucking Greyhound and physically left the goddamn city.

  Of course I’d had her followed, and I still, had her checked upon every now and then, but she didn’t know that. No matter how angry I was, I still needed to know she was okay, that she wasn’t harmed, that no one actually posed a threat to her.

  I loosened my tie as I sat on the edge of the bed. He had gotten to her again. I was sick of his shit and right then, I wanted to physically murder Dale Ferguson. I didn’t know what his game was, but I wasn’t leaving until I found out.

  Chapter Six

  Emmalin

  "Emmalin, there's someone here to see you." I looked up at Mitch, and then down at my watch. We were closing in five minutes. "Are you sure?"

  He nodded. "Yeah. I offered to take his order, but he was persistent. I can try to get rid of him."

  I shook my head. "No, don't do that. I'll take care of him." I grabbed an apron off the hook and headed out of the back room, toward the front. There was only one person in the entire café, and he wasn't facing me. Hopefully, all he wanted was a coffee and something from the bakery to-go. His head was bowed down, he wore a hat, and his clothing was dark.

  I cleared my throat as I approached. "Hi. What can I get you?"

  He slowly looked up, and I gasped. Chace. He smiled slowly. "What do you recommend, honey dove?"