how all of this connects to Yvette’s child.”
Griff took in and released a deep breath. “York forced Yvette to have sex with any of his business associates who wanted her. He used her to find out their secrets. When he realized that by her having sex with a man, Yvette was able to connect with his thoughts and feelings more intensely than simply by touching them, he began bringing whatever man he intended to hunt the next day into his home and forcing him to have sex with Yvette . . . while he watched them.”
Nic swayed. She backed up and braced her hips against Griff’s desk.
“When Yvette became pregnant, York threatened to abort the child, but being the evil son of a bitch that he was, he decided to allow her to have the baby. And then when the infant was only a few hours old, he took it away from Yvette.”
Nic couldn’t imagine the agony Yvette must have experienced. “And all these years, what did she think happened to her child?”
“She didn’t know,” Griff said. “After we left Amara and managed to claim some of York’s fortune for Yvette, we started searching for the child. We’ve been looking for nearly sixteen years.”
“What about the child’s father?”
“Yvette doesn’t know who fathered her child. It could have been one of several men she was forced to have sex with during the specific time in which she became pregnant.”
And then Nic asked the only question that really mattered to her. “Were you one of those men?”
“Yes.”
That single word upended Nicole’s entire world, everything she believed in, every emotion, every thought, sending her into a tailspin of confusion and rage.
“Damn you, Griffin Powell. You swore to me that you and Yvette were never lovers!”
“We weren’t lovers. Not ever.” He grabbed Nic’s shoulders and shook her gently. “What Yvette and I did was not making love. God, Nic, it wasn’t even having sex, not really. We were forced to perform in front of York.”
Nic jerked away from Griff, rushed behind his desk, doubled over and threw up in his wastebasket.
When Griff reached her, she stood up straight and backed away from him. “Please, don’t touch me. Not now. I—I can’t think straight. You have to give me time to think, time to sort through what I’m feeling . . . about you and me and about Yvette. And . . . and about her child.” She looked Griff square in the eye. “She . . . Suzette could be your daughter.”
“Yes.”
Nic walked across the study, opened the door and without turning back to look at Griff, said, “I’m going upstairs to pack a suitcase and then I’m going to Gatlinburg to our . . . to my cabin.” Knowing how she loved the mountains, Griff had given her the cabin as a Christmas present.
“I don’t want you to follow me or contact me in any way,” she told him. “When I’ve had time to think about everything, I’ll come home. I’ll come back to Griffin’s Rest and—”
“You can’t go off by yourself,” Griff told her, his voice pleading. “It’s too dangerous for you to be alone. If you have to do this, then I’ll send Shaughnessy or one of the other agents with you.”
“I want to be alone, Griff. I have to be alone. Try to understand.”
“How about a compromise?” he asked. “Ask Maleah to go with you.”
“I won’t do that. She and Derek . . .” Nic swallowed her tears. “No, not Maleah. Not now. If you insist on my not going alone, then send someone to follow me on the drive to Gatlinburg. And you can post guards at the cabin twenty-four/seven. But I want to drive there by myself and I do not want a bodyguard in the house with me.”
“I don’t want you to leave, Nic. Stay here. I’ll give you all the time and space you need. Just don’t leave me.”
“You don’t understand. I can’t bear to look at you right now.” She walked out of the study, her head held high, her shoulders straight, and her heart breaking into a million pieces.
Maleah didn’t know all the details, only that Nic had left Griffin’s Rest after Griff told her that Yvette had a child, a nearly seventeen-year-old daughter that she hadn’t seen since the day of her birth.
“Griff may be the girl’s father,” Nic had explained. “I can’t stay here at Griffin’s Rest. I need to get away. I don’t want to look at Griff and see the pain in his eyes every time he looks at me.”
“I’ll go with you,” Maleah had told Nic.
“No, no. You and Derek, you two need to be together now. I want you to enjoy being in love. Those first few days and weeks are so incredible. I don’t want you to miss them.”
When Nic made up her mind, there was no arguing with her.
Maleah stood in the open doorway and watched Nic drive away from Griffin’s Rest. When her Escalade was barely out of sight, Griff motioned to the man behind the wheel of the black Hummer. He pulled out and followed Nic.
At that precise moment, Maleah knew what she had to do. She turned to Derek, who stood beside her, his arm draped around her waist, and said, “She shouldn’t be alone. Will you understand if I—?”
Derek clasped her hand. “Come on, Blondie, I’ll help you pack a bag. But not until after I give you a proper send-off.”
“I’m going to miss you terribly.”
“Call me every hour on the hour,” he teased.
“I’ll call you every morning and every night and think about you every hour in between. How’s that?”
He pulled her into his arms as they reached the top of the stairs. “When this crisis with Nic and Griff is over, you and I, Ms. Perdue, have a future to plan. A future that includes a wedding and a honeymoon.”
“Yes, we do.” Maleah stood on tiptoe and kissed him.
Loving and being loved gave her the strength to believe in the possibility of a happily-ever-after.
Epilogue
From time to time, Nic caught a glimpse, in her rearview mirror, of the black Hummer that had followed her from Griffin’s Rest. When she stopped at a gas station just outside Pigeon Forge, Cully Redmond pulled into the parking area and waited for her.
Now, for the past few miles on her drive up the mountain to the beautiful, secluded cabin Griff had given her as a Christmas gift, she hadn’t seen Cully’s Hummer. Apparently, he had dropped back out of sight to allow her time to arrive at the cabin and get settled in before he parked outside to keep watch over her. No doubt, Griff would send another agent to relieve him in the morning and the two would change shifts every eight hours.
She parked the Escalade in the circular drive, got out, grabbed her suitcase from the back, and walked up to the front door. She drew in a deep breath of crisp, fresh mountain air. She unlocked the door and walked into the foyer. The cabin was so quiet, so peaceful, unlike the daily chaotic noise that had plagued Griffin’s Rest recently.
After shoving her suitcase into the master bedroom closet, Nic walked through the living room and opened the door leading out onto the back deck. She went over to the edge of the wooden deck, clasped the top of the carved guardrail, and looked out at the breathtaking view below, the lush green hills and valleys.
