assertion that her life was too crazy for something as trivial as a dinner out. His mother had reported Teresa’s regular visits to the house. She and his father were often shuttered away in his home study, and his mother, who was deeply suspicious of most people, would spend endless amounts of time speculating about what they were doing. “It’s been hours, Liam. What could possibly be so important?”
If only his mother had known what torture it was for him to hear these things. He wanted Teresa, badly, and she only had time for the one man who’d never had time for him—his father. “Mom, I don’t know. I’m sure it has something to do with the class she’s taking.”
“I think there’s something else going on. I think he’s having an affair with her.”
That leap had made Liam sick to his stomach. His father had many personal shortcomings, but to Liam’s knowledge, he’d never cheated on his mother. She’d clearly never suspected it. If she had, Liam would have heard about it. His mother told him everything. “I’m sure that’s not what’s going on. I’m sure it’s all perfectly innocent.” Only Liam wasn’t so sure anymore, either. This all seemed so peculiar.
Then one night, his mother had called, frantic. “She’s here again. I can’t take it, darling. I just can’t do it. Your father is throwing this affair in my face.”
“Mom, he’s not having an affair.” Liam had said it with zero conviction.
“Please come to the house. I want you to see them together. I need to know that you really believe that. If you tell me there’s nothing going on, I’ll believe you. You’re so good at reading people. Much better than me.”
The idea of seeing Teresa again brought up a complicated mix of emotions. Liam was still hurt by her declining his dinner invitation. His ego wouldn’t have been so bruised if she wasn’t spending a great deal of time with his dad. “It’s late and I have a big day tomorrow.”
“Exactly, Liam. It’s late. Why would she still be here? Please come over and tell me I’m not crazy. I can hear music and laughing.”
Liam’s heart was filled with dread, but he couldn’t say no to his mother. Her paranoid tendencies were purely a product of his father’s detachment. “Okay. I can be there in thirty minutes.” He’d hopped in the car and raced over, hoping to hell Teresa would just be gone by the time he arrived. Unfortunately, he was not so lucky.
“They’re still in the study,” his mother muttered when Liam reached the door. Her breath smelled of vodka. “The door is open a tiny bit. Will you look and see what they’re doing?”
Liam had no patience for this cloak-and-dagger routine. If the door was cracked, nothing was going on. His dad might be foolish, but he wasn’t stupid. “I’m putting an end to this right now.” Liam marched down the hall and raised his hand to knock on the door frame. But then he caught a glimpse of Teresa through the narrow sliver of open door. She was sitting on the edge of his father’s desk, her legs crossed, a tight black skirt riding up to nearly midthigh. His father brought her a drink. Teresa toasted his father, saying she was so glad she’d found him. They smiled at each other with such adoration that Liam felt sick. They clinked their glasses and each took a sip, then Teresa hopped off the desk, gripped Linus’s shoulders and kissed him tenderly on the cheek.
Liam couldn’t watch anymore. He slunk away without saying a thing.
“Well?” his mother asked, waiting in the foyer.
“It’s nothing.” Liam hated to lie to his mother, but he needed time to think. He knew how she would react if he confirmed her suspicions. There would be chaos. And Liam couldn’t afford that with his dad at that time. He was about to propose the company undertake a risky project that would eventually become the Sasha technology. He needed his dad on his side. “They’re talking about stuff for his class. She must need some extra help.”
“You’re sure?”
Liam nodded, telling himself that he would find a way to confront his dad about Teresa. As soon as the Sasha project was approved. “I’m sure.” He’d leaned down and kissed his mom on the cheek. “Get some sleep. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Seven years later, that night was still so vivid in Liam’s memory, and having seen Teresa only brought up the disappointment he’d had with himself over not telling his mom the truth. He walked up to The Opulence’s bar and flagged the bartender. Early afternoon, and it was quiet, with just a couple sitting at one of the tables. “Club soda with lime, please.” He craved something harder, but that would have to wait. He and Matt needed to have a long talk about Teresa.
“Coming up,” the bartender said.
Liam took a seat at the bar. Dark thoughts and questions continued to tumble around in his head. And then it dawned on him—if Matt was so eager to give Teresa St. Claire a free pass simply because she’d worked for weeks on planning the retreat, maybe Liam needed to do some digging into her life. After all, Liam knew very little about her, and where there was one misdeed, there were often many. Maybe Liam needed to give Matt more reason to fire her.
Teresa took solace in one fact—today could not get any worse. Between the threatening phone call about Joshua and running into an inexplicably irate Liam Christopher, she couldn’t have imagined a more miserable beginning to her twenty-four hours at The Opulence.
“Let’s get started.” Matt clapped his hands. “I have a million things to get to today.” He took a seat at the conference table, leaning back in the black leather chair. Despite being one of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the business world, Matt wore dark jeans and a charcoal-gray dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He was famous for rarely wearing a suit.
“Yes. Let’s.” Teresa sat opposite Matt. She pulled out her binder, already bulging with papers and notes. Matt had brought nothing but himself to the meeting, but she was used to that by now. Matt Richmond kept everything in his head. “Shall we start from the top? The guest arrival on Friday afternoon?”
Matt’s blue eyes lit up. This event clearly meant a lot to him and he was excited by the prospect of knocking people’s socks off. “Yes. Perfect.”
Teresa began to brief Matt on the latest details. She showed off artist’s renderings of the decor for The Opulence’s lobby and samples of the custom room keys being printed for the weekend. She went over each item in the goody bags guests would receive, which included complimentary personalized luxury skin-care products, a $12,000 Tiffany & Co. watch with a custom cobalt blue face, and a seven-day stay at the all-new Kapalua Lanai Resort in Hawaii, the latest in Richmond Industries’ hotel-management portfolio.
Matt was sparing no expense since it was his company’s fifth anniversary, nor was he holding back his opinions. His reactions were mostly enthusiastic, but even the elements he was wowed by still required changes to please him. Teresa nodded and made endless notes, realizing it would be a miracle if she got any sleep at all before the retreat. There was a lot to be settled and Matt expected nothing short of perfection, and that meant she had to be perfect, too. But there were outside forces in the mix—the mystery man, the Joshua problem and Liam. If any of them blew up in her face before the retreat, she was sunk.
“I’d like you to go over the Saturday night gala menu with Nadia and Aspen. Nadia knows the dietary restrictions of our VIP guests and Aspen should be apprised
