Love Me (The Elites of Cheshire shore #2)

45. Rome

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

rome

“ H ave fun at work.” She stands on the balls of her feet and kisses my cheek while handing me a giant thermos filled with coffee.

“Always do,” I reply just as she playfully slaps my ass and practically shoves me out the door. I walk into my office at the Founding Five building. Now that we’ve found the missing shipments, a giant weight has been lifted from my shoulders. With that piece of paper, Ven Industries is about to do exactly what it needs to and finally sign the dotted line on our very own port in Cheshire Shore.

Dad walks into my office, followed by a sulking Luca, who closes the door behind him.

“How are things going with Deeter Group.”

“About as good as you can expect.”

Luca sits down heavily in the free chair beside Dad. “I don’t understand the game he’s playing.”

Dad rests an elbow on the arm of the chair and rubs a finger along his lip. “It’s a dirty tactic, one I didn’t see coming from Brian. We’re going to have to reassess how we tackle this, we can’t just confront him.”

“What if we get Nora in here first? She might accidentally divulge more information than she realizes, especially when we confront her with her signature on the documents.” An idea already forming in my head turns into a solid plan the moment I say it.

“If you think it will work, Ven Industries is yours. You boys have shown me I may have been a bit hasty in taking back my control.” Dad makes eye contact with both me and Luca. “I would like to step back into my role of being here to offer you counsel, if you’ll have me.”

Luca rolls his lips together like he is mulling over the idea, before his eyes flick over to mine, and the corners of his mouth pull into a grin. “Yeah. We’ll have you back.”

My dad nods. “In that case, I think we should do it. Get Nora in here.”

At his reply I pull up my emails and start typing a new one out to Nora. I unlock my phone and send a second message to the other part of my plan.

I take a sip from the cup Flo handed me.

“I’m just going to skip past the fact that you brought Rome a coffee and completely forgot about me,” Luca grumbles as I close my office door. My eyebrows raise as I take another deliberately slow sip.

“Sorry, Lulu, I’ve been upgraded to girlfriend duties, there’s a badge and all.” Flo sticks her tongue out at my brother, who gasps, holding his hand to his heart.

“There it is, I knew it. A little bit of dick and all of a sudden you forget who your ride or die was.”

“Luca.” I place my cup down. “I say this with honesty. The woman who can tame you is going to be legendary.”

Luca scrunches his nose before a smile draws across his lips. “Nope.” He undoes the button on his suit jacket and takes the seat opposite me. “I’ll happily be the favorite uncle, though. When are you two going to grace me with that title.”

My eyes dart to Flo. I know Luca is being an ass about it, but hell, I’m ready the moment she tells me. Flo’s fingers lightly play along the nape of my neck. “I still have my residency to get through before we think about that, but I’m happy to keep practicing for a family.”

I take her hand and lightly kiss her knuckles, my sparkling eyes meeting hers. “You just say the word, lollipop, and I’m here ready on both accounts.”

Nora walks into my office, her frosty facade intact.

“Nora.” I smile, closing the door behind her.

“What did you call me in for?” She scans the room, her eyes landing on Flo. “And why are you here?”

Flo shrugs. “I was in the neighborhood.”

“Nora, we know what you and your dad have been doing,” Luca starts. “We know you guys have been messing around with our paperwork, delaying our shipments, and you’re the reason Croft Racing’s oil went missing. What we want to know is why?”

Nora stays silent, her eyes storming over like she’s waging an internal war.

So I decide it’s the perfect time to jump in. I push off the door and cross my office. “What I don’t understand is, we were trying to acquire your company, it makes no sense to lower our market value. You were never in a position to buy out Ven Industries and, most importantly, it’s not for sale.” I rub my finger over my bottom lip.

Nora eyes each and every one of us with such intensity. A noise escapes the back of her throat as she rolls her eyes. “You really don’t remember, do you?”

Luca and I glance at each other.

“Of course, you wouldn’t. Spend tens of thousands of dollars on reinventing yourself, and you’re still the wallflower no one cares about.” She glances away.

“Wait, do you mean we’ve met you before?” Flo asks.

Nora looks up at Flo, her eyes red rimmed. “Fuck, I wanted to be one of you guys so bad. Even though I was a couple of years younger than you, all I wanted was to have a friendship group like what you guys had, but you never saw me. Jokes on me though, right? Because my dad wanted to be one of you just as bad. I was really, really happy away from this place, away from Cheshire Shore. But he brought me back.”

“What do you mean he brought you back?” Flo asks.

“I left Cheshire Shore during my last year of middle school, right after my mom died.”

“I thought you were familiar. I swear, though, you had darker hair back then. But when you introduced yourself as Nora Hendricks, I thought maybe I was just remembering wrong.”

“I did used to have darker hair, but I changed it when I went to live with my aunt in Europe. She comes from a small country called Salo. It didn’t really help Dad to have his bratty teenage kid as a newly single guy. So I pretty much showed him the middle finger and shortened my name from Lenora to Nora and took my mother’s maiden name.”

Fucking Brian, the guy is a sleaze.

She smiles. “Yeah, puberty was good to me, and a little bit of plastic surgery fixed up my insecurities, not that it is the blanket cure for everyone, but when I accessed my inheritance from my mom, I decided to spend it on me. I made myself into Nora Hendricks.”

“Shit.” Luca shakes his head, the usual easygoing smile notably absent from his lips. “I’m really sorry you felt that way. Middle school is rough on everyone, and high school can go either way. We stuck together, it was part of the reason that it was bearable. Being kids with such high-achieving parents, we had to prove ourselves. Heck, even as adults we still have to.”

“It’s true,” Flo pipes up. “Most of the time my career is laughed at because of who my parents are. No one sees me as Florence, they just see the Liu-Savino last name. It’s why I changed my hair color so people would have no choice but to take notice.”

Nora’s glassy gaze swings to Flo. “I’m truly sorry I said that to you. In a way, it kind of makes me proud you had enough courage to stick it out and make it your own. I didn’t. I bolted the first chance I could.”

“No you didn’t,” I say. “You did what was best for you, and you did it at such a young age, Nora, it shows you really had courage.”

“I’m sorry for the part I played in all of this.” She sweeps her hand across the office.

“Don’t be, you were doing what you had to.”

Nora gives me a sad smile and stands. “If it helps. I really do want Ven Industries to acquire Deeter Group. I have no interest in the company that my dad chose over me. I just want to go back to Salo and live my life. If you can find anything I can use to help you get this across the line, let me know.”

Flo goes to meet her at the door. “I lost my dad freshman year of high school, granted my mom tried really hard, and Edo stepped up as my father figure. It still sucks losing a parent so young. I’m really sorry if you felt I wasn’t there for you. I’m also really sorry for the part I played in any of this. If you would let me, I would really love to take you out for a coffee and maybe get the chance to know you for real. Nora Hendricks. Only if you’re up for it, of course.”

Nora adjusts her suit jacket. “I would like that.” She grabs the door handle and turns around. “And for what it’s worth, you and Rome make an amazing couple,” she says and leaves. Flo gives me a soft smile as she crosses my office and sits on my lap, her arm resting along my shoulders.

“What are you going to do?” she asks, resting her forehead against my chin.

I’ve been thinking about that myself for a while. And from what Nora just told us, I believe there is only one option. I release a pent-up breath. “We’re still waiting to hear from Becks if our new plan will work, and having Nora’s cooperation is going to be invaluable. Otherwise, I think the only way to handle Deeter is with the Founding Five.”