That One Time by Aja Foxx

Chapter Eighteen

~ Henry ~

 

The loud voices in the other room woke me. It took me a minute of looking around to realize where I was and what had happened last night. I sat up and then rubbed my hands over my face. Well, at least Frank had moved me to the bedroom before anyone saw me, but I still had to do the walk of shame to get out the hotel room.

I glanced around until I spotted my clothes carefully folded in a stack on a chair by the door. I slid out of bed and walked into the bathroom before getting dressed. I needed to splash some water on my face and pray that there was a brush I could use. I might have to wear yesterday's clothes, but I could at least try to look human.

As soon as I was done in the bathroom, I walked back into the bedroom and got dressed. Frank had even brought my shoes in, which was a huge plus.

I could still hear voices from the other room, but they weren't as loud as they had been when they woke me up. I was assuming, whoever Frank was talking to, he'd told them to lower their voice.

I walked over to the door and cocked my head to one side and tried to listen, to hear who Frank might be talking to. Nope, I didn't have a clue. Knowing I had no other choice, I pulled the door open and stepped out of the bedroom.

Two men instantly turned to face me. One I wanted to see. One I hoped never to see again. I ignored Martino and walked up to Frank. "I need to get back."

"Can I come over?" Frank asked.

I nodded. I knew he'd want to come meet Eva sooner rather than later, and I kind of did, too. "Why don't you come a little before lunch? We can go to the park and play and then have lunch when we get back."

Frank grinned before leaning down to brush our lips together. "I'd like that."

I grinned back. "I'll see you then."

I started toward the door without saying a single word to Frank's brother. I really had nothing to say to him, at least nothing nice.

"Not going to say hello, Henry? That's rather rude, don't you think?"

I swung around and smiled sweetly. "Well, you know us well-used whores, Martino. We tend to be rude."

I was so anxious, I was surprised I made it into the elevator without tripping over my feet. It helped that Martino was staring at me with his mouth hanging open. Frank was just smirking as if he was enjoying the whole thing.

I waved to Frank as the elevator doors slid closed and then slumped back against the wall. I would have liked to spend more time with Frank, but I really did have to get back. Ryan said he'd watch Eva for the evening and that had ended several hours ago. I knew he'd do it anyway, but I should have asked. Now, I had to go home and explain to him why I was so late getting home.

That was going to be a fun conversation.

I was feeling a little more anxious when I stepped off the elevator, so when I spotted a head of blond hair I almost dismissed it, until I heard the man speak and then a cold black fear slid up my spine.

"I'd like to know which room my husband is in," the blond demanded

"Certainly, sir," the receptionist replied. "Can I see some ID?"

The blond huffed and dug out his ID, handing it over. The receptionist looked it over before handing it back. "Sir, I have two Galeazzis registered in the hotel. Francesco Galeazzi and Martino Galeazzi."

The blond gasped. "Francesco is here?"

"Yes, sir. He's in the penthouse suite."

"And Martino? Which suite is he in?"

"He's room seven-twenty."

"Not a suite?" the blond asked.

"No, sir."

"Can you tell me if Mr. Trevor Franklyn has checked in yet?"

"I'm afraid I can't give out that information, sir."

"Can I leave him a message?"

"Of course." The receptionist handed over a pad of paper and a pen.

The blond wrote down a message and then handed the pad and pen back. "Please tell Mr. Franklyn that I will be in the bar waiting for him."

With a flounce, the blond turned and walked away, and that was when I knew who he was. I darted back into the elevator and hit the button for the top floor several times. I didn't let out the breath I was holding until the doors slid closed without anyone else stepping in.

Frank and Martino were still sitting at the small dinette when the elevator doors slid open and I stumbled out. Frank stood as soon as he saw me and started across the room.

"Henry, what's wrong?"

"Stewart is here."

"What?" Frank nearly shouted.

"I just saw him downstairs in the lobby. He was at the reception desk asking what room his husband was in. The receptionist demanded he show ID, which he did, and then she told him what rooms you both were in. He seemed surprised that you were here, Frank."

Frank wrapped an arm around me when he reached me and then turned to look at his brother. "Is there some reason why Stewart would be here looking for you?"

"No," Martino said quickly, almost too quickly. "I haven't seen Stewart since the night he stormed out of your office. I didn't even see him when I went to sign the divorce papers."

"Then why is he here?" Frank demanded to know.

"Uhm, he might not actually be here to see Martino," I said. "He asked for another man, someone named Trevor Franklyn. When the receptionist refused to tell him anything, Stewart left him a message and said he would be waiting for him in the bar."

"Trevor Franklyn." Frank frowned. "Where have I heard that name before?"

Martino's face flushed red and his hands clenched as he stood. "Trevor Franklyn was Stewart's divorce attorney."

"You don't think he hooked someone else, do you?" Frank asked.

"If there's money involved, then yes. Stewart has proven time and time again that he will do whatever he has to do to get his hands on other people's money."

I would have felt bad about what Martino was saying, considering he'd said something just like that to me, but then I remembered what Stewart had done to me and Frank, and anger ran roughshod over any misgivings I might have had.

"We can't allow him to take some other poor sop to the cleaners," I insisted. "He's taken enough."

"The five million dollars he got from me should have lasted him a lifetime," Frank said.

"If you add in the five million he got from me in the divorce," Martino said, "then he had enough to last him into the afterlife."

My eyes rounded. "He got ten million dollars from you guys?" No wonder they had issues with money. They were losing it left and right. "You might want to think about changing the amount in the pre-nup from here on out, to like a hundred dollars or something."

"You wanted ten million," Frank insisted.

"Yeah, but only if you were unfaithful to me. If we were just getting divorced or I was unfaithful, I didn't get anything, but if you were unfaithful, I wanted you to pay through the nose. Money seems pretty important to you and I wanted you suffer if you were ever unfaithful to me. I figured that was the easiest way to go about it."

Frank chuckled as he tightened the arm he had wrapped around my waist. "I think it would have been less the knowledge that I lost ten million dollars that would have made me suffer, but more that I would have lost you."

I smiled up at Frank. "That's a really nice thing to say."

"Guys, guys," Martino said, "can we concentrate on what's going on with Stewart?"

"We don't know what's going on with Stewart," Frank said. "He was asking for you, telling the receptionist that he was your husband. What do you know about that?"

"Nothing," Martino said. "Like I said, I haven't seen Stewart since that night he brought the pictures and stuff to your office. I haven't even heard from him or seen him in passing. It was like he fell off the face of the earth, and frankly, I didn't care if he did."

"Then why is he still saying he's your husband? I know the divorce went through. I filed a copy of your divorce decree in the family legal file myself."

"Well, he obviously knows you are here," I said. "The question is how and why would he care? Is there anything you could have said or done that would make him think he might have a second chance with you?"

Martino snorted. "Hell, no!"

Martino said it so vehemently that I had to believe him. "He's obviously here to start trouble." It was the only reason I could think of for him to be asking for Martino's room. "Now, you guys can keep throwing more money at this gold digging moron, you can ignore him, or you can deal with him. It's your money so you have to make that decision, but I still have to get home to my kid. I've been gone long enough."

Before anyone could say anything, the house phone rang. Frank walked over to pick it up. "Hello?" He listened for a minute before his eyes darted to me and then Martino. "No, that will be fine. Send him on up."

I lifted an eyebrow when he hung up. "Who was that?"

"That was the front desk letting me know that the lawyer I hired is here."

I frowned as a spark of apprehension ignited in my gut. "What do you need a lawyer for?"

"I wanted to draw up some paperwork concerning those boundaries we talked about last night. I wanted you to know I was serious about agreeing to them."

I sucked in a breath. "The boundaries I listed?"

Frank shrugged. "I figured if I wrote something up, signed it, and filed it with the courts, you'd know that I actually do agree to your stipulations and it might relieve some of your worry."

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Thank you, Frank."

Frank started to smile, but his face was also flushing red so I was hesitant and confused. I narrowed my eyes. "What aren't you telling me?"

"I asked him to update the pre-nup and bring it with him."

I waited for the anger to hit me, for the disbelief that Frank could actually think I'd sign that stupid pre-nup again. I waited to feel disbelief at the gall of the man to assume I was even interested in marrying him again.

None of it happened.

"Okay."

Frank's eyebrows shot up. "Okay?"

"Yeah."

"You'll sign it? I mean, we don't have to get married right away or anything, but I thought if the money thing was off the table all together, it would allow us to spend time together while I'm getting to know Eva without either of us constantly worrying about the money part of things."

"No, it makes sense, as long as you understand that this engagement is penciled in, not written in stone. Our lives have changed a lot in the last five years, and so have we. We might not even like each other anymore."

"What we did on the couch last night proves otherwise."

Martino quickly moved away from the couch.

"No," I countered, "what we did on the couch proves that sex has never been an issue for us. It's when we actually have to converse that we fuck things up."

Frank nodded as if saying "Yeah, maybe".

"I did change one thing in the pre-nup," Frank said out loud. "I added natural born children to the fifty-fifty custody part of the agreement, but it will only go into effect if we get married and then divorced."

I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I'd have to give it a little thought. Eva had been mine since before she was born. I wasn't sure I was willing to share custody yet. "I'll have to think on that one, Frank."

"I understand that, but, remember, this only goes into effect if we get married and then divorced. If we get married, we'd share custody anyway. This clause is to protect both of us and Eva."

"No, I get that." I just wasn't sure how I felt about it.

There was a knock at the door before anyone could say anything else. When Frank started walking toward it, Martino motioned to the balcony. "I'm going to step outside and make some phone calls, give you guys a little privacy."

I nodded simply because I didn't know what to say to that. I turned to face Frank when he opened the door to two men. A man in a dark navy suit who looked to be in his mid-fifties stepped inside, holding out his hand.

"Mr. Galeazzi, I'm Harold Evans, the lawyer you requested." He waved his hand to the other man, also in a dark suit, but looking about twenty years younger. "This is my associate, Trevor Franklyn."

Oh, shit!