“I don’t understand.”
“Weston Enterprises.”
Simon appeared to shudder, averting his gaze for one brief moment.
“You work for them,” Topaz continued, bowing her head as she strolled through the room. “You work for them. Or at least, you did before all this bad publicity hit them.”
“Topaz, what—”
“Simon, please, please don’t ask me what I’m talking about.”
“Even if I don’t know?” he challenged, slapping both hands to the sides of his black trousers
Topaz shook her head. “For once in your phony life, can’t you tell the truth?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest. “You can tell me the truth, you know? Even though I know what you did, I guess I want to hear your side.”
Simon would not speak, at first. He simply stood across from the woman he had once planned to marry. He fixed her with a look he reserved for his toughest business associates. When she met that gaze with her own intense, unwavering one, he turned away.
“Simon?”
“I can’t say it, Topaz,” he croaked, raising one hand as though he’d had enough. “Whatever you’re thinking ... what the papers said, it’s all true. Just leave it at that.”
“De must’ve told you I was with Alex,” Topaz guessed, blinking unexpected tears from her eyes. “I’m sure she knew about the place he keeps in Seattle and all it would have taken was a bit of crack detective work to find it—especially once those documents were messengered.”
“I don’t know anything about documents,” Simon said, swallowing as though a sob were rising in his throat. “De was so upset after she talked to Alex. I was over here all night tryin’ to calm her down. She figured Alex would take you to Seattle since he always disappeared there when he wanted to get away.”
“Why?”
Simon understood the context of the whispered word. “Topaz, I had a chance and I took it,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his hand across his eyes. “I’ve always wanted to get ahead. You knew that when we met. This was my chance. Mine. My opportunity to come out big, so maybe one day my name would be on the front door. But you wouldn’t understand that,” he spat, fixing her with an accusing glare. “You wanted a business and voilà, there is was.”
“Son of a bitch. You know it was never that easy for me,” Topaz hissed, stepping closer to him.
“May as well have been,” Simon threw back with a flippant wave. “Hell, even if you had never made a go of that damn shop, you wouldn’t have been hurtin’. Mama and Daddy Emerson woulda been right there to front more cash for your next idea.”
Topaz blinked, shaking her head as she watched him with a probing gaze. “I never knew you were so hostile about that. I guess that was probably the real reason you ended things, huh?” she whispered, inhaling deeply to retain her calm. “Had nothin’ to do with De or jealous wives at the company. You couldn’t handle the fact that money seemed to come to me so easily, while you had to scrape and struggle for it.”
“Money?” Simon laughed, massaging the back of his neck. “You think that was it? To hell with money. Money can come and go like the wind. Without power to back it up, you may as well stand on the street and give it away. No, Miss Emerson, what I wanted was power and I would’ve been set if ...”
“Power,” Topaz repeated, watching him turn away again and bang a clenched fist to his thigh. “I guess that’ll keep you more warm at night than friendship, hmm?”
“Topaz—”
“Leave it. Just leave it alone, Simon,” she urged, allowing him to see the drained look in her eyes. “I shouldn’t have bothered trying to get you to make me understand why, when there really is no explanation good enough to justify what you did. You sent a murderer after me, Simon!”
“Damn it, Paz, all you had to do was sell!”
“And all you had to do was be human!” she cried, slashing the air with a raised index finger. “All you had to do was be human. But I guess you never were.”
The soft words cut Simon deeply and it showed. Topaz turned away as he leaned his head against the wall and cried. She was on her way out of the room when DeAndra entered through a side door.
“Simon, we—oh! Topaz. Alex did say you’d be joining him, didn’t he?”
A dazzling smile in place, Topaz met DeAndra in the middle of the room. Taking the woman’s hands, which were extended in a phony gesture of greeting, she leaned close.
“I’m going to enjoy being a member of your family,” Topaz announced. Her smile grew brighter when she heard DeAndra gasp.
“Alex—Alex asked you to—to ...”
“Talk to you soon, De. We should get together for lunch!” Topaz called across her shoulder as she sprinted from the den.
“Hey.”
Topaz stopped and turned, finding Alex partially hidden in shadow where he relaxed against a remote wall.
“Did you ... hear everything?” she inquired, her steps slowing as the distance closed between them.
Alex nodded. “I knew Whitley worked for Weston, but I never thought he’d send those fools after you like that. I can’t believe I didn’t piece all this together.”
Shrugging, Topaz glanced toward the den door. “You would’ve needed a lot of pieces to be able to do that.”
Alex reached out to brush his thumb across her chin. “I’m sorry anyway. I know how much you wanted to be friends with the man. To find out he was behind somethin’ like this must hurt.”
Again, Topaz shrugged. “One of the many things I’ll have to get over, I guess,” she sighed, her expression growing uneasy. “Um ... about what I said to De. Alex, I’m so sorry, I was just so angry with her and it was either that or curse her out in her own house.”
“I would’ve gotten a laugh out of either one.”
Topaz searched the easy expression he wore on his handsome honey-toned face. “You’re not upset?”
