“Explain.” She somehow got the word out.
“My father said he would sell the business out from under me unless I met certain stipulations.”
Eldrick Jameson. She should have known he was at the bottom of this. That bit of information fit everything Derrick had ever told her about his father. The man was pure trouble. He caused trouble, incited it.
But none of that explained Jackson’s comment.
“What does that have to do with me?” She could no longer stand there. She set the mug down, ignoring her shaking hand.
“Are you okay?” Jackson asked, the concern obvious in his voice.
“Finish it, Derrick.” Because she knew there was more. This all related to her. All that talk at the beginning of their relationship about how they were helping each other. Yes, she’d let herself get sucked in because he’d wanted to. But the reasoning rang hollow now.
“Each brother has an obligation they have to meet or we lose everything. My obligation was multipart. I had to lure my brothers back to the business and I had to clean up my image.”
That didn’t sound so bad. It was close to what she knew with a few holes filled in. “Okay.”
“I told you I needed your brother to stop. I didn’t tell you my continued ownership of the business depended on it. Depended on you.”
“The deal was pretty lopsided,” Jackson said.
“I needed you more than you needed me. Without you, I lost everything.” Derrick hesitated for a few seconds. “For me this wasn’t about helping Noah. It was about keeping control of the business.”
“That’s pretty ruthless.” The room started to blur along the edge. She looked at him through this strange haze.
She had no idea what was happening. It was as if her body was shutting down, abandoning her. But she refused to give in. She wanted all of this information out between them. No more secrets.
“I never pretended to be anything but ruthless,” Derrick said.
That wasn’t true. She’d thought so at first, but that was part of his perfectly crafted image. The real man was much more complex. Decent.
“Why not tell me the truth?” That part didn’t make sense to her.
Derrick never left his place by the fireplace. He held on to the mantel as if it were the one thing holding him up. “I didn’t know you and didn’t want you to have the upper hand against me.”
“Weeks ago. But now?” She shook her head and almost dropped to her knees.
Jackson got up from his chair and Derrick took a step forward. She waved them both back. “Why, Derrick?”
“I didn’t want what we had to stop.”
The sex. He liked the sex and was willing to tell her half-truths and use her to keep getting it. “Maybe you are ruthless.”
She saw Derrick rush forward and heard Jackson yell. Everything moved in slow motion as the air whooshed around her. Before she could call out, the pain closed over her and the room went dark.
* * *
Pregnant. Not just pregnant but a high-risk pregnancy.
Derrick sat beside Ellie’s hospital bed and turned the doctor’s words over in his head. He’d been pummeled with information since they’d arrived in the emergency room. Now she was settled in a private room and the facts still didn’t make sense.
Spence and Jackson had stood next to him, taking it all in. Derrick had barely heard a thing. All he could think about was the ambulance ride. The first responders yelling, talking to the hospital. The noise as they’d driven at high speed. The beep of the machine next to him.
It had been a flurry of activity. Everyone rushed and ran. The stretcher. The blood from where her head had hit the floor before he could catch her. He’d thrown up twice while he’d waited for the doctor to come out and deliver some news.
And the news…pregnancy.
Now he had to tell her because this was not the ideal situation. Forget the state of their engagement. He would fix that as soon as she let him. He knew what he wanted now. Watching her fall, thinking he’d lost her, shifted his whole world into focus.
He’d told her he’d kept part of the truth about the agreement from her because he hadn’t wanted their time together to end. What he hadn’t said was that he loved her. He was couldn’t-think-straight in love with her.
That losing her made him double over.
That he would forfeit the business if it meant she would stay with him.
His thumb slipped over the engagement ring on her finger and he thought back to the silly way he’d given it to her. So dismissive, ignoring her feelings. Jackson had unloaded, letting him know every way he’d messed up.
Derrick knew it was Jackson’s way of handling his fear. Derrick’s was to bury his brain in work and he couldn’t do that now.