Illicit Craving (Bend To My Will #5) (3 page)

Chapter 4

Jacob was haunted by the fear that he might be making a grave error. He had let Vivienne into his life, more than he’d intended to. His greed for her kisses, her scent, and her submission made resisting impossible. Even given the chance, she had refused to leave, and now Jacob wouldn’t abstain.

When Vivienne wasn’t with him, Jacob turned to the whiskey bottle, but it didn’t make the nightmares go away. In the dead of night, he frequently woke up sweating and terrorized. It was frustrating that, after all this time, the past still had a hold on him.

On Monday night, having woken from sleep, panicked with his heart pounding, Jacob reached across the bed to find it empty. It took a second for him to remember that it wasn’t the weekend, so he was alone. Pissed off that he was in the grip of something he couldn’t control, Jacob ripped away the sheets and got up.

In the bathroom, he threw cold water on his face, washing away the sweat. He was helpless to cleanse the frightening thoughts from his mind, or achieve peace. As an adult, Jacob should be able to put old memories behind him, but he was incapable of doing so.

He went out to the dark main room, surrounded with windows looking out into the night. Glimmers of city light gave life to the otherwise gloomy landscape below. It was black, as black as the horror he tried to repress. His back stung with pain that should have faded long ago.

Jacob was tormented by a period when life was hell, and he had no escape. Yet he seemed completely incapable of putting it behind him, burying it in the past where it belonged. For all his success and power, the darkness in his soul refused to recede.

The horrible memories persisted. The damage had been done and was irreparable.
Take your clothes off, Jacob
. The voice sounded real, as close as if it were happening now. He rubbed his hands over his face, forcing the thoughts out of his head.

But they didn’t go away, only went into temporary remission, to be called forth during the fitful sleep he endured. Night after night, Jacob fought back, attempting to banish the torment that wouldn’t go away. After so many years, the past had taken on a life of its own, refusing to obey Jacob. No matter how he approached it, he failed to wipe out the darkness, and the unwelcome memories that worked to destroy him.

The worst part was that now he had involved Vivienne. Although Jacob knew better, he had allowed her in his bed, and she had witnessed his nightmares. He’d tried to brush them off, telling her to go back to sleep. But she would surely ask more questions.

Jacob couldn’t blame her for that. Vivienne had questioned him about the very darkness he strove to protect her from. But he refused to speak of it. Sharing the past would pull her into it, and make her a part of it, which might ultimately destroy her.

Conflicted, Jacob dropped into a chair and stared into the bleak night sky. He’d erred, and he knew it. Vivienne could not be a part of his life, not really. Yet she already was, and that made it worse. To live with his torment alone was bad enough, but to ruin her innocence would be a sin that Jacob wouldn’t recover from. He had to make sure that didn’t happen.

*****

Jacob went for a run every morning, sweating and breathing hard, to shed the shadows of the night before. He refused to let his issues gain the upper hand, and the workouts provided a welcome release. Plus, most mornings while he ran through the park, he brainstormed business dilemmas. With a clearer head, and a freer soul, he went back to the penthouse to shower and dress.

Rinaldi Imports was a fast-moving, growing concern. Managing the company required Jacob to stay on the cutting edge of the industry and applicable technology. Getting lost in work was his passion, as well as solace from personal torment. During the day, he had no opportunity to think of anything but business.

On Tuesday, his older brother called. Gianni was busy running his fashion merchandizing business, so didn’t find the time to call very often. Jacob was close to his brother, but due to their career demands, they didn’t get together frequently.

“Hey, Gianni.”

“Glad I caught you, Jacob. How are you?”

“Good, everything’s good.”

“Glad to hear it,” Gianni said. “I should call to catch up with you more often, but you know how that goes.”

“Yes, same here. It’s always something.”

“Well, I happened to hear a rumor that I thought you should know about.” Gianni hesitated. “I found it a bit alarming.”

“I’m listening.”

“This guy I do business with mentioned to me that there is seminar coming up, invitation only. I want to make sure you know about it.”

The concern in Gianni’s voice had Jacob’s attention. “What seminar?”

“It’s being privately held, and some of the key wine distributors and importers are on the list of attendees,” Gianni said. “Normally, I wouldn’t be privy to such information, but it just so happens that a buyer of mine is good friends with one of your competitors.”

“He told you about it?”

“Yes, and I get the impression that something’s not on the up and up. The whole deal is kind of hush-hush, which makes me suspicious.” Gianni paused briefly. “It was a red flag to me, and it’s even more suspicious, now that I’ve confirmed you didn’t know about it.”

“Yes, this is the first I’ve heard of it,” Jacob said. “When is it?”

“This Thursday, in a meeting room at the Westin,” Gianni said. “Why would you be excluded? That doesn’t seem right.”

“The short story is that Williamson Imports appears determined to put us out of business, and the effort is being led by Daniel Kenyon.”

“The ass that tried to pull the phony wine scam a while ago?”

“Yep, that’s him,” Jacob said. “And I have a feeling that if a bunch of distributors and importers are secretly meeting that Kenyon is involved.”

“Are you going to crash their party?”

“You can count on it,” Jacob said. “And I have you to thank for tipping me off.”

“I look out for you, brother.”

“You always have.” Jacob meant that.

“We need to get together for dinner sometime,” Gianni said. But before Jacob could agree, he said, “I’ve got to run. Another call is coming in, and I have to take it. Let me know how things work out.”

“Will do.” Then Gianni was gone. The mention of getting together reminded Jacob that his brother didn’t know about Vivienne yet. Or maybe he did. After all, his parents had met her, so maybe they had told him. If they did carve out time for dinner, Gianni would meet her then.

For now, Jacob had a problem. It appeared that Daniel Kenyon was ramping up his attack, and going behind Jacob’s back was just his style. Whatever the purpose of the clandestine seminar, it wasn’t good. He pushed the intercom button. “Meg, hold my calls. I have to handle an emergency.”

The first person Jacob spoke to was Walsh, but he hadn’t known about the meeting either. “They must have thrown it together at the last minute,” the investigator said. “Those kinds of things are next to impossible to keep secret. Rumors spread quickly, and I would have heard about it.”

“You’re right,” Jacob said. “It’s supposed to happen the day after tomorrow. For all we know, it was set up only days ago.”

“That’s my guess,” Walsh said. “I’ll dig into it, and see what I can find out. I assume you are going to the event
uninvited
.”

“That’s the plan.”

“I prefer that you know what you’re walking into,” Walsh said. “I’ll get back to you with anything I find out.”

Next was a briefing with Grayson, his general manager. After hearing the news from Jacob, he sank against the chair. “How completely annoying,” Grayson said. “That asshole needs to be put in his place.”

“My sentiments exactly,” Jacob said. “I’ll be at that seminar, and I have Walsh looking into it so I’m not going in unprepared.”

Grayson nodded. “What do you think Kenyon’s up to?”

“If I were to guess, I’d say that he is going to further encourage distributors to buy directly from vineyards.”

“That’s so stupid,” Grayson said. “He works for an importer, his own stepfather. Undermining the relationships between the importers and their distributors is counterproductive.”

“To say the least,” Jacob said. “But something else still nags at me.”

“What’s that?”

“Our vulnerability,” Jacob said. “I have a feeling that Kenyon has an insider, someone in our company that is a traitor and feeding him information.”

“I know you mentioned that before. What makes you so sure?”

“It’s a hunch, really. But the man is overconfident, which leads me to believe he is well informed.”

“I have no argument,” Grayson said. “I tend to agree. And I’ve been keeping an eye out for any sign. But so far, there’s no indication that one of our employees is on the take.”

“I hope that’s true,” Jacob said.

“I’m not blind to the possibility, though. I’ll stay on it.”

When his manager left, Jacob leaned back in his chair. The situation had to be handled. Once Walsh filled him in on anything else he was able to learn, then steps would be taken. Jacob didn’t want to create further disruption of the relationships with his key distributors, but there had to be some way to thwart Kenyon’s efforts.

*****

By midweek, Jacob missed Vivienne enough to call her. After all, he had relaxed the rules. If she could call, then he could too. Plus, not knowing what she was doing all week was unsettling. He did trust her, but as Vivienne had so aptly stated, he didn’t trust
other men
with her. She was hot and there was no way to shield her from another man’s advances when he wasn’t around. Vivienne didn’t realize how vulnerable she was.

Just hearing the sound of her voice made him feel better. He really did need to curb his appetite for her. “Hi, Jacob.”

“Hi, baby. What are you doing?”

“Well, it’s the afternoon, so I’m slogging through a project I worked on most of the day,” Vivienne said. “You’re calling me.”

She said it as an observation, not a question. “Yes, I’m calling you. Do you have a problem with that?”

“No, I don’t. I only wish you’d do it more often.”

Jacob was in deeper by the day. He knew better than to start calling midweek, but it was too late to backpedal. “You could call
me
.”

“I thought that was just if
disaster
struck.”

“You took me literally?”

“Shouldn’t I?”

“Sometimes, but not in this case,” Jacob said. “How do I know what’s happening all week if you don’t call?”

Vivienne hesitated. “You want to know what’s happening during the week?”

“I’d like to…yes.” This wasn’t going as smoothly as Jacob had hoped.

Vivienne paused for a moment, as if thinking that over. Then she proceeded to give him some highlights of her week, mostly about Vee’s, and Jacob noted that she didn’t bring up Alfred. It was just as well, because the new online venture had been a sore subject, so it was best not to get into it over the phone.

“I spoke to my mother on Sunday.”

“How is she?” Jacob said.

“You know, I think she’s doing better these days,” Vivienne said. “I was relieved to hear that she’s getting out more, socializing. I worry about her.”

It struck Jacob that they were talking about normal stuff, which was something new for him. “I am glad she’s doing well. Maybe sometime I can meet her.”

“I’m sure you will,” Vivienne said. “And speaking of
meeting
, my dad wants to meet you.”

“Is that a friendly invitation,” Jacob said, “or have you already told him to be leery of me?”

Vivienne laughed. “He’s my dad, so he would scrutinize any man I was with. What father doesn’t look out for his daughter? But you better be good to me.”

Although she was teasing, the sentiment rang true. “I’ll have to shape up, then. I wouldn’t want you to have anything negative to report to your father.”

“You really should call more often,” Vivienne said.

“Very funny.” Jacob laughed. “I have to go…but I’ll see you Friday.”

Vivienne didn’t respond right away. “Not before?”

Jacob wasn’t sure if she was teasing or not. “I’m kind of involved here, and I have a seminar to attend tomorrow night.” He paused. “It’s business.”

“I should hope so,” Vivienne said. “Okay, then…until Friday.”

Jacob decided he was glad he’d called. What was the harm? Vivienne already shared his life, more than any woman before. Certainly, calls during the week wouldn’t make that much difference. And not seeing her all week was difficult. In fact, he might consider doing something about that.

The talk with Vivienne had inspired Jacob, and he had an idea. He met with Walsh again, to learn that the investigator had already gleaned more details about the upcoming seminar, including most of the guest list. The word was that the topic of the meeting was ways to streamline the relationship between producers and distributors. In layman’s terms, that meant encouraging distributors to buy direct, cutting out the importers.