“Really? Keely is gay?” Color him surprised. “And how do you know this?”
“Karen told me. She said he was your roommate but you didn’t seem to understand that Keely was after you for your money. He’s trying to make you gay, too, just like him. But I’m here now and he’s gone, so you’re safe from him. I won’t let anything happen to you, Domi.”
“I don’t understand how you got him to leave, though.” Dominic just wished he could pick her brain and get the information out of it that he wanted and get rid of her. Instead he had to sit here and listen to Sophia go on and on.
“Oh, that part was easy. I told you that. Karen knew she needed to keep Keely away from you, so she wouldn’t put his calls through or take messages from him. You should have seen the messages he left like three weeks ago. He must have called a hundred times. She even stole your cell phone so that he couldn’t reach you that way. I have it, by the way, in case you want it back. Domi, would you get me a cell phone like yours? I like your cell phone.”
So that was where his cell phone had disappeared to. He had wondered what happened to it. He had assumed he left it somewhere. He never dreamed his assistant stole it. “Yes, it would be nice to get my cell phone back.”
He watched as Sophia opened up her purse and pulled out his cell phone, laying it on the coffee table between them. “I wasn’t really supposed to keep it. Karen told me to throw it in the river, but I just wanted to have something of yours to hold onto.”
Dominic nodded as if he understood, but he really didn’t.
Sophia was nuts!
Still…
“Sophia, I don’t want there to be any secrets between us, okay?”
“Okay.” She giggled over at him.
“This is very important to me. I could never trust anyone that kept secrets from me. You do understand that, don’t you, Sophia?”
“Oh yes, Domi. I don’t want there to be any secrets between us either.”
“Just so I understand everything correctly…Karen, your sister and my assistant, called you when she came to work for me and told you that I was lonely and needed a wife. She told you that my…er…roommate, Keely, was trying to take me for my money. Am I correct so far?”
Sophia nodded. “Yes. But you can’t forget that Karen was only looking out for you. Keely is gay, and he was after you.”
“So, you and Karen came up with a plan to get Keely away from me, right?”
“Oh yes, Domi. I just knew once Keely was gone…”
“Karen gave you my address and phone number and informed you when I was at a party or social function or even a business meeting so you could show up. Right so far?”
“Yep.”
“And then Karen wouldn’t take messages from Keely and, in fact, stole my cell phone so that he couldn’t call me. Because Keely is gay and she was afraid that he would make me gay. Is this all correct?”
“Yes. It was a good plan, don’t you think? Karen even told Keely that she was giving you his messages so that he would get angry and leave. It worked, didn’t it? He’s gone and now we can get married and have babies.”
“Sophia, I have one more question. How did you know that Keely left?”
“Oh, that’s simple. Karen has a key to your house. Keely gave it to her when he left. He said that he didn’t need it anymore and asked her to give it to you. Of course, she didn’t. She’ll need it once she moves in with us.”
Dominic’s eyebrows shot up again, his shock growing bigger by the second. “Karen is going to move in with us?” It would be a cold day in hell before he allowed that to happen.
“Well, sure. She’s my sister. Once we get married, I’ll be rich like you. I can’t let my sister live in her little run-down apartment when I have all this money and this wonderful house. What kind of sister would I be? Besides, she’s the one that brought us together. This was all her plan.”
Dominic watched with astonishment as Sophia started to turn over, stopping once to look back at him.
“You will have to get a new assistant though. Karen doesn’t want to work for you once we become rich. She won’t have to, will she, Domi?”
“Sophia, I can guarantee that Karen will not be working for me much longer.” Only as long as it took him to have her arrested.
“I knew you’d understand. You’re such a good man, Domi. I’m going to make you such a good wife.”
Dominic was still sitting there several moments later, watching Sophia drool down the side of his couch, her head hanging off the side. She was drunk and unconscious…and totally out of her mind.
But it did explain a lot, like why he hadn’t heard from Keely in a month. Keely must have been so upset when he never returned his phone calls. Dominic couldn’t even imagine how he must have felt.
But it was obvious that he had a lot of work ahead of him if he had any hope of getting Keely back. Maybe if he had paid a little more attention to Keely instead of his business, Karen and Sophia wouldn’t have had such an easy time separating them.
This entire situation and all of the heartache Keely had gone through was entirely his responsibility. Karen and Sophia may have had a hand in it, but ultimately, Dominic was the one that had screwed up. He just hoped that he had a chance of fixing what he had destroyed with his callous behavior.
Picking the tape recorder up, he turned it off, pulled the tape out, and took it to his office. He quickly opened his safe and placed it inside for keeping, before closing and locking it once again.
Going to his desk, he dialed 911 and asked for an officer to come to his home, then called his lawyer. Even though it was after three o’clock in the morning, he knew he was going to need legal counsel to help him figure this mess out.
He just wished he had someone to call to help him figure out the rest of the mess he was in. Finding Keely and getting the man to listen to him was going to take more than a call to his lawyer or 911. It was going to take a miracle.
Keely glanced out the kitchen window as he paced back and forth across the floor, Carrie curled up against his shoulder. The poor little thing was having trouble sleeping. Walking the floor with her seemed to be pretty much the norm lately. It seemed to happen more at night than it did during the day, so Keely had been a little surprised when Carrie started fussing this morning. He had been packing stuff to take the kids to the park since it was his day off. That had quickly turned into a day at home with a baby attached to his chest.
He couldn’t believe how much she had grown in the last couple of months. She had gained a several pounds and was even lifting her head now. He was so proud of her, and Danny, too. Over the three months that Keely had been their caretaker, the two small children had wormed their way into his heart, and he loved them as he would his own kids.
Thankfully, there had been no problems with the courts in getting full and permanent custody of them. Angie and Scott had a will that left custody to him if anything happened to them. After a home study by the local child services agency, the judge had agreed and signed off on the adoption.
Danny and Carrie had been his legal children for nearly two months now. They had been the children of his heart long before then. He had loved them when they were born because they were Angie’s children. But, after three months with the little buggers in his life, he couldn’t imagine life without them.
Keely was just laying Carrie down in the bassinet he kept in the kitchen when the front doorbell rang. He quickly covered her little body up and walked down the hallway, hoping to get there before the doorbell woke her up. Getting her back to sleep would be impossible.
Opening the door, he started to say hello, but the words caught in his throat as the man standing there turned around and the world fell out from beneath Keely’s feet.
“Hello, Keely.”
“Dominic?” he choked out. He couldn’t believe that Dominic was standing on his doorstep. Just seeing him was painful. For weeks after he had left, Keely had hoped and prayed that Dominic would come find him. He watched every passing car, jumped every time the phone rang, raced to check the mail in the hopes that he would receive a letter. Anything.
But he never heard a word from the man.
He knew that Dominic had to have received his good-bye letter, but it didn’t seem to matter. Dominic never came. Finally, Keely had come to the realization that it just wasn’t going to happen. Dominic was out of his life.
And yet, here he was.
“Can I come in?” Dominic asked hesitantly.
“Why?”
“I’d like to talk to you, Keely.”
“I don’t think we really have anything to say to each other, Dominic,” Keely said as he shook his head. He was just starting to get past the pain of leaving Dominic. He didn’t need to dredge it all up again.
“Please, Keely?”
Keely stared at Dominic for several moments before stepping back and holding the door open for him. Shaking his head at his foolish action, Keely closed the door and showed Dominic into the living room.
He gestured for Dominic to have a seat, and then sat down across from him. Keely sat back against the soft cushions, trying not to look as nervous as he felt. He stared across at Dominic, waiting for him to say his piece and leave.
“I’m sorry that things happened the way that they did, Keely. I never meant for them to get so out of control. I know your leaving me was my fault. But I never stopped loving you, Keely, never. You need to know that.”
Keely shook his head. He so could not do this. He was just getting used to the constant aching in his heart. He didn’t need Dominic here to tear it open again.
“I can’t do this, Dominic. It’s over.” Standing to his feet, he pointed toward the front door. “Please leave.”
“Keely—”
Before Keely could make Dominic leave, he heard a crying coming from the kitchen. Carrie was awake again.
Shit!
Keely turned without saying anything to Dominic and went down the hallway to the kitchen.
Reaching Carrie’s bassinet, he carefully picked her up and cradled her against his chest and shoulder, gently patting her back as he lightly jiggled her around the room. He crooned softly to her as her cries quieted down.
Hearing a noise behind him, he turned to see Dominic standing in the kitchen doorway, an astonished look on his face.
“What is that?” he whispered.
Keely rolled his eyes. “It’s called a baby, Dominic.”
Dominic glared at him. “Whose baby is it? Is that your sister’s baby? Where’s Danny?”
Keely sighed as his heart lurched. “Yes, this is Carrie. Danny is upstairs sleeping. You interrupted nap time.”
“Nap time? In the middle of the day?”
“Yes,” Keely almost growled. “Babies need their sleep, and they need a lot of it.”
“Where’s Angie? Will she be back soon?” Dominic asked as he walked across the room to look more closely at the baby in Keely’s arms. “God, she looks just like Angie. That must drive Scott out of his mind.”
Keely could feel tears clouding his eyes at Dominic’s mention of Angie and Scott. He still missed them terribly. “If you had bothered to answer any of my phone calls or messages before I left, you would know that Angie and Scott both died in a car accident three months ago.” His words were a bit clipped, but he was still angry that a man that professed to love him so much wasn’t there when Keely really needed him.
“What?” Dominic looked shocked.
Keely shook his head. He was not going to do this. Dominic had his chance, and he had let Keely down just when Keely needed the man the most. Their relationship had already been going downhill. Dominic not being there when Keely needed him just sent it over the cliff.
“Look, Dominic, I would like you to leave now. Danny is going to be up soon, and I need to get dinner started before he does. It’s very hard to get things done with a rambunctious two-year-old running around.”
Now, there was an understatement.
“Keely—”
Keely ignored Dominic’s outstretched hand and walked over to the bassinet, carefully laying Carrie down again. “Please, just go, Dominic. We have nothing left to say to each other. My life is here now.”
Keely could feel Dominic staring at him for several moments as he gently patted Carrie’s back. Finally, he nodded his head, and then started for the door, stopping briefly at the kitchen counter.
“Keely,” Dominic said in a low, soft voice, “I never meant to hurt you. I know I screwed up, but I will always love you. I hope you believe that if nothing else. If anything we had together ever meant anything to you, please listen to this tape. If it makes a difference to you, I’ll be at the hotel down on 6th Street for the next two days. If not, I’ll understand and I won’t bother you again. But, please, listen to the tape.”
Keely watched Dominic set a tape recorder and a piece of paper down on the kitchen counter before the man turned and walked out of the room. He heard the front door close a few moments later. Letting out a deep breath, Keely walked over and looked at the tape.
Should he listen to it? Did he have the strength to open himself up to that kind of hurt again? Even after all this time, Dominic still had the ability to bring him happiness or pain. Keely knew he had been fooling himself to believe otherwise.
He picked up the tape recorder and paper with Dominic’s cell number on it and took them to his study, laying both on his desk. He would be back for them when he found the courage to listen to the tape. Until then, he had a dinner to make for two little kids that were depending on him.
* * * *
Keely stared down at the tape recorder in his hand. He just stared at it. He felt like his mind was filled with fog. No single thought was bigger than any other, and yet he couldn’t seem to settle on any of them. His thoughts were too jumbled.
He had known since the day she was hired that Karen never really liked him, but he never dreamed that she would plot to separate him and Dominic. The woman was a menace, and Keely hoped that Dominic pressed charges against her, or took out a restraining order at the very least.
Maybe he needed to consider doing the same. He knew that Karen hated him, and after she had been found out, he had no doubt that she blamed him as well. There was no telling what she could do, and Keely had two small children to protect.