Five Star Romance

“Yet, you two chose to join the Alexanders in their quest to take everything away from the DePaul family.”

“Harold, when are you going to put an end to this feud between you and Malcolm’s family?”

He glanced at his sister from his desk. “Meredith, I’m not interested in rehashing this argument.”

She paced back and forth across the carpeted floor in his office. “I’m not trying to argue with you. I just want you to stop this nonsense. Malcolm and his family are good people. They are a part of our family, Harold. Uncle Robert would not want us to have this gulf between us. He would want the family to come together.”

Harold’s telephone rang.

“I need to take this call,” Harold told his sister. “We’re still on for lunch tomorrow, right?”

Meredith sighed in resignation. “Sure. I’ll see you then.”

She sent him a sharp look before walking out of his office.

He answered his cell phone. “Yes...?”

“Harold DePaul, I am about to make your day.”

He frowned. “Who is this?”

“George Pepper. I did some work for you last year.”

“George, what is it you have for me?”

He chuckled. “Oh, no, it’s not going to be so simple. You see, what I have for you is going to cost you plenty.”

“I don’t think so,” Harold responded coolly.

“I will tell you this much—the Alexanders have secrets and I’ve uncovered one of them. Trust me, this one is huge.”

Harold was silent on the other end.

“You still there?” George inquired.

“Come to my office this afternoon,” Harold said. “Around three. And, George, this had better be worth my time.”

Harold thumbed his fingers on his desk.

George had definitely sparked his curiosity. Harold did not hold out much hope because the detectives he had hired to look into the Alexander family had not turned up so much as a speeding ticket.

He would hear the man out, but Harold considered his conversation with his sister. Perhaps Meredith was right. It was time to move on.

* * *

Livi slowly turned the doorknob and opened her door. She stepped into her spacious bedroom. At the far end of the room, a floor-to-ceiling window gave Livi a view of much of Los Angeles.

She crossed the varnished hardwood floor in bare feet, walking toward the platinum bed that framed a purple-and-teal-colored comforter and several pillows. Livi sat down on her bed and reclined against the stack of pillows leaning against the king-size headboard.

From the moment she realized that Blaze was within arm’s reach, Livi bounced back and forth between yearning for him and keeping her distance. She was experiencing a gamut of emotions. One of them was guilt.

I’m a coward.

She should have sought him out from the very beginning, instead of letting so much time go by. Livi had been afraid and kept putting it off. Now, she was afraid that it was too late.

Too late for what? What did she want from Blaze?

Livi wanted to know if what she had felt back then with him was real. It was something that had plagued her thoughts and her heart from the time she left him. From the moment they met, the very air around Livi had seemed electrified. She had found in him a kinship through their shared interests. She and Blaze both had a heart for service to the community. They both loved sports and were avid readers.

She recalled a memory of Blaze pausing to pick up a little girl who had fallen down. He made sure that she was safe with her mother before walking away. He cared about others. She noted that he was also a generous man, always tipping over and above what was required.

He was also romantic. Blaze arranged to have her favorite chocolates waiting in her hotel room the night of their first date. The next morning a half a dozen roses greeted her. When Blaze found out that she had missed her prom because she had injured her foot during a high school basketball game, he re-created her prom night for their second date. It was then that Livi had fallen in love with him.

She had thought she could leave the memories and the emotions behind.

Livi climbed off her bed and strode back over to the window, allowing her gaze to drift over the moonlit sky as she relived her time with Blaze.