might not have a choice.”
She scoffed, waving a dismissive hand in her brother’s direction, and otherwise didn’t bother to respond.
Noah continued, his tone softer, consoling. “Be smart about this, please. Don’t let your emotions get in the way of making a wise business decision.”
Naomi met the look Noah was giving her with one of her own, both understanding that nothing else needed to be said.
* * *
By the time Naomi was ready to settle down for the night, there wasn’t much that she didn’t know about the Perry Group. It was a large conglomerate of mixed-use shopping centers and mall ventures. If they were successful, outbidding her at auction, the land they were both interested in would become just another residential and business project added to their portfolio.
The company had been founded by Nolan Perry and was currently under the leadership of his son, Garrison. Both were renowned not only for their business acumen, but also for their philanthropic efforts in the community. On paper Nolan Perry was a pillar of the community, beloved by the church he had pastored for many years, and a loving husband and father. His son was following in his footsteps.
Off paper, only a few knew the truth about the man many still called Pastor. But Naomi was aware and so were her siblings. They knew his darkest secrets. They knew, because they were his darkest secrets. The five of them. Noah, Natalie, Nicholas, Nathaniel and she were Nolan Perry’s biological children. The kids he had never wanted to know. The children he had never bothered to love or provide for.
Naomi stared at the image of her father and his family that looked back at her from her computer screen. Pastor Nolan Perry sat with his beloved wife by his side. Their three children, a son and two daughters, smiled obediently behind them. The Perry children had all benefited from private schooling and a privileged upbringing. Growing up, they had never crossed paths with any of the Stallion siblings, who had lived and gone to school on the other side of the economic tracks. If she were honest with herself, Naomi was glad for it. She would give almost anything to keep it that way, having no interest in a relationship with that side of her family.
She sighed loudly as she finally shut down the laptop, sliding it to the nightstand beside the bed. Naomi had vague memories of her father and his visits to see their mother. The two had been lovers for many years, but she and Noah had been too young to understand why he came and went so sporadically. There had been a time or two when he’d come with candy and sweets for them, but very little else. As a family, they had struggled, more often going without than not. Hunger had been common, new clothes nonexistent and toys a luxury their mother could never afford, raising five children as a single parent.
Growing up, all they’d known about their family was that their mother, Norris Jean, had come from humble beginnings. She had been a teenager herself, pregnant with Noah, when she’d followed their father, a traveling minister, to Utah from Dallas, trusting the promises he’d made to her. Those promises had been broken when Norris Jean discovered the man of her dreams had a wife and another family who were more important to him.
After Noah and Naomi were born, a second string of promises, which had never been fulfilled, led to the birth of the twins, Nicholas and Nathaniel. Their mother should have known better by then. But it wasn’t until Natalie had come into the world that Norris Jean finally accepted that the man she loved with all her heart had never loved her enough.
Naomi had never understood their mother’s fascination with the man, but Norris Jean Stallion had loved Nolan Perry with every fiber of her being. Sometimes, Naomi thought, she had loved him even more than she had loved her own children. She had loved the tears he made her cry, the pain that had pierced her spirit, the heartbreak that had been the foundation of their illicit relationship. Norris Jean had often prayed for him, begging God to bring him back to her, feeling abandoned when those prayers hadn’t been answered. For years, her longing for Nolan Perry had bordered on obsessive.
Naomi imagined that her mother would have always been satisfied if Nolan had kept coming back to her. If he had allowed her to remain hopeful about the two of them having a future together. But then, just like that, he stopped coming, discarding her and her babies as if they had never been anything to him at all. After that Norris Jean became bitter, anger fueling frustration, disappointment tainting her spirit. The woman’s heart hardened and what little joy she’d known had evaporated like mist under a summer sun.
Naomi and Noah had been old enough to remember the storm when it had come crashing down upon them. They remembered the mother who had laughed often, light filling her face. And they remembered when she was gone, stolen from them, leaving them with the mother who had been a semblance of her former self. Despite her best efforts, the younger three had gotten the Norris Jean who’d been broken and shattered, their memories of her dark and tainted.
Noah had wanted to know their father more than Naomi ever had. He’d searched him out once, only to have the door slammed in his face, Nolan refusing to even meet with him. Nolan hurting her big brother had only further fueled her hatred for the man. She’d believed Norris Jean when her mother had said that he was evil incarnate and lower than scum. Naomi saw him as a sperm donor and very little else. Now he wanted to take something else from her, without even knowing she wanted it. Not knowing Naomi would do everything in her power to keep him from it.
She twisted a dreadlock around her index finger. She needed to make an appointment with her stylist to have her hair conditioned and the new growth twisted. She moved to the oversize mirror above the dresser, staring at her reflection. For a woman who’d recently turned thirty-six she didn’t look half-bad, she thought. Her complexion was crystal, not one blemish marring her skin. She had a natural glow that made makeup unnecessary and she attributed that to her organic diet. She wasn’t supermodel stunning like her sister, Natalie, but she didn’t look half-bad, she decided as she suddenly found herself wondering what Patrick O’Brien might have thought about her. Had he found her attractive? Did he like her dreadlocks? Would he like her?
She gave herself a mental scolding. She couldn’t afford to be distracted by any man. Especially a man who probably hadn’t given her a second thought. Thinking about dinners and dancing and dating wasn’t something she had time for with anyone. Imagining a man in her life, fantasizing about finding love and lust, was a luxury she couldn’t afford. Besides, she had a business she was building, and despite wanting to expand that business into Utah, her life was in Arizona. Patrick O’Brien’s life was here in Salt Lake City. It wouldn’t work in any case, and luckily, she didn’t want it to. Or did she? She released another sigh, the question spinning with a vengeance through her mind.
Brushing the thoughts aside, she took one last look at her reflection and turned in the direction of the bathroom, suddenly desperate for a cold shower.
It was going to be a long day. And not an exceptionally easy one. Patrick O’Brien needed to run and he needed to get it done and out of the way before heading into the office. After his day started, he wasn’t sure when he’d get another opportunity and it had been a week since he’d last worked out. As he stepped out into the early-morning air he took a deep inhalation of oxygen. It was just minutes from daybreak and a promise of nonstop sunshine and extreme heat. The weatherman was predicting triple-digit temperatures with a zero percent chance of precipitation. It was already warm and uncomfortable and was only going to get worse. For a moment, he considered driving his car to the gym and running on the treadmill, but he needed more than that and he needed to sweat.
He started out at a slow jog, circling his downtown neighborhood. His South Temple address was mere minutes from the City Creek Center, a retail, office and residential development spread over twenty-plus acres of prime Salt Lake City real estate. The luxury high-rise where he resided was one of the many new buildings, refurbished office towers and retail space that had brought a lively and diverse vibe to the city.
Born and raised in Miami, he’d found his move to the state of Utah had come with some challenges. Being far from his family