Chapter Two

Brady was working intently in his office at Basic Black on an important contract when his office door flew open. He looked up quickly, his face revealing his annoyance as Kate Roberts stalked haughtily through the door, his father at a more dignified pace behind her.

"Kate, calm down," John said behind her soothingly as he closed Brady's door in order to give the three of them some privacy. He placed his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to bring her emotions under control.

"Dammit, John!" Kate nearly yelled at him as she shrugged his hand off. "I can't be calm right now." She rolled the magazine that was in her hand up and started to bat Brady's desk with it as she said, "I can't believe it. I just cannot believe it. They've gotten the jump on us. Again." Each word was punctuated with a "slap" from the magazine on Brady's desk.

Brady looked at Kate inquisitively as he stood up and came around his desk to meet them. "Kate, what's going on?" he asked, straining to hold onto the remains of his patience. Brady and Kate had managed to come to an agreement while they both worked at Basic Black. They would work together, and respect each other, in a business sense. But, when it came to their personal lives, it was hands-off. The arrangement worked surprisingly well, probably because Brady recognized Kate's expertise in the world of high fashion and Kate admired Brady's dedication to his job.

"This!" Kate said angrily as she finally threw the magazine down on Brady's desk, with the cover facing up. She pointed to the one headline with her finger. "We have been working so hard to get that interview. You know, the one about the senator? He divorced his wife and married his intern, causing a huge scandal. And look, they got it!" Kate threw her hands up in the air as she continued sarcastically, "How, I don't know."

Brady glanced down at the magazine lying on his desk. Chloe Lane's picture smiled up at him saucily from the front cover of Notorious. He should have realized this magazine had caused Kate's anger and frustration. She usually threw a fit every other month over this rival magazine that was run by his ex and her friends. Brady purposefully averted his face from the cover of the magazine, showing the carefully constructed emotional façade he had crafted to hide his true feelings regarding Chloe Lane. Brady would swear up and down that Chloe Lane meant nothing to him anymore to anyone who asked him about her. He sometimes managed to even convince himself.

John watched the mask settle over Brady's face again and sighed deeply. He knew his son well, and he knew that Brady was covering up his emotions about Chloe Lane. John realized that the night Chloe had ended things between them; she had shattered Brady's heart and stolen his soul. Brady had compensated for his emotions by working long and hard at Basic Black, while it appeared that Chloe had walked merrily away, without a scratch on her. She was apparently enjoying the social world of Europe as a princess and a famous model. John was one of the few people in Salem who realized the impact Chloe Lane still had on him. Sometimes, John wished he could have two minutes alone with "Princess Chloe" and reveal to her the extent of the emotional damage she had caused his son.

John pushed those frustrating thoughts aside as he handled the crisis in front of them. "Now Kate," John began placatingly to Kate, holding his hands up to her and ignoring Brady's lack of reaction at the news for now, "I know you have worked hard to try to get the interview. But it's been printed. We need to concentrate on something new for our women's fashion magazine."

Kate turned around to face John as she sputtered at him, "I don't get it. How can they continue to do this? None of them had any experience running a company. They are killing us and pulverizing Bella. I don't understand how they can continue to be this successful."

Brady decided to chime in with his two cents about the "stolen" news story, as well as prove to Kate and his father that Chloe meant nothing to him anymore. "They have a unique quality, Kate, something most magazines don't have. Two princesses own the company. The three of them travel in high society circles in Europe. They're well known, popular, wealthy…Everything the public likes. And they are also exclusive models for their own magazine, which only gives them another added dimension for top sales of their magazine." Brady's eyes revealed none of the inner turmoil that still swirled around the mention of Chloe Lane. Instead, they showed most of the world a steely determination. Only the people closest to him could see the pain below the surface of the steel.

John nodded at his son proudly as he calmly discussed the popularity of his former girlfriend's magazine. "That's a fact!" He started to steer Kate out of Brady's office. While he was leaving, he said to Kate, "We'll have to think of something new to jumpstart our women's fashion magazine."

Kate followed John out the door as she answered him snidely, "This shouldn't happen, John! They should be completely ignorant of the fashion world! I don't know what I'll do if they beat us again!" She closed the door to Brady's office loudly behind as they left.

Brady leaned down and picked up the magazine off of his desk. He sat on the corner of his desk as he looked at it more closely. Now that his audience was gone, Brady could afford to spend more time inspecting it. He gazed intently at Chloe's face on the front cover. Her face had graced so many of the covers for the famous and popular magazine. She looked so…sophisticated, Brady decided as he searched for the right word. Not like the Chloe he had known before the night of the Christmas Ball almost three years ago. Before he could take that stroll down memory lane, Brady threw the magazine across the room in an expression of frustrated anger. He followed the flight of the magazine.

"You are over her, Black," he said forcefully aloud as he watched the magazine hit the wall and then land on the carpeting of his office. Of course, it landed with the cover facing up. Chloe's face continued to smile at him, almost as if she was mocking him and his feelings. "Completely and totally over her. Forget her, and everything about her. Concentrate on the pain she caused to help you move on." That was how Brady had made it through the early days after the break-up. He had lived and breathed his pain, shutting out all other emotions, until he was able to present to the world of Salem a closed man who would never open himself up to that kind of rejection again. He also successfully buried himself in his work at Basic Black, using his job as positive healing therapy.

Brady walked intently over to the magazine and glanced at it again, making no move to pick it up. "What happened to your dreams, Chloe?" he asked the front cover. "Sometimes I wonder why you aren't wowing them at the Met. Not like it really matters anymore."

Brady stepped over the magazine and reached for his suit jacket from the coat rack. He shrugged his well-muscled shoulders into it. Then, he paused and made an involuntary move to pick up the magazine again. Brady stopped himself quickly, and said forcefully, "No. Leave it there, where it belongs." He walked over to the door, opened it, and then closed the lights in his office on the picture of his former soulmate.

He walked at a quick pace down the hallway. As Brady was about to enter the elevator, John hailed him from the doorway of his office. "Wait up, son!"

Brady came to an abrupt halt by the elevator, waiting for his father to hurry down the hallway towards him. "Yeah, Dad," Brady said when John neared him, "What's up?"

John threw his arm around Brady's shoulder. The secretary at Basic Black smiled as she viewed the scene between the handsome Black men. Many of the female employees at Basic Black secretly watched Brady Black, hoping to catch his attention. Not one employee had succeeded so far.

"Anyway," John was saying to Brady, "Belle just called me. She says she wants to meet the whole family at Tuscany, tonight. Marlena and I were already planning on eating there, so we don't have to change any plans. Can you make it?"

The sides of Brady's mouth tipped up in what nearly constituted a grin. "I shouldn't have a problem with that," Brady said. His social calendar was usually lacking, unless there were plans with his family. Another thing he could blame Chloe for. He had never been able to have a deep, meaningful relationship with someone else since her. "What time does Belle want us there?"

"Well, Shawn and Bo are getting off late at the police department. He won't be able to leave until after 6:00 tonight. Belle thought 8:00 would be a good time for dinner."

"Tuscany, at 8:00," Brady confirmed to his father with a nod of his head. His eyes became friendlier as he talked to John, allowing more emotion to show through. "So, did Tink give any hint why she wants us to meet her there?"

John smiled widely at Brady as he repeated his daughter's words, "She says it's a "really wonderful surprise"!" He laughed and slapped his son on the shoulder.

An idea started to creep into Brady's mind, causing a mile-wide grin to split his face. "Ahhh. I wonder what it could be? A big development to report?" He knew that Belle was completely and totally in love with Shawn Brady, and that it would make her millennium to become "Mrs. Shawn Brady."

John nodded at Brady again. The same thought had occurred to him, also. He couldn't think of another reason why Belle would want the whole family and Shawn's father to be there. "I can't wait to find out."

"Until Tuscany, then," Brady said to his father as he entered the elevator. As the doors began to close, Brady couldn't resist adding, "It should be very interesting."

John laughed as Brady's voice floated to him before the elevator doors closed. He certainly hoped Shawn Brady made his little girl happy or else… "Yeah, Brady, it should be a very interesting evening."