47. Gage
Gage
N adine refused to take my money, but she was willing to close her shop for an hour. We went to a nearby café and talked. She figured if I had cut my business trip short, perhaps her best friend didn’t have all the facts.
She told me Fisher had me followed and I was caught on camera with a tawny brown skin woman entering Van Nuys Airport. The same woman I had professed my love to.
That’s all I needed to hear.
I pulled out my phone and showed her last year’s Christmas family photo of my adopted sister with the tawny brown skin, my two white half-sisters, and me.
When she picked up her jaw from the floor, she revealed where Lily was hiding.
It was an hour and a half flight from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Bastia Poretta Airport, Corsica.
And then, a half an hour from the airport to Nadine’s father’s vacation house.
Lily wasn’t too far. If I’d had to fly to the other side of the planet in fucking economy class to track her down, I would’ve.
The moment Lily noticed my presence, I could see my dismissal written all over her beautiful face. No way was I leaving this island without her hearing me out. I was a man on a mission to win my girl back.
After Lily stared at me, dumbfounded for a solid minute after I made it irrefutably clear the woman her father’s PI saw me with wasn’t my girlfriend or lover, she agreed to sit down and talk.
Gérard disappeared to his quarters, leaving us alone in the living room, promising to return the second we were ready for dinner.
Lily told me all about her lunch with her father and his attempt at playing matchmaker. The hurt in her eyes when she told me about seeing the video clip of Sara and me stabbed me in thegut.
“Your father needs to show you some respect.”
“And until he does, I’m not talking to him,” she says. “I’m done bending backwards. I always end up with the same results, anyway.”
“Good on you for standing firm in your decision.”
“When I wouldn’t return his calls, he forwarded the video to remind me of the type of man you were. I received it when I woke up this morning.”
The flash of sadness that glints in her eyes makes me want to slay monsters for her, even if the monster is her own father.
Asshole.
“He also made it a point to let me know he was expecting me in the Hamptons.”
I shift on the couch, lifting a leg on the cushion so I can face her.
She mimics my move.
“I hope you’re not going to go.”
She shakes her head. “I made a firm decision before leaving New York. I even told him as much. If he wants to disown me, that’s his prerogative. If he has to dictate all aspects of my life for him to feel I’m worthy, I want no part of that fucked up relationship.”
She’s coming into her own. Good for her.
“Not to mention, the event is taking place in three days. Even if I was tempted to give in, after finding out my father tricked me with this video”—she waves her phone—“no way am I showing my face at the little party he’s having for Chandler.
I need a respite from him and his undermining and manipulative ways. ”
“The distance might prompt your father to wake up.”
“I’m not even sure a nuclear bomb would do that, but that’s the only arsenal in my toolbox.”
I nod.
“You said you were going to Stockholm and South Korea alone… that’s why it was so easy for me to fall for my father’s deception.” She bites on her lower lip.
“My plans changed at the last minute when I found out my sister’s husband was a cheating asshole.”
“Oh.”
“A few days before a business trip, Sara will drop by my place or invite me over to hers for dinner. My sister is a workaholic, but she knew I was about to leave LA for three weeks. On the day of my departure, it hit me. I hadn’t heard from Sara in two days.
I called her phone. No answer. Worried, I called the hospital.
I was told she had been on sick leave for two days. ”
Lily tilts her head to the side.
“I called Sara’s husband, but a woman who spoke two words of English answered.
She passed the phone to a man who informed me his mom got a new phone number that morning.
Why would Danny change his phone number out of the blue?
” I let out a breath. “I can’t tell you how panicked I was.
I drove up to my sister’s place and let myself into her house with the spare key.
When I stepped inside, it was a war zone?— ”
“Did she get burglarized?”
“That’s what I thought at first,” I say.
“The place had been ransacked. My sister is a neat freak and she has a cleaning lady come in once a week. It was so chaotic, even with a gun, I wouldn’t have chanced it.
I got the hell out of there. Once outside, I called the police and waited.
When they showed up, they entered Sara’s house and searched for the bad guys or dead bodies.
There were no signs of danger. An officer called me in.
Sara was in her bedroom. Her eyes were red and puffy, and her hair––the crown and glory she takes so much pride in––was like a bird’s nest. She was unrecognizable.
The police stepped outside until I was able to calm her down.
That’s when she told me the whole story. ”
Concerned blue eyes stare at me. “What happened?”
“Sara was in a meeting at the hospital when a receptionist paged her. Something about an urgent matter involving her husband. Since Danny was at a conference in Denver, she thought something had happened to him.”
“Oh, no.”
“Danny wasn’t in danger,” I say. “When she arrived at the welcome desk, there was a woman she didn’t recognize waiting for her?—”
“The other woman.”
My nostrils flare. “She’s a waitress from Vegas and she was holding a kid in her arms.”
“Shit.”
“My sister’s fifty-year-old husband of ten years knocked up a twenty-year-old.” I sneer. “Sara said the little boy couldn’t have been more than a year and a half old, so the baby mama was only eighteen when she got pregnant.”
“She was a teenager?—”
“And Danny was a grown ass man,” I say. “Here’s the joke.
He didn’t want kids. He’s as much of a workaholic as my sister.
Sara was okay being childless until three years ago.
She tried to get Danny to reconsider his position because she desperately wanted a baby, but he wouldn’t budge, reminding her he hated everything about babies. ”
“Only a monster could hate babies.” The outrage in her voice is audible.
“I agree.”
“The news must’ve devastated your sister.”
“It did. It destroyed her.”
“The other woman knew full well she was going to create drama when she showed up at your sister’s hospital.”
I nod. “The rug was pulled from under Sara’s feet. Danny’s baby mama was hoping my sister could talk to her husband because the money he was sending her wasn’t enough to support her and the baby since she had to pay for someone to watch the kid while she was at work.”
Lily gasps.
“And, oh, would she happen to have a couple thousand dollars kicking around to help her with rent and other essentials for Danny Jr.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me?”
“I had the same reaction,” I say. “Danny was coming back that night. I’ll spare you the details, but Sara and Danny got into it and it got ugly. Danny decided to go mental on the place, destroying as much as he could, before storming out. Instead of calling me, Sara crawled into bed, heartbroken.”
“Your poor sister.”
“No way was I going to leave Sara behind. She needed a couple of days to be able to function. By that I mean, get out of bed, take a shower, and eat more than a protein bar.”
“Dear God.”
“My strong-triple-A-personality-nothing-can-stop-me sister was hurting so much, she was emotionally crippled. I had my executive assistant move all my Stockholm and South Korea appointments. After what happened to my mom after finding out her husband was a cheater and he was expecting a child with another woman, I didn’t want to take any chances… ”
Lily places a hand on my thigh. “Oh, Gage.”
I inhale. “Other than to go to the bathroom, take a quick shower, or get some food for my sister, I didn’t leave her side. I slept in her bedroom on an armchair, using the ottoman to rest my legs. I wouldn’t even consider sleeping in one of the guest rooms.”
“It’s understandable you wouldn’t want to leave your sister alone, considering your other sisters are in Europe.”
“Exactly,” I say. “On top of watching over Sara, I also had to take care of the colossal mess Danny left behind.”
“Did you hire someone?”
“Yes. I hired a crew that could come last minute for a clean-up job. I still don’t know how I managed not to chase Danny down like the rabid dog he is and beat him to a pulp.
Not only did he cheat on my sister, but he tried to destroy their home instead of manning up and walking out of there with his tail between his legs. ”
“What a lowlife.”
“I’ve reached out to my network to find the most ruthless divorce lawyer in LA. I want someone who’ll take Danny to the cleaners. Larkin came through.”
“Your sister is lucky to have you.”
I nod. “When Sara was strong enough, we flew to London so she could stay with our oldest sister. She cried the whole trip. I wasn’t about to get on a plane until she found her bearings.”
“What about Sara’s best friend? Couldn’t she have stayed with her?”
“She has friends, but this is such a personal matter, Sara was only willing to tell her best friend who now lives Down Under after marrying an Australian. Flying her to London was easier than flying to Australia.”
“I see.”
“Once I knew Sara had someone to watch over her, I flew to Sweden. When I landed in Stockholm, it was hectic, to say the least. Between my packed days and nights, and the jetlag that was whipping my ass, I wasn’t in touch as much as I should’ve been. That opened the door to misinterpretation.”
Lily’s eyelashes bat a mile a minute, her mouth agape.
I hate Fisher Edgington’s guts with a passion.
The next time I see him, I’ll be sure to give him a piece of my mind, and I won’t mince my words.
What a piece of shit.