31. The Truth Is Already Twisted
CHAPTER 31
THE TRUTH IS ALREADY TWISTED
Archer
I stare out onto the ocean with the moon high on the horizon. Since we left Bedford, I can’t shake this feeling that I should’ve asked Paloma to come to the Hamptons with me. More and more, all I want to do is tell her the whole truth. For one, she needs to know who her father really is. But also, I want her to know me, all of me, the good and the bad.
My only solace at this point is knowing that after tonight, I will no longer have to hide from Paloma or her father. After tonight, I will be Tristan again. Mom will be able to stay in the home she loves so much, where she and Dad spent the best years of their lives together.
The Senator is all but ruined. Only a few of his friends remain. Sutherland for some reason has chosen to still back the Senator—even after his political party ordered the Senator to step down. According to my sources, the Senator is scheduled to give his speech on Monday.
By then, Paloma will be all mine. I’m hoping that the knowledge that the Senator brought this on himself will ease some of her pain. I’ve yet to understand where her devotion for him comes from. Even Chuck says he hates his father and his manipulative methods. Why can’t Paloma also see through her father’s bullshit and all his shady dealings? She doesn’t even blame him for the auction.
Sure, I orchestrated the whole thing. But the choice was always his. He could’ve chosen to walk away from the deal and find another way to save his ass. Or better yet, he could’ve chosen to finally face the consequences of his own actions. But instead, he threw his only daughter to the wolves. I didn’t realize it then, but I was prepared to lay down my anger and my thirst for revenge. If he had opted to do the right thing and not bring Paloma into this mess, I would’ve paid off his debt and returned home to Mom.
Maybe a part of me simply wanted his repentance. I wanted him to admit he’s a piece of shit. He forced my hand when he agreed to my contract. Once Paloma finds out the truth, I have no doubt she will hate me for what I did to her father, but I’m prepared to spend the rest of my life earning her forgiveness.
I smile at the shimmering water gently rolling onto the shore. I have a lifetime to show her that she did her best to help him, that he doesn’t deserve her unconditional love. Despite how we got started and who her father is, Paloma and I have a shot at happiness and a future together.
Fuck, I ache to be in bed with her, her mouth around my cock, and mine on her pretty pussy. I deeply regret leaving my wife shortly after dinner tonight. But if I hurry, I can grab my family’s paintings and be home before she wakes up.
“You look like the cat who drank the milk?” Santino walks up the lawn to join me on the terrace.
“Thank you for letting us use your home?” I nod with a smile.
Santino’s East Hampton beach house is a beautiful oceanfront property with a backyard that feeds into a private beach. Thick grass covers the ground around the pool. The whole place looks like a resort on some island. And I can’t help but wonder if Paloma would like to have a home like this one—go on walks on the beach to watch the sunset.
“No problem.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “You know how this works. One day, I am going to call in this favor.”
“And that day, I’ll be ready to do whatever you ask.” I release a breath.
Getting the Italian mob involved in my revenge plot was a risk. But without Santino and Rex’s help, I wouldn’t have been able to bury the Senator so quickly.
“Gardenia tells me you’ve been to the Senator’s beach house?” I ask him.
“Yes, I followed a lead that brought me to the Hamptons and that house in particular.” He cocks an eyebrow. “The place was hosting an orgy that night. I’ve seen a lot in my line of work. That one shocked me a bit.”
“Nothing the Senator does shocks me anymore.” I shake my head. “After tonight, I want him out of our lives.”
“How does your darling wife feel about that?” Santino smirks.
“She’ll have to get on board.” I cut him a glance.
One way or another, Paloma will have to understand that her father can’t be a part of our family. For fuck’s sake, he’s five houses down from us right in a place that hosts orgies. What kind of a sick fuck keeps a place in the Hamptons for such a thing?
“We have a problem.” Gardenia strides across the lawn to join us by the pool terrace.
“Where’s Luce?” Santino’s gaze cuts to the house looking for his wife.
“No, relax.” Gardenia puts up her hands. “She’s getting us drinks. She’s fine.”
“If you knew my wife, you’d know she’s not fine. She’s a magnet for trouble.” Santino furrows his brows, standing at attention. “I shouldn’t have brought her with me. But she insisted.”
“And you can’t say no to her.” I finish his thought.
“Something like that.” He scans the house still not convinced his wife is okay. “What’s going on then?”
“We did a quick recon.” Gardenia puts up her hands again when Santino makes a growling sound. “Relax. We were perfectly safe. I just wanted to check out the house and get some cameras going.”
“And you figured getting my wife involved was a good idea?” Santino glares at her.
“She wanted to help.” Gardenia shrugs, not at all concerned that Santino looks like he’s about to murder someone. “Anyway, the house isn’t empty like we thought it would be. There’s a party going on. Lots of cars and people dressed in black tie.”
“So much for our quick grab-and-go plan.” I run a hand through my hair. “Can we still get in? Maybe blend in?”
“I think so. I mean, you’ll need a tux. But we can still gain access through the beach like we planned.” Gardenia nods. “Only problem is how are we going to walk out with four paintings when there’s a bunch of people there?”
“I have an art carrying tube. We’ll have to cut the canvas out of their frames. But I can make it work.” I came prepared for carrying paintings out of the house. Even if the town is fairly empty during the off-season, I still didn’t want the locals to see me leave a house with five sixteen-by-twenty-four heavy frames. “I didn’t bring a tuxedo though.”
“You can try one of mine.” Santino still has his gaze trained on the house. When he doesn’t spot Luce in the living area, he gestures a goodbye. “I’ll be right back.”
“He’s never going to get over it, is he?” Gardenia ogles Santino as he strides back to the house.
“Why? What happened?” I ask.
“Last year, after they got married, Luce was kidnapped from this very house.” Gardenia faces me, her eyes wide. “Santino killed a whole crew trying to get her back. I mean the guy has a license to kill and he’s not afraid to use it.”
“Can’t blame him.” I take in a breath, knowing deep in my heart that if anything ever happened to Paloma, I would go to the ends of the Earth to get her back.
“So what’s the plan?” Gardenia looks up at me. “Do we go home and regroup or just go for it?”
“We go for it.” I meet her gaze. “My business with the Senator ends tonight.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.” She beams at me. “I know you wanted to bring Paloma with us tonight, but I don’t think she’s ready to see things our way.”
“You might be right on that.” As much as I hate keeping secrets from my wife, tonight was unavoidable. “But soon, she’ll see the Senator for what he is.”
My phone rings in my pocket, and I fish it out to look at the screen. “It’s Fisher.”
Before we left, Mom was overly anxious about tonight’s heist. So when Fisher offered to stay behind, I took him up on it. Knowing he’s home taking care of the two most important women in my life gives me peace of mind.
“Fisher? What’s going on?” I ask, holding the phone between Gardenia and me.
“It’s me, Tristan.” Mom’s voice makes my heart race.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” I ask.
“It’s nothing bad, per se. Just thought you should know.” Mom blows out a breath. “The pink diamond is gone.”
“What do you mean it’s gone? I just gave it to you.” My mind is already going through a list of scenarios—the most outrageous being that the Senator figured out I took the diamond and sent someone to steal it back. The most likely scenario being that Paloma found it. But how? “What happened?”
“I came upstairs just now. Fisher and I stayed in the study after you left. Paloma also retired early.” She stops to inhale. “I just came up to my room. The diamond isn’t where I left it. My phone is gone too.”
“Archer.” Fisher’s voice booms around us. “Paloma took off. William just confirmed she took one of the cars. Should I track her down? William can come with me. We tried calling her, but she didn’t answer.”
“Fuck.” I meet Gardenia’s gaze. “I have to go and get her back.”
“Why? She’s a grown woman. If she wants to leave her house in the middle of the night, let her go.”
“Let…”
I can’t even finish that sentence. Gardenia doesn’t understand what’s at stake here. If Paloma found the diamond, it won’t take her long to rightly assume I took it, and that all along I was the one who made her father’s situation worse by taking away his last source of income. I pushed the Senator to sell off his daughter. That’s on me. I had every intention of telling her everything in the morning. But now, she’s no doubt on her way to see her dad. He’s going to twist things and somehow come out the hero.
What will he do once he figures out who I am? By now, Paloma has a lot of broken pieces of my story that the Senator can very easily put together. If she asks him about her mom’s fake portrait. If she tells him she met Freya Archer, it will take him all of two minutes to figure out who I am.
Paloma has all the pieces of the puzzle. All she has to do is stand back and look at the big picture.
“I can’t let her talk to the Senator on her own. He’ll twist the truth and make her hate me.” I start walking toward the house.
“Archer. Stop.” Gardenia grabs my elbow with both hands. “Listen to yourself. The truth is already twisted. You married her out of revenge. That’s it. There’s nothing the Senator can say to her that’s worse than that.”
“What are you saying?” I glare at her.
“That the damage is done. There was never going to be a you, her, and your happily ever after. You have to let her go. Let her face her father on her own.” Her eyes fill up with tears. “Finish the job tonight. Give her space to figure out if what you did is forgivable.”
“I can’t do that.” I make to leave again, but she runs ahead of me and blocks me. “Let me through, Gardenia. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Are you okay with losing your grandparents portraits? It’s all you have left of them. Aunt Freya can send you a selfie when she gets her phone back. You can replace her painting. But not your grandparents.” She points in the direction of the other beach house. “Those will be gone the minute the Senator realizes who you are. In fact, maybe she already talked to him. Maybe he already knows. Maybe someone is five houses down right now burning what’s left of your grandparents’ legacy.”
I taste bile in the back of my throat. Broken memories of twenty years ago come rushing back. The pain of losing Dad fills every inch in my body. Months have gone by since the last time I felt this fury burning inside me. The Senator took everything from me when he left Dad unconscious to burn with the house.
Tonight is my only chance to take some of it back. Not to mention that I can’t keep Paloma prisoner anymore. I need her to want me, not to feel obligated to stay. I have to let her go. I have to face the consequences of what I did to her and her family.
“Are you staying?” Gardenia asks.
“Yeah.” I nod, gripping my phone tight before I speak into it. “Let her go, Fisher. She’s made her choice.”
“As you wish.” His tone is firm as if he finally agrees with me.
Why does everyone think Paloma leaving is a good thing? Once I have the paintings, I will move heaven and Earth to find her again. Everything else can go to hell. I want my wife back. She belongs with me. And I belong with her.
“Okay.” Gardenia places a hand on my chest and pats me gently, like I’m some sort of bomb ready to detonate. “How about you get dressed? I’ll run comms. Jacob can be your backup.”
“Yeah.” I take in a breath and release it slowly. “Let’s get this over with.”
Gardenia rushes back inside. I follow her into the kitchen where she has three laptops on the kitchen island. From the feeds, I can see the party is in full swing, even though it’s almost midnight. Everyone is in black tie attire wearing masks.
“Why do they always wear masks?” Jacob asks, looking over Gardenia’s shoulder.
“To hide their shame, obviously,” Gardenia deadpans.
“Hmm.” Jacobs nods. “I always thought it had to do with yearning. You know, the mask is the barrier that keeps you from the object of your desire—the beloved you can’t have because you can’t find her.”
Gardenia slowly turns to face Jacob, eyebrows knitted. “Someone ate their Alpha-Bits cereal today.”
“I went to Oxford too, you know.” Jacob braces his hand on the granite counter and leans in to take a better look at the screen. “I find it curious.”
Santino strolls into the kitchen with Luce by his side. I point at the screen and ask, “Does this look like one of those orgies? Or is it a regular off-season kind of party at the Hamptons?”
“Hmm.” Santino squints at the grainy video. “If you see a group of people without a mask, wearing identical outfits or nothing at all, I’d say it’s safe to assume you wandered into another one of their sexy parties. Do you have anything from inside the house?” he asks Gardenia.
“Nope.” She shakes her head, looking at Luce. “We didn’t go in.”
“I heard.” Santino cocks an eyebrow at his wife.
“We were perfectly safe. And it was for a good cause.” She wraps her arms around his waist.
“Hmm.” He grunts, casting her a glance that even I recognize as mad love, the kind that can destroy a man and everything he holds dear. “You keep saying that.”
Is that what Mom, Fisher, Gardenia and Jacob see every time Paloma and I are together? Am I so obvious in my feelings for her? No wonder they don’t trust me to make good decisions whenever Paloma is involved. But I can’t help it. Even now, all I want to do is run out the door and get her back.
“This back door.” Gardenia points at the laptop. “The same security guy is watching the beach and the door. Jacob can distract him while you sneak in.”
“From there, just take the stairs to the left of the kitchen,” Santino says. “The cellar will be to your right. You can’t miss it.”
“And if the portraits are not there?” Jacob grabs an apple from the fruit bowl and bites into it. “Where do we check next?”
“I hate to say it, but the bedrooms upstairs would be my next guess.” Gardenia shoots me a quick glance.
“One problem at a time.” I turn to Santino. “Where can I change?”
“Come on.” He dips his head toward the hallway. “I’ll show you.”
“I think I’m fine like this.” Jacob adjusts his driver uniform that he used when he drove us to the Senator’s mansion. “I can’t even begin to pretend to be one of those assholes. I’ll hang out in the kitchen and keep an eye on things from there.”
“That should work.” I pat him on the back, and then follow Santino upstairs to the suite at the end of the corridor.
“This is where I leave you.” He pushes the door open. “I’m taking Luce back to the city. Something about this group and their orgies doesn’t sit well with me. Last time, I got the sense not everyone was there willingly.”
“I can always call the cops on my way out.” I enter the room.
“Rex and I are keeping an eye on them. For now, they seem innocuous. And we have no proof.” He shrugs. “Good luck.” He touches his index finger to his temple then leaves.
I stride to his walk-in closet and grab the first tuxedo I see. The tuxedo jacket is a bit tight across the chest, but I can’t be a beggar or a chooser tonight. I don the shoes, and then, meet Jacob out on the terrace.
The cold air blowing in from the beach brushes my face. Next to me Jacob shivers against the wind. My heart races so hard, the chill that engulfs us once we hit the beach does nothing to cool me down. I’m ready for battle, even if our biggest threat tonight is a house full of spoiled millionaires with discerning tastes.
We keep to the shadows as we approach the party house. As Gardenia said, there’s only one security guard manning the back door. Plus, another guy pacing the yard that leads to the beach.
“Sorry guys, looks like security just got beefed up.” Gardenia’s voice booms in my ear. “But they’re still doing their perimeter walk-through. Give them a minute. They’ll head out soon.”
I look to Jacob, and he nods. After a few minutes, the one security guard heads out toward us. My heart thrashes in my ears as I wait for the man to stride to the edge of the property, look up and down the beach, and then stalk in the opposite direction.
“Okay, go,” Gardenia whispers. “The second guy just walked away from the door.”
I keep to the tall grass and trees in the backyard. Lucky for us, like Santino’s home, this backyard is designed to provide privacy from the beach. Once we’re inside, the security guards don’t have a direct line of sight to us. With Jacob at my heels, I take long strides and don’t stop until we reach the entrance.
The kitchen is crowded with the catering staff coming in and out. The chef who’s bent over the kitchen counter putting the last touches on a tray of hors d’oeuvres doesn’t even look up to acknowledge our presence. I relax my stance and head straight to the cellar. No need to linger and push our good luck.
I rush down the stairs with Jacob close behind me. When I reach the bottom floor, I spot the wine racks to my right, just as Santino said. The cellar is a glass enclosure that takes up most of the space. Through the doors, I can see row after row of different vintages with the middle shelf stacked high with magnum size bottles. The Senator appears to be very serious about his wine.
“Look.” Jacob shoulders off the canvas tube carrier and sets it on the stained cement floor.
“Thank God.” I unbutton my tuxedo jacket and retrieve the cloth cutter I brought.
Jacob and I get into a rhythm fast. I cut, he rolls and stuffs into the carrier. In under ten minutes, the frames are stripped, and we’re ready to head out.
“Gardenia.” I press my body against the wall at the bottom of the steps.
“I’m sorry. You’re stuck for another ten minutes. Stay put.” She types on her laptop, while Jacob and I stand there waiting with literally a spotlight over our heads.
“If anyone catches us on the way out,” I whisper to Jacob. “Take the paintings and run. I’ll hold them back.”
“You’re the boss.” Jacob releases a breath, holding the tube carrier close to his body. He goes quiet as his gaze shifts to me on repeat.
“What’s on your mind, Jacob?” I ask.
“You did the right thing. Letting her go.” He looks away, but not before I catch the pity in his eyes.
Fuck off is what I want to say, but he’s right. I compromised too much already. The fact that I dragged them here tonight to grab my grandparents’ paintings because I couldn’t wait another day, because I needed her to know the truth, is very telling of how much I’ve lost control of the situation, how much Paloma is messing with my logic and my plans for her father.
“Um,” Gardenia says quietly. “You guys can go now.”
“Yeah.” I dart upstairs.
Once again, the catering crew is not at all bothered by our presence. I gesture toward the kitchen door, but as I make to leave, I hear a murmur linger in the air. “The real Swan Queen is here.”
“What?” I block the staff member on his way out the door. “What did he say?”
“The real Swan Queen is here.” He repeats it with glee in his eyes. “I hope I get to see her.”
“As in the Senator’s daughter?” I grip the lapels of his cheap suit and ask through gritted teeth. “Paloma Davis?”
“I don’t know. We’re not allowed to go beyond the dining room.” His gaze darts from me to Jacob. “I need to deliver this bucket of champagne. They don’t like waiting.”
“Then how do you know she’s here?” I clench my jaw.
“Someone said that.” He steps back, and I let him go.
“Wait. Why is Paloma at an orgy?” Gardenia’s voice barely registers over the thumping in my chest.
“That’s a fucking good question.” I push the kitchen door open and call over my shoulder. “Jacob, go home.”