Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Daisy
Isit down hard.
‘But we were so poor after my dad,’ I say. ‘If there was money, my mom could have used it to buy food, to keep the house she bought with my dad that she loved. Instead, we lived in a shithole in Philly.’ I throw my hands up in the air and shake my head.
‘Why didn’t her family help?’
‘Likely to punish her for marrying the wrong guy,’ Shade says quietly. ‘If the money is in a Trust for you alone, she wouldn’t have been able to touch it any more than John could. And you said she never talked about her family. It could be that she never even knew about it.
‘But John did,’ Blake snarls. ‘That’s what all of this has been about.
Trying to make you marry Joe, and now Marcus.
Andy must know about it too, and he has to realize how broke he is by now.
That’s why he’s cutting off all the funding, cleaning house.
He needs money, and he needs you to marry Marcus so the Bandervilles have access to the Trust and they can pay him for you, taking a cut for themselves. ’
I stand up and walk around the room.
‘How do we find out for sure?’ I ask. ‘The lawyers won’t talk to me. They don’t even believe I am who I say I am. They think I’m some severely mentally challenged woman who needs constant care, and they won’t believe me without my guardian there. And Andy’s not going to do that, is he?’
‘If he wants your money, I’ll find out,’ Blake promises.
He stands and comes over to me, wincing. ‘Look, I… finally got into the flash drive.’
He doesn’t look happy and my stomach sinks. ‘And?’
‘It was empty, gorgeous. I’m sorry.’
I let out a long breath. ‘Fuck,’ I mutter. ‘But it was encrypted and everything. Why do that if there’s nothing sensitive on it?’
‘Maybe it didn’t copy properly because of the encryption.’
I sigh. ‘Thanks for trying.’
‘I’m sorry.’
I shake my head at him. It’s not his fault, after all. Though if I want The Heath gone, everything now hinges on if Sauvage’s guys in London can find hard copies of evidence that Natalie Mason, the reporter who was clearly murdered in London, might have stashed somewhere.
Blake pulls me into his arms and holds me. I feel his phone buzz in his pocket and his body freezes. He pulls away, his expression blank.
‘Is it them?’ I ask quietly.
He gives a jerky nod.
‘Then you should go do what you have to do. Don’t give them an excuse to hurt you.’
He hugs me hard, his jaw clenched.
‘I love you,’ he whispers.
‘I love you, too.’
‘I’ll find whatever I can to prove our theory as soon as I’m done.’
And then he’s gone.
I glance back at the others, who are both looking grim.
Shade approaches. ‘Do you want to take some of your stuff over to the club? Might take your mind off things.’
I give him a small smile. ‘Yeah, I’d like that.’
We go into the bedroom, and I grab some clothes, my toiletries, and my laptop.
The guys pack up some of their clothes, which I’ve noticed are looking a lot more dapper…
and I might say Sauvage-esque these days.
Regardless of their vocal dislike of the Frenchman, he’s clearly rubbed off on them while we’ve been living here, and I don’t think they hate him nearly as much as they pretend.
‘I’ll go tell Sauvage we’re leaving in person,’ I say.
Shade nods. ‘We’ll wait for you downstairs by the entrance to the tunnels.’
I go down to Pierre’s office. Thomas lets me in, and I wonder if this will be the last time. He’s at his desk, staring at his computer screen.
When he sees me, he smiles and stands.
‘Chéri. I was just going to ask you to come down.’
Does he look excited?
‘Why?’ I ask.
Then my eyes widen as my brain catches up. ‘Your contacts in London. They found something?’
‘Oui. In her apartment. They found files hidden in a hole in the wall, in a cupboard behind a water tank, I’m told. They’re sending photos. I’ll forward them to you when they come.’
‘Thank you so much, Pierre,’ I say, frustrated that I don’t know how to convey to him how appreciative I am. ‘Really. There was nothing on the flash drive I brought back. I was afraid that was it.’
‘It’s nothing,’ he murmurs.
‘It’s not nothing!’
Tears come to my eyes and Sauvage takes out his silk pocket square, handing it to me to wipe my eyes.
‘No tears, ma petite fleur. Tell Sauvage why he is graced with your company?’
‘I wanted to let you know that the club is finished being renovated,’ I sniffle.
‘You are leaving, then.’ His lips downturn slightly.
I nod. ‘I wanted to thank you. For everything you’ve done for me. You didn’t have to. Without your support, I would probably be Joe Banderville’s wife by now.’
He waves a flippant hand. ‘You know you can stay in the penthouse for as long as you wish.’
I nod. ‘But I do want to go back. I like it there, and my lab is set up, so I’ll still make Envy. You don’t need to worry about that.’
He tuts. ‘I know you well enough, chéri, to trust you. If you want to leave, that is your decision. And of course, you can return whenever you wish. You have only to darken my door.’
‘I’ll have a shipment of Envy for you by the end of the week,’ I explain, ‘but there are also a few hundred pills in the safe downstairs.’
Sauvage inclines his head. ‘Be safe, chéri. And if you need Pierre Sauvage’s help, you need only ask.’
He takes hold of my shoulders in a gentle grip.
‘I will not say goodbye,’ he says. ‘Only au revoir to the seeing again.’
He kisses both my cheeks, then turns me around and gently pushes me toward the door.
I go down to the basement, my eyes misty, to find the guys by the entrance to the tunnel system.
‘Are you okay?’ Mav asks.
I nod. ‘I’ll just miss Sauvage. That, and I’ve gotten comfortable here. I’ll be fine.’
He gives me a hug, and takes my hand, leading me into the darkness. I shiver. I’ve been in the passages since the club was bombed, but I don’t think I’ll ever feel safe in them.
The guys take out flashlights and lead me quickly through the first cavernous, concrete spaces that go to the underground network under Richmond. We walk for about thirty minutes in the dark before we get to a fork in the passage, and Shade takes the left one confidently.
‘Not too much longer,’ he says over his shoulder brightly.
We get to a new-looking door with a black card reader on it a little while later. Shade swipes a keycard over it, and I hear it unlock loudly. The sound echoes through the passage.
The door swings outward, and I find myself in a well-lit corridor that I recognize from when they showed it to me the other day. I breathe a sigh of relief as I step into the light, following Mav as he leads me to the bedroom where we put our belongings away.
I sit on the bed, attempting to relax. As I lie back to look at the ceiling, I gasp at the painting that’s secured there. It looks like the one from the lawyer’s office, but the canvas is massive.
‘Oh!’ I exclaim, my eyes flying to Shade who’s standing by the door, watching me with his hands stuffed into his jeans and a smile playing on his lips.
‘It’s from all of us. Happy Valentine’s Day,’ he says a bit meekly.
I frown at him. ‘You didn’t have to get me anything.’
He gives me a look.
‘Silly,’ he murmurs. ‘Sorry it’s late. We found the artist and bought it from her directly, but she had to ship it from Rome. Do you like it?’
I nod, a large smile creasing my face as I look back up at it.
‘I love it,’ I say, pulling Mav down with me so he can look at it too.
I pat the other side of the bed next to me. ‘Come here.’
Shade comes over and lies down next to me, and the three of us stare up at it.
‘Do you like it?’ I ask Mav.
‘I do,’ he says. ‘It’s not something I’d choose for myself, but it does look pretty good up there.’
‘Bought that before you found out you’re a pauper, huh?’ Blake drawls from the door.
I sit up, my eyes scanning him for injuries.
He hasn’t been gone long, but whatever he’s been up to has left a rust-colored mark on the side of his face.
‘There’s blood on you,’ I say.
He grimaces. ‘Not mine.’
He goes into the bathroom, and I hear the shower start.
I glance between Mav and Shade who haven’t said a word and see they’re communicating with their expressions again.
I give them both a narrow-eyed look.
‘What is it?’ I ask.
‘We…have something to show you,’ Shade says cryptically.
He gets up and pads across the room. There’s a beep and a panel the size of a doorway slides away to reveal another room. I can’t see inside properly. It’s too dark.
‘You didn’t show me this before,’ I accuse.
‘We were waiting for your birthday,’ Shade says, giving me a sly wink.
‘But that’s not for another two days. And,’ I look away, ‘I sort of don’t celebrate it, or at least I haven’t since…Larson. It didn’t feel right celebrating the day that he died and at The Heath they didn’t really do birthdays anyway, so...’
‘But you didn’t kill him, Tulip,’ Mav says, frowning.
‘Well, I know that now, but I’ve gone a decade without birthdays. I’m just saying that if it’s too much trouble, we don’t have to celebrate—’
Mav grabs me, whirling me to face him and turning my face up to his. ‘Tulip, we are celebrating your damn birthday!’
Taken aback, I can only nod my head, my eyes wide as I stare up into his semi-angry face.
But inside, I’m excited. I’m going to have a birthday this year!
I hear the shower turn off, and a moment later Blake steps out in just a towel. My eyes move over him, following the lines of his tattoo. He sees the door to the secret room is open, and his expression changes, turning slightly predatory.
‘I know that look,’ Mav says in my ear, his hands sliding up my body. ‘Go turn on the light, Tulip, and see for yourself.’
‘Unless you’d like to wait two days,’ Shade teases. ‘Should I close the door?’
He puts his finger to the button.
‘No!’