Chapter 27
Elliot
The photo Aria sent me earlier sits brightly on my screen for longer than I care to admit.
She looks fucking gorgeous, absolutely breathtaking, and I want nothing more than to take my time with her while that dress is bunched up around her waist.
The more I look at the picture, the more the urge to feel her in my hands and wrapped around my cock grows.
I almost went to her too. I almost dropped everything I was doing, because in that moment she was what I needed.
She was the only thing that could quiet the unwelcome thoughts in my head, but it didn’t happen.
I didn’t go to her. I didn’t respond to her message.
Instead of driving directly to her apartment as soon as I landed like I had planned, I went to Lane Manor, because there were things that needed to be taken care of.
Now, she’s at the gala, and I’m in the back of a black SUV, running late to said gala, looking at a picture of her.
I should text her, tell her I’m on my way, but I want to surprise her. I want to see her eyes go wide when she sees me and give me a smile I know is only meant for me.
“Your phone is going to overheat if you keep looking at that picture,” Samantha states as she sits in the captain’s seat next to me, applying lipstick.
The gala the Dark Knights are hosting tonight isn’t much of a family affair.
It isn’t something we all fly in for. It’s about the team and the team alone, and since this is a venture Grayson did on his own, we try not to overshadow it by all of us showing up.
Tonight, though, it appears we are making it a family affair, with me and Sammie attending.
I’m going because Grayson invited Aria. My sister, who invited herself at the last minute, says she’s going as our brother’s date, but I know she has another reason—a hockey player type of reason.
She’s probably going to send death glares in his direction all night. Part of me thinks about warning him, but the thought quickly disappears.
“I’m fine with it overheating,” I say, looking down at the photo one more time before locking the screen.
“This woman must be special if you can’t stop looking at her photo,” Sam says, closing her compact and sliding it into her clutch.
There is no point in denying it.
“She is special.” I look down at my phone, itching to turn the screen back on.
“Then why am I just learning about her now?” She raises an eyebrow at me, and for a second, I can’t help but see my mother in her.
If I were to say who out of me and my siblings looks exactly like our parents, I would say Samantha without a doubt, is the spitting image of our mother—maybe with a slight complexion difference and her hair a tinge lighter, but if you were to put them together, side by side, you would for sure know they were mother and daughter.
As for my brothers and me, Drake is an exact copy of Robert Lane while I’m a copy of Bennett and Grayson is a mix of the two.
Seeing my mother in my sister brings thoughts to the forefront that I’ve been trying to suppress, and they don’t seem to go away, no matter how hard I try.
“It’s new,” I say, picking a piece of imaginary lint off my slacks. “Besides, I didn’t think the news I was seeing someone would have mattered, with you being in Croatia and all.”
It doesn’t escape me that I’m using the same tone on her that our uncle has used on me plenty of times. It’s the same tone that silently says, ‘I know you hate me, but what I’m doing is for your own good’.
I hated being parented by someone who wasn’t my parent, let alone someone who wasn’t that much older than me. I know Sam feels the same way.
Bennett and I have butted heads more often than not, and there were more than a handful of occasions when I would ice him out. Sam does the same to me, but she’s ten times worse.
“Just because I was in Croatia doesn’t mean it wouldn’t have been nice to get at least a text message about what was going on in your life.” There is bite to her voice.
I can’t help but let out a snort. I want to antagonize her more, so I wake my phone screen up and head to my messages.
Elliot
Hey Sammie, I’m seeing someone. That’s what’s going on in my life.
Her phone dings, and when I look away from the screen, I find her looking at me with narrowed eyes.
“Are you going to check that?” I nod toward her clutch.
She throws a huff my way and takes out her phone, looking at the screen before tapping away.
Then, my phone vibrates in my hand.
Samantha
That’s nice.
Another snort escapes me before I let the screen go dark.
“You have my life update. You want to give me yours?” I’m hoping she will tell me about Croatia and why she was over there. Her trip is still very much a secret.
“Pero hermano mio, you already know my life update. You were there—or did you forget the urgent matter we had to attend to back at the manor?” Tears form in her eyes, and I can see her trying her hardest to push them away.
I sigh.
I knew there was going to come a time when my siblings and I had to discuss with Bennett and Henry what their wishes would be when it came to the companies if anything were to happen to them.
We already knew the personal side; it was the business side that was up in the air.
In my head, I thought we were a few years away from those conversations, but no.
Apparently, we’re closer to those conversations than I thought.
Before I left Miami earlier today, I had gotten a call from my uncle requesting I come to the manor as soon as I landed back home, that it was urgent. I asked what it was, but all he said was that he would let me know when I got there.
The whole plane ride, I thought it was going to be about my parents.
I thought maybe he was going to tell me all the effort has finally paid off, and he had found my father, his brother.
My mind also went to my mother—I thought she might have popped up and had gotten in contact with someone.
My mind was going crazy the whole way home, even more so when I pulled up to the manor and found I wasn’t the only one he requested to see.
But nothing prepared me for what he asked me and my siblings there for.
Bennett stood in front of his desk, leaning against the wood as he looked at me and my siblings scattered around the study. Whatever this was, it was important enough to have Drake fly in from New York and Sam from wherever she was.
“This isn’t to scare you. There is nothing going on, and nobody is sick or dying. This simply because I needed to get the paperwork done.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t help with anxiety whatsoever,” Grayson voiced from where he sat on the brown couch in the study.
Bennett rolled his eyes. “I know this is a heavy subject, but this is something that needed to be done.”
“And what is this?” Drake asks from next to Grayson.
I’m standing right next to them, and it doesn’t escape me that my sister is standing by the window, looking out at the property as if she wished she was out there instead.
“Who is to take over the position of CEO if something were to happen to me.” Bennett’s words are clear and to the point.
This is something he and I talked about in length, more than once. He had changed his will and had asked me if I wanted to be CEO. I told him no.
My answer has always been no.
I don’t want it.
There is someone better. We both know it.
Now I know why my sister wants to be anywhere but here.
“I always thought it would be Elliot,” Grayson voices, looking over at me.
“Me too,” Drake says, nodding.
A sigh escapes my uncle. “This is something Elliot and I have talked about extensively and both have decided he isn’t going to take over.”
“Then who?” Grayson asked.
Bennett looked over at the window, a small smile forming on his face. “Samantha. If she wants it.”
Lane Enterprises needs someone strong and resilient to run it, and apart from Bennett, the best thing for the company is Samantha.
She has the capability to do what our uncle does and I don’t, but given the tears overflowing in her eyes right now, I don’t think she sees that potential. Not right now, at least.
“When did he tell you he was going to name you as his replacement?” I ask, wanting a better understanding.
My sister sighs as she brushes a finger under her lower lash line. “He brought it up a few months ago, when we were all home for Charlie’s birthday.”
Charlie, Ella’s sister and the closest thing we have to a cousin, celebrated her birthday in March—we’re nearing August. That’s close to four mouths, the exact time she was in Croatia.
“That’s why you were in Croatia,” I conclude.
She nods. “I know it’s not going to happen anytime soon, that the crown isn’t going to fall on my head tomorrow, but when he told me, it felt like I was going to lose another parent and myself at the same time. So, I went as far as I thought I could go. I pulled an Elliot Lane and escaped.”
A small chuckle escapes me. “You and I have to be alike somehow,” I say before reaching over and taking her hand in mine. “When the time comes, you are going to be a badass CEO. For all we know, Bennett is going to live until he’s a hundred. You have a few more years.”
My sister gives me a smile. “Let’s hope.” She wipes under her eye again. “God, I need a few drinks after this.”
* * *
Sam and I ended up getting to the Gala a little late after hitting some traffic, but we weren’t the only Lanes who were late.
Grayson, who still can’t drive on his own yet, had to go back to my apartment to get his suit, since he didn’t think to take it to the manor with him.
Thankfully, we all got there right as the event started.
As soon as we walk into the ballroom, I want so desperately to move away from my sister and find Aria, but since dinner is about to be served, I guide Sam to our table and take a seat.
My intention the second my ass hit the chair was to see if I could find Aria or send her a message, but that gets derailed when the team’s General Manager started talking to me, distracting me with the task at hand.
When the waiters start passing around the first course, I wonder if Aria has spotted me; if she saw me when I walked in, if she was excited to see me. We haven’t seen each other in a few days, but we have talked on the phone. That hasn’t been enough for me, though.
I need her in my hands, my mouth on hers. I need my eyes to roam her body so I can memorize every single inch of her as if I haven’t already. I need to see her in person.
As someone places my starter in front of me, I pull out my phone, feeling the need to get in contact with her more than ever, when I see my notifications.
I have a few emails from my assistant for tomorrow, but it’s the top notification that has my attention.
It’s my credit card app informing me of a purchase from a few minutes ago at Chanel for nearly two thousand dollars.
I can’t help but smirk when I see the last four digits of the card used—the card I gave Aria.
I guess I have my answer to whether she spotted me. She told me she would only do her worst if I pissed her off, and given the other charge that just came in for three thousand dollars at Tiffany’s, I would say I did just that.
The smirk on my face grows even more when I think about the reason behind her anger. She’s spotted me, even though I haven’t seen her, which means she saw me walk in with Sam.
As far as I know, she doesn’t know what my sister looks like, and she probably thought the worst.
It should anger me that she would retaliate like this, that she would think me cheating on her would even be an option, but it doesn’t, not by a long shot. Instead, it just makes my smirk grow into a full-on grin.
Aria is jealous and angry, and she’s pulling out all the stops to show it.
She’s telling me she’s mine, and she doesn’t even know it.