Chapter Seven
MY HEELS CLICKnoisily, echoing through the hallway to my condo. The sound only makes my heart beat faster in my chest. I don’t know what will be waiting on the other side of the door. My stomach has been in knots since the moment Riley ran from my office this morning. I haven’t been able to focus on anything else since that moment.
Turning the key in the lock, I open the door slowly. As I enter the living room, my head pans across the space, but Riley is nowhere to be seen. I set down my keys and bag on the kitchen counter before slipping my heels off. “Riley?”
Silence greets me. For a moment I worry he isn’t here, but a slow beat of music makes its way from down the hall and the fear dissipates. He’s here, he just can’t hear me. I make my way down the hallway to the closed door of the third bedroom that acts as my guest room. Deep melodic music thuds from the crack under the door, and I know Riley is stuck in his feelings.
Knocking on the door, the music quiets before he calls out. “Come in.”
Peeking my head through the door, the first thing I spot it Riley’s duffle bag at the foot of the bed. My stomach drops. He hasn’t unpacked it. That can mean only one thing. He isn’t planning on staying long. Or maybe not at all.
Seeing Jade really did a number on him.
Riley doesn’t look at me as I step into the room. My heart breaks from the pain radiating from him like an open wound. I don’t know how to heal this hurt inside of him. I hate that there’s nothing I can say to help him. He’s never been the same since she broke his heart. He doesn’t like to discuss it even all these months later. It’s like the hurt is still so fresh. His words from last week run through my mind.
Sometimes when you’re running from your past, you end up running from yourself, too.
The words hit me just as hard as they did that day. He wasn’t just talking about Abby. He was talking about himself. The realization settles over me. I was so caught up in my drama that I didn’t see the true depth of his words. How could I have been so blind?
Riley has spent the last six months running from his pain to only be confronted with it all over again. Just because he wanted to be here to support me. My heart aches in my chest for the pain I have inadvertently caused him.
“How’s it going?” The words leave my lips, but I already know the answer.
He shrugs his should as he sits up. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
I force my feet to move. Crossing the room, I plop myself onto the bed next to him. “You don’t have to, but you can if you want to.”
He nods his head, and his eyes finally meet mine. The red and puffiness around his eyes is a clear indication that he’s been crying. Anger at Jade burns through me. How am I supposed to face her every day at work knowing this is what she’s done to my baby brother? “Thanks.”
All happiness is drained from his voice and I ache along with him. Riley has always felt emotions so much deeper than he lets on. I know this must be eating him up inside.
Wracking my brain, I try to come up with a way to lift his spirits. But before I can, his phone buzzes with an incoming text. The eyes roll back in his head with a single glance at it.
“Here.” He throws his phone at me without warning. “You handle this.”
I catch it with clumsy hands. It takes me a second to right the device before I can read the text on his screen.
My eyes flit to the contact name: She Devil.
I roll my eyes as well. Of course it’s Debra.
“How does she already know?” My words are incredulous, but they shouldn”t be. Our mother has always had a keen sense to know when we are doing something we aren’t supposed to. I’ve always suspected her of having a network of spies at her disposal, but I’ve never been able to prove it.
But this shows she’s been keeping an eye on Riley, at least. She can’t keep him under her thumb. I’m not under her thumb per se, but it has always been easier to just go along with whatever she wants than fight back. Riley has been fighting with her his entire life, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
“She always knows.” He throws himself back onto the bed and a huff of breath escapes his lips.
I tap out a response.
Her reply is almost instantaneous.
It’s my turn to huff in annoyance.
Riley lifts his head off the bed a few inches to meet my gaze. “What does she want?”
“Apparently, we are having dinner over there tonight.” I pull my phone from my pocket as he snatches his from my hand. “I guess I need to cancel our reservations.”
His eyes whip to me as he sits up. “We are going?”
I raise my brows at him. “It’s not like we have a choice. Do you want her to cut you off?”
He runs a hand through his hair before he tugs at the ends a little harder than he should. “No. I guess not.”
The defeat in his voice makes the ache in my chest grow even deeper. But there’s nothing I can do to ease his pain. He stares up at the ceiling, a blank expression on his face. I know for a fact if I don’t make him move, he will stay like that all night. He won’t get up to eat or check his phone. He’ll stay right there until eventually he drifts off to sleep.
His moping sessions are legendary. That’s not what I want for him. That’s not what he needs.
I pat his leg once with my hand. “Time to get up.”
He turns his head in my direction, frowning at me. I ignore it. Encouraging him won’t help us get to Debra’s on time. “I’ll let you shower.”
Pushing myself off the mattress, he groans before pushing himself into a seating position. “If I have to.”
I shoot him a warm smile. “You have to.”
He nods his head once before pulling himself to his feet. Grabbing his duffle bag, he heads to the adjoined bathroom and closes the door behind him.
With a sigh of relief, I head for my room. When the door closes behind me, I let the troubles of the day wash over me. I want to stay wrapped up in my mind every bit as much as Riley does, but I know I can’t. Debra would see through me in an instant. I don’t need her questioning my choices tonight, or they may end up no longer being my choices.
All too soon, Riley and I are parked outside of the black metal gates of the Belmonte estate. I take a reassuring breath before rolling my window down and punching my code into the security pad.
A chill runs down my spine as they open like the jaws of a lion to allow us entry. I’ve lived in this house most of my life, but I still can’t get over the feeling of walking into a trap each time I drive through the main gates.
Riley audibly gulps beside me as I place the car into park.
Turning to him, I give him a sharp nod of my head. “You ready?”
“Not at all.” He clicks his seatbelt and opens the car door. “Let’s go.”
Following him up the marble lined staircase, the door opens as we approach. The butler, George, stands awaiting our arrival.
“Good evening, George.” I call out to him as we pass.
“Good evening, Miss Raven. Mr. Riley.” He lowers his head in an almost bow, and I have to resist the urge to roll my eyes. After all these years, he still treats us like we are royalty. It makes me sick inside. We are just like everyone else, and I refuse to be treated otherwise. Our money makes us no better than anyone else.
“Shall I let the Mistress know you’ve arrived?” George speaks in a slow drawling tone, partially because of his age and partially because of the way he’s expected to speak to us.
With a shake of my head, I lead the way down the entry hall to my mother’s office. “Don’t worry George, I’ll tell her myself.”
I don’t have to look behind me to feel the disapproving shake of George’s head. He likes to follow Debra’s silly rules. For the life of me, I can never understand why. My steps are silent as I move down the hallway. The warm presence of my brother is no longer behind me. With one glance over my shoulder, I see him lingering by the doorway. He doesn’t want to come in, so I won’t force him to follow me. He’ll make his way to the dinner table when he’s ready.
But that still leaves me and the mission I’m on tonight. To run defense for Riley and keep Debra off his back. It’s the least I can do for him, and hopefully it will help prolong his stay in Aspen.
Standing in front of her doorway, I knock once on the mahogany door. I don’t wait for a response before I swing the door open and make my presence known. Seated behind her larger-than-life desk is Debra. Her long black hair is pulled into a tight bun at the back of her head. Her blue eyes don’t acknowledge that I’ve even entered the room. It’s like I don’t even exist to her.
I expect nothing less. There will be no warm embrace. No motherly affection. There will only be cold indifference and disapproval. This is just who she is. She’s a businesswoman, not a mother.
I halt my steps just in front of her desk, but she still doesn’t tear her eyes away from the screen of her laptop. “How are you this evening?”
“Very well.” She types a few sentences, but doesn’t look up.
She doesn’t even bother to ask how I am doing. Again, I force myself not to roll my eyes. If I do, she’ll know. Even without looking at me. She has that motherly power, but nothing else.
“Where’s your brother?” Her typing stops, and finally she tears her gaze away from the screen to look over my shoulder, but not at me.
“He’s here.”
“Good.” She picks up her phone and types out a message before turning her fierce gaze on me. “He’s been away for far too long this time.”
And he won’t be staying long at this rate either.
I force the words to stay behind my lips, because if she knew that he’s most likely going to jump on a plane back to California tomorrow, she’d probably cancel his credit card. I would never sell him out or set him up for failure that way. If he wants to run from his problems, there is nothing I can do about it. I won’t stop him, but I won’t hinder him either. And that’s exactly what I know she’ll want to do.
“Is he staying with you?”
When I nod my head, she purses her lips in annoyance.
People always say I am the spitting image of my mother. Everything except for our eye color. Maybe that’s why she can’t quite meet my eyes. They remind her of my father. When I look at her, all I see are hard lines and the annoyance of unmet expectations. I can only hope that I’m not looking into the mirror of who I will turn into when I’m her age.
“He has a room here. You both do.”
She says the words, but I hear the underlying meaning. If she was anyone else, I would think the words were coming from a place of loneliness. And with any other parent, I would never doubt that they were experiencing empty nest syndrome. But since this is Debra we are talking about, I know they come from a place of need for control. Since we don’t live under her roof anymore, it has become harder to control us. But not impossible.
She’s gotten creative in her ways to control me over the last few years. When I first moved out, she tried to cut me off, but since I had my job, that backfired. I didn’t need her money. Now she uses Riley to control me. Because she knows no matter what, I have his back, and he has mine. And like the master manipulator she is, she uses our bond against us at every opportunity.
Much to my relief, a knock sounds from the door, saving me from having to come up with an answer for her.
“Come in.” Irritation threads through her voice. She is not happy that our brief conversation is being interrupted, but I am.
George opens the door and bows his head to her. “Dinner is served, Madam.”
She nods her head and waves a hand at him, dismissing him from her presence. Disgust rolls in my stomach at the interaction. You’d think he wasn’t a real person who deserves a real response. But to her, he probably isn’t. He is just staff. Just like us, we are her children, but we aren’t her children. We are reflections of her. And when we do as we are told, we reflect positively on her. And when we don’t do as we are told, we are punished in whatever manner she deems satisfactory.
“Shall we?” I ask as I stare at her unmoving figure. I’m not hungry, but the sooner we are seated at the table, the sooner we can escape back to our lives.
Nodding her head, she stands. “I suppose so.”
Her eyes scan her desk one last time before she locks her laptop and walks around the desk.
I wait until she passes me before I follow her to the door. Just another one of her odd habits that I am forced to obey. She always has to exit and enter the room first. I don’t know if she loves being seen first or loves having someone follow behind her more.
Silently, we make our way to the dining hall. The room is normally reserved for large gatherings, but Debra must have deemed Riley’s visit as greatly important for us to be eating here tonight.
My eyes lock on Riley the second we enter the room. Three place mats are set at the end of the table. One at the head of the table and another on each side. He is seated to the left. After Debra takes her seat at the head of the table, I take the only remaining spot on her right.
The irony of it almost makes me laugh. If my mother had a right-hand man, it would surely be me. I know she wants me to take over the family business when she retires. But I don’t want to stand in her shadow, or be under her thumb for that long. Plus, at this rate, she will probably never retire. It’s all she has. It’s what she lives for.
“Riley.” She nods a greeting in his direction.
He nods at her but remains silent.
It isn’t long before the silence engulfs us. A sense of unease rises until I’m sitting on the edge of my seat under the tension that fills the room. I open my mouth to speak, just to make it stop. “How have acquisitions team been fairing without me?”
Her eyes flit to me for the briefest second. “They’ll survive.”
If they know what’s good for them.
Debra’s voice sounds inside my head, and I almost smile at my own thoughts. Instead, I tamper it down. If I smile, she’ll want to know why. And she has an uncanny ability to tell when I’m lying. It’s almost scary.
Another moment passes before the door behind us opens and three members of the staff enter the room with our plates on silver platters. There’s not a smile on a single one of their faces. The sight makes me long for the family style dinners like the Stephen’s always had. All the food is on a table, and you just help yourself to whatever you want.
Once the staff has left the room and the plates of food have been left in front of us, Debra turns her piercing gaze on Riley.
I can’t help the small inhale of breath I take when she opens her mouth to speak. Here we go. “Riley, what brings you back to town?”
I watch helplessly as his shoulders tense under her stare. He clears his throat, trying to keep his tone steady as he speaks to her. If he shows any sign of hesitation, she will see it as a weakness. “I’m just here to celebrate Raven’s first week in her new job.”
Debra doesn’t miss a beat as she says. “A job with no salary is hardly something worth celebrating.”
My blood turns to ice in my veins. How could she possibly know that I’m not getting paid? That information should be confidential within Emerson Group. The only way she could know is if she has someone slipping her information from within the organization.
Riley’s eyes plead with mine. Giving him a subtle nod of my head, I round on my mother. “I don’t see how my lack of salary has anything to do with not celebrating my new position at Emerson Group.”
My emphasis on the company name makes the blue of her eyes turn to stone. Her lip curls up in a snarl. “Working for free is below you.”
She is trying to get a rise out of me, but I won’t retaliate like she wants me to. That would just be playing into her hands, and I don’t plan on giving her the satisfaction. “Working for free is my honor.”
“Emerson Group has more than enough money to pay you and keep the nonprofit afloat.” She dismisses my comment with a wave of her hand.
It’s like she doesn’t hear me speaking. “I think you misunderstand me. I turned the salary down.”
Her fist pounds against the table, rattling the silverware and the china. A smile tugs at the corner of my lips. I’ve struck a nerve. “Belmonte’s do not work for free.”
The shrillness in her voice causes the hairs on my arm to stand erect. I can’t fathom why my actions have her so worked up. “Well, this one does.”
Riley shifts in his seat across from me, telling me he’d rather be anywhere but here. I bet right now he’s wishing he never came back to visit at all. I can’t help but feel guilty because I’m the only reason he’s here. If he hadn’t come to see me, he wouldn’t be sitting having dinner with Debra and he wouldn’t have a knife in his heart over seeing Jade again.
Silence engulfs us, and I ignore the glare Debra shoots at me as I pick up my knife and fork. She might be too angry to eat, but I will not let this meal go to waste. Her chef has prepared her specialty, wagyu beef. Just one bite makes the entire argument worth it.
Riley follows my lead, cutting into his steak and placing it into his mouth so he can’t speak. It’s difficult to keep the smug smile from slipping onto my face. I couldn’t have planned this better if I tried. I’ve successfully diverted her attention from Riley entirely. Now she’s so mad she refuses to speak. It really is a win-win for both of us.
When the meal is finally over, Debra remains at the table as we excuse ourselves and head for the door. We make our escape as quietly as we can. It won’t be long before Debra comes up with a new and colorful way to punish me for my actions. But that is a problem for another day.
As we drive away from the house, Riley turns to face me. “Thank you for that.”
Despite the nagging anxiety of how she’ll retaliate, I smile at my brother. “Anytime.”
I can see his fingers twisting in his lap as I pull back out onto the main road. I know what he’s about to say before he says it. “I’m leaving tomorrow.”
“I know.” My words come out as a whisper. I know there’s nothing I can do to stop him. I wouldn’t even if I could. If he needs to run, I’ll let him. I just hope one day he can stop running from himself and come home.