Chapter Sixteen
ELLA
I ’m nearly bouncing on my toes as I leave the vet’s office, ready to go pick up Macie and basking in the knowledge that Liam wants to move in together.
Having him move in would be a huge step… but it feels so right. We already have a kid together for crying out loud. More than that though, the way he spoke about it this morning, him saying that Macie and I are “it” for him… it made me realize that I feel the same way. I don’t want anyone if I can’t have Liam.
I still need to take twenty-four hours though, just so I can say that I put some serious thought into it.
Even if I’ve already made my decision.
My stomach swoops with excitement as I approach my car, and I look down to dig my keys out of my purse. “Ella!”
Fucking hell.
I look up to see Harvey, who’s come out of nowhere and is now standing between me and my car door.
“What the hell do you want, Harvey? Move out of the way.” I don’t even try to hide the exasperation in my voice. What could he possibly want now? “What the fuck are you even doing in town so much? You don’t even live here!”
His eyes flash with anger before he mutters, “I may as well live here because of her .” Before I can ask what that’s about, he shakes his head and steps in close. “Listen up.” He pulls out his phone. “I’ve figured out who Macie’s father is. If you don’t put in a good word with your brothers and make it believable, I’m going to send these pictures to every news outlet I can find.” He shoves his phone in my face and I take it, arching a brow. Why the hell is he so intent on getting in on my brother’s business? It’s not like he’s not smart, so why is he so fixated, like their his only option?
Turning my attention to the phone, I scroll through the pictures, shocked to see images of Macie, Liam, Ollie, and me walking to the park with our ice cream. And another of Liam holding Macie on the front porch at my parents’ house. He… he followed us? What the fuck? Is he…is he like for real stalking us? An icy shiver runs down my spine.
This shocks a confused laugh out of me. “Number one, I’m filing a restraining order, you creepy asshole. Secondly, why would it matter that Liam’s her dad? It certainly isn’t worth the news.” Glancing back down at the phone, I can’t help but realize how much we look like an actual family. The thought is quickly pushed aside when Harvey responds.
“Oh, Ella.” Harvey chuckles darkly, shaking his head as he takes the phone from me. “And here I thought you were smart. Don’t you know who your baby-daddy really is?”
Who he really is?
“Liam. His name is Liam, obviously. Stokes.” I think. Shit, do I really not know for sure what his last name is?
“Google ‘William Stokes,’” he says, nodding at my purse where my phone is. “I’ll wait.”
Huffing a breath, I dig my phone out of my bag and do what he says.
“If I do this, will you move away from my car so I can go home?” I ask him, pulling up the search engine.
“Sure, sure.” He waves me off like I’m being ridiculous.
I roll my eyes and start typing. “William Stokes, and search. There. I don’t see…”
My damn heart falls out of my chest. William Stokes. Billionaire heir to the Stokes fortune. Doctor. His picture is right there, front and center. My Liam. But he’s not. He’s William.
Pictures of him with a woman who looks like his mother. Paparazzi shots of him on the street, wearing sunglasses. Headline after headline showcasing their lives and his mother’s bid for mayor.
Why… Why would he lie to me about who he is? Why wouldn’t he just tell me? Does he think if he tells me, I’ll just want his money? He has to know that I don’t care about that. Unless… unless he’s embarrassed to be with a single mom from a small town and doesn’t want the public to know about me. But I know Liam, and he wouldn’t do that… right?
“Do you really think anyone will believe that you had no idea who Liam was when you met him? That you didn’t recognize the only heir to the richest family on the east coast? Do you think the Boston Mayor will take kindly to someone trying to baby-trap her son?”
“Baby-trap?” My voice is filled with indignation. “I didn’t try to get pregnant?—”
“Of course you did,” Harvey says, almost sounding delighted. “I just see the headlines now, ‘Desperate College Student Enacts Plan to Access Stokes Fortune: Secret Baby Revealed.’ Not to mention what they’ll have to say about your precious family.” God, I want to smack that evil little grin right off his face. “Your brother’s business? It’ll tank once this gets out there, and it comes out they’re related to such a conniving little slut.”
It doesn’t matter that I know it didn’t happen like that. Harvey is giving me the exact picture of what he’s going to sell to the press. Meeting Harvey’s smug expression, I try my hardest to not let him see how much he’s affected me. I can’t fathom what he’s trying to gain from this. Does he really think that even if I lost all my brain cells and told my brothers to hire him, they’d just listen? If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Harvey, it’s that he’ll never stop. Even if I do this for him, what's going to stop him from leaking the photos once he has what he wants?
“You’ve said what you wanted to say. Now get the fuck out of my way.” My voice is filled with more confidence than I feel at the moment, but Harvey sees right through me as he pointedly steps away from the door of my car.
“Alright then. Have fun seeing yours and Macie’s faces splattered all over the news tomorrow.” He grins maliciously, viciousness lining his voice.
Gritting my teeth, I ignore him and get into my car, peeling out of the parking lot as fast as I can without breaking any laws.
Now that I’m away from Harvey, my mind starts to spiral.
Part of me wants to call Liam and warn him about what’s coming his way. Harvey seems like he means business, and I would never want Liam to get hurt because of me. The other, more vindictive part of me is so angry that he’s lied to me about who he is, especially after I told him about Macie. That would have been the perfect opportunity. Instead, he leaves me feeling like an idiot for not realizing I didn’t even know the whole name of the man I’ve been dating. Not to mention, if we had known, Liam probably could have controlled the narrative fed to the press, but now we’re going to be fed to the wolves by fucking Harvey.
My heart pounds so hard I’m surprised I’m not having a heart attack, but I hold back my tears until I make it out of the parking lot and call Brynn.
“Hey babe, what’s up?” Brynn answers the phone on the second ring.
“I… can I come over? Something happened… with Liam. Kind of.” My voice wavers and it’s pretty damn obvious I’m close to losing it, but Brynn doesn’t say a word about it.
“Of course,” she says confidently, already in “Operation: Help Ella Not Fall Apart” mode. “I’ll unlock the door, just let yourself in when you get here.”
“Thank you.” I hang up and drive to her house, the revelation about Liam… Or should I say, William, running through my mind.
Has he been lying about his relationship with his mom? Is their relationship fine, and he just didn’t want me to meet her because he was afraid I’d recognize her? No wonder he always gave the bare minimum when it came to family details. I feel like an idiot. When I park, I realize I haven’t told my mom I’m not coming straight there and send her a text.
Me: Brynn had an emergency. Can I come grab Macie after dinner?
Mom: Of course sweetie. We’ll see you in a little bit.
I feel bad for lying, but if I tell her that I’m the one who’s having an emergency, I’ll get bombarded with questions from not just her, but the rest of my family too. I just can’t deal with that right now. Sighing, I get out of my car and head inside. Brynn still lives at home with her parents, helping take care of her dad.
“Just letting ourselves in now, I see,” Regina, Brynn’s older sister and near carbon copy, sneers at me when I kick my shoes off at the front door.
How can two people who look so much alike be so different? Same eyes, same natural hair color. Of course, now Brynn makes her hair pink and Regina highlights hers to look more blonde, but up until we hit high school, people would always think they were twins. At least then Brynn’s parents started letting her dye her hair. Now, the pink hair at least makes people stop and take note of their differences.
“To be fair, Regina, I’ve been letting myself in for the last fifteen years,” I snap, my situation with Liam making me react differently than I normally would. Her dislike of me has nothing to do with me and everything to do with Brynn’s friendship. Regardless of that fact, my emotions are close to the surface and I can’t hold back my frustration.
“Don’t be rude, Regina,” Marshal, Brynn’s dad, coughs from the living room where I’m sure he’s set up in his recliner. Ever since his diagnosis in our senior year of college, it’s been harder and harder for him to get around.
Regina just rolls her eyes and disappears into a different room.
Hearing Marshal’s voice gives me a little perspective on my situation. I’m still barely holding it together, but as far as life-or-death situations go, both my parents are healthy, and my family has always been a great support system. All Brynn has for help is her mom, since her dad is too sick and Regina is, well… Regina.
I pop my head around the corner and give him a little wave while hoping my expression isn’t too obvious. “Hi, Marshal. How are you feeling?”
“I’m still kickin’.” He gives me a tired smile, the nose cannula across his face shifting slightly. There’s a tank of oxygen sitting on the floor next to him. “Tell your folks I said hi.”
“I will. Is Lena at the restaurant?”
“Until Brynn goes in later. She works too hard.”
“I keep telling her that.” We share a conspiratorial grin that I’m sure looks a bit watery. Luckily, Marshal either doesn’t pick up on it or senses that I’m not looking to talk about my troubles with him, so he doesn’t say anything.
“Me too. Doesn’t help that she’s frustrated as hell with that cast on her wrist limiting what she can do,” Marshall adds before Brynn bounds down the stairs. She’s in leggings and a sweater, her pink hair is piled high on top of her head and her hazel brown eyes are slightly worried despite her light tone.
“Are you two gossips talking about me again?”
“Never.” Marshal shakes his head solemnly, and Brynn tsks before she goes over and checks the level on his tank.
“You should be good for a bit. I’m taking Ella upstairs, okay?”
“You girls have fun.” He waves us off, turning his attention back to the TV. “I’ll be here.”
We make our way upstairs to Brynn’s room, and Brynn loops her arm through mine. “What’s wrong, Ell? What happened?”
Her question brings everything to the surface and the thought of speaking everything out loud makes my heart clench. The last thing I need is for Regina to overhear this, so I keep my mouth zipped, blinking away tears as I shake my head and wait until we’re behind closed doors.
As soon as her door shuts behind us, a sob rips out of me. Brynn’s arms wrap around me, comforting and sure as she moves us to sit on the bed.
“He’s been lying,” I choke out between gasps, “this whole time!”
I’m vaguely aware of the confusion in Brynn’s voice as she strokes my hair, the cast on her wrist catching strands that make me wince. “Lying about what?” She lets out a small gasp and anger fills her voice. “About the fiancée? Has he been engaged this whole time?”
“No,” I whimper, shaking my head. “He’s… he’s…” Not able to find the words, I reach into my bag and shove my phone at her. “Here.”
Using one hand, she turns on my screen to the search app still open on my phone.
“William Stokes?” she asks incredulously. “Why would that?—”
“Images.”
Her fingers tap the phone. “Oh. Oh, shit. This…” She shakes her head. “This is not what I was expecting. Have you talked to him?”
“I haven’t,” I admit, sniffing and taking the tissue Brynn offers. “Harvey just ambushed me in the parking lot after work and showed me all these creepy-ass photos he took of the three of us, then threatened to leak everything to the press if I don’t get him in with my brothers.”
“Fucking Harvey,” Brynn mutters, staring intently at my phone as she scrolls through. “This is… Shit, Ella. Is it ideal? No. But… he doesn’t have a fiancée, he’s not married. He must have had a reason for not saying anything. You need to talk to him.”
Frowning, I take my phone back from her. Usually, Brynn is my fiercest protector. The first to suggest we form our own cult in the woods and lift a middle finger to men in general. This time though… she’s defending him.
Is there something I’m not seeing here? Something beyond the gut-wrenching betrayal of being lied to for literal years? Not saying anything four years ago, I can understand. He thought he’d never see me again, so it didn’t matter. When he moved here though? That’s when he should have said something. What’s worse is that I had to find out from fucking Harvey. If he just would have told me himself, it wouldn’t sting so much.
When Brynn moves the hand that was stroking my hair out from behind me, the hard plaster of her cast accidentally knocks into my head.
“Shit,” I hiss, grabbing my head. “When are you getting that damn thing off?”
“Sorry,” she winces. “I have an appointment next week, so hopefully then.”
“I shouldn’t have snapped.” I rub the back of my head again. “But about what you said…I’ll think about it.” Blowing my nose one more time and wiping my eyes, I give Brynn a grim smile. “I just… I’m so angry. He said something about moving in together this morning. We were supposed to talk about it again.”
“Maybe that’s when he was going to tell you,” she offers gently, smoothing a hand down my arm. “All I’m saying is, hear him out. Don’t write him off when you guys just found each other again. I mean, come on, Ell. He’s a billionaire living in a little one-bedroom apartment in Ridgewood Falls. Maybe the money never meant anything to him at all, and he just wanted a normal life. There has to be more to it than what we’re seeing.”
Brynn’s words replay over and over in my head as I drive to my parents’ house. How am I going to face Liam, knowing what I know? How can we come back from him lying to me for so long? The thought of seeing him again, even in passing, has my stomach turning. How can I trust him now? Is anything he said real? Even if it was, everything we have was built on the foundation of a lie. I’m very aware of the fact that I also kept something from him, but this lie started all the way back when we first met. At least I spent time trying to find him to tell him I was pregnant.
The thought of him keeping us from the world because he doesn’t think we’re good enough keeps playing in my mind, and the feeling of tension in my chest keeps coiling tighter and tighter until I’m sure it’ll burst.
By the time I get to my parents’ house, I’m a bundle of nerves, and as soon as Mom opens the door to let me in, I lose it all over again, thankful that I don’t see Macie or my dad anywhere. She can’t see me like this.
“Ella, honey, what’s wrong?” Mom asks as she wraps her arms around me.
“Can I stay here for a couple of days?” I choke out, burying my face in her shoulder, letting her hold me like I’m a child again.
“Oh, of course, sweetie.” Mom kisses my hair, and in her arms I feel safe enough to completely let go, sobs wracking my body and shuddering breaths leaving me as I try to make sense of everything. How could he ask to move in together if he wasn’t ever going to tell us who he was? Are we just some dirty little secret to him? None of this makes any sense.
What’s worse, I’m pretty sure I just lost everything I’ve been longing for the last four years.