OverPowered

by Camaron, Chelsea

  Guy came to her? What in the Sam-hell was she talking about? Was it Charles Beacon? “What did he look like?”

  Lisa smirked. “Unforgettable,” she boasted, “Very hot. Dark hair, suit, had an office downtown. Paid my ass through a company that no longer exists, according to the state of Pennsylvania. Went to his office, security won’t let me in. Young guy, his hair was dark as midnight and had a thin beard; his eyes were steel. He was edgy, but definitely a catch.”

  With every word that cavernous hole inside of me began to open wide.

  “Garrett,” I whispered.

  “Yeah. That was his name,” she confirmed. “Now call him and tell him that I want more money!”

  “You mean to tell me Garrett paid you to give your bone marrow because you were a match.” The shock was too much. Garrett paid for my mother to get a definite match. Siblings were always the safest transplants, and Garrett paid Lisa to give my mom the best chance. When the doctors told us there was a match, we didn’t question it. We were just grateful.

  “Yeah, that’s the name on his office, Garrett Monroe. He’s like an attorney or something.”

  “How much?”

  Lisa’s eyes bore into mine. “It was only two hundred thousand, so don’t think I got top dollar. But I need more. Obviously, you matter for him to cover medical bills and that kind of money to move around. Therefore, I want more.”

  My temper went through the roof. “You mean to tell me, you’re a match for your own sister and you wouldn’t freely help her live?”

  “Why would I?” she clipped, and I heard my mother behind me breathing in slow, deep audible breaths.

  Lisa had no heart. She had no empathy. She was nothing. The venom for her boiled in my veins. While I was grateful for her bone marrow, she only did it for the money; not because she wanted to save my mother’s life.

  They grew up together and at one time loved each other. She turned so hateful. Now this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

  All that mattered was my mother got what she needed. Lisa didn’t matter.

  “You want more money. Call him yourself.”

  I moved to shut the door, but her foot was there stopping it once again. She pointed at my mother. “You’re alive because of me. Me. If it weren’t for me, you’d be six feet under! Don’t forget that, Evelyn.”

  I’d had enough. I took my hand and pushed Lisa so hard she took several steps back. I swung the door closed and locked it. My back pressed to it, and I stared at my mother who had a tear fall down her cheek.

  Not thinking a moment, I pulled her in my arms and held her tight.

  That bitch. She made my mom cry.

  “It’s okay mom. You got the bone marrow. It’ll be just fine.”

  I didn’t know how to take her pain away. I didn’t know how to process the information literally just dropped on our doorstep. The only thing I knew was I loved my mother with every breath I took.

  Pulling out my cell, I went to the name I never thought I’d call. Before I lost my gumption I hit the green button, connecting the call.

  “Hello, Enissa?” he answered, hesitating on my name as if he was surprised.

  It took me a few beats to pull myself together. Just hearing him again caused my skin to tingle, craving his touch. Why my body betrayed me with him so much, I didn’t know. “Yeah. Umm, hi.”

  “How are you?” There was this different tone in his voice that I couldn’t decipher. It was almost like he was scared. The man I’d met was confident and never had a drop of fear inside him, so what was bringing on his trepidation?

  “Good. I’m good. You?” I felt tongue-tied as every emotion I had started swirling around me. I didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I’d missed him.

  Yes, he used me, but the heart would do what it would do. No one ever took care of me the way Garrett had. Even if it was part of his play on Beacon, no one ever gave me as much attention and affection as Garrett. He had the power and the money obviously; he didn’t have to be kind to me. He didn’t have to cook for me or concern himself with my pleasure. More than anything, he didn’t have to see to my mother’s health, but he did. Maybe he wasn’t the villain I created him to be in my mind.

  He cleared his throat. “Okay.”

  What did I want from this?

  Him. I wanted to spend time with him. I wanted to see him. I wanted to talk to him.

  Taking a deep breath, I took the leap. “Will you go out to dinner with me?”

  “Yes,” he said instantly. “Tell me when, and I’ll come and get you.”

  “Tomorrow night at seven. You can decide where.”

  “I can do that. Are you sure you’re okay?”

  I went for it because I was only okay in a sense. My mother was alive, but not from the kindness of a stranger or the kindness of her sister. My mother was alive because of the man on the other end of the phone. I didn’t know how to process all the details of the situation. Therefore, I let the words tumble out, “Did you pay Lisa Sanders to give bone marrow to my mom?”

  He paused. “Where did you hear that?”

  Well, I was in this far, might as well lay it all out there. He didn’t immediately deny the claim which gave me this reason to believe it was true. “Lisa came by the house and asked for more money. She gave your description.”

  I swore I could hear Garrett curse under his breath. “Yes. I paid her.”

  Well, Garrett once said he was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a liar. He certainly hadn’t lied to me even when it had hurt. There was too much to say, and we needed to do this in person. I needed to come to terms with my emotions. “Can we talk about this at dinner please?”

  “I’ll be there tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, bye.”

  He said, “bye,” then disconnected.

  What in the hell was I thinking asking Garrett to dinner? What did I want from him? How could I ever express my gratitude even if his reasons for doing it had nothing to do with me?

  24

  Garrett

  “What’s got you shook?” Onyx asked, sitting in the chair across from my desk. Observant bastard.

  “Not a damn thing,” I lied. Today was the day I would see Enissa again since the day I put her on a plane back to Pennsylvania. She had lived an hour from me this entire time. I knew it. I even drove by her house a time or two like a crazy teenage boy. Except I never approached.

  I hurt her.

  I did unrepairable damage to any future we could ever have.

  I broke my own rules.

  I let all of this become personal.

  From the way I wanted to make Beacon suffer to the way I allowed myself to fall for Enissa.

  He leaned forward in the chair. “Known you how fuckin’ long? Cut the shit, Garrett. Ain’t a damn thing been right with you since we got back from your hideaway.”

  “Put Ellen Sue in my shit, haven’t shaken that off yet. I fucked up, and she paid the price.” So did Enissa, but I didn’t let him in on the guilt I had there.

  He shook his head. “Callin’ your shit right now. We’ve all known from the beginning Ellen Sue was in danger. Fuck, no one knows our secrets like her. That makes her a target to end any one of us. This is more than Ellen Sue.”

  I didn’t reply because everything he spoke was absolute truth. It didn’t change the level of guilt I felt about any of this. It didn’t help me figure out how I was going to let Enissa go. I wasn’t good for her. I was damaged.

  “It’s the woman.” Onyx and I never held shit back, so rather than reply I simply met his gaze.

  “Brought her in some shit, shouldn’t have. That’s on my shoulders.”

  He studied me, shaking his head. “More than that. You care. I’ve never seen this look in your eyes.”

  He paused. I didn’t deny his statement. There were many things people could say about me.

  Ruthless in business, in a courtroom—fuck yes.

  Cold—absolutely.

  Unshakable—couldn’
t deny that.

  A liar, though, I was not. Therefore, I said nothing.

  “Fuck, you’re shook.”

  I leaned back in my chair. I was indeed shaken up by the absence of Enissa more than I was by her presence. While I didn’t have time to properly get to know her, I connected with her in a way I had never felt with anyone before. Did that make me some lovesick idiot?

  Probably.

  The thing was, I had seen enough bad shit in my life to know what I wanted.

  No games.

  No bullshit.

  Enissa was this calm to the chaos in my mind. When I began down the path to free her from Beacon, it partially was about saving her from some bullshit contract that I didn’t agree with. This man I didn’t know came into my office thinking he held so much power. Frankly, he pissed me off. I wanted to fuck with him from that first meeting. Helping her helped me do that. I wasn’t a good guy, never claimed to be, but I wasn’t a soulless bastard like Charles Beacon. The more I looked into Charles Beacon the more my blood boiled that the man was such a sick fuck. He liked his women damaged. But not damaged before him. Beacon targeted them young and lost. Playing on their naivety and vulnerability, he truly broke them. He liked his power to come not in the form of willing submission, but truly from a place of desperation. He left every single woman in his path damaged.

  I wouldn’t stand for that kind of shit to continue.

  Then, I kept digging. My mother’s name came up in a list of transactions. The dates lined up. Reaching out to the maid and getting my mother’s journals, every question I ever had as a boy was answered in those worn pages. A simple DNA kit from an ancestry site confirmed what my gut was telling me. Charles Beacon was my father.

  That changed everything.

  This wasn’t about the injustice of what he was trying to do to Enissa and her family. It was about me.

  Did that make me an epic asshole?

  Probably.

  I still wouldn’t change a damn thing about it.

  Enissa was a means to an end by the time I brought her into my world. She was a pawn in my plan against my father.

  The more I dug into Charles Beacon, the angrier I got. So much of my life I didn’t have a clue about my father. Then to find him to be a despicable man, in some ways I thought maybe it was best I not ever know. In the beginning, I was angry my grandmother hid so much of my mother from me. She had to have known.

  Letting go was the hardest thing to do. But I had to find a way. My grandmother’s memory need not be tainted by Charles Beacon. He damaged enough of my life, and he didn’t get to ruin that for me too.

  “Don’t let her slip through your fingers,” Onyx told me as he rose. “Not gonna get in your shit, not the kinda man you are. Just gonna say, you are not your father’s son. You aren’t Beacon, so don’t wrap your head up in some bullshit. You are Garrett Monroe, attorney, business mogul, even dream maker to some, but mostly you’re my family and you’re a good fuckin’ man. One thing we all know, you ‘specially: tomorrow isn’t promised. Shit Enissa went through with her mom, she knows that too. Don’t waste the day. Lay your shit out for her. She wants to see how good it can be, she’ll take that chance. She doesn’t, well, Garrett, that’s her fuckin’ loss.”

  I stood and went to a man who had been my big brother since everything was taken from me in a blink. We embraced in the man backslap hug we did, and I felt the weight lift off my shoulders.

  He left my office, and I decided to call it a day as well.

  On the drive to my penthouse, I thought about many things.

  My grams, she always told me to find happy and hold onto it.

  The only happiness I had touched in my adult life was those few quiet weeks with Enissa. I let it go, I let her go.

  If this was to work, she had to know everything. Could she accept the man I really was?

  Arriving home, Ellen Sue was there. I greeted her with a quick hug.

  “What’s got you troubled?” she asked, immediately reading me.

  “Gotta pick Enissa up for dinner tonight. She knows.”

  Ellen Sue reached out and held my hands in hers. “Leave no secret between you, Garrett. She’s strong enough to know them all.” And Ellen Sue being Ellen Sue never stopped to ask what Enissa knew because Ellen Sue was unconditional love wrapped in a person. She never pried; she only encouraged.

  I shook my head. “She’s a good woman. I don’t want to taint that.”

  Ellen Sue smiled. “You’re a good man, Garrett. There’s nothin’ about you that will mark her dark, my boy. You, Onyx, Paxton, and Dane judge yourselves on standards that don’t matter. Amos was a bad man. He hurt you boys. You did the world a service that night. My boys, always so smart. You came together, and you have a business giving people their dreams with children they otherwise wouldn’t have. That’s not bad a bad thing, Garrett.”

  I gave a cocky laugh. “We get paid well, Ellen Sue. We’re not saints.”

  She shrugged it off. “It’s a business transaction; of course you will get paid. But the heart of what you do is ensure people in loving homes have the children they desire without all the other nonsense of government regulations. I don’t know what it takes to qualify for sainthood, but what I do know is the heart of the man in front of me is good through and through.”

  I didn’t reply because I was certain Ellen Sue had motherly blinders on when it came to the four of us.

  She didn’t let me off the hook as she continued, “Garrett, you deserve happiness. I know Charles Beacon being your father was a shock to your system. I’m sure you played the what-ifs of your life over and over in your head. In the end, though, you did right by Enissa and her family. She needs to know everything there is to know about you. I’ve seen her strength. She’s the kind of woman who can love every bad thing from your soul. She’s the kind of strong to support a man like you. She needs to know you paid for her mother’s care. She needs to know you didn’t just set out to hurt her.”

  “Oh, but I did.”

  Ellen Sue gave my hands a squeeze. “No, you set out to hurt Charles Beacon. Enissa was collateral damage to that. If she knew where you came from, the things you endured, she would see your intentions with her family were good. She would see what I see in you.”

  Words escaped me. I didn’t know what to say.

  Ellen Sue pressed on, “I see a man who knows how to love. I see a man who doesn’t hold back when push comes to shove. I see a man who knows pain and how to endure hardship. I see a man who will do anything for the ones he loves. I know the boy inside the man in front of me. The boy who didn’t think he could be loved, and the man in front of me knows how precious real love is. Don’t let her slip away because you feel unworthy. Because the man in front of me, he is worthy of the very best in life. Enissa and you can have it all. Take the chance, give her everything, and trust that her heart is strong enough for it all.”

  I nodded. What could I say? Ellen Sue loved us like only a mother or grandmother could. Good, bad, ugly, and through every wrong we had ever done, Ellen Sue was there only wanting the best for us all.

  The very best was Enissa Mitchell. She was mine for the taking. Would she be able to see through all the dark and the ugly to the heart of the man I was?

  Time would only tell.

  25

  Enissa

  “Where are we?” The tall building in front of us didn’t appear to be a restaurant. It was covered in glass all the way up to the very top. I was so nervous I wasn’t sure how I would be able to eat.

  We pulled into an underground parking area and tagged a spot.

  “My place,” he said, and I felt my stomach tighten in anticipation.

  I planned on a restaurant. A public place where I wouldn’t get lost in him. I wanted the safety net of people being around so I wouldn’t get emotional. Eating at his apartment, that changed all my security measures for my heart, head, and body.

  “Why?”

  He put the sleek car in park.
I had never ridden in a luxury vehicle before. While I didn’t even recognize the make much less the model, the way the car rode it was high-end. “To have dinner.”

  “Garrett…” I started, but he interrupted.

  “We’re just having dinner, Enissa. What we need to talk about doesn’t need to be out there with all the ears. It’s private, and we need that to have our talk. I know you have questions, and I want to be honest with my response.”

  I nodded because I could see where he would want privacy.

  I climbed from the car as Garrett rounded it. Taking me by the hand, he led me to an elevator. Vaguely, I noticed he clicked the penthouse level. He didn’t release my hand at all, so I fought the urge to take my hand back and nervously tug at my dress or something.

  The elevator dinged and opened into the top floor of the building. The space was huge and an open concept. The far wall was all glass, reminding me of the views from his beach house. Only the view in front of me was the city.

  Guiding me to the dining area, he pulled out a white chair to a solid glass table. I sat as he took his place beside me only after pouring us both glasses of wine.

  I wondered about him drinking and how I would get home, but decided not to say anything because I could always call a cab.

  He lifted the lids to the plates in front of us. The smells hit my nose, and instantly my stomach was on board with eating.

  “Prime rib, garlic and herb mashed potatoes, and roasted asparagus,” he explained while I sipped my wine.

  “It looks delicious.”

  “Ellen Sue prepared it with you in mind. No seafood tonight,” he joked with a soft smile.

  “If you make seafood like before, I’ll eat it. You are an amazing cook, Garrett.”

  His smile grew bigger, and I swear my heart skipped a beat. Garrett Monroe was stunning in general. Watching him relax and give a genuine show of pleasure was beyond measure.

  We ate in silence for a while. The food was delicious, but we needed to talk, and I couldn’t keep avoiding the conversation just because I knew it would hurt me.