Her eyes narrowed. “Fine you want to do this now in front of her?” Connor nodded. “Royce was a pompous ass. Charles is a real man and he told me about your father’s vasectomy. Why would Royce lie about that all of these years? He has to know the truth. The only reason is his jealousy of Charles, and he wanted to keep you to spite him. The least you could do is return his phone calls. Do you want your father to stay in jail forever?”
Connor stiffened next to me and I almost felt like leaving them to talk alone. Only Striker held on to me tight, like he needed me there. “He’s not my father.”
“Not that I blame you,” she continued, as if Striker hadn’t said a word. “The money is a lot, but Charles has money too and he’s your dad.”
“It doesn’t matter who the sperm donor is. If Charles cared one bit about me, he would have been there for me years ago.”
I agreed with Connor there. This Charles seemed just as selfish as his mother. Maybe they deserved each other.
“We were securing your future. He had to keep it a secret.”
“You’re lying, Mother. Neither of you thought that until Charles had the confrontation with Kalen.”
I felt like I was watching a bad TV drama plot.
“That’s not true. Royce wanted a son. He couldn’t have Kalen, so he accepted you,” he said.
Connor’s jaw tightened. “You urged him not to pursue Kalen.”
Some women didn’t deserve to be mothers and she was one of them.
“For you. If you’d fallen in line instead of dreaming and drawing, you would have been the next CEO. That boy wouldn’t be here.”
I guessed that boy was Kalen. From what Bailey told me Kalen was probably as conflicted as Connor was about their father. There was love and hate. But Kalen had come to New York to help run the company when their father had asked him to.
“He deserves to be here. He’s Dad son. From your lips, I’m not.”
“You’re a stubborn boy. You get that from—” She stopped herself.
“From whom, Mother?” Connor snapped.
“After everything I’ve done for you.”
“What have you done for me? Truly.”
I wanted to jump in, but she shook her finger at him and spoke before me. “The day that man finds out you don’t belong to him, don’t come looking for me.”
Then she stormed out, her heels clicking on the marble floor. How had I not heard her approach?
He didn’t say a word for a few minutes, giving the woman time to exit. “Sorry about that.”
I shifted so we were facing each other. “How much did you know?”
“Most of it, I guess. She and Charles ambushed me at the office a few months ago.”
This was the part that hurt the most. “Is that why you married me?”
“Because of Charles?” he asked, looking confused.
“Don’t. You said you knew most of it. That includes the inheritance.”
“What inher…”
I pulled free as he trailed off. “So you did know. I should have figured marrying me benefited you too.” I blew out a breath. “You blamed me for not ending it when you could have as well. I bet you were just pleased to pieces that I didn’t get a lawyer.”
He ran a hand over his head, and I stepped back, fighting the urge to run.
“I swear, I didn’t know that.”
I crossed my arms, lifting my eyebrow. I didn’t believe him, but I’d give him a chance to explain.
He swallowed. “Kalen said something today, asking me why I married you but said I needed to hear it from Da.”
That was the first time I’d heard Striker say something that sounded faintly Irish.
“Kalen knew, but you didn’t? You know how hard that is to believe?”
His stare went flat. “I’ve never outright lied to ye. I told you before, trust is a big thing. If you can’t trust me, we can’t do this.”
“I’ll be honest, I’m having a hard time believing you.”
“Then ask away. I swear on my life, I’ll tell you the truth. And if you don’t think I’m being honest with you, you can stay here and I’ll go home. When Da is released from the hospital, I’m sure Griffin or Kalen would have figured something else out.”
I didn’t bother telling him that there was no way I was staying here if we were done. First, I had questions. “Who is the artist who did the paintings in your apartment and the ones at my gallery showing?”
He glanced away. “Me.”
Part of me had guessed. The man had serious talent. But I couldn’t overlook the other issue. “Another lie by omission.”
“You didn’t talk to me for months. And when you did, your life was on the line. I’m sorry I didn’t exactly think about my paintings.”
It was a good reason. “What about the painting Hans wanted to buy? Was that me?”
He nodded.
“When did you paint it?”
“The first time I saw you in my apartment”
I got a bad feeling, but I asked anyway. “When?”
He stepped forward, but I backed up. “Lizzy, I didn’t know.”
“Didn’t know what?”
“That you were staying in my house. I came to paint and found you sleeping in my bed.”
I clenched my teeth but forced the words out anyway. “And you said nothing?”
“What would you have done?” I opened my mouth, but nothing came out and he continued. “Exactly. Strange man in the house wakes you up? I doubt it would be a civil conversation even though from the law, I would have been in the right.”
“Kalen said—”
“Kalen didn’t own the penthouse. He didn’t ask my permission. If I’d known… the first thing I did was call him.”
“Why? If I was Goldilocks in your house, why call him and not the police?”
I couldn’t read his expression. His face was devoid of expression. “Because he’s the only other person with a key. I wanted to talk to him first.”
As I thought back, I remembered something. “Were you there when Griffin came?”
“He arrived before I could leave.”
I held up a finger because I hadn’t been crazy. “You were in the pantry. I remember the door being open that night and closed in the morning.”
“Yes.”
“I can’t believe this. That’s why you were at the bar. You knew.” The puzzle started to put itself together and my heart cracked from the growing embers of anger. “You talked to Griffin that night. Maybe he was waiting because he’d been looking for you,” I said, remembering how Griffin had charged in and asked Where is he? Connor’s lips pursed. “And the bet you mentioned at the wedding?” I asked.
“With you or him?”
“Him!” I shouted because I didn’t want to be reminded of the bet he’d never claimed.
“I didn’t want him to have you.”
I laughed, feeling incredibly foolish. “You knew I was interested in you.”
“And I was interested in you.”
I let out a sour laugh because I’d felt completely humiliated by his rejection. “You didn’t act like it.”
He reached for me but let his hand drop when I glared at it. “I’m like you. I didn’t date rich women.”
I didn’t know what to say.
“Full disclosure, I was also at the apartment to get the paintings when you showed up with Anderson.”
My jaw couldn’t have opened any wider. “What other secrets do you have?”
“Everyone has secrets. I’m sure you do. I don’t have any more that involve you.”
“Who is Mr. Black?”
“You know it’s me.”
“I know. But is Mr. Black into anything illegal?” I asked, somehow needing to keep the two personas separate in my mind in case I didn’t like what he said.
“Not in the way you think.”
“What other ways are there?”
He sighed. “There are bad people in the world, princess. The club is a
good place for gathering information. People talk when they think no one is listening.”
“What bad people?” I asked.
“The boys from my school. They’re still out there. I’ve been watching them, and I’m pretty sure one or two is involved in some bad shit.”
It all sounded plausible, and I wanted desperately to believe him.
“One more question.” he said flatly.
His face had gone cold, but not in that dominating way of his.
“Why do you have tattoos on the backs of your arms and not the front? It’s like you’re Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
“Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, huh?”
“If the shoe fits.” I was pretty sure I stood in front of Mr. Hyde.
He nodded. “I use the tattoos to hide my scars.”
And with that, he walked out.
How could my heart ache for the man and my brain scream not to trust him? All his little secrets, lies by omission, warred with my heart—which did trust him. But had he owed me those truths? Were his secrets lies by omission if he hadn’t owed me the truth?
I’d been in his place without his permission. Neither of us had been at fault there. Could I blame him for not waking me? I had been sleeping naked that night. He’d done me a kindness by not startling me. It also explained why Griffin had showed up looking for someone that night.
And the rest… we’d worked through that. So why did it feel as if fate was placing roadblocks in our path? Here he’d been confronted by a vicious woman, and how had I supported him? By telling him I didn’t trust him. He honestly appeared to have known nothing about the inheritance.
I had no idea where to find him in this big house, but I raced to find him.
Twenty
Lizzy
Talk about winded! After racing up two flights of stairs and not finding him, I retreated down. In the lower level, I found him swimming laps in the pool Griff had mentioned. Striker’s clothes were in a heap not too far from the edge, leaving him gloriously naked.
He didn’t react at my approach, which gave me time to admire the view as he swam away from me in water as blue as his eyes.
What could I do to fix this?
He stopped at the other end, folding his arms over the edge while looking out the windows. I stepped forward, but my phone buzzed in my pocket. After checking the screen, I backtracked up the stairs as silently and quickly as possible.
“Matty,” I said when I stepped into the main hall. I moved toward the library. “Holy hell, butthead, I’ve been worried sick.”
“I know, I’m sorry. This is the first chance I’ve had to call.”
There were crowd noises, or maybe music, in the background.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“In a phone store.”
“That doesn’t sound good. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, pretty sure. I’m just being careful. They bought that Mr. Black business. In fact, you could say it earned me street cred for banging his wife.”
“Eww, that’s gross.”
“Hear me out. The fact that they thought I was a badass for taking that risk is bad news. Mr. Black is bad news.”
“You mean Connor?” It was getting easier to say that name.
“Whatever he calls himself, he’s in some bad shit.”
“He’s not,” I said automatically.
“It’s just not the streets, Lizzy. The FBI are planning to raid his club tomorrow night.”
“Wait. No.” I glanced back to listen for Striker. When I didn’t hear him, I headed upstairs to put more distance between him and me. “You have to stop it. He’s trying to get the bad guys, not work with them.” I couldn’t explain more without revealing Striker’s secrets.
“He’s connected to a human trafficking ring. He’s on a list of potential buyers for a sale going down this week. If you’re with him, and I think you are, you have to leave now.”
I stopped at the fourth-floor landing. I hadn’t truly explored. When I’d been up here earlier, I’d blown through, just looking for him. “I’m not leaving. This isn’t right. You don’t know him.”
“How much do you know about him? Did you know the club he owns, Flame, is a sex club?”
I hadn’t at first. “Yes. And I’ve been there.”
“Spare me the details. Look, if this guy gives a shit about you, do you think he’ll want you to go to jail for him?”
He wouldn’t.
“I didn’t think so,” Matty said when I didn’t answer.
“I’ll warn him.”
“You can’t. If you do, I could lose my job if they find out who’s the leak.”
I pressed a hand to my forehead. This couldn’t be happening.
“You need to go. That’s the best thing you could do for him.”
“Matt, do something. This isn’t right. Trust me. I would never lie to you. But I can’t tell you all of it. He isn’t guilty. I swear.”
“Leave, Lizzy. For all I know, they’ve upped the date. I’m not on the task force for that case. I’ve only been notified because it’s loosely connected to mine. They could be looking for him now. I’ve talked to Kalen. He’s expecting you at his place.”
“Why’d you do that?”
“I know how stubborn you are. And I only told him you needed to crash at his place tonight. Nothing else. But you need a buffer between you and Connor. One minute you’re pretending you don’t give a fuck about him and the next you’re flying all over the world together. Do Mom and Dad even know you’re married?”
They didn’t. I’d blamed the initial press about me being married to some unknown person on Hans’s proposal. I’d told them I said anything to get out of it. When the press lost interest in the story so quickly, they hadn’t asked more.
I sighed. “No.”
“It’s your life, but he can’t be in it right now. I have to go.”
It was my life. “Stay safe, butthead.”
“You too, barbiehead.” I hadn’t heard that one in a while.
I felt sick when we hung up. I trusted my brother implicitly, but I also trusted Striker. Matt had to be wrong about this. Still, I knew Striker wouldn’t want me anywhere near him if he was arrested. Matt was right about that. So I ordered an Uber, grabbed my bag, wrote a quick note, and left it on the island in the kitchen before fleeing the house.
The Uber was there when I closed the door as softly as I could, like a thief in the night. I got in the Uber but found myself watching the front door as she drove away. Part of me hoped he’d come for me. If he had, I would have stayed.
When I arrived at Kalen and Bailey’s place, Kalen was waiting for me. His pensive gaze made me wonder if he knew about Striker’s impending arrest. Once again, I felt like a traitor for not telling Striker.
“Aye,” he said, folding me in a hug. Even though he wasn’t my big brother, he felt like one, and I choked up in his arms. “It’ll be okay. Connor’s a good lad. Whatever he’s done, he’ll apologize.”
He had no idea. Connor had done nothing. I wiped a stray tear because my emotions were that high.
“I’m leaving you alone with Bailey for a few hours. I need to run to the office anyway.”
“It’s late,” I said.
“Yeah, but with Father in the hospital, there’s much to be done. It will give you two a chance to talk.”
I nodded.
“One thing—you must tell her about you and Connor being married, aye? I won’t keep this from her if you don’t.”
I nodded again.
“Chin up. This too shall pass.”
I hated breaking up their honeymoon. They didn’t often have a lot of alone time. They’d only planned a short honeymoon that had been cut shorter because of her father-in-law’s hospitalization. It hit me then—Royce King was my father-in-law too.
Kalen did some things with a card, a keypad, a screen, and said something to the elevator before bidding me a goodbye. Only then did the thing move and take me up. Their security was
tighter than Connor’s.
Bailey must have been notified I was on my way up because she was there when I stepped out. We hugged as if it hadn’t been a few days since I last saw her.
“What happened? When Matt called, I figured it must be bad.”
I almost told her about the pending raid and stopped. She wouldn’t tell a soul outside of her husband. And if I asked her to keep something from Kalen, she would. But then I’d put her in the same position Kalen was in right now, knowing I was married to his brother. “Matt thinks Connor’s into something bad.”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “Bad? Like what?”
“I don’t know. Something with his club.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I believe Matt believes. But I don’t think so.”
“But you’re here,” she said.
“I guess I need time to think. There’s also something I haven’t told you.” When her brow lifted, I continued. “Remember when I told you about Hans’s proposal at the gallery?”
“Yes.”
“And I told you Striker…” I paused. “Connor suggested he was the one I married.”
“That was true?”
“Not that day. But the next, we actually got married. It was kind of sweet, if you think about it. He was trying to make sure the media wouldn’t call me a liar.”
She held up a hand. “Let me get this straight. You married him months before my wedding and kept it a secret?”
I bit my lip before saying, “Yes. But we intended to get it annulled a few weeks after. Only the next day, I learned he was Connor King. And I couldn’t think. I was so mad…”
“But you didn’t get it annulled?”
I shook my head.
“You’re in love with him.”
I hadn’t thought in those terms. “What is love? I don’t even know what that means.”
The last time I was in love, the guy, Beau, had broken my heart and my body. Clearly my judgment in that area needs to be questioned.
“And maybe that’s why you’ve been running away from it all these years. You never let anyone get too close. You’ve picked guys you could hook up with but could never bring home to your parents.”
“Hans?” I said in my defense.
“Didn’t I mention guys you could bang?”
Kingdom Fall: A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance (Kingdom Come Book 2) Page 13