“No,” Lucian said. His heart was breaking. “No, Maddie.”
She lifted her gaze to the sky. “I pushed her and she . . . Mom just lost her balance. It was an accident, Lucian. I didn’t mean to. It just happened.”
Everything. Everything just stopped inside of Lucian. His mother hadn’t killed herself? It had been Maddie? This entire time it had been her?
Julia’s arms tightened around his waist just as he swayed. His feet—his world was unsteady, off-kilter.
“I had to leave,” she continued. “So I went to Daniel. I told him what happened, and he took me to his father’s lake house. The one they never go to. I . . . I stayed there with him. I was never going to come back. You would never have to know the truth. I was going to stay away, but . . . but we ran out of the money his father left him and . . . we needed money to survive. So I had to come home. I had to . . . I had to secure our future.”
Lucian was numb. If Julia hadn’t been holding him up, he’d be on his knees.
“I had a plan, because I knew the truth. I knew the truth. I was going to come back and pretend to be sick. It would give me a chance to find mother’s diary.”
“That’s why Daniel asked us to go through her stuff?”
“That’s when the plans changed.” She dragged her hand over her head. “Daniel wasn’t supposed to be here at all—not then. I needed time to get into her room and her diary, because there was a key I needed to get to the papers.”
“What papers?” Lucian demanded, vaguely remembering seeing a key hooked to the journal Julia had found.
“The proof,” Julia said.
What in the hell were they talking about?
Maddie nodded. “The proof—the DNA tests that Mom had done when we were just kids. She knew—she told me, Lucian. She told me the truth and asked that I not tell anyone, and I listened to her. I kept that secret and in the end she still ruined everything!”
His stomach twisted. “What tests?”
Maddie jumped, startled when lightning struck close. “She knew that we, that me and you, were the true heirs. We were Lawrence’s only children.”
“You . . . you can’t be right.” Lucian shook his head, his stomach bottoming. “There’s no way—”
“It’s true, Lucian. Devlin and Gabe were not his kids. We were,” she said. “Mom told me. She told me that she had us all tested. She had the proof. It’s in a lockbox.”
“In the closet,” Julia whispered. “Holy crap, it’s under the floorboards.”
Maddie nodded. “You’ve been reading Mom’s diary, haven’t you? I don’t blame you. I like you, Julia. You’re . . . sweet, but I really wish you would’ve just brought me the diary. Then maybe none of this would’ve happened. Maybe you would’ve gotten to go home.”
Lucian stiffened. “You’re my sister.” He reached behind him, pressing his hand into Julia’s hip. He inched her backward, effectively keeping himself in between the girl he no longer knew and the woman he knew he was falling in love with. “But I won’t let you hurt Julia.”
“You don’t have a choice.” She rasped out a broken laugh. “We can’t have witnesses.”
Focused on her and the gun she clenched tightly in her pale hand, he continued edging Julia out of his sister’s view. He had to keep Maddie talking until he figured out how to end this. “Why did you not just come home and tell us the truth? If Lawrence was really our father, why not just say so? Why go through all of this?”
“Because what difference would it have made? Dev would’ve made sure the truth got buried and with our father still alive? He would’ve definitely covered it up. He always wanted Dev and Gabe. Never us. He had to go before I could find the papers.”
Did she have something to do with Lawrence’s death?
Julia suddenly tensed behind him. Movement out the corner of his eyes caught his attention.
Gabe.
He was home and on the roof, inching closer and closer to where they all stood.
“Why the paintings?” he asked, keeping Maddie focused on him.
She shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know. I just wanted someone to see the truth. I just wanted to.”
Lucian shook his head. God, he didn’t even know this person standing in front of him. She was a ghost—a twisted ghost.
Gabe drew closer.
“So you killed Lawrence?” he asked, already knowing the answer. It made sense now. If Lawrence was still alive, it wouldn’t matter who the true heirs were. With him gone and proof that Lucian and Maddie were his children, the will could be contested.
Her plan was crazy.
And it wasn’t just the plan that proved to him that he never knew who she was. It was her relationship with their cousin. It was the fact that she had killed their mother, accident or not.
Maddie laughed hoarsely. “That was our plan. That was the only time Daniel was supposed to be here. We would kill him and then . . . then I could prove that we were his kids. That’s why I came back like I did. I needed people to not suspect me.”
She had fooled him, but not their brothers. Not them.
“But we didn’t kill him.” She laughed again, wiping at her face as a fresh wave of tears tracked down her face.
“Bullshit,” he said.
“You don’t have to believe that, Lucian, but I swear it wasn’t us. There’s a killer here, and it isn’t just me. I’m not the only one, but I’m gonna have to do it again.” She steadied the gun. “We can fix this, but she’s got to go. So does Dev.”
His heart stopped in his chest.
“You and I can fix this together.” She took a deep breath. “We can fix this. Like we used to. Remember? When we—”
It happened so fast.
But he still had time to warn his sister. He could’ve stopped Gabe. All of this could’ve ended different. But he kept Maddie’s focus on him.
And a little part of him died right there.
Gabe shot forward, shoving his shoulder into Maddie’s side. The gun fired, but the aim was off. The bullet shot off harmlessly into the sky. Both his brother and sister toppled to the side, toward the edge of the roof.
Lucian sprung forward, racing toward them as they fell backward. He reached their sides just as another streak of lightning lit up the sky. There was only a split second, but more than enough time to not lie to himself, to pretend he wasn’t making a choice between saving his twin sister and his brother.
He grabbed Gabe’s flailing arm, pulling him back as his sister screamed, the sound lost in the crashing thunder and then silenced by the ground below.
Chapter 32
Maddie hadn’t been lying.
He found the lockbox under the floorboards of the closet. The key attached to the diary opened the box, and inside it were paternity results.
DNA proving that Lucian and Maddie were, indeed, Lawrence’s biological children, and neither Gabe nor Dev were.
It had been a shock to all of them.
Hell, everything had been a shock, even though his brothers never trusted Maddie’s return. He should’ve listened to them.
The last twenty-four hours had been a blur.
Once Dev had woken up, he and Gabe got down to fixing things while Lucian got Julia off that rooftop and to his room to clean up and make sure she was okay.
Besides a few bruises and a set of mental images she’d probably never forget, Julia would be.
While Lucian was with her, one of the brothers had called Richard. Despite the time of night, the man had come and he did what he needed to do.
His brothers did what they needed to.
With Richard’s help, all evidence of their sister having returned home vanished. Everything in their home had been wiped clean of her presence. And the lake house Maddie had hidden away at, well, the lake house was no more.
Then Troy was called, and that night was rewritten. The official story was partly true, partly not. Daniel had broken in and had been threatening Julia and Lucian. Dev had saved the day, bu
t not before Daniel admitted to having financial problems. Police came out. All of them were questioned. Julia, who was introduced to Troy as Lucian’s girlfriend, backed the story up.
More than one person, including Troy, openly speculated about Daniel’s potential involvement in Lawrence’s suspicious death, and none of them corrected it. Lucian knew that when they started digging into Daniel, they’d find financial issues, but they would find nothing regarding Maddie.
To the world, Maddie was still missing and no one would know the truth to what she had been responsible for. That was their burden to carry.
And besides, Lucian didn’t really believe what his sister claimed. Not when Maddie had proven she was a fraud and a murderer who was willing to kill again.
The sun was in high in the sky by the time the police had left and Lucian was finally alone with Julia. He couldn’t talk to her about any of it, and she seemed to sense that. Even after everything she’d been through, she offered blissful comfort with her body, and he took it—took it all, making love to her, slow and meticulously. He stayed with her until she fell asleep in his arms, until he knew he had to leave her to take care of one last thing with his brothers.
Lucian had pulled the blanket up, draping it over her shoulders. Kissing her cheek, he moved away from the bed and pulled on a pair of jeans. Weary to his very core, he grabbed the folder of papers and headed downstairs.
Dev and Gabe where in the study, both silent when he walked in. Neither looked up as he crossed the room. Bending down, he turned on the gas fireplace. Flames roared to life.
“Cold?” Gabe asked.
He didn’t respond as he opened up the file and pulled out the papers. “These are the paternity results. I’m getting rid of them.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Dev said.
He didn’t. He knew that. “These papers change nothing. Lawrence wasn’t my father.” He started to toss the papers into the flames. “He never will be.”
Dev stopped him, catching his arm. Their gazes met. “You could have everything.”
“I don’t want everything,” he said, meaning it. “I don’t want any of it. Never had. That hasn’t changed.”
For a long moment, Dev held his stare and then he clasped his other hand around the nape of Lucian’s neck. Dev pressed his brow to Lucian’s. “I never wanted to be right about Madeline,” he said in a low voice.
Lucian’s throat thickened. “I know.”
Several moments passed, and then Dev let go. Drawing in a breath that didn’t do very much, Lucian tossed the papers into the flames.
The three of them watched the evidence turn to ash.
Feeling heavier than he had in years, Lucian walked to the couch and dropped down beside him. A glass of whiskey was handed to him, and he downed half of it in one gulp.
Discovering what his sister had done, what she’d been doing had altered everything Lucian had known and believed. Their mother? Their fucking father?
Why . . . why had Lawrence treated him the way he had? Treated Maddie the way he had? Maybe—just maybe if the man had been an actual father to them, Maddie wouldn’t have ended up the way she had.
And they’d never have the answers.
He’d never know if Lawrence knew the truth, and if he had, Lucian would never know why he treated Maddie and him like he did.
Man, that was a hard thing to come to terms with. He didn’t even know how.
“I can’t believe that fuck had been in this house when we didn’t know,” Gabe said, breaking the silence. “Jesus.”
The footsteps? The shadow Julia had seen while she’d been in the shower? Some of it had been Maddie. Some of it had been Daniel. If that punk weren’t already alligator feed, Lucian would make damn sure he would be.
“I’m sorry,” Gabe said. “I didn’t mean to take her to the edge.”
“I know.” Lucian closed his eyes. “I could’ve grabbed you both. I only grabbed you. That’s the truth.”
“Don’t put that on yourself,” Dev ordered. “And, Gabe, you did what you had to do to. We all did.”
They did.
Like they had before.
Like they always did.
Didn’t make any of this easier.
“Maybe it’s true,” Lucian said after a couple of moments.
“What?” Gabe turned to him.
A wry smile twisted his lips. “The curse—all of that shit. I mean, look around us. Look what has happened to nearly every woman in our family, to the women we know. This house—this name fucking taints them.”
Gabe stiffened. “Lucian—”
“You can’t tell me you don’t believe that. After everything?” His hand tightened on the glass. “After what happened with you—with what is happening right now with Emma and your son?”
His brother looked away.
“Our sister killed our mother and then hid for ten years. She came back and pretended that she couldn’t walk or talk. You can’t tell me that’s some normal shit right there.”
“It’s not normal.” Dev sat in the chair across from them. “Just like having a family that people believe is cursed isn’t normal.”
Lucian snorted.
Silence fell between them and then Gabe asked, “How are you handling this?”
“I don’t know.” Lucian forced a smile as he stared down at his glass. “Ask me again in five years.”
“What are you going to do about Julia?”
“If he was smart, he’d get her on the next flight out of here.” Dev stared into the flames. “We don’t need her anymore.”
“I wasn’t asking you,” Gabe said, his tone hardening in a way Lucian had never heard it before. “You care about her. I know you do.”
There was a good chance that the glass would crack in Lucian’s grip. Truth was, he still needed Julia. He needed her now more than ever and he did care about her. Deeply.
He knew that he loved her.
And Lucian knew what he had to do.
Chapter 33
Rolling onto her side, Julia winced at the twinge of pain along her ribs. The ache was dull, but she was lucky they weren’t broken.
She was so lucky for so many things.
With her eyes still closed and heart aching as the events from the night before came back to her, she reached over for Lucian, but her hand hit air and nothing else. Brows furrowing together, she opened her eyes. Daylight was mostly blocked by the thick curtains, but the slivers of light crept across the hardwood floor and the foot of the bed.
Holding the covers to her chest and careful not to pull on her tender ribs, she looked around Lucian’s bedroom. Her breath caught when she saw him.
Lucian was sitting in a chair across from the bed, half his body cast into the shadows of the room. His legs were spread wide, and from what she could see, he was slouched in the chair, one elbow propped up on the arm, his two fingers folded over his lips.
He wasn’t moving, so still that he could’ve been mistaken for a sculpture. Unease blossomed as her fingers curled around the edge of the blanket.
“Lucian?” She felt stupid for asking, but she had to. “Are you . . . you okay?”
He didn’t respond for a long, too long moment. The unease grew like a noxious weed unfurling in the pit of her stomach and spreading through her veins, threatening to choke her. “I will be,” he replied, his tone empty and flat. “Eventually.”
She wet her lip, wincing when she touched the cut along her bottom. “That was a dumb question. I know, but—”
“It’s not stupid.” There was a pause. “Did you sleep well?”
“Yes. I—I think so.” Between everything that had happened, she’d been exhausted and she’d slept the kind of sleep where you weren’t even sure you dreamed. “Did I sleep long?”
“You slept as long as you needed to.”
Air hitched in her throat again. Scooting to the foot of the bed, she kept the sheet to her chest. Lucian had seen every inch of her body and then some, bu
t she felt oddly vulnerable in the moment, so she held the sheet close. His tone—it was off. Everything about him was off.
The last thing she remembered was him holding her before she fell asleep. “Did you not sleep at all?”
“Not really.”
She placed her feet on the floor but halted, wishing he would say something else—something more. Instead, he just sat there, watching her from the shadows. Tiny knots formed in her stomach.
Julia couldn’t even begin to know what he was going through, what he was feeling. His brothers might have suspected that things with Madeline were not what they seemed, but Lucian had always defended his twin sister. She’d fallen for Maddie’s act, but for him, it was different.
Not only had he discovered that his sister was nothing but a fraud, he’d learned that she had killed their mother. The hits hadn’t stopped coming. He’d spent his life believing the man who raised them wasn’t their father and that’s why he’d been so hateful toward them. But that hadn’t been the truth.
How could Lucian even process that was beyond Julia, and it was unlikely he would ever know why his father had behaved the way he had toward him and Madeline. None of them knew where the mother’s diary was now. It was lost with all the ghosts of the past.
And he . . . he had to watch his sister die.
She knew he wasn’t going to be all right. Not for a while, and that was okay, because she would be there for him.
“Tell me,” she said, searching out his gaze through the shadows. “Tell me what I can do for you.”
There was a long stretch of silence and then he said, “I’m actually glad you brought that up. There is something you can do for me.”
“Anything,” she replied immediately.
Lucian finally moved. He rose, and she lifted her head, expected him to come to her. He didn’t. Lucian walked over to a small table butted up to the wall, beside the door that led out into his living room. He picked something up—a folder. He came back to her, holding it out.
Julia’s gaze dropped to it. “What is this?”
“It’s your future,” he replied.
Her future? Numbly, she took the folder from him. As soon as it was in her hand, he backed off, turning away and walking toward the porch doors. She placed the folder on the bed, opening it. “I don’t understand . . .”
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