“Tomas,” she whispered, “I’m pregnant.”
“Oh, shit.”
Her lower lip trembled. “What’s wrong with us?”
“I don’t know, honey, but I’ll do my best to find out, okay?”
“T–thank you, Tommy.”
“It’s okay. Now, don’t you worry. If you worry, it might trigger another episode. Just stay calm, and try to do whatever pregnant women do.”
Her quivering lips formed a smile at that. “You always were good in a crisis.”
“This isn’t a crisis yet.”
“Good to know,” she told him. “Stay safe, Tommy. I’ll speak to you later, okay?”
“Yeah. Later, sis.”
When he cut the call, she was left in the silence of the barren room. She headed over to the connecting bath, and looked in the mirror. She almost felt faint again at the sight of her normal eyes. Wherever those other pupils had gone, she didn’t know but she was relieved as fuck.
On a gulp, she lowered her head and washed her face. The cool water seemed to shock her heart beat back into line. It was no longer thudding dully in her chest any more, the leaden thumps ceasing to echo through her body. She took a few moments to calm herself down fully. Standing there, arms braced, she refused to feel worry over something she didn’t understand yet. Over something that might have a perfectly logical explanation.
That it seemed unlikely was a given, but a woman had to have hope, didn’t she?
Her train of thought was shattered when the front door slammed. Considering she was four stories up, and she still heard the bang, that was some noise. She frowned then ran out of the room and headed toward the elevator again, thinking something must have happened to Caden. But by the time she made it to the landing with its mezzanine opening, she realized something else was going on. That something was between Chloë and Eloise, she recognized the other woman’s self-important tones—she managed to sound pompous even when she was furious.
“You dared to harm my son?” came a sudden shriek. “You dared to drug him? What the hell were you thinking?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Eloise, of course I didn’t!” Chloë denied, the lying bitch.
“His toxicology report states otherwise. You doused him with enough ketamine to knock him out in his other form! If he hadn’t vomited at the scene you might have killed him!”
“No,” Chloë cried. “I’d never hurt him!”
“In your foolish desire to have him for your life mate, you nearly did more than harm him,” Eloise spat. “When I think of all the times I defended you against the town. How many times I supported you in your desire to have my son as your mate, and you repay me like this? What the hell were you thinking?”
“I didn’t do it, I tell you!”
“Bullshit.” The curse sounded strange coming from Eloise’s lips. Lia didn’t think she’d ever heard her swear. “Do you think Delicieux has a habit of slipping ketamine in as a freebie with every goddamn shot of Scotch?”
“It must be that bitch human. Why aren’t you talking to her about this?” Chloë sobbed.
“Because, as much as I dislike the Mansk, I know she’d never hurt Caden. You, on the other hand, have a record, don’t you, Chloë? As soon as they told me at the clinic that he’d been drugged, I knew it was you. After all, the Leona and I had to cover up that unfortunate little incident back when you were in high school, didn’t we?”
“I can’t understand why you’re talking to me like this, Eloise!”
“Because you hurt my Caden, you demented witch. I told you to come to today’s luncheon because I thought it might do him good to see you again, to remind him of what he’s missing out on. But that wasn’t enough for you, was it? You wanted him back in Anchor, no matter the repercussions.”
As the two argued, Lia made her way down to the hall, and skulking behind the salon door, she listened a little more before entering hostile territory. The glares she received didn’t faze her. Christ, she’d once walked in on a heavy-duty drug deal. Only Tommy’s contacts in his gang had saved her hide.
A person couldn’t die from pointed looks.
“From what I overheard in town, Chloë has been planning this for a while, Eloise,” Lia calmly remarked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” her mother-in-law snapped.
Lia rolled her eyes. “The entire house could hear you screaming at each other, and anyway, I heard about it in town. She drugged him. Half of Anchor seemed to know about it.”
Slight exaggeration there, but anything to gang up on the she-bitch. Even though Eloise was railing her, and even though her emotions were running high, Chloë still looked like a china doll. All neat beauty wrapped up in one irritating package.
For a second, Eloise froze as she processed Lia’s statement, then, she hissed. “You will leave this house and never come back, Chloë Gilbert. Any intentions I had of helping you become my son’s life mate are well and truly over. You will leave my family alone, you will never come to me for aid or advice. If you do, I will seek justice from the council.
“As it is, I will only inform your mother that you’ve finally gone over the edge. She will protect you, as is her right, but if I ever hear of anything similar happening in Anchor, if I even suspect you’ve been up to your old tricks, then I will seek justice from a higher source. Now, get out of my house!”
At Eloise’s remark of a “higher source,” Chloë blanched. Then, fled. She didn’t even wait to glare at Lia, didn’t even stop to make a catty remark.
It was the first time Lia had even noticed how much power Eloise yielded in Anchor. Caden had once commented that his mother’s family held a lot of clout in his hometown, that she was on the local council or something. It hadn’t been overly hard to believe considering Eloise was a cold ruthless bitch, but she’d never actually seen her in action.
It made a difference.
Lia was unaffected by the power her mother-in-law had just wielded. And she meant power, because Chloë hadn’t just fled because of Eloise’s words—she’d fled for other reasons. Reasons that were unlike anything Lia had ever experienced before.
It wasn’t like being hit by someone’s anger, or becoming aware of someone’s disgust. The part of her that had reacted was the one that was hidden inside. The one that had just come out to play moments before, turning her eyes that odd color. The difference being however, Chloë had flinched when Eloise had hit her with whatever the hell she’d used as a weapon. It hadn’t hurt Lia. Instead, it had triggered a shiver. Her mother had once described it as someone walking over her grave.
For a second, silence reigned in the salon between its two remaining occupants. A room that matched the woman who had decorated it. Beautiful outwardly, controlled inwardly. With its mélange of Louis XVII antiques, neatly cubed sofas, and harmonizing shades of color she could only describe as variations on nougat, Eloise’s personality was represented here. Her need to show the world she was wealthy, her desire to remain always composed and unflustered in the eyes of others.
It was the first time Lia had ever seen a crack in that shell. It was a weakness she wouldn’t mind exploiting. Especially as that something Lia had tucked away deep inside had somehow found a kinship. Of sorts.
“We need to talk.”
“Now isn’t the time,” Eloise brushed off, turning her back on Lia.
Somehow, that pissed her off more than the realization Caden had actually been drugged by that fucked-up Gilbert woman. Lia didn’t understand why, as the dismissal was just a tiny gesture, after all. But that part of her that was hidden took great umbrage at this sign of complete and utter disrespect. Eloise had dismissed her in more than just words, by showing Lia her back, she was dismissing the younger woman as a threat.
Eloise had underestimated her.
“Don’t turn your back on me, Eloise. I said we need to talk and we do.”
“There are repercussions for Chloë’s behavior. I need to deal with them. Not nursem
aid you.”
“I don’t need you to nursemaid me. I’m quite capable of looking after myself, thank you very much!
“Now, are you going to speak to the police about Chloë?”
Eloise turned back to face her. The sneer on her face was a punch to Lia’s already stretched control. “We deal with things differently here in Anchor.”
“Apparently so, if you’re not going to let the cops deal with a psycho like that. She’s a danger to the goddamn public. Especially if, like you said, she’s done it before.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Maybe not, but I know what I heard. You covered up something she did before, and if you cover this up, she’ll do it again and again until somebody stops her. That’s the way people like that work. I wasn’t calling her a psycho to be a bitch.”
“Stop wasting my time, Lia. I have things I need to do.”
She could have walked away then, could have waited to ask Christopher who was far more amenable than his wife, but for some reason, Lia needed to hear the words from Eloise.
“When you told Chloë to go, you weren’t just saying the words, were you?”
“What do you mean?” Eloise hedged.
“I mean, you were telling her to go, but you were pushing her out as well.”
She scoffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think you’re lying. You were doing something, urging her to leave with more than just your words. I don’t know how else to describe it. I know you didn’t touch her, at least, not with your hands.”
For the first time, Eloise turned to look at her. Properly. Eye to eye.
She was as pristine as ever, just like the woman she had chosen to be her son’s “mate.” Dressed in an expensive outfit that was a clone of Chloë’s, hair perfect, nails manicured, not a smudge to her make up. And all this, even though she’d been with Caden at the clinic, and had just raged—with more emotion than Lia had thought her capable of—at someone who had drugged her son.
It was enough to make anyone feel a mess. But Eloise seemed to specialize in that where Lia was concerned. No matter how careful she was, Lia could never match her mother-in-law’s elegance. Maybe that kind of thing truly was in the breeding.
“What makes you say that, Natalia?” Eloise finally asked, after she’d studied Lia and seemed to find an answer to a question she hadn’t actually posed.
“I felt it.”
“You felt it.” Eloise studied her a little harder, then turned and headed toward one of the uncomfortable yet attractive sofas—a perfect juxtaposition for her own personality. She perched on the edge and then spoke. “Caden has told me you’re pregnant.”
Lia chose to remain standing. Eloise hadn’t invited her to sit, but she could. She was more than a guest in this house. She didn’t have to abide by the same strictures as people like Chloë did. Eloise probably wouldn’t agree with that, but it was tough. It was bad enough sharing a house with Eloise at all, never mind having to be on eggshells all the goddamn time as well.
“Yes, I am.”
“I don’t suppose you realize that he’s sterile.”
At that, Lia blinked. It took her a second to process Eloise’s remark and dismiss it. “Rubbish.”
Eloise shook her head. “It’s the truth. When he told me, I asked him if you’d cheated on him.”
“You had no right to do that.”
“From the information available to me, I was perfectly within my rights to ask such a question. How can a child be conceived when one of the parents is sterile?”
“There’s been a mistake with Caden’s testing. I haven’t slept with another man since I met him. Unless sperm can get through double glazing, this child is Caden’s.” Eloise’s pleasant smile faded at her crudity, but Lia ignored it. “I have no reason to cheat on my husband. No reason whatsoever, and you putting up roadblocks wherever you can won’t diminish our relationship. It can’t. We’re too strong.”
“Very Romeo and Juliet,” was all the bitch said, but it was followed up with another mocking sneer. Then, after a few seconds of silent deliberation, she continued, “Do you want to see him?”
Lia blinked. “Of course I do. They wouldn’t let me into the clinic, said nonresidents of the town aren’t allowed.”
She waved a hand. “I can make them admit you.”
“Then why didn’t you? He wants to see me, dammit!”
“Because I didn’t want to, and I didn’t want you to see him.” The simplicity of her statement, the basic truth of it, had Lia hissing with irritation. “However, I’ve changed my mind. I’ll let you visit him if you agree to a blood test.”
“It’s a little early to be having a DNA test, isn’t it? I’ve only been pregnant for the last six weeks!”
“I didn’t say I wanted a paternity test. I said I wanted you to have a blood test.”
“Why the hell would you want me to have one of those?”
“I have my reasons. Do you agree or not?”
She wanted to say no, but she wanted to see Caden more. The idea that he was hurting, tucked in a ward somewhere she couldn’t reach, just gnawed at her insides. She wanted to check in. Wanted to cosset him, and kiss him. Pour him some frickin’ juice. That wasn’t a lot to ask, was it?
Sighing, she grumbled, “I agree.”
“Good. I’ll contact the clinic. You can see Caden after you’ve had the test.”
“Can I ask what you expect to find, Eloise? My blood won’t tell you if I’ve been cheating on Caden. Only my word will tell you that, and you don’t have any faith in it. So what can my blood show you?”
“You’d be surprised, Lia. Go now. By the time you reach the clinic, everything will be organized. Tell Christopher he can come home, too.”
Frowning, Lia just nodded. She could see no real reason to argue, not when the price of her agreement was visiting with Caden. For that, she’d have done just about anything.
Until she could see him, hold him, she wouldn’t be able to believe he was safe and well. And she needed to know that like she needed to breathe.
Chapter Six
“What the hell are you doing here?” Even though his eyes could barely focus without a dirty bomb exploding behind his optic nerve, he had enough wherewithal to know he didn’t want this cat in his room.
Chloë, however, didn’t listen. When did she ever? God, it was like ramming your head against a brick wall. Again, and again, and again. Always bloodying yourself up, but never getting anywhere.
Was it Einstein who’d said insanity was doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different result?
Maybe he was insane. Either that or Chloë Gilbert was.
He wasn’t sure which was more reassuring.
“I’ve come to visit you, Caden,” she chided, stepping in his cell-like ward and daintily seating herself in the armchair beside the bed.
She was the sort of woman you could imagine being First Lady. All that neat perfection wrapped into one package. It freaked him the fuck out. Always had done, always would. And she’d always been like that. Even as a five-year-old. Refined, not a hair out of place, and God forbid, she had a smudge of dirt on her shoes. In a woman, it was acceptable. In a little girl, it was just odd.
“Yeah, well, I can do without visits from you.”
Chloë tutted. “That’s not very kind.”
“I’m not feeling kind. I’m feeling sore and tired, and I’m in pain. The last thing I want to be dealing with is your brand of histrionics.”
She frowned, a pucker marring that smooth brow. “When have I ever behaved with anything other than politeness?”
He grunted. “If you call drugging my drink an act of kindness, then you’re more peculiar than I thought, Chloë.”
“I have done nothing to be ashamed of, Caden.”
Her very lack of guilt, of shame had him shaking his head. There was no point in chiding her, or threatening her. She’d go on as she
always did. In a world of her own where the two of them were concerned.
“You spiked my drink.”
“I had to do something.”
He scowled. “Something? What the fuck are you talking about? I made my choice years ago. Before I even met Lia. Year after year, I said no. No matter how many goddamned times our mothers tried, I never liked you, Chloë. And I certainly have no other feelings for you. Outside of irritation, that is.”
She blinked at him, then shook her head. “That’s very cruel of you, Caden.”
Gritting his jaw, he turned away from Chloë and stared at the door, willing it to open and to free him from this fucking woman. She drove him crazy. She never listened. It was like she was on her own frequency and he was on another, but she kept expecting him to hear her, to listen, and finally, to obey.
“It isn’t cruel,” he hissed, the words exploding from him. He’d meant to sit in silence, hoping that would make her go, but she’d pushed him too far this time. “You’re crazy, Chloë. I told your mother that years ago. I told her you weren’t normal, not where I’m concerned, but she didn’t listen to me. No one ever fucking listens to me. I have a cock, therefore, my words only make partial sense.”
“Caden, there’s no point in getting heated over this. That wasn’t my intention when I decided to bring you back to Anchor.”
He frowned. “What? Pissing me off wasn’t your goal? That’s a shame, lady, because you succeeded.”
When her eyes finally flashed with anger, he watched as she took a deep, calming breath. Her emotions leveled out as easy as that. “No, I didn’t mean to hurt you. The dose I gave was quite adequate…”
“Not according to the doctors,” he snapped. “That dose almost killed me.”
She waved a hand. “Why would I want you dead when I want you with me. At my side.”
“That’s a load of bullshit if ever I heard it. Wherever it is you want me, it isn’t at your side, Chloë. It’s two steps behind like every other male in this goddamn town.”
“Regardless of your belief, I’ve always known we were meant to be together.”
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