Where We Began (Where We Began Duet Book 1)

by Nora Flite

  “You don't, but would it matter? You want your parents happy too, or why else bother chasing me last night? You'd have let me go if you didn't care what they think.”

  His eyes narrow. “I told you. Stop assuming you know me, or what I want.” He turns partially, the sunlight illuminating him so that it splits him in two. He's impossibly gorgeous. Just looking at him turns my knees to jelly, and I curse myself for it. “We're not on the same side.”

  My chin inches upwards. “But we can be, Dominic!”

  That beautiful devil watches me for a fraction too long. “No. We can't.”

  I stare at his back until he vanishes around the corner. Without his company, the light seems brighter... cleaner. But everything also becomes stale. When he's near me, it's like a fog is lifted. So why the hell do I want to punch him in the nose?

  Dammit, I think, flustered by how he turned me down. I start to pivot on the ball of one foot, working to figure out my next steps, except I don't have any.

  Dominic is still my best option. I just have to convince him that helping me is helping him, too. He doesn't think we can be on the same side. I'm sure he's wrong. He was my confidant once, my savior. He can be that again.

  I'm determined to prove it.

  - Chapter 14 -

  Dominic

  I march across the carpet at top speed, as if I'm running from some cataclysmic event.

  But just like an avalanche, running from my reaction to Laiken is impossible.

  Turning her down should have been easy.

  It wasn't.

  For some reason, in spite of my common sense telling me to keep my distance, I'm instinctually pulled to her. Even now, when I can't see her, I feel like I know where she is. I could close my eyes and find her in the dark. Her heart and her warmth calls to me.

  It's distracting me from what I need to focus on. When she told me she had to find a way to keep my mother happy, I was sympathetic. I know too well what it's like to be on the other end of her wrath. But I meant what I said; we're not on the same side.

  Yet her comments made me realize that her situation isn't so different from mine. We have similar goals right now, though our methods for reaching them are probably different. I don't know what she was hoping to achieve by asking me for information about my family company. I doubt that anything I could tell her would change her fate.

  For all I know, six years have passed and she's still the same wild girl from the woods. I don't know what she's been doing. I never came home during the holidays. All my information came from the occasional phone call and an extremely rare meeting with my father. Bringing up Laiken to him was nerve-racking.

  He'd told me a lot of vague, hand-waving bits about how she still had all her limbs, nothing major having happened to her. It was a fucked up way to tell me she was fine.

  I clung to every tidbit that had to do with her like a madman.

  Maybe that's why it's so hard to be around her now. It's been six years but it feels like we're back to square one.

  Except were not.

  The way she shivered while I was leaning over her last night... how intoxicating her hair felt wound around my hands... We've never been in a situation like that. Our childlike innocence is long gone.

  Focus on what you need to do, I tell myself angrily. Laiken really is dangerously distracting. I go through all the details I have as I walk faster. No one knows anything about Joseph's location. Everyone we've talked to hasn't been much help. The security at the complex has no footage, Joseph clearly hacked the system to keep his escape invisible.

  The car he took was found early this morning, only ten miles away. He abandoned it in the middle of nowhere. Him, and our money, have both dissipated into the ether.

  I need someone to tell me what to do next. I'd prefer it be my father, but I saw him leave this morning. Much as I don't want to admit it, I have to talk to my mother. I wouldn't say that I'm afraid of her. Fear isn't the right word.

  What I have is a massive sense of self-hatred whenever I'm in her presence. My mother has never hidden her disappointment in me. And after what happened yesterday with Joseph, I know I'm on her shit list.

  She didn't want me coming home. I wonder if she'll make me leave now, convince my father that this is a waste of time. It doesn't matter that I took control last night, interrogating Laiken like I assured them both I would. To my mother I'm a useless piece of trash.

  I suspect I always will be.

  Squeezing my fists, I force myself to pull it together. I'm stronger than this self-doubt is making me out to be. My instructors in school drilled me, along with the rest of the student body to learn how to focus and disconnect from stress, so that we could perform.

  I channel that as her bedroom comes into view. On the small table outside the room is a fresh vase of daffodils. The door is mostly open; I tap on the doorframe, alerting her to my presence. “Mom?”

  She's standing by the window. The curtains are open and the sun makes her shimmer like a ghost. She doesn't turn at the sound of my voice. I can see her hands where they wrap around her biceps from behind. They're digging into her skin; she knows I'm here.

  I wait a second then force myself to cross into the room. I don't go farther than that before she finally speaks. “Why do you think you can come in here and talk to me?”

  I steel myself, keeping my voice calm. “I know I messed up.” Admitting it cuts me to the bone. I'm ashamed of my mistakes. “I just want to do whatever I can to make everything right. Tell me how I can help.”

  “You want to know how you can help?” she asks coolly. Her hips kick to one side then she turns to eyeball me with disdain. I might as well be a cockroach at the moment. “Can you go back in time, prevent me from making the mistake of bringing you into this world?”

  Her words sting. I think they won't because I've heard them so many times, but they always do. “I can't change the past, but I can change the present. Just tell me what you want, Mom. Do you want me out there looking for Joseph? Do you want me at the company downtown with Dad, fixing things there?”

  She laughs, and there's no humor to it. “There's nothing you can do to make this better, not unless you have some secret way to drag Joseph back to my feet, kicking and screaming. Do you have that, Dominic? Do you have a way?” She advances on me and I tense up. She's a tall woman, but I'm still much bigger. I looked down on her and hold my breath.

  She watches me like an owl considering a mouse when it's already eaten enough. Her arms uncross; she heads back to the window. “I don't know how I can trust you with anything. The least you can do is try to keep us from losing Laiken as well. Keep an eye on her. Don't let her off the estate. If she escapes like her father did, not even Silas will stop me from tearing you to shreds.”

  I swallow, considering how to respond. “I'll figure something out,” I say. She doesn't even shrug. She gazes out the window and ignores me.

  Our conversation is over. I think about a hundred things I could say to her, things I always wished I could. The names I could call her, the ways I would scream and shout and force her to accept that I exist, that I'm here, and I'm worthy of her attention.

  I retreat through the door and close it partially behind me. Something moves at the corner of my eye. I jerk my head up, honing in on whoever is watching me.

  It's Laiken.

  She's standing nearby, not quite blending in with the wallpaper. She startles when my eyes fix on her. My heart instantly beats faster. “What are you doing here?” I ask, more sharply than is needed.

  She doesn't waiver, she approaches me, reaching for my hand. I realize she wants to get us away from my mother's room. I avoid her grip, leading us around the corner. When we're out of earshot of the bedroom, Laiken jumps in front of me. “I heard everything,” she says.

  My eyebrows fly to my hairline. “Everything?”

  Her lips part and she shakes her head a few times. “Okay, not everything. But I heard her talking to you, the tone of her
voice. She's mad, isn't she? What did you do?”

  God, what a question! “What didn't I do?” I respond, shrugging. Some of my armor rusts away and I feel my sadness seeping through. I recover as quick as I can hope and she didn't see.

  “I did hear one thing clearly,” she says. Looking me in the eye she flashes a devious smile. “She wants you to keep an eye on me, right? That won't be easy if I try to avoid you. I'm pretty fast. I think you saw me in action. I could hide in a ton of places on this estate and make your job really hard.”

  She's something else. I love the hint of playfulness in her angled grin. The way she folds her hands behind her back, leaning towards me with her head tilted. It's... refreshing. I've lived my life under a black cloud. Around Laiken, the sun peeks through, breaking apart some of the storm.

  I run my fingers through my hair, chuckling dryly. “I do remember how fast you were. I also remember I was faster.”

  Her confident grin doesn't even twitch. “I guess. But if you take my deal, I won't make you chase me at all. I'll make your job real easy.”

  Combining the thought of her and the word easy thrills me to my core. My muscles bunch up, I'm tempted to catch her right now, right here. Just to see what she'd do.

  Looking her over, I finally give a short, but real, laugh. “You don't give up, do you?”

  “No,” she says, deadly serious. “I never have.”

  I pull a sharp, short breath through my nose. “Here's the deal. If you're keen to hold still, letting me keep you in my sight, I'm inclined to tell you whatever you want to know about my family's business. Who knows, maybe you'll come up with something that makes my parents happy. We'd both like that, I think.” Her eyes light up—I hold up a hand. “However, we're still not on the same side. I'm not going to quit searching for your father.”

  A spark of relief brightens her smile. “Still, I want to thank you.”

  “Don't thank me. I'm getting involved for my own benefit.”

  I say it like it's plainly obvious.

  Why do I feel like I'm trying to convince myself?

  - Chapter 15 -

  Laiken

  “I'm guessing your dad didn't wake up one day and just decide to open a bank.”

  We're sitting in the library. He looks out of place, like the chair is too small for him. When he was a teenager, he could have fit three of himself there and had room to spare.

  “My grandfather started it, not Dad,” he says. “He built it from scratch. It was amazingly hard work, I imagine. Tech has made everything easier.” He considers me, suddenly curious. “Did you ever learn what Joseph did for my father?”

  Playing with my braid, I nod. “System hacking. He explained it before I really understood. I had to research it myself to grasp the details.”

  He lifts his eyebrows. “You researched it?”

  “Don't act so shocked. You were the one who impressed on me how little I knew about modern things.” I wave my fingers in a set of air-quotes. “With all these books, and all my free time, I did what I had to.”

  What I don't say is how I clung desperately to his instructions, because they'd come from him. I'd trusted Dominic. I'd believed his every word. If he thought I had to read about computers or social events or dinner etiquette, than I did it. Sometimes regretfully, but I never left a book unfinished.

  His full lips push together then go soft. I stare too hard—I'm eager to see any hint of something soft about his existence. “You know what hacking means,” he says. “Did you know the extent of how he utilized it for Silas?”

  I squeeze my hair. “Not exactly. But I don't need to. I just want to get the ins and outs of the basic—”

  “He stole information.” Dominic sounds like a dragon purring. “Anyone that they could blackmail, they did. Anyone they could manipulate, they did. If there was a rival bank handling foreign transactions, your father leaked their clients' info until that company shut down for sloppy security. What he did gave Silas a shortcut from the middle to the top.” Hunching forward, he sneers. “You can't replicate that.”

  His deluge of info throws me off. I knew that my dad was doing questionable stuff, bad enough that he couldn't go to the police for help, but this... this is insane. “He really blackmailed people?” I ask.

  “Silas did the blackmailing, Joseph provided the ammunition. Neither of them has clean hands.” He pushes his muscled shoulders up. “It's not uncommon to do most of your deals in the shadows. It's modern day assassination.”

  “My dad didn't kill anyone,” I snap. “He's not a damn murderer.”

  Dominic avoids my eyes. His fingers spread on the table, the tips white as he presses them against the wood. “You're confident he wasn't responsible for anyone's deaths? Imagine an investor balancing on the edge of ruin. Your dad's tricks destroy his savings, his spirit, and his life. His wife leaves him. His family turns their backs. Is it hard to picture someone brought so low ending their own life?” The whole time he's talking, he's putting his weight on the table. I can't look away. I'm holding my breath, my lungs warning me to quit it and provide some oxygen.

  Of course I can see the awful picture he's painted.

  But I don't want to.

  The burning shifts upwards, attacking my eyes until wetness builds. I barely keep the tears at bay. My head is full of images—my father and mother laughing, my brother asleep, my sister chasing me in the woods. I've been brought low. I know how devastating it is to lose it all. But to take my own life, I don't know if I could. Wouldn't everyone I love be terribly sad?

  I start to shake; I hug myself to stop it. “Do you think my family is okay?”

  Dominic puts his hands on the chair's arms. “Don't waste time worrying about them. Worry about yourself.”

  A helpless smile crawls over my face. I sniffle knowing a single drop of water has run down my cheek. “My heart's big enough to do both.”

  He fixates on me, noticing how upset I am. I wish I could hide it better but everything he says is true, and all of it is horrific. I can't meet his stare; I look at my feet under the table.

  His chair scrapes, as if he's about to stand. My pulse speeds up as I think about him circling the table to comfort me, to curl me in his solid arms and hold me. I haven't been held like that since I was small. Suddenly I'm desperate for it, even from him.

  Dominic doesn't rise to his feet. He balls his hands on the table, inching them towards me. He could reach if he stretched even a little. He doesn't. “Your heart can't help you get home,” he whispers solemnly.

  A surprised laugh erupts from me. Wiping my eyes, I smile at him with all my teeth showing. “You're right. I'll need my brain if I want to get back there.” Home. Hearing the word gives me new strength.

  His hands remain on the table. I'm close enough to them to see that, for as rough as he acts, his skin looks smooth. Like polished stone. Before I think it over, curiosity controls me. I place my fingertips on the back of his left hand.

  Static weaves through my skin. Dominic sucks in a wild breath, wrenching away from me. He's wide-eyed, his nostrils flared, his lips twisting into a silent gasp. “What the hell are you trying to do?”

  I shake my head over and over until I'm disoriented. “Sorry, I just—wanted to see how your hands felt.” Admitting it makes my skin boil. I bite my lip, digging my nails into my palms. Fuck, that was weird. I'm weird. What was I thinking?

  Wrapping his chiseled arms over his chest, he keeps watching me. “Let's get back to work.”

  “Yes, okay. Right.” Taking a deep breath, I sigh. “I'm not a hacker like my dad. But you went to school for programming, right?”

  “I can't do what Joseph did. Not even close.”

  “Well, what the hell did Silas do before he roped my dad in? You said your grandfather started the company, no way he was a hacker.”

  “No. He was in the Korean war, a sergeant.” He pauses, gathering his thoughts. “Things were... different then. Old school handshake deals made over whiskey in
a bar, or at private events.”

  Private events? I scan my brain, digging through all the books I've inhaled over the years. “You guys have a ballroom here,” I say, my voice growing more excited. “Your mom has forced me to parade around in it before with your dad's co-workers. Why don't we host a party, a huge event, like your grandfather would have?”

  He frowns to his full capacity. “There's a reason the company didn't transform from middling to an empire until Joseph. Tech sabotage is powerful. A tray of champagne glasses and polite conversation won't grow Bradley Banks.”

  “We don't have to escalate the company's growth! Just stall its decline.” I nod to myself, consumed by the idea. “It could work. People meeting, talking, drinking until they agree to bring their business into your dad's hands.” I jump to my feet, hurrying over to a shelf of books. I don't check to see if he follows me. I'm possessed by hope...

  by the memory of a perfect cabin.

  My home.

  “Like this,” I say, yanking down a pine-green book. I flip through it as the scent of paper fills my nose. Inside are drawings of women in grand dresses, men half-bowing in dark suits. “It can be as simple as this, Dominic. It could...”

  My eyes flick upwards. He's standing over me between the rows of shelves containing thousands of novels. This place is always quiet but right now it's bottom-of-a-lake deafening.

  There's something in his eyes that takes me a moment to place. I haven't spent much time around guys my own age, but I'm not naïve. I never needed someone to explain what hormones are, or what sex is. I had a hazy idea when I was twelve. The books in this room filled in the details. Beyond that, my own body was a wonderful teacher. I'm acquainted with the demanding throb between my thighs.

  I feel it now as Dominic watches me.

  He looks me up and down, reminding me of the way he stared as we hovered by his car yesterday. That single moment feels so long ago. “When I first met you, you were so resistant to the idea of learning about things like this. And now, you've managed to sit down and figure out a solution before I could,” he says.