Fight It Out Series Box Set

by T M Kelly

  “You okay, Lily?” This time you could hear the concern in his voice.

  I threw my purse over my shoulder and looked back one more time. “Yeah, why?”

  “I don’t know. You seem off but I can’t put my finger on it.”

  “Julian, I won a big fight yesterday. I’m tired.” I smiled. “Stop overthinking. I’ll call you later.”

  Before he could respond, I quickly made my way down the stairs. When I reached the door to leave, I glanced up and enjoyed his gorgeous frame towering over the banister. I smiled and blew him a kiss.

  A part of me wondered if I would be back.

  Would the information I found out be more than I was prepared to hear?

  As I sat down in the driver seat, I sent a silent message to my dad, wishing he could’ve been more forthcoming about Julian.

  19

  “Is Candace Smith available?” I said, pacing the length of the living room. Charlie was close on my heels, trying to listen.

  “No, ma’am. She’s off today,” a young woman said on the other line.

  “How convenient.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Is there any way to get in touch with her?”

  “I’m sorry. No, she’s not taking any messages at this time.”

  I stopped suddenly, and Charlie plowed into my back. “Listen, tell her Lily Waters needs to speak to her ASAP. I’m sure she will take that message.” I rattled off my phone number and hit end before saying goodbye.

  “So,” Charlie said, plopping down on the couch.

  “So, we wait.” I sat down and rested my head on her shoulder. Just then the phone rang, startling us both. I looked at my screen and showed Charlie. “Guess we don’t have to wait too long.” I hit accept. “Candace.”

  “Lily. So good to hear from you.”

  It took everything in me to avoid making a gagging sound. “I’m sure you know why I’m calling?”

  “No. Did you decide to do the exclusive?”

  I hit mute on my phone. “Can I punch her now or later?”

  Charlie patted my leg. “Let’s wait till after we hear what she has to say.”

  I hit the mute button again. “Is this your end game, Candace?”

  “I’m not sure what you are insinuating,” she said, lightly laughing.

  Charlie had to know I was about to blow because this woman was pissing me off that much. She grabbed the phone, hit speaker, and cleared her throat. “Candace, this is Lily’s assistant.”

  “Or is this her best friend, Charlie?”

  “It’s both of us now.” I glowered at Charlie for trying to get involved. “Why did you post that article about my dad and Julian?”

  “It’s a newspaper and we share news, Lily.”

  “So how long have you been sitting on that story?”

  “Sitting on a story?”

  I let out a deep sigh. “Listen, I know how much you loved to hate on my dad back in San Francisco. Then after you moved, you started a new hate fest. Julian. Why?”

  “Still not up for the exclusive?” she said. “You know that saying, give and take?”

  I handed the phone to Charlie. “I’m done.”

  At that moment, I knew I needed to figure this out on my own. Which meant a trip to San Francisco. I wanted to go by myself, but I knew Charlie would flip out at that request.

  “Well that woman is completely insane,” Charlie said, standing up and walking toward me. “You have a look.”

  “Remember how sometimes I just need to have some alone time?”

  “Um, yeah. Do you want me to leave or something?”

  I placed my hands on her shoulders. “No, I think I want to leave for a few days.”

  “But—”

  “Just say I needed talk to a friend of Dad’s about something in his will.”

  “Lils.”

  “Charlie, please let me have this time alone.”

  After several times where we repeated each other’s names, she finally gave in. “You better call me the moment you arrive in San Francisco.” Right as I am about to say I will, my phone pinged with a notification. Charlie reached over and picked it up. “Oh fuck.”

  “What?” I said, grabbing it out of her hand. Looking down at the screen, it took everything in me to not throw the device out the front window. “I’m done. Just keep where I’m going between us, okay?”

  “I’m nervous to leave you alone.”

  “C, it’s okay, I promise.” I pulled her in for a hug. “As soon as my plane lands, I’ll call you.”

  “You better.”

  I went upstairs to throw a few more items in my duffle bag. Right as I stepped out of my room, the doorbell rang. Then I heard Julian’s voice. So much for trying to leave like a ship in the night.

  “Where is she?” Julian demanded.

  “Calm down, I’m here.”

  “Lily, I need to talk to you,” he said out of breath.

  “I have a plane to catch, Julian.” That was a boldface lie. “Can we talk later?”

  I could tell by the look on his face he was confused. “You’re leaving?”

  “For a few days.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Why are you out of breath?” Now we were asking a question with a question, so pretty much this conversation was going nowhere.

  “I ran here.”

  “You live five miles away?”

  “Yeah, I know. Can I get some water?” Charlie ran out of sight. “Did you leave the house this morning because of the headlines on MMA Journal?”

  “No, should I, though?” I started making my way down the stairs. “Charlie needed to talk, so I came home.”

  “Lily, whatever you read in the news today, it’s all lies.”

  I patted him on the chest and opened the front door. “I need to go.” He followed me down the porch steps and stayed fast on my heels as I made my way to my car. I threw my duffle bag in first and then slid into the driver seat. “Julian, news tends to lie. Just relax.” Right as he was about to bend down and give me a kiss, I closed my door. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Lily, please don’t leave yet. I really need to talk to you.”

  Every part of me wanted to run into his arms and ask him why. Instead, I waved at Charlie who was standing on the sidewalk with a bottle of water in her hand. I blew her a kiss, and she winked at me. She knew I needed to leave, and I knew she would cover for me.

  My flight didn’t leave for another two hours, which gave me time to read more stories on my phone. Of course, that was a bad decision. Once other news sources had gotten wind of Julian and my dad’s little secret—everyone was posting an article. I turned off my phone and threw it in my duffle bag.

  Over the PA, a woman’s voice said, “Can Lily Waters please come to one of the customer service counters.”

  I looked around expecting to see Julian standing off in the distance. The place was packed, but I knew he would stand out in a crowd. He was nowhere in sight, though. I stood up and made my way to the counter where two women with airline uniforms on were talking.

  “Hi, my name was just announced over the intercom.”

  “You’re Lily Waters?” the one woman with short dark brown hair and way too much makeup on said.

  “Yes.” Now I was feeling a little sick. I was both stressed and worried.

  “Here.” She handed me the phone and punched a button.

  I cleared my throat. “Hello.”

  “Lily, thank God you’re still there.”

  “Julian, why did you page me at the airport?”

  “I need to tell you something.”

  “Okay.” I felt confused. This was one of those moments where I wanted my dad. He’d always said the right thing to make me feel better.

  “Where are you heading?”

  “Away.” I had no plans to tell him.

  “Lily, let me come see you so we can talk.”

  “I need to go.” As I handed the phone back to the woman,
I could hear him yelling. I said thank you and turned to head back to my seat.

  The woman was holding the phone still. “Are you sure you’re done? He’s still talking.”

  “I’m done.”

  Hopefully San Francisco had some answers.

  20

  “Do you want a compact car or full-size?” the man behind the counter at the car rental place said, handing me a form to sign.

  “Full size, please.” I scribbled my name at the bottom of the document. “Actually, do you have an SUV available?” My plan was to drive back to Las Vegas since I knew I would probably find some things in the storage unit to take back with me.

  He was typing and staring at the computer screen. “We do have one left.”

  “I’ll take it.”

  After about twenty minutes, I had a vehicle and was on my way to my dad’s storage unit. I don’t know why I kept a lot of his paperwork, but I did. Charlie and I had loaded the unit with maybe twenty boxes packed full of ledgers, papers, and several files.

  Never once did I have the urge to look at them. It was my dad’s stuff, and I knew he had nothing to hide. A part of me doubted that decision now. As I pulled into the driveway of the storage unit, I spotted two black SUVs parked and no other cars in the small driveway. I pulled up to the security pad and punched in the code. Right as the gate started to open, a man walked out of the front entrance to the building. He had a bald head, wore a black tailored suit, and held a briefcase.

  A chill ran up my spine. It was dusk and getting dark fast. I suddenly had this urge to go to my hotel room and come back in the morning. Then I told myself I was being silly and brushed off the worry.

  The unit we rented for Dad was on the second floor of the last building in the complex. I parked my rental vehicle in front of the entrance and headed inside.

  We rented a medium size unit because my dad had that much stuff. I unlocked the sliding door and pushed it up. The space was packed full, but there was a spot for me to work in the center of the room. I grabbed a box off the top of the first stack directly by the door and started sifting through it. After going through several boxes I sat down on the floor and flipped off the lid. Right as I was about to grab the first file at the top of the pile, I heard a door slam shut.

  For some reason, the sound didn’t alarm me. I guessed because I was in a public place, people went in and out all day long. There had been a sign as I made my way up to the unit that read, Open eight to eleven. It was only eight in the evening, so I had plenty of time to explore.

  I held the file in my hand and knew whatever was on the other side of the cover could change everything. I felt a little nervous to open the manila folder. As I flipped it open, I heard a clank, like someone dropped something on the concrete floor. Shaking my head, I ignored the sounds and looked at the first page.

  It was about me.

  The file had my birth certificate. Pictures I drew. The last page stopped me, though. It was a letter typed out on a standard-size sheet of paper.

  Lily,

  I am so lucky. You have made my life complete. I’m sorry we didn’t have the chance to do more together.

  I had to stop reading. My mom had tucked a note just for me in this file. Now I wondered if my dad had ever read it. I continued to read.

  There are things I kept from you, and I’m so sorry. Lily Bug, you need to know somethi

  That’s where the note ended. What was my mom going to tell me? Now I wanted to dig deeper and find the answer. It had to be somewhere in one of the many boxes. There was an electrical outlet and a lamp stored in the corner. I wanted to have some privacy sifting through each box. After getting the lamp plugged in, I went over and slid the door down.

  I brought my phone in with me just in case Charlie called. Powering up my device, I set it to the side and started digging through the first box. My phone pinged several times because I had a shit-ton of messages coming through.

  One of the messages that flashed across the screen was from Charlie: “Lily, call me immediately. You’re in danger.”

  Danger? What the hell?

  I grabbed my phone and dialed her number.

  “Lily, oh sweet Jesus. Where have you been?”

  “Charlie, calm down. What’s wrong?”

  “Sweetie, Julian needed to tell you something important when he was here.”

  “Okay, well have him tell me.”

  “He should be there soon. His flight left about thirty minutes after yours.”

  I stood up and paced the small space. “Wait. Why is he coming here?” I stopped in my tracks. “And where is here exactly?”

  “The storage unit. I knew you wanted to go look through a few things.”

  My mind was racing. “Does he have the key code to get in?”

  “Yeah, I kinda gave it to him.”

  “C, now you’re scaring me.”

  She sighed. “Just check your phone while talking to me. See if he sent you a message.”

  I did as she directed and found ten unread messages from him. “Yeah, he has definitely been trying to get ahold of me.”

  “Okay, call me back later. Go and ease his mind.”

  “Ease his mind?”

  “Just trust me.”

  After I hung up with Charlie, I quickly hit the call button for Julian. “There you are,” he said, sounding out of breath. It’s like a maze at this storage facility.”

  “I’m in—”

  “Don’t say it, just in case the place is bugged.”

  What the fuck is going on?

  There was a light tap on the door. “It’s me, Julian.”

  I pulled it up. “What are you doing here?”

  He quickly covered my mouth with his hand. Then he turned and closed the door. He pulled something from his bag slung over his shoulder. It was a small black device that looked like a phone. After he powered it up, he hit the green button. “Okay, we’re good.”

  “Good? What is that and why are you here?”

  “It’s a scrambler just in case the place is bugged.”

  I shook my head. “Bugged? What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Charlie told me about all the boxes of paperwork you stored from your dad’s office,” he said, pulling me to the center of the room where we both sat on the floor. “She said you never looked at them?”

  “Yeah, it was Dad’s personal stuff. It was none of my business.” I pulled my hand away. “What are you trying to tell me? Spit it out, Julian.”

  He seemed uncomfortable. “I think your dad got mixed up with the wrong people, but I don’t know the whole story.”

  “And you think there is something in one of these boxes that could tell us more?” He nodded at my words. “Why do you know all this?”

  “That’s a bit of a long story.”

  “I have a lot of time.”

  He smiled and reached for my hand again. “I’m sorry if you think I’m the bad guy here. I promise you I’m not.”

  Something I had started to learn about Julian: he had a look with almost every emotion. His eyebrows would position a certain way, and his lips would go in an up or down direction. At that moment, he was—my mind was racing—scared. Julian possibly feeling that emotion seemed off. I also knew he wasn’t feeding me a line of bullshit.

  I interlaced our hands. “Is my life about to change with whatever you share?”

  He looked down and then back up. “I’m afraid so.”

  Was I ready for this? I didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Reaching behind me, I grabbed the file with all the info about me. “Well, maybe amongst those things you share, you can tell me about my mom, too.” I handed him the unfinished note. “Why would this be in the file? What could she possibly have to tell me?”

  He didn’t say anything for the longest moment. “I think your mom was mixed up in it all, too,” he said in a whisper.

  “What?”

  “I don’t know everything.”

  “My mom died of a
heart attack. Or is that wrong?”

  He shook his head. “Like I said, I don’t know the whole story, Lily.”

  My body started to shake, and my chest felt tight. “Julian.” I struggled to hold back my tears. “My dad killed my mom?”

  “No,” he quickly said. “No, he loved your mom.”

  “She was in the middle of whatever you need to tell me?”

  “Yeah, I think so.” He stood up and walked over to the first stack of boxes. “Let’s look at these together.”

  “We could be here all night.”

  “Well, at least we will be here together.”

  Something about his words touched me. “Were the two SUVs still in the parking lot when you arrived?”

  “What SUV?”

  “Oh, I bet they left already.” I brushed it off as no big deal and grabbed a binder in the box. “There was a bald guy in a suit with a briefcase. He was leaving the main building when I was coming back here.”

  “Okay, we need to get through this shit fast. We may have less time than I thought.”

  Now I had no idea what Julian was talking about. Was my dad mixed up with the wrong people? Was my mom potentially caught in the middle of whatever this bullshit was that Julian was trying to tell me? I felt like I was in some movie. This couldn’t really be happening.

  Then I opened the binder, and my breath got caught in my throat.

  21

  At the top of the first page in the binder in big bold print was, Money To Hold Back. “What? My dad was taking money from someone?” I pointed to the page.

  Julian reached for the binder and flipped through a few of the pages. “I really don’t know.”

  “But it doesn’t sound good.”

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  We spent several hours going through each box. The binder we found was the only thing that seemed suspicious. Then he stopped in mid-turn of a page, and his face went as white as a ghost. I could read that emotion loud and clear.

  “Talk to me.”

  “Hold on.” He stood up and grabbed his cellphone. “Yeah, you out there still? Okay, come up and make sure the area is clear.”