by Krista Lakes
“Lizzie!” Jane turned nearly threw the scrub brush at me before realizing it was a joke. “Don’t do that. Don’t punch people.”
“Fine. I promise.” I grinned at her. “Besides, he’s got security guards. I’d never get close enough.”
Jane chuckled and shook her head at me. “You did once.”
I shared a wry smile back at her. “You’re right. I did once.”
We shared a laugh. Then she sighed and grabbed the Clorox from under the sink, then began to scrub. I wondered how much a stainless steel sink would cost since she was going to scrub the varnish clean off of ours. It had to be half an inch thinner from just her scrubbing it this month.
I sighed and checked my phone for any messages or updates from Lydia.
There were, of course, none.
I tried to keep the rising panic in my chest under control by checking on the status of my flight tonight. I had no real plans of what I was going to do once I got to California, but I hoped just being in the right city would help my search.
And, if heaven forbid, Lydia needed me to rescue her from a terrible situation, I would be there and not a six-hour flight away.
I was mentally packing my bags with what I would need to bring and what could fit in a carry-on when the apartment door opened.
In walked Lydia with a big smile.
“Lydia?” I stood up, sure I was hallucinating. “Oh, thank god!”
I ran to her, wrapping my arms around her neck and holding her to me. My little sister was home and safe. She was fine.
“What in the world is up with you?” Lydia asked, gently pulling away. She looked at me like I’d lost my mind. She turned and instructed the man behind her. “Just put my bag inside here, Jeeves. Thank you.”
I watched as a uniformed man lugged her massive suitcase inside the door. I hurried to grab him a tip which he gratefully accepted before nodding his head and heading back down to his car.
“We were so worried about you,” Jane told her, running over to hug Lydia as well. I was glad to see she’d left the scrub brush at the sink.
“Worried about what?” Lydia scoffed. She threw her hair over her shoulder, just like I imagined a Hollywood actress would.
“You went to California,” Jane replied. “With Wickham. And you didn’t call.”
Lydia sighed like we were the ones being dramatic. “I didn’t have time to call. I have a real agent now,” she told us. “There’s no way I don’t become a star now.”
“A real agent?” Jane repeated. “I don’t understand. What happened with Wickham?”
“He’s old news,” she said, waving her hand through the air like we should have already known.
I stared at her, my mouth open. Jane quickly came over and took Lydia’s elbow before I smacked her.
“How about you come sit down and tell us what happened?” Jane asked, smiling and pulling her toward the table. “I’m afraid we aren’t well-versed in Hollywood.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t expect you to be, Jane,” Lydia replied. She smiled and sat at the head of the kitchen table. I stood off to the side with my arms crossed near the window.
I looked out the window just in time to see a limo drive away from our building. It had the Oceanic Airlines’ logo painted on the roof. More questions swirled in my head as Lydia cleared her throat.
“So, I told Wickham that I wasn’t an heiress,” she began. “You would have been proud of me, Lizzie. He didn’t care, but he did tell me that he had just gotten a new idea for me.”
“Right after you told him you weren’t rich?” I clarified.
“Yeah, but the timing was just coincidence. It had nothing to do with the deal he was about to set up for me.”
I managed to keep from rolling my eyes, and let her continue.
“Anyway, he brought me out to Los Angeles,” she continued. “I was supposed to meet with this big producer tonight in his hotel room.”
“Wait a second,” I interjected, unable to contain myself any more. “You were meeting with a producer in his hotel room? At night?”
Lydia rolled her eyes. “Yes. It’s very normal, okay?” She looked at me like I was the crazy one.
“If you say so,” Jane said, pacifying the situation. “Please continue, Lydia.”
“Anyway, it was about lunchtime yesterday when Wickham went off to set up some more meetings for me. He said he had other producers that were interested in my talents,” Lydia continued.
“I’m sure they were,” I muttered under my breath. Lydia didn’t hear me, but Jane glared at me.
“I went for a walk out in the California sunshine. I have to say that my hair and makeup were on point,” Lydia continued. “I looked good. So, I was just standing by the side of the road, minding my own business, when this limo pulls up. The window opened, and no joke, it’s Abram Jones.”
“Who’s Abram Jones?” I asked. Lydia rolled her eyes and glared at me.
“Who’s Abram Jones?” Jane repeated in a much gentler tone. Lydia patted her hand and smiled.
“He’s just the biggest agent in Hollywood,” she told Jane with a small chuckle. “He has all the major stars signed to him. Actors wait years just to be introduced to him, and he pulled up and asked to be introduced to me.”
She giggled and looked around the table. Apparently, we were supposed to be in awe.
“Oh, wow,” I replied. Lydia sighed, obviously unimpressed with my lack of excitement.
Jane’s phone buzzed. “Shoot, excuse me for a second. Keep going, Lydia. I just have to take this call. It’s work.”
Jane got up and went to the living room. I could hear her talking to someone on the other line.
Lydia didn’t wait to continue her story. “So, I got in the limo, and-”
“Wait, you just got in a limo with a strange man?” I interrupted. “What were you thinking?”
“You do it every time you get in a cab, Lizzie,” Lydia snapped back at me. “Besides, Mr. Darcy was with him, so I knew it was okay.”
His name hit me like a bag of bricks.
“Mr. Darcy was with him?” I asked, taking a step forward.
“Shoot. I wasn’t supposed to tell you that,” Lydia said. She pouted. “Please forget I said anything about him.”
I blinked twice. How was I supposed to forget something like that? Lydia just sat there, waiting for me to promise. She wasn’t going to continue her story until I said something.
“Okay, what’d I miss?” Jane asked, returning to the table. Lydia looked at me, her arms crossed.
“Lydia got in a limo with a strange man she didn’t know,” I replied. “No one else was in there. Go on, Lydia.”
“Good.” Lydia smiled and adjusted her shoulders to sit taller. “I got in, and he says that he loves my head-shots and that he has the perfect role for me. The part is basically mine. It’s a smaller film, and it’s only a supporting role, but Oprah Winfrey won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her debut role, so I think it’ll be fine. Besides, I think starting in a smaller role really adds to the allure of coming from nothing and making it big.”
I just stared at my sister. I didn’t even know where to begin with that. How in the world were we related? There had to have been a genetic mix-up somewhere.
“What happened with Wickham?” Jane asked, bringing the conversation back to where we started.
“Oh, right.” Lydia took a breath. “Since I had met with Abram, oh-he asked me to call him Abram, I didn’t need to meet with the producer that night. In fact, Abram told me not to. He had me get on a plane and come home right away so I can start preparing for my role.”
If nothing else, I liked this Abram. He got my sister to come home.
“I got to fly home on a private jet,” Lydia continued. “It was Abram’s. By coincidence, he happened to have bought it from your friend Mr. Darcy last year. It felt so luxurious and right to be on there. I don’t think I can ever fly normally again.”
“How nice,” I replied. There
was more to this story than Lydia was telling me and most of it revolved around Mr. Darcy. What in the world had he done to bring my sister home? I could only imagine what hiring an agent like Abram must have cost.
I sat down hard on one of the kitchen chairs and looked over at my sister. She had no idea what Mr. Darcy had done for her.
“What are you looking at me like that for?” Lydia crossed her arms.
“Do you have any idea how lucky you were?” I asked her. I thought of all the bad things that had gone through my mind and shuddered.
“Well, yeah.” Lydia grinned innocently. “I just got my big break.”
I just sighed. She had no clue how close she’d come to losing that innocence.
“And don’t worry, Lizzie, you’re invited to all my premiers.” She smiled at me. “You and Jane are family. You two are going to get the perks of my fame. Like free sunglasses.”
I couldn’t help but shake my head and smile. Somehow, she managed to make me not want to murder her again with the simple promise of sunglasses.
“I’m going to go freshen up and then head to the gym,” Lydia announced. “I have to look good for next week.”
She grinned at Jane and me, and then bounced off to her room. Her long brown ponytail swung happily from side to side as she went. I just stared at her, glad she was still the same old Lydia. It was so much better than the alternative.
“Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting,” Jane commented as Lydia closed her bedroom door.
“Yup,” I agreed.
“How did she manage that? There’s no way that was a random event,” Jane said. She shook her head and sat back in her chair.
“I think Mr. Darcy might have had something to do with it,” I said after a moment. Guilt pulled at me.
“No, no way,” Jane replied. “Not after what he’s done to you.”
“I may have been wrong about him.” I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. “I actually don’t think he’s quite as much of a jerk as I first thought.”
Jane raised her eyebrows and looked sternly at me. “You were wrong?”
“Maybe.” I shrugged uncomfortably. I hated admitting I was wrong.
Jane nodded once. “Right.” She looked over at Lydia’s door and then back to me. “And on that strange note, I’m going to go to work now. Have fun with Lydia and trying to get her to accept any form of responsibility.”
I snorted. “Right. Because that’s gonna happen this century.”
“Have fun,” Jane told me, standing up and grabbing her bag by the front door. She waved one last time before heading out.
I sat in the now empty kitchen letting relief wash over me. My little sister was safe and was now in a much better position. She wasn’t going to get scammed and tricked by trying to follow her dreams. It meant I didn’t have to be afraid for her.
And there was only one person that could have made that happen.
I had to see him.
Chapter 20
I stared up at the tall building just outside of Central Park that Mr. Darcy worked at. I’d verified that it was the right one on the walk over and I even knew which office was his. I hoped that I could see him and thank him for what he’d just done for my family. I just had to get past security and his secretaries.
The lobby was full of windows and bright, modern architecture. There were two sets of elevators, but to get to them, I had to get past security. I squared my shoulders and walked up.
“Hello, I’m here to see Mr. Darcy,” I announced. My voice squeaked a little.
“Name?” The big guard asked.
“Elizabeth Bennet,” I replied. “I just need to see him for a minute. I’m sure if you tell him I’m here he’ll let me come up, and I just really need to see him.”
The security guard waited until I stopped babbling. “Ma’am, you’re already on the approved list. Take the second elevator to the top. Have a nice day.”
“Oh.”
I nodded and walked past him to the elevator and got on. Mr. Darcy had me on his list. There was no way that he could have known that I would ever come here, but yet I was allowed to. He wanted me to.
I love you…
The memory of him telling me that in the rain came back like a whisper. My cheeks flushed, and guilt pulled at my stomach. I was a fool.
The top floor matched the lobby. It was all clean lines and modern furniture in the blue and white of Oceania Airlines. A painter stood off in one of the corners slowly adding green accents.
“Excuse me,” I said, walking up to a large desk with a woman wearing a headset. “I’d like to see Mr. Darcy. I’m Elizabeth Bennet.”
The woman looked up. “Of course,” she said with a smile as she checked her schedule and list of approved contacts. Her eyes widened slightly before she looked at me again. “Please have a seat. He’s finishing a meeting, but once he’s done, you may see him.”
“Thank you,” I told her.
I found a seat in the white lobby and looked out the window. I could see Central Park from here. The leaves were gone from the trees leaving stark gray lines across the gray grass. The sky sparkled with wispy white clouds across the sea of blue. The color of the sky reminded me of Mr. Darcy’s eyes when he smiled.
“Ms. Bennet?” The secretary stood next to me. “Mr. Darcy will see you now.”
“Oh, thank you,” I replied. I had been so lost in the blue sky that I didn’t see her leave her desk. She brought me to a glass door and held it open as I walked in.
The office was dominated by a large, sleek, modern desk. The view was even better in here. I could see more of the city and all of the park below. On either side of the window, books lined the walls in all shapes and sizes.
Everything was very elegant and smooth. I suddenly felt very out of place in my jeans and t-shirt. I was just glad that my black wool jacket was nice. It was my saving feature.
“Elizabeth,” Mr. Darcy greeted me as I stepped in. He stood and came to the front of his desk. He wore his traditional perfectly fitted suit. Today was a beautiful dark blue that brought out the darkness of his hair and the light blues of his eyes. “What can I do for you?”
All the grand speeches I practiced on the way over went right out the window. I’d had this beautiful thank you speech all planned out, and now that I was here, standing in front of him, I couldn’t remember a word of it.
“I, um, I…” I stopped and took a deep breath. There was no reason to be nervous, yet my stomach was dancing with butterflies. “I wanted to thank you.”
“For what?” he said like he didn’t know.
“For helping my sister,” I replied. I took a step closer to his desk.
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he told me with a small shrug. I would have believed him if I didn’t know better.
“She let it slip that you were there,” I informed him.
He sighed. “Of course she did.”
“It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together of what you did for her.” I took another step into his domain. “There’s no other reason for an agent like that to be interested in her.”
“I happened to have business in California,” he replied. “It was just luck.”
I took another step. I was now only a few feet away from him.
“Still, thank you,” I told him. I looked up at his face, watching the way his eyes focused on me. It did strange things to my heart. “It means the world to me.”
“You love her,” he said softly, his eyes still taking me in. “Despite her flaws, you love her.”
He opened his mouth as if he were going to say more, but instead took a breath and turned from me. I missed his gaze as soon as it was gone. It made the room less bright.
There was silence in the room.
“I should have brought you a fruit basket or something,” I said with a laugh, wanting to make him smile. “I think I need to work on my thank yous.”
He chuckled softly. “My secretary would have ju
st stolen it.”
I smiled, liking that he was looking at me again. Those blue eyes held more in them than the sky outside.
A knock came on the door behind me. “Sir, your ten o’clock is here,” his secretary said, opening the door and peeking her head in for a moment.
“Thank you,” he told her, but his eyes didn’t leave me. He looked at me like I was beautiful, even in my jeans and coat.
“I should go. You have a meeting,” I said, not wanting to leave but not wanting to be a bother either. “Thank you. Again.”
“Oh, um. One more thing before you go,” he said, turning around to his bookshelf. “This came today, from the hospital. I wouldn’t even know what to do with it, but I have a feeling that you do.”
He handed me a box wrapped in cellophane. I recognized the box as the one from the auction. The one that contained the 18th century journal that I had bid on for my father.
I looked up at him, and he looked down at me. I had no idea what to say to express how I felt.
I told my feet to move, but they didn’t want to leave Mr. Darcy. I couldn’t blame them. Instead of turning to the door, I took the last step to him and went up on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. It was chaste compared to our other kisses, but still, the electricity of it made my heart skip.
“I hope your meeting goes well,” I said, taking a step back and nearly running into who I assumed was his ten o’clock. “Oh, excuse me.”
The woman I’d nearly knocked over didn’t give me the time of day. She wore a smart pantsuit and her dark gray hair was short and severe. She was somewhat scary, even though she barely came up to my shoulder. She was not someone to be trifled with.
I quickly ran out the door, my lips still hot with the kiss. I looked back to see him smile at me before greeting the woman.
“Hello, Catherine,” he said, and the rest was lost as the door closed.
I held my hand to my lips, my heart pounding. Why had I kissed him? Why had I come here? He didn’t want to be thanked. He had done this without telling me, yet here I was. I was a glutton for punishment, I decided. I liked the way Mr. Darcy put me off balance.
I nodded to the secretary and escaped down the elevators and out to the lobby. My lips still tingled, and I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. I felt lighter than I had in months and I knew it had to do with Mr. Darcy.