The banging continued. Ignored. Until suddenly, it stopped and Cayd relaxed, releasing the feather filled pillow and readjusting his pounding head.
“So this is how you conduct yourself when you come to town?” Howard Donnelly asked Cayd from the doorway of the hotel suite’s bedroom. “You’ve been here a week and practically drank every ounce of alcohol in the whole damn hotel. Don’t you answer your phone anymore?”
Squinting, even in the dim light, Cayd glanced at his father. “Not now. Please go away. If I wanted you here I would have answered the goddamn door,” Cayd croaked out, dragging the quilt with him as he rolled over and turned his back to his father.
Howard chuckled and walked around the room, opening the curtains to let the daylight stream into the room. “Knew it was me, did you?”
Groaning once again, Cayd pulled the quilt further up the bed, covering his head and blocking the light. “Of course I knew it was you. No one else I know is quite that rude.”
“Aw, come on. You haven’t even asked me why I’m here.”
“You’re here to be annoying because we’re in the same part of the country.”
“Quite the contrary, son. I’m here to talk to you about the pickle you’ve gotten yourself into.”
“What are you talking about?” Cayd asked, finally pulling the quilt down far enough to peer over it at his father.
“I’m talking about this,” Howard said, dropping a copy of that morning’s newspaper onto the edge of the king sized bed. Meeting his eyes, Cayd reached down and took a hold of the broadsheet, conveniently opened and folded neatly to the exact article he was referring to.
“That bitch,” he murmured, looking at the headline of the article that read, Exclusive -Donnelly Empire’s Sole Heir Bedded His Father’s Bride.
The article then went on to reveal details about a sordid affair that ended with a pregnancy, a promise of revenge and finally, the reveal the Belle Fleming had twin daughters – one of whom was formally engaged to Cayd Donnelly. The article detailed that one, Mia Anson, had called off the engagement when her fiancé’s deception had come to light. The article ended with a quote from Belle that spoke of how glad she was to have her daughters return to her. She spoke of how her life had never felt complete without her children, and that she was planning a benefit to help agencies reconnect women and children who were forced into adoption like she was.
As he read, Cayd’s stomach soured. It was as if all of his nightmares had instantly become a reality. “This isn’t the whole story,” Cayd said to his father.
“I know that. Belle is not to be trusted. We both know that,” Howard said, as he took the paper from Cayd’s hands.
Cayd swallowed hard and accepted the glass of water his father seemed to magically have ready in his hand and drank it gratefully. “There’s one thing that is true though,” Cayd started, feeling that after all this time, he needed to admit to what he did.
Holding his hand up, Howard shook his head. “I already know what happened between you and Belle. You already told me.”
“I did?”
“You did. After it happened, you called me. You were drunk out of your mind, and I could barely understand you. But I heard enough to know what you did, and that you regretted it to your very core.”
Placing the glass on the bedside table, Cayd pulled the blankets away from him and sat on the side of the bed. “This is a nightmare, Dad. She’s turned Mia against me, and I don’t know what to do.”
“Well, I can tell you one thing. Getting drunk off your arse every night isn’t going to help you. What we need to do is get to this benefit.”
“Aren’t you worried that it will cause a scene and ruin your reputation?”
“Fuck my reputation,” Howard boomed. “My son is far more important than something as inane as social standing. We need to go to that benefit, tell the world what kind of a woman Belle is, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get the chance to win Mia back too. A love like that only hits a man once in his life, my boy, and you have to grab onto it with everything you have. Believe me, I had it with your mother and it’s something I’ll never experience again. Now get up, shave that fucking beard off and clean yourself up. We have some digging to do.”
And for the first time in many years, Cayd was actually glad to be his father’s son.
“This whole thing doesn’t make any sense,” Josh said and signed from within the video chat screen he and Louise were using to talk with Mia. “Why would Cayd do that?”
“I have to agree. And the ring – why would she have exactly the same ring from all those years ago? I’m pretty sure Cartier updates their collection seasonally and the ‘You’re Mine’ ring is current. It wouldn’t have been around then. I think she’s full of shit, Mia,” Louise said and signed in agreement.
“Fuck!” Mia said and signed in return, covering her face momentarily, before dragging her hands down her face in exasperation. “I am so bloody confused. I have all these people telling me all of these different things and they all make sense. I can’t believe any of them. I don’t know who is telling the truth and who isn’t.”
“Did you at least talk to Cayd?” Louise asked.
Closing her eyes, Mia shook her head. “I gave him back the ring…”
“You what!” Louise shouted.
“Oh my god, Mia.” Josh said, running his hands through his hair and holding onto his head like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Don’t look at me like that. I did what I thought was right,” Mia explained. “He hasn’t exactly been honest with me either. If he had have trusted me enough to share his past. I wouldn’t keep getting blindsided by stories from other people.”
“How was breaking up with the man who’s supposed to be the love of your life, without talking to him to find out his side of the story first, the right thing?”
“It just was. My life is totally messed up now. This is all just way too messy.”
“Love is messy, Mia – Life is messy. It’s what makes it all so great. And what is going on with you? It’s not like you to just lie down and accept things without some kind of a fight. Going to Sydney was supposed to help you fix things – not make them worse.”
“I guess I’m just tired. I don’t want to do this anymore, and I hate the way we’re all so entwined with each other. I never wanted any of this, Louise, and when I came here, I had hoped I could find a way to accept all of these new people, and their pasts, into my life. But it just keeps getting worse, and I don’t want to do it anymore. I don’t want any of them.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I’m done. I’m done with all of it. I’ve agreed to one last sisterly act. Natalie wants me to go to this benefit that will help raise money for a foundation that helps women who were forced into adoption to find their kids. So I’m going to that because it’s the only good thing that has come out of this whole mess. But then I’m leaving.”
“Where will you go?”
“As far away as I can,” Mia stated, knowing that it would hurt her friend but also knowing that something very drastic needed to happen in her life before things got any worse for her.
Louise’s eyes filled with tears and she glanced at Josh, who pressed his lips together gravely and placed his arm around Louise’s shoulders to reassure her before releasing her so he could continue to sign while he spoke.
“So you’re just going to take off on everyone? That’s a dick move and you know it,” he said.
“How is it a dick move? I can’t keep living my life like this. I can’t keep having random people popping up and ruining my happiness. I want people to leave me the fuck alone. Is that too much to ask?”
“Yes. It is,” he continued. “It’s selfish and you know it. You’re just trying to run away and take the easy way out instead of fighting for the people who love you. You’ve just broken your best friend’s heart, and I’m pretty sure you ripped Cayd’s heart out of his chest and stomped on it
when you ended things. What the hell is wrong with you? When did you become so bloody selfish?”
“I have done nothing but think of others through this whole ordeal! I wanted to make this work. But I didn’t want this… this mess to happen.”
Louise shook her head and raised her hands to speak. “No, Mia. You haven’t thought of others. You’ve done everything in your power to try and stay unaffected and as soon as something happened, you started running away. Even when you were supposedly facing up to it all, you were still running, and now you’re just going to run again. You know what? Maybe you deserve to be alone. Maybe you don’t deserve a man like Cayd. God knows, after all he’s done for you, he deserves a hell of a lot more than this. I thought you were a good person, Mia. I thought you were strong. But I guess I was wrong. This isn’t the friend I grew up with. You’ve changed, and it hasn’t been for the best.”
Suddenly, the chat window went black meaning that the connection had ended.
“Louise!” Mia shouted, hitting the space bar on her laptop furiously, as if it was going to somehow bring her friend back to her. “Shit,” she hissed when it didn’t work.
Reaching out, she slapped the screen down and turned her head away, mulling over the details of their conversation as well as the details of her life. She couldn’t see a way to fix any of this. She felt totally lost.
At least this time, she didn’t burst into tears. Her tears seemed to have dried up over the past couple of days.
When a knock sounded at the door, she pushed back on her chair and went to answer it. Eric was at work, so she was in the flat alone.
“Mia Anson?” the man who appeared to be a delivery driver asked.
“Yes?”
“I have a delivery for you from a Ms Fleming. Sign here please,” he said, holding out a handheld device and a stylus for her to scrawl her name. Then he turned and whistled, signalling for someone else to bring the delivery inside.
“What is it?” Mia asked, as she heard the wheels of a trolley moving along the road behind the truck. And when it came into view she raised her brow. “Holy shit.”
“Indeed,” said the driver. “Here, call this number when you’re done and they come and collect.” He held out a card to her which she accepted, then stood to the side while they wheeled in a portable clothing rack full of designer dresses that were obviously for her to choose from for the benefit.
“Thank you,” she said as they left before she closed the door and looked at the large rack in the small living area. “Bloody rich people,” she commented, finding this whole thing way too extravagant for her taste.
Reaching out, she flicked through the expensive gowns and tried to keep her mind off the conversation she’d just had with Louise and Josh. She had thought that out of everyone, Louise would have understood why she did what she did. And even if she didn’t understand it, Mia had thought that she’d at least be supportive of her decision to start something new, somewhere new and leave all of the upset of her current life behind.
Mia swallowed hard as her eyes landed on a beautiful emerald coloured dress that would look perfect on Louise and decided she would wear that. Her emotions began to burn in the back of her throat. Why couldn’t Louise and Josh just listen like they always did? It’s not like she’d leave and never speak to them again. She wanted a fresh start but she wouldn’t disappear on her best friend. She cared too much to do that.
She just needed someone to understand how trapped she felt – how confused she felt. Over the past year and two months, she’d gone through devastation and heartache to find a great love that brought on even more devastation and heartache. Couldn’t her friends see that she was hurting? Couldn’t they see that her strength was waning?
Sitting on the arm of the couch, she dropped her face in her hands and sobbed torrents of tears she’d thought she’d run out of. She needed this to be over. And after the benefit, it would be.
Wiping her hands over her face, she took a deep breath to calm herself down. Consoling herself with the fact that via the benefit, there could at least be a small amount of good that would eventuate from this whole mess. If they could reunite other people through an agency of trained professionals, then perhaps people’s lives wouldn’t be as ruined as hers was. She needed to take comfort in that.
Chapter 23
“JUST LOOK at you both,” Belle said, in the back of the limousine that had been sent to pick up Mia and Natalie on the night of the benefit. “I’m so pleased that we’re all together again. I really think this is the start of something very wonderful for us all.”
Eric, who sat next to the window with his arm protectively around Natalie met Belle’s gaze and felt a slight chill run down his spin. He still couldn’t bring himself to trust her.
“And it’s so nice you could join us Eric. I didn’t realise you’d be coming,” she stated, smiling beautifully with her mouth but continuing her assessment with her eyes.
“I asked him – I didn’t realise it was a problem,” Natalie said apologetically.
“It’s no problem, dear,” Belle assured her. “We can squeeze him in.”
Her eyes raked over Eric’s rented tux and shoes with slight disdain. She didn’t feel that a tradesman was of high enough calibre to be dating one of her daughters and made a mental note to do something about it.
“You’re very quiet,” Belle said, to Mia who was staring out at the scenery as it flicked past the window.
“I’m just tired,” she stated. “I haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
Natalie shifted uneasily at the comment as it conjured the memory of finding her in Eric’s bed a few days before. While she believed Eric when he said nothing happened, she still hated that Mia spent the night in her boyfriend’s arms.
“I’m not surprised. You can’t sleep on a sofa bed forever. We’ll have to find you somewhere nice to live in the coming weeks. My daughter deserves the best,” she smiled, reaching out to touch Mia’s knee.
Mia simply smiled in return without giving any type of answer. None of them knew that she planned to leave the next day. After the reaction she’d had from Louise and Josh, she decided to keep that news to herself until she was packed and ready to go.
There was a discomfort in the car that seemed to settle in the air between them all. It was way too early for any of them to be appearing in public as if they were a happy family. Belle was just too eager to make a statement to the world, and Natalie was often too spontaneous in her decisions to say no, and Mia felt as though she was just being sucked along in their energy, while Eric felt there needed to be one person who was thinking clearly around to keep everyone’s stories straight.
No one really knew what tonight would yield, but they all hoped that they could show a united front for one night – it was just that all of their reasons varied and not all were honourable.
“Put your smiles on ladies. Let me do the talking,” Belle instructed, as they pulled in front of the hotel and a concierge reached out to open their door.
Doing as they were told, they got out of the limo one by one then stood together, smiling for the cameras as they were asked how they felt about being reunited after so long. Belle spoke for them, saying that they were delighted to finally be a family after feeling an emptiness in their hearts for so long.
It was a lovely speech, and an even lovelier sentiment. It was just a shame that there was very little truth to it.
As they walked as a group to the ballroom where the function was being held, they were stopped regularly to talk to different people and spew the same rehearsed speech over and over again. They all deserved Academy awards in the art of false happiness.
Just as they made it to the large wooden doors that were open and displaying the beautifully decorated room, Mia felt a ripple of sensation pass through her body. It was as if the hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end and when she turned, she saw exactly why she’d reacted so – Cayd.
Across the lobby, Mia’s e
yes locked with his, and all of the sound seemed to disappear from the room around her. It had been over a month since she’d seen him and she couldn’t help the way she reacted to his presence. Her heart called to him. Despite everything, she still loved him.
“Do you remember when we first met?” Belle asked quietly in her ear. “I warned you about him. And I’ve been wondering what made me do that. You see, I felt this odd protectiveness over you at the time. Perhaps I saw myself in you. Perhaps I felt who you were to me. I never understood it until now. I was acting as a mother. I sensed you were my daughter and wanted to keep you safe.”
Tearing her eyes away from Cayd’s, Mia met Belle’s smiling gaze, confusion warring her features as she ran through their first encounter in her mind. That wasn’t how she remembered it at all. Her first impression of Belle had been unpleasant to say the least.
“I don’t believe that,” Mia said, causing Belle’s mouth to open slightly in surprise. “You were simply being a bitch that night.”
With one last, longing glance at Cayd, she walked away from Belle followed the others inside then excused herself to go into the ladies room. She needed a moment alone to collect herself.
After locking herself in a cubicle for a moment, she listened to a few other women gossiping in the lounge area as they checked their makeup in the mirror. They both spoke of Belle and her penchant for dramatics.
“She’ll do anything to get her picture in the papers. I wouldn’t be surprised if she hired those girls to pretend to be her daughters,” one said with a laugh, as they both exited the powder room and left Mia in blissful silence.
Feeling she had been gone for long enough, Mia opened the stall and made her way over to the mirrors to wash her hands and give her reflection a momentary pep talk. Although instead of being met with her own reflection, her eyes were drawn to that of Cayd’s.
“Mia,” he murmured, his voice like a gentle caress as it travelled across the room to Mia’s hungry ears from where he stood, blocking the door. She didn’t realise how much she missed him until that moment. She’d been telling herself that leaving him was the right thing to do, but being in his presence and knowing how she treated him, while seeing her own pain reflected in his eyes caused her to doubt her decision. She wanted Cayd. She had always wanted Cayd.
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