A Beautiful Lie (Unlocked #1)

by Amelia Rowe

“Adam,” I said aloud, unsure whether or not I wanted to believe it was true.

  When he turned, his eyes bored into mine. Where had he been all this time? There were so many things that I wanted to ask and wanted to tell him. So many things I wanted to apologize for.

  “Luke,” he grinned. It was comforting to hear his warm British accent. For being gone for so long, God knows where, he looked good. He looked better than when he’d left months ago.

  “I hear you’ve found her. My sister?” He had hope in his eyes that I knew I was going to have to kill. “I was in Morocco last week when I finally decided I needed to connect with the world again. Lo and behold I have endless emails from Alicia begging me to get back here. So what is the news, brother?”

  I looked at all the expectant faces around me. Alicia averted her eyes to the floor. She must not have told him that I’d gotten involved with Nina. And now I was going to have to tell him exactly the things he didn’t want to hear. There were so many things I had to prepare him to find out. Me and Nina. Nina and Tomas. Tomas and Gigi.

  “Can we do this in your office?” I asked under my breath. “I need to talk to you about some things.”

  Taken aback, Adam looked around to the rest of the team. If there was one thing he prided himself on, it was transparency to his employees. That’s how he got everyone to stay so loyal to him.

  “What’s going on, Luke?”

  Alicia saved me. “I think what he means is that there are some details we want to hash out, and some new developments to discuss before we roll out the new plan to the team.”

  I tried to give her my most thankful look.

  “Alright,” Adam said. “Well let’s meet then, and the team will reconvene in an hour.”

  By the time everyone dispersed, I realized that I was still gripping the small plastic bag in my pocket. If Adam found it on me, he might never speak to me again. The one condition for my employment here was staying clean.

  “So don’t keep me waiting any longer. You found both my mother and my half-sister. Tell me everything!” The way he carried himself now reminded me of the Adam I knew back in college. That made this conversation all the more difficult to have.

  Alicia followed us into the room and shut the door. It was jarring that even his office was glass. Even though everyone was supposed to be back at their own stations, I could feel them watching us. Waiting to see what bomb I was going to drop on him. Waiting to see his reaction.

  I could start with Rachel.

  “The meeting with your mother was brief,” I explained. “She lives in Pennsylvania, has a family, and seems to live a comfortable life.” I hoped this would be enough information to placate him.

  “Come on man, you’re killing me,” he grinned. “What did she say? Was she excited?”

  I wanted to spare him as many details of that meeting as possible. “My meeting with her raised some concerns.”

  “Concerns…” He motioned for me to continue.

  “Your mother is living under an assumed identity. She’s gone to a lot of trouble to stay hidden, and was terrified when I tracked her down.”

  “Terrified of what?”

  I looked to Alicia for direction and she nodded for me to give him everything. “Patrick Blake. Even the mention of his name was enough to cause her to break down.”

  Alicia jumped in and continued to explain. “In December, there were a few incidents around the city where young women were turning up dead and pregnant. Three of them – all former employees of the Jasper Hotel.”

  Adam shook his head in disbelief and swore. “I knew ever since we went to London and found those letters that that guy was no good.”

  “Right, so when your mother reacted the way she did, we decided to dig deeper on the Patrick Blake issue, and what we found was a mountain of evidence against him.” I caught my breath and continued. “Adam, we’ve uncovered his connection to dozens of missing or dead women within the last fifteen years.”

  His demeanor had transformed from excitement to concern in the short time we’d been standing in his office. Unfortunately, the first half of the conversation was the easy part.

  “And my sister?” He seemed almost afraid to ask.

  “There have been a few complications.” Go with the truth. Always go with the truth.

  “I’m going to need more than that, Luke.”

  I took a deep breath and faced the friend who had been so good to me over the last twelve years of friendship. The friend who had saved me time and time again, and given me a second chance when the rest of the world didn’t feel like I deserved it.

  “Your sister – Nina – is staying at the Jasper full-time now.”

  “Don’t worry,” Alicia jumped in when Adam’s face began to transform from concern to horror. “We have a plan, and she is perfectly safe.”

  I sighed, trying to stop her from getting his hopes up. Even Alicia didn’t know about the latest development.

  “She came to visit me last night.” I recounted my evening at the hospital after finding Dani, and returning home to find Nina there.

  “Blake has duped her into thinking he’s the father she’s always wanted.” I paused, waiting for a reaction that didn’t come from either of them. “She told me she’s out. She told me if we go near her again, she’s telling everything to Blake. She’s blowing our cover.”

  Adam’s face was frozen like stone. Alicia tossed her head back.

  “And while I’m putting it out there, I have to be honest about something else.” Alicia’s eyes pleaded with me to not continue. But man to man, I had no choice but to tell him.

  Adam crossed his arms now, taking a defensive stance.

  “I fell in love with your sister.”

  “Excuse me?” he asked, standing directly in front of me now. “You what?”

  I didn’t need to repeat it. He’d heard me loud and clear.

  “I don’t understand how that’s possible, when you were doing a job, when you were working for me.” He paced the room, unwilling to look at me any longer. “I can’t believe this is what I have to come back to.”

  I admit, he had a point. My falling in love with Nina was in violation of every code that existed between men. Yet, if Adam had been around in the first place, none of this would have ever happened.

  “Well at least I’ve been around, trying to help her. I found her, and you were nowhere to be found.” I had no problem getting in his face. Adam was never the kind of guy who would get into a physical altercation. He preferred to flaunt his money around to buy whatever it was that he was after. I could take him in a minute.

  “Guys.” Alicia stood between us, holding her phone up. “I got a voicemail from her.”

  Neither Adam nor I took our gaze away from each other as Alicia played the message on speaker.

  “Alicia, it’s Nina. Look, I don’t know what Luke told you, but I need you to understand that I’m out. I don’t want anything to bad to happen to any of you, but this all needs to stop right away.” There was a pause, then she started whispering again. “Please don’t come back here. Finding my father is the best thing to ever happen to me.” Then silence.

  “That was her? My sister?” Adam’s tone softened, considering the voice he’d just heard on the line. Alicia nodded.

  “Adam, I’m going to fix this.” I was somber and sincere. “I don’t know how, but we will get her back.”

  He gave me one final look that said he’d never been so disappointed in me. I wasn’t sure if his disappointment was because I’d fucked up the entire plan, because I’d fucked his sister, or a combination of the two. And I had only one way to fix it all.

  Without another word, I left the office. I knew that I couldn’t return without a plan. I had to think of something, and think of it fast. Not only did my friendship with Adam hinge on it, but Nina’s safety likely hinged on it.

  I went to the Coco Café which was located just across the street from the Jasper. Before I entered the building, I graspe
d the small plastic bag one final time and tossed it into the trash. If I was going to fix this, I had to be clear-headed. In a previous life, I had always thought I needed chemical assistance to do my best work, but now I needed every single one of my senses and sensibilities to put this back together.

  Nina was a reasonable girl, but at this moment she was just caught up in the emotion of meeting her family. With Adam back, I had something new to dangle in front of her; an alternative that she’d potentially never considered.

  LUKE: Please come talk to me. Across the street at Coco. I have big news.

  I was hoping the enticement of something new would lure her out. Minutes passed and turned into a half hour, and then an hour with no response. I was nearly ready to give up when she walked through the front door of the bar. She was different. She wore different clothes. It was like a complete transformation had occurred since the morning.

  “Nina.” I rose to meet her. She was standoffish. I could tell she had come against her own better judgment.

  “I have only a few minutes.”

  It killed me to see that she wouldn’t even look me in the eye. So much had changed in such a short amount of time. I reached out for her, desiring nothing more than a reconciliation. Instead, she tensed and backed away. As much as it tore me apart on the inside, I would have to keep this all business.

  “Nina, your brother is home.” For a brief moment, her eyes flickered with hope. But then a darkness settled over her.

  “So where is he?” Her voice was bored. Like she had better things to get back to. A new life.

  “Well, I told him about the two of us and he was not pleased about that.”

  She crossed her arms and finally looked me directly in the eye.

  “I think you’ve misunderstood, Luke. There is no us.” Her words stung. “Tell him I say hi, I guess. I have to go.” The bells on the door jingled as she left me standing there. The way Adam had looked at me resurfaced in my mind.

  “Please!” I followed her out into the afternoon. I grabbed her from behind, trying my best to transfer whatever energy might still exist between us in my touch. “Nina, please come with me.”

  “Get your hands off of me,” she screamed. A few passers-by looked on disapprovingly. My arms were around her now, refusing to let her leave me. I would have stood on that street corner forever if it meant she wouldn’t leave me.

  But then, before I could register anything, her elbow connected with my jaw. “Leave me alone, I mean it.” As the pain seared hot in my jaw and radiated down through my neck, I watched her run across the street, back up the steps to the hotel, and disappear from me forever.

  It was the first time I’d seen Nina fully willing to stand up for herself. I just wished she had known she was standing up to the wrong enemy.

  20

  Nina

  I didn’t need any of them. My brother? Yeah, right. Where had he been the entire time I’d been working with Luke? I entered the lobby of the Jasper Hotel, feeling finally at home. I had a family to tend to – my father. These were the things I’d longed for my entire life. A family. A home. A parent to look at me the way my father looked at me.

  The suite was luxurious. No, it wasn’t the penthouse, but I had a view of Bryant Park and room service at my fingertips.

  My first real job would start next week. My father had promised that despite his busy schedule, the details of my apprenticeship with him were being worked on. His trust in me to work with him made me swell with a sense of pride that I’d never known. For the first time, I would be a truly functioning adult.

  And now, I was determined to make this family official with a family dinner.

  “Johannes, can you make up something special for dinner tonight?” Since I’d come to the Jasper, my father had been in and out on business like a revolving door. That’s the price you paid when you were an international hotelier, and I understood.

  “What do you prefer, Miss Parker?” He asked in his smooth accent that I couldn’t quite place. “Duck confit? Tuna tartare?”

  I wanted to request all of it. Before I could continue, Nikki appeared in the doorway to the kitchen.

  “Nina, there you are.” She sighed like a nanny who had found the children she was tending to who had wandered off. “Your father sends his apologies but he won’t be able to make dinner with you this evening as planned.”

  Another disappointment. I understood being busy, but I’d barely seen him.

  “He had some important partners come into the city and needs to take them to dinner. It was completely unplanned.”

  I tried to hide the disappointment but my attempt was futile.

  “I’ll get dinner with you though.” She tried to cheer me up. I could tell it wasn’t a role she was used to playing.

  “I guess cancel the request, Johannes.” I apologized to the chef and headed back out toward the lobby. As we rounded the corner, my father crossed the lobby with a small entourage of people. Front and center was a stumbling, leggy, blonde woman, clinging to his arm. A strange anger jolted through me and I stopped dead in my tracks. The woman’s sparkling black dress, four inch stilettos, and general drunkenness made it obvious that they weren’t headed to a business meeting. When my father spotted me, he simply nodded and continued out the front door.

  “We should go to Dixon’s,” Nikki enthused, clearly trying to divert my attention from the slap in the face I’d just received. “They have an amazing wine selection.”

  I felt bad for her. I couldn’t imagine what she’d put up with in her time working here. But her loyalty said something about my father. He treated her well enough for her to stick around. I agreed and we left. I spent the next two hours with her as she defended him to me.

  “His schedule is just insane, especially at the beginning of the year. In spring things slow down for us and you will have his full attention,” she promised me.

  I wanted desperately to believe her, so I did. We ate and drank together. If circumstances were different, I could see us being friends. Despite her uptight exterior, Nikki was a spitfire, a woman who could take charge in any situation. She reminded me of how I felt whenever I was Gigi.

  “Is he a good boss?” I asked. This made her smile. Something about the smile told me she thought of him as more than her boss. There was a wall of protection that glossed in her eyes.

  “He’s the best. He treats every one of his employees fairly and with dignity.” Color had rushed to her pale porcelain skin.

  “Who was the blonde woman he was with?” I read her face for how she’d respond to the question. “She was quite beautiful.”

  “I’m not sure what her name is.” Nikki looked back at the menu. “He brings women like that around just for show when he attends business meetings. Some sort of power statement.”

  It was a subject that clearly bothered her. She pursed her lips and drained the remainder of her wine glass. Part of me hated doing this to her, and the other part felt it was necessary.

  “What about girlfriends? Has he dated much? Ever been married?”

  Again she shifted uncomfortably. “He’s an incredibly private person when it comes to his relationships, Nina. He wouldn’t share those kinds of details with me.” But the way the topic unsettled her told me they’d shared many intimate details.

  As the waiter brought another round of drinks, Nikki’s eyes squinted across the table.

  “That guy over there is looking at us,” she smirked. “Actually, I think he’s looking at you.” When I turned, I saw Tomas, a crazed smile on his face. His hair was greasy and his clothes were unwashed. “He looks sort of familiar.”

  “Excuse me a minute please.” I stood up without waiting for her reaction and walked over to his table. As I got closer, it became evident that he was completely wasted.

  “What the hell are you doing here, Tomas?”

  He lifted his glass, barely able to get it to his lips without spilling his drink on his shirt.

  “Did you forg
et?” He withdrew a stapled packet and shoved it across to me. I recognized it as the contract I’d signed before starting to work with him. “I own you, Gigi Noir.”

  I silently swore at myself for failing to read the damn thing through before signing it. “Fuck your contract,” I snapped, pushing it back to him.

  “Don’t you go too far now.” He threw back the rest of his drink. “My lawyers will be in touch.” I left him there at the table, my mind swirling about what I could have possibly signed.

  “What was that all about?” Nikki asked, looking over my shoulder back toward Tomas.

  “Just an old acquaintance,” I gathered my coat and my bag and threw a few bills on the table. “Let’s get outta here.”

  I awoke the next morning with a hangover. It wasn’t just from the alcohol. The rush of everything that had happened returned. Luke pleading with me, my father blowing me off for some nameless blonde, and Nikki’s strange behavior about the true nature of their relationship. Not to mention my run-in with Tomas.

  But the negative thoughts vanished when I noticed a note slipped under my door.

  Meet in the penthouse at nine. Love, Dad.

  It was eight forty-seven and I looked like a mess. He was going to apologize and tell me he wanted to spend the day with me. I rummaged through the closet full of brand new clothes he’d let me buy with his credit card and selected a perfectly pressed, mauve-colored, long-sleeved dress. With the remaining few minutes I had left, I smoothed my hair in the mirror and tied it back. After a final gloss of makeup, I was right on time.

  “Nina.” His voice was full and happy. He rose to greet me with a hug. “Honey, you look stunning,” he beamed, twirling me. “Please sit.” He motioned to a table full of food.

  “I was so happy to see your note this morning,” I said, thankful for the cup of coffee staring me in the face. My head was still pounding from the amount of wine that Nikki and I had consumed the previous evening.

  “Kiddo, I have to apologize for yesterday. We had quite a tense meeting downtown with a vendor. He was threatening not to re-up his contract with us so I had to pull out all the stops for him.”