“Easy honey, are you okay?” Colton asked, a look of trepidation hanging from his troubled stare.
Her heart stung knowing she had caused him such pain. The only man she ever loved. The only man she would love, yet she threw his heart to the ground before stepping on it, breaking it in to scattered pieces.
“I…I think so? What happened? I heard them coming… I thought…“ She took in the confused looks realized the invasion wasn’t the threatening presence she thought it was, but just their friends. Why were they there, she wondered? She looked down, acknowledged she was sitting on the couch, but Jax was no longer in her arms. Panic rose again at his absence. She quickly moved from Colton’s sturdy grip, attempting to get away and find her nephew.
“Jax!” She yelled. Colton once again came to her aid, wrapping her in his embrace.
“Shhhh, shhh, it’s okay, baby, he’s safe! He’s safe!” He assured.
As if on cue, Jessie rounded the corner, Jax on her hip with hands full of cookies, along with Granny Lou her own hands full of plated cookies. Not sure what struck her more as odd, Jessie holding a child and smiling, or a room full of their friends in the midst of her crisis and great escape. She turned to Colton for answers.
He smiled his warm comforting smile that somehow, despite imminent danger, put her instantly at ease. Morgan walked in, trailing Jessie and Lou, with a serving tray full of mugs and what appeared to be a carafe of coffee.
“Well, look who is awake!” She said with a smile, offering her the first mug. “Hot chocolate?”
Megan took the mug, thoroughly stumped by the kindness and generosity, given what she had done to all of them. She smelled the warm, chocolaty drink and glanced at it, noticing the marshmallows floating around.
“Don’t worry, sweetie, it’s safe. We’re the good guys, honey!” Morgan joked with a wink before passing out drinks.
“You passed out. I know I call you Princess, Priss Pants, and Fancy Pants, but don’t you think the Sleeping Beauty act is a bit dramatic? Even for you?” Jessie teased, offering a small grin. “I refuse to call you that, it’s just too ridiculous.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I had. Wow, this has been a real shit day!” Megan proclaimed, emphasis on the ‘shit’. Granny Lou and Jessie high-fived each other at the use of foul language, even if it was fairly minor. “Appears we’re rubbing off on her, she even used it correctly!” Lou joked, causing a group chuckle.
The front door abruptly opened, sending everyone to their feet. Colton and Blake standing in front of Megan, while Morgan and Dawson stood in front of Jessie who was still holding Jax.
Sam walking through the door, arms full of groceries and kids in tow, confused not only by the unexpected group, but the reaction to her entrance. “I guess I should have bought some more food?” She said.
***
Nancy watched the three children play in the spare room that had become Jax’s, while the adults finally settled around the living room.
“Blake tell us why you called us all here. The suspense is starting to wear on me,” Carigan asked, starting the dialogue.
“Yeah, you said it was urgent, so what gives? If you wanted some of Gran’s cookies you would’ve just stopped by, which tells me this is serious?” Evie offered.
Blake looked to Megan, then Colton and proceeded with a nod from Colton.
“It turns out, we have a little trouble in town, after one of our own,” he confessed, gaining everyone’s undivided attention.
“Blake, please, I can’t let you all get involved. It’s too dangerous, I’m not dragging you all in to this, please?” Begging with Blake to spare their group, Meg choked back the tears trying to accumulate.
“Too late here, this is what we do! So who is going to fill us in? From the looks on your faces, I’m guessing Morgie knows, obviously Sparks, and since Blake called, he’s the ring leader. Dish, sweetheart!” Evie said, while stuffing another snicker doodle in her mouth.
“Wow, Nancy Drew great detective work!” Jessie teased with an eye roll earning her a shot to the head with a pillow, compliments of Everly.
“Now, now girls, play nice, none of you are too old to put over my knee! Blake honey, what’s all this fuss about? You have about another 10 minutes of my guaranteed attention!” Gran negotiated as she pulled a flask from her purse, pouring a shot in to her hot chocolate.
Blake gave her a stern look, before turning his attention to Everly. With just the raising of his brows, she put both hands in front of her and said, “I take responsibility for the old woman! I drove her here, I’ll drive her home!”
“Oh, fuck-stix, who you callin’ old, little lady?” Gran countered with a scolding tone, shaking her finger at her granddaughter, Everly. “This here’s just for medicinal purposes!” She finished with heavy emphasis on “medicinal”. “Darn rheumatism is actin’ up, snows comin’.”
She shrugged and took a healthy swig of her doctored hot chocolate, passing her flask to Jessie. After a quick use, Jessie tossed the flask back into Lou’s oversized purse that probably held everything a person would ever need to survive in the wilderness for a week. Jessie took a big gulp of her own doctored hot chocolate before looking to Blake with a smug smile.
“Okay, looks like I have Granny 2.0 over there. You’re not driving Jessie.” Blake scolded.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Captain America. So what are we here for? What’s up with Fancy Pants?” Jessie replied.
Blake sat, hands folded together out in front of him, with elbows resting on his knees. He looked down, let out a deep sigh, contemplating where he should begin.
Megan put a hand on his shoulder and said, “I should tell them, it should come from me, at least the part I know?” She said with a slight smile to assure him she could do this.
Colton’s protective instincts rolled over him. He sat taller, his grip firmer, and he asked, “Are you sure? You aren’t alone in this anymore, you don’t have to.”
“I do, Colton, they need to hear my part from me. Then they can decide from there what they think of me, and if they want to be involved. Megan firmly stated, regaining some of her confidence.
“Holy shit! Priss Pants has a secret! I friggin’ knew it! Rob a bank or shoot someone?” Jessie half yelled almost excited that Megan had something less than perfect about her.
“Jessie! Let her talk for land’s sake!” Carigan scolded, her Irish tendencies flaring. “Go ahead love, what’s your trouble?’
Megan gave Colton one last look, finding the confidence she needed to bravely say what she hadn’t said out loud to another soul. Her secret was nearly free and its consequences certain. She was fearful of what was to come, but primarily her fears resided in this room. Disappointing those she’d come to love as her own would be her greatest challenge to overcome yet. A squeeze of her hand from Colton raced through her, it was now of never…never no longer an option.
She took a deep, cleansing breath and said, “My name is Trinity Prescott.”
Chapter 26
Huffs and gasps filled the space, defining the element of confusion and disbelief that rested on the shoulders of everyone in the room. Megan closed her eyes, soaking it all in, pondering her next move. She didn’t want to hurt these people, defraud them of anything they had built together the past year or so. She was a perfect contradiction of everything real, everything made up.
The person she was with them, completely real—the person she was in general, a complete fraud. She was entirely made up and whoever the world needed her to be to survive and stay hidden.
“Come again dear? I know I haven’t had enough of this here drink of mine to be a little ‘hoo-hoo’ in the head, and I’m pretty sure you didn’t fill your mug…have I done lost my mind?” Gran questioned, grabbing Evie’s arm, full of concern. “It finally happened, oh honey, it’s time for the home isn’t it?”
The group snickered at Lou Shaw’s panic, lightening the mood and blow Meg had just dealt them. Megan was certain
it was intentional and Lou’s way of helping her through her hardship, because that woman was sharp as a tack. That’s just who Lou Shaw was, everyone’s “Granny Lou”.
Everly rolled her eyes at the old woman’s dramatics and put a hand over hers and said, “Calm down, we aren’t that lucky, old girl!”
“There you go again! Who ya callin’ old?!?” Gran shot back, suddenly lucid and of sound mind apparently.
Megan took a deep breath and dug deep for the courage she desperately needed to finish her confession.
“C’mon Princess, out with it. Who the hell are you and what is it to us?” Jessie asked with a snarky tone. Megan expected this, disappointment, skepticism, and mistrust. She only hoped that when and if this ever ended, forgiveness would follow.
“I’m Trinity Prescott, well I was. I am from New York. I had a ridiculously pampered life that I’ve learned lacked meaning and purpose, until now…” She admitted her dislike for who she had once been. She wasn’t a bad person, just someone that lacked real importance, and purpose. “About a year ago, my life forever changed when I was left to take care of Jax. That’s when I became me, well, Megan.”
“Okay, so when your sister died, you changed your name and moved? That’s it?” Sam asked, confused by the seriousness if this was nothing but a name change and relocation.
Megan let out a deep breath, she knew they deserved to know everything and she was tip-toeing around the elephant in the room. It was time to get real and deliver hard truths.
“About that, my sister,” she began with her head tilted down, looking at everyone through her thick lashes, gauging how much she should or could say now. “She’s alive and well, and on the run too.”
The silence her admission granted was deafening.
“Like I said, I am from New York. We grew up wanting for nothing. Our lives were quite privileged,” she began. “I guess you could say we were professional ‘socialites’. Lydia and I were at every major event or fundraiser, coast to coast, that anyone who was anyone would attend. That was my life, superficial as it gets, it turns out.” She took a moment to gather her thoughts and process what she had just admitted to her friends, saying it out loud for the first time.
“Are you okay? Do you want me or Blake to finish?” Colton asked, recognizing the pain it was causing her.
She looked at him as if for the first time, realizing just how amazing this man is. She had lied to him as much or more than the others. He had so much more invested, more to lose than anyone else, especially given his own past. Here he was, worried about her. He loved her that much, that he could set it all aside and still care about how difficult this was for her?
He really was her dream come true and she hoped that when this was all over, they still had a chance at a happily ever after to fight for. She smiled and nodded, holding back the tears his benevolence provoked, and finished her story.
“We had been running into the same crowds over and over, at the various events, including one man in particular, Esteban Ricardo Valdez. He was from Miami, a major real estate tycoon and land developer type. Lots of money, lots of power, and could charm the pants off a snake.”
“He fell for Lydee, hard. They fell for each other really. I was never a fan of his, couldn’t put my finger on why. They eventually married, Lydee moved to Miami and I rarely saw her or heard from her after that.” Sadness laced her words, as she remembered what it felt like losing her sister to Esteban. Her best friend and partner in everything was just gone one day.
“She was happy, he gave her a life of luxury beyond imagination, but eventually, the newlywed phase wore off. He was working all the time, he became distant, but very controlling. I rarely heard from her, saw her even less. Things got better again when she became pregnant with Jax. He was overjoyed to have a boy! But again, the baby was born, the newness wore off and he became obsessed with work again.”
“I took a trip to Florida to visit, meet my new nephew. I saw Esteban only a handful of times in passing over the course of a two week stay. There were people, mostly men, in and out of their home at all hours of the night. I slept with my door locked, it was so uncomfortable. My sister had become a shell of herself, her eyes vacant of joy. She would throw herself at him, begging to be noticed. It broke my heart to leave her like that, but Esteban wouldn’t let her come with me for a visit home.” She perused the faces that were clinging to her every word. The looks of shock and surprise stung a bit because she hadn’t told them the real shock and awe yet. Digging deep for the confidence she needed, she began her big finale, this would be the true test of friendship, the deciding factor between run or stay.
“After I left, I only knew what little she told me in the few conversations we were allowed, in fact, I’m certain those conversations weren’t allowed and she found a way to call without him knowing.”
“Then one night, well after midnight, there was a frantic knock at my door. When I looked, it was Lydia. I quickly opened the door to let her and the baby in but when I opened the door, they weren’t alone. There was a behemoth of a man that followed her in. He moved past me and began searching my house, checking windows and closing curtains.” She said as if annoyed by the giant’s actions.
“Lydee was a mess, it took the better part of an hour to calm her down and even then…she was speechless. The angry giant had to speak for her. His name is Declan O’Reilly,” she said, looking directly at Carigan.
The room stood still as all eyes shifted to her at mention of her eldest brother, which was as big of a mystery as Blake was to all of them, when it came to their background. It was well known that Declan and Blake were some form of ex-military with shadowy pasts that could never quite be defined. Blake was no longer involved at that level, perfectly content with serving and protecting McKenzie Ridge.
Declan was another story. He was still in deep, so deep that mention of his name brought a new level of seriousness and even fear to the story unfolding. It also brought Carigan’s raw emotions to the surface.
“My brother?” Carigan whispered, eyes glistening at the thought of him and what it meant if Megan was involved with him. “He’s been gone for years, no one has heard from him other than a few random cards letting us know he was okay. Oh Megan, you’re hiding aren’t you. My brother hid you here! He knew you’d be safe, that we’d watch over you and Jax.” A subtle smile stretched across her face knowing he brought her to them. With all of his resources, he trusted them with Megan and Jax.
“Holy shit, Princess. You’re in some deep crap, aren’t you? You just might be a little bad ass after all,” Jessie said, with approval and perhaps a little joy, she was a little twisted that way.
“Declan told me he had been working undercover as Esteban’s hired muscle and driver, mostly for Lydia, that’s why he was so familiar. I remembered him from my visit.”
“Lydee’s confidence was shot, she was desperate to make her marriage work. So one night, she made reservations at a Miami hot spot, got dressed up and went to his office building. When she got there, it was obvious there were several people there, based on the cars in the parking lot. Afraid that she was interrupting a meeting, she had decided to leave until her insecurities got the better of her and she went inside to see if he was with a woman.”
“He wasn’t in his office though. Nobody was.” Megan stopped and found her way back to present.
The ugliness of what occurred that night was festering in her stomach and trying to wretch its way up. The thought of her sister so desperate, fused with what she would stumble upon, brought on an unimaginable pain and even guilt she had yet to explore.
Talking about this, for the first time was good, a burden she wouldn’t have to carry so deep anymore, but it forced her to stop and look at what had happened in the hours leading up to her life forever changing. Something she had neglected to do until now, it had been too overwhelming to do alone.
“Something had caught Lydee’s attention, a commotion of sorts, so she followed it. She
began to hear voices the further she got away from the offices and closer to an area that was under some sort of construction. A remodel or something. She heard tools, power tools, followed by yelling and even screaming.”
“She continued to follow it and found her husband. He was cold, had dark empty eyes, evil. She had never seen him like this. Angry, sure, but never this. He was someone she hadn’t met before.”
“There was a man lying on the floor, blood everywhere, she said. Another man was standing before Esteban, crying and had wet himself. His men were crowding the room, she didn’t understand what was happening, who was this man, how could he stand there and not do anything?”
“Then it happened, Esteban raised his hand, holding a gun, and shot the man on the floor.” Gasps of shock interrupted her story. Jaws were dropped, eyes wide, and tears streaking faces. It wasn’t until she stopped that she realized her own tears.
“This sounds like something out of a movie, things that you don’t believe happen in real life. Her husband? I just can’t imagine,” Sam said, wiping her tears.
“It startled her, I mean who wouldn’t have been scared. She made a noise just loud enough to make eye contact with one of Esteban’s men. He heard her, saw her even. She turned and ran, she left, didn’t look back. She went straight to the police station. She hadn’t been there long when in walked the man that saw her. She was afraid Esteban sent him to get her, but he hadn’t. It was Declan.” More sighs and sounds of shock interrupted as they took in what had just been said. Declan had been working for Esteban, but undercover, she needed to clarify his role, if for no other reason, than for Carigan’s sake.
“Declan had been undercover over a year, trying to bring Esteban down. When he saw Lydee, he went after her. The local PD was corrupt; Esteban had people paid off everywhere. She was now a key witness to countless crimes and if she told a soul, her days were numbered. Dec got her out of there and put her and Jax in protective custody. They showed up at my place hours later. The only way Lydee would go into hiding was if Jax was safe, far from her, and I was safe, not to be used as a means to get to her and Jax, if he found out we were alive.”
Hidden (A McKenzie Ridge Novel Book 2) Page 17