We have no answers to countless questions.
What’s even worse, is that, if Merc is right, and Elizabeth does indeed have a tumor, and she’s been manipulated all this time, she’s been just as used as the rest of us.
That leaves one person left in this equation that can tell us the truth of the matter.
Olivia, of all people.
I thought she was just a pawn in my mother’s games, and it’s actually the other way around.
“You’re telling me that Lauren used a sick woman to torture innocent people and profit, all these years? That she was the sole woman in charge of this operation?” Noah Stone asks.
My father is relentless.
He doesn’t yell or scream or lose his temper.
I think he might just be done.
“I bet you wish we’d just disappeared right about now,” I whisper to Leigha.
“Yeah,” she snorts.
“And miss the fun?” she whispers sarcastically.
“Geoffrey Whittaker is obviously in play here, which means you’re all in danger, unless you’ve got a connection to the crown,” Merc states.
My father raises one eyebrow deliberately.
Oh, shit!
“I just might,” he says evasively.
“You might? Might what?” I ask, slightly dumbfounded.
Then again, I can’t really be surprised.
Noah Stone has slept with most of the women in English royalty, at some point, so he probably slept with her once upon a time.
God!
What if one of the Princes is his son too!
More children?
Can’t he keep it in his goddamn pants!
I don’t need another brother, especially a royal one!
“Evan!” my father shouts.
“What?” I ask.
“Do you agree with Levi?” Merc asks me.
“I wasn’t listening,” I admit.
“I think we need to rescue Elizabeth. Only she’s going to know what’s going on. If she’s in a decent mental state, we might be able to get her to stand against her father,” Levi explains.
This makes me want to hurl.
Of all things, I never thought I’d hear anyone say that Elizabeth fucking Darlington needs rescuing.
“If we’re going to smother her in her sleep, I agree. If we don’t plan on killing the witch…” I stop talking, dead in my tracks.
I’m hit by a freight train with the revelation that my mother might actually not be the woman I’ve thought she was all these years.
Levi wouldn’t suggest absconding with her if he didn’t see a reason behind it.
By the look on my father’s face, I can see he’s struggling with the idea, but that he agrees.
He wants me to say it.
My father wants me to say that I am okay with helping my mother.
The truth is: I’m not.
“I can’t be a part of this,” I say.
“I refuse to help that woman, no,” I add.
“Give us a moment,” my father says darkly.
Now, I’m in for it.
I pour my father and myself a whiskey as the others quietly leave the room.
“We don’t even know where she is,” I defend my choice.
“But if we did, you wouldn’t do anything to help your mother,” my father’s statement isn’t a question.
He knows the answer.
“Don’t you want to see this through to the end?” he asks.
“Okay, you have a point,” I tell him.
“Do we agree the end game here is to be rid of all this?” I ask, failing to defend myself.
“Evan,” my father clicks his tongue.
“I don’t want to believe this anymore than you do, but the only person who can answer all our questions is your mother,” my father says.
“You don’t like the idea any more than I do, but, I need to protect my family, I need to protect Leigha, and Merc, from whatever could happen next. I need answers,” I say.
I realize that the only way to get those answers is to rescue my mother if she even needs saving.
“I say we table this until we can find out where she is,” my father says.
“Agreed,” I say.
“But, you can’t protect everyone, Evan,” my father continues.
“I only need to protect Leigha,” I tell him.
My voice is stone cold.
“Why exactly? I get that you’ve been friends for a long time,” my father rationalizes.
He almost understands what I’m talking about.
“I love her dad, I want to be with her. I know this, and she wants to be with me. It’s as true as anything I’ve ever known,” I confess.
Instantly, I know that was the wrong thing to say to my father.
“You’re in love with Leigha Bergmann?” my father asks.
“And you intend to marry her?” he continues.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with Leigha, Dad. I can hope that, somewhere down the road, we will be married,” I tell him.
Leigha and I need to figure out what we are together, what it feels like to be out in the open, around people who know we’re together.
Our entire relationship, romantically, has felt closeted.
I can’t for the life of me figure out why I didn’t just fight for her in the first place.
I could’ve taken her away from Mike, and that would’ve been that.
I would’ve been able to convince her to leave him for me.
We would be happy right now.
“And what about Victoire?” my father asks.
“Her funeral was three months ago; do you really think you’re over her death?” he points out.
“It hurts, of course. It still hurts, I’m not going to lie. I have to see it for what it was. I’ve gone over the entire relationship in my head, multiple times, and nothing about our relationship was healthy. I don’t know if things would’ve gone differently, or if it still would’ve been an unhealthy relationship, but it’s pointless to speculate,” I tell him.
“I’ve lived enough of my life under Elizabeth’s thumb, or Lauren, or whoever she is, and I refuse to spend any more time, not doing what I want,” I continue.
My father takes a deep breath.
“I don’t think you should be doing anything with that woman, Evan, if I'm honest,” he tells me.
“Well, that’s your prerogative,” I reply.
I don’t want to know his reasoning.
“Go ahead,” I say.
My voice is strong and independent.
“Threaten to take everything you’ve given me away, if I don’t give Leigha up, because the truth is, all of that means nothing to me without her,” I tell my father.
“You would give everything up, for Leigha?” he clarifies.
“I’d do anything for her,” I say.
“Evan, for the first time, I simply don’t know what to tell you, other than you are going to regret this,” he says.
“I don’t think so, Dad, and I’m not going to let you change my mind,” I say forcefully.
“Fine,” he says.
My father waves a hand in dismissal, and I know he’s done with me.
“Don’t you even want to know why?” My father asks.
“I don’t care enough about your opinion to want to know why,” I tell him angrily.
Then, I slam the door shut.
Whenever I’m angry, I got straight to the twins’ nursery.
My nephews calm me down like nobody’s business.
Corban is feeding Grayson, or Landon, from a bottle as he rocks in the rocking chair.
“Something happen?” he asks automatically.
“My father. You already know about Elizabeth and Lauren, I take it?” I ask Corban.
“For the most part. It’s confusing. All I got was MI6 believes that Elizabeth was Lauren, and Lauren is Elizabeth,” Corban says.
“That’s pretty much it,” I say.
>
“Can I hold one of them? It always calms me down,” I tell Corban in the strained voice.
“Pick up Landon, he needs to be fed next, Ava is sleeping,” Corban directs me.
“Hello, Landon,” I coo to the baby.
I pick him up in my arms and begin to feed him the bottle from the table next to Corban.
There’s an automatic release of tension as the baby suckles on the bottle.
Landon is warm and comforting in my arms.
An audible sigh escapes my lips.
“What’s bothering you?” Corban asks.
“Well, brother, since you asked…” I say.
He grins.
“Spit it out, amigo!” he says.
I gather my thoughts.
“I want to be with Leigha. Dad thinks it’s a bad idea. I don’t know why in the hell he would think that. I mean, we do have a pretty fucked up history, Leigha and I, but still…” I say.
“Well, as fucked as it is, you can’t just ignore your feelings for her, right? I take it you’ve been doing that long enough?” Corban asks.
“Always,” I say.
“You can’t just ignore feelings, Evan. They always bubble to the surface,” Corban says.
Then he looks at me, and pauses.
“Are those feelings just sexual tension?” he asks.
“No,” I shake my head.
I think back to that night Leigha and I shared with Merc, and how enthralled I was with her wrapped so tightly around my cock.
I couldn’t see anything in the room but Leigha, her expressions, the sound of her voice.
I didn’t even see Merc, to be brutally frank.
She blinded me completely.
“All I see is Leigha, man, that’s all I see in my future,” I tell Corban.
“Then what’s the problem?” Corban asks.
“Dad’s reason for not liking this is nagging at me, but I don’t know, and I don’t want to know. What if it’s something horrific like Leigha’s been working with the witches?” I ask Corban.
Corban bursts out laughing.
“Okay, that’s ridiculous,” I say.
“Just follow your heart, Evan. Don’t let Dad, of all people, stop you. He got to follow his heart when he knew it would only lead to pure torture at the hands of Elaurenbeth,” Corban quips.
Now I’m snickering at his joke.
“Does it bother you enough that you want to know?” Corban asks.
“It bothers me that he even has a reason, I don’t care what it is. Nothing is going to stop me from giving this thing with Leigha a try. I love her Corban, more than anything. I know she doesn’t love me because I’m a Stone, or I’m related to royalty, or anything like that. None of that matters to Leigha. With every other woman there was always the nagging question if they wanted me or the legend of Evan Stone, with Leigha I don’t even think about it,” I explain.
“Well, that’s your answer, if it was even a question,” Corban says.
Leigha is my answer.
She’s been my answer for a long time, but I was either too afraid or too much of a dumb fuck to admit it to myself.
I’m going to grow up and be a man about this.
No more running from what I want.
“Do you think these two are going to have messed up love lives too?” I ask Corban.
“They’re Stones, it runs in their blood,” Corban laughs.
“Ah, I hope not. I hope this ends with all the answers that my mother has,” I tell Corban.
“So, you’re going to go after her?” Corban asks.
“Once we figure out where she is, we’re going to do it. She’s the only person that could answer any of our questions, and now with Lauren dead, my mother might just be at Olivia’s mercy,” I say.
“Olivia,” Corban rolls his eyes.
“If I know anything about my mother, it’s that if she has a plan, she’s going to act fast. My thinking is that my mother wants your father dead, at any cost, now that you’ve killed one of her partners,” Corban sighs.
“How are you dealing with this?” I ask.
“Well, I can’t reconcile the mother I knew and the one I know now. I feel detached from this whole scenario like my whole life was just a lie. I’ve got my own family now, and I’m going to make sure as hell that I do everything right by these boys,” Corban explains.
“Good, because otherwise, I’ll kick your ass, brother,” I say with a grin.
Corban just laughs.
“You have full permission to kick my ass if I ever hurt your sister again, I deserved it that one time,” Corban says.
“I’ve beaten you up before!” I protest.
“Yeah, over whatever her name was after you slept with my girlfriend,” Corban deadpans.
“I saved you, man, I saved you,” I jest.
“You did,” Corban sighs happily.
“I can’t imagine anything better than the life I’ve got now,” he says.
Then, he looks up at me, his eyes focused on me as though I really need to listen.
“Do what you have to do, fuck everyone else. If you want Leigha, you go after Leigha, and you make her yours, and that’s the end of it,” Corban’s words are clear.
No one is going to stop me, not now, not ever.
37
Leigha
April 20, 2018
When I hear a knock at my door, I know it’s Evan.
“Come in,” I call.
In the middle of the bed, I’ve got newspapers and Merc’s papers spread out all around me.
I’m trying to figure out where Elizabeth might be.
Evan opens the door with a huge smile on his face and bouquet.
Immediately I hop off the bed and run to him, and papers scattered everywhere.
But I don’t care about a little piece of paper.
There was a time when I would’ve stopped what I was doing and made sure everything was in order before continuing.
Not now.
I wrap my arms around Evan’s neck, and he pulls me close, dropping the flowers on the floor as he wraps his arms around me.
“I missed you, I know you’re here, but I missed you,” Evan whispers.
“I missed you too,” I confess.
Nothing is off limits anymore.
Then I’m delighted with a slow, warm, heartfelt kiss that makes me cling to Evan because I’m so weak in the knees.
I can barely breathe when Evan kisses me.
The sparks fly when we’re together, they always have.
Only now we get to satisfy those desires.
“I love you,” he murmurs in between kisses.
“I love you,” I manage the words.
Between Evan’s lips and the problem of remaining upright as I lean into the kiss, I’m dizzy with a passionate need to be close to him.
Evan sweeps me right off my feet and carries me towards the bed, and I find myself laughing.
“God, I love your laugh,” Evan growls.
He lays me down right all over all the papers and covers my body with his.
My breath hitches at the thought of his hands all over me.
Being with him.
I want nothing more than to be with Evan, have his firm body against mine.
But there’s a nagging feeling that he shouldn’t be doing this.
“Evan,” I say.
He groans.
“You’re going to stop me, aren’t you?” he asks.
Evan is still on top of me, and the temptation to just give in is there.
But if we’re going to do this, I want to do right by him.
“I have a confession,” I tell him.
“You’re not who you say you are?” Evan jokes.
Then, he’s kissing my neck, and I can’t help but drop my head back and give him ready access to the skin there.
“Evan,” I moan lightly.
“What’s so wrong about this?” Evan asks.
“Because, Evan, it’s barely been
three months,” I tell him.
Evan sighs.
“You’re probably right, we should wait until you feel like Vic isn’t hanging over my head. She’s not now, but, it’s probably better if we wait,” he sighs heavily.
“It’s not that I think Vic is hanging over us,” I say.
“There’s just a nagging question in my head, and I just don’t know how to say it,” I confess.
“Tell me,” Evan insists.
“If Vic were still alive, would you still want to be with me?” I ask.
Evan doesn’t hesitate.
“Always, it’s you, Leigha. I would’ve figured it out, maybe it would’ve taken me longer, but,” Evan pauses.
“If you hadn’t pushed me away, after that night together, I would’ve never gone back to Vic like you told me to. I thought you didn’t want me, and it crushed me, I didn’t understand. We had this amazing night together, and then you just pushed me to go back to her,” Evan explains.
“I thought it was the right thing to do,” I admit.
Honestly, everything about that night is so evident in my mind.
Everything from Evan’s teeth sinking into my skin, the way he slowly peeled my clothes off and kissed every inch of my body.
He took control and made me want things from him I never thought I’d get.
“That night was one of the most amazing nights of my life,” I admit.
I feel like I’m going to cry.
“I didn’t,” my voice cracks.
“I didn’t know how to tell you what I wanted when I thought that all you wanted was to make things work with Vic, so I just, I didn’t,” I tell Evan.
“You should’ve, this would’ve made everything so much simpler,” Evan tells me.
His eyes, so blue in the light streaming through the window, are focused on mine.
“Evan,” I say softly.
“Nothing about us has ever been simple,” I tell him.
“No, you’ve got that right,” Evan laughs.
His lips crush against mine, and the warmth of his lips sends sparks shooting through my body.
I really don’t want to wait, but I don’t want to fuck this up either.
If we rush into things, there’s the possibility this will just end badly.
For both of us.
I need Evan in my life, regardless of what happens, so I don’t want to push him too hard.
Secret: A Stone Billionaire Series Novel (The Stone Billionaire Series Book 5) Page 24