by Lizzie Shane
“Ridiculous,” Regina sputtered.
Candy turned to Scott, her eyes wide. “You knew?”
“You aren’t the only one with an unfortunate habit of walking in on people.”
Candy’s eyes grew bigger still. “You knew when…”
“When both of you were kidnapped and our loving parents made the executive decision to only bring one of you home because it would be politically awkward to acknowledge the other one? Yep.”
Her mother was shaking her head. “No. That isn’t what happened. We helped the nanny’s daughter even though we had no obligation—”
“We brought Laura home.” Her father’s protest was ragged.
“Two weeks later,” Candy snapped. “You left her there for weeks.”
“I know.” Thomas sounded broken. “Diana never forgave me—”
“How horrible for you. Your mistress held a grudge when you abandoned your child.”
“When did you find out?” her father asked.
“I overheard you.” Candy spoke to her father, not seeming aware of Ren—or any of her audience other than Thomas Raines. “Talking to Mom, trying to convince her to pay for Laura’s release. You thought I was asleep. And when she told you it would be political suicide, you just gave in.”
Ren’s gut tightened at the harshly spoken words from Candy—no wonder she had trust issues. She told him that her father was her hero when she was young. To learn he was flawed in such a jarring way when she was twelve years old… of course there was a wedge between them.
For Candy, with her hardline stance of right and wrong, that would have been unacceptable. An unspeakable betrayal.
“I would never say such a thing,” her mother defended herself. “Laura was the nanny’s daughter. A child she had long before she came to live with us. There was no connection to Thomas and we had no responsibility to help her—”
“If you say that often enough, do you believe it, Mom?” Scott, this time. Dry and mocking.
“That’s enough, Scott,” Regina snapped.
Candy was still looking at her father. “Do you know what happened to her?”
“We got her back—”
“After that.”
“Diana took her away—”
“I always wondered about that,” Candy mused. “When they vanished. Did you pay them to leave or did she take your daughter away to punish you?”
Thomas’s face flushed, his eyes dark. “I had nothing to do with their departure—”
Candy looked to her mother. “Did you?”
Her mother’s jaw locked, her eyes filled with fire. “I have always protected this family.”
Her husband gaped at her. “Regina.”
Candy shook her head at her father’s shock. “So many secrets. No wonder all we know how to do is lie.”
“She was provided for,” Regina insisted.
“She was,” Candy confirmed. “For a while.”
Scott was curious now. “How do you know that? I hired a PI, but he could never find her.”
“You did?” Candy blinked, visibly surprised by her brother’s interest in their half-sister.
Scott shrugged as if embarrassed by the interest. “She’s our sister.”
“She was,” Candy said. “She changed her name, but I finally tracked her down a couple years ago. They’d moved to Miami when they left Venezuela, then she bounced around a lot before ending up in Seattle.” Candy met Scott’s eyes. “She overdosed when she was twenty-three.”
Scott’s face flashed with grief for a fraction of a second before it was swallowed by dark, wry humor. “I guess we had even more in common than I thought.”
*
Scott had known. All those years when her parents had been pushing him into politics and he’d been drinking his way out, he’d known the truth. She should have seen it. But the others… Charlotte who didn’t even remember her. Aiden who’d been so young.
“Aiden and Charlotte have a right to know.”
Her mother glared at her. “Aiden is missing, thanks to you, and Charlotte doesn’t need any more stress on her wedding day.”
Candy gaped at her mother incredulously. “You can’t still be supporting this wedding. He cheated on her last night and then he manipulated her until she was apologizing to him.”
“I’ll thank you not to spread rumors about the happy couple on your sister’s wedding day.”
“They aren’t rumors!” Candy yelped. “Ask Alicia.”
“Your sister has made her choice,” her mother declared piously. “It isn’t our place to change her mind for her.”
“Even if she’s being brainwashed? What’s so great about this guy that you all refuse to see him for what he is?”
Scott snorted. “His family name is old, his war chests are full, and he’s just full of himself enough to believe he’s God’s gift to political office without having any pesky morals to get in the way. Hell, he’ll probably be president someday.”
“Mom. Dad. You have to talk to her—”
Her mother’s phone buzzed. “That’s probably the wedding planner. It’s getting late. We should all dress. Photos with the bride’s side begin at two.”
“Mom!”
But her mother was already bustling away, towing her father along in her wake. Alicia had vanished—and Candy had no idea when. Had she heard the whole sordid mess about Laura? Was she even now selling the story to the highest bidder?
Scott shoved his hands deep into his pockets, rocking on his heels while Ren stood back, observing it all.
“Never a dull moment in the Raines household,” Scott said dryly, before turning and heading toward the carriage house.
Candy turned toward Ren, suddenly nervous. This morning she’d been out of control in ways he’d never seen from her before. She was the nerve-center of Elite Protection. The one monitoring the video feeds. The calm voice on the other end of the coms. She never lost her cool. Until she came home. No one drove you out of your mind quite like family.
Ren closed the distance between them and folded her in his arms. Just that. Not asking anything of her. Not questioning her. His arms somehow kept her from feeling the shame that wanted to creep in after what he’d witnessed in the last hour. She rested her cheek against his chest, looping her arms around his waist, and swallowed down the inexplicable urge to cry with relief.
He was here. Things were always better when he was here.
Now if only she could find the right thing to say to make him stay.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Two months ago…
The sound of a motorcycle pulling into the parking lot caught Candy’s ear and she straightened, spinning away from her computer. It might not be Ren. Ever since Max had hired Elia there were multiple Harleys in the employee lot, but she’d take those odds.
He’d been avoiding her.
It was making her crazy, not seeing him like this. Okay, she sucked at relationships, but they could still be friends. She needed them to be friends. She needed him.
Especially after the conversation she’d had with Max this morning. If Max was thinking of selling Elite Protection, if there was a chance she might not see Ren at work anymore…. No. She wasn’t going to borrow trouble. It wasn’t going to happen.
But she needed to patch things up with him now.
She caught up to him as he walked out of the locker room, his gym bag slung over one shoulder. “Hey!”
He paused, smiling slightly in greeting, and Candy’s heart lifted at the familiar sight. “Hey. You working Saturdays now?”
“You know what Max says. Protection is a twenty-four-seven job.”
Ren nodded, the gesture absent as his phone chimed with a text alert and he pulled it out of his pocket. A tiny, almost intimate smile quirked his lips when he checked the screen. Candy’s heart clutched erratically at the sight.
“I should get going. Just came by to pick this up.” He adjusted the bag on his shoulder.
“Hot date?�
�
She didn’t know why she asked. She really didn’t want to know, but the words were out before she could help it.
“Actually, yeah, sort of,” Ren admitted. He shrugged, as if trying to dispel the sudden awkwardness in the air. “I would have said something, but it’s still pretty new.”
It’s still pretty new. Which meant it was established enough to be an it. Which meant it, whatever it was, wasn’t a first date.
Ren was seeing someone.
“Awesome!” Her voice was too bright. Too loud. “I’m happy for you.” She sounded too happy. Like an infomercial. “I’m glad you found someone. I want us to be friends,” she blurted.
Something that was almost sympathy moved gently across Ren’s face and Candy’s eyes suddenly felt hot. “Me too,” he murmured. “Have a good night, Candy.”
“You too!” Fake. She sounded fake. But he didn’t call her on it. He smiled, nodded, and walked away. Off to his hot date.
She should have gotten the girl’s name. For a background check. As a friend. They were friends now.
Candy pressed a fist against her ribcage, trying to breathe past the pressure there.
He’d told her he loved her and she’d thrown him out. What had she expected? That he would pine for the rest of his life? She didn’t want that. She wanted him to be happy, damn it. She did. So why were her stupid eyes so fucking wet all of a sudden?
She’d never wanted to care. Not about Ren. Not about Elite Protection. Not about anyone. She’d kept her guard up as high as it would go, but he’d gotten through anyway. She’d tried to play it safe and it hadn’t mattered. She’d still gotten hurt. Wasn’t that just fucking poetic?
She’d never wanted love. Until the moment it was taken away.
And now all she could do was walk back to her desk like a zombie, pretending everything was okay and trying not to cry.
*
Present day…
Candy stood in front of the full-length mirror in the bathroom, trying to find some trace of her true self in the reflection looking back at her. People could say that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but everyone did. The packaging mattered. It changed how the world judged you, but it also changed how you felt. When Candy was wearing “appropriate” dresses and a strand of perfectly matched pearls, she couldn’t help feeling like she was back in the box she’d broken out of decades ago.
This was the reflection of the woman she could have been if she hadn’t woken up to the lies in her life. The perfect little country club princess.
“Missing your disguises?”
Ren’s deep voice sounded from the open doorway behind her and she shifted her gaze to his reflection. She sometimes forgot how insanely good looking he was, because he was just Ren to her. Calling him Pretty Boy kept him at a distance, but it didn’t change what he was to her. Or the fact that he was still the most handsome man she’d ever met.
And one who knew her better than anyone in the world, as his question proved.
“A little,” she admitted.
“You look beautiful.”
“You look wonderful. I look…” She didn’t know how she looked.
“You okay?” He came to stand beside her, placing one hand on her waist, and she looked at the pair of them in the mirror.
Such a handsome couple. His dark looks contrasted her fair ones. Her ash blonde hair was pulled into a neat French twist with a few strands hanging loose to frame her face. Her dress was a simple, A-line flare. Cream-colored, with a baby blue lace overlay that kept it from looking too bridal. His suit was dark navy. His hands large and strong. His eyes bright and understanding.
He would have been an incredible husband. He could have been hers, if she hadn’t screwed things up. She could imagine it. The way he would look at her when he spoke his vows. The look on his face when he first saw her walking down the aisle on her father’s arm.
She’d never been the kind of girl to fantasize about her wedding. That was Charlotte. She had never thumbed through bridal magazines—until she was forging her own wedding photos in an attempt to keep her mother at bay. She’d never pictured herself in a poofy Cinderella dress, waltzing with the man of her dreams during their first dance as man and wife while all their friends and family watched.
But she did now. And the only man whose arms she could picture herself in was Ren.
If she told him that now, would it make a difference? Would he even believe her?
“Candy?”
Had he asked her something? She couldn’t recall. “Some morning, eh?” She shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
He slid both arms all the way around her waist, wrapping her in his warmth. He was always so warm and he smelled so good she just wanted to lean into him and inhale. “What are you sorry for?”
“Dragging you into this?” She’d meant it to be a statement, but it hadn’t come out that way.
“Don’t be. I’m not.” He turned her gently, forcing her to look away from the reflection—and suddenly it was harder to meet his eyes, without the mirror between them. “You know I would do anything for you.”
He lowered his head, slowly enough to give her time to move away—but pulling away from him was the farthest thing from her mind. His lips were gentle. Warm and comforting. Had they ever kissed like this before? Not with heat and lust and need. Not with playful teasing and naughty flirtation. But just with the soft, warm glow of some emotion she was too frightened to name.
God, she loved him.
The words shivered through her and Candy jerked away, feeling the blood rushing to heat her face. “We should go. We don’t want to be late.”
“Good idea.” His arms fell away, but he caught her hand by the fingertips, drawing her behind him out of the spacious bathroom. “I’m a little afraid of your mother. I’d hate to delay her photos.”
“I’m already on her shit list thanks to Aiden’s Escape from Alcatraz routine.” Candy looked up at Ren as he held the door for her to exit their suite. “You saw him this morning, didn’t you? Did he say anything? Give any indication where he was going or why he couldn’t run away with his nanny after the wedding?”
“All we talked about were hangover cures. I didn’t even know he was missing until your mother mentioned it.”
Candy shook her head. “I had no idea what was going on with him. Or with Scott or Charlotte. Which is my own fault. I was so angry at my parents for what they did in Venezuela that I cut off the whole family.”
“It takes two,” he commented. “They could have reached out to you.”
“Aiden tried.” She frowned as Ren took her hand in his, leading the way across the lawns to the west gardens where the photographer had set up. “I don’t even know them.”
“So get to know them. It isn’t too late.”
“I’m still lying to them,” she murmured, lowering her voice as the rest of the family came into sight ahead of them.
“And it’s killing you. We could come clean.”
Candy snorted. “If this morning couldn’t ruin my sister’s wedding, I doubt anything we can say will. Though my mother may kill me. I’m pretty sure the lying won’t bother her, but having to tell her friends I lied will be a fate worse than death. I think in her book lies are only bad when you get caught and the house of cards comes tumbling down.”
“It is a minor miracle you have such an uncompromising sense of right and wrong, raised the way you were.”
“You mean by the playboy diplomat and the woman who will murder kittens if it advances the family’s political capital?”
“I have to wonder where you got it from. That hard line view of right and wrong.”
“I stopped believing in them. After that, spotting the bullshit and hypocrisy was easy—and the more I saw of it, the more I hated it. I couldn’t stand the lies anymore.” Her hand tightened on his and she grimaced. “But then I went and built one for myself.”
“It’s almost over,” he comforted her as they reached the rest
of the group. “Not much longer now.”
They only had to keep it together a little while longer. Then they could go back to Los Angeles and she could start putting herself back together again. She felt like this entire week had done nothing but break her down. But they were close. In the home stretch.
Her family stood in a small cluster to one side, waiting their turn while Charlotte was fussed over by the photographer and several of his assistants, trying to get her veil to fall just so as she stood on the small footbridge over the pond. She looked breathtaking. Every little girl’s fantasy bride—ethereal and flawless.
If only the man she was marrying wasn’t such a tool.
Candy approached the small cluster of her family standing out of the way, her arm linked through Ren’s.
Then her mother looked up from where she was fussing at one of the wedding planners and her eyes lit with unholy glee as soon as she spotted Candy and Ren.
“Lorenzo Tate Junior!”
Oh, shit.
Candy’s gaze snapped to where Alicia stood waiting for the bridal party photos a few feet away. She held her hands up defensively. “Don’t look at me. I didn’t say a word.”
That single panicked look toward Alicia was all the proof her mother needed. Her face lit with rabid enthusiasm. “Candice! Why didn’t you tell us your husband was famous?”
Candy shot a frantic look at Ren, but he hadn’t moved. He didn’t even look upset. Just mildly surprised.
“He isn’t.” Deny deny deny.
“Well, no,” Regina acknowledged. “But his parents were. Lorenzo Tate and Lily Xiao? Daughter of Chinese billionaire Hi Xiao?”
Candy frowned. The details were too specific. How could her mother know Ren’s grandfather’s name? “Who told you that?”
Her mother flapped a hand as if it was common knowledge. “It’s all over the internet.”
That got a reaction from Ren. “It is?” His expression darkened.
“Michelle from the club sent me a text this morning—”
“You text?”
“Don’t interrupt, Scott. It’s impolite. As I was saying, Michelle sent me a text with an article attached, asking me if it was about my son-in-law. Of course I had no idea what she was talking about—you could have done me the courtesy of giving me a little warning, Candice. You’re lucky nothing can spoil my mood today—”