by Ivy Nelson
Elijah clenched his fist. He didn’t have time for this. It was time to pull Holly into the loop now.
“I think it might be time to bring in Jax Fischer, but I need to talk to Patrick first,” he told his lawyer. “Let me call you back a bit later and we’ll come up with a game plan just in case they do file this bullshit suit.”
When he ended the call, he scrolled through until he got to Patrick’s number. There was just no putting it off now. He pressed the green phone icon on his screen and watched as the call connected. When he heard the ringing on the other end, he pressed the screen to his ear.
“Hey, Eli, what’s going on?” Patrick asked when he picked up.
“Have you read today’s Hollywood Chronicle?”
Laughter filled his ear. “Why would I read that drivel?”
Elijah sighed. “Just look it up and read it.”
Patrick grumbled unintelligibly before saying, “Hang on, I’m pulling it up now.”
Elijah stood in his home office and paced as silence hung between them. After several moments, Patrick let out a low growl.
“What the fuck, Elijah? Are you sleeping with my sister? Has she seen this shit?”
Elijah sighed. They were all valid questions. “I’m seeing your sister. I left it up to her to tell you—at her request. She’s read another story in the LifeStyle. That one was just pictures of us together. As far as I know she hasn’t read this one yet.”
Patrick blew a loud breath into the phone. “I guess I need to have a talk with her then. Should I do it by myself or do you want to be there? You’re kind of involved.”
“We’re both at my house right now. I’m in my office and she’s reading in the living room. You can come over if you’re in town. We’ll order food or something.”
“I can be there in forty-five minutes. I was at the new lab.”
Elijah ended the call without telling him about the lawsuit. That was better in person. He still needed to figure out how much of that to tell Holly. She would find out at the point that they officially named her, but if he could keep that from happening, that would be best.
He shot a text to his friend and fellow Dom, Jax Fischer.
You going to Colorado this weekend?
A few minutes later, he got a thumbs down emoji.
Damn it. He hit the call button.
“Can I bring you into L.A. when I get back to town then? I need to hire you for a job, but I would rather discuss it in person.”
“Well hello to you to, Eli,” the man drawled. “I’ll be in Vegas wrapping an assignment for Hunter on Monday morning. I could be there by dinner if that works for you.”
Elijah agreed and ended the call without a goodbye. With a heavy sigh, he went in search of Holly.
He found her still curled up in his living room with a book.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said when she glanced up at him with a smile. “Your brother is on his way.”
Holly started to stand, but Elijah held out a hand to stop her. “Let me sit with you.”
When he settled next to her, she touched his bicep and said, “You look tired.”
“I am. It’s been a long day. I’m stressed about the tabloid stuff and a few other things we can talk about later.”
“Why is Patrick coming? Oh, God. Has he seen the tabloids? I wanted to warn him.”
Elijah nodded. “Sorry, baby. We’ll talk when he gets here.” For now, he just wanted to kiss her and get lost in her touch, but he knew there wasn’t time for all of that, so he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
“I’m going to order food for when Patrick gets here. Do you have any requests?”
Holly shook her head.
Pressing another kiss to her forehead he said, “I’ll leave you to your book until he gets here then. Though I have to say I’m a bit jealous of the shirtless man on the front.”
Holly grinned up at him. “You look better. I promise.”
“Good answer,” he said with a wink.
When food was ordered, he wandered the house feeling restless. This wasn’t how he’d envisioned the night going. He much preferred the way the last week had gone. Having Holly in his bed was the most alive he’d felt in years and the fact that she was showing interest in going back to Solitaire was just icing on the cake. Once Holly learned the truth, she might want to run screaming from the room or she might draw closer to him. There was no way to tell.
All he knew was he didn’t want to lose her.
A half hour later, the food and Patrick arrived at the same time. Elijah took the time to tip the delivery driver. Holly looked nervous standing there in front of her brother so he said, “Will you grab some plates from the kitchen and set them up on the bar? You can grab some beer and wine from the fridge too.” The look she flashed him told him she appreciated having something to do.
What the hell is going on?” Patrick asked when she had disappeared.
“I think we just need to lay everything on the table. Maybe not the gory details of how my mother died, but she needs to know the truth. My marketing team was saying things to her today that she didn’t understand. Maybe if she knows the truth, she’ll be less likely to go back home to your father.”
Patrick nodded. “Agreed. But I still want to discuss you sleeping with her. That’s so not cool man,”
Elijah stared at him. “Are you really going to be the misogynistic asshole who thinks that just because she’s a woman who’s related to you, you have some right to dictate who she sleeps with?”
Patrick sighed. “Just keep her away from Solitaire.”
Elijah cleared his throat and Patrick threw his hands up. “Jesus man. Is nothing sacred to you?”
Elijah shrugged. “Can we just focus on what’s important right now please? There’s one more thing you need to know but I don’t want Holly knowing yet.”
Patrick folded his arms. “I’m listening.”
“It sounds like a Troy Wilson from the Sutton Foundation might sue Holly and I. Claims she signed a non-compete clause and my having her work on a charity themed advertising campaign for the diamonds is in violation of that.”
Patrick snorted. “Nonprofits have non-compete clauses?”
Elijah shrugged. “I don’t know if there’s any truth to the claim so I would rather take the weekend and dig into it before I lay this on her. I’m bringing in Jax Fischer to find out how they knew so quickly that I put her on that project, and I think I’m ready to start digging into your father’s criminal activity.”
He’d always hesitated to bring in a private investigator because he wanted to destroy Nicholas Sutton businessman to businessman. Not to mention Patrick had always worried about Holly. Now that he had at least some ability to protect her, a P.I. seemed like the right next step.”
“You just fucking keep her safe,” Patrick said as he stalked past him and into the kitchen. Elijah jogged to keep up with him, so they entered the room together.
Holly had opened the various food containers and set up plates and beer for each of them.
“What’s going on you two?” she asked as she settled onto a bar stool. Elijah slid around to the other side of the counter so he could see her and motioned for Patrick to do the same.
“We need to talk about mom and dad, sis,” Patrick said before taking a long pull from his beer.
“What about them?” Holly asked, her brow furrowed in confusion.
“How much do you know about how my mother died?” Elijah asked.
“Your mother? Only what I’ve read on Wikipedia. It sounds awful, but I’m not sure what that has to do with me or my parents. I read something about Sutton Jewelry paying for the hostage funerals, but I just thought that was mom’s doing or something.”
Patrick leaned on the counter. “I should have told you this a long fucking time ago.” He closed his eyes. “Mom was part of that group of hostages.”
“How? She came home from her last trip to Africa.”
“Nicholas Su
tton paid to get her back,” Patrick said.
“You mean Daddy? Why did the others die then?”
“Exactly,” Elijah whispered, feeling the grief of loss all over again.
“I don’t understand.”
Patrick sighed and picked up her hand. “It’s a lot to take in but I think you need to hear it. Our father knew the kidnappers, was working with them in fact. The thought was the government would pay to get the hostages back because they were aid workers. When they didn’t, he paid to get just our mom back.”
• • •
Holly felt her chest tightening. What was all of this supposed to mean? Panic was threatening to drown her, but she clawed her way through it to ask another question.
“Why wouldn’t he pay to get them all back?”
“Because he’s a fucking bastard,” Patrick spit out.
Holly winced. “Don’t talk about him like that. This can’t be the whole story.”
“It’s not. It gets worse.”
Holly shoved her untouched food aside. “Tell me.”
“After mom got back, she realized he didn’t free everyone and found out that he was working with the kidnappers. She threatened to expose him for the criminal he really was, and he had her killed.”
Holly’s hand flew to her mouth as her stomach churned. “Stop. O. You’re lying. Why would he do that? I don’t understand. Is that why you left and never came home?”
Patrick nodded and Holly could see tears in the corners of his eyes. “You have to believe me,” he whispered.
“I don’t,” she blurted as she jumped up to pace the kitchen. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
Turning to Elijah, she said, “I felt so sad when I read about your mom. I knew my mom was in Africa at the same time, but I thought she was in a different part of the continent.”
Patrick shook his head. “I can show you pictures of our mom with Eleanor on that trip. Mom was there and she was the only one who came home.”
“But why would daddy work with the kidnappers?”
Patrick sighed. “I don’t have all the details, but I can tell you that he works with arms dealers and illegal diamond traffickers on a regular basis. It’s how he gets his diamonds so cheap. He offloads some of them to criminal and terrorist groups in exchange for their help to get conflict diamonds laundered so they can pass the Kimberly test.”
“And that’s why you’re so hellbent on undercutting him with lab made diamonds.” She directed her statement at Elijah who nodded grimly.
“So why hire me?”
“I didn’t want to. Patrick convinced me to give you a second shot. Told me I was being an asshole—I was—so I looked past your father and give you a shot. And baby, I’m so glad I did.”
Holly felt her heart constrict. She wanted to accept that and just forget everything else, but they were laying a lot on her right now. What was she supposed to do with it all?
“I still don’t understand all of this. How long has he been a criminal?”
Did she really believe what they were saying? Patrick had no reason to lie to her. Was he blowing things out of proportion?
“I don’t know for sure, but he inherited the diamond business from our grandfather. If I had to guess, I would say it was passed down to him and he was brought up as a criminal.”
“Is that why he would only let me work for the foundation and not the company?”
Patrick nodded. “And honestly, Holls, I wouldn’t be surprised if he were laundering money through the foundation.”
“I feel like I’m being ambushed,” Holly whispered. As soon as the words left her mouth, Elijah was at her side.
“It’s a lot to take in, I know. We’ve both got things you can read and look at for yourself when you’re ready.”
Turning to Patrick she said, “If he’s such a monster, why would you abandon me and leave like you did?”
Patrick squeezed his eyes shut. “I wrestle with that every day. When I left, I had a huge fight with him and threatened to take you with me, but he swore he would keep you away from his misdealing and I knew I didn’t have a leg to stand on to take you with me. From the sounds of it he kept that promise. Lately though, he’s been making things really fucking hard for me and my work. I’m surprised he didn’t do more to stop you from working for Elijah.”
Holly shook her head and held out a palm. “Enough. I can’t handle anymore. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with all of this information or what it has to do with tabloids writing about who I’m dating. Can we just… eat and pretend none of it came up?”
Elijah gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Of course, baby.” Patrick didn’t say anything, but Holly could tell he was irritated. Did he expect her to just accept that her father was supposed to be some sort of criminal mastermind who murdered their mother? That wasn’t going to happen. Not overnight anyway.
As they were eating, Patrick’s phone rang, and he excused himself to take the call.
When they were alone, Elijah straddled a barstool next to her and gripped her hand. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that I have no idea what the hell is happening right now.”
Elijah nodded grimly. “Understandable. Do you still want to get out of town for a few days?”
Holly nodded after a pause. “Yeah. I think that would be good. Can you bring that stuff for me to read?”
“Of course, baby. I’ll make sure you have access to everything I have.”
“Why did this come up now? Because I’m dating you?”
Elijah nodded. “The Hollywood Chronicle published a nasty piece about how I was stealing you away from Nicholas Sutton as revenge for my mother’s death. Says I’m doing all kinds of awful things to you in my secret sex dungeon,” he said, rolling his eyes.
Holly giggled but sobered quickly. “Why have I never heard about this stuff, but the Hollywood Chronicle has?”
Elijah shook his head. “It’s no secret that I blame your dad for my mother’s death, but I was a bit older than you were when it happened, and your father has managed to keep most of his involvement out of the press. It’s something he would have tried to shield you from.”
Holly sighed. “This is just a lot to take in.”
“I know, baby. Do you want to leave tonight or in the morning?”
“Let’s go in the morning. I think I need some sleep.”
Elijah’s hand came up to cup her cheek. “Can I kiss you?”
Holly nodded her consent. He lowered his lips to hers, just barely grazing them. As she was pulling him in for a deeper kiss, Patrick cleared his throat and Holly felt her face heat.
“Elijah is taking me back to Solitaire this weekend, so you might want to stay away.” She was tired of being ambushed with information. Seeing his eyes go wide made it feel good to flip the tables a bit.
“What the hell do you mean back?”
Holly grinned. “I was at the party the weekend of the board meeting.”
Patrick swore and glared at Elijah who held up his hands and said, “Don’t look at me, Dakota’s the one that brought her.”
Patrick clenched his fists. “Jesus. Like I needed more weirdness on top of everything else. OK, fine. I’ll stay away. But I’m kind of on the board and have to show up sometime. And you can bet your ass when I do, I’m going to have some words for Dakota.”
Holly giggled. “We’ll work it out. I like it there.”
Patrick swore again and finished his beer. “I need to get out of here. I’m here anytime you want to talk about mom and dad though, Holly. I’m sorry we had to dump all this on you.”
When Patrick was gone, Elijah excused himself to his office.
“We’ll leave early in the morning. Do you have enough stuff here to pack a bag?”
“I think I’ve got plenty. I’ve been here almost every night this week.”
“Anything you’re missing we’ll just buy when we get there.”
“Elijah, I’m sorry about your m
other,” she whispered before he retreated to his office. The look he gave her was pained and filled with grief. Even after all these years, he was still dealing with losing her.
In the living room, Holly tried to read but couldn’t focus on the steamy romance novel, so she tried to get some work done on her laptop. That wasn’t working either and she found herself doing internet searches about her mother. The Hollywood Chronicle article came up and sure enough, they were making speculations about the hostage situation that killed Elijah’s mom.
One photo must have been one of the ones Patrick was telling her about because with the group of aid workers was Melissa Sutton. Standing just behind her was Eleanor Barrett. Had her mom really been taken hostage?
Her mother had always been a very giving woman and if the story was true, she would have been pissed that her dad only paid to release her.
Holly let her mind drift back to the day her mother died. It was a mugging gone wrong. Not uncommon in L.A. They never caught the person who did it.
Her stomach twisted and she felt like she might be sick. This was over a decade ago and Holly thought she’d dealt with the grief associated with losing her mother. But if her father, a man she’d looked up to all her life, was really to blame, she was going to be mourning the loss of two parents. There was no way she could face him again if it were true.
Unable to stomach anymore, she packed her laptop back in its bag and went upstairs to Elijah’s room to pull out things to pack.
When she stepped into the room, she found Elijah sitting in the plush chair in the corner looking at what appeared to be an old photo album. His eyes glistened and his face showed signs of crying.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she whispered, turning to leave again.
“Stop,” Elijah bit out.
Holly slowly pivoted to face him again, as he placed the album aside and stood.
“I need you,” he said in a husky voice.
Holly wasted no time crossing the room to him. He scooped her into his arms and crushed his mouth to hers in a rough, frenzied kiss. When he pulled away, Holly cupped his face. “Take what you need, Elijah,” she murmured.
