The kitchen is filled with stunned silence. She gazes up at him with tears running down her face.
“Now, that is how you do it,” she manages to gasp out on a sob before crashing into him.
Fucking overachiever. Eli looks over at me and rolls his eyes but a small smile lifts his lips which he tries to hide behind his cup. Yeah, okay, fine, it was romantic if you’re into that kind of shit. They pull apart when Mason’s phone beeps. Checking his messages, he frowns before looking up.
“They have something, but the face is obscured by a hoodie. Still, Carter wants us to head down there to see if any of us notices anything familiar.”
“Well, let’s go then. Eden, you up for this?” I know she wants this shit over more than anyone but I’m worried that it’s beginning to take its toll on her.
“I’m good, Noah. Let me just freshen up and we can get this over with.”
Standing in the inner sanctum of Treachery where few others have been before should feel like a monumental experience but as we all stare at the still photo of the perpetrator, it feels anything but. Both the face and body are completely obscured by a black hoodie and baggy jeans. If the cameras at Dante’s weren’t state of the art, I doubt they would have picked up anything at all. Carter, Mason, Kane and Eli are talking quietly but I can’t take my eyes off Eden staring at the image so intensely I’m surprised the screen hasn’t melted under her glare.
She tilts her head in confusion but I can’t make out what’s bothering her. “Hey guys, can you play this back for me in real time?”
“Sure, Eden. What is it?” Kane asks.
She doesn’t answer, her eyes never leaving the image. I stand behind her trying to see what she sees, but I’ve got nothing.
“Play it again, please.”
“What is it, Eden? What are you seeing?” I know she’s spotted something the rest of us haven’t.
“Watch the way they move, the way they walk.”
We all gather around the screens as Carter plays it back again.
“I’m still not seeing anything new, Eden,” Eli tells her gently.
“It’s the way they walk. There is a swing to the hips and a gracefulness to their movements. Guys, I think it’s a woman.”
Carter plays the footage back yet again, all of us looking for what Eden has pointed out. It’s like a veil has been lifted and I can see exactly what she means.
“Well, I’ll be damned. Well spotted, Eden. Fancy a job?” Carter asks.
“Will you pencil dicks stop offering my woman a bloody job. Anyone have any idea who this could be?” I respond.
“What about that dancer from last night? The headliner who Eden replaced?” Eli asks.
“Lisa? I want to say no but at this point, we really can’t rule anybody out. I’ll look into this for you, Eden, and forward it to the police. You guys head home. I’ll give you a call later, all right?” Carter tells her.
Eden nods, relieved, and leans back into me. I wrap my arm around her shoulder and walk her towards the door.
“Thanks, guys, we appreciate it.”
Jackson just waves us off. “Trust me when we say we get it. More than most people. Just keep her safe.”
“Oh, don’t worry. She won’t be leaving our sight,” Mason tells them, following behind us with Eli.
We pile into the car, each of us deep in thought. This has kind of flipped things on their head a little.
“I keep trying to think of a woman I might have pissed off or offended in some way and honestly, I keep coming back with nothing. Unless it’s a disgruntled girlfriend or wife of a customer.”
“Get many of those?” Eli pipes up from the back seat.
“No. I’m clutching at straws. I feel as if we are getting farther and farther away from identifying this person, rather than closer. I guess it was the proof I needed to eliminate Karl with my own two eyes. I know he’s in another country, but I think part of me was convinced this was all his doing. Whoever that was, though, it was definitely not Karl.”
“Yeah even if we were wrong about it being a woman, that person is too small and too thin,” Eli agrees.
Eden laughs from beside me but it sounds sad and hollow. “Back to the drawing board, I guess.”
I reach over and squeeze her hand as Mason’s big beefy hand rubs her shoulders from the seat behind hers.
We all enter the kitchen feeling subdued. It goes against everything we are not to be able to fix this for her but we are as in the dark as she is. She starts gathering up the disregarded coffee cups from earlier, keeping herself busy and distracted as she washes them up on autopilot.
“Hey.” I gather the guys quietly around the table. “We need to keep her distracted for a while. Give the Dante boys a chance to investigate a little. Any suggestions?”
Eli’s grin grows, spreading from ear to ear. I shove the dick.
“I can already guess what you’re thinking and as much as I would like to bury myself inside her and forget everything else, I’m sure Eden would like to be able to walk tomorrow. So cut her some slack. I don’t want her thinking that’s all this is about, us getting our rocks off.”
“Okay, fine. I do have a little surprise for her, actually. I have left it in her room for later but you’re right, she needs something physical to do that doesn’t involve bouncing on my dick.”
I go to swing for him but Mason steps between us. “Knock it off, Eli, stop riling him up. Do you guys have any decorations?”
“What, you mean Christmas decorations? Yeah in the garage, I think, why?” Eli asks.
“Because Christmas is a few weeks away and I know Eden has never put up a tree since the first Christmas after leaving home. She loves Christmas but found it intensified her loneliness sitting around in a room decorated for festivities that she would never be part of.”
“Ah, fuck. Even if we didn’t have any I would go and fetch some for her. That sounds perfect, Mase, let’s do it. Eden?” I call her.
“Yes?” she answers, while looking out the window.
“Want to help put the Christmas decorations up?”
She spins around to face us, a smile lighting up her face, and I know Mason has made the perfect choice. I never thought I would say this but having an extra mind or two to draw from is genius.
“Okay, Eli and I will go and grab them. You two go and see where you want to put the tree.” Mason tells us.
Eden doesn’t need telling twice. She grabs my hand and drags me up the stairs to the sitting room, almost yanking my arm off in the process. I can’t help but laugh at her excitement.
“Calm down, sweetheart, you’re going to pull my arm out of its socket.” I raise my hands and wiggle my fingers in her face. “And we both know how much you love my hands.”
“Ass.” She shoves me playfully. “Besides, I have two other guys with twenty fingers between them so I think I’ll survive,” she sasses.
“Why, you little—” I go to grab her but she anticipates my move and runs behind the chair, laughing.
“Just you wait until I catch you. I’ll remind you exactly how much you like my hands on your hot little body.” I pretend to go left round the chair but she isn’t stupid and doesn’t fall for my fake-out. She runs in the opposite direction, squealing, and almost collides with Mason and Eli as they round the corner with their arms filled with boxes of decorations.
She wisely picks the bigger of the two and hides behind Mason, laughing.
“I shall protect your virtue, my lady,” Eli the idiot announces, placing the boxes in his arms on the floor by his feet before diving on me and tackling me to the floor.
“What the actual fuck? Get off me, you jackass. What are you, twelve?” I shove him off me as he attempts to get me in some ridiculous wrestling hold. I scowl at him, wondering if he’s been fucking drinking again when I hear gasping.
I turn to find Eden, her hands wrapped around her waist with tears in her eyes as she laughs hysterically at our antics. I turn back to Eli a
nd see his smug expression and have to give him credit. The girl laughing it up next to a chuckling Mase is not the sad and anxious girl from thirty minutes ago. I climb to my feet and offer Eli my hand. When he grabs it, I let go and shove him back on his ass.
“Okay, children, that’s enough.” Mason steps in and offers his hand to Eli as Eden starts rifling through the boxes on the floor.
They head back down to grab the tree and the last of the boxes as I help Eden unpack what we already have.
She pulls out a glass ballerina figurine and twirls it, watching with a look of rapture on her face as it catches the light. “It’s so pretty. Not what I expected when I opened the box, to be honest.”
“It was my mother’s,” I tell her, smiling at the bittersweet memories from a time before everything turned to shit. “She was obsessed with blown glass. I have a box somewhere filled with pieces she collected over the years. I’ll find it for you.”
“I’d love that, thank you.”
It takes us two hours to assemble everything and get it just the way Eden wants but even I have to admit it looks good. Eli and I don’t really celebrate Christmas much. Sure, if we’re around we put the tree up but I don’t think we have ever really looked at it the way Eden is looking at it now. If putting up a tree makes her this happy, she can keep it up all year long for all I care.
Chapter Fifteen
EDEN
I stare in awe at the lush green tree decorated in rich reds, vibrant greens and glittering gold decorations. The embossed velvet ribbons and the twinkling lights that bounce off the little glass ornaments hanging gracefully at the end of each branch evoke feelings of both nostalgia and regret. I shake off the memories that try to drag me under and smile at the tree, appreciating it for what it is. A new beginning. A fresh start.
“It’s beautiful. Thank you, guys. This is exactly what I needed.”
“Anything for you, Eden.” Eli wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me in for a quick kiss. “Go and jump in the shower. The guys and I will breakdown the rest of the boxes and finish cleaning up.”
“You sure?”
“Hey, if Eli is offering to tidy up for you, take him up on the offer. It doesn’t happen often,” Noah tells me.
“Fuck you, Mr. Domestic. We have a cleaner for a reason and I sure as shit don’t remember seeing you running around with a broom in your hand,” a disgruntled Eli argues.
I leave them to it, brushing off the dust from the boxes and wipe my hands against my leggings. I look back at the tree one last time before heading upstairs. It’s been forever since I’ve had a tree up. I love it so much I might never take it down, although I’m not sure the guys would like that.
I’m eager to get my dusty clothes off and freshen up. I’m feeling somewhat festive now. I might even bake the guys some cookies. I open my door and strip off my T-shirt, tossing it into the laundry basket in the corner when something on the bed catches my eye. I can’t help but smile. These guys are incorrigible.
At first glance, I thought they had bought me a new underwear set and laid it out for me. As I get closer I realise it’s one of mine. I guess they want me to dress up for them. I did promise Noah a striptease. I frown, looking at the bra for a second and take in its purple sequins. This is one of the sets that I only wore for stripping because it’s uncomfortable and snags on everything. What has me really confused, though, is I thought I had left all this stuff behind at Midas with the rest of my costumes. Oh well, it must have gotten jumbled up with my other stuff in my haste to leave. I pick up the bra and hold it up, debating on putting it on after my shower or waiting until tonight when I notice a note underneath it. Ooh, a set of sexy instructions—I love it. I unfold the note, the grin freezing on my face as the words burn themselves into my brain.
I always did like watching you up on stage but if anyone’s tongue should be inside you it should be mine. If he touches you again, I will cut him up and return him to you in pieces.
I stumble backward and collide with the bedside table, knocking the glass lamp to the floor making it shatter. I barely make it to the toilet in time before I’m throwing up. I hear feet pounding on the stairs and Mason shouting my name.
“Jesus, pretty girl, what the fuck happened? We heard a crash and find you here like this. What’s going on?”
I point to the bed through the open doorway. They all look but turn back to me with confusion. I realise the note is still crumpled up in my palm, so I shakily hand it over to Mason.
He reads it out loud, making me whimper upon hearing it a second time.
“Fuck. This is my fault. I never should have started that in public. I’m sorry, Eden. Eli, call the cops and tell them that fucker has been in our house.” I have never heard Noah sound so angry before. I look at Mason, who looks like he is about two seconds away from losing his shit and grab his hand.
“Stay with me, Mason,” I whisper. He doesn’t answer but he squeezes my hand back.
The police arrive shortly afterwards and I answer their questions in a detached kind of haze. Thankfully, this guy seems a lot more understanding than the last.
“Would you guys be willing to offer a DNA sample?”
“Huh? What are you talking about?” I ask him, confused.
“It’s okay, Eden.” Eli rubs his arms up and down mine but nothing is going to help the chill I feel down to my bones.
“It’s just to rule them out, ma’am.”
“I’m sorry, I’m lost. Rule them out from what?”
Eli and Noah look at each other, debating if they should tell me. They better fucking tell me.
“Whoever left it there left a sample in the underwear,” Eli tells me quietly.
“Left a sample? What? You mean to tell me some sick fuck shot his load all over my—you know what, never mind. You did just remind me of something.” I turn back to the police officer.
“I’m pretty sure that I didn’t bring those items with me. They were more for show than wear. I left them at the club I used to work at. I should have thrown them all away but I wasn’t thinking properly.”
“How sure are you that you left them behind?” the police officer asks as he writes notes.
I sigh. “I want to say one hundred percent but it could have become tangled in with my other things. Does it make that much of a difference?”
“Well, if you left it then it means whoever it is has been through your locker, or wherever you kept them, and stole these things from what you left behind.”
“Oh, god.” I groan. How could I have been so irresponsible? I should have burned the lot.
“Don’t worry ma’am, we’ll look into it.” He hands me his notepad and pen. “Can you jot down your old address and the name and address of your landlord or landlady as well as your old place of employment?”
I do as he asks as my guys have their cheeks swabbed so that they can be eliminated. Finally, after they all leave I look up to find all of my guys watching me with varying degrees of concern.
“I just want him to leave me alone. Does this mean that the woman from Dante’s was a coincidence or are they working together? I need answers, damn it, and all I keep getting is more fucking questions.”
“All right, calm down. Try to look at the positives.”
I glare at Noah. What fucking positives?
“He fucked up this time, Eden. We have DNA now. It’s all just a matter of time before they catch him.”
I deflate as his words. He’s right. I just hate that this person has been in my home and touched my things. I hate that he took somewhere that I finally felt safe and destroyed it all in the blink of an eye.
“Do you guys mind if we stay at a hotel tonight? I know he won’t come back and I could share with one of you but I just need to get away from here for a little while. Any idea how he even got in here?”
“Nope, but you better believe I’ll be asking the security company that exact question later.” Eli fumes.
Mason throws his arm ar
ound my shoulder and pulls me close. “Pack what you need and we’ll find a room at some fancy hotel, order ridiculously expensive room service and vegetate while watching Christmas movies. Sound good?”
I nod and shrug out of his hold. Time to pull myself together and that sounds pretty perfect to me.
“What’s your favourite Christmas movie, Eden?” Eli asks, making light conversation while I pack.
“Die Hard.” I can’t help but smile as I glance over at Noah who has a grin of his own on his face.
“Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie.” Eli laughs.
“Of course it is. Noah, help me out here. Do you think Die Hard qualifies as a Christmas movie?” I ask him, smirking.
“Well it takes place on Christmas Eve and it has Christmas decorations in it so I would say it qualifies as a Christmas movie,” he says, winking at me as he quotes me verbatim.
“Seriously?” Eli asks him.
“Best Christmas movie I’ve ever seen,” he answers with a straight face, making me laugh.
“You know, guys, I feel like I’m missing something here.”
Noah starts laughing with me. Eli turns to Mason who is watching me with a smile on his face.
“Don’t look at me. I haven’t got a fucking clue what these two are laughing about but I don’t care. I’m just happy to see our girl smile again.”
Turns out their idea of a fancy hotel and mine differ vastly. Looking around the two-bedroom suite we’re staying in at The Savoy, I’m a little gobsmacked. The entirety of my old apartment would fit in just the sitting area and everything is so fancy I’m afraid to touch it. Everything is decorated in cream and black with a touch of colour thrown in to draw the eye. It really is beautiful but the thing I’m most excited about is the bathroom or, more specifically, the Jacuzzi bathtub big enough for a crowd.
The Promise of Tomorrow: An Inheritance Novel Page 15
