“That’s not true,” she said. “I was there too. I saw the state Arabella was in.”
“Arabella told me it was Cameron,” said Lance. “She remembers little other than what you did to her.” Lance glared at him.
“It’s a false memory,” I said. “Her consciousness fractured. Her memories are unstable.”
Cameron pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Not even now,” I said to him. “You won’t tell Lance the truth?”
Cameron gave a sympathetic frown. “Not without Arabella’s consent.”
“Why did you let me believe it was him?” said Lance, glaring at Helete.
“I didn’t think you’d do this,” she snapped.
“But why?” he yelled.
“To protect Daniel,” she snapped. “Afterward, at the hospital, he promised to make it up to us if we didn’t press charges against him. Arabella met him at one of our fund raising events. I had no idea they were going to spend time at Pendulum together. Daniel pushed Arabella too far.”
“How did she end up at Pendulum?” asked Lance, weakly.
Helete flinched. “Daniel wanted to take her to Chrysalis. She was too young to attend. So he took her to Pendulum instead.”
“He raped her?” said Lance.
Helete threw up her hands. “It was a mess. I was trying to protect you.”
“She’s your daughter,” I said.
“I didn’t know until afterwards what happened to her,” said Helete. “She didn’t tell me she was going to Pendulum. I’d have stopped her. How do you think I feel?”
“I’m going to kill Daniel,” said Lance, dazed. “Why did you lie to me, Helete? All this time…” He looked over at Cameron.
Helete cringed. “Daniel was the reason you got elected. He made it happen. He made it up to us.”
“You’re insane,” snapped Lance.
I stepped forwards and said, “So you can drop your vendetta and leave us alone.”
Lance looked devastated.
I turned to face the Tsar. “Now where the hell is my boyfriend?”
CHAPTER 30
“WILL YOU PLEASE stop looking at my pussy,” I whispered to Shay.
He whispered back, “Sorry, Mia, it’s like you’ve developed a new super power down there.”
I thumped his arm.
He was trying to comfort me. We’d all huddled in one of the bedrooms at Oberon Grove, waiting for Richard to recover. The Tsar and Summer stood in the corner, whispering. They really did look devastated.
Shay leaned in towards me and whispered, “Solar eclipse comes to mind.”
I thumped his arm.
“Stop shouting,” said Richard. “My head’s going to explode.”
“Drink,” insisted Cameron, holding the glass of water up against his mouth.
Richard sat up, his back resting against the headboard, his eyes squeezed shut, a cold cloth on his forehead. Cameron believed Lance had dosed his drink with Rohypnol, but he wasn’t sure. Richard couldn’t remember much.
And right now he was refusing to go the hospital.
I sat beside him on the bed and brushed a wayward strand of hair out of his face. “At least get a blood test.”
“You worry too much.” He peeked at me through one eye.
“We had nothing to do with this,” said Summer, placing my clothes on a chair. “You believe that, right?”
“I’ve known the Tsar a long time, Summer,” said Cameron. “You needn’t worry.”
This seemed to comfort her.
“How embarrassing,” said Richard, “My first time here and I end up sleeping.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” I said. “We think—”
Cameron nudged my arm. “Let’s give him some time, okay?”
I swallowed hard, realizing Richard had forgotten my conversation with him in the garden about Helete and Lance being here.
Richard rested his head back and dosed off.
Cameron rose from the bed, gathered up my clothes from the chair, and tipped his head toward the bathroom, gesturing me to follow.
Once inside, he placed my clothes on the countertop and found a wash cloth, running it under warm water before approaching. “Let’s get you glitter free before you blind someone.”
My heart skipped a beat. He was going to touch me. Down there.
After giving a nod of permission and trying to hold back on a swoon, I succumbed to his gentle strokes between my thighs.
Healing came with gentle sweeps over my sex. Cameron’s gift of making things right. Soothing me. A loving, tender touch.
His frown deepened. “Did those men hurt you?”
I shook my head. “You got here just in time.”
His expression was solemn. “Did they touch you, Mia?”
“They held me over the desk,” I said. “Nothing really happened.”
The wash cloth paused where he held it and his face looked pained. “I see.”
“I’m fine, really. Richard’s going to be okay too.”
“Yes, he is.”
“When the car picked us up outside the pub,” I said. “We thought it was your Rolls. The car was sent by Lance. I should have looked at the number plate.”
“This isn’t your fault, Mia. Or Richard’s.”
“The driver told us you’d arranged our visit here.”
“So I heard.”
“Lance lied to the Tsar and Summer too?”
“Yes,” he said, drying me off with a soft plush towel.
It was nice to have this intimacy between us again, this closeness, his gentleness I’d never take for granted.
I miss you.
“Everything’s going to be fine,” he said.
“I know.”
He shook his head and I hated seeing him anguished.
“Lance believed us, didn’t he?” I said. “He won’t come after me again?”
“He knows the truth now,” said Cameron.
“What will happen between him and Helete?”
“Frankly, I don’t care.”
“Do you think they’ll divorce?”
He gave a shrug.
“Surely he’ll leave us all alone now he knows the truth?”
“One would hope so.”
“If Lance is so rich, why does Arabella work in a hotel?”
“She needed normalcy. For people not to know who she was. I helped find her a job that didn’t challenge her too much but at the same time kept her busy.”
“I’ll honor her confidentiality.”
“That’s why I’m comfortable telling you this.” His gaze rose to meet mine. “So, what did you see while you were here?”
“Summer took me into the nest.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, I saw...”
“I can only imagine.”
“I liked it.”
“The pursuit of female pleasure is the owlet’s dictum.”
“A what?”
His eyes narrowed, showing his amusement. “A mandate. Their slogan.”
“I’m so glad you’re here.”
Cameron’s stare lingered on mine and he kissed my forehead.
“Who is the Tsar?” I said.
Cameron handed me my dress. “The owner of Oberon Grove.”
“Yes, but who is he?”
“He’s of no concern.”
I almost shared he’d threatened to put me inside one of his fucked up glass cases but thought better of it, unsure if Cameron knew about the Tsar’s collection.
Cameron reached out and held my shoulders. “I feel terrible. It’s because of me you ended up here. I put you in danger.” He shook his head woefully. “I wasn’t there for you when you needed me the most.”
“You were.”
He frowned at me.
“I heard your voice,” I said softly. “In that room. While they were touching me. You spoke to me via my subconscious. You told me what to do. What to say. You were there, Cameron.”
He stuttered a breat
h and his eyes watered.
“You saved me,” I whispered.
He motioned for me to turn around and zipped up the back of my dress. “Let’s go home.”
Within a few minutes, we’d rallied Richard from the bed and made our way out into the night. Richard climbed into the back of the Rolls and flopped onto the leather seat and I followed and sat beside him. Shay joined us and helped Richard get comfortable. We’d been given our phones back and I was happy to tuck mine into my bag. Never again would I allow anyone to part me from it.
From outside the car, Cameron talked with the driver. He motioned to us he was going to say goodbye to the Tsar and Summer. They stood near the fountain and chatted away. Cameron looked like he was trying to reassure Summer. She still looked distraught.
The lights of the fountain gave the sprays of water a blue tinge as it arched high, cascading dramatically into the fountain. Those three horses paused mid-leap halfway out, their hooves galloping free.
Summer threw me a wave.
I waved back, my cheeks blushing as my thoughts carried into the room she’d readied me in and that sensuous preparation. That room filled with owlets. That girl with the pixie haircut.
When we’d first arrived, Summer had held all the power and wielded it like the queen of the vixens, and now in typical Cameron Cole style he’d regained control.
I wondered how Richard would react when I told him what I’d been up to.
“Some more water?” I offered him a bottle.
He gestured he didn’t want it. “Can you turn the air up?”
The driver pushed a button and cold air streamed on us.
“How did you know we were here?” I whispered to Shay.
With a smirk, he reached out and touched my earlobe.
My hand shot to my sapphire earring.
“It was precautionary,” said Shay.
Richard blinked at him. “You put a GPS tracker on my girlfriend?”
Shay shrugged.
“Jeez,” said Richard. “Cameron’s incorrigible.”
Despite hating the idea, it had actually saved us, and from Richard’s expression he was thinking that too. I thought back to that bracelet Cameron had once gifted to me and wondered if it had served as a tracking device too, right up until Richard had broken it. From Cameron’s expression, it was pretty significant. I still missed the feel of it on my wrist.
I wondered what Cameron was saying to the Tsar and Summer. Their conversation looked calm enough. The Tsar was still wearing his plague doctor mask.
“He still hasn’t taken it off,” I said.
“What’s that, Mia?” asked Shay.
“The Tsar. Why doesn’t he take his mask off?”
Shay stared past me and his frown deepened.
Lance and Helete withdrew from the house and headed on over to talk with Cameron.
“Open the door, please,” said Shay sternly.
The driver glanced at him in the rearview.
“The door,” snapped Shay, “Open it. Now.”
Like a silent film, the drama played out.
Arching blue water created a dramatic backdrop to the unfolding violence.
Cameron threw another punch at Lance and had him by the collar. He pushed him towards the fountain, shoving Lance backwards into the water. Lance’s arms flailed, and his legs lifted high off the ground as his head was held under.
Drowning.
Helete screaming.
The Tsar and Summer struggled to pull Cameron off him.
Shay yelled at the driver, “Open the fucking door before I break it open.”
“What the fuck is Lance doing here?” said Richard, trying to get out. “Open the door.”
“You don’t remember?” I said.
“I don’t care what Cameron told you,” yelled Shay, leaping over the front seat and startling the driver. “Open it.”
The doors clicked open and we bundled out, Shay, Richard and I bolting toward them.
We joined the Tsar in dragging Cameron back.
Lance slumped down the side of the fountain.
CHAPTER 31
THAT GIRL STARING back at me in the mirror wasn’t the same Mia.
I’d tried to be perfect in an imperfect world.
Those bags under my eyes revealed a night of partying gone awry. This frown gave away the horrors hidden in dark shadowy corners of Oberon Grove. The memory of being thrust over that desk and surrounded by all those men brought a wave of panic. My mind transported me all the way into the nightmare and held me suspended there. The danger Lance had put Richard in, and Cameron’s violence outside the house proved if pushed too far, he, like the rest of us, could snap. His usual cool demeanor had been lost to the pain of frustration after seeing his friends in danger.
That strange man in a plague doctor mask had refused to take it off. There was more to Oberon Grove that everyone was letting on. Another world strewn with layers upon layers of secrets.
I was glad to be back in Chelsea Crescent.
Forcing a smile, the one I’d be holding when I rejoined Cameron, Richard, and Shay downstairs for breakfast, I refused to let Lance or Helete ruin today. This was Christmas and I was, after all, spending it in London.
And this was my body and this was my life. I wasn’t going to let anyone muddle my brain into thinking otherwise.
My flesh had cracked in that room, but what was left wasn’t a broken girl but a more empowered woman. My jaw tightened with the realization I was stronger than I knew and it felt pretty damn good.
I threw a quick text to Bailey and Tara, and even one to Lorraine too, wishing them all a Merry Christmas. Messaging Bailey back and forth, I told her I’d be bringing her something special back from London and she sent me a bunch of questions, which I promised to answer in person once I got back. We were due for a best friend day. For her, it would soon be evening in L.A., but here on the other side of the world our day was just getting started.
Head held high, I descended the stairs.
Pausing on the last step, I sucked in my breath—
Richard’s voice sounded panicked. “Tell me they didn’t touch her. Tell me she’s okay.”
“We got there in time,” said Cameron. “She’s fine.”
“I didn’t know,” said Richard. “I let Summer take her off. I let Lance get to her. Those fucking men. They’re dead. They’re all dead. I’m going to get their names—”
“Take a breath,” said Shay.
“You’ve seen Mia,” said Cameron. “She’s coping well. We’ll have a session—”
“Which hotel is he in?” snapped Richard. “You should have killed him last night. I’m going to finish the job.”
I stepped into the room. “Good morning,” I said, throwing a wave. “I have an announcement to make.”
Cameron, Shay, and Richard turned to look at me.
“I am going to do something daring this morning,” I told them. “I’m going to push the boundaries of what is possible.”
Their frowns deepened.
The tension hung thick.
“I’m making my boys breakfast,” I said. “And it’s going to be the best Christmas morning ever.”
“Mia,” said Richard, stepping forward.
“No.” I shot up my hand. “You can’t stop me. I’ve already decided. I googled waffles. I’ve got this.” I pointed at Richard. “Set the table, please.” Then at Cameron. “How about you make us some coffee?” And I pointed to a cupboard. “Shay, you can help me get the waffle maker down.”
“Shouldn’t we talk about it?” said Richard softly.
“Well, if you’d rather make the coffee,” I said.
Richard came closer, grabbed me into his arms, and hugged me. “God, Mia Lauren, I love you so much.”
I hugged him back. “I know, right? Move over, Barefoot Contessa. Mia Lauren is in the house.”
That look on Cameron’s face was pride.
It took some persuading, but I managed to kick the men
out of the kitchen so I could get going on my culinary masterpiece.
The mood lifted as I served them waffles and pancakes with bananas, and syrup, and enough coffee to satisfy our caffeine fix. It was wonderful to see them all relax, and despite their initial reluctance I got them to wear the paper hats we’d gotten out of the Christmas crackers we’d popped last night.
That seemed to lift the mood, and despite all of them looking for signs in me of residual emotional trauma from last night, they’d not be seeing any.
“Did Richard tell you?” I said. “He saved a man’s life.”
“Really?” said Cameron.
“It was nothing,” said Richard. “A man had a heart attack and I resuscitated him.”
“Doesn’t sound like nothing to me,” said Shay. “Sounds very heroic.”
“Which hospital did they take him to?” asked Cameron. “I can check in on him if you like.”
“They won’t tell you anything,” said Richard. “Trust me. It was something anyone could have done.”
“Everyone else was just standing around,” I said. “You saved him.”
“Everyone’s a hero in your eyes, Mia,” said Richard. “My grandmother had a saying about good people like you, ‘All your geese are swans.’”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“It means you always think the best of everyone,” said Cameron, “and it’s so endearing.”
“The world is a dark, evil place, Mia,” said Shay. “We need to keep you safe from it.”
“I believe I’ve proven I can look after myself,” I said.
“That’s what we’re here for,” said Richard. “You’ve gotten your very own brat pack looking out for you.”
I beamed at them.
With Christmas music playing in the background, we sat on the floor and huddled around the tree.
I handed them their presents. Shay ripped open his first and smiled when he unraveled the cashmere scarf.
“It’s chilly in L.A.,” I said. “So you’ll be nice and toasty.”
He wrapped it around his neck and it looked great on him. That European loop he gave it made him look super sexy.
“Here you go,” I said to Cameron, as I handed over his.
He peeled back the wrapping and flipped open the small black box. His breath stilted.
“What is it?” said Richard.
Enthrall Him (Enthrall Sessions Book 3) Page 26
