Let There Be Life

by Melissa Storm

  Liz’s father began to rise from his chair. “Vanessa, I—”

  His wife raised her hand, cutting him off midsentence. “It’s okay, Ben. Let me take care of this.”

  She turned to Liz once more and took on a syrupy sweet tone. “The point is, sometimes we just need to move on with our day.”

  Liz glanced at her father, who was nodding adamantly. “Dad? Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?”

  He cleared his throat. “Vanessa is right. We just need to do our best to move on.”

  “But he broke into our house. He—”

  “Enough,” he said firmly.

  Liz pushed her chair back. She needed to get out of there before she exploded with rage. Her father had never kept things from her before. Never. And for him to confide in Vanessa instead of her stung deeply.

  “If you won’t give me the answers, I’ll find someone who will.” She grabbed another piece of bacon and popped it in her mouth before turning on heel and stalking out of the room.

  She expected her father to follow her out of the kitchen, to at last agree to talk. But this new version of the man she’d always known inside out shocked her once more by simply letting her go.

  Less than ten minutes later, Liz had packed up her belongings, and she and Samson were on their way back home to the apartment.

  Their two Husky roommates, Fantine and Cosette, greeted them at the door with excited howls and lots of licks.

  Samson dropped to his elbows and broofed, inviting his friends to take part in a wrestling match. The dogs yipped and growled and made such a ruckus with their joy that it woke Scarlett, who had still been in bed when they arrived. Liz often wondered how her sleepy friend had managed to wake up at the crack of dawn for nearly a year as she was training for the Iditarod.

  “Liz?” Scarlett asked around a yawn. “Is it Tuesday already?”

  Liz laughed. It felt so good to be home. “No, sleepyhead. My dad and Vanessa came back early.”

  “Okay.” She yawned again. “What time is it? Is there more time to sleep?”

  “Like, ten?” Liz guessed, but when they looked toward the microwave clock, they found it was actually closer to eleven.

  Scarlett’s eyes popped wide open and she raced back down the hall. “Shoot, shoot, shoot!” she cried.

  “What’s going on?” Liz smiled. Scarlett drama she could take all day long. It felt like a nice reprieve from the past week. It felt like coming home.

  “I’m supposed to meet Henry. There’s a race today, and we were going to go cheer our friends on.” Her roommate raced up and down the apartment before returning to the kitchen with her toothbrush in one hand and a tube of paste in the other. As she readied her brush, she said, “Hey, since you’re back, want to come?”

  Liz wondered if her father planned to attend due to his unexpected early return home. She just wasn’t ready to face him yet. Not until she knew more about what was going on and why he was hiding what he knew.

  “Sure,” Liz said with a laugh. “I could use a change of scenery.”

  “And you want to spend time with me before I head to Texas for a week, right?” Scarlett asked after spitting a huge wad of paste into the sink.

  “Ugh, I forgot about that. Do you have to go?” Liz hated the thought of staying alone in the apartment. Sure, she’d have the dogs, but would they be enough to keep Warwick away if he decided to pay her a visit?

  Scarlett patted her on the shoulder as she passed by on her way toward her bedroom. “‘Fraid so, but don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it.”

  Oh, how Liz hoped she was right. Because it was beginning to feel as if everyone in her life was systematically abandoning her when she needed them the most.

  Liz and Scarlett arrived at Tozier Track about a half an hour later. Henry was already there waiting near the parking lot.

  Scarlett ran at him full force and jumped into his arms, showering him with kisses. A stray reporter snapped a couple pictures of the pair that had once been known as “the star-crossed rivals.” Most everyone had moved on, but articles about Scarlett and Henry still popped up on fan blogs every so often.

  “Hi, Liz,” Henry mumbled, setting Scarlett back down onto her feet.

  She gave him a quick hug. It was funny to think of how vehemently she’d hated him just over a year ago. Back then, everyone had thought Henry took after his wicked grandfather, Henry Mitchell Sr. Only Scarlett had been willing to give him a chance—to see something more.

  “Been here long?” she asked.

  Henry shrugged. “Twenty minutes or so. The first racers should be coming in soon.”

  “Who’s favored to win?” Scarlett asked, putting on her game face. Although she’d chosen not to race anymore, she still loved the sport with everything she had.

  “Dallas, I think. But I know never to bet against a Ramsey.”

  “That’s right!” Scarlett said proudly. During her year of racing, she’d stayed with Shane and Lauren Ramsey, cementing their already rock solid friendship.

  “Is Lauren running today?” Liz asked.

  “I think so,” Henry answered. “But they may have…”

  Henry continued to speak, but Liz no longer heard his words. It was as if all the sound had been sucked from the scene. Her heart pounded in her ears as Dorian stepped out from his truck and onto the gravel lot below.

  “Hey, it’s that guy from the wedding!” Henry said, breaking the silence. “The one who was going through your purse.”

  “I can explain.” Dorian approached with his hands out in front of him. Even though Henry had proven himself to be kind-hearted many times over, people still tended to act cautiously around him. And Liz felt far safer having him here today.

  “Can you?” Liz asked with an emboldened laugh. She was so sick of people stringing her along, lying to her, acting as if she didn’t deserve to know the truth about her own life. “Can you really?”

  “C’mon, babe. Let’s give them some time to talk.” Scarlett tugged on her fiancé’s arm and led him over to the finish line. She didn’t know the full story—heck, Liz didn’t either—but Liz had filled her in on some of the finer points during their drive over.

  Dorian stood at her side as they both watched Liz’s friends walk away into the gathering crowd. “I heard about what happened last night,” he said when they were fully alone.

  Liz felt all the rage of yesterday build up in her once again. “You mean that Warwick broke into my house? That he tried to hurt me? That he did hurt my dad?”

  Dorian frowned and looked away. “He wouldn’t hurt you.”

  “How can you say that? You weren’t there.” Why had Dorian come if he still planned on being evasive? Would he finally work up the courage to tell her something more? She doubted it. Doubted him.

  “Trust me. He wouldn’t hurt you.”

  “Every time you tell me to trust you, it makes me suspect you more. Why are you here?” She had no time for games or false assurances. What had happened last night scared her more than she cared to even admit to herself. She needed answers, or she needed to move on.

  Dorian, however, had something else in mind. “To apologize.”

  Liz waited. An apology wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

  He sighed. “I’m so sorry I got you into this mess, that I led him to you.” Well, that was unexpected.

  Liz widened her eyes as if doing so would help her see better, help her to understand better, too. “You… you’re working with Warwick?”

  “Was. I quit last Wednesday.” Dorian kicked at the gravel in the lot. Why was he avoiding her gaze again?

  “But that was before the hotel with Victoria,” she said softly.

  “I know.” He looked up at her for a moment, then back toward the track.

  Liz moved into his line of sight, hoping a kind face would shake out the words he was struggling to hold back. “What happened on Wednesday?”

  “Look, I can’t tell you everything, but I
need to tell you enough to keep you safe.” His voice came out slow, hurried, almost like a whisper.

  Liz almost couldn’t believe what she’d heard. If she got him to admit one thing, she could get him to tell her more. But one serious problem remained. She didn’t trust him and didn’t know if she ever could. She crossed her arms and shook her head. “How do I know what’s true and what’s a lie?”

  “Can we start over?” His emerald eyes looked so full of hope, as if they could forget the terrible ways their lives had intersected this past week and a half.

  “If that’s what it takes.” She waited as he took a few deep breaths, cleared his throat, worked up the nerve.

  “My name is Dorian Whitley. I’m a reporter for the Anchorage Daily News. It doesn’t pay very well, so sometimes I take side gigs.”

  Liz shivered, inherently knowing he was about to make a major revelation. “What kind of side gigs?”

  “I find people. I found you.”

  Now things were starting to make sense, but she needed more. “For Warwick? But why?”

  “It’s not my place to say.”

  “I need to know, Dorian. Please tell me.”

  He hesitated before grabbing each of her hands and holding them in his. “I want you to know, but I can’t be the one to tell you.”

  “Because of the NDA?” She hated that he’d considered that stupid piece of paper more important than her family’s safety, especially considering what had transpired on Saturday night. If he’d just told her…

  “No, because it will hurt you,” he whispered, almost afraid to speak the words aloud.

  “You said Warwick wouldn’t hurt me,” she reminded him.

  “I don’t think he will, but the secret that brought him here…” Dorian bit his lip, cutting off the rest of the sentence she so desperately wanted to hear.

  “Why are you trying to protect me? You don’t even like me.”

  “That’s not true,” he said emphatically. “I tried so hard not to, but everything about you, Liz. You’re my perfect girl.”

  Another unexpected twist. In less than two weeks, Dorian had gone from arrogant reporter to psycho stalker to unexpected friend to… a romantic suitor? This was absurd. Even more absurd was the fact that she didn’t hate the idea. Not just because she could use his feelings to find out more, but also because he did genuinely seem to care. He seemed closer to helping her find the answers to her problems than even her own father. “You said I wasn’t your type.”

  “Because you’re the subject of an investigation. It’s not ethical. I could—”

  “You were mean to me. You stalked me. You insulted me every chance you got.”

  “I didn’t know what kind of man Warwick was until… When I found out, I started following you to keep you safe. In case he…”

  Liz couldn’t handle this. Dorian’s revelations only heightened the tension between them. She needed him to stay focused, to do whatever it was he came here to do. “Please finish a sentence already!” She hadn’t meant to sound cruel, but her tolerance was quickly falling away like sand in an hourglass.

  Dorian fixed his gaze on her once more, hardly blinking as he said, “Liz, I told him he got it wrong. Told him you weren’t the one he was looking for. I tried to alter the DNA reports before he could see them. I—”

  “DNA! How did you get my DNA?”

  “From your hairbrush. The night of the party. I tried at the wedding, but couldn’t get a good sample.”

  “I can’t believe this.” Another confession. Another terrible invasion of privacy. What more was he hiding? How much crazier could this thing get? This was not Liz’s world. Not her life. She wanted things to go back to the way they had been, but knew that would never happen now. For all the awful things Dorian had already revealed, he was holding back the worst truths in an attempt to protect her.

  He blinked hard, frowned. “You don’t have to believe it, but it’s the truth.”

  “You say you like me, but you led a psycho straight to me. You stole my DNA. What else have you done?”

  “Nothing else, I swear. And with Warwick, I thought I was helping you. I didn’t know…”

  “Okay, so say I believe everything you’ve said so far. You’re still leaving out the most important piece of information. Who is Warwick, and why did he hire you to find me?”

  “I can’t tell you. It’s not my place.”

  He’d already told her far more than she knew that morning. If only she could find a way to learn more. “But—”

  “I’m sorry!” he called, jogging back to his truck and leaving her behind. “Please don’t hate me.”

  Liz shivered. She felt many things in that moment, but hate was not one of them. Could she change Dorian’s mind?

  “Please don’t go! I need to know why!” Liz felt as if her knees would buckle beneath her as she watched Dorian climb into his truck. All the revelations—and especially partial revelations—swirled around in her brain, threatening to knock her off balance.

  Dorian had been hired by Warwick to find her.

  He had stolen her DNA, and the test seemed to confirm whatever answer the two of them had been searching for.

  Dorian stopped working for Warwick when he realized how dangerous the man could be. This same man had attacked both her and her father the previous night.

  Now Dorian was trying to protect her. Said he had developed feelings for her against his better judgment.

  But he wouldn’t tell her why.

  She still didn’t know everything.

  She knew the effects, but what she really craved was the cause. Who was she to Warwick? How did her father know the man? Why did he refuse to call the police?

  None of it made sense.

  Liz’s world had always been ordered, logical. Happy, quiet. But all that had changed the day Dorian Whitley entered her life.

  A sudden spring breeze blew past, and Liz gasped from the cold.

  Dorian turned to look back at her one more time before disappearing into his truck. He was leaving, but there was still so much more she needed to know.

  She wanted to run after him, but her legs wouldn’t budge. So instead, she stood in the center of the parking lot, watching, waiting, hoping he’d return—and this time, with the full truth.

  And then another gust, a blonde tornado came tearing by. Scarlett, whose hair did not match her name, ran right past Liz and bolted behind Dorian’s truck before he could finish pulling out of his space.

  Liz watched as she beat his rear window and said, “Hey, you owe my friend some answers! Get back out here!”

  Henry came up behind Liz and put a steadying arm around her.

  She turned to him and asked, “How much did she hear?”

  “We came back to check on you, make sure everything was okay. We saw him leaving and you shaking and crying, asking for him to come back.” She tried to focus on Henry’s eyes—one blue and one brown—to feel some safety and comfort in their familiarity, but all she could think about was Dorian, that he had almost left her here, alone, confused, crying.

  “Is that all?” she asked with a sniff.

  “That was all it took to send Scarlett into protective mama bear mode. Are you going to be okay?” He frowned and hugged her into his side. It seemed Henry had a bit of bear in him, too. Did that make Liz Goldilocks, a hapless intruder that had to be tolerated, or else avoided? It sure felt that way lately.

  “I honestly don’t know,” she said with a long, shaky exhale.

  “Sounds like the story of my life, too. It will be all right, though. Scarlett and I will make sure of it.”

  Liz tried to smile, but Henry had no idea just how big the mess he was promising to fix had already become.

  Scarlett marched back over to them, pushing Dorian along with her almost as if he were a prisoner. In a way, perhaps, he was. “Now get talking,” she demanded of him.

  Dorian faltered. “I… This is really between me and Liz.”

  “And the
guy that attacked her last night.” Scarlett’s expression was fierce, unforgiving. It was no small wonder she had survived her plunge into an icy lake despite the overwhelming odds against her survival. “You wouldn’t tell her, so now you have to tell the three of us. Now talk.”

  Dorian’s voice was strained, hoarse even. “Liz, please. Don’t you understand? I’m trying to protect you.”

  “What makes you think she’s not capable of protecting herself?”

  Dorian turned toward Scarlett. “You have no idea what she’s up against. I do.”

  “Then tell me. Tell us. I mean, if that’s okay with Liz?” Scarlett glanced her way, and Liz nodded. She had been unable to get the answers from Dorian on her own, but perhaps Scarlett’s more direct approach would get her the information she needed.

  “Ja—” Dorian coughed and shook his head. “Liz, please listen to me. I like you too much to upend your entire world like this. What I know will change everything about your life, and I don’t think it will be for the better.”

  “Likely story!” Scarlett said with a bitter laugh. “You’ll say anything to take the heat off yourself, won’t you? I have half a mind to—”

  “Scar, stop.” Henry spoke gently, but his words were firm. It was then that Liz realized she still stood with his arm around her, protecting her from the rest of the world. “He’s telling the truth.”

  “How could you possibly think that? This guy is as shady as they come, and he hasn’t told the truth yet. That’s why we’re all here.” Scarlett eyed Dorian wearily and placed her hands on her hips.

  Henry squeezed Liz tight, then let her ago, approaching his fiancée as he spoke. “Don’t you remember where we were less than two years ago? I had to live a lie, day in and day out, and it ate me up. That’s why I wanted you to know the truth, because you meant something to me.”

  Scarlett softened, but still held onto Dorian’s arms to prevent him from getting away. “And I had a hard time believing you.”

  “I don’t see how this is the same,” Liz said, finally joining the conversation. “Henry had never done anything wrong. Everyone only assumed he had. But Dorian admits to leading Warwick right to me. He admits to stalking me and stealing my DNA.”