by Ali Parker
The lie darkened my soul as she glanced over her shoulder. The sound of her sweet voice breaking under the torrent of emotions she had to be battling scored me. I hated lying to anyone, especially someone that mattered as much as she was starting to.
"And what if you're wrong, Ian? What if he wasn't the bad guy? Then what?" She rolled back over and curled up into a fetal position as her shoulders shook.
"I'm not, baby." I got up and jogged to the bathroom, searching the cabinets and finally finding Tylenol PM. She needed rest and I needed time to figure out what the hell was going on. After grabbing a glass of water, I walked back into the bedroom and helped her sit up. "Take this, Chloe. It'll help you get some sleep. We'll figure everything out in the morning together."
She took the pill before curling up against my chest. "I loved him."
"I know you did. I'm so sorry. I didn't have a choice." Anger burned deep in my chest at the thought of Mitch putting me in the situation he had. My hands were tied, my neck collared and my lips forced shut.
If I wanted Chloe safe, I'd play the part and shut the fuck up.
"Don't leave me," she whispered as I laid her down and moved up behind her, cupping her body with mine. I brushed my fingers down her side, over her hip and down her thigh as I pressed my lips to the side of her neck.
"Never. I'm not going anywhere."
"Promise me." Her voice was quickly losing volume.
"I promise, and I'll never do anything to hurt you, okay?" I wrapped my arm around her waist and waited until her breathing deepened.
The scene with Mitch and Pauly in the kitchen replayed a million times before I finally got up in search of my phone. Pauly wasn't the villain, Senator Moore was, and now, I was his lap dog.
"How is this possible?" I found my phone in the kitchen and walked around Pauly's body toward the back door. A shiver ran down my back at the scene behind me. How the hell did I keep ending up in places where death made its mark? It haunted me, followed me like a hound from the belly of hell.
"What's up, bro?" Cole's voice was a welcomed warmth I hadn't realized I needed so bad.
"I need your help. Can you get back over here?"
He snorted. "I feel like a yo-yo tonight. You want me or you don't?"
"I need you, Cole. Pauly's dead and I don't know what the fuck to do." I reached up and pinched the bridge of my nose.
"Holy shit, Ian. Is he there at the beach house or somewhere else?"
"At the beach house. Chloe's asleep. Just get over here. It's not like I can call the fucking cops. I was just in jail a few weeks ago thanks to this shit with Chloe."
"Are you-"
"Don't say it, please." I ran my fingers down my face. The last thing I wanted to do was discuss burying yet another body with my brother. It was a part of my past I'd have done anything not to revisit, and yet here I was again with blood on my hands.
"All right. Hang tight. I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
"Thank you." I walked into the house and dropped down on the couch as a painful groan left me. Glancing over, I let my eyes run along Pauly's figure. "Who were you old man? Friend or foe? Were you here to protect and free Chloe, or just part of the lie?"
Maybe the right choice was to go to the cops and have them put Chloe under protective custody until everything could be settled. Mitch threatening his own daughter would have shocked the shit out of me a month before, but now... no way.
I leaned back and closed my eyes for what felt like a second. The knocking on the door just beside me had me almost jumping out of my skin.
"Fuck," I grumbled and reached for the door.
My brother's eyes were a little wider than usual. He didn't hesitate to reach out and pull me into a tight hug. He was a good five inches shorter than me, but stout and strong as hell.
"You all right? You didn't get hurt, right?" He moved back and patted my chest.
I shook my head, realizing that I still had on my wet t-shirt and jeans from getting Chloe cleaned up.
"No. Pauly came in for the zip drive that you and I stole from Mitch-"
"All four of them?"
"No, he just asked for the one." I shrugged and pulled my t-shirt over my head. "I don't know if he knew I had four of them, but about the time I handed it over, Mitch walked in the front door behind him."
"Senator Moore is here? I thought he was in Maryland at an event?" Confusion moved across my brother's strong features.
"He was, but I guess he flew home to take care of business." I crossed my arms over my chest. "Pauly grabbed the zip drive and Mitch took it from him."
"Oh no. They were in it together?"
"I don't think so." I glanced over at Pauly. "Mitch took the zip drive, put a bullet in Pauly's head and told me I was promoted. He handed me the gun and said if I said anything about him being involved that Chloe wouldn't live to see another day."
"What the fuck?" Cole walked around me and stopped at the edge of the dining room. "Shit. Was Pauly involved, Ian?"
"No clue. I'd say no by the way things went down, but I could be wrong. I'm not sure which way is up at this point. I had to tell Chloe that I killed Pauly because he'd come to kill her, but-"
"Where is she?" Cole glanced back toward the darkened hallway.
"In bed. I gave her a sleeping pill." I ran my fingers through my hair and forced it off my forehead. "I'm sure we have a long conversation coming tomorrow morning, but for tonight, she just needed to sleep."
"You're going to have to make Pauly the villain? What the hell is Senator Moore hiding?"
I knelt down by Pauly's body and reached for the edge of the area rug he was lying on. "I would assume more dead bodies."
"This is too much. You gotta get out of this shit. No woman is worth this." Cole moved to the other side of the carpet and knelt down.
His comment was invalid. I was in love with the saucy little bitch down the hall. She was sweet and spoiled and sexy as hell. There was no way I was turning my back on her. I couldn't even contemplate trying.
"Did you bring the truck?"
"Yeah." He glanced down and shook his head. "I liked this guy, Ian. He seemed like our kind of people."
"I thought so too." I gripped the edges of the rug and nodded at my brother. "Help me bury his body and we'll figure this out together."
"I thought the last time we did this we promised never to do it again." Cole gripped the carpet and stood with me.
"There's a lot of shit we've promised that we haven't kept true to. I don't have a choice, Cole. He's got me by the balls."
"Mitch?"
I shrugged and moved toward the back door. "Him and whoever the fuck he's working for."
"You think it's bigger than him?"
"No clue, but I'll tell you one goddamn thing... I intend to find out."
Chapter 2
Chloe
The sun streaming through the window in the bedroom woke me from a nightmare. I hadn't had the dream since I was a little girl, but no matter how old I was, it never failed to leave me drenched in sweat and shaking.
I moved to the edge of the bed and pressed my hands to my legs, panting softly as I tried to hear beyond the sound of my own breathing. Was Ian in the house? Was Pauly dying part of the dream?
After working to calm my racing heart, I stood and walked to my dresser.
"Ian?" I pulled a t-shirt and a pair of shorts out and got dressed quickly, forgoing a bra or underwear in an effort to save myself a few more seconds of wondering.
There's no way the events from the night before were real. They couldn't be. Pauly was the closest thing I had to family, and the one I ran to when anything went wrong. If something happened to him, I would be devastated. If Ian killed him, it would be even worse.
"Just a dream. Just a dream," I chanted softly as I walked down the hallway toward the kitchen. "Ian?"
Nothing.
The beach house was calm and quiet, nothing out of place from what I could tell. I let go of a breath I'd been
holding and turned around in a slow circle. Maybe I'd dreamt it all. I could only hope that was the case.
I walked into the living room and sat down before reaching for my phone. The rug. Where was the large orange rug that lay in the dining room? I shot up to my feet and walked toward the table, pausing beside it and kneeling.
A yelp left me as a knock resounded at the glass door just behind me. I jolted up and let out a groan as I turned to see my new bodyguard, Daniel, standing on the other side of the glass. The expression on his face said that he was about as thrilled to see me as I was to see him.
I unlocked the door and opened it before pressing my hand to my hip and tilting my head to the side a little. "Come to collect your keep?"
His expression softened. "Your father wants you back at the house in Santa Barbara. We got word this morning that Pauly's been murdered. We're just not sure who did it. Get your things and come home until we figure this out."
Pauly's been murdered.
I glanced over my shoulder as sorrow rolled through the center of my chest. Ian killed him. To protect me? Did I really believe that Pauly would ever in a million years hurt me?
He was the one who taught me to dance, to sing, to play the piano.
"Chloe?" Daniel's hand rested on my shoulder and I suddenly didn't have the strength to push it away.
"Are you sure?" I glanced back at him as tears blurred my vision. "Maybe you guys got the wrong information."
"Get your stuff and I'll take you to your dad. He's hurting pretty bad right now, and he needs you with him."
As much as I hated my father, the thought of him losing his best friend forced me to comply. Did he know that Pauly had come to kill me the night before?
"I need a few minutes to myself." I pressed my fingers to my eyes and turned to walk back down the hall.
"Take your time. I'll wait out here."
I nodded as I walked into my bedroom and closed the door. Pressing my back to it, I slid down to the floor and pulled my knees up to my chest as memory after memory assaulted me.
How could I believe Ian over Pauly? I hadn't known him for more than a few months. It didn't seem right, and yet, I couldn't imagine life without my sexy bodyguard loving me through it. He was falling in love with me like I was him, right? Yes. I could find the truth of that buried inside of me.
"Then what the fuck happened?" I pressed my hands to my face as a painful sob tore from my lips. "When did everything change? Who's the fucking liar and who's being lied to?"
I cried for a few minutes and forced myself to my feet as Daniel knocked on the door behind me.
"I'm sorry, Chloe. Your father is asking us to get going. He's worried about you. He thinks maybe Jeremy might be involved with Pauly's death. Hurry up, okay?"
Jeremy. The guy that tried to kill me and my fucking father let him off the hook. The guy that Pauly promised he'd taken care of. That guy?
"Okay." I packed a bag and sat down on the edge of my bed, holding my journal in my hands. The front third of it was mangled from me tearing the staples out of it. All of my memories from my mother's death were scribed on the pages I'd hoped to lock away forever. It had been Pauly's idea to staple them shut, to protect me from seeing anything that would hurt me ever again.
I stood on shaky legs. There was no way in hell that he'd come over to kill me.
So where did that leave me? With Ian lying? With him killing the only man I'd ever really loved besides him?
I had no choice but to sort through the truth and figure out what the hell was going on.
"You all right?" Daniel reached for me as I walked out of my room.
"I don't know." I ducked under his arm and paused in the hallway as my eyes scanned the floor before me. The sound of my scream roared to life in my ears. I had been on my knees on the floor, holding Pauly against me as Ian stood numb above us.
"Come on, kiddo." Daniel moved past me and opened the back door. "We'll figure this out, but let's do it with you safe."
"What about Ian?" I pulled at the strap of my bag and walked toward my new bodyguard.
"Your father will talk to you about all of that." Daniel moved back.
I wanted so badly to mention to him that I'd seen him and Jeremy talking at the club. He had to have a part in the nefarious bullshit that was swirling just above my head. I couldn't pinpoint who was involved and who wasn't, but I knew the man who could... and I would make sure to press question after question against him until I got the answers I was after.
Someone killed my mother, and I couldn't help but wonder if the same person who did was now pulling the strings behind the man that killed Pauly.
Was Ian who he really said he was, or was I playing the fool?
*
"Chloe." My father turned as I walked into his office at his large home in Santa Barbara. The four-hour drive with Daniel would have been torture if I didn't have my earbuds with me. After trying to get ahold of Ian ten times, I finally gave up. They'd blocked him from my phone and there was no way to get around it. Bothering my best friend, Jess, while she was trying to make amends with her family made no sense. From the sound of things, my father had something to say about me seeing Ian anyway. If he brought it up, I'd push like crazy to have him back in my life.
Where I wasn't entirely sure what part he played in the scandal that had taken up residence in my life, I wanted him close until I figured it out. I was falling in love with him, or maybe I already had. Fear and devastation took turns stabbing at my heart as we drove along the coastline. Either the man that raised me was a monster, or the one I'd fallen in love with was. Neither answer left me with comfort or hope.
My father's salt and pepper hair was disheveled, his eyes red and face pale. If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought he was truly struggling over Pauly's death.
I let him draw me into his arms. "What happened?"
"I don't know yet. I tried to call him last night and I couldn't get him. He was coming after you." My father pulled back from the hug and gripped my shoulders. "Did you see him last night? Did he call you?"
"He called, but I didn't see him." I shook my head and moved back into my dad's arms. It wasn't a place of comfort for me in the past, but closing my eyes tightly, I could almost imagine him being the father I needed him to be. He'd emotionally died the day my mother was buried. Without Pauly in my life to remind me of love and warmth, I'm not sure I would have made it through that loss myself.
"What did he say?" My father squeezed me softly, kissed the top of my head and walked to his desk. He grabbed a Kleenex and blew his nose as his gaze swam with unshed tears.
"That he knew that I was at the beach house and to stay put." I moved toward the large leather couch behind me and dropped down. "Dad. I need some answers to what's going on. I'm not a child anymore."
He nodded and blotted his eyes. "Agreed. Ask whatever you want and I'll tell you what I know. Hell, maybe you might be able to help me get this back on track. I'm losing my grip on reality." He sniffled and moved to sit down beside me.
Either he was truly in pain over Pauly's death or an incredible actor. I couldn't help but discern that it was the former. He'd never been good with keeping his emotions hidden, no matter how appropriate they were at the time.
"Why didn't you let the cops go after Jeremy when he kidnapped me? Why did you let him run free?" I turned to face my father. A million questions rushed through my mind, but I tried hard to settle myself. He would shut me down in a heartbeat if I moved in the wrong direction, and the last thing I wanted to do was end the conversation before it began.
My father sighed and shook his head. "Jeremy was originally my campaign manager eight years ago. You were just a teenager then, and so busy with private school and counseling that I didn't involve you too much in the campaign. Your mother had passed away two years earlier, and I worked hard not to focus on family that time because it hurt so goddamn much." He paused and pressed the napkin to his eyes again as his shoulders shook.
I'd never seen him cry. Not even at my mother's funeral. Was this the real him? The father I'd been trying to find for the last ten years or a facade to placate me?
I reached over and rubbed his back. "How did you find Jeremy all those years ago?"
"Pauly found him. They're related. I never really dug into it, and the last thing I expected was for Jeremy to show up at UCLA after the mess he put me through all those years ago." He shook his head and glanced up, holding me in place with the depth of emotion in his eyes. Had I misjudged him? It sure as hell felt like it sitting there beside him while he cried.
"What mess, Dad?"
"He wanted us to win so badly, Pumpkin. He would stop at nothing to make it happen." My father leaned back and closed his eyes. "He did some horrible things, and when I told him that I'd turn him in to the police for ruining my opponent’s life, he threatened to take mine."
"He killed Brant Thomas' family?" My eyes widened as I stood.
"No." He pressed his fingers to his lips as tears dripped down his cheeks. "He didn't have the balls to do it. His father did though..."
"His father?" Fear permeated every cell of my body. "Who was his father?"
It took my dad a minute to squeak out the answer, and when he did, the world seemed wrong, dark, scary.
"Pauly." He glanced down at his hands. "Pauly was his father."
Chapter 3
Ian
"We gotta figure out what the fuck is going on, Ian. You can't keep something like this locked up inside of you, man." Cole followed me around the back of the beach house as the wind picked up.
There was so much peace to be found at a place like that, and yet because of all the bullshit going on in my brother's life and now mine again, I couldn't access it. I could sense it, but it wasn't mine for the taking.
I popped my key in the lock while balancing a box of donuts in my other hand. "I know, dude. I'll work through it, but I don't really having a fucking choice right now. I gotta make sure Chloe is protected and safe. That's all that matters to me."
