Exposure_A Stone Billionaire Series Novel

by Kaya Woodward

“Done,” He stands up.

  “From the Darlingtons, and Noah,” She adds.

  “Done,” He shrugs. “The money has nothing to do with what she's worth to him; the Darlingtons don't care,” Evan is confident, strong.

  He looks down at me one last time, sensing Elizabeth’s impatience.

  She is tapping her foot and I squeeze Evan’s hand back.

  He’s slipped a piece of paper into my hand.

  Right in front of her!

  She doesn’t seem to notice though.

  I stand up and slip the paper into my pocket.

  “Can I at least have a hug before you go? I miss human contact?” I beg him.

  “Of course,” Evan nods.

  He wraps his arms around me in a warm hug, but I do not expect what comes next.

  Evan whispers to me. “We're coming.”

  He's obviously trying to stay quiet, but I can't help but worry that Elizabeth may have heard us.

  After all she's got hearing like a bat.

  Either way.

  I know I will be safe soon.

  Chapter 26: Corban

  May 25, 2017

  When Evan returns his laugh bellows through the house.

  We all raise an eyebrow.

  “Just, the look on my mother's face when I walked in like this, she's such a piece of work. You'd think she would have something other to say then, who is my male life partner,” Evan chuckles.

  “You do look a little gay,” I respond.

  I try not to laugh, before I remember that he's seen Ava.

  I've heard her voice, but the last thing I heard was her scream.

  “She's fine. I made sure Elizabeth heard me when I whispered,” Evan shrugs me off.

  “You're anything but discreet,” Noah suggests wryly.

  Evan pulls on a pair of pants, pulling off the brightly colored shirt and switching it for a black t-shirt.

  “That's my job, and my only job,” Evan declares.

  “So, we must move, before Elizabeth does,” Noah nods.

  “It'll take her a while,” Evan explains. “She's got quite the setup, and she thinks the Darlingtons are here, so, she'll probably clean the place right up, to make it look like she was never there. I've never seen anyone's fear-stricken face like that when I mentioned that Grandma D wanted to see her,” Evan starts laughing, hard.

  Then he snorts.

  I want to tell him this is entirely no laughing matter.

  Noah doesn't look impressed.

  “Tinsley, stay here,” He orders.

  “Why?” Tinsley makes a face.

  “Because I don't need to look after you too,” Noah explains.

  “Elizabeth won't touch me,” Tinsley glares at him.

  “Did she not assume you were here?” Noah points out.

  He's a complicated man; I know that much.

  Something about Tinsley raises Elizabeth’s ire.

  Tinsley doesn't seem the least bit wrecked over her broken engagement.

  She was far more upset over her parent's reaction, now that I think about it.

  Going back there was some drama over Tinsley not wanting the engagement at all, my mother and her mother are good friends.

  But that was super hush, hush.

  That's not the problem right now, however.

  “So,” I interrupt. “We should get moving then? Plane? Boat? Helicopter?”

  “Lucius will pilot the plane; you and I will take the boat. Evan, you still have your pilot's license, right?” Noah turns to Evan.

  “It's expired, but I can fly a helicopter, why?” Evan asks suspiciously.

  “Because you will lead the charge,” Noah is certain about his plan.

  “I thought I was out of this?” Evan protests. “You said all I had to do, was to see her! I didn't even want to go see her!”

  “You were willing to. You said it could be fun,” I point out.

  “Yeah, but it wasn't. She's goddamn awful,” Evan's face looks sour like he's eaten something rotten. “The woman is venom in a bottle. I feel like I have to shower.”

  Evan, for the first time since I've known him, looks disturbed.

  “Funny so do I,” I retort. “I'll go with him to make sure he doesn’t-”

  “The last thing we need is him running around screaming Ava's name and getting shot,” Tinsley cuts me off. “Let me go with Evan, please.”

  “Evan won't protect you,” Noah eyes her seriously.

  “I will,” Evan shakes his head. “Why do you have so little faith in me- she's my sister after all.”

  “Tinsley isn't-” Noah starts.

  “I was talking about Ava!” Evan snorts. “God, you have a one-track mind dad.”

  There is so much I don't want to know about this conversation.

  So much I do not need to know.

  “How is she?” I pull Evan aside after much discussion.

  We've decided that it will be much simpler if Lucius, Noah, and I take the boat. Evan and Tinsley will take the helicopter.

  Sometimes less is more, especially when Evan knows where to go, even if he doesn't know her escape plan.

  “She… she's weak. But she seemed okay. She said she was okay. Elizabeth was keeping her in a decent looking bedroom, so she's treating her, okay, but she's shaken up. I'm not going to lie to you,” Evan tells me honestly.

  “Then give it to me straight,” I insist, as though he hasn’t given me enough.

  “She hasn't been eating. You can see it; you can see she needs to get out of there. I think she's sort of in shock, about all of this,” Evan goes a little further.

  “Did she say anything, about me?” I need more from him.

  “She asked how you were, but Elizabeth didn't let us get too much in,” Evan shrugs.

  I analyze what I've been given, but it isn't much.

  If Ava is asking about me, however, that's a good enough sign that Elizabeth hasn't told her everything, however much she deserves to know the truth, she deserves to hear it from me.

  Hopefully, Elizabeth was too distracted by her desperation to even mention to Ava what I've done.

  That I am entirely a fraud.

  ***

  Tinsley follows Evan into the helicopter when she sees me pause in the middle of the commotion.

  “Hang on,” She bangs on the helicopter door, before running towards me. “Corban, what is it?”

  “She's going to want nothing to do with me,” My words are foreign even to my ears.

  I'm cocky.

  Confident.

  I'm not this man.

  This man is broken and unsure of himself.

  This is the sort of man who needs a woman to make him whole again.

  I am not this man.

  But somehow, I am.

  I laugh harshly, at myself.

  “Corban,” Tinsley runs a hand along my arm, trying to comfort me. “There's no time for this, she'll have to figure that out for herself, but right now… we need to go.”

  I shake my head. “You guys need to go.”

  “What?” Tinsley stares at me as I shake my head, and Evan stops the helicopter as she signals him to stop.

  “What's going on?” Evan asks.

  “Talk some sense into your stupid brother,” Tinsley points to me. “He says he's not coming, and your father is going to lose his mind,” Tinsley looks about ready to scream at me.

  “Corban, what is it?” Evan stares at me, as Noah and Lucius stare at us, the boat humming.

  Everyone is waiting for me.

  “She won't want me after I tell her the truth,” I confess.

  “The truth?” Evan spits on the ground. “Man, the truth? After all of this? There is no truth. There are no more lies, no more games. If there is something else, beyond all the shit our fucking mother has pulled, you tell her, and you tell her right when you fucking see her. Because her and I? We've both had enough. Now you get your ass, in my fucking helicopter, before I tie you up and fucking throw you in there,”
Evan screams right in my face.

  I get in willingly.

  Because I've never seen Evan grow up like that.

  He's right.

  Ava deserves better.

  I wish she didn't, but after all, she's been through, she deserves far more than I can give her. I will tell her the truth, and I will let her go.

  And then I'll do everything in my power to get her back.

  Even if it means going to jail.

  “Alright,” Evan's military flying days are long over, but he knows what he's doing.

  He's been bouncing around in helicopters with Noah since I can remember.

  Noah's need to save time quickly became Evan’s fascination and the military eagerly put him in flight training.

  Until Evan got bored.

  Then he wandered back home and used his middle east connections to stir up trouble.

  Which I now know was in part to do with his mother.

  “Forgot how much I missed this,” Evan screams into his headset, making for the Darlington's private island, which takes all of fifteen minutes.

  But the fifteen minutes to me feels like hours.

  I think about what I am going to say to Ava, how I am going to explain it to her, what I am going to say.

  When we land, on the soft grass Ava is already standing a few feet away.

  A vision in white pants and a soft cotton t-shirt.

  He is right.

  Ava's eyes have lost their sparkle, she has dark circles under the eyes, and the time apart, of not eating and emotional distress, has done its damage.

  Her pants hang loose on her hips, where her hip bones jut out, and the t-shirt hangs off her frame.

  She isn't as filled out as she was, she's lost weight, and the dark circles under her eyes tell me she hasn't been sleeping.

  Jumping out of the chopper I run for her, but she stays where she is, I stop short a few feet away from her.

  “She's gone,” Her voice is bleak. “Elizabeth is gone. She left me here, just like that, because she knew you were coming. She doesn't know what's going to happen now.”

  “Ava,” I say her name.

  “Is it true?” Ava's voice is broken, and sad like she doesn't want to believe the story. “Is it true you were going to use me, use me and break me for her? To save your goddamn business?”

  I can only nod as I feel Evan and Tinsley behind me.

  “You were? The accidentally finding out my real name, the stuff in the press, everything that was accidental? Did she plant that story? You knew it was going to happen? You were going to break me into tiny little pieces, by making me fall in love with you?” the robotic voice reports her story to me, as though she doesn't care, not a tiny bit of her cares about any of that.

  “Ava none it matters to me-” I start.

  But I don't have time to finish my sentence, because Evan tackles me to the ground, and he's throwing punches at me.

  Left! Right! Left! Right!

  I just take it.

  I take every blinding blow to my face.

  I can hear Ava and Tinsley scream at Evan to stop throwing punches until someone pulls him off me.

  It's Lucius, who throws him off me and onto his back, knocking the wind out of Evan, who's military training has faded by now.

  Evan grunts on the ground, and I touch my face, to see blood on my hands.

  “Are you okay?” Tinsley leans over me. “That looks like it hurts?”

  “Not as much as this is going to!” Evan's voice is loud, but he grunts again.

  I am still on the ground, but I feel Ava's soft touch on my hands.

  “I want you to listen to me? Okay?” She whispers. “I don't care how you feel; I don't care what you were going to do after you fell in love with me, it's what you were going to do before, what she asked you to do. You don't exist to me anymore.”

  Then her touch is gone, and I don't sense Ava's presence anymore.

  There's a lot of silence before Noah picks me up.

  “Let's get you cleaned up old boy, okay?” He clicks his tongue.

  Then he drags me towards the house and the washroom, where he silently cleans me up.

  Everything stings and hurts, as he tells me the bruising will go away, but Evan probably didn't break anything.

  “Where are they taking Ava?” I ask.

  “I've been asked not to tell you,” Noah says quietly. “And as her father, I have to respect that. Besides, we're going back to New York. We've got to get to work, before Elizabeth moves again, and tries to repeat the same thing over again, or worse.”

  “Or worse?” I ask.

  “What if she tries to kidnap Ava again? And then we don't get so lucky?” he asks.

  “Right,” I sigh heavily because Ava will never let me anywhere near her. “She didn't even; she didn't even let me explain, I was backed into a corner.”

  “Think about the monster her mother is, and what you agreed to,” He reminds me.

  How Noah hasn’t abandoned me yet I don’t know.

  Maybe because he needs me

  Or maybe because our bond has always extended far beyond my ex-step father, like I’m a son to him, somehow.

  Even with my mother the lunatic raving nearby all the time.

  “I know,” I sigh heavily. “I've lost the woman I love.”

  And now I must get her back. I must. I'll stop at absolutely nothing to get her back and I cannot, I cannot stand the idea of losing her forever. I cannot think of anything but reuniting with my wife properly; I can't just let her slip through my fingers, like the final days of our honeymoon.

  I replay that final time we had in my mind, I replay everything in my head, like it's the last time. The last kiss, the last time I said I love you, the last thing I said to her. I wish I'd said I love you again. I wish I'd say something… something that meant more to her.

  I wish she had a better memory of me.

  I wish things were better left than the way they were right now.

  PART THREE

  Chapter 27: Noah

  May 27, 2017

  With Ava, Evan and Athena in England, and Corban a wreck, locked in his apartment since we arrived back in Manhattan, I know one thing for certain: Tinsley and I are no longer on solid ground.

  All that I’ve accomplished means nothing, if I’ve lost that woman.

  She said she needed time.

  I didn’t think it would be this much time.

  I was shocked when I asked for Tinsley only to find out that she wasn’t there.

  I know I should’ve told her about Rowan, and by that, maybe she blames me for what happened.

  Or maybe it was just the last straw.

  “Noah, I have no idea where she is, again,” Ava repeats to me, frustrated. “I get that you’re worried but she’s a big girl, she’ll show up when she wants to.”

  Noah.

  I have no qualms with her calling me Noah. I kind of prefer it over father, or dad.

  Though Evan’s always called me dad, Ava and I are just beginning our relationship.

  I wasn’t honest with her from the beginning and that has obviously strained us.

  “I know,” My reply is short.

  Another awkward silence.

  This was Athena’s idea.

  Daily phone calls, since Athena wants to keep her in London for a bit, with me in Manhattan she wants us to develop our relationship.

  “Do you think this is just as stupid as I do? I’m not really a phone person,” Ava blurts out.

  I just laugh, and then she starts laughing.

  We break the ice a little bit.

  “Neither am I,” I explain to her, looking at my watch. “We’ve been on the phone for ten minutes. Think that’s enough for Athena?”

  “Oh definitely, dad,” Ava stresses the last part, as though Athena is there in the background.

  “Good one Ava,” I smirk into the receiver before we say our goodbyes and hang up.

  It’s then that there’s a knock
at the door, which is odd, because no one should be here at this hour.

  Everyone is in London; my people should be at the office.

  It’s only four in the afternoon?

  Four in the afternoon and I’m on my third drink.

  This can’t be good.

  When I open the door, there she is, all sweeping five feet four of Elizabeth, in classic black heels and a simple knee length black dress, her blonde hair in a bun. “Hello, love,” She smiles.

  Elizabeth.

  I can only stare.

  “Well, are you going to invite me in, or make me stand here? I’ve got clothes on this time,” Elizabeth quips.

  Then she smiles at me, the ends of her mouth turning up just slightly.

  That’s as much of a smile as she’s capable of.

  “Come in,” I open the door wide enough to let a plane pass and she enters, turning around to kiss me on the cheek.

  “You know, this place really is fantastic. You should let that magazine do a piece on it,” She looks around, the mirrored entry hall, curving staircase to upstairs. “Two floors, central park south, you’ve done well for yourself, love.”

  Love was always her pet name for me.

  That hasn’t changed.

  Funny how I’d forgotten that in all these years.

  “Elizabeth, what exactly are you doing here?” I demand an answer.

  “I just came to say goodbye. Or to ask if you wanted to come with me really. Either way, your choice. Pour me a drink then,” She invites herself further in, invading my home.

  She waltzes onto the patio and takes a seat as I pour two whiskies and join her, setting one down in front of her.

  I refuse to sit.

  “Love, sit down. If I was going to kill you, I wouldn’t have left my suits waiting down stairs. Please,” She touches her perfect bun, making sure not a hair is out of place.

  So, I sit down across from her. “What you did was wrong.”

  “What you did to me? That was also wrong,” Her mouth droops ever so slightly, I see the look in her eyes, as though she’s been deeply offended. “Don’t you agree?”

  The truth is I have wronged her.

  “Shall we start from the beginning? Then again, maybe conquests were always your thing. I was an innocent young girl before I fell in love with the prized Noah Stone,” She lights a cigarette, “Wasn’t I?”