“Okay. But you brought it up! So on some level, you think something is going on, right? You think my parents could be guilty of this… whatever this missing money problem is?” she replied, obviously not willing to drop the subject just yet.
"Peyton, I never said that," I said placatingly, holding a palm up. "I don’t think your parents are doing it. But yes, I think something is definitely going on at the hotel, and some other people think—"
"What people, Cade? And what’s this proof you mentioned? Why can’t you just spit it all out and give me a straight answer?”
“I…” I rubbed my chin.
“Can’t even answer that? Great.” She threw her hands up in exasperation. “Well, I’ll tell you this—whoever started this bullshit rumor, and whatever stupid proof they claim to have… they’re wrong," she snapped. She rubbed her eyes and took a step back, almost tripping over her own feet for a second. Then she looked back up at me. “Seriously, Cade, why did you even bring it up and make such a big deal about it, if you don’t think there’s any truth to it? I mean, you said earlier that you had to talk to me about something really big. Was this really it? This… this total bullcrap about my family? That was the huge thing?”
I hesitated. How the hell could I even tell her the whole story now, when she was clearly wasted? I had the shittiest timing in the history of the world.
“Well?” she demanded again. “Are you going to tell me why you brought it up like this?”
“It was just to give you a heads-up,” I finally said. That, and also because it’s my parents propagating most of the rumors, I wanted to add, but I couldn’t while she was drunk.
She ran a hand through her long hair as she shook her head slowly. "God, so now this on top of everything else. As if what's going on with Allegra and everything else isn't enough already."
"Allegra?" I asked. It took me a moment to remember what I saw at the grocery store out of town earlier. "Oh, I was also going to say. About Allegra, she actually did something really strange—"
"Great. Now you have a problem with her too?" Peyton cut in, rolling her eyes. "Look, my sister is still adjusting to everything, okay? I just...."
She looked so pissed, yet also so lost, and I got so carried away looking at her pretty face that I didn't get another word in. Next thing I knew, Peyton was shaking her head, refusing to look at me. "You know what?" she said. "I can't do this. I can’t be here with you."
She started backing away, and I followed her, trying to take her hand.
"Please don't touch me," she snapped, and I retreated.
Apparently I'd really fucked up. “Peyton…”
"Look, I need to be alone right now," she said. "I need some peace and quiet. All this bullshit about my parents, and Allegra too... I can't take it from you right now. I need to think. I need to be alone."
Angry tears spilled down her cheeks, and she turned and ran off in the other direction, her drunken gait resembling that of a confused llama.
I stared after her, completely shocked by the turn of events.
I couldn't let her leave like this, even if she didn't want to speak to me right now. I needed to make sure she got back to the Mirabella safely or I'd never be able to forgive myself. With all these sleazy characters on the streets at night these days, I didn't trust her to be able to fend them off herself. Even in a nice, upscale area like this, you still never knew who or what you might encounter.
I followed her back at a safe distance, my heart pounding nervously every time she looked over her shoulder. One moment I thought she must've seen me, but she stared back ahead the next second.
I hated myself for hurting her, but what the hell was I supposed to do? I needed to tell her the truth, the whole truth. And if my parents were serious about these allegations against the Cadwells, I needed Peyton to know about it… so I could help her and her family. Not attack them.
I didn't go back to my own place until I made sure Peyton entered the Mirabella. Once she was back safely, I pulled my phone out to find several texts and voicemail messages from Tristan. I called him back.
"Dude, where are you?" he shouted into the phone over the loud music. "You have to get back here!"
I hesitated. The last thing I wanted was to be with anyone else. I just wanted Peyton. But I needed a distraction. I needed to clear my head, too. I needed to forget for a while.
Maybe going back to the club wasn't such a bad idea after all.
19 Peyton
“Urgh….”
I groaned as sunlight crept into my room through the curtains, yanking me out of my slumber. I was sprawled on top of my duvet in last night’s outfit. My head was pounding like it was an overused drum, my mouth felt dry as cotton, and my stomach was churning. I felt like I’d just been scraped off a shoe.
This could only mean one thing.
I was hungover as hell.
With another groan, I sat up and rubbed my eyes, trying to piece together the hazy puzzle that was the events of last night. Then it all came flooding back to me in a rush of fuzzy, angry memories.
I’d gone to the Mirabella staff party and had one tequila shot too many with Allegra and Bianca, and then I’d later engaged in some sort of drunken, heated debate with Cade down on the beach (how did we even end up on the beach, for god’s sake?) when he brought up some bullshit tax evasion rumors that were absolutely none of his business. And yet he had decided to make it his business, apparently.
It was fuzzy in my mind, but from what I could recall, he’d gone on about there being some sort of proof that there were millions of dollars missing from the official hotel profits, and at one point I could’ve sworn he even said he’d seen this alleged proof.
Who the hell did he think he was? Some sort of wunderkind forensic accountant?
He obviously wasn’t, but there were four particular letters in the word ‘accountant’ which described him quite well right now, as far as I was concerned.
My parents would never do anything like that. Sure, I’d had my differences with them in the past (especially my father) but that didn’t mean they were shady people. They weren’t; not in the slightest. And they didn’t even need to be. I didn’t want to sound like a braggart, but my family already had money. A lot of money. So why the hell would my mom and dad risk prison just to skim a few extra million dollars off the top instead of paying their fair share of taxes?
It didn’t make any sense.
And yet from what I could recall, Cade had insisted that something seedy was going on here at the Mirabella. Oh, and then he’d even brought up Allegra and said she was ‘strange’ or something like that.
Prick. What on earth was his deal?
Or was it all actually my fault? Was I just being drunk and belligerent last night when the tequila finally kicked in, and I totally overreacted to everything? Was I even remembering everything that happened correctly right now?
God, I had no idea. All I knew for sure was that my head was freaking killing me…
My cell phone suddenly pinged, and I frowned and reached over to grab it. The sound was just a notification alerting me to the fact that Serena had recently posted something on Instagram.
I thought about texting her to talk about the issue between Cade and me, but before I could do so, another stark memory popped into my head.
Several weeks ago, I had lunch with Serena, and she mentioned that Cade looked exactly like someone she knew. I wasn’t sure why the memory had suddenly come back to me like this—I guess it could be because I was currently thinking about both Cade and Serena, and that lunch was the only memory I had of seeing them at the same time.
I also wasn’t sure exactly why I was suddenly so curious, but I found myself opening a Google tab on my phone’s internet browser and typing in the name of the guy Serena told me Cade looked like. Maybe if Cade really had a doppelganger out there, I could find him and date him instead. I bet he wouldn’t insult my sister and accuse my parents of tax evasion.
H
a. Just kidding.
What was it Serena said again? The lookalike’s name was Caiden? I scrunched my face up in thought as I tried to recall the exact conversation. No, she said it had a K. So Kaiden, maybe. And the last name was something like Pearce or Pierce.
I typed in ‘Kaiden Pearce’, then pressed ‘enter’.
Google immediately gave me a hyperlinked prompt instead of displaying the results. Did you mean Kaden Pierce? it asked. I frowned, shrugged, and clicked on it.
My heart began to pound like mad as I scrolled through the text results and checked out all the accompanying images.
Holy.
Mother.
Of.
God….
This was not a coincidental case of Cade having a lookalike, as Serena had assumed all those weeks ago. The guy I knew as Cade Miller simply didn’t exist. Apparently, he was actually Kaden Pierce, son of Glenn and Gabrielle Pierce—my parents’ arch rivals in business.
It was undeniable. It was all right here in front of me.
‘Cade’ and ‘Kaden’ were identical. There was no mistaking that face, that cocky smile, and the way those baby blues sparkled with humor in every photograph. They were definitely one and the same.
Now I finally understood why Serena was surprised that I didn’t know of Kaden when she mentioned him to me. He was the freaking son of my parents’ biggest competitors! How could I not know who he was? Yet somehow I didn’t. I’d never even heard of him, let alone had an encounter with him in my years of club-hopping in our city. What were the odds of that?
And what were the odds of me going to find him and murder him right now?
I’d say they were pretty damn good.
Obviously he’d come to work here at the Mirabella for a reason. Not a good one, either. He was the son of multi-millionaires, so he didn’t need to work a manual labor job of any kind. He was here to spy, no doubt. Glenn and Gabrielle Pierce had been trying to undermine my parents for years now. I’d heard all about it from my parents on multiple occasions.
I just wished they also mentioned that the Pierces had a son…
Fuming, I sat back as my mind raced.
Cade was obviously the fake name he’d come up with for his little spy game. It was different enough on paper that people wouldn’t immediately think ‘Kaden’ and get suspicious, and in person, it was easy enough for him to use as his fake name because he’d always answer to it. After all, it sounded exactly the same as what was probably his real nickname—Kade.
Honestly, this explained so much. There were so many clues that I didn’t even realize were clues until now.
It explained why Cade… sorry, Kaden… tried to bring up that crap last night about my parents possibly engaging in some sort of tax evasion scheme. I was probably the easiest Cadwell for him to target, and his parents had likely coached him on how to seduce me, gain my trust, then turn me against my own family. After all, they’d probably do anything to undermine our name.
It also explained why I couldn’t find him at the apartment he’d listed as his home address on his employee forms. He probably didn’t want to put down his real address (a multi-storied mansion right on the water, no doubt) in case anyone wondered why a guy living in that kind of postcode wanted a bellboy job.
God, it even explained why he looked so damn nervous when I made that joke about him possibly being the secret grandson of a serial killer. I’d started it by saying ‘maybe you aren’t really Cade Miller’ and he’d looked quite shocked for a moment. But he covered it well. He was a good actor.
A really good actor.
He made me believe we had something special. He made me believe we were falling for each other. He even made me come like never before… and all along, the sex was nothing. The passion was nothing. The feelings were nothing.
Nothing but fakery. At least on his end.
For me, it was all real….
My hands shaking with anger, I picked up my phone again and tapped out a quick text to him. Hey. We need to talk.
I didn’t want to give anything away in the message. I wanted to see his face when I revealed what I now knew about him.
He texted back almost immediately. Yeah, we do. I got called in to replace someone for a shift this morning, so I’m actually here right now. Can I come up to your suite?
I grimaced as I replied. Yes. In half an hour. Don’t let anyone see you.
After that, I got out of bed and marched into my bathroom, still trembling with hurt and anger. I took a long, refreshing shower, and then I carefully tousled my hair and applied some makeup so that I could at least look good to mask how bad I felt when I finally confronted Cade. Shit… Kaden. I really wasn’t used to thinking of him like that at all, but I needed to train myself into it. That was his real name, after all.
Just as I stepped out of the bathroom again, there was a knock at my door.
He was here.
I walked over and opened the door to see Allegra standing there instead, holding two yoga mats. One of them was my yoga mat. “Morning,” she said with a sweet smile. “I just came to return this.”
She held out my rolled-up mat, and I frowned. “I didn’t even know you borrowed it.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t think you’d care,” she said in a blasé tone. “But anyway, I’ve got my own now, so I can use that. Just wanted to give yours back on my way out.”
I took in her hot pink crop top, tight grey yoga pants, and the little gym bag slung over her left shoulder. “You’re going to do a session right now?” I asked, wondering how she could possibly feel up to exercising after last night. I’d seen her knock back quite a few shots.
She nodded. “Uh-huh. I’m meeting Devon at Nala’s studio in half an hour.”
“Wait, Devon Hurley? My yoga instructor?”
A vaguely guilty expression crossed my sister’s face. “Yeah. He’s coaching me now,” she said. Then she smiled. “He says I’m the most flexible client he’s ever had. Probably because I’m totally double-jointed.”
I nodded slowly. “Right. I guess that explains why he canceled our last three sessions,” I mumbled, slightly annoyed that Allegra had poached my private instructor.
Devon only did a few sessions a week with high-profile clients, and obviously he considered Allegra slightly above me on the totem pole at the moment, given her current media darling status.
I guess it wasn’t a big deal, though. Decent yoga instructors were a dime a dozen in our city. If Allegra really wanted Devon, then she could have him.
She said goodbye and turned to leave, and I called out as something occurred to me. “Wait a second. You said you’re meeting Devon at Nala’s studio?”
She turned back to me. “Yeah.”
“Nala as in… Nala Yoga-Wear?”
“Yep.”
“Why are you doing a session there?” I asked.
“I applied for their spokesmodel position, and they offered it to me. They want to do a test shoot at their studio to see what kind of poses I’m capable of doing for the proper shoots later on.”
My stomach lurched. “Wait… you applied for that position after I told you how much I wanted it?”
Allegra didn’t even blink. “Yeah. So?”
“So you knew I wanted it. It’s a shitty thing to do to your sister, no?”
She shrugged. “Not really…? Obviously they weren’t interested in you, or you would’ve heard back from them by now.”
“You know perfectly well that it was a crappy thing to do, or else you would’ve told me you were applying,” I said. “I would’ve been fine with it if you just told me. It’s the fact that you went behind my back, Allegra! It’s like… it’s like you wanted to sneakily take it from me. That’s what it looks and feels like.”
My sister’s demeanor suddenly changed, and within seconds, she was the same sneering, mean-eyed girl I’d encountered in the lobby all those weeks ago when I initially didn’t trust her. “I don’t have to run fucking everything by you, Peyt
on. It’s not my fault you’re yesterday’s news.”
My eyes widened, and I took a step back. “What?”
Allegra cocked her head to the side, giving me a saccharine smile. “You heard me. Now that I’m here, no one cares about you. It’s me they want. Me they want to see. That’s not my fault, is it? I’m not taking anything from you. People would just rather give stuff to me over you.”
I gritted my teeth as she spoke, and my heart began to hammer hard and painfully in my chest. It seemed like the last twenty-four hours had entailed one betrayal after the other. First Cade/Kaden, and now Allegra. She was being as catty as a tin of Whiskas.
“What’s going on?” I asked in a last-ditch effort to defuse the fraught situation. “I’ve tried so hard to help you adjust to everything. I know we got off on the wrong foot weeks ago, and that was my fault, but I’ve done everything I can to make it up to you! So why are you being like this?”
Allegra rolled her eyes. “I haven’t done anything wrong,” she said. Then she narrowed her eyes and took one step toward me, closing the distance between us. “But you know, if you keep being such a bitch… that would make an interesting story to tell the media, wouldn’t it? Imagine that all over the gossip blogs: Peyton Cadwell, the pathetic, jealous little girl who refuses to welcome her poor sister into the fold after all these years apart. All because she can’t handle losing the spotlight. Boo-hoo.”
I scoffed. “Are you threatening me?”
She shrugged. “Just stating the facts. You wouldn’t look good if I told them that, would you?”
“It wouldn’t matter. It would be your word against mine.”
“Not if I recorded all that crap you said to Mom.”
“What crap?”
“When we had breakfast that morning, weeks ago. When you went to Mom and told her all the reasons you didn’t like or trust me. Didn’t you notice I had my phone in my hand when you realized I was standing there? I pressed record as soon as I heard you talking shit about me.”
Suite Hearts Page 18
