That was because Babs did their shopping and Ethan did ours. If it wasn’t on her list, she wasn’t buying it.
“What are you doing up at one in the morning?” I asked.
“Stuff.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what ‘stuff’ was.
“I actually wanted to talk to you about what’s stressing you out.”
“You have been a bigger asshole than normal lately,” Mason remarked. “Usually that’s my role.”
“At least you admit it. And I’m not stressed.”
“You can’t get anything past me Declan. I know when something is bothering you. The solution is simple, tell him no,” Dad said.
“Tell who no?” Mason asked. He looked between the two of us and then leaned slightly forward. “Declan…is someone taking advantage of you?”
I gave him a flat look. “You really are a fucking asshole.”
He grinned and leaned back in his chair.
“That was pretty good.” Dad laughed, turning serious before addressing me again. “In all seriousness I want you to turn it down. Mason’s going to need you here.”
“Is this about the Redwood chateau? If it is, he’s right. Turn it down and stay here with me.”
“Is it really that simple, I asked?”
“He didn’t expect you to say yes, regardless. Porter doesn’t have any kids. You’re the next best thing. You would never be okay leaving Helena behind and she damn sure can’t leave Riverview.”
I thumbed my chin, thinking it over. He was right, of course. I couldn’t fathom being away from Helena indefinitely, and I wasn’t sure how she would handle my leaving. He made it sound so easy and simple I wished I would have gone to him sooner. I’d never had an issue with asking any of them for advice. We weren’t an emotional family, but we were always there for one another no matter what.
“Why just now come and tell me to stay? You too,” I directed at Mason.
“Because you’re a grown ass man and we wanted to let you make your own choices,” Dad replied.
“That was a mistake. You clearly needed my guidance,” Mason added jokingly. I think. It was hard to tell when any of us were being serious unless we were pissed off about something.
“I wouldn’t have let you go anyways. You’re my right hand and my best-friend.”
That was surprisingly heartfelt coming from him, minus the not letting me go part. I wasn’t sure how the hell he thought he’d have pulled that off.
“I guess Ethan’s important too,” he added begrudgingly, making me laugh.
“Now that we’ve got the emotional baggage out of the way…let’s move on to the next question,” Dad said. “When am I going to have grandkids?”
I knew this question would creep back up eventually. He’d hinted at it two weeks ago and I pretended to be oblivious.
I waited for Mason to object, when he didn’t, I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. Of course, one day I would have liked to have children, but I wasn’t going to give up Helena for that possibility.
“Do either of you honestly think that’s a good idea. You know Helena.”
“We love Helena,” Mason corrected.
“Fantastic, but that isn’t going to make her mother material.”
“What the fuck is mother material?” Dad barked. “Helena would make a good mom. And she wouldn’t be alone.”
“You don’t know that.”
“She’s good with Julias,” Mason pointed out.
“Julias is…” I caught myself before I said something that had him trying to murder me. “Julias is a special baby. An angel.”
Dad scoffed, earning a smirk from Mason. He knew just as well as we did Julias was peculiar. No one would say that to him beyond Uncle Julian. I think they were proud of it.
None of this mattered anyway. They could help me in a lot of areas, but not this one. Ethan and I would be the ones who made this choice.
More importantly, Helena would have a say so. I wouldn’t force something like this on her. It was a lifetime commitment and it would be special if we ever managed to move forward with it. I’d worry about a ring for now.
“Is there something else we can talk about?”
“How much time do you two have?” Dad asked, moving right along.
“Why?”
The look he gave us was answer enough.
Chapter Ten
Helena
I learned that morning that waking alone wasn’t as bad as waking to find the person you loved had never come to bed.
I was going to tell them about Ian. I didn’t want to. I had to, though. The only secret I’d ever been any good at keeping was the one I had hidden inside me. This could be the difference in someone walking away or staying.
Ethan was planted in front of his laptop when I wandered down the stairs and into the kitchen. Still. He had been there when I went upstairs too.
“Good morning,” he greeted me with a half-smile.
I went and laid my head on his shoulder, eyeing the screen of his computer. There were over six tabs open and a lot of minimized boxes.
“Did you find out yet?”
“I found a few things.” He angled his face and kissed the top of my head.
I waited for him to clarify. When he didn’t, I stood tall and took a small step away. “Declan?”
He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. “He worked late.”
I didn’t understand. He’d done this a few times before and it never stopped him from coming back. The front door opened, and the topic of discussion walked in. He looked at us without immediate comment.
“You didn’t come home,” I said.
“I text you,” he replied. “And you.”
“Hey.” Ethan held both his hands up. “I’m not the one pissed. She is.”
My brows furrowed. I never used that word. “I’m not…pissed.”
“Would you even know if you were?”
“I know I wasn’t,” I retorted.
He scoffed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Declan sighed and pushed the front door shut. Feeling something ignite in my chest, I moved away, my gaze shifting between the two of them.
“You’re being dickheads.”
“What?” Ethan’s head snapped in my direction.
“Dickheads,” I crossed my arms and repeated louder.
Declan started to laugh.
“You’ve just been saving that one, huh?” Ethan questioned, a smile spreading across his face.
I wasn’t sure what that meant. How did you save words?
From the corner of my eye I watched Declan approach. I turned my head to look at him when he reached my side.
“You’re right,” he said quietly, wrapping both his arms around me.
A mess of conflictions tempted me to move away. His hold tightened before I could. I snuggled into the warmth of him instead and deeply inhaled. He still smelled good. This still felt like one of the best places to be.
“I’ve been being an asshole.” He smoothed a hand down my hair, bringing it to rest in the middle of my back, holding me even tighter. “I need to sleep for a few hours. I'm tired...empathic decency will resume once I wake up. I promise.”
I lifted my chin so that I was able to see his face. He had a light dusting of stubble appearing. I liked it.
“Promise?” I repeated, not because I didn’t understand, but so he would say it again.
“I promise.” He kissed the top of my head like Ethan had minutes ago, and took his time letting me go.
I remained where I was as he went over to him next. He glanced at the computer screen, then at me.
“We’ll talk after tonight,” he said to Ethan. “About everything.”
“I know. Now go to bed,” he replied with a grin, squeezing Declan’s hand.
He left us alone and went upstairs. I waited for Ethan to get up and follow so he could sleep too, but he went right back to clicking things on his computer. Unsure what
to do with myself, I started to read over the calendar on the fridge. The new people were coming today. What would they be like?
“Hey,” Ethan called softly.
I twisted to look at him.
“Come over here.”
I tucked a stand of hair behind my ear and went to stand beside him. He reached out and pulled me closer, slipping an arm around my waist.
“I’m sorry, okay?”
I stared at him until my lids lowered in a blink. “Why?”
“I was an asshole too. You were right to call us on it.”
I lifted one shoulder in a shrug. I had called them dickheads, I guess that was the same thing. From what I saw on television being an asshole was common for men. Declan and Ethan never were to me, though. I was lucky.
Once I told them about Ian, I would apologize too.
I looked at my reflection in the antique mirror, turning my body from side to side.
The dress I had on was the same color as my eyes and stopped a few inches above my knees. I paired it with another set of jewelry Ethan and Declan had gotten me and low black heels. After brushing out my hair I’d left it down like I usually did. No one had taught me how to do anything else with it.
Hearing a small creek, I angled myself in the direction of the bedroom door a second before it opened. Declan stood in the doorway donning a fresh suit. His hair was still damp from his shower and his stubble had been removed.
“You look beautiful, but then you always do.”
“Thanks,” I smiled at him, smoothing my hands over the form fitting dress.
He walked over and held out his hand. “Shall we?”
“Okay.” I slipped my hand into his.
He lifted it to his lips and pressed a kiss on the back, narrowing his eyes before lowering it down to his side.
“Something’s missing.”
I stared trying to see what he was referring to. It looked like a normal hand.
“What…?”
“Come on, Ethan’s waiting for us.”
Was that the answer to the question? It made sense. Ethan was missing.
We went downstairs together, meeting him at the front door. He was wearing a suit too, the same color as Declan’s.
“You look gorgeous,” he exclaimed. “We need to get dressed up more often.”
“You two always dress up.”
“Not like this,” he replied, pulling open the door for us to leave. Hannibal tried to follow, and he blocked him. “You’re staying.”
“Can you walk, or do you want to ride in the car?” Declan asked once we were outside.
I looked up and took a breath. The temperature was nice, and the sky was clear.
“I want to walk.”
“Then walking it is.” He intertwined our fingers together, and Ethan offered me his arm.
“Do you know how many there are?” Ethan asked after a minute. He wasn’t speaking to me, so I kept quiet.
“Only three came tonight. The teenager stayed back to watch his baby brother.”
“They have a baby too?” I asked.
“The same age as the twins, give or take a month,” Declan replied.
I chewed my inner cheek, letting my thoughts drift as they talked back and forth the remainder of the walk.
When we finally got to the chateau Mason was waiting for us out front. Katie stood beside him in a dress that was a similar fashion to mine, but black. Mason had one arm draped around her shoulders. She didn’t have the twins with her.
“Babs is keeping an eye them,” she answered my unspoken question.
“Are you ready to pretend you’re civil?” Declan asked.
“I’m always civil,” Mason replied.
“That’s bullshit if I’ve ever heard it. Have you been drinking already?” Ethan joked.
“I haven’t been drinking nearly enough. You know I can’t stand all this.”
“What was it you just said about being civil?” Declan mused. “You are so much like Julian,” he laughed.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Mason flashed a grin over his shoulder and began leading Katie towards the house.
The instant we stepped into the foyer the smell of food assaulted my senses. The aroma had my mouth nearly watering.
“Whatever that is, it smells amazing,” Katie sighed.
“Yeah. It’s a shame our house never smells like this.”
She grinned and shook her head at him. “I know what you’re doing. It’s not going to work this time.”
“I have all night Katie-Kat.”
She said something under her breath that made him laugh.
I didn’t understand the inner working of their relationship, but Katie and Mason never looked anything other than happy. I liked that for them. We all entered the formal dining room together.
Luca, Dakota, and Declan’s uncle Porter were already seated at the long table. Like he had said, three people were sitting across from them I’d never seen before.
“Ah, there they are,” Porter announced, rising from his chair.
Katie and I were seated next to one another as introductions began going around the room. There was Martin Agnelli, his wife Eleanora, and her sister India.
The women didn’t look anything alike. Eleanora was tall and blonde while India was short with red hair and freckles all over her face. It made me think of Clarice. We didn’t look alike either. I guess that didn’t matter.
After the food was all served, I picked at the glazed meat on my plate, only somewhat listening to the conversation flowing around me. There were too many other things to think about.
When Declan placed his hand on the back of my chair, I glanced up at him. He smiled. That was enough for the fluttering to start, it always was. I quickly diverted my gaze, feeling heat rise to my cheeks.
When I glanced up again, India was watching us with a smile of her own.
It prompted me to study each person at the table, discreetly. None of the Agnelli’s looked like killers, but then, neither did the Andreous. They were all beautiful on the outside, but inside, they were nefarious and sick.
Just like me.
The facade I presented was almost the same. It was a beautiful lie.
And like my insides, it had begun to rot.
Chapter Eleven
Declan
That couldn’t have ended soon enough.
The Agnelli’s seemed like a decent bunch, a ‘nice’ family to create a merger with. Uncle Porter had vouched for them and that was good enough in my book to wait and see how things went.
The next few months would be a tedious process to make sure we could work together, but something told me Martin and Uncle Julian would get along just fine. It took a lot for me to be disturbed, and that man was most certainly off.
“Did you see the way the redhead was eyeing your father?” Ethan laughed, slowing to make sure Helena was keeping up.
“Yes, and you know he saw it too. So did Dakota. That’s a clusterfuck waiting to happen.”
“Nah. Pops has a good head on his shoulders.”
I gave him a look. “He also has another head just like the rest of us and he uses it frequently.”
“Okay, but India can only be a few years older than our Helena,” he pointed out. “But I guess that doesn’t matter much.”
“Exactly.” I remembered his comments when Helena was first brought around. While he would never lay a finger on her, I’d fucking kill him before he even thought to, some of his early comments couldn’t be forgotten.
I didn’t want to harbor on any of this anymore, anyways. The Dahlia would always be fine. Tonight, was successful.
I could relax for a few days.
Porter was going to be showing the Agnelli’s around the Dahlia and Riverview. Eventually Uncle Julian would return and meet them himself. That’s when the real work would begin. I needed to get my own in order before then.
“Are you up for doing this tonight or do we do it in the morning?” I asked Et
han.
“The sooner the better,” he replied.
I glanced back at Helena. She’d been quiet since the last twenty minutes of dinner, quieter than usual that is. She seemed lost in thought.
“Are you okay?”
“No,” she replied evenly. “You’re not safe.”
I wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to this. It’d caught me off guard, and that never fucking happened.
“Why aren’t we safe?”
She stopped walking, which had me and Ethan doing the same. She brought her hands together in front of her waist. It was a nervous tic I hadn’t seen from her in a long time.
“Ian is in the woods.”
“Who the fucks Ian?” Ethan questioned.
His tone had her shifting away from him. I laid a hand on his arm. “Why is he in the woods?” I asked calmly.
“He’s hidden.”
I nodded, light years ahead of where this was going. “Can you show us where he’s hiding?”
“Now?” She looked in the general direction of the main gates as if she could see into the woods from this vantage point.
“We have flash-lights.”
I removed my cell from my pocket and typed out a quick text, re-pocketing it when I was finished.
Helena was staring right at me, her expression empty. I wanted to crawl inside her goddamn head just to know what she was thinking. Maybe she expected me to react like I had the night she’d killed the little bitches who’d tried to terrorize her.
While those baser feelings were beginning to flow through my veins, I wasn’t going to do a damn thing until I saw what we were dealing with.
I was surprised at just how close she’d been to the Dahlia. The tracker had placed her practically across the street, but I never thought she’d seriously be off killing some sorry fucker so close to home.
Bunnies, birds, even squirrels I could deal with her fixing those easily enough. She never went out of her way to harm anything that wasn’t already suffering, so the frequency in which that happened was low.
If she was openly moving onto people…
How the fuck had I missed such a massive progression?
Ethan drove his truck through a field approximately five minutes down the road. A few yards in and his headlights illuminated the rear end of a piece of shit car.
Iniquity (Dahlia Saga Book 5) Page 8
