Family Bonds- Eli and Bella (Amore Island Book 6)

by Natalie Ann

  “Why do you say that?” Eli asked.

  “Susanna talked with another attorney in their firm. She happened to be working on a case with one of their lawyers. Funny how things work out that way, isn’t it?”

  “It is,” Eli agreed.

  “Susanna is good at getting people to open up and talk. And the lawyer was Gretchen’s daughter, Riva. Riva had mentioned having a cousin living in Monte Carlo and she’d love to go visit sometime. She talked like she was close with this cousin, which seemed odd to Susanna, but she didn’t let on. She even said your name. Her cousin Bella.”

  “What?” Bella asked. “I know I’ve got two cousins, but I’ve never met them. I haven’t had any communication with them. I only know what they look like from their pictures on their website.”

  “That’s an in if you ask me,” Hailey said.

  “An in for what?” Eli asked. “You aren’t suggesting Bella go to Georgia, are you?”

  “I’m not sure it’s for you to tell her she can’t,” Hailey said.

  “It’s not,” Bella said firmly. “And I want to think about this. I’m not sure I want to subject myself to people that wanted nothing to do with my father. I’m not even sure my aunt would want to see me or why your friend thinks that.”

  “Because Riva couldn’t know anything about you unless she heard it from her mother. Your grandfather won’t even speak your father’s name,” Hailey said. “I’m sorry to be so blunt, but it’s all in the report.”

  “A report that could be more fiction than fact,” Eli pointed out.

  “Exactly. But it’s a fact that Riva Carmichael mentioned Bella’s name and talked about her as if they were close,” Hailey said. “There isn’t much about Bella out there to be found. The only way to know that is if someone was telling stories. It makes me wonder if maybe your father was close with his sister, but it was kept from everyone.”

  “I wouldn’t know. And that doesn’t excuse her not showing up for his funeral if that was the case.” Bella turned to him. “So, what did you find out about my uncle?”

  “Griffin sent one of his military buddies there on vacation for a few weeks. Someone good at poker. We set him up with money and let him play.”

  “If he was winning big, he’d get attention,” Bella said, grinning.

  “He was and he did. He got close to some of the staff. Adam has that type of personality. He was able to learn that Oliver was away on business but has been back twice in the past few weeks.”

  “My uncle’s back home and no one said anything?” Bella asked.

  “Just rumor again. Adam said he wasn’t spotted. It could just be words used by people. Other staff said Oliver hasn’t been feeling well. That he was working like crazy and took a much-needed vacation. More rumors that he was with a woman.”

  She snorted. “Any of them could be true, but I’m not sure it pertains to this situation.”

  “Probably not,” Eli said. “Which is why it’s not bad other than if your uncle is in danger, it seems the staff has no idea and are in the dark just as much. Or it’s exactly what they are saying. Your uncle has been back but is protecting you more than anything.”

  “If he’s back he’d reach out to me. Or at least you, Eli. I know that.”

  “I believe that too. But your uncle also knows we’d be looking for him or into what is going on. He’s making himself scarce for a reason. We just don’t know what the reason is.”

  “As long as he’s safe and stays that way, that is all that matters to me.”

  “I believe he is,” he said and hoped that was the case.

  What he didn’t tell her was that Adam had told Griffin that there had been some damage to the casino. Another trashed room, and an assault in the parking lot. Staff had been quiet about it, but Adam had heard it’d been going on and was affecting business. That told Eli there was definitely something more and Bella obviously didn’t think much of it, as she would have known about those things while she was there.

  Why she never said a word though didn’t make sense, unless she really didn’t think it was connected to what was going on.

  Griffin felt there was a connection, only they couldn’t figure out what it was.

  22

  A Field Day

  The last thing Bella thought was that she’d be having a Sunday dinner with Eli’s family five days later.

  The invitation hadn’t even come from Eli but Janet who’d stopped in after they’d returned from Hailey’s office and caught the two of them together talking about the proposal she’d been working up regarding the competition.

  “Why do you seem nervous?” Eli asked her when they pulled out of the parking garage in his sports car.

  “Oh, I don’t know,” she said. “I’m only going to a family dinner and meeting the rest of the clan.”

  He started to laugh. “Not even close to meeting the clan. Trust me. You’ve been out with my mother twice. The same with Egan. I know you’ve seen my father around the casino even though you haven’t talked to him. Ethan is the only one left.”

  She had seen Mitchell Bond several times moving about with Eli, but always went in the other direction. Yes, she and Eli had been sharing a bed for over a week now. Well, not sharing it nightly, but slipping time in when they could. Still, she didn’t think his family was aware of it even if Griffin was.

  “What do they know about us?” she asked.

  “Meaning that you slept in my arms last night?”

  She snorted. He was trying to be charming and most times she fell for it. This time her nerves were having a field day with her. “I slept on my side and you slept on yours.”

  “Oh, it’s your side now?” he asked. “Funny, considering it’s only the second time you’ve stayed there all night.”

  She wouldn’t have minded staying more but didn’t know what was going on with the two of them outside of fabulous sex and that he felt an obligation to her. Words she wouldn’t say to him anytime soon.

  “No need to crowd you,” she said. “You're a busy man.”

  “I am. Yet I’m finding time for you.”

  “You are. But since I happened to be working late helping out with that show last night, I was turning in at the same time as you. Other days we are on different schedules. Not that I’m complaining,” she rushed to say. The last thing she needed was to put any pressure on him or make him feel like this was a relationship and she was some needy girlfriend.

  She’d never been needy a day in her life and if she was feeling it with Eli she had to tell herself to cut the crap. This was temporary and they both had lives to get back to. If she was wishing that Eli stayed in hers, she wouldn’t admit it to him or herself. Why set herself up for that kind of hurt?

  “I know you aren’t. The only thing you’ve asked me for is to work.”

  “Don’t sound so put out over that. I’m not used to being taken care of and I know that sounds odd coming from my background. But I don’t need you to watch over everything and organize my life either.”

  She had family wealth and some of her own. But she never wanted to be monitored or cared for. She did her laundry and cleaned her condo. Could she afford someone to do it for her? Sure, but she wouldn’t.

  She’d had her privacy invaded way too much in her life and wanted to take control of things as an adult since it seemed everyone else controlled so much that she couldn’t or didn’t have a say in.

  It seemed Uncle Oliver understood that.

  Until this all happened and control was the last thing she had in her life now outside of what she had with Eli. Even then, he was the one running to show more than her and she had to get over it.

  Yeah, no control there either. Or more like no plan and she didn’t like to be flying by the seat of her pants so much.

  “A lot of women would love to have had a month to sit on the beach and explore our little island.”

  “I’m not like most women,” she said, grinning.

  “You most certainly a
re not,” he said, patting her leg, then shifting gears in the car. She always wanted to learn to drive standard but wouldn’t even think to ask. It looked like fun though.

  “Did you grow up here?” she asked of the massive house they pulled in front of ten minutes later. They’d driven through an open gate, then down a long driveway. The house wasn’t seen from the main road and they were nice and secluded back here on the water.

  “I did. We’ve got a house in Boston too, but it’s not as big as this one. My father had this built a few years after I was born. He’d been working at the Boston office, but knew he wanted to raise us here.”

  “So the office here hasn’t always been around?”

  “No. He split his time when we were younger, going back and forth between both places. It’s easier now with technology to work remotely than it was back then. But my cousins Emily and Penelope’s father, Mason, ran more things in Boston while my father was here. Mason is here now too, doing a lot remotely.”

  “Emily and Penelope grew up in Boston?” she asked of the two cousins she’d heard of but hadn’t met.

  “They did. But they always knew they’d end up here too.”

  “Having been here a month, I can understand it. Boston is congested, but has everything you could want. I feel like it’s almost the best of both worlds here if you’ve got the means to fly back and forth so fast in the chopper.”

  “Exactly,” he said.

  They made their way to the front door of the weathered Colonial Revival home. She’d seen a lot of them when she’d researched the area. “Wait. Is this house on the website for Amore Island?”

  He laughed. “It’s a distance shot, yes. My Uncle Scott’s house is too. No one is naming whose house it is when it’s posted, but they are featured. Though this house is only thirty years old, it was built to look as if it’s been here for over a hundred years. My cousin Bode builds a lot of apartments and houses on the island and there is a big mixture. His parents’ home is more modern. That would be my Uncle Scott’s home.”

  “This is stunning from the outside,” she said as she looked over the four white pillars on the outside of the front porch. “Can I ask how big it is?”

  “A little over five thousand square feet. The finished basement not included.”

  They walked through the red front door. The hardwood floors were gorgeous, leading right to an eye-catching staircase. Talk about an impact. She’d been around a lot of wealth in her life, her uncle’s mansion included, but never a house like this. Homey and welcoming.

  “I bet you slid down that banister on your butt as a child,” she said.

  “That would be Egan,” Janet said, walking from the back of the house. “That child always gave me nightmares.”

  She laughed. “You have a beautiful home.”

  “Thank you,” Janet said. “But you’re only seeing the foyer. We don’t use too many of those rooms. Or I don’t. We aren’t so formal, but they are nice areas to break away from.”

  She and Eli followed Janet to the back of the house where it was light and modern. It looked to have been updated recently and didn’t reflect the exterior of the house’s style. “What a gorgeous view,” she said. There was a wall of windows that went twenty feet up easily from the kitchen, to the eating area, and the family room. It probably spanned fifty feet across with several glass doors to get to a deck.

  “Thank you,” Mitchell said, moving forward with his hand out. “I know we haven’t formally met, but I’ve heard a lot about you. Welcome to our home.”

  “It’s nice to meet you.”

  Eli slipped his arm around her waist, which caused his mother to lift her eyebrow and grin. Guess he wasn’t going to hide what they had going on and she didn’t figure there was a need.

  “You know Egan and this is my youngest brother, Ethan,” Eli said.

  She moved to where Ethan had stood up and shook hands with him. Dang. Seeing all three of them in the same space made her realize how handsome the Bond men were.

  “Can I get you a drink?” Janet asked. She walked to the outdoor kitchen where everyone was gathering. “We’ve got wine, beer, water, soda. You name it, it’s here somewhere. I’m going to have myself a nice glass of Chardonnay. It’s the perfect summer day for it.”

  The breeze was coming off the ocean, not making the temperature feel as if it was mid-eighties. “I’d love a glass,” she said.

  Eli guided her to the table in the shade and she took a seat. “So Eli tells us you are working on a proposal for a competition at the casino?” Mitchell said.

  “I am. It’s not something I’ve got experience with but have been doing some research. Hailey said she’d meet with me to go over what needs to be done from the legal aspect and then we’ll go from there. It will take time and we’ll need to get the word out.”

  “Our family is big enough to spread it fast when it comes to that,” Janet said. “I was so excited to hear about it. And how is Hailey doing?”

  She looked at Eli and saw him grin. “Mom, no need to play coy. I know you and Bella met with Hailey a week ago.”

  Janet grinned. “I figured you did. Any updates?”

  Eli looked at Bella. She wasn’t used to sharing much about her life but knew she could trust his family and explained what was discovered. “That’s wonderful,” Janet said. “You should reach out to your cousin Riva.”

  “I’ve thought of it, but I’m not sure how to go about doing it.”

  “You didn’t tell me you were thinking of it,” Eli said. “Why haven’t you?”

  “I wasn’t aware I had to tell you all my thoughts if they weren’t going to have actions.”

  “Give him hell,” Egan said. “We like it when Eli is told he isn’t the boss. Mr. Control It All doesn’t like to be told no.”

  “He can be the boss to a lot of people and maybe even me while I’m here, but not about this if I haven’t made a decision,” she said, lifting her chin.

  “Why haven’t you?” Eli asked. “I’d want to go with you and I’d like to know if you are planning on traveling.”

  “That’s why,” she said. “Thank you, Janet.” She put the wine to her lips and downed half of it knowing she’d need it before she snapped at Eli. “Because you’re busy and I don’t need a bodyguard. And don’t say Griffin would take me. You two can’t be apart.”

  Ethan started to laugh. “She has you pegged well.”

  “Shut up,” Eli said to his baby brother. “And,” he said, pointing his finger to Egan, “I don’t need your opinion either.”

  “But we like to give our opinion,” Mitchell said. “That’s what we do best.”

  She wasn’t sure how to take Eli’s family but didn’t expect them all to be so funny...and well, nosy at the same time.

  “I’m not sure what I’m going to do,” she said again. “What we know is through Hailey’s friend. I’m not going to be here long, and though I want answers, I’ve got to ask myself at what price or outcome. What do I hope to accomplish?”

  “Closure,” Janet said. “No one says you need to start a relationship with them. They are strangers to you. But I was under the impression there were things you didn’t know that you wanted to. They might be the only ones to give you that.”

  She sighed. Janet was right. “My uncle has answers, or so I think, but he doesn’t say much when I ask. I’m not sure why.”

  “If he felt there was a danger with you talking with your father’s family, I’m sure that would have been included in his instructions,” Eli said. “He’d have to know you’d be curious being this close.”

  She’d thought of that too. “I know. You said his words were to protect me but not keep me away from anyone. He would have said that if he felt I shouldn’t look into my family. But as you said, you’re busy and I know it’s not smart to go alone.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Janet said. “It could be like a girls’ trip.”

  “No,” Eli and his father said at once.

 
She looked at both of them and before she could respond, Janet said, “Why ever not?”

  “Because we don’t know what Bella could be getting into there and I was asked to watch out for her,” Eli said. “I can’t do that states away. If she wants to go, it’s with me or Griffin and I’d like to think she’d rather go with me.”

  “I sure the heck don’t want to share a room with Griffin,” she said before she could stop herself. There were more grins around the table telling her everyone was aware of the relationship she had with Eli.

  “I’ll leave him here to keep an eye on the casino. I don’t see why we can’t fly there and stay for a night and then come back,” Eli said.

  “I’m not sure about setting a flight up,” Bella said. “My uncle did it all with a different ID. It’d probably be better to drive.”

  “You can take the Bond jet,” Mitchell said. “Which is what I’m sure Eli was planning on doing.”

  “I was,” Eli said. “We should talk with Hailey and then see if she can reach out to her friend. We need a reason to meet with Riva without telling her who you are. At least that is my thought.”

  “I don’t want to trick anyone,” she said.

  “No trick, but no reason to let them know ahead of time either,” Egan said. “Even I agree with that.”

  “So you’ll go with me if I decide to do it?” she asked Eli.

  “Sure. I haven’t had a vacation in a while. We can take a few days if it works out that way.”

  23

  Make Your Decisions

  Eli didn’t think he’d be planning a trip after what should have been a simple family dinner.

  But he was coming to realize that nothing was simple when it came to Bella.

  “I thought you said one day,” Bella said when he’d made that comment.

  “We’ll play it by ear,” he said, not committing to more. Something like this might take more than a day and if that was the case he wanted to be prepared.

  “Labor Day is coming up in a few weeks,” she said. “You’re going to be busy. And not only that, maybe we’ll know more about Uncle Oliver and I might be going back.”