Rise - Part Three (Rise #3)(3)

She nods her head slowly. "I can go with you. I'll call Clive and tell him that I'll be home late."

I stare at the smartphone on her desk. As much as I want her to go home with me, I need to do it alone. I want to sit in the still air in my apartment when I call my brother, and try to call my mother again.

I don't want Lilly to be across the room from me, pretending to be lost in a magazine when I call Landon to ask how any of this is possible. His father pulled my father down with him as the ship of his life was sinking. I refuse to believe that coincidence brought the two of us together.

"I'd rather you spend the night with your family." I rest my hand on my cheek. "I need to make some calls and figure out what my next step should be."

I see the hesitation in her expression even before she speaks. "I know what it's like, Tess. My dad was a bad person too. I can help you."

Her father raised a gun to the head of each of his children and his wife. He stole every person Lilly loved from her and by some small miracle she survived with just a faint scar on her neck. My father took money. He moved numbers around to satiate his greed. On a scale of evil, they don't come close but as I look into her eyes I see something I've been longing for all day. She understands.

It doesn't matter if my father's crimes impacted strangers or if Lilly's father's deeds changed the entire course of her life. She knows what I'm feeling and tonight, I need her strength to help get me through all the realities I'm going to be forced to face.

"Let's stop at your place first and see Haven," I offer as much for her as for me. The hugs of a beautiful little girl can wash away almost anything for a brief moment or two. "I can ask Clive what he wants."

"That works for me." She scoops up her smartphone and purse. "I'll help you get through this, Tess. You know you can count on me."

***

"I've been trying to reach you, Tess," Clive says as he embraces Lilly tightly. "I called you more than once. Where have you been?"

The words are too familiar and intimate for the business relationship I share with him. He may be the husband of my best friend, but until a few weeks ago, we hadn't exchanged more than a handful of words with one another. Since I started working on planning the gala his company, Corteck, is hosting, we've warmed up to one another. This goes beyond that though.

"I've been busy," I try to level out my tone. "Is there an issue with the gala you want to discuss?"

His eyes close briefly as he pulls Lilly closer to him. "My cousin stopped by my office this morning. My cousin, Jax. Ivy was with him."

He knows. I see it in his face. There's a flash of tenderness in his expression that is usually reserved for only Lilly and Haven. I look down, fearful that my scattered emotions will boil over and I'll fall to my knees in grief right here in the foyer of their condo.

"You know about my dad, don't you?"

"Ivy's upset." His lips brush effortlessly over Lilly's forehead before he takes a step back. "That means Jax is running around trying to fix the problem. They stopped by because they were concerned about you."

They stopped by because Ivy couldn't reach me. "How upset is she?"

"She thinks the police made a mistake." He looks first at Lilly, then at me. "She's convinced they arrested the wrong person."

That's the Ivy that I know and love. She'll cling desperately to the best in every person until a hard dose of reality slaps her across the face. It happened with her former fiancé, Mark, and her best friend, Liz. They had an affair, behind her back, that lasted for years. She's confessed to me that there were warning signs that she willingly chose to ignore. That innocence is part of her charm. It's also the cushion she needs to ignore life's harsh realities until she's ready to face them.

"The police don't make mistakes like that." I can hear the resignation in my tone, even if my mind hasn't caught up. "My dad isn't the man we all thought he was. Right now I feel like I never even knew him."





Chapter 3


––––––––

"You don't know me," he begins before his hand darts out into the space between the two of us. "My brother knows you."

I look up and into his face. I've seen it before in the photographs that are neatly displayed in Landon's apartment. He's older than he was when he posed next to his father and brother, but it's him.

I reach out to place my hand in his. "You're Dane, aren't you?"

He nods briskly as he shakes my hand faintly. His eyes study my face before his tongue darts out to moisten his lips. "Landon told me a lot about you."

I can't say the same. I've heard spotted details about Dane Beckett from his older brother. I only know that their relationship has been strained for most of their adult lives, and that Dane is going to be a father and a husband soon.

I pull my hand free before motioning towards the door of my apartment building. "Did you come here to see me?"

It's a pointless question given the fact that I saw him standing near the door the moment my building came into view as I walked down the street. I rode the subway home after spending the past two hours with Clive and Lilly.