I Flipping Love You (Shacking Up #3)(83)

“I think you need to see something, bro.” Law drops down beside me and holds out his laptop.

It’s an article on the history of the Mission Mansion. “Why is this important?”

“Click the next tab.” He taps the screen.

An image pops up that has nothing to do with houses.

He cocks a brow. “Those twins look familiar to you?”

A pre-teenage version of Rian and her sister smile at me on the screen. The shot is grainy, having been taken from a magazine article more than a decade ago. It’s a family photo, apparently, taken with the late Deana Mission, her daughter, Stephanie, and son-in-law, Nelson Fisher.

“Deana Mission was born a Sutter.”

I rub my forehead. “Which explains why they go by Sutter, I guess?”

“Possibly, but they’re technically Fishers.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Do you remember Fisher Estates?”

It sounds familiar, but I’m not sure why. “Should I?”

“A decade ago Fisher was huge; they represented some of the biggest real estate buyers in the area. Except Nelson turned out to be a real criminal. He screwed all sorts of people out of money, including the Millses. Harrison was the one who took him down. Bankrupted the family from what I know. And when Deana died, Nelson sold the mansion and fled the country with his wife.”

“So Nelson is Rian’s father?”

“Ding, ding, ding!” Lawson slaps the arms of his chair. “You got it. He and his wife left two teenage girls with a huge mess. Their bank accounts were frozen and all their assets were seized. My guess is they go by Sutter to avoid being connected to the Fisher name.”

I sift through the tidbits of information that Rian has given me about her family, which is admittedly very little. “Are her parents still alive?”

“I have no idea. Apparently they got something like three million for the mansion, since they needed cash fast, had it transferred to an offshore account, and disappeared. If they’re alive, they’re staying under the radar, because if the federal government finds them, they’ll be in prison for a long time.”

I think back to first time I was at Rian’s house, to the pictures on the bookshelf and my question about her mother—the one she never answered. As the pieces start to come together, I realize how much she’s kept from me.

“Hey, you okay? I figured this would be helpful, answer some of those questions.”

I rub the back of my neck, the muscles suddenly tight. “What kind of parents leave two eighteen-year-old girls to clean up their mess? And with nothing to survive on?”

“Shitty ones, I guess. Makes ours look like saints, doesn’t it?”

I huff a humorless laugh. Our parents are far from perfect. They haven’t been the best relationship role models, but they’ve never left us to fend on our own, financially or otherwise.

I consider the life Rian once had. Her upbringing had been the opposite of mine. She came from everything and had it all ripped away from her. She was abandoned by the people who were supposed to take care of her. No wonder she’s so guarded. Her secrets are the walls between us.

I push up out of my chair.

“Where you going?”

“To get some answers.” And break down some walls.





CHAPTER 28

TRUTHS





RIAN


I flip my phone over in my hand, waiting for a message I’m not sure is ever going to come. I feel ill. The same kind of ill I felt after my parents left Marley and me alone, with almost nothing.

If it’s over between me and Pierce, I have no one to blame but myself. Maybe I should’ve been honest with him from the beginning, but I was doing what I thought was right. I was protecting me and Marley. It’s what I’ve always done. And he’s supposed to be temporary. A fun summer distraction, not someone I want to keep around.

Regardless of whether or not I’m right about Pierce being in on whatever Lawson may or may not have planned, we’re so closely connected by all of these invisible threads. I’m sure he’s already figured it out by now, which might explain the silence on his end. The pieces of my past that I’ve kept hidden threaten to destroy this brief blip of happiness.

Instead of putting trust in Pierce, I villainized him. I accused rather than asked questions, and now I’m facing the consequences. He has every right to be angry with me because my omissions are as bad as lies. In trying to protect myself, I only ended up hurting us both.

Last night I slept on the couch at the Paulson reno. Because it still smells very faintly of Pierce. I’m so pathetic.

The knock on the sliding door startles me. It’s almost eight, and the finish carpenter is supposed to be here at nine to take care of the last little details, but I expect him to come to the front door. I peek over the end of the couch, mortified that I’m still in my pajamas. Except it’s not the finish carpenter. It’s Pierce.

My heart stops and then beats double time. I throw the comforter off, no longer worried about my sleepwear, or the fact that I probably have pillow lines etched in my face. I’ve slept like crap the past two night and based on Pierce’s stubbled chin and cheeks and dark eyes, so has he.

Maybe I’m not alone in my misery. And I’m definitely miserable.