It doesn’t exist.
Never has.
Still processing his findings, I tilt my head and try to find a loophole. Hoping against hope as always.
“Are you sure you checked everything?”
Mason nods confidently. “Trust me, Lily Cat, if there was something to find, my colleagues and I would have found it. We’re sort of like hounds in that way. We can sniff out an investment opportunity from miles away. But Rio Venture Corp is just a figment of someone’s imagination.”
The weight pressing down on my chest is suffocating.
How could this be happening?
What kind of shit has Edward gotten me involved in? Better yet, what kind of shit have I gotten myself involved in?
“I don’t know what to say…” I start but a lump forms and clogs my next words.
I was played. Plain and simple.
But that’s not even the worst of it.
Edward is a thief who stole from his own flesh and blood. And now I’m stuck in the middle of it.
His obsession with Andrew makes perfect sense now. As I remember their confrontation in the Hamptons, Edward’s look of contempt comes to mind. He absolutely hates Andrew and wants to drain him of his inheritance since he isn’t playing by the rules.
Oh my God.
“Lilah, are you okay? You don’t look so good.”
I feel chills break out across every exposed surface of my skin as the gravity of his words continue to sink in.
It doesn’t exist. Never has.
Edward tricked me in order to steal from Andrew and I fell for it because I was so blinded by my ambition to get funding for my project.
So blinded that I was willing to ignore signs that pointed to the obvious a long time ago.
This is where I get off the psycho train and come clean to Andrew. I don’t care what it costs me, I just have to be the one who tells him.
“Thanks for your help, Mason,” I say, already standing up. “But I really have to get out of here.”
Forty
ANDREW
Gladys comes down to my studio and tells me there’s a guest for me upstairs. I blink at her confusedly before asking who it is. The only person I’m expecting is Lilah and she just told me she was headed out for some coffee.
Who else would show up unannounced? It’s very rare that I get visitors. Especially uninvited ones.
“It’s your brother,” Gladys says. I can read the nervousness on her face as she wrings her hands.
She’s probably worried because we have one rule when it comes to Edward in this house.
He isn’t welcome.
But I’m guessing he asserted his power and wouldn’t take no for an answer if she’s standing there looking like she’s just seen a ghost.
There’s no telling what asinine thing he did to swindle his way inside.
“I’ll take care of it,” I say, grabbing my towel to clean some of the oil from my hands.
Abandoning my work, I follow Gladys up the stairs and into the foyer where my brother is waiting in a navy blue suit.
He is staring at one of my paintings that hangs in the hall. There’s a white folder in his hand.
I clear my throat and he turns swiftly to look at me.
“Andrew.”
“What the hell do you want, Teddy?”
He hates when I call him his childhood nickname.
A phony smile touches his lips. “Is that any way to greet your older brother?”
“I’m going to give you five seconds to state your business before I toss your ass out of here.”
I narrow my eyes at him, and he drops the sickening charade and squares his shoulders.
“Fine. Business it is. We need to talk,” he says, tossing a look over his shoulder. Gladys is still here watching the scene unfold. “Preferably somewhere without too many watchful eyes. You’ll want time to digest this alone.”
“Anything you have to say to me, you can say right here. Right now,” I say, calling his bluff.
“Suit yourself,” he shrugs, pressing the white folder into my chest. “Have a look.”
“What is this?” I ask, catching the folder before it can slide to the floor.
Edward remains silent, but the cocky expression on his face makes me curious.
Keeping one eye trained on him, I open the folder. There is an envelope on top. I run my index finger under the seal and reach inside to pull out the contents.
A glossy four by six of Lilah in a café is all I can make out until I start flipping through the stack. There are at least a dozen pictures here. All with her huddled up in a corner talking to the ex I saw in the grocery store that night. From what I can tell the photos were taken over the course of three different visits.
“Thought you should know your latest obsession is one-sided. She’s across town with him right now while you’re here alone.”
I don’t even absorb his words as I keep shuffling through the photographs.
These were all time stamped within the last two weeks. Not once has Lilah brought up that she’s still in contact with him.
“What the fuck does this have to do with you?” I snarl at my brother, not letting on to the fact that it feels like someone just ripped a gaping hole in my chest.
Gladys mutters something behind me but I don’t catch it. The sound of my own heart is beating too loud in my ears.
Edward shrugs again looking smug. “Just thought you’d like to know. You seem pretty caught up on this one and I couldn’t stand to see my brother getting played by a whore.”
I raise my hand and strike Edward’s face. It doesn’t register to me that I’ve smacked the snot out of him until Gladys appears at my side, worrying over my uninvited guest.
“Oh dear,” she gasps assessing the damage. “I better get some ice.”
She scurries off to the kitchen, leaving the two of us alone.
“Still hot-tempered, I see,” Edward says, holding his jaw with a self-righteous smirk.
“Don’t ever call her that again.”
Edward starts laughing now. His
