Nowhere Left to Hide (The Royal Trilogy Book 3) Page 3

  “Maybe there’s nothing to find out,” she suggested gently. “Maybe it was really just a horrible accident caused by a drunk driver.”

  “Maybe,” he said softly. “But my gut says no. My gut is screaming that this was no accident—and Ace says he feels the same way.”

  “Ace?” I stared at him from my seat on the couch. “Ace Ross?”

  “You think this has something to do with the past?” Skye asked, startled. “With—” She stopped abruptly as people started coming in.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “But we can’t take any chances until we find out.”

  Nick turned to greet my mother and Ace fucking Ross. I didn’t know what to say to the man who’d taken my virginity almost twenty years ago, but I was spared having to figure it out since Nicky and Tricia, and Uncle Ben and Aunt Kari had all arrived. This was the bulk of our inner circle, with the exception of Liz and the addition of Ace—which I still didn’t understand—so Nick stood up and got everyone’s attention.

  “I didn’t want to do this now,” he said, looking around, “but if any of us is in danger, it affects all of us. I haven’t yet been able to find out anything beyond what the police have told us about the accident, but that’s not good enough, not when lives could be at risk.”

  “What do you mean?” Mom spoke up in confusion. “Are you saying this wasn’t an accident? That someone purposely hit the car?”

  “I’m saying it’s fishy. They were stopped at a red light and this car didn’t hit them from behind or even head-on, but veered off a straight course right into Jay’s side of the car.”

  “Then you think this had something to do with his gambling?” I didn’t know whether to be relieved or even more upset.

  “I don’t know.” He raised his hands in frustration. “I took him down to his bookie and handed that man a hundred grand in cash. I went to visit him again last night and made it very clear that if he had anything to do with the accident, I would destroy him. Although I’m sure the man is a practiced liar, I didn’t get that vibe. He was terrified that he’d pissed me off, and said that we were square, so he had no reason to go after him. The jury is still out, but my gut tells me he was telling the truth.”

  “So what are you implying?” I asked, looking at him with irritation. “That someone was after me?”

  “I don’t know,” he said again. “That’s the problem, and that’s why it’s bugging me. This guy who hit you has no previous record, no debts, no family, no nothing. It’s like he appeared out of nowhere just to kill himself and possibly the two of you.”

  “What do you mean, no nothing?” Ace asked.

  “He was thirty-two years old and moved to Las Vegas a year ago. He worked at a construction site and lived in an efficiency apartment. I got hold of his social security number and up until five years ago, he’d never worked, never been married, never owned a home, nothing. Then suddenly he’s here, steals a pickup truck and gets drunk enough to kill someone while he’s driving it.”

  “A fan?” Skye suggested. “Someone who worshipped Casey and accordingly wanted Jay out of the way, or vice versa?”

  “We didn’t know we were going for ice cream until five minutes before we left the house,” I protested. “With what you’re saying, someone followed us, knew where we were going, and then circled around the block so they could come at us from another direction?”

  “Doesn’t make a lot of sense.” Nick shook his head in agreement.

  “There’s another possibility,” Ace said quietly, looking around.

  “There’s even another possibility,” I said with a sigh, somewhat ignoring Ace’s comment. “Different from whatever you’re thinking of. Just before the accident, Jay admitted he was having an affair, and maybe she was tired of waiting for him to leave me, or something like that, and wanted to get rid of one or both of us?”

  “He had a girlfriend?” Skye blinked at me, shocked.

  “That’s a possibility, I guess,” Nick admitted grudgingly.

  “No, it’s not.” Liz strode into the room and looked around.

  “How do you know?” Nick asked, as if he’d been expecting her.

  “Because it’s me.” She spoke in a whisper but held his gaze. “I’m Jay’s girlfriend, and I was the one reluctant to get a divorce, not him.”

  “It was you?!” I stared in disbelief at the woman I’d always considered a close friend. “You’re sleeping with my husband?”

  “We weren’t just having an affair,” Liz protested softly. “I love him and he loves me.”

  “After everything we’ve been through, you fell in love with my husband?” I was gaping at her, unable to comprehend what she was saying.

  “Yes, dammit!” Liz scowled at me. “It’s not like you loved him.”

  “That’s not true,” I snapped, getting to my feet and putting my good hand on my hip.

  Liz faced me, although she didn’t seem nearly as steady on her feet as I was. “I don’t know what to say. I didn’t plan it. It just kind of happened.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you? I thought we were friends, you bitch.”

  “I don’t know what you want me to say!” Liz glared at me.

  “That’s enough!” The tiny woman in the doorway couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred pounds, but her voice stopped everyone in the room from moving. “I cannot believe what I’m hearing.”

  “Mom.” Liz stared at her mother in disbelief. “I thought you were resting.”

  “I had a feeling you were going to do something stupid, and it’s a good thing I came up here.” Melissa Kingsley walked into the room without missing a step and stood between Liz and me. “I have never seen two grown women behaving worse than the two of you right now. Casey, you know damn well Liz would never intentionally do anything to hurt you, but you weren’t in love with Jayson, and for the first time in a very long time, Liz found someone to fill that empty place in her heart. You of all people shouldn’t begrudge her a little happiness.”

  She turned to her daughter. “Liz, this was neither the time nor the place to dump your secret on Casey. You’re lashing out at her because you’re scared and that’s not fair—she’s dealing with a lot too. I don’t think either one of you gets to call a trump card on who’s hurting more. Now I want you two to apologize, make up and then sit down and try to figure out exactly what’s happening. We have our children’s safety to think about.” At that, Melissa took the glass of wine Skye had offered her and sat down.

  Liz and I looked at each other. I was mildly embarrassed but still fuming and I was damned if I would apologize for anything.

  “I’m sorry,” Liz whispered, looking away.

  “I know.” I’d momentarily forgotten all about Erik being in Monte Carlo but I remembered now and was pissed all over again. However, having been reminded of what could be at stake, I refrained from saying anything else. I still wasn’t sorry, though. I was pissed and she was going to know it, even if we had to behave here in front of everyone.

  Nick cleared his throat. “If it wasn’t his gambling and it wasn’t his girlfriend…”

  “We might have a problem,” Ace added, coming to stand next to Nick.

  “You think this is about the past?” I spun around and looked at Ace in confusion. “And what does any of this have to do with you? I haven’t seen you in a hundred years. I’m confused and somebody needs to update me. On everything.” I met Liz’s gaze meaningfully.

  “We don’t know anything for sure,” Nicky said quickly. Nick had been running the hotel and all of the family’s financial interests for several years now, but Nicky was still involved in everything that went on. “And until we find out, we have to remember why we’ve protected Luke all these years.”

  “It’s been eleven years,” I protested. “Why would they come after him now? And I really want to know what Ace is doing here.”

  “I’m in military intelligence and Nick reached out to me after the accident.” Ace spoke quietly. “I don
’t know if I can help in any way, but I wanted to offer my support.”

  I narrowed my eyes. There was a lot they weren’t telling me, but I didn’t know who knew what and when I opened my mouth, Nick shot me a warning look. I finally settled my gaze on Sandor. My bodyguard, my son’s fiercest protector, my friend. He’d betrayed me too and that somehow hurt more than the others. “What do you know?” I asked him.

  “I’m not sure,” he responded, though he didn’t quite meet my eyes.

  “I figured.” I made a face, taking in the faces in the room, people I loved and trusted and had counted on these last eleven years. I hated all of them at this moment, even though it wasn’t fair.

  “I’m thinking of taking the kids to Greece for the summer,” I said finally. “I wasn’t sure we could go with Jayson still recovering, but I’m guessing there’s someone else he’ll want at his bedside now.” It was probably childish and stupid, but I turned and walked out of the room, not looking back. I didn’t feel bad about it either.

  4

  Erik

  I paced around my hotel room like a caged animal. Liz had gone up to meet with Nick, Casey and whomever else had been invited, and I was stuck here on my own, essentially in the dark. This was the hardest part of the whole thing, aside from the fact that we didn’t know who might have betrayed us. Betrayed me. I was still shocked that Liz had told Jayson everything, but I had a hard time believing he would have told anyone, because according to her, he loved his children—including Sasha and Luke—more than anything. I wanted to talk to him, face to face, and get a sense for who he really was, but I was in hiding. Even Leni didn’t know I was here. When we’d arrived in New York to change planes, we’d told her I got called away to work and I’d caught a different flight to Vegas.

  Nick had reserved a private room for me, and Liz knew where it was, but I hated being left out like this. I’d texted Sandor at least a dozen times and he’d said he was coming, but he hadn’t arrived yet. I was about to text him again when someone knocked on the door. I quickly peered through the peephole and then opened the door.

  He came inside and we stared at each other for a minute before I pulled him into a hug. Damn, it had been too long. I hadn’t seen him in years and I didn’t realize how much I’d missed him until he was right here next to me.

  “It’s good to see you,” I said finally.

  “It is.” Our eyes held until he moved to sink into a chair.

  I sat across from him. “Tell me what you know.”

  He’d changed a lot, I thought, looking at him. He’d grown out his hair again, and it was longer than ever, which matched his image as the head of security for a touring rock band. Both arms were covered in tattoos and he was even bigger than the last time I’d seen him. He undoubtedly spent his free time working out, because he wasn’t just built, he was huge. He had a long, bushy beard but his hazel eyes still burned with intensity, like they always had.

  “I don’t know a lot,” he said. “They were having a family night at home, playing games and such after dinner. I was in the other room when Casey said she and Jay were going for ice cream. She and I agreed a few years back that Luke is always my main priority, so I stayed behind at the house with the kids. It was an impromptu trip that no one could have known about, and most people in Vegas are pretty respectful when they see them out around town. I keep an eye on the house and perimeter daily, twenty-four-seven, so someone had to be casing the house to have known they’d left, but I didn’t see anything suspicious. Not even when I went back over the surveillance video.”

  “So it’s possible it was truly an accident and nothing more.”

  His lips thinned slightly. “Possible? Yes. Likely? No. Especially not now that we know about Jayson and Liz.”

  “Did you know he was having an affair?”

  Sandor shook his head. “I knew about the gambling, but I missed the affair. My focus has always been Casey and Luke so when Jay went off to do his own thing, I didn’t follow. I did see him gambling, though, especially on tour, and I warned him he was putting himself and the family at risk. He promised he was getting help and I left it alone. My job isn’t to babysit Jayson or intervene in their marital problems.”

  “There were problems.” It was more of a statement than a question.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know about problems, per se, but something shifted in the last year. He was different, quieter, hanging more with his friends than with her on the road.”

  “And her?”

  “She’s busy.” Sandor’s smile was fond. “She’s…a force of nature. Even more so than when you knew her.”

  “I still know her,” I growled under my breath.

  He met my gaze. “She’s not the same woman you left a decade ago.”

  “She might be a little older and wiser, but she’s still the woman I love.”

  Sandor shook his head. “Well, she might have been until Friday night.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Jay told her you’re still alive and she’s pissed.”

  I groaned. “Jesus fucking Christ. Seriously?!” Somehow, no one had mentioned that little detail. I thought she’d discovered Jayson’s infidelity, but I’d had no idea he’d told her I was alive.

  “She let Liz have it for sleeping with Jayson and then she turned her back on everyone and left. Said she’s taking the kids to Greece for the summer since Jay obviously has someone else he’d rather have by his side.”

  I grimaced. “Shit. This is a goddamn clusterfuck.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, what are you going to do? You think that girl isn’t going to search every corner of the earth for you, assuming Liz hasn’t already told her you’re here?”

  “She’s not a girl, and yeah, if she knows I’m alive, this is going to get complicated.”

  “So. I ask you again. What are you going to do?”

  “How the fuck do I know?” I snapped, throwing up my hands. “I have to see my father before I decide anything.”

  “And Luke knows.”

  “Luke knows what?” I asked slowly, my gaze snapping to his.

  “He figured it out just before this happened. Something about a school project and some wannabe journalist in his class. He found a picture of you as a kid in Skye’s things and compared a picture of himself and…it’s jarring. The similarity is unmistakable.”

  “What happened? What did Casey say? Does Liz know?” I was scrambling to grab my phone but Sandor snatched it out of my hand.

  “Luke is with Nicky and Tricia, completely sequestered from all of this, but at some point, it’s going to have to be dealt with. And you’re going to have to talk to Casey.”

  “I can’t.” I started to pace. “There is no way in hell I can be in the same room with her. No way. That would just tear off the scab and reopen the wounds. For both of us.”

  “It’s not optional anymore. She knows. She’s pissed. And she’s definitely not going to let it go. I don’t know how you’re going to handle it, but it has to be handled.”

  “And what do I say to her?” I demanded. “I don’t know what to do, Sandor.”

  “I don’t have the answers, my friend, but you’d better figure it out. I’d expect there to be a knock on the door sooner rather than later.”

  “Liz wouldn’t tell her I’m here in the hotel. I know that for a fact. Casey may get information out of her, but not that. She wouldn’t risk it, not with Luke around and Leni here too.”

  “Liz obviously isn’t thinking right now,” he said quietly. “The idea that she told Jayson everything… It doesn’t sit well with me.”

  “I’m pissed about that,” I acknowledged. “But it’s not malicious. She wouldn’t have done that if she didn’t trust him. And I find it hard to believe Casey would have stayed with a man she didn’t trust with Luke’s life.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “What?” I demanded. “Fucking spit i
t out.”

  “This has been a shitshow since the day you walked away from her,” Sandor said. “I understand why you did it. I probably would have done the same thing had our positions been reversed, but that doesn’t make it easy. I’ve spent a decade watching her cover her pain by achieving ridiculous levels of success and tending to her children, putting her own needs way down on the list.”

  “Are you trying to make me feel guilty?” I had no idea what he was trying to say but I’d tasked him with protecting my woman and my son and he’d done nothing else for more than eleven years. His loyalty was to her now, instead of me, and while it made sense, it annoyed me.

  “I’m trying to make you understand that you nearly destroyed her when you died—and your resurrection is unravelling her life once again. Unless you plan to go back to her, I would disappear as quickly and as completely as possible. And tell Liz to keep her mouth shut.” He turned and headed towards the door.

  “Where are you going?” I called after him in irritation.

  “Luke has a swim meet,” he said without turning around. “I don’t miss any of them.” The door shut behind him with a small click.

  5

  Casey

  I went home because I didn’t know where else to go. I was reeling with too many emotions and needed to be alone. Luke had a swim meet and the twins were staying with my mother. Sasha was probably with Anton at his family’s home since she lived with and worked for them right now, which meant I’d have a little time to pull myself together. For the first time since Erik had left me, I literally had no one. Jayson was in no condition to talk to me and his infidelity hurt more than I wanted to admit. I was furious with Nick, Liz, and Uncle Ben. Sandor was in charge of Luke so he got a bit of a pass. My mother had her hands full with the twins. Jade had offered to come to Las Vegas to be with me, but she was on tour right now and it would cost her a lot of time and money to do something like that so I’d told her I was fine. That was my M.O., after all. Everyone else’s needs always came first.