Page 78 of The House Guest
My head hurt. “Where have you been all this time, Dorian?”
“First, I flew to Turkey. That’s where we staged the boat incident to make it look like Benjamin and I were lost at sea.”
“How were you able to manage that?”
He scrubbed his hand over his face. “There’s nothing the right amount of money can’t buy. I paid these guys to smuggle us on their yacht into Greece. That’s where I was before returning to California recently. I had a few trusted confidantes at the company who knew my whereabouts. For a while, I was still running Vanderbilt as best I could remotely.”
“What happened to allow you to come out of hiding?”
“A couple of things. One, in the midst of numerous production delays on our end, a bigger and better solar panel product was developed by a competitor, which essentially took away demand for Vanderbilt’s. But the biggest thing was, while we were finally able to gather enough evidence to prove Mills was responsible for the carbon monoxide attack, before he could be arrested, Mills died.”
My eyes went wide. “He was murdered?”
“No. He died of natural causes, believe it or not, about six months ago.”
“So…back up. The carbon monoxide. How did Mills make that happen?”
Dorian shook his head. “Sorry. I got ahead of myself. Mills hired a mole who befriended my father. That guy, Philip Steele, was on the trip with them. He was actually the person who invited them to Hawaii. Steele was the one who manipulated the vent at the place where they were staying, and he eventually took a plea deal after confessing what he’d done. But because Mills is dead now, there’s no further action to take. It wasn’t until his death that I felt safe enough to come back to the States. There’s no indication of an active threat now, but even so, I’d had enough. A few months ago, I sold my shares of Vanderbilt to a new owner. I’m no longer a part of the company, aside from doing some remote consulting work for them.”
I felt numb, unable to fully process everything. “I can’t believe this...”
“Primrose, I’ve thought about you every day. I never wanted to let you go, never wanted to go down the nightmarish path I’ve been navigating these past several years. It killed me that you thought I chose to end what we had.You were the best thing that ever happened to me. But at the time, I didn’t see another choice. I couldn’t let them use you as collateral to get to me.”
“I wish you had told me the truth.”
“You say that, but that wouldn’t have been the right choice if it meant you could’ve been harmed.” He paused. “Would you have left me if I told you everything?”
“Absolutely not.”
He nodded. “I knew that. Even when I was overseas and presumed missing, I didn’t trust that I was fully safe because I was still investigating the man responsible for my father’s death. I never quite knew whom I could trust. But when Mills died, I got my life back.”
Closing my eyes, I took a moment to let everything register. “Holy shit.” I shook my head. “I’m sorry for being rude to you when you showed up at my house on Wednesday. I obviously had no idea that—”
“Don’t you dare apologize, Rosebud. I’m the one who’s sorry for the pain I put you through. After everything was lost, the most I could hope for was an opportunity to finally explain everything. Thank you so much for giving that to me today.”
A part of me wanted to pull him close and tell him how much I’d missed him. But I had to remind myself that despite hearing the truth, I was no longer the woman I’d been when he left me. Nothing about my life was the same.
“That was really the short of it,” he said. “There’s so much more I could tell you about my time away. I mostly lived modestly in Greece to stay under the radar. I used an alias and tried to immerse myself in the culture, triedto find some enjoyment in life, even when things felt like they were falling apart.”
The door opened behind us, causing me to jump.
Dorian stood, and I turned to find an old familiar face smiling back at me.
“Primrose…”
“Benjamin?” I got up from the couch and ran to him. “What are you doing here?” I asked as we embraced.
“That’s the other thing,” Dorian said from behind me. “Benjamin’s been with me this whole time.”
I looked between them. “He has?”
“Back when everything was first coming to light, I confided in him. Benjamin knew everything from the beginning. When I told him of my plans to flee and disappear for a while, he wouldn’t let me go it alone. He’s been my partner in crime ever since.”
I covered my mouth. “Wow.”
Benjamin patted my back. “I felt terrible lying to you the last time we saw each other, the day you moved out. I knew I’d likely not see you for a very long time, but I couldn’t tell you anything for your own safety. Patsy was in the dark, too. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
I reached out to hug him again. “I’m just glad to know Dorian wasn’t alone. And that both of you are okay.”
