Page 51 of His to Possess
“Once a week?” she asks, laughing again. “You’re only here once a week andthisis where you live?”
“Much of my time in the city is spent wooing potential investors,” I remind her. “That’s the purpose of this penthouse—there’s a certain image I need to portray if I want rich assholes investing their millions into my hedge fund.”
“It wouldn’t be easier to make Manhattan your home base?”
“I suppose,” I murmur, thinking about that word. Home. “I guess that’s why I stay in Charlotte—it was the first place that felt like home after I left my mum’s.” She turns her head slightly and I can feel the heat of her gaze on the side of my face. I keep my eyes on the water far below. “I think Veronica had a lot to do with that, actually.”
“Really?”
“Veronica is basically the only family I have left.” It’s my turn to smile ruefully. “I mean, my father is still alive, of course. And the philanderer has certainly provided me with more than a few half-brothers. But I’ve never been close with any of them.” I feel a little uncomfortable, like I’m revealing too much. But isn’t that the point? To show her that we can trust each other?
“Veronica was born right after my mum died. I was living in Charlotte, working at Dad’s firm at the time, and I was…I was so angry.” I can still remember what that had felt like—the hot, sick rage boiling in my gut every waking minute. I was angry at the universe for taking her, angry at myself for not being there when she died, angry at her for never going to the doctor. Mostly I was angry at my father, the man who should have loved her and never did.
So it was somewhat ironic that it was yet another of his many children who finally soothed my spirit. Unlike me (and at least two of my half-brothers), Veronica was a legitimate offspring. My dad had married her mom—his fourth wife, if my math is correct. I should have been jealous of that, jealous that she would live comfortable and coddled in his huge mansion, with his last name, never wanting for anything. But from the moment I laid eyes on her chubby little smiling face, I was a goner.
“Without Mum around, Veronica is the only family who seems to give a damn about me.”
Lilah scoffs softly beside me. “She worships the ground you walk on.”
I wonder what my little sister would think of the thoughts I’m having about her best friend. I have a feeling hero worship might be a thing of the past if she knew what I wanted to do to Lilah.
“Anyhow.” I clear my throat, feeling a little too exposed for my liking. “I worked in Charlotte with my father and I always came back to visit Veronica after I started my hedge fund. I have a few good friends in the area. I got involved at the club. Charlotte just feels like home.”
She’s quiet for a moment. “For me, too,” she finally says, her voice tinged with sadness. “Sometimes I wonder if it would be better for me to get a fresh start somewhere else, though.”
The idea of her leaving the city sends a cold bolt of panic through me. “Why?”
She won’t meet my eyes. “Most of my memories of Charlotte are feeling pretty tainted right now.”
I hold my breath, silently urging her to continue. Is she finally about to tell me what made her so desperate she would enter the auction?
“After Dad kicked us out, it didn’t feel so much like home anymore. And then Mom married that asshole—” She cuts off abruptly, almost like she’s afraid she said too much. I wait for a moment, hoping she’s going to continue. When I can’t stand it anymore, I reach over to take her hand.
“Love, does your stepfather have something to do with why you entered the auction?”
She’s silent for so long I’m sure she won’t answer. “He’s not a good guy,” she finally murmurs, voice tight. “We, uh, don’t get along.”
I need her to expand on that, but I bite my tongue. I can’t force her now, not when she’s finally talking about this. But something about her tone when she talks about him sends a sliver of unease through my belly. If that fucker did something to her…
“He’s really bad for my mom, too,” she continues. “He enables her.”
“Enables her?”
She sighs. “She started drinking pretty heavily after Dad kicked us out. And her doctor prescribed pills for the anxiety.” She rolls her eyes. “Cliché, right? The rich socialite housewife hopped up on drugs—the respectable kind, though. Like all the other country club darlings.”
There’s so much bitterness in her voice she doesn’t even sound like herself. I want to take her into my arms and soothe it all away.
“I figured if I had the money, we’d at least have some options, you know?” She sighs, shoulders slumping. “It was easy enough for me to get out of there, but Christopher is another story.” Her eyes dart over to mine. “He has MS. He needs care.”
Expensive care. Medication, doctors’ visits, physical therapy. His vision could be affected eventually, which would require even more intervention.
Of course, I knew this already. It was in the initial report from Jane. I’d wondered if her brother’s condition had been behind her entry in the auction, but at the time, that hadn’t made sense. Divorce or not, their father is a millionaire. Paying for medical care shouldn’t have been an issue.
But if Lilah is determined to get her brother away from her stepfather’s house, it makes a hell of a lot more sense why she would have felt like she needed that money.
“Anyhow,” she blows out a deep breath, fixing an obviously fake smile on her face. “Sometimes I think it would be nice to leave all that behind in Charlotte, you know? Just grab Christopher and start over somewhere new.”
“And to do that you need money.”
