Page 30 of Provocation
‘Sweetheart, you don’t have anything to be sorry for,’ Mav says, giving Shade a look. ‘Black shouldn’t have been here at all, and definitely not trying to coerce you to answer his questions.’
‘Is what he said true?’ I ask Shade.
‘About the Novelles?’ He looks at the others, as if trying to glean his answer from them. ‘Yes. It’s true. John is into a lot of shady things. Quite a few of the wealthy families in Richmond dabble, but my father is all in.’
I absorb his words. ‘And you?’
‘No, Daisy. Detective Black thinks so, but the truth is I haven’t done anything illegal. Well, nothing too bad. Nothing compared to Pop, anyway. Why do you think I didn’t want to work in the family business? Why do you think I went in another direction? Dad hates that I don’t want to do what he does, the shady things he made his money with.’
‘But you’re okay with making something like Envy?’ I ask, trying not to sound accusing.
He snorts. ‘Envy will be the safest recreational drug on the market, Daisy. And it’s a means to an end. Getting dragged into my dad’s shit because I needed money is not where I want my life to go. Envy will make sure that none of us end up with that as our villain story. Besides, drug laws being how they are right now, Envy isn’t illegal.’
‘And my dad?’ I press. ‘Was his death murder as well, like the detective said? Do you know anything about it?’
Shade sighs. ‘No, I don’t. I promise you I had no idea there was anything suspicious about it. Your mom didn’t talk about times before she became a Novelle. She never spoke about your dad. I only know what I heard from her and my father when you arrived, that you lost your dad, and your mom and you were having a tough time. That’s it.’
I stare at him, into his eyes for much longer than usual, and I find it doesn’t bother me much at all. But I still don’t know if he’s telling me everything.
Jeez, with the importance The Heath gave to looking into a person’s eyes while speaking, I figured I’d be able to see every single thing about someone by doing it properly. But I can’t.
Disappointing.
Like many things from The Heath, I suppose.
‘Did my mom know? About any of this?’ I ask no one in particular.
Is that why she never brought me back home? Is that what that birthday card I found meant? Was she trying to protect me from someone, or did she know about the marriage deal with Joe Banderville?
‘I don’t know, Daisy. That’s the truth. We never talked about my father’s business stuff, or the past. We just…’ he winces, ‘had fun together.’
I nod, giving him a sad smile. ‘I’m glad you did,’ I whisper. ‘You know that, don’t you? I don’t begrudge you the time you had with her. I thought I did, at first, but I don’t. Not really.’
He sits next to me on the couch and gives me a kiss on the cheek.
‘Thank you,’ he says against my skin.
‘The club is getting a little nuts,’ Blake says, standing at the window and looking down at the dance floor. ‘We should go back to campus.’
‘I can’t,’ I say. ‘I need to keep checking on the lab for the next ten hours, or so. You guys go. I’ll be fine.’
Blake raises his eyebrows. ‘Sweetheart, as if we’d leave our lady unattended in this…den of iniquity.’
‘Have you been reading Shakespeare plays, or something?’ I ask with a laugh, recalling the brush I had with English Lit and shuddering a little.
He raises a brow. ‘If you must know, I like an English period drama. I’ll put on my favorite the next time we watch a movie.’
My expression is incredulous but then I smile, loving that there’s so much more to these men than I first realized. They’re much more interesting than most people I’ve met over the past decade or so.
‘The hell you are,’ Mav groans. ‘Pride and Prejudice was over five hours! It could have put me to sleep for a hundred years!’
Blake scoffs. ‘It was a mini-series, Mav. A MINI-SERIES, you philistine.’
‘Whatever, dude. Just don’t bore poor Daisy to death with your old person porn.’
I try not to giggle at Blake’s wounded expression, but he waves Mav away without another word.
‘I’ll choose a good one,’ he promises me, ignoring the others completely.
