Page 33 of The Revenge Plan

“No,” he rushed over to me, “close the safe.”

I did it as fast as my shaky fingers could and turned in time to see Caiden stalking towards me and within a few seconds; he was in front of me. He took hold of my chin and bent down to kiss me.

17

His tongue coaxed my mouth open. Refusing him never entered my mind. I inhaled his scent as his tongue delved deeper, stroking and teasing mine, and I felt my knees buckle with the bone melting kiss. I leaned into his chest. The champagne he had drunk earlier was sweet on his tongue and made the kiss headier. His hands caressed my neck and began a journey down my back….

Someone behind us cleared their throat. “I’m sorry I didn’t know you were here. I was looking for Dad.”

Caiden broke off, but he kept his eyes on me and his arms around me. We faced the person who had come in. It was Greyson. Behind him was someone else I had never seen before. It was a petite woman who was giggling. “I didn’t think I would find you in here, Sis. I saw the study light open and was wondering if it was dad.”

Caiden pulled me to his side. “I’m sorry I got a little carried away and dragged your sister into the first room I could find.” My heart was beating fast. I felt so breathless I could hardly speak.

“No worries. I’ll leave you to it then.”

He left. I let out a deep breath. My body was shaking with adrenaline. Caiden let go of me and went back to the door. He peaked through it, he glanced at me, “He’s gone.” I rushed over to the bookshelf and opened it again and made my way through the set of combinations. I tried Dad’s birthday with the date reversed. It clicked, flashed green. “It’s open!”. Caiden closed the door and strode back to me. I went through the safe. There were a bunch of documents in it, some money, a gold bar, a case filled with uncut diamonds, and right at the back a big manila envelope that was browning with age. I took it out. My hands were shaking as I opened it. Inside was an old document with the title written in blackletter font and the rest typewritten. It was the deed to the emerald mine in favor of the Celeste jewelry company. Just as Caiden said.

I handed it to him. “Is this what you’re looking for?”

He took it. His hands were shakier than mine. His eyes scanned the document as he gripped the paper with more strength than was necessary, as if he was afraid it would disappear. “Yes,” he whispered, “thank you.” His voice was heavy with emotion. I had thought that this was only feuding between partners, but seeing Caiden’s reaction, I was no longer sure. He looked like he was holding something precious.

“So what’s so important about it?”

He took a deep breath, grabbed the envelope I was holding and put it back in. When his gaze was back to me, the emotion was no longer there. “It’s what Shep wanted. What he truly wanted.”

“I’m glad you could finally get it for him.”

“Don’t underestimate your contribution, you did most of the work.”

He was right. I had betrayed my family and thrown in my lot with my now husband. It was odd that I felt nothing close to remorse or regret. It felt right. Feeling too self-conscious under his stare, I looked at the time on my phone. It was still early, “Should we go back? I’m not sure how we’re going to return to a ballroom with a deed in hand.”

“No. Let’s go home,” he took my hand, “I don’t want to spend more time in this place that’s longer than necessary.”

“Great. I didn’t want to be here, anyway.”

18

Ikept glancing at Hailey on the drive back home. She was a ball of surprises. One minute she was a vindictive mean girl, the next she was helping me steal from her father. I hadn’t let go of her hand the entire time from the moment we got out of the study to now. Letting her go felt like letting go of the connection we had built. Even when Bailey’s eyes had popped at us holding hands when we came to the car, I hadn’t let her go. The exhilaration of what we had done was too much to be ruined by going back to our original state.

However, there was one thing that was still bothering me. “Why didn’t you want to stay?” My question took her by surprise. She tried to remove my hand from mine, but I held it firm. I kept my gaze on her as I tried to look for answers. The little light streaming into the dark interior of the car made it even harder to parse her face.

“I don’t like old people parties.”

She was lying. “That’s not it. You don’t like your father. ”

“Good job, Einstein.”

“You won’t believe me, but I’m not daddy’s precious little daughter in the way you think I am.”

“I can see that now.” The way Julian had treated her was so out of the story I had built myself about the Lyndell family.

“My father,” she stumbled over her words, “my father doesn’t value me as much. He has his sons whom he loves a lot and to him, I’m an expensive asset that bleeds money.” Her voice had a cheery note to it that rang hollow as she began listing things off her finger. “He doesn’t like my lifestyle and makes a point of showing his disdain. He didn’t like that I chose sociology as a major in college and not business or law even. What else? He doesn’t like that my mother, the love of his life, died saving me. The only good thing I have done so far is marrying you.” She barely made it to the last sentence before her voice cracked.

I remember the story of her mother. She had drowned when their boat had capsized in the ocean. She was with Hailey and she had saved Hailey instead of herself. Hailey was still in high school back then, we both were. Julian, a usually stoic person, had broken down when he heard his wife had died. It was, coincidentally, the same time Hailey’s reputation of being a party girl kicked off. I can’t believe how dumb I had been not to have connected the two. She had been a grieving daughter who was also desperate for attention from a father who hated her. Why she still kept with her family, I had no idea. I rubbed her hand softly to console her. I heard her sniff and saw her other hand wipe her tears.

“He’s dumb to not see what he’s losing.”

“Is it that much? You yourself seem to not think so as well.” I had no valid response to that. She was wrong. There was a lot I was beginning to like about her. Most of it was physical, but I had recently learned that even though she was or is a party girl, she was not the irresponsible person who I thought her to be. She was actually hardworking, and for a good cause too. But I had to reconcile that good person with the same person whose careless actions had resulted in my brother dying. As much as I was beginning to like her, her father being mean to her did not erase her deeds.

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