Page 35 of Truth & Lies

Hours later, I lie awake in his bed as he sleeps soundly next to me. I can’t settle though, my mind won’t switch off and I cannot stop my thoughts from racing through my head.

I know it was wrong to sleep with him, especially when half of my heart is in the hands of another man back in Seattle. It was unfair to let him take me to bed and make love to me when last week, it was Barrett that was buried deep inside of me.

And in the relative silence of night, I finally acknowledge that I'm in way over my head, not just with Aiden and Barrett, but with everything that's going wrong in my life. If I am to have any hope of gaining perspective and getting a clear head in order to make the hard decisions I need to, I need distance. Not just from my life in Seattle, but from both Barrett and Aiden too.

I’m worried about my Mom not returning my calls and her phone going straight to voicemail. It is totally unlike her, especially now that my company—my family’s legacy—is in the hands of a man who I don’t like or trust, and for good reasons too. I need to track down my mother and find out what she knows, and whether shedidwillingly hand over her share of Jacobs Publishing to Gavin. The thought that Gavin might have something over her or worse still, might have done something to her, terrifies me.

Somehow in the six weeks since I was in Las Vegas, I’ve lost sight of what is important to me and lost myself in the fallout of everything with Barrett and Aiden. I’ve become swept up in the romance of Aiden and the intense connection I have with Barrett, and have forgotten to look after the most important people in all of this—me and my Mom.

With that epiphany rocking me to the core, I realize what I have to do. Quietly leaving Aiden’s bed, I scramble around the floor for my clothes and carefully carry my bag out and into the living room when I quickly and silently get dressed.

Moving to the kitchen counter, I find a pen and my old boarding pass from the flight and with a deep breath, leave Aiden a note.

I cannot ask you to wait for me because I don’t know whether there will be anything to wait for. I want you to know that I have loved every moment I’ve spent with you and appreciate everything you have done to help me. I just need time to think about everything that’s happened and decide what I need to do. My mom and my company need to come first before anything else. My only hope is that one day you will forgive me for whatever comes next.

Aly

Placing the letter on the counter, I use my phone to order a town car and fifteen minutes later—for the second time in a week—I sneak out of a man's bed without saying goodbye.

Guilt ravages me as I fight against the opposing forces tugging at my heart and threatening to pull me under. By leaving Aiden, I hope to protect him from any further heartache. He deserves far more than what I can ever hope to give him.

So I make the only choice I can—I choose me, my mother, and my company, and doing everything in my power to protect them.

Love can wait. The fate of my family can not.

ChapterFifteen

An hour and a half after sneaking out of Aiden’s house, I’m back at the airport waiting to check in having bought the next available ticket to Las Vegas on my phone during the car ride there.

Three hours after that, I’m landing in Vegas and heading straight to another hotel—not the Sovereign for obvious reasons. After a few hours of fitful sleep andfartoo much caffeine, I call for a cab and drive to the house Mom and Gavin now share. I have no idea if he’s still in Seattle or back in Vegas already, but none of that matters right now. Theonlything I care about is tracking down my Mom and a) making sure she’s okay, and b) finding out the truth about everything related to Gavin.

I’m not sure whether I’m surprised, or sad that Aiden hasn’t tried to contact me. My leaving the way I did must’ve hurt him, but I still hold out hope that he’ll eventually realize that what I did is for the best.

Barrett sent a text early this morning asking me to call him ASAP. But I can’t deal with everything I need to with him when I still don’t know where Mom is. I have to know she’s safe before I even contemplate tackling the mess called my life.

After pulling up outside my mother’s house, I pay the driver and walk up the circular driveway toward the front door.

I know my Mom, and Iknowthat she would never let Gavin take the company away from me. Out of everyone, she knows how dedicated I am to my job and the family business. There’s no way she would let anyone—even her husband—come between me and my father’s legacy. If shedidgive Gavin permission to do this, he must have done something to force her hand. But even then, she would’ve called to tell me ahead of time. My mother has never kept secrets from me and I wouldn’t expect that to change now.

Knocking on the door, I pull my phone out of my purse and try her number again. And like the ten other times I’ve tried, it goes straight to voicemail.

“Mom, I’m standing outside your front door. If you get this message, please call me. I’m worried about you. I need to know you’re okay. I don’t care when—day or night—can youpleasecall me.”

I cup my hand against the thin glass window next to the entryway, but there's no movement inside. I knock on the door one more time, this time harder and more determined as I grow more and more anxious.

“Miss?” I hear from a distance. Jerking back in surprise, I turn toward the voice and see a middle-aged man dressed in blue coveralls standing on the front lawn.

"Shit. Sorry, you frightened me," I reply, willing my pulse to calm down.

“Are you looking for Mrs. Barnes?” he asks me, wiping a dirt-covered hand on his pant legs before holding it out my way.

“I’m Alyssa, Mrs. Jacobs—I mean Barnes’s—daughter,” I say, shaking his hand.

“I’m George; I do the landscaping here. Your mother talks about you all the time. So it’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Do you know where she might be?” I ask, getting straight to the point.

“Sorry, I don’t. She hasn’t been around here for a while, at least two weeks or more.” Hearing his words made the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach uncurl and rise up my throat, the growing fear for my mother’s safety now threatening to choke me.

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