The Billionaire's Secret: A BWWM Romance Mystery (16 page)

Chapter
Thirty - Three

All the breath went out of my body.

Liam was frozen. Only his head moved,
shaking back and forth imperceptibly. Trying to deny what he had just heard.
"No."

"I am." Lily stepped around
the table. "You're
my
son. Not
hers." She blinked and reached out her hand. Liam stared at it.

Then, slowly, he lifted his hand to
hers.

Dahlia screamed a wordless, strangled
cry, like an animal felled by a bird of prey. The sound of a house of cards falling
down around her. She careered off the corner of the table as she rushed around
and launched herself at her daughter.

As the two crashed together, Lily
somehow wrenched herself free, shoving her mother to the floor.

Then Lily whirled and grabbed her
knife.

Liam's anguished shout nearly drowned
out my scream of terror as Lily flew at Dahlia, the steak knife in her fist
lifted high over her head.

"Stop!" I screamed. Liam
whirled to stop me, but I ducked underneath his arm. I had no idea what I
intended to do, but I had to stop her. I had to protect Lily, from Dahlia...and
from herself.

I caught her in the shoulder,
knocking her sideways. The knife clattered from her grip. "What the fuck
are you doing?" she hissed at me.

"Saving you," I snarled,
kicking the knife across the floor. It skittered wildly off the foot of the
table and slid harmless into the kitchen.

"You stupid bitch," Dahlia
hissed. She tried to get up, but fell back with a sharp cry of pain.

"Dahlia?" Liam moved to the
crumpled woman on the floor. "Oh shit, Shay, call an ambulance."

"I'm fine," she snarled at
him, then went white with pain.

"I think she broke her
hip," Lily said, dully. All the rage had gone out of her, and she
collapsed back into her chair like a broken down doll.

I whirled and ran for a phone. My own
cell battery was run down and I had no idea where Liam's was. Without thinking,
I ran down the long hallway that twisted around the great room. The sound of
cheering crowds filled my ears and I found myself wondering perversely if
Darius had turned up the volume in the media room on purpose. To drown out the
noise of the fight.

"Darius!" I banged on the
door. "I need your phone! Now!"

The door flew open immediately.
"Phone," I ordered. He cocked his head in confusion, but handed it
over immediately.

I whirled back and dialed 911 on the
fly. "My boyfriend's mother...shit...grandmother might have broken her
hip, please come as soon as you can."

The three of them were frozen in a
weird tableau of family as I rushed back into the great room. Mother sat on the
chair, looking down at her son as he cradled his ailing grandmother in his
arms. For a strange moment, everything seemed peaceful.

Until Darius followed behind me.

"Lily?!" His deep bass
voice echoed off the high ceilings.

Lily froze. We all froze and turned
to where Darius stood stock still in the doorway. He spread his hands in
disbelief.

Lily's mouth worked, twisting in
silent whispers.

Darius lifted his hand to his face,
and for the first time since I met him, he took off his sunglasses.

His eyes were gray. The color of a
storm over water.

Liam's eyes.

Lily made a sound like a wounded
animal. "Darius? You...Darius?"

"It's me." He opened his
arms and Lily went to him, eyes wide.

She suddenly burst out laughing.
"You got old!"

He tucked a strand of frazzled
white-blonde hair behind her ear. "You're still beautiful," he
murmured.

When he kissed her, I turned in shock
to Liam, ready to demand an explanation. But from the look on his face, Liam
had no more idea what was happening than I did.

That's when I heard the noise.
Dahlia, crumpled in a heap, cowering on the floor, hissed like a cat.
"What in God's name...?"

But Darius and Lily were too wrapped
up in each other to hear her. "You stayed," Lily breathed, touching
his face.

"I had to," Darius said,
lifting his head and facing Liam, gray eyes meeting stormy gray eyes.
"He's my son."

"What?" Liam's voice broke.

Darius looked down at Lily, who
nodded slightly. "It's over now," she muttered. "He knows. And
she can't hurt us any more."

"Remember all those times you
told me you wished I was your father?" Darius's voice caught as he looked
at Liam. Their faces were mirror images of shock and grief.

"Yes," Liam choked. I
rushed to his side, ignoring Dahlia's hiss. I touched his shoulder and he
clutched my hand and nodded at Darius. "Yes of course I remember. Are you
really...?"

Darius nodded. "I am." He
lifted his chin, letting the fire in his gray eyes declare the truth.
"Lily is your mother and I am your father."

Chapter
Thirty - Four

The ambulance wailed off into the
night, its sirens far below us.

"Darius is taking Lily...your
mom...back to his place," I said softly from the doorway.

Liam was lying on his back in the
dark of his bedroom. But when he heard my voice, he wordlessly turned and
reached for me.

Of course I went to him.

He pulled me next to him, crushing me
to his chest, gripping me painfully tight. I buried my face into his chest and
just let him cling to me. However hard he needed to hold me, I would be there.

But when his grip only grew tighter,
I knew what he needed.

I pulled back. "Sssh," I
told him, pressing my finger to his protesting lips. "Just let me."

His gray eyes were watchful and wary
as I turned to the walk-in closet. I had to stand on my tiptoes, but I could
just pull the box down from the shelf above my head.

When I pulled the silky white rope
out, his eyes glittered. "I know what it feels like, " I murmured as
I went to him. "Like you're shattered. Like you're going to fall to pieces
and you need something to hold you together." I gently wound the rope
around his wrist. My movements were clumsy and unpracticed, but he held so
still, holding his breath while he watched me secure the knot.

I pressed my free hand to his bound
one. "That's what I'm here for. To hold you together." I brushed a
kiss against his lips.

And then I wound the rope around my
own wrist.

Liam shifted, sitting up straighter.
I wound the rope, around and around and around, finishing the knot off with my
teeth. I closed my fingers, intertwining them with his, the rope biting into
each of our wrists. "Together," I repeated, kissing him again.

He made a low sound. Cupping his hand
under my ass, he pulled me to him. "I love you so goddamned much," he
snarled. He sounded angry, but the gentle heat of his lips on my neck was
anything but.

I moved my bound wrist behind my
back, dragging his with me. His free hand caught our bound ones and I was
suddenly immobilized. His eyes were only inches from mine, and I could feel the
heat of his breath on my skin. "I love you too," I breathed.

He yanked us backward, falling flat
onto the bed. We were bound together, not just by rope, but by love as well.

"I love this," he growled
into my ear, holding up our wrists, "but I'm going to untie it now."

"Why?" I moaned. I liked
the feeling of moving in tandem with him.

"Because," he reached over
and deftly picked apart my clumsy knots. "I can't touch you properly
without both hands free." He caught up my wrist and kissed the rope burn,
smoothing it away with his fingers and tongue.

I moaned a little as I sagged back
onto the bed. "Then are you going to tie me up?" I asked, trying to
keep the begging note out of my voice.

"No," he said, rolling over
on top of me and lifting my shirt over my head. I wiggled down, barely able to
move, crushed as I was under his chest, but I was able to get ahold of his zipper.

"If you don't tie me up," I
protested, arching towards him, "then I'm going to be able to touch you
everywhere."

He pulled back, brushing my hands
away form his zipper impatiently. He lifted my skirt and shoved my panties
aside, his eyes dark with love and lust. "Good," he exhaled as he
freed himself and thrust inside of me. "That's what I want."

Chapter
Thirty - Five

"Are you ready for
this?"

"I'm not worried about
me
," I chided Liam. "Question
is, how are
you
?"

He didn't answer, but I could see the
slightest tremor in his hands as he turned back to face the mirror. The last
button eluded him, and I saw anger cloud his face.

I went to him.

He watched as I buttoned the last two
buttons for him and took a deep breath. "It's still not real to me. But I
owe it to them to at least hear them out...."

I nodded. "Without Dahlia."
Liam's mother...no, grandmother...was still a wild card. She was safely
hospitalized now, but the break was clean and she would be healed soon enough.

But that was not what today was
about.

We walked together. The fresh morning
air felt good on my face and walking next to Liam felt so good, so
normal
, that I could almost forget the
strangeness of our mission. That is, until we entered the steamy diner and saw
Darius and Lily already in the booth.

Seeing Darius without his shades...I wasn't
sure I could ever get used to it. But I now at least I knew what he had been
hiding behind them....

The delight that danced in his gray eyes
every time he looked at his son.

Because there was no denying it. Not
with pale Lily sitting at his side.. With the two of them next to each other
like that, it was clear that Liam was the perfect blend of them both. Gray
eyes, golden skin, straight nose, wicked mouth...that glorious dimple. They
were all mirrored on the faces that looked at us with hesitation as we sat down
across from them.

Liam tucked his long legs under the
table. "Okay. Tell me," he said shortly. He steepled his fingers and
bowed his head, ready to listen.

For a moment I wanted to dart away.
It was too much, too intensely personal and private. Liam was such a proud man,
to see him laid bare like this was brutal.

Until he reached out and caught my
hand, pulling me close to his side. "No more secrets," he whispered,
like a mantra. He clutched my hand under the table.

Darius looked at Lily, who haltingly
began.

"I was fifteen. He was
seventeen. My friends back then, we liked to sneak away from the stupidity of
the Main Line, go party with the kids in Overbrook and West Philadelphia. He
was at one of those parties."

"I loved her immediately,"
Darius interrupted, looking at faded Lily like she was the most beautiful thing
he had ever seen, and I swear she bloomed under his gaze.

She sat up straighter, the color returning
to her pale cheeks. "When I got pregnant," she swallowed and darted a
glance at Liam, "Dahlia demanded I get an abortion. I refused. Then she
demanded that I tell her who the father was." She lifted her chin in the
precise, prideful way Liam lifted his. "But I refused to do that too. I
knew she would do everything she could to ruin Darius's life...."

"I had a scholarship,"
Darius explained. "I was going off to college. I had no idea this was all
going on. No one told me."

"So when the baby...you...were
born, Dahlia took you," Lily went on. "She did...something, I don't
know what...that took over parental rights. Then she had me shipped off to this
awful reform school."

I hid my hurt gasp behind my hand.

Lily's blue eyes, so clear and
bright, were glittering with tears. "I was away from my love, my
friends...my
baby
. The girls there,
they all had similar stories. All of us, we were all hurt and damaged, and
putting us together that was...was like lighting a powder keg. Drugs were
everywhere." She looked down, ashamed. "And I was fragile."
Darius put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in tightly. "Heh-heroin
was an escape from the pain, Liam. Every time I was sober, I remembered your
eyes, the same as Darius's. I remembered the feeling of you growing and moving
inside of me. Every sober moment hurt worse than anything." Her voice
trailed off, and Darius held her fiercely. She took a shuddering breath.
"So I stopped being sober."

For the first time she looked
directly at me. I recognized the look in her eyes. She was finally telling her
story, and though she wasn't proud of it, she was proud of being
able
to tell it.

"Overdosing was the worst thing
I could have done, because it gave Dahlia the reason she needed to step in and
take over. When I came to in the hospital, it was like I had become a non-person.
A danger to myself, that's what they called me, so no one listened when I said
I was ready to live now, that I wanted to go home to my baby. They shushed me
and ignored me and carted me off to the facility."

"You came back when I was
four," Liam broke in softly. "I can still remember it. You came in
the house and I was disappointed you were so old. I thought getting a sister
meant I would have someone to play with."

Lily covered Liam's big hand with her
tiny one. "You had grown so much. I last saw you when you were still
covered in goo, and here you were this walking, talking little
person
. And oh, the shit you gave me. I
could already see Dahlia's poison had gotten to you. What could I do? I already
was battling despair, even before I came back. I was stuffed with so much
despair and regret that there was no room for being a mother left in there.
Dahlia told you I was your sister, and I believed her when she said it was for
the best." She smiled softly. "I did try to play with you
though."

"Then you disappeared
again."

"Being under Dahlia's
roof...." Lily choked off a laugh and spread her hands. "I'm an
addict. I always will be. But back then I was too fresh and raw to face my past
head on. I ran back to heroin as an escape."

"But then you came," Liam
nodded at Darius.

"I was home from college when
Lily came and told me," Darius nodded. "She told me not to come, not
to interfere with Dahlia, how she would ruin me...." He cast his eyes
down, "But you're my son. And if I couldn't be your father in name, at
least I could be present in your life...." His voice caught, then he
looked up with a smile. "Protecting you."

Liam made a muffled sound behind his
hand. All three of us reached for him at once, but I was closest. And it was my
hand that he took, kissed and then laughed out loud against. "In
twenty-four hours, I've gone from having a secret sister and a hellacious mother
to having a loving mother a doting father and the best woman in the world at my
side." He shook his head in disbelief, "What now?

"You go forward," I told
him. "You three reconnect, get to know each other as a family. Learn to
trust each other," I smiled at Liam, remembering what he had said earlier.
"Make a better past with no more secrets."

"I liked you from the beginning,
Shay," Darius rumbled.

I shot him a look. "Could have
fooled me! With your scary shades and slamming the brakes on us whenever I
kissed him. I thought you hated me!"

"Hey, I had to know that I could
trust you with my son."

"You can, Dad," Liam said
softly, cupping my face in his hand. "You can trust her with anything. I
do."