“Winston! You will not talk to her that way. Margot is practically your fiancé. How do you think this makes her feel?”

“For the love of God woman, I have NEVER once acted like I was remotely interested in Margot romantically. Just because you decided I would marry her when I was ten does not constitute a fucking engagement. Both of you are delusional.”

Margot walked regally toward the door where we were standing, briefly stopping just to the right of Stone. If eyes could cut someone, her glance could have sliced you open. “I won’t be waiting on you. I will move on.”

“Thank you,” his replay was one of relief.

She walked out not waiting for his mother. A lot less dramatic than Presley had been.

“You’re letting her walk out?” his mother asked throwing her hand in the direction of the door.

“I’m hoping you will follow suite,” he drawled.

She threw her angry glare at me. “He’ll bore of you. It takes proper breeding and a brain to intrigue and challenge him.” She then stalked past us not looking at her son again.

When she was gone, he closed the door and locked it. His shoulders sagged and he hung his head. I worried for a moment that he regretted sending them away.

“Why can’t I have a mother who wants nothing more than to see me. Or simply call and check on me. Not bring her agendas to shove down my throat? My father has the worst taste in women.” He turned and looked at me. “I’m sorry you walked in on that. I tried to save you from it.”

“I thought I wanted to meet your mother. She’s your family after all. I was wrong. But I am even more thankful for Geraldine than I was before.”

He smiled at the sound of her name. “Why are you thankful for Gerry?”

“Because she loved the little boy who needed it.”

A softness touched his eyes and he held out a hand to me. “Come here.”

I walked into his arms willingly and sighed with contentment as we stood there in the silence.

His mother, Portia, Jasper, Margot—none of them matter. Just this. Just us.

Jasper

SECRETS WERE LIES IN THEIR own right. One couldn’t keep a secret without a lie. And we revered someone who could keep a secret, yet scorned those who lied. It was the same. They all melded together.

Stone had been my brother since we were kids. Both raised by parents who neglected us. He was beaten regularly by his father while mine never laid a hand on me. Other than that, we were the same. We existed in the same world. He was expected to run a company he was to inherit. To carry on an empire that had never been his dream. Marry well. It didn’t matter if we didn’t love our wives. We’d be expected to have affairs. This was our world.

It had been. It’s what I had finally accepted. Then Beulah had walked into my world and changed me. She made me want something real. Gave me a reason to smile. Parties meant to entertain me were no longer needed. The lost boy had been found.

Immediately after I had found her and knew I loved her, she was taken so permanently leaving me with nothing. No hope. No chance at a future with her in it. Not even as a friend. It had ended abruptly.

Glancing up at the building in front of me I felt guilt for this. Stone’s secrets had always been like my own. I’d take them to the grave. But he’d stolen her so easily. Without guilt or remorse. He’d facilitated the end of all contact I had with her. My fucking shattered heart was of no consequence to him. He’d said he was protecting her.

From me? I adored her. I would stand in front of a motherfucking bullet for the woman. I didn’t care that we were related. I would have moved away with her. Changed my name and given up fortune if I could have her by my side. The blood in our veins didn’t make me love her less. Nothing ever would.

She thought she knew Stone. She thought she was in love with him. Stone had his own set of secrets. A past that made him not worthy of Beulah. He hated his father but he had reason. However, that hate had sent him spiraling out of control many times over the years and he’d let his father clean it up. He wasn’t the man Beulah believed him to be. He’d exposed the secrets that would keep her from me. I was only returning the favor.

The pictures in my hand felt heavy with regret. I had fought doing this for weeks, not wanting to expose him. Even after he’d taken Beulah. I didn’t want to do it but I would because she deserved to know. She needed to know.

The walk up the stairs to his apartment was a blur as I battled internally. She’d never be mine. I knew that. Our bloodlines would keep her from ever accepting us. But she wouldn’t stay here with him after she knew. If I couldn’t have her then she should be with someone worthy of her. Stone was stable now. He hadn’t acted out to spite his father in a couple years. But his past was there. It would be back to haunt him. He knew it just as well as I did.

I rang the bell and waited. He wasn’t here yet. There would only be the short amount of time I had to show her. The worst at least. Many of his transgressions were that of a wealthy, damaged kid. But there was one. One that was a secret she wouldn’t be able to forgive him for.

The door opened slowly and Beulah stood there staring at me nervously. She’d had to know it was me before she opened the door and she’d opened it anyway. She trusted me. She didn’t want to, but she knew I was innocent of my parents’ deceit.

“I need to show you something,” I told her.

“What?” she asked her voice shaky. She hadn’t sent me away. She wanted to know.

“This,” I handed her the photos. They were the most damaging. Without words, she would be able to tell who it was. What she didn’t know. But the explanation as to where that little boy was now would be unforgivable. I knew her well enough to know she wouldn’t be able to accept it. Or understand it. I did. I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t have done the same at sixteen.

Stone had come into her life because of me. He had exposed lies I hadn’t even known and then taken her from me. I was only being fair and I had done nothing wrong. My morals weren’t in question. Stone’s would be.

“What is this?” she shook her head looking at the photos.

“You can look at him and tell who it is,” I replied.

She paled. Lifted her eyes to meet mine. “No. I don’t believe you.”

But she did. I saw the doubt there. “Ask him, Beulah. See what he says.”

She looked at the photos in her hand. “No. This, it isn’t real. Why are you doing this? Why would you show this to me?”

I started to explain more when the door at the entrance of the building slammed shut and the ground shook from its force. He was home. He knew I was here. He’d seen my car. This was the beginning of their end. Soon she’d be gone. Free to start a life without our darkness and lies. The sweet little lies he’d told her would all go up in smoke. After all, how could she forgive a man who ignores his own son and allows the boy to grow up with the same monster of a father he did?