Uncovering You 8: Redemption (3 page)

“What,
now
?” I say, incredulous.

“Yes,
now
,” Fey says. “I’m not letting you out of my sight, Lilly Ryder, until you’ve convinced me that your life is not in any danger.”

“Fey, we can’t go now,” I tell her. “He’s not here.”

“Where is he?”

“Boston.”

“Hmm.” She stops short. “Well, when is he coming back?”

“Tomorrow night,” I tell her. “Or maybe Monday. It depends.”

“Why don’t we all go there?” Robin suggests. “Lilly, the flight will give us more time to talk. Fey, you know you have to be back at school by Monday. You and I have class,” Robin reminds her.

“Class can wait,” she says with absolute conviction. “When my friend’s well-being is on the line, everything else takes a back seat.”

“Fey—” I begin.

“No!” she turns on me. “Don’t try to tell me otherwise, Lilly. You’ve had your chance to convince me. You failed. There’s only one way you’ll get me to leave you alone. And that’s if we meet Jeremy Stonehart. Tonight.”

Chapter Two

A few hours later, I’m sandwiched between Robin and Fey on a commercial flight to Boston.

I haven’t had a moment’s privacy to speak with Jeremy over the phone since he called. And there’s no way in hell I’m talking to him within hearing distance of my two friends.

I texted him to let him know we were coming, though. He replied with a single word:

Unacceptable
.

My gut sank when I read it on the screen. But I soldiered on, feigned conviction, and said:

Too bad. We’re coming. Deal with it
.

Then I turned my phone off and boarded the plane.

“Looks like you got your wish.” I say to Fey, only half-joking, as we lift off. “You said you’re not leaving California without me.”

She gives a thin smile, then takes my hand and squeezes tight.

Tension grows among the three of us during the six-hour flight. Fey is nervous. I can tell. Robin is, too. But he masks it well.

And me? I’m terrified. Not of what tonight will bring, but of what the consequences of this meeting might be. I sprung it on Jeremy in the worst possible way. At the worst possible time. He told me, when he invited me to come with him, that he’d be busy during his trip and we wouldn’t have time for each other. This definitely throws a wrench into his schedule.

Hours later, we touch down. Fey puts on a brave front. But I can see the worry and anxiety digging at her. Robin, too.

I don’t blame them. I mean, hell, look at us. What are we? Three college-aged kids about to face one of the most powerful businessmen in the country? A façade of strength is laughable. Anybody would be intimidated having to meet Jeremy.

The thing that I’m most worried about—the one thing I cannot change—is that Jeremy and I won’t have a chance to speak in private beforehand. I won’t be able to confront him about why he blocked my phone. We won’t be able to create the united front we need to present to Robin and Fey.

This’ll be both of us improvising on the fly, hoping to have enough of a read on each other to avoid any major screw-ups, any big catastrophes.

Some couples know each other so well it’s as if they can read each other’s thoughts. Jeremy and I are not like that. We are far, far apart, at opposite ends of the spectrum. His mind is as shadowed to me as mine is to him. Maybe, I can grant that he can read me better than I him. But he still knows nothing of my ultimate intentions.

Nobody knows. Nobody is allowed to know yet or things may still be ruined. Growing affection for him be damned! Jeremy
has
to pay for the things he did to me when he was Stonehart. He
has
to. It is a promise I made to myself. I am not about to back off now.

Or ever.

So do I consider myself more capable of dealing with Jeremy Stonehart tonight than Fey and Robin are? Of course. I’ve already proven it. The tricky part is, our charade will have to go on before a live and skeptical audience.

Just as we’re stepping into the lobby of Logan International Airport, a thought occurs to me. “Hey, Fey,” I ask. “How is it that you found out Jeremy’s father’s name?”

“What?” she says. “I don’t know his father’s name. Why would I? Does it matter?”

“Um, yes you do,” I say. “You texted me. Remember?”

“No,” Fey shakes her head. “I didn’t. I—”

“Excuse me.” A federal agent stops Fey, Robin, and me in our tracks. I look up, and find us surrounded by four others. All are fully armed. They ostentatiously display their guns. “Is one of you Miss Ryder?”

Dread washes over me. The stream of passengers coming off the plane gives us all a wide berth, like a river splitting around a boulder.

“Yes,” I say. “That would be me.”

“I’ll need you to come with us, Miss,” he informs me. “Your friends can stay behind.”

“Hold on,” Fey jumps in. “What is the meaning of this? You can’t just pull her away from us for no reason!”

“I need you to remain calm,” he addresses her. “There is nothing wrong. This is just a routine security screening. Miss Ryder, if you’ll come with us?”

I step away from Fey and Robin, toward the officer. Fey grabs my arm and tries to pull me back. “Hold on,” she prompts.

“Fey, let go,” I tell her. I have no idea what’s going on. No idea what type of shit I’m in. One thing’s for sure: where there’s trouble, Jeremy’s involved.

I just don’t know how.

The officers surrounding us all take a looming step closer. The one who approached me is looking at Fey as if she’s got a ticking bomb strapped to her chest.

“Fey,” Robin says slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements. “I think it’s better if you listen to Lilly.” He glances at the men around us. “Look where we are.”

Fey does. For a tense, uncertain moment, that seems to last ages, it feels like her grip on my arm will never release. Danger pulses through the air like a living thing.

Then her fingers unfurl. Slowly, she lets me go. The current of hostility emanating from the officers lessens.

Somewhat.

“Okay,” I say to the man in charge. “Where to?”

“Just follow me,” he says. The rest of his gang surrounds me like iron fillings draw to a magnet.

“We’re not just going to abandon you!” Fey calls as I walk away. “We’re going to figure out what’s going on and get you out, Lilly! Don’t worry!”

That’s the thing I’m
most
worried about
, I want to say.

I trail after the officer in the lead. We’re surrounded by a tight cluster of the others. I recognize the hallways and open space we’re walking through. Last time I was at Logan International, I thought I’d be nearly debt-free and close to graduating by now.

How naïve I had been. How young. The girl who last walked through these sparkling corridors was nothing at all like the woman I am now.

We turn away from the main flow of foot traffic and go through a set of heavy doors. After those electric, fluorescent lights, the atmosphere here is like a dungeon. The walls are close together. The lamps are dark. Our footsteps echo in the empty, metallic chamber.

The man leading me stops in front of a heavy, locked door. It looks like the entrance to one of those interrogation rooms you see in cop shows on TV. He takes out a security card and swipes it through the reader. The door unlocks.

I look behind me. The four other officers surround me in an impenetrable semicircle. There is no escape.

“Through here, if you will,” their leader says, cordially.

I nod at him, take a deep breath, and step through the doors.

Chapter Three

What I find inside is nothing what I expected.

Or rather,
who
I find inside.

Jeremy is there. I had a feeling he was behind this. That doesn’t surprise me as much as his companion does.

It’s Hugh.

Hugh Blackthorne, the man who stole me away and pulled out the collar. Hugh Blackthorne, the board member whom I remember as the most vocal opponent of Jeremy’s decision to take Stonehart Industries public.

Hugh Blackthorne…
Jeremy’s father
?

The door shuts behind me with a loud, metallic bang. The sound makes me jump and look back. The security officer is gone. I’m locked in this room with Jeremy and Hugh.

There’s a table in the middle, bolted to the floor. There are no chairs. I glance at one mirrored wall. My initial suspicions were right. This
is
an interrogation room.

If I thought the atmosphere between me and the guards was tense, it has nothing on the hostility I feel now. Jeremy and Hugh are both on the other side of the table. They do not look at each other. Jeremy towers over the shorter man, and yet I feel a certain…deference…he directs towards him.

It’s very, very subtle. I wouldn’t have been able to pick up on it if I were not already such an expert on Jeremy’s body language. It’s in the way he stands: not in front and in the lead, as is his usual, but half—or maybe a quarter, or even an eighth—of a step behind. It’s in the placement of his hands: both in his front pockets. I’ve never seen him do that before.

But mostly, it’s in the conflicting expressions I see darting across his face. Usually, he is an expert at keeping his emotions in check. His amazing poker face and all that invulnerability. But right now, he reminds me a bit of Robin: trying to put on a front to convince someone to believe, but not quite achieving it. Not with his usual style, panache, and confidence.

Could it be true, then? Could Hugh really be Jeremy’s father?

All those things I consider in the flicker of a second. Because that’s all the time it takes for Jeremy to reassume the lead.

“Lilly.” He steps toward me. His hands come out of his pockets. Two fists land on the table between us. His voice is raw, husky, deep…and angry. “You have twenty words to explain what the hell this is about. Go.”

I bristle. Maybe Jeremy can command me in private. However, in Hugh’s presence—and in my current state of mind—I am not about to keel over and assume deference. No way.

“
I
have twenty words?” I challenge. “You have twenty words, Jeremy! To tell me why the hell you’ve been blocking Fey’s calls. Why the hell you’ve assumed control of my life in ways you have no right to.”

“I have every right,” he says, “when the fate and well-being of what I care about is concerned.”

“No, you have
no
right,” I spit. “You had me believe I had full access to the outside world. In reality you were still in control. You lied to me, Jeremy. You made me believe I was losing my closest friend. Why? And what the
hell
is he doing here?”

I fling a finger out at Hugh.

Hugh does not flinch. Instead, he steps beside Jeremy—beside his son?

“I’m here,” he says in that deceptively calm, deceptively meek way of his, “because I received an invitation to come meet you again.” He gives a cunning smile.

And immediately I’m struck by a realization: Hugh is not as weak as he pretends. There is a certain vitality to him that I was too preoccupied to notice before. Had I been sharper, I would have seen it the first time we met in the Stonehart Industries building.

“Hugh has the connections to make this work,” Jeremy growls. He gestures dismissively toward the smaller man. “He would not be here otherwise.”

“But how lucky I am that Mr. Stonehart found himself generous enough to extend the offer,” Hugh says smoothly. There’s a slight—
oh-so-slight
—mocking undercurrent to the old man’s words.

Jeremy picks up on it, of course. His jaw tightens. But he does not reprimand Hugh.

In fact, the two still haven’t made eye contact.

“Back to you, Lilly,” Jeremy says. “You don’t know how much time I’ve lost today because of this. Time that is essential. Time that I won’t get back.”

“Now, now,” Hugh says. “It’s not all bad. Look at the company we get to entertain.”

“Stop,” Jeremy says. He turns on the man. “Do not interrupt.”

Hugh steps away, bowing his head. “I apologize,” he says.

What the
fuck
is going on between the two of them?

“What are you going to do with Fey and Robin?” I ask Jeremy.

“Do with them?” He has the nerve to chuckle. “I’m not going to do anything with them, Lilly. You are the only person who concerns me.”

“You’re not having them watched?” I demand. “You’re not having them followed?”

“They flew here with you. I don’t think they’re about to just run off now. I had to speak to you to understand what you were thinking bringing them here.”

“It’s a free country, isn’t it?” I challenge. “They can go wherever they want.”

“Lilly,” Jeremy snarls my name. “Don’t go in circles. You need to tell me what they want.”

“They
want
to meet you!” I spit. “They came to California
looking
for me. They want to get me away from you!”

Hugh smiles at us both. “This is about…” he makes a subtle, choking motion around his neck, “…the device you fitted on her, isn’t it? I told you it was a bad idea, son.”

Son? Son! Shit that means—

“Don’t test me,” Jeremy growls. “I can still have you locked away, old man. Watch your tongue!”

“He
warned
you it was a bad idea?” I say to Jeremy, too used to these types of revelations to be truly shocked, but still feeling like I’m being thrown for a loop. “How much does he fucking know about us?” I gesture, borderline frantic, between me and Jeremy. “Who
is
he, Jeremy? Is he your father? Straight up: yes or no.”

Jeremy directs an evil, animalistic glare at Hugh. It’s so full of hatred and rage, so heated and unbridled in its intensity, that at that moment, I don’t need Jeremy to verbalize an answer.

I already know what it is.

“Yes,” he says finally.

***

I need to sit. Unfortunately, there’s nowhere I can do that in the room.

“He warned you it was a bad idea,” I repeat. “He warned you. That means he was in on it from the start. The revenge plot. My kidnapping. Everything you did to me,
he
knew about!”