Forever Tomorrow: Kingsley Series Book 4 Page 5

  I glance at Phoenix, who is seated at my left side, I can tell from the look on her face that she hasn’t heard this before. The need to show her support is overwhelming and I reach for her hand, clasping it tightly. She doesn’t take her eyes off our father, but she squeezes my hand which I take a gesture of appreciation.

  “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, I was beside myself, I told them that I would be leaving with them, Kingsley name be damned. My father was beyond furious, he told me that I wouldn’t inherit a thing. I didn’t care. My mother tried to plead with me, but before I could even react, it was Elly who spoke up. She pleaded with my parents, telling them that what happened was a mistake, that she would get an abortion, and leave for college, a different college from me. She uttered the words, not once looking at me. And with each word she broke my heart. I couldn’t even react before she strode out of the room. I was so distraught that I was nailed to the ground, and didn’t follow her. I was young, I was hurt by her words and mostly stupid and I didn’t realize that she was trying to save me. Before I even was able to collect my thoughts, both Esther and Elly were gone. It was gut-wrenching to walk into their quarters, just mere hours after this, to find their rooms deserted. I hardened my heart, I told myself that she must not have loved me. And although part of me wanted to find her, I stubbornly held on to my own hurt. Believing that she intended to abort the child we had made together and turn her back on me so easily. I was devastated, and I am ashamed to admit that I didn’t handle it well. I started to sleep around, bedding every willing female I could find. And that wasn’t a hard task, after all, I was Mason Kingsley, sole heir to the Kingsley fortune. I had women lined up, and I took advantage, I admit. I didn’t think I could ever give my heart away again.”

  I’m not even sure you have a heart. I think rather snarkily to myself as I throw him a disgusted look.

  “I was also still angry at my parents, and I wanted to get away from them, but I didn’t want to go to Harvard, not after all of that. So, I decided to attend my second choice of schools. Yale. Which is where I met your mother,” he says, turning to her and smiling at her warmly.

  She beams at him, and they seem lost in each other for a moment. Mika clears his throat, and she blinks, snapping out of the trance she seemed to be in. She turns back to us and starts to speak once more.

  “Mason Kingsley was like royalty at Yale.” She says with a giggle. “But everyone knew he wasn’t interested in being serious with anyone. He wasn’t lying when he said that he was not discriminate with whom he shared his body. Which is why at the very beginning, I refused his advances. I didn’t want to be another one in a long line of discarded conquests. I thought he’d leave me alone after I refused to go out with him. But he was…persistent. He was all about grand gestures and worked hard just to get me to agree to a single date. He asked me out, every single day for six months. In the meantime, he didn’t date, swearing to me that he didn’t even so much as look at another girl, until I finally relented and agreed to just one coffee date. And that was it. It was all it took. We were married three months after that coffee date.”

  She shakes her head and fondly smiles as she does so, clearly amused by replay of the memory. She looks around the room before continuing her story.

  “This is the house I grew up in,” she says with a small smile. “You guys have never seen it because I was estranged from my parents after I married your father. My parents were not happy with my choice of husband, especially the fact that our romance was a whirlwind one. And although as sole heir I inherited my family’s estate about ten years ago at the passing of my father, I have never returned to this place until just a few weeks ago.”

  It never occurred to me that we only ever knew our Kingsley grandparents. We were always under the impression that they died long before we were born. Mika and I exchange a look but remain silent. Mom takes a shaky breath before she continues to speak.

  “Like I said though, being married to a man like Mason Kingsley, it was as wonderful as it was hard. I was young and inexperienced. I was never one of the popular girls, or even dated much. So, when some of the women started to reach out to me, at first, I was flattered and overwhelmed. But then the gossip started, they started to fill my head with lies and I wasn’t sure who to believe.”

  She sighs with a pained look on her face.

  “It put a strain on our marriage, as you can imagine. It’s hard when your own wife doubts your words. And besides the constant waves of rumors of his infidelity and the cruel treatment from jealous women, there was also the wealth thing. When money is concerned, especially obscene amounts of it, it brings out the ugly side of people. And I am sure that you both know that in business, sometimes enemies are made,” she says, clearly addressing Mika and myself.

  I glance over at Mika, who remains stoic and unmoving. As unaffected as he comes across to most everyone. The fact that his hand is squeezing Rae’s so tightly that his knuckles turn white, betrays his stoic demeanor. But I doubt that any of the others notice.

  “After a while, I stopped listening to rumors and just stayed away from mostly everything and everyone and focused on our family. Things were good like that for a long time, but when you guys were about twelve, things started to sour again. There was another rumor going around, this time it involved your father and the wife of a very prominent and influential man. When the rumors reached me this time, I was older, wiser and no longer taking anyone by their word. Besides, I had my perfect twins, and I was too busy being a mother to be listening to idle gossip. So, I ignored the rumors, thinking they would go away like all the other unfounded rumors did.”

  She stops for a moment and flashes my father an apologetic smile. He reaches for her hand and squeezes it reassuringly.

  “Except, this time, the rumors didn’t stop, the rumor was persistent. And unlike any other time, I was told that this time, there was proof. I am ashamed to admit that while I told myself that I was going to see what they had to say in order to show them that I had faith in my stalwart husband, and in my marriage, part of me needed to see if they really had proof.”

  She pauses for a moment and swallows before fixing her gaze onto me.

  “Your father has told me some of what happened to you, how you lost your memories. And while it breaks my heart, it perversely fills me with hope.”

  I raise a brow. Eric, who’s sitting beside me, stiffens at the remark. I am not sure what she means by that statement, but something in me tells me not to respond, to let her continue. Her eyes have still not left mine as she continues.

  “I hope that at least you will understand,” she adds, as if it clarifies everything.

  The look on my face must clue her in on the fact that I am still lost.

  “I drove myself to meet with the person who promised me proof, not sure what to expect. As instructed, I parked my car about half a mile down the road from the actual place and walked the rest of the way. When I reached the house, I marched up to the front door. Having every intention to ring the bell and demand my so-called proof. But as I lifted my hand to press down on the doorbell, I started to have second thoughts and turned to walk back to my car. But then I heard some loud yelling, I couldn’t help myself. I wanted to investigate. The loud voices came from the back, I was sure of it, and I started to make my way around the house, carefully crouching down as I followed the voices.”

  I find myself inching closer to the edge of the couch, glued to her words.

  “As I drew closer, I could make out the voices and what they were saying. It was the woman rumored to be having an affair with your father, arguing with her husband. It was broad daylight, and it was a hot day. The two of them were in their back yard. He berated her, called her terrible names, and she pleaded with him, swore that she would never betray him. When I reached the back of the house, I crouched down finding refuse behind some bushes. I peered around the greenery and watched on as she pleaded and his anger grew. Even from this distance, I could tell th
at she was a beautiful woman, slender and petite, in clear contrast he was a large man, seemingly colossal next to her, towering over her with a severe look on his face. She must have been laying by the pool because she was wearing a bikini, but her hair was dry. Blonde wavy hair cascading on to her shoulders. The man however was fully dressed, impeccably so, his bulky muscles straining his suit made him look even more intimidating. He was getting angrier and angrier with every word she spoke. Her back was to me, but I clearly saw his face, saw the mean twist on his face as he closed the distance between them.”

  A coldness starts to run through my veins as I take in her words and the clear terror on her face as she recalls the horrid memory.

  “I watched in horror as his enormous hands wrapped around her delicate throat. I was frozen into place, unable to move a muscle, unable to even breathe. I didn’t snap out of it until I saw her lifeless body hit the ground. I shot up and gasped loudly. This is when he saw me. Our eyes met and I clearly saw the cold and depraved look in his eyes. I can still remember the shudder that passed through my entire body as if this had happened just seconds ago. I wanted to turn and run as fast as my legs could carry me, but my eyes were glued to his and my legs felt like Jell-O and unwilling to move. He didn’t move for the longest time, watching me with what seemed to be perverse fascination. It wasn’t until he slowly started to move towards me that my fight or flight started to kick in. I ran, as fast as I could, but he caught up to me. He brutally attacked me, pounding fist after fist with savage determination. He pulled me by my hair and I remember hearing someone scream in terror. It wasn’t until my head hit the ground that I realized that the scream had come from me. He wrapped his large hands around my throat and I could feel him squeeze the life out of me. I was silently praying to a God I had never prayed to, begging for someone to save me, to bring me home to my children. I tried to beg for my life, but I couldn’t speak. I was sure that there wasn’t another breath in me, and I was mentally saying my goodbyes. As I stared into his malevolent gaze I felt myself drifting off, losing consciousness.”

  Her voice breaks as she chokes out the last words and our father steps forward. Taking her hand in his and bringing it to his lips. He turns to face us all again and speaks roughly.

  “That’s when I arrived,” he says with a growl. “I had come home early to surprise Audrey and take her out to an early dinner when I found her to be gone. It was strange for her not to let anyone know where she was going, and I was immediately worried. I went to go look for her address book, the one that she kept in the drawer of her vanity when I found the note laying on her vanity. I drove there immediately. And when I arrived, I saw him, with his hands around her throat. I made my way to her as fast as I could, and a struggle between Jackson and myself begun, I managed to drag him off of her, but he was massive and larger than myself. I had adrenaline on my side though, and the sight of the woman I loved, lifelessly on the floor had anger fueling my body. I hadn’t been sure what I was going to find when I arrived there, so I had called the police from the car, and luckily so. They arrived and broke up the fight. Your mom was not breathing, and I thought I would die there myself if she did. I frantically started CPR, and when the ambulance arrived they had to drag me away from her. They took over and were able to revive her. Jackson’s wife wasn’t so lucky. They took your mom to the hospital and I waited at her bedside, she didn’t open her damn eyes for thirty-seven hours, but I didn’t move an inch, not once. Jackson was arrested but denied touching his wife, or your mother. In fact, his story changed several times until he came up with the most ludicrous accusation. He claimed that I had strangled his wife and tried to kill mine.”

  It didn’t sound so ludicrous to me at all, but I kept that thought to myself.

  “When Audrey woke up when she finally opened her eyes. I felt relief flooding through me. Until, she spoke, and she didn’t have any idea where she was, who she was or who I was…”

  My gaze is fixed on Mason Kingsley as he tells his version of events. Mikaela is sitting beside me, quite literally on the edge of her seat despite the fact that this vile man is currently doing the talking. I watch on in suffocating silence, observing Audrey and Mason with singular fascination. Taking in every word, reading their body language. And I find myself conflicted. Mason Kingsley is a master manipulator and a pathological liar that is a given, but Audrey Kingsley is the exact opposite of that. I listen to Mason speak and observe some slight tells, things that tell me that he isn’t exactly telling us the truth here. But Audrey… while her version of events seems rehearsed or even far-fetched, nothing in her body language is showing signs of deception. And I can read people like a book, smell a liar from a mile away. It has always served me well as an attorney, and I can only recall a few rare cases where something slipped past me. But certainly not while I watched this closely. Is my opinion of Mason Kingsley too tainted for me to be objective? I wonder. I dismiss the thought the moment it goes through my head. I glance at Mika, who’s clutching Raeva’s hand, facial expression unreadable. Is he buying this? I shift my focus back to Mason who continues to speak.

  “While your mother was recovering in the hospital, there were several attempts made on her life. Thwarted by the police detail assigned to her. We didn’t quite understand why, until we were approached by Agent Lenn Harvey. Apparently, the good senator wasn’t as squeaky clean as his image would have us all believe. Deep ties with a large organized crime family had placed him in his position, and while he was not only a suspect in several more brutal murders, there had never been any witness or any evidence to tie him to any of them. Until your mother, and he was and is aware.”

  I frown.

  “Are we talking about Senator Andrew Jackson here?” I ask. “The same Andrew Jackson that lost quite a bit of his family’s fortune by partnering up with you?”

  Mason’s mask slips ever so slightly, but only for a split-second. I know he wasn’t aware of just how deeply I have looked into his past dealings over the years. I’ve had to, Mason Kingsley had made many, many enemies. And not just dealing with business. We’ve run into quite some of these people in the past, people that thought that Mika Kingsley was cut from the same cloth. And while Mika certainly inherited the Kingsley business sense—or Midas touch—as many call it, and his looks as well. The two men couldn’t be more different. Kingsley Inc. is a multi-billion-dollar empire now, and Mika turned it into that. Despite the extra work he has had to put over years, trying to convince people that he wasn’t anything like his father, we have had many doubters, there still are people around that hold grudges against Mason and blame it on his children. Name Margaret Sims for one. Years of pent-up anger toward Mason had turned into a dangerous obsession for revenge. Geared towards the Kingsley siblings, who have always been the biggest victim of this horrendous excuse for a human being. People have always assumed that Mika and Mikaela were these privileged heirs, with no knowledge of hardships or a care in the world. Not realizing that they would have both given up every cent, to get away from that monster of a man. Mason may have been surprised for a mere moment, but the man is not a master manipulator for nothing, his response rolls quite easily of his tongue.

  “We did business, the deal fell through. One event is separate from the other. I am sure that you have experienced business deals falling through?”

  I honestly cannot remember a single time when a deal Mika has brokered has fallen through, but I refrain from speaking, wanting Mason to keep digging his own grave here. I give a non-committal shrug, and he takes it as a sign to continue to speak.

  “He’s the reason why my wife has had to be in hiding, why I had to be without her. Why we all had to,” he says, bringing Audrey’s hand to his mouth and pressing a kiss on the back of it.

  Audrey smiles warmly at Mason. And it looks…convincing. Still, though, I don’t believe a word.

  “Can I ask where you’ve been all this time? Because I have looked. And I mean I have looked, not just skimmed,” Mika asks
.

  Audrey opens her mouth to reply, but Mason beats her to it.

  “You were not looking for your mother, you were looking for a corpse,” he says pointedly.

  “She was presumed dead! What else was I supposed to be looking for?”

  “Can someone just answer the damn question asked?” I bark out, unable to hide my annoyance any longer.

  That earns me another stern look from Mikaela. It affects me, sure. But honestly, my need to protect her is greater than my aversion to pissing her off. I straighten and initiate eye-contact with Audrey. She doesn’t even try to avoid it, which throws me off.

  “I was in Italy. Venice to be more precise. Mason flew me back two weeks ago, after coming to find me. Agent Harvey made sure to keep tabs on me, and your father had made sure I had plenty of money in an account to live a good life until it was safe to come back. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if it was ever going to happen, and maybe even know it won’t. But When Mason showed up, I just…I couldn’t stay away from you guys anymore and I begged him to bring me with him, even just to look at you from a distance.”