Forever Tomorrow: Kingsley Series Book 4 Page 6

  “I mean this with all the respect in the world. But why put your kids in danger? After all the years of hiding, why risk everything now?”

  I can see the corner of her mouth tug upwards.

  “You love both my son and my daughter, that is easy to see. The three of you have been inseparable since children. The three musketeers. And I am thankful that they have had you looking out or them all these years. I always was fond of you back then, Eric. And I considered you part of our family, even back then. I am happy to see that nothing has changed in that regard,” she says, sounding genuine.

  She takes a step forward, not once taking her eyes off of me.

  “I know that you would do anything to protect them, isn’t that a fair assumption?”

  “It is,” I concede.

  “So, you don’t think that I—their mother—wouldn’t do the exact same for them?”

  “Touché,” I concede.

  She smiles sweetly and there isn’t a doubt in my mind that this woman is being honest and upfront with me. Yet still…every time that Mason Kingsley opens his mouth, my gut is telling me he’s lying through his teeth. The picture he’s trying to paint, I simply can’t marry that image with the man that I have known and loathed since I was a child. Maybe that is the problem? I idly wonder. I excuse myself and head to the bathroom. The moment I lock the door behind me, I pull my phone out of my jacket pocket and type a message to River. I give him all the new information and my suspicions. I don’t have to wait long for a reply.

  River: On it.

  Eric: I’ll send more info as I get it.

  River: Perfect. You’ll owe me dinner for this.

  Eric: Name the time and place my friend.

  By the time I get back, everyone has migrated towards the dining room. It takes a moment to find them, and I am happy to see that the spot next to Mikaela is vacant. I slide into the chair beside her silently. She’s talking amicably to her mother, about some design stuff. Her hand reaches for mine under the table, and her fingers encircle mine. A small indication that she’s softening towards me. I give her hand a little squeeze, and she turns her head to look at me. She smiles at me, that radiant smile that originates from the tips of her toes and radiates throughout her being. The smile that simultaneously knocks me off my feet and holds me together. We don’t release hands when dinner is served. We both eat with one hand as if it is the most natural thing in the world. By the time that we are transitioning from main course to dessert, Mikaela surprises me by leaning closer.

  “Have you told River about everything we learned tonight?” she whispers into my ear.

  I blink. Fuck. I don’t want to fight about this anymore but I will never lie to her. So, I nod my head. I brace myself for her anger. But she surprises me, yet again.

  “Good. I am not sure what it is. But I don’t think we got the whole truth here.” She says in a hushed tone.

  Relief floods through my veins and I pull her closer and kiss the top of her head.

  * * *

  We don’t hang around too much longer after dessert. After we say our goodbyes, and we get into the car, it is a while before anyone speaks.

  “So, guys,” Mika says, breaking the silence. “I’m curious what you think. How much of that is fact and how much of that is bullshit?”

  I chuckle, not quite able to help it. My best friend doesn’t beat around the bush.

  “Hard to say honestly,” Phoenix replies. “I don’t know either of them well, but no offense. Our um...father. He gives me the creeps. I don’t trust him. I didn’t get that feeling from your mom though.”

  “None taken. I do know them well, and I feel the same,” Mikaela responds.

  “Same here. I know Mason is full of shit. But I just don’t get that vibe from Audrey,” I add.

  “Yeah. Same. It is frustrating because in order to believe our mom, it means we have to believe our dad.”

  “Actually, not necessarily. I think that you are all right. I think one is lying, and one is telling the truth.” Raeva says.

  All eyes turn to Mika’s wife.

  “What do you mean, love?” Mika asks curiously.

  She smiles shyly as she sees that she’s the center of attention right now.

  “I think that Audrey actually believes what she is saying. But I don’t think it’s the truth.”

  My eyes flicker over to Mika, who’s eyes flicker to mine. And I see the moment where comprehension of Raeva’s words sink in. Mika unbuckles and pulls Raeva closer. He takes her chin between his thumb and forefinger and plants an almost indecent kiss on her lips. Thankfully, he pulls back just mere moments later. Even if it is just a mere inch.

  “My wife is fucking brilliant,” he says smiling against her mouth before planting another kiss.

  I resist the urge to roll my eyes. After all, I do know a little something about forgetting about the world around us when I’m with my Lady Kingsley.

  “What?” Mikaela asks, sounding confused. “I don’t get it.”

  I open my mouth to answer, but my phone starts to ring. I pull my phone out of my pocket to silence it, but when I see the name flashing on the screen I answer instead. I swipe and put him on speaker. I don’t even get a chance to say hello.

  “Well, I hope you’re fucking sitting down, my friend,” he says as a greeting.

  I laugh, it can’t be helped, the dude is funny.

  “I am, and I have everyone here with me. We have just left the dinner party. You’re on speaker by the way. Say hi everyone,” I say.

  “Hi,” everyone replies.

  “Good lord, must you use foul language every other word?”

  “Rae, I didn’t mean to cuss, sis. Don’t tell mom,” he says sarcastically.

  Raeva rolls her eyes.

  “What did you find, little brother?” she replies, putting emphasis on the word little.

  Her tone is sweet and innocent, but the smirk on her face betrays her. That, plus I know for a fact he hates it when she calls him that. I have seen the look on his face, and I know she has too. Raeva isn’t afraid to fight dirty. And I am enjoying it. River grumbles something incomprehensible which causes the entire car to burst out laughing.

  “Fine”, he grumbles. “I guess you guys don’t want to hear what I found out…”

  That has the desired effect I am sure because everyone stops laughing instantly.

  “Yes, we do. I’m sorry, River please tell us.” Raeva says soothingly.

  I can’t help but smile big when I see that although she just said that, she’s still grinning like the Cheshire cat.

  “How far away are you guys?” River asks.

  Sean, who’s driving the vehicle replies.

  “ETA is about thirty-two minutes from the penthouse.”

  “All righty, I’ll meet you guys there. We have a lot to talk about,” he says, before cutting the call.

  “Sean?” Mika says, leaning forward.

  I already anticipate the rest of this sentence, and so does Sean. The car speeds up and I can see the amused look on Sean’s face in the rearview mirror.

  “Speed up, Sir?” he replies.

  “Yup.”

  “You got it.” Sean says.

  We make it back to the apartment building in record time. We all file into the elevator and head to Mika and Rae’s place. When we walk in, we find that River is already waiting there. It is usually quite hard to miss him, but today he’s not his usual bright colored dressed self. He looks almost boring in a pair of jeans and a grey T-shirt, if it wasn’t for the red sneakers he paired it with, I’d have thought we’d have an imposter sitting there on the large sectional. His fingers fly over the keyboard on his laptop, and he doesn’t bother looking up.

  “Impressive time. Speed much?” he says as a greeting.

  “I would ask how the hell you got in here. But we have more pressing questions at the moment,” Mika grumbles.

  River finally looks up and smirks.

  “Wouldn’t be able to te
ll you anyway, trait secret,” River replies with a wink.

  “Are we adding breaking and entering to your skill-set then, River?” Phoenix asks.

  “It’s never been part of my repertoire, but if it’s something that you think you might be into, I’ll happily consider adding that skill.”

  Woah. Are they flirting? And holy shit, River has game?

  I turn around and look at Phoenix, whose dark eyes are glued to Rivers. She purses her lip, an action, I suspect, she is using to hide her obvious amusement. There is a clear attraction between these two, so tangible, I swear I can reach out and touch it.

  “I’d say get a room, but this is my house and that would be gross,” Raeva mutters.

  That surprises a laugh out of me and a blush out of River.

  “Can we just get started?” Mika interjects.

  “Yes, lets,” River says, eyes again locked onto Phoenix’s.

  Heat is thickening the air, and there is no mistaking where that heat is emanating from. Eric very loudly clears his throat, and River shakes his head as if he’s snapping out of something. Our eyes meet and I swear he’s blushing. Again. It’s adorable.

  “Okay, everyone, gather around. Sit. I have a lot to tell you guys.”

  I lower myself in the large chair across from the sectional and pretty much immediately, Eric sinks in next to me. He drapes a strong arm around me and I quite literally melt into him. I look up in time to see Phoenix sink down inches away from River. And I cannot help but smile. I’d love for the two of them to get together. My thoughts are pulled from them when Eric’s hand starts to stroke my leg. He’s not even touching inappropriately, but a simple touch from him, any touch from him turns my body into 100% erogenous territory.

  “Am I the only one in here that wants some goddamned answers?” Mika says loudly and in turn snapping the four of us out of our respective trances.

  “Sorry,” we all mumble sheepishly.

  River clears his throat and starts to fill us in.

  “I started looking into agent Lenn Harvey first. He served in the US army for eight years, in which he completed 6 tours before returning state-side, heavily decorated. He joined the FBI in 1999.”

  “So he checks out?” Eric asks, surprised.

  River smirks.

  “Not so fast. I said he joined the FBI, I didn’t say he remains employed by them. In fact, he has not been with the FBI since 2005. He left after allegations of tampering with evidence in several cases were starting to pile up. While at first, I wasn’t too interested in those cases, when I hit a dead end, I wanted to take one more look. And I am glad I did, because I found out a few interesting facts.”

  Like everyone else in the room, I am at the edge of my seat and listening to River’s findings.

  “Most of those cases were not of interest, and I was about to give up on this route when I got another text from Eric, telling me about Senator Jackson. The case involved your parents, yes. But the story isn’t quite the same version that old man Kingsley told you.”

  Raeva bestows a perturbed look onto river just as Mika bursts out laughing.

  “Old man Kingsley?” he manages to choke out.

  River grins widely as he shrugs.

  “I have a way with words, what can I say?”

  “Can’t argue that,” Mika concedes.

  “Anyway,” River continues. “Old man Kingsley and Jackson did do business, and a lot of money was lost. But that wasn’t all. Jackson walked in on Mason and his wife getting busy in the backyard. His backyard. Can’t say that I wouldn’t have been feeling a little murderous myself. Thing is, according to the reports. He wasn’t the only one who walked in on them. Audrey Kingsley was a witness to this ordeal as well. And it wasn’t Jackson that attempted to choke out the woman. It was your mom.”

  I blink in surprise. I wasn’t expecting that.

  “The woman didn’t die. And she didn’t press charges in exchange for silence about the affair. Agent Lenn helped cover the whole thing up. At first, I thought that was about the time that the agent met old man Kingsley. But I went back a little more to be sure. Turns out, that several of the cases that were assigned to agent Harvey involved Mason in some way.”

  I’m flooded with mixed emotions. The most prominent one being disappointment. Because I realize that even though I know what kind of monster my father is—and I have always known just how much of a monster he is. After tonight, a small part of me hoped that he wasn’t all bad. That there were legitimate reasons for at least some of his actions. But River just fed me a dose of reality that I didn’t want to hear. Eric’s hand squeezes tightly around mine. It’s uncanny how well he anticipates my needs.

  “Jackson and his wife did part ways after the incident. She is remarried now, to a much older, but less wealthy version of Jackson. But she still holds a grudge against old omk.”

  “I’m sorry, what the fuck is omk?” Mika asks confused.

  I’m glad he asked because I was wondering too.

  River chuckles.

  “Old man Kingsley. Good God, keep up,” he replies unable to hide his amusement.

  Mika rolls his eyes but refrains from replying. And I know that’s hard for him.

  “Anyway, she was more than willing to dish some dirt when I called her pretending to be a journalist that wanted to do an expose on the horrible Kingsley clan—no offense. I had to sell it.”

  I nod at him, letting him know that I for one, am not insulted in the least. He takes it as permission to continue, as intended.

  “She was very forthcoming regarding dirt on Mason. According to her, Mason seduced her and tricked her into stealing trade secrets from her husband. She says that she tried to end it with Mason after just a few weeks, but then he started to blackmail her. He had…taped their encounters and threatened to expose her. She did everything he wanted. And she swears that he set up the day that Audrey walked in. But he wasn’t expecting Jackson, and neither was she.”

  I feel like something heavy has taken a seat on my chest.

  “That is interesting,” Eric says.

  “It is. But what is even more interesting, is the fact that Audrey didn’t disappear for 3 months after that incident. And she certainly wasn’t hospitalized after the event. In fact, the last time that she was in a hospital as a patient was when the legendary K twins were born.”

  I can’t help but smile at his nickname for Mika and myself. I look over at my twin brother and I can see the corner of his mouth curl up as well.

  “From anything I can find, your mom has been in Italy, living very low key on a generous budget. Lenn Harvey checks in every three months like clock-work. I hacked the account that has been feeding both of their accounts and traced it back to Mason. I am not sure if he intended it for it to go this long, but he has been footing the bill for this thing.”

  Eric and I look at each other and guilt washes over me. We prolonged my mom’s exile by keeping him at Hillcrest.

  “What I don’t understand is why my mom would go along with this. Why she would lie like this,” Mika says.

  My stomach feels as if it is filled with heavy rocks. If she lied to us tonight, our mom is an expert liar, and an even better liar than our father. The thought scares me.

  “I really don’t think she is lying,” Raeva says, as she gently pets Mika’s leg. “I think that we have overlooked one enormous detail.”

  Everyone’s attention shifts to Rae.

  “What do you mean, love?” Mika asks.

  “I think that she did lose her memory. Just not when Mason told us she did. And I think that he tampered with her memory somehow. It is that, or she deserves an Oscar because she convinced not just me, but all of us.”

  After everything that happened to me, I don’t know how this didn’t occur to me.

  “How are we ever going to prove that?” I ask.

  “It seems to me that the only shot we have is for us to try and boost your mom’s memory, somehow,” Phoenix says.

 
“Okay. Good idea. But how do you suggest we do that?” I ask.

  “I don’t know. How did you get your memories back?”

  I can feel my cheeks heat up. I am about to open my mouth to answer when Mika cuts me off.

  “Judging from the look on her face, I don’t think that I want to hear that answer. And if it is the answer that I think it is, I don’t think it’ll help us,” he grumbles.

  Eric pulls me closer toward him and kisses the top of my head.

  “Best day of my life,” he says, smiling warmly.

  “What. The. Fuck. Hardwick. I didn’t need that image in my head,” Mika bites out.

  River and Raeva exchange a look and the two of them nearly fall over from laughing. And it takes one look at my brother’s horrified expression before I join in. It feels good to laugh, with everything going on lately.

  “You guys,” Phoenix says suddenly. “If your father, I mean um…our father messed with your mother’s mind. We need to rectify this. We need to get the proof we need and get her the hell away from him.”

  Her words are sobering. How didn’t it even occur to me that we need to save our mom from this monster? What the hell?

  “How are we going to do that?” Mika demands. “There’s no way he is going to let her out of his sight. You bet your ass that he knows that he’s on borrowed time here. He might not know that we already know, but he knows we will soon.”

  “That should be our angle,” I tell him.

  “What?”

  “Dad has always believed that I am the gullible and weak one. Let’s give him that. Let’s make him believe that I believe him. And that will get me the opportunity to get her alone.”

  “And then what? Tell her everything? There is only a minuscule chance that she believes you. And even if on the off chance she does, then what?” Mika says.

  “What do you mean then what? Then we get our mother away from this parasite.”

  Mika doesn’t look convinced.

  “She loves him Mik. Even after everything he did.”

  “I’m with Rae here. I don’t think that she remembers everything he did. And you know what? Even if she did, I need to know that we did everything we could to try and show her. If she decides not to believe me, or even if she does believe me and decides to stay with him, we know without a doubt that we did everything we could.”