“I can’t believe he’s gone. I did this. I did.”
“What does that mean, mother?” I demand, sitting on the table in front of her. “What does that mean?”
She buries her hands in her face and sobs some more.
“Mother.” I grab her hands. “I need to know what happened.”
“We thought it was Eric he was after, not your father.”
“He’s not my father,” I say, feeling a pinch of guilt for saying that right after he died. It’s just—he wasn’t my father. “And what do you mean, coming for Eric? And who is we? What is this about? Eric?”
“Yes. Eric. Isaac’s mother had an affair. He’s not the real heir. He’s not even a Kingston. Eric is the heir.”
I blanch, stunned by this news. “How can that be?”
“She fucked around, Harper. How do you think it can be? And her lover, Isaac’s father, is dead. It was a car accident, they say, but I don’t buy it. Why do you think he ended up dead right after Eric was introduced to the family? Isaac knew he wasn’t the heir. He didn’t want anyone to find out.”
I swallow hard. “Isaac knows?”
“His mother told him,” she says. “And he killed her, too.”
“Why would he kill her? Wasn’t she on his side?”
“I have no clue, but Gigi is certain that he did.”
I blanch. “Gigi knew about it?”
“Yes. She’s why all this came out. She hated Isaac’s mother. She was looking for something to control her with and found more than she bargained for. Everyone knew but his father.”
“Gigi didn’t tell him?”
“Isaac was the grandson she’d helped raise. She didn’t want him disinherited and treated like the outcast. Then Eric showed up. That’s when Isaac’s father died, by the way. Someone wanted him gone. You can guess who that was.”
“Isaac or Gigi?”
“She says it was Isaac. I don’t know. Maybe Gigi killed them both to protect Isaac.”
I can barely catch my breath. I swallow bile and force my voice to stay steady. “How do you know all of this? How can you be sure it’s even true?”
“Gigi told me. She panicked when Isaac got the mob involved with the family. She thought he was going to get us all killed, which he might just do before this is over. She told me everything then.”
“But you didn’t tell your husband?”
?
?She was sure Eric would take the company if he knew he was the heir, so she needed you to be his damsel in distress, to appeal to Mr. Navy SEAL to save the day.”
“She gave him stock.”
“She controlled what he got. That was her plan.”
“You helped her? You knew she sent me to get him?”
“No. Of course not. I told her no. I told her that Eric knows his father basically killed his mother. No good could come out of giving him a key to revenge.”
Her eyes are now remarkably dry. Because of the Xanax? Or is there more to her motives? “Why did Gigi run?”
“For her life. She told Isaac that his father was coming here to offer Eric part of Isaac’s stock to get out of this mess. The next thing we all know, the wrong man is in the hospital.”