The Billionaire's Secret

"Are you okay, honey?" Kiki looked horrified.

"What time is it?" I asked, rubbing my sore shoulder. I must not have moved at all when I slept. My whole arm felt dead.

"Two o'clock," Kit looked at his watch. Then he watched me scrunch up my face over the math and clarified. "Two o'clock. In the afternoon. On Tuesday."

"Wait...," I smacked my lips together. My mouth felt like a desert and tasted like a sock. "You're saying...?"

"You slept almost twenty-four hours," Jasmine said, folding her arms. "I called in to work for you, but Kit here said he thinks he knows why you're playing Sleeping Beauty and came over as soon as he could."

Kit settled his bulk next to me and covered my shoulders with the blanket. "I'm guessing it didn't end in crazy make-up sex?" he asked gently.

I came to me in flashes. Then waves. Then a flood that threatened to drown me.

Liam sending me away. Dahlia's coldness. The walk to his office. The oddly abandoned workspace. The sounds of a fight.

Lily.

"I saw him. With her," I said thickly. Then coughed.

Kiki handed me a glass of water, mute and wide-eyed.

"Her?" Kit was confused.

I looked up at Kiki's sympathetic face, Jasmine's blisteringly angry one. I didn't have to say her name. But I did anyway. "Lily."

"Motherfucker!" Jasmine spun on her heel and began pacing like a caged wildcat. "I liked him too. Cheating asshole."

Kit looked at the three of us. "Well. Shit. So he's an asshole and a cheater after all?"

I gulped down the glass of cold water. It hit my angry stomach like a rock. But that wasn't why I was suddenly nauseous. "It would seem so."

"Nothing seeming about it," Jasmine muttered darkly."

"Were they kissing?" Kiki was breathless with disbelief.

I shook my head. "Fighting."

"Over what?"

I shook my head again. "I couldn't tell. I think she threw something at him."

"Should've hit him with it," Jasmine said at the same time Kiki said, "Probably about you."

I moaned into my hands. "You're right. I'm the other woman. I knew it. That's the worst part, I knew it."

"He swore to you," Kit soothed. "That's on him.

I growled, too angry with myself to be mollified.

"If I ever see that snake again...." Jasmine didn't get to finish her sentence before the sound of the door buzzer made us all jump. "Who the hell is it?" she barked into the intercom.

"Jasmine, It's Liam. Is Shay there?"

Jasmine made a feral sound and yanked on the door. "Wait! Let him up," Kit boomed.

All three of us turned to stare at him. "What?" he spread his hands innocently. "I want to see how the asshole tries to worm his way out of this one." Then he rubbed his hands together with an evil smile. "What can I say? I'm a bitch."

Jasmine muttered something about homicide. "Kiki, you're in charge of making sure I don't go to jail today. And Kit," she stabbed a finger in his direction. "You're in charge of my bail if she can't stop me. Since this is your bad idea and all."

"Oh, what's another debt, pile 'em on," he trilled and I wanted to laugh if only so I didn't sob.

"Shay?" Jazzy's finger was poised on the buzzer. "You okay with this?"

I nodded. "Let him up. I'm glad he's here when you guys are."

She stabbed the buzzer, holding it down for far too long. We all listened to the sound of heavy tread ascending the two floors up to Jazzy's place. Each thump was echoed by my thudding heartbeat.

I was waiting for his cool, poised explanations. I was ready for his charm. I was ready to harden my heart against his soulful eyes as he made me sweet promises.

I wasn't expecting the panicked, disheveled man who appeared gasping at Jasmine's doorway.

He stared at each of us like he had no idea why we'd be here. Then his eyes focused on me and he took a deep breath. "Shay," he said, his voice breaking. "Could we talk about this somewhere private please?"

As thrown off as I was by his wild-eyed appearance, I quickly collected myself and folded my arms. "No," I told him firmly. "Enough secrets. If you have something to tell me, just say it."

He drew a long, shuddering, defeated breath.

"Lily...," his voice caught.

"Yes," I prompted. "Lily. Your girlfriend?"

His face collapsed. "She's not my girlfriend, Shay." He pressed his lips together and seemed to decide.

"She's my sister."

Chapter Twenty - Nine

"Sister? Bullshit!"

We all stared at Jasmine. Her nostrils flared like a bull ready to charge. "Yeah, that's right. Bullshit. We Googled your ass when you started hanging around my best friend here." She pointed a me and then whirled to stab an accusing finger at Liam's broad chest. "I know all about you, rich boy, and I know you don't have a sister."

"'Only child of Dahlia Jessop Graves,'" Kiki recited fiercely.

Liam buried his face in his big hand, then dragged it down, like he wanted to wipe away the look of shock and outrage that was frozen there. I was trembling so hard I could hear my teeth clacking together. Kit moved to pull me to him, but I was rooted to the spot.

When he pulled his hand away, Liam looked composed. But I knew him. That dangerous pulse was beating at his temple. "Shay," his voice was low. "I can't talk about this here. Will you please," he bit off the word, "come with me?"

"No!" I shouted. Louder than I meant to. So loud I shocked myself and everyone around me.

If I went to him, my body, no, my heart would betray me. I needed to stay here, in the safety of Kiki's shock, Kit's sympathy and Jasmine's furious outrage.

I couldn't trust myself alone with him. "No, whatever you want to say, say it here." I crossed my arms tightly to stop the shaking. "No more secrets."

Liam gave a tight, hollow laugh. "Shay, my god, I have so many secrets I'm not even sure I can keep track of them anymore. My life.... My family, we bury our secrets so deeply I'm not sure I could ever dig enough to tell you the whole truth." His anguished gray eyes tugged at my heart. I wanted so badly to comfort him. But I didn't move, out of fear of the ferocity of my feelings.

And so he took a shaky breath. "I don't think I can dig deep enough. But that doesn't mean I don't want to try. I want to tell you." He inhaled sharply. "Because I love you.

Kiki let out a soft cry, her eyes wide.

Everyone waited.

I didn't move. I was too scared to open my mouth and hear what I might say in response.

As long as I didn't say it....

Liam saw my struggle and seemed to...deflate somehow. Disappointment carved out a hollow in his chest and he slumped against the doorway in defeat.

"Lily is my sister, I am telling the truth. What you read?" he pointed at Jasmine who crossed her arms and lifted her chin. "That's the lie. The lie Dahlia forced me, forced everyone who knew Lily, to tell."

He drew a shaky breath. "She tried to kill herself around the time I was born," he began. "Before that it was drugs, cutting, running away, more drugs...." he shook his head. The words were coming faster now, more than I had ever heard Liam say at once. "She actually tried more than once, it's just that time when I was a baby she was the closest to success. She was in the hospital for a long time, and then once she was better...physically...Dahlia had her committed."

Kiki let out a little gasp. I clapped my hand over my mouth. But Liam didn't notice any of this, lost as he was in his painful memories. "Lily had caused her so much embarrassment, so much pain, that she ordered the staff to stop saying her name. Then she disowned her. Then she set about...erasing her."

He looked up. "To the world, Lily Graves never existed. Just like you saw in your Googling. But she does exist. She's real. And she needs help. My help."