A Forever Family (Forever #6) (19 page)

Connor

“So, am I to assume you don’t want a cooking lesson?” he asked.

I chuckled. “No. That’s okay. I’ll still pay you for your time.” I handed him his scotch and took a seat in the black leather chair across from the couch.

“I’m on limited time here, so why don’t you say what you have to say and we can go about our business.”

As I sat back in the chair and stared at him, I realized that he reminded me so much of Collin. Not my son, but my twin brother. When I saw him at the funeral, his eyes were the first thing I noticed. I kept thinking that there was something about them that gripped me. Now that I was sitting across from him, I realized just what it was.

“I’m sorry about what our father did to you and your mother. He wasn’t always a genuine caring man. He was a liar and a cheat.”

“I came to terms with that a long time ago. See, the difference is I already knew about you and your sister. I obsessed over the fact that my father abandoned me. I came to terms that I would never be good enough for him, even though I carried his name. He had two other children that were more important and I was never allowed to become a part of that life. I was nothing but a secret; a bastard that would ruin his reputation if it ever got out that I existed.”

The bitterness and anger that emerged from him was understandable. “I’m sorry, Lucas. All I can tell you is what you already know: he was an asshole. An asshole that the community worshiped. He put on an amazing façade. But I saw right through him.”

“I am curious to know how you found out about me.” He took a sip of his scotch.

“After he died, I was cleaning out his home office and found this picture.” I pulled the picture from my pocket and handed it to him. “I knew that child wasn’t me or Cassidy. I also found the purchase agreement for your house in Cherry Hill in a locked drawer of my father’s desk. My son, Collin, and I took a ride there and that’s when we met Flora. She told me everything.”

“Ah, Flora.” His lips gave way to a small smile. “She was like a grandmother to me. How is she?”

“She seemed well. She said that you moved away after your mother passed when you were eighteen.”

He looked down and set his drink on the table as he got up from the couch. “Father paid me a visit the day of my mother’s funeral. It was only the third time in my life that I’d seen him. He gave me his condolences and a check for one hundred thousand dollars to go start somewhere new because he was going to sell the house. He was afraid, now that my mother was gone, that I was going to come forth as his son. He made me sick standing there, pretending that he cared about my mother. I told him if he wanted me to go away, then he better up the offer to two hundred thousand and he’d never have to worry about me again.”

I held up my glass to him. “I would have gone for more. But you did well.”

“He gave it to me, I took it, and hopped on the next plane to Paris. I used the money to attend one of the finest culinary schools there. I studied, learned, and took odd jobs for about six years before moving back here and starting as a line cook at Sage. Because of my talent and what I learned in Paris, I was promoted to Executive Chef a couple of years later.”

“Have you ever considered opening your own restaurant?” I asked.

“All the time. It’s been a dream of mine since I was a kid. Unfortunately, opening a restaurant costs a lot of money, something I don’t have. I don’t want to open a cheap diner or nothing. I want to be the owner of a five-star restaurant.”

His dreams were big and I liked that about him. He had ownership in his blood. I could help him make his dream come true if he’d help me, but I needed to be very careful with Lucas. I got the impression he was a ticking time bomb.

“I would like you to come and meet my family back in New York. Your family. You have a sister, niece, two nephews, and a great-nephew. And I know they’d want to meet you.”

He took in a deep breath as he stared at me like he was prey and I was the great white shark, ready to strike.

“Thanks for the offer, Connor, but like I said earlier, I don’t want to meet any more Blacks. You’re lucky I even gave you the time I did. I know all about you, big brother. I’ve been watching you for years. You and your multibillion dollar company, Black Enterprises. A company that I should have some stake in, considering I’m one of the Black sons. But I was banished from your family. So go back to New York to your family, to your life and stay the fuck out of mine.” He walked towards the door.

I stood up from my chair. “My daughter is ill and you’re the only one who can help her,” I yelled from across the room.

He stopped, slowly turned his head, and looked at me. The anger in his eyes grew.

“You didn’t come here because you wanted to get to know me. You said earlier that you found the picture of me right after the funeral. That was three months ago. You never had any intention of finding me or else you would have done it then. You only came here out of desperation for your daughter.”

“I was angry!” I yelled. “Angry at him and angry at you. I was pissed as hell that you existed because it reminded me just how much of a bastard he was! How he hurt my mother. He hurt both our mothers! You’re my brother and you have a right to know your family!”

“I buried my family ten years ago. We’re done here. I’m sorry about your daughter, but there’s nothing I can do.”

“You’re throwing away the opportunity to own your restaurant. No cost is too great when it comes to my family. I can give you everything you need.”

“Why can’t you understand that I don’t want anything from you? Just leave me alone. And the fact that you would try to buy me off makes you no better than him.”

“The Black men don’t turn their backs on people in need!”

“Funny you should say that because I know one who did. Good bye, Connor.” He walked out the door.

I picked up my glass from the table and threw it against the wall. He was my last hope for Julia.

Ellery

When I came back to the suite last night, I found Connor sitting on the balcony, staring out into the brightly lit city. He was hurting and so was I when he told me the conversation he had with Lucas. My emotions were at an all-time high as I sat on his lap and we held each other, thinking about Julia.

“We’re leaving Vegas tomorrow. There’s no reason for us to be here anymore.”

“What time?”

“The plane will be here around one.”

“Peyton and I are going to do some shopping first thing in the morning. She wants to pick up a few things for Hailey.”

“That’s fine. Just make sure you’re back in time.”

“It’s our plane, Connor. He’s not going anywhere until we board.”

“Ellery. It’s not up for discussion. Do as I ask. Do you understand?”

His tone was stern, something I hadn’t heard in a very long time, but I wasn’t going to argue with him this time. The truth was I wasn’t going shopping with Peyton. I was going to talk to Lucas and hopefully try to make him see things differently. I told Peyton my plan and made sure she stayed scarce while I was gone. Connor had left the file folder sitting on the dresser. While he was in the shower, I carefully opened it and typed Lucas’s address into my phone. Climbing into bed and waiting for Connor to come out from the bathroom, I lay down as I devised my plan of action for tomorrow.

The next morning, I kissed Connor goodbye and told him that I’d be back in time for our flight back to New York. He insisted that he walk me and Peyton out the front doors of the hotel. As much as I loved him, sometimes he drove me nuts. As soon as Peyton and I climbed into the cab, she told the driver to drop her off a couple of blocks away as I rattled off Lucas’s home address and told him to step on it. I didn’t have much time.

Lightly knocking on the white painted door, I waited for a few moments before knocking harder. Suddenly, when I went to knock for the third time, the door flew open and Lucas stood there, staring at me, wearing pajama bottoms and messy hair. He reminded me so much of Connor when he was that age and it looked as though I had just woke him up.

“Can I help you?” he asked with sleepy eyes and a bit of an attitude.

“Actually, you can.” I ducked underneath the arm that was holding the door open.

“Umm. Excuse me. Who do you think you are just barging into my apartment?”

“I’m Ellery Black.” I turned and held out my hand to him and he walked away.

“I thought so. I saw you at the funeral and I’ve seen you in the papers with your husband.”

“Your brother,” I spoke.

“Like I told him before, just because we share the same blood doesn’t make us family. I need some coffee and you need to leave.”

Connor was right; he was angry, but there was a sadness I could see in his soul.

“You look hungover.”

“That would be because I am and I have a killer headache. So if you’ll excuse me, I need to go lie down.”

When I walked into his tiny kitchen and opened the refrigerator, I smiled when I saw a majority of the ingredients I needed to make him the cocktail. He had all but two.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he asked in irritation. “You don’t just go into someone’s refrigerator like that, lady.”

“Which neighbor is nicer? The one across the hall or next door?”

“What?” he asked in confusion.

I sighed. “Sit down. I’ll be back in a second. Don’t think about shutting your door either. Because I can make some pretty good noise and I’m sure you wouldn’t want your neighbors to think you were having an affair with an older married woman.”

He slowly sat down as he watched me prop the door open with a chair. I knocked on the door across the hall and an elderly woman answered. I told her that I was from across the hall and asked her if she had the two ingredients I was missing. She did and handed them over with a smile across her face. When I turned around and stepped back into the apartment, Lucas had his head down on the table.

“You’re crazy. Do you know that?” His tone was muffled.

“Funny, because Connor tells me the same thing. Where’s your blender?”

“Why do you need my blender? What the hell do you think you’re doing? If I wasn’t so hungover right now, I’d kick you right out of here.”

“Then I guess it’s lucky for me that you’re hungover.” I found the blender and put the ingredients in it. “Cover your ears; this is going to be loud.”

Once everything was mixed, I poured it into a glass and sat down across from him, sliding the glass across the table.

“Drink up.”

He picked up the glass, looked at it, and then brought it up to his nose. “What the fuck is this? You’re crazy if you think I’m drinking this.”

“It’s a hangover cocktail and I promise you that you will start to feel better right after you drink it. I make it for Connor and Collin all the time. If you don’t believe me, call him.” I pulled out my phone and held it out to him.

He shot me a look as he brought the glass to his lips and drank the cocktail as fast as he could.

“Fuck! This is nasty stuff.”

“That it may be, but you’ll be thanking me in about fifteen minutes. Now, the reason I came to see you is to talk to you about your family.”

He laid his head back down on the table. “I don’t have a family. I already told your husband that and I just want to be left alone.”

“I’m sure you do because then you can wallow in self-pity about how your father abandoned you. That is what you’re doing, right?”

“You’re wrong, Mrs. Black. You know nothing about me.”

“You can call me Elle. That’s what my friends call me.”

“But we’re not friends.”

A small grin crossed my lips, because at that moment, I had flashbacks of my first dinner with Connor. They were more alike than they both wanted to admit.

“Let me tell you a little something about me. My mom passed away when I was a little girl. I was diagnosed with cancer at the age of sixteen and I tried to commit suicide. Hence the tattoos on my wrists to cover up the scars.” I held out my wrists to him. “Then, when I was twenty three, I was diagnosed with cancer for a second time.”

Lucas stared at me intently. “Two times at such a young age was too much to handle. There was no way I was going through chemo again, so I opted to let myself die. It was obvious to me that I wasn’t meant to live a long life, so I decided to enjoy what little time I had left. My boyfriend of four years broke up with me over it and walked out of my life. Then I met Connor. I saw him getting thrown out of a club because he was too drunk. I put him in a cab and I helped him home. He’s the reason I’m here today. Despite me keeping that I had cancer from him, he never once turned his back on me. No matter how pissed off and angry he was, and believe me, I thought he was going to kill me, he stood by my side. Even when I was so bitter and angry and did everything I could to push him away, he refused to leave.”

I could tell he was feeling better because he no longer put his head on the table and he was sitting straight up. “So you ended up getting chemo?”

“I flew out to California and participated in a trial study for an extremely aggressive treatment and it worked and I’ve been in remission ever since. That was over twenty years ago.”

“Congratulations, but I don’t understand what your point is.”

“My point is that things could have been a lot worse for you. I understand your feelings and I’m sorry my father in-law was such an asshole. But just because he was, doesn’t mean that the rest of his family is. We Blacks help people no matter what and no matter the cost. You’re a lot like Connor. I can tell and I also can tell that you’re a good man. You’re broken like he was when I first met him, and buried deep below that cocky piss-poor attitude and self-pity is a kind heart.”

He got up from the table and took his glass to the kitchen. “I’m nothing like him. So stop thinking I am because it’s really annoying.”

“But you are, and if you would just get to know him, you’d see for yourself. I’m welcoming you to the family, Lucas, whether you like it or not. We are a very close knit family and we’d like for you to be a part of that.”

“What’s wrong with your kid?” he turned around and asked.

“Connor didn’t tell you?”

“No. He just said she was sick.”

“Julia and her husband were in a serious car accident a few months ago. The doctor had to remove one of her kidneys because it was severely damaged and her other kidney is failing.”

“Wait a minute,” he said as he pointed at me with his finger. “Are you asking me to give your kid one of my kidneys?”

“Yes. Yes I am.”

“You’re fucking crazy, lady. Oh my God,” he said as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I can’t believe the nerve of you people. And how do you know that I would even be a match?”

“What’s your blood type?” I asked.

“Type O.”

“So is Julia’s.”

He placed his hands on the kitchen counter and pushed back, straightening his arms. “You already knew that, didn’t you?” he asked with a furrowed brow.

“Are you going to get pissed and start yelling if I tell you the truth?”

“Damn it!” He pushed off the counter. “I suppose Connor had me all checked out. Found out everything about me, including my fucking blood type. That’s the only reason he came here. He wants something. My mother said that’s what my father used to do before I was born. He’d disappear for a while but always came back when he wanted or needed something. He was a son of a bitch and your husband is no better!” he yelled as he slammed his fist on the counter.

I bolted up from the table and pointed my finger as I made my way over to him. “Don’t you ever talk about my husband that way again! You don’t even know him. He’s nothing like his father and neither is anyone else in my family. Tell me something, Lucas. When you first found out about your father’s other family, how did you feel?” I waited for his response as he looked down in anger. He didn’t respond. “Tell me!” I demanded.

“I was pissed! I hated him for choosing them over me. I hated that I had to grow up an only child,” he yelled as I could see the tears spring to his eyes. “I had a brother and a sister and I wasn’t allowed to get to know them!”

“Exactly! And that’s how Connor feels right now. He’s pissed. Not at you but at his father. He needs time. You had years. He’s only had a few months. You were in his position once. You felt what he’s feeling now. The anger, the rage, and the hate that consumes you because of one person’s actions. I’m here because you don’t have to be alone anymore. You have a family that wants to meet you and get to know you.”

He looked away. “You need to leave.”

“I’m leaving, Lucas, and I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything you went through and I’m sorry for us coming to Vegas. It was wrong and we never should have. Julia is our daughter and she’s our world. We can’t stand to see her suffer anymore. It’s tearing Connor apart. Imagine if she was your daughter. I know you would stop at nothing to help her get better.”

I grabbed my purse from the table and walked to the door. I placed my hand on the knob and turned around. “I hope you find what you’re looking for, Lucas. You deserve closure and happiness.”