The Billionaire's Secret: A BWWM Romance Mystery (15 page)

Chapter Thirty

He hadn't moved from the doorway. All
five of us were rooted to the spot. Only the stronger spring sunshine slanting
across the floorboards and creeping up the wall betrayed how much time had
passed.

I stared at Liam, hollow with worry
about his sister, furious at his mother's cruelty.

He suddenly shuddered and shifted,
turning to the hallway with a look of surprise. "I brought you
these," he said, dully.

He pulled out a bouquet of the most
gorgeous snow-white roses I had ever seen. "They mean I'm sorry. I
think."

"
I'm worthy of you
," I corrected. "That's what they
mean."

He stared at me entreatingly.

Kit gasped in pleasure, breaking the
moment. "Where did you even get those, this time of year? Are you some
kind of wizard?"

"No." Liam stuffed his
hands in his pockets. "Just a man with too much money and not enough
love."

His words hit me in the gut. I hated
how vulnerable he looked right now. William Graves was supposed to be
confident, dominant even. This man looked...wrong.

I needed to fix it.

"We can fix this," I said
out loud. "Your sister. Your mom, they need to see each other again."

Liam shook his head. "That won't
work."

But Kiki was already on board. I
could see her eyes gleaming at the prospect of a happy ending. "No, it has
to. When your mother sees how much better Lily is doing...."

"She'll have to back off,"
Jasmine concluded. I looked at her, startled by how earnest she was. She was
totally on board.

"Make it a neutral place,"
Kit added. "Not your mother's house. How about a dinner?"

"At your place!" Kiki
added. She clutched his arm in excitement.

Liam's eyes were ping ponging from
friend to friend as they closed in on him with the full force of their love and
concern.

"Yes your house. That way you hold
the power." Jasmine nodded forcefully. "Your turf."

"And you can kick your mom out
if she starts being a cunt," Kit added drily.

"That's what you need to do. You
rich folks, I swear you'd rather die of a stress aneurysm than actually admit
there's a problem." Jasmine was shaking her head. "Ready? Watch my
lips. 'Mother, you're wrong about Lily and I'm not committing her.' There, see
how easy that was?"

Liam opened his mouth, then shut it.
Then he looked at me, pleading. "You're right. You're all right, okay? But
Shay, I need you there with me. I can't do this alone."

Chapter
Thirty - One

I walked around the table, turning
the centerpiece one last time for good measure. It was a simple arrangement of
hazel foliage and Star of Bethlehem flowers cascading from the vase onto the
table. Flowers for the reconciliation I hoped Liam could achieve tonight.

The table was set with gorgeous china
printed in a masculine, geometric pattern. Crisp white napkins were laid out
with silverware so heavy I knew it had to be antique. It must have been a
family heirloom. I ran my finger lingeringly over the flat of a steak knife and
wondered if all of the money he had was enough to make up for the terror and
turmoil of Liam's upbringing.

"How do I look?" Liam stood
in the doorway of his bedroom, adjusting his cuffs. I tried, and failed, to
avoid biting my lip.

"Very proper," I nodded,
taking in his crisp white shirt and the solid gray tie that precisely matched
his eyes. "Too proper. You should take everything off."

He laughed a little, a slight
explosion of tension. "This dinner will be excruciating enough without
having to throw nudity in the mix."

I went to him and adjusted his tie,
then kissed him lingeringly. "My loss," I breathed.

"Everything okay here, Liam?"

I sighed against Liam's chest. Of
course Darius was right here to interrupt the moment. "Everything is
fine," Liam said over my shoulder.

"Food is in the kitchen, it just
arrived," Darius rumbled in that deep bass voice of his.

"Thank you very much. Why don't
you take the night off?" Liam nodded.

"If you don't mind, the Eagles
are playing tonight and I was hoping to catch the game."

"Sure, sure, no one's using the
media room tonight, I can guarantee you that," Liam chuckled darkly.
"Have at it."

Darius nodded and headed back into
the recesses of the huge apartment. "Doesn't he have a home to go
to?" I whispered.

"Think so, but he doesn't like
spending much time there," Liam said, walking into the kitchen and opening
the catering trays. "Plus I have a better TV here."

"Huh." Something nagged at
me for a moment, but I shoved it aside when I heard the ding of the private
elevator.

Lily stepped out. She looked shrunken
in her too big clothes, the worry lines around her face aging her well past her
thirty-nine years. But she held her head high as she walked into her brother's
penthouse.

"Thank you so much for
coming," Liam went to her immediately and kissed her cheek.

"I'm doing this for you,"
she said to him. Her voice was stronger than her frail body would imply. There
was a hint of Dahlia's steel in the determined set of her jaw.

"Thank you," Liam repeated,
then held out his hand. "This is Shay," he smiled at me. There was no
mistaking the pride in his eyes as he glanced in my direction and I immediately
lifted my own head and smiled at Lily.

"The florist," Lily said
softly, glancing at Liam and then back at me. "Thank you for the bouquet.
It meant a lot."

I took her slight, bony hand.
"Liam made sure it had meant that much."

A ghost of a smile flickered across
her lips. "He told me what it meant. It was really incredible." She
looked up at him fondly. "Exactly what I needed."

 
I could feel myself grinning from ear to
ear. I was surprised to find that, after all the heartache she inadvertently
caused me, I actually liked her. "Can I get you anything to drink?" I
asked her.

"Water," she answered
promptly. Like she had rehearsed this situation a billion times, which in
retrospect, she probably had.

"I'll have water too," Liam
nodded. "You ladies sit down and chat, I'll bring them out. The food is
warming."

I went to the expansive table that
was still dwarfed by the size of Liam's apartment. Darkness was starting to
close in the windows and Lily and I both glanced nervously towards the
elevator.

Dahlia's impending arrival had us
both on edge.

I sat down and spread my napkin on my
lap. Looking at Lily felt too awkward, especially after all of the energy I had
wasted hating and pitying her, so I stared back into the kitchen, watching
Liam's deft movements as he opened the chafing dishes and poured the drinks.

Then he surreptitiously turned his
back to us. When he turned back, he set a shotglass directly into the sink.

The elevator dinged and I instantly
wished I had joined him in downing that whiskey.

Dahlia had arrived.

Chapter
Thirty - Two

Her tight black suit was impeccably
tailored, but gave her a funereal appearance, highlighting her white hair and
pale skin. All she needed was a black veil over her face and she would look
just like she was in mourning.

Her black heels clacked against the
tile as she strode in like she owned the place, not pausing for a second. She
stood in the middle of the great room and let her wrap fall from her shoulders.
When it landed on the floor, she looked down at it in surprise, like she had
expected someone to be there to catch it.

"Billy, I don't know why you
insist on living here," she sniffed by way of greeting. "It's utterly
impossible."

"Didn't your driver leave you
off in front?" Liam asked. I could hear the tight control in his voice.
Like he was already trying to keep from lashing out.

"I don't even want to talk about
it anymore," she complained. She turned towards the table and froze.

"Hello mother," Lily rose
from her chair.

Whatever emotion I thought I would
see on Dahlia's face when she saw her daughter, it wasn't this. It wasn't a
mixture of horror and, yes, fear.

Lily quailed away from Dahlia's
terrible expression, for a moment looking like a little lost girl. Then she squared
her shoulders and mirrored her mother's straight-backed defiance. "You
didn't know I was coming tonight, did you." It wasn't a question.

Dahlia seemed to recover. "No.
Billy invited me to dinner. I was pleased to get an invitation from my
son."

Lily winced visibly and suddenly Liam
was there at her side. "We have a lot to talk about, Dahlia. But first, we
should eat. The food is warm, help yourself."

I stood up then, and Dahlia seemed to
notice me for the first time. "What is she doing here?" she hissed,
like I wasn't even there.

"Shay is with me," Liam
said tightly.

"It's nice to see you again,
Mrs. Graves," I said, as sweetly as I could. I was getting better at this
whole lying thing.

She glared at Liam. "You invite
me over to ambush me like this?"

"Like what?"

"With her...," she waved
dismissively at me, "and
her?"
she hissed in Lily's direction. "Whatever you're up to, I'm not going to
be part of it." She turned on her spike heels and made as if to leave.

"Dahlia," Liam bellowed. He
seemed to think for a moment, gathering himself, and then he let loose the
torrent of words that could no longer be held back. "Lily is not going
back to the hospital. You're wrong about her. I'm not committing her and you
need to be okay with that."

He folded his arms, breathing
heavily. I gave him a slight nod and he nodded back gratefully.

Slowly, Dahlia turned. But instead of
looking at Liam, she looked straight at me.

"What, exactly are you up
to?" she hissed.

"Me?" My hand went to my
chest.

"Setting my son against me this
way. What are you after?"

My jaw fell open and I stammered.
Liam made a low noise, but it was Lily who spoke up, "Mother, leave her
alone. No one is falling for your tricks here. Not anymore. You can't avoid the
issue by lashing out at someone who doesn't deserve it."

I looked gratefully at Lily as I
sagged back into my chair. My legs didn't want to hold me any longer.

Liam was immediately at my side.
"Dahlia, leave Shay out of this."

"That's what I'm trying to
do," she cried. "Young lady, you need to leave now. This is not any
of your concern."

I rose from my chair, but Liam flung
out his arm to prevent me from leaving. "I will not have you speaking to
Shay this way." Liam gently pushed me back into my seat. I laid my hand over
his arm.

"I'm not speaking to
her
," Dahlia said loftily.
"I'm not interested in airing our family troubles in front of a complete
stranger...."

"She's not a stranger...,"
Liam barked at the same time Lily yelped, "She's better than you!"

Dahlia finally looked her daughter
full in the face. And that's when I knew that Lily was stronger than I could
ever be. Because she faced her mother down as Dahlia looked her up and down,
her expression dripping in contempt. "Be quiet. The both of you," Dahlia's
voice was barely above a dangerous whisper and her lip was curled. "You both
make me regret ever bringing you into this world." My pulse was beating so
hard in my ears that her hateful words were nearly drowned out. I wished they
were, so I didn't have to hear what she said next. "So hellbent on tearing
down everything I ever worked for! Everything I ever gave you!"

Liam slammed his fist down on the
table. "Mother, shut up!" he bellowed.

Her eyes flashed. I will swear until
my dying day that she actually looked
eager
to fight him. Their voices crashed into each other, sucking me down into a
whirlpool. I clapped my hands over my ears, but I still could hear Dahlia and
Liam shouting over the table at one another.

"...no right to dictate my
life...."

"...what I've given you, as my
son...."

"No!"

Lily's voice shattered over all of
us, stunning us into silence.

 
Her face was deathly pale but for the two
spot of blazing color that flared high on her cheeks. Her voice was low and
calm and terrible. "I'm not doing this for a minute longer."

Liam and I both looked at her
questioningly, but Dahlia shook her head. "Lily...," she growled in a
low, warning tone just as Liam leaned forward, "Doing what?"

"Lying." Her eyes blazed at
Dahlia. For one brief moment, the inimitable Dahlia Graves seemed terrified of
her frail daughter.

But only for a moment. 'You will
not...!" she thundered.

"I'm telling him," Lily cut
her off.

"Telling me
what
?" Liam demanded.

"The truth. The whole
truth," Lily panted.

 
She pushed the chair away from her,
scraping it across the floor so loudly she drowned out Dahlia's cry of protest.
"So help me God, Lily, I will...."

"You will what?" Lily
scoffed as she stood face to face with Dahlia. "You can't do anything
worse to me...
mother.
What, you'll
kill me?" She glanced down at the knife by her plate. "That would be
a goddamned relief. But you're not allowed to lie to Liam any longer."

"What the
fuck
is going on?" Liam leapt to his feet, slamming his fists
into the table.

Lily looked at him, a mixture of
withering pity and exhausted love on her face, "Liam, I'm not your
sister," she licked her dry lips. "I'm your mother."