Page 102 of Her Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

“Yes,” said Laura, hanging her head.

“He wrote me a letter,” said Conor, passing it through the car window. “It’s a note from him. He knows Conor is his dad, Laura. That’s why he’s so goddamn confused about it all. He doesn’t know I’m—”

“Stop it,” I said, tears filling my eyes. I didn’t want it to be this way. I didn’t want this man here. I didn’t want him to be Kyle’s dad. “Will you stop it?”

“David,” said Lucien. “What’s the place I used to go? When we were kids. When I was feeling down about something? You know the answer, Dave. I know you do.”

David looked down. “The Old Bridge,” he said.

“I told Kyle about it,” said Conor. “That time in your kitchen.”

“Oh, so you’re telling me this is your fault?” I said to him furiously. “What gives you the right…” I said, as I stepped out of the car, “…to do this to us? Who do you think you are?”

“Laura,” said Conor. “I know.”

“No, you don’t,” I told him. “You have no idea, because you weren’t there for him, and I was,” she said.

“But we can work together,” he said. “We have to. Otherwise, he might get hurt. And I…I can’t let that happen.”

I knew it was the right thing to do. But I didn’t want to let Conor help. Not after he’d lied to me. Even if he was right.

“Look,” said David. “It’ll take an hour to get up there in this weather. Why don’t you go with him?”

“Both of you will,” said Conor. “Come on. Leave the car here. It’ll be fine.”

“I can’t,” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t trust him.”

“Laura,” said Conor. “Will you look at me, please?”

I turned from David, who was standing on the other side of the car, and looked at Conor. In the darkness, his face was less clearly visible. And once again, it was as if I could see the young man he’d once been. For the millionth time, I told myself that it was so crazy I hadn’t seen it. How could he have been anyone else?

“Just let me help you get him back,” said Conor, his voice trembling. “Then I’ll go. I swear.”

“Go where?”

“I’ll go away. I promise. Only don’t let the way you think about me stop you from being a good mom to him. You’ve never let that happen, Laura. Not when you knew me as Conor. Not when you met…Lucien.”

“All right,” I said. I was crazy to say it, but I knew I had no choice. “Let’s go. He needs us.”

Chapter 36

Conor (Lucien)

I’d ridden into combat like this, but somehow the atmosphere in the chopper was one of the tensest scenarios I’d ever been in. I anxiously checked the horizons as we climbed the foothills. At one point, we were above Lakeview, and I looked down at the house. Would it ever look the same to me, now that Lucien was gone?

I looked at Laura as she read the letter I’d handed to her. She read it once, then she read it twice. Then she tried to read it a second time, and eventually put it down beside her. Devastated, she stared into space.

“He knew,” she said. “He knew before I did. How did he know?”

“He’s smart,” I said, and she looked up at me.

“Yeah,” she said. “He is.”

“Where do you want me to put you down?” said Ronnie from the cabin.

“Not too close,” I said. “If he sees us coming in this, he could run.”

“He won’t run when he sees me,” Laura insisted.