Page 89 of Her Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

I wanted to say no. I really did. But I was thinking about the rail depot. How he’d reacted when I told him about Conor. Not jealous. Not full of questions. It was as if Lucien had known all about me and Conor.

How did he know that?

I sighed, and nodded. “All right,” I said. “I’m going to go say goodnight to Kyle.”

“All right,” said David. “Sis, we’re gonna be okay, aren’t we?”

He’d tried to say it to reassure me, but it still came out as a question. “I don’t know,” I said. “But I guess we’ll see.”

I turned away from David and climbed the stairs. I went along the corridor to Kyle’s room.

This had been where David lived as a kid. The walls were deep, rich blue. I remembered my dad painting them. A few of Kyle’s books were on the bookshelves, next to David’s old picture-books.

Kyle was sitting in bed, his window open. I looked at it with some concern, and looked back to him. Kyle’s cast had been taken off a couple of days ago.

“Aren’t you cold?” I said, and went to shut the window.

“Cold?” said Kyle.

“Your window’s wide open.”

“Well, I kind of need the fresh air,” Kyle joked. “Since I’ve been grounded and all.”

I nodded. “I want to unground you,” I said to him. “But…”

“But?”

“But it’s not the right time, sweetie. Me and David are just worried about you, that’s all.”

“Mom?”

“Yes?”

“Do you…like Lucien?”

I stared at my son, his green eyes twinkling in the lamplight. “Sure I do,” I said.

“No, but…what I’m saying is…Do you like him like, like him?”

“No, Kyle…I…” I hardly knew what to say. Either he knew something I didn’t know he knew, or Kyle was sharp as could be. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow,” I said, expecting an argument.

But to my surprise, he didn’t bicker. “Okay,” he said. I kissed his forehead.

“I love you, pumpkin,” I said. “It’s good to be back with you.”

“You too.”

But I wasn’t really back. The truth was, my mind was on the past. A past which seemed as if it was waiting in the wings to devour me whole.

Chapter 30

Conor (Lucien)

“I have a hospital to build,” I said sharply to Aaron as he fiddled with the box. “I don’t have time. I need you to find the person responsible right now.”

“I’m not a cop,” said Aaron. “I’ll do the best I can. This system captures a lot of data. And the police can probably match it if he’s a previous offender. But Lucien, if this guy’s got a clean record then who knows where he is?”

“I don’t care,” I said. “I want answers to this now.”