“And Robert never reached out to her, not once?”
“No. She tried to reach out to him a few times, but he wouldn’t take her calls.” An emotion I couldn’t explain flashed in her eyes for a moment before she masked it again. “Your mother reached out to her twice, but it wasn’t to check on how she was doing, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
“My mother? Why?”
She turned her head away, once again looking out the window. It had started to rain, and she shivered as if she were freezing. “You mean, you don’t know?”
“I wouldn’t be asking if I did.”
She was quiet for a long moment, scanning the clouds and the city below. “It’s not my place,” she finally said. “You should ask your mother.”
“I’m asking you.” Frustrated, I crossed to the side of the bed that was closest to the window, making her look at me. “Why did my mother reach out to Triss?”
Angry fire replaced the coldness in her eyes, the flames shooting out at me. “If you don’t know, then I’m not going to tell you. I assumed you knew, seeing as Nancy said she was doing so on your behalf.”
“No. I don’t know why she did it, but it wasn’t for me.” And now I was even more confused than before. Nothing made sense, but I was seeing my mother with new eyes now, and what I was discovering about her was that she was a two-faced evil bitch.
Savanna stared up at me for a long moment, her eyes hooded as she seemed to come to a decision. “You should go, Dominic. I’m tired, and I know Triss would be upset if she knew you were here.”
I scrubbed a hand over my slightly scruffy jaw. “I’m sorry if I upset you, Mrs. Everest. That wasn’t my intention.”
Her sigh was one of a world-weary, tired soul. “You should talk to Triss. And I mean, really talk. Not throw accusations at her. Ask her what happened after your mother kicked her out. Ask her … about the check your mother gave her.”
--
An hour later, when I should have been driving over to my mother’s new apartment, I found myself outside of my stepfather’s house. Well, Triss’s home now. I needed to remember that.
I sat out in the driveway for a long time, just staring through the rain up at the house that had been home for so many years. It had been a happy home for me up until that damn weekend when my sister had nearly died. What should have been the best weekend of my life turned into a living nightmare, and I hated to relive the memories, but as I sat there, they came back to haunt me …
EIGHT
Dom
Seven years ago
I WAS STILL HIGH ON the afterglow of the last two days with Triss. We had made love all the first night, and well into the next morning. After sneaking downstairs for arms full of snacks, we had fallen into bed again. Triss finally fell asleep on top of me, exhausted, while I was still deep inside her.
Content to have everything I had always wanted, I drifted off while holding her like she might disappear if I let her go.
Hours later, she stirred on top of me, having to use the bathroom. While she took care of business, I took stock of the food we hadn’t devoured that morning. Half a bag of some kind of skinny popcorn she liked, maybe a third of a box of fruit loops, a single bottle of water, and crumbs from the pack of cookies we had practically inhaled after a night of hard fucking.
None of those things appealed to my rumbling stomach, so I knew I was going to have to risk going downstairs for more food. It wasn’t that I was worried I would run into my mother, since she and Robert would be in Vermont until later in the week, if I knew her. It was the housekeeper I didn’t want to face.
Stella had been around since Triss was a baby. She was like an overprotective momma bear where my girl was concerned. I knew she didn’t like me very much, especially since she had noticed how close we had become over the last year. It wasn’t like I was robbing the cradle or some shit—Triss was nineteen—but the way she looked at me whenever she would catch me laughing with Triss told me exactly what she thought of me with the girl she considered like her own.
I knocked on the bathroom door when Triss didn’t come out after I heard her washing her hands. “Babe? You okay?”
“Yeah,” she said after a small pause. “I’ll be out in a few. I just need a girl moment.”
Concerned, I pushed the door open enough to look inside at her. She was standing at the sink, deliciously naked. She had her hand pressed to the bottom of her abdomen as she shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. When she saw me, pink filled her cheeks, and I couldn’t help chuckling.
“Don’t laugh,” she grumbled, picking up my nearly empty bottle of mouthwash and throwing it at my head. “I can barely move.”
Still grinning, I pushed the door all the way open. Stepping around the bottle of mouthwash that had bounced off the door, I pulled her into my arms and kissed her. She melted against me with a moan as I kissed her until we were both out of breath. My cock was rock-hard, but there was no way I could make love to her again so soon. I couldn’t keep up with the number of times I had been inside her over the last thirty-six hours, but from the way she was hurting, I knew we would have to take a few days so she could recover.
“Take something for the discomfort and then shower,” I murmured against her lips. “I’m going to go down and fix us some sandwiches. When I get back, we can decide what we want to do tonight.”
When she tipped her head back, I couldn’t resist the urge to kiss her neck.
“I don’t want to go out. Could we just … cuddle?”
“That sounds perfect.” I kissed her one more time before reluctantly pulling away. “Take your time. I’ll be right back.”
Back in my room, I grabbed a pair of basketball shorts and a T-shirt before heading downstairs. As I passed my sister’s room, I noticed the door was open and could hear her talking on the phone to someone. Giving her privacy, I continued toward the kitchen.
The fridge was stocked full of fresh deli meats, cheese, and veggies. I grabbed everything I needed and made four sandwiches. Triss would only eat one, if that, but I was starving. Other than the snacks earlier that morning, I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten. I had been on call all week and had had to go in for an emergency when the hospital had been swamped after a tour bus full of teenagers had been hit by an eighteen-wheeler. Things had been crazy, and I had ended up spending the entire night at the hospital before working my shift the next day. During that time, I had only grabbed a granola bar and at least ten coffees throughout the day.
With the sandwiches done, I grabbed an entire container of carrot sticks and a bag of pretzels. Adding a few cans of soda to a tray, I headed back upstairs. Thankfully, Stella hadn’t been in the kitchen. Maybe she had the weekend off. I could hope.
As I passed my sister’s room again, I couldn’t hear her talking. However, as I started to walk past, I heard a strange gurgling noise that made me freeze. It was a sound I had heard far too many times during my residency. Once a person heard it, they never got it out of their heads.
I dropped the tray, not caring about the mess it made as I ran into Kim’s room. I scanned the room and found her on her bed. She was on her side, foam coming out of her mouth as she seized.
Fuck.
I grabbed her phone off the bed and dialed 911, barely noticing the few pills that were beside it as a voice asked what my emergency was. All the training I’d had kicked in, and I moved almost on autopilot as I tried to save my sister’s life. I told the woman what was wrong, that I was a doctor, and that I needed an ambulance.
“Triss!” I bellowed her name as I cleared Kim’s airway. “Triss, I need you.”
I didn’t hear her running feet, but moments later, she was beside me. “Oh, my God,” she cried when she looked down at Kim. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Overdose,” I snapped. “I need your help.”
For the next seven minutes, we worked together on keeping my sister alive. Whatever I told Triss I needed, she would rush
to get it done. When we heard the sirens, she ran down to meet them and showed them upstairs. I barked orders to the EMTs, and then we got her loaded up in a matter of minutes.
One of the drugs that the paramedics kept on hand was naloxone. We kept it in the emergency room, and it turned my stomach at how many times a week it had to be used.
While one of the EMTs injected her with it, I told Triss to meet me at the hospital while I rode with Kim. Now that I had a second to take a deep breath, reaction was setting in. Normally, I kept my cool after a close call like this one, but I had never had to treat someone I loved before, not like this. My hands began to shake, and I clenched them into fists as question after question ran through my head.
What the fuck had my sister gotten herself into?
--
Hours past. My mother arrived with Robert, but after taking one look at Kim attached to all the monitors, she fell apart and Robert had to take her home.
Triss stayed beside me the entire time, holding my hand, letting me lean on her as I tried not to fall apart. She was there for me during it all, and all I could think was that I wanted her beside me for the rest of my life. I loved this woman, yet until right then, I hadn’t realized just how important she was to me. I knew then and there that I was going to marry her one day. I wasn’t ever going to let her go.
One day passed, then two. I didn’t leave until Kim woke up. I had to see for myself that her eyes were open, that she was talking and breathing on her own, before I could bring myself to leave the hospital.
Now that she appeared to be okay, I couldn’t even look at her. I was too disappointed in her. More than anything, I was pissed that she had put me in a position where I had to be the one to save her life.
It was my job to save people, to help them, but it was different when the person I was saving was someone I had loved from the day she was born. It hurt me, and all I wanted to do was get away from her.
Taking Triss’s keys, I drove us home.
“I want a shower and about a week’s worth of sleep,” I told her with a grim smile as I pulled into the driveway.
She had a leg tucked up under her, her body turned toward me, and her fingers were entwined with mine. A slight pink tinted her cheeks, and she sucked in a deep breath before speaking. “Your bed or mine?”
That she could still be shy with me after everything she had let me do to her delicious body made my chest squeeze with love for her.
“Mine,” I told her without hesitating. “Definitely mine.”
A relieved smile touched her lips as she leaned forward, brushing her lips over mine. “Are you sure you want to sleep?”
“Fuck sleep,” I growled then kissed her long and deeply.
It was several long minutes before I could bring myself to release her. Then I got out and went around to open her door. Taking her hand, I kissed her on the lips in a soft, quick kiss before we went inside.
As soon as we walked through the front door, Stella met us. She grabbed Triss by the hands and pulled her away from me. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t know what to do. I found it in your room, and she—”
Triss and I both frowned down at the housekeeper. “Stella, slow down. Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be okay.” She hugged the older woman. “I just have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Stella hugged her back hard, closing her eyes as she sucked in a deep breath. “I found it, Triss. Then, Mrs. Prescott came in … Your father is so angry.” A tear spilled down her cheek. “I’m so sorry. If I had just stayed out of your room, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“I’m still lost.” Triss glanced at me from over her shoulder, her brows raised in total confusion. “Maybe I need a few days sleep myself.”
I caught her hand and pulled her back against me. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” Stella snapped at me. “Triss, your father thinks you’re the one responsible for Kim’s overdose.”
“What?” she cried, pulling away from me. “Why would he think that? I’ve never—”
“Triss!” Robert’s voice had never been so harsh or loud in all the years I had known him. He stormed down the stairs with my mother right behind him.
Everything seemed to happen at warp speed after that.
I looked at my mother. Her face was pale, her eyes ice-cold. She held something in her hand, and as they reached us, I noticed it was a baggy of what looked like pills. The same pills I had seen on Kim’s bed.
Stella’s words began to make sense, and I felt my heart turning cold.
No. I didn’t want to even think about the things going through my head, but as my mother lifted the bag and practically spit in Triss’s direction, I knew it was true.
“Stella found these in your room, Triss.” Robert took the bag from my mother and waved them in Triss’s face.
“What is that?” she demanded, sounding just as confused as she had with Stella. However, I could see the comprehension forming in her eyes. Then she paled, taking a step back as if she wanted to get as far away from the bag of pills as she possibly could. “Are those drugs?”
“Stop acting stupid,” Nancy snarled at her. “These are the same drugs that Kim overdosed on. This could have killed my baby. And Stella found them in your room.”
“Tell me they aren’t yours, Triss,” Robert commanded, disappointment mixed with cold rage bright in his eyes.
“They aren’t!” she cried. “Of course they aren’t—”
“Why else would they be in your room, then?” Nancy interjected angrily.
Tears filled Triss’s blue-gray eyes. “I don’t know. Honestly, Daddy, I don’t know what those things were doing in my room. I have never taken anything like that.”
My mother turned her eyes on me. “Your sister could have died, Dominic. She very nearly lost her life. All because of this worthless girl.”
I wanted to deny it. There was no way Triss would ever do drugs. It didn’t make sense. She was so straight laced. She hated to even take aspirin.
But …
My tired brain couldn’t comprehend any of this. It didn’t make sense that those drugs were in her room if she wasn’t taking them.
Or maybe she wasn’t taking them.
Maybe she was selling them.
It wouldn’t have been the first time a good girl from a rich family got bored and wanted a little extra cash. It was the perfect cover. Sweet, innocent daughter of super rich man. Why would she need the money? No one would even think to suspect her.
“Dom,” Triss whispered my name with a sob in her voice. “You know me. You know that I would never do something like this.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face. “I don’t know what to think,” I told her honestly.
She blanched and stepped back from me as if I had slapped her. Swallowing hard, she turned to her father. “Daddy, please. I would never do drugs. I don’t like to feel out of control.”
“You don’t have to take them to sell them,” I found myself thinking out loud, and Robert’s face became like a thundercloud.
Even as my heart screamed at me that this was wrong, that she would never do something like this, my head was telling me something completely different. I saw everything with different eyes.
Kim, lying on that bed, dying before my eyes.
Those little pills … the same pills in the little Ziploc bag my mother was still holding.
Kim in the hospital with all those wires and tubes connected to her.
My baby sister. Nearly taken from this world, from me.
All because of those fucking drugs.
“You gave these to my daughter, didn’t you?” Nancy slapped Triss across the face when she started to deny it again. “I knew you were nothing but trouble, but this is even beyond what I expected from you. You and your filth nearly cost my Kim her life.”
“No,” she whispered, stumbling back with a hand to her bright-red cheek. Tears fell from her eyes in rivers. “No.”
“I want you out,” Robert said in a voice completely devoid of all emotion. “Pack your shit and get out of my house. You aren’t welcome here. Go back to your mother and tell her what you did.”
“Daddy,” Triss sobbed. “Daddy, please, just listen to me. I didn’t do this. I never—”
“I said, get out of my house!” Robert roared. “You are no longer a part of this family. I no longer have a daughter.”
NINE
Triss
Present Day
I KNEW HE WAS COMING before the doorbell even rang.
My mother had called to warn me Dom had been by to see her, that she had told him to ask me all the questions she had refused to answer for him.
“Tell him the truth, baby,” Savanna had whispered in a voice full of tears.
“He signed that check. He knows it all, Mom,” I had tried to tell her, but she had refused to hear me.
“Does he? Or did Nancy lie?” She had blown out a tired sigh. “Just tell him, Triss. Tell him everything. You have to face this head-on, or she will win. I don’t want any of that for you or the girls. That monstrous bitch can’t win in the end. Don’t you dare let her.”
Before I could protest further, she had hung up on me, but not before I had heard her sob.
That had been almost two hours ago. Since then, I had been replaying our conversation over and over.
I had been standing at the window when he pulled up in the driveway and had watched as he sat in the driver’s seat, just looking at the house, almost as if he had to prepare himself to see me again.
I was still standing there when he finally got out of his car and started up the front steps through the drizzling of rain, watching helplessly as he clenched his jaw and pressed the doorbell.
I looked up the stairs behind me, making sure the girls hadn’t come down at the sound of the bell. Then I waited a few moments to make sure they didn’t come running down before crossing to the door to open it since there was no staff on duty today.